Matthew Continetti: "Tax avoidance, felony, possible murder -- this is the picture of Mitt Romney that Barack Obama has presented to the American people. One can point out the numerous factual errors and distortions and elisions in the portrait. One can observe, as Romney campaign manager Matt Rhoades did in a fundraising e-mail issued Thursday, 'This week, the Obama campaign hit a new low.' One can suggest that the race has continued to be stable and that, in the current hostile environment, to be within the margin of error is a good thing for the Republicans. And yet all of these arguments were just as applicable to the candidacy of John Kerry eight years ago as they are to Mitt Romney's candidacy today."
Interestingly, Karl Rove -- the mastermind behind defining Kerry in 2004 -- cites the piece as recommended reading.