This afternoon, I looked up at my muted TV and saw President Obama and Rep. Boehner. I unmuted. What followed was a solid hour of amazing TV. Not just amazing political TV. Seriously, I encourage you to watch the entire Q&A session between Obama and members of the House GOP.
We need more dialogue like this. But I don’t expect it to happen. Apparently, the House GOP now believes this session was a mistake…because it made Obama look good. Who cares that it made our democracy look good too!
I haven’t posted anything here in a long time, but when I saw this story, I had to write something.
I have to hand it to Bill Bush, the reporter, for this lead:
School districts across central Ohio learned yesterday that the list of things parents want their children protected from — drugs, predators, violence — now includes the president of the United States delivering a “stay in school” message.
As he notes, George Bush also addressed the nation’s students in a similar back-to-school message and I don’t remember stories about parents ranting and raving then.
President Obama recently announced that he plans to change some crappy Bush-era policies allowing doctors and pharmacists to refuse care to female patients who need contraceptives or want to terminate their unwanted pregnancies.
Anti-choice nutjobs are, of course, pissed off. But this time they are taking a new approach. Instead of their normal accusations that The President supports killing babies, they are accusing him of giving women breast cancer. Seriously.
According to Karen Malec, president of the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer (and noted wingnut):
Basic medical texts acknowledge that women can help prevent breast cancer by having more children, starting at a younger age, and breastfeeding them longer. The woman who chooses not to have a baby (i.e. abortion), therefore, has a higher breast cancer risk than the one who has a baby. Additionally, the World Health Organization classified combined (estrogen + progestin) hormonal contraceptives as Group 1 carcinogens in 2006. Why aren’t women being told**?
Instead, the government is physically abusing women through its determined pursuit of an antiquated population control policy. The Obama Administration is sacrificing scientific integrity and women’s health in order to pursue an ideological agenda.
A half-century of research shows that abortion further increases risk by leaving the mother’s breasts with more places for cancers to start.
I suggest Karen spend ten minutes talking to a group of sexually active teenage girls. I have a feeling she would … uh… you know… like… totally change her mind.
I have audio of President Obama saying the title of this post. Listen to it yourself.
You might be somewhat confused as to why a recording of President Obama exists using such salty language, and it turns out that he had a friend named Ray during his youth who cursed like a sailor, and who was quoted in Dreams From My Father. When Obama made the audio version of the book, he had to read Ray’s quotes aloud. And boy, is it funny.
Hat tip to April Winchell, who also has many many more hilarious recordings.
CBN is reporting that the Christian Defense Coalition is launching a campaign against Barack Obama in an attempt to label him “The Abortion President”.
Here’s the creepy photoshoped image they plan to use:
Their stated goal is to “make clear that Obama wants taxpayers to foot the bill on abortions.”
I’m pretty confident they are just throwing away their money with this campaign. Voters have more important issues on their minds this year like the economy, the war and high gas prices.
I’m not sure how Barack stands on the issue of taxpayer funded abortion but as I’ve mentioned many times before, it actually makes a lot of sense.
Abortions are relatively cheap. Providing social services to poor, single mothers and their children is really expensive.
The Hill reports that Dennis Kucinich – in another sad attempt to stay relevant – has not yet endorsed Barack Obama and doesn’t plan to until he knows “what the party stands for.â€
Obama’s campaign “declined to comment”.
Which is exactly what they should do.
Barack is going to win Kucinich’s district even if Dennis doesn’t endorse him and he might actually do a lot better nationally if Dennis doesn’t endorse him.
Obama needs to avoid that “most liberal member of congress” label – and not hanging out with Kucinich is a great way to start.
Well produced. Much better than the McCain ads if you ask me.
It’s supposed to start running in Ohio tomorrow.
The script:
OBAMA: I’m Barack Obama.
America is a country of strong families and strong values. My life’s been blessed by both.
I was raised by a single mom and my grandparents. We didn’t have much money, but they taught me values straight from the Kansas heartland where they grew up. Accountability and self-reliance. Love of country. Working hard without making excuses. Treating your neighbor as you’d like to be treated. It’s what guided me as I worked my way up – taking jobs and loans to make it through college.
It’s what led me to pass up Wall Street jobs and go to Chicago instead, helping neighborhoods devastated when steel plants closed.
That’s why I passed laws moving people from welfare to work, cut taxes for working families and extended health care for wounded troops who’d been neglected.
I approved this message because I’ll never forget those values, and if I have the honor of taking the oath of office as President, it will be with a deep and abiding faith in the country I love.
Dave at Progress Ohio has posted some videos of Michelle and Barack’s visit to Columbus yesterday including this one of Governor Strickland telling Central Ohio seniors that the Obamas are going to be “the next president and the next first lady”.
Ohio certainly isn’t the only place ignorant, mullet-having hicks live and breed. But we certainly do seem to have quite a few.
For example, the unnamed women at the end of this video seems to think Obama “is not American or for American” and that he refuses to put his hand over his heart during “the pledge of the ‘legiance of America” and- oh- he’s an Arab!
All a bunch of crap, of course. But hey- she read it in an email so it must be true, right?
The video really has Tim riled up – he has the contact info for action 19 news so you can bitch at them for helping to spread these lies.
FRANKFURT (AFP) – Warren Buffett, the world’s richest man, is backing Barak Obama for US president and thinks current US economic policy will push the dollar lower against other global currencies
Buffett told a press conference here Monday he had offered support to both Obama and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton but that since it appeared Obama would win the party’s nomination, “I will be very happy if he is elected president.
I’m watching the Chris Mathews shows and they are talking about a focus group conducted by MSNBC in which participants said they would not support Obama because:
1. his association with Reverend Wright
and
2. he’s a Muslim
You got that?
Because he is a Muslim with a REVEREND.
I figure these are the same people who still believe that we invaded Iraq because Sadam Hussein helped al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden (remember him?) blow up the world trade center.
The same people who think we lost the vietnam war because of the hippies.
