I am certainly glad to see Ms. Walsh talk about that which was freely discussed by not a few whites in West Virginia with reporters for national news channels - if they can so easily talk about it, why can't the rest of us ? However, as the Daily Show hilariously pointed out in a montage, many reporters and commentators have a problem pinpointing the strange, inexplicable phenomenon that led some of these white, older, lower-income, "low-information", socially conservative voters think that "Obama is just not their kind of guy".

However, Ms. Walsh characteristically does not weigh in on the whole "RFK assassination" quote (yes, I know it was unfortunate and Hillary was obviously completely exhausted and seemed quite angry at still having to defend staying in the race..). I was hoping for at least a mention of it, but I can't say it surprises me it didn't make the cut.

is said to breed contempt, but I think this will not be the case when Barack Obama begins his GE campaign.

I think he will appeal to the better nature of some, if not all, of the democratic party electorate in the areas where he's had less success to date.

Joan is correct that the Obama folks (funny if you leave off the "O" , you have "bama")need to learn something about reaching out, generally, to all.

I think they've played a great strategic game, scoring all the important points, and now it is time for him to take the run around the ring, collecting adherents to his candidacy.

Sen. Obama will be the next president, and as the leader he is required to make the overture - to drape the flag over his shoulders and to take to the road.

He has to reach out, and he will.

The democrats, as a unified party, must do this, and given that it is truly clear as of this evening that Senator Obama is the candidate, they must start now.

I realize this is a really fun talking point for folks who have warm-fuzzies for Hillary. But I have a pretty good feeling that this issue is gonna be back-burnered as Hillary's campaign-assassinating comments will rapidly end any political asperations she seeks.

You darn well know What Hillary was trying to say to the Obamatons who've been trying to bully her out of the race for months now! But go ahead. Have your fun! I'm assuming you Obamatons truly believe your candidate can win without Hillary supporters. Good luck with that.

The concern should be Hillary's complete loss of the African American vote and after her insensitive Robert Kennedy remark today, it appears that this vote is gone forever.

Most of those who voted for Hillary in West Virginia and Kentucky will do what they usually do in the General; vote Republican.

With the incredible voter registration over the last few months, Obama will run away with this. There will always be racism, sexism, and any other "ism" you want to mention but they are in the minority.

As I mentioned, the concern for Hillary now should be the backlash against her remarks in South Dakota.

She had me until that point. She obviously thinks that Clinton is trying to sneak in racist references in order to beat Obama. Racism exists. It should be obliterated, but it probably never will be. Somebody, somewhere will always be thinking "I'm better than them because they are XXXX". Heck, on the planet grog in the galaxy omega there are probably orange grogs thinking that they are better than those yellowish-orange grogs over on the next block.

But Hillary Clinton is not a racist. She and Bill have been fighting those attitudes for much of their lives. Before this election Bill Clinton was widely recognized as one of the most non-racist political leaders of our era. Did they suddenly change? Did they suddenly become willing to use racial animosity for personal gain? Or did somebody start misinterpreting things they said? Did somebody decide that Obama was simply not going to win this election unless both Clinton's reputations were destroyed among progressives?

As I have stated before, I do not believe that Cuomo, either Clinton, or even Ferraro said anything racist. Ferraro was closest - but it is undeniably true that no woman would be considerd with as little political experience as Obama, and Obama himself has said things that are extremely similar to what Ferraro said. It is a fact that Obama has made blatantly racial appeals. It is a fact that a number of people (including Kerry) and groups who endorsed Obama explicitly or implicitly said that they did so in order to send a message to the world that America was no longer a racist society. They always said they were voting for "change", but Obama's policies are no different from Clinton's, and most of his political advisor's are the same advisor's who have been in the party for decades, so there is no "change", other than his skin shade.

I believe that the tarring of the Clinton's and their supporter's as racists was one of the most cynical political strategies ever devised to win a campaign. It's right up there with calling Kerry a coward and accusing him of lying to get medals. It was race-baiting of the worst kind - the kind that appeals to the good in all of us. They appealed to the anti-racist streak in Americans of all races. They implicitly said "If you don't vote for Obama, you are supporting a racist, and you may even be a racist yourself". This has become the meme to the point that entire states which did not vote for Obama have been labelled racist. This has divided the party and torn open racial wounds that were only beginning to heal. They have pandered to the fear of exclusion that many blacks feel, telling them, in spite of all evidence, that racists rule our nation and they must unite to defeat them. Even saying that Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, one of the proudest moments in Democratic history, and a very proud moment for many whites, was denigrated.

I know this is long, but it frustrates me that we have been taken here. And we were taken - this did not happen spontaneously. It took careful planning and astroturfing to carry people to this point. And it is shameful.