And so starts the xenophobic mudslinging....

As Obama gains increasing support among Democrats (including the endorsement of much respected Senator and former presidential candidate Chris Dodd), the Clinton campaign has unleashed what one aide called "the kitchen sink" attack plan. She has gone the "Obama is inexperienced" route, the "Obama is all talk" route, and now it seems that she is utilizing the "Fox News-like OBAMA IS MUSLIM" route to trash the popular Senator.

The Drudge Report printed the following photo of Obama in Somalia, dressed in traditional garb. They say that the photo was leaked by the Clinton Camp.

Clinton denies that the photo came from her campaign, but if it did, the smear tactic is really appalling. Despite the fact that Obama went to Somalia on a political trip and his traditional dress was a sign of respect, the publication of this photo assumes that Americans are xenophobic and racist -- unwilling to elect a president who is has any connection to Africa.

Featured below is a picture of Clinton in Eritrea in 1997, wearing ceremonial attire. Oh no, she once had to cover her head to observe Eritrean traditions! I guess this means I can't vote for her...

BUT the attacks have not come excusively from Dems. Republican radio host Bill Cunningham referred to Obama three times, using his full name Barack Hussein Obama while intoducing John McCain at a rally last week

McCain's response was admirable: “I condemn it, and if I have any responsibility, I will take the responsibility, and I apologize for it,” he said.

Click on this video to remember this Fox News classic from this summer.

Hillary, Hillary, Hillary

Bill Clinton has acknowledged that the future of his wife's campaign is contingent upon tomorrow's primaries in Texas, Ohio, Vermont, and Rhode Island (don't forget about RI!). Many pundits expect her to withdrawal from the race if she loses Texas and Ohio to Barack Obama.
Hillary has been making some bizarre attempts to appeal to the populace in the last few weeks, including an SNL appearance and a CREEPY endorsement video from Jack Nicholson (although, really, there isn't much he does nowadays that isn't creepy...)






Tune in tomorrow night to see if her attempts are in vain!

Bloomberg's Two Cents

Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg wrote an Op-Ed in The New York Times today, announcing that he will not run for president as an independent but that he will "continue to work to steer the national conversation away from partisanship and toward unity; away from ideology and toward common sense; away from sound bites and toward substance."



He also noted that he will endorse any candidate who "takes an independent, nonpartisan approach and embraces practical solutions that challenge party orthodoxy." He can't be talking about Nader...then who?



Over the summer, Bloomberg had a VERY PUBLIC breakfast with Senator Barack Obama. Hm.....

Debate #20

The 20th (and possibly the last!!) Democratic debate occurred in Cleveland, Ohio tonight. Here's a brief play-by-play:

-Unlike the last debate, which ended with Clinton professing how "honored" she was to share the stage with Obama, this debate had a seriously contentious feel. Clinton even accused the debate moderators Brian Williams and Tim Russert (who was his usual stiff, tomato-faced self) of favoring Barack. To a mixed response of boos and cheers, she asked, “Can I just point out that in the last several debates, I seem to get the first question all the time?” At least she didn't cry....

-Clinton even invoked the following SNL skit to prove her point that the press fawn over Obama:

-The two candidates spent the first half of the debate discussing the differences in their health care platforms (click on Obama or Clinton's name in the sidebar to learn more) and the reforms they would make on NAFTA (The North American Free Trade Agreement). NAFTA, which was enacted in the 1990s, deregulates trade between Canada, Mexico, and the US and is largely regarded as a failure of the Clinton Administration . Despite the ostensibly stimulating agreement, poverty and inequality still pervade Mexico, and American manufacturers are disadvantaged by the lack of tariffs. Both Barack and Hillary plan to renegotiate NAFTA, but Clinton, who used to trumpet the agreement as a success of her husband's administration, has since been accused of FLIP-FLOPPING on the issue.

-In response, Obama accused Clinton of "cherry-picking" from her husband's administration -- taking partial credit for its successes and distancing herself from its failures.

-The candidates even got into a debate bout semantics: Clinton said that Obama should have rejected the support of anti-Semitic reverend Louis Farrakhan, but instead he only denounced him...to which Obama responded, chuckling:

I don't see a difference between denouncing and rejecting....But if the word
"reject" Senator Clinton feels is stronger than the word "denounce," then I'm
happy to concede the point, and I would reject and denounce.

She seemed satisfied by her minor victory.

-The two candidates ended the debate with a cordial handshake. Oh, democracy.

If Barack gets Oprah, then Hillary obviously gets....

Ellen!
The lesbian talk show host "visited" Hillary on the campaign trail to discuss potential legislation banning glitter. The following clip shows the interaction, which is filled with Degeneres-absurdities:


>



How does Hillary come off? She is SO much more personable on the stump than she was when the campaign started.
Will an Ellen bump help Hillary?
According to a recent New York Times/CBS News poll, Obama has moved ahead in national polls with 54% of the vote, compared to Clinton's 38%.

Speaking of B.R.I.L.L.I.A.N.T videos....

Check out this SPOT-ON comparison of Hillary Clinton and Reece Witherspoon's type-A psychopathic character from Election.
Don't extend the metaphore too far...it gets awkward.

Look who's plagiarizing now!

Hillary Clinton recently accused Barack Obama of plagiarizing (see post below), but if you have time, watch this Meet the Press clip to see that so called "line-sharing" in politics is not uncommon, even in the Clinton Camp.

(*cough) HYPOCRISY (*cough)

Nader Enters Presidential Race

This morning on Meet the Press, Ralph Nader, perennial independent candidate who many accuse of stealing votes from Al Gore in 2000, handing the election to George Bush, announced that he is running for President.

Nader sites the fact that neither Obama, Clinton, nor McCain propose a single-payer health care plan -- that is, providing all Americans with health care from the government and not disparate insurance companies. Canada and most of Western Europe have single-payer systems, and Clinton and Obama have acknowledged that such a system is ideal, but impossible in the US, given the power of the American insurance industry.

The current presidential candidates seem unperturbed by Nader's announcement.

Let's take a look back at Nader's effect in the 2000 election:

2000:

Bush: 47.9%

Gore: 48.4%

Nader: 2.7%

in Florida:

Gore lost to Bush by 537 votes

Nader recieved 97,488 votes

Maybe they should start worrying!