I get OFFENDED at their BIASED, DIVISIVE and DISTORTED CONTEXT and COVERAGE of SO MANY VITAL ISSUES to our nation.
Talk about pushing for the "issues" and setting the agenda, voila... FRONT PAGE LEAD:
"McCain courting Clinton loyalists; But abortion stand upsets some women's groups" by Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff | June 14, 2008
Yes, to define yourself as woman requires where you stand on that most divisive of American issues (thank you, Zionist-controlled press).
Not like wars and war-profiteer waste or gas-price gouging, etc, etc, matter to women. It's this ONE ISSUE, boy!!
Well, here is where I stand (sorry, ladies).
"Republican John McCain's campaign is aggressively targeting former supporters of Hillary Clinton, hoping to capitalize on their dissatisfaction with presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama and anger over how Clinton was treated during the Democratic primaries.
Today McCain will host a nationwide telephone forum aimed at Clinton loyalists with Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of
That's nice; send out one of the worst CEO's ever to convince the ladies to vote McCain.
How come the MSM doesn't tell you about her contentious tenure at HP, readers?
The campaign is betting that even women who favor abortion rights may be willing to accept a difference of opinion on that issue if they like what they hear McCain saying on broader issues such as national security, the economy, and healthcare.
But Obama is courting those same voters, and national women's organizations are trying to help him by smoothing over rifts that developed during the bitter primary battle. Prominent groups such as NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund are gearing up voter education and mobilization efforts focused on raising awareness of McCain's long record of opposing abortion rights.
Planned Parenthood Action Fund, which is running a $10 million grass-roots campaign to recruit 1 million voters for Obama in battleground states, today will kick off a weeklong series of more than 400 house parties across the country. Yesterday the group unveiled an Internet ad highlighting McCain's record on abortion rights and other health issues that it plans to send to 3.5 million of its supporters and the antiwar group MoveOn.org., urging each recipient to forward the ad to five people.
Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, said yesterday that even the most disaffected Clinton supporters are unlikely to defect to McCain, whose views on abortion and other reproductive health issues are diametrically opposed to Clinton's and Obama's. McCain favors overturning Roe v. Wade, the US Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide, then working to reduce the number of abortions and eventually end them.
"The media is trying to make a lot out of this 'disaffected women,' " Richards said in a telephone interview. "I'm not saying we don't have a lot of work to do, but I think women are going to move very swiftly to support Senator Obama. For some of them, they don't know him as well as they did her . . . and quite honestly, they need to find out more about John McCain."
She pointed to a poll commissioned by her organization that found that half of women supporting McCain in battleground states don't know his position on abortion, and that more than a third of women who favor abortion rights and support McCain reconsidered after being told he opposes Roe v. Wade.
But aides to McCain, a Republican who styles himself as an independent-minded maverick who has been willing to cross party lines for the sake of principle, disputed the notion that the Arizona senator would ultimately lose the battle for women over abortion.
"Women are not single-issue voters," said Crystal Benton, a campaign spokeswoman. "The issues we're hearing from them that matter most are economic prosperity, national security, and choice and portability in healthcare, which puts Senator John McCain in position to fight for each one of their votes."
After a town hall meeting in New Jersey yesterday, McCain repeated his effusive praise for Clinton and acknowledged he had "a lot of work to do " to reach female voters.
"I believe that women all over America need to be assured that I will do everything in my power to continue the progress that has been made in equal opportunity in America, and that means an emphasis on education, that means service to country, and it means providing the same job security that all Americans deserve," he told reporters.
Polls released this week showed the candidates with mixed results among women. In a Gallup tracking poll conducted June 5-9, Obama increased his lead over McCain among women from 5 percentage points to 13 percentage points since Clinton conceded a week ago. But an NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey showed that while Clinton led McCain by 14 percentage points among suburban women, Obama trailed by 6 percentage points.
Democratic strategist Mary Anne Marsh of the Dewey Square Group in Boston said the Obama camp should be concerned about the state of the women's vote after a primary that dismayed many Clinton supporters. McCain does not need a majority of women to win the election, she noted, he just has to chip away at Obama's share of the women's vote. Women typically make up a majority of voters in presidential elections.
"I think in this case, there are several threats - Hillary Clinton supporters who may go to support John McCain; Hillary Clinton supporters who may not vote at all, and Hillary Clinton supporters who do nothing between now and November except cast a vote," she said. "Any combination of these things is something to worry about if you are Barack Obama."
This week, several prominent female Clinton supporters issued clarion calls for unity. Ellen Malcolm, president of EMILY's List, which funds female candidates who support abortion rights, presided over a conference call in which she called McCain "out of touch" with women's lives.
At the group's annual luncheon both she and former secretary of state Madeleine Albright urged women to get behind Obama.
But some Clinton supporters are not about to fall into line.
Women for Fair Politics, a group of Clinton supporters in Ohio angry about what they saw as pervasive sexism in the primary campaign and determined to "never let it happen again," hosted Fiorina Thursday night. Two of the group's cofounders, businesswoman Cynthia Ruccia and real estate agent Marilu Sochor, said yesterday that they planned to vote for McCain this fall, even though they were both longtime Democratic activists and strongly in favor of abortion rights.
"It doesn't matter to me if we have all the great things the Democrats can offer if it's OK to go ahead and denigrate 51 percent of the country," Ruccia said in a telephone interview. "Sexism is neither Democratic nor Republican, and it needs to stop."
Sochor said she was also outraged at how Obama had, in her view, alienated key components of the Democratic base during the primary season by not campaigning much in Appalachian states such as West Virginia and Kentucky and by characterizing small-town Pennsylvanian voters as apt to "cling to guns or religion" because they were "bitter" about their circumstances.
In a video she recorded for the Clinton supporters' group and posted on its website, Fiorina, speaking directly to the camera, expressed admiration for Clinton - whom she described as "obviously incredibly intelligent, focused, tough, determined" -as well as empathy for her.
"I saw how she was scrutinized, characterized, talked about as a woman," Fiorina said.
Fiorina, chairwoman of the Republicans' Victory '08 fund, also vouched for McCain as a man who respected strong women.
"I can tell you that he treats everyone with respect," she said. "He seeks my advice and counsel on issues that are important to me - and I think issues that are important to you - and he listens to that counsel, and acts on that counsel."
"McCain blasts ruling on Guantanamo; He calls decision 'one of the worst' in US history" by Sasha Issenberg and Farah Stockman, Globe Staff | June 14, 2008PEMBERTON, N.J. - Senator John McCain, transforming a recent Supreme Court decision into a campaign issue yesterday, blasted the court's ruling, which established that foreign terrorism suspects held in detention at the US military base at Guantanamo Bay have the constitutional right to challenge their detention in civilian courts.
"The United States Supreme Court yesterday rendered a decision which I think is one of the worst decisions in the history of this country," McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said at a town hall meeting in this southern New Jersey town adjacent to McGuire Air Force Base.
Really, the worst? I think Dred Scott was pretty bad, don't you?
As a FORMER POW, McCain should be ASHAMED for the statement he just made.
His opponent, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, had welcomed the decision, which the court reached on a 5-4 vote Thursday. In response, Obama used the ruling to tie McCain to President Bush, who created the detention center for captured "enemy combatants" and the military-based justice system to handle their cases.
Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, said in a statement that the ruling validating detainees' rights "ensures that we can protect our nation and bring terrorists to justice, while also protecting our core values." He said the deeply divided court, which has ruled on this issue before, saw through "the Bush administration's attempt to create a legal black hole at Guantanamo - yet another failed policy supported by John McCain."
Obama has long advocated ending the justice system specially created for Guantanamo Bay. He said the detainees should be brought to trial in US courts or in military courts-martial, a proposal the Supreme Court ruling does not affect.
The high court's decision, however, voided some of McCain's proposals for Guantanamo.
Like Obama, McCain said Guantanamo should be closed, but he wants to bring the specially created military justice system to US soil to try the inmates. He insisted that the inmates should not have access to civilian courts, regardless of where they are detained.
"We made it very clear these are enemy combatants," McCain said yesterday, defending his position. "They have not, and never have, been given the rights of citizens of this country."
Two of McCain's allies, Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, joined him at a news conference after the town hall meeting.
Graham, a close adviser to McCain on military and justice issues, said Thursday the Constitution might need to be amended to override the Supreme Court ruling. McCain did not rule out that option yesterday but said there are other avenues available, including drafting a new law to limit detainees' access to federal courts.
Un-frikkin-real!!!
The three senators rejected Obama's attempts to link their positions on Guantanamo to Bush. They said their support for a 2006 law setting up the special military system on Guantanamo was an attempt to "find the right balance" between Bush's security-first policy and the rule of law.
So the are at CROSS-PURPOSES, 'eh?
Translation: Bush has BROKEN the LAW!!!!!
McCain's harsh critique was far more forceful than his reaction on Thursday, suggesting he saw a political advantage in identifying with the conservative justices who were in the minority on the matter. Using the language of domestic politics, he and his two Senate colleagues condemned the high court's "unaccountable judges" - a frequent bugaboo of conservative voters - and their role in a national security matter.
Graham said the court effectively stripped legal decisions on enemy combatants from "military personnel tribunals trained in the matters of warfare." Now, he added, cases will be handled "by the most liberal judges the detainees can find in the most liberal jurisdictions with no standards" and at a high risk to national security.
Graham is SHAMELESS, isn't he? And he was a JAG lawyer.
AmeriKa HAS NO JUSTICE ANYMORE, readers!
Sig Heil (sob)!!
McCain then read approvingly from the dissenting opinion written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts - whom McCain cites as a model for his appointees should he become president - and scolded Obama for siding with the court's liberal bloc.
"Senator Obama applauds this decision, and he supports it," McCain said. "I argue against it and will do what I can to at least narrow down some of the wide-open aspects of this Supreme Court decision."
That pledge alarmed some human rights activists, who fear McCain could try to re-create the Guantanamo-style system of justice on US soil. If that happens, they warn, noncitizens - including green card holders - could be held indefinitely if deemed threats to national security.
The Military Commissions Act of 2006, which McCain backed, effectively eliminated enemy combatants' rights even if they were held on US soil. The Supreme Court ruling nullified it, but McCain's vow to keep fighting for it has disturbed some human rights activists and legal specialists.
"It is contrary to our basic values," said Eugene Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military Justice, a nonpartisan group of military scholars."And if you think the briefs treated Obama better, think again!
"McCain, Obama tussle over town hall details
They both profess they want to do town hall meetings, but Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama are in a stalemate over when, where, and how many.
In the latest tussling over town hall meetings, McCain yesterday accepted a proposal from the Ronald Reagan presidential library in Simi Valley, Calif., and the Lyndon Johnson presidential library in Austin, Texas, for town halls in July.
McCain, who wants to hold town halls every Thursday for the next two months, scheduled the next one for Minnesota - and challenged Obama to show up.
"We fear that our negotiations over joint town hall meetings are turning into a debate about process. That is exactly what we have always hoped to avoid, and why we proposed a town hall format that would render many of these process issues moot," McCain campaign manager Rick Davis wrote yesterday to David Plouffe, his counterpart in the Obama campaign. "We remain committed to this idea because joint town hall meetings offer the best format for presenting both candidates' visions for our country's future in a substantive way."
In response, Plouffe said he was disappointed that McCain had rejected an offer to hold a town hall on the economy in July and one on foreign policy in August, besides the three officially sanctioned debates, Sept. 26 in Oxford, Miss., Oct. 7 in Nashville, Tenn., and Oct. 15 in Hempstead, N.Y.
"That package of five engagements would have been the most of any presidential campaign in the modern era - offering a broad range of formats - and representing a historic commitment to openness and transparency," Plouffe said in the statement. "Apparently they would rather contrive a political issue than foster a genuine discussion about the future of our country."
FOON RHEE
Meghan McCain switches affiliation to father's party
As Father's Day gifts go, it's better than a tie.
Meghan McCain, the daughter of presumptive Republican nominee, changed her voter registration to Republican this week.
"As some of you may know, I have been registered as an Independent since I was 18 years old," she blogged Thursday. "However, after careful thought and consideration, I recently decided to change my political party affiliation. This morning, I went to the State Capitol Executive Building in Phoenix with Mom and reregistered as a Republican. I did this as a symbol of my commitment to my dad and to represent the faith I have in his ability to be an effective leader for our country and to grow and strengthen the Republican party when he is elected President of the United States. Happy Father's Day, Dad!"
FOON RHEE"Candidates offer Social Security plans
Barack Obama, highlighting differences with John McCain on Social Security, declared yesterday that he would shore up the program by imposing payroll taxes on wages above $250,000 a year.
Now, the first $102,000 in salary is taxed at 6.2 percent. In specifically setting for the first time where he wants to apply further payroll taxes, Obama's proposal would create a so-called donut hole, because income between $102,000 and $250,000 wouldn't be taxed.
"Right now, the Social Security payroll tax is capped," Obama said in Columbus, Ohio, on day five of his economic tour of battleground states. "That means most middle-class families pay this tax on every dime they make, while millionaires and billionaires are only paying it on a very small percentage of their income. That's why I think the best way forward is to adjust the cap on the payroll tax so that people like me pay a little bit more and people in need are protected. That way we can extend the promise of Social Security without shifting the burden onto seniors."
Pledging to protect Social Security "today, tomorrow, and forever," Obama said 97 percent of Americans would not be affected by his plan.
He also hit McCain for being open to private savings accounts to supplement the retirement benefits, saying that amounts to privatizing Social Security.
McCain denied again yesterday that he supports privatization, though he has sounded open to the possibility in the past.
"I will not privatize Social Security, and it's not true when I'm accused of that," he said at a town hall meeting in New Jersey. "But I would like for younger workers, younger workers only, to have an opportunity to take a few of their tax dollars, a few of theirs, and maybe put it into an account with their name on it."
The McCain campaign also questioned the impact of Obama's tax proposals on seniors.
While Obama proposes to eliminate income taxes on seniors with less than $50,000 a year in income, McCain's campaign cited an analysis that Obama's plans would increase the tax bills for 10 million senior households, in part because of his proposal to raise capital gains taxes.
"Barack Obama likes to think that his tax increases will only hit a few Americans, but in truth his economic plan will be a disaster for everyone, especially seniors," Tucker Bounds, a McCain spokesman, said in a statement.
FOON RHEE"
I think the Boston Globe just made its November endorsement, don't you?
