Hillary Nation

In Selma, Obama Appeals to Black Voters

Barack Obama reached out to the civil rights generation Sunday on the anniversary of the Bloody Sunday march, saying the protesters helped pave the way for his campaign to become the first black president. He also urged blacks to take more personal responsibility.

“I stand on the shoulders of giants,” the Democratic senator from Illinois told hundreds at a breakfast to commemorate the 42nd anniversary of the clash between voting rights demonstrators and police.

He was just 3 when police with billy clubs bloodied blacks who tried to cross the bridge out of Selma on the way to Montgomery, the capital. On his first visit to Selma, Obama was coming face-to-face with Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton as the candidates seek support from the party’s loyal black constituency.

Obama and Clinton, joined by the former president, planned to speak at the same time from pulpits three blocks apart. They also were to appear together at a rally before making the ceremonial walk to the Edmund Pettus Bridge to honor the Selma-to-Montgomery marches.

In a call to action perhaps politically unfeasible for his white rivals to make, Obama said the current generation needs to honor the civil rights movement by taking responsibility for rejecting violence; cleaning up “40-ounce bottles” and other trash that litters urban neighborhoods; and voting in elections.

In Selma, Obama Appeals to Black Voters

Special thanks to Sexy Satan for the Hillary joke!

Clinton White House asked Wellesley College to close off access
Hillary Rodham in 1965, when she was president of Wellesley College’s Young Republicans, shown here with the cover page of her senior thesis from 1969 on radical organizer Saul D. Alinsky.
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Newt GingrichMarch 1, 2007 — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich yesterday called Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton “a nasty woman” who runs an “endlessly ruthless” campaign machine.

The conservative Republican made the surprising comments - after months of taking care not to trash the Democratic presidential front-runner - in a wide-ranging New York Post editorial-board interview.

Asked whether Americans are ready to elect Rudy Giuliani - a leader, the questioner noted, whom Ed Koch had called a “nasty man” - Gingrich shot back, “As opposed to a nasty woman?”

Gingrich added that he thinks she’ll be the nominee, and cited the battle between Clinton’s camp and Sen. Barack Obama’s team last week over Obama donor David Geffen bashing the former first couple.

“Nobody will out-mud the Clintons,” said Gingrich, who added that he’ll decide in the coming months whether to run for the White House.

He called Clinton’s political team one of the most “talented” in U.S. history, but “endlessly ruthless.”

“You can’t beat them tactically . . . They’re too relentless, they’re too well-organized, they have too big a machine and they’ll just grind you down,” he said.

“If they think [Obama] is a real threat, they’ll just grind him up.”

Gingrich’s harsh comments about Clinton were surprising because he has complimented her abilities and worked with her last year on a health-care initiative.

Clinton campaign spokesman Blake Zeff cited several instances in the last year where Gingrich had kind words for the senator. “Before Mr. Gingrich started running for president, he repeatedly praised Sen. Clinton,” Zeff said. “We take him at his word then.”

During the Post session, Gingrich also:

* Dubbed Obama a great “counterimage” to Clinton, but said he doesn’t think the Illinois Democrat can win. “If the country wants therapy, they’re going to elect Obama,” he said.

* Said the GOP needs to nominate a Ronald Reagan-type candidate and added, “I think it’s not an accident that Giuliani is running as well as he is in the polls.”

Gingrich called New York’s evolution under Giuliani “a tremendous story . . . It’s a different city.”

* Warned that the GOP is in the “early stages of an enormous transition” and suggested electability is an issue for Republicans.

“A normative Republican running like a traditional Republican, which means a non-Reagan Republican, and trying to beat Hillary by being negative is hopeless,” he said.

Last night, at an election forum at Cooper Union, Gingrich and former Gov. Mario Cuomo agreed on the need for more meaningful debates by the presidential candidates in 2008. Gingrich called for nine weekly 90-minutes debates between the two nominees before Election Day.
NEWT RIPS ‘NASTY’ HILL

For the first time since becoming a senator — much less a White House hopeful — Barack Obama on Friday will talk in depth about U.S. policy toward Israel and the Mideast. The story behind the story of Obama’s appearance…provides insight into the Obama presidential operation.–snip–Obama on Friday will call for tougher Iran sanctions, more bilateral diplomacy and declare he is for leaving all military options on the table.
Obama to offer pro-Israel views at Chicago gathering, Chicago Sun-Times

Sweet blog special: Hillary raises $1 million in online sprint.
White House hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton is showing off her fundraising ability via the online community–some $1 million collected in one week.

Hillary Clinton Fundraiser