I'm with
Matthew Yglesias and
Karen Tumulty on this.
Tumulty wrote
campaigns should not be allowed to distribute things on a NOT FOR ATTRIBUTION basis. Both NOT FOR ATTRIBUTION and OFF THE RECORD (and their cousins, BACKGROUND and DEEP BACKGROUND) are understandings that are agreed to mutually by a source and a reporter. What I've noticed about this cycle is that campaigns (and not just Obama's) are falling into a bad and sloppy habit of sending out mass hit pieces by e-mail and demanding anonymity. As far as I am concerned, unless I have agreed in advance to accept a specific piece of material from a source on a limited or not for attribution basis, these unilateral declarations of anonymity mean nothing.
So be warned.
I'm sure that, in the future, I will never ever receive a "not for attribution" hit piece from a campaign, but I am willing to courageously make that sacrifice and not just because no campaign has ever heard of me. Really (I think).
Also I will not ever wiretap your phone without a warrent and I'm not reading your e-mail. Plus I'm not clubbing baby seals or wasting gas speeding in a Ferrari.
God I'm so virtuous that the only thing keeping me from kissing myself on the lips is a severe shortage of lips (don't draw any inference about a lack of leaks, taps and passwords which might help me keep my promises).
p.s. I mean I have two more or less normal lips. don't get grossed out.
