NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 16, 2008
Tenn. GOP Takes Aim At Michelle Obama
Online Video Features Remark By Democratic Candidate's Wife On Not Being "Proud" Of U.S.
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Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, speaks at an annual "power lunch" hosted by Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky Friday, May 9, 2008, in Chicago. (AP)
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Photo Essay Barack Obama A look at the life and meteoric rise of the president-elect.
Michelle Obama was campaigning in Wisconsin last February for her husband, Barack Obama, when she said: "For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country."
The four-minute video posted on YouTube is built around the remark, replaying it six times and interspersing it with commentary by Tennesseans, identified mostly by their first names, on why they are proud of America.
Michelle Obama later clarified the remark, saying she meant she was proud of how Americans were engaging in the political process and that she had always been proud of her country.
"The Tennessee Republican Party has always been proud of America," the party said in a news release that included a link to the video. It also urged radio stations to play "patriotic music" during her visit to Nashville on Thursday.
"I'm Bob Pope and I'm proud to be an American because mainly of the First Amendment — the right to worship God anywhere I choose to — and the Second Amendment, I've got the right keep and bear arms," he says, standing in front of a bank of guns mounted on the wall.
Obama's campaign accused the Tennessee GOP of engaging in smear politics and unfairly going after the candidate's family.
"This is a shameful attempt to attack a woman who has repeatedly said she wouldn't be here without the opportunities and blessings of this nation," spokesman Hari Sevugan said in a statement.
The state GOP was roundly criticized in March, including by likely presidential nominee John McCain, for a news release that used Barack Obama's middle name — Hussein — and showed a photo of him wearing what it said was "Muslim attire."
The release ultimately was removed from the party's Web site at the urging of the state's two Republican senators and Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan, who said he "rejects these kinds of campaign tactics."
The "welcome" video also takes aim at Barack Obama's fiery former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
"I'm proud of my country because of the freedom of religion, so if my pastor goes on a wild political tirade I can just walk out," says a man identified as Tate R., a graduate student at Vanderbilt University.
Obama broke with Wright, his longtime pastor, after he repeated incendiary anti-American comments at a news conference last month in Washington.
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The secrets of tennis legend 
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See all 417 CommentsThere''s only one reason Obama has defeated Hillary for the nomination. The far left in the Democratic Party decided it was OK to slap around a woman, to lie about her, to use their filthy macho ego ********* tactics, to distort her statements and positions but boxed in the Clinton campaign so that any strong criticism of Obama''s positions and questions about this experience, judgment and character were made to appear racist.
I dare and defy you gutless wonders to criticize anybody for lashing back at this racist old gasbag grump and calling her out on HER OWN WORDS that are on videotape all over the net!
Doh! Night nite McCain. Is that not tantamount to sending defense development and high tech jobs overseas? So much for the "Straight Talk Express".
Posted by ksh1022 at 09:42 PM
And you are full of sh-t. What has the Senator''s wife said that you would qualify as racist? And you jagoffs playing McCarthy declaring who''s "anti-american" and who''s patriotic behind the anonymity of the web. That is the opitomy of anti-american you hypocrite. Anyway, jagoffs like you aside, more Americans have voted for Senator Obama this primary season (followed closely by Senator Clinton) in history, GOP or Dem. See ya in November. ;) I throw some confetti for ya.
Google S&L scandal.
Keating 5
Former Texas Rep. Thomas G. Loeffler
What a bunch of ignorant hyperbole. Aside from the fact that Obama promotes middle of the road economic and foreign policies, you do know that actual Marxists have run for President before don''''t you?
Does the name Gus Hall ring a bell?
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Posted by realpatriot1 at 08:20 PM : May 18, 2008
The thing is....I don''t remember a president named Gus Hall...do you suppose he couldn''t get the majority vote either?
What a bunch of ignorant hyperbole. Aside from the fact that Obama promotes middle of the road economic and foreign policies, you do know that actual Marxists have run for President before don''t you?
Does the name Gus Hall ring a bell?
Amen to that!
McCain/Bush and his family were all over this and it cost the American tax payer over $1.4 trillion dollars!
It stems from deregulation of the S&Ls.
Do some research.
GOP struggles to reinvent without losing itself
The party agrees it must change or face catastrophe in November. But that''s about all members can agree on.
By Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten, Los Angeles Times
May 18, 2008
WASHINGTON -- The bad news has come from Illinois, Louisiana and Mississippi -- a string of unexpected Republican defeats in congressional elections that have prompted GOP leaders to say, with candor unusual in politics, that the party is facing an outright catastrophe this November.
Increasingly, top Republicans are calling on their party to reinvent itself or risk driving away more voters and donors. The GOP image is so stale, said Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), in a memo to colleagues last week, that "if we were a dog food, they would take us off the shelf" because nobody is buying it.
Action speaks louder than words. I was on another
web site last night and the Hillary supporters were
talking about REGISTERING AS REPUBLICANS AND NOT
COMING BACK TO THE PARTY UNTIL HILLARY GETS THE
NOMINATION.
This way it would be harder for the DNC to just
brush us off by saying we''ll eventually all rally
around Obama......No Way, Nobama!
I''m going tomorrow and register as a Republican. If
you''re not already registered as a Democrat, you can
first register as a Democrat and a day or two later,
register as a Republican. It will show up as a lost
member on the Democratic Membership Roll by the
end of the week.
Sounds like a plan to me!!
By FRANK RICH
THE biggest gift President Bush has given his party this year was to keep his daughter%u2019s wedding nearly as private as Connie Corleone%u2019s. Now that his disapproval rating has reached the Nixon nadir of negativity, even a joyous familial ritual isn%u2019t enough to make the country glad to see him. The G.O.P.%u2019s best hope would be for both the president and *** Cheney to lock themselves in a closet until the morning after Election Day.
Republicans finally recognized the gravity of their situation three days after Jenna Bush took her vows in Crawford. As Hillary Clinton romped in West Virginia, voters in Mississippi elected a Democrat in a Congressional district that went for Bush-Cheney by 25 percentage points just four years ago. It%u2019s the third %u201Csafe%u201D Republican House seat to fall in a special election since March.
(CONT)
Party leaders have been haplessly trying to identify possible remedies ever since. It didn%u2019t help that their recent stab at an Obamaesque national Congressional campaign slogan, %u201CThe Change You Deserve,%u201D was humiliatingly identified as the advertising pitch for the anti-depressant Effexor. (If they%u2019re going to go the pharmaceutical route, %u201CViva Viagra%u201D might be more to the point.) Yet for all the Republican self-flagellation, it%u2019s still not clear that the party even understands the particular dimensions of its latest defeat and its full implications for both Congressional races and John McCain in November.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A small but startling sign welcomed the gun lovers who arrived at the National Rifle Association''s annual gathering Friday.
"Firearms WILL NOT be allowed in Hall A during the Celebration of American Values Leadership Forum."
Beyond this sign at the Kentucky Exposition Center was a row of 10 metal detectors. They were manned by uniformed Secret Service officers deployed because the scheduled speakers included presumptive Republican nominee John McCain.
Huge!
By: Nicole Belle @ 6:30 AM - PDT
video_wmv Download | Play video_mov Download | Play (h/t Heather)
On Friday%u2019s Countdown, guest host Rachel Maddow asked Chris Matthews about his refusal to allow talk show host Kevin James to blindly repeat White House talking points without having any idea what those buzzwords meant. We%u2019re quick to call out Matthews when he does something wrong, I think it%u2019s incumbent upon us to let him know when he%u2019s done well too. And to his credit, Matthews understands how fundamentally detrimental these buzzwords are to a functioning democracy.
MADDOW: Do you think this is something new? Do you think this is something specific to our current, contemporaneous politics that we have these sort of buzzwords and bumper sticker slogans, whether it%u2019s %u2018appeasement,%u2019 or %u2018fight over there so we don%u2019t fight them here%u2019 or %u2018they hate our freedom,%u2019 any of these terms. Are they designed to be repeated and not to be interrogated?
(CONT)
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