READING, Pa., April 21, 2008
Obama Sharpens His Tone
Washington Post: As Pennsylvania Vote Nears, Clinton Criticizes Rival's Negative Turn
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Democrats Gear Up In Pa.
Democratic presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are vying for the Keystone State's delegates. But, as Jim Axelrod reports, Clinton is facing a nearly insurmountable deficit.
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Pennsylvania Primary Preview
The Democratic Pennsylvania primary election will be a crucial win for either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. Bob Schieffer discusses this election with key political commentators.
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Gov., Sen. On Pa. Battleground
Barack Obama supporter Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Hillary Clinton endorser Gov. Ed Rendell (D-Pa.) discuss the upcoming crucial Democratic primary election in Pennsylvania.
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Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks at a rally in Scranton, Pa., Sunday, April 20, 2008. (AP)
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Photo Essay
Barack Obama
A look at the life and meteoric rise of the president-elect.
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Photo Essay
Hillary Clinton
A look at a life and career full of firsts.
From Our Partner:
Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday traded accusations of negative campaigning as they headed toward a critical showdown in the Pennsylvania primary.
The volleying in the final hours reflected the high stakes in Tuesday's contest. Clinton is favored to win, but the senator from New York may still face renewed pressure to end her candidacy unless she rolls up a sizable margin in the popular vote and significant gains in the overall delegate count. As the candidates jostled with one another, their advisers mounted a final effort to shape expectations for what will constitute victory on Tuesday.
The Pennsylvania race has forced Obama to rewrite his script from earlier contests, with the result being a more aggressive tone and style in the final hours of this campaign than had been the case in previous states. Far more than at any other time in the campaign, Obama has applied pressure to Clinton, both on the stump and in his increasingly negative advertising.
The dramatic shifts in Obama's campaign in Pennsylvania reflect the lessons learned from earlier disappointments, when victories might have driven Clinton from the race. In the closing days of previous contests, the senator from Illinois almost appeared to coast toward the finish, wary of appearing too aggressive toward Clinton for fear that undecided voters would find her a sympathetic figure.
Since Wednesday's debate in Philadelphia, however, Obama has steadily escalated his rhetorical attacks. He has questioned whether she is honest and trustworthy and cast her as a practitioner of old-style, special-interest politics.
Speaking at Reading High School Sunday afternoon, Obama accused Clinton of using a "kitchen-sink" strategy of negative attacks aimed at him and said to his opponent, "You learned the wrong lessons from those Republicans who were going after you in same way using the same tactics all those years. I don't want us to become like them. I want us to change the country."
Clinton, campaigning in Bethlehem, called her rival's approach "so negative" and charged him with mimicking Republicans by attacking her plan for universal health care.
"He has sent out mailers, he has run ads, misrepresenting what I have proposed," Clinton said. "I really regret that because the last thing we need is to have somebody spending as much money as he has downgrading universal health care."
Obama's Pennsylvania campaign reflects his desire to bring the long nomination battle to a close quickly. He also is seeking to overcome any doubts the remaining uncommitted superdelegates may have about his toughness as a candidate in the hope that many more will endorse him.
But Obama advisers also believe they are competing against a more vulnerable Clinton, one whose credibility is damaged and whose negatives are higher as a result of a series of mistakes.
By Dan Balz and Shailagh Murray
© 2008 The Washington Post Company
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See all 308 CommentsA 1969 charge by a Eileen Wellstone, said Clinton assaulted her after she met him at a pub near the Oxford University campus where the future President was a student.
In 1972, a 22-year-old woman told campus police at Yale University that she was sexually assaulted by Clinton, who was a law student at the college.
In 1974, a female student at the University of Arkansas complained that then-law professor Bill Clinton groped her and forced his hand inside her blouse
Broaddrick, a volunteer in Clinton''s attorney general campaign, said he raped her in 1978;
From 1978-1980, Arkansas State troopers assigned to protect the governor reported seven complaints from women who said Clinton forced, or attempted to force, himself on them sexually.
Elizabeth Ward, the Miss Arkansas who won the Miss America crown in 1982, told friends she was forced by Clinton to have *** with him shortly after she won her state crown.
Paula Corbin, an Arkansas state worker, filed a sexual harassment case against Clinton the then-governor exposed himself and demanded oral ***.
Sandra Allen James, President Clinton invited her to his hotel room during a political trip to the nation''s capital in 1991, pinned her against the wall and stuck his hand up her dress.
Kathleen Willey, a White House volunteer, reported that Clinton grabbed her, fondled her breast and pressed her hand against his genitals during an Oval Office meeting in November, 1993.
(Oh, I forgot, you don''t know where the kitchen is!)
By
Like %u2026Obama says, he was 8 years old when Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn led the group of pond scum that wreaked havoc upon America with their bombs and Guerrilla warfare. So I guess the fact that they caused countless strife and pain and fear into the hearts of America doesn%u2019t count because Barry was 8 years old. He sees no reason not to hang around with them. After all, they aren%u2019t bombing anything right now, right? Well of course Ayers has already stated that he didn%u2019 t think they did enough, and he hasn%u2019t ruled out another crack at it. But Barry still thinks that%u2019s nothing.
I would like to introduce you to the Honorable Richard Elrod, the man who was paralyzed by the Weather Underground. I don%u2019t have information on the cop they killed yet, but I will.
In 1969, Brian Flanagan and the radical antiwar group Weatherman unleashed mayhem on the streets of Chicago. Richard Elrod, an ambitious lawyer, worked for the city to stop the chaos. As the Days of Rage climaxed, the two men had a violent encounter that forever altered their lives-and produced an indelible image that reverberates still.
From No Quarter blog
POLLING 2500 PEOPLE DOES NOT GIVE YOU THE TOTAL MINDSET OF 4.5 MILLION VOTERS
THE POLLERS ARE UNABLE TO REACH 26% OF THE PENN COLLEGE POPULATION TO POLL VIA CELL, PHONES
150,000 NEW DEMS SIGN UP TO VOTE - I GIVE 75% OF THEM TO OBAMA, THE CLINTONS NEVER EXPANDED THE VOTING BASE, IN FACT THEY LOST SENATE AND CONGRESSIONAL SEATS DEPRESSING THE VOTERS BASE.
I SEE OBAMA WINNING AND WINNING BIG
In his first public Philadelphia appearance, Obama stood on stage before the Independence Visitor Center, addressing a rapturous crowd of roughly 35,000 that stretched all the way to Independence Hall. His warm up acts included will.i.am, lead singer of the Black Eyed Peas.
Obama''s brief speech focused on the key message of his presidential campaign: bringing change to Washington. He recalled the founding fathers'' challenging British rule and said that it was time again for revolutionary leadership in America, promising to create new jobs and provide health care for all Americans.
Obama also said that his Democratic rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, would not serve as a change-agent.
"She''s taken a different position at different times on issues as fundamental as trade and even war to suit the politics of the moment," he said. "And in the last few months, she''s launched what her campaign calls a ''kitchen sink'' strategy of negative attacks, which she defends by telling us that this is what the Republicans would do. She says that''s how the game is played.
"I''m not running to fit in Washington. I''m running to change Washington."
Blackspirit3-We don''t agree poltically but I love reading your time frame on ole bubba and his womanizing or raping. It never gets old. Thanks.
With any luck, Bob Schieffer%u2019s commentary at the close of Face The Nation will end all further discussion of lapel pins.
Finally, today, I watched the ABC debate the other night when that question came up again about why Senator Obama doesn%u2019t wear a flag pin in his lapel. Since no one asked me, here is my thought on all that. I think it%u2019s a nice thing if people want to wear a flag on their lapel. But I believe it more important to keep the flag behind our lapel in our hearts. I feel the same way about wearing my religion on my sleeve. It just fits me better on the inside. When I go to see our local baseball team, I do wear my Washington Nationals baseball cap. But am I less a fan if don%u2019t wear it to work? The truth is I have been known to wear a red, white and blue stars and stripes tie on the Fourth of July. But am I less patriotic when I trade it for my Santa Claus tie at Christmas? Patriotism is no more about signs or pins than religion is about reminding others how pious we think we are. No, the proof in these puddings is not the signs that we wear, but how we act. Wouldn%u2019t that also be a better way to judge our presidential candidates than by the jewelry they wear?
I am one who believes that people can vote and support whichever candidate he/she feels most comfortable with. Where the hell is it written that just because I am Black that I have to support BHO? Since I don''t know any of these candidates personally, all I have to gauge the fitness for office is their records (and by the way, as far as his is concerned, it stinks). Seems to me that he has been running for POTUS since he became a US Senator. As for change, what change??!! With backers like Senator Uncle Teddy, Senator Teresa''s Husband, exactly what kind of change are we talking about here?
And I''ll take the elitist Clinton''s any day (who by the way have also raised millions for AIDS research and medication for people on the Continent of Africa) instead of just lining their pockets; they actually do put their money in places where the need is greatest - what has BHO done in that regard?
Leave it to John McCain to straight talk himself into the ground over John Hagee. Isn%u2019t it interesting that it took all this time for the media to finally discuss McCain%u2019s relationship with John Hagee? McCain foams up over Obama%u2019s knowledge of Ayers, not an endorsement mind you, but says he still is very happy with the endorsement of the extreme Catholic hating preacher by the name of John Hagee and is proud to have lobbied to get it. Obama never asked anything of Ayers, but McCain begged Hagee%u2019s help. It probably was a mistake actually says STM, but he%u2019s glad he got his support anyway. What the heck is he talking about?
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, you say he should condemn these comments.
MCCAIN: Sure.
STEPHANOPOULOS: A lot of Senator Obama%u2019s allies and others say that you should condemn the comments of Reverend John Hagee, an evangelical pastor%u2026
MCCAIN: Oh, I do. And I did. I said, any comments that he made about the Catholic church I strongly condemn, of course.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Yet you solicited and accepted his endorsement?
MCCAIN: Yes, indeed. I did. And I condemned the comments that he made concerning the Catholic church.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But you%u2019re going to hold onto his endorsement? Your own campaign acknowledged that you should have done a better job of vetting Pastor Hagee.
MCCAIN: Oh, sure.
Posted by walker1209 at 10:17 AM : Apr 21, 2008
It is easy to be more generous than any person who has $100 million less than you do.
MCCAIN: It%u2019s a cheap shot, but I did have a period of time where I didn%u2019t have very good government health care. I had it from another government. (LAUGHTER) So, look, I know what it%u2019s like in America not to have health care. We know that Americans are hurting there as well. We%u2019ve got to make health care affordable and available. The difference, again, between myself and the Democrats, and with all due respect, Mrs. Edwards, I want the families to make the choices. They want the government to make the choices. That%u2019s a fundamental difference, and we will continue to debate that issue.
Actually, McSame, let%u2019s look at England%u2019s healthcare. PBS%u2019s Frontline did a fantastic program comparing healthcare in the US to five other capitalist democracies, including the UK. While the UK%u2019s program did have its drawbacks, the government has instituted policies to expand choice for the people and moreover, the government pays significantly less as a percentage of the GDP for healthcare than we do (8.3% vs. 15.3%) and it covers everyone. Hard to make facts sound bad, doesn%u2019t it, John?
Elizabeth Edwards has been a vocal critic of McCain%u2019s proposed healthcare plan in that it basically doesn%u2019t help those who need it the most. McCain%u2019s response falls into the less than satisfactory category:
STEPHANOPOULOS: What%u2019s wrong with government %u2014 what%u2019s wrong with government-run health care?
MCCAIN: And we continue to have these debates %u2014 what%u2019s wrong with it? Go to Canada. Go to England and you can find out what%u2019s wrong with it. Governments don%u2019t make the right decisions. Families make the right decisions.
STEPHANOPOULOS: One of the points Mrs. Edwards made in the Wall Street Journal, she said that your whole life, you had government health care. You were the son of a Naval officer, a Naval officer, now a member of Congress. And her point is, why shouldn%u2019t every American be able to get the kind of health care that members of Congress get or members of the military get?
(cont)
As for Obama, his church and Ayers. It just seems odd that Obama seems to surround himself with "left wing, America haters" all the time. He is the one who said that this election is about "judgement" and "words", but no one is suppose to question HIS judgement.
This media press narrative is outrageous Obama has ran one of the most personally negative campaign ever, saying that its the BTCH at fault for everything including his lack of personal ability, and has no creditability NONE.
Recall a moment that WAPO was the rag that beat the crumbs for WMD and George Bush as well as the same company as Newsweek that lied in a story that created violence in Afghanistan slandering our US soldiers at Guantanamo Bay falsely saying they flushed the Muslim holy bible. Ever think to look at what the companies interest are and the same editor who oversaw the Flush retraction and lie is now at GE running NBD and MSNBC Obama network
ask lyour self WHY and WHY dose Obama attract radicals willing to say and do anything to get him elected the same ones that touts saint change outsider Bush and the Iraq invasion. Newsweek made up a poll Friday showing their guy with a 19 point national lead that was false.
Turn out true Dems dont let the Party be taken over by the same raidcals that puppet Bush.
Else I''d say something about how easy it is to choose who to vote for - there are so many marginally readable, borderline psychotic, and wholly manic rants AGAINST Obama that they make a case to vote FOR him.
By Big Tent Democrat,
By Big Tent Democrat
The differentials in the polls are pretty easy to decipher. Take PPP. It has Obama up 3 in PA. And how it gets there is clear. It has low white turnout (76% of the total), high A-A turnout (18% of the total) and Obama only losing the white vote by 14, 52-38 (it has the by now standard 8-1 A-A win for Obama.)
The Q Poll, which has Clinton up 7, has White voters backing Sen. Clinton 57-38 percent (with A-A going for Obama 84-10). By my calculation, Q has a more convention turnout model, somewhere around 81% of the vote will be whites and A-A around 15%.
There are two factors now, the turnout of whites and A-As, and how close can Obama run with whites. Demography is political destiny in this race.
You blew it hrc.......you reap what you sow
Let''s look at this from a Politics 101 perspective:
Obama has already won a majority of pledged delegates
Obama has nearly caught up to Hillary in superdelegates
Obama raises money with ease
Hillary is broke
Politicians flock to money like mosquitos to a bug light
Superdelegates are politicians, they are just waiting for the right moment to line up behind Obama to gain access to his fundraising abiltiy. That chance will most likely be on May 6th - once Obama trounces Hillary in North Carolina and wins Indiana
Everything else is just a smoke screen
Not even the staunchest supporter of Hillary can believe that the remaining superdelegates will go against the will of the people AND availability of money - if you truly believe otherwise you have bigger issues to deal with than this election.
You know Martin Luther King wasn''t the only man who took a bullet for his beliefs regarding the rights of black people. God forbid that a white man might get some credit....you ever heard of Abraham Lincoln?
jobs to India! I think the voters should be outraged that any politician is for outsourcing premium American jobs.
Remember NAFTA anybody.
View the article and pass the word in PA.
http://www.indianembassy.org/India_Review/2005/April2005.pdf
On February 26, addressing the India Today Conclave
2005, the Senator urged Indian Industry to invest more in
her country. Though U.S. understood that economic
vibrancy of India was in its own interest, there are people
who feel left behind and might stir up %u201Cnegative feelings%u201D
against India because they do not understand the economic
benefits of outsourcing, Clinton remarked.
If your take is that anyone who doesn''t vote for the empty suit is "dumb", "marginal", and, oh yea, psychotic, well, shame on you.
I don''t care for the empty suit because I feel he is too young, too inexperienced and too liberal. So, that just makes me someone who knows my own mind and standards. This from a "typical white woman" and granny.
Obama is the first Republican Candidate to run on the Democratic vote. He had me fooled earlier but I see through it all now. For those of you waiting on the change I can tell you the only change that will be made under his leadership is HIGHER PRICES and more War.
Has anyone wonder why he hardly ever shows up for minority (Mostly African American) events? When asked about affimative action he never says what he is going to do about it? I think the ones that benefit from these programs and items should demand he answer before casting a vote for this character. My only conclusion to why he is a closet Republican is that he wanted to "pimp" the minority vote.
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As always BLACKSPIRIT3 shows his racist side. I may have been uncommitted for the Nov election, but with people like this - it most assuredly makes my vote for McCain much easier. An educated Hatred Racist
Posted by Xlib at 10:52 AM : Apr 21, 2008
So which one are going to vote for, then?
McCain, who will see to it that your grandchildren have the opportunity to get shot protecting the right of our oil company execs and stockholders to get richer before they starve to death because they can''t get a job?
Or Clinton, who will see to it that your grandchildren are otherwise healthy as they starve to death because she spent eight years not saying a damned thing while her hubby gave America away - which "coincidentally" vastly increased the profits of that corporation she spent six years on the board of directors of - a.k.a. Wal-Mart?
Posted by cbullcom at 10:51 AM : Apr 21, 2008
Well of course that is your take on everything. I''m sure you are black....honestly how could you possibly say that slavery is "swept under the rug" (talk about ignorance). That is all we hear day and night. You won''t be happy until every white person in this world gets down on their hands and begs forgiveness of every black person living on earth (even though we weren''t alive at the time). Your buddy "blackspirit3" who I was addressing in my post (not you!) is the biggest racist, sexist, ageist bigot I have ever seen...yet you choose to attack me instead of him. That''s kind of telling don''t you think? There will never be enough done in your eyes to punish white people. You are a bigot yourself and you judge everybody by your narrow standards. Why don''t you get over your bad self and get on with your life and stop looking for slights everywhere.
I guess you mean your Blue collar, ******** can place the Fiber Optic wiring since you are the one sitting behind the desk calling the shots. You support Obama? I wonder does he feel that way about hardworking blue collar Americans too.
As for the economy, I wish Bush had been able to work on Social Security with his plan to allow us to invest up to 5% in personal accounts. The government has raped and pillaged the SS system and that will hurt our children and grandchildren. Any investment would be better than the present system as it stands now.
So, is your solution to have the government run everything?? Where has that worked?? As for the slam on WalMart, I do believe the "proud" madame obama had some dealings with them, did she not??
And, wouldn''t it be nice if both the state & feds would roll back the horrendous taxes on gas & diesal. Everytime the price of fuel goes up the government sucks in more of our money.
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