As part of my painstaking search for real news on the Drake-Kellam race, I came across this hilarious critique of a TV talk show appearance by a couple of Democratic consultants and a liberal professor discussing the contest. It's from blogger "Insider" of Hampton Roads Politics. He calls his review, "Did you waste 12 minutes of your life?":

I just did!

I watched liberal Joel Rubin's Sunday talk show, "On the Record," where he interviewed a Democrat consultant to Phil Kellam, a Democrat fundraising consultant, and a leftist professor talk about how bad the war is and how Kellam can take advantage of it.

Ah...balanced media at it's finest! This show was so lopsided, it should be renamed "Poseidon."

The fundraising liberal called staying the course in Iraq "an extreme position." Hmmm. In a war, staying until we actually win is "extreme."

Coach at halftime: "Team. Actually playing the second half would be extreme. Let's stay here!"

Here's the funny part! They whined that Republicans turned their apprehension about the war into "bumper sticker sloganeering" by calling it "cut and run," and 30 seconds later they did their own bumper-sticker sloganeering by calling the opposition's policy "stay the course."

The Professor tried to get off this Gilligan's Island by pronouncing "Virginia is not Connecticut" like he was revealing some fantastic conclusion of science. With this bunch, it was the only sane statement made.

Kellam-paid consultant Drew Lankford said Congress could just cut off funding for the war, then caught himself and ran scared into saying they aren't advocating that. Then why say it??? Freudian slip?

When Rubin asked him about Kellam's initial position of being for the war, Lankford talked about how Kellam clarified that position since then.

See, flip-flops are now called clarifications. I call them "Move Ons."

Read the rest at the link above - it's well worth it.

I should disclose that Joel Rubin was a high school chum of mine, from the old neighborhood in Richmond, Virginia. I remember him as friendly, smart, honest, quick-witted, and having a good sense of humor. It must be the sad old story, though: Good boy from nice family hits the big time and falls in with the wrong crowd.