ProgressOhio

ABC News calls it "an off-color joke".

ABC News

Former GOP hopeful and Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is back in the news this week, making a splash when he took a hit at Senator Barack Obama during the annual National Rifle Association meeting.

Huckabee made an off-color joke during his speech in Louisville, Kentucky, when a loud bang was heard off-stage.

"That was Barack Obama," Huckabee quipped, "He Just tripped off a chair.  He was getting ready to speak.  Somebody aimed a gun at him and he…he dove for the floor."

How reckless is this from CBS news?

CBS News:

Rove wasn’t the only speaker to take aim at Obama. Mike Huckabee, speaking later in the program, was interrupted by a loud noise. “That was Barack Obama,” he said. “He just tripped off a chair. He was getting ready to speak and someone pointed a gun at him and he dove for the floor.”

Don't these people have any sense of the potential impact of what they're stating in the press to some crazy out there?

The memory of the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King 40 years ago, and the risks Obama could face in his run for the presidency, have been a concern of many voters during this presidential campaign.

At Obama's request the U.S. Secret Service began protecting him in May 2007, 18 months before the general election and the earliest a presidential candidate has received protection because of racially motivated threats.

I'm sure the Secret Service doesn't find this funny at all.

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No Lapel Pin and Our Amercian Flag displayed backwards?

Why Does John Boehner Hate America?

MoveOn.org is calling on John McCain to fire one of his top aides, amid reports he's re-vetting his entire campaign staff for ties to lobbying.

MoveOn has apparently already vetted McCain aide Charles R. Black Jr.

As The Washington Post reported in February, Black "leads his lobbying firm, which offers corporate interests and foreign governments the promise of access to the most powerful lawmakers. Some of those companies have interests before the Senate and, in particular, the Commerce Committee, of which McCain is a member."

"Charlie Black has helped some of the world's worst dictators get away with murder," said MoveOn's Noah T. Winer in a news release. "John McCain must do the right thing, live up to his campaign's new conflict of interest policy, and demand Black's immediate resignation."

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Barack Obama rebuked Republican rival John McCain and President Bush for "dishonest, divisive" attacks in hinting that the Democratic presidential candidate would appease terrorists, staunchly defending his national security credentials for the general election campaign.

Obama said their "appalling attacks" amounted to nothing more than "fear-peddling and "fear mongering".

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Some of the best lines lines:

• "The president did something that presidents don't do ... and that is launch a political attack targeted to the domestic market" while speaking to a foreign audience.
• "That's exactly the kind of appalling attack that has divided our country and has alienated the world. ... McCain embraced Bush's attack"
• "If George Bush and John McCain want to have a debate about protecting the United States of America that's a debate that I will have at any time in any place -- and that is a debate I will win because George Bush and John McCain have a lot to answer for."
• "They have to explain why we are now in our sixth year in Iraq."
• They've got to explain why Osama bin Laden is still at large. They have to explain why Iran and Hamas are now both stronger than ever. That's the Bush-McCain record.
• "John McCain still has not spelled out one substantial way that he'd be different than George Bush when it comes to foreign policy."
• "John McCain has nothing to offer but the naive and irresponsible belief that tough talk from Washington" alone will achieve our global objectives.

FIRST THOUGHTS: BUSH'S GIFT TO OBAMA

Yesterday, barely two years after embracing an open attitude towards Hamas, John McCain says that he will be their "worst nightmare." McCain's reversal would have been stunning on its own, but the reason for his hypocrisy is truly appalling. McCain flip-flopped on Hamas to smear Barack Obama.

Hypocrisy on Hamas

But given his own position on Hamas, McCain is the last politician who should be attacking Obama. Two years ago, just after Hamas won the Palestinian parliamentary elections, I interviewed McCain for the British network Sky News's "World News Tonight" program. Here is the crucial part of our exchange:

I asked: "Do you think that American diplomats should be operating the way they have in the past, working with the Palestinian government if Hamas is now in charge?"

McCain answered: "They're the government; sooner or later we are going to have to deal with them, one way or another, and I understand why this administration and previous administrations had such antipathy towards Hamas because of their dedication to violence and the things that they not only espouse but practice, so . . . but it's a new reality in the Middle East. I think the lesson is people want security and a decent life and decent future, that they want democracy. Fatah was not giving them that."

Read the Full Story at The Washington Post:

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Moving the Goalposts

“By January 2013, America has welcomed home most of the servicemen and women who have sacrificed terribly so that America might be secure in her freedom.
The Iraq war has been won.”

-- John McCain In Columbus Today [Reuters, 5/15/08]

McCain's Speech In Columbus Today

John McCain claimed in Columbus today that the war in Iraq would be won in five more years. However, after making dozens of such predictions since the beginning of the war, McCain has lost credibility in the eyes of the public. After years of faulty logic and failed strategies, McCain still walks hand-in-hand with President Bush on the war in Iraq. From predicting victory in “months” to “a hundred years,” McCain consistently moves the finish line farther and farther away in an effort to mask the fact that he has no plan to end the war in Iraq and no idea when the conflict will be over.

Early 2003: The End is “Very Much in Sight.”

McCain Predicted a “Brief, Successful War In Iraq.” While speaking on the floor of the senate on the day before U.S. military action commenced in Iraq, McCain said, “The costs of these enterprises are not known with any degree of certainty at this time. Nor are the costs we will incur after what I believe, what I fervently, hope, will be a brief, successful war in Iraq, as we seek to establish the foundations for a peaceful, stable and democratizing Iraq.” He added, “I believe the war in Iraq can be concluded successfully in a relatively brief time.” [McCain Senate Press Release, 3/18/03]

McCain Believed The War In Iraq Would Be Relatively Short. While appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” McCain said, “I believe that this conflict is still going to be relatively short. I believe we’ve achieved significant goals and successes.” [NBC, “Meet the Press,” 3/30/03]

In 2003 McCain Said The End Was “Very Much In Sight.” Senator McCain was asked “At what point will America be able to say the war was won?” McCain said there were oil fields to secure and “die-hards” to take care of but “it’s clear that the end is very much in sight, and today I think Americans should be very proud of their leadership, their technology…There are still some foreigners, Syrians and others hanging around. But it won’t be long. It will be a fairly short period of time, but this happens in wars. I’m confident that once they are confident the area is no longer a threat to the Marines and to or army troops that they’ll start imposing discipline. In the meantime, we’ll have a short period of chaos.” [ABC, Good Morning America, 4/9/03, emphasis added]

In April 2003, McCain Said He Was “Sure” The End Of Conflict In Iraq Was Near. While appearing on “Lou Dobbs Moneyline,” Dobbs asked McCain, “Is it your judgment that we are near the end of this conflict?” To which McCain replied, “Oh, I’m sure that’s true.” [CNN, “Lou Dobbs Moneyline,” 4/10/03]

Late 2003: A Few Months?

McCain Said “We Would Probably Know Within The Next Few Months” If America Won Or Lost In Iraq. During an appearance on MSNBC’s “Buchanan & Press,” McCain was asked what “victory” in Iraq was. McCain said, “I think the next three to six months are very critical in this whole scenario because the Iraqi people don’t want to go back to Saddam Hussein. They’re not crazy. But many of them in the Sunni Triangle are losing any confidence that the United States can bring them what their ambitions are all about for themselves and their families. So I think we’re in a very critical time. And we would probably know within the next few months.” [MSNBC, “Buchanan & Press,” 11/6/03]

2004: Five Years?

McCain Said “Listen, My Friend, We’re Going To Have To Be There For Five or Six Years.” During a February 2004 appearance on MSNBC’s “Hardball,” McCain discussed the war in Iraq and said, “Listen, my friend, we’re going to be there for five or six years. A little straight talk. We’re going. We’re going to have to be there for quite a while.” [MSNBC, “Hardball,” 2/25/04]

Early-2005: One Year?

McCain: “I Would Think That It’s Going To Be Another Year To A Year And A Half.” During an appearance on CBS’s “The Early Show,” McCain was asked “What is a realistic timetable” regarding the war in Iraq? McCain said, “If I had to guess, I would think that it’s going to be at least another year to a year and a half, but, hopefully before then we could have our troops out of a lot of the areas where they’re vulnerable to casualties.” [CBS, “The Early Show,” 2/3/05]

McCain's wife sells Sudan-related investments

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain's wife, Cindy, has sold more than $2 million in mutual funds with investments in companies that do business in Sudan, McCain's campaign said on Wednesday. 

John McCain has been a strong advocate for imposing international financial sanctions on Sudan because of the 5-year-old Darfur conflict, in which U.N. officials estimate that as many as 300,000 people may have been killed.

Think Progress reports:

In an April 24, 2007 speech on energy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) criticized China for opposing sanctions in Darfur, saying that the reason it refused to do so was because “China needs Sudan’s oil.” Now, in a moment of irony, the AP reports that McCain’s wife, Cindy, just “sold off more than $2 million in mutual funds” whose holdings include companies that do business in Sudan’s oil industry.

According to McCain’s personal financial disclosure, Cindy McCain’s investments include two mutual funds — American Funds Europacific Growth fund and American Funds Capital World Growth and Income fund — that are listed by the Sudan Divestment Task Force as targets for divestment.

Both funds have holdings in Oil & Natural Gas Corp., an India-based company that does business in Sudan. The American Funds Capital World Growth & Income Fund also has holdings in Petrochina, a Chinese government-owned oil company with vast investments in Sudan.

In an interview with The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., talked a great deal about Israel. He was rather effusive in his support for the Jewish state.

When the topic turned to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Obama said, "Israel and the Palestinians have tough issues to work out to get to the goal of two states living side by side in peace and security."

When asked if Israel besmirches the United States' reputation, Obama said "No, no, no."

Then he said: "But what I think is that this constant wound, that this constant sore, does infect all of our foreign policy. The lack of a resolution to this problem provides an excuse for anti-American militant jihadists to engage in inexcusable actions, and so we have a national-security interest in solving this, and I also believe that Israel has a security interest in solving this because I believe that the status quo is unsustainable. I am absolutely convinced of that ... I want to solve the problem..."

It's obvious that by "constant sore" Obama was referring to the unresolved Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As he says in the next sentence: the "lack of a resolution to this problem."

Apparently given nothing of substance to criticize, House Republican leaders then took the statement Obama made and twisted it to act as if the Democrat had insulted the Jewish state.

House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, accused Obama of calling Israel a "constant sore."

"Israel is a critical American ally and a beacon of democracy in the Middle East, not a ‘constant sore’ as Barack Obama claims," Boehner said. "Obama’s latest remark, and his commitment to ‘opening a dialogue’ with sponsors of terrorism, echoes past statements by Jimmy Carter who once called Israel an ‘apartheid state.’"

That's interesting because in that very same interview, Obama rejected Carter's use of the term "apartheid" as applied to Israel.

Said Obama: "I strongly reject the characterization. Israel is a vibrant democracy, the only one in the Middle East, and there’s no doubt that Israel and the Palestinians have tough issues to work out to get to the goal of two states living side by side in peace and security, but injecting a term like apartheid into the discussion doesn’t advance that goal. It’s emotionally loaded, historically inaccurate, and it’s not what I believe."

Here's what the inteviewer Jeffery Goldberg had to say today about John Boehner:

"Mr. Boehner, I'm sure, is a terribly busy man, with many burdensome responsibilities, so I have to assume that he simply didn't have time to read the entire Obama interview, or even the entire paragraph, or even a single clause.

If he had, of course, he would have seen that Obama was clearly calling the Middle East conflict, and not Israel, a sore. Why, there's no one who would disagree that the Middle East conflict is a 'sore,' is there?

"I have no doubt that Mr. Boehner will issue a correction to his press release in which he states the obvious, which is that Obama expressed -- in twelve different ways -- his support for Israel to me.

If he doesn't, however, I would, sadly, have to agree with my colleague, the less-forgiving Andrew Sullivan, who called Boehner's statement a 'flat-out lie.'

In fact, I would add to Andrew's post, by calling Boehner's statement mendacious, duplicitous, gross, and comically refutable."

HT: Politcal Punch

"I will not shirk the mantle of leadership that the United States bears," he said. "I will not permit eight long years to pass without serious action on serious challenges. I will not accept the same dead-end of failed diplomacy that claimed Kyoto."

What he should have added is, "I will not vote on crucial environmental legislation" . . .

McCain skipped every one of the 15 votes that the League of Conservation Voters deemed critical measures for the environment, including votes where the Arizona Senator’s yea would have meant passage by a single-vote margin.

McCain has won support from many environmentalists … but his absenteeism on important votes this session calls into question his reputation as a maverick who might buck the party line on some energy and environmental issues.

“Out of 535 Members of Congress, John McCain is the only one who chose to miss every single key environmental vote scored by the League of Conservation Voters last year. When it came time to stand up and vote for the environment, John McCain was nowhere to be found,” said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club. “Every other Member who received a zero from LCV last year at least had the temerity to show up and vote against the environment and clean energy time after time. And unlike John McCain, I doubt any of them would claim to be environmental leaders or champions on global warming.”

Although McCain likes to play up his environmental record in a positive light, and the media often plays along, the facts don’t always back it up, 

“McCain’s LCV score exposes the real record behind the rhetoric: a lifetime pattern of voting with polluters and special interests instead of consumers and the planet when it comes time to stand up and be counted. Or perhaps worse yet: a consistent refusal to stand up and be counted at all.” 

Short and sweet.

Bush May Be as Harmful to McCain as Wright Is to Obama

One-third of likely voters say they are less likely to vote for McCain because of Bush

PRINCETON, NJ -- George W. Bush may do as much damage to John McCain's chances of being elected as Jeremiah Wright does to Barack Obama's, according to results of a recent USA Today/Gallup poll.

 Update: CNN's Cafferty: Will Pres. Bush or Rev. Wright cause more damage?

Will Washington Post and Wall Street Journal Call for Release of Cindy McCain's Taxes as They Did with Teresa Heinz Kerry?

Media Matters Calls on Publications to Explain Lack of Consistency

Washington, D.C. - During coverage of the 2004 election cycle, both The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal published editorials calling on Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry, to release her tax returns.

To date, neither publication has called on Cindy McCain, wife of presumptive 2008 Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, to do the same.

Media Matters for America released letters sent to the editorial boards of both papers calling on the publications to explain their lack of consistency.

CNN was the only news network to discuss the issue in this report which ran once on The Situation Room.

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The media made the release of Teresa Heinz Kerry's tax returns a huge deal.

Where's their outrage now that Cindy McCain refuses to release hers?

CBS News:

Kerry's Wife: Above Suspicion?

What would be in her tax returns that's worth keeping secret?

A lot, actually. One Republican lawyer says Heinz's returns would be a "treasure trove of opposition research." One thing the returns would show, this lawyer says, is the extent to which Kerry is a "kept man." According to his tax return, Kerry's income in 2003 was $395,338 -- over half of which came from the sale of his quarter interest in a 17th-century Dutch painting co-owned by Teresa and the art dealer Peter Tillou. (The 4' x 8' painting, incidentally, is "The Arrival of Frederick and Elizabeth, Prince and Princess of the Palatinate, at Flushing, April 29, 1613" by Adam Willaerts.) Sure, it was a high-income year for the senator. But in 2003, Kerry also took out a $6.4 million mortgage on his share of the couple's Beacon Hill townhouse in Boston to fund his strapped presidential campaign.

The Washington Post editorial board:

Teresa Heinz Kerry's Taxes

...with her husband seeking the presidency, her financial dealings, as well as his, ought to be as open as possible. Keeping her returns private would set a bad precedent. Imagine a future presidential candidate whose spouse has complicated business dealings or federal contracts, chooses to file a separate tax return, and refuses to make it public.

Robert Novak:

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/robertnovak/rn200404...

WASHINGTON -- Sen. John Kerry, having escaped intact a one-hour grilling by NBC's Tim Russert on "Meet the Press" Sunday, slipped in the closing minutes. When asked why his multi-millionaire wife was not making public her tax returns, he misinterpreted the law and the facts. He can only hope voters regard this as arcane trivia.

Three days before her husband's first full-length televised interview since he clinched the Democratic presidential nomination, Teresa Heinz Kerry became the first would-be first lady to refuse disclosure since the practice became common. Kerry told Russert the law required him but not his wife to reveal tax returns, when in fact there is no such law. He is voluntarily disclosing the information, and Mrs. Kerry is not.

This becomes politically critical, because no previous presidential candidate relied so much on his spouse's wealth. Without backing from Heinz ketchup money, it is fair to say John Kerry would not be his party's presidential standard-bearer and probably would not even be a U.S. senator today. Thus, refusal to release his wife's tax returns inevitably raises suspicions, however ill-founded, that the Kerrys have something to hide.

National Review's Andrew Stuttaford

The Curious Discretion of Teresa Heinz Kerry

When it comes to talking about her taxes, however, the voluble — and supposedly fearless — Mrs. Heinz Kerry has been uncharacteristically tongue-tied, preferring instead to hide behind her children. Citing their privacy (thanks to the Heinz trusts, her finances are deeply intertwined with those of her sons) she has held out against full disclosure of her 2003 tax records. As she explained back in April, "What I have and what I receive is not just mine, it is also my children's, and I don't know that I have the right to make public what is theirs...If I could separate it, I would have no problem."

On Cindy?  The sound of crickets chirping . . .

See Also: Double Standard for Candidate Spouses

Media Matters Calls on Publications to Explain Lack of Consistency

"We just believe our heroes deserve to be treated better than that."

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US Defense Secretary Robert Gates ordered a review of the handling of the remains of US war dead and apologized after learning that some were cremated in a commercial facility that also cremates pets, the Pentagon said.

Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said there was no evidence that any US servicemember was cremated in an incinerator used for pets.

But Gates believed that the use of a commercial facility that cremated both humans and pets, albeit in separate incinerators, was "insensitive and entirely inappropriate for the dignified treatment of our fallen," Morrell said.

"The families of the fallen have the secretary's deepest apology," he added.

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Wife's beer fortune gives McCain access to millions

WASHINGTON (AP) -- On a spring day at a speedway in North Carolina, John McCain posed with his wife, Cindy, and racing star Dale Earnhardt Jr., highlighting the couple's political and business interests in a single snapshot.

McCain served as honorary starter of the NASCAR race that weekend in Charlotte, N.C. Earnhardt drove the Budweiser car, painted military camouflage, rather than its trademark red, to honor the troops.

Budweiser, then NASCAR's official beer, is brewed by Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., whose products have made Cindy McCain and her family a fortune.

The brewer sold toy replicas of its race car to aid the Special Operations Warrior Foundation and publicized its support for the group, on whose board John McCain served and whose chairman later endorsed him. The speedway appearance helped McCain court NASCAR voters, and his campaign circulated video of the event over the Internet.

The McCains' marriage has mixed business and politics from the beginning, according to an expansive review by The Associated Press of thousands of pages of campaign, personal finance, real estate and property records nationwide. The paperwork chronicles the McCains' ascent from Arizona newlyweds to political power couple on the national stage.

As heiress to her father's stake in Hensley & Co. of Phoenix, Cindy McCain is an executive whose worth may exceed $100 million. Her beer earnings have afforded the GOP presidential nominee a wealthy lifestyle with a private jet and vacation homes at his disposal, and her connections helped him launch his political career -- even if the millions remain in her name alone. Yet the arm's-length distance between McCain and his wife's assets also has helped shield him from conflict-of-interest problems.

Read The Full Story on the McCain's Millions

The Fabulous Life Of John McCain

In the US Senate, John McCain is the eigth-richest, worth a minimum of $28 million dollars.  He has nine properties from Arizona to Virginia with an estimated worth of over thirteen million dollars, including a 2.7 million dollar condo on gorgeous Coronado Island. 

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Cindy McCain's Business Relationship With Charles Keating and Why She Must Disclose Her Finances

It's not just the Dems who may face conflict at their convention . . .

Mother Jones

Ron Paul deserves representation at the Republican national convention in proportion to the support he received in the primaries. And his supporters are prepared to fight like hell to make sure he gets it.

Across the country, at state and county GOP conventions, diehard supporters of maverick Ron Paul are staging uprisings in an effort to secure a role for Paul at the national convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul....

In Minnesota, Paul loyalists captured seven delegate slots at congressional district meetings, and in Nevada, the convention abruptly recessed on April 26 after balloting showed Paul supporters winning at least half of the initial contests for delegate slots to the national convention....

Full Story

 Some "conservative" blogs have banned Ron Paul supporters from commenting.  I guess they would prefer not to have to hear "true conservatives" speak.