
 |
|
June 19, 2013
June 12, 2013
Stephanie Hanes: Little girls or little women? The Disney princess effect
Fred Weir: In tweak to US, Russia would 'consider' asylum for Snowden
June 10, 2013
The Kosher Gourmet by Anjali Prasertong: A tart filling so good it might not make it to the crust
June 5, 2013
John Rosemond: Mom, Dad: Talk More and listen less
Kristen Chick: Egypt court sentences 43 pro-democracy workers to prison
June 3, 2013
Molly Hennessy-Fiske: Military judge to consider letting Fort Hood shooting defendant represent himself
May 29, 2013
Andrew Connelly and Helene Bienvenu: The Little Synagogue that Refused to Die
May 24, 2013
Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb: When I didn't so 'humbly disagree'
May 22, 2013
John Thorne:
They launched the 'Arab Spring' but now yearn for the good old days of a strongman
May 20, 2013
Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?
Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star
The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
|
| |
Jewish World Review
April 18, 2008
/ 13 Nissan 5768
The flying pillows of Pennsylvania
By
Wesley Pruden
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
This Pennsylvania primary is no campaign for old men, nor for squeamish young ones, either. Somebody might say boo.
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton threw pillows at each other through the weekend in what Mr. Dooley, who famously warned that politics ain't beanbag, would have recognized as little more than a polite disagreement. Monthly business meetings at almost any Baptist church radiate more sticks and stones.
"While my opponent says one thing and his campaign does another, you can count on me to tell you where I stand," Hillary told an election-eve rally. (Slam.) Barack Obama, slogging manfully through a succession of towns where clinging to guns and religion is the only other entertainment available, answered mildly. "She just ignores the facts," he said. (Bang.)
Much of the "action" was on the airwaves. The Associated Press offers the undiluted flavor of the election-eve "frenzy": "The Illinois senator also was running a commercial critical of [Mrs.] Clinton's health-care proposals in what his aides said was a response to an ad aired by an independent group that supports the former first lady." If there was time, Hillary would put together an ad answering his ad that answered her ad. Or maybe not.
Mr. Obama asserted in another of the commercials littering the airwaves with flying goose feathers that every major newspaper in Pennsylvania had endorsed him, and cited the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's descriptions of Hillary's "attacks" as "the cynical responses of old politics." Well, not quite. Richard Mellon Scaife's Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, in an example of man bites dog, endorsed Hillary as the lesser of two bads, if not unique evil.
But you couldn't blame either Democratic survivor for being careful. In the oppressive politics of the modern Democratic Party, even the innocent can give unwitting offense. You're a bigot if you won't vote for Barack Obama, a sexist if you're not throwing your hat in the air for Hillary. Only the late public-opinion polls were safe to talk about. Hillary's spinmeisters put out the word that her internal polls supposedly meant only for the eyes of campaign insiders showed her up 11 points on election eve. This is the definition of "landslide," and it's difficult to imagine why anyone would raise such expectations unless that's really what the late polls show.
But even landslides can mislead. When Sen. Henry M. ("Scoop") Jackson predicted he would win a landslide in the 1976 New York state primary and actually won with less than 50 percent, he explained with a wink and a shrug, "Well, we got a landslide, but we missed a majority." Hillary is not likely to translate an 11-point landslide in Pennsylvania into momentum leading to a majority at the national convention in Denver. But the momentum might fatally wound Barack Obama for November.
This has been a tough two months for Mr. Obama. His suspect associations on the South Side of Chicago first with a shady real-estate developer, then with a wild and radical preacher he had described as his "mentor," followed by the revelation of his sitting on the board of a left-wing foundation with a '60s radical who was once a member of a bomb-throwing cop-killing ring have shorn him of his reputation as the man who could be a uniter, not a divider. He's revealed to be just another Chicago pol with a gift for seductive buncombe. Maybe he's not the change we can believe in, after all.
He conceded late yesterday that he hasn't closed the gap in Pennsylvania. "I'm not predicting a win," he said. "I'm predicting it's going to be close and that we are going to do a lot better than people expect." If Hillary scores anything close to an 11-point victory, he faces another tough six weeks ahead in the final round of primaries, beginning two weeks hence in Indiana and North Carolina, and then (to paraphrase Howard Dean, at lower decibel) West Virginia, Kentucky, Oregon, Montana and South Dakota in quick succession. Only then we'll get relief, but probably not a nominee.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Wesley Pruden is editor in chief of The Washington Times. Comment by clicking here.
Wesley Pruden Archives
© 2007 Wesley Pruden
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Christine Flowers
Peter Funt
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
A. Barton Hinkle
Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
John Kass
Jack Kelly
Ch. Krauthammer
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Michael Reagan
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Greg Schwem
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Lenore Skenazy
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
Cathy Young
Mort Zuckerman

Eric Allie
Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Nate Beeler
Lisa Benson
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
John Branch
Daryl Cagle
Patrick Chappatte
John Cole
Paul Combs
J. D. Crowe
John Darkow
Bill Day
John Deering
Sean Delonas
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Randall Enos
Mallard Fillmore
David Fitzsimmons
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Walt Handelsman
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
David Horsey
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Mike Keefe
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Jimmy Margulies
Gary McCoy
Rick McKee
Jack Ohman
Jeff Parker
Milt Priggee
Michael Ramirez
Rob Rogers
Steve Sack
Bill Schorr
Drew Sheneman
Kevin Siers
David Ray Skinner
Jeff Stahler
Scott Stantis
Danna Summers
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters
Christopher Weyant
Larry Wright
Dan Wasserman
Adam Zyglis

Tech Q&A
Mr. Know-It-All
Ask Doctor K
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|