The biggest political news this week centers around Sen. Barack Obama and his pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who has made a number of controversial statements.
Wright is the recently retired pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. His anti-American comments have caused significant trouble in the Obama campaign over the past few weeks.
I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies. Senator Barack Obama Obama denounced his pastor's comments, but did not separate himself from Wright.
"I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies," Obama wrote on Huffingtonpost.com.
The fallout from his pastor's comments appears to have been significant, though the next primary is still weeks away and Obama has ample time to recover.
A Rasmussen poll shows that Obama has dropped from a 58 percent chance of becoming the next president to 41 percent in the month of March, the largest movement for any candidate this campaign season.
Politics Editor, Austin Baird, gives his opinions on Obama and Wright in his article entitled "Racially charged comments plague Obama's campaign."
More information on this story can also be found at CNN.com.
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In related Obama news, a staff memeber in McCain's campaign was suspeneded after posting a YouTube video that showed clips of Rev. Jeremiah Wright's sermons that fueled the controversy.
We have been very clear on the type of campaign we intend to run and this staffer acted in violation of our policy. Senator John McCain "We have been very clear on the type of campaign we intend to run and this staffer acted in violation of our policy," McCain said. "He has been reprimanded by campaign leadership and suspended from the campaign."
After being fiercely criticized in the 2000 presidential elections by George W. Bush and other opponents, McCain has consistently steered away from badmouthing other candidates.
According to CNN.com, the staffer is Soren Dayton and worked in the McCain campaign's political department.
More information on this story can be found at CNN.com.
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The Michigan Senate adjourned on Thursday without passing a bill to hold a secondary primary. Because the state of Michigan held its primary before the originally approved dates, all Democratic candidates agreed not to seat the delegates at the convention.
I think there should be some way for us to make sure that they're seated, figure out how their votes should count. Senator Barack ObamaWith the race to the nomination closer than imagined at the time the decision was made, Hillary Clinton has now shifted her opinion of the delegates.
She believes that the delegates were taken away too early by the Democratic National Committee and should be reinstated and added to the current total.
While there is a movement to have the delegates seated without holding the primaries for a second time, the move would give a big advantage to Hillary because she was the only major candidate whose name was left on the ballot in Michigan.
"We're going to abide by whatever rules the Democratic National Committee puts foward, as we've done from the start," said Obama. "But I think there should be some way for us to make sure that they're seated, figure out how their votes should count."
More information on this story can be found at CNN.com.
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Locally, Rep. Stacey Campfield has proposed a bill that would not allow state schools to admit illegal immigants.
"I know at UTK they keep people from registering if they did not pay a parking ticket (A civil penalty in most cases)," said Campfield on his Web site. "But coming into/being in the country illegally (a federal criminal act) and you can come in and possibly get in-state tutition."
More information on this story can be found at the Tennessee Journalist article entitled "Rep. Campfield proposes bill to ban illegals from school."
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Comments
Get Real commented, on March 21, 2008 at 11:48 p.m.:
Shure more illiterate illegales out of school so they can pick tomatoes, build homes for you, oh and take care of your babies at home, plus the bad one's stealing, doing dope, COMON! You love buy cheap food... Right, and would hate to pay more money for your fruits and veggies. Guess your local farmers must be using Illegals to pick your food, because God forbid you have to pay someone a wage that they could support their family without having to work three jobs.
Is their any decorousness, goodwill, or morality in people today. Shure..... would you like your children to pick tomatoes, wash bathrooms, be maids, etc....? I thought so! You would not if you had the chance. And that chance at school may be the only thing thay have and you would take it away from them. GOOD JOB REP. CAMPFIELD. GET A LIFE!
jesse commented, on March 22, 2008 at 1:07 a.m.:
As soon as Hillary blew away her big popularity leads in Ohio and Texas that was the end of the race. The rest is a MYTH and a deception game to raise money. Even if Hillary was allowed to have re-votes in FL and MI she would not have won the nomination. Now she needs at least 64 % in the remaining contests. It is an insurmountable task. She has never won 5 races in a row. She is expected to LOSE in NC and Oregon but to WIN in West Virginia, PA and Kentucky, where blue color workers are predominant.
In terms of popular votes, she is 700,000 voters shy. The highest popular votes she has so far received were in New York and Arkansas. Even if she had the most popular votes, it would not matter. The first tie-breaker in the nomination is the number of pledged delegates. Unless a candidate is caught with under garment down, the Super delegates will simply award nomination to the candidate who has the most pledged delegates. Nancy Pelosi, the 2008 DNC convention Chair has recently re-emphasized this point. This is what is what is going to happen.
Hillary is not staying in the race because she is a fighter but to repay her financial losses and to vent her anger against her party. At the end of February, her debts were nearly $9 million. As a result, she has nearly doubled the volume of e-mail solicitations, showcased her Web site more at events and intensified online advertisements asking for small contributions.
Hillary needs to have an exit strategy after the PA primary. Her strategy is not good for her personally or her party. She needs help to stop being reckless. This is where her peers including Bill should step in. Bill should give precedence to the party that gave him presidency twice than the selfish ego of his wife.
Politics is a fat cow especially, if you have voters who have a stronger passion for a candidate rather than their party. It is a blind reality that causes self infliction. A fool is born every day but I am not one.
Mary Trank commented, on March 23, 2008 at 12:17 a.m.:
Perhaps "polictical" (in the headline) is a typo? Thought you might want to catch it. Your story is coming up on google news under election coverage and may get many hits.
Mary Trank
kc commented, on March 23, 2008 at 1:02 a.m.:
Get Real, your spelling and grammar are so poor that it is hard to understand your uneducated ramblings. The illegal immigrants need to return to their home country and go to school there or they need to apply for work visas and enter our country legally. That's what Rep. Campfield is saying and I'm saying thank you to him.
Kristen commented, on March 23, 2008 at 1:47 a.m.:
Mary,
Thanks for catching that, and thanks for your feedback.
FLRepublican commented, on March 23, 2008 at 5:57 a.m.:
As much as it would be an emotional satifying thing to kick out people who illegally penetrated our borders, it would not be fair to their children who grew up here. Besides, it would break our bank.
Make them pay taxes and take away the incentive to hit-and-run. Better to have one more citizen than one more sulking would-be enemy sitting across the border fence!
GA Republican commented, on March 23, 2008 at 11:20 p.m.:
What isn't fair is that I have to pay out of state tuition when I come from Georgia. Children of those who are here by breaking the law come for free. Please explain how that is fair on any level. How much you ask? I pay $17,994 per year more than a TN Hope student (71,976.00 over 4 years). Also, I pay $14,130 more than an in-state student not receiving the Hope (56,520 over 4 yrs.) So, no I don't understand and I don't think that we should just give them whatever they want.
They use our compassion against us. They come here illegally and have children knowing that we won't split up families and send back the parents. A lot has to change but I don't think that giving our country over to Mexico just because they want it is the answer.
A good first answer would be to make it less desirable to be here. If their children were not automatic citizens maybe that would help. Let's quit treating them like they are citizens. Let's not allow their children to go to public schools. We should not provide free healthcare @ our hospitals which is turning our emergency rooms into dr. offices for the illegals. We should not allow illegals or their children to enter our Universities. Let them go back to their home country, apply for sudent visa and come the same way students from France, Italy or Zambia come - and by the way let them pay and quit treating the U.S. taxpayer like we owe those who break the laws special favors. Its a burden our bank accounts can no longer bear.