memeorandum: In which I break character and answer a transparently loaded question … (Jeff G./protein wisdom)

11:00 PM ET, April 28, 2008

Top Items:

Wright's Voice Could Spell Doom for Obama — The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, explaining this morning why he had waited so long before breaking his silence about his incendiary sermons, offered a paraphrase from Proverbs: “It is better to be quiet and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”

Joe Klein / Swampland:

The Reverend Wright — Oy. — And furthermore, I've been to dozens and dozens of African-American church services over the years, including the investiture of one of my friends as an AME minister two years ago, and I have very rarely, if ever, heard the kind of rants that are part of Reverend Wright's canon.

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

Wright's Poison — I guess I am late to the party, am I not? I didn't watch Jeremiah Wright's National Press Club performance live this morning, as every other blogger seemed to. Wright is not on the ticket of any major party, he is not Barack Obama, and I'm not going to be baited …

Discussion: Salon, The Moderate Voice, Viking Pundit and Daimnation!

Jeff Zeleny / The Caucus:

Obama Addresses Ex-Pastor's Media Blitz — WILMINGTON, N.C. - If it was not clear before today, Senator Barack Obama said, it should be clear now: his presidential campaign has no control over what the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., his former pastor, says or does.

Discussion: New York Times, The Page, The Nation and Connecting.the.Dots

Mike Dorning / Chicago Tribune:

Obama: Judge my words, not Wright's — WILMINGTON, N.C.—Barack Obama this afternoon asked voters to judge him by his own words and deeds rather than his past associations, as his controversial former spiritual mentor re-emerged in the presidential campaign through a broadcast interview …

Discussion: The Daily Dish, TalkLeft and The Volokh Conspiracy

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Wright to Obama: ‘Coming after you’ — The Rev. Jeremiah Wright said Monday that he will try to change national policy by “coming after” Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) if he is elected president. — The pastor also insisted Obama “didn't denounce” him and “didn't distance himself” …

Discussion: New York Times, The Strata-Sphere, The New Republic, NO QUARTER and Raw Story

Adam Green / The Huffington Post:

MoveOn: Obama Got Outfoxed — It's no secret that MoveOn.org members have been very supportive of Barack Obama's candidacy - endorsing him with a 70% vote, raising lots of small dollar donations for him, sending hundreds of thousands of personal endorsement emails to friends and family …

Discussion: The Nation, Threat Level, Brave New Films blog, Daily Kos, Corrente, Ben Smith's Blogs and MyDD

Nedra Pickler / Associated Press:

Analysis: Wright does Obama little good — WASHINGTON - The Rev. Jeremiah Wright is going after his critics on an incendiary tour that is doing his one-time congregant, Barack Obama, little good. — After weeks of staying out of the public eye while critics lambasted his sermons …

Discussion: Confederate Yankee

Josh Gerstein / newyorksun.com:
McCain Reverses Course on Obama's Pastor

Discussion: Power Line and The Corner

John Holusha / New York Times:
Wright Says Criticism Is Attack on Black Church

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, The Confluence, Firedoglake, The Reaction, The Swamp, American Street, The Campaign Spot, marbury, Althouse and Trailhead

Marc Ambinder:
Wright And Obama — My best information is that Sen. Barack …

Discussion: The New Republic and Salon

Amy Sullivan / Time: Jeremiah Wright Goes to War

Marc Ambinder:
Wright Politics — ## The Obama campaign knows that Wright …

Discussion: Hot Air

Jonathan Weisman / The Trail:

With Bingaman Endorsement, Obama Takes Senate Support Lead — Sen. Barack Obama officially pulled ahead today in the scramble for endorsements from colleagues in the U.S. Senate, thanks to Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico. — Never one of the Senate's most high-profile members …

Discussion: my.barackobama.com, The Page, Daily Kos, Comments from Left Field, Liberal Values, Donklephant and Wonkette

Julie Bosman / New York Times:

As North Carolina Primary Looms, Eyes on Edwards — WILMINGTON, N.C. — What will the Edwardses do? — As the Democratic candidates and their surrogates traipse through North Carolina in the final days before its primary, some people here are wondering: Why so quiet in Chapel Hill?

Discussion: TalkLeft

Associated Press:
AP: N.C. Governor Mike Easley To Endorse Clinton

Discussion: TalkLeft and Wizbang

Gary D. Robertson / Associated Press:
AP NewsBreak: Gov. Easley to endorse Clinton

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs

madison.com:

Badger Poll: Presidential race up for grabs in Wisconsin — The latest poll of the presidential race shows that none of the three remaining candidates has a majority of support in Wisconsin. — The University of Wisconsin Survey Center's Badger Poll released Monday shows …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and Matthew Yglesias

Gallup:
Gallup Daily: Race Still Close with Obama 47%, Clinton 46%

Discussion: Rasmussen Reports, CNN, The Moderate Voice, Comments from Left Field, Donklephant, American Power and Wonkette

Borzou / Babylon & Beyond:

SYRIA: More questions about alleged nuclear site — Professor William Beeman at the University of Minnesota passed along a note today from “a colleague with a U.S. security clearance” about the mysterious Syrian site targeted in a Sept. 6 Israeli airstrike.

Discussion: Hot Air and Danger Room

Pamela Hess / Associated Press: Hayden: Syrian site could have produced fuel for 2 weapons

HillaryClinton.com:

Hillary Clinton's Plan to Address Soaring Prices at the Pump — Americans are being squeezed at the pump like never before. The price of oil is approaching $120 a barrel. Gas is at a record high in North Carolina of $3.59, up from $3.26 a month ago and $2.90 a year ago, a 23 percent increase in just one year.

Discussion: TalkLeft

Jad Mouawad / New York Times:
Amid High Oil Prices, Danger Signs in Production

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Marc Ambinder:

The GOP Generational Time Bomb — It's no secret that Republicans have a brand problem; the gap between Dem and GOP party identification is greater today than at any point since the vanguard of the Reagan revolution, when Republicans held a double-digit advantage.

Discussion: Donklephant

The Hill:

Clinton: $2.3B in earmarks — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) has requested nearly $2.3 billion in federal earmarks for 2009, almost three times the largest amount received by a single senator this year. — The Democratic presidential candidate's staggering request comes …

Discussion: TownHall Blog and Hot Air

CNN:

Transcript of Jeremiah Wright's speech to NAACP — This is the transcript of a speech given by Sen. Barack Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, at an NAACP dinner on Sunday night. — (CNN) — The NAACP has an incomparable record. It has the longest list of achievements …

Discussion: Salon, Power Line, The Campaign Spot and Blue Crab Boulevard

Rebecca Carr / Austin American-Statesman:

NOOSE ALLEGEDLY FOUND AT SECRET SERVICE TRAINING CENTER — The U.S. Secret Service has placed a white agent on leave after an African American employee reported finding a noose hanging at the service's main training facility outside the nation's capital. — The service has acknowledged …

Discussion: AMERICAblog

The Lady Logician / Ladies Logic:

Decisions, Decisions... The fallout continues for Team Franken. Friday and Saturday saw stories in the Star Tribune on the Franken tax issues. Both stories have a common theme....that it is the fault of those nasty Republicans that Franken is having these troubles....

Discussion: Hot Air, The Moderate Voice, The American Mind and Middle Earth Journal