With the furor over the remarks Barack Obama made in San Francisco the subject of much attention, I suggest that it isn't the "bitter" phrase that's hard to swallow, but the "cling to" usage which implies a certain pathetic behavior when attributed to anyone.

So let's see - "cling to" implies pathetic and then let's use it in conjunction with gun owners and those that are "religious"..... and we wonder why we can't win certain voters over?

Hell, he could have used "Nascar"  in the same sentence  as "cling to" then we'd be really screwed.

With the controversy swirling over the Canadian news report and the mentioning of senior economic advisor to the Obama campaign, Austan Goolsbee, in the latest update on that news outlet's website, this might be the perfect time to promote Naomi Klein's seminal work in her most recent book "Shock Doctrine, The Rise of Disaster Capitalism" to see why the Chicago School of Economics is a funny place to find economic advisors to what many feel is the (unjustly, as positions and statements pour forth)progressive campaign of Barack Obama

I attended the Hudson 'Town Hall' style forum as a blogger for BelowBoston.com . The highlight of the event came  during his opening remarks when Edwards addressed the recent vote in the Senate concerning Iran and today's article in the New York Times in which Hilllary Clinton advisers said that vote was meant as going from "primary mode to General Election mode".

Details below the fold.

I attended the John Edwards Portsmouth NH Iraq forum ( I liveblogged the forum for the blog BelowBoston.com) in which he discussed the Iraq war, and Blackwater and his policy for dealing with private security forces in Iraq and elsewhere.

What made this forum with Edwards unusual is that he read from notes when he was discussing Blackwater/private security forces because he laid out a specific plan in how he as President would deal with entities such as Blackwater. I have attended a number of Edwards events in NH and this is the first tiime I have ever seen him read from prepared remarks( albeit they were short and to the point). It certainly lent a serious air to the event because that in and of itself is not typical with how he engages voters in NH.

We took video of his remarks which I have on the flip

I was actually at the Concord NH endorsement rally when Freshman Congressman Paul Hodes D-NH endorsed Sen. Obama. I had press credentials as a blogger for belowboston.com

The entire event from the time when a NH schoolteacher introduced Senator Obama and  Cong.Paul Hodes takes 33:09 seconds according to my digital recorder.

At absolutely no time is Hillary Clinton's name even mentioned at that rally.

For her campaign to even suggest that he called her BushCheney Lite is completely false.

The Chair of the MA Dem State Party, Phillip Johnston, has announced his support for Sen Barack Obama for President in '08.

The Boston Globe has the announcement here