Bush Wins War on English

Why we really need either Obama or Clinton -

"The war on terror involves Saddam Hussein because of the nature of Saddam Hussein, the history of Saddam Hussein, and his willingness to terrorize himself."

George W. Bush, Grand Rapids, Michigan, January 29, 2003.

Barack Spin on Missouri Win

Beginning in Iowa, followed by South Carolina and again in Missouri and Kansas, Barack Obama has demonstrated an incredible ability to appeal to and win the support of a broad spectrum of voters. People from every walk of life, every background, Red states and Blue states have enthusiastically endorsed his message for change in Washington.

With a message that has resonated in all parts of the country it is surprising to hear from a few who are concerned about Barack Obama’s ability to win a state like Missouri in the general election given the geography of Obama’s February 5 win here.

Here’s a take on the conclusions we can draw from this primary election and what those results tell us about the upcoming general election and Missouri’s bellwether status:

In Missouri, as in the nation, it is certain that a general election victory will go to the party that is most successful in dealing with two important factors: 1. The persuasion of “independents” that vote in general elections (not party primaries). 2. The turnout rate of the party base.

The primary election results in Missouri and other states, as well as poll after poll of general election voters, speak for themselves as an indicator of the first factor: Barack Obama has persuaded more Indpendents than ever before to -participate and support him in Democratic primaries, and has greater appeal to Independents who will vote in the general election.

Secondly, the Super Tuesday election results prove that the Democratic base in Missouri is excited and likely to turn out in record numbers for the November contest. With competitive races in both parties, 58.3% of Missourians took a Democratic ballot. More than 234,000 Democratic ballots were taken than Republican ballots, which is remarkable and unprecedented.

Even with this information, some have argued that because Obama did not win the majority of Missouri’s rural counties in the primary he will be less likely to win the state in the general election.

There is no absolutely no evidence that the Missouri Democrats who voted for Clinton in a primary would not vote for Obama in a general (or vice versa). In fact, the only evidence of true negative feelings for a potential nominee among primary voters is on the other side – for McCain among conservatives.

In fact, every indication is that both Democratic candidates will be able to enthusiastically engage the growing and energized Democratic base in Missouri. The question for the general is who can win over the Independents residing in suburban and rural parts of the state, thereby cutting Republican margins in rural areas and building Democratic margins in suburban areas. Clearly, Independents in Missouri and elsewhere are displaying an openness and an affinity to Obama and his message of change that we haven’t seen in some time.

Missouri’s bellwether status and preference in the primary election should be, without a doubt, a strong message to the rest of the country about the kind of candidate needed to lead our party to victory in November.

Truth-O-Meter

For all you Democratic Debate watchers, here's one alleged Truth-O-Meter (truthometer@politifact.com) by Bill Adair regarding the debate:

SUMMARY: The Democratic debate in Myrtle Beach featured sharp comments by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. We found Clinton continued to distort Obama's comments about Ronald Reagan, while other claims were closer to the truth.

The Democratic debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C. on Jan. 21, 2008, turned into such a battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama that John Edwards had to remind the CNN moderators that he was on stage.

"There's a third person in this debate," he said.

But alas, the fireworks primarily came from Obama and Clinton, who continued to feud about Obama's statements about Ronald Reagan. And building on comments made over the weekend by her husband, Sen. Clinton continued to distort Obama's remarks.

She said that Obama had talked about "admiring Ronald Reagan" and said that "The facts are that he has said in the last week that he really liked the ideas of the Republicans over the last 10 to 15 years."

But that's not what Obama said. As we noted in this item on Bill Clinton's attack, Obama did not say he "liked" the Republican ideas or that "the good ideas came from the Republicans."

What he said was that "Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that, you know, Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not" and that "it*s fair to say the Republicans were the party of ideas for a pretty long chunk of time there over the last 10,15 years, in the sense that they were challenging conventional wisdom.

But the Clintons continue to twist those words and have earned a False for repeatedly distorting them.

We also checked these claims from the debate:

* Obama claimed that while he was a community organizer in Chicago neighborhoods that had been hard-hit by plant closings, Clinton was a corporate lawyer on the Wal-Mart board of directors. We gave that a True.

* Clinton said she was fighting Republican ideas when Obama was "practicing law and representing your contributor, (Antoin) Rezko, in his slum landlord business in inner city Chicago." We gave that a Barely True because Obama did little work for Rezko and it was before the slumlord charges surfaced.

* Obama claimed that Clinton had once called NAFTA a "boon" to the economy. Although Clinton in the past has had measured praise for the trade agreement, we couldn't find any evidence she called it a boon and it appears the sole source for the Obama campaign's claim is a Newsday chart summarizing her position. We gave Obama's claim a False.

* Edwards had his facts right with his statement that the net worth of black families is one-tenth the net worth of white families. We gave that a True.

Hillary Reaches Out to Faith Communities

Today Hillary Clinton had a nice fundraiser in KC.

More important, she reached out to faith communities, meeting with ministers, discussing her faith. What I wouldn't give to have heard her address how the religious right has high jacked the morals debate. I understand that is was moving and very real. The Democrats have really gotten religion.

There, I said something nice about someone besides Edwards.