Newsweeks brings its usual benign perspective to all things Republican

Newweek leveled a weird post-campaign attack against a conservative funder in its Dec. 13 issue in the Periscope section. A snippet, which pretty much sums up the problems with the article:

In the closing weeks of the campaign, a reclusive Texas home builder pumped nearly $7 million into two 'independent' political groups to help finance TV ads against John Kerry. The builder, Robert Perry of Houston, got attention in August when he gave $200,000 in seed money for the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth -- the so-called 527 group that attacked Kerry's war record. Campaign records examined by NEWSWEEK show that, in October alone, Perry gave $3.8 million more to the Swift Boat vets and $3 million to Progress for America, a separate 527 organized by a GOP consultant with close ties to the Bush campaign. Perry's total donations to GOP-oriented 527s -- $8.1 million -- made him the biggest single donor for Republican 527s this year. That's still behind big Dem 527 donors like financier George Soros ($27 million to groups such as MoveOn.org) and Hollywood producer Steve Bing ($13 million).

First, why are they singling out Perry in this sneering way, when it's clear he's a piker compared to Soros, and a distant second to someone like Bing? Second, why is the Swift Boat veterans a "so-called 527," while MoveOn.org doesn't get that snide comment attached to it? This just seems like a belated attempt to smear Bush as the rich white guys' candidate, which is rather bizarre when one considers that Newsweek is honest enough to properly identify Kerry as the real rich white guys' candidate.