Good point earlier regarding Holly in Cincinnati.

I've come to notice that Holly is TMV's <strike>moderate</strike> neo-con, so it is not surprising that she took the article completely out of context. She tends to filter most of the candidates statements through her; whats good for <strike>Israel</strike> the Likud Party is good for the US filter and that makes me question the validity of most of her infrequent postings.

And yeah,gimme a break– since when do we choose our leaders out of fear of what a bunch of crackpot thugs think about them? Does Pipes know as little about democracy as he does Islam?

Last week, a group of top Jewish leaders representing groups across the religious and political spectrum issued a statement that sought to stem the onslaught of disinformation.

Leaders of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee, among others suggested the anti-Obama campaign represented an effort to “drive a wedge between our community and a presidential candidate based on despicable and false attacks and innuendo based on religion.” The group stressed their statement implied no endorsement of Obama’s candidacy.

Other signers included leaders of the United Jewish Communities, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, the Wiesenthal Center and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.

Newsweek magazine also published a “Fact Check” online two weeks ago examining and debunking the charges. And the Obama campaign itself is fighting back hard via press releases, public statements and distribution this week of an “open letter to the Jewish community” from seven Jewish Democratic Senate colleagues.

“Over the past several weeks, many in the Jewish community have received hateful emails that use falsehood and innuendo about Senator Barack Obama’s religion and attack him personally,” the Jewish lawmakers wrote. “As Jewish United States Senators who have not endorsed a candidate for the Democratic nomination, we condemn these scurrilous attacks. We find it particularly abhorrent that these attacks are apparently being sent specifically to the Jewish community. Jews, who have historically been the target of such attacks, should be the first to reject these tactics.”

The letter, written by Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), was signed by Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

Missing from the letter: Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), a leading supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s Democratic nomination bid, and Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wisc.). Two calls to Schumer’s office seeking information on his absence from the letter were not returned. An Obama campaign source said a decision had been made to stick with senators who were not backing any presidential candidate.

Only the likes of Schumer is perpetuating the smear, and Holly.

Riiiiight.

Any American president will be the target of Muslim extremist. How do you think they'll feel about a female president? Yeah, I'm sure that'll go down well. The fact of the gender or religion of any American president is besides the point, they'll want to kill the president no matter who he or she is.

If anything, electing Obama MIGHT (only might) serve to give contrast to extremists words in the eyes of ordinary Muslims. It won't help their rhetoric of the Great Racist Satan if the US elects a man of color with a middle eastern middle name to it's highest office.

And should conjecture about “the muslim world's” reaction really be a factor for choosing a leader?

There is no unified “muslim world”.