memeorandum: I Get To Nitpick Gary Wills (Tom Maguire/JustOneMinute)

7:55 PM ET, April 12, 2008

Top Items:

Geoffrey Garin: Obama's Small-Town Comments Would Damage Him In General Election — And Super-Dels Should Consider Them — Hillary chief strategist Geoffrey Garin dramatically raised the stakes in the battle over Barack Obama's comments about small-town America, saying in an interview that they would be …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, TalkLeft, The Fix, Wake up America, Politics Nation, American Power and Below The Beltway

Noam Scheiber / The New Republic:

Clinton Campaign Further Strengthens the Democratic Party — In light of the Clinton campaign's response to Obama's ill-advised comments on small-town inhabitants, it's become obvious that Jon Chait and I were way off base arguing that the extended primary is killing the party.

Discussion: Weekly Standard Blog, The Carpetbagger Report, American Street, Liberal Values and Hot Air

New York Times:

Obama Tries to Limit Fallout Over ‘Bitter’ Remark — The Democratic nominating fight took a sudden turn with Senator Barack Obama's comments about small-town Pennsylvania voters providing an opening for the Clinton campaign to raise anew questions about Mr. Obama's ability to lure working-class voters.

Discussion: The Swamp, Associated Press, The Trail, Reuters, Redstate, Blue Girl, Red State, MSNBC, Don Surber, Balloon Juice, Below The Beltway, BlueNC, Commentary, Townhall.com, Stop The ACLU, Outside The Beltway, Doug Ross and Althouse

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

Hillary hits Obama on faith, guns — Yesterday, Clinton hit Obama for calling Pennsylvanians “bitter,” ground on which he fairly ably engaged. — Today, she's onto the other half of his San Francisco remarks, in which he linked economic frustration to clinging to religion and guns …

Discussion: The Daily Dish, NO QUARTER, Don Surber, MSNBC, The Swamp, The Jed Report, TalkLeft, AMERICAblog, Examining Presidential …, The New Republic, JustOneMinute, The Carpetbagger Report, Big Brass Blog, Marc Ambinder and New York Times

Ezra Klein / American Prospect:

OBAMA TURNS ALL THOMAS FRANK ON US. — I'm not really sure what the big deal over Obama's comments in SF is supposed to be (save that the media and Clinton and McCain are saying they will be a big deal, and thus making them a big deal), but Marc Ambinder has the least hysterical rundown I've seen …

Discussion: Newshoggers.com, Crooks and Liars, TalkLeft, Comments from Left Field, Macsmind and Betsy's Page

Associated Press:

Obama's remarks gives Clinton an opening — MISHAWAKA, Ind. - A political tempest over Barack Obama's comments about bitter voters in small towns has given rival Hillary Rodham Clinton a new opening to court working class Democrats 10 days before Pennsylvanians hold a primary that she must win to keep her presidential campaign alive.

Discussion: American Street, The Huffington Post, Examining Presidential … and Liberal Values

CNN:

Obama: If I offended, I deeply regret that — CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) — Barack Obama said Saturday that if he has offended people with comments he made almost a week ago where he labeled small town Pennsylvanians “bitter” and that they “cling to guns and religion” then he regrets it.

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice:

Democratic And Republican Critics Blast Obama's “Small-Town” Comments Calling It Presidential Disqualifier — If someone wanted to see how early 21st century American politics operates, they need look no further than the current (growing) flap over politically flat-footed comments Senator Barack Obama …

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Stop The ACLU, Power Line, The Caucus, Gateway Pundit and Below The Beltway

Victor Davis Hanson / The Corner:

The McGovernization of Obama — I still believe that by August, Obama, the half-term rookie Senator, will have become the second George McGovern. Cf. his latest declaration to the Marin County faithful (coming on the heels of the crazy anti-Semitic rant of Rev. Eric Lee, a prominent LA Obama supporter):

Discussion: Political Machine, protein wisdom, Hot Air, Hotline On Call and Power Line

Jonathan Martin / Jonathan Martin's Blogs:
Where Obama's ‘bitter’ comments go from here

Discussion: Marc Ambinder and MyDD

Jeralyn / TalkLeft:
Live Blogging Today's Clinton Campaign Press Call

Discussion: NO QUARTER

Dotcomabc / Political Radar:
Obama Explains ‘Bitter’ Comments, but Rivals Pile On

Discussion: Political Punch, Unfogged, Right Wing News and The Page

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Obama tries again: You know, I probably could have said it better

Discussion: The News Buckit and Ghost of a flea

Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:
“A Typical Sort Of Political Flare-Up”

Discussion: FOX Embeds, The Caucus and Maggie's Farm

Jeff Zeleny / The Caucus:
Obama Slams Critics on Middle-Class Comments

Discussion: Comments from Left Field and Free Dominion

Shailagh Murray / The Trail:
Obama Expands on ‘Bitter’ Pennsylvanians Comment

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, NO QUARTER, Political Punch and The New Republic

Garry Wills / New York Review of Books:

Two Speeches on Race — Of the two speeches discussed here, Senator Barack Obama's speech at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on March 18, 2008, is available at www.barackobama.com and Abraham Lincoln's at the Cooper Union in New York on February 27, 1860, is available at showcase.netins.net.

Discussion: TalkLeft and Matthew Yglesias

Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute: I Get To Nitpick Gary Wills

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

Cafferty's defense — The Obama campaign sent out this CNN segment in which Jeff Toobin, Jack Cafferty, and Gloria Borger all defended Obama — and in it, one thing comes through:That it's tough for Clinton to be the messenger on this anti-elitist line, particularly just after she disclosed $109 million in income.

Discussion: Redstate and Hot Air

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

Video from San Francisco — Here's a clip taken by somebody at the San Francisco event; it's the passage just before the lines everyone is now focused on, in which he talks about the skepticism he encounters: … There are some pictures from the event on Flickr as well.

Discussion: Hot Air, The Daily Dish and The Page

Rachel Lucas:

Today I know the meaning of ‘butthurt.’ — If it were later than 12:16 p.m. and if I had eaten anything yet today, I would take a double shot of whiskey right now. I might do it anyway because any negative repercussions from that would have to be better than feeling every ounce of pain I'm enduring today.

Discussion: The Sundries Shack

Mark Z. Barabak / Los Angeles Times:

Why Gov. Bill Richardson didn't endorse Clinton — The New Mexico governor says he was dismayed by pressure from the Clinton camp, and impressed by Obama's optimism. Besides, 'you don't transfer loyalty to a dynasty.' — SANTA FE, N.M. — Before he endorsed Barack Obama …

Discussion: The Page

Noam N. Levey / Los Angeles Times:
Clinton's record shows trade support

Discussion: Balloon Juice and Washington Post

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

Obama on tradition — In Muncie, he takes another pass at the San Francisco comments, sticking with the theme that the bitterness is real, and justified, but also saying for the first time that he could have put it better last Sunday:

Discussion: Commentary

John McCormick / The Swamp: OBAMA: BITTERNESS A REALITY

Robert H. Reid / Associated Press:

US troops suffer worst week this year — BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb killed an American soldier in Baghdad on Saturday, capping the bloodiest week for U.S. troops in Iraq this year. Clashes persisted in Shiite areas, even as the biggest Shiite militia sought to rein in its fighters.

Discussion: Hot Air