Blog Buzz: Race in the Race, Hillary’s Future, and McCain’s Preacher Probs

Stories and topics lighting up the Internets today include:

Injecting race into the race (again)?

Steven Benen at Carpetbagger wonders about Hillary Clinton seeming to say that hard-working Americans are white and also says that even her broader point is wrong. Michael Tedesco at Comments from Left Field and Jonathan Chait at TNR's The Plank also weigh in with condemnations. And the fire is not all coming from the left on this—Andrew Sullivan says that if a GOPer had said the same thing, it could be a career-ending mistake, while Mark Kilmer at Red State thinks a Dem race war would be entertaining if it weren't so serious for the country. Hillary has some defenders, including MyDD's Jerome Armstrong, who sees creeping PCism at work, and Matthew Yglesias, who gives Mrs. C the benefit of the doubt. TNR's Michael Crowley argues that her bigger point—that white America might not elect black Obama—is worth discussing in the open.

Whither Hillary?

HuffPo's Tom Edsall puts the price of an immediate Hillary pullout at around $25 million—the amount that he says the Obama campaign would almost certainly pay her campaign if she folds the tent now (which, by the way, isn't bad, given the going rate for a single superdelegate). TNR's The Plank is gathering verbiage on a possible Unity Ticket, with Ed Kilgore giving a big yes. Josh Marshall doesn't think she would want it, while Andrew Sullivan—who thinks it makes sense for Obama in a Lincoln/Goodwin-esque Team of Rivals sense—notes that George Stephanopoulos does.

Are Sen. John's preacher problems the McSame as Sen. Barack's?

NRO's Kathryn Jean Lopez finds more evidence that they're not. In the meantime a new Mother Jones vid on McCain and right-wing Rev. Rod Parsley is getting attention around the 'nets. Matthew Yglesias says the big difference between Parsley and Wright is that being an anti-Muslim nut-job is socially acceptable, while being an anti-American one is not.

Laugh of the day—is that a dead parrot skit?

No, but close, from a Sullivan reader.

—Robert Schlesinger