Quote:
Obama refutes e-mails calling him "closet Muslim"

BY MARTIN C. EVANS AND KEITH HERBERT | martin.evans@newsday.com; keith.herbert@newsday.com
January 24, 2008

SUMTER, S.C. - Barack Obama broke into his stump speech throughout a day of campaigning in South Carolina yesterday to take on an e-mail whisper campaign that included allegations that he refuses to take the Pledge of Allegiance and is a "closet Muslim."

Obama referred to the whisper campaign during a morning radio program and later at campaign stops, telling an audience at a Sumter church that some had been "bamboozled."

"I've been a member of the same church for nearly 20 years, praying to Jesus with my Bible," Obama told 1,200 people at a church-run community center in Sumter. "Don't let people turn you around because they're just making stuff up. That's what they do, they try to bamboozle you."

Obama is a longtime member of a Trinity United Church of Christ, in Chicago. Members of the U.S. Senate regularly recite the Pledge of Allegiance while that body is in session.

For the past two weeks, South Carolina residents have been receiving e-mail containing false information regarding Obama.

The candidate is locked in a struggle with rival Hillary Rodham Clinton to win Saturday's South Carolina primary. A Zogby poll released yesterday showed him leading her there, 43 percent to 24 percent.

The state represents a huge opportunity for Obama, who has gained overwhelming support among the largely black Democrats since winning in Iowa.

The Obama campaign also defended itself against a Clinton radio spot referring to his comments about Ronald Reagan.

The radio ad implies Obama supported Reagan's policies. Obama has said the former president was a transformative figure but stressed repeatedly that he does not agree with Reagan's policies.

Obama, who has been the subject of campaign attacks by former President Bill Clinton, hit back hard this morning, saying Americans "are looking for a president they can trust."

"That's not what we're seeing out of the former president and the Clinton campaign over the last several weeks," he said.

Clinton, campaigning in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, steered clear of the controversy between her husband and Obama. At a rally in Hackensack with a large and enthusiastic crowd, she gave a stump speech that hit on universal themes, including health care and ending the war in Iraq. But she never mentioned Obama by name and kept away from the sharp attacks that have marked the campaign recently.

Her only veiled reference to Obama came when she talked about her plans for bringing the troops home from Iraq. She urged a more cautious approach. "Some people will come here and tell you it can be easily done," she said. "You have to do it carefully." She restated her plans to begin bringing troops home within 60 days of becoming president - one or two divisions a month.


Ah yes. An OVERT attack along that line. A cowardly one at that since it was done with no way to trace it's origin.