Here's Politico's Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen, on what they describe as a White House “campaign” to undermine ideological adversaries:

It's too early to tell if the campaign is working, but it's clearly exacerbating partisan tensions in Washington.

“Clearly”? Really?

According to VandeHei & Allen, the campaign is the result of August planning meetings among White House staff. And what had been happening prior to the launch of this fall “campaign”? Conservatives had been accusing President Obama of secretly being Kenyan, of favoring government death panels, and assorted other atrocities.

But according to Politico, we're supposed to believe that the White House is to blame for “clearly exacerbating partisan tensions” because it began responding forcefully to the people behind those smears? Absurd.

Even if there were any evidence at all that there is greater “partisan tension” in Washington today than there was two months ago -- and there isn't -- it would be nothing short of perverse to blame people who have begun responding to overheated attacks for worsening the tensions.