Are Republicans Targeting Michelle Obama?

There is ... something in the political winds. And it smells of cardomum and sulfur and, unfortunately, mischief (The Corsair uncorks a glass of "the fizzy").

Although our favorite Dickensian villain Robert Novak seemed to close the door on the door on the Whether-or-Not-Obama-is-Fatally-Flawed argument after the Senator won decisively in North Carolina and came within a whisker of winning Indiana, in spite of Limbaugh's despicable "Operation Chaos (Averted Gaze)." Recently, however, the right-wing blogosphere, columnists and certain television programs have advanced veiled, strange attacks on: a) Senator Obama's "associations," and, 2) Michelle Obama's brief comments about America taken entirely out of context, repeated, ad nauseum, at conservative venues.

First, this "associations" argument questions the Junior Senator from Illinois' judgement, conjuring up Jeremiah Wright, Tony Rezco and William Ayers. The Democrat Senator Hillary Clinton, ironically, was the first to bring this up at that last debate. The strategy failed. But The Clintons have always hinted at something.

Second, there is the subject of Michelle Obama's brief remarks. Today Senator Obama, a loyal husband, asked the GOP to kindly lay off his wife, Michelle. Some context: rumors are floating around the underbelly of the web -- eew -- today that there is a tape of Michelle Obama giving a racially incendiary speech at Trinity church. The reports come from a virulently pro-Clinton web site, "No Quarter," so keep that in mind.

According to this oily pro-Clinton vehicle, which says, in part, "(I)f you have a copy of the Michelle Obama video, in which she is lambasting white people ... at Jeremiah Wright’s church, then there is an ultra conservative Republican billionaire who wants to pay your $1 million dollars for the tape. Why? He hates John McCain. Conservative Republicans refer to John McCain as a Marxist and a sell out (and those are the nice comments). The billionaire in question believes Barack is a very weak candidate and, if he gets the Democratic nod, then McCain will surely be President. Especially after the October 'surprise' of Michelle Obama ... The billionaire wants to preempt McCain and Rove and has put the word out thru conservative networks that there is a $1 million dollar bounty for the person or persons who produce the tape."

Whew! Okay, now. We almost want to follow-up with tales of alien abductions and interdimensional communications through aluminum foil! ...Almost. But we are in the thick of a heated and historical poltical season.

Right now these allegations clearly fall in the "rumor" category, under the sub heading "thoroughly goddam weird." But .. it might have merit, considering that the Clintons have been pleading behind the scenes with super delegates to hold off on endorsing Obama because "Obama Can't Win." And it was Hillary, in her campaign's dying last gasp, who began this odd charge of Obama's "associations," which, at the time, was too crypto-gnomic to gain any political traction whatsoever.

As Senator Obama steadily advanced to the nomination, there has always been an undercurrent among the cognoscenti of "Why not?" Why, Senator Clinton, Can't Obama win? Do the Clintons know something that we don't know? Why are the Clintons so sure that the Obama candidacy will implode? Why does Senator Clinton's campaign -- despite the prohibitive electoral math -- continue to circle the Obama campaign like vultures over carrion? And why did the Clinton campaign veer, at the end, towards the white working-class vote in Appalachia? Was that political maneuver telegraphing something? And now: Is this sleazy, far-fetched sounding rumor true? Is this what the Clintons have been darkly hinting at?

Last night on The John Batchelor Show, Vaughn Ververs, of CBS News, when told about the tape, said the story has more plot twists than a movie. Clearly it does. On the surface, these stories of October Surprises, Karl Rove and this alleged Michelle Obama speech all strike us as being roadkill on the campaign trail impeding progress of the wheels of change.

But ... is there something? Or will this all simply come to naught?

UPDATE: From Politico: "Senator Obama, speaking to Robin Roberts on ABC's 'Good Morning America,' warns Republicans against trying to make Michelle an issue: 'The GOP, should I be the nominee— I think can say whatever they wanna say about me, my track record. I've been in public life for 20 years. … If they think that they're gonna try to make Michelle an issue in this campaign, they should be careful. Because, that I find unacceptable. … The notion that you start attacking my wife or my family — you know, Michelle is the most honest, the best person I know. She is one of the most caring people I know. She loves this country. And for them to try to distort or to play snippets of her remarks in ways that are unflattering to her I think is … just low class. And I think they — most of the American people would think that as well. I would never think of going after somebody's spouse in a campaign. And for — especially for — people who purport to be promoters of family values … o start attacking my wife in a political campaign, I think … is detestable.'"

Agreed.