South Carolina Republicans Use Jew Stereotype to Defend DeMint
(CBS/AP)
Last week, State Senator Bakari Sellars wrote in The State that United States Senator Jim DeMint, R-S.C., had failed to do enough to get federal funding for the state. On Sunday, a couple of South Carolina Country Republican Chairmen defended DeMint in a joint letter to a local newspaper where they resorted to the stereotype of penny-pinching Jews to make their point.
In their response, published in The Times and Democrat, Bamberg County GOP Chairman Edwin Merwin and Orangeburg County GOP Chairman James Ulmer offered the following logic:
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Van Jones Resigns as White House Advisor
(You Tube)
After more than a week of withering criticism for past comments, Jones has resigned as an advisor to the White House on green jobs.
The White House announced the news in the early hours of Sunday morning. In a statement, Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, thanked Jones "for his valuable contributions to the Council on Environmental Quality. Over the last six months he has been a strong voice for creating 21st century jobs that improve energy efficiency and utilize renewable resources. We appreciate his hard work and wish him the best moving forward."
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So, Might Beers Also Work With Senate Republicans?
(AP)
Earlier today, President Obama spoke separately with Sgt. J.P. Crowley and Henry Louis Gates Jr. in a bid to defuse the controversy over the July 16 arrest of Gates, a Harvard professor. According to the White House, both Crowley and Gates were invited to jointly meet with the president in "the near future," perhaps share a beer and presumably hash out any lingering misunderstandings.
It was happenstance, but the latest developments hit the wires just as Orin Hatch and John Cornyn, fellow Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced their opposition to Sonia Sotomayor's candidacy to replace the retiring Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court.
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Palin 2.0 Hits The Market
(AP)
Alaska's departing governor continues to hog the political spotlight, this time with an op-ed in the Washington Post, slamming President Obama's cap-and-trade energy plan.
In the Tuesday piece, titled "The 'Cap And Tax' Dead End," Palin described the administration's proposal as "an enormous threat to our economy" which "would undermine our recovery over the short term and would inflict permanent damage."
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Cheney To Seek Higher Office?
When it comes to needling Democrats in one of their most sensitive places, Liz Cheney is proving that the apple doesn't fall far from the family tree.
The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney started the work week dunning the Democrats for being congenitally unable to defend the nation while accusing President Obama of "weakening" the country against its enemies. And oh, did I mention that she may be considering political office in her own right?
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece, Cheney slammed recent speeches by President Obama in Cairo and Russia for papering over the nature of good and evil and the battle between "tyranny and freedom." More specifically, she wrote of the president that "he proclaims moral equivalence between the U.S. and our adversaries, he readily accepts a false historical narrative, and he refuses to stand up against anti-American lies."
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The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney started the work week dunning the Democrats for being congenitally unable to defend the nation while accusing President Obama of "weakening" the country against its enemies. And oh, did I mention that she may be considering political office in her own right?
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece, Cheney slammed recent speeches by President Obama in Cairo and Russia for papering over the nature of good and evil and the battle between "tyranny and freedom." More specifically, she wrote of the president that "he proclaims moral equivalence between the U.S. and our adversaries, he readily accepts a false historical narrative, and he refuses to stand up against anti-American lies."
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The Obama White House's First Try At Second Life
Since entering the White House in January, the Obama administration has made use of a myriad of social networking and Internet communications tools, such as blogs, the YouTube video service and Twitter, to interact with the public.
Come Saturday, you can add a virtual world appearance to the list.
When President Obama, who is visiting Ghana, speaks to a live audience tomorrow morning, his speech will be streamed on Second Life and Metaplace. These computer-simulated worlds offer 3D avatar-driven environments where participants can use voice or text chat to communicate. In this instance, however, there will be no Obama avatar.
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Come Saturday, you can add a virtual world appearance to the list.
When President Obama, who is visiting Ghana, speaks to a live audience tomorrow morning, his speech will be streamed on Second Life and Metaplace. These computer-simulated worlds offer 3D avatar-driven environments where participants can use voice or text chat to communicate. In this instance, however, there will be no Obama avatar.
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Iran Crisis Spawns Odd Bedfellows
(CBS/AP)
In the conservative-leaning New Ledger, Pejman Yousefzadeh says that Iranians still "view the United States as powerful" and makes the case why this is not the time to mumble diplomatic platitudes.
"Those who have opposed the Islamic regime and its various depredations–both inside and outside of Iran–have waited over thirty years for a moment like this one. A moment in which the fundamental nature of the Iranian government could be changed for the better. A moment when, at long last, Iran's leaders may come close to becoming worthy of its people. How devastatingly tragic would it be if this moment were allowed to pass, merely because the Obama administration might overshoot its efforts to refrain from imperialism. Not all silence is golden."
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Palin-Letterman: Culture Wars Redux?
(AP)
Will anybody remember it by next week?
Probably not, though it's making for great theatre in the meantime.
In part, that's because of the personalities involved. Palin, the hottest celebrity in the Republican firmament and Letterman, the late night talk show host (and my fellow CBS employee) who lampooned the Alaska governor during his standup routine Tuesday night.
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Right Wing Extremism: Alive And Well
(AP)
In April, she got an earful from conservative bloggers and radio pundits after DHS issued a nine-page report, "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment," which warned of the potential for violence from rightwing fringe groups.
In part, the critics' distemper was connected to language which they said unfairly singled out returning veterans and conservatives. Here's what the report said:
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Palin's "Rashomon Moment"
(CBS)
Judging from the media's attention to her every move since the November presidential election, Sarah Palin may very well rank as the most fascinating contemporary American politician this side of Barack Obama.
But in the latest chapter of Sarah Watch, a minor kerfuffle has erupted in the blogosphere over whether Palin's attendance at a Washington fundraiser held on behalf of Republican House and Senate candidates Monday night (with the First Dude in tow, naturally) was a big hit or a non-event.
On Sunday, Politico reported that Palin refused to attend the dinner after learning she would not have a chance to speak from the podium. National Republican Committee Chairman Pete Sessions reportedly wanted to make sure that the spotlight would not be diverted from the evening's keynoter, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. However, Palin subsequently decided on Monday to attend the event.
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Is Obama Picking A Fight With His Left?
(CBS)
The president said he believed that the consequence of releasing the photos would be to further inflame anti-American opinion and needlessly endanger U.S. troops. "Moreover," he added, "I fear the publication of these photos may only have a chilling effect on future investigations of detainee abuse."
Unlike Bill Clinton, whose relationship with the military got off to a famously bad start over how to treat gays in the military, Obama's not moving faster than his generals. What's more, the decision not to release the photos is likely to prove popular with the Pentagon as well as conservatives (even if the latter are not wont to praise the move in public.) Earlier, Fox News reported that Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, forcefully argued against the release and convinced Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who passed his concerns along to the president.
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Does Torture Work? The Debate Heats Up
Richard Cohen may have hit upon the journalistic equivalent of that proverbial "eureka moment." In his Tuesday piece, the Washington Post columnist raised the question that became the cyber equivalent of catnip for the political blogosphere: What if Dick Cheney was right?
"Sacrilege!" screamed the left. "Told you so," countered the right. As for the rest of us, well, we're left with both feet planted firmly in mid-air.
I suppose that Cohen's liberal pedigree insulates him somewhat from critics accusing him of being a toady for the Bush administration's treatment of detainees accused of being terrorists, sort of a Nixon goes to China defense. I say "somewhat" because the torture question has become a touchstone issue for opponents of the Bush administration.
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"Sacrilege!" screamed the left. "Told you so," countered the right. As for the rest of us, well, we're left with both feet planted firmly in mid-air.
I suppose that Cohen's liberal pedigree insulates him somewhat from critics accusing him of being a toady for the Bush administration's treatment of detainees accused of being terrorists, sort of a Nixon goes to China defense. I say "somewhat" because the torture question has become a touchstone issue for opponents of the Bush administration.
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Specter: I Hope Coleman Wins In Minnesota
(CBS)
Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, who last week crossed parties to become a Democrat, said on Tuesday that he hoped Republican Norm Coleman would be declard the winner win Minnesota's dragged-out senate race.
In a question-and-answer interview with the New York Times Sunday Magazine, Times reporter Deborah Solomon wanted to know whether he cared that there now would be no more Jewish Republicans left in the United States Senate.
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Edwards' Good News: He's Not Prez
4859462Like any politician with higher ambitions, John Edwards naturally was disappointed to abandon his quest to become the Democratic presidential nominee in 2008. But sometimes, you win by losing. How so? Well, consider what an Edwards administration would be dealing with right now.
To be sure, Iraq, Afghanistan and the economy would remain high on the agenda. But had history turned out otherwise and Edwards been installed as the nation's 44th President, his administration would today be scrambling to ward off the political version of DEFCON 1.
In August 2008, Edwards, who by then had dropped out as a contender for his party's top prize, acknowledged having conducted a 2006 affair with Rielle Hunter, a video producer who worked with his campaign. But on Sunday, the Charlotte News and Observer reported that federal prosecutors are investigating whether any of Edwards' campaign funds wound up getting used as hush money. The federal probe reportedly focuses on money donated to the campaign by nonprofit organizations, as well as whether Edwards used some of the funds to hide his affair.
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To be sure, Iraq, Afghanistan and the economy would remain high on the agenda. But had history turned out otherwise and Edwards been installed as the nation's 44th President, his administration would today be scrambling to ward off the political version of DEFCON 1.
In August 2008, Edwards, who by then had dropped out as a contender for his party's top prize, acknowledged having conducted a 2006 affair with Rielle Hunter, a video producer who worked with his campaign. But on Sunday, the Charlotte News and Observer reported that federal prosecutors are investigating whether any of Edwards' campaign funds wound up getting used as hush money. The federal probe reportedly focuses on money donated to the campaign by nonprofit organizations, as well as whether Edwards used some of the funds to hide his affair.
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Biden "Swine Song" Panned By Critics
(AP)
Vice President Joe Biden might as well have drawn a big target on his back along with a bright red "kick me" tag.
On NBC's Today Show, Biden said that because of the Swine Flu epidemic, "I would tell members of my family - and I have - that I wouldn't go anywhere in confined places now."
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