Most analysts looking at the Democratic party’s remaining primary schedule conclude that it’s going to be very difficult for Hillary Clinton to surpass Barack Obama in elected delegates and popular vote if Michigan and Florida don’t hold new elections. Although Florida has already thrown in the towel, the Michigan situation is still unresolved. Senator Clinton knows the score. That’s why she’s speaking in Detroit today.
Sound Bite: “We need to either count the votes that have already been cast in Michigan and Florida or have new, full and fair elections so that we can have your voices and your votes counted.”
Here’s the video of Obama’s speech on race, coming out of the controversy over his minister, Jeremiah Wright, but trying to rise above to a larger statement on race. In earlier videos, Obama pretty much threw Wright to the wolves; here, he does not.
Hillary Clinton made a speech on Iraq today: If she becomes president, the U.S. will “end this war as quickly and responsibly as possible.” And, oh yeah, that Obama guy is all talk. So, he made a speech - big deal: “He didn’t start working aggressively to end the war until he started running for president.” And not only that, he isn’t telling the truth now about his withdrawl plan.
Sound Bite: “The true test is not the speeches a president delivers, it whether the president delivers on the speeches.”
The Obama campaign responds by stringing together clips of Senator Clinton’s posiiton on Iraq now and back in the day.
And in a speech later today in Pennsylvania, Senator Obama says he’s been consistent in his opposition to the war, “unlike Senator Clinton who voted for this war and has never taken responsibility for that vote.”
Bookending Tina Fey’s SNL endorsement of Hillary Clinton, here comes her 30 Rock costar Tracy Morgan onto SNL with a commentary on race.
Sound bite: “Everytime a black man gets too good at something in this country, there’s always someone to come around and remind us that he’s black…. I got a theory about that. It’s a little complicated but here goes: We are a racist country. The end…. Let me tell you somethig, Barack knows how to answer that phone….Barack is not just winning because he’s a black man. If that was the case, I would be winning. I’m a lot blacker than him….. Barack’s gotta stay away from the pastor, because he’s too black.”
Responding to Fey, who said three weeks ago that “bitch may be the new black,” Morgan replies, “but black is the new president, bitch.”
In a speech in Plainfield, Indiana, Barack Obama continues his damage control of Reverend Wright’s controversial comments by invoking Bobby Kennedy and calling for an end to racial divisiveness. (Senator Obama says he only recently learned of the extreme remarks made by Wright in some of his sermons. That statement certainly invites further scrutiny.)
Sound Bite: “We’ve got a tragic history when it comes to race in this country. We’ve got a lot of pent-up anger and bitterness and misunderstanding. But what I continue to believe in is that this country wants to move beyond these kinds of divisions. That this country wants something different.”
Barack Obama condemns Reverend Wright’s controversial comments in this video clip and tries to put a lid on what could be a nagging problem for his candidacy.
Sound Bite: “The statements that Reverend Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity or heard him utter in private conversation.”
Barack Obama discussed Reverend Wright on Fox News last night. He was shocked, shocked to learn of his pastor’s more extreme statements.
Here’s a step-by-step manual for creating a blog post for John McCain. Good luck staying awake through this. Next: Watching paint dry on your campaign sign for John McCain.
Barack Obama urges Republicans and independents to turn and register as Democrats to vote for him. They’ll even email you the proper form. Now that’s the way to run a bureacracy. Think the IRS will be so helpful in the Obama era? We can only hope.
Mike Gravel complains directly to YouTube political editor Steve Grove about taking him — and Ron Paul — off the YouTube/YouChoose page. According to YouTube, it’s now a three-way race. But how can we forget the comic relief?
