So maybe John Kerry is a tougher campaigner than we thought: His principal complaint about the Swift Boat liars was that they had ties to the Bush campaign, and now Benjamin Ginsberg, the top outside lawyer for the Bush campaign, has resigned after revealing that he also advised the liars.

The New York Times story makes clear that both parties share outside lawyers with 527 groups, so it's understandable that Ginsburg thought this was OK. However, as a certain former Republican presidential candidate said a couple of days ago, this is hardball. What just happened is that a Democrat "worked the refs" and the press focused on just the Republicans -- exactly the opposite of what usually happens.