The Washington Post sure knows how to spread it. Now, left wing political hacks are smearing it.

WaPo's flawed hit piece on Mitt Romney ("Mitt Romney's prep school classmates recall pranks, but also troubling incidents") has given the left something to write about to distract from Obama's disastrous record.

At The Daily Beast, Bill Clinton hack Paul Begala has a piece ("Once a Bully, Always a Bully") that begins, "Romney would be able to dismiss the bullying story as ancient history if it didn't confirm what we already suspected about him -- that he's a serial abuser of power."

I saved a 2008 official Democratic National Committee fundraising email from Begala, and it's reprinted below.

What self-respecting person believes anything said by the left anymore?

Apparently, it didn't take long for the "Grand Oil Party" to come unglued. After I called their fat-cat funders a bunch of dirtbags in my email to you on Sunday, they started squealing like a pig stuck under a gate.

House Republicans are crying so hard over my "dirtbag" comment, you'd think they just found out they were forced to spend the Fourth of July quail-hunting with Dick Cheney.

So I want to take a minute to do something I don't do often enough: apologize. I am very sorry for calling those fat-cat plutocrat Republicans "dirtbags." Doing so was grossly unfair. To bags of dirt. After all, dirt is good. Things grow from the dirt. I myself raise tomatoes and corn and pumpkins, jalapenos and cucumbers and lettuce - all from the good earth.

No, it was too kind, too generous to call them dirtbags. Probably better to call them oilbags or toxic-waste-bags or chemical-pollutant-bags. So I'm sorry.

Still, even though I used such a comparatively flattering term, the Republican whine machine was in full whimper. Yesterday, before their alligator tears even dried from crying about me calling them out, they mobilized their favorite shadowy attack squad and Karl Rove-backed Freedom's Watch to come after Democrats launching vicious attacks against 16 Democrats starting today - please help us hit back twice as hard with our own ads.

Contribute $35, $50, or more to our EXTENDED DEADLINE Matching Campaign before July 4th to fight back against the Rove-Freedom's Watch attacks - Democrats will still MATCH and TRIPLE your gift.

Of course the Republican hypocrites are launching their attacks today. Between my comment about their 'dirtbag' funders and my good friends at the DCCC hiring a 'W' impersonator to record radio ads against their Big Oil friends in Congress, we've clearly gotten under their skin. As we say back home in Texas, "a hit dog barks."

They don't know how to handle a Democratic Party that is ready, willing, and able to hit back when the right-wing slime machine kicks into gear. This is exactly how we're going to win this year - but we need your help to keep it up.

Contribute $35, $50, or more to our EXTENDED DEADLINE Matching Campaign before July 4th to fight back against the Rove-Freedom's Watch attacks - Democrats will still MATCH and TRIPLE your gift.

The days of Democrats quietly enduring Republican smears are over - as are the days of Republicans living by a double standard. The Bush Republicans questioned the courage of a war hero like former Senator Max Cleland. They besmirched the war heroism of John Kerry. They spend years smearing Bill Clinton, savaging Hillary Rodham Clinton, and viciously attacking Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Harry Reid. Now they're attacking Barack and Michelle Obama. But the second I call their fat-cat funders "dirtbags," they turn into a bunch of blubbering cry babies.

This year, let's dry the crybabies' tears and celebrate Independence Day by giving Barack Obama the bigger, stronger Democratic Majority he'll need to declare our independence once and for all from the failed Bush-Cheney-Grand Oil Party policies for America.

Contribute $35, $50, or more to our EXTENDED DEADLINE Matching Campaign before July 4th to fight back against the Rove-Freedom's Watch attacks - Democrats will still MATCH and TRIPLE your gift.

Sincerely,

<셴̉>
Paul Begala

P.S. Let's show the "Grand Oil Party" that their fat-cats are no match for tens of thousands of grassroots supporters. Help us raise $8 million before July 4th to Fight the Rove-Freedom's Watch attacks that are starting today - Democrats have EXTENDED THE DEADLINE and will still Match and Triple your gift.