Quotes From Around Yon Blogosphere

Yes, it's only one poll (and a Rasmussen poll at that), but Democrats cannot be happy to learn that McCain now leads Obama by seven and Clinton by ten in hypothetical match-ups.

The Clinton campaign is probably right in assuming that the only way they can win the nomination is to destroy Obama's electability argument with superdelegates. The obvious problem is that intense campaigning and attacks may hurt her popularity, too. But the Clintonites should be wary of Drudge headlines like "McCain now leads by double-digits" for another reason. If superdelegates begin to think that the party is blowing it's chance at the presidency, it's all the more likely that they will want to end this tiresome primary sooner rather than later.

--ISAAC CHOTINER

Much of the time, blacks have a pretty good sense of what whites think, but whites are oblivious to common black perspectives.

What's happening, I think, is that the Obama campaign has led many white Americans to listen in for the first time to some of the black conversation — and they are thunderstruck.

All of this demonstrates that a national dialogue on race is painful, awkward and essential. And that dialogue needs to focus not on clips from old sermons by Mr. Wright but on far more urgent challenges — for example, that about half of black males do not graduate from high school with their class.

Then maybe we can achieve our goal of getting, finally, to the point where there is "not a black America and not a white America . . . There’s the United States of America."

-- NICHOLAS KRISTOFF

It is hereby ORDERED that I. Lewis Libby, Jr. is disbarred from the practice of law in the District of Columbia, and his name shall be stricken from the roll of attorneys authorized to practice before this court.

-- D.C. COURT OF APPEALS

John McCain believes in a hundred-year occupation of Iraq. Hillary Clinton believes in withdrawal as soon as circumstances allow. John McCain believes in cutting government revenues by about 25 percent. Hillary Clinton believes in letting most of Bush's tax cuts expire and raising the capital gains rate. John McCain believes in a health system where we largely pay out of pocket for medical services, and ration care by income. Hillary Clinton believes in a health system where the government takes primary responsibility for ensuring that everyone has coverage, and no one has to worry about money when purchasing care. John McCain believes abortion should be illegal in almost all circumstances. Hillary Clinton believes abortion should be legal in almost all circumstances. And Lanny Davis thinks the two of them should publicly pledge to make the other one vice-president if they win.

-- EZRA KLEIN

It is obvious that the Democrats are planning to run against McCain by linking him as tightly as possible with President Bush, the instigator of the Iraq war and the captain of a seriously shaky economy.

As a member of the minority party in a largely dysfunctional Senate, there is little McCain can do to rescue the economy. But the Baghdad visit offered him a chance to deal with the other big barrier to his election -- his close identification with Bush's policies in a war now into its sixth wearying year.

-- DAVID BRODER

[T]he Obama campaign has met the challenge of Rev. Wright, perhaps sufficiently, perhaps not. But from the perspective of wavering superdelegates, it's hard to find a level of panic among them. Obama has four weeks to recover until Pennsylvania; assuming that the bad news evens out the good news, the attitudes of these superdelegates will regress to the mean and they won't be a position to rethink the entire premise of Obama's candidacy.

. . . the analyst's emotional brain feels momentum for Hillary; the analyst's analytical brain can't quite figure out how Obama loses.

-- MARC AMBINDER

Some of the terms I just don't know, I haven’t grown up knowing. The type of missiles that are out there: patriots and scuds and cruise missiles and tomahawk missiles. And I think that men just by osmosis understand all of these things, and they’re things that I really have to work at — to know the difference between a carrier and a destroyer, and what it means when one of those is being launched to a certain area.

-- DANA PERINO

Cartoon by Pat Oliphant/Universal Press Syndicate