I would love it if people like you could list out exactly what those underhanded things are? and seriously, steer clear of the race one (because its too gray to really parse) and do let me know what these "say anything and do anything to win" examples are.

I extend that challenge to any of you.

ps: you can't use republican smear websites for research

I don't even see the picture of Obama in Somali garb as offensive. Anyone who has a problem with it probably isn't going to vote for a Democrat anyway.

Does anyone remember when George W. Bush went to China and dressed in a Chinese outfit? Can you imagine what would happen if Hillary Clinton did that? Real Democrats wouldn't care but the "swing voters" are apparently easy to distract.

Personally, I don't think the "3am" was out of bounds and I certainly don't see anything racist about it. I didn't want Bush or Cheney answering the phone at 3am and they're both White.

Barack "Golden Boy" Obama is not above any other politician when it comes to using misinformation for his own benefit. That Somali photograph probably did not come from the Clinton staffers, and even if it did there's no reason to think that there was malicious intent behind it (Clinton has also been photographed wearing native garb in foreign countries, and frankly, John McCain is probably the only person who would be offended to see Obama in Somali clothing).

Yet here he uses it to paint Clinton as no better than the Republicans, when the sad reality is, both of them are sort of pathetic at this point.

Oh, please.

Like Obama needs to raise questions about Clinton's racial manipulations to win Mississippi.

Also, for the record, I don't think the real point is that Clinton is a racist.

It's more that Hillary Clinton is an unscrupulous person who will say or do anything to get elected. The racism is just incidental to the fact that she happens to be running against a black man.

She'll use any weapon at her disposal and that just happens to be the weapon at hand.

She's campaigning like a Republican. She's doing Karl Rove's and John McCain's heavy lifting. Obama should paint her as a "Republican" every chance he gets...and his chances should be boundless.

Seems a little pussified to complain that campaigning is...oh, campaign like and such. Much too dirty for Jesubama to be involved in.

whether the [photo] was leaked by their staff

There was no "leakage," nor even any "release" of the photo. It was from AP, taken during its coverage of Obama's trip to Africa in 2006. Word doesn't seem to have gotten around that it had appeared in the February 4 issue of the tabloid "National Examiner," or that it was posted on two right-wing blogs the weekend before Drudge put it up.

As far as we know, there was no "circulation" of the photo either. According to Drudge, a Clinton staffer emailed it to another Clinton staffer, or staffers, remarking that any photo of Hillary in native garb would have been on the front pages.

We don't know how, or even whether, Drudge obtained a copy of this alleged email, or if he did, whether it actually originated with a Clinton staffer. We have only his word for it.

This is the basis of Obama's claim that the Clinton campaign "starts leaking photographs of me...wearing native clothes...to make people afraid"?

And Clinton is the one using "Republican tactics"??

BTW, the teaser line below the link to Koppelman's post is, "The Illinois senator goes after his opponent, and considers her campaign's culpability in a recent controversy."

No, he didn't "consider" her campaign's culpability in the photo controversy. He flat-out accused her campaign of being culpable...without a shred of evidence.

Yes, Obama fans the "Clinton is racist" meme just in time for the Mississippi primary - coincidence?

Opus, I started out this campaign with a great deal of respect for Mrs. Clinton. As a matter of fact, I was a bit torn as to whom I would give my support. After much investigation and thought, I chose Mr. Obama, but only by a slight margin and would have been happy to support either candidate as the nominee. Sadly, as I have contrasted the behaviors of the two candidates during the last few weeks, I have found myself losing all my respect for Mrs. Clinton.

Like Mr. Obama, at the time of that debate, I gave Mrs. Clinton the benefit of the doubt; however, her actions since then have caused me to change my mind. I now believe that the distribution of that photo was just part of her campaign's "kitchen sink" strategy, which by the way IS quite "Rove-esque" in nature. Mrs. Clinton's actions have shown me that she is power hungry and willing to do or say anything to win.

over the message and intention of the Obama photo, try this test: Does it look like, smell like, taste like shit?

I apologize- I've told myself 100 times i will not get involved in yet another obama-clinton race relations conversation as i do not believe it is in any way is a good forum for conversations which help people grow and understand the issue.

It's too confrontational in a political setting.

Obama preaches for a new politics but he ignores his own gospels by reusing Republican memes for mudslinging Hillary. He's gotten a lot of mileage out of the "Clinton will do anything" and "Clintons are racist" memes so he's not willing to let those die. Talk about throwing the kitchen sink!

He must be taking flipflop lessons from John Kerry.

The NYT Op/Ed piece that a poster mentioned above, written by Orlando Patterson, professor of sociology at Harvard, ended with: It is possible that what I saw in the ad is different from what Mrs. Clinton and her operatives saw and intended. But as I watched it again and again I could not help but think of the sorry pass to which we may have come — that someone could be trading on the darkened memories of a twisted past that Mr. Obama has struggled to transcend.

"it is possible"....."what I saw in the ad is different"...."watched it again and again"....."we may have come".....

So, Professor Patterson, a surrogate for Obama, admits, in essence, that he has no idea what the ad's *subliminal* message is, but he'll be glad to conflate it into something RACIST to continue Obama's meme.

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose!