In a web ad that directly responds to the controversy over how many houses John McCain owns, the Texas Republican Party has attempted to shift the focus back to Barack Obama by using the poverty of his youngest sibling to attack him.

"If Barack Obama cares so much about your family, why doesn't he take care of his own family first?" the ad's narrator asks, before bringing up George Obama, Obama's half brother, who lives in Kenya. The two have reportedly met only twice, and George Obama has said that media accounts have painted a distorted picture of his life, saying, "I was brought up well. I live well even now."

I probably won't be the only one to point out that there's a distinct racial overtone to the ad, arising from the image of George Obama that the Texas GOP chose, and the spot's use of his full name, George Hussein Onyango Obama.