Rove's Second Act

"Before the primary Obama was accused of not being black enough. Now he's too black. To the right-wing and much of the media, Rev. Wright is just the latest evidence of Obama's radical black nationalist past . . .

"Wright has always been an outspoken maverick and some of his words will likely turn some voters off, although these are probably people who would never vote for a Democrat anyway. You'd expect that, in the heat of an election, he'd be a little bit more tactful about what he says, though he did retire last month. Yes, Obama borrowed the title of one of Wright's sermons, 'The Audacity of Hope,' for his most recent book. But Wright's words, by and large, are not Obama's. Their connection is a personal one, not political.

"And, by the way, how come righteous Republicans are rarely asked about the views of their spiritual advisers?"

Now that Ashley Dupre (Spitzer's pal "Kristen") is making lots of money from having her song downloaded 300,000 times and eyeing million-dollar offers from the likes of Hustler, the LAT discovers that her tale of a struggling childhood doesn't quite wash:

"The neighborhood of opulent homes and neatly trimmed lawns where Gov. Eliot Spitzer's high-priced call girl grew up would seem the flip side of the world she described for herself on her MySpace page.

"Ashley Alexandra Dupre, an alleged call girl known as 'Kristen,' who helped bring down New York's governor, writes of a past checkered with poverty and even homelessness. It's a tough image to reconcile with the wealthy surroundings of a childhood spent with her mother, older brother and stepfather, an oral surgeon."

And in case you missed this line from David Paterson, who becomes New York's governor today:

" 'Just so we don't have to go through this whole resignation thing again," one . . . reporter asked, 'have you ever patronized a prostitute?' Paterson thought for a minute. 'Only the lobbyists,' he said."

But so much for the honeymoon. The New York Times hits the lieutenant governor with this front-page examination of his record:

"As a state senator, for instance, Mr. Paterson helped direct hundreds of thousands of dollars to a hospital in his Harlem district that for a time employed his wife, including for two years as its paid lobbyist in Albany.

"He sponsored legislation that would have made it legal for noncitizens to vote in state and local elections and another bill that would have made it legal to use force against a police officer while resisting a wrongful arrest -- a proposal that was blasted by police unions and went nowhere. And his father, Basil A. Paterson, is a top lawyer for some of the state's most powerful unions, whose money has long influenced policymaking in Albany."

The most interesting clue to how the media work, given that Paterson was the State Senate Democratic leader before becoming lieutenant governor, is this sentence: "By and large, his record escaped notice."

Howard Kurtz hosts CNN's weekly media program, "Reliable Sources."