The first half of today's show was about patriotism, and it was juicy. The second was about Barack Obama's shift to the center and John McCain's Campaign Shake up.

A substantive discussion amongst the panelists about what patriotism means. Bob Scheer expounds on George Washington's farewell speech; Tony Blankley talks about how the theme plays out politically; Matt Miller shares thoughts by Peter Beinart of Time Magazine that the right says "America's great," the left says, "Here's what would make America great;" and Arianna Huffington mentions the USA Today poll that says 2/3 of Americans think that protesting is patriotic. Are Obama's moves toward swing voters going to win him votes or just the animosity of his base? And will John McCain's campaign recover its footing with new guy, Steve Schmidt, at the helm.

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Barack Obama's national standing has been significantly damaged by the controversy over his former pastor, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, raising questions for some voters about the Illinois senator's values, credibility and electability.

The erosion of support among Democrats and independents raises the stakes in Tuesday's Indiana and North Carolina primaries, which represent a chance for Obama to reassert his claim to a Democratic nomination that seems nearly in his grasp. A defeat in Indiana and a close finish in North Carolina, where he's favored, could fuel unease about his ability to win in November. Such results also could help propel Hillary Rodham Clinton's uphill campaign all the way to the Democratic convention in August.

In the USA TODAY survey, taken Thursday through Saturday, Clinton leads Obama among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents by 7 percentage points, the first time in three months she has been ahead. Two weeks ago, before the controversy over comments by Jeremiah Wright reignited, Obama led by 10 points.

In February, Democrats and Democratic leaners by 33 points said Obama had a better shot at beating Republican John McCain in November. Clinton is now seen as the stronger candidate by 5 points.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/el ection2008/2008-05-04-obama_N.htm

By the way a NY Times / CBS poll paints an entirely different picture .

A majority of American voters say that the furor over the relationship between Senator Barack Obama and his former pastor has not affected their opinion of Mr. Obama, but a substantial number say that it could influence voters this fall should he be the Democratic presidential nominee, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/us/pol itics/05poll.html?_r=1&hp&oref=s login

Who is right ?

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Most of us are familiar with the campaign tactic Obama adopted for his presidenitial run.  He has made it a central theme as to counter his lack of experience.  His declaration that he doesn't accept money from "registered" Lobbyists or PACS.   Trying to infer being in Washington for only a couple years means he hasn't been tainted by what he views as a natural occurence if you're in DC for a longer period of time.  And apparently his other view, if you take money from Lobbyists, you will automatically have to curry your vote to their favor.  Thankfully all of our elected officials don't operate that way.

WASHINGTON— Barack Obama often boasts he is "the only candidate who isn't taking a dime from Washington lobbyists," yet his fundraising team includes 38 members of law firms that were paid $138 million last year to lobby the federal government, records show.

And of course, Obama did not practice this principle in of his other campaigns, the ones he ran for the state of Illinois, or the current seat he holds as a US Senator.  But there does seem to be some continuity here folks.  He IS accepting money from Lobbyists individually AND, he has 38 Lobbyists raising a pledged $3.5 million EACH for his current Presidential Campaign.

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You can allways count on Gov. Ed Rendell to be painfully honest.

Demoting Penn ??? No way, under the bus with this guy !!!!

http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/200 8/04/gov-rendell-cli.html

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USA TODAY/Gallup Poll Organization lost their credibility.

Frank Newport, editor in chief of the Gallup Poll, said the previous poll "either picked up a short-term change or ... was a function of unusual sampling, which happened to pick up Democrats who were more pro-Obama than the underlying population."Translation: Our poll will always show Clinton with a lead because no other candidate could possibly have more support than her.

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