In his Tribune column today, John Kass quotes Hillary Clinton saying that Obama's association with Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn "is an issue that certainly the Republicans will be raising." Kass adds: "And why shouldn't they?" He goes on to write:

Obama insists such gotcha politics is beneath our dignity. But no association is above question for a candidate, whether Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Illinois political fixer Tony Rezko, or Ayers and Dohrn.

Of course, Kass doesn't even attempt to argue why Obama's relationship with his two Hyde Park neighbors has any bearing on the job he would do as president. Instead, he rattles off a 30-year old, decontextualized history lesson, assuming that it's essential information voters care about. Of course, these types of stories are only newsworthy because media figures like Kass believe "no association is above question for a candidate," thereby giving the Republicans and the right-wing license to distract voters from the issues that matter.

This offhand comment is a doozy, as well:

Clinton and Republican John McCain have suffered scrutiny. The only one treated as an infant in swaddling clothes by the national media—until quite recently—is Sen. Change.

McCain? Scrutiny from the press? Whom he calls his "base"? What national media sources are you reading, John?