QUOTE OF THE DAY

Barack Obama, speaking in Iowa yesterday:

During his town-hall meeting, Obama was also pressed on his recent suggestions that he might use military force to root out terrorists in Pakistan. He said reports of his speech have been oversimplified.

"They take a paragraph out of an eight-page speech and try to sensationalize it," he said. "When you've got a group that killed 3,000 Americans, we have an obligation to deal with that group."

Obama said most reports have overlooked his statement that he would work with Pakistani leaders and press them to act on their own, but reserve the right to act.

"That's not a pre-emptive strike against Pakistan, that's a pre-emptive strike against al-Qaida," he said.

Howie P.S.: Making audacious statements makes you vulnerable to audacious attacks, as Howard Dean also discovered.