When I said the media have given Obama a pass, I mean about this sort of thing that has been floating around since he declared last year, but the media never investigated. The ONLY reason it is on the front page now is because the right wingers waited for a lull in the primary election news cycle to kick it out on You Tube and get the echo chamber running.

So there is the timing thing. They weren't going to waste something they (the right wingers) perceive as very damaging to Obama on news cycles when there are bigger stories, like who won which primary, etc etc and when the Dems are pretty much in control of the news.

Now, I myself don't feel the Rev Wright's sermons are the least bit shocking, because I've heard all this stuff a bazillion times before. I like their pro-Palestinian stand, but know that Obama won't support that in a million years, because no one can get elected president of the US right now being pro-Palestinian, regardless of who they are.

But these videos of Wright will shock and/or dismay many general election voters, and that is why Obama may be seriously hurt by this. They are working it to the best of the ability to contain the damage, but I have to agree w/mg here. Why the hell did the Obama campaign wait to get 'attacked' with this, rather than controlling the story w/a spin about how Obama went through soul searching and decided he could no longer support his pastor, despite their long family relationship.

Because now, he can't possibly put enough distance between him and the Rev, no matter what he says. To claim ignorance, which he seems to be trying to do by saying he wasn't present in church on the days these sermons made ain't gonna cut it with church goers. Everyone in a church community knows what the pastor's tilt is, what their issues are, etc etc. So, Obama has always had the choice to find another church that was more suitable for a politically amibitious guy like himself.

Also this week, more trouble with Tony, and "after the fact" disclosures. That is going to hurt him on the integrity front.

And finally, there is a deal that went down involving his wife & her job at the hospital in Chicago getting what amounts to kickbacks, in terms of public perception. I'm not saying they were, in a legal sense, kickbacks. It is all about appearances at this point.

So, now that the right wingers know they have McCain to run at Obama, the Republican machine is getting to work. And I've gotta say, they are playing it brilliantly. They have a LONG time to keep putting this sort of shit out on Obama between now and July in Denver.

They were brilliant to hold onto this stuff until it looked like Obama had an excellent chance to take the nomination. They've always wanted to run against Obama, because they knew they had the goods on him. Clinton they don't.

The Democrats fell into the trap AGAIN, IMO. The Clinton campaign probably should have put this stuff on Obama out there months ago. You bet they've been sitting on it as long as the Repubs have. Because then the Clinton campaign could have controlled the timing of the release.

I say probably because the Clinton campaign would have to take a huge risk to do it, because the cries of racism would have been the response to it coming from the Clinton camp.

Since there is a good chance the Dems will give the nom to Obama because they will have to based on his popular support in the primaries, it is almost like, after this week, the Republicans have the general election already won. They can paint Obama as way too black, too radical (which he isn't, but it won't matter now with the Rev Wright videos), anti-Israel, anti-American, lacking integrity in business and political donations, with the Rezco mess (and don't forget, Rezco is Syrian), and now the wife's hospital stuff.

So the Dems, if they actually do hand the nom to Obama, are looking more and more like they may have the worst of the two candidates to run in November, and can do nothing about it because of his popularity, which will now begin to shrink. He peaked coming out of Super Tuesday.

As did Jesse Jackson, and his campaign is looking more and more like Jesse's all the time--Ferraro is right about that--there is nothing historic about Obama's campaign.