Keepin' It Real

Please, Mr. Ickes...could you go on a vacation now?

South Dakota

The latest projections are that the South Dakota vote might be close.

Let's finish the primary season up with a show of strength!

If you have even a half-hour free over the next 50 or so hours, please consider phonebanking. Even if you've never done it before! It's surprisingly easy; after the first few calls, you'll get a feel for it. Just follow the link and detailed scripts will pop up in your browser as you go through the call, depending on how the caller answers each question. All you need is a phone and an internet connection.

Gallup: key constituencies are moving towards Obama

PRINCETON, NJ -- Gallup Poll Daily tracking has documented a surge in Democratic voters' support for Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton in recent days, swelling from a four percentage-point lead for Obama during the first part of May to a record 16-point lead for him in polling from May 16-18.

talking back to the GOP

Clearly, strongly, and QUICKLY.

patriot

Obama responds to Rev. Wright

Rev. Wright has finally exceeded the boundaries of Sen. Obama's tolerance.

Kudos to Obama for standing up to intolerance...even when it comes from a man who served as something of a father figure to Obama --- a man to whom Obama tried very hard to remain loyal over the past few months.

Tolerance is a wonderful thing. But tolerance of intolerance is something else altogether.



More clips on this topic here.

Excerpt:

"I want to use this press conference to make people absolutely clear that obviously whatever relationship I had with Rev. Wright has changed, he said. "I don't think he showed much concern for me ...and what we are trying to do in this campaign." "My reaction has more to do with what I want this campaign to be about.... in some ways, what Rev. Wright said yesterday directly contradicts everything that I've done during my life. It contradicts how i was raise and the setting in which I was raised; it contradicts my decision to pursue a career of public service. It contradicts the issues that I've worked on politically.

I'm outraged by the comments that were made and saddened by the spectacle that we saw yesterday. I have been a member of Trinity United Church of Christ since 1992 and have known Jeremiah Wright for almost 22 years. The person I saw yesterday was not the person I met 20 years ago. His comments were not only divisive and destructive, but they also give comfort to those that prey on hate and I believe they do not accurately portray the perspective of the black church. They certainly do not accurately portray my values and beliefs. If Reverend Wright thinks that is political posturing on my part, he does not know me very well.

I have already denounced those comments that have come out of these previous sermons. I gave him the benefit of the doubt in my speech in Philadelphia, explaining that he has done enormous good in the church, has built a wonderful conversation. They are a wonderful people and what attracted me has always been the ministries reach beyond church walls. But when he states and then amplifies such ridiculous propositions, that the U.S. government is involved in AIDS, when he suggests that Louis Farrakhan represents one of the greatest voices of the 21st century, when he equates the United States' wartime effort with terrorism, then there are no excuses. They offend me, they rightfully offend all Americans, and they should be denounced. That is what I am doing very clearly and unequivocally here today.

I have spent my entire adult life trying to bridge the gap between different kinds of people. That's in my DNA, trying to promote mutual understanding to insist that we all share common hopes and common dreams as Americans and as human beings. That's who I am, that's what I believe, and that's what this campaign has been about."

UPDATE, 5/2/08

E.J. Dionne, noted commentator, had this to say about "false prophets".

Sen. Clinton's energy policy: "self-serve"

According to the Washington Post (excerpt):

A growing chorus -- including a top congressional Democrat -- labeled Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's proposal for suspending the federal gasoline tax ineffective and shortsighted yesterday, even as she continued to paint Sen. Barack Obama as insensitive to drivers' woes for not endorsing the plan.

Obama spoke about how the proposed 3-month gas tax "holiday" would only result in a $30 savings for most households. A point that I think might be added into the mix is infrastructure. Perhaps we should pull out some video of last year's Minnesota bridge collapse (pictured, above left)? Bridges and roads are in terrible shape nationwide. Suspending the gas tax would have a tiny effect on each taxpayer's wallet, but would have major implications for spending on infrastructure.

We have gargantuan amounts of work to do on the energy front. Band-aid measures like gas tax holidays will not get that work done --- plain and simple. How about a government SUV buy-back program instead? Offer drivers of the largest SUVs a chance to unload those monsters, because as it stands, NOBODY is buying them...particularly not the budget-minded shoppers in the used car market!

Obama is avoiding Clinton and McCain's pandering. (Pictured: Sen. Clinton riding with a "regular Joe" in a pickup truck to demonstrate the importance of car-pooling. She carpools all the time...pooling multiple cars to get her to her destination! She left the motorcade back at the hotel for a few minutes! Wouldn't it have made a better pojnt if she'd carpooled with a mom with her 2.2 kids on the way to daycare and work in her minivan, rather than a blue collar guy in his F-250 hemi?).

Once again, Obama refuses to just "tell us what we want to hear" because it would be popular. May it continue. As he said at a campaign speech this week:

"This isn't an idea designed to get you through the summer. It's an idea designed to get them through an election."

And some reaction from ABC news:

South Dakota political blog

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