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Even if there was video (ala Marion Barry) of him accepting bribes, doing crack and having sex with small boys, you would still vote for him.

Democrats have never worried much about the “character” thing.

However, repetition of accusations (even if rebutted) will have the natural effect of raising people's suspicions. It's a balance of which you are no doubt aware, so I guess we just differ as to whether to apply more discretion in this case.

Sen. Dodd's case is far more cut and dried corruption. Still, he is beloved of the Nutroots, so they will excuse him anything. I would not hold my breath for a CREW complaint about Dodd.

Alas, good ratings get preferential treatment. One of the banks I deal with offers a whole range of perks for customers with better credit ratings … such as gold colored debit cards, in contrast to the plebs blue or green … and different rules for account treatment.

No silver bullet for the GOP here.

Personally, I'd find it more illuminating to hear about those stories that aren't. To answer your question, though, in my opinion a “productive contribution” to an irrelevant story that is already getting more play than it deserves is to ignore it.

No, actually, neither word supports that a “gift” was made because the discount (and of course the loan itself) is part of a business transaction, not a gratuitous transfer. By the logic of those offering this as a viable issue, a politician would have to report the difference between the sticker price and the amount paid for a car she bought. Maybe that's something a person would want to have disclosed, but it's just not what the actual reporting requirements are about.

What is the significance of this item, anyway? What does it say about Obama that he didn't report a transaction on disclosure statements when there is no precedent or custom for reporting such a transaction? Now, if there were even circumstantial evidence that a loan agent offered somebody quid pro quo and the politician accepted the deal, then there may a story; but this story is either talking point or hackery.

Jazz, it is to your credit that you want to shed light on troublesome aspects of our presidential candidates. It would be nice, however, if you contributed something productive to the discourse; there's enough irrelevancy out there as it is.