Especially with Hillary Clinton having cleaned Barack Obama’s clock in Puerto Rico, Kentucky and West Virginia, her assertion that she “is winning the popular vote†sounds persuasive. But the Washington Post’s Fact Checker blog gives it two Pinocchio noses, arguing “the claim itself is essentially meaningless.†Among other things, it relies on counting all the votes she got in Florida and Michigan and not counting either the 230,000 uncommitted voters in Michigan, where Obama wasn’t on the ballot, or the caucus participants in Iowa, Nevada, Maine and Washington. Also, winning the popular vote has meaning in some contests, but it doesn’t in the Democratic primary system.
Barack Obama’s decision to leave Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago should help him but won’t end the controversy. “It’s clear that now that I’m a candidate for president, every time something is said in the church by anyone associated with Trinity, including guest pastors, the remarks will (be) imputed to me even if they totally conflict with my long-held views, statements and principles,” Obama said Saturday. But, fairly or not, clips of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright will continue to be replayed and linked to Obama, and Obama will still be dogged with the question of why it took him 20 years to make this decision.
Congratulations to the Wichita State University baseball team. Not only did it win its NCAA regional Sunday, it did so in dramatic fashion — with a grand slam in the 10th inning against top-seeded Oklahoma State. The Shockers now advance to the super regional, which it might host if Florida State loses tonight in its regional. WSU is playing well at the right time, with strong pitching and timely hitting. Go, Shockers.
“The greatest threat to classic Republicanism is not liberalism; it’s this new brand of libertarianism,†former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said in an interview last week. He described this libertarianism as a “heartless, callous, soulless type of economic conservatism because it says ‘look, we want to cut taxes and eliminate government. If it means that elderly people don’t get their Medicare drugs, so be it. If it means little kids go without education and health care, so be it.’†He said such a message is neither American nor historically Republican.
“Huckabee is right that libertarianism is a threat to Republicanism,†Libertarian Party spokesman Andrew Davis responded in statement. “The Republican Party, with the help of people like Sen. John McCain, has done nothing but increase the scope and power of government while throwing fiscal responsibility to the wind.†He said that libertarianism was “the American message,†because it “empowers the American people by giving them more control over their lives and their wallets.â€
Meanwhile, Michael Gerson wrote in the Washington Post that attempts by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., to portray Jesus as a libertarian are as distorted as portrayals of Jesus as a leftist revolutionary.
New York Gov. David Paterson’s directive that state agencies must recognize gay marriages from other states or countries was prompted by a court decision in February, the New York Times reported. But Paterson has also been a longtime advocate of gay rights, which he, unlike many of his fellow African-Americans, equates to the civil rights struggle. “I’ve wanted to be someone in the African-American community who recognizes the new civil rights struggle that is being undertaken by gay and lesbian and transgendered people,†Paterson said.
“The VP story is a little bit like sex: When it’s happening, you’re totally focused on it, it’s all you want. Then, the second it’s over, you can barely remember why it seemed so important.†— writer and NBC political analyst Tucker Carlson
Especially with Hillary Clinton having cleaned Barack Obama’s clock in Puerto Rico, Kentucky and West Virginia, her assertion that she “is winning the popular vote†sounds persuasive. But the Washington Post’s Fact Checker blog gives it two Pinocchio noses, arguing “the claim itself is essentially meaningless.†Among other things, it relies on counting all the votes she got in Florida and Michigan and not counting either the 230,000 uncommitted voters in Michigan, where Obama wasn’t on the ballot, or the caucus participants in Iowa, Nevada, Maine and Washington. Also, winning the popular vote has meaning in some contests, but it doesn’t in the Democratic primary system.
