I an awe-inspiringly irrelevant attack against his rival, McCain damned Obama's recent media courtship, comparing him to celebrities like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.  Showing that he's got his finger right on the pulse of popular youth culture.

Obama's international tour has proved successful in further raising his profile - abroad as well as domestic, although it is of course the voters back home he needs to dazzle - and in gaining him that little extra White House credibility, as a man adept at diplomacy and confident in foreign policy.  However, to the best of my knowledge at any rate, the tour (stopping off at Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and Britain), at no point included the senator drunkenly revealing a lack of underwear while getting out of a car, or filming a dodgy night-vision sex-tape on a handful of Es.

I'm not quite sure I see the likeness.

The Republican Party have also released a campaign video featuring Obama as a self-professed messianic figure, showing carefully selected clips of Obama's public addresses, inter-cut with footage of "The Twelve Commandments".

I was slightly surprised that the Republicans would sully and trivialise one of their most massive religious icons for the sake of deriding the opposition.  Charlton Heston, that is, although Jesus is up there too.

For the time being at least, Obama seems to be taking the moral highground, although I'm not entirely sure what else he could do.

In case anyone wants to know more:

here is an article covering McCain's attack, including "The One" video; and

here is an article covering Obama's response.