First, the current scandal. A Clinton staffer supposedly leaked a photo of Barack Obama dressed in a turban and robe (i.e. like a Muslim) to the Drudge Report. The Obama campaign shrugged it off and pointed out that these are the sort of tactics used by candidates who are desperate:
"Everybody knows that whether it's me or Senator Clinton, or Bill Clinton, that when you travel to other countries they ask you to try on traditional garb that you have been given as a gift," Obama told Dallas/Ft. Worth radio station WBAP.
"The notion that they would try to use this to imply in some way that I'm foreign, I think is, you know, unfortunate. These are the kinds of political tricks and silliness you start seeing at the end of campaigns."
This is true - you can look at just about any major politician, and find pictures of them wearing all manner of crazy things. It certainly does smack of desperation on the part of the Clinton campaign, although Hillary says she didn't know about it. She maintains this is an attempt by Obama to take the spotlight off of his policy deficiencies, and also points out that there are photos of her wearing clothing from all parts of the world from her time as First Lady. Still, something smells funny here:
During a Monday conference call with reporters, Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson said that the former first lady's campaign "did not sanction" the leaking of the photo. But he stopped short of denying whether a Clinton aide may have passed it to the DrudgeReport.
Back in October, The New York Times identified Tracy Sefl as the Clinton campaign's conduit to the DrudgeReport.
Asked by ABC News on Monday if she gave the photo to the DrudgeReport, Sefl, who is vice president at the Glover Park Group, said, "no."
Like Wolfson, she could not speak for all Clinton campaign associates.
Asked if she has contacted the DrudgeReport to seek a correction to its claim that the Clinton campaign is the source of the photo, she said, "No comment."
If there's smoke...
Anyway, the desperation could be coming from the fact that Obama has opened up a 16-point national lead over Clinton, and there appears to be no shortage of finger-pointing and frustration in the campaign. Despite all this, Jay Cost at RealClearPolitics.com says she still has a reasonable chance to win. It all hinges on her winning -- the margin doesn't matter -- Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
It's amazing that Hillary, who has a reputation of attacking anyone and everyone who gets in her way, has seemingly held back against Obama. After all, there are plenty of problems with him. For example, Obama has issued some clearly contradictory statements on whether racial preferences should be used for things like college admittance, he is showing some real signs of anti-Israeli sentiment, and his connections to Chicago slum lord Tony Rezko are deepening - they now include a convicted British-Iraqi criminal, shady real estate deals, and admitted 'mistakes'. My guess is that she can't say too much about stuff like this because it might draw more scrutiny than she's comfortable with on her own past, which is more checkered than the Daytona 500 flag.
By the way, if you're thinking of supporting Obama, you may want to read that last paragraph again: more and more connections are being made that indicate Obama is guilty of all kinds of corruption and shady deals. Hmmm...
On the other side of the aisle, Mike Huckabee was asked to comment on the McCain-New York Times kerfuffle, and whether or not it will hurt McCain's chances. I like his response:
[O]n Monday, Huckabee was asked if this was McCain's "macaca" moment, referring to the infamous incident in which then-Senator George Allen, R-Va., referred to a Democratic operative in an otherwise supportive crowd by the offensive term.
"It's something that could be like that," Huckabee said, "Obviously, that one didn't seem to make a big difference. In fact, if anything it's helped John McCain and I'm kind of hoping the New York Times will take me on and run a nasty front page story -- may be the best thing that could happen to me, certainly was to him."
I have to admit that I would love to see Huckabee take on either of the Dems in a live debate. I think he'd run rings around them - it would be quite entertaining!
This concludes your daily dose of election news - more fun stuff later on!
There's my two cents.
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