Here’s a fairly representative email:

Jonah: I guess I just get tired of conservative commentators leaping to the defense of liberals. I know that you don’t want to engage in ad hominem attacks (or support the same from others), but I don’t think you have thought this issue through. Insight may have been over the line with insinuations about Obama, but that shouldn’t give Obama a pass on the issue of his background. Nor, for that matter, does Romney’s record as a governor give him a pass on questions about his faith. These are issues that deal with character and first principles and help voters guess how candidates will respond to various issues. With respect to Obama’s muslim father and step-father (I haven’t heard anything contrary on this point), I think it is fair play to ask him about that influence and how it shapes and informs his opinions today. Likewise with respect to the madrassa. Even if one believes that the school in question was the multi-culti utopia described by CNN (I have serious doubts on that point), the question is still fair. The same goes for any candidate who attended any parochial school (or secular school known for a particular ideology, for that matter). Further, and aside from issues of character formation and influence, such questions are pertinent because of the lack of familiarity the electorate will have with a background like Obama’s as opposed to, say, a candidate who attended Thomas Jefferson Grammar school. Would it be fair to ask Romney about his family background and education if his father was a Catholic and Mitt attended St. Ignatius grammar school as a child only to have a “come to Brigham” moment (sorry, couldn’t resist) much later in life? The answer to such a question can tell you a lot about a candidate and, frankly, I’m surprised that Obama (or his staff) wasn’t sharp enough to see the political opportunity in crafting a “good” answer to such questions. Or are they afraid of the answer? Why can’t we even discuss these issues?

Me: Just for the record, I have no problem whatsoever with asking Obama about his childhood or whether the allegations against him are true in whole or in part. Indeed, I think particularly in Obama’s case he can’t say it’s none of anybody’s business. He doesn’t have much of a record and he’s running on his life story and his personality. His autobiography is virtually a campaign document. He can’t clam up when questions about his past are raised.

I should also add that I don’t think this was a GOP hit either. My guess is this is all amateur hour stuff from people freelancing stories and Insight taking the bait. There’s a tendency in a lot of these kinds of Washington stories to assume that there are nefarious mustache twirlers at the highest levels of power storyboarding every development. Things rarely work that way in reality.