Politics: April 2008 Archives

Print Story: Barack Obama's counterpunching style on Yahoo! News:

"'She's running around talking about how this is an insult to sportsmen, how she values the Second Amendment, she's talking like she's Annie Oakley!’ he said at a stop in Pennsylvania. ‘Hillary Clinton's out there like she's on the duck blind every Sunday, she's packin' a six shooter! C'mon! She knows better. That's some politics being played by Hillary Clinton. I want to see that picture of her out there in the duck blinds.’"

(Via Yahoo! News.)

Obama is a tough cookie!

Most of the articles I've read in the media put Barack on the defensive. Watching the video, I don't get a sense of defensiveness although his opponents will twist his words. Word twisting is part and parcel of a campaign. But the reports I've read don't seem to portray Obama's demeanor at all.

Powell Has Praise for Obama - New York Times:

"‘I thought that Senator Obama handled the issue well,’ Mr. Powell told ABC’s ‘Good Morning America.’ ‘He didn’t abandon the minister that brought him closer to his faith, but at the same time he deplored the kinds of statements that the Reverend Wright had made.’"

(Via NY Times.)

I wonder with the hit job on Rev. Wright and his church, if Powell's statement will have an effect.

Cheney, others OK'd harsh interrogations - Yahoo! News:

"Bush administration officials from Vice President Dick Cheney on down signed off on using harsh interrogation techniques against suspected terrorists after asking the Justice Department to endorse their legality, The Associated Press has learned. The officials also took care to insulate President Bush from a series of meetings where CIA interrogation methods, including waterboarding, which simulates drowning, were discussed and ultimately approved."

(Via Yahoo! News.)

I actually saw this on The West Wing. General would fall on his sword if Bartlett's assassination of a terrorist is found out. Great drama, but highly disturbing in real life. It's always easy to go along when they aren't coming for you. That's why we have to stand up against torture regardless of whose the target. Even if you have no morals whatsoever the poem First they came... provides good enough reason to do so. Ashcroft's quote at the end of the story is great.

"Why are we talking about this in the White House?" the network quoted Ashcroft as saying during one meeting. "History will not judge this kindly."

Political Punch:

"In Eugene, Ore., Saturday. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., attempted to change the measure by which anyone might assess who criticized the Iraq war first, her or Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., by saying those keeping records should start in January 2005, when Obama joined the Senate. (A measure that conveniently avoids her October 2002 vote to authorize use of force against Iraq at a time that Obama was speaking out against the war.) She claimed that using that measure, she criticized the war in Iraq before Obama did.

But Clinton's claim was false."

(Via Political Punch.)

Is it me or is Hillary turning into George Bush in Democrat drag? This isn't even a clever misleading lie half-truth. It's an easy fact check call. Wow. Talk about looking desperate.

Heavy Troop Deployments Are Called Major Risk - washingtonpost.com:

"Senior Army and Marine Corps leaders said yesterday that the increase of more than 30,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has put unsustainable levels of stress on U.S. ground forces and has put their readiness to fight other conflicts at the lowest level in years."

(Via The Washington Post.)

What are you left with when you kill the goose to get more and more of those golden eggs?

AlterNet: The Top 10 Myths Keeping Hillary in the Race:

"Myth: Well, I say they are disenfranchised, and Hillary Clinton is their champion.

Only when it suits her. Last fall, when the decision was first made to flush 100% of Michigan and Florida delegates, Clinton firmly ratified it."

(Via AlterNet.org.)

Usually, I'm not a fan of AlterNet's writers. So liberal, they lose touch with reality a bit too often for my taste, but this piece was amusing with a good ol' fashioned sprinkling of—gasp!—facts thrown in!