A new national Gallup poll has Senator Obama beating Hillary Clinton 49 to 42. And most polls say Obama will win Tuesday night in Wisconsin. That would make nine votes in a row where Obama defeated Clinton. So you can expect some criticism directed toward the surging Obama.
Now one situation involves a number of people fainting right in front of the senator when he's speaking. Some believe it's staged, but there's no evidence to support that. However, the video is fascinating.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA: It looks like we have somebody who may have fainted. Give them a little bit of room. And if we have anybody from EMT here, it would be great.
Do we have somebody who fainted? Hold on, we got somebody who's sick. All right, make some space for her and let her lie down.
Hold on a second. Young lady, are you OK? Why don't you sit down though? Somebody guide her out and let her sit down because she's just feeling a little faint. If we have an EMT, that would be great. She probably needs just like some juice or something.
Are you a paramedic right here? OK, why don't you let her slide through? Sorry for the interruption, guys. All right. This is what happens. Folks get too excited about Oprah.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Indeed. The Obama campaign says none of that was staged, and we're giving them the benefit of the doubt. Again, we have no evidence to the contrary and there's no question Barack Obama is a rock star. Some people are getting overheated.
Another criticism of the candidate says he has borrowed some rhetoric from Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. DEVAL PATRICK, D-MASS.: We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal. Those are just words. We have nothing to fear but fear itself. Just words.
OBAMA: Don't tell me words don't matter. I have a dream. Just words? We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal. Just words? We have nothing to fear but fear itself. Just words?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
No question those two sentiments are almost exactly the same. But people often borrow thoughts when speaking. It happens all the time. If Barack Obama had written an article and not credited Governor Patrick, that would have been plagiarism. Just talking off the cuff like that, I think you've got to cut him some slack.
So right now, Barack Obama is the man as far as the presidential race is concerned. Whatever he does is going to be analyzed, but he better be careful. Any misstep becomes a national story. That's not fair, but that's life in the fastest lane of all: the race to be president.
And that's "The Memo."
Pinheads & Patriots
It is Presidents' Day, as you know, and former President George Bush is in the spotlight. Not for anything he did today, but in general.
The president has served this country for more than 40 years. He is now 83 years old. And he is, obviously, a patriot. So tonight I would like to recognize that.
On the pinhead front, after Jane Fonda said her "c-word" last week, actress Brooke Shields rushed to her defense.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKE SHIELDS, ACTRESS: Again, you know, bleep me out. I just don't think [EXPLETIVE DELETED] is a controversial word. I find it frighteningly sad that there was an, you know, there was an outrage that, we all, gasped, you know, when Jane Fonda said it. It's just sort of — it's disturbing to me that today, in this day and age, after all that's been done, after everything that's happened, we still have standard and practices doing this. And it is just a word.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
I'm not exactly sure why Ms. Shields is taking this stand, but I am sure in this case she is a pinhead.
— You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Pinheads and Patriots" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the FOX News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com
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