Candy Crowley grilled Obama senior political advisor David Plouffe on the rule change at the Department of Homeland Security that curtails deportations and makes work permits available to as many as 800,000 to 1.2 million work-age potential illegal immigrant applicants. Given that Barack Obama had three and a half years to do this, and had control of Congress for the first two years of his presidency, Candy Crowley asked, isn't the timing of this announcement just a wee bit political? Plouffe laughably insists that politics has nothing to do with it, and Crowley isn't buying it (hat tip - Ed Morrissey):

Less than 24 hours later, the New York Times reports that it's entirely political, despite what Plouffe protested yesterday, and that there was no other reason for this announcement other than electoral politics.

Meanwhile, Ed Rogers weighs-in at the WaPo on Plauffe's performance, saying it's clear that Team Obama lost the Sunday talk show cycle:

... The person who made a mistake going on the Sunday shows was White House senior adviser David Plouffe. His answers on the administration's handling of leaks of national security information were so rehearsed, clumsy and full of forced distractions and faux frustration that if this interview at the Fox studio had been conducted by law enforcement instead of Chris Wallace, Plouffe would have been told he was going for a ride downtown to the police station for further questioning. The administration has something to hide. Plouffe could not have been more parsed, poorly prepared or unconvincing.

acle, Plouffe proceeded to ABC, where he told George Stephanopoulos that Romney and Republicans are for the "wealthy, more war, and more debt." Either Plouffe believes this and therefore a more contextualized statement isn't required, or he believes voters are stupid and will accept his assertions at face value. Even Stephanopoulos pushed back a little on the "more war" comment, but Plouffe stuck with it. Charges like this turn voters off and, until now, have been the currency of wannabe TV commentators who aim to be the one to say the nuttiest thing on TV that day in hopes for a return appearance. Related: Racist: WaPo Notices That Adding 800,000 Illegals to Job Market Might Make Things Worse for Unemployed