IOWA
PRESIDENTIAL WATCH
Iowa...
Where Presidents Begin
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on each candidate to see today's news stories
(caricatures by
Linda Eddy)
Weekend Report, Sept. 13-14, 2008
GENERAL NEWS HEADLINES with excerpts
Polls:
Gallup Daily: McCain/Palin up 3
Kruthammer: Charlie Gibson's gaffe
Charlie
Gibson got it wrong -- there is no single meaning of the Bush
Doctrine.
"... And at least she didn't pretend to know -- while he looked down his nose and over his glasses with weary disdain, sighing and "sounding like an impatient teacher," as the [New York] Times noted.
In doing so, he captured perfectly the establishment snobbery and
intellectual condescension that has characterized the chattering
classes'
reaction to the mother of five who presumes to play on their stage."
see also:
WashingtonPost: Many versions of 'Bush Doctrine'
Ex-Clinton aide Mark Penn:
media is on very dangerous ground
I
think here the media is on very dangerous ground. I
think that when you see them going through every single
expense report that Governor Palin ever filed, if they
don't do that for all four of the candidates, they're on
very dangerous ground. I think the media so far has been
the biggest loser in this race. And they continue to
have growing credibility problems.
...I think that the media is doing the kinds of stories on Palin that they're not doing on the other candidates. And that's going to subject them to people concluding that they're giving her a tougher time.
... What happened here very clearly is that the controversy over Palin led to 37 million Americans tuning into a vice-presidential speech, something that is unprecedented, because they wanted to see for themselves. This is an election in which the voters are going to decide for themselves. The media has lost credibility with them.
UPI: ABC grilled Palin hard; but it may backfire
The double-standard Gibson applied to Palin, compared
with the uncritical media platforms repeatedly offered to Obama, who
has had zero executive experience ru
Gibson's aggressive approach appeared to take Palin by surprise: He was clearly attempting to put her on point by presenting her as having extreme religious views. This again, however, appears to be a double-standard., as Palin grew up in the Assemblies of God, one of the largest Christian denominations in America with 16 million members, and is now a member of the Wasilla Bible Church. Even now, Obama has yet to receive any comparable grilling on his 20-year attendance in the congregation of the notoriously racist Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Palin zings Obama for not picking Hillary Clinton
"I think he's regretting not picking her now, I do," Palin told Charlie Gibson tonight on World News with Charles Gibson. "What, what determination, and grit, and even grace through some tough shots that were fired her way -- she handled those well."
see also:
Palin
on whether she ever tried to ban books:
It's an old wives' tale
Obama-OOPS!
Women & equal pay:
McCain's senate office more lucrative than
Obama's
... on average, Obama's female staffers earn just 83 cents for every dollar his male staffers make.
... women in John McCain's office make $1.04 for every dollar a man makes. In fact, all other things being equal, a typical female staffer could earn 21 cents more per dollar paid to her male counterpart -- while adding $10,726 to her annual income -- by leaving Barack Obama's office and going to work for John McCain.
... In short, these statistics suggest that John McCain is more than fair with his female employees, while Barack Obama -- at the expense of the women who work for him -- quietly perpetuates the very same pay-equity divide that he loudly denounces. Of all people, the Democratic standard bearer should understand that equal pay begins at home.
Obama ad mocks McCain's inability to
send e-mail.
Trouble is, he can't due to tortured fingers
BostonGlobe article from 2000:
From the Boston Globe (March 4, 2000):
McCain gets emotional at the mention of military families needing food stamps or veterans lacking health care. The outrage comes from inside: McCain's severe war injuries prevent him from combing his hair, typing on a keyboard, or tying his shoes. Friends marvel at McCain's encyclopedic knowledge of sports. He's an avid fan - Ted Williams is his hero - but he can't raise his arm above his shoulder to throw a baseball.
THE CANDIDATES:
John McCain & Sarah Palin... today's headlines with excerpts
Palin powers abortion groups' fundraising
Advocacy groups on both sides of the abortion issue are reporting a surge in fundraising in reaction to newly selected Republican vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin...
A
joint legislative committee Friday voted to subpoena Palin's husband,
Todd Palin, and a dozen others as part of its probe into whether the
Alaska governor used her office to settle a personal score.
Lawmakers took that step because several members of Palin's administration in recent days canceled interviews with the legislature's investigator, former prosecutor Stephen Branchflower. In a statement, Palin's second in command, Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, called the investigation a "complete farce."
"I'm disappointed by the complete hijacking of what should be a fair and objective process," Parnell said. "It is troubling to see partisan Democrats and Obama supporters abuse their power, the legal system and trust of Alaskans to smear Governor Palin to score political points."
Palin says she'll prod McCain on drilling in Alaska wilderness
"I'm going to keep working on that one with him," Palin told ABC News during her first broadcast interview taped on Thursday. Some of the interview, which focused on national security issues and her readiness to lead, was repeated Friday on the network's Good Morning America program.
McCain has made more oil and gas drilling off the U.S. coasts a major part of his presidential campaign, but he is opposed to development in the massive Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, known as ANWR.
Palin 'governed from the center,' went after big oil
in her 21 months as governor, Palin has taken few steps to advance culturally conservative causes. Instead, after she knocked off an incumbent amid an influence-peddling scandal linked to the oil industry, Palin pursued a populist agenda that toughened ethics rules and raised taxes on oil and gas companies.
And she did so while relying on Democratic votes in the Legislature.
"She has governed from the center," says Rebecca Braun, author of Alaska Budget Report, a non-partisan political newsletter. "She has in some small ways supported her religious views — for example, proposing money to continue the office of faith-based and community initiatives — but she has actually been conspicuously absent on social issues. She came in with a big oil and gas agenda, which really required Democratic allies to get through."
Barack Obama & Joe Biden... today's headlines with excerpts'
take a look at this video - now with over 6 millions views:
Panic sets in for Obama, Democrats
For a “change” candidate, Obama appears to be a man locked in time, unable to move past criticism, unable to move from the grip of the Democratic left, unable to adapt to the changed reality that the campaign is not the referendum on the war in Iraq or on the administration of George W. Bush that he’d envisioned...
Hurricane politics: Obama cancels SNL appearance
With
a deadly hurricane aimed at Texas, Barack Obama cancelled his
appearance on Saturday Night Live this evening, spokesman Jen Psaki in
a statement.
"In the light of the unfolding crisis in Texas, Senator Obama has decided it is no longer appropriate to appear on Saturday Night Live [Saturday] evening," she said.
For
Biden, there's no avoiding Sarah Palin
Biden’s equanimity in the face of the Palin juggernaut sometimes conceals the fact that he’s gearing up for a fight. A campaign aide said he is determined not to repeat the mistake of the past two presidential cycles when Democrats underestimated Dick Cheney in the debates.
The campaign views Palin as a tough debater who has trounced two political heavyweights in Alaskan politics.
Biden gave average of $369 to charity a year
Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden and his wife gave an average of $369 a year to charity during the past decade, his tax records show.
Over the decade, the Bidens reported a total of $3,690 in charitable donations, or 0.2% of their income.
see also:
Biden releases tax records to pressure Palin
Biden's son quits lobbying work
Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden's son Hunter has stopped working as a federal lobbyist, work that had made him a Republican target in the presidential contest.
"I no longer expect to act as a federal lobbyist," Hunter Biden said in a letter to the Clerk of the House and the Senate Office of Public Records. The letter is dated Aug. 25 and was made public Friday.
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