Time magazine political analyst Mark Halperin (formerly of ABC and The Note) has a post up dispensing free advice to John McCain on how he can attack Obama. The pearls of wisdom dispensed include:

5. Make an issue of Obama’s acknowledged drug use.6. Allow some supporters to risk being accused of using the race card when criticizing Obama….11. Emphasize Barack Hussein Obama’s unusual name and exotic background through a Manchurian Candidate prism.

Aside from this being gratuitous and morally blinkered, I’m wondering what exactly Halperin thought the value-added of this post was. If he wants to be a campaign strategist for the McCain campaign (or any other for that matter), I’m sure he could get a job doing just that. But he’s, in name at least, a journalist, with some basic responsibility to provide his readers with insight into the race. There’s no insight in this list — every attack he mentions has been made in the wingnut’osphere and in emails. So, really, what’s the point? As far as I can tell it’s mostly to burnish a reputation as being a savvy and unsentimental insider. If you were looking for artifacts to collect under the heading Why People Hate The Media, this would be at the top of the list.