More Reaction to Michelle Obama's Comment That She Is Finally Proud of America

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Not Proud?

We have more reaction to Michelle Obama's comment at a political rally last night in Milwaukee that — "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country."

Jonathan last writes in The Weekly Standard — "Instead of seeing America as a place which afforded her the opportunity to create a blessed life, Mrs. Obama seems to view it as a place where some 'people' are always trying to hold her back."

John Podhoretz in Commentary Magazine — "it suggests the Obama campaign really does have its roots in New Class leftism, according to which patriotism is not only the last refuge of a scoundrel, but the first refuge as well."

Sasha Issenberg in the Boston Globe wonders — "So what did Michelle Obama think of the United States before her husband decided he wanted to run the place?"

And Mickey Kaus writes in the liberal Slate Magazine — "Even Dennis Kucinich would probably have no problem finding something to be proud of in the past two decades."

Delegate Raid

Hillary Clinton's campaign reportedly is making plans to go after delegates already pledged to Barack Obama — if she needs them to win the nomination. Roger Simon with The Politico newspaper cites an unnamed high-ranking Clinton official as saying — if there is a stalemate this summer — "all the rules will be going out the window."

But in fact — the rules do not bind a delegate to a specific candidate. A recent Democratic National Committee memo says — "At the convention, while it is assumed that the delegate will cast their vote for the candidate they are publicly pledged to, it is not required."

The Clinton camp says it will not target pledged delegates.

By the way Republican delegates are governed by state party rules — about two-thirds of them are bound in some way as they head to the convention.

Superdelegate Raid

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus who are supporting Obama are trying to get colleagues in the Clinton camp to switch.

The Hill reports that following last week's reports of a defection by Georgia's David Scott to the Obama side — and the possibility of a similar move by fellow-Georgian John Lewis — the CBC is going after its 11 other superdelegates whose constituents have already voted for Obama.

That list includes Florida's Alcee Hastings, California's Maxine Waters and New York's Gregory Meeks.

Kicked Off

A journalist who has made a living taking on United Nations corruption has had his Web site taken off Google's news page. Matthew Lee is editor-in-chief of Inner City Press. Google informed him earlier this month that he was being "de-listed" because it no longer considered him a legitimate news source. Lee blames someone at the U.N.'s development program — which partners with Google to work on anti-poverty programs.

The de-listing was immediately criticized by the U.N. Correspondents Organization — and the nonprofit Government Accountability Project — which called Inner City Press — "the most effective and important media organization for U.N. whistleblowers." Google responded by saying it would restore Inner City to its news page. But so far — that has not happened.

— FOX News Channel's Martin Hill contributed to this report.