TN GOP: Obama's Pal Kwame Kilpatrick

Bill Hobbs & Co. struck again today on Obama's associations, linking everybody's favorite sexy text messaging (...sext messaging?) mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, with Barack Obama at a meeting of the Detroit Economic Club in May of 2007:

The old school Batman "KAPOW!" graphic with "And Assault!" is sort of hilarious. I'm marginally surprised they didn't use more of the original clip from Right Michigan, featuring a Barack Obama with far less gray hair than he's sporting these days.

Personally, I think the association claim here's somewhat weaker than those of Bill Ayers and the Ministry of Sound Byte Intolerance -- I mean, I seriously doubt Obama knew about the intra-office hoo ha. Nevertheless, this little tidbit smarts a bit:

"He is a leader not just here in Detroit, not just in Michigan, but all across the country. We know he's going to be doing outstanding things for many years to come. I'm grateful to calling him a friend and a colleague."

Anyway, the point remains that the TN GOP hits the character issues again. After "Proud" and the sequel, "Things That Make Us Proud," as well as the use of "Barack Hussein Obama," the Tennessee GOP's developed a rebel's reputation, not kowtowing to any sort of campaigning political correctness, which definitely reflects the state of Tennessee. Actually, here's what's especially great about the TN GOP: Kwame Kilpatrick is the mayor of Detroit. In Michigan. And the TN GOP basically was like, geography? To hell with that, let's throw together a video.

The Racist Bell will likely toll this way again, though, as it does for criticism of Obama's associations. In response to the conventional suggestion that the placement of Obama with a controversial black figure targets and/or provokes racism, Hobbs told Politico:

"We categorically reject the suggestion — the Web ad focuses on yet another example of Obama’s lousy character judgment, a growing list of examples that includes folks like the unrepentant terrorist William Ayers, the race-baiting Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the other race-baiting preacher, Father Phleger; and the corrupt real-estate wheeler-dealer, Tony Rezko."

The association attacks will likely be stronger, as will the racism cries, the closer the election becomes, which bodes well for the McCain campaign, should the Obama camp be as reckless as they were with the accusation of racism this month over "Celeb."