"The poll was conducted entirely after the "small town" controversy first erupted, a further indication that the whole flap has yet to actually harm Obama's poll numbers."

You and Greg have been saying "yet" all morning. Are you expecting a sudden drop for Obama in the polls by the end of the day? By the end of the week? By next Tuesday?

I think if he was going to drop in the polls, he'd have done it by now.

paging idiotic

I understand why McCain fell for it...

but why did Hillary? As Obama says, "She knows better!"

What was she hoping would happen? That she would win PA by even more?

Now she might have lost PA instead....

One week away, and Michelle Obama on Colbert Report tonight in PA.

Oh dear. See, I think the Clinton camp thought they had their weapon with "bitter" ( like "not bitter" was going to be such a winning hand). Now I think tomorrow Sen. Clinton will come out in the debate with everything, from Rev. Wright to dog-whistle Michelle Obama stuff, and it's going to be a more frightening look into the damaged Clinton psyche than some of us have ever imagined in their sixteen years of prime time.

What'd I tell ya, baby?

Teflon!

I think the poll respondents are still trying to get the image of Clinton in a duck blind and downing shots with beer out of their heads. It was kind of lick Dukakis in the tank. It was funny, and humor can disarm a lot of criticism. (It also makes a person less likely to be perceived as elitist, something McCain, who owns 8 houses, has already figured out.)

Actually this appears to be hurting Clinton more. If you look at the trend, her numbers started going down when bitter-gate broke and are now at their lowest point since this became a 2 person race. Obama on the otherhand has been over the 50% mark and is only a point away from his highest % to date.

This makes sense to me because I am really really sick of listening/reading about this. WHO CARES! Lets talk about something that matters. This is ridiculous and HRC is showing her republican colors. Actually she is showing envy green rather than republican red.

Granted, I am a latte-sipping, Prius driving, Birkenstock wearing elitist, but I can't even watch the news this week because I just can't stomach listening to another pundit with an irrelevant opinion on this.
Really, in an election year with an abundance of stupidity in the media, this is beyond any absurdity they have shown so far.

lol...exactly...I get so freaking sick of the whole "yet" thing. Seriously...get over it. People are finally starting wisen up this whole media manufactured controversy and are sick of it. Clinton, McCain and the media piled on so much to the point of being vile and just like I suspected, there is a backlash.

Frankly, I am glad they are continuing to beat this issue to death right now. It will public build resisitance to it and the public will not care whenever it comes up later.

"The two candidates will hold a nationally televised debate in Philadelphia on Wednesday night, and it is possible that this confrontation -- plus any delayed impact of Obama's controversial remarks -- may affect Democratic voters' perceptions in the days to come."

I'm looking forward to Clinton trying to raise it in the debate. Really. It could mean the end of her candidacy.

Dead wrong as usual.

How about those polls? Read it and weep you sucker.

Obama 08

Poor Hillary.
Poor Greg & Eric.

3 major polls out today in PA and one is even one has him up 4 and one has him down 4 and now this.

The current 11 percentage point lead is the largest for Obama this year, and marks the ninth consecutive day in which Obama has led Clinton by a statistically significant margin. The current Gallup Poll Daily tracking average is based on interviewing conducted Saturday, Sunday and Monday -- after the initial reports of Obama's controversial remarks about "bitter" small-town residents began to be reported in the news media.

Hillary fell for it. Now she's provoked Obama to explain himself fully, which is his strength. The mountain out of a molehill ultimately will benefit him because it brings up the subject of economic disparity which needs to be discussed and his rhetoric will win out.

It will be interesting to see they both handle it in the Debate. Obama should talk about the issue, but refrain from mentioning Hillary, thus taking the high ground. It worked before...

HIllary Rambo Clinton

TV appearance announcement:

On April 22, 2008 Senator Hillary Rambo Clinton is scheduled to appear on the Springer Show.

She will tell the audience that she wants them to know that Senator Obama is an Elitest who can not to relate to them like she can.

For her appearance on The Springer show, Senator Hillary Rambo Clinton plans on wearing her new low rider pantsuit, that will tastefully provide the audience with a glimpse of her tramp stamp.

Vote for Hillary. She is the one that put the Common in Common Touch.

But, by all means, one hopes that McCain & al will continue to waste their time flogging this particular issue. I would be delighted to see Sen Obama's opponents waste their efforts in a futile attempt to run the 2004 race all over again while Sen Obama moves with the times and runs the race of 2008.

Great Big Smile.

I think you've got it and I think we are on the brink of watching what's left of the Republican Party start shooting each other in the face over and over. That's all they've done so far.

They don't even have a message to be off-message from any more.

I'm dancing and I'm singing and thank you for this because it's allll over.

It's all over but the bitter end - where she is being forced to withdraw and she's clawing the carpeting to stay put.

Yes, that doctored clip of Howard Dean hit the airwaves some 700+ times in a week. I still believe that the media took him down in part because he spoke in December '03 of the need for more accountability and public service [as originally designed] from the media giants who monopolize and determine what the public will hear and see, a situation aggravated by the Clinton presidency '97 giveaway to the telecommunications giants.

That's what happened, though some will always believe that the DLC and Kerry had a hand in that.

I don't know myself - but I do know the BITTER fight we had with the DLC to get Gov. Dean elected chairman of the DNC.

I notice The Page has yet to report the new Gallup numbers.

Mark Halperin's brain must have broken.

I'm going to propose a theory which sounds too awful to be true but which I have come around to accept as entirely possible. There are powerful interests that fear an independent, unbought candidate like Obama, and these interests most assuredly back both McCain and the Clintons. We're talking about the richest financiers and bankers, healthcare and insurance industry, the military industrial complex, big media corporations, with trillions of $$$ at stake, they always play both parties and get their guy/gal into the WH. Even if Obama ends up with the nomination, you can bet that he'll continue to have to fight on TWO fronts, the Republicans and the Hillary-DLC camp who are going to ensure a McCain win for Hillary to get another shot at it in 4 yrs. They'll do to Obama what they did to Gore, hold their supporters and fundraisers back. McCain is truly their friend, and also Plan B in the bigger scheme of things. All the drama, the race-baiting, the attempt to paint Obama as another failed "elite" in the mold of Gore and Bush, the constant compliments paid to McCain, the call by Limbaugh to rally Republican voters, they all make far more sense in this light.

Well heavens to Betsy! Who'da thunk that speaking to voters like adults rather than children would pay off? Meanwhile Tracy Flick is blanketing the airwaves with "real" Pennsylvanians telling their fellow voters how offended they should be.

Only one way to defeat them. How do you spell victory: OBAMA.

Obama said otherwise.

I've been wondering about Edwards the last couple of days and the reason he's been on my mind is that Hillary just trashed one of his major issues - about two Americas and poverty and what it is doing to us.

Wonder if he still likes her health care plan best?

I finally got round to watching Moore's Sicko and one thing really jumped out at me - when you take the US healthcare system out of its context and compare it to the rest of the world, it immediately becomes clear that A LOT, and I mean a lot of wealth has been siphoned out of the lower and middle-income families through sky-high costs and incredible inflation. That $120 drug sold for 5 cents in Cuba, where did all the profit go? Certainly not back into the pockets of American families going bankrupt to pay medical bills....the true power elites who have been robbing the country blind are *not* going to give in to the people - they'd end up at the guillotine. The elections are rigged, have always been, Den could not have won and I think Obama is going to face more onerous battles ahead.

If this poll is accurate, it shows that American voters are smarter, more discerning, and more focused on the real issues that affect their lives than the mainstream media and the Hillary/McCain campaigns give them credit for.

Why can't you bring yourself to say this didn't hurt him the polls? Stop saying "yet"! If there was going to be an impact in the polls, it would be reflected here in the Gallup poll and in the Rasmussen poll. There has been no drop, so that's it. It did NOT hurt him in the polls.

That's all well and good (his increased national lead). It means democratic GE voters have rallied around him to be sure. At the same time, his continued poor showing in mosts polls from IN and PA plus McCain's leads over him in GE matchups in most of the possible swing states does not bode well for the Dems in the fall. White indies are not coming back. Sadly, they will put their "faith" in McCain, no doubt a reflection of their "bitterness."

Me, I am with Obama all the way, for what little good it will probably do. I find myself in the odd position of having to convince my Hillary supporter friends to do the right thing. Perhaps ironically, the most bitter group I have seen out there are her hardcore supporters. Watching them scramble for justifications to vote for McCain would be almost comical if not so shortsighted (since these are all pro-choice, universal healthcare types). Now, don't get me wrong, I still think the fact that we are stuck with Obama is one of the worst things that ever happened to the party. But, there is a big difference between being disappointed and being insane.

THIS IS EXCELLENT NEWS!! FOR HILLARY!!!

!!!HILLMENTUM™!!!!

Hillary's graveyard spiral continues. She has seven more days to make her case to PA voters, and that seems to be seven more points she will drop in the polls.

Months ago, I would not have relished the implosion of such a formidable woman's presidential ambitions. Now, I am enjoying it... not for the satisfaction of her humiliation, but the merciful void that will be left by her absence.

I think, perhaps, the voters are tired of Hillary's white noise campaign and have tuned her out.

I'm enjoying the commentary from all. Speaking as a small town resident (pop. 15,000), it was refreshing to hear Obama, in the least, acknowledge our existence. I am tired of hearing all the pundits, commentators, politicians, candidates, etc. tell me how I should feel about a comment made by someone they all find threatening, treating me as if I don't have a brain of my own. While these pretenders put their arms around our shoulders and tell us how they understand, their hands pursue business as usual.

Here is where Hillary really stepped in it, and shows that she has no idea about how regular people will react.

You all know of the school bully who picks out some perceived minor tic about an other kid, and pounds it to death. The Bully is the only one doing the taunting, and actually believes that all the regular kids are supporting his barrage of infantile meanness toward the other kid. The bully thinks that the more he keeps up his moronic taunting the more of the other kids he is converting to his bullying creed.

We all know that it is actually the opposite that happens. All the normal kids just cringe inside, and end up wanting to be no where need the Bully.

That is where Hillary, the taunting playground bully, has now landed. She is making normal people cringe inside at her childish taunting.

Hillary the bully, is driving up her own negatives.

Hillary has passed The Bully In Chief Threshold.

I am a member of the Crown Royal Society. I can't help but express my revulsion with anyone who would commit a cardinal sin of Crown Royal drinking such as
A. putting Crown Royal in a shot glass.
B. sipping Crown Royal out of said shot glass.
and the most heinous act of all
C. using Crown Royal in a boilermaker.

My God, think of the children!!!!!!!

I cannot vote for Clinton now. I will vote for McCain. He knows how to drink.

“The reality is this is an important and defining moment in the race,” and opens “a window on how Barack Obama views the people of this country," he said.

O goody!

This from the party which so far inside of two weeks has called Obama both Tiger Woods and "boy."

I'm putting in such a stock of popcorn for this campaign.

As a former small town resident in PA, this "controversy" has actually driven me to send $$ to the Obama campaign. Actually, the first money I have ever sent to any politician. At last, a candidate who says what we can all see but were too afraid to mention.

Hillary's Top Gun in Pennsylvania, Governor Ed. Rendell said this about White Pennsylvania voters, on February 12, 2008, in an on the record interview.

Why did Hillary not chastise her Top Gun for talking about White people, in such 'an elitist way". Hypocrite, thy name is HilAnny Oakley Clinton.

Here is what Rendell said about White voters in his state;

Tuesday, February 12, 2008
By Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Gov. Ed "Don't Call Me 'Fast Eddie' " Rendell met with the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last week to talk about his latest budget. But before turning the meeting over to his number-crunchers, our voluble governor weighed in on the primary fight between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama and what the Illinois senator could expect from the good people of Pennsylvania at the polls:

"You've got conservative whites here, and I think there are some whites who are probably not ready to vote for an African-American candidate," he said bluntly. Our eyes only met briefly, perhaps because the governor wanted to spare the only black guy in the room from feeling self-conscious for backing an obvious loser. "I believe, looking at the returns in my election, that had Lynn Swann [2006 Republican gubernatorial candidate] been the identical candidate that he was --well-spoken [note: Mr. Rendell did not call the brother "articulate"], charismatic, good-looking -- but white instead of black, instead of winning by 22 points, I would have won by 17 or so."

I know I have a habit of sometimes zoning out in these meetings, but it sounded to me like Mr. Rendell had unilaterally declared Pennsylvania to be Alabama circa 1963. Was he suggesting that Pennsylvanians are uniquely racist in ways that folks in the states Mr. Obama has won so far aren't? By the way, Mr. Obama won Alabama on Super Tuesday, thank you very much!

I just love the way the MSM fixates on this and ignore the real issues. I'm heading over to Home Depot. I hear they have a sale on Dead Horse Beaters

From: BLACKS4BARACK.org

Hillary/Media's 'bitter' tactic against Obama desperately PITIFUL !

Here we go again ! When the campaign started in 2007 Obama was said to have not been 'black enough' as per the media as they touted Hillary's 82% support from Black Americans. The Clinton camp scrounged and dug as deeply as they could to find some kind....ANY kind of smut they could use against Obama, even searching as far back as his kindergarten writings. Couldn't find a thing. Then as Americans of all races learned more about the real Clintons, while learning more about the great qualities and capabilities of Obama, the inevitable was no more. So the Clintons (and the media) decided if they couldn't find anything negative on Obama, why not search through video tapes of Obama's preacher. Yea ! That's the ticket. So they scrounged and searched through years and years of video taped sermons and found a few somewhat harsh statements from the preacher....looped them all together....played them on the news 1 or 2 million times, in hopes that they could paint Obama as this anti-American-black militant type person....exactly what he is not (maybe they forgot he's also half white). But, polls showed their masterminded plot to be ineffective. Now what ? Ahhhhh. Obama makes a statement discussing how many Americans are fed up with government failures and are 'bitter'. The Clintons....McCain....the media....ALL decide....here's something we can jump on top of.....Obama called Americans 'bitter' ! So he's an elitist out of touch with real America!

This is the weakest attempt so far. How in the world can they try to claim that a little black boy who's father left at age 2....raised by a single white mother...so broke at times that she was on food stamps....a boy who grew up and went to college through grants and scholarships....riding to school daily in a ragedy jalopy.....just recently paying off his student loans thanks to proceeds from a book he wrote....(entitled 'The Audacity of HOPE') who's entire life has been devoted to helping the disadvantaged....the poor....sick....the struggling....THIS IS AN ELITIST ?

Hillary, McCain and the entire media should be ashamed of themselves for this weak, pitiful attempt to literally make-up truth. They should be concentrating on REAL facts such as the 109 million the Clintons have made during the last few years...or the 300 mill McCain's wife is worth.....or what about Hillary's secret religion known as 'The Family' which CNN didn't ask a single question about in the so-called religious forum...or what about her election fraud case going on right now in California? Did we mention McCain's wife's stealing of drugs and her rehab stint ? There's so much more....it's pitiful !

The fact is.....Obama is about as elitist as Hillary ducked sniper fire in Bosnia....Stay focused people. They are all (Hillary, McCain and the media) getting more and more desperate everyday. That's a real good sign !

Greg Jones
Visit: BLACKS4BARACK.org (Official Site)