• Andrew Sullivan — who I’ve started to read quit a bit more recently — not only points out similarities between George W. Bush and Hillary Clinton, but also digs up a video that shows that the Bush camp actually likes HRC and trusts her with its legacy. The article even goes as far as to use words like “Rovian” and “sleaze” to describe the Clintons. In my opinion, getting compared to Karl Rove is about as bad as it gets. He’s a brilliant man, but he’s also the scum of the earth.

• A look at if Hillary’s young women supporters are old enough to truly remember what went down the last time the Clintons lived at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

• Slate wonders “what on earth we are doing when we make the Clinton family drama—yet again—a central part of our own politics?”

• Donklephant takes a look at the Clintons getting exposed on Meet the Press, and looks at the condescending nature of Hillary’s attack on Barack Obama over his comments about Ronald Reagan.

• Meet Obama’s speech writer, Jon Favreau, who says writing for a speaker and writer of Obama’s caliber is like being “Ted Williams’s batting coach.”

• The Huffington Post says that Obama may face “white resistance” in Southern states. This is exactly the reason why I think it is a good thing for Obama that John Edwards is staying in this race.

• House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn — “one of the most powerful African-Americans in Congress” — says that Bill Clinton needs to “chill a little bit.”

• The false Muslim e-mail attacks and rumors have spread so rampantly that Obama has been forced to put out mailers confirming his Christian faith in South Carolina. Don’t worry; Obama is still a very big believer in the separation of church and state.

More to come after the big debate…

I have a ton of stuff for everybody before I call it quits for the night, so I figured I’d just lump it all together in a link dump with my brief thoughts on each topic…

• The first link is one to FactCheck.org. This is a long piece that puts to rest a lot of the malicious and completely false rumors that are flying around about Barack Obama, mostly through e-mails. By the way, do people actually believe all the shit that gets e-mailed to them? Do these people also lose thousands of dollars to e-mail scams? Or are they just itching for an excuse to be bigots? C’mon, America, you’re better than this. Monday is Martin Luther King Day, and I’d like to at least think we’ve made some progress since his death.

• This link from C-Span is proof that Obama indeed recites the Pledge of Allegiance. Watch it for yourself if you must.

• Here’s yet another story which proves Obama is a Christian, not a Muslim. People just need to get online and do some research. Yeah, sometimes I forget that this is the same country where people see an explosion and a famous face in a movie trailer and are already halfway to the theater.

• I absolutely love this smart ass response to the question about these very rumors that was asked at the Nevada debate.

• And, yes, that indeed is a photo of Obama getting sworn in OVER THE BIBLE by the one and only Dick Cheney.

• Here’s a link to a Mason-Dixon poll courtesy of MSNBC. Obama leads Hillary Clinton 40 percent to 31, with John Edwards a very distant third. Yes, even in his birth state. I think it’s just about time for Johnny to gracefully bow out. The good news is that Obama looks very strong among black voters and women, the two voter types who are likely to decide the outcome. Obama also leads in the categories of “change,” the economy and health care, but surprisingly Hillary leads on Iraq. Do people not know that she VOTED FOR the Iraq war? It just boggles my ‘effin mind.

• A fantastic piece about Edith Childs, the 59-year-old South Carolina black woman who started the “Fired up! Ready to go!” Obama chant.

• There’s been a “judicial decision upholding Nevada caucus locations on the Las Vegas strip to aid casino workers” in voting. This is a huge win for the Obama camp, and could be enough to provide a Nevada victory. Yes, that was what all that bitching from Slick Willy was about.

• Obama “skewers” his presidential opponents over their lame responses to the “biggest weakness” question from the debate earlier this week. Hilarious. From The New York Times.
  

• After nabbing an endorsement from the state’s biggest newspaper, Obama now has an endorsement from the state’s second biggest paper as well — the Reno Gazzette-Journal. A glowing endorsement at that. I’ll leave you with this quote on Hillary, which nearly had me standing up and cheering:

Clinton, however, continues to struggle under the cloud of her husband, the former President Bill Clinton. She is challenged to escape the perception that she represents the status quo and that the advisers, the bureaucracy and the baggage from the former president’s administration would follow her into the White House — if she were to make it through the November election.

This is just plain ol’ ridiculous. Check it out, from TPM Election Central:

Barack Obama is apparently taking the new legal controversy in the Nevada caucuses, and turning it to his rhetorical advantage. The recent lawsuit was filed by the Nevada state teachers union, against the at-large precinct caucuses that would allow Vegas Strip workers to easily participate.

Curiously, the lawsuit was filed just a few days after the Culinary Workers Union, which represents workers on the Strip, endorsed Barack Obama. On top of that, the teachers union’s leaders and attorneys have ties to the Hillary Clinton campaign.

“Ever since I got the support of Local 226, the lawyers decided to get involved. The rules were OK when the other campaigns thought they would win the Culinary endorsement,” Obama told a union rally. “As soon as you decided to support the outsider, the working people instead of the big shots, all the sudden they decided they wanted to change the rules.”

Hillary and Co., that’s not just bush league, it’s Bush league. First rumors fly that she hijacked New Hampshire with vote-counting machines, now this? Not looking good.

Update: Bill Clinton is now defending this, and yet another analyst, MSNBC deputy political director Mark Murray, is calling them out for it (MSNBC):

(Of course, we’ll ask again: If the Culinary Workers had endorsed Hillary, would there even be a lawsuit? And if so, would Bill be defending it?)

Pathetic.

The Obamasphere is a feature where I’ll link other blogs featuring posts about Barack Obama. That being said…

• A long look at Obama’s stance on the Iraq war, dating back to 2002. The Clintons definitely have things twisted. - Thoughts on These Things

• An interesting piece for sure on why Obama is considered Black instead of Mixed. - A Mere Blogue

• A Libertarian Ron Paul supporter stands up for Obama and debunks the malicious rumors being e-mailed around about him. I’m sure she understands our plight, as Paul routinely finds himself the victim of GOP debate dogpiles. - Smoke Rings, Coffee Stains

• Obama has changed the campaign’s theme song from to Bill Withers’ “Lovely Day.” I think the song fits him well — it’s a smooth, uplifting track . I don’t think this is just due to the backlash of the Stevie Wonder song either. Obama was also using a U2 song (”City of Blinding Lights” maybe?), and so was John Edwards. That could have something to do with the change as well. Hillary Clinton is rolling with Tom Petty’s “American Girl.” While I like the song, I think Meredith Brooks’ “Bitch” is more appropriate. - MOG

• Sacramento Democratic Sen. Darrell Steinberg has jumped off Edwards’ bandwagon and has bought himself a one-way ticket on the Obama Express. Who’s next? - Calitics

• Robert Johnson, my friend, you got served on that “booty-shaking videos” comment. As a fellow Black man, you should be ashamed for slandering the first serious Black presidential candidate, no matter where your loyalties lie. No one slandered you when you became the first black owner in the NBA. - News Busters