>You may have heard that Barack Obama defended himself yesterday against charges that he is unpatriotic. He also criticized a top advisor, Wesley Clark, for disparaging John McCain's military service. Obama has said many times how much he admires McCain as a patriot and as a man. I think a lot of people were skeptical about Obama's promise to keep it positive and refrain from mud slinging. He'll start doing it, too, they all do, yada yada yada. So far he hasn't. And I would say the same of McCain. They have significantly different political positions so they have criticized each other on that basis, but as far as I have seen there has been nothing personal or below the belt. Very refreshing.

You really missed this one. Both Obama and McCain are slinging through surrogates. Clark is just the latest. This is standard political maneuvering; Get the surrogate to sling the crap then distance yourself from the speaker. The thought is out there and the pol gets to appear above the fray.