Hope these comments by John Baer Philly.com is what will prevail:

Decades of working-class neglect - now that's insulting

[.] As a native-born, small-town Pennsylvanian, a son of native-born, small-town Pennsylvania parents - one from the coal region, one from Lancaster County - let me assure you that the so-called offensive, condescending things Barack Obama said about the people I come from are basically right on target.

"Bitter" perhaps best describes my late mother, an angry Irish Catholic who absolutely clung to her religion.

Dad, also a journalist, wasn't really bitter as far as I know, but he sure liked to hunt.

So, despite carping from Hillary Clinton and annoying yapping from her surrogates (really, it's like turning on the lights at night in a puppy farm), I take no offense.

What's offensive to me is suggesting that small-town, working-class, gun-toting and/or religious Pennsylvanians are somehow injured by a politician's words.

Are you kidding me?

They're injured all right, but the injury is long-term and from lots more than "just words."

They've been injured from decades of neglect by political cultures in Washington and Harrisburg driven by special interests.[.]

The only way the CQ analysis is correct is if Obama closes to about 5% of Clinton - which I would love to see but don't think is realistically possible.

Lanny Davis' Op-ed on Rev. Wright gets a real smackdown.

Davis backs away a tad

On April 9, 2008,  I had an op-ed column published in the Wall Street Journal that respectfully raised questions about Senator Obama's response to some of Rev. Jeremiah Wright's sermons and urged the Senator to address (or re-address) these questions now rather than later.

The op-ed was also re-published here on the AC360 Blog, TheHill.com (the original host of my "Pundits Blog" commentaries), the Huffington Post.com,  and elsewhere.

It drew a considerable reaction, pro and con, sent to me by e-mail or posted as comments on these and other web sites.

One e-mail sent to me moved me the most, giving me a better understanding of Senator Obama's reaction to Rev. Wright's sermons.  While not answering all my concerns, it still opened my mind and heart much more than before.

It came from a highly respected attorney from New York City, Mr. Jeh Johnson, who happens to be an African-American.  Jeh is a strong and steadfast supporter of Senator Obama. I have known of and admired Jeh from afar for many years. He also admires Senator and President Clinton and served with me in the Clinton Administration.

After reading Jeh's e-mail, I responded and thanked him for sending it to me. I then asked him if I could re-publish it on the blog sites that published my op-ed piece, and he consented.

Please see below and take the time to read it carefully.

go take a read of Mr.Jeh Johnson's email. See why Davis, the smock, has a better understanding

quote:

A good friend to me from my parent's generation, a retired ivy-league professor who is like an uncle to me, was branded a dangerous radical and subversive by our government in the 1960s. J. Edgar Hoover wiretapped his conversations with Dr. King. But, if someone combed his books and found something he wrote with which I disagreed, I'd rather disassociate myself from my right arm than publicly renounce this man.

The reality is this: Those of us who participate in both the white and African-American experiences will very likely have a Jeremiah Wright in our lives - it could be our teacher, our uncle, our brother, our father, or our pastor. It is simply part of the American experience.

But, here I am, a patriot who - I can honestly say - harbors no "anger" or racial animosity toward anybody, including my white law partners, my white neighbors, or my white family members. I can't guarantee much about anything in life, but I can guarantee, from what I know about Barack Obama, that he feels the same in his heart and soul.

He would have to point out how the Republican Party has consistently betrayed its rural supporters, whether by farm policy that drives out family farms in favor of corporate land grabs, or by failing to assure equal internet access, or by making rural areas dumping grounds for corporate and government polluters, or by sabotaging every effort to wean the country away from petroleum's energy monopoly. He would have to admit the the Democratic Party has often ignored the concerns of rural citizens for far too long, and that his mission is to heal the phony divide between rural and urban.

He's turned attack into treasure in the past, so I think if anyone can do it again, it's him. If he decides to keep on telling the truth instead of backing away, I believe he can still win in PA.

Bush is "the first President to admit to an impeachable offense." --Former Nixon counsel John Dean