Clinton pollster Geoff Garin asks some fair questions:

So let me get this straight. On the one hand, it's perfectly decent for Obama to argue that only he has the virtue to bring change to Washington and that Clinton lacks the character and the commitment to do so. On the other hand, we are somehow hitting below the belt when we say that Clinton is the candidate best able to withstand the pressures of the presidency and do what's right for the American people, while leaving the decisions about Obama's preparedness to the voters.

Who made up those rules? And who would ever think they are fair?

Indeed. but double standards rule the day. Consider this inane post:

Elizabeth Drew writing in Politico confirms what we have been seeing for months - the House Dem leadership is populated by fools. Consider this unforgivable ignorance:

[T]he congressional Democratic leaders don’t draw the same conclusion from Pennsylvania and also earlier contests that many observers think they do: that Obama’s candidacy is fatally flawed because he has as yet been largely unable to win the votes of working class whites. They point out something that has been largely overlooked in all the talk – the Ohio and Pennsylvania primaries were closed primaries, and, one key congressional Democrat says, “Yes, he doesn’t do really well with a big part of the Democratic base, but she doesn’t do well with independents, who will be critical to success in November.”

(Emphasis supplied.) Ohio was an Open Primary. Indeed, the exit polling indicated that 69% of the Ohio vote was Democrats, 16% was Independents and 9% was Republicans. Clinton and Obama split the Republican and Independent vote equally. Clinton won Democrats 56-42. In case these all important House Dem leaders are interested. This is their profession. This is their business. And they do not even know basic facts like this. What a incompetent leadership group we have in the House. Just pathetic.

(By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only)

The FL/MI issue will not go away:

Other Florida Democrats -- led by Hillary Clinton supporters -- are turning to public protests to keep the pressure on the national party. Rallies are planned Saturday in seven Florida cities, including Miami and Fort Lauderdale, to demand that the national party count Florida's delegates. Hundreds of activists are also expected to ride buses to Washington to rally Wednesday.

"This has to do with our civil rights," said Millie Herrera, a potential Clinton convention delegate and the president of the Hispanic Democratic Caucus of Florida. "No one has the right to invalidate our votes."

The Creative Class of the Democratic Party wants this issue to go away. It will not.

(By Big Tent Democrat)

MSNBC and Reuters are reporting that a US cargo ship fired upon an Iranian boat in the Persian Gulf. This event makes Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mullen's statement on Iran even more ominous:

Recent combat operations in Southern Iraq in Basra highlighted yet again Iran's activities in ways that very specifically pointed to activities which, in fact, resulted in the deaths of coalition soldiers. And I think for the ability to create stability in that part of the world that not just this alliance, but those who are allied, will have to deal with Iran in the very near future."

Kevin Drum has Mullen revising and extending his remarks.

It is in this context, that Hillary Clinton's umbrella of deterrence proposal is shrewd politically and as a matter of policy. It deserves debate in the Democratic contest.

Criminal defense attorney Gerry Goldstein, lead counsel for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, has wasted no time in filing a blistering attack on the raid on the polygmanist sect's Texas compound:

At the crux of the 39-page motion Goldstein filed Thursday in the Texas 51st Judicial District Court on behalf of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is a revelation that the man authorities were looking for, Dale Evans Barlow, was in Arizona at the time of the April 3 raid. Texas Rangers searched the polygamist sect’s Yearning For Zion Ranch near Eldorado, Texas, for a week after receiving reports from a woman claiming to be a 16-year-old named Sarah Jessop, who alleged that Barlow was sexually abusing her. However, police now suspect the reports were a prank engineered by a woman in Colorado Springs with a history of false reporting.

More...

Rev. Jeremiah Wright, former pastor of the Trinity Church, gives his first interview since becoming a household name to Bill Moyers on PBS tonight.

You can watch a clip and read some details of what he says here.

I was struck by his comments that Barack Obama's race speech was "the politican talking."

Wright said he was hurt by what he considers unfair use of the sound bites, but understood why Obama had harsh words about his statements during a speech on race that the candidate delivered in Philadelphia. Wright said he is obligated to speak as a pastor, but Obama addresses audiences as a politician.

"I don't talk to him about politics," Wright said. "And so he had a political event, he goes out as a politician and says what he has to say as a politician.

Hillary Clinton said after her Pennsylvania win that the tide is turning. Thomas Edsell, political director of Huffington Post, today says the media has begun to turn on Barack Obama.

For the first time, reporters working for magazines, newspapers and web sites have abruptly decided that she might well be right, and the results for Obama have been brutal....

....The new tenor of media coverage is visible almost everywhere, from Politico, Time and The New Republic to The Washington Post and The New York Times.

....The first hard punch was thrown by my friend and colleague John Judis in a widely distributed piece on The New Republic web site, filed sometime around 3AM Wednesday, seven hours after polls closed in Pennsylvania. In the article titled, "The Next McGovern," Judis writes: [more...]

On his wedding day in Manhattan, Sean Bell was gunned down by 50 police bullets. Three New York police officers have been on trial for the past 8 weeks for manslaughter. Today, the judge acquitted them of all charges.

[Michael]Oliver, who fired 31 times and reloaded once, and [Gescard]Isnora, who fired 11 times, had been charged with manslaughter, felony assault and reckless endangerment. They faced up to 25 years in prison if convicted on all charges.

[Marc]Cooper, who fired four times, faced up to a year in jail if convicted of reckless endangerment. None of the detectives testified, although their grand jury testimony was read out loud at the trial.

The case was tried before Queens Supreme Court Justice Arthur Cooperman who decided the state didn't prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

Cooperman said justification was used as a defense, he had to consider the "mindset of the defendants, not the victims. What the victims did, was more important to resolve the issues at hand than what was in their minds."

Barack Obama will win North Carolina by double digits. The demography of North Carolina assures it. And that big win will help assure Obama's hold on the pledged delegate lead and improve his chances for holding the popular vote lead. North Carolina matters.

But Indiana matters more. Why? Because the one unanswered question - the one I have been asking since Super Tuesday is can Barack Obama win the big contested states by capturing enough women, seniors and white working class men. Since Super Tuesday, only in Wisconsin and Virginia has Obama broken through 40% of the white vote in contested primaries, even while he was running the string of 12 victories in February. Let's review the data on the flip.

By Big Tent Democrat

Our Crime in the News coverage would be incomplete without mention of Wesley Snipes, who was sentenced today.

Snipes was sentenced to three years in prison Thursday for failing to file tax returns, the maximum penalty — and a victory for prosecutors who sought to make an example of the action star.

We should cringe when prosecutors or judges crow about "making an example" out of a defendant. Does fame justify suspension of our belief in equal protection of the law?

Suggested reading if you want to know more about the Snipes prosecution: (more...)

Rep. Jim Clyburn's (D-SC) behavior during the South Carolina campaign helped Obama a great deal in that primary. He really helped Obama become the candidate of African American voters in South Carolina and beyond. Of course, now Barack Obama has some trouble with white working class voters.

Now Clyburn is up to his old tricks, but I do not see the political logic to it. Barack Obama already will get at least 90% of the African American vote against Hillary Clinton. It is hard to imagine he can get much more. But Obama DOES need to improve his performance with white voters. Thus when Clyburn says:

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Nancy Pelosi is just unbelievable. She is incapable of keeping quiet. Larry King asks her "do you think a unity ticket is a good idea?" Now, suppose you think it is not. What can you say? Here is a simple one - "It will be up to the nominee." Nothing more. But can Nancy Pelosi say that? No.

Nancy Pelosi feels compelled, by some unstoppable divisiveness in her, to offer her opinion that it is "not a good idea." More headlines tomorrow. Thanks for nothing Madame Speaker.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only.