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From NBC/NJ’s Mike Memoli
RAPID CITY, S.D. -- Hillary Clinton joined the chorus of Democrats who have criticized President Bush's comments about Barack Obama, saying that his comparison "of any Democrat to Nazi appeasers is both offensive and outrageous."
"This is the kind of statement that has no place in any presidential address, and certainly to use an important moment like the 60th anniversary celebration of Israel to make a political point seems terribly misplaced," Clinton told reporters after landing at the airport here.
She also tied John McCain to the president, saying that in his speech this morning he offered no new strategy on Iraq.
"I think today we've had two examples of why this country is going to be voting for a Democratic president," she said. "I hope people really look seriously at both President Bush's comment and Sen. McCain's speech and realize that the only way we're going to restore our leadership and our moral authority and deal with the very real challenges we face in the world is by electing a Democratic president, and I believe that I am the stronger candidate against Sen. McCain."
One of the earliest flashpoints between Obama and Clinton was on this issue of meeting with the heads of unfriendly governments. Clinton attempted to differentiate her past criticisms from those the president voiced today.
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From NBC's Andrea Mitchell
After a day when Bush and McCain were attacking Obama on foreign policy, Hillary Clinton was talking about rural issues in South Dakota -- not why she's still in the race or how she can win the nomination, although she did fire back at McCain.
Asked if there had been a change in message, a top Clinton aide told NBC News, "People understand the reality, but they are still loyal to her."
Asked again about the softened message, the aide replied: "This is what she has been doing" for more than a week -- an indication that this reality set in after Clinton's less-than-stellar performances in North Carolina and Indiana.
On Edwards' endorsement, the Clinton aide said, "It hurt, but it was not a surprise." NARAL's endorsement, on the other hand, was "shocking."
"Edwards was not her friend; they were her friend."
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee absolutely tore into President George W. Bush for his comments from Israel, which appeared to take a swipe at Obama.
Bush said this morning, “Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement."
An exasperated Biden skewered Bush over that in a conference call with reporters, calling the comments “pure politics,” “blatant,” “beneath the presidency,” “truly disgraceful,” “outrageous,” “disturbing,” “ridiculous hypocrisy” and “long-distance Swiftboating.” He even said Bush “oughta get a life.”
“For this president to go on the attack against Barack Obama,” Biden said. “It cannot go unanswered.” [Possible veep audition?]
Coupling Bush’s comments with McCain’s assertion that it’s clear who Hamas wants to be president, Biden said he sees “an ugly pattern emerging.”
He said the president should “get in touch with his administration.”
“I assume he’s going to fire his Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense,” Biden said. “They want engagement of Iran.”
He went on. “This is the kind of political rhetoric which continues to masquerade as policy,” Biden said. “All they have is masquerades.”
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From NBC's Ron Allen
Did we get off the bus at the wrong stop? Did something happen we didn't hear about as we flew a couple of hours from D.C. to South Dakota?
We're on the campaign trail with Sen. Clinton, but you really have to listen very closely here at the Jones family farm in Aberdeen to hear any hint she's fighting for the Democratic nomination.
Maybe we're getting a bit ahead of things, maybe its just the place and time, maybe its that we're all looking for clues about her intentions, but the vibe feels different.
Clinton began her remarks talking about how great it is that South Dakota is going to vote, and how important those votes will be. But what followed was a detailed talk about farming and rural issues, not why she's still in the race, nor much of her usual stump speech.
No mention of the delegate math, recent endorsements in the news, nor how much "we need a fighter" in the White House.
Clinton talked a lot about why she supports the Farm Bill that just passed the Congress and that President Bush has threatened to veto.
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From NBC's Andrea Mitchell and Lauren Appelbaum
.... McCain vs. Obama.
In Ohio on the Straight Talk Express, McCain today responded to questions on Bush's remarks at the Knesset. "It does bring up an issue that we are will be discussing with the American people and that is: Why does Barack Obama, Senator Obama, want to sit down with a state sponsor of terrorism?" He added, "I think that Barack Obama needs to explain why he wants to sit down and talk with a man who is the head of a government that is a state sponsor of terror, that is responsible for the killing of brave young Americans, who wants to wipe Israel off the map, denies the Holocaust."
And then McCain said, "It is a serious error on the part of Senator Obama that shows naivety and inexperience and lack of judgment to say that he wants to sit down across the table from an individual who leads a country that says that Israel is a 'stinking corpse.'"
An Obama aide fired back with this response: "Let there be no doubt that George Bush is John McCain's wingman on this," the aide told NBC News. "This is a fight we like."
The aide added that McCain's comments today show that he's "trying the same playbook that we've had since 2002 on foreign policy.
"Historically, the president who have been successful have been those who have been willing to engage."
*** UPDATE *** Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor also weighs in: “It is the height of hypocrisy for John McCain to deliver a lofty speech about civility and bipartisanship in the morning and then embrace George Bush's disgraceful political attack in the afternoon. Instead of delivering meaningful change, John McCain wants to continue George Bush’s irresponsible and failed Iran policy by refusing to engage in tough, direct diplomacy like Presidents from Kennedy to Reagan have done."
From NBC's Mike Viqueira
The House has debated and is now voting on another war-spending bill that would give the president all he wants, and them some, for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But the bill would also set a goal of removing all troops from combat operations within 18 months. That, of course, has been and remains a non-starter with House Republicans and the president.
A third portion of the bill would fund the new GI Bill and extend unemployment benefits. Republican leadership opposes putting these measures on a war-funding bill.
Under the tortured procedures put forward by Democratic leaders for the bill , each of these provisions will get a separate vote. It will be interesting to see, in the wake of GOP electoral losses and subsequent recriminations, how many Republicans jump ship on the third portion of the bill and vote with Democrats.
Liberals in the House, including the speaker, are expected to vote against the war funding and for the withdrawal goal. Vice versa for conservative. Yet at the end of the day all three sections are expected to pass this afternoon.
*** UPDATE *** Turmoil in the House now as conservatives upset about the process have voted down war funding.
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From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
As more evidence of the Democratic Party coalescing around Obama, the Illinois senator picked up four more superdelegates today. California Reps. Henry Waxman and Howard Berman and Washington state's Jim McDerrmott all threw their support to Obama. Also endorsing Obama was the Communications Workers of America President Larry Cohen of DC.
(We noted earlier the steelworkers' union endorsement of Obama as well.)
Waxman is the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Berman is the chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
The NBC NEWS Delegate Counts:
PLEDGED: Obama 1599 to 1447
SUPERDELEGATES: Obama 291.5 to 276.5
TOTAL: Obama 1,890.5 to 1,723.5.
* Obama's Magic Number: 135.5 to reach the 2,026 required to become the Democratic nominee.
* Obama has gained 35.5 superdelegates since last Tuesday; Clinton has gained 1.5.
From NBC's Mark Murray and Mike Viqueira
Top Democratic leaders wasted little time reacting to Bush's earlier swipe at Obama today, in which the president seemed to liken Obama's call to talk with US adversaries to negotiating with the Nazis.
Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Bush's remarks in Israel were "beneath the dignity of the office of the president." She added, in an obvious reference to McCain, that she hopes that "any serious person would disassociate themselves" from what the president said.
VIDEO: House Speaker Pelosi responds to Bush's remarks.
DNC chairman
Howard Dean fired a similar shot. "On the same day John McCain is talking about putting partisanship aside, the president launched a cheap political attack while on a state visit honoring the 60th anniversary of Israel," Dean said in a statement. "Bush's outrageous comments are an embarrassment to our country, not based in fact and bring us no closer to our goal of ending terrorist attacks against Israel and bringing peace to the region. If John McCain is really serious about being a different kind of Republican, he'll denounce these remarks in the strongest terms possible."
And Rep. Rahm Emanuel, chair of the House Democratic caucus, said in a statement, “The tradition has always been that when a US president is overseas, partisan politics stops at the water's edge. President Bush has now taken that principle and turned it on its head: For this White House, partisan politics now begins at the water’s edge, no matter the seriousness and gravity of the occasion. Does the president have no shame?”
From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann
COLUMBUS, OH -- An appeal for cooperation, an optimistic target date for troop drawdown, and a lofty call for post-partisan sweetness and light.
For McCain, Obama doesn't own hope.
In a news-rich speech this morning in the key swing state of Ohio, the Republican Party's nominee-to-be outlined his image of his own future presidency, including the prediction that -- by January 2013 -- the Iraq war will have been won and "most" of the troops in the region will have returned home. McCain also described a future administration marked by transparency, bipartisanship, selfless solutions, and measured debate.
Call it a much-needed re-branding of a Republican Party at its stomping saddest. After losing its third-straight special election on Tuesday -- and likely facing a Democratic Party steered by the candidate whose word-associations are all about change and hope -- the GOP's need for a pick-me up is no secret. (McCain acknowledged as much yesterday. "I have a lot of work to do," he told reporters when asked about the Mississippi loss. "I have no delusions that this campaign will be a very difficult challenge.")
VIDEO: McCain outlines what he hopes his presidency will look like by the end of his first term, if elected.
Today, McCain's promises for the future were sunny. Acknowledging that he "cannot guarantee" achievement of each goal, he went on to lay out a series of hopeful proposals for foreign and domestic policies: Within four years of his inauguration, he said, a new flatter tax will save Americans billions of dollars; the genocide in Darfur will be ending; the border will be secure; Osama bin Laden will be dead or captured; there will be more jobs and less obese kids; commander-in-chief McCain will be holding weekly press conferences; and Democrats will be a part of his administration.
*** UPDATE *** The DNC's Howard Dean responded with this statement: "The reality behind Senator McCain's new rhetoric is that his plans either ignore the problems he identifies or actually makes them worse. Whether he is taking President Bush's fiscal policies to new extremes, continuing a stay-the-course strategy in Iraq that has distracted from the real war on terror, or pretending he would bring transparency to government after refusing to even release his own tax records, Senator McCain found yet another way to show he's the wrong choice for America's future."
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From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Yesterday, it was Edwards and NARAL; today, a major union. The 600,000-member United Steelworkers union threw its support to Obama. Back in September, the union endorsed Edwards, and its press release today cites Edwards’ endorsement as a reason for supporting Obama.
“Senator Obama’s call for a significant change of direction amounts to far more than a compelling rallying cry," the union writes. "It is buttressed by his record of consistent support for workers, by his call for sweeping changes to our health care system, by his unflinching support for Employee Free Choice, and by his insistence that America’s trade policies must, first and foremost, serve the interests of America’s working families.
“Senator Obama has shown his commitment to working families by proposing significant investments in the future of American manufacturing, in the revitalization of our nation’s infrastructure, and in 21st century clean energy technologies that will lead to significant growth in domestic jobs. He is clearly the candidate who can best lead our nation out of the dark period of economic decline created by the Bush administration’s allegiance to Wall Street profiteering at the expense of worker prosperity.
“We share Senator Obama’s call for significant changes to these bankrupt policies, just as we earlier shared Senator Edwards.’ And all of us, including we hope Senator Clinton for whom we have the utmost respect, must now do everything we can to ensure that Barack Obama is the next President of the United States. Now is the time for contention and division to cease, and for us to unite behind the changes for which Senator Obama and our members are calling.
Here’s the full release:
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