If you don't have anything nice to say...

This weekend's coverage of the election on CNN tells us one thing about the network. If you don't have anything nice to say...tell CNN.

CNN's Sunday coverage was an onslaught of bad news. Palin accused Obama of palling around with terrorists (which CNN truthchecked--untrue), specifically his "association" with anti-war radical Bill Ayers. In response, Obama's campaign refuted the attack, saying the accusation was "not surprising given the McCain campaign's statement this morning that they would be launching Swift Boat-like attacks in hopes of deflecting attention from the nation's economic ills."

The accusation may be false, but it doesn't take back the fact that the American people heard it. For the Americans who are only passively listening, they may only catch the accusation, and ignore the refutal.

That's why Obama smartly chose to refute the accusation in addition with attacking the McCain campaign for ignoring the economy issue. In fact, CNN gave Obama one of the longest bouts of airtime I've seen yet, showing a clip of his speech in North Carolina today.

The CNN correspondents said it right: the gloves are off.

And the negative campaigning doesn't stop there. Yesterday, Obama attacked McCain's helath care plan. Today Sarah Palin attacked Obama for his tax plan. Obama has a new ad accusing McCain of being "erratic" and "out of touch." The candidates are suffering from bruises, if not bloody noses and black eyes.

It looks like the parties are getting involved too. The Republican National Committee called today for an audit of all contributions to Obama's campaign. Obama turned the issue right back around to McCain contributions, quoting how McCain has had to turn over $1.2 million in donations due to potential violations of the law. During the reporting of this campaign trail update, CNN noted how quick to respond Obama's campaign seems to be. That attribute seems to be paying off for the presidential candidate.

On top of all the cheap shots and accusations, Obama's running mate, Joe Biden, announced his (real, not pretend) suspension of his campaign this week as his mother-in-law died today. My heart goes out to you Joe! Can I call you Joe? I mean, Sarah Palin does.

Overall, CNN's use of boxing analogies is keeping me entertained, if nothing else. When it comes down to it, the negative campaigning may hurt both candidates as we come down to the tail end of the campaign trail. CNN acknowledges this, and yet their weekend coverage of the election is the Debbie-downer capitol of the world.

The Grade: A- All the bad news is sickening, but CNN is in its prime. After all, no one (at least in the journalism biz) really thinks no news is good news.