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First Read is an analysis of the day's political news, from the NBC News political unit. First Read is updated throughout the day, so check back often.

Chuck Todd, NBC Political Director

Mark Murray, NBC Deputy Political Director

Domenico Montanaro, NBC News Political Reporter



HRC kees up populist message, visits DQ

Posted: Sunday, May 04, 2008 9:51 PM by Mark Murray

From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli
SOUTH BEND, IN -- Hillary Clinton, her voice hoarse as the latest round of primaries approaches, kept up her populist message here this afternoon, telling a small crowd of supporters that she is “unabashed” and “unapologetic” about her fight for the middle class.

“Let’s just do this final push,” she said outside her campaign’s field office here before volunteers were set to canvass the neighborhood. “We came from so far behind in Indiana. We’re still the underdog, but we are moving forward, and we’re moving forward because of you, because of the help I’ve received across this state.”

Her remarks again included a pitch for her gas-tax plan, and a comparison of her health-care plan and Obama’s, which she called inadequate. “It would be wonderful if all you had to do is show up in Washington say, ‘Health insurance companies, quit exploiting Americans,” she said, critiquing Obama’s approach. “I would like to believe that we would have just massive conversions... But I think we can take them on.”

Clinton has been keeping an active schedule all week, and it began to show as she started to lose her voice here. “I’ve been talking all the time,” she said, before asking for a lozenge. “We have been talking non stop for days now... See that’s why we need universal health care.”

Running ahead of schedule, Clinton followed up the stop with a trip to the local Dairy Queen, where she ordered a Snickers Blizzard. “Two of my favorite things -- ice cream and Snickers,” she said as she spooned bite after bite.
 
Clinton, joined by Sen. Evan Bayh, was asked by one customer if the two would run as a ticket. "First things first," Bayh said. Clinton, speaking with her mouth full, echoed the sentiment, saying they first had to get the nomination.

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The Queen of Spin  "we have come so far from behind in IN"....she has been ahead in this state since the beginning.....here we go, as she tried to make her possible victory as if so overcame somthing....so sad
Hillary is flat wrong about the gas tax holiday, flat wrong in her approach to diplomatically engaging Iran and flat wrong about voting for the Iraq war. Most health care analysts say Obama has a more realistic plan. Obama is much cooler under duress. Obama has a functional family unit - nice kids and a supporting wife. Obama has fresh ideas. Obama has brought younger people into the process. Obama can speak and communicate far more eloquently. Obama being half black unifies the races. Why would anyone vote for Hillary?
Hillary - what about your pastor problems?

When the Rev. William Procanick put his hand on the Bible during his sex-abuse trial in Oneida County Court earlier this year, he swore to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

But as the former Clinton pastor was sentenced Friday to three years in prison for inappropriately touching a 7-year-old girl at his home last March, Judge Michael L. Dwyer said Procanick sacrificed his honesty the day he testified.

“As a minister of God, you got on the stand and you lied,” Dwyer told Procanick, the 54-year-old former pastor of Resurrection Assembly of God church on Kirkland Avenue.

Just awful - and to think, if people knew...if the media would report this and question her on it...would she be where she is?
Dear HRC,

Hmm..Sorry, I am not buying your crap even if it is on display in a dollar store and it comes with a buy one get one free coupon. Do you think we don't know what the truth is? Yes we do. One more thing, we will make sure that does who are falling for your gimmicks realize who you are.

Do you think we are fools? Give us $30 so we can afford 6 trips to a fast food joint while over 300, 000 families will lose there sole means of living. Hell No!!!

Funny enough, you ran an ads telling us that you are capable of waking up at 3am to pickup the 'white house phone'. Common!!! You cant even gather your though together in daylight. Huh? Bosnia Sniper my butt. Your husband even confirmed you have started experiencing those old age symptoms; green color turning purple and using basket to fetch water.

HRC, see you in those old folks home. It is our time for change. We the American people have eyes and we can see. We have ears and we can hear. We do know our left hand from our right.

GOD = HOPE = CHANGE = OBAMA '08. In God We Trust.
MSNBC. Please gimme a pass and post this. PLEASE!!!!

Yours,
Not-This-Time HRC
Did our press get bought up by the corporations or what?

Hillary rants on about working class people she thought nothing about when she was working for Wal-mart, taking campaign donations from big corporations who are sucking the life out of the working class, supported her husband's efforts on passing NAFTA, failed to get any improvement in health care despite 8 years in the white house, voted for a war effectively trading in the blood of our sons and daughters for oil....yup, she will do the working folks proud if they vote her in office.

Give me a break already. Try reporting on the fact that the CBS/NYT polls show Obama rebounding upwards and gave a great and moving speech tonight filled with great ideas to help working folks.

Cable news media, now owned by the Corporations, appears to be using its cable stations to shape the public mind about how to vote in the election. It appears the reporters (bless their hearts they need jobs too) have been reduced to mere puppets.

We have a serious problem in america and it includes the fact that our media has a new master...its corporate boss(s). The days are gone that we can rely on the media to be the checks and balance on the government as intended by the Framers of the Constitution.


I know that $30.00 does not seem like a lot of money to most posting, including myself, but I read an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer last month about a woman who fed her family of 4+ on $45.00.  Unfortunately, she would benefit from this tax break.  It is not pandering, it is reality to many people.  
Well, convinced , the billary needs to be back in the white house!  That monster will be nuking any and every one,, is this not insane to mouth off and provoke the wrong people. Just plain stupid!
Great article on race:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/opinion/04rich.html?em&ex=1210132800&en=e5d5126f1b93ece3&ei=5087%0A

Mr. Hagee, it’s true, did not blame the American government for concocting AIDS. But he did say that God created Hurricane Katrina to punish New Orleans for its sins, particularly a scheduled “homosexual parade there on the Monday that Katrina came.”


Mr. McCain says he does not endorse any of Mr. Hagee’s calumnies, any more than Barack Obama endorses Mr. Wright’s. But those who try to give Mr. McCain a pass for his embrace of a problematic preacher have a thin case. It boils down to this: Mr. McCain was not a parishioner for 20 years at Mr. Hagee’s church.

That defense implies, incorrectly, that Mr. McCain was a passive recipient of this bigot’s endorsement. In fact, by his own account, Mr. McCain sought out Mr. Hagee, who is perhaps best known for trying to drum up a pre-emptive “holy war” with Iran. (This preacher’s rantings may tell us more about Mr. McCain’s policy views than Mr. Wright’s tell us about Mr. Obama’s.) Even after Mr. Hagee’s Catholic bashing bubbled up in the mainstream media, Mr. McCain still did not reject and denounce him, as Mr. Obama did an unsolicited endorser, Louis Farrakhan, at the urging of Tim Russert and Hillary Clinton. Mr. McCain instead told George Stephanopoulos two Sundays ago that while he condemns any “anti-anything” remarks by Mr. Hagee, he is still “glad to have his endorsement.”

I wonder if Mr. McCain would have given the same answer had Mr. Stephanopoulos confronted him with the graphic video of the pastor in full “Great Whore” glory. But Mr. McCain didn’t have to fear so rude a transgression. Mr. Hagee’s videos have never had the same circulation on television as Mr. Wright’s. A sonorous white preacher spouting venom just doesn’t have the telegenic zing of a theatrical black man.

Perhaps that’s why virtually no one has rebroadcast the highly relevant prototype for Mr. Wright’s fiery claim that 9/11 was America’s chickens “coming home to roost.” That would be the Sept. 13, 2001, televised exchange between Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, who blamed the attacks on America’s abortionists, feminists, gays and A.C.L.U. lawyers. (Mr. Wright blamed the attacks on America’s foreign policy.) Had that video re-emerged in the frenzied cable-news rotation, Mr. McCain might have been asked to explain why he no longer calls these preachers “agents of intolerance” and chose to cozy up to Mr. Falwell by speaking at his Liberty University in 2006.


Hillary is a fighter!
Queen of hopeless causes....First her healthcare fiasco and now this never-ending campaign...

If at first you don't succeed...
Try, Try, again,
But hey, after that...Give up, no need making a fool of yourself....
Geez
Hillary continues to pander.  She'll say anything, and do anything to win.  It's a wonder to me that people don't see her for the phony she is.  Yes, she's an entirely different person in private --funny, optimist, thoughtful, sincere -- but who cares? She's not an honest person in public.  She'll lie because she thinks it doesn't matter, just like Billy Boy.  But it does matter.  And that's why she should not get the nomination.
Hillary Clinton wants Americans to vote for her based on her experience.  Yet, recent experience shows that Obama is far superior to her in the financial arena.  Not only has he run a campaign which pays its debts and has a healthy $$$ balance, but he also stands up against poor financial strategy (gas tax vacation) even when it probably hurts him politically.  (It should be noted that all experts consulted have agreed w/hi.)
Barack Obama remains the best choice for Indiana on Tuesday.  Share this with anyone you know who's still undecided.  http://acropolisreview.com/2008/04/top-reasons-to-give-barack-obama-your.html
DIVISIVENESS WITHIN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY

Is it just me, or does it appear that one of the Democratic candidates appears to be willing to divide the party in order to win the nomination? Dont believe me? Well, consider some of the themes that are coming out of this candidates camp.

College-Educated Versus High School Diploma

Middle Class Versus Working Class

Men Versus Women

Young Voters Versus Seasoned Voters

Black Voters Versus White Voters

Rich Versus Poor

City Voters Versus Rural Voters

Unpatriotic Versus Patriotic

Starbucks Versus Dunkin Donuts

Downscale Voters Versus Upscale Voters

These are just a few examples of the divisiveness that one candidate has consistently interjected into this race. But, to give credit where credit is deserved, I must also add that MSNBC has done a great job of adding to it.

That said, framing the election in this way is as about as divisive as one can be. Instead of attempting to dissect the electorate and pigeon hole it into these warring groups, why cant we acknowledge that theres more that unites us than divides us.

Last time I checked, most Americans, regardless of gender, socioeconomics or life station, want a strong a prosperous America. We want our children to grow up in a world that is better than the world we grew up in. We want to know that hard work is rewarded and that we each have an opportunity to live the American Dream.

As informed citizens, lets not allow the rich and the powerful to pull the wool over our eyes and to distract us with what divides. Lets be bigger and smarter than those forces might anticipate. Lets reject and denounce the kind of politics that feeds off of ignorance and fans the flames of division. Lets realize that we rise and we fall together.


Hillary does not have to worry about Senator Bayh as her runnning mate because she is not getting the nomination.
It is one thing pandering to the lower income working class about saving money on a bogus summer gas tax plan, but the super delegates should have enought to make up their minds just based on that one point that shows what kind of integrity Hillary really has.
Hillary is the only REAL option for Democrats. Obama is a flawed candidate that will fail if nominated.

touting her universal health care system while scarfing down ice cream and snickers .. what a message.
Re--Hillary continues her populist message:

From "Head of State"
http://headofstate.blogspot.com/2008/05/clinton-calls-for-bad-weather-holiday.html

Monday, May 05, 2008
Clinton Calls for "Bad Weather Holiday"

   "When asked this morning by ABC News' George Stephanopoulos if she could name a single economist who backs her call for a gas tax holiday this summer, HRC said "I'm not going to put my lot in with economists.”

   The gas tax holiday is...so economically stupid (it would increase demand for gas and cause prices to rise, eliminating any benefit to consumers while costing the Treasury more than $9 billion, and generate more pollution) and silly (even if she won, HRC won’t be president this summer) as to be worrisome. That HRC now says she doesn’t care that what economists think is even more troubling."

   -Robert Reich, May 4, 2008


I know we've got those "intellectual", high-falutin', elitist meteorologists, those "forecasters" with their complicated charts and their mumbo-jumbo, their high fronts and their low fronts, their Doppler radars. But I've come to say that we're going to put an end to all of that.

When my daddy and I went out in the morning in (Scranton, Indianapolis, Durham, Hagåtña, Charlotte Amalie, San Juan), and he said "It's going to be a sunny day today", well, that was good enough for me.

And that's why, if you vote for me on (May 6, May 13, June 3), I will put into effect a "Bad Weather Holiday" running from the years 2009-2012--and potentially extendable.

That's right. We shouldn't have to eat our (hot dogs, barbecue, tamales, Chicken Estufao, Stewed oxtail) under rainy skies. We've had enough of going off to work in the (streets, sands, seas) of this most beautiful (state, territory) only to face a cold, cloudy day. We know what it's like to rest our weary bones after a hard day of labor in the nearest (local watering hole, locale taberna, berlina) only to step out into a stiff, tiring wind.

The Weather issue is very real to me, as I've been meeting people across this nation who (walk, drive, sail, ride ox before stewing tail) to work, and would save precious sums if they did not have to spend their hard earned money on "umbrellas" and "rain coats" and other high priced, high class items of the upper crust.

But I say: Let the 'Umbrella Lobby' take the brunt--not our hard working citizens. Oh, sure. I know elite opinion and so called "academic experts" say that my plan would cause 12 straight years of hail, swarms of ravenous locusts, and a vortex of hurricanes ranging from the Mideast to the West Coast.

But I don't put stock in experts. And neither should you. And that's why you should vote for me on (May 6, May 13, June 3).

Cite:
Head of State
http://headofstate.blogspot.com/2008/05/clinton-calls-for-bad-weather-holiday.html
It is so sad to see Hillary exploiting the Americans she claims to relate to.  She talks about making up the money with a windfall profits tax, but she doesn't explain that even with (or maybe especially with) this tax the gas stations still do not have to reflect the tax vacation in their prices or that just the fact of increased gas useage will drive prices up further.  She also doesn't mention that she would not be able to get a windfall tax through for the summer vacations this year or that she has previously put forward a plan that already spends any windfall profits taxes which may be imposed in the future.
Yep, Shrillary can make herself sound ignorant no matter what. To think that having Universal (Socialized) Health Care will keep a person from going hoarse is both ignorant and dumb. Or, maybe she was trying to say that the People wouldn't have to listen to her delusions as offen if there was Universal (Socialized)Health Care. We can only hope that her voice isn't heard as offen when her campaign is ended. I will pray to GOD that it actually happens soon. What ever happens, another Clinton cannot EVER be put into the White House to deface the Oval Office again.
well i have been thinking about how obama has been giving great speeches about change and how if he is elected will change how the congress and things are done in the white house . and now he is saying that this tax break on gas wouldnt work  he says that the congress and all the experts says it wont. he is trusting them on this . but then truns right around says we cant trust the congress how they all owe the lobiest . well how can we trust them to be telling the truth about this gas tax . he cant have it both ways can we or not trust the ones we have elected to repersent us . and for nancy poliskie who says she is aginst this tax if she had been doing her job as house speaker and standing up for us tax payers who pay her to do so we would not be in this mess in the beging . she dosent have to pay for her gas we the tax payers do and obama dosent have to pay for his either his supporters do that and it must be nice for him to show us all what a great time he and his family are haveing picnicing and skateing and all while a lot of us are worried if we are going to be able to feed our children or buy gas for work  
Once again MSNBC is rerunning a one hour special on Obama and Wright, guess we didnt get enough. Is Dan Abrams still general manager at MSNBC? Is he the one keeping this story alive maybe because of his father's connection with the Clinton's.    
Wow Hillary Clinton with laryngytis...now thats heaven.  
First there are shots and beer, now ice cream and snickers...well, even with all of the pandering for votes at the bars and DQ's, Hillary hasn't shown any gains in the polls, but her pants suit is certainly getting a bit more stressed.....

Ironically she states, "we’re still the underdog", when since day one Obama has had to run against TWO of the largest names in politics in the Clinton's...I just wonder how she would have fared under the same set of circumstances, although, then again, if it wouldn't have been for Bill, she wouldn't even be on anyone's radar...
I think the "Obliterate" Iran line - and the "I don't care what economists think on economic policy" are bigger stories than the Reverend you guys can't stop talking about - I love it when Matthews says over and over - show after show - "do you think this story will ever go away?" - Perhaps if you report something that actually matters! Let's waste MORE time with specials about this as well. Are you kidding?

I for one hope the republicans try to overplay their hand and race-bait themselves to a landslide defeat. As soon as Clinton is shown the door she can at least stop publicly trying to scare old white people herself (the Farrakhan mention at the debate comes to mind) and pretend to put them at ease when she stumps for Obama.

What you might want to mention is the obvious -

If all you and or the republicans have on this guy, and it's all you can talk about - and all Hannity can talk about - we're in great shape. Trust me - McCain will be a gaffe-a-day when you actually cover him. (War for Oil?)

Seriously - you don't think Limbaugh and all the other hacks cover Wright enough? Really? I'm a big fan of the MSNBC crew and FR - but you guys need to get off it with Wright - or I may as well watch Fox.

Thanks.


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