By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only.

Update [2008-2-25 13:36:24 by Big Tent Democrat]: There could be some clarification on this that may exonerate the Clinton campaign. I will await a further statement and see what it says. It is also worth noting that Daily Kos accepts that the Clinton Campaign had nothing to to do with this.

I think Josh Marshall gets it right on the Obama garb flap:

[W]e got [a] statement in which the Clinton camp says Obama should be "ashamed" at saying the picture is "divisive," without addressing one way or another what they're accused of doing. . . . Put it all together and the Clinton camp would appear to be unwilling to make even the most perfunctory denial that they are or were circulating this photo around.

We held up on this because we never want to take Drudge as a fact witness for anything. But I think the Clinton camp's statement speaks for itself.

I think Josh is right here. And shame on the Clinton camp for pushing this photo out there.

[Update (TL): Comments now closed, there's a new thread on this.]

While I happen to agree at present that Barack Obama does not have sufficient experience to be President, I think it's pretty obvious voters around the country aren't sold on the concept.

At a fundraiser in Boston today, Hillary told her supporters:

"We're going to emphasize more and more the experience gap," Clinton told several hundred supporters who had paid at least $500 to attend a Boston fundraiser. "You'll hear a lot about it the next eight days."

The New York senator said the posters voters are bringing to her events indicate that the issue of experience is coming to the forefront.

"When I first started, it was 'You Go Girl,' 'Women Making History,' all about the pioneering nature of my candidacy," Clinton said. Recently, she said, the signs had changed. "In Houston last night, it was, 'We Want Experience, Not An Experiment,' and 'The White House Is No Place for Training Wheels,'" she said.

Can this work now? I'm not convinced. Perhaps, if John McCain, who has begun making the same argument about Obama, keeps hitting the experience factor this week, it might resonate. [More...]

Nation of Islam founder Louis Farrakhan is now singing the praises of Barack Obama:

In his first major public address since a cancer crisis, Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan said Sunday that presidential candidate Barack Obama is the "hope of the entire world" that the U.S. will change for the better.

"This young man is the hope of the entire world that America will change and be made better," he said. "This young man is capturing audiences of black and brown and red and yellow. If you look at Barack Obama's audiences and look at the effect of his words, those people are being transformed."

Obama isn't happy with the endorsement:

Said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton: "Sen. Obama has been clear in his objections to Minister Farrakhan's past pronouncements and has not solicited the minister's support."

More...

Check out today's Gallup Daily Tracking Poll showing the month of February, with latest results taken Feb. 22-23. (Larger version here.)

Hillary started February off with 47%. She's now at 46%. She rose 4% in the past few days.

Obama peaked on Feb. 17 at 49%. He had a 7 percent lead over Hillary then. Now, he's down 2 percent to 47% and has stayed flat the last few days. Hillary, meanwhile, is up 4 points from Feb. 17.

In the last few days alone, Obama has stayed flat while Hillary has risen 1%.

Where's the momentum?

I do it every year. Live blog will be below the fold, hope you join in. If you want others to see your comments, put them in this thread rather than the live blog.

More...

By Big Tent Democrat

The Oscars are tonight. Who is going to win? Who should win? Predictions please.

Jeralyn has arrived. This thread is now closing.

By Big Tent Democrat

60 Minutes is about to run its segment on Karl Rove and his alleged actions against Democratic Alabama Governor Don Siegelman. Worth a watch

By Big Tent Democrat

The Associated Press continues its atrocious coverage, here it directs its attacks on Barack Obama's patriotism:

Sen. Barack Obama's refusal to wear an American flag lapel pin along with a photo of him not putting his hand over his heart during the National Anthem led conservatives on Internet and in the media to question his patriotism. Now Obama's wife, Michelle, has drawn their ire, too, for saying recently that she's really proud of her country for the first time in her adult life.

Conservative consultants say that combined, the cases could be an issue for Obama in the general election if he wins the nomination, especially as he runs against Vietnam war hero Sen. John McCain.

Yes, as Mark Halperin says, the Media's political coverage is a freak show. Does this mean that the Media is now going to open up the show on Obama? This is just outrageous.

Update (TL): Comments now closed.

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only.

When is mocking your opponent a good thing? According to HuffPo wire service selections, when you are Barack Obama. When is it a bad thing? According to Huff Po, when you are Hillary Clinton.

Any criticism of Obama's statements which do not take into account Obama's clarifications and explanations of what he REALLY meant are unfair personal attacks and the attacker is a "liar" who will say and do anything to get elected. . . . Obama's attacks are always fair and merited. . . .

More . . .

By Big Tent Democrat

Wolcott:

Perhaps the next time Beltway pundits are tempted to romanticize the blue-collar working man in all his rugged, unpretentious, Saroyan glory, they might want to remind themselves of some of the less savory baggage being lugged into the lunch room, i.e., an ample load of sexist bile:

"For a lot of blue-collar guys over 40, Hillary Clinton is a poster child for everything about the women's movement that they don't like -- their wife going back to work, their daughters rebelling, the rise of women in the workplace," says Gerald Austin, an Ohio political strategist. . . .

"People don't want to speak out against Obama because of the fear of being seen as racist," he says. "It's easier to say you want to keep a woman barefoot and pregnant....You can call a woman anything."

Yes, you can can call a woman anything if you're semi-comfortably sure of being able to get away with it . . .

In recognition of the Oscars tonight, Wayne Slater at the Dallas Morning News asks, "Which movie characters do the current crop of presidential hopefuls most resemble?"

I think the choice for Hillary is great.

Tess McGill in "Working Girl," -- she's learned the ropes and is ready to run the boardroom.

Obama: Slater narrows it to three.

1) Jefferson Smith in "Mr Smith Goes to Washington." Jimmy Stewart offers change in the nation's capital.

2) Neo (Keanu Reeves) in "The Matrix" -- Morpheus wants to know, "Is he the one?"

3) Chauncey Gardner in "Being There." To hear Hillary say it, there's more metaphor than meat in Obama's rhetoric. Was it Obama who said, "There will be growth in the spring!"

Huckabee? He asks if Gomer Pyle ever made a movie.

What would your picks be?

The Democratic presidential primary has been fairly unconventional so far. The Boston Globe has an article today about what Ronald Reagan did in 1976 when he was losing big-time to Gerald Ford: He named his vice-presidential running mate. He came closer, but ended up not winning the nomination.

Despite naming Senator Richard Schweiker of Pennsylvania the would-be vice president to shore up support among Republican moderates, Reagan lost the delegate race by a little more than 100. But picking a vice president while trailing in delegates was a bold technique that some political analysts think might repeat itself in this year's tight Democratic race, the first since the Reagan-Ford contest that could go down to the wire in the same way.

....Selecting a popular vice presidential nominee could win over some superdelegates - uncommitted party leaders invited to the convention - while perhaps also attracting some voters in late primaries, analysts said.

The article considers whether this is something Hillary Clinton might do now. It mentions, as possible picks, General Wesley Clark and Bill Richardson.[ More...]