Obviously he made a comment that was taken the wrong way and hype by Obama supporters. Was it out of line? I don't think so, he made a valid point. Republicans are ruthless and would use everything against us to win, even if it is untrue.

This is not the best time to have someone resign from such an important position, but it is time to move on.

It really seems to me that this and Clinton's personal apology earlier today may be extending this story. This is another indicator of the fact that the Clinton campaign has become spooked by Obama's rise in the polls.

- How about , She did what she felt was the right thing to do .

She called Obama to personally apologize and got the guy to step down. I would think any reasonable person would applaud that.

Just yesterday a few of obama supporters on this site were bringing the racial angle into it , now she does what she feels is appropriate and it is somehow her being spooked.

She had a great performance at the debate tonight and its going to put her back in her stride.

End of story.

Don't come in my diary with your attitude Obama08. You freaking Barry supporters act like you have a lock on this dumb ass story.  Obviously, I didn't see your diary. You put up your diary at 4:21 p.m., mine went up at 4:26 p.m. The purpose of your diary is to make a mockery out of HRC, I get it. But let's be clear, don't you ever come at me a f&^%ing attitude. You'll regret it!

What he said was true- but didn't need to be said from someone from her campaign- first, I'd say people have already factored in what the republicans will say about his drug-past- and 2nd, if her campaign gets to talk about that, then Obama should be able to openly talk about the Monica-Bill scandal, which people would cry 'foul' over.  I think he should have stepped down, obviously though that is just 'officially'- I'm sure he'll still be helping.

I'm beginning to think of this like Kerry's botched joke. I don't think he meant it the way it was received, but nevertheless, once it's out there you ought to disappear and stop being in the news.

This round goes to Obama, I think, but will probably be only one ripple in the ocean of the campaign.

had been planned..."

Funny how you can't unring a bell or "put the genie back in the bottle"

Smooth alright.

Just another example of how "fun"politics can be.

Snark intended.

I don't even pretend to know why Matthews does what he does.

Let's not be naive and inexperienced.  We all know what this was and why they were very happy to have Wolf Blitzer inject this into the post-debate conversations.  And we all know that despite public outcry, negative campaigning works.

Obama supporters want you to talk about it! It's amazing! It's the gift from heaven! God bless Bill Shaheen. He just gave the election to Obama.

Barack: See my wound, I'm bleeding, Hillary hit me, look, look, do you see it? can you see the blood?  Its red right, bright cherry red. Call the cops, no, call Chris Matthews, call Mika, call the MSM. Look, did you see what Hillary just did?  I would hit her back but I'm too busy showing off my wound. Mika, Chris go get Hillary, yeah beat her up. Serves her right.

Boy talk about a passive/aggressive would be president, as if we have not had enough of George. Barack does the beautiful victim so well he rivals the Brazilian soccer team in feigning hurt and pain on the campaign soccer pitch. At least Hillary took her own goal well, like a man, she apologized and moved on.

The same people who criticized Hillary for playing the gender card were very quick to whip out the race card in this instance.

I'm not so sure that the Republicans will be able to get away with the Hussein thing quite as easily as you expect.  Earlier in the campaign the GOP kind of brought that out as a trial balloon and they got called on it by the media.  It was too obvious.  You have to at least have a plausible non-racist explanation.  So we might have seen the end of that tactic, who knows.

But in general, I think this comment makes a good point.  In the general election, you don't get to make the argument "they're only suggesting I'm a drug dealer because I'm black."  Non-liberal voters are desensitized to accusations of racism, for better or for worse, and they're not going to buy it unless it's flagrantly obvious.

It is very, very hard to shame the Republicans.  We all have to keep that in mind.

If this was a trial balloon of how Obama will handle these right-wing type attacks, it looks like he passed the test.  It's gone nowhere, the press have railed against it, Obama has stayed on message, Clinton had to back down, Obama comes off looking Presidential.   The republicans will come out us with any shit they can make up no matter who the candidate is, we know that.  But the idea that Obama is either more susceptible or less capable of navigating through those waters has certainly been dispelled the last couple of weeks.  They even turned Hillary's fun line right around against her.  What started with that comment has ended with her canning Shaheen.  From MSNBC's FirstRead:

In the spin room after today's debate, Obama adviser David Axelrod said that Obama had told Clinton today that "leadership came from the top" in regards to negative attacks and campaigning.

Axelrod said that the two senators spoke for about 10 minutes today, during which Clinton apologized for the comments made by her New Hampshire co-chair Billy Shaheen, who told the Washington Post that Obama's past cocaine use would make him vulnerable to GOP attacks. "Senator Obama expressed to Senator Clinton it's important for campaigns to send a signal from the top as to what type of campaign they want to run. If you send a signal that negative campaigning is the fun part of campaigns and treat it as a sport, then you are sending a signal down the line that it's all okay. They have to decide if they want to send a different signal and certainly by asking Mr. Shaheen to leave that would be a different signal," Axelrod said.

Axelrod went on to say that leadership in campaigns "flowed from the top down," and Clinton's previous comments that the "fun starts" when candidates begin to attack each other set a tone that allowing negative attacks were okay.

The announcement of Shaheen's resignation came just fifteen to twenty minutes after Axelrod's comments in the spin room. The Obama campaign has benefited from Shaheen's comments in more ways than one -- by 1) showing the Clinton campaign as anxious to tear down their opponents and 2) as a money making tool among their own supporters. David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager, sent out an email requesting supporters to donate to demonstrate their disapproval at Shaheen.

paul begala was asked if obama became the nominee, could he win the general? begala said sure he could win, as could hillary, as could any dem who won the nomination. 2008 is going to be the year of the democrat, he said.

what numbers is he looking at, i wonder.