Clipmarks | Presidential politics Clips

Rasmussen Poll for Saturday, Oct 11

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 19:07:49 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday shows Barack Obama attracting 52% of the vote while John McCain earns 45%. This is the first update based entirely on interviews conducted after the second Presidential debate and it shows virtually no change. On Tuesday morning, just before the debate, Obama was leading 52% to 44%.

In fact, the race has remained quite stable for more than two weeks. This is the sixteenth straight day that Obama’s support has ranged from 50% to 52% while McCain has been at 44% of 45%

Currently, Obama has the edge in every state won by John Kerry four years ago. However, of the states won by George Bush, McCain is trailing in four and five others are considered a toss-up. As a result, Electoral College projections now show Obama leading 248-163. When “leaners” are included, Obama leads 300-174

Rasmussen Markets data shows Obama is given a 77.9 % chance of winning in November

Tags: obama, mccain, politics, election, poll

Lifehacker Compiles Places for Political Info

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 18:14:20 GMT

clipped by: Lara Nieberding

Clip Source: lifehacker.com

10. Compare the candidates.

2008 Presidential Candidate Selector gives you the skinny on the major-topic stances of every candidate, including most of the third-party contenders

9. Go poll-crazy at FiveThirtyEight.com.

Silver's FiveThirtyEight grabs all the polls it can find, weighs them based on methodologies and past accuracy, projects data for regions where it can't find polls, then runs thousands of simulated elections to come up with a likely outcome

7. Follow the money.

The graph-happy folks at Many Works have put together a ton of interactive (and usually Java-required) tools, including this earmarks visualization of per-capita earmark spending. Now you're not just mad, you're madly informed.

6. See what the candidates said about your hot-button topic.

In Quotes lets you type a term and see how Obama and McCain referenced it in speeches, interviews, and other places.

2 Track fund raising and donations by candidates (and your neighbors).

OpenSecrets.org has maps, graphs, and details

Tags: lifehacker, politics, information

Palin vs Palin

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 16:32:17 GMT

clipped by: spirithiker
clipper's remarks: Sarah Palin isn’t in this election to change anything in Washington, she is in this race to win. This is nothing more than a contest to her. Her competitive spirit is dictating that she not back down (an unthinkable act contrary to her very nature) and do whatever it takes to win.

The current state of the republican party has degenerated into an unethical, immoral, propaganda generating, smear machine designed more for character assassination than solidifying itself as a viable platform of positive change.

John McCain, who I believe is a decent person, has made a grave error in judgment, perhaps blinded by the prize, but nonetheless, has done himself and his party (and therefore his country) a grave disservice. As a result of his choice the world now sees him as selling out his principles for his party.

His only hope to win this election (and granted it would be an unprecedented and desperate attempt) is to replace Sarah Palin with, pretty much, anyone else.

Clip Source: www.truthdig.com

At the conclusion of the constitutional convention in 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked, “Well Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?” He sagely responded, “A Republic, if you can keep it.”

If freedom is to flourish, they must be quick to rebuke government’s propensity toward tyranny, though their votes, stinging criticisms or protest marches.

Echoing Reagan, Palin continued: “We don’t pass [freedom] to our children in the bloodstream; we have to fight for it and protect it,

On the basis of her comments in the debate, her campaign speeches and her interviews, it appears that she is undisturbed by presidential practices and theories of power that have crippled freedom.

In the 1970s, the disgraced Richard Nixon famously insisted that “when the president does it, that means it is not illegal.”

And what is the Alaska governor’s public response to this assault on American freedoms? She stands on the political stump and applauds a corrupt ideology.

Tags: palin, mccain, politics

Ralph Nader on His Run for President

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 16:23:41 GMT

clipped by: renerodz

Clip Source: www.npr.org

To Nader supporters, the bailout package is a perilously expensive invoice for taxpayers to rescue the very people who were reckless and greedy. Ralph Nader, independent candidate for president, speaks about his latest presidential campaign.

Tags: politics, election2008, bailout, nader

Turning the argument around

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 16:11:57 GMT

clipped by: sillysam

Clip Source: townhall.com

Yet, can one imagine how the media would have reacted had they learned that a GOP presidential nominee was introduced to politics and worked in harness with a KKK bomber of black churches in the 1960s, who was quoted the morning of Oklahoma City as saying he wished he had planted more bombs?

panel found palin abused power

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:57:52 GMT

clipped by: doodleicious
clipper's remarks: evidentally all thats glowing pink to red are not just lips

Clip Source: www.boingboing.net

Panel finds Palin abused power; Judge orders email from her private accounts be preserved

In another setback for Ms. Palin, a judge on Friday ordered the state of Alaska to preserve any government-related e-mail messages that Gov. Sarah Palin sent from private accounts. The ruling, by Craig Stowers of Anchorage superior court, came as the result of a lawsuit brought by a resident, Andree McLeod, against Ms. Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee. Ms. Palin has occasionally used private e-mail accounts to conduct state business, and her Yahoo accounts were hacked last month. The judge ordered the attorney general to contact Yahoo and other private carriers to preserve any e-mail messages sent and received on those accounts. An assistant attorney general told the court that the governor was no longer using here private e-mail accounts to conduct state business.

Tags: politics

Palin abused her power as governor

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:16:29 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: No doubt, this will be the 50th version of this report. It is different to the one put out by the Republican Party yesterday in an arrogant attempt to confuse the uneducated.

Clip Source: www.theage.com.au

Sarah Palin unlawfully abused her power as governor by trying to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper, the chief investigator of an Alaska legislative panel concluded today.

The politically charged inquiry imperils her reputation as a reformer on John McCain's Republican presidential ticket.

Investigator Stephen Branchflower, in a report by a bipartisan panel that investigated the matter, found Palin in violation of a state ethics law that prohibits public officials using their office for personal gain.

The inquiry looked into her dismissal of Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan, who said he lost his job because he resisted pressure to fire a state trooper involved in a bitter divorce from the governor's sister.

Palin says Monegan was fired as part of a legitimate budget dispute.

The panel found Palin let the family grudge influence her decision-making even if it was not the sole reason Monegan was dismissed. "I feel vindicated,'' Monegan said

Tags: politics

McCain's Chilling Dance With the Dark Side

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 21:48:59 GMT

clipped by: keeth
clipper's remarks: Now, I'm not saying that it's wrong to ask questions about Obama's relationship, such as it was, with Bill Ayers. Or with Tony Rezko or with Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Just as it wouldn't be inappropriate to raise questions about McCain's association with G. Gordon Liddy, the convicted Watergate burglar whose colorful history includes telling listeners to his radio show in 1994 to shoot federal agents in the head. When McCain went on Liddy's radio show in November 2007, he told Liddy, "I'm proud of you, I'm proud of your family... It's always a pleasure for me to come on your program, Gordon, and congratulations on your continued success and adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great."

The candidates' associations with these people, and their responses to questions about them, give you a view into their judgment. But at a time of great economic uncertainty -- so uncertain that the smartest people in the world are scratching their heads about what to do -- whi

Clip Source: voices.washingtonpost.com

McCain's Chilling Dance With the Dark Side

So the McCain camp is trying to raise doubts about Barack Obama -- even though the Illinois senator has been on the national stage for four years and has been under the presidential campaign microscope for the last 20 months. They seem to have no qualms appealing to the cultural fears of their agitated, and now energized, base by practically branding Obama as un-American or anti-American. And this is eliciting an ugliness at McCain-Palin events that is justifiably raising alarms that some nut job is going to act on the Republican ticket's cynical campaigning.

For two days now, there have been stories about boisterous McCain-Palin supporters screaming inflammatory words at the very mention of Obama's name. Words like "terrorist" and "Kill him!" and "treason." And at no point has McCain or Palin called on those folks and others who would imitate them to stop.

If they keep doing what they're doing, they'll deserve to lose.

Tags: mccain, palin, obama, politics, rallies, anger, rage, hatred, racism, smear

New BBC Series on America

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 20:29:01 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: The first episode of The American Future: A History will be broadcast on Friday 10 October on BBC Two at 9pm BST. There are three further episodes on subsequent Fridays, at the same time, covering war, faith, and immigration.

Video at source. Series will perhaps we available at BBC site.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Barack Obama's emergence as a presidential candidate in the US represents a profound change in the American psyche, distinguished historian Simon Schama argues in his new series for the BBC, The American Future.

He says that although Americans have a belief in their country as a "city on a hill" - a shining example to others - they are not complacent about the economic and foreign policy issues facing the US.

Americans are by no means as militaristic as the rest of the world seems to believe, he says, with the debate about how big the military should be going right back to the Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.

But Professor Schama believes that one of America's great strengths is its ability to re-invent itself at the time of crisis.

And at the moment America's self-image is being remade.

Tags: simon schama, american politics, history

Sarah Palin clears Herself of Wrongdoing

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:04:59 GMT

clipped by: spirithiker
clipper's remarks: This is the height of political arrogance.

I guess, she is practicing to be president.

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

Sarah Palin has given herself a pre-emptive pardon, clearing herself of any wrongdoing in an abuse of power investigation.

Trying to head off a potentially embarrassing state ethics report on the Republican vice presidential nominee, campaign officials released their own report last night that clears her in the so-called 'Troopergate' probe.

The commissioner, Walter Monegan, says he was dismissed in July for resisting pressure from Mrs Palin's husband, Todd Palin, and numerous top aides to fire state trooper Mike Wooten.

Lawmakers are expected to release their own findings today. Campaign officials for Mr McCain and Mrs Palin have yet to see that report - the result of an investigation that began before she was tapped as McCain's running mate,

Tags: politics, abuse of power

Palin pre-empts state report, clears self in probe

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 04:26:13 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Trying to head off a potentially embarrassing state ethics report on GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, campaign officials released their own report Thursday that clears her of any wrongdoing.

Lawmakers are expected to release their own findings Friday. Campaign officials have yet to see that report — the result of an investigation that began before she was tapped as McCain's running mate — but said the investigation has falsely portrayed a legitimate policy dispute between a governor and her commissioner as something inappropriate.

"It is tragic that a false story hatched by a blogger after drinks with Trooper Wooten led the legislature to allocate over $100,000 of public money to be spent in what has become a politically driven investigation," the 21-page report concludes.

The McCain campaign says the investigation has become "muddied with innuendo, rumor and partisan politics."

Tags: palin, ethics, legal, politics

Major Shift in Faith Voters toward Obama, Survey Finds

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:12:20 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.christianpost.com

Not only is Sen. Barack Obama ahead in general national polls, but a new survey finds that the Democratic presidential candidate has made significant inroads among faith voters.

In comparison to the 2004 Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry, Obama has made significant gains among monthly worship attenders. Among this group of voters, who attend religious services once or twice a month, 60 percent support Obama in 2008 compared to 49 percent for Kerry in 2004, according to results from the report, “The Faith and American Politics Survey,” sponsored by Faith in Public Life and conducted by Public Religion Research.

Also unlike the 2004 election, more Americans think the Democratic candidate is friendly to religion than the Republican nominee. Forty-nine percent of Americans say Obama is friendly to religion, while 45 percent say the same of McCain.

The poll also found that 71 percent of Americans say it is important for public officials to be comfortable talking about religious values.

Tags: obama, religion, faith, vote

Afghanistan code red

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 23:37:40 GMT

clipped by: deb2012

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

The White House has launched an urgent review of Afghanistan policy, fast-tracked for completion in the next several weeks, amid growing concern that the administration lacks a comprehensive strategy for the foundering war there and as intelligence officials warn of a rapidly worsening situation on the ground.

Analysts have concluded that reconstituted elements of al-Qaeda and the resurgent Taliban are collaborating with an expanding network of militant groups, making the counterinsurgency war infinitely more complicated.

Alarms were first sounded early this year,

But seven months would pass before the administration, distracted by issues as serious as the Iraq war and as far afield as the Olympics, was seized with the urgency to put a new strategy in place.

the temporary deployment of 3,500 more Marines, an appeal for more NATO troops and presidential authorization for U.S. commando raids into Pakistan -- the downward spiral continued

U.S. military deaths

have risen to the highest levels

Tags: war on terror, politics

Palin revives McCarthyism

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:39:56 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "Today, with Fox News, talk radio and a right-wing blogsphere, there is an atmosphere and core of support for this type of thing. Sarah Palin seems like the missing link"

Clip Source: sage

Like Obama, Sarah Palin missed the 60s and the Vietnam war controversies. She grew up when there was no draft, and when disco was more important than politics. She is discovering now her abilities to engage in the type of character assaults that one associates with Joe McCarthy -- guilt by association. Like McCarthy, she has no real boundaries or shame.

McCarthy and McCarthyism were distant and discredited by the Vietnam era, but support for both never disappeared entirely. There were always elements in society that wanted to bring this back. But few people with stature had the stomach to do so. Today, with Fox News, talk radio and a right-wing blogsphere, there is an atmosphere and core of support for this type of thing. Sarah Palin seems like the missing link. A high level political figure that has been elevated to a Vice-Presidential nomination by one of the two main parties -- McCarthy's old party.

Tags: palin, mccarthyism

Feds to look into Lee County Sheriff Scott's 'Hussein' Obama comment at Palin rally

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 20:06:54 GMT

clipped by: Jorjor
clipper's remarks: For the record, it's John Sidney McCain III and Sarah Louise Heath Palin.

Gee..."Heath"...does that mean she's a heathen?

And Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr.

The investigation, though, is not for what Sheriff Scott said, but that he was speaking ex cathedra as a law enforcement official, by virtue of the fact that he was in uniform and on duty at the time he spoke. Had he been in civvies and on his own time, it wouldn't be an issue.

Clip Source: www.news-press.com

One day after Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott sparked national controversy by referring to Democratic presidential candidate as Barack Hussein Obama, the federal government is investigating a complaint about his remark and members of the local ACLU and NAACP have called for an apology, saying Scott’s action was racist.

On Monday, Scott appeared in his uniform in front of more than 9,000 people at a rally for Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and used Obama’s middle name, Hussein.

Scott did not refer to Palin or Republican presidential candidate John McCain by their full names at the event at Germain Arena in Estero.

A complaint sent to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel alleges that Scott violated the Hatch Act because his agency receives federal dollars, and Scott was engaging in political activity while on duty and in uniform. Erica S. Hamrick, senior attorney for the agency, said in an e-mail Tuesday that an investigation was being opened.

Tags: politics, election, mccain, palin, biden, obama