From The New York Times, September 21, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
The Push to ‘Otherize’ Obama, By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Here’s a sad monument to the sleaziness of this presidential campaign: Almost one-third of voters “know” that Barack Obama is a Muslim or believe that he could be.
In short, the political campaign to transform Mr. Obama into a Muslim is succeeding. The real loser as that happens isn’t just Mr. Obama, but our entire political process.
A Pew Research Center survey released a few days ago found that only half of Americans correctly know that Mr. Obama is a Christian. Meanwhile, 13 percent of registered voters say that he is a Muslim, compared with 12 percent in June and 10 percent in March.
More ominously, a rising share — now 16 percent — say they aren’t sure about his religion because they’ve heard “different things” about it.
When I’ve traveled around the country, particularly to my childhood home in rural Oregon, I’ve been struck by the number of people who ask something like: That Obama — is he really a Christian? Isn’t he a Muslim or something? Didn’t he take his oath of office on the Koran?
From Salon.com
http://www.salon.com/env/feature/2008/09/20/john_mccain_environment/print.html
John McCain's hot air
He may claim to be green, but McCain's environmental record is every bit as dirty as that of Sen. James "global warming is a hoax" Inhofe.
By Joseph Romm
Sep. 20, 2008 | Few politicians in history have more successfully sold a phony image about caring for the environment than Sen. John McCain. His deceptions and distortions and lies would fill a book.
From Time Magazine, Thursday, Sep. 18, 2008
The Pain in Spain Falls Mainly on McCain, By Lisa Abend
You gotta feel for Jos[a {e}] Luis Rodr[a {i}]guez Zapatero. Here the Spanish Prime Minister is only four months from an end to his government's strained relations with that of President George W. Bush and blam! — along comes John McCain to suggest that the next four years might not be any better. During an interview in Miami earlier this week with Spanish-language station Union Radio, a reporter asked McCain whether, if elected, he would receive Zapatero in the White House. McCain answered, "Honestly, I have to analyze our relationships, situations and priorities, but I can assure you that I will establish closer relationships with our friends, and I will stand up to those who want to harm the United States."
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH0xzsogzAk
See Video At: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-wilson/sarah-palins-churches-and_b_124611.html
Sarah Palin's churches are actively involved in a resurgent movement that was declared heretical by the Assemblies of God in 1949. This is the same 'Spiritual Warfare' movement that was featured in the award winning movie, "Jesus Camp," which showed young children being trained to do battle for the Lord. At least three of four of Palin's churches are involved with major organizations and leaders of this movement, which is referred to as The Third Wave of the Holy Spirit or the New Apostolic Reformation. The movement is training a young "Joel's Army" to take dominion over the United States and the world.
OxGrove Democrats’ Grand Opening!
General Election Campaign Office
Candidates & Dignitaries Come Out For Democratic Campaign Office Opening
Friday, September 5th, 2008, Starting at 4:00 PM, Speakers at 7:00 PM
407 Market Street, Oxford, PA Oxford, PA -- The Democratic Party is moving stronger and faster -- like never before -- in Southern Chester County! Area Democrats, Independents and the members of the OxGrove Democratic Committee will celebrate the Grand Opening of the 2008 General Election Campaign Office at 407 Market Street in Oxford, PA on Friday, September 5th.
The celebration will start with refreshments at 4 PM, with guest speakers starting at 7 PM. Guest speakers will include county Democratic Party leaders Dan Wofford and Michele Vaughn, and candidates Tom Houghton (State Representative, www.tomhoughton.org), John Linder (State Senate, www.linder08.com), and Bruce Slater (U.S. Congress, www.slaterforcongress.com).
From MSNBC:
From NBC's Katie Primm and Mark Murray
By the way, as has been pointed out, Palin backed abstinence-only education during her 2006 gubernatorial race. In an Eagle Forum Alaska questionnaire, Palin gave this response to the following question:
Will you support funding for abstinence-until-marriage education instead of for explicit sex-education programs, school-based clinics, and the distribution of contraceptives in schools?
Palin: Yes, the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support.
*** UPDATE *** NBC's Abby Livingston adds that a McCain spokesperson in May 2007 said the Arizona Republican supported abstinence-only education, too. "Sen. McCain believes the correct policy for educating young children on this subject is to promote abstinence as the only safe and responsible alternative. To do otherwise is to send a mixed signal to children that, on the one hand they should not be sexually active, but on the other here is the way to go about it. As any parent knows, ambiguity and equivocation leads to problems when it comes to teaching children right from wrong. Sen. McCain believes that there are many negative forces in today’s society that promote irresponsible and dangerous behavior to our children. The public education system should not join this chorus of moral equivocation and ambiguity.”
Go to http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Amy_Goodman_and_producers_arrested_at_0901.html
Is History Siding With Obama's Economic Plan?By ALAN S. BLINDER
CLEARLY, there are major differences between the economic policies of Senators Barack Obama and John McCain. Mr. McCain wants more tax cuts for the rich; Mr. Obama wants tax cuts for the poor and middle class. The two men also disagree on health care, energy and many other topics.
Such differences are hardly surprising. Democrats and Republicans have followed different approaches to the economy for as long as there have been Democrats and Republicans. Longer, actually. Remember Hamilton versus Jefferson?
Many Americans know that there are characteristic policy differences between the two parties. But few are aware of two important facts about the post-World War II era, both of which are brilliantly delineated in a new book, "Unequal Democracy," by Larry M. Bartels, a professor of political science at Princeton. Understanding them might help voters see what could be at stake, economically speaking, in November.
I call the first fact the Great Partisan Growth Divide. Simply put, the United States economy has grown faster, on average, under Democratic presidents than under Republicans.
The stark contrast between the whiz-bang Clinton years and the dreary Bush years is familiar because it is so recent. But while it is extreme, it is not atypical. Data for the whole period from 1948 to 2007, during which Republicans occupied the White House for 34 years and Democrats for 26, show average annual growth of real gross national product of 1.64 percent per capita under Republican presidents versus 2.78 percent under Democrats.
That 1.14-point difference, if maintained for eight years, would yield 9.33 percent more income per person, which is a lot more than almost anyone can expect from a tax cut.
Read More »
I'm posting this article not to disparage Cindy McCain, but rather to point out the hypocrisy of the Republican "attacks".
In this article, we have all the things the Republicans are trying to stick on Barack Obama. After I read this I thought, gee, someone should really be careful about the stones they throw at someone else's glass house. But wait there's more - how 'bout those McCain family values and the ethical test of alcohol taxes - oh wait, not when they affect your own interests.
Oh yeah, one more thing... Where was John McCain's flag lapel pin when he introduced his running mate. Sarah's flag lapel pin was HUGE! She must be more patriotic than Sen. McCain, eh?
So here ya go - drugs, mobs, criminal ties (family ties no less, not just guilty by association), lying, cheating, stealing..... and then there's Sarah Pilan. What was all that about with the bridge to nowhere? She said that she said "Thanks, but no thanks" - but is that what really happened? Nope - she was all for the idea in the beginning, she even accepted some of the funding. In March of this year, the project was so far behind that it was going to take an additional $239,000,000.00 to complete. She realized she didn't have enough to complete the project and it was unlikely that she would get additional funds, so she canceled it. It's just not the same as "Thanks, but no thanks". The duplicity of these people gives me the creeps.
Cindy McCain: Painful secretsBy Leonard Doyle in WashingtonSaturday, 30 August 2008
She would rather be known as a philanthropist than as a wealthy heiress. But the wife of the Republican candidate could not avoid having other aspects of her life come under the media spotlight
Americans don't know a lot about the prospective Republican First Lady, apart from the crucial fact that she is a fabulously wealthy heiress to the Hensley beer fortune in Arizona. Recently they learned that she owns more homes than she or John McCain can enumerate. By the last count, Cindy McCain owns 10 homes. There is an apartment near Washington DC; two condominiums in Coronado, near San Diego as well as the one her father left her in La Jolla. She lives in a $4,700,000.00 pad on top of one of Phoenix's fanciest new luxury towers. She also owns holiday homes in the countryside near Sedona, Arizona.
Her vast wealth and many homes make it difficult for researchers to pin down certain aspects of her personal life and a Washington Post team of investigative reporters has so far turned up little of substance to embarrass the candidate before the November elections. The Hensleys have long been members of the Phoenix elite.
Will Sarah Palin be McCain's running mate?
Sarah Heath Palin (born February 11, 1964) is the current Governor of Alaska, and a member of the Republican Party. She is the youngest and first female governor of Alaska. He is the Republican vice presidential candidate for the November 2008 election. Brought to statewide attention because of her whistleblowing on ethical violations by state Republican Party leaders,[1] she won election in 2006 by first defeating the incumbent governor in the Republican primary, then a former Democratic Alaskan governor in the general election. On August 29, the Associated Press reported that "speculation [has] moved to [Palin as a] darkhorse" pick for the vice president running mate slot by presumptive Republican nominee John McCain.[2] The CNBC news service is now reporting that Palin will in fact be the GOP vice-presidential nominee.[3]
She is reported to be a possible choice for the Republican Party's nomination as Vice President of the United States in the 2008 election. Formal announcement of the presumptive nominee will be made in Dayton, Ohio on August 29, 2008, by Presidential candidate John McCain.
See http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/conventions/videos/20080828_OBAMA_SPEECH.html?th&emc=th#
For easy reference, I thought I'd post the upcoming debate schedule here, as it is hard to find anywhere else in the Obama site.
First presidential debate:Friday, September 26University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS
Vice presidential debate:Thursday, October 2Washington University in St. Louis, MO
Second presidential debate:Tuesday, October 7Belmont University, Nashville, TN
Third presidential debate:Wednesday, October 15Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY
Those that were fortunate enough to watch the coverage of the count, WE SAW HISTORY BEING MADE!!!! GOD BLESS AMERICA!!! ALL HUMANS IN AMERICA - we are created equal~BELIEVE!!!!
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/08/26/michelle_obama/print.html
Isn't she lovely?
In her prime-time speech Monday, Michelle Obama foiled her harshest detractors and perhaps even won over Middle America.
By Rebecca Traister
As the first black woman ever to make a beeline for the East Wing, Obama, a lawyer with degrees from Princeton and Harvard, has been dogged by an aura of suspicion: about her brains and politics and attitude and all sorts of things that stand in for both racial and gender discomfort. Early on, Maureen Dowd tagged her "emasculating"; she's been attacked over her patriotism; there were the insidious "whitey" whispers. The infamous New Yorker cover summed it up by caricaturing her as a slinky, Afro'd Angela Davis, saucily giving her man a so-called terrorist fist bump.
August 24, 2008
Obama Chooses Biden as Running Mate
By ADAM NAGOURNEY and JEFF ZELENY
WASHINGTON — Senator Barack Obama has chosen Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware to be his running mate, turning to a leading authority on foreign policy and a longtime Washington hand to fill out the Democratic ticket, Mr. Obama announced in text and e-mail messages early Saturday.
Mr. Obama’s selection ended a two-month search that was conducted almost entirely in secret. It reflected a critical strategic choice by Mr. Obama: To go with a running mate who could reassure voters about gaps in his résumé, rather than to pick someone who could deliver a state or reinforce Mr. Obama’s message of change.
Mr. Biden is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and is familiar with foreign leaders and diplomats around the world. Although he initially voted to authorize the war in Iraq — Mr. Obama opposed it from the start — Mr. Biden became a persistent critic of President George W. Bush’s policies in Iraq.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Military donations seen favoring ObamaAssociated Press
U.S. soldiers have donated more presidential campaign money to Democratic Sen. Barack Obama than to Republican Sen. John McCain, a reversal of previous campaigns in which military donations tended to favor Republican White House hopefuls, a nonpartisan group reported Thursday.
Troops serving abroad have given nearly six times as much money to Mr. Obama's presidential campaign as they have to Mr. McCain's, the Center for Responsive Politics said.
