Tag: 2008 (page 21)

Earlier I wrote why I think Hillary Clinton is more electable. Here's what Hillary said today in Pennsylvania:

Clinton also said there was no "contradiction" from her previous position when she told last week's ABC News debate audience that she thought Obama was electable after weeks in which her main case to the superdelegates who could decide the nomination was that Obama could not win a general election fight against presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

"Yes, yes, yes," Clinton said during the debate last week at the National Constitution Center on Independence Mall.

Today, she said, "He can be elected. I WILL be elected." "There is a difference," the New York senator said. "Look at the electoral map: I've carried states that a Democrat must have to win. Anything is possible, but I am more likely" to gain the White House against McCain.

McCain's strategy now is to go after the toss-up states, particularly in the west and southwest. [More...]

Bill Clinton on the campaign trail in Pennsylvania today succinctly explains why Obama's ad attacking Hillary's health care plan is not only wrong, but shows that Obama is clueless. Elizabeth Edwards made the same points about the need for everyone to be covered and how it will result in lower costs.

Shorter version: Obama: Not everyone can afford it. The truth: Yes they can.

"Hillary's being subject to a television ad that has been roundly criticized in the form of mass mailings all across this country saying she's trying to make you buy insurance you can't afford and you're gonna be fined and all that. It isn't true. It is not true," he said. "Every expert who has looked at this says if you provide the subsidies and you cap somebody's income, everybody'll be able to afford it, it'll be cheaper than anything you're buying now if you buying it. But I'm just telling you, we won't get control of cost unless we cover everybody. Doing the morally right thing is the economically essential thing. If you agree with that, if you agree with that, you have only one choice left with the three candidates for president. You got to vote for Hillary for president, she'll fix this problem."

Obama is digging himself into a hole here, just like he did with his Bitter-Gate statements. He really doensn't get it. Like he doesn't get social security and has bought into the crisis meme. He should have corrected his health care plan months ago. Better yet, he should work on it for another eight years and then come back and try again.

On the job training is not what most of us have in mind for the Presidency -- at least not while there's a better Democratic choice.

Update: The AP has a new article on Obama's many efforts at gun control.

***

At Wednesday's debate, Barack Obama wouldn't say what his position is on the DC law banning handguns. He dodged, saying he wasn't familiar with the facts of the case.

Of course, in November, his campaign told the Chicago Tribune he supporteed the ban. (Chicago Tribune November 20, 2007.)

But the campaign of Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said that he "...believes that we can recognize and respect the rights of law-abiding gun owners and the right of local communities to enact common sense laws to combat violence and save lives. Obama believes the D.C. handgun law is constitutional."

Tonight, Obama surrogate Bob Casey was on Lou Dobbs. Dobbs asked Casey whether Obama would support or oppose the DC handgun ban. (No link, I typed from his answer.)

Bob Casey: He would probably be a supporter, as he has been in the U.S. Senate and the Illinois legislature, for various restrictions on gun ownership. I happen to disagree with him on that, we have our disagreements.

More....

Update: John Dickerson at Slate on the hypocrisy between what Obama says and what his aides do.

***

As for Obama's positive message of hope and change on the campaign trail and how he won't be a typical politician but one who brings a breath of fresh air to Washington, here's what he said today:

Barack Obama cast his Democratic presidential rival Saturday as a game-player who uses "slash and burn" tactics and will say whatever people want to hear, a sharp jab at her character in the final chapter of the pivotal Pennsylvania primary campaign.

...."Senator Clinton has internalized a lot of the strategies, the tactics, that have made Washington such a miserable place."

...."She's got the kitchen sink flying and the china flying, the buffet is coming at me ... constant distractions, these petty, trivial, slash and burn, back and forth, tit for tat, politics."

Mirror, mirror on the wall? It's politics as usual from the candidate for change. [More...]

However unlikely, it's still possible Obama could lose PA and the nomination. If nominated, he could lose the election. Here's how, by a senior editor at The New Republic. It begins:

Some liberal commentators have downplayed the effect of Barack Obama's recent fundraising speech in San Francisco. But that's wishful thinking. Along with the revelations about Obama's pastor Jeremiah Wright, his remarks in San Francisco will haunt him not only in the upcoming primaries in Pennsylvania, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia, but also in the general election against John McCain, assuming he gets the Democratic nomination.

Go read the rest, and let us know what you think.

(Comments now Closed)

The new Gallup poll, taken after Wednesday's Philadelphia debate, has Hillary Clinton tightening Obama's lead. She moves to within 3 points of him.

These results are based on interviewing conducted April 15-17, with Thursday night's interviewing the first conducted following the April 16 debate in Philadelphia. The initial indications are that Obama may have been hurt by the debate, which was noted for its negative tone and focus on the candidates' recent "gaffes" and Obama's associations with the controversial Rev. Jeremiah Wright and William Ayers (a former member of the radical Weather Underground group).

In Thursday night's interviewing, Clinton received a greater share of national Democratic support than Obama, the first time she has done so in an individual night's interviewing since April 3. That stronger showing for Clinton helped to snap Obama's streak of statistically significant leads in the three-day rolling averages Gallup reports each day. Until today, he had led Clinton by a statistically significant margin in each of the prior 11 Gallup releases.

As to McCain and the Democrats: [More...]

CBS has a new poll on Pennsylvania college students. The predictable results: they favor Obama. (full results here, pdf.)

Oh but I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now

Looking at Pennsylvania's demographics and current voter registration statistics (available here in Excel), 10% of PA's voters are in the 18 to 24 age group. 38% are over 55.

I'm not sure how many of those are college students. I suspect there are plenty of registered young voters who are not attending college.

Intentional or not?

Update: I've watched it twice and I think he was just scratching his face. I don't think he meant anything by it. I also don't think he's dumb. Especially when he talks about how the cameras are on them 24/7.

Update: Comments now closed.

Why does Barack Obama keep using the term "mentally deranged" when discussing guns?

Mentally deranged does not equal mentally ill (or mentally challenged). Use of this term unfairly stigmatizes those suffering from mental illness.

Mental illnesses are treatable conditions that can be lived with and beaten and negative portrayals of mental illnesses only make it harder for those who are sick to get the help they need and to be taken seriously.

More here.

The Daily Pennsylvanian today endorsed Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama in the state's primary.

"We want to believe that Sen. Barack Obama can accomplish all he promises. His soaring rhetoric and compelling vision have inspired us and many other students," the endorsement said. "But while Obama's charisma far outshines that of Sen. Hillary Clinton, her public service, political experience and tenacity tell us not only 'Yes we can' but also 'How we can.' As such, we endorse Clinton for the Democratic Party's nomination for president.

"Our endorsement is not a rejection of Obama's leadership qualities. But choosing the president of the United States is too important a decision to make based on hope alone," the paper continued. "After finishing his term in the Senate and better showing us what he can do for the American people, Obama could one day be a remarkable president. Clinton, on the other hand, is ready to lead this nation now. A successful champion for change, her experience in the Senate and as first lady gives her a better understanding of how Washington works. She has the ability to turn policy into reality. And her mastery of causes central to the Democratic Party's platform makes her better suited to challenge presumptive Republican nominee John McCain."

These are pretty much the reasons I expressed earlier today. I'm glad I'm not alone. Hopefully by PA primary day, it will be the majority opinion of PA voters.

Barack Obama released his tax return today. He earned $4.2 million.

In tax returns the campaign released Wednesday, the Obamas reported a significant jump in their income from the previous year as profits from the books "Dreams From My Father" and "The Audacity of Hope" accounted for some $4 million. The Obamas paid federal taxes of $1.4 million and donated $240,370 to charity.

Their salaried income was $260,735, which include his $157,102 salary as a U.S. senator and hers of $103,633 as vice president of community and external affairs at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

In 2006, the Obamas earned $991,296.

The sum included Obama's Senate salary of $157,082 and his wife's earnings of $273,618 from her position as an administrator at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Michelle Obama also earned $51,200 in director's fees from TreeHouse Inc., a food distributor.

What we have: two candidates who made millions from book deals. Good for both of them, I don't begrudge either their good fortune. And for both, let's face it, fortune or at least celebrity has a lot to do with it.

More...

There aren't too many silver linings for Hillary Clinton in this ABC News/Washington Post national poll. (Full poll results here, pdf., Washington Post article on it is here.)

The poll, out today, is a national one. It finds Democrats believe Obama should win the nomination and is more electable in November.

The silver lining: The views of those polled on superdelegates:

Only 13 percent of Democrats say superdelegates should support whoever’s won the most regular delegates in primaries and caucuses – a count in which Obama’s ahead, and seemingly likely to stay so. Instead a plurality, 46 percent, say superdelegates should support the candidate who’s won the most popular votes, a tally in which Clinton still has hopes. And 37 percent say superdelegates should go with their own sense of which candidate they think is best.

In other words, if Hillary does well in the remaining states, and she should, at least in PA, Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky and Puerto Rico, a whopping 87% of those polled don't think it's a problem for superdelegates to vote according to either the popular vote total or their conscience instead of by the pledged delegate total.

More...