Bill Richardson endorses Obama, double chocolate cake.

That's like saying that the Catholic church supports pedophilia and by extension all catholics are pedophiles.

Get a fucking grip already.

It would have been nice if this endorsement would have came when it could have made a difference... i.e., prior to the Texas primary or just after Super Tuesday even.

These late endorsements and those who make them come from political cowards, IMHO... They wait and provide their endorsement to the candidate that appears to be ahead anyway to help themselves look good to the guy that's going to win anyway. At this point it's just public ass-kissing.

When Rudy dropped out, he immediately endorsed McCain... So did Romney. I admire that. I know the race was tighter on the Dem side, but that's when endorsements count the most.

Ummm no.

Religious folks can't really choose their faith but they can choose their pastors/spiritual advisers/close friends.

Certainly not.

The official position of the Catholic church does not say anything about supporting pedophilia.

Nor do they preach about supporting it.

Wright does. A lot apparently. About racism I mean.

Are you stupid or somethin'?

Are you?

You're the one who is saying there is a similarity in Wright preaching about racism, and actively supporting it in his sermons, and certain Catholic priests being caught molesting little boys.

Does the casual voter give a crap about political endorsements? I know I have never changed my mind about a candidate just because another political figure I respect happens to endorse him/her.

Well, there are quite a few endorsements that could hurt a candidate, but I've got to agree that endorsements that can help in-and-of themselves should be pretty rare. Getting an endorser to work as a fund raiser or take some other active campaign role can make all the difference in the world, but those are behaviors that are very distinct from the endorsement itself. Now, if zombie Reagan had come back from the dead to endorse one of the Republican presidential candidates earlier in the cycle, that would have been a big deal, but barring cases like that I don't see endorsements on their own doing much.

The best hope that a strong endorsement can have is a trigger effect on others who might have been on the fence. But that too has been a rather weak force this election season.

So you saw one too many ghosts, huh?








Ohh.... I see. You were talking about Kirk...

If the Republicans play the race card against Obama, I think they'll do far more damage to McCain than anybody else. Obama is willing to speak candidly on the subject, even if there is ugly truth behind it. Just wait until McCain starts getting hammered with those questions...

McCain's camp just fired a staffer who was sending out links to the Wright youtube sermons.

Everyone is staying WELL away from this one.

If Wright's church didn't sell the DVDs with those repugnant statements I doubt it would have ever came up - no one is willing to risk the backlash.

And rightfully so. McCain isn't just being passively helped by the ongoing Democrat strife, he's also, on top of that, actively helping himself in the eyes of many with gestures like that.

For at least two weeks running, McCain, despite his unfortunate verbal gaffe, wins the political Best Week Ever award.

Would an Obama/Richardson ticket be TOO minority for white voters?

I'm impressed as hell by Richardson. If he was on top of the ticket, I'd have to seriously consider voting for him, even if I hugely disagree with his immigration policies.

If a democrat wins the presidency, I hope Richardson is on the ticket.

I doubt it.

Do you think all the white people who have voted for Obama during the primary season have though in the back of their mind "he better pick a white running mate or there'll be hell to pay!"

The endorsement sealed the deal, right?

No, not at all. But I wouldn't expect anyone who already pulled the lever for Obama to think that. I'm talking about the ones that haven't and the ones that are needed to win the presidency. We're all inherently racist, to one degree or another, so I don't know how it would play out in the general election.

If this ticket gets labeled the minority ticket, or the one that will only "help the blacks and latinos", that could be damaging, whether we like to think about racism or not.

Yeah, that's the ticket.

Governor, Congressman, Secretary of Energy, Ambassador to the United Nations, successful business man, head of the Democratic National Comittee.... Very few people have the credentials this man has.

And that assessment hasn't changed now that he supports Barack Obama, and all the baggage that comes with it?

What baggage comes with that?

That's the stuff!

Usually forgive comes before forget, but I'm sure he'll take it

What the hell does deflecting this onto McCain help the issue?

You know, thats exactly what Obama is doing, deflecting the original issue(his association with Wright for 20 years)....onto the racial differences in America.

And you fell for it.

APOLOGIZE!!!

Marathon, editing his posts when he finally thinks of something witty since 2003!

Yes, about 45 seconds later. You've long held that for some reason I'm the only one not allowed to do so...

It's because of your experience, almost 27K posts and all...

I've been told by many folk that my humor is worth waiting a minute or so for

Well, the internet does have the advantage over conversation. When you slap your forehead and say to yourself, 'If only I had said that response' you can actually make it appear as if you went back and time and said it.