Google came out slinging mud at Microsoft this weekend as many expected when the $47 billion Yahoo takeover bid was announced. Watching the two giants slug it out will be a welcome alternative to the expected swiftboating of the Democratic presidential nominee. This is going to be fun.

From The New York Times:

Publicly, Google came out against the deal, contending in a statement that the pairing, proposed by Microsoft on Friday in the form of a hostile offer, would pose threats to competition that need to be examined by policy makers around the world.

Privately, Google, seeing the potential deal as a direct attack, went much further. Its chief executive, Eric E. Schmidt, placed a call to Yahoo’s chief, Jerry Yang, offering the company’s help in fending off Microsoft, possibly in the form of a partnership between the companies, people briefed on the call said.

Google’s lobbyists in Washington have also begun plotting how it might present a case against the transaction to lawmakers, people briefed on the company’s plans said. Google could benefit by simply prolonging a regulatory review until after the next president takes office.

In addition, several Google executives made “back-channel” calls over the weekend to allies at companies like Time Warner, which owns AOL, to inquire whether they planned to pursue a rival offer and how they could assist, these people said. Google owns 5 percent of AOL.

 From The Los Angeles Times:

Microsoft's current main competitor on the Web, Google Inc., still doesn't look kindly on the software giant. A blog post on Google's corporate website Sunday said Microsoft's $44.6-billion bid for Yahoo Inc. raised "troubling questions" about maintaining openness on the Internet and referred to Microsoft's "inappropriate and illegal" past behavior.

But the broader reaction here to the prospect of Microsoft snapping up a local icon illustrates how attitudes have evolved.

For the most part, technologists now see Microsoft as tolerable, not pernicious. It might be sad that struggling Yahoo might join a company whose commercial power far exceeds its ability to innovate, many believe, but it's not the end of the world.

"Most of the valley has moved on from the anti-Microsoft days," said Talal Shamoon, chief executive of Intertrust Technologies Corp., a digital rights management company that successfully sued Microsoft for patent infringement.

That may be because there's a new beast in their own backyards: Google.