Obviously it would have been a very stupid move for the HRC camp to release this photo--not that I actually find anything wrong with it, as Maggie Williams points out.  

Either the photo is potentially damaging, or it's not. Which is it?

Now, maybe it came from someone in her campaign, but the campaign has not admitted that it did, it has only said it cannot be sure because of how many people are involved in the campaign.  

I see nothing wrong with this. I don't know why the Obama camp is so over-hyped about this. Plus, if this is something to worry about, then better sooner rather than later.

Second, And the smear? If it was a smear, then why are there no quotes from the email attached to the image? An image like that is not necessarily accompanied by a smear.

In fact, there does seem to be a rather quick assumption by Josh Marshall and others that the image per se is a smear against Obama, and that means that he and others see Muslim garb itself as a smear.

I am very tired of the Obama camp thinking that everyone should take care of them and make it all nice for them. If this upsets him, then he is completely unprepared for Republican attacks. If he cannot stand the heat, then he should drop out of the race.

If there's a photo of Obama having sex with satan out there I hope they push it simply because I know the Obama camp would have done so if they were in the position in to do so.

I know you are trying to be objective and do what's right for the party, but that's not what it's about anymore.

I asked Tracy Sefl, the Clinton adviser who was outed a few months back as an informal conduit between the Clinton campaign and Matt Drudge, whether she had anything to do with the photo's journey to Drudge's e-mail inbox.

"No," she said.

Even if the Clinton camp pushed this, apparently BTD is going to blame Clinton and her campaign directly.

Apparently BTD isn't going to let them off the hook for "just trying to win an election," the same way he lets Obama off the hook for "just trying to win an election."

The stink is on you, BTD.

It's there.

"Enough.

"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.

"This is nothing more than an obvious and transparent attempt to distract from the serious issues confronting our country today and to attempt to create the very divisions they claim to decry.

And, lately during the primary, TPM has been jumping to conclusions about the Clinton campaign that tend to undermine their credibility as a source of dependable reporting.

Which is a shame, since Josh and his crew did such good work on the USAG firings scandals and, early on, about FISA.  Given how he's jumped the gun on a couple high profile things about Hillary, I must now be more skeptical about all his reporting.

Drat. It was such a dependable source--I thought.

I truly hope he hasn't jumped the shark in jumping to conclusions....

Now, I found in my meanderings that Maggie Williams said she's been receivng emails about this photo apparently originating among rightwads--but, of course, it had to be Hillary's campaign sending it to Drudge?  They wouldn't have used a cut out?????

I believe Hillary is the better candidate, and would be the better leader. She's been the target of MANY unscupulous attacks in the past few months, and so while I'd be sad to see her lower herself to win, I think she's got more than a few 'get out of jail free' cards collected along the way to offset the gotchas she's probably going to unload.

This is pretty much a straight up "Obama's a secret Muslim" smear meme.  If Drudge has a staffer e-mail on file, that would explain the non-denial denial.

When you're touring a foreign country, sometimes the locals give you a gift.  Sometimes it's some kind of honorary local garb.  To be a good guest, you try it on.  End of non-story.

I'd be proud to see either one in office but right now am leaning more towards HRC because she's battle-tested, whereas he seems to get personally offended by attacks which, frankly, are laughably mild in the context of bigotry in the name of fear-mongering that has typified Bush - Rovian style "just politics" (snarfle snarfle snarfle).

Their respective campaigns, however, are doing what they do: playing hardball and hitting or whiffing in that regard in the Rove era. Just because that [expletive deleted] has "retired" from politics doesn't mean he's gone away.

This is another test of Obama's ability to handle adversity.  And today he and his campaign failed the test.

Obama is being backed by a special interest  group,LaRaza, that specializes in race baiting to promote open borders, and Obama gave a veiled promise to even end the ICE raids when elected. Farrakhan wants Obama elected because he believes Obama will put "whites" in their place.

If Hillary Clinton or any other person were being backed by these special interest people , there would be an uproar. Obama gets a pass.

No man or woman who believes our immigration laws should be virtually done away with are neither loyal Americans or fit to lead this country.