I think Reggie Jackson said it best: " It's not where you are when the leaves are green ,it's where you are when the leaves turn brown".

Obama resisted slamming his opponent too hard.

Don't worry Obama......
More then enough people to ask Hillary the really hard questions.....
If she ever answers them.....

Smart move Barak, let them be the dogs of war. you got a campaign to run. That is the way to do it, stay out of the mud as best you can.

Nice response by Obama.  I'm looking forward to seeing how Hillary herself responds to reporters asking why she did this.  Of course, she will probably say that the "boys" are picking on her again and that she is not being treated fairly.  Any voter who supports Hillary needs to ask themselves why.....seriously.  

Another brilliant move from Obama. Hillasr Clinton's campaign has been looking for something to bounce back on.

I love it

I think that by this time next year we'll all be saying, Hillary Who?  Go Obama!

 Lies,lies,and damn lies.Wouldn't it be refreshing to hear a grain of truth from just one candidate?McCain and Biden come closer than any of them.If this batch of miscreants is the best of the best,we as a Nation are in deadly peril.I can't believe I'm saying this,but I miss Teflon Ron.C'mon Hagel,give it a try.

Obama believes plants should be able to ask questions.  "Plants are people too", he said.  "Plus they help cool the planet".  Then Obama's handlers quickly hustled him away from the media because, once again, Barack had gone off script.

Now you'll see Madeline Albright and Geraldine Ferraro on the talk show circuit defending the use of "plants" in the audience. They'll probably attribute it to the fact that Hillary is a woman and needs to do this to level the playing field.

I guess again the race card is being played. Obama's wife made a statement that it is about time the black people wake up. Doesn't she realize that this is not about black or white!!! With statments like that he doesn't have a chance....This should only be about the issues, not what color you are.

Obama knows when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em.  He's made his point in his speech at the dinner, and unlike John Edwards, he doesn't need to keep pounding her.  Let the MSN and others continue to point out her flaws and he can stay above the fray.  Go Obama!

Hillary, you just lost one!  I was going to vote for that woman, even though my gut told me she was not an honest woman and "her husdand"..forget about it! He is a big liar too.  Thank God this happened.  It confirmed what my instincts always knew.  No way will I do that to my grandchildren.  I'm a woman too, but listen, you have to have more than what we share between us to be a good leader.  Some women have, but Hillary, you don't because you are not honest.  You are just not an honest woman.          

Hillary, you just lost one!  I was going to vote for that woman, even though my gut told me she was not an honest woman and "her husband"..forget about it! He is a big liar too.  Thank God this happened.  It confirmed what my instincts always knew.  No way will I do that to my grandchildren. No way will I participate in putting a liar in the White House again.  They lied to us and tied us up in defending them 7 years ago.  Then we got a big lair after the Clinton's, named Bush.  I'm a woman too, but listen Hillary, you have to have more than what we share between us to be a good leader.  Some women have it, but Hillary, you don't because you are not honest.  You are just not an honest woman.          

What bump are you talking about?  RCP shows that Obama has not received a "bump" at all in New Hampshire.  Since the end of November, Obama has consistently polled in the low 20's in New Hampshire.  

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/nh/new_hampshire_democratic_primary-194.html#polls

btw Andy - Edwards doesn't do the plant thingy either.

Hillary pulled the same thing in 1999! She's ridiculous.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/11/12/clintons-planted-questio_n_72294.html

For intelligent people, what do you derive out of this interview:

MR. RUSSERT:  But, Senator, you said last year—earlier this year that everything should be on the table for Social Security, including looking at raising retirement age, indexing benefits, and then suddenly you said, “No, no.  Those aren’t off—on the table; I’m taking them off the table.”

SEN. OBAMA:  Tim, that’s not—that’s not what I said.  What I said was that I will convene a meeting as president where we discuss all of the options that are available.  That doesn’t mean that as president I will not have strong opinions on how we should move forward.  And when you look at how we should approach Social Security, I believe that cutting retire—cutting benefits is not the right answer.  I meet too many seniors all across the country who are struggling with the limited Social Security benefits that they have.  That raising the retirement age is not the best option, particularly when we’ve got people who ware still in manufacturing.  By the time they’re 67, their bodies, oftentimes...

MR. RUSSERT:  But in May you said they would be on the table.

SEN. OBAMA:  Well, when I—I am going to be listening to any ideas that are presented, but I think that the best way to approach this is to adjust the cap on the payroll tax so that people like myself are paying a little bit more and the people who are in need are protected.  That is the option that I will be pushing forward.  But, look, even as president I’m not going to be able to get this done by myself, and that means that I’m going to be listening to any other ideas out there.  It doesn’t mean, though, that I’m not going to have a strong position on it.

MR. RUSSERT:  But they would be on the table?

SEN. OBAMA:  Well, I will listen to all arguments and the best options, finding out what is it going to take to close that gap.  But what I’m going to continue to insist on is that the reason we need to fix it now is precisely to protect our senior citizens and maintain not only Social Security as a social insurance program, but also make sure that the benefits are sufficient so that we don’t have seniors in need.

MR. RUSSERT:  When you say “raise the cap,” right now you pay payroll tax on the first $97,500.  If you increase that for people to pay Social Security tax on their full income, about 10 million people, some could pay as much as $5,000 a year more.  How is that going to play in November?

SEN. OBAMA:  Well, it—you know, I have not specified exactly how we would structure it.

---

Is this clarity? Clear direct answers? How is it different from some of our other candidates?

Obama should have said Hillary's turn up the heat slogan is not heating up.  She must not know how to light a fire.

Bolony.  I am, for once, tired of the inane, moronic questions that are posed to the candidates.  All this fellows plant questions, and I see no problem with it as part of teh mechanism needed to put out their message.  The job of the candidate is to get the message out.  For all the bellyaching that Obama and Edward do about politics as usual, both gentlemen have reduce themself to cheap copies of Rudy Giuliani, and they are not even funny!  Giuliani is.

Obama is going to win Iowa, NH, SC and march on to February 5th with all the momentum in the world.  

Hillary is the new Howard Dean.

docrock, Please point out why you think Obama is a "miscreant." (That seems like a big word for someone like you, but you used it correctly.)

Wouldn't it be great to have AN ARTICULATE, GENTLEMANLY STATESMAN serving as our president?  I would love to have a "President Obama!"

First Read is the best source for even-handed, well-written political news. I am getting pretty sick of the obvious bias shown in many other news sources. Cheers to you folks.
And while I have not decided who to back yet, I have been impressed with Obama's tact and honesty. It just shows that an even, calm approach can actually win out in the end.

I think its a case of dissapointment. Everybody knows the all human beings can sometimes lack judgement and in this case I think HR Clinton does. I am dissapointed.
I have read everything people say about her vis a vis predictability, hedging but planted questions!
Whats next?

Have any of you been to a Hillary town hall meeting?  She picks people at random and even if a person is picked by a staffer the person may not get picked by her to actually ask a question. Although she does like to pick on people in uniform or holding signs.

Very presidential response. While the 'hoping to be inevitably coronated one' tries to spin her way out of plant-gate, B Obama goes on to point out his policies to actual voters in Iowa and New Hampshire. It is so refreshing to see a man of candor representing my Dem party.

I think there is lot of deception and half truths which are being floated on net. I would be interested to get the perspective from a First Read editor.

I've been supporting Hillary ever since first couple of debates. Prior to that I was supporting that "key note speaker" that we all remember so well at the last Democratic Convention...welcome back Obama!

A straight answer from Hillary would be a first.

It's great to see that someone can say "This person is not right for the country right now" without criticizing them as a person. It just shows again how great Obama is at delivering a message in a clear moderate way - he's exactly what this country needs in a leader. Hillary is Bush 2.0.

IF a presidential candidate is not trustworthy , why would anybody vote for such candidate ?  Would it be appropriate to give a mandate to untrustworthy candidate   to lead us again after years of Bush ocultic style  governance? I want and answers from those supporting Hillary Clinton .

If he hit that softball out of the park that tells me his campaign probably does it too.  The Clinton's didn't invent it and I am sure they are not the only camps practicing it.

mark , yes that is clear , he said that he want to use the tax structure to fix the problem , but as president he will listen to all the option to see if his is the best option . duh is that clear for you . Unlike most in public office (Bush) he is not so full of his self to think that he has all the answers and is allways right . You obama haters are getting really desperate . to me that says a lot about hills campaign.

DikieFlatts is right, this is an old tactic, THE HILL just got caught, poor form, move on, lets get to issues, THE HILL is talking about trade agreements and how they affect our jobs, good move, change the issue to something and ignore the gaffes. Obama is also working at bringing issues forward, these two wil be wrestling it out in Iowa. No slam dunk (sorry Mr. Tenet)for either of them yet.

If he hit that softball out of the park that tells me his campaign probably does it too.  The Clinton's didn't invent it and I am sure they are not the only camps practicing it.

DickieFlatts, Charlotte, NC


Name one other camp that is planting questions.

Obama would be like another bush in the white house.He would have to have someone like Cheney to do.he doesn'know sh-- from shinola.He is wet be hind the years.His wife tells about the rough times being black,so have a lot of whites.Besides iam not ready for seeing a black woman as a first lady.I do not hate or dislike her i jysst cnnot see it.Obama is stiil wet behind the ears.he needs to gpo back to collede and learn about world history.I bet he has never read the US Constitution.

John in Edinboro:

Hillary is talking about trade agreements.
She agrees with both sides according to Chris Dodd.....

Can't she ever get anything right?

It is really funny to watch the HILL supporters run away from her consistently poor performance.  Move on, they say.  We'll move on all right.  To another candidate.

Ki, you need to go back and re-read Senator Obama's responses to questions from Tim Russert's interview that Mark made reference to. If you do you maybe able to understand why Mark is asking question on whether Obama was clear and straight forward in his responses to those questions.

Ooh, other comment I want to make is, you Obama's supporters & the media continue to criticize Hillary Clinton on almost every answer she gives to a question.

The question is if she is not that intelligent to clearly give the kind of answer you want to hear from her, then why is she ahead in every poll across the country? I don't get it. Pleas educate me on this. Thank you.

Joe Portland, OR    

I've watched the debates with out fail and I have yet to see any candadate that hasn't planted questions in an attempt to put the other candadates on the defence.  What's the big deal?

For intelligent people, what do you derive out of this interview:

MR. RUSSERT:  But, Senator, you said last year—earlier this year that everything should be on the table for Social Security, including looking at raising retirement age, indexing benefits, and then suddenly you said, “No, no.  Those aren’t off—on the table; I’m taking them off the table.”

SEN. OBAMA:  Tim, that’s not—that’s not what I said.  What I said was that I will convene a meeting as president where we discuss all of the options that are available.  That doesn’t mean that as president I will not have strong opinions on how we should move forward.  And when you look at how we should approach Social Security, I believe that cutting retire—cutting benefits is not the right answer.  I meet too many seniors all across the country who are struggling with the limited Social Security benefits that they have.  That raising the retirement age is not the best option, particularly when we’ve got people who ware still in manufacturing.  By the time they’re 67, their bodies, oftentimes...

MR. RUSSERT:  But in May you said they would be on the table.

SEN. OBAMA:  Well, when I—I am going to be listening to any ideas that are presented, but I think that the best way to approach this is to adjust the cap on the payroll tax so that people like myself are paying a little bit more and the people who are in need are protected.  That is the option that I will be pushing forward.  But, look, even as president I’m not going to be able to get this done by myself, and that means that I’m going to be listening to any other ideas out there.  It doesn’t mean, though, that I’m not going to have a strong position on it.

MR. RUSSERT:  But they would be on the table?

SEN. OBAMA:  Well, I will listen to all arguments and the best options, finding out what is it going to take to close that gap.  But what I’m going to continue to insist on is that the reason we need to fix it now is precisely to protect our senior citizens and maintain not only Social Security as a social insurance program, but also make sure that the benefits are sufficient so that we don’t have seniors in need.

MR. RUSSERT:  When you say “raise the cap,” right now you pay payroll tax on the first $97,500.  If you increase that for people to pay Social Security tax on their full income, about 10 million people, some could pay as much as $5,000 a year more.  How is that going to play in November?

SEN. OBAMA:  Well, it—you know, I have not specified exactly how we would structure it.

---

Is this clarity? Clear direct answers? How is it different from some of our other candidates?

Two points:

1. Sen. Obama ended that exchange with a likely increase in payroll tax structure with a possible "donut hole" so that the wealthy pay more "probably an increase for people like me".

2.  "But, look, even as president I’m not going to be able to get this done by myself, and that means that I’m going to be listening to any other ideas out there.  It doesn’t mean, though, that I’m not going to have a strong position on it." ..."I will listen to all arguments and the best options, finding out what is it going to take to close that gap".

Sounds like leaving the door open for working across the isle to me. Not like cowboy president bush who just moves autonomously, gunslinging and strongarming his way through every process...the people and the opposition be damned. To be everybody's president, one must find the acceptable medium. That approach is why we are so polarized as a nation. Was it a perfect answer....of course not. Was it an honest one? Up to the intelligent, and unintelligent to decide...unfortunately both have the right to vote.

When will the Democrats understand that HC can only take them to defeat in '08?  She not only is incompetent from her lack of experience, she also is willing to keep a non committal attitude on any subject, no matter how crucial it may be for the country, to increase her dwindling following.  

In response to the statements 'all campaigns have plants'- I challenge you to name another 2008 Presidential candidate who has done it.

Don't give me your opinion that they all do it- without proof to back it up.

Until then- only the Clinton camp does it- as has been evidenced.

Don't accuse everyone of her mistakes to make yourselves feel better

Obama is brilliant and authentic. He wants to give a voice back to the American people. We should be begging the man to run our country!

It is so clear that he cares about this country, and not just HIMSELF, like some candidates who want it for their own power-trips!

When I hear these ignorant people criticise him, I'm so disappointed! "He has never read the Constitution" Delores Fleming said!  Delores, guess what? The man TAUGHT CONSTITUTIONAL LAW!!! Have YOU read the Constitution? Have YOU read any REAL information about Barack Obama? Do you know who he is? What right have you to put someone down when you don't know anything about the person (except maybe sound bites from Fox News)?

I believe Obama wants to be the president mostly because he truly wants to restore the Constitution, and he wants to fix the loopholes in "the system" which have allowed the current state of disaster to occur. He will restore America to her respected standing in the world.

I am ashamed to admit that I am an American when I travel overseas. I will be so proud when I call him my prez!

GO OBAMA, GO!

BARACK AND ROLL!

Dolores, some info for you. Also, pls got to http://BarackObama.com for his policy positions.
Barack Obama taught constitutional law for about 10 years. In Illinois about 300 of his bills had been passed. "As a state legislator, Obama worked with both Democrats and Republicans in drafting successful legislation on ethics and health care reform. He sponsored a law enhancing tax credits for low-income workers, negotiated welfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for child care. Obama also led the passage of legislation mandating videotaping of homicide interrogations, and a law to monitor racial profiling by requiring police to record the race of drivers they stopped. During his 2004 general election campaign for U.S. Senate, Obama won the endorsement of the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police, whose president credited him with having been "immensely helpful in working with police organizations" on death penalty reform." Barack Obama on the following committees in the US senate:

Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs
Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, Pensions
Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

Have any of you been to a Hillary town hall meeting?  She picks people at random and even if a person is picked by a staffer the person may not get picked by her to actually ask a question. Although she does like to pick on people in uniform or holding signs.

Michael Arcement II, Clinton, IA

Michael I have been to Hillary "town hall meetings" and watched more of them on C-span, and the reality is she rarely takes any questions from the audience at all, screened or unscreened. During her first visit to Iowa  she kept getting  the same question, because the audience felt she wasn't actually answering the question. Iowans do that a lot, if you skirt the question, someone will follow up and ask it again, and again. After that first visit she didn't take any questions for a very long time. And then it was only after she was getting a lot of bad press in Iowa and NH about refusing to take questions. So she took some in late September (or first week of Oct.) and when she didn't like the guys question about her Iran vote she accused the guy of being a plant, because people keep asking her the same question. Interesting that she made that assumption. She assumed plant, because that's what they do, they have friendly plants at her events, and send hostile plants (often her paid staff- with out of state plates and Hillary sticker on their car-not real bright!) to other candidate events. What Hillary should have realized is many Iowans were, and still upset with her 9/26/07 Iran vote, which is why she was asked about it at every stop.


Did you notice her response to the plants question? She said she keeps getting this question from young people. Either Hillary is clueless, or she also knew this was a plant. The student was told the campaign wanted the question asked by a young person, which is why they approached her. Did you notice the Grinnell student stuck out in the audience, given she was 30-40+ years younger than the rest of the people in the room.  Do you think it would be that hard for Hillary's aide to tell let her know to take her first question from the young women in the audience?

I have gone to events and asked candidates I liked, or was leaning towards, an easy question that I knew they could hit out of the park. And I've gone to events with the intent of asking a candidate a hard question, because I was upset with a vote, or statement in a debate, but I've always done this on my own. I even told campaign staff at a recent event that if called on I was going to politely tell their candidate I found statements he made during the 10/30 debate extremely offensive, and ask him to explain them (which he could never do to my satisfaction), I gave his staff the opportunity to dis-invite me to the event, and to their credit they refused to accept my offer. I've worked actively in Presidential and congressional campaigns since 1980 and I have never seen a Presidential campaign find the need to plant a favorable question.

kmnecole, st louis, mo

I agree.

Planting questions is rigging the game no matter how you look at it. It is a cheap attempt to manipulate questions and answers to give a favorable impression.
Why would they do that?. Could it be because Hillary cannot hang with Barack Obama and give real answers
from the heart ? I am a big fan of Bill Clinton, but Hill aint no Bill. Obama 08 !

"I've watched the debates with out fail and I have yet to see any candadate that hasn't planted questions in an attempt to put the other candadates on the defence.  What's the big deal?

Bob LeHew"

What? If you've watched the debates then where are the planted questions? Are the other candidate's working with CNN, MSNBC, ABC, or Iowa Public Television in order to "plant" a question? Seriously how do you "plant" a question in a debate?

Bob the other candidate don't plant favorable questions in the audience. I have seen every candidate (except Gravel), and while I've never seen Hillary take questions from the audience at an open event.  I've been at invitation only events scheduled immediately before the main event, with all the candidates in attendance. (on 8/18 before the Hawkeye labor council forum, and on 6/2 before the Hall of Fame dinner)and Hillary answered individual questions at those events.

However, she rarely takes questions at unscreened events open to the public. The rest of the candidates almost always take audience questions, and none of them need to resort to planted questions.

I've seen candidates answer questions from Rush Limbaugh supporters, who clearly will never support the candidate, and only want to harass them. You can often learn more about a candidate from how he deals with these people, than any other question.

The responses range from allowing the audience to attack (verbally or with boo's) the right wing nut. To compassion, and insisting the audience allow him to ask him his question.

I respect Barak obama, and he can on occasion give inspiring speeches (he can also be very flat at times). He seems to me to still be searching for his modus operandi as a political candidate on the national scene. Hence the waffling, the uneven debate performances, the following the lead of other candidates rather than taking the lead himself. I simply do not think that he is ready for the role to which he aspires. At this time in history we do not need "nice" Democrats. John Kerry was "nice" when he was "Swiftboated" and where did it get us. If Barak Obama is the nominee, he will have to fight for what he wants -- thus far, I have not seen this kind of conviction and strength from him. He is "Senatorial" but that is not enough this time around.

Senator Clinton's opponents seem to think the bush smear tactics work best.  They accuse the Clinton's of being bush-like and it is they that emulate republicans low, divisive  standards. All day every day you get nothing of substance from the attack dogs, but it will bite them in the butt in the long run. The reason we have all the vitriol is because the repukes are afraid of the Clinton's and they are the anti posters here.
The democrats that dis the Dem candidates are the worst. They feed all our enemies. They are traitors and real damage is done and threatens our chances for success.

William Jefferson Clinton we can not wait for you and Hillary to lead our country back to a better World!
Keep up your campaign support, we love you both and the world is waiting for America to have strong, competent, intelligent leadership again.

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