MICKEY KAUS: “The Feiler Faster principle will probably take care of John Kerry’s Iraq gaffe long before it has any significant effect on the midterm vote–but the NYT’s Adam Nagourney wasn’t about to rely on that. Instead, Nagourney comes close to arguing that Kerry affirmatively helped the Dems because his remarks provoked an attack from President Bush, and “in the process, Mr. Bush brought renewed attention to the war in Iraq …” Hey, that’s the sort of wacky contrarian take a blogger might have! In applying such impressive ingenuity to the pro-Dem shaping of the news, Nagourney has triumphantly gone beyond cocooning–loosely defined as looking in a crowd of news stories for the most comforting friends–and into the realm of active spinning. A breakthrough, of sorts. … ”

Dana Milbank, meanwhile, simply accuses Karl Rove of having magical powers. I’m with Milbank!