Who is Mike Murphy? Well you have seen him bloviating on Meet the Press all the time as the GOP operative though he has always operated as sort of a "maverick" GOP operative. So why do I say he could be Obama's salvation? Because the NYTimes says he advised McCain to do this:

Mr. Murphy urged him to tone down his attacks on Mr. Obama and stop coming across as so angry. He recommended that Mr. McCain concentrate on running as a reform candidate to strip that issue from Mr. Obama . . .

More . .

Denver is one of five aiports in the country that has begun "full body scanning" of passengers.

The Transportation Security Administration today will start screening travelers at Denver International Airport using a machine that bounces radio waves off skin to produce a graphic, whole-body image. The scan aims to reveal weapons, explosives or other items hidden on a passenger's body. But because the image is anatomically explicit, millimeter-wave screening is controversial.

DIA and five other U.S. airports are using the new technology in pilot programs to assess its capabilities, said David Bassett, TSA's federal security director in Denver.

Passengers who object can request a pat down search. The other cities:

Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, Los Angeles International, JFK International in New York, Baltimore-Washington International and Albuquerque International.

This is a very invasive machine. [More...]

I'm off to go hold a "Count the Votes!" sign and/or yell at a cloud.

Have a good Saturday.

This is an Open Thread.

Comments closed

In today's top story in The Miami Herald:

Asked by The Herald why he doesn't just concede Florida to Clinton since he's so close to the nomination, Obama didn't answer directly. He said he wanted the state to participate in the convention, but he didn't get into specifics about how many delegates should be there and whether they would be divvied up according to the Jan. 29 vote.

"'We want the Florida delegates to be seated and we intend to make sure they have a voice at the convention," he said. "The DNC has a decision to make and we're not in the way." Pressed on why he doesn't use his influence to grant Clinton the extra Florida delegates and end the dispute, he said he doesn't control the DNC. "The delegates aren't mine to give," he said.

(Emphasis supplied.) There is an old saying - "Lead, follow or get out of the way." It seems clear now that on the question of Florida and Michigan, Obama has chosen to get out of the way.

In other words, Obama is offering to hold Florida's coat while it fights for its delegates.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

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Newsweek poll sez:

Obama 46
McCain 46

Clinton 48
McCain 44

Newsweek notes:

Clinton's white support [44%] is unusually high: at a comparable point in the 2004 election, Democratic nominee John Kerry received the support of 36 percent of white voters, compared to George W. Bush's 48 percent, and in June of 2000, Bush led Al Gore 48 percent to 39 percent.

It appears that the issue is not so much Obama's relative lack of appeal to white working class voters vis a vis typical Dems like Kerry (indeed, Obama exceeds Kerry's white support), but rather it is Hillary Clinton's strong appeal to that demographic. In other words, it is not that there is something wrong with Obama but that there is something RIGHT with Clinton.

See also andgarden on the subject.

By Big Tent Democrat

Comments closed

Link:

“I’ve heard her make that argument before,” Mr. Kennedy said, speaking on his cell phone as he drove to the family compound in Hyannis for the holiday weekend. “It sounds like she was invoking a familiar historical circumstance in support of her argument for continuing her campaign.” . . . [H]is support of Mrs. Clinton has not wavered.

More from RFK, Jr.:

I have heard her make this reference before, also citing her husband's 1992 race, both of which were hard fought through June. I understand how highly charged the atmosphere is, but I think it is a mistake for people to take offense."

Update (TL) below:

I've been in court all afternoon and just coming in now to all the hysteria. All I'll say is Hillary is being treated unfairly here. The media and blog commenters are engaging in character assassination. She was making a historical statement on why she needn't drop out of the race by early June. Democratic nominations have gone past that before. Her emphasis was on the word "June."

The leap that is required to think that her reference to the RFK assassination was in any way a statement or subliminal wish that it might happen to Obama is mind-boggling.

This will be the final TalkLeft thread on the matter. I'm not going to spend the weekend on this. And I'm going to have a low threshold for accusatory comments. If you want a place to further your attacks on Hillary, go somewhere else.

More...

I realize I am too wrapped up in every bit of this crazy political season. So I am done writing for the night and maybe tomorrow.

It is Memorial Day Weekend after all.

This is an Open Thread

Comments now closed.

It turns out that Hillary Clinton said something similar regarding RFK and the 1968 race in a Time Magazine interview in March 2008, but there was not an uproar then. Here is what she said in March:

TIME: Can you envision a point at which--if the race stays this close--Democratic Party elders would step in and say, "This is now hurting the party and whoever will be the nominee in the fall"?

CLINTON: No, I really can't. I think people have short memories. Primary contests used to last a lot longer. We all remember the great tragedy of Bobby Kennedy being assassinated in June in L.A. My husband didn't wrap up the nomination in 1992 until June. Having a primary contest go through June is nothing particularly unusual.

More . . .

Hillary Clinton issued the following statement today in Brandon, SD:

“Earlier today I was discussing the Democratic primary history and in the course of that discussion mentioned the campaigns that both my husband and Senator Kennedy waged in California in June 1992 and 1968 and I was referencing those to make the point that we have had nomination primary contests that go into June. That’s a historic fact. The Kennedys have been much on my mind the last days because of Senator Kennedy and I regret that if my referencing that moment of trauma for our entire nation, and particularly for the Kennedy family was in any way offensive. I certainly had no intention of that, whatsoever. My view is that we have to look to the past and to our leaders who have inspired us and give us a lot to live up to, and I’m honored to hold Senator Kennedy’s seat in the United States Senate from the state of New York and have the highest regard for the entire Kennedy family.”

More below

You will be hearing about this meeting tonight because of an unfortunate, inappropriate statement by Senator Clinton regarding the length of the contest. She invoked President Clinton's 1992 fight for the nomination and most regretfully, the fact that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s fight for the nomination was cut short the night of his win in the California primary in 1968 as well as the fights in 1980 and 1984.

But her mention of the RFK assassination is simply is an indefensible remark, and in very poor taste. I believe Clinton's point was that the fight for the nomination was going full bore in June 1968. But the statement was a terrible mistake. Indeed, a politically damaging mistake. Senator Clinton should apologize and I imagine will apologize for it. Her enemies will of course use it against her and accuse her of hoping for something bad to happen to Senator Obama. And that tells you about them. But there is no getting around this - Senator Clinton made a terrible statement and she needs to apologize for it immediately.

Barack Obama is still in Florida. Today, he spoke at a luncheon for the largest organization of Cuban-American exiles -- a pretty conservative bunch. He told them he would meet with Cuba's new leaders.

The annual Cuban Independence Day banquet of the Cuban American National Foundation cheered Obama's avowed commitment to fostering democracy in Cuba. But the audience showed its wariness of his talk of meeting with Cuban leaders. Mere handfuls applauded that statement from among the crowd of at least 500.

....Foundation Chairman Jorge Mas Santos voiced the Cuban American community's enduring opposition to any U.S. president meeting with the Castro regime before political prisoners are released and free elections slated. The son of the foundation's late founder, Mas described any expectation of engaging Raul Castro in democratic reforms as "wishful thinking."

Did he win himself any votes today? He did say he would end the travel restrictions and limits on sending money home, but he would also maintain the embargo.

The Miami Herald reports: [More...]