There's a great editorial in the Wall Street Journal today:If there is such a thing as a useful election defeat, then Tuesday's Republican loss in a special House election in Mississippi would qualify. Maybe this thumping in a heretofore safe GOP seat will finally scare the Members straight, or at least less crooked. Followed by a reminder that many members of Congress need to figure out what it is they stand for:In the Mississippi race, the national GOP tried to link Democratic candidate Travis Childers to Barack Obama and Reverend Jeremiah Wright. One TV ad declared: "Travis Childers: He took Obama's endorsement over our conservative values." But Mr. Childers was well known as a cultural conservative who favors gun rights and opposes … [Read more...]
Maybe Hillary IS That Unpopular
Does anyone remember Jeremiah Wright and Tony Rezko? Or is news like this just a sign that the Democratic Party - and America in general - really, truly is sick of the Clintons once and for all?A new national Democratic primary poll from Diageo/Hotline (.pdf) (March 28-31, 342 Dem RV, MoE +/- 5.3%) shows Obama leading Clinton by 12 points, after the two had remained close in similar polls in previous months. On negative campaigning, 42% felt Clinton had unfairly attacked Obama, while 22% felt Obama had atttacked Clinton unfairly. Per his usual excellent output, Mark Steyn has the most eloquently biting pre-mortem on the Clinton campaign, saying it looks like "last call for Hillary":It's 3 a.m., and your children are safe and asleep. … [Read more...]
Obama Train Slowing Down?
Earlier today I pointed out the troubles Barack Obama is having with skeptics on the political Left who even after his "courageous speech" say he's still in trouble. Well, if early signs like a large-scale Internet poll mean anything, these critics have a strong point. John Hinderaker at Power Line notes an AOL Hot Seat poll that shows an overwhelming percentage of Americans don't think Obama solved "his Jeremiah Wright problem with his speech yesterday." By a margin of 68 to 26 percent. This might be (wait, just might be) the lead weight around Obama's campaign. If this is true, it's because more people are seeing what Jonah Goldberg saw:For all the wonderful rhetoric and tantalizing promise of Obama and his speech, there’s not … [Read more...]
Obama’s Speech Panned on the Left
Sure, I could sit down this morning and link my readers to a dozen critiques of Barack Obama's Tuesday Jeremiah Wright "damage control" speech from conservative bloggers and other commentators. That wouldn't prove very much, I think. Besides, it would require more time than I have to give a thorough spectrum of responses. Instead, here are a couple of takes from the Left. One not-too-surprising source is Mickey Kaus. On his Slate magazine blog, he highlights the "troubling equivalences" in Obama's speech. One of his more salient observations:In general. Obama's explanations of black anger seem intimate and respectful. His explanations of white anger seem distant and condescending. ("They are anxious about their futures, and feel their … [Read more...]
Obama Exposed: Saturday Roundup
Could there be more to the agent of "change" and "hope" than what the media had led us to believe? The story of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's America-hating longtime spiritual adviser Jeremiah Wright has started to sink into the public psyche. Meanwhile, the center-right blogosphere keeps digging deeper. Since there's very little new I can add to this story from my remote observation post, here's a quick roundup of some of the latest developments and keenest analysis out there: Over at Powerline, Scott Johnson breaks down "The Audacity of Hype," while Paul Mirengoff speculates about Obama's attempts to distance himself from the Leftward fringes of liberation theology Jim Geraghty says Wright could be this campaign … [Read more...]