Clipmarks | wiccantexan's 'politics' clips

No Palin interviews unless "deference" present

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 17:39:09 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan
clipper's remarks: Awww, the pit bull hiding behind the big boys unless the rest of the pack treats her nice? Yeah, she's all ready for the world stage on Day One.

Clip Source: blogs.abcnews.com

Rick Davis, campaign manager for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., just told Fox News Channel's Chris Wallace that McCain running mate Gov. Sarah Palin won't subject herself to any tough questions from reporters "until the point in time when she'll be treated with respect and deference."

Davis assailed the way the media had discussed Palin and her family in the last week and said the campaign would wait until a less hostile media environment.

So when will she subject herself to questions?

"When we think it's time and when she feels comfortable doing it," Davis said, praising a Fox News Channel profile of Palin that ran last night.

Wallace said inappropriate intrusions into Palin's family and personal life aside, there are legitimate questions about whether she is prepared to be vice president.

Tags: palin, politics, mccain, media

Palin's RNC speech bent the truth

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 04:16:12 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan
clipper's remarks: Details and examples in article.

Clip Source: abcnews.go.com

•PALIN: "[Obama] is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word 'victory' except when he's talking about his own campaign."

FACT: On July 15, in a speech in Washington, D.C., Obama twice used the word "victory" in reference to Iraq.

•PALIN: "There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform -- not even in the state senate."

Tags: politics, palin, obama

Republicans Lack Heart!

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 04:35:45 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan
clipper's remarks: The McCain campaign seems to be making a habit of this.

Clip Source: www.tmz.com

Ann and Nancy Wilson are pissed at the Republican Party and have fired off a cease and desist letter to the McCain/Palin campaign.

Specifically, the Heart women are upset that the GOP has used their classic "Barracuda" as a theme song for Sarah Palin. TMZ obtained a statement from Heart's rep, who says "The Republican campaign did not ask for permission to use the song, nor would they have been granted that permission."

The statement goes on: "We have asked the Republican campaign publicly not to use our music. We hope our wishes will be honored."

Tags: mccain, politics, music

Obama Answers Republican Ridicule

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 04:21:07 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.cbsnews.com

"You're hearing an awful lot about me, most of which is not true," he told a group of union workers at a hydro plant in York, Penn. "What you're not hearing about is you."

"You haven't heard a word about how we're going to deal with any aspect of the economy that is affecting you and your pocketbook."

In Virginia, running mate Joe Biden echoed that complaint.

"Not one time did I hear the phrase middle class pass their lips," he said.

Democrats noted the repeated attempts to ridicule Obama's work as a community organizer among unemployed steelworkers in Chicago as a way of questioning his experience.

"We're talking about being in touch with the homeless, being in touch with the under-educated, being in touch with the unemployed," said Medina. "A community organizer is that presence for hope when hope doesn't exist."

Though Obama caught only a small part of Palin's speech last night, his aides watched and were impressed. She is a skilled politician, they said, and deft at going on the attack.

Tags: obama, republican, palin, politics, community

Theocrats to Pray for McCain's Death

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 23:55:10 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.talk2action.org

The more theocratic elements of the Religious Right have a disturbing habit, (more like a practice) of invoking "imprecatory prayer" -- a call for God to literally pour his wrath down on those they consider to be his enemies.

The most recent target of theoractic imprecations is none other than Republican presidential candidate John McCain. They hope that an act of God will make Sarah Palin president.

Well, that is quite a standard, and one that is arguably prone to abuse. That said, at least two people have written in recent days that hope that McCain/Palin are elected so that they can pray for God to crush John McCain and to elevate Sarah Palin to her rendevous with destiny.

Tags: mccain, palin, politics, religion, god

Sarah Palin: half-baked Alaska

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 05:11:58 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

For a politician with the nickname of “Barracuda”, Sarah Palin has been downright meek in her first 72 hours on the McCain presidential ticket.

this was a nakedly political move that may well backfire on Mr McCain. If it does, he will have only himself to blame.

On a purely tactical level the McCain campaign has deprived itself of what was its most powerful argument against Mr Obama - his inexperience. It will also focus new attention on Mr McCain's age and health. He is 72 and a cancer survivor, and the cliché about vice-presidents being a heartbeat away from the presidency remains as true as ever.

Mrs Palin's selection has made for great political theatre. It is also profoundly irresponsible.

Messrs Obama and Biden will both have to guard against condescension towards Mrs Palin. But voters - especially women voters - may yet decide that neither has been quite so condescending as Team McCain.

Tags: mccain, palin, politics

Roe v. Wade makes campaign comeback

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 02:14:59 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

The refrain in many of the Democratic leaders’ responses to Sen. John McCain’s choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate: Roe v. Wade, Roe v. Wade.

The 1973 Supreme Court decision nationalizing a woman’s right to get an abortion was a top-of-mind issue for top Democrats.

Voters, beware, the Democrats' message seemed to be: Palin is not in favor of abortion rights.

The Democrats seemed to be concerned that some voters might be under the misapprehension that Palin was a pro-choice woman — or that because she is a woman, it might help McCain get the votes of pro-choice women.

If McCain were to win the election but not serve out his term, it would be Palin nominating justices for any Supreme Court vacancies.

Tags: politics, mccain, palin, abortion, supreme court

Clinton to release her delegates to Obama

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 04:07:12 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will release her delegates to Sen. Barack Obama, a Clinton spokesman said Sunday, the eve of the Democratic National Convention.

Also Sunday, the Democratic Party decided delegates from Michigan and Florida -- states that had been penalized for moving their 2008 presidential primaries to January -- will get full voting rights at the event.

Clinton, who suspended her presidential campaign in June after Obama secured enough delegates to win the party's nomination, will meet with her delegates at a reception in Denver on Wednesday afternoon -- before that evening's delegate vote on the nominee, spokesman Philippe Reines said.

"[The reception is] an opportunity for Sen. Clinton to see her delegates -- many for the first time since the primaries ended -- thank them for their hard work and support and most importantly, to encourage them to support and work for Sen. Obama as strongly as she has, in order to elect him in November," Reines said.

Tags: clinton, obama, politics

Oh, good, Mr Bill, way to unite the party

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 05:00:29 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan
clipper's remarks: Want some cheese with that whine?

Clip Source: politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com

DENVER (CNN) – Hillary Clinton will be on hand for Barack Obama's acceptance speech, but according to a source close to former President Bill Clinton, he will not: the source tells CNN that Clinton will not join his wife at Invesco Field Thursday night.

Tags: clinton, politics, obama

Watchdogs make it harder for politicians to stretch the truth

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:38:23 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: features.csmonitor.com

Gilding the lily is nothing new to politics. From the 1840s when William Henry Harrison claimed to have been born in a log cabin (it was actually a Virginia plantation) to Ronald Reagan’s reminiscing about flying over Germany in World War II (he did, but only in a movie), politicians have taken perfectly good stories and embellished them.

This campaign is no exception.

Such exaggerations may simply be the product of a faulty memory or a desire to be “better” than one is in a political culture that requires larger-than-life idols. But with the advent of the fact-checking obsessed blogosphere – and a media racing to keep up – such self-aggrandizement doesn’t last as long as it once did.

“But now there are too many professional and amateur fact-checkers,” he says. “And there are hundreds if not thousands of bloggers who have detailed knowledge on specialized information, so you really can’t get away with stretching the truth anymore.”

Tags: politics, stories, obama, mccain, internet, bloggers

Bob Barr recants his position on Wicca in the military?

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 03:44:08 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.independentpoliticalreport.com

Ed Brayton (Dispatches from the Culture Wars) asked Barr if he would now, as Libertarian candidate, repudiate his 1999 attempt to prohibit the practice of Wicca, a neo-Pagan religion, on military bases. Barr said that he has changed his mind, citing “reports” that the practice of Wicca was causing problems that are apparently not an issue now.

I did ask him for any specific problems that were reported to him back in 1999 by these military leaders, but he said he didn’t want to get into specifics. I’m sure that’s because there are no specific incidents and those military leaders who complained to him did so out of bigotry, or because the problems it caused were really caused by bigotry against Wiccans. He likened it to his stance on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell for gays, which he previously supported but now that it’s clear that allowing gays to serve doesn’t really cause any problems with unit cohesion and good order, he thinks it should be repealed and they should be allowed to serve openly.

Tags: politics, wicca, pagan, military, bob barr

No Ordinary Joe

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 16:18:36 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan
clipper's remarks: What does Biden bring to the ticket? A lot.

Clip Source: www.newsweek.com

The minute-by-minute story of how Obama handled the selection is interesting, and revealing of the way the Democratic nominee works. He insisted on the utmost secrecy; he paid the losers the courtesy of essentially telling them "no" to their faces--not an easy thing to do. And he swallowed his considerable pride and all but confessed his lack of knowledge of foreign affairs by selecting as his running mate the Senate's senior Democratic leader on that topic.

In short, Obama behaved like a grownup. Even his much-criticized failure to "vet" Sen. Hillary Clinton means less than meets the eye. I talked two months ago to one of her closest legal advisors, who told me that she didn't really WANT to be considered for the number two job--in no small measure because the process would have required Obama's lawyers to comb through her husband's foundation and its murky sources of income.

In that sense, Obama did her a favor by not really demanding to consider her. She would have had to say "no."

Tags: obama, politics, president

Obama's birth certificate in high demand

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 03:01:16 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.honoluluadvertiser.com

Hawai'i birth certificates — just as with death, marriage and certain divorce documents — are released only to people with a "tangible interest,"

The Obama campaign said it has posted a copy of his birth certificate at www.fightthesm ears.com in response to Internet chatter that the Illinois senator is not a natural-born citizen. But the posting has done little to curb the nearly weekly requests to the Health Department for copies of the original, Okubo said.

Some skeptics point to the lack of an official state seal on the birth certificate posted on the Obama campaign Web site.

But seals often are placed on the back of the birth certificate, Okubo said, "and whether it shows through depends on how much force was put into it."

Others wonder why a large black rectangle appears next to the words, "CERTIFICATE NO."

"The thing that's redacted is just our file number," she said. "Potentially, if you have that number, you could break into the system."

Tags: politics, obama, birth, official

Documents: Julia Child part of WWII era spy ring

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:43:32 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Famed chef Julia Child shared a secret with Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg and Chicago White Sox catcher Moe Berg at a time when the Nazis threatened the world. They served in an international spy ring managed by the Office of Strategic Services, an early version of the CIA created in World War II by President Franklin Roosevelt.

The secret comes out Thursday, all of the names and previously classified files identifying nearly 24,000 spies who formed the first centralized intelligence effort by the United States. The National Archives, which this week released a list of the names found in the records, will make available for the first time all 750,000 pages identifying the vast spy network of military and civilian operatives.

They were soldiers, actors, historians, lawyers, athletes, professors, reporters.

They studied military plans, created propaganda, infiltrated enemy ranks and stirred resistance among foreign troops.

Tags: history, spying, politics, intelligence

Edwards's Ex-Mistress Will Not Pursue Paternity Test

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 00:19:43 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan
clipper's remarks: aka, she'd be proven a liar and give Edwards public sympathy.

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

Rielle Hunter, the former presidential campaign aide who had an affair with John Edwards, said yesterday that she will not pursue DNA testing to establish the paternity of her 5-month-old daughter, despite the former senator's offer to participate in such a test.

In a statement provided to The Washington Post, Hunter said through her attorney that she would not take a genetic test "now or in the future."

"She wishes to maintain her privacy and her daughter's privacy," he said in the statement. "Furthermore, Rielle will not participate in DNA testing or any other invasion of her or her daughter's privacy now or in the future."

"I would welcome participating in a paternity test," Edwards told ABC's Bob Woodruff on Friday. "Be happy to participate in one. I know that it's not possible that this child could be mine because of the timing of events. . . . Happy to take a paternity test and would love to see it happen."

Tags: politics, edwards, paternity, dna