Did the McCain Campaign Misrepresent a Sex Education Bill Supported by Obama?

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Age Appropriate?

It is widely agreed in the mainstream media that John McCain falsely accused Barack Obama of supporting a bill that provided sex education for kindergartners. The McCain camp made the assertion in a campaign ad released last week.

The Washington Post called the ad "dishonest and deceptive," and The New York Times said, "At most, kindergartners were to be taught the dangers of sexual predators."

But it appears those critics have not read the bill, which Obama backed as an Illinois state senator in 2003. It says curriculum in "any of grades K-12 shall include instruction on the prevention of sexually transmitted infections, including the prevention, transmission and spread of HIV."

The Obama camp maintains the bill was intended to teach kindergartners only about inappropriate touching, but Byron York at the National Review writes, "The 'touching' provision did not have the prominence that team Obama has suggested it had, and certainly wasn't the bill's main purpose."

Bad Reception

For the second time in three weeks the Obama campaign has gone after WGN Radio in Chicago for having an Obama critic on its air.

The Chicago Tribune reports the station was besieged with phone calls and e-mails Monday in an effort to force the cancellation of an interview with David Freddoso, a reporter for the National Review and author of the best-selling book "The Case Against Barack Obama," which has been described as a "serious" biography by the Politico newspaper.

The campaign e-mailed supporters, "WGN apparently thinks this card-carrying member of the right-wing smear machine needs a bigger platform for his lies and smears about Barack Obama." The interview went ahead as planned.

Last month the station experienced a similar barrage of criticism for interviewing conservative writer Stanley Kurtz who had examined Obama's ties to former 1960's radical William Ayers.

Color Commentary

Earlier this month we reported that Philadelphia Daily News columnist Fatimah Ali predicted, "If McCain wins, look for a full-fledged race and class war."

Ali now writes, "After all of that backlash, I realize I was dead wrong. We don't have to wait until after the election for a race war. We're in one now."

Ali says her earlier column was not a call to arms but was a metaphorical prediction about the growing wave of racial intolerance she claims is sweeping the nation. "Flip through right-wing talk radio, and you can hear this type of intolerance daily... we're not anywhere near 'post-racial' times."

Rodent Killer

Sheikh Muhammad Munajid, a cleric and former diplomat at the Saudi embassy in Washington, D.C., says Mickey Mouse should be killed. The Daily Telegraph reports Munajid said during an interview on a Saudi TV station that Mickey is "one of Satan's soldiers."

He also says real household mice as well as cartoon depictions must be terminated. "The mouse is a repulsive, corrupting creature. How do you think children view mice today after Tom and Jerry?... Mickey Mouse has become an awesome character, even though according to Islamic law, Mickey Mouse should be killed in all cases."

— FOX News Channel's Zachary Kenworthy contributed to this report.