Barack Obama warned his staff not to wear green clothing if accompanying him on his current trip to the Middle East. And it's not because he's mad Al Gore won't be his Vice President...
An Obama aide explained to reporters that green is the color associated with the militant Palestinian group Hamas. But while the color does appear on Hamas banners, there is no particular symbolism to wearing green clothes, experts said.
Moreover, green is more generally seen as a symbol of Islam.
Many people believe this has less to do with Hamas than with discredited smears perpetuated by Obama's detractors that he is a practicing Muslim. Obama's campaign, like many Democrats, is choosing to bend over backwards to make sure their enemies have no ammunition rather than fight the lies.
“I’ve been to the Middle East with Secretaries of State and on my own, and I’ve never heard of anything like that,” said New York Sun national security reporter Eli Lake.
Hamas, the group that controls the Gaza Strip, flies a green flag, as do some other Islamist groups. But the color appears on a vast array of official symbols, including the Saudi flag. Jordan’s Queen Rania al-Abdullah has been pictured in green outfits. [Politico]
In other news from the campaign trail, the Republican candidate himself is giving the Democrats plenty of ammo to "smear" him with in some sort of hackneyed attempt at redirecting the media's attention toward him. Today it was reported that McCain referred to an "Iraq-Pakistan border," which does not exist. (He meant "Afghanistan," not Iraq.)
Just in the past three weeks, McCain has also mistaken "Somalia" for "Sudan," and even football’s Green Bay Packers for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Ironically, the errors have been concentrated in what should be his area of expertise: foreign affairs.
The McCain campaign says Obama has had plenty of flubs of his own, including a reference to "57 states" and a string of misstated place names during the primaries that Republicans gleefully sent around as YouTube links.
Via Politico.