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Obama's Speech Applauded -- By Republican FoesGOPers and Conservatives Say Candidate's Speech Didn't End Wright Controversy By JAKE TAPPER March 19, 2008 Campaigning in North Carolina today, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., enjoyed overwhelmingly warm reviews from the media and the crowd in Charlotte for his speech about race and his controversial former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. But for far different reasons, Republican political consultants were delighted with the speech, as well. Looking ahead to November, GOP strategists say Obama did not remove Wright as a campaign issue. "He didn't explain why he continued to attend a church whose minister...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Democrat Barack Obama suffered in the polls Thursday after a much-acclaimed speech on race that, pundits said, had failed to defuse voters' anger over rage-filled sermons by his former pastor. Waging an acrimonious battle against Hillary Clinton for the Democrats' White House nomination, Obama confessed to being bruised by the controversy surrounding his longtime Chicago preacher, Reverend Jeremiah Wright. "In some ways this controversy has actually shaken me up a little bit and gotten me back into remembering that, you know, the odds of me getting elected have always been lower than some of the other conventional...

In his Friday night cable mea culpas on the incendiary comments made by his spiritual adviser Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., repeatedly said, "I wasn't in church during the time that these statement were made. I did not hear such incendiary language myself, personally. Either in conversations with him or when I was in the pew, he always preached the social gospel. ... If I had heard them repeated, I would have quit. ... If I thought that was the repeated tenor of the church, then I wouldn’t feel comfortable there." Obama told CNN that he "didn't know...

This is how ugly things have gotten between supporters of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama -- Clinton supporters are staging what they call a "strike" at the influential liberal website DailyKos. It's not really a "strike" -- blogging for these diarists is not a job, and stopping their blogging won't cause them financial hardship. But, that said, these diarists' boycott of DailyKos is indicative of the turmoil in which the Democratic party finds itself. Read more on their "strike" HERE.

Hillary Clinton's campaign is casting her not-entirely-disastrous showing in the Wyoming caucuses as a victory. Clinton's campaign manager Maggie Williams said, "We are thrilled with this near split in delegates and are grateful to the people of Wyoming for their support. Although the Obama campaign predicted victory in Wyoming weeks ago, we worked hard to present Senator Clinton’s vision to the caucus-goers and we thank them for turning out today." Waitasec... I thought victories in red states, small-population states and caucus states were irrelevant...? I guess losses there somehow rock the house?

In a conference call with reporters Wednesday, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., said that his votes to fund the war in Iraq do not contradict his opposition to the war. Once we were in, we were going to have some responsibility to try to make it work as best we can," the presidential candidate said. "More importantly, you make sure the troops are supported. I don't think there's any contradiction there whatsoever. We should not get in; once we were in, we had to make the best of a bad situation." There isn't necessarily a contradiction in this position; other opponents...

Bill Clinton: "If You Elect Me" (I'm Speaking as Her)Jake Tapper, ABC Blog.com For a natural-born politician such as former President Bill Clinton, it may be tough to spend so much time talking about someone else. In Portsmouth, Ohio, he said, " If you elect me, I'll repeal those subsidies. And put them into a strategic energy fund that will create American jobs for America's future with clean energy." Watch Video HERE. If you coughed and missed the "Hillary says" in that sentence you might be surprised when he reaches the "if you elect me" part of the pitch more than 60 words later....

If that sound isn't the fat lady clearing her throat, it might be the MSM humming Hillary's dirge. Consider, for example, ABC national political correspondent Jake Tapper's Good Morning America segment today on the differences in tone between the Obama and Clinton campaigns. After playing footage of an angry Hillary waving allegedly misleading Obama campaign literature and then of a relaxed Obama laughing it off, Tapper had this to say. JAKE TAPPER: There's a difference between a winner's confident stride and the strained scurrying of the also-ran. View video here.

The charismatic, brilliant, inspiring black politician came to the stage to address the latest attack from his white female opponent. "Her dismissive point, and I hear it a lot from her staff, is all I have to offer is words," he said. "Just words. "'We holds these truths to be self-evident,'" he continued as the crowd began to cheer and applaud, "'that all men are created equal' -- just words. Just words." The applause increased. "'We have nothing to fear but fear itself,'" the pol said. "Just words. 'Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you...

On WMAL-AM yesterday in an interview with Chris Plante, former President Bill Clinton implied the media has been unfair to his wife, stated that she was standing up to sexism when she took on NBC, and -- when asked about MSNBC's David Shuster's comments about his daughter, Chelsea -- said there was a double standard. "If he had made a racial slur against Senator Obama, he would have been fired," Clinton said. Of his wife's recent travails, he said, "the caucuses aren't good for her. They disproportionately favor upper-income voters who, who, don't really need a president but feel like...

And Obama Wept February 07, 2008 9:43 AM Inspiration is nice. But some folks seem to be getting out of hand. It's as if Tom Daschle descended from on high saying, "Be not afraid; for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people: for there is born to you this day in the city of Chicago a Savior, who is Barack the Democrat." Obama supporter Kathleen Geier writes that she's "getting increasingly weirded out by some of Obama's supporters. On listservs I'm on, some people who should know better – hard-bitten, not-so-young...

Mitt Romney was asked about the assault weapons ban on Meet the Press on December 16, 2007. "I would have supported the original assault weapon ban," Romney said. "I signed an assault weapon ban in Massachusetts governor because it provided for a relaxation of licensing requirements for gun owners in Massachusetts, which was a big plus." Asked Tim Russert: "So the assault ban that expired here because Congress didn’t act on it, you would support?" "Just as the president said, he would have, he would have signed that bill if it came to his desk, and so would have I,"...

Perhaps no other issue causes politicians to shift to the right as they enter the national arena more so than guns… And perhaps no other issue so explicitly causes politicians attempting such a leap to shoot themselves in the foot. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was asked about the assault weapons ban on Meet the Press on December 16, 2007. "I would have supported the original assault weapon ban," Romney said. "I signed an assault weapon ban in Massachusetts governor because it provided for a relaxation of licensing requirements for gun owners in Massachusetts, which was a big plus." Asked...

February 03, 2008 8:18 PM Sunday, Sunday, Sunday...Those who couldn't make the Monster Truck rally today or the fights last night, there's always the spectacle of politics. Today on CNN's "Late Edition," while suggesting that "everybody has every right to stay in this race to the very end," Mitt Romney also suggested that, since John McCain and he "came in number one and number two, very close, and he (Mike Huckabee) came in a distant fourth...most people around the country have said, 'OK, it's been narrowed to a two-person race.'" He also suggested that, as long as Huckabee is in...

Former President Bill Clinton was in Denver, Colorado, stumping for his wife yesterday. In a long, and interesting speech, he characterized what the U.S. and other industrialized nations need to do to combat global warming this way: "We just have to slow down our economy and cut back our greenhouse gas emissions 'cause we have to save the planet for our grandchildren." At a time that the nation is worried about a recession is that really the characterization his wife would want him making? "Slow down our economy"? I don't really think there's much debate that, at least initially, a...

Republican Discontent: Conservatives Dislike McCain, Mistrust Romney GOP Contenders Fight for Nomination but Party Faithful Not Satisfied By JAKE TAPPER Jan. 31, 2008— For the last year, conservative Republicans have been unhappy with the Republican field. But some pundits predicted that eventually the party would coalesce around someone. Now the field has been winnowed down largely to two candidates -- Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts. Nevertheless, the discontent remains. McCain's Conservative Credentials Thursday, California's Republican Gov.Arnold Schwarzenegger praised McCain for working with Democrats. "He is reaching across the aisle in order to get...

Six days before South Carolina Republicans go to the polls, the spat between the Southerners who need to win that crucial primary -- former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee -- continues to get uglier and uglier, even as both men tread more lightly on the candidate who leads the most recent poll in that state, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. "Fred Thompson talks about putting America first, and yet he's the one who is a registered foreign agent, lobbied for foreign countries, was in a law firm that did lobbying work for Libya," Huckabee charged Sunday...

On the day before the Iowa caucuses, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said a victory for his underfunded, out-organized campaign would have "a seismic impact on the political Richter scale," and he compared the intense challenge he faces from former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with the American Revolutionary War, with multimillionaire Romney cast as the British Red Coats. "Tomorrow night's going to be an important night for the process of presidential politics, unlike anything I've ever seen before," he told a crowd of 150 voters in Fort Dodge Wednesday morning. "I've been outspent 20 to one in this state. That's...

OSCEOLA, Iowa -- Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was locked and loaded to hunt pheasant in Osceola today. "See, that's what happens when you get in my way," the candidate said. It's an annual tradition and a conscious contrast with his chief rival here, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who earlier this year said he was a lifelong hunter, then took it back, acknowledging he'd only hunted a few times. "I certainly understand the culture of being outdoors. It's not something we had to go out and get a primer in. It's very much ordinary to me," Huckabee said. "It...

As we reported on the blog yesterday, a group calling itself American Right to Life Action, is running TV ads against Mitt Romney here in Iowa on the Fox News Channel. In Tuftonboro, N.H., Romney said about the ad, from ABC News' Matt Stuart, "I don't know who that is. I'd be interested to know who is really behind that group. I'm very proud that the Massachusetts Citizens for Life, which is the premier right-to-life group in Massachusetts, awarded me their leadership award. My record in being pro-life is very clear as the governor of Massachusetts and my guess is...