Tag Archives: Barack Obama

Rumors about this gaffe and the other whispered comments that Fox isn’t showing us have been flying all day. What else could Jackson have said that could be so bad that even Fox won’t show it? Jackson’s own son, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. even blasted his dad: “I’m deeply outraged and disappointed in Rev. Jackson’s reckless statements about Sen. Barack …

Thanks to today’s Senate vote to approve the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, warrantless wiretapping, arguably the most intrusive violation of Americans’ right to privacy, will become legal. Oh, and everybody who’s already done it is now immunized against lawsuits. A list of how each Senator voted is here. The Democratic-led Congress this afternoon voted to put an end to the …

Barack Obama is planning a visit to Germany and Chancellor Angela Merkel isn’t sure it’s a good idea to let him stage a planned appearance in front of Berlin’s historic Brandenburg Gate, the place where Ronald Reagan famously demanded: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” German Chancellor Angela Merkel has signaled unease over the prospect of a possible speech by …

In his new campaign ad touting his years as a POW, John McCain has a go at Obama’s famed speaking skills. “John McCain’s doesn’t always tell us what we ‘hope’ to hear. Beautiful words cannot make your lives better. But a man who has always put his country and his people before self, before politics, can. Don’t hope for a …

Barack Obama’s latest statement on abortion has both sides angered, with right-wing Christians labeling him the “abortion President” and progressives screaming that he is planning to erode current abortion rights. From the Christian Broadcast Network: Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, says Obama would have “the most extremist policies on abortion of any President in history. …

Barack Obama is defending his Thursday announcement that he may slow his promised withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, saying that he has said all along that he would work with the Joint Chiefs of Staff to effect a withdrawal timetable that would not destabilize Iraq further. After his first comments on slowing the withdrawal caused a firestorm in the …

Barack Obama has had his right-turn blinker on for several days. More backlash: Senator Barack Obama’s decision to support legislation granting legal immunity to telecommunications companies that cooperated with the Bush administration’s program of wiretapping without warrants has led to an intense backlash among some of his most ardent supporters. Thousands of them are now using the same grass-roots organizing …

Barack Obama’s latest ad hits on themes that are more commonly seen from Republican candidates – getting people off welfare and ending the outsourcing of American jobs. Interesting commentary can be found at MyDD. Via Ben Smith: Obama’s new spot weaves his biography into themes of his fighting for workers. He also brags of legislation aimed at moving welfare recipients …

Hot on the heels of yesterday’s announcement that he opposes the gay marriage ban referendum in California, Barack Obama announced that if elected, he will expand Dubya’s controversial “faith-based initiatives” programs. Reaching out to evangelical voters, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is announcing plans that would expand President Bush’s program steering federal social service dollars to religious groups and – …

Barack Obama has issued a letter to a San Francisco-based gay political group in which he states his opposition to the November ballot measure which would ban gay marriage in California. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, who previously said the issue of gay marriage should be left up to each state, has announced his opposition to a California ballot measure …

Steve Ralls at Huffington Post reports on the latest poll of Hillary supporters. A poll released this afternoon, examining the seemingly ever-shifting loyalties of Senator Hillary Clinton’s presidential supporters (of which I have been an enthusiastic one), finds that, while 53% of Clinton’s backers are now firmly on-board with Senator Barack Obama’s White House bid, there are some who are …

He’ll be preaching to the converted, but it looks like Obama’s gonna get to put some ads on MTV after all, thanks to a reversal of long-standing policy at Viacom. “MTV Networks will accept political advertising that is national in scope, sponsored by a legally qualified candidate, a candidate’s official campaign committee, a nationally recognized political party, or the official …

Now this is what I call generous. Barack Obama asked his finance committee this afternoon to help Senator Hillary Clinton retire her debt. On a conference call that lasted about 45 minutes Obama made a personal plea to his top donors, telling them he considered it a personal imperative now that Democrats are all “one big family,” a donor who …

Tech blogs like Gizmodo are all over this Japanese mobile phone company’s ad in which a monkey (long their official corporate mascot) appears as an Obama-like figure exhorting the crowds to “Change!” to their phone. Totally racist. Unless it isn’t. Maybe we shouldn’t expect a local Japanese ad campaign to be sensitive to America’s racism trigger points. Unless we should. …

These “who’s the veep?” stories are coming fast and furious. Via Pink News: The highest-ranking female officer in the history of the United States Army is a contender for the Democratic party’s Vice Presidential nomination. Lieutenant General Claudia J Kennedy, a retired three star general, has publicly supported campaigns to end the ban on openly gay, bisexual or lesbian people …

Boy George has been denied a U.S. visa and will not be able to conduct his planned tour or his free concert for the NYC Department of Sanitation. His managers said in a statement Monday that the visa denial was not because of his past brush with the law in the U.S. but was because he is awaiting trial in …

Noted gays are urging the Obama campaign to back away from any consideration of former Sen. Sam Nunn as a potential running mate, pointing to his “No” vote in the 1996 ENDA battle (which lost by only one vote) and his 1993 orchestration of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Via MyDD: Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank told the Rothenberg Political Report, June …

(Via – Andrew Sullivan)

“The most important issue to me is the democratic principle itself. I see this season as having put forth an anti-democratically elected candidate. So for me, that’s the biggest issue of all. And if we go down a path, where, you know, the parties don’t uphold democratic principles, then who’s going to uphold democratic principles? “So that’s my biggest issue …