I'm less concerned about who dug up the mud than how well it sticks.

I would expect a leader of the free world be able to dodge any amount of mud tossed in their direction no matter who it came from. If they can't then perhaps this is not the job for them.

For this round of mud slinging I give one point to Obama house because I don't see anything sticking at this point.

And take one point from slytherin Hillary house for at the very least attracting suspicion.

ooo mud fights!!!!!!

Actually, this seems like a good time to presettle an issue (at least among us here):

Query: If it were to turn out to be true that when living in Indonesia as a young child*, Barak Obama attended an Islamic school, what relevance or impact to his candidacy do you feel this should have?




*A bit of a reality check on the madrassa issue. First, Barak Obama does admit he attended madrassas while living in Indonesia. On pages 30-31 of his 1995 book Dreams of My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance he wrote:

and on page 271:

Now the key here, as so often these days it seems, is different people using the same words in different ways.

In Arabic, the word "madrassa" simply means "school." When Obama attended a Catholic school in Indonesia, he was, in the local language, attending a madrassa. If you went to Indonesia and wrote a report on your life and had it translated into Arabic, you might say that you attended madrassa for 12 years.

There is no inherent religious meaning to the word - in Arabic. That said, Indonesia is a Muslim nation and the public schools are not secular. So if you live in Indonesia and go to public school, there will be Islamic influences. Just like American public schools 50 years ago were heavily influenced by Christianity (and still are to some degree) even though they were not schools of religion.

As the word madrassa has been adopted by American English, it has a much more limited meaning of specifically being a school for advanced Islamic study.

So, yes, Barak Obama attended madrassa for his entire childhood on into adulthood (Indonesian public school, followed by Indonesian Catholic school, followed by Punohou in Honolulu, followed by Occidental College, Columbia University, and Harvard Law School), but at no point did he attend what most of us probably think of when we hear the word "madrassa." But that is our mistake, not his.

Personally, I think his experience makes him a much more interesting candidate and one that may have a bit more understanding of Islamic culture because of it. This certainly can't hurt if you end up being President at this time of Islamic strife.

Off topic but if elected I really do expect Obama to hook the nation up with fresh malasadas from the Punohou School Carnival (which is next weekend now that I think about it; anybody willing to hop over and bring back some for all of us?).

I wonder if Michelle Wie and Steve Case are annoyed at Obama for passing them as the most prominent alumni.

um, Stem Cell Research Prohibition ... just to name one off the top of my head.

Ah, it's his mistake if he doesn't clear that up as quickly, succinctly and well as Alex just did.

He did not prohibit it- that is another untruth. First President to federally fund it- he just would not authorize the CREATION of more lines.

That does not force his faith on the country.

Sure it did. Presumably there were people who wanted to create more lines and people who though federal funding of that would be appropriate. Because of his person moral views, views that he recognized are not nearly universal, he prohibited it.

In my view, a president, when in such a situation has only one reasonable option: punt it to congress.

"Because of my religious and moral views I can not endorse federal funding of that nature. However, this is an issue still very much up for debate and reasonable people can disagree. Therefore, I ask Congress to tackle this issue and try to find the will of the people. While I personally stand on one side of this issue, I will accept their answer for that is their role."

Considering that second sentence is pretty much how Bush started the address to the nation where he announced the prohibition, the next two sentences seem very reasonable to me.

I fail to see how that forces his faith on the country.

He did force anyone to convert.
He did not force anyone to agree.

He made a decision- which of course would not be agreed upon by everyone.

Is someone actually trying to sell the BS that Bush is the only President to ever make a choice based on his faith and moral beliefs?

Spare me.