Mayhill Fowler's Huffington Post piece didn't even make a dent in Barack Obama's real-life poll numbers.
In fact, according to Drudge's lead-in to the latest polling numbers for April 15, 2008, Obama has the largest point spread over Clinton yet.
GALLUP: OBAMA SCORES LARGEST LEAD OF YEAR
http://www.drudgereport.com/
Gallup Daily: Obama 51%, Clinton 40%Both Democratic candidates have 46% to 44% margins over McCain
http://www.gallup.com/poll/106537/Gallup-Daily-Obama-51-Clinton-40.aspx
Lou Dobbs interviews Senator Bob Casey who supports Barack Obama. Dobbs presses on Obama's comment bitter small towners...
Casey responds as best as he can, don't miss the transcript.
Here it is
http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0804/15/ldt.01.html
To us, Dobbs appeared predisposed to disbelieve anything Casey said...
SEN. BOB CASEY (D), PENNSYLVANIA: Good to be with you, Lou. Thank you.
DOBBS: You're candidate right now by most reports anyway is anywhere between 20 and five points back of Senator Clinton. How do you think he's going to do?
CASEY: I think he'll do well in Pennsylvania. I'm not sure he can win it. It's certainly an uphill fight. I think it's important to lay a foundation in Pennsylvania for the fall. It's big, diverse and essential state for a Democrat in November. I think this contest helps whoever the nominee will be and I hope that's Senator Obama but I think it will help for the fall.
DOBBS: Who do you think these comments helped in this contest in Pennsylvania? "It's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns, or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
Who do you think will benefit from that?
CASEY: Well Lou, I think I'd leave that to the pundits but I do think that it's pretty clear that he has expressed regret for those words. I think he's trying to express is something that I know you care about and I care about, the frustration and the anxiety the people feel about this economy.
The economy is in recession. You see jobs shipped overseas over and over again in a state like Pennsylvania and I think he was trying to express the frustration.
But I do think that in the end the people of Pennsylvania want to hear about the issues, they want to hear about trade, they want to hear who has been for NAFTA and when. They want to hear about health care. They want to hear about jobs.
I don't think voters in Pennsylvania are going to hold one or two sentences or even a paragraph against Senator Obama. I think they'll look at the totality of his record.
DOBBS: The problem with that record is there isn't much of a record there. Is there?
CASEY: I don't agree but go ahead.
DOBBS: Well, I mean he's got some statements, and he's got some speeches, but the fact is he has not moved any significant legislation through the United States Senate. He hasn't been there long enough that you could argue rather credibly but the truth is, his record, as you put it, is a little sketchy I think would be the word.
CASEY: I think here's the reality in the Senate. I am in the Senate a little more than a year now, not quite a year and half. I've seen people around here who have been here for years that may not have their name on legislation but they're still getting a lot done.
I'll give you one good example of what he led in a very significant way. That's Senate bill one from 2007, the ethics bill, which by all measures, common cause and a lot of other groups said it was the most significant piece of lobbying reform in terms of how the Senate's business is conducted. He led the effort. He was the senator to sit down with our nine freshman Democrats to push ethics and lobbying reform. He has had some impact already in the Senate.
DOBBS: Terrific.
Let me ask you this. The senator said he thought this was a distraction, the discussion of his comments there about anti-immigrant or anti-trade sentiment. He said he felt this was a distraction from the issues. You just said voters of Pennsylvania are going to want to know more about free trade, they're going to want to know more about illegal immigration and those issues.
Why would he couch in any way the suggestion that people's views in Pennsylvania were based on some sort of anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment out of frustration or a dislike of people that "don't look like them"? The last I looked, Pennsylvania is a diverse state, racially, ethnically, religiously.
What state is he talking about when he describes the people of Pennsylvania that way?
CASEY: Well Lou, I think when you read everything he said on the topic, I think it's very clear what he was talking about. He's talked about it more than any candidate has had to talk about a few sentences ever.
I do think, though, that after five days of this, a lot of people in Pennsylvania who are living in small communities, who are living in rural and urban areas are beginning to ask, why aren't these candidates allowed to talk more about the issues you just raised. There are some basic differences here that should be aired out in the remaining days of the campaign.
But I'll tell you this Lou. I know the state pretty well. I've run in seven state-wide elections, no one can say that. I also know Barack Obama's heart, his values and I think the way this has been interpreted does not reflect his views, his values or his efforts.
DOBBS: Where does the senator stand on the D.C. handgun ban which the Supreme Court is reviewing? Does he support that ban or would he like to see it overturned?
CASEY: He would probably be a supporter as he has been in the Senate of the United States and Illinois legislature for various restrictions on gun ownership. I happen to disagree with him on that. We have our disagreements.
DOBBS: On NAFTA, specifically what would he do to change the NAFTA agreement?
CASEY: I think he would try as best he could as any president has the opportunity to do, to not just strengthen provisions that level the playing field on labor standards or environmental standard standards but also make sure that succeeding in future trade agreements don't make the same mistakes that this country made when we put NAFTA on the books. I was against it as a state official even though I couldn't vote on it. I think Senator Obama has a long record of opposing deals like NAFTA that put our workers at a disadvantage.
DOBBS: And does the senator believe that we should they have balanced mutual reciprocal trade which would work toward absolutely balanced accounts both in terms of the U.S. trade deficit and the current account deficit or would he be willing to accept the levels of deficit that we have experienced for the past 30 years?
CASEY: I think he would be as president a strong proponent of making sure that we're taking every step possible to lower that deficit. I think that what's been missing, I think what he would lead at president, not just a question of this deal is bad, the next deal is bad. I'm very vocal to my opposition to the Columbia agreement, as well as others, we don't have a trade policy in America. I think as president he would lead an effort to do that.
DOBBS: On illegal immigration, the senator would secure the borders and ports or would he prefer to give driver's licenses and continue the effort that has been rejected twice in the U.S. Senate towards comprehensive immigration, in the U.S. Congress, comprehensive immigration reform legislation?
CASEY: You know how he voted in 2007. I voted the same way. I think a lot of us that were supporters of that immigration legislation now owe probably can't do it all at once. One of the ways we can achieve consensus is to start with stronger border security. I think he would focus on it, as the legislation did.
DOBBS: You think that legislation focused on security?
CASEY: I'm sorry?
DOBBS: You think the legislation that was killed in the Senate was focused on security?
CASEY: If you read the bill.
DOBBS: Remind me to do that.
CASEY: If you read the bill.
DOBBS: I've got go.
CASEY: A lot of early parts of that were about border security that triggered other provisions.
DOBBS: Love to have you back anytime.
Come on back Senator Casey. We thank you for being here tonight.
CASEY: Thanks, Lou.
http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0804/15/ldt.01.html
Obama Proposes Ethics Reform Plan
Obama Proposes Plan to Toughen Regulation of Washington Lobbyists
MANCHESTER, N.H. Sep 4, 2007 (AP) The Associated Press
RSS Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama on Tuesday proposed centralizing and expanding the regulation of lobbyists to reduce the influence of special interest money in Washington.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=3556117
Dan Abrams Verdict
THE VERDICT for April 14, 2008
Dan Abrams, Lawrence O`Donnell, Pat Buchanan
Michael Smerconish, Tom O`Neil, Danny Bonaduce, Emily Ramshaw, Carolyn Jessop, Nicole DeBorde, Keya Morgan, Monica Lindstrom
The media is obsessing over to Obama`s mention of bitterness among some small town Americans. John McCain called it elitist. Hillary Clinton released a new attack ad. Is the D.C. press corps blowing up a story during a slow political period?
DAN ABRAMS, HOST: Tonight: The media obsessing over to Obama`s mention of bitterness among some small town Americans. McCain calls that elitist. Clinton releases a new attack ad.
Isn`t this just the D.C. media blowing up a story during a slow political period?
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100007428&docId=l:775694917&start=10
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24127226/
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