Somewhere in America, the next Karl Rove is paying his dues, and odds are good he's doing so in part by crafting a narrowly-targeted attack website. The first one of these I saw accused police of conspiring to falsely convict the son of an Oakland politician of sexual assault. Russell Harding's is much more impressive. Convicted of embezzlement and child-porn possession, Harding has established a site called Rudy Veritas, where he tells unflattering stories involving his old boss Rudy Giuliani and Giuliani's associates. A convicted felon who just last year asked Giuliani for money is not the most credible source, as the Times points out this morning. But that didn't stop the newspaper from relaying some of Harding's allegations involving Giuliani's mistress Judith Nathan, and it won't stop others from checking out his description of marathon gambling and alleged illegal perks granted to John McCain.

In "Vegas, Baby, Vegas," Harding describes an invitation from Giuliani's chief of staff for the Arizona Senator to stay for free in the Bellagio, arrangements secured and likely paid for on a credit card from New York's Housing Development Corporation, which is supposed to spend its money building housing for poor people. Harding:

There are rules about accepting such things, either from a friend (if that was Tony) or from the hotel if indeed Tony had arranged it with the VIP office so that the hotel would swallow the cost for McCain from the outset. I thought it strange that these things never came up.

McCain also got a "vanity" police escort whenever he came to New York, Harding said. And he supposedly liked to spend a hours at the craps table with an attractive lady friend on his arm as a "lucky charm:"

We found Carol at the craps table shooting for McCain. It was sure a funny sight. He was calmly urging her on and the other gamblers were calling her by name telling her which point to hit. She was hitting it too. Tony told me that McCain really believed that Carol was lucky.

After a few minutes of this Tony said, “John, Carol’s gotta go with us for the day.” The crowd groaned. I laughed. It was a surreal thing. “No, no. She has to stay and roll for me,” McCain pleaded. “No John, I have to go with the boys,” Carol told him. At this point Tony introduced me. We left shortly thereafter.

We spent the day casino hopping, gambling and shopping. When I dropped them back off at their hotel I had to retrieve something from their room. Making our way through the casino to the elevators, sure enough what should we see but Sen. McCain shooting dice. “Jesus Christ”, I said. “How can he do that? He’s been standing there for eight straight hours.”

Response from the commenters has been surprisingly positive. "This forum is yet another example that there is hope of true reform from the selfish corruption that has consumed our society," one wrote.

A dishy smear site from a convicted felon and child porn consumer: Welcome to your unconventional new source of "true reform."