The Money Quote

A dollar bill probably has an interesting life. From one person to another they pass, hand to hand, from wallet to purse to pocket. Like a rumor, they get around farther and faster than you might expect. Dollar bills are part of a new saga, now, a saga I like to call "Seriously?"

Here's a brief recap: McCain campaign runs the "Celeb" ad. Obama says the McCain campaign is going to try and scare you with his skin color. Rasmussen poll shows people aren't buying it.

Now the saga continues. As Tommy Christopher noted earlier, there is a previous McCain web ad with Senator Obama on a dollar. Is this a smoking gun?

No, it is not. (I didn't want to leave you in suspense.)

Here is the money quote: "What they're going to try to do is make you scared of me. You know, he's not patriotic enough. He's got a funny name. He doesn't look like all those other presidents on those dollar bills."

In case it's not clear what the Senator is saying McCain will do, here's a graphic to help:

Do you think Senator Obama was claiming that Senator McCain was going to try to scare you with his tie?

Senator Obama was very clearly telling the audience that President Bush and Senator McCain would try and scare you about his race. So what about the McCain video?

Notice how the ad clearly wants you to be afraid of Barack Obama's skin color, and has nothing to do with making fun of him photoshopping the Presidential seal? Oh ... wait a second.

Senator Obama's comment, his money quote, wasn't "What they're going to try to do is make you scared of me. You know, he's got a funny name. He's going to photoshop national symbols in his own honor." If he had, then clearly the youtube video might have some relevance. Instead, Obama used the dollar bill quote to suggest that Senator McCain would scare you with his race.

Now, just in case it's not totally, totally clear what Senator Obama is saying, take a look at what he said in the opening of his Berlin speech: "I know that I don't look like the Americans who've previously spoken in this great city."

I searched for a youtube of the McCain campaign photoshopping Obama into old Berlin speeches but came up empty.

This is, of course, just the latest example of Senator Obama invoking the specter of racism against McCain and Republicans in general. Last month, at a campaign event in Florida, he said this:

"We know what kind of campaign they're going to run. They're going to try to make you afraid. They're going to try to make you afraid of me. (laughter) They're gonna.... They're going to say, 'You know what, he's -- he's -- he's young, inexperienced, and, uh, uh, he's got a funny name. Did I mention he's black?' "

Well, someone certainly keeps mentioning it, Senator Obama, but not John McCain. No matter how hard you keep trying to suggest he has.