Mr Franklin eats babies

My mailbox this week received a lovely mailing from the Ohio Education Association (OEA) regarding Barack Obama. The front of the flyer has an image of a local teacher (from Kings School District) who is quoted as saying "I am desperate for change and want to support [Mr. Franklin]. But I do have some questions about him."

(And I'm giving up with the Mr. Franklin conceit at least for today's post. If you haven't figured it out just yet, Mr Franklin = Barack Obama. No, seriously, it does.)

Once the flyer is then opened, we get some of those questions:

• Does he wear a flag pin on his lapel?
• Is he a christian?
• Was he sworn in on the bible?
• Does he visit American troops overseas?
• Does he place his hand over his heart when he says the pledge?

The inside also provides the explanation that...

A number of false rumors are being circulated on talk radio and the internet about Barack Obama. Regardless of who you support in this election, it's important to know the truth.

I knew the answers to these questions already, having checked a few of them out over at the Snopes.com page on the various Barack Obama rumors because I'm all down with Snopes like that.

And, because the OEA has, of course, endorsed Obama as their choice of Presidential candidates this year, all of the answers come in as being positive for Obama (which Snopes does actually support, I'll admit).

Now these kinds of smear attacks have been going on for centuries. I know because just yesterday I was just flipping through Anything for a Vote: dirty tricks, cheap shots, and october surprises which we picked up for The Pater Familias while we were in NYC. (Turns out that the Hayes-Tilden tilt in 1876 was fully scandalous. Plus there was the first LBJ senate campaign with a particularly nasty rumor.)

The smears aren't anything new, but I do like how Obama has taken the rumors on fully head-on with his Fight the Smears page on his website.

Head on, damn the torpedoes. Might as well face the face straight ahead.

I like the fully above-board tactic.

It's actually kind of refreshing.