Blog Nightline
Guest post by Grey

Via Jake Tapper, a report filed by Brinda Adhikari of ABC News covers Al Sharpton’s reaction to the Obama/Wright affair:

“When asked how the African-American community at large would respond to Sen. Obama’s denunciation, Sharpton said that “some are going to agree, and some are going to disagree.” He quickly added: “But none of that is going to change my vote. There’s no difference between what Barack Obama said he believes in today than when we first heard him four years ago at the 2004 convention.”

Gosh, Al: you really went out on a limb! The three blind mice could have given that same quote. And while we’re on the subject, I’d like to know why the media act as though there were only one black Reverend (see Sharpton, Al) and one black leader (see Jackson, Jesse) in the entire country. Are there no other voices of interest? And why do the media care about their opinions only when the subject at hand is race? It’s like some kind of strange Bat signal: “Quick! Something happened to an African American: get Sharpton!” Isn’t that a little reductive and patronizing, as though Al and Jesse had no opinions on anything else?

Bob Somerby writes about the origin of political story lines; in particular, he focuses on Clinton and the “kitchen sink” strategy. Via “the magic of Nexis,” Bob traces the current use of that phrase to our friend Patrick Healy of The New York Times:

“HEALY (2/26/08):After struggling for months to dent Senator Barack Obama’s candidacy, the campaign of Senator Hillary Clinton is now unleashing what one Clinton aide called a ”kitchen sink” fusillade against Mr. Obama, pursuing five lines of attack since Saturday in hopes of stopping his political momentum. The effort underscores not only Mrs. Clinton’s recognition that the next round of primaries—in Ohio and Texas on March 4—are must-win contests for her. It also reflects her advisers’ belief that they can persuade many undecided voters to embrace her at the last minute by finally drawing sharply worded, attention-grabbing contrasts with Mr. Obama.”

As it turned out, Sen. Clinton roundly beat Obama in Ohio and defeated him in Texas, too, but “fusillade?” Really? And just when “cannonade” was so easily within reach. The problem is this: there are a plethora of references to Clinton’s “kitchen sink” strategy, but a dearth of examples. Funny, that.

Tom Bevan examines Rev. Wright’s history and finds that he’s always sounded as we’ve recently heard him, which makes Obama’s “I wasn’t there, I didn’t hear it, and how dare he impugn my character and call me a politician!” tour even less credible. A (former?) parishioner agrees:

“What you saw is what we saw every single week,” said Brenda McGadney-Douglass, an associate professor at the University of Toledo who attended Wright’s Monday appearance and was baptized by him. “This is exactly the way things go in our church.”

Melissa McEwan attended a Clinton town-hall event in Indiana today and found her compelling. Melissa was an Edwards supporter and was once employed by his campaign; she is now uncommitted, which makes the following rather poignant:

“It was a townhall-style event, so Hillary gave a short speech and then took questions from the audience. (The guy who introduced her said she had “testicular fortitude,” which prompted her to note when she took the mic that both women and men could have fortitude of their own—and she has it! Lots of applause.) She was totally compelling, extraordinarily competent, a great extemporaneous speaker with an unbelievably detailed grasp of the issues, and funny as hell. (“I wouldn’t trust the Bush administration to organize a two-car parade.” This gave me the image of Bush and Cheney each driving clown cars in different directions, which sent me into fits of giggles.) The one thing KenBlogz and I just couldn’t. get. over. was how profoundly not the Dragon Lady she is, despite what we are meant to believe. KenBlogz’s comment was, approximately, “The way the media represents her is a complete lie; they might as well say she stabbed someone onstage, which would be just as truthful as the way she is represented.” This, from an 18-year-old. The reporter in front of us (we were in the media section) reading The Drudge Report through most of her speech would no doubt be shocked by his observation. In person, from about 10 yards away, Hillary was as warm, friendly, charming, and engaging as any politician I’ve ever seen. And the crowd—way more diverse than I expected—adored her. She got several standing ovations. In the parking lot afterwards, I heard a woman—middle-aged, wearing a union t-shirt, either white or Latina—telling her friend she was glad she came. “She totally won me over,” she said.”

More, from a comment she posted in the dedicated section:

“[A]nother great moment was when Hillary was asked about the war, and, during her answer, she asked if anyone had served in Iraq, and was quiet, while a few people raised their hands. Slowly, the applause started, and rippled, and then the whole place broke out into a huge ovation for the veterans. It was a very blub-inducing moment.”

We often hear about Obama’s “magical touch;” reporters breathlessly recount tales of Obama’s ability to “close the gap” once the little people get to see him, but comments like the one Melissa posted are usually overlooked. The media have a story to tell, and only one candidate can be McDreamy; they’ve settled on Obama, but there are equally inspiring stories about the way Sen. Clinton ignites our hopes and dreams. That doesn’t fit the narrative; rather, it turns it on its head, so the scavenger hunt for a few, honest reporters continues.

A remainder on the funnier end of things; Ana Marie Cox blogs about the current cover of TIME magazine, LOLcat-style.

Open thread.

Blog Nightline
guest post by Grey

Rules are rules are rules, unless they turn around to bite you. This morning,
Craig
Crawford took the Democratic rules for a ride and parked them in the forbidden
zone:

“The mandatory penalties set forth by the Democratic National Committee’s delegate selection rules call for outlaw states like Florida and Michigan to only lose half of their delegates to the national convention. And yet the DNC went beyond its own rules to add further penalties, stripping those states of all delegates. The DNC rules also prohibited public appearances and electronic advertising before the polls closed by candidates in states that had jumped the approved primary calendar. Barack Obama made a public appearance in Florida in September 2007, talking to reporters after a fundraiser. His campaign also bought television ads on cable news outlets that ran throughout Florida before its renegade primary. Strictly speaking, if the DNC rules were tightly construed in this case, Hillary Rodham Clinton would receive half of the Florida delegates she won and Obama would receive none — the penalty for violating the campaign ban.”

At The Left Coaster, eriposte
has a hilarious take-down of those who, after the
Tribune reported that it was a Clinton supporter, former USA Today Editor
Barbara Reynolds, who invited Rev. Wright to the National Press Club, went on
a CDC bender in the latest installment of “It’s All Clinton’s Fault.”

At No Quarter, SusanUnPC
has questions about Obama’s apparently flexible recollection of his
own church attendance:

“The laughable excuse that he never heard Wright speak like that suits TODAY’s ambitions. As does his alternate explanation (there have been so many) that he spoke privately with Wright about the statements that bothered him. Obama has over-emphasized his Christian faith to fend off accusations from the right that he is a secret Muslim. That suits his ambition to become the Democratic nominee and to become president. But, it’s a delicate dance to claim he’s a devout Christian when he also claims that he never heard Wright’s rants — which would LOGICALLY mean that he rarely attended Wright’s Trinity church.”

Live by the sermon, die by the sermon.

Noam
Scheiber wants to know where Oprah is. Who cares?

Andrew
Sullivan assesses Le Divorce and seems to conclude that the whole thing
shows Obama can fight back. Those of us who have been following L’affair Wright
are still wondering why Obama usually fights a day or two too late, when he
really can’t afford not to fight anymore. I, for one, don’t think it’s because
he’s Mr. Positive, but because he’s an opportunist. Or a politician, which might
be the same thing.

At Shakesville, Melissa
McEwan chastises Gov. Easley:

“Pansy” is one of the many, many homophobic slurs that is infused with a heavy dose of misogyny—because it’s generally used to mean not just any gay man, but specifically an effeminate gay man. Ya know, because being anything like a woman is the worst possible thing a man can be. So while casually insulting gay men, Easley also managed to insult women, all in the process of trying to praise Hillary Clinton’s fortitude.”

I caught the anti-gay tinge of the remark, but I must admit that I completely
missed the misogyny. Did you see either? Both? None?

Open thread.