Daily Rabbits (Easter Edition): March 23, 2008

• U.S. military death toll in Iraq hits 4,000.
• Two recent moments when McCain nearly joined forces with the Democrats (2001 and 2004).
• Andrew Sullivan has an excellent post with a link to Rev. Wright’s full sermons that were deceptively edited in the YouTube video the MSM has broadcast endlessly. The bigger question here is why didn’t the media bother to review the full sermons in context before airing the edited video produced by someone else? The original sermons are publicly available for purchase from the Trinity Church (which is how Fox News got them).  Is the media nothing more than a mindless agent of campaigns and anonymous hacks, unwilling to exercise any editorial control? I’m not suggesting I agree with everything Wright said (I don’t, and Obama has already denounced his inflammatory comments), but after seeing the sermons in full context, it’s quite believable that he’s been a respected pastor for decades and not simply the monster he’s been reduced to in the edited video.  Thanks to the media not doing their jobs, the name “Reverend Wright” has now been defined as a synonym for “anti-American” and “hatred.”
• Glenn Greenwald sheds light on the source of the Right’s energy, and how Obama and African Americans generally present another target.
• Obama campaign fundraising momentum grows — nears 2 million contributors.
• Top Diplomat: Bush administration threatened and spied on U.S. allies to garner support for preemptive war on Iraq.
• Edwards unlikely to endorse anyone.
• WaPo explores racial divisions in Pennsylvania.
• John Dean: is Obama too smart to be president in an age where the GOP has successfully dumbed-down politics?
• Pastors plan to work Obama’s speech into their Easter sermons.
• London Times offers extensive story about Obama’s youth, including interviews with childhood friends.
• Arkansas, a state critical to Hillary’s electoral victory if she is the nominee, favors McCain over her by a wide margin.  Note for Obama, Arkansas is not critical.