Reply #7: I heard Gloria Borger on Reliable Sources this morning,

[whometense]

dismissing any idea that Hillary would engage in such low tactics - and so early? Pish tosh.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0701/21/rs.01.html

KURTZ: Are some conservative journalists smearing Barack Obama? "Insight" magazine, owned by "The Washington Times," said last week that Obama was educated in a Muslim school called a madrassa and has not been forthcoming about his Muslim heritage.

First, Obama is a Christian. Second, he was 6 years old at the time. More important, he writes in his autobiography that he spent two years at a Muslim school in Indonesia. But here's where it gets interesting.

"Insight" magazine claims without citing evidence that Hillary Clinton's camp is spreading these stories. FOX News jumped on the subject, with morning show host Steve Doocy saying that madrassas teach hate -- students to hate the West, that is, and questioning whether that was the curriculum 40 years ago when little Barack was there.

FOX anchor John Gibson picked up the Hillary angle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN GIBSON, FOX NEWS: The gloves are off. Hillary Clinton reported to be already digging up the dirt on Barack Obama. The New York senator has reportedly outed Obama's madrassa past.

(END VIDEO CLIP)...

...KURTZ: Gloria Borger, on that John Gibson show on FOX News, former Bush spokesman Terry Holt said this could be a despicable act by an absolutely ruthless Clinton political machine if it was true. And he said if it's not true, Hillary should disavow it.

Is that a responsible commentary?

BORGER: No. I think, look, the easiest thing to do is say that the Hillary Clinton campaign is spreading this about Barack Obama, which is, you know, ridiculous.

None of us would be shocked that one campaign is saying something about another campaign. But Hillary Clinton's campaign doesn't need to talk about madrassas when it comes to Barack Obama.

They're going to have a debate on the war, they're going to talk about other things. And I think it's kind of ludicrous, ridiculous, silly. And at this point in a campaign, it's just -- it's too early, and people will just turn off totally on this campaign if they think that this is one charge one campaign is floating against another.

Honestly, I think Jonah's right. It comes from his book. Read his book. You'll see his background. He puts it all out there. KURTZ: If you're going to say essentially that one campaign is engaged in a bit of dirty trickery by floating information unflattering to another candidate, doesn't it help to have a document, a fax, a named source?

I'm serious. I'm serious.