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 …

It's Obama, stupid: Carter and Gore to end Clinton bid  —  DEMOCRAT grandees Jimmy Carter and Al Gore are being lined-up to deliver the coup de grâce to Hillary Clinton and end her campaign to become president.  —  Falling poll numbers and a string of high-profile blunders …

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Context  —  The silliest thing I have read today comes from the Big Tent Democrat, who takes up otherwise useful space at Jeralyn Merritt's TalkLeft.  The BTD compares and contrasts a McCain statement that is being offered as the moral equivalent of Obama's small town gaffe.

In Searching for New Job, Gonzales Sees No Takers  —  WASHINGTON — Alberto R. Gonzales, like many others recently unemployed, has discovered how difficult it can be to find a new job.  Mr. Gonzales, the former attorney general, who was forced to resign last year, has been unable …

Furore over Hitchens's sapphic slip  —  When is a lesbian not a lesbian?  When the person in question is a gay, Catholic, conservative blogger by the name of Andrew Sullivan, it would seem.  —  For when Sullivan was stuck for words on an American news discussion programme last week …

Obama's Magic Numbers  —  In recent weeks, Trailwatch has repeatedly discussed Hillary Clinton's poor prospects for catching Barrack Obama in the delegate race for the Democratic nomination.  It is starting to look like Obama can now win enough delegates, 2,024, to secure the nomination before the Democrats meet in late August.

BACK TO THE CAMPAIGN.  —  This may sound odd, but man am I disappointed that stuff is happening again in the presidential campaign.  These last few weeks of relative quiet have been terrific.  All the older reporters tell me that this is supposedly the greatest campaign of my lifetime …

Here We Go Again  —  You know, I just spent seven and a half years disagreeing with the administration that has given us an unprecedented military and economic mess.  I saw it coming, it came, and in some ways it was worse, and promises to get worse, than I foresaw.

Today I know the meaning of 'butthurt.'UPDATED  —  Today I know the meaning of ‘butthurt.’  —  UPDATED  —  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 …

Where Obama's ‘bitter’ comments go from here  —  Typically when politicians want to bury bad news, they put it out late on a Friday — which is precisely when this story broke.  —  But for at least five reasons, this story may only gain steam in the days ahead.

Memo to Petraeus & Crocker: More Laughs, Please  —  Once again it is time to bid aloha to that sober team of mirthless entertainers, Petraeus & Crocker.  —  It's hard to imagine where you could find another pair of such sleep-inducing performers.  —  I can't look at Petraeus …

I Get To Nitpick Gary Wills  —  Gary Wills writes on “Two Speeches”, comparing Lincoln's address at Cooper Union with Barack's Philadelphia speech on race.  And here are two from the “Small Historical World” file - I poked through Lincoln's Cooper Union speech a few years back in response …