In light of Sen. Clinton's shameless demand of Sen. Obama, in last night's debate, that he not just "denounce" Louis Farrakhan, but "reject" him as well, I found this little tidbit from an enterprising Dallas reporter today quite interesting:

She (Clinton) was asked by KTVT in Dallas about a Latina backer who said that black politicians never do anything for Hispanics.  Her name is Adelfa Callejo.  Apparently she’s 84.

[The question: "She recently told us that African-Americans never help Hispanics when they gain power and influence and that she would never vote for Sen. Obama, and now quoting here she said 'Obama’s problem is that he happens to be black.'  How do you react to those comments?"]

The newscaster quoted her saying “Obama’s problem is that he happens to be black.”

Clinton: “Well obviously I want us judged on our merits.  I believe strongly that the fact that we have an African American and a woman running for the Democratic nomination is historical and I’m very very proud of that.  I want people thought to look beyond, look beyond race and gender, look at our records, look what we stand for, look what we’ve done and I think that;s what most voters are looking for.”

Q (paraphrase) Is this something you reject and denounce?

“People have every reason to express their opinions.  I just don’t agree with that.  I think that we should be looking at the individuals who are running.”

Q - Do you still want her support, though?

Clinton laughed and said, “You know This is a free country.  People get to express their opinions.  A lot of folks have said really unpleasant things about me over the course of this campaign.  You can’ take any of that as anything other than an individual opinion.”

“I would urge all of my supporters and Sen. Obama’s supporters to stay focused on the two of us.  Don’t vote on race don’t vote on gender, vote on the qualifications each of us present for the presidency."

Q- But you criticized Obama for not rejecting the support form Farrakhan,

“I don’t see any comparison at all with what you’re referring to and I don’t know the facts of what you’re telling me over the TV.  So I’m just going to repeat that I want people to judge us on the merits.”

Obama has been criticized for only going so far as to "denounce" Farrakhan last night, and that it took Clinton to lead him to "reject" the notorious anti-Semite, before Obama was morally cleansed of this guilt by non-association.

The strongest "rejection" in today's instance, however, that Clinton could come up with is "I just don't agree with that."  If Obama had said anything remotely this tepid last night, his candidacy could possibly be over.

Frankly, it's a little silly to assume that either Clinton or Obama are responsible for the words of every bigot in this country who happens to be voting for them.  But I guess that's kind of the point, isn't it?

A side note: Hillary's "similar situation" that she offered last night in an attempt to taint Obama with anti-Semitism was beyond ridiculous.  She called her "rejecting" the endorsement of the anti-Semitic Independence Party of New York State—a party with probably a few thousand actual members—as something that she "looked like I might pay a price for", but that it was "more important to stand on principle".

Right, Hillary.  It took real political courage to "stand on principle" by running in New York State as a non-anti-Semite.  How you scraped to a Senate seat without all those Jew-hating New Yorkers in your corner is one of American politics' great mysteries.

Update: here's a video link  of more of Adelfa Callejo's racial musings on Obama.  Apparently, she's not just some crank Hillary-supporter—she's a major activist in the Texas Latino community.