Here are wonderful, moving photos of the Obama family during the election night returns. Hope you enjoy them as much as we have. My sister-n-law, after months of deliberation, suddenly changed her mind and decided to vote for Barack when she entered the polling booth. When she forwarded these pictures to us, we knew her heart had been changed. We thank her for being a part of history! ENJOY!
http://flickr.com/photos/barackobamadotcom/sets/72157608716313371/show/
I just want to say thank you. You did it. The American people spoke and decided that they wanted change. No matter what the cinicals said. Barack Obama has been elected 44th President of this great nation.
You have sent a strong message to the World. That the greatest nation on hearth is moving forward and is ready to lead the world again.
The world will change, the world needs to change. And it had to come from the USA the greatest nation.
I am proud to habe been part of this movement and to have believe from the begining that change was coming. Living it live last night with everyone else at Grant Park was just unbelievable.
Barack Obama will be a great President
Thank you America, Thank you Mr President.
Audrey Koumba
(CNN) -- Former Secretary of State Colin Powell announced Sunday that he will be voting for Sen. Barack Obama, citing the Democrat's "ability to inspire" and the "inclusive nature of his campaign."
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell says he is voting for Barack Obama.
"He has both style and substance. I think he is a transformational figure," Powell said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
"Obama displayed a steadiness. Showed intellectual vigor. He has a definitive way of doing business that will do us well," Powell said.
Powell, a retired U.S. general and a Republican, was once seen as a possible presidential candidate himself.
Powell said he questioned Sen. John McCain's judgment in picking Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate because he doesn't think she is ready to be president.
He also said he was disappointed with some of McCain's campaign tactics, such as bringing up Obama's ties to former 1960s radical Bill Ayers.
Powell served as secretary of state under President Bush from 2001 to 2005.
The notion of a Powell endorsement has been rumored for several months.
On August 13, Powell's office denied a report on Fox by commentator Bill Kristol that Powell had decided to publicly back Obama at the Democratic National Convention.
Several sources said at the time that Powell had not made a decision about a possible endorsement.
"As always, he is holding his cards close and waiting for more information," one adviser told CNN's John King in August.
Powell himself brushed off queries on any potential presidential nod but told ABC News on August 13 that he would not be going to Denver, Colorado, for the convention.
"I do not have time to waste on Bill Kristol's musings," he said. "I am not going to the convention. I have made this clear."
In February, Powell told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that he was weighing an endorsement of a Democratic or independent candidate.
"I am keeping my options open at the moment," Powell said.
"I have voted for members of both parties in the course of my adult life. And as I said earlier, I will vote for the candidate I think can do the best job for America, whether that candidate is a Republican, a Democrat or an independent," he added.
Powell has offered praise for Obama, calling him an "exciting person on the political stage."
"He has energized a lot of people in America," said Powell, who briefly weighed his own run for the White House in the mid-1990s. "He has energized a lot of people around the world. And so I think he is worth listening to and seeing what he stands for."
Powell's adviser has said that "he likes and admires John McCain, and that would be a factor in anything he does if he decides to get more involved."
Another source close to Powell said he has known the Republican nominee for more than three decades "and likes him and is looking for a reason to vote for him. He hasn't found it yet."
The former general, who has largely steered clear of politics since leaving the Bush administration, noted that the next president will need to work to restore America's standing in the world.
Powell gave the keynote address at the Republican National Convention in support of George W. Bush in 2000.
"I will ultimately vote for the person I believe brings to the American people the kind of vision the American people want to see for the next four years," he said. "A vision that reaches out to the rest of the world, that starts to restore confidence in America, that starts to restore favorable ratings to America. Frankly, we've lost a lot in recent years."
Powell's adviser also said at the time that the vice presidential picks for both candidates would be a major factor in his decision, both for the quality of each man's running mate and for what sort of "signal that choice sends about the character and judgment of the candidate."
These remarkable pictures were circulated from one of the members of our Group!
Warning...have your tissues at the ready...could get emotional.>> Bookmark this page and go to it anytime you feel a little down or> discouraged and these pictures will lift you up.>> http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/29/21040/3558/576/577074>
(CNN) — No, hell has not frozen over, but a Buckley is backing a Democrat for president.
Christopher Buckley, the son of the late conservative icon William F. Buckley, said Friday he's decided to back Barack Obama's White House bid, the first time in his life he will vote Democrat.
“It’s a good thing my dear old mum and pup [sic] are no longer alive. They’d cut off my allowance," Buckley, a columnist for the conservative National Review, wrote on the Web site The Daily Beast Friday.
Buckley, who praised McCain in a New York Times Op-Ed earlier this year and defended the Arizona senator's conservative credentials against wary talk-radio hosts, said McCain is no longer the “real” and “unconventional” man he once admired.
"This campaign has changed John McCain," Buckley wrote. "It has made him inauthentic. A once-first class temperament has become irascible and snarly; his positions change, and lack coherence; he makes unrealistic promises, such as balancing the federal budget 'by the end of my first term.' Who, really, believes that?
"Then there was the self-dramatizing and feckless suspension of his campaign over the financial crisis," Buckley added. "His ninth-inning attack ads are mean-spirited and pointless. And finally, not to belabor it, there was the Palin nomination. What on earth can he have been thinking?"
But Buckley made clear he's not just voting against McCain, praising Obama for his "first-class temperament and first-class intellect."
"Obama has in him—I think, despite his sometimes airy-fairy 'We are the people we have been waiting for' silly rhetoric—the potential to be a good, perhaps even great leader. He is, it seems clear enough, what the historical moment seems to be calling for," Buckley wrote.
Granted. Government buying up bad loans is good for banks and not so good for taxpayers. No matter how you cut it, someone's not going to be happy. Why not help hurting homeowners by paying off their default arrearage and forcing all banks to lower mortgage interest rates to homeowners across the board. Have a moretoreum on foreclosures for three months and give people a chance to either find new jobs or catch up. Why not? We gave $700 Billion to Wall Street. We gave $85 Billion to AIG, and they spent $440 Million at a Spa! Why not help American HomeOwners in this time of crisis? Does this mean a free ride? No. When the property is sold, the amount of the government 'rescue' should be refunded to the government at settlement plus a predetermined interest fee. The government gets it's money back! The homeowner gets to keep their home!
People who've always paid on time will benefit because their interest rate may be lowered to the new lower rate and their principal should be adjusted to reflect the new value of todays market. That means they will pay less per month and have the benefit of keeping all their capital gains when they sell the property. All it means is in 5 years when things are healthy again - the "good" billpayer will still be ahead because he'll owe the government nothing.
Not all delinquent debt is due to preditory lending. MANY people have lost jobs. Many people are pay check to check and when energy and food prices escalated, they cut back on food and other expenses, yet still couldn't make ends meet. I've heard people say 'they should sell their cars.' If you don't have access to public transportation, your vehicle is your only way to take day jobs and temp jobs. You probably can't afford a car because your payments are late and your credit report is a looks a lot less friendly to lenders.
Look, millions of Americans are in trouble. This is not the time to scold and say you should have known better than to try to buy a house and make a better future for your family.
Home ownership is not a 'right', however, it is a fundamental cornerstone of who we are as Americans. Home values were artificially inflated and people were sold bad paper. Deregulators turned their heads, banks fleeced people with skyrocketing ARMs and preditory loans, Congress slept through oversight, and it seems all the executive and legislative adults were out to lunch.
Now is the time to help HomeOwners out of an ugly place. HomeOwners Need Help! Government helped Wall Street. Help Main Street and Azalea Lane too.
Barack proposed a stimulus. $1000 is a good start. He has to win the Presidency to stimulate the economy by promoting new jobs and the new green industry. He can only win if we vote for him together! I'm proposing this 'Save Your Home' idea to help HomeOwners get to January 2009.
The former diplomats and ambassadors signed the statement before the Friday debate between Obama and Republican nominee John McCain.
"We are supporting Senator Barack Obama because of his judgment, experience, and ability to inspire people to come together around a common purpose," the letter said. "Senator Obama's talents offer an historic opportunity; for the sake of America's security and standing in the world, we must seize it."
The letter, signed by officials from both major political parties, said the foreign policies of the Bush administration have diminished America's alliances abroad.
"As former diplomats, we believe it is past time that we had a President with the judgment and confidence -- in himself, our diplomatic corps, and our values -- to talk directly to America's adversaries with due preparation but without preconditions," the letter said.
The signatories include former secretaries of state Madeleine Albright and Warren Christopher, former National Security Adviser Richard Clarke and former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk.
Its time to A C T !!!!! This election season has remained too close for comfort and to close to call! We have 100,000 ' s of unregistered voters and millions who remain on the fence! Its time for us to come together, voice our unity, and make a difference! Tuesday September 30, 20008 everyone is asked to do two things 1) WEAR BLUE 2) REGISTER TWO VOTERS! (If you can't register two voters talk to two people who may be on the fence/ or a McCain supporter and sway them to become an Obama Supporter). LETS MAKE OBAMA BLUE DAY A DAY OF ACTION!!!! BARACK THE VOTE!!!!!! PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO EVERYBODY WHO MAY BE INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING!!!
Its time to A C T !!!!!
This election season has remained too close for comfort and to close to call! We have 100,000 ' s of unregistered voters and millions who remain on the fence! Its time for us to come together, voice our unity, and make a difference!
Tuesday September 30, 20008
everyone is asked
to do two things
1) WEAR BLUE
2) REGISTER TWO VOTERS!
(If you can't register two voters talk to two people who may be on the fence/ or a McCain supporter and sway them to become an Obama Supporter).
LETS MAKE OBAMA BLUE DAY A DAY OF ACTION!!!!
BARACK THE VOTE!!!!!!
PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO EVERYBODY WHO MAY BE INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING!!!
Here is a wonderfully inspiring video. This video should open even blind eyes. Watch and Share!
http://www.vimeo.com/1742831#success
This Blog deserves to be repeated! It's a heartless outrage that voters who are hurting the most would be thrown out of the election process just as they've been thrown out of their homes!!!
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/withfeeling/gG5XZJ
MAD MONEY 2
KNOCK THE WIND OUT OF MCCAIN!! GET MAD AND GIVE!!! GIVE like you've never given before. GIVE time to the phone banks and call PA, OH, MI, VA, and FL. GIVE time to canvass. GIVE time to REGISTER NEW VOTERS!! GIVE a donation to the campaign to help stomp on these absurd ads. How much is up to you. I'm not working but I'm giving and you can too! THIS IS OUR AMERICA!! We want our jobs back here, not overseas. We need health care, not emergency room care. We need not file bankruptcy to keep our homes just to pay for heat this winter. WE NEED BARACK OBAMA – so GET MAD AND GIVE GIVE GIVE!! Whatever your shrinking under Bush/McCain wallet can afford - give. Just know, voting for Barack will help stabilize our country, restore our currency, and place hard working money back in the hard working hands of our hard working people. With Your Help Now - HE CAN DO THIS! HE CAN WIN! Pass it on . . .
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gs7js2
The American People remember quick fast statements, lines, comebacks. "OBAMA GOT IT RIGHT, McCain got it wrong!" The Republicans are doing what they do best - LIE. We have to be on the offense now. WE should be the ones They respond to, not the other way around. "McCain LIES - EVERYDAY AMERICANS WILL HAVE MORE MONEY IN YOUR POCKET when you vote for Obama. " Sounds like a slogan to me - MORE MONEY IN YOUR POCKET WHEN YOU VOTE FOR OBAMA. Healthcare for your children, jobs in your town, protection for women, solar heating advances equals and more jobs, jobs, jobs. More Money in Your Pocket when you vote for Obama! Biden is great at this stuff. Time is short. Keep fighting! Keep it simple. Obama said his father thought in paragraphs. American people hear short, fast, catchy statements best. Keep it simple.
By Sharon Churcher Last updated at 1:45 AM on 08th June 2008
Now that Hillary Clinton has at last formally withdrawn from the race for the White House, the eyes of America and the world will focus on Barack Obama and his Republican rival Senator John McCain.
While Obama will surely press his credentials as the embodiment of the American dream – a handsome, charismatic young black man who was raised on food stamps by a single mother and who represents his country’s future – McCain will present himself as a selfless, principled war hero whose campaign represents not so much a battle for the presidency of the United States, but a crusade to rescue the nation’s tarnished reputation.
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Forgotten woman: But despite all her problems Carol McCain says she still adores he ex-husband
McCain likes to illustrate his moral fibre by referring to his five years as a prisoner-of-war in Vietnam. And to demonstrate his commitment to family values, the 71-year-old former US Navy pilot pays warm tribute to his beautiful blonde wife, Cindy, with whom he has four children.
But there is another Mrs McCain who casts a ghostly shadow over the Senator’s presidential campaign. She is seldom seen and rarely written about, despite being mother to McCain’s three eldest children.
And yet, had events turned out differently, it would be she, rather than Cindy, who would be vying to be First Lady. She is McCain’s first wife, Carol, who was a famous beauty and a successful swimwear model when they married in 1965.
She was the woman McCain dreamed of during his long incarceration and torture in Vietnam’s infamous ‘Hanoi Hilton’ prison and the woman who faithfully stayed at home looking after the children and waiting anxiously for news.
But when McCain returned to America in 1973 to a fanfare of publicity and a handshake from Richard Nixon, he discovered his wife had been disfigured in a terrible car crash three years earlier. Her car had skidded on icy roads into a telegraph pole on Christmas Eve, 1969. Her pelvis and one arm were shattered by the impact and she suffered massive internal injuries.
When Carol was discharged from hospital after six months of life-saving surgery, the prognosis was bleak. In order to save her legs, surgeons
had been forced to cut away huge sections of shattered bone, taking with it her tall, willowy figure. She was confined to a wheelchair and was forced to use a catheter.
Through sheer hard work, Carol learned to walk again. But when John McCain came home from Vietnam, she had gained a lot of weight and bore little resemblance to her old self.
Today, she stands at just 5ft4in and still walks awkwardly, with a pronounced limp. Her body is held together by screws and metal plates and, at 70, her face is worn by wrinkles that speak of decades of silent suffering.
For nearly 30 years, Carol has maintained a dignified silence about the accident, McCain and their divorce. But last week at the bungalow where she now lives at Virginia Beach, a faded seaside resort 200 miles south of Washington, she told The Mail on Sunday how McCain divorced her in 1980 and married Cindy, 18 years his junior and the heir to an Arizona brewing fortune, just one month later.
Golden couple: John and Cindy McCain at a charity gala in Los Angeles
Carol insists she remains on good terms with her ex-husband, who agreed as part of their divorce settlement to pay her medical costs for life. ‘I have no bitterness,’
she says. ‘My accident is well recorded. I had 23 operations, I am five inches shorter than I used to be and I was in hospital for six months. It was just awful, but it wasn’t the reason for my divorce.
‘My marriage ended because John McCain didn’t want to be 40, he wanted to be 25. You know that happens...it just does.’
Some of McCain’s acquaintances are less forgiving, however. They portray the politician as a self-centred womaniser who effectively abandoned his crippled wife to ‘play the field’. They accuse him of finally settling on Cindy, a former rodeo beauty queen, for financial reasons.
McCain was then earning little more than ?25,000 a year as a naval officer, while his new father-in-law, Jim Hensley, was a multi-millionaire who had impeccable political connections.
He first met Carol in the Fifties while he was at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis. He was a privileged, but rebellious scion of one of America’s most distinguished military dynasties – his father and grandfather were both admirals.
But setting out to have a good time, the young McCain hung out with a group of young officers who called themselves the ‘Bad Bunch’.
His primary interest was women and his conquests ranged from a knife-wielding floozy nicknamed ‘Marie, the Flame of Florida’ to a tobacco heiress.
Carol fell into his fast-living world by accident. She escaped a poor upbringing in Philadelphia to become a successful model, married an Annapolis classmate of McCain’s and had two children – Douglas and Andrew – before renewing what one acquaintance calls ‘an old flirtation’ with McCain.
It seems clear she was bowled over by McCain’s attention at a time when he was becoming bored with his playboy lifestyle.
‘He was 28 and ready to settle down and he loved Carol’s children,’ recalled another Annapolis graduate, Robert Timberg, who wrote The Nightingale’s Song, a bestselling biography of McCain and four other graduates of the academy.
The couple married and McCain adopted Carol’s sons. Their daughter, Sidney, was born a year later, but domesticity was clearly beginning
to bore McCain – the couple were regarded as ‘fixtures on the party circuit’ before McCain requested combat duty in Vietnam at the end of 1966.
He was assigned as a bomber pilot on an aircraft carrier in the Gulf of Tonkin.
What follows is the stuff of the McCain legend. He was shot down over Hanoi in October 1967 on his 23rd mission over North Vietnam and was badly beaten by an angry mob when he was pulled, half-drowned from a lake.
War hero: McCain with Carol as he arrives back in the US in 1973 after his five years as a PoW in North Vietnam
Over the next five-and-a-half years in the notorious Hoa Loa Prison he was regularly tortured and mistreated.
It was in 1969 that Carol went to spend the Christmas holiday – her third without McCain – at her parents’ home. After dinner, she left to drop off some presents at a friend’s house.
It wasn’t until some hours later that she was discovered, alone and in terrible pain, next to the wreckage of her car. She had been hurled through the windscreen.
After her first series of life-saving operations, Carol was told she may never walk again, but when doctors said they would try to get word to McCain about her injuries, she refused, insisting: ‘He’s got enough problems, I don’t want to tell him.’
H. Ross Perot, a billionaire Texas businessman, future presidential candidate and advocate of prisoners of war, paid for her medical care.
When McCain – his hair turned prematurely white and his body reduced to little more than a skeleton – was released in March 1973, he told reporters he was overjoyed to see Carol again.
But friends say privately he was ‘appalled’ by the change in her appearance. At first, though, he was kind, assuring her: ‘I don’t look so good myself. It’s fine.’
He bought her a bungalow near the sea in Florida and another former PoW helped him to build a railing so she could pull herself over the dunes to the water.
‘I thought, of course, we would live happily ever after,’ says Carol. But as a war hero, McCain was moving in ever-more elevated circles.
Through Ross Perot, he met Ronald Reagan, then Governor of California. A sympathetic Nancy Reagan took Carol under her wing.
But already the McCains’ marriage had begun to fray. ‘John started carousing and running around with women,’ said Robert Timberg.
McCain has acknowledged that he had girlfriends during this time, without going into details. Some friends blame his dissatisfaction with Carol, but others give some credence to her theory of a mid-life crisis.
He was also fiercely ambitious, but it was clear he would never become an admiral like his illustrious father and grandfather and his thoughts were turning to politics.
In 1979 – while still married to Carol – he met Cindy at a cocktail party in Hawaii. Over the next six months he pursued her, flying around the country to see her. Then he began to push to end his marriage.
Carol and her children were devastated. ‘It was a complete surprise,’ says Nancy Reynolds, a former Reagan aide.
‘They never displayed any difficulties between themselves. I know the Reagans were quite shocked because they loved and respected both Carol and John.’
Another friend added: ‘Carol didn’t fight him. She felt her infirmity made her an impediment to him. She justified his actions because of all he had gone through. She used to say, “He just wants to make up for lost time.”’
Indeed, to many in their circle the saddest part of the break-up was Carol’s decision to resign herself to losing a man she says she still adores.
Friends confirm she has remained friends with McCain and backed him in all his campaigns. ‘He was very generous to her in the divorce but of course he could afford to be, since he was marrying Cindy,’ one observed.
McCain transferred the Florida beach house to Carol and gave her the right to live in their jointly-owned townhouse in the Washington suburb of Alexandria. He also agreed to pay her alimony and child support.
A former neighbour says she subsequently sold up in Florida and Washington and moved in 2003 to Virginia Beach. He said: ‘My impression was that she found the new place easier to manage as she still has some difficulties walking.’
Meanwhile McCain moved to Arizona with his new bride immediately after their 1980 marriage. There, his new father-in-law gave him a job and introduced him to local businessmen and political powerbrokers who would smooth his passage to Washington via the House of Representatives and Senate.
And yet despite his popularity as a politician, there are those who won’t forget his treatment of his first wife.
Ted Sampley, who fought with US Special Forces in Vietnam and is now a leading campaigner for veterans’ rights, said: ‘I have been following John McCain’s career for nearly 20 years. I know him personally. There is something wrong with this guy and let me tell you what it is – deceit.
‘When he came home and saw that Carol was not the beauty he left behind, he started running around on her almost right away. Everybody around him knew it.
‘Eventually he met Cindy and she was young and beautiful and very wealthy. At that point McCain just dumped Carol for something he thought was better.
‘This is a guy who makes such a big deal about his character. He has no character. He is a fake. If there was any character in that first marriage, it all belonged to Carol.’
One old friend of the McCains said: ‘Carol always insists she is not bitter, but I think that’s a defence mechanism. She also feels deeply in his debt because in return for her agreement to a divorce, he promised to pay for her medical care for the rest of her life.’
Carol remained resolutely loyal as McCain’s political star rose. She says she agreed to talk to The Mail on Sunday only because she wanted to publicise her support for the man who abandoned her.
Indeed, the old Mercedes that she uses to run errands displays both a disabled badge and a sticker encouraging people to vote for her ex-husband. ‘He’s a good guy,’ she assured us. ‘We are still good friends. He is the best man for president.’
But Ross Perot, who paid her medical bills all those years ago, now believes that both Carol McCain and the American people have been taken in by a man who is unusually slick and cruel – even by the standards of modern politics.
‘McCain is the classic opportunist. He’s always reaching for attention and glory,’ he said.
What the Obama's campaign should do is, juxtapose Bush's convention speech of 2000 and that of McCain of 2008. It would show the economic destruction the Repubs have caused in that time frame with empty promises. And they should play the tape of McCain saying he doesnt really understand economy in a new ad. Then they should ask a simple question: "Can we really trust them again?"
Statement of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton Thursday, Sep 4, 2008
The two party conventions showcased vastly different directions for our country. Senator Obama and Senator Biden offered the new ideas and positive change America needs and deserves after eight years of failed Republican leadership. Senator McCain and Governor Palin do not.
After listening to all the speeches this week, I heard nothing that suggests the Republicans are ready to fix the economy for middle class families, provide quality affordable health care for all Americans, guarantee equal pay for equal work for women, restore our nation's leadership in a complex world or tackle the myriad of challenges our country faces. So, to slightly amend my comments from Denver: NO WAY, NO HOW, NO McCAIN-PALIN.
(CNN) – Barack Obama's campaign says it has raised more than $8 million from over 130,000 donors following Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin's speech Wednesday night.
The campaign also says it is on track to raise $10 million before John McCain takes the podium at the Republican National Convention tonight.
McCain fought money on teen pregnancy programs
By SHARON THEIMER Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican John McCain, whose running mate disclosed that her unmarried 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, has opposed proposals to spend federal money on teen-pregnancy prevention programs and voted to require poor teen mothers to stay in school or lose their benefits.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's announcement Monday about her daughter Bristol was aimed at rebutting Internet rumors that Palin's youngest son, born in April, was actually her daughter's. Palin said her daughter intends to raise her child and marry the baby's father, identified in news reports as Levi Johnston, 18, of Wasilla, a high school hockey player whom Bristol has dated for about one year. The baby is due in late December.
McCain's record on issues surrounding teen pregnancy and contraceptives during his more than two decades in the Senate indicates that he and Palin have similar views. Until Monday, when the subject surfaced in a deeply personal manner, teen pregnancy and sex education were not issues in the national political campaign.
Palin herself said she opposes funding sexual-education programs in Alaska.
"The explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support," she wrote in a 2006 questionnaire distributed among gubernatorial candidates.
McCain's position on contraceptives and teen pregnancy issues has been difficult to judge on the campaign trail, as he appears uncomfortable discussing such topics. Reporters asked the presumptive GOP presidential nominee in November 2007 whether he supported grants for sex education in the United States, whether such programs should include directions for using contraceptives and whether he supports President Bush's policy of promoting abstinence.
"Ahhh, I think I support the president's policy," McCain said.
When reporters pressed McCain whether the government should provide contraceptives or counseling on contraceptives, he replied, "You've stumped me." McCain said later that he was sure he opposed government spending on contraceptives.
The McCain campaign on Monday did not respond to repeated requests for information.
In Senate votes, McCain has opposed some proposals to pay for teen-pregnancy prevention programs. In 2006, McCain joined fellow Republicans in voting against a Senate Democratic proposal to send $100 million to communities for teen-pregnancy prevention programs that would have included sex education about contraceptives.
In 2005, McCain opposed a Senate Democratic proposal that would have spent tens of millions of dollars to pay for pregnancy prevention programs other than abstinence-only education, including education on emergency contraception such as the morning-after pill. The bill also would have required insurance companies that cover Viagra to also pay for prescription contraception.
McCain voted for the Family Support Act in 1988, which passed overwhelmingly in the Senate and required teen mothers who receive public assistance to remain in high school and, in some cases, to live with their parents.
"Young parents who have not completed high school will be required to stay in or return to school to complete the basic education so necessary to a productive life," said President Reagan, as he signed the law in October 1988.
McCain cited abortion, sex education and birth control as some of the issues on which he differed with Joycelyn Elders, former President Clinton's nominee for surgeon general. He quoted Elders as telling lawmakers that abortion has had positive health effects, including reducing the number of children "afflicted with severe defects."
"As a father of a number of young children, including an adopted daughter who was born with a birth defect, I am deeply, deeply troubled by these views," McCain said in a 1993 speech opposing Elders' confirmation.
Palin's fifth child, a son named Trig, was born in April with Down syndrome, a genetic abnormality that impedes physical, intellectual and language development. Conservatives supportive of Palin as McCain's running mate have praised her choice to deliver Trig even after the family learned about his condition during prenatal testing.
McCain said the country unarguably had a problem with teen pregnancy, but said Elders' approach would only make it worse. He said Elders started a program to distribute condoms in schools, but the rate of teen pregnancy actually rose in those counties. When it turned out many of the condoms were defective, Elders decided to continue the program rather than halt it or inform the public of the risk, McCain added.
Hi Everyone,
It's nice to be back on my Barack Obama blog. After nearly three months spent away from civilisation, without any internet access, i'm finally reunited with my computer. It's been very frustrating not being able to wrtie any messages.
I'm glad to be bck.
Audrey
