Don't be fooled. McCain is flush with RNC cash raised by George Bush.

On June 28, Jed wrote a post titled, "The Myth of John McCain's Fundraising Disadvantage." It is a myth perpetuated by McCain's friends in the media, despite being told otherwise by the McCain campaign:

In fact, when McCain campaign manager Rick Davis gave a strategy briefing to supporters earlier this month, he explicitly noted that as far as the general election is concerned, there is no meaningful distinction between McCain campaign fundraising and RNC fundraising.

Davis argued -- correctly -- that to get a true understanding of who is leading the fundraising battle, one must look at the combined totals of each candidate and their party.

In other words, it's not the John McCain 2008 committee versus the Obama for America committee, it's McCain+RNC versus Obama+DNC.

In fact, the RNC is delivering gobs of cash for McCain -- and George Bush is out there clandestinely raising a lot of that dough as the Washington Post reported earlier this week:

[Bush] has already clocked 31 political events this year, raising nearly $70 million for GOP candidates and the national and state parties, according to the Republican National Committee. The tally puts the president on track to meet or exceed the amount he raised before the midterm elections in 2006, according to GOP officials.

To look at it another way: Since the start of 2007, Bush alone is responsible for raising more money than the entire Democratic National Committee.

Finally, some in the traditional media are starting to grasp the McCain/RNC/Bush fundraising prowess. Newsweek looks at the numbers:

When you combine McCain's individual war chest with his party's bankroll, it turns out the Republican nominee has about $90 million currently burning a hole in his pocket, while Obama and the DNC weigh in at a relatively paltry $47 million, or half as much. And even though McCain has agreed to an $84.1 spending limit by accepting public funds--a decision he likes to portray as a principled stand against the corrupting influence of money on politics--at least double that sum will be dropped on his behalf before Election Day thanks to loopholes in the law that allow outside groups to effectively skirt such limits with largely unregulated "soft money" contributions.

McCain's "principled stand" is just another fundraising scam. And, let's not forget, this fundraising is fueled by George Bush.

The RNC is already running negative ads against Obama. Those ads are bought and paid for by George Bush.