Despite the Reverend Wright controversy and his foggy affiliation with the terrorist and erstwhile-Weatherman, William Ayers, Barack Obama’s supporters have tended to skew toward the peace-loving, live-and-let-live demographic. Yet a new scandal has emerged in recent days that threatens to undermine the public’s perception of the Democratic candidate.

A group going by the name “Socialists for Obama” has posted virulently anti-Semitic diatribes on the public forums of Barack Obama’s official website. The post that has attracted the blogosphere’s attention is an inflammatory and ridiculous screed called: “How the Jewish Lobby Works,” full of the usual anti-Semitic chestnuts on everything from purported Jewish control of the media to Jewish control of the State Department.

Conservatives pit bulls have latched onto the posts as proof-positive that Barack Hussein Obama - they love to mention Obama’s middle name – is a closet anti-Semite and foe of Israel. Never mind that such claims contradict Obama’s stated positions. Never mind that nobody running for elected office today would view the airing of such sentiments, even if they believed them to be true, as anything but politician suicide.

The posts – since removed by Obama’s webmaster – are so vile that they are almost a parody of anti-Semitism. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out they were posted by political saboteurs throwing what amounts to a public relations grenade into the heart of the Obama campaign. Still, Obama and his webmaster aren’t entirely blameless. Socialists for Obama has been posting since April and any savvy moderator worth their internet credentials should have taken the posts down immediately before the blogosphere had a chance to notice.