Here is the headline:

Rainey explains that, sure, maybe Reid is lying:

By some measures, it might appear Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) really stepped in it when he claimed he had a source who invested in Bain Capital who told him that Mitt Romney hadn’t paid taxes in 10 years.

Not only would Reid not name his source, but experts told a couple of news outlets it was almost impossible that the Republican presidential candidate had paid no taxes.

Salon.com talked to tax attorneys and found the claim that Romney paid zero over a decade “nothing short of ludicrous.”

Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a fellow member of the U.S. Senate, took the Reid’s credibility more deeply into question. “I think he is making things up,” the Romney backer said, adding, “I think he is lying.” Politifact.com set its Truth-o-Meter finding on the question of Reid’s remark at “pants on fire.” The website, operated by the Tampa Bay Times, said: “Reid has made an extreme claim with nothing solid to back it up.”

The sharpest rebuttal to Reid’s Romney tax-dodger claim came from Reince Priebus, Republican National Committee chairman. He called the Nevada senator a “dirty liar” over the weekend on ABC and then repeated the wording Monday on Fox News.

. . . .

While he can’t necessarily prove it, Priebus has good reason for strong suspicion about Reid juicing his information about Romney’s taxes.

But, hey! Reid and Obama are winning because Romney has to talk about Reid’s unsubstantiated crap!

While Reid’s tax claim strained credulity, it did not seem to strain the Nevada senator. Accustomed to pitched partisan battles, he showed little inclination to back down. One of the journalists who follows Reid most closely, columnist Jon Ralston, told the Washington Post that the old pol was “fearless and shameless.” Ralston noted that Reid would not stand for election for four years and added: “The most dangerous man is one who does not care.”

Ralston predicted Reid would be happy to continue to catch flak for Team Obama, though he might be slightly chastened to find even neutral or liberal-leaning media outlets questioning his truthfulness.

Still, Reid’s gambit had the desired effect: Romney’s forces spent another day talking about tax policy and the candidate’s own taxes, much safer terrain for the president that the issue of job creation, which remains lackluster more than three years after the start of the economic crisis.

Now that’s good political analysis! The liar is winning by making the opposition focus on his lies!

#WINNING!

Looks possible, based on this report from Stacy McCain:

A Democrat political consultant with ties to convicted terrorist Brett Kimberlin has accused Breitbart.com contributor Brandon Darby of making fake SWAT calls against conservative bloggers.

In a thousand-word document sent to government officials, Kimberlin associate Neal Rauhauser accuses Darby of conspiring with a number of others — including employees of Republican consulting firm Hynes Communications — in an elaborate criminal scheme involving illegal so-called “SWATting” incidents aimed at four conservative bloggers: Mike Stack, Patrick “Patterico” Frey, Erick Erickson of Red State and Aaron Walker. The document (see full text below) describes Rauhauser’s accusations that the SWATting calls are “tied to an extortion attempt by Mike Grimm, Congressman from NY-13, an obstruction of justice attempt intended to deflect attention from James O’Keefe, and the whole thing is being wrapped up by Hynes Communications in an attempt to create another ‘Bill Ayers’ for the 2012 election.”

Furthermore, Rauhauser forwarded to an associate of Darby copies of e-mails he sent to a Republican member of Congress. In the e-mails he sent to the office of Rep. Sandy Adams (R-Fla.) in June and July, Rauhauser charges that Darby and others were engaged in a “conspiracy to obstruct justice.” The full text of those e-mails is also appended below.

Go to Stacy’s link for the full paranoid and bizarre theory. Instapundit says that “the libel suit should be interesting” and adds, regarding Rauhauser’s theory: “That doesn’t even make sense. But the discovery process should be productive. . . .”

Heh. Indeed.

Just a reminder that it’s not only U.S. officials who are targeted by those bearing Fast and Furious weapons:

A weapon tied to “Operation Fast and Furious” was seized in Tijuana in connection with a drug cartel’s conspiracy to kill the police chief of Tijuana, Baja California, who later became the Juárez police chief, according to a U.S. government report.

The firearm was found Feb. 25, 2010, during an arrest of a criminal cell associated with Teodoro “El Teo” García Simental and Raydel “El Muletas” López Uriarte, allies of the Sinaloa cartel.

Tijuana police said they arrested four suspects in March 2010 in connection with a failed attempt to take out Julián Leyzaola, and that the suspects allegedly confessed to conspiring to assassinate the police chief on orders from Tijuana cartel leaders.

I can’t see why any of this is a problem for Barack Obama, can you?

At least as far as the state goes, this seems pretty standard:

Trayvon Martin’s mother is asking for at least $75,000 from the homeowners’ association of the gated community where her teenage son was fatally shot by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, court documents show.

Sybrina Fulton also has asked for an undisclosed amount of money from a state fund set up to help crime victims with things like funeral expenses and counseling, according to state documents obtained by The Associated Press.

In murder cases in California, it is standard for victims’ families to have funeral expenses and related costs to be compensated from a state fund paid for by assessments on convicted criminals. The claim against the homeowners’ association strikes me as more dubious, but not completely surprising.

Your thoughts?