The public reemergence of Rev. Jeremiah Wright dominated last night's cable news broadcasts and was covered in-depth by each of the three networks, which gave very little attention to any other aspect of the Democratic primary campaign. This morning's major newspapers, likewise, are reporting on the controversial pastor at length. The New York Times notes that in remarks at the National Press Club in Washington, Wright "suggested that the attacks of Sept. 11 were at least in part a response by terrorists to terrorism practiced by the United States abroad. 'You cannot do terrorism on other people and expect it never to come back on you,' he said." He "stood by his suggestion that the United States might have invented HIV, the virus that causes AIDS," and "suggested that Mr. Obama's speech in which he distanced himself from some of Mr. Wright's more controversial remarks was politically motivated." The Washington Times adds that Wright also "refused to apologize for his infamous 'God damn America' sermon, saying the US government owed blacks an apology for slavery" and "stood firm in his praise of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan." The Washington Post's Dana Milbank writes, "From the moment he entered the room, Wright seemed to be looking to stir controversy."
The AP says Wright "seemed to relish the chance to speak out after weeks of being derided in the press. He reveled in his retorts, high-fiving an audience member, pointing and winking at his supporters and mocking descriptions of him as Obama's spiritual mentor. According to The Politico, Wright also "said...he will try to change national policy by 'coming after'...Obama if he is elected president."
In a shift, much of the coverage characterized Wright as a serious threat to Obama's campaign whereas in previous weeks his controversial statements were portrayed as more of a distraction Obama had dealt with effectively. The CBS Evening News reported that Wright's "reemergence now just as the Illinois senator seeks to regain some momentum, is a gift to the political opposition which has stressed Obama's difference from the mainstream. ... Wright's inflammatory rhetoric and the endless recycling of his statements on the internet and television had already knocked Obama's presidential campaign off stride." ABC World News called Wright "the controversy" that Obama "just can't seem to shake." NBC Nightly News showed Obama saying of Wright, "He does not speak for me. He does not speak for the campaign. And so, you know, he may make statements in the future that don't reflect my values or concerns."
CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 said Wright's "toxic preaching derailed" Obama's candidacy and added, "We do know the Obama camp is having a bad month and this week isn't looking any better. ... The reemergence of the reverend is exponentially harmful to Obama's mission."
Wright Seen As Harming Obama With Working Class Whites Long Island Newsday reports that Wright's "animated, provocative and sometimes comic 90-minute appearance at the press club is likely to raise more questions than it answered. 'I don't know why he's doing this to his friend...he's seriously hurting Obama,' said Stu Rothenberg, an independent political analyst based in Washington. 'I can only assume that Jeremiah Wright's top agenda is helping Jeremiah Wright,' he added. 'It's already done the damage. It's something for those older white working-class downscale people to latch onto in voting against Obama.'" The New York Post adds that Wright's "latest comments, on the heels of a whirlwind media tour, come at an exceptionally bad time for Obama, who is courting white working-class voters in Indiana to turn back a re-energized Clinton." Similarly, the Christian Science Monitor reports that Wright's appearances "inject issues of race back into the nomination contest at an awkward time for Obama," who "was already fending off new questions about his ability to win enough blue-collar white voters to close the protracted nomination fight with" Clinton. And the New York Daily News says, "For Obama, Wright's leap onto the national stage could hardly come at a worse time, a week before the Indiana and North Carolina primaries. Obama's weakness with white working-class voters helped cost him last week's Pennsylvania primary -- and a chance to put Hillary Clinton away."
Clinton, McCain Stay Out Of Fray In a story headlined "Barack Obama's Foes Avoid Fueling Jeremiah Wright Controversy," the New York Daily News reports that Clinton and McCain "unwrapped the gift of Barack Obama's former pastor in private Monday, letting the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's words do the work for them. Asked about the latest remarks from Wright, neither" Clinton nor McCain "had much to say."
With North Carolina's primary approaching on May 6 and Sen. Barack Obama favored to win the contest, the word is out that Sen. Hillary Clinton has picked up an unexpected endorsement in the state Gov. Mike Easley. The AP says Easley, in a "surprise boost" for Clinton, is expected to formally announce the endorsement in Raleigh this morning. The Politico adds that Easley's endorsement "offers her a potent symbolic and electoral boost in the biggest state left to vote. Easley is a meaningful ally in the culture war she's waging against Senator Barack Obama, as she seeks to cast him as a hopelessly unelectable liberal elitist and to persuade the Democratic Party leaders who will decide the nomination the 'superdelegates' to choose her instead." The CBS Evening News called Easley's endorsement "important."
Obama Backed By New Mexico Senator Meanwhile, there was a glimmer of light for Obama during an otherwise wretched day he picked up the endorsement of New Mexico Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D), ABC World News reported last night.
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An American Research Group poll of 600 likely North Carolina Democratic primary voters taken April 26-27 shows Sen. Barack Obama leading Sen. Hillary Clinton 52%-42%. Obama held a similar 52%-41% lead in a poll taken April 14-15.
Obama Woos Blue Collar Voters ABC World News reported Obama was in North Carolina yesterday "talking as little as possible about Reverend Wright and much as possible about other parts of his past. It's a new strategy ahead of next week's primaries there in Indiana." Far from "his fancy friends such as Oprah and his more controversial one such as Reverend Wright, Obama said he understands what the residents of Wilmington North Carolina want and believe." It's "part of a new phase of the Obama campaign to re-introduce himself as someone who just doesn't understand the working-class but is of it." The Durham Herald-Sun adds that in a separate appearance in Chapel Hill, "the Dean Dome rocked Monday night as people danced in the aisles, did the 'wave' and jumped for joy at a Barack Obama presidential rally. A crowd estimated at between 17,000 and 18,000 by police and Obama staff members, caught one of Obama's largest indoor rallies and cheered loudly and repeatedly throughout his speech in which he said the reason he decided to run so early in his career is because he couldn't wait. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Obama said, called it the fierce urgency of now."
A SurveyUSA automated poll of 628 likely Indiana Democratic primary voters taken April 25-27 for WHAS-TV Louisville and WCPO-TV Cincinnati shows Sen. Hillary Clinton leading Sen. Barack Obama 52%-43%.
Pro-Clinton 527 Launches Massive Indiana Ad Buy. The AP reports that the American Leadership Project, a 527 independent campaign group, "consisting of backers of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign was to begin spending at least $700,000 Tuesday in an Indiana advertising blitz calling on Sen. Barack Obama to address the economic plight of Americans. The Indiana ad campaign would be the biggest single expenditure in a state for the mostly union financed group" which "spent more than $1 million running ads in Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania."
The New York Times reports the Democratic National Committee has launched its first ads against Sen. John McCain, "introducing a new commercial this week criticizing his recent comments that he could envision a United States presence in Iraq for 100 years." According to the Times, the ad "is expected to run only on CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC, a limited purchase of air time that the party clearly hopes will be amplified by news coverage about the advertisements."
Meanwhile, the AP reports that the RNC "demanded Monday that television networks stop running a television ad by the Democratic Party that falsely suggests John McCain wants a 100-year war in Iraq." RNC Chairman Mike Duncan "said the ad deliberately distorts what McCain...said. The committee's chief counsel, Sean Cairncross, said he sent letters Monday to NBC, CNN and MSNBC insisting that they stop airing the commercial."
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The CBS Evening News reported "the US Supreme Court upheld a state law there that requires voters to present a photo ID. Writing for the majority in a 6-3 decision, Justice Stevens said the law protects the integrity of the electoral process." Republican "backers of the law say it's aimed at preventing voter fraud, but civil rights groups say it's really aimed at discouraging poor, elderly, and minority voters who tend to vote for Democrats." The Los Angeles Times says on its front page that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy "joined the Stevens opinion." Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. said they would have gone further and ruled that voter ID laws are 'eminently reasonable,' regardless of whether they have an impact on many voters." And "in dissent, Justices David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer said the law will pose a burden 'on the voting right of tens of thousands of [Indiana's] citizens and a significant percentage of those individuals are likely to be deterred from voting.'"
The ruling is being seen as potentially impacting this fall's election and even the Democratic primary contest with media coverage last night and this morning noting the sharp partisan divide on the issue and particularly Democratic outrage over the ruling. The Washington Times reports "the court was weighing in on what has been a little-noticed but bitter struggle between Democrats and Republicans over fraud and voters' access to the voting booth." The Politico notes "only three states -- Indiana, Florida and Georgia -- currently require voters to show government-issued photo IDs before stepping into the voting booth." But "Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas are considering similar requirements." The New York Times reports "voting experts predict legislative movement this year or next, especially in states with Republican legislative majorities and Republican governors."
On its front page, the Wall Street Journal reports that "at the margins," the ruling "might hurt Democratic vote totals because recent immigrants and low-income citizens -- two categories that tend to be affected by such rules -- often vote that way." The Hill notes "a recent study conducted by the Washington Institute for the Study of Ethnicity and Race found that 18 percent of Indiana's black registered voters do not have a valid photo ID card. The group's analysis also found that 20 percent of registered voters 18 to 34 years old do not have valid IDs."
ABC World News said Democrats "were furious, saying voter ID laws keep the poor and elderly away from the polls." DNC chairman Howard Dean: "They upheld the right of the Republican Party to restrict the rights of people to vote."
NBC Nightly News also noted "opponents had argued" the ID law "would discourage voters who tend to be, by the way, Democrats." USA Today reports Donna Brazile, an adviser to Democrats on voting rights issues, said yesterday, "No one supports voter fraud, but this is part of the Republican Party's game -- to disenfranchise and to discourage participation."
On its front page, the New York Times says the 6-to-3 ruling "kept the door open to future lawsuits that provided more evidence," but "critics of voter ID laws...predicted that a more likely outcome than successful lawsuits would be the spread of measures that would keep some legitimate would-be voters from the polls." The Washington Post reports on its front page that Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said of the ruling, "The impact of the court's divided holding could embolden those partisans determined to use restrictive voter identification laws to elevate politics over fairness and inclusion."
The New York Times editorializes that democracy "was the big loser in the Supreme Court on Monday," and the Washington Post says "a matter of policy, the ID law is simply not needed; most voter fraud is committed through absentee ballots, and a requirement to present identification at polling places does nothing to address that."
In what threatens to become a new showdown between Congress and the White House, the AP reports Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, on Monday "threatened to serve subpoenas on former Attorney General John Ashcroft and two others associated with the Bush administration's interrogation policies if they don't agree to testify." If the three -- including John C. Yoo, the former assistant deputy attorney general, and David Addington, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff "do not reply by Friday," Conyers said in a letter to the men that he "will have no choice but to consider the use of compulsory process."
The Politico reports Conyers "argues that vice presidential aides have previously appeared before Congress, so privilege should be invoked on a question-by-question basis." The Washington Post reports, "Their refusal marks the latest skirmish in a lengthy battle over the scope of presidential authority and the administration's treatment of detainees. Under Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey and his predecessor, Alberto R. Gonzales, the Justice Department has refused to enforce congressional subpoenas for testimony."
Meanwhile, Congressional Quarterly reports that when it "considers a fiscal 2009 intelligence authorization bill" today, the Senate Intelligence Committee "is likely once again to challenge the Bush administration's authority to use harsh interrogation techniques on suspected terrorists."
The Federal Government began distributing the tax credits provided for in the $168 billion stimulus package passed by Congress and signed by President Bush. However, media reports suggest inflationary pressure from energy and other necessary commodities will dull the impact of the credits. The New York Times reports President Bush and Congress "hope the plan will generate spending and jump-start the economy by putting money in people's hands. The plan, which was passed by Congress in February, also includes tax breaks for businesses." The Treasury Department "plans to send electronic rebates to nearly 7.7 million people by the end of this week, said Andrew DeSouza, a spokesman for the department." The government "intends to begin mailing checks on May 9 and expects to send a total of about 130 million rebates."
The networks largely focused on the negative, noting the record price of gasoline will reduce the impact of the increase in consumer spending. ABC World News reported when Congress and the White House "rushed through this stimulus they didn't foresee these record high gas prices. So what was supposed to be a big economy booster, may end up being largely a pain reliever."
The CBS Evening News reported the "tax rebate checks" may not "do all that much to stimulate the economy, because a lot of the money will be used to pay for basic necessities like energy." Since the President "signed the stimulus package back in February, gas prices alone have surged more than 20%, adding more than $700 to the average household's annual fuel bill." NBC Nightly News reported, "Whether or not the rebates are enough to jump start the economy or prevent a recession is unclear."
Truckers Rally To Protest Fuel Prices The Washington Post reports, "A caravan of horn-honking truck drivers rolled their rigs through Washington yesterday, protesting rising gasoline costs and demanding that Congress impose caps on prices at the pump. ... A spokesman for Truckers and Citizens United, which sponsored the demonstration, said 200 to 250 trucks showed up, about half of what the group had predicted." The Washington Times notes Democrats "say many of the truckers' concerns, including ending subsidies to oil companies and capping or even tapping into the nation's oil reserves, are issues they support."
The Wall Street Journal reports Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker "received back-channel messages from Iran condemning the recent bloodshed in the Iraqi city of Basra and denying that Tehran was responsible, according to people familiar with the matter." The messages, "which haven't been publicly disclosed," were conveyed to the US officials "through Iraqi intermediaries," sources said. A senior military commander "said the conciliatory tone of the communications was hard to square with indications that Iran's support for Shiite militants inside Iraq has been increasing, leading to a sharp rise in violence there."
Fox News' Special Report reported, "Since the Iraqi government began the crackdown...Shiite militias have repeatedly shelled the Green Zone, fired on U.S. and Iraqi troops, and targeted Americans with the deadliest type of roadside bombs, explosively-formed penetrators or EFPs. Soldiers on the ground have little doubt where those weapons come from." Army Lt. Col. Mike Pappal: "I have seen weapons that have been manufactured in Iran, yes. ... Because they have markings on them that say they were made in Iran."
US: Iran, Syria Seek To Destabilize Iraq The AP reports the Bush Administration yesterday accused Iran and Syria "of trying to destabilize Iraq." Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told the UN Security Council "that Iranian-backed groups have launched numerous attacks on Iraqi civilians and multinational forces this year," while "90 percent of foreign terrorists enter Iraq through Syria."
Meanwhile, McClatchy reports that "one of the most powerful men in Iraq" is Brig. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, who commands the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force. As Tehran's "point man on Iraq, he funnels military and financial support to various Iraqi factions, frustrating US attempts to build a pro-Western democracy on the rubble of Saddam Hussein's dictatorship."
In a front-page article, the Los Angeles Times reports, "In echoing the Pentagon's latest accusations of Iranian meddling, the Iraqi government has placed itself firmly where it has long said it does not want to be: caught in the middle between Washington and its neighbor to the east."
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Jay Leno: "Barack's former pastor, Jeremiah Wright," is "everywhere now. It's like, next week, he's making an appearance on 'How I Met Your Mother.'"
Jay Leno: "He's making speeches. He's on the radio. And Reverend Wright says he'd rather just go home and retire, but the money Hillary is paying him is so good."
Conan O'Brien: "Hillary Clinton now says she wants another debate with Barack Obama. She said, 'The 48th time is the charm,' I guess."
Craig Ferguson: "I just got back from the nation's capitol." While "I was there, I was the entertainer at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. ... I was very nervous. I was sharing the stage with the most powerful man in the world. Right there, Dick Cheney. Sitting right there. George Bush was there too."
Craig Ferguson: "I said to" President Bush "on my way to the podium, 'I'm worried they'll hate me. I'm scared of bombing.' He said, 'You'll get used to it.'"
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