From today’s Star-Ledger:

U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews, who supported Hillary Clinton throughout the primary season, disclosed he received a phone call shortly before the April 22 Pennsylvania primary from a top member of Clinton’s organization and that the caller explicitly discussed a strategy of winning over Jewish voters by exploiting tensions between Jews and African-Americans.

“There have been signals coming out of the Clinton campaign that have racial overtones that indeed disturb me,” Andrews said at his campaign headquarters in Cherry Hill Tuesday night after he lost his bid for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination.

“Frankly, I had a private conversation with a high-ranking person in the campaign … that used a racial line of argument that I found very disconcerting. It was extremely disconcerting given the rank of this person. It was very disturbing.”

Andrews said the phone call came after he angered the Clinton camp by making some positive comments about Obama. He would not disclose the caller’s name because of the private nature of the conversation.

The Obama camp declined to comment. Clinton’s campaign issued an angry response to Andrews, who once was charged with lobbying other members of Congress to support her.

“Comments like these, coming so soon after Congressman Andrews’ crushing defeat, are sad and divisive,” said Clinton’s chief national spokesman, Phil Singer.

Here’s the complete audio of Obama’s speech to AIPAC today:

Video and text after the jump.

Read the rest

It does seem like the news in Hillary Clinton’s AIPAC speech was this line: “Let me be very clear: I know Senator Obama will be a good friend to Israel.”

Clinton may not have dropped out of the race, but she spoke as if Obama would be the Democratic nominee and aimed her criticisms at GOP policies.

UPDATE: The perils of live blogging … Wonkette picks on us (me) for an earlier typo in the headline of this post.

11:04 Hillary Clinton introduced by Lonnie Kaplan as “a Democratic candidate for president.”

11:04 Big standing O.

11:05 Feels like a big “family reunion.”

11:06 Remembering Tom Lantos.

11:07 Quotes from Isaiah.

11:07 I “reject” the argument that our “common commitment to Israel’s survival and well being is not in the best interest of America.”

11:08 “Is there anyone from New York even here in this audience today.”

11:09 “I stand with you and for you.”

11:11 “Israel is not yet safe. The values that Israel represents are not yet secure.”

11:12 Recalling visits to Israeli terror victims and citizens of Sderot.

11:13 We need a Democrat in the White House.

11:13 “I know Senator Obama knows what is at stake here… Let me be very clear: I know Senator Obama will be a good friend to Israel.” (Sounds like she’s already conceded.)

11:15 “President Bush has moved us in the wrong direction.”

11:15 John McCain will follow the same wrong policies on Iraq and the Middle East.

11:20 Sounds same note as Obama on talks with Hamas: No way, until Hamas recognizes Israel and ends violence.

11:21 Will keep fighting to bring home captured Israeli soldiers.

11:22 “No nuclear weapons for Iran.”

11:22 “We can never let Iran attain nuclear weapons.”

11:22 IRG is a terrorist organization.

11:23 Iran must know consequences of nuclear attack on Israel. But we must never let it get to that point.

11:24 “Further behind” in confronting Iran because of the Bush administration.

11:25 Must speak out against anti-Semitism. Big standing ovation.

11:25 Criticizes Palestinian textbooks. Criticizes Saudi textbooks.

11:25 “Debacle at Durban must never be repeated.” If efforts to keep anti-Semitism out of Durban II, then U.S. should boycott the meeting.

11:29 Recalling one of “my heroes”: Golda Meir (and how she would answer the phone in the middle of night).

11:30 “God bless you. God bless Israel. God bless America.”

We (Ami, Uri Heilman, Ron Kampeas, a few dozen journalists and thousands of pro-Israel activists) are waiting for Obama’s big AIPAC speech. It’s hard to imagine a more dramatic stage and opportune time for Obama to reach the hawkish-minded Jews who are politically active, more than willing to vote for the right Democrat and aren’t sure the Illinois senator is the right Democrat.

There’s been a bunch of rumors the past 24 hours about what he and Hillary Clinton (she’s up after him) will say.

She’ll concede.

He’ll announce that she’s the Veep.

She’ll demand to be the Veep.

She’ll endorse him.

My favorite: Obama will let it be known that he’s in the market for a new shul.

Three signs that the anti-Semites are right…

1) Hillary Clinton has booked Baruch College for her election night event in New York on Tuesday.

2) Clinton and Barack Obama will both be giving their first post-election night speeches at the AIPAC policy conference on Wednesday morning.

3) On Wednesday night, Scott McClellan will make his first I’m-on-a-book-tour public appearance — at the 92nd St Y on the Upper East Side.

Courtesy of AIPAC

Last week JTA’s Ron Kampeas told you to expect some hard-hitting speeches from the presidential candidates at this week’s AIPAC policy conference. Well, McCain was first up this morning (Obama and Clinton are scheduled for Wednesday), and he took clear aim at Obama.

[UPDATE: The National Jewish Democratic Council has issued a response.]

Audio, video & transcript after the jump:
Read the rest

On Thursday Brit Hume and a bunch of regulars (Juan Williams, Nina Easton and Charles Krauthammer) on Fox News kicked around Obama’s Buchenwald-Auchwitz mix-up.

Here’s my favorite line, courtesy of Mr. Krauthammer: “It does tell you a little bit that this is a man who wants to be commander in chief, and he’s not really aware that Auschwitz was in Poland and the American army never entered Poland in the Second World War.”

Yeah, sort of like someone wanting to be commander in chief and not knowing the name of Pakistan’s leader.

As for Obama, it’s unclear if he didn’t know the difference between the two camps, mixed up the story in his head at some point or if he was the victim of some sort of longstanding family lore that got botched in the retelling.

But, back to what the current president knew (or did not know) upon seeking the job … Could Krauthammer say with any degree of confidence that candidate George W. Bush knew the difference between Auschwitz and Buchenwald? I’ll bet you Hillary and McCain know the difference, and as one Clintonista pointed out to me, Bill could probably give an impromptu speech on the topic.

[UPDATE: I should have mentioned that McCain certainly knows a thing or two about Hannah Senesh.]

Here’s the full Fox News exchange: Read the rest

• Menachem Rosensaft says stop using Holocaust to smear Barack Obama. And the ADL has something to say on the topic also.
• The New York Daily News jumps on the “Zbigniew Brzezinski accuses Jewish groups of McCarthyism” story, quotes Obama camp saying that the Carter administration official “is not an adviser to our campaign” and and the Illinois senator “profoundly disagrees with the sentiments he expressed.”
• New York magazine looks at Michael Bloomberg’s chances of ending up a vice-presidential candidate.
• Joe Lieberman’s office dodges on whether he will be joining Pastor John Hagee at the Christians United for Israel conference in July. J Street has launched a petition calling on Lieberman to cut ties with Hagee.
• Beliefnet editor Steven Waldman blogs for WSJ about the impact of the Hagee-McCain divorce, whether Hillary Clinton is hurting Obama and whether anyone but Obama could get away with distributing campaign literature with a big cross.
• The New York Post thinks Obama is backpedaling from his willingness to meet with the Iranian president — if so, the paper says, it’s a good flip-flop.
• U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner is a big backer of Clinton, but he likes here right-hand woman even more.