memeorandum: The Obese Feel More Discrimination (Alice Park/Time)

10:25 AM ET, April 12, 2008

Top Items:

Obama's “Gaffe:” Some Perspective — We're dealing tonight with a classic Kinsleyian “gaffe,” where a candidate says what he means and then is forced to account for it. Let's separate, for the moment, the politics of Obama's words from the argument he is making.

Discussion: Commentary

Hindrocket / Power Line:

IS OBAMA'S CAMPAIGN OVER? — It may be. I don't see how anyone known to have uttered these words can be elected President: … Barack Obama's arrogance has been evident for some time, and it's no shock, perhaps, to learn that that he shares this bigoted opinion, common among urban liberals, of people who live in “small towns.”

Discussion: Reason Magazine, USA Today, Althouse, NO QUARTER, TownHall Blog, Shakesville, Stumper, American Street, Buck Naked Politics, Macsmind, Best of the Blogs, TPM Election Central, protein wisdom, The Huffington Post, The Campaign Spot and Corrente

Mark Halperin / The Page:

Transcript of Obama's Remarks at San Francisco Fundraiser Sunday — OBAMA: So, it depends on where you are, but I think it's fair to say that the places where we are going to have to do the most work are the places where people are most cynical about government.

Discussion: Power Line and Brendan Nyhan

Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:

Opponents Call Obama ‘Out of Touch’ — TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — As Senator Barack Obama sought to broaden his appeal to voters in southern Indiana on Friday, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain separately criticized him as being out of touch with the middle class …

Discussion: Big Brass Blog

Jonathan Martin / Jonathan Martin's Blogs:

McCain camp hammers Obama on small town comments — The McCain campaign, finding a gift in its lap, tees off on the eye-opening comments by Barack Obama from a fundraiser last week in San Francisco (of all places). — Asked to respond, McCain adviser Steve Schmidt called it a “remarkable statement and extremely revealing.”

Marc Ambinder:

Obama In His Own Words … Tucker Bounds sends along the McCain response:

Discussion: Below The Beltway, Hot Air, The Sundries Shack and Confederate Yankee

Ace / Ace of Spades HQ:
Obama To Rural Pennsylvanians: Vote For Me, You Corncob-Smokin' …

Discussion: This ain't Hell …, Vodkapundit, Slog, Power Line, Maggie's Farm and FOX Embeds

Glenn Reynolds / Instapundit.com:
MORE ON OBAMA'S SMALL-TOWN SCREWUP, from Tom Maguire.

Discussion: Commentary, Chicago Boyz and Bill Hobbs

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
The Red-Blue Divide — These remarks by Obama in San Francisco are …

Discussion: Argghhh!, Donklephant, marbury, Irish Trojan in Tennessee, The Volokh Conspiracy, Open Left, Sister Toldjah, TownHall Blog and The Jed Report

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
This is why rookies shouldn't run for President

Discussion: The Swamp, Power Line, The Other McCain, Dean's World, Infidels Are Cool, Ed Driscoll.com, Weekly Standard Blog, Maggie's Farm, Roger L. Simon, The Democratic Daily and IMAO.US

Isaac Chotiner / The New Republic:
Obama's None-Too-Bright Remarks

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs

Marc Ambinder:
Obama Responds To Criticism

Discussion: Pajamas Media, American Street and RADAMISTO

Jaketapper / Political Punch:
McCain, Clinton Bash Obama's “Small Town” Comments; Obama Campaign Responds

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, News Hounds, CNN, Political Radar, The American Conservative, Pam's House Blend, Comments from Left Field, The Jawa Report, ParaPundit, The Swamp, FOX Embeds and Political Machine

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Republicans Quickly Pounce on Obama Remarks

Discussion: Big Brass Blog, Redstate, The Page, Ben Smith's Blogs, Seeing the Forest and NO QUARTER

Karen DeYoung / Washington Post:

Iran Top Threat To Iraq, U.S. Says — Last week's violence in Basra and Baghdad has convinced the Bush administration that actions by Iran, and not al-Qaeda, are the primary threat inside Iraq, and has sparked a broad reassessment of policy in the region, according to senior U.S. officials.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Lawyers, Guns and Money, Brilliant at Breakfast, The Page and Balloon Juice

Helene Cooper / New York Times:
Iran Fighting Proxy War in Iraq, U.S. Envoy Says

Discussion: The Belmont Club and BLACKFIVE

Julia Preston / New York Times:

Legal Immigrants, Until They Sought Citizenship — SELINSGROVE, Pa. — Dr. Pedro Servano always believed that his journey from his native Philippines to the life of a community doctor in Pennsylvania would lead to American citizenship. — But the doctor, who has tended to patients …

Discussion: ImmigrationProf Blog and On Deadline

Dan Eggen / Washington Post:

Bush Approved Meetings on Interrogation Techniques — President's Comments to ABC News Prove Top-Level Involvement in Allowing Harsh Coercion — President Bush said Friday that he was aware his top national security advisers had discussed the details of harsh interrogation tactics to be used on detainees.

Discussion: Publius Endures, Emptywheel, Hullabaloo, American Street and Newshoggers.com

Michael Luo / New York Times:

Great Expectations for a Conservative Group Seem All but Dashed — The conservative group Freedom's Watch, headlined by two former senior White House officials, had been expected to be a deep-pocketed juggernaut in this year's presidential election, heralded by supporters on the right …

Discussion: TBogg

Telegraph:

German staging of Verdi's A Masked Ball on 9/11 with naked cast in Mickey Mouse masks — By Harry de Quetteville in Berlin — A German opera house is to unveil a provocative new production staged in the ruins of New York's World Trade Centre. — It features naked pensioners and Mickey Mouse masks …

Discussion: The Sundries Shack, Weekly Standard Blog and protein wisdom

Spencer S. Hsu / Washington Post:

Administration Set to Use New Spy Program in U.S. — Congressional Critics Want More Assurances of Legality — The Bush administration said yesterday that it plans to start using the nation's most advanced spy technology for domestic purposes soon, rebuffing challenges by House Democrats over the idea's legal authority.