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Fatwa on Molly

Posted on September 17, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

“There is no more Molly,” reports Seattle Weekly. Molly Norris, formerly a cartoonist for the alternative paper, has gone into hiding. At the suggestion of the FBI, “she is, as they put it, 'going ghost': moving, changing her name, and essentially wiping away her identity.” Why? Because, as the New York Times reports, imam Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born Islamic supremacist who is himself in hiding in Yemen, issued a fatwa in July declaring that Norris “should be taken as a prime target of assassination” because of a cartoon she drew two months earlier titled “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day.” In October 2001, by the way, the New York Times described al-Awlaki, who then ran a mosque in Virginia, as someone who “is held up as a new generation of Muslim leader capable of merging East and West.” How's that working out? Here's another question: Where is President Obama? Last month, speaking to a mostly Muslim audience at the White House, the president strongly defended the right of another imam held up as a moderate to build a mosque adjacent to Ground Zero. The next day, and again at a press conference last week, Obama said he was merely standing up for the First Amendment. As far as we recall, it's the only time Barack Obama has ever stood up for anybody's First Amendment rights. Now Molly Norris, an American citizen, is forced into hiding because she exercised her right to free speech. Will President Obama say a word on her behalf? Does he believe in the First Amendment for anyone other than Muslims? added by: ahiguy

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CBS Dishonestly Touts ‘Non-Partisan Watchdog’ Group’s Quest for a ‘Criminal Investigation’ of Christine O’Donnell

Posted on September 17, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

“There are calls for a criminal investigation of another rising GOP star,” Katie Couric teased at the top of the CBS Evening News, after citing Sarah Palin’s speaking appearance in Iowa, as she elevated a publicity gimmick from a left-wing organization staffed by veterans of Democratic congressional offices. Though O’Donnell “took the spotlight today at a conservative summit in Washington,” Couric warned: “There may be trouble ahead for her. A watchdog group intends to call Monday for a criminal investigation of what it says is her chronic abuse of campaign funds.” Reporter Nancy Cordes painted O’Donnell as a hypocrite, charging that “even as she preached a return to fiscal conservatism, O’Donnell’s own unorthodox spending habits were starting to come under heavy scrutiny,” asserting “the unemployed O’Donnell used campaign funds to pay for meals, gas, bowling trips, and personal rent, even long after the campaign had ended.” CBS then gave a platform to veteran Democratic activist Melanie Sloan, who is now advancing her liberal agenda as Executive Director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). She alleged O’Donnell “just stole” campaign donations. Cordes legitimized CREW by misleadingly describing the obviously liberal outfit as “the non-partisan watchdog group” which “is urging the U.S. attorney in Delaware to open a criminal investigation.” Sloan got a second soundbite to declare: “It’s not sloppiness, it’s out-and-out theft.” (On Wednesday night, without attribution for the ideological label, Cordes cited “O’Donnell’s ultra-conservative social views.”)   Just how much of a “non-partisan watchdog” is CREW? “ CREW’s Crooked Candidates 2010 ” list, one of whom is O’Donnell, now features nine Republicans and just three Democrats, which suggests they are cover for the group’s real agenda. Looking at its own “ CREW crew ” page of brief staff bios, I saw no one with any past work for a conservative cause or Republican politician, but a bunch with records of working for liberal and Democratic officials, starting with Sloan: Ms. Sloan served as Minority Counsel for the House Judiciary Committee, working on criminal justice issues for then-Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI). Ms. Sloan also served as Counsel for the Crime Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by then-Representative Charles Schumer (D-NY). There, she drafted portions of the 1994 Crime Bill, including the Violence Against Women Act. In 1993, Ms. Sloan served as Nominations Counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, under then-Chairman Joseph Biden (D-DE). Other staffers toiled previously for Democratic Senators Tom Harkin, Jeff Merkley, Daniel Inouye, Barbara Boxer and the late Paul Wellstone and Fritz Hollings. Another served in the office of Maryland Democratic Congressman Chris Van Hollen. Plus, one “performed strategic campaign research with the Service Employees International Union.” The “contact” name on CREW’s page proclaiming “ Tell the U.S. Attorney: Investigate Christine O’Donnell! ” is Garrett Russo. From the bio for Russo, CREW’s Communications Director: “Prior to joining CREW, Mr. Russo ran the National Press Desk for former Vice President Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection.” That page links to a petition page that features a video clip from Thursday’s Anderson Cooper 360: “CNN is already looking into the matter. Click here, or watch the YouTube clip below, to see their report.” ( larger jpg image of that Web page showcasing CNN’s story.) The story on the Friday, September 17 CBS Evening News, transcript provided by the MRC’s Brad Wilmouth: KATIE COURIC: Now to the Tea Party’s newest star, Christine O’Donnell, who scored an upset to take the GOP Senate nomination in Delaware this week. She took the spotlight today at a conservative summit in Washington, but there may be trouble ahead for her. A watchdog group intends to call Monday for a criminal investigation of what it says is her chronic abuse of campaign funds. Here’s congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes. NANCY CORDES: Christine O’Donnell, initially shunned by the Republican establishment, was embraced by it today, granted a plum speaking role at the annual Values Voters Summit in Washington, D.C., alongside the likes of Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. CHRISTINE O’DONNELL, DELAWARE REPUBLICAN SENATE NOMINEE: The small elite don’t get us. They call us wacky. They call us wing nuts. We call us, “We, the people.” CORDES: Delaware’s new Republican Senate nominee was at home in this crowd of social conservatives. But even as she preached a return to fiscal conservatism, O’Donnell’s own unorthodox spending habits were starting to come under heavy scrutiny. Staffers on her previous campaign for Senate and O’Donnell’s own financial filings reveal that the unemployed O’Donnell used campaign funds to pay for meals, gas, bowling trips, and personal rent, even long after the campaign had ended. MELANIE SLOAN, CITIZENS FOR RESPONSIBILITY AND ETHICS IN WASHINGTON: Well, I’ve never seen a candidate who just stole all their campaign money and used it for personal use. What it seems like here is Christine O’Donnell had no other way to support herself so she thought, okay, I’ll run for U.S. Senate. CORDES: The non-partisan watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, is urging the U.S. attorney in Delaware to open a criminal investigation. SLOAN: It’s not sloppiness, it’s out-and-out theft. CORDES: But today O’Donnell waved off her critics. O’DONNELL: Will they attack us? Yes. Will they smear our backgrounds and distort our records? Undoubtedly. CORDES: Republican Senate campaign leaders scheduled their first face-to-face meeting with O’Donnell today, but she canceled, saying she was just too tired after her whirlwind week.

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CBS Dishonestly Touts ‘Non-Partisan Watchdog’ Group’s Quest for a ‘Criminal Investigation’ of Christine O’Donnell

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Harry Reids Dream Act – Cap and Gown Amnesty for Votes

Posted on September 17, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

The so-called DREAM Act would create an official path to Democratic voter registration for an estimated two million college-age illegal aliens. Look past the public relations-savvy stories of “undocumented” valedictorians left out in the cold. This is not about protecting “children.” It's about preserving electoral power through cap-and-gown amnesty. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced this week that he's attaching the DREAM Act to the defense authorization bill. With ethnic activists breathing down his neck and President Obama pushing to fulfill his campaign promise to Hispanics, Reid wants his queasy colleagues to vote on the legislation next week. Open-borders lawmakers have tried and failed to pass the DREAM Act through regular channels for the past decade. That's because informed voters know giving green cards to illegal alien students undermines the rule of law, creates more illegal immigration incentives and grants preferential treatment to illegal alien students over law-abiding native and naturalized American students struggling to get an education in tough economic times. This bad idea is compounded by a companion proposal to recruit more illegal aliens into the military with the lure of citizenship (a fraud-ridden and reckless practice countenanced under the Bush administration). DREAM Act lobbyists are spotlighting heart-wrenching stories of high-achieving teens brought to this country when they were toddlers. But instead of arguing for case-by-case dispensations, the protesters want blanket pardons. The broadly drafted Senate bill would confer benefits on applicants up to age 35, and the House bill contains no age ceiling at all. The academic achievement requirements are minimal. Moreover, illegal aliens who didn't arrive in the country until they turned 15 — after they laid down significant roots in their home country — would be eligible for DREAM Act benefits and eventual U.S. citizenship. And like past amnesty packages, the Democratic plan is devoid of any concrete eligibility and enforcement mechanisms to deter already-rampant immigration benefit fraud. The DREAM Act sponsors have long fought to sabotage a clearly worded provision in the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) that states: “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a State (or a political subdivision) for any postsecondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of the United States is eligible for such a benefit (in no less an amount, duration, and scope) without regard to whether the citizen or national is such a resident.” Ten states defied that federal law and offered DREAM Act-style tuition preference to illegal aliens: California, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Washington. The last time DREAM Act champions tried to tack their scheme onto a larger immigration proposal, they snuck in language that would absolve those 10 states of their law-breaking by repealing the 1996 law retroactively — and also offering the special path to green cards and citizenship for illegal alien students. Despite the obvious electoral advantage this plan would give Democrats, several pro-illegal alien amnesty Republicans crossed the aisle to support the DREAM Act, including double-talking Sens. John McCain, Richard Lugar, Bob Bennett, Sam Brownback, Norm Coleman, Susan Collins, Larry Craig, Chuck Hagel, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Mel Martinez and Olympia Snowe, as well as presidential candidate Mike Huckabee (who champions even greater illegal alien student benefits than those proposed by Democrats). After paying lip service to securing the borders, McCain promised DREAM Act demonstrators this week that he supported the bill and would work to “resolve their issues.” Out-of-touch polls might want to pay attention to the world outside their bubble. A recent Quinnipiac University poll shows that Americans across the political spectrum favor tougher enforcement of existing immigration laws over rolling out the amnesty welcome wagon. When asked, “Do you think immigration reform should primarily move in the direction of integrating illegal immigrants into American society or in the direction of stricter enforcement of laws against illegal immigration?” solid majorities of registered Republicans, Democrats and independents chose stricter enforcement over greater integration of the illegal alien population. Democrats outside the Beltway have grown increasingly averse to signing on to illegal alien incentives — especially as the Obama jobs death toll mounts and economic confidence plummets. Here in Colorado, a handful of Democrats joined Republican lawyers to kill a state-level DREAM Act amid massive higher education budget cuts and a bipartisan voter backlash. Asked why she opposed the illegal alien student bailout, one Democratic lawmaker said quite simply: “I listened to my constituents.” An alien concept in Washington, to be sure. http://www.onenewsnow.com/Perspectives/Default.aspx?id=1170564 added by: ReverandG

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MSNBC’s Brewer Scoffs at Values Voters Despite History of Gay Rights Advocacy

Posted on September 17, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

MSNBC’s Contessa Brewer mocked attendees of the Values Voter Summit today, directing her ire at former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, Delaware Republican Senate nominee Christine O’Donnell, and the entire conservative movement. “So, they’re calling themselves values voters, but isn’t this election really about the economy and not so much what we think of as values?” sniveled Brewer, who put air quotes around the term “values.” Brewer’s dismissive attitude toward values voters must not extend to homosexual rights activists like herself who frequently turn their anchor chairs into liberal soapboxes. The champion of same-sex marriage revealed her disdain for Palin by noting that although the former Alaska governor was not present at the event, “her doppleganger, Christine O’Donnell is there and she is stealing the show.” Manufacturing controversy by imagining a Wild West “showdown at the Values Voter Summit,” the paladin of homosexual equality scornfully described the annual summit as the “conservative Shangri- La,” referring, apparently, to the fictional location in James Hilton’s Lost Horizon which represents a sort of heaven on earth. Setting aside the inherent hypocrisy in eschewing voters who focus on values issues like gay rights while exploiting her perch as a cable news anchor to advocate for the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the fact that, as Brewer accurately reported, the top issue for voters this election cycle is the economy should compel the media to focus more on the lagging economic numbers than on a peaceful gathering of social conservatives. A transcript of the relevant portions of the segment can be found below ( H/T News Analyst Scott Whitlock for transcript assistance ): MSNBC News Live 09/17/10 12 P.M. E.S.T.   CONTESSA BREWER: It’s showdown at the Values Voter Summit. The Grand Old Party. The established, traditional candidates caught in the cross fire of conservatives who want something different. And right now both sides are under the same big tent, so to speak, today at this conservative Shangri-La, the Values Voters Summit. Let’s show it to you. The Republicans recognize the split between the factions in their own party, but their most famous faces are focusing on a common enemy. MITT ROMNEY: It’s- I guess it is welcome to the Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, President Obama farewell party. BREWER: And those in attendance are just starting to vote in a straw poll giving people a glimpse into who wants to run for president in 2012. Sarah Palin is up for the vote even though not physically present at the summit. Her doppleganger, Christine O’Donnell is there and she is stealing the show. CHRISTINE O’DONNELL: It’s no secret that there’s been a rather unflattering portrait of me painted these days. I’m not counting on the national media to vote for me on November 2nd. I’m asking all of you to vote for me. BREWER: That splinter may give Democrats an opportunity here. Alaska’s Senator Lisa Murkowski decides today whether to compete as a write-in candidate against the Tea Partier and Republican primary winner Joe Miller. That would definitely split the conservative vote and give Democrat a real chance to take away the seat. Domenico Montanaro is a political guru, a producer and off-air reporter extraordinaire for NBC News. Good to see you. When we’re talking about the value voters is that code for Tea Partiers or a whole different group of people? DOMENICO MONTANARO: Well, there’s certainly overlap. I mean, there’s a lot of folks here who certainly identify with the Tea Party as well. But, you know, Values Voters traditionally has been a summit here that’s taken place in Washington every year focuses on you know, social issues. Things like gay marriage. You know, the- abortion. Things you would normally associate with social issues. That’s bled over somewhat, though, this year with the Tea Party, and they’re focused a little bit more on fiscal issues. Fiscal responsibility. Talking about making that a moral issue. We heard Jim DeMint talk about it. We even heard Mike Huckabee talk about it who has won here the straw poll the last few years. And, you know, we saw Mitt Romney gave his speech, you know, talking about pushing carts down Walmart. You know, talking about some terrorism issues and, you know, this is more of what you’re hearing from somebody who’s potentially running for president in 2012 as opposed to somebody who’s necessarily just talking to a social issues group. BREWER: So, they’re calling themselves values voters, but isn’t this election really about the economy and not so much what we think of as values? [Makes quotes marks] MONTANARO: Right. Well, you know, the election certainly is about the economy. It’s what’s given people in the Tea Party movement, Republican, the upper hand. Now, the folks here, like I said, are also focused on that fiscal issue and want to take that and make that part of their platform. But, look, this is important for people running in 2012 because you need activists who vote on social issues. Especially in places like Iowa. Remember, Mitt Romney lost Iowa, despite the amount of money he spent, because Mike Huckabee, in a closed primary, with Christian activists liked his message and folksiness and the fact he was a Baptist preacher and delivered several one-liners, able to rally some of those folks. Someone to watch what a potential 1212 Mike Huckabee, watch Mike Pence. Stirs the crowd. Unapologetic about social issues and took that home to this audience here.

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Ed Schultz as Historian: Invents Speech JFK Never Gave About First Glenn Space Flight

Posted on September 17, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Achtung, Sgt. Schultz — you’re making it up again. The liberal radio host and MSNBC flamethrower got carried away in his indignation Monday over controversy about whether Obama’s speech on education should be shown in classrooms. My how things have changed, Schultz pontificated ( audio here ) — I don’t know, when I was a kid, and I was a little dude when John Glenn was flying around the, in outer space, and the president was going to speak to the nation! And all the kids in the elementary school, I remember, we were all so fired up! That we were going to hear from the president! And the president was going to say something about being in outer space and is John Glenn going to get home OK?! The president was going to talk to us, we were kids! We were excited! And then when John Glenn splashed down, we heard from the president and it was so cool! It’s just not cool anymore, I guess. It’s a different country. Notice how Schultz implies Kennedy gave two speeches that day — about a space mission lasting all of five hours. Will Glenn “get home OK?” Schultz recounts Kennedy telling what surely was an anxious nationwide audience, the anxiety based on fear of a faulty heat shield imperiling Glenn during his fiery re-entry. “And then when John Glenn splashed down,” Schultz claimed, embroidering along the way, “we heard from the president and it was so cool!” Only problem is, Kennedy didn’t give this speech — or should I say, either of them. At least not according to the Web site of the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston. (known around town as “The Shrine”). A listing at the site of scores of Kennedy’s speeches from 1946 to the day of his death in 1963 makes no mention of any speech on Feb. 20, 1962, the day Glenn became the first American to orbit the globe. Moreover, another part of the library site, the “White House Diary” of Kennedy’s daily schedule, does not cite any speech that day about Glenn’s mission. This link to a different part of the diary mentions that Kennedy spoke by phone with Glenn after he splashed down and was on board the destroyer U.S.S. Noa. ( Thanks, Mr. President … loved your speech, by the way! ) Kennedy’s alleged speech on Glenn’s first space flight (he flew again on the shuttle in 1998, at age 77, and remains the oldest person to have flown into space) is also mysteriously absent from two memoirs by Kennedy hagiographers. In his 1965 book “A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House,” court historian Arthur Schlesinger did not even cite Glenn’s mission in his index. That same year, in his book “Kennedy,” speechwriter Ted Sorensen wrote that Kennedy watched Glenn’s flight “most of the day on TV,” with no mention of any speech. Presumably Sorensen would have elaborated had a speech been given, if only to point out the sweep and beauty of the prose. Which is not to say Kennedy didn’t give speeches about the space program. That he did, including one I suspect Schultz was thinking of when he made this claim. Addressing a joint session of Congress in May 1961, only a few weeks after Alan Shepard became the first America to fly into space, Kennedy pledged that the US would send astronauts to the moon and return them safely to earth by the end of the decade. The speech was given on May 25, 1961, on a Thursday at 12:30 p.m. In other words, in the middle of a school day.

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Howard Kurtz, White House Mouthpiece? Article Rains ‘Fact’ Fire on Forbes

Posted on September 17, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

On Friday, Washington Post media reporter Howard Kurtz wrote a “White House rips Forbes” article . Dinesh D’Souza has drawn a “torrent of criticism” for writing that President Obama is motivated by his African father’s “anti-colonial” views, Kurtz wrote, but emphasized how the White House is training its fire on Forbes magazine for publishing it, suggesting it’s un-factual. Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs asserted “It’s a stunning thing, to see a publication you would see in a dentist’s office, so lacking in truth and fact.” (Has he read Newsweek?) This isn’t about “facts,” it’s about spins. D’Souza can be accused of putting the president on a psychoanalyst’s couch about his father. (As if the media never did this for George W. Bush.) D’Souza shot back to Kurtz that it’s simply a fact that the president had a Kenyan father. But Kurtz went into Gibbs-echoing rebuttal mode:  The facts are also these: Obama Sr. abandoned the family when his son was 2, and the future president saw his father only one more time, during a visit in Hawaii when he was 10. Obama Sr. died in 1982. Gibbs says the Forbes attack comes at a time when there is “no limit to innuendo” against the president, including baseless charges that he is a Muslim and was not born in the United States. Forbes, he says, “left the facts on the cutting-room floor.” D’Souza acknowledges one error. He wrote that Obama “is a man who spent his formative years — the first 17 years of his life — off the American mainland, in Hawaii, Indonesia and Pakistan, with multiple subsequent journeys to Africa.” Obama visited Pakistan once, as a college student, when he was older than 17. (Hawaii, of course, may be off the American mainland, but it is hardly out of the American mainstream.) This is again, not a “fact,” but a spin. Hawaii is clearly more than 2500 miles form the mainland. As much fun as reporters make of hicks in Kentucky or Alabama, suggesting they are out of the mainstream, it’s just as fair game to question the “mainstream” cultural viewpoint of Hawaii. If the red states are “less than cosmopolitan,” the blue states are “less than nationalistic.” D’Souza’s article borrows heavily from Obama’s own fact-challenged memoir “Dreams From My Father,” so it would be just as fair for Kurtz to suggest to Gibbs that getting elected to office (and becoming a multimillionaire) off a gooey grew-up-fatherless memoir carrying a huge factual disclaimer doesn’t grant you the higher ethical ground on “fact twisting.” Even if Howard Kurtz thinks it does.  Obama’s introduction admits that his quotes in the book are an “approximation,” and “some of the characters that appear are composites of people I’ve known, and some events appear out of precise chronology. With the exception of my family and a handful of public figures, the names of most characters have been changed for the sake of their privacy.” Kurtz put an exclamation point on the liberal argument at the end, without labeling it as liberal: Columbia Journalism Review this week called the D’Souza article “a fact-twisting, error-laden piece of paranoia” and “the worst kind of smear journalism — a singularly disgusting work.” The Columbia Journalism Review is a left-wing rag. The Forbes-bashing writer, Ryan Chittum, also thought Rick Santelli’s 2009 on-air outburst that started the Tea Party movement was comical. His article was headlined “CNBC Editor: The People Are Revolting. Santelli Plays Mel Brooks Playing Louis XVI.” Chittum began:  In the annals of CNBC cluelessness, this morning’s outburst by the channel’s Rick Santelli is up there with the worst….The segment couldn’t more clearly illustrate the disconnect between the financial-services sector, certain financial journalists, and, you know, “reality.” So how is this magazine some sort of nonpartisan, independent arbiter of political writing, as Kurtz implied?

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Howard Kurtz, White House Mouthpiece? Article Rains ‘Fact’ Fire on Forbes

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CBS’s Smith: Tea Party and Palin Could Bring GOP to ‘Edge of the Abyss’

Posted on September 17, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Appearing on Friday’s CBS Early Show, Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer continued to compare the rise of the tea party and possible candidacy of Sarah Palin in 2012 to the 1964 campaign of Barry Goldwater. In response, co-host Harry Smith remarked that Palin could take Republicans “to the edge of the abyss, as it were.” On Wednesday’s CBS Evening News , Schieffer argued: “…it is very much like 1964….they threw out all the establishment candidates…they nominated Barry Goldwater who – fine man – but he was far to the right of most of the people in his party, and they lost in a landslide. And that’s why you have establishment Republicans worried about what’s going to happen now in November.” He repeated the same line on the Early Show and described the tea party as being full of “very, very conservative” voters who would not be as influential in the general election. Prior to the discussion between Smith and Schieffer, correspondent Dean Reynolds reported on Palin taking a fundraising trip to Iowa and supporting “tea party insurgents…to the chagrin of GOP regulars, who worry they are too extreme, unelectable, or both.” He went on highlight how “Democratic strategists say the more Sarah, the better for them” and touted: “Indeed, our latest polling shows the number of Americans viewing her unfavorably has been rising along with her visibility.” After Schieffer made the 1964 comparison to Smith, he explained the reason for the tea party’s success: “…it all goes back to the economy once again….What you’re seeing is the frustration that just sort of permeates all of our politics right now and you’re seeing in these tea party folks kind of the Right end of all of that.” He then claimed: “If the economy gets a little bit better, I think you’ll see a lot of things change in this – in this equation.” Smith joked about the movement’s demise: “Could be the iced tea party.” On Wednesday , Smith wondered: “Are all of these tea party victories good for the Republican Party?” He later suggested the GOP was making a “miscalculation” at their own “peril” by  supporting the movement. Here is a full transcript of the September 17 segment:  7:00AM TEASE: ERICA HILL: Palin politics. The former Alaska governor heads to Iowa, as she celebrates two more successful Senate endorsements. Is this the first step in her plan to take on President Obama in 2012? 7:05AM SEGMENT: HARRY SMITH: Now to politics, two more Republicans endorsed by Sarah Palin were big winners in this week’s primaries. As Palin campaigns this week, speculation is growing that the former GOP vice presidential candidate wants to be on the top of the ticket in 2012. CBS News national correspondent Dean Reynolds is in Des Moines with more. Good morning, Dean. DEAN REYNOLDS: Good morning, Harry. Well, you’re right about that speculation. And Sarah Palin’s appearance here in Des Moines tonight caps off a week during which her political clout was on full display. [ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Palin in Iowa; Is This First Step Toward White House Run?] To those who like her and those who don’t. Her appearance in Kentucky on Thursday was vintage Palin. SARAH PALIN: We can take it back, we can take back our country. And we’re going to turn things around. REYNOLDS: She was campaigning for Republican senatorial hopeful Rand Paul, one of the tea party insurgents she has endorsed. Sometimes to the chagrin of GOP regulars, who worry they are too extreme, unelectable, or both. It’s a reaction she apparently relishes. PALIN: The hierarchy and, you know, they’re not liking this. REYNOLDS: Tonight, Palin comes to Iowa, which holds the first presidential caucus in 2012. Is she setting the table for a presidential campaign? MATT STRAWN [IOWA REPUBLICAN STATE CHAIRMAN]: You know, we’re just fortunate to have her here. Because she certainly energizes Iowa Republicans at all levels. REYNOLDS: But Democratic strategists say the more Sarah, the better for them. DAVID PLOUFFE [OBAMA ADVISOR]: The very best organizer or fundraiser in the Democratic Party is going to be here in Iowa, Sarah Palin. REYNOLDS: Indeed, our latest polling shows the number of Americans viewing her unfavorably has been rising along with her visibility. Now, Sarah Palin isn’t saying much about her long-term intentions, but as they say in political circles here, nobody comes to Iowa by accident. Harry. SMITH: We know that one for sure. Dean Reynolds, thank you so much. From Des Moines this morning. We want to bring in CBS News chief Washington correspondent and host of Face the Nation Bob Schieffer. Bob, good morning. BOB SCHIEFFER: Good morning to you, Harry. SMITH: Can one appearance in Iowa constitute the beginning of a presidential campaign? SCHIEFFER: Well, it might. I mean, there’s no question about it. But, you know, what is – what is really bothering the establishment Republicans right now is – is what happened to Republicans back in 1964. You know, they had almost won in 1960 when Nixon ran against Kennedy. The next – the next time around, 1964, Republicans threw out all the establishment people, all the leaders of their party, and nominated Barry Goldwater. As I’ve said many times, a very good man but someone far to the Right of the mainstream of the Republican Party. They lost in a landslide. Same thing happened to the Democrats in 1972. They threw out all the establishment candidates – people, leaders in their party, big city mayors like Dick Daley, and nominated again, a very good man, George McGovern, but someone who was far to the Left of the mainstream of their party and they lost in a landslide. And that’s what’s bothering the establishment Republicans now, they’re worried, are they headed to something like that in 2012? SMITH: Take a right to the – take to the edge of the abyss, as it were. But that becomes the question. If you’re the Republicans, how do you – because what’s undeniable is the passion and motivation of the supporters of all the tea party folks. If you’re the Republicans, is there a way to harness that energy? SMITH: Well, that’s what they got to figure out, because you’re absolutely right. I mean, these people are committed. A lot of people of these tea party folks are not really Republicans. They didn’t – you know, they’re anti-tax, they’re very, very conservative. They tend to be older. In mid-term elections, you don’t have young people turning out very much to vote. And they were a powerful force. I mean, there’s absolutely no question about it. Sarah Palin’s endorsement meant a great deal to those particular people. But, how is this going to play in November? And that’s –  that’s what they’re all grappling with, how do you keep the enthusiasm but, at the same time, how do you appeal to the people in the middle, the independents? Who, in the end, are always the ones who decided the election. SMITH: Because it’s all about the middle. It is an interesting dichotomy though. Because as Sarah Palin’s negatives continue to go up, everything she touches turns to gold. O’Donnell in Delaware two weeks ago was not given a snowball’s chance in you-know-what and she ends up running roughshod over the Republican candidate. SCHIEFFER: You know, Harry, it all goes back to the economy once again. I mean, you saw the figures that say one person in seven in this country is now living in poverty. People are still unemployed. People are still loving – looking for work. What you’re seeing is the frustration that just sort of permeates all of our politics right now and you’re seeing in these tea party folks kind of the Right end of all of that. SMITH: Alright. SCHIEFFER: And it all comes from that. If the economy gets a little bit better, I think you’ll see a lot of things change in this – in this equation. But, so far, it’s not getting better. SMITH: Could be the iced tea party. Bob Schieffer in Washington this morning, as always, we appreciate your time. And remember, you can watch Bob’s interview with former President Clinton on Face the Nation this Sunday morning. Don’t want to miss it, right here on CBS.  

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CBS’s Smith: Tea Party and Palin Could Bring GOP to ‘Edge of the Abyss’

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D.C. ABC Reporter Doug McKelway Fired for Argument Over Anti-Obama, Anti-Greenpeace Bias

Posted on September 17, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

The Washington Post reported Friday that WJLA-TV, the local D.C. area affiliate of ABC, has fired longtime anchorman Doug McKelway for “insubordination and misconduct” after (or during?) an April report on left-wing oil spill protesters (video here ): In his piece, McKelway said the sparsely attended event attracted protesters “largely representing far-left environmental groups.” [He cited Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth.] He went on to say the protest “may be a risky strategy because the one man who has more campaign contributions from BP than anybody else in history is now sitting in the Oval Office, President Barack Obama, who accepted $77,051 in campaign contributions from BP.” After a brief taped segment updating efforts to cap the BP well, McKelway added that the Senate was unlikely to pass “cap-and-trade” legislation this year, because “the Democrats are looking at the potential for huge losses in Congress come the midterm elections. And the last thing they want to do is propose a huge escalation in your electric bill, your utility bill, before then.” [Station manager and news director Bill] Lord took exception to McKelway’s reporting and asked to meet with him, according to several station sources who were granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive personnel matter. A shouting match between the two men ensued, leading to McKelway’s suspension, sources said. McKelway has alleged liberal favoritism in news reporting before; when he left his anchor chair at WRC after nine years to join WJLA in mid-2001, he blasted the station’s lack of “balance,” in a newspaper article. WJLA is owned by Allbritton Communications, which is also the owner of the liberal Politico website (and newspaper). Aside from whatever words McKelway and Lord had, it’s quite clear that McKelway was summoned for a scolding over conservative bias. Allbritton apparently expects all of its reporters to toe an Obama-friendly, Greenpeace-friendly line. Earlier: Liberal bosses may have also hated McKelway’s forceful disapproval of a gay-left “outing” advocate

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ABC Champions White House’s ‘Greatest Hits of the Stimulus Program,’ Sawyer Trumpets ‘We Have the List!’

Posted on September 16, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

ABC’s World News whored itself out Thursday night to a hapless effort by the White House to prove its “stimulus” spending created a lot of jobs. “Still ahead on World News,” an easily impressed Diane Sawyer hyped, “We have the list! That White House stimulus, the top success stories. An exclusive report.” Jon Karl proceeded to highlight “the greatest hits of the stimulus program,” including a payout to the owner of MSNBC, but the White House examples he touted totaled a piddling 418 jobs. Sawyer announced the “President’s stimulus program” of $818 billion was “designated to create or save millions of jobs” and though “Republicans say it’s been largely unsuccessful,” the “White House is firing back, and our Jon Karl has a look at the top of the list, the ones that have worked the best.” Previewing a report to be released Friday by the Vice President’s office, “100 Recovery Act Projects that Are Changing America” ( AP dispatch ), Karl trumpeted how “the White House will detail the top 100 stimulus programs in the country. We have an exclusive list at what they considered the greatest hits of the stimulus program.” Karl began with a project in New Jersey “where a toxic area contaminated by an old electronics plant is being transformed into a new industrial park, thanks to $30 million stimulus dollars” and, he raved, “the project has already created 68 jobs.” Showing the effort to which ABC went to produce the advertisement for President Obama, the Washington DC-based Karl showed himself at the site of his second example in New York City, to which he credited 120 jobs: “The White House is also touting the $175 million in stimulus funds being spent here at New York’s Staten Island ferry terminal, replacing nine bridges like this one that are in a dangerous state of disrepair.” Next, after noting Senator John McCain’s claim the spending has been a waste, Karl cited “230 jobs created” by “$51 million for a new facility for injured veterans at Fort Bliss, Texas” and, finally, without any job creation claim, “$25 million in tax credits for GE to build a new plant for energy efficient appliances in Louisville, Kentucky.” That would be a little corporate welfare for MSNBC’s owner. Karl concluded that adding up all the jobs in the 100 projects in the White House list, though he did not cite a total claimed number, “comes to $250,000 per job, but the White House says the actual cost per job is much lower, because each of these projects will have ripple effects, creating many more jobs in the future.” Sawyer then reiterated the White House line: “So they say these are facts, too, and these are the facts that show it’s been working.” The MRC’s Brad Wilmouth corrected the closed-captioning against the video to provide this transcript of the story on the Thursday, September 16 edition of ABC’s World News: DIANE SAWYER: As we know, there’s been an ongoing debate in this country about the jobs crisis, and the President’s stimulus program – $818 billion designated to create or save millions of jobs. Republicans say it’s been largely unsuccessful. But tonight, the White House is firing back, and our Jon Karl has a look at the top of the list, the ones that have worked the best. Jon? JONATHAN KARL: That’s right. This is in direct response to all those Republican attacks. The White House will detail the top 100 stimulus programs in the country. We have an exclusive list at what they considered the greatest hits of the stimulus program. The report highlights projects like this one in South Plainfield, New Jersey, where a toxic area contaminated by an old electronics plant is being transformed into a new industrial park, thanks to $30 million stimulus dollars.                          JARED BERNSTEIN, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF ECONOMIST: We’re creating employment, getting folks in there, cleaning up that environment, and this will be a new industrial park creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs in decades to come. KARL: The project has already created 68 jobs and is designed to be an economic boon to the South Plainfield area once it’s completed next year. The White House is also touting the $175 million in stimulus funds being spent here at New York’s Staten Island ferry terminal, replacing nine bridges like this one that are in a dangerous state of disrepair. JANETTE SADIK-KHAN, NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION: We’re thrilled to have stimulus money available to repair the vital links that will keep New York City strong. KARL: There are now 120 workers on the job here, rebuilding a transportation hub that services 65,000 commuters every day. The White House report is a direct response to Senators John McCain and Tom Coburn, who have issued three separate reports on what they call the top 100 wasteful stimulus projects. Those reports highlighted things like the $3.4 million spent on the so-called “turtle tunnel,” allowing animals to go from one side of Florida’s Route 27 to the other. Here’s what McCain told us about his last report. SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ): I think all of them are waste. I think none of them, really, have any meaningful impact on creating jobs. BERNSTEIN: Republicans have often criticized the recovery act without recognizing projects specifically like the ones in this report. KARL: Projects like $51 million for a new facility for injured veterans at Fort Bliss, Texas –  230 jobs created; $25 million in tax credits for GE to build a new plant for energy efficient appliances in Louisville, Kentucky. GE is investing $600 million of its own money, bringing production now done in China back to the U.S. The White House lists the total cost and the number of jobs created for each of these top projects. Now, Diane, doing a little math, it comes to $250,000 per job, but the White House says the actual cost per job is much lower, because each of these projects will have ripple effects, creating many more jobs in the future. SAWYER: So they say these are facts, too, and these are the facts that show it’s been working. Okay, thank you, Jon Karl.

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Michelle Obama’s Burden and the Obamas’ Hard Hearts

Posted on September 16, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

It’s tough being the wife of the most powerful man in the world, just ask Michelle Obama. Carla Bruni, who seemed to reveal her distaste for the First Lady in previous pictures, reveals Michelle’s whiny comments in her recent book [Aside: why is a sitting world leader’s spouse writing a tell-all? What tawdriness.] Anyway,  here’s what was allegedly said: Michelle Obama thinks being America’s First Lady is ‘hell’, Carla Bruni reveals today in a wildly indiscreet book. Miss Bruni divulges that Mrs Obama replied when asked about her position as the U.S. president’s wife: ‘Don’t ask! It’s hell. I can’t stand it!’ Details of the private conversation, which took place at the White House during an official visit by Nicolas Sarkozy last March, emerged in Carla And The Ambitious, a book written in collaboration with Miss Bruni. Well, of course the job is difficult-prepared meals, jet-setting, specially designed clothes, lecturing the American people on eating apples is exhausting work. Also, it’s awful. Not out-of-a-job awful. Not repo awful. Not foreclosure awful. Not hungry awful. But, yeah, being First Lady is awful. Michelle Obama and that husband of her’s just don’t quite cast an empathetic image, do they? NPR kvetches about this problem : Is President Obama too rational to be likable? Obama comes across as so self-contained that his personality almost seems like a bubble around him – perhaps even more so than the bubble that surrounds any president, thanks to the Secret Service and all the trappings of the White House. “Obama’s analytic style of decision-making and his unwillingness to show emotion makes it hard for people to relate to him,” says Stephen J. Wayne, a government professor at Georgetown University. If a president is in power during hard times, his relative likability won’t matter so much as his overall job performance. But every president gets judged to a greater or lesser degree according to his personality. Perhaps no president would be doing well in the polls with unemployment near double digits throughout his term. But Obama’s inability to connect on an emotional level with many people has been an additional drag on his approval ratings. Oh yes. It’s the President’s cerebral nonchalance that’s making connection so difficult. How about this idea: Michelle and Barack Obama just don’t care. When an entitled person feels perpetually ripped off, they tend to feel less empathy for those they perceive as ripping them off. So, that lack of empathy; that attitude of being put-upon? That’s genuine no matter how the lib press wants to  rationalize  it away. Stories like these, from  the Politico  help nothing: The White House is fighting back against claims its offshore drilling moratorium will cause dramatic job loses along the Gulf Coast with a new report that says most jobs aren’t gone forever. Only 8,000 to 12,000 jobs will be lost along the Gulf Coast , and most will return once deepwater drilling resumes, says the report to be presented to a Senate panel Thursday. That’s right. ONLY 12,000 families will face the desperation of a lost livelihood and face the stress and strain of keeping their homes during this economic crisis. ONLY. Do the Obamas not grasp the gravity of the economic situation in America today? Do they not grasp their enormous educational, cultural and social privilege long before they ever lucked into the presidency? Or, are they so brainwashed by their own imagined persecution complex that they simply cannot see their remarkable lives for what they are: lucky and fortunate. Michelle Obama is not burdened. The woman doesn’t know from burden. And Barack Obama is not mis-perceived by the American people. They are seeing his cold nature for what it is: hard hearted. No amount of fawning press can obscure what is becoming more obvious. UPDATED: Michelle Obama’s office denies Carla Bruni’s revelation .

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