Geraldine, come on.

Do these people (all politicians of all stripes) know when they start slogging through the muck they don't exactly come out spotless themselves? Always, always, always the purely personal insult and attack is a hallmark of extreme weakness on the part of the one doing it.

And if it is perceived that they speak on behalf of another candidate, even unofficially but simply perceived as being on "the other guy's side," they sure do leave an embarrassing stink in their wake that threatens to overwhelm their would-be leader's own message.

Today, Ms. Ferarro successfully weakened the Hillary Clinton campaign by standing up as a Hillary Clinton supporter to say she thinks Barak Obama is where he is because he's black. She thinks Barak Obama would not be running for President if he was a white guy.

And now Geraldine is parsing and re-parsing and re-shaping her remarks into a noble battle over freedom of speech. Geraldine, honey, certainly you have a right to hold any political view and share your opinions and especially to share your opinions about any politician.

The only people at this point who have a righteous motive for wanting to shut you up are the wise heads (if there are any) in the Hillary campaign.

Because, you see, just because you have the right to say something stupid doesn't always mean you should say it. Not if you care about the impression you make on behalf of the candidate you hope you are helping because remarks like that are like using a big fat crayon to draw a circle around your candidate and then a big fat arrow pointing to her with the caption, "This candidate is in trouble so let's try something desperate."

The more you throw the muck, the more you get on yourself and your candidate.

What you did was really, really dumb. Poor Hillary. With friends like you...

READ THE NEWS ARTICLE HERE.

Fight the Lies, Part Deux

As a follow-up to my post below, "Fight the Lies..."

Obama takes on question of faith

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Barack Obama is stepping up his effort to correct the misconception that he's a Muslim now that the presidential campaign has hit the Bible Belt.

...Obama tried to set the record straight from an attack circulating widely on the Internet that is designed to play into prejudices against Muslims and fears of terrorism.

"I've been to the same church — the same Christian church — for almost 20 years," Obama said, stressing the word Christian and drawing cheers from the faithful in reply. "I was sworn in with my hand on the family Bible. Whenever I'm in the United States Senate, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. So if you get some silly e-mail ... send it back to whoever sent it and tell them this is all crazy. Educate."

Obama is referring to a debunked chain e-mail circulating widely on the Internet that suggests he is hiding his Islamic roots and may be a terrorist in disguise. It says he was sworn into the Senate on the Quran and turns his back on the flag during the pledge.

There are some truths in the e-mail's details. Obama's middle name is Hussein. His father and stepfather were Muslim. And he spent part of his childhood in Indonesia, a largely Muslim country. But he attended secular and Catholic schools, not a radical madrassa.

His campaign has been pushing back against the false rumors all year. His aides decried an incorrect news report that Obama was educated in a Muslim madrassa and a section of his Web site is devoted to correct that and other false rumors circulating on the Internet.

But they are stepping up the effort now that the campaign has hit South Carolina and soon turns to other southern states where religion is so important to voters. The campaign distributed an open letter from seven Jewish senators this weekend condemning the attacks; aides are planning an event this week to respond directly to the e-mails; and campaign representatives blanketed South Carolina churches Sunday with literature that touted Obama's Christian faith.

MORE...

The campaign of lies against Barak Obama reveals the desperation and fear felt by his opponents. To have to resort to such ridiculous lies... have they nothing of substance of their own? Nothing to recommend themselves? No truth of their own to say, "Here, this is why you should vote our way..."

Say, what??? BOTH Hillary and Barak won in Nevada?

So Hillary "won" the Nevada primary? But, she got only 12 delegates to Barak winning 13. Huh? So how does that make her the winner?

READ MORE HERE

Obama pulls ahead for Democrats in Iowa Poll

I think we are seeing a contest between Obama's "positives" versus Clinton's "negatives." Obama's main positive point is that he makes a good showing for himself as an advocate of the American family because he, himself, is a family man and treasures his loved ones. Every time he talks, this comes through and it makes people take notice of this guy.

Hillary's main negatives are that she is thought of as almost a carbon copy of George Bush when it comes to Iraq and that a vote for her is a vote for George Bush's policies and the country is sick unto death of that.

She's also got a huge negative in being thought of as a major player in the Slime Machine of American Politics. She's not much more than pond scum when it comes to that and the only thing beneath her are the scum who have actually been convicted of corruption. Never mind that they're Republicans - all pond scum is starting to look alike anymore.

If Obama gets caught with a mistress or Hillary can vault herself out of the pond and show clear evidence of having a conscience, then things may change.

Unfortunately for Obama, his JFK-esque fresh image also makes the average person wonder if he's a bit too pure for Washington and world politics. Once there, could he kick ass?

Anyway, have a peek at what the Des Moines Register has t o say:

Barack Obama has pulled ahead in the race for Iowa's Democratic presidential caucuses, while the party's national frontrunner Hillary Clinton has slipped to second in the leadoff nominating state, according to The Des Moines Register's new Iowa Poll.

Despite the movement, the race for 2008's opening nominating contest remains very competitive about a month before the Jan. 3 caucuses, just over half of likely caucusgoers who favor a candidate saying they could change their minds.

...The lead change appears after weeks of increasing criticism of Clinton by Obama and Edwards about her position on U.S. policy toward Iran and questions of her candor.

Meanwhile, Clinton has recently begun accusing Obama of inexperience and criticizing his proposal to expand health insurance coverage.

The poll shows what has continued to be a wide gap between the top three candidates and the remainder of the field.

READ MORE OF THE ARTICLE HERE

Colin Powell on Barak Obama

From GQ's new interview with Colin Powell:

You've met with Barack Obama a couple of times and given him advice. Is it possible that you will support him?
I will give advice to any of the principal candidates. I've met with others, including John McCain and Rudy Giuliani. Barack called me and came by, and we had a long talk. Right before he decided to run, we talked again about the presidency and the type of decisions and problems that come in the middle of the night. I think he's a very impressive man, I think he's very smart, and I think he's going to be a formidable candidate.

Do you think he'd be a good president?
I don't want to start saying who would be a good president and who wouldn't. I will say that I don't see any among the major candidates who I think is unqualified to be president.

Would you be tempted to support Obama, even though he's a Democrat, because he would be transformational?
He is transformational because he is a black man who has become one of the leading candidates of a major party. That is exciting. It's transformational. But am I going to support him? I am going to be for who I think is the best person. Not the best Republican, not the best Democrat, not the best black guy or the best woman. I'm going to try to figure out who could best serve this country. And that's who I will be voting for.

Read the full interview here