Never willing to be ignored, pop star Madonna has entered the political fray to help Obama's campaign in the most dramatic way possible. At the kickoff to her concert tour in Denver, she graphically compared McCain to Hitler, and Obama to Ghandi: DENVER, COLORADO (AFP) - John McCain's campaign has hit back at Madonna after the pop diva kicked off her world tour with a concert that bracketed the US presidential candidate with Adolf Hitler.

McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds angrily condemned the segment of Madonna's concert in Cardiff on Saturday that appeared to draw a comparison between McCain, Hitler and Zimbabwean strongman Robert Mugabe.

"The comparisons are outrageous, unacceptable and crudely divisive all at the same time," Bounds said in a statement reported by Fox News.

"It clearly shows that when it comes to supporting Barack Obama, his fellow worldwide celebrities refuse to consider any smear or attack off limits."

Madonna's apparent swipe at McCain came during a performance of the song "Get Stupid", when the Republican contender's image was flashed up alongside images of destruction and global warming as well as Hitler and Mugabe.

Towards the end of the song, pictures of Beatles star John Lennon, former US vice-president Al Gore, Indian Mahatma Gandhi and McCain's Democrat rival Barack Obama appeared. I don't know how much this will hurt McCain or help Obama. Their mutual supporters aren't going to change their minds, and I just can't see ordinary people suddenly exclaiming, "I see it now! McCain is Hitler!"

Plus, there's the long-established rule that "in the future, everyone will be Hitler for 15 minutes."

There's something in the logic behind these comparisons that doesn't make sense, though. I mean, the Hitler comparison is overtly hostile to McCain, while the Ghandi comparison is overtly supportive of Obama, right? This means depicting McCain as Hitler (in a Nazi uniform) would be seen as hostile to McCain, right?

So does that mean it's OK to depict Obama as Ghandi -- half-naked, wearing that piece of cloth for which Ghandi was noted?

Not on your life. If someone put Obama in "Ghandi garb," you can bet his supporters would yell foul, with predictable charges.

Why, they might even think Obama was being compared to this Ghandi.