SILLY SEASON HAS BEEN DECLARED ~ "It's silly season. I understand she's been quoting my kindergarten teacher in Indonesia."

When you are winning ~ you feel strong. When you are scared ~ you begin to act scared. When you want something so badly that you will forego your character, your integrity, you can get yourself in a pickle. A hole, even.

Who found it a good idea on Hillary Clinton's team to find out what Barack Obama at five was doing in kindergarten? I don't see the relevance. Wasn't that when they were telling us that stupid childhood fable "Sticks and Stones can break my bones, but Words can never hurt me"? Obviously, they weren't taking politics into account. Because even Bill Clinton used the "Swift Boat" line for his Hillary when he felt she was being attacked by someone....I just don't remember who was doing that attacking. And don't care enough to do a google search on it.

About the kindergarten research and information about Barack Obama ~ does the phrase "grow up" have some relevance? Is that the best you can come up with to spend your negative A-stuff on? I keep hearing that Iowans don't like the negative campaigning. If that has some bit of truth in it, then if you are going to throw your negative tactical words out there ~ wouldn't you more wisely pick your "A-stuff"? And where is the youtube on this teacher? I wonder if that kindergarten teacher didn't think she was just providing some warm and fuzzy memory about little Barack when this supposed memory allegedly was shared.

I can't imagine that she was under the impression that her alleged words would be used against her student some forty years later now that he is running for President of the United States. As a teacher myself, I would be thrilled that a past student of mine was running for President and would never dream what I shared about little five year old Barack would be the subject of such negativity.

Anyone who has watched Hillary knows she is a smart lady. But this doesn't bode well for her intelligence or political savvy.

Clinton's rhetoric in Clear Lake was her most pointed yet. "The Chicago Tribune said the 'present' votes were the equivalent of taking a pass. Well, instead of looking for political cover, and taking a pass, we need a president who will take a stand," she said, according to The Des Moines Register.

"Barack Obama doesn't need lectures in political courage from someone who followed George Bush to war in Iraq, gave him the benefit of the doubt on Iran … and opposed ethanol until she decided to run for president," spokesman Bill Burton shot back.

Obama's only public event Monday (December 3) was a small roundtable discussion on credit problems at which he proposed a consumer bill of rights. Asked afterward about the escalating rhetoric, he refused to comment on Clinton's claim Monday that this candidacy promises "false hope."

"It's the silly season," Obama said. "I understand she's been quoting my kindergarten teacher in In-do-ne-sia." *(This is the video I want to find uploaded at Youtube ~ the body language, I found quite good with Barack Obama's delivery of these words.)

* From USA Today, I guess....I took the above from another website, that claims this is from USA Today, but I went to their site and couldn't find it.

It's a new day in Presidential Politics here in the USA.

There is now a website that lists Hillary’s attacks on Barack Obama. Hillary said she would not attack her fellow democrats. But that has changed.

New Hillary Attacks website: http://hillaryattacks.barackobama.com/

Posted on the Obama campaign blog from campaign manager David Plouffe below.

Hillary Attacks

By David Plouffe - Dec 3rd, 2007 at 7:39 am EST

Saturday night, the Des Moines Register came out with a poll that shows Barack Obama has pulled ahead of the Democratic frontrunner and is now leading in Iowa.

The poll also showed that by a wide margin, Iowans believe that Senator Clinton is running the most negative campaign in this race.

Yesterday we found out why.

Less than twelve hours after that poll came out, the Clinton campaign launched a series of baseless attacks against Senator Obama. Panicked by the poll numbers, they even attacked Barack for telling his kindergarten teacher what he wanted to be when he grew up.

I wish I were joking.

The American people find these kinds of attacks tiring and unproductive, but today Senator Clinton promised that this was just the beginning, saying that attacking other Democrats is "the fun part" of campaigning for the presidency.

We disagree. Barack Obama believes that this presidential campaign isn't about attacking people for fun, it's about solving people's problems, like ending this war and creating a universal health care system. Washington insiders might think throwing mud is fun, but the America people are looking for a President who can unite this country around a common purpose, and that's the kind of leadership Barack will continue to offer in this campaign.

But we need your help.

Today we're launching a website that will keep track of all the attacks Senator Clinton has launched since she said she wasn't interested in attacking other Democrats at the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner on November 10th. We're asking all of you to be vigilant and notify us immediately of any attacks from Senator Clinton or her supporters as soon as you see them so that we can respond with the truth swiftly and forcefully.

This attacks could be phone calls, literature drops, blog posts mail pieces as well as radio and TV ads. Some could even be anonymous or designed to be. Please email us at hillaryattacks@barackobama.com the moment you see something that concerns you.

Senator Clinton has said her idea of fun is to attack Barack each day from here on out, and that's why we need you to help us stop those attacks and make sure that Barack can continue to talk with voters and caucus-goers about the struggles they face and their hope for America.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/group/ObamaHQ/