Mystery Convention Theater

Once again, Steve and Tim talk back to the TV.

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TIM: “This year’s election is one of the most critical in our history.”

Has any politician ever said otherwise? “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for some straight talk: this election won’t make any difference. I’m not even voting, and I’m running for president!” Maybe during that string of pre-Lincoln nobodies in the mid-19th C. (Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan).

STEVE: What’s funny is the election that didn’t figure to be “critical” turned out to be the most critical of all: 2000. Everything today flows from that one.

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TIM: [Re: Daschle] “I recently was fortunate to meet with Pres. Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan. He couldn’t pay his staff’s salaries. He couldn’t even pay to keep the lights on. No, he didn’t have much money. He barely had enough to survive. But when he came out on stage and he was ready to play, people came alive.”

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TIM: “Chain of Fools:” Inspired choice, but I think I heard the original. “Five” (vs. “for eight long years / I thought you were my man”).

STEVE: I think they thought they were hearing “Change, Change, Change . . . “

*

TIM: “I’m Bill Clinton, and I am reporting for boo-tay!”

Trinity Play

1. Barack Obama officially disowned Trinity Church on Saturday but remains associated with a far more sinister organization with a long record of divisive misdeeds and criminal behavior that is likely to become an issue in the general election: The Cook County Democratic Party.

2. Obama won’t be missed.

3. When you are no longer useful, Obama can make you disappear.

Wright Fallout

* “Obama ‘Appalled’ By Ex-Pastor’s Comments” (NBC5)

* “Obama’s Promise Fades” (Toronto Globe and Mail)

* “The Rev. Wright Has A Right To Defend His Reputation” (Ruben Navarrette)

* “New Pastor To Head Obama’s 8,000-Member Chicago Church” (AP)

* The view from Indiana.

* And North Carolina.

* And my column over at The Beachwood Reporter.

Obama Breaks With Wright

It just happened at a press conference in North Carolina. And Obama really let his old friend have it, calling Wright’s appearance on Monday at the National Press Club a “spectacle” and saying “The person I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago.”

That claim will be tested: Has Wright really changed?

Obama also defended himself from Wright’s charge that Obama had merely been acting as a politician in previous distancing from Wright: “What particularly angered me was his suggestion somehow that my previous denunciation of his remarks were somehow political posturing.”

Responding to a question from a reporter, Obama said: “I did not vet my pastor before running for the presidency.” He did, however, disinvite his pastor from speaking at the speech in Springfield where Obama launched his campaign for admitted political reasons, so it’s not like Obama didn’t know his spiritual advisor was controversial.

Obama clearly is trying to put this behind him once and for all to cauterize the political wound and move on, but he’s lost a significant force in his life in the process. I don’t know if it’s unprecedented, but . . . wow. (I wrote about Wright this morning at The Beachwood Reporter.)

Midday, Pa.

* Political Animal: Why Wafflegate matters.

* Talking Points Memo: “Obama Drops New Mailer Hitting Hillary On Trade, But Its Implication Is Wrong.”

* Boston Globe: “Antidote For ‘Toxic’ Politics, Packed With Its Own Venom: Obama Deplores Attacks As He Uses Similar Tactics.”

* The New Republic: “The Commander Of Obama’s Nerd Army.”

* The Swamp: “Mellencamp’s Situational Singing.”

* Bonus Talking Points Memo: “Bill Moyers will be first journalist to interview Obama’s controversial former Pastor Jeremiah Wright. Wright will appear on Bill Moyers Journal this Friday, April 25th, at 9PM.”

Wright’s Reward

Controversial Obama pastor Jeremiah Wright is receiving a nice parting gift as he makes his way toward retirement: a $1 million home complete with a whirlpool, butler’s pantry, elevator, and four-car garage.

God bless America!