Quotes From Around Yon Blogosphere

At this point in the campaign, nothing seems to alarm Republicans more than the incessant sound of ringing cash registers coming from the other party. The jaw-dropping fundraising by Democrats – and Obama in particular - is leading Republican officials both in and out of McCain's campaign to think that they'll never be able to match the war chests of their likely rivals. And this from a party that traditionally has pummeled Democrats when it comes to fundraising.

Obama hasn't disclosed yet what he raised in February, but it will likely be over $50 million. He brought in $36 million in January. Clinton raised $35 million in February, a month in which she lost 11 straight contests.

By contrast, McCain raised $12 million in January, when he was still locked in a hotly-contested GOP primary, and is believed to have raised about the same last month.

-- JONATHAN MARTIN

Just two reasons why their attempt to argue that the media is biased against them is absurd. If Clinton had won ten primaries or caucuses in a row, do you think the MSM would have regarded Obama as still viable? And where are their fricking tax returns? Basic transparency on tax returns is a no-brainer for a presidential candidate. And yet she still hasn't done it and has absolutely no good reason for the delay, except to avoid scrutiny of her husband's post-presidential corporate whoring

-- ANDREW SULLIVAN

What do we know about voters' desires after watching them winnow down a score of presidential candidates to three?

To start, George W. Bush has ruined their taste for the usual white middle-aged male, or we wouldn't be left with a woman, an African-American and a Senior Citizen who doesn't play well with others in the political sandbox.

What the survivors have in common is that, among the choices available, Clinton, Obama and McCain seemed the least likely to lie to them all the time, a rarity for most voters under 40 after their years of Bill Clinton when the testosterone was high and Bush all the time.

-- ROBERT STEIN

Is Barack Obama protected by a special suit of armor--one that fits only African Americans?

-- HOWARD KURTZ

What's worse in politics than being attacked? Being ignored — and Hillary Clinton wants it to stop. She wants back into the national discourse after mostly being overlooked since the debacle of Super Tuesday.

. . . Hillary once complained about media-fueled controversies that surrounded her and Bill. Now she'd put up with a scandal or two if it managed to focus the media and the opposition in both parties back on her campaign. She has discovered that obscurity is worse.

-- ED MORRISSEY

Since the fall of Baghdad in April 2003, Mr. Bush has left us confused about what the war really is and what it will take to win it. Mr. McCain can undo the confusion, make clear what our goals must be and draw the American people to him. The fight is to protect America and Americans will not hide from that.

-- JED BABBIN

After all, Clinton and Obama and their supporters aren't playing "identity politics" any more than John Kerry's supporters did in 2004, or George W. Bush's did in 2000. It's absurd to suggest that the Andover-Yale-Harvard-bred Bush adopting a swagger and thickening his Texas accent, or John Kerry riding a borrowed Harley onto The Tonight Show set, was anything other than identity politics. And after several early primaries, as it became clear that white men most strongly supported John Edwards, nobody accused them of playing identity politics. Nope, that distinction is reserved for people who have historically not been in positions of political power.

-- ANN FRIEDMAN

Could the risk of an ugly convention and the fact that the superdelegates may decide the contest lead Al Gore to step up as a candidate for President at the convention and then choose Barack Obama as his runningmate?

-- A.C. KLEINHEIDER

If Barack Obama wins in November, we could have not only our first president who is an African-American, but also our first president who is a civil libertarian. Throughout his career, Mr. Obama has been more consistent than Hillary Clinton on issues from the Patriot Act to bans on flag burning. At the same time, he has reached out to Republicans and independents to build support for his views. Mrs. Clinton, by contrast, has embraced some of the instrumental tacking of Bill Clinton, whose presidency disappointed liberal and conservative civil libertarians on issue after issue.

-- JEFFREY ROSEN

The much vaunted Clinton campaign operation, billed as the biggest, baddest game in town, had no post-Super Tuesday strategy because its leaders apparently didn't think one was needed. Whether that's due to arrogance or ignorance, it's the campaign equivalent of what President Bush did in invading Iraq without a post-Saddam plan.

. . . Clinton wouldn't have brought her husband into the campaign so publicly if she didn't need him. It's like calling in the National Guard after the Panzer Division fails, quips a friend of Bill and Hillary. It's unclear how many ground troops would be needed to save Hillary's campaign now.

-- ELEANOR CLIFT

Take Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign. By all measures, she has run one of the worst -- and, yes, stupidest -- presidential races in recent history, marred by every stereotypical flaw of the female sex. As far as I'm concerned, she has proved that she can't debate -- viz. her televised one-on-one against Obama last Tuesday, which consisted largely of complaining that she had to answer questions first and putting the audience to sleep with minutiae about her health-coverage mandate. She has whined (via her aides) like the teacher's pet in grade school that the boys are ganging up on her when she's bested by male rivals. She has wept on the campaign trail, even though everyone knows that tears are the last refuge of losers. And she is tellingly dependent on her husband.

-- CHARLOTTE ALLEN

Robert De Niro's endorsement of Obama would not be problematic if he had only made films like The Godfather Part II, Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. But how does Obama explain Meet the Fockers? Or Showtime? Or The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle? Has Obama distanced himself from those terrible films? By accepting De Niro's endorsement does he in turn endorse the practice of aging actors' mugging for the camera and becoming little more than parodies of their former selves? Is he also soliciting the endorsement of Al Pacino?

-- JON SWIFT

In case you were wondering who graces the cover of this month's American Spectator, it's Jimmy Carter. 83-year-old Jimmy Carter, who's currently writing books about his mother.

Is the right so hard up for enemies they're having to recycle now?

-- EZRA KLEIN

Cartoon by Ben Sargent/Universal Press Syndicate