OBAMA DAILY NEWS Sunday March-23-2008

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

WELCOME TO THE OBAMA DAILY NEWS THREAD

Sunday March-23-2008


The Rev. Kenneth L. Samuel said he would address Barack Obama’s recent speech about
race in his sermon this Easter Sunday.

Esteemed DUer's, please consider taking a moment (or more) to graciously participate
by posting news and announcements about the Obama campaign on this thread. You can:

1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web. :think:

2. Re-post stories and announcements you find on DU,
providing a link to the original thread :applause:

3. Please "Recommend" for the Greatest Page :thumbsup:

Get your DU-o-matic codificator (to format your posts) here
Read the Daily News Archives here

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1. Reverend Wright Sets the Paper of Record Straight

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5212232

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2. INTRADE: Obama whomps Hillary. Now 4:1 odds to win nomination and growing

Obama is at 80% to win nomination and growing. Hillary is at 20% and sinking
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5212603

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3. ********Video Evidence: Hillary Lies About Trip To Bosnia*********

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5213628&mesg_id=5213628

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4. Clinton Campaign "The Hindenburg"

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5. HE'S BACK...Bill Clinton's Campaign Remarks

HE'S BACK...Bill Clinton's Campaign Remarks

Bill Clinton: Hillary, McCain The Candidates "Who Love This Country"...
Obama Aide: Former President Resorting To "Divisive Attacks"...
Flashback: Clinton Calls Obama Iraq Claims A "Fairy Tale"...
Says A Vote For Obama Like "Rolling The Dice"

more at the link

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6. Is Media's Pursuit of Horserace Coverage the Reason Clinton is Still Considered ..Viable..?

Is the Media's Pursuit of Horserace Coverage the Reason Sen. Clinton is Still Considered a Viable Contender for the Democratic Presidential Nomination?

Rick Hasen Huffington Post March 22,2008. Could it be that the media has kept the story alive? I think that's an overstatement.

That's the provocative thesis of this article by Jim Vandehei and Mike Allen in The Politico. And at Slate, Christopher Beam gives a similar answer: "Today's the New York Times A1 piece on Hillary Clinton, 'Clinton Facing Narrower Path to Nomination,' is an exercise in understatement. It nudges the candidate ever closer to the cliff but, maybe because of politeness, or business savvy, or maybe even a perceived need for objectivity, refrains from pushing her over." See also Josh Marshall.

Now, with news of Clinton's campaign debt and an admission by her staffer that she has no more than a 10% chance of securing the nomination, expect these stories to proliferate.

Could it be that the media has kept the story alive? I think that's an overstatement. Of course Clinton can't catch Obama, but it is also true that Obama cannot formally clinch without the superdelegates. So long as Clinton has the hope of an Obama implosion or major gaffe, she has a reason to remain in the race. So don't blame the media; blame the DNC's system for leaving this in the hands of superdelegates---something the DNC surely must reconsider for 2012 and beyond.

....article at the link

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7. Media Drip: The Way this Ends

Media Drip: The Way this Ends

by BooMan23 Sat Mar 22, 2008

My theory on the campaign is that the Clintons cannot limp all the way to April 22nd when the logic/narrative puts them strictly in the role of party wreckers. The poison that will eventually erode Clinton's poll advantage is the cold hard truth that she cannot win a brokered convention. But, before that poison can work its way through the body electorate, the media must begin reporting the truth. This started yesterday when Ben Smith of The Politico reported that members of Clinton's staff privately acknowledge that she has no more than a 10% chance of winning the nomination. Mark Halperin continued the trend today when he listed Fourteen Painful Things Hillary Clinton Knows — Or Should Know. Tomorrow is Maureen Dowd's turn to push the narrative.

...The Clintons are looking around and realizing that they don't have as many friends as they thought they had. But it isn't really important what Maureen Dowd says. What matters is that the media is now giving itself permission to write the Clintons' epitaph. There is no way for the Clintons to stop the momentum of this narrative once it catches on in the press. Once Tim Russert starts quoting Halperin and Dowd, then everyone will start echoing the new common wisdom. It was too long in coming, but it's too long to the Pennsylvania primary for the Clintons to maintain the fiction that they have a chance.

more at the link

[quantass]

8. I always love these dailys

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9. Hillary Clinton and Her Self-Constructed Temple of Doom

It's about time. Because this race was over as of January 4.
It just took a while for journalists to get around to reporting it.

Hillary Clinton and Her Self-Constructed Temple of Doom

pmcarpenter at Buzzflash Sat, 03/22/2008

...It was, merely, that Iowa delivered a crushing confirmation of what most voters were screaming for -- "change."

Abrupt, incontrovertible, unmistakable change. That hung in the air, voters would not be denied, and it didn't take many tea leaves to read the immediate electoral future. That was the new objectivity, only this time there was proof.

And that was the wave on which Hillary tumbled -- early, decisively and irreversibly. She and her staff of old-politics, 45-percent-coalition advisers immeasurably misread the national mood.

After seven years of vastly experienced presidential lying, conniving, weaseling, obfuscating, twisting, manipulating and swindling, the last thing most voters wanted was more Washington experience. But what did Hillary give them? Thirty-five bloody years of it. Reams of it. Mountains of it. Endless lectures and tutorials about it.

For a candidate known for her slyly calculating nature, it was one of the most colossal miscalculations in American political history. And that, I'm sure, is how future political historians will write her political obituary of 2008, just after noting another colossal and preceding miscalculation -- her 2002 Iraq war vote.

.... more at the link

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10. Dowd: Carter, Gore and Pelosi will have the knives out for Hillary

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5215048&mesg_id=5215048

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11. Pigs flew: Jack Kemp,Chris Wallace, Brian Kilmeade defend Obama

Pigs flew: Jack Kemp,Chris Wallace, Brian Kilmeade defend Obama,
object to Pastor-Gate attacks.

This is shocking because these ARE republicans and this happened on Fox.

chris wallace, of fox news, questions fox's obama bashing:
video link

brian kilmeade, of fox news, walks off set over co-host's obama bashing:
video link

Jack Kemp Fed Up With Hannity's Attacks On Obama, rips Hannity a good one:
video link

And for fun -
Stephen Colbert: The Gospel of John; Playing Rev. Wright
side by side with Jerry Falwell just after 9/11 to see what is offensive. 3/21
video link

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12. Why Doesn't FOX News Play Never-ending Looping Clips of the GOP Supporter and Benefactor, Rev. Moon?

Why Doesn't FOX News Play Never-ending Looping Clips
of the GOP Supporter and Benefactor, Rev. Moon?
John Gorenfeld. 3/22

Problem Pastor? see side by side comparison of Wrigt to Moon here

[ShortnFiery]

13. Obama's Detractors Miss the Mark

by David Elliott Bell
WP Online, Saturday, March 22, 2008; Page A11
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/21/AR2008032102830.html


Why am I not surprised that Michael Gerson <"A Speech That Fell Short," op-ed, March 19> was critical of Sen. Barack Obama's speech on race? As a Republican speechwriter, originator of the "mushroom cloud as smoking gun," he is hardly a disinterested analyst.

His bias against Democratic leaders was obvious in his spinning from the thrust and originality of Obama's speech to matters more suitable to the purpose of stoking controversy. Stoke it he did, with no higher purpose than advancing the cause of the Republican Party.

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14. McCain busts the FEC's spending cap, violating campaign finance law

McCain busts the FEC's spending cap, violating campaign finance law

AmericaBlog 3/22

The way the Associated Press tallied McCain's expenditures, he's busted the spending limit, which is a violation of the law:

McCain has now spent $58.4 million in his primary bid, surpassing the $50 million limit he would have faced if he participated in the public financing system he had been certified to join. McCain has decided not to accept the public matching funds, but the FEC wants him to assure regulators that he did not use the promise of public money as collateral for a $4 million loan.

McCain and his lawyers said the loan was secured with other collateral, thus freeing him to spend as much money as he wishes on his primary campaign. The Democratic National Committee has filed a complaint with the FEC arguing McCain cannot withdraw from the public finance system without FEC approval.

more at the link

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15. It's raining McCain. Unfortunately

It's raining McCain. Unfortunately

Saturday, March 22, 2008
by Joe Sudbay (DC) · 3/22/2008

Via Matt Yglesias, I found this video. The first comment on his site sums up the reaction:

I wish you had been post-less.
If I ever meet you Matt Y, I will punch you in the face for subjecting me to this.

video (agh!) at the link, you might as well see it

(its actually funny. I guess anyone can make a video and put it on you tube.
This should go out nationally, it might sink him.)

[Catherina]

16. Folks react to Obama's visit

Folks react to Obama's visit

Published: Mar 22, 2008 at 5:57 PM PDT
By Elissa Harrington

McArthur Court - Obama mania has swept Oregon the past few days. Saturday, the Senator and Presidential hopeful is in Medford but Friday, he was here in Eugene.

...

Change has been the theme of Senator Barack Obama's campaign since day one and thousands beared long lines and packed Mac Court to capacity just to hear this Presidential hopeful speak.

...

Obama's main points included the usual suspects: health care, ending the war in Iraq and the economy. But he also touched upon his recent race speech which he calls an example of distraction in politics, embraced his endorsement by Governor Richardson and also took a moment to respond this this ad put out by the Clinton camp.

The commercials says, "It's 3 a.m. and your children are safe and asleep. Who do you want answering the phone?"

Obama says, "This war in Iraq was unwise. We have three candidates left for President. One thought this was a bad idea. That is who you want answering that phone call at 3 a.m."

...

http://www.kval.com/news/local/16929446.html

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17. Obama Talk Fuels Easter Sermons

Proof that Obama is different, a one of a kind. He takes this arrow that was meant
to wound him, and turns it into a tool to heal a greater divide.

Obama Talk Fuels Easter Sermons

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN and NEELA BANERJEE
New York Times. March 23, 2008

This Easter Sunday, the holiest day of the Christian calendar, many pastors will start their sermons about the Resurrection of Jesus and weave in a pointed message about racism and bigotry, and the need to rise above them.

Some pastors began to rethink their sermons on Tuesday, when Senator Barack Obama gave a speech about race, seeking to calm a furor that had erupted over explosive excerpts of sermons by his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.

The controversy drove the nation to the unpatrolled intersection of race and religion, and as many pastors prepared for their Easter message they said they felt compelled to talk about it. Their congregants were writing and e-mailing them: some wanted to share their emotional reactions to Mr. Obama’s speech; others asked how Mr. Wright, the minister, could utter such inflammatory things from the pulpit.

...“The church needs to be a community within which the pain can be shared,” said Mr. Blackwell, who is white and leads an urban, racially mixed congregation. “The grievances can be aired, and the power of that can be directed toward the ‘new creation’ that is portrayed in the Resurrection.”

...Mr. Obama responded with a major address that examined race relations through the eyes of blacks and whites, and called for Americans to open up an honest dialogue about race.

more at the link

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18. Hillary adviser invokes the crucifixion of Christ to Hillary's partisan advantage over Obama

Hillary adviser invokes the crucifixion of Christ to Hillary's partisan advantage over Obama

by John Aravosis (DC) · 3/22/2008

I'm gonna go on a limb here and say that Jesus did not die on the cross for Hillary's superdelegates.

Again, you have to keep in mind that this is the week that the Associated Press finally went there and talked about Bill Clinton and Monica having relations in the White House while Hillary was in the house. So, it's understandable that the Clintons and their allies are throwing everything they can at Obama to change the subject, even going so far as to use Holy Week - the crucifixion of Jesus - for their own partisan gain.

It's funny. The Clintons have criticized Obama for saying that Hillary would do anything, say anything, to win. I think abusing the crucifixion for political gain, the day before Easter, ranks pretty high up in the say-anything-do-anything category.

more at the link

The Clinton advisors are like Rove. They know how to weave a subliminal message.
Right at Easter, James Carville calls NM Gov Bill Richardson a "Judas" when he
endorses Obama.

Think about it....think!

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19. Readers, you are welcome to post your Obama news

I need to sign off tonight.

Also, if there is a really good thread you want to make sure gets attention,
post the title in the subject line and the link in the message.

Du'ers will know what to do.

:yourock:

[ShortnFiery]

20. He's Preaching to A Choir I've Left

NOTE: Don't let the title take you aback, it's a thoughtful analysis/commentary.

He's Preaching to A Choir I've Left

By Jonetta Rose Barras
Sunday, March 23, 2008; Page B01
Washington Post Online.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/21/AR2008032102742.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

snip

And today, there is an entire generation of young people who know nothing of segregation, who see one another as individuals, not as symbols of a dark past. They do not look into white faces and see, as I once did, a burning cross, a white sheet and a vicious dog on a police officer's leash. This is the coalition pushing for a new America.

Some blacks will remain ever distrustful of mainstream America. They cite the noose-hanging incident last year in Jena, La., and the killing of a black man in New York City on the eve of his wedding as evidence that nothing has changed. They praise the Rev. Wright and, like Lawrence Guyot, say that he should continue using the same incendiary language "as long as it is true."

Others, like Miller, believe that the mirror-gazing days of Wright-speak are over. "You have to turn away; if you look too long, it's narcissistic," he says. "Sometimes you have to be radical and smash the mirror. And then you go outside and take your rightful place in the world."

Perhaps Obama's campaign -- with its call for unity and for transcending the negative characteristics of race -- is part of breaking with a painful past. Many of us, blacks as well as whites, hope so.

/snip

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21. Another cease-fire?

(((((((((((((((((( The RBC Update: Another cease-fire? ))))))))))))))))))

2008.03.22 22:15:53


------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since the contest for the nomination is effectively over, let's
stop jumping up and down on the Clinton campaign's political
grave. Time to focus on McCain's flaws and Obama's manifold
virtues.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://WWW.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2008_/2008/03/another_ceasefire.php

[ShortnFiery]

22. Why Obama Stands With His Church

By Colbert I. King
Saturday, March 22, 2008; Page A13

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/21/AR2008032102539.html

The walkout in the City of Brotherly Love occurred in 1787 -- a year that marks the beginning of America's independent black church, a theological movement born out of racism.

This history comes to mind as I listen to conservative commentators, chief among them MSNBC's Pat Buchanan, brand as "racist" the slogan adopted by Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago: "Unashamedly black and unapologetically Christian."

As sociologist Kenneth Clark noted in his book "Dark Ghetto," ministers and lay leaders of white Christian churches historically were unwilling to incorporate large numbers of blacks into their houses of Christ.

Trinity is Barack Obama's church and the place where the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. -- a gift to all who would bring down Obama -- served as pastor until his recent retirement.

[tiptoe]

23. The Excel Delegate Calculator: Clinton needs 64% of the remaining Primary vote to catch Obama

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5211984&mesg_id=5211984
-x

[Catherina]

24. Cartoons (is it ok to post cartoons here?)

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29. yes, and these made my day ! n/t

[PerfectSage]

25. Kickity Kickity Kick & Rec

[grantcart]

26. The Demarcation Line

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5212725

[grantcart]

27. August 27, 2008 Nightmare

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5218341

[quantass]

28. interesting

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30. Conservative Lawyer And Ex-Romney Co-Chair Endorses Obama

Endorsing Obama


Today I endorse Barack Obama for president of the United States. I believe him to be a person of integrity, intelligence and genuine good will. I take him at his word that he wants to move the nation beyond its religious and racial divides and to return United States to that company of nations committed to human rights. I do not know if his earlier life experience is sufficient for the challenges of the presidency that lie ahead. I doubt we know this about any of the men or women we might select. It likely depends upon the serendipity of the events that cannot be foreseen. I do have confidence that the Senator will cast his net widely in search of men and women of diverse, open-minded views and of superior intellectual qualities to assist him in the wide range of responsibilities that he must superintend.

This endorsement may be of little note or consequence, except perhaps that it comes from an unlikely source: namely, a former constitutional legal counsel to two Republican presidents. The endorsement will likely supply no strategic advantage equivalent to that represented by the very helpful accolades the Senator has received from many of high stature and accomplishment, including most recently, from Governor Bill Richardson. Nevertheless, it is important to be said publicly in a public forum in order that it be understood. It is not arrived at without careful thought and some difficulty.

...

9/11 and the radical Islamic ideology that it represents is a continuing threat to our safety and the next president must have the honesty to recognize that it, as author Paul Berman has written, "draws on totalitarian inspirations from 20th-century Europe and with its double roots, religious and modern, perversely intertwined. . . .wields a lot more power, intellectually speaking, then naïve observers might suppose." Senator Obama needs to address this extremist movement with the same clarity and honesty with which he has addressed the topic of race in America. Effective criticism of the incumbent for diverting us from this task is a good start, but it is incomplete without a forthright outline of a commitment to undertake, with international partners, the formation of a world-wide entity that will track, detain, prosecute, convict, punish, and thereby, stem radical Islam's threat to civil order. I await Senator Obama's more extended thinking upon this vital subject, as he accepts the nomination of his party and engages Senator McCain in the general campaign discussion to come.

Published Sunday, March 23, 2008 9:18 AM by Doug Kmiec

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/convictions/archive/2008/03/23/endorsing-obama.aspx

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31. Obama On Wright: "This Is Not A Crackpot Church"

Obama On Wright: "This Is Not A Crackpot Church"

By Eric Kleefeld - March 23, 2008

During an appearance with Philadelphia-based conservative talk-radio host Michael Smerconnish, Barack Obama mounted a defense of Jeremiah Wright's accomplishments, despite some areas of disagreement. And on top of that, he managed to get in a reminder of some of Bill Clinton's personal problems in the 1990s.

"Understand this," Obama said, "something else that has not been reported on enough is despite these very offensive views, this guy has built one of the finest churches in Chicago. This is not a crackpot church.

"Witness the fact that Bill Clinton invited him to the White House when he was having his personal crises. This is a pillar of the community and if you go there on Easter on this Easter Sunday and you sat down there in the pew you would think this is just like any other church."

Both campaigns are working to register voters as Democrats for Pennsylvania's closed primary by tomorrow's deadline, so an appearance on Smerconnish's show would make sense in the Obama campaign's efforts to recruit independents and crossover Republicans.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

32. Richardson says Clinton running gutter campaign.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5222805&mesg_id=5222805

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33. Does Hillary Clinton support the neoconservative manifesto the Project for the New American Century?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5222518&mesg_id=5222518

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34. Two who started the Florida Fiasco call on others to fix it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5209675&mesg_id=5209675

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

35. Florida KNEW they could lose ALL their delegates if they voted yes to move the primary.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1932

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

36. The Day Hillary Clinton Knew She Had Lost - HuffPo

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5216090

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

37. HELP DIGG THIS! Hillary in Tuzla: The Tale of Bosnian Sniper Fire

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5224808