CNN.com - Inside the Middle East

At a John McCain political rally a few days ago, a lady told the republican presidential hopeful that she didn't trust Obama because she'd read that he was an "Arab."

McCain answered: "No Ma'am, he's a decent family man."

The implication was clear: being Arab - or Muslim as we've seen in recent examples throughout the campaign - is considered so bad that accusing someone of belonging to that ethnic group is tantamount to an insult.

John McCain didn't answer: "Obama is American." McCain insisted that Obama was a "decent family man" and "citizen."

What if the woman had said she didn't trust Obama because he is Black? Would there have been outrage then? Would McCain's answer have been different?

The truth is that, throughout this campaign, the term Muslim or Arab has been routinely used as a slur. And both parties are playing the game.

One, for instance, by insisting on mentioning Obama's middle name "Hussein" to remind voters that he has foreign roots (of the kind not too popular these days;) the other by trying very hard to distance its candidate from any notion that he has Arab or Muslim origins. Remember the story of two veiled women being politely asked by staffers not to sit behind Barack Obama at a primary campaign event?

And who can forget the email campaigns "accusing" Obama of being a Muslim? Even journalists have used that verb. You can accuse someone of being a murderer or a liar, but a Muslim? When, in the mainstream lexicon, did being Arab or Muslim become a felony?

In a Huffington Post column, a headline asks "Is Muslim The New Queer?"

Some Arab-American groups are tired of their ethnic group being associated with radicalism and extremism and they are speaking out. I will be interviewing James Zogby, head of the Arab-American Institute on Your World Today in a few hours about this story.

Hope you tune in.