Obama responds to the new smear campaign against him quite deftly. CNN and the AP should be ashamed of themselves. I didn't know lapel pins were so important to national security. Glenn Greenwald explains how easy it was for Obama to handle this nonsense:

Far more notable is Barack Obama's response to these depressingly familiar attacks. In response, he's not scurrying around slapping flags all over himself or belting out the National Anthem, nor is he apologizing for not wearing lapels, nor is he defensively trying to prove that -- just like his Republican accusers -- he, too, is a patriot, honestly. He's not on the defensive at all. Instead, he's swatting away these slurs with the dismissive contempt they deserve, and then eagerly and aggressively engaging the debate on offense because he's confident, rather than insecure, about his position

"A party that presided over a war in which our troops did not get the body armor they needed, or were sending troops over who were untrained because of poor planning, or are not fulfilling the veterans' benefits that these troops need when they come home, or are undermining our Constitution with warrantless wiretaps that are unnecessary? "That is a debate I am very happy to have. We'll see what the American people think is the true definition of patriotism."

Jane Hamsher writes:

It's incredible that a news source which purports to be legitimate would embrace and perpetuate this kind of stuff; common sense dictates that it should stay where it was birthed, in the right wing sewer. Nevertheless, we're in a rather fluid time, when the boundaries are being established about what is going to be regarded as acceptable for the rest of the race, so it's time to come down hard and set the limits.

Go over and "Send a letter here. We can't put up with these ridiculous right wing hack attacks by our media against Democratic candidates...