Comments on Sinking Fast

I had hoped this wouldn't be the conventional wisdom this morning...

But I have to agree. The Rev. needs to be kicked immediately and firmly to the curb.

So Dan are you going to be furious at HRC supporters the same way you are furious at election 2000 Nader supporters?

And then everything he said in his "More Perfect Union" speech will be re-spun as hypocrisy?

I'm voting for McCain.

I agree, Rev. Wright is going to cost Obama the election and give the super delegates a reason to back the bitch Hillary Clinton.

And frankly, I think it could be too late for Obama to do anything: He got his one chance to deal with Rev. Wright, and no politician gets a second chance to deal with the same problem. Obama lost it. And it totally sucks to say that. The committed delegates to Obama will probably start to back Clinton.

So get ready for 4 years of more Republican Light!!!!

Wright will fizzle out.

Obama loses more by throwing Wright under the bus than he does by chuckling and shrugging every time Wright makes headlines.

If Wright is as wacko as everyone thinks he is, Obama can use him as a foil:

"There are some people who still believe we need two Americas... blah blah blah..."

My girl Clinton sure looks good lately, doesn't she?

Yeah, he can only repeat what he's already said about Wright. If he NOW decides to throw him under the bus he'll get creamed for it.

I would think Wright would be just a little more savy than this but I guess not. He'll make his point but Obama won't be president.

This makes me sad. Really really sad. I'm still voting for him.

I fail to see how this makes Clinton look good.

has it really come to the point where every candidate must come up with a "us versus them" stance to be perceived as strong? Can we not appreciate someone who understands that we are entangled in the same web? I like what Obama is doing. What he is doing is far from conventional, and just like everything he offers it is a change from teh status quo. It's much easier to throw someone to the wolves than respecting their right to free speech. If you say you believe you in free speech, you have to be able to withstand someone shouting at the top of their lungs everything you revile and despise in the sake of preserving that more perfect union.

If this were a question of how much to lube it or where to stick it, Mr. Savage's instincts would be never in doubt. But this is political punditry, not sex, and well, you know...

And don't get me started on Bob Herbert, or Catherine Crier. And Sullivan? Sullivan. Come on.

But the way, Hillary loves McCain's gas tax holiday. That's her global warming policy for you right there. I want to talk about that.

This could only be Obama's "Dean Scream" (i.e. a ridiculous piece of video that has nothing to do with his skills as a president) if the press keeps echoing itself and telling all the sheep out there who don't actually follow politics but wait to be told how to feel "this is bad, Obama's doomed now."

Or the press could ignore the tabloidian kerfuffle and point out "how does this have anything to do with the issues ANY of the candidates will have to deal with as a President?"

Thanks, Dan, for being part of the echo.

My girl Clinton sure looks good lately, doesn't she?

No. No, she most certainly fucking well does not. No matter how difficult it may get to vote for Obama, it only seems to get easier to vote against Hillary.

God, what a fucking depressing election. If this pushes the nom to Hillary, I'll just have to sit it out and not vote this November.

And while you are at it, Dan, would you also mention the fact that Wright was sitting next to and chatting with a Clinton supporter at the Press Club? Or do we have to wait for Drudge/RawStory/Sullivan to point out where this might be coming from?

No matter who ends up as the Democratic nominee, we won't be dealing with a Hillary Clinton presidency.

Why is there never any mention that the Rev Wright counselled the Clintons during Monicagate?

Is Obama really the honorable of a man he won't bring up the Clinton scandal, even to point out Hillary's hypocrisy?

Seeing a Democrat use the Rove tactics of lying and swiftboating really makes me sick. Clintonian Baby Boomer democrats are in a defensive sort of posture thanks to 30 years of GOP dominance where they think acting like a Republican is the only way to win. And they may be right, for now.....Obama's rejection of Baby Boomer identity politics may have been too soon demographically.

So since a McCain presidency is now inevitable, maybe the fragments of what was formerly the Democratic party should begin making hardcore overtures to the McCain campaign, as in donations and support, in order to curry favor from his coming regime...

@16, Great Idea!!

To our future Master John The Glorious McCain! I swear my life and soul to service you and your great revival of the Fourth Reich! Hail McCain! Hail McCain!

The media controls the nomination process. If the media cuts and clips Wright up and has an Obama blackout on his reasoned responses, yes, it's over. But if the media is responsible, shows Wright in context, and allows Obama to respond in full to talk about free speech, compassion, understanding, etc, then it doesn't have to be the end. By parroting the defeatist narrative out today, you are contributing to what Jon Stewart might call "hurting America". You know better than this.

Why is there more outage over Wright's words than there is over the whole FLDS mess?

Using religon to get 31 of 53 young girls pregnant (in Texas) seems more acceptable than being a black pastor who yells every now and then.

Congrats, Hillary. Argh.

stinkbug, they sent in the fucking SWAT team. Is that not enough for you? What do you want, anti-Mormon pogroms across the country?

Bull fucking shit. All Obama has to is go on TV a couple of times and be all like, "You say some crazy things, guy, but you know I love ya," and then sit back and watch the Republicans smear themselves with their racist overreaching. THEN HE WINS.

Dan,
Were you high when you posted this? Just because the wagging tongues want to wag and wag doesn't mean the voters of NC and Indiana are buying into the idea that Obama = Wright. Even if you bold the word period at the end of your comments. Thankfully its only a week before the next vote at which point the press will be forced to realize their Wright story is old.
Wright is certainly saying some nutty things, I don't disagree with you on that. But he's not running for President and his rantings are distancing himself from Obama all by themselves as clearly Obama is not the same type of person.

elenchos, I wasn't referring to the action taken against them. I was referring more to how the "average" american views them via the media. It's seen as an oddity, for sure (wacky clothes, etc.), but there's not the implied threat that there is with the "wacky" Wright.

do you have any metric as to this hurting obama?

A new list:

1) People who are ready to surrender whenever anything stands in their way (@16 & @17)

2) People who believe they are above the average American (@18, @23)

3) People who resent anyone who tries to win the fight in front of them instead losing, nobly, in a righteous (imaginary) fight (@12, @15, @19)

As far as I'm concerned, the saddest thing about all this is the sudden deflation of our hopes for something better. Just a few months ago, millions of us were looking to Obama to transcend the mucky morass of American politics. Liberals like me, who still have some faith in government despite ourselves, thought Obama would be honest enough, and noble enough, to offer something qualitatively different. Instead, he's been dragged into the same ol' shitstorm, and we're left with an uglier political scene than ever before.

gurldoggie, you can't transcend a hurricane if you arent a god. obama hasnt done anything to bring this on himself, it's been everyone else. obama still has it in the bag.

and i still want evidence that obama is succesfully losing the nomination or general race when it is clear that by almost every poll he isnt and possibly wont.

The only thing sinking fast is Dan's credibility.

You don't understand or accept what "the fight in front of you" is, six shooter@25. In pursuing victory by whipping up old white peoples' fear of the big scary black man, Hillary Clinton has planted herself firmly on the wrong side of it.

Or perhaps it's that you do understand this, and are simply more comfortable being on that side.

Six Shooter, you forgot

4) People who pretend that some bit of manufactured hype signals a turnaround for their candidate when she is, in fact, still losing and still the likely loser of the nomination (@6, @25).

Screw this whole "Obamaton" meme. It's the Hillary supporters who are the real mindless robots. You regurgitate every little hit against Obama while ignoring your own candidate's glaring deficiencies. Which Dem candidate just came out in favor of McCain's gas tax suspension? Oh, that's right, it was Hillary Clinton.

being the kind of nerd that i am, this cover just makes me think of this

@31 - I wish I had a perfect candidate to root for, Hernandez. Instead, I have a pretty good candidate who stands a chance of winning (despite her current second-place position).

When I say winning, I mean winning health care reform, winning withdrawl from Iraq, winning more progressive taxation and winning a stronger economy.

If Wright is hurting Obama, and Obama is unwilling or unable to take care of this problem, what kind of president will he be?

Will he take the high road when his reforms are gutted? Will he refuse to distance himself from big coal and nuclear power when they make demands against cleaner alternatives? Will he let the Republicans (remember them?) sweep his knees while he obeys the Queensbury Rules only he agreed to?

How sure are you Clinton is the only person in the world willing to play on people's fears? How comfortable are you will a candidate who says "I know you're afraid but you shouldn't be, because I know better than you?"

Four tracking polls done after Pennsylvania show Obama leading Clinton by an average of 5.8%. Five tracking polls done in April before Pennsylvania showed an 11.2% lead. It’s fair to say Clinton got a post-Pennsylvania bump.

In ten March polls, Obama led by an average of 3.7%. Clinton led two of those polls, one was even.

So the bounce has gone from 3.7%, to 11.2%, to 5.8%.

"Instead, I have a pretty good candidate who stands a chance of winning (despite her current second-place position)."

Not if it's Clinton, you don't. She belongs to a right-wing cult in DC, is now best friends with Murdoch and Scaife, lies outrageously badly and often, and uses the worst Republican tactics to try to win A RACE SHE HAS ALREADY LOST.

And if she hadn't lost it already -- lost because she can't manage her campaign, can't manage her finances, can't manage her people, and, most importantly, can't win the votes and delegates needed to win -- then she would lose in November because, for all sorts of reasons on all sides, most people LOATHE her. Sometimes correctly, sometimes not, but she is HATED.

Hillary Clinton will NEVER be President and she has only herself to blame for it.

Let her go already!

"The sky is falling! The sky is falling!"

Chill, everyone, and just watch. Obama surprised us the first time he had to deal with this, and he continues to show how unflappable he is in a crisis. Has anyone seen this man "freaked out." Hillary started screaming "Shame on you" over a campaign flyer, heaven knows what she'd do in a real Situation.

The slogan of the campaign--against Hillary and then that Crazy Tempertanrummy McCain--should be LET COOLER HEADS PREVAIL. And he will.

i fail to see any truth in this sensational title.

it's a bit disappointing coming from the stranger. or wait, it isn't ...this is the stranger.

Ooh, you ended the post with the word period, and put it in boldface! Well, that settles that. Sheesh. Only hacks write like that. You're better than that.

Anyway, this is another case of Dan getting overemotional. Barack is a talented politician. I think he's better at this game than Dan is. I'm not worried.

Period.

(See how obnoxious that is?)

@12 : if you sit it out then you are letting spite trump policy. As distasteful as Clinton is, I want universal health care and an end to the folly in Iraq. Is spite really worth giving that up to McBush???

obama's got the nom. two thoughts:

since wright is willing to take potentially harm obama's campaign to further his own message, it's better that we give wright his time now, and not in the general. even so, mccain has said he does not want to focus on it. so this takes a potential obama negative off the table, while simultaneously removing a mccain positive.

clinton's latest ploy, siding with mccain on the gas tax truly reveals her plan. someone on slog said it brilliantly: so if democrats were republicans, hillary would be winning the nom. it's not a bad tactic, however, as many a swing voter could be persuaded by it. it is revealing, and perhaps too late.

Jesus, Dan, think you could have found three bigger concern trolls to "prove" Obama's candidacy is done?

Instead of freaking out over another Scary Black Man Who Doesn't Love America Enough, how about we "Swiftboat" John McCain about John Hagee? I suggest major news networs devote five to six weeks of daily stories that prominently feature Hagee's views of Catholics, etc. Then let's see whose candidacy came through the best.

Jesus, Dan, think you could have found three bigger concern trolls to "prove" Obama's candidacy is done?

Instead of freaking out over another Scary Black Man Who Doesn't Love America Enough, how about we "Swiftboat" John McCain about John Hagee? If I were Obama, I'd ask the major news networks to devote five or six weeks of daily stories to coverage of Hagee's views of Catholics, etc. Then let's see whose candidacy came through the best.

Unfortunately I agree. If he cannot defend himself against Rev. Wright, people will form a view that he cannot defend himself.

Yeah, just like Howard Dean, one compeltely stupid and irrelevant issue is going to bury Obama. The Democrats should be really proud of themselves.

He just kicked this one (and the Reverend) in the ass:

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/191983.php

Well done. Doesn't leave much to talk about.