Worse Missteps: Obama or Clinton?

Who got hurt worse in their missteps: Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton? That is the subject of this evening's "Talking Points Memo."

Last night in Chicago, Rev. Jeremiah Wright continued his victory tour, returning to his former church, the one where he preached to Senator Obama.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And so we gather to let the world know, to let our community know how much we know that the Wright family is the right family.

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Now as "Talking Points" has pointed out, the delirious reception Wright is getting is confusing to many Americans. I mean, here's a guy who said vile things about his country, and he's being celebrated? Something is disturbing about that.

On the other side, Hillary Clinton continues to campaign in Pennsylvania, her last stand. If she loses there, she's finished. The vote is three weeks from tonight.

There has been little mention, however, of the Bosnia sniper deal since last week. The latest polls show that Obama is closing the gap in Pennsylvania and increasing his lead nationally over Mrs. Clinton. So from that data, it looks like Senator Obama has weathered his storm better than Senator Clinton has weathered hers.

But why is that? Well, I think it all comes back to likeability. Hard-core supporters of both Obama and Clinton don't really care about the controversies, but undecided Democrats do. Since Obama comes across as a nice guy, and sometimes Hillary can be a bit strident, it looks like independent voters are breaking toward Obama.

A national Gallup poll shows a steep loss in Hillary's support since the Bosnia sniper story broke. Even with the Rev. Wright deal, Obama seems to be gaining strength against Clinton. Of course, that's all based on polling, which could be wrong. Rasmussen, for example, has the national race much closer.

But the question of the day remains: Which situation is more important: Rev. Wright or the Bosnia sniper? Both say things about the candidates, no doubt about it. But it looks to me like the Wright situation has more national importance.

But I'd like to know what you think. Our new BillOReilly.com poll question asks: Which gaffe was worse: Hillary/Bosnia or Obama/Wright? Choose one.

Finally and obviously, Senator McCain is the big winner here. He's holding his powder now, but you can bet the Republicans will revisit Rev. Wright if Obama's the nominee or Bosnia if Clinton is. The perils of politics do not go away easily.

And that's "The Memo."

Pinheads & Patriots

Speaking on "FOX & Friends" with our pal, Steve Doocy, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell said this about the campaign coverage:

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GOV. ED RENDELL, D-PENN.: FOX has done the fairest job, has remained most objective of all of the cable networks. You hate both of our candidates. No, I'm only kidding. But you actually have done a very balanced job in reporting the news.

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And we have. For speaking the truth, Governor Rendell is a patriot.

On the pinhead front, when we last left actor Sacha Baron Cohen, he was mocking just about everything as "Borat." Now he's making a new film, and the shooting caused some commotion at the Wichita, Kansas, airport.

In the movie, Cohen plays a gay journalist named Bruno who apparently dances in public places. Don't let them on the plane. Bruno may also be a pinhead.

"Truth Police" update: You may have heard that CNN beat FOX News in the prime-time demographic race this past quarter. That's deceiving because of the special election stuff. If you take the regular programming, like "The Factor" on every night, CNN wasn't even close, especially at 8 p.m. when we beat them by 74 percent. Of course, we also slaughtered MSNBC by 60 percent. A great victory, thanks to you.

— 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