The landscape of this year's election is filled with linguistic pitfalls, and as Sen. Barack Obama has said, "words matter" more than ever before.
With so much attention on what is being said -- and in a culture where politically sensitive language has become the mainstream -- candidates disguise their attacks in coded messages intended to pique voters' innate racist, misogynist and ageist prejudices, experts in political communication told ABCNEWS.com.
In March, Clinton outwardly denied rumors that Obama was a practicing Muslim. In an interview with "60 Minutes," when asked whether she believed Obama was a Muslim she said: "No, there is nothing to base that on. As far as I know."
"Though she said he was not a Muslim, it was code for maybe he is Muslim," Jamieson said. "It implies, or suggests, that if he was Muslim that would be a problem. Many Muslims ought to be and are offended by that, because it further assumes that Islam equals al Qaeda or terrorism."
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