Those Shell Shocked Republicans

Howard Kurtz talks about how McCain's campaign seems to be gearing up into war mode over the press' coverage of Sara Pailin, McCain's October surprise running mate.

He was absolutely furious as he unloaded on the journalistic community for, in his view, unfairly savaging Sarah Palin.

Sure, it is in his interest to try to get the press to tone things down. But Schmidt -- a hard-headed, no-nonsense, on-message strategist -- really sounded shell-shocked. And so he was saying things on the record that senior aides usually say only under a cloak of anonymity.

My own pet theory is that the Republicans have become so extreme and the press has let them get away with whatever they like for so long that when finally confronted with something that hurts them many of them are starting to throw tantrums. Their message isn't very rational in the first place, so when they get to a point where they can no longer rationalize their bad choices away, the gloves come off and it's WWF night in Washington.