This ran on PhillyGossip yesterday:
We thought we heard this, but we wanted to go back and listen to the clip of Sen. Barack Obama on 610 WIP this morning to be sure. 610 WIP host Angelo Cataldi asked Obama about his Tuesday morning speech on race at the National Constitution Center in which he referenced his own white grandmother and her prejudice. Obama told Cataldi that “The point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity, but that she is a typical white person. If she sees somebody on the street that she doesn’t know — there’s a reaction in her that’s been bred into our experiences that don’t go away and sometimes come out in the wrong way and that’s just the nature of race in our society. We have to break through it. What makes me optimistic is you see each generation feeling less like that. And that’s pretty powerful stuff.” We doubt this story will have legs, but wonder if Hillary Clinton referred to a “typical black person,” would we ever hear the end of it?
EDITORIAL: Now, we like ourselves some Dan Gross. When we wanna know what anchorbabe is nailing which weatherman, or how much this or that C-list celeb tipped at Susanna Foo, we go to Dan Gross. But dude is WAY out of his
element when he attempts to tackle the double-hazard of race and presidential politics. His find-the-cheap-sensationalism-at-all-costs approach to journalism serves him well as a tabloid gossipteer, and that’s all well and good for SHIT THAT DOES NOT MATTER. But this Obama thing? Well, the stakes are just too damn high for such cheap-ass foolishness. This week, Senator Obama has been speaking with painful honesty about race. He held out this frank discussion about race as an olive branch to end the war of words between black and white, instead of wielding the race card like just another stink bomb thrown at your political enemies (Willie Horton, John McCain’s tar baby). All he asked in exchange is that YOU be as honest about race as he is being. And Dan Gross responds with the same old useless ‘gotcha journalism’ he uses to hoist John Polaris by his own petard. Shame on you, Sir. Shame on you. — JONATHAN VALANIA
DAN RUBIN: Can We Handle The Truth?
PASSPORT SCANDAL WIDENS, ALL THREE CANDIDATES WERE SNOOPED ON: The State Department said on Friday that the passport files of all three presidential contenders were improperly accessed by employees and the department’s inspector general is reviewing the matter.The breaches involved electronic files that contained personal information about Senators Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain. A spokesman declined to say what more specifically may have been included in those files. The revelations began Thursday night, after department officials said that Mr. Obama’s passport file had been accessed by three contract employees who did not have authorization to do so. Mr. Obama’s file was breached on three separate occasions, in January, February and March. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that the department began to look into the breaches of Mr. Obama’s files after getting questions about them from a reporter. Ms. Clinton’s passport file, Mr. McCormack said, was breached during a training session for State Department employees. The breach of Mr. McCain’s files was also revealed on Friday. Earlier on Friday, before the breaches of the files of Ms. Clinton and Mr. McCain were disclosed, Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, personally apologized to Mr. Obama for the breach. [via NEW YORK TIMES]
RICHARDSON ENDORSES OBAMA, CALLS HIM ‘ONCE IN A LIFETIME’ CANDIDATE: New Mexico
Gov. Bill Richardson, the nation’s only Hispanic governor, is endorsing Sen. Barack Obama for president, calling him a “once-in-a-lifetime leader” who can unite the nation and restore America’s international leadership. Richardson, who dropped out of the Democratic race in January, is to appear with Obama on Friday at a campaign event in Portland, Ore., The Associated Press has learned. The governor’s endorsement comes as Obama leads among delegates selected at primaries and caucuses but with national public opinion polling showing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton pulling ahead of him amid controversy over statements by his former pastor. Richardson has been relentlessly wooed by Obama and Clinton for his endorsement. As a Democratic superdelegate, the governor plays a part in the tight race for nominating votes and could bring other superdelegates to Obama’s side. He also has been mentioned as a potential running mate for either candidate. “I believe he is the kind of once-in-a-lifetime leader that can bring our nation together and restore America’s moral leadership in the world,” Richardson said in a statement obtained by the AP. “As a presidential candidate, I know full well Senator Obama’s unique moral ability to inspire the American people to confront our urgent challenges at home and abroad in a spirit of bipartisanship and reconciliation.” [via ASSOCIATED PRESS]
LIMBAUGH IMPLICATED IN MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD IN OHIO PRIMARY: As the board of election in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, where Cleveland is located, launches an investigation into illegal crossover voting in the state’s 2008 presidential primary, a big open question remains unanswered: Will county officials go after the ringleaders of apparently illegal electioneering where thousands of Republican voters swore — under penalty of law — allegiance to the Democratic Party in order to vote for Hillary Clinton? In case you missed it, Rush Limbaugh, the nation’s top-rated talk radio host, was urging Republicans in Texas and Ohio to skip their party’s primary on March 4 and instead cast a vote for Hillary Clinton in order to prolong the fight between her and Barack Obama. And that Tuesday, as media in both states reported, thousands of Republicans did just what Limbaugh and others had suggested — they changed parties to vote for Clinton.
“I want Hillary to stay in this, Laura,” Limbaugh told Laura Ingraham on Feb. 29, near the start of his Hillary
crusade. “This is too good a soap opera. We need Barack Obama bloodied up politically, and it’s obvious that the Republicans are not going to do it and don’t have the stomach for it, as you probably know.” While this all makes for great talk radio and sounds like fun, there is one catch: What Limbaugh encouraged Republican voters to do in Ohio was a fifth-degree felony in that state, punishable with a $2,500 fine and six to 12 months in jail. That is because in order to change party affiliation in Ohio, voters have to fill out a form swearing allegiance to that party’s principles “under penalty of election falsification.” On Thursday, March 20, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that the “Cuyahoga County Board of Election has launched an investigation that could lead to criminal charges against voters who maliciously switched parties for the March 4 presidential primary.” [via ALTERNET]