The e-mail has gotten enough traction that people have been asking him about it at events. Barack finally broke down in Iowa: “This is so irritating,” he said, wincing. “My grandfather taught me how to say the pledge of allegiance when I was 2.” His explanation: The photo was taken during the national anthem, not the pledge. Our dream candidate, of course, would also mention that the pledge is a crock commissioned by a kids’ magazine to sell more flags to schools (and written by a Socialist), but that’s just us. Hell, we’d probably quit the race just on the realization that winning would mean governing people whose stances are swayed by a picture e-mail. Still, good news: If Obama’s detractors are down to the kind of spit-on-the-cross libel the Vatican used on the Knights Templar, this means nobody’s got anything on the guy. —Michael Idov
Obama Irritated by Internet Photo [Quad-City Times]
