Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has been under fire for days because of his statement that small-town Americans “cling” to guns, religion and bigotry because they are “bitter” about their economic circumstances. But other candidates may be tested by Obama’s “bitter” comments, too.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee is trying to attach Obama’s words to Democratic Senate candidates Al Franken of Minnesota and Mark Warner of Virginia. The NRSC issued a video press release that all but dares them to endorse Obama.
The video releases also target Democratic convention “superdelegates” John Kerry of Massachusetts, Mary Landreiu of Louisiana, Mark Udall of Colorado and Tom Udall of New Mexico.
On the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. this week, members of the House and Senate took time to remember his impact in American history.
Lawmakers featured in this video include: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.; Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C.; Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga.; and Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, a Michigan Democrat who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus.
The Family Research Council is criticizing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for accepting money from rapper Timbaland for her presidential campaign because of Timbaland’s race-tinged lyrics.
The council produced a video noting that Clinton, D-N.Y., condemned disgraced “shock jock” Don Imus for recently calling the women of the Rutgers women’s basketball team “nappy-headed hos” and said such “’small-minded bigotry and coarse sexism” should not be tolerated. Timbaland’s lyrics include repeated references to “niggas” and “hos.”
“Hillary helped finish off Don Imus’ career, yet she uses Timbaland’s money to advance her own?” one woman said in the council’s video. “Contact the Clinton campaign and let them know how you feel.”
President Bush on Monday commemorated Black History Month at a White House ceremony by calling attention to Americans both famous and ordinary.
“[T]his is a little different kind of speech. It’s one where all I had to do was just simply talk about the accomplishments and lives of some of our citizens,” Bush said. “And their stories speak a lot louder and a lot clearer than I could have. … I always tell people the strength of this country lies in the hearts and souls of our citizens. The strength of the African-American community has always lied in the hearts and souls of our citizens, people who refuse to allow adversity to diminish the spirit and extinguish the drive to make America live up to its promise.”
His speech recognized people like:
Justice Janice Rogers Brown of the federal D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals;
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.;
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice;
Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts and Lovie Smith of the Chicago Bears, the first black head coaches of the National Football League to lead their teams to the Super Bowl;
Sylvester Croom of Mississippi State University, the first black head coach in football for the Southeastern Conference;
Wesley Autrey, who saved a man’s life in the New York subway system;
And Bonnie St. John, a Rhodes scholar, the winner of medals in downhill skiing in the Paralymics and a small-businesswoman;
Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden Jr. hoped to make a statesmanlike splash yesterday with this video against a troop surge in Iraq as he officially announced his candidacy for president in 2008:
Instead, he made a bigger splash when he told the New York Observer that one of his rivals for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, is the “first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”
And that bit of racial insensitivity reminded many Biden watchers about his other bout with racial insensitivity last summer. “You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts [in Delaware] unless you have a slight Indian accent.”
That gaffe worked to the financial advantage of Raj Bhakta, an Indian-American congressional candidate in neighboring Pennsylvania who used Biden’s words to solicit donations of $7.11.
Bhakta lost his race, but Biden is the one looking more like a loser to a lot of folks these days.
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