So here we go again.

Apparently a PAC that has direct ties to Chairman Dean has decided to run a new ad called “McCain and Cancer”. This is a 30 second spot that so far has only graced the airwaves of MSNBC. GO figure!! Brave New PAC is affiliated with Democracy for America

According to The Caucus here is whats going down.

Two liberal groups – one of them directed by a brother of the Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean – will begin running a graphic attack advertisement Thursday morning raising questions about Senator John McCain’s health. Showing vivid and unflattering images of the fresh scar that appeared on Senator McCain’s face immediately after his last operation for melanoma skin cancer eight years ago, the commercial ends with a screen headline that reads, “Why won’t John McCain release his medical records?”

Funny, I don’t remember Obama having a press conference about his medical records…or birth records if we really want to go there.

The ad comes from the same two groups that recently released an advertisement questioning whether Mr. McCain’s time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam adversely affected his ability to lead.

Democracy for America has as its chairman Howard Dean’s brother, James H. Dean. Federal rules prohibit coordination between outside groups and campaigns or parties.

But don’t worry nothing fishy here….Howard and James apparently don’t talk about this stuff. See, the Times says so:

Daniel Medress, a spokesman for Democracy for America, said James Dean has not spoken with his brother about his activities at the group, which Howard Dean started in 2004. “We don’t coordinate with them,’’ Mr. Medress said of the Democratic National Committee, adding that at family dinners the Dean brothers, “sit there and make small talk, because they can’t talk about their jobs.”

Brad Woodhouse, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, said Howard Dean carefully follows all rules and regulations.

Poor guys, limited to small talk at family events. Funny thing though, why have a pre-emptive denial of impropriety when no charge has been levied?

Brave New PAC is affiliated with California-based filmmaker Robert Greenwald, who runs several entities out of his “Brave New” office complex in Culver City; one of them, Brave New Foundation, a non-profit group that runs social issues campaigns, has as the chairman of its board Lawrence Lessig, a prominent Stanford Law School professor who has served as an informal adviser to Mr. Obama on technology policy issues.

Odd, Obama has a guy who runs a PAC that happens to put out attack ads about McCain, as an “informal” adviser. Seems dirty doesn’t it? No worries though, Ben LaBolt says the Obamabus is hungry anyhow:

Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for Mr. Obama, said the campaign had nothing to do with the spots and that Mr. Lessig had only advised Mr. Obama during the primaries, not in the general election. Mr. Woodhouse, the spokesman for Brave New PAC, said that Mr. Lessig is only affiliated with the Brave New Foundation, which operates in isolation from the political action committee. “There’s a fire wall there,’’ he said. “He has no relation to any of the projects we’re doing through the PAC.”

RNC Spokesman ain’t buying it:

Danny Diaz, a Republican National Committee spokesman, said, “The fact that Howard Dean’s brother and an adviser to the Obama campaign are behind despicable and cheap smear ads against Senator McCain is deeply disappointing, but in no way surprising. Barack Obama has promised Americans an elevated debate offering nothing but gutter, Chicago-style politics.”

So here is the rather dispicable add:

How can they justify this sort of tripe? Mr. Woodhouse of Brave New Pac has an answer:

We think this is an election issue, We have pictures of him with a scar to show that he has a history of surgery.

Nice….you stay classy.

The groups reported that they spent $50,000 to show the spot, $35,000 of it coming from Democracy for America and the remainder coming from Brave New PAC.