Rachel Maddow clears the air on Countdown with Keith Olbermann before last night's debate:
OLBERMANN: What do those associations say? Whether or not the Democrats want to use them, what do they say about McCain and Palin?
MADDOW: Well, there's a charitable way and uncharitable way to look at it.
The charitable way to look at it is to say-well, these guys as white politicians, as Republicans, as conservatives know that their associations will never be used against them because they know who their political opponents are, they know how the game is played, they know that the playing field is not level in this regard. So, they're not careful about who they associate themselves with. That's the charitable way to look at it.
The uncharitable way to look at it is that these guys have not cared in their political careers about associating themselves with extremists and radical groups because they have extremist and radical inclinations.
