On Tuesday’s Hardball, MSNBC host Chris Matthews voiced agreement with New York Times columnist Orlando Patterson, a Harvard sociology professor, as he read a passage from Patterson’s latest column during which the Harvard professor declared that, in watching Hillary Clinton’s recent campaign ad questioning Barack Obama’s qualifications for handling a 3:00 a.m. emergency, he "couldn’t help but think of D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation, the racist movie epic that helped revive the Klu Klux Klan with its portrayal of black men lurking in the bushes around white society." Declaring that the ad reminded him more of "a 911 call than 9/11" with "a mother protecting her kids from a prowler outside," Matthews declared such an ad "would be racist." (Transcript follows)

Matthews brought up the column during a discussion with Independent Women’s Forum leader Michelle Bernard and Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page, both of whom are black but neither of whom agreed with Matthews on Patterson’s column, while discussing Clinton supporter Geraldine Ferraro’s recent charge that Barack Obama’s race was a factor in his electoral popularity. Matthews: "I want to throw some more wood on the fire here, because I agree with this guy. Orlando Patterson is a sociology professor at Harvard."

Read it all at Newsbusters

Her Governor’s In Trouble, But Clinton’s Not Talking

Aussie feminist Greer brands Hillary ‘cold, bossy’

Obama backer revives Clinton sex scandals

Clinton-backer Ferraro: Obama Where He Is Because He’s Black

Greg Craig Former Clinton Loyalist: Don’t Believe Hillary’s Claims - OUCH!

Clinton link in Brazil ethanol probe

Team Obama Hits Clinton on Experience Claims

Hillary Clinton’s Spitzer Problem

Hide and Seek - Bill and Hillary

The Red Phone in Black and White - Oh Brother! The 3 a.m. ad is racist?

SHE’LL NEVER RELENT

Will Obama Blink?

Her Governor’s In Trouble, But Clinton’s Not Talking

Aussie feminist Greer brands Hillary ‘cold, bossy’

Obama backer revives Clinton sex scandals

Clinton-backer Ferraro: Obama Where He Is Because He’s Black

Greg Craig Former Clinton Loyalist: Don’t Believe Hillary’s Claims - OUCH!

Clinton link in Brazil ethanol probe

Team Obama Hits Clinton on Experience Claims

Hillary Clinton’s Spitzer Problem

Hide and Seek - Bill and Hillary

The Red Phone in Black and White - Oh Brother! The 3 a.m. ad is racist?

SHE’LL NEVER RELENT

Will Obama Blink?

Georgia Rep. John Lewis, who Wednesday switched his allegiance from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama, may not be the last high-profile African American officeholder to change sides.

The pressure on Clinton’s black supporters to defect has been gradually mounting, rising to the point where some elected officials are being forced to consider whether their backing for Clinton will have adverse consequences for their own political fortunes.

“It’s atmospheric pressure, a change in mood in their communities,” says University of California at Los Angeles political scientist Mark Sawyer, who studies race, ethnicity and politics. “You see people that are going out to vote that have never voted before. Do you want to be on the other side of that?”

Lewis, who announced his decision in a statement, alluded to the weight of history and pointed to his district’s overwhelming support for Obama in the state’s Feb. 5 primary. “When I speak to students about the Civil Rights Movement, I say that it is impossible to stop a determined movement that is captivating the American consciousness,” Lewis said. “I think the candidacy of Sen. Obama represents the beginning of a new movement in American political history that began in the hearts and minds of the people of this nation. And I want to be on the side of the people, on the side of the spirit of history.”

But it’s also true that his decision to flip comes not long after he drew his first general or primary election opponent in nearly a decade—a challenge rooted in Lewis’s previous endorsement of Clinton.

“One who is an elected representative of the people must not ever get ahead of his or her constituencies,” said the Rev. Markel Hutchinson, his primary election challenger. “It is a complex quagmire that congressman Lewis is presently in, because instead of waiting and following the leadership and direction of his constituents and following the pulse of the community that he represents, he side-stepped his constituents.”

There is little reason to think that political expediency drove Lewis, a civil rights icon who is safely ensconced in his Atlanta-based seat, to make the jump to Obama. But there’s no question that, for many black politicians, the stakes have increased since Obama’s Jan. 26 victory in South Carolina, when he first displayed his tremendous popularity among African Americans by winning 78 percent of their vote.

In the four weeks since then, black elected officials ranging from Virginia state Sen. Louise Lucas to New Jersey state Sen. Dana Redd to Georgia Congressman David Scott have switched from Clinton’s to Obama’s camp. That list also includes former Cleveland Mayor Michael White and New Jersey super delegate Christine “Roz” Samuels.

“Who wants to be on the wrong side of history?” says UCLA’s Sawyer. “These are African American politicians who probably didn’t think Barack Obama had much of a chance to get elected and now he’s poised to be the nominee.”

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Top advisers to Hillary Rodham Clinton accused Democratic rival Barack Obama of plagiarism Monday, the latest effort by her campaign to undermine the Illinois senator’s credibility. Obama shrugged off the criticism and noted Clinton has used his slogans, too.

Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson, during a conference call with reporters, pointed to a speech Obama delivered at a Democratic Party dinner in Wisconsin Saturday that lifted lines from an address by his friend, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

"If your whole candidacy is about words, those words should be your own," Clinton herself told reporters during a late-evening campaign flight. "That’s what I think."

The Associated Press reported in January that Obama had borrowed ideas and speech points from Patrick, often without attribution. But with Obama now leading in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination — he won the last eight nomination contests — Clinton’s campaign is trying to chip away at the premise of his candidacy. Wisconsin votes on Tuesday.

"Don’t tell me words don’t matter," Obama told the Wisconsin audience, attempting to rebut Clinton’s oft-repeated charge that he is long on rhetoric and short on policy specifics. "’I have a dream’ — just words? ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal’ — just words? ‘We have nothing to fear but fear itself’ — just words? Just speeches?"

Patrick, faced with similar charges from his GOP opponent, used nearly identical language during his 2006 governor’s race.

"’We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal’ — just words? Just words?" Patrick said. "’We have nothing to fear but fear itself’ — just words? ‘Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.’ Just words? ‘I have a dream’ — just words?"

The accusations momentarily put Obama on the defensive and distracted from a tour in Ohio, where he hoped to focus on the economy. He shrugged off the criticism and noted that Clinton occasionally had borrowed language from him.

"I really don’t think this is too big of a deal," Obama said at a news conference. "When Senator Clinton says ‘It’s time to turn the page’ in one of her stump speeches or says she’s ‘fired up and ready to go,’ I don’t think that anybody suggests that she’s not focused on the issues that she’s focused on."

He acknowledged trading ideas with Patrick and said they had borrowed language from each other on occasion. Obama said he probably should have given Patrick credit, but said the oversight didn’t indicate a pattern of deception.

"I’ve written two books, wrote most of my speeches. So I think putting aside the question … in terms of whether my words were my own, I think that would be carrying it too far," Obama said.

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The networks won’t disclose that the man who Bill Clinton confronted is African-American.
Bubba is starting to get like Mike Tyson— People tick him off just to see his reaction.

(Updated with photo)
Bubba Rages in Ohio!

Red-faced Bill Clinton takes on an Obama supporter Robert Holeman (black man with graying hair) after a rally in Canton, Ohio. (Canton Rep)

Obama supporter Robert Holeman came after Bill Clinton today at a high school in Ohio and said that Bill Clinton smacked him in the face.
MSNBC reported:

CANTON, OH — Robert Holeman came to Timken High School here today with a message to deliver to Bill Clinton. He did — and he said the former president wasn’t happy about it.

Clinton spoke to a capacity crowd in this Northeast Ohio town, the third of five events today in the Buckeye State. He told voters that the contest was “the power of speeches against the promise of solutions by a world-class change maker.”

Throughout the event, as Clinton made his case for his wife, Holeman’s dissenting voice could be heard. At times he simply shouted Obama’s name. When Clinton would set up a sure applause line, Holeman could be heard heckling. As soon as Clinton finished speaking, the Canton native made a beeline to the ropeline to give Clinton a piece of his mind.

“I asked the president to please stop the bickering between the campaigns,” Holeman said in an interview afterwards. “All this name calling is like the bully in the yard. He can’t get his way, he can’t get nothing done.” Holeman said he thought Clinton was “gasping for air.”

Holeman said that Clinton responded by saying Obama came after him first. Holeman also described Clinton’s reaction to him as “irate.”

“I think he even hit me in the face with his hand,” he said. “He did give me a little pop. It was okay, because I understand his tenacity for his wife.” Clinton did engage Holeman for a few minutes, at times pointing directly at him. It was unclear whether he did make physical contact, however.

Bubba blows a gasket.

Democratic political professionals worry that former President Bill Clinton is "out of control" and "destroying his wife’s campaign" after he reportedly slapped a heckler at a rally in Ohio and got into a shouting match with another. (Capital Hill Blue)

Here’s more on the heckler from Ohio.com, the only other media source that reported on the Obama supporter in the crowd:

At least one Obama supporter was on hand, and he made himself known early and often. A middle-aged African-American standing near the rear of the gym, he periodically yelled out ”Obama” throughout the long wait and several times during Clinton’s speech. Most of the crowd ignored him, and he was not confronted, but Clinton seemed annoyed.

Don Surber has today’s Bill Clinton temper joke.

Source: Gateway Pundit

Stay classy, Slick Willie:

At a later event today in Steubenville, OH, Bill Clinton snapped hard at an anti-abortion protestor who had interrupted him.

“I gave you the answer. We disagree with you," Clinton said. "You wanna criminalize women and their doctors and we disagree… I reduced abortion… Tell the truth, tell the truth… If you were really pro-life, if you were really pro-life, you would want to put every doctor and every mother as an accessory to murder in prison. And you won’t say you wanna do that because you know that because you know that you wouldn’t have a lick of political support. Now, the issue is who … the issue is, you can’t name me anybody presently in politics that did more to introduce policies that reduce the number of real abortions instead of the hot air putting out to tear people up and make votes by dividing America."

“This is not your rally. I heard you. That’s another thing you need is a president, somebody who will stick up for individual rights and not be pushed around, and she won’t."

Finally, a campaign theme for HRC: "Hillary ‘08: Sticking up for the right to abort innocent babies!"

You know, I don’t know many people who are more active in the pro-life movement than I am, and I cannot recall ever hearing a prolifer express an interest in prosecuting or jailing women. To be sure, there are plenty of prolifers who favor going after doctors who perform illegal abortions. Indeed, I am one of them. But the prolifers I know have no desire to prosecute women who seek out abortions in a post-Roe world. No, what they need is our mercy and support. Bill Clinton, of course, knows this to be the case. But when you cannot debate the merits straight up, I suppose the only thing you can do is attempt to mischaracterize your opponent’s arguments or engage in baseless personal attacks.

Has there ever been a man less worthy to occupy the White House than Bill Clinton? I think not.

From Dan Doherty of www.strikebackusa.com

A Valentines Day treat for Americans! Headlines are showing Hillary Clinton’s campaign is in turmoil. There have been shakeups in the upper echelon of Clinton’s campaign staff. From the Wall Street Journal’s Monica Langley and Amy Chozick:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120295209438666989.html?mod=hpp_us_pag eone

Some Hispanic leaders had written to Mrs. Clinton that it would be "troubling to many" if Ms. Solis Doyle, the first Latina to run a presidential campaign, was removed because of primary losses that were other people’s fault. The campaign urged Ms. Solis Doyle, whose parents and siblings emigrated from Mexico, to state publicly that she wasn’t forced out. Ms. Solis Doyle told reporters: "This is my decision, my choice; my timing….There was no pressure."

I feel your pain hermano.

Some American taxpayers have said it would be troubling for many if she became president. Hillary would be the first opaque Marxist Anti-American to be running for president it would be right if she lost the nomination. 

 Clinton cannot even rearrange the chairs on the Titanic that is her campaign without first bowing to the forces of political correctness. Why shouldn’t Clinton be able to ask someone to step down? If Solis Doyle is not getting the desired results is that not reason enough? Hillary has fought for the right’s of the under qualified all of her adult life. Should she not now have to taste the bitter fruit that she was instrumental in planting? Can you say poetic justice?   

It gets better. There are more amusing side notes. For my entire life the democrats have taken the votes of Americans of African descent for granted. Now Barack Obama is handing the Clintonista’s their hats. Michelle Obama is telling them not to let the door hit ‘em on the way out and Hillary is telling people that MLK was incapable of getting the job done without LBJ. I was never a fan of Hillary but I gotta admit she has balls! If any white man especially a conservative uttered anything close to those remarks the liberals (B.J. and Hillary Clinton) would be raising hell and literally making a federal case out of it.

The New York Times has called Michelle Obama,” Obama’s Edge.” The times in its usual unbiased and objective reporting did a fluff piece on Michelle Obama. Hillary should be worried. When the Treason Times is sleeping with the enemy you are so last decade.

It stands to reason that if Michelle is “Obama’s Edge” then William Jefferson is,” Hillary’s Lia-Bill-ity.”

Read the rest at www.strikebackusa.com

As Hillary Clinton braces for a predicted presidential primary sweep by Barack Obama along the banks of the Potomac Tuesday night, her campaign reportedly is scrambling to comfort anxious donors and superdelegates who fear her campaign may be slipping out of her hands.

The Clinton campaign held a phone conference Monday aimed at rallying the troops, but some of those on the call said afterward that there is unease among Clinton’s supporters over what could become a big losing streak once Tuesday’s results in Virginia, Maryland and Washington D.C. are final, the New York Times reported.

If Obama sweeps the Potomac Primary, he will have won eight consecutive contests since Super Tuesday.

“She has to win both Ohio and Texas comfortably, or she’s out,” an anonymous superdelegate who currently supports Clinton told the Times.

Those two states, as well as Rhode Island and Vermont, hold primaries on March 4.

Others said they’re now rethinking whether to support Clinton, saying they might “go with the flow” and support Barack Obama, if he continues to beat Clinton in the coming primaries.

Both the Clinton and Obama campaigns prepared to launch television ads in Ohio and Texas on Tuesday, and they added another debate to their schedule — Feb. 21 in Austin, Texas.

Meanwhile, Obama’s wave of momentum appears to be swelling — at least according to the polls.

New American Research Group surveys of 600 likely Democratic voters put Obama well ahead of Clinton in Maryland, where he leads 55 percent to 37 percent, and Virginia, where he leads 56 percent to 38 percent. Both leads are well beyond the polls’ 4-percent margin of error.

In the delegate race, 168 Democratic delegates are up for grabs in Tuesday’s primaries.

Obama stopped by a Dunkin’ Donuts in Washington, D.C., Tuesday morning with Mayor Adrian Fenty to pick up donuts and coffee to distribute to people holding campaign signs across the street.

Fenty, who’s supporting Obama, occasionally asked the crowd “Is D.C. for Obama?” and the crowd cheered in response.

Asked if he thought he’d win Tuesday, Obama said he never expects to win until he wins.

Obama was traveling late Tuesday to Wisconsin, which votes next week, along with Hawaii, where the Illinois senator grew up.

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Frank Rich is predicting a Democrat Civil War. The Clintonistas have sent their party a "Hallmark Card"–using a nationwide call-in show for voters to ask Hillary questions prior to the California primary,("Voices of America, An American Town Hall", sponsored by Hallmark), the campaign made a decision to, play the race card:

The campaign’s other most potent form of currency remains its thick deck of race cards. This was all too apparent in the Hallmark show. In its carefully calibrated cross section of geographically and demographically diverse cast members — young, old, one gay man, one vet, two union members — African-Americans were reduced to also-rans. One black woman, the former TV correspondent Carole Simpson, was given the servile role of the meeting’s nominal moderator, Ed McMahon to Mrs. Clinton’s top banana. Scattered black faces could be seen in the audience. But in the entire televised hour, there was not a single African-American questioner, whether to toss a softball or ask about the Clintons’ own recent misadventures in racial politics.

[….]

The campaign’s other most potent form of currency remains its thick deck of race cards. This was all too apparent in the Hallmark show. In its carefully calibrated cross section of geographically and demographically diverse cast members — young, old, one gay man, one vet, two union members — African-Americans were reduced to also-rans. One black woman, the former TV correspondent Carole Simpson, was given the servile role of the meeting’s nominal moderator, Ed McMahon to Mrs. Clinton’s top banana. Scattered black faces could be seen in the audience. But in the entire televised hour, there was not a single African-American questioner, whether to toss a softball or ask about the Clintons’ own recent misadventures in racial politics.

The Clinton camp does not leave such matters to chance. This decision was a cold, political cost-benefit calculus. In October, seven months after the two candidates’ dueling church perorations in Selma, USA Today found Hillary Clinton leading Mr. Obama among African-American Democrats by a margin of 62 percent to 34 percent. But once black voters met Mr. Obama and started to gravitate toward him, Bill Clinton and the campaign’s other surrogates stopped caring about what African-Americans thought. In an effort to scare off white voters, Mr. Obama was ghettoized as a cocaine user (by the chief Clinton strategist, Mark Penn, among others), “the black candidate” (as Clinton strategists told the Associated Press) and Jesse Jackson redux (by Mr. Clinton himself).

The result? Black America has largely deserted the Clintons. In her California primary victory, Mrs. Clinton drew only 19 percent of the black vote. The campaign saw this coming and so saw no percentage in bestowing precious minutes of prime-time television on African-American queries.

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