Today's Drudge and the Patriotism Questions
I've been getting a lot of emails from folks about the picture on the Drudge Report showing Barack Obama wearing traditional Somali dress. The Clinton campaign does not deny that it circulated it.
First, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe responded:
"It’s exactly the kind of divisive politics that turns away Americans of all parties and diminishes respect for America in the world.”
Then, Clinton campaign manager Maggie Williams:
“If Barack Obama’s campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed. Hillary Clinton has worn the traditional clothing of countries she has visited and had those photos published widely."
In a one-on-one with the Star-Telegram over the weekend, Obama addressed questions about his faith and patriotism head on:
Some critics have questioned your patriotism. Is that fair game?
It typically is based on this scurrilous e-mail that's been going around, which is completely false. So to the extent that it's a vicious, false rumor that's deliberately being spread over the Internet, no, that's not fair game. But nobody said politics was fair. It is important for us to dispel it ... I am not a Muslim and never have been. I've been going to the same church for the last 20 years. I was sworn in on my family Bible. And I have been pledging allegiance since I was 3. And in fact you can see it on C-SPAN sometimes. When I've opened up the Senate and am presiding over the Senate, I lead the Senate in the Pledge of Allegiance, so these are just the kinds of, I think, dirty tricks that you see crop up periodically.
