Josh Marshall uses a term “riding the tire swing” to describe journalists who get too cozy with politicians (the term comes from descriptions of major media figures eating BBQ and riding the tire swing at John McCain’s ranch.) Was PubDef’s Antonio French riding Peter Kinder’s tire swing today?

French had a rather long post today recapping Kinder’s outreach to the African-American community in Saint Louis, topped off with a release of new endorsements from black leaders, and ending with a note about Kinder’s “angry response” to Sam Page’s negative ads and an embedded video of that “angry response.”

For the record, it wasn’t just an angry response. Kinder went ballistic and compared Sam Page to Goebbels and Hitler. Even if Sam Page weren’t a kind man who went down to the Gulf region to volunteer his time and expertise to help Katrina victims, you don’t compare your opponents to genocidal maniacs just because you think their negative ads are mean. And if Peter Kinder were comfortable with his lead, you’d think he’d be able to tone it down a little bit.

Watch the video:

And of course, Kinder’s rant about anonymous bloggers (I think Fired Up got under his skin, too) and “unsourced claims” by Page are meritless. Put on your reading glasses, Peter, the sourcing is right there on the screen.

Getting back to Antonio, why put a gauzy post about African-American support for Kinder front and center while burying an outrageous historical analogy at the bottom of the post and framing it as a legitimate response to negative ads? Tire swing?