Via Andrew Sullivan: looks like Paul Begala and James Carville, who last week joined the KE04 campaign as advisors, will be maintaining their positions as co-hosts of CNN’s CROSSFIRE, apparently not seeing any conflict of interest in those two roles. CNN’s rationalization — that Carville and Begala are “unofficial” advisors and aren’t being compensated for services or otherwise maintaining offices — seems pretty freaking weak to me.

Of course, I wonder: this isn’t the first time either Carville or Begala have advised a Democratic candidate during this campaign. Was it a conflict of interest then, or just now? Was it even really “campaign advice” in the show’s context of entertainment? When does a consultant and part-time anchor stop being a consultant? Is there even a way to tell?

Still stinks here, though.