Mayor Mike Bloomberg spoke to Jewish voters today in Boca Raton, Florida, to assure the community that both presidential candidates have expressed a commitment to Israel, and believe that Iran poses a threat to the nation.

Bloomberg, the Independent mayor of New York City who has yet to endorse a candidate (and has appeared at events alongside both candidates), had another reason for addressing Jewish voters. “Let’s make sure that we, as Jews and as voters, keep the conversation focused on the facts and not let it descend into false rumor and innuendo.”

Barack Obama  has been fighting  rumors that he is Muslim since he announced his candidacy. Occasionally voters would ask Obama on the trail if the allegation was true, forcing Obama to try to dispel them, which only amplified the story in the mainstream press. Just a few days ago, the campaign announced a new website dedicated to “fight the smears,” including snuffing out the Muslim myth.

Mayor Bloomberg today lashed out against emails circulating that push that message. “There are plenty of emails floating around the Internet targeting Jewish voters and saying that Senator Obama is secretly a Muslim, and a radical one at that.  Let’s call those rumors what they are: lies.  They are cloaked in concern for Israel, but the real concern is about partisan politics.  Israel is just being used as a pawn,” he said, adding the religion question is “wedge politics at its worst,” and asked the Jewish voters to “reject it – loudly, clearly, and unequivocally.”

Moreover, he said, such tactics will only exacerbate relations between the Jewish and Muslim communities, as well as with African Americans. “It threatens to undo the enormous strides that Jews and Muslims have made together in this country – and the enormous strides that Jews and African-Americans have made together,” he concluded.

Read his full remarks as prepared for delivery below the jump.

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The Obama camp unveiled its new plan to fight rumors that have dogged the candidate and his wife, Michelle, since the Dem jumped into the fray. The website, http://www.fightthesmears.com, is a forum for the campaign to contest notions that, thus far, the candidate has attempted to swat away along the campaign trail.

He was most recently had to assure Jewish voters in South Florida at a town hall meeting that he’s not a Muslim, for example. “If you get one of these emails that says I’m a Muslim, not true, never been a Muslim, this is just stuff that is designed to make people suspicious and I watch this - I’m amazed that people are reading this stuff. By the way, if you get an email from a Nigerian whose trying to, who says you can make a lot of money if you send him a thousand dollars, don’t send your money or your bank account,” he joked.

Since he announced his candidacy, Obama has on occasion been characterized as Muslim, unpatriotic, and worse in emails circulating online whose claims are false and often taken out of context. For example, many blogs cite Obama as having written in his book, Audacity of Hope, “I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”

The new site informs readers that this quote is inaccurate when placed in its original context. Referring to Arab and Pakistani Americans who, after 9/11 felt the affects of racial profiling, Obama the author wrote, “They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific assurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”

While these emails may seem nefarious in nature - they are sourceless and their claims are often far-fetched - they often find their way into the mainstream media. Just one day after his securing the Democratic nomination, a reporter aboard his campaign jet asked Obama about a long-standing rumor that his wife spoke at their former church Trinity United Church of Christ, and used the word “whitey.” According to rumors, the moment is caught on tape.

An irritated Obama responded, “There is dirt and lies that are circulated in email and they pump them out long enough until finally you, a mainstream reporter, asks me about them. And then that gives legs to the story.
” He challenged, “If somebody has evidence that myself or Michelle or anybody has said something inappropriate, let them do it.
”

The new website is described by the campaign as “an action center” where web surfers can upload their address books and send emails to their contacts that distributes the truth. For example, of Michelle’s alleged use of the word “whitey,” the new site states, “No such tape exists. Michelle Obama has not spoken from the pulpit at Trinity and has not used that word.”

Said a spokesman of the new site, “The Obama campaign isn’t going to let dishonest smears spread across the Internet unanswered. Whenever challenged with these lies, we will aggressively push back with the truth and help our supporters debunk the false rumors floating around the Internet…It’s not enough to just know the truth, we have to be proactive and fight back.”

Check out what Obama Communications Director said about the site:

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