I don't disagree with you this strongly very often. The Clintons are being much more negative than Obama. They started throwing mud as soon as Obama took the lead in the race and haven't stopped for a second since. He has finally reacted, some, but there is no comparison. None. They are very comfortable in the gutter and are trying to force him to get down there with them.

John McCain is no Democrat. I happen to like him all right, for a Republican <g>, but no one should think he is anything but conservative. He is not a centrist. He is a conservative. He is against abortion and is now for overturning Roe v. Wade. He is for staying the course in Iraq. He has backed off his conciliatory stance on immigration since that proved unpopular. Usually you do more research before making ludicrous statements like calling John McCain a Democrat.

>A slimy campaign the Clinton's are running? I don't believe this can all be laid at the door of the Clinton's. Also, have you listened to any of Obama's stump speeches? Both of their speeches have been far worse than anything I recall even during the Kerry fiasco. For the past month he has been denigrating Hillary and playing as nasty or nastier than she has. It's been bad on both sides.
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>I find it interesting that so many Clinton supporters during the Bush years have jumped ship. I also recall many threads of support for McCain until this election. Suddenly, a Democrat in the Republican party has become a continuation of the current cabinet's policies when he is almost as far away from the current cabinet as Obama and Clinton.
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>>I agree Obama has been weakened by constantly being on the defensive for several weeks now. It's a slimy campaign the Clintons are running but you can't say it hasn't been successful.
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>>Re Wright, put it this way. What if when you were at Microsoft Bill Gates had said something outrageous? (Of course he never does, but for the sake of argument....) Would you have felt you should denounce him or quit your job?
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>>I think an effort has been made to get people thinking it was Obama himself who said these things. It wasn't.
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>>>Hey Mike,
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>>>I'm not sure I'd call it a manufactured issue. Candidates associations, especially with controversial figures, always gets vetted at some point. Whether it captures an audience is a different matter.
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>>>Wright is a pretty radical fire-eater and Obama has a 20 year close association with him. That's more than a casual acquaintance or campaign donor.
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>>>I think the Wright issue would have faded away in the mainstream if Wright hadn't suddenly come out with fresh controversy the past few days. Obama has to find a way to muzzle Wright for the remainder of the campaign for this to fade out. If Wright continues to speak out then it's going to seriously hamper Obama's campaign by constantly being on the defensive.
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>>>>Obama was responding to the comments Rev. Wright made yesterday, not earlier ones. He didn't just out of the blue decide to backtrack on what happened before. If you read what Obama said, I think it sounds reasonable.
>>>>
>>>>http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/29/obama.wright/index.html
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>>>>The whole thing was a manufactured issue to begin with, the Clintons trying to tar Obama with guilt by association. I'm not sure what more they can try at this point. But they'll probably come up with something.