Dogwhistling in Iowa

Yes, I think Bob Kerrey is being faintly racist here.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton celebrated one high-profile endorsement, from the Des Moines Register's editorial board, by announcing a second: from former senator Bob Kerrey, the renegade Nebraskan-turned-New Yorker.

After the event, he mused about her chief rival, Sen. Barack Obama.

"The fact that he's African American is a big deal. I do expect and hope that Hillary is the nominee of the party. But I hope he's used in some way. If he happens to be the nominee of the party and ends up being president, I think his capacity to influence in a positive way . . . the behavior of a lot of underperforming black youth today is very important, and he's the only one who can reach them."

Kerrey continued: "It's probably not something that appeals to him, but I like the fact that his name is Barack Hussein Obama, and that his father was a Muslim and that his paternal grandmother is a Muslim. There's a billion people on the planet that are Muslims, and I think that experience is a big deal."

I don't know that there is any reason for a Hillary supporter to mumble "Barack... Muslim... Hussein... Muslim" unless he wanted people to know that Barack's middle name was Hussein and that's a Muslim name.

The attacks on Obama are coming fast and furious now, most notably by Bill Clinton himself. It's kind of ugly but that's politics. I don't know if Democrats are going to fall for it. I'm certainly not.

UPDATE: Twice is not a coincidence.

I’ve watched the blogs try to say that you can’t trust him because he spent a little bit of time in a secular madrassa. I feel quite the opposite — I think it’s a tremendous strength. Whether he’s in the United States Senate or whether he’s in the White House, I think it’s a tremendous asset for him.

A madrassa is a religious school. There's no such thing as a secular madrassa. This is so awkward and naked. Democrats are really not good at this dogwhistling thing.