Message framework

Things we already knew, but are amazed to hear it from the source:

Holt, the GOP consultant, said third-party groups may play a smaller role in this election than last, but he would not be surprised if someone hit Obama with ads comparable to the Swift Boat criticism. Those ads were highly effective against Kerry in 2004, he said, because they fed into existing voter doubts about his sincerity. "It was in our message framework," Holt said, even though "we had nothing to do with it."

In other words, they build these scurrilous attacks into the overall framework of the campaign, but simply make sure it's at arms length.

Fine. Let the games begin.