Barack Obama Meets The Press

  Senator Barack Obama appeared on NBC's Meet The Press today, and of course the first topic of discussion was Obama's views on his former pastor Reverend Wright. We all know the little disturbance that Wright has been causing this past week with a few of his comments, so host Tim Russert wasted no time in getting to the subject.

    Mr. Russert began by asking Obama what effect had Wrights comments made on his campaign.

SEN. OBAMA:  Well, obviously it's distracted us.  I mean, we ended up spending a lot of time talking about Reverend Wright instead of talking about gas prices and food prices and the situation in Iraq.  And so it, it's, it wasn't welcome.  But, you know, I think that the American people understand that when I joined Trinity United Church of Christ, I was committing not to Pastor Wright, I was committing to a church and I was committing to Christ. And it is a wonderful church. But when I saw, this week, him come out and speak in a way that was just as divisive, that didn't explain or apologize, but rather worsened some of the comments that he had made previously, I felt it was very important to make clear that that's not who I am, that's not who I stand for.  I don't think it represented well the church or the African-American church.

  On why it took so long for Obama to come out and say something about Wrights previous comments:

But when he came out at the press conference of the National Press Club, not only did he amplify some of those comments and defend them vigorously, but he added to it.  He put gasoline on the fire.  And what that told me was not only was he interested in using this platform to continue to make statements that I fundamentally disagree with and that offend me, but also that he didn't have much regard for the moment that we're in right now here in the United States where we can't be distracted or engaged in this divisive, hateful language.  Instead, we've got to bring the country together to solve problems.  And, so in that sense, what became apparent to me was he didn't know me as well as I thought he did, and I certainly didn't know him as well as I thought I did.  And, and that, you know, was disappointing, but something that I had to clearly speak out about.

  Senator Obama spent the entire hour speaking with Russert and I'm not about to get into the whole hours worth of transcript at this time. However, if you wish to, you can read it Here at your leisure. I will be bringing up some more of this conversation later on.

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama,Tim Russert,Meet the Press,Reverand Jeremiah Wright

Mitch McConnell Going Down In Western Kentucky

  I happen to live in Western Kentucky, and the fact that McConnell is dropping in his popularity pleases me to no end. This dirt-bag should have never been placed into a public office in the first place as he typifies the Republican to a tee.

  What I really do not like is the fact that many of the political organizations which I deal with are always wanting the viewers to write their Senators or Congressmen when it comes to certain issues, like FISA for one. That does no good in this neighborhood since it is McConnell who represents my area.

   But there is a small ray of light at the end of the tunnel.

DailyKos

You know, one thing I have been talking about whenever possible is how our party should fight for every Democratic voter in every district they appear. Conceding huge swaths of our country is just not a wise thing to do in my estimation. When Democrats in what many consider red areas are invested in, listened to, and spoken to they respond.

Case in point, Western Kentucky. I hear many people on the state and national level saying we are a lost cause for Democrats. However, I want to make the case that this region IS winnable for our party when these voters are paid attention to.

I think we can safely assume that this district makes up what would be known as "Western Kentucky". Now, one of the reasons Heather Ryan is in this race is because Mitch McConnell pulled strings to have her fired after she and her daughter lawfully dared to ask him a question.

Now, Heather Ryan is a young and energetic Democrat. With support from fellow Democrats she has been able to travel all across Western Kentucky listening to the voters and telling of her prepulsion into this race due to Mitch McConnell's meddling in a supposedly non-political organization. In the last month Heather has been all over this district, campaigning on her vision for Kentucky, and the corruption of Ed Whitfield and the entire McConnell machine.

Lets look at what has happened to McConnell's numbers during that time:

Western Kentucky
3-17-08
Approve     68%
Disapprove  21%
Not Sure    11%

Now, lets fast-forward almost a month:

Western Kentucky
4-14-08
Approve     48%
Disapprove  46%
Not Sure     6%

That represents a 20% drop in approval, and a 25% spike in disapproval in the time Heather has been speaking truth to power for Western Kentucky voters to hear. She is proving that when we take the time to speak to these voters, and let them know how we are and what we stand for, simply put they respond.

I would also like to say that Greg Fischer deserves some credit for these new McConnell numbers. While Bruce Lunsford is the establishment candidate, Greg Fischer is the one that has met the voters face to face and delievered the terrible record of Mitch McConnell to them. While he is running statewide, and can't be confined to Western Kentucky as Heather Ryan can, he has made many appearances in Western Kentucky to bring the sorry record of McConnell and the Republican machine in Kentucky front and center.

It all boils down to the fact that conventional wisdom about Western Kentucky is all wrong. Heather Ryan and Greg Fischer are successfully proving that in Western Kentucky, when we invest and engage these voters, we win!!

Technorati Tags: Mitch McConnell,Kentucky,polls,Heather Ryan,Greg Fischer