Today’s Washington Post tells the sad tale of poor Ed Rollins, long-time Republican hatchet man/political consultant from the Reagan era, who now advises Governor Huckabee’s campaign. Poor Ed is the guy who gleefully stepped forward to take the fall for coming up with that totally justified negative ad in response to the not-really Christian distortions Mitt Romney has been using against the Huck.

The WaPo felt so badly for Ed that they’ve run a highly sympathetic article describing the distress Ed is suffering. As Jane reported Monday, that really nice Huck decided at the last minute to pull Ed’s hit piece on Romney, because — well, because it’s just the other cheeky thing to do.

In fact, WaPo felt so badly for Ed that they’ve attached a video of The Huck’s description of the ad and why Romney totally deserved it but gosh, that’s not what our campaign is about, so we’re showing the ad itself — sort of — before we hand it over to the CIA for destruction. And thanks to Ed talking to the accommodating WaPo, you and 20 million others can watch it here.

It is very important that you watch the ad, because otherwise you won’t understand Huck’s explanation for why you shouldn’t watch it, and heaven knows, the man doesn’t want to be misunderstood. And besides, if you don’t watch the ad, poor Ed will have to confront his demons:

"What I have to do is make sure that my anger with a guy like Romney, whose teeth I want to knock out, doesn’t get in the way of my thought process."

Fortunately for Romney and Chris Matthews, Romney still has his teeth. But isn’t it amazing what spending a little time with a Baptist preacher can do for a guy’s anger? I’ll bet Ed will never again brag about trying to bribe African American ministers to suppress the Democratic vote in New Jersey.

Did I mention that you can watch the ad here?

File under: Rollins, Ed; mission accomplished.