Wednesday, December 3, 2008
The Morning’s Top Political News:
Chambliss Wins the Georgia Senate race
By a large margin, Georgia voters turned back a challenge by an Obama Democrat
Senate Democrats are thus denied a filibuster-proof Senate with which they could ram through extreme left wing legislation.
Minnesota - where a recount is under way - now remains the only unresolved Senate contest in the country. But the stakes there are significantly lower now that Georgia has put a 60-seat Democratic supermajority out of reach.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081203/D94QV0C00.html
Auto makers raise the stakes, now say they need more than 30 billion in bail out help from government
A leading opponent to the bailout, Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Al) notes the federal government has no money of its own – if the auto makers get the bailout they request, it will be taxpayer money – money from normal Americans.
Bachus quotes Ronald Reagan’s observation that notes government cannot give its people anything that it doesn’t first take from its people.
GM attempts a heavy handed intimidation strategy threatening they will be forced into bankruptcy before Christmas if it doesn’t get the billions it is demanding from Washignton.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/02/AR2008120201600_pf.html
Pelosi tightens her grip on Congress – armed with a dominant number of Democrats.
Not all Democrats are celebrating. Liberals are worried about Pelosi’s vow to govern “from the middle” and centrists are concerned that the make-up of the House leadership team has shifted noticeably to the left.
Who’s to stop an out of control, over the top, Pelosi? Certainly not the liberal extremist who will take over the White House next month.
The last time Democrats has such total control of government was 1993 in Clinton’s first year. Newt led a Republican revolution the very next election. Is there a Newt in the House today?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/02/AR2008120201600_pf.html
Opinion:
Breating a momentary sigh of relief
Saxby Chambliss won his special election and normal America can feel a bit better about its recent political events.
With Chambliss winning over an Obama Democrat in Georgia, Democrats in the Senate are prevented from having a filibuster-proof majority. This means left wing extremist efforts by the hapless Democrat Senate Leader – Harry Reid – can be blocked if all Republicans stand firm.
Of course, in recent years, not all GOP Senators have been steadfast on conservative viewpoints. Those of the Northeast are particularly suspect.
But, for now, normal Americans can take some comfort in the knowledge they will not be totally ravaged by left wing extremism.
Hopefully, right will also prevail in Minnesota where failed comedian and talk show host Al Franken is trying to sneak past GOP Senator Norm Coleman and win that seat. At the present the race is hinging on recount of the votes. In year’s past, Minnesota has not been savaged by the sort of Democrat vote theft and corruption that plagues many other states.
You can resume holding your breath. The most encouraging hint about the Minnesota outcome is the announcement by Franken and Reid of potential plans for taking the contest to the floor of the Senate. If it comes down to that arena, it’s obvious the outcome would not be good.
But at least, Democrats cant reach their magic number of 60.
Buddy
Today’s top Blogs:
1.
INDIA! It was the teachings of the Quran that drove these men to terrorism
by Mark Harding
This Islamic terror from India is the typical result of the blind leading the blind. It started a long time ago with the teachings of a madman called Muhammad, and the world continues to be terrorized by his followers today. Until the world wakes up to the "real cause" of the terror it finds itself facing today, Islamic terrorism will continue.
Hitler was the madman that drove so many Germans to do the un-thinkable terror that eventually caused the world to wake up and react to the destruction the terrorism and the murder of Jews and Christians, it was called Hitlerism.
Today the world must wake up to a new form of Nazism, it’s called Islam.
The teachings of Islam are the sole reason for the Islamic terrorism that we are seeing today. Muhammad the so called prophet of Islam may be dead but his terrorism lives on today in the hearts and the minds of many Muslim victims today because of the teachings of his manual's for terrorism, destruction and the murder of the Un-believers. These Manuals are the Quran and the Hadiths.
And until we are willing to speak the truth about Islam and protect those who are brave enough to do so, we will continue to see Islamic terrorist attacks like this one that took place in India.
I have studied Islam and its followers for almost 20 years now.
And after some intensive studying I have found that Islam's prophet, Muhammad, was a man that found a way to make other men fight and kill for wealth, power and a false hope of eternal salvation with a war god named "Allah" that does not even exist, unless one calls Lucifer a god.
These men were trained to kill Jews and Christian Infidels or as Islam calls us "Kafirs". There are other Islamic men and women trained to lie and to tell everyone that Islam is a ‘religion of peace'
http://www.rightsidenews.com/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2836&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=78
2.
'Post' Christian vision for Obama
One News Now
Robert Knight
Since his election, Barack Obama has spent at least three Sunday mornings skipping church and working out in a gym, according to Politico.com.
Well, he could do worse. The president-elect could take Washington Post religion maven Sally Quinn’s advice and attend services at Washington National Cathedral. There, he would find so much lukewarm liberal hogwash that it might make him long for the conspiratorial but biblically spiced rants of his old Chicago pastor, Jeremiah Wright.
Quinn, co-moderator of the Newsweek/Post On Faith online column, wrote an op-ed on Nov. 22, “A Church for the Obamas,” calling the National Cathedral “the perfect church for Barack and Michelle Obama to join.”
She’s excited because the cathedral is replete with “pluralism” (read: moral relativism), according a place to all the world’s religions, from Hinduism to Islam and even atheism.
As Quinn puts it, the cathedral “is at once deeply Christian and deeply interfaith.” There’s something deep here, all right.
The National Cathedral, Quinn points out, is where the first female presiding bishop, Katherine Jefforts Schori, was inducted. A longtime practitioner of the faith of radical liberalism, Ms. Jefforts Schori is now busy presiding over the breakup of the Episcopal Church, as more and more Bible-based congregations are fleeing to the Anglicans.
Also on Quinn’s all-star list of cathedral inductions is New Hampshire’s Vickie Gene Robinson, the first openly homosexual Episcopal bishop. Robinson left his wife and kids behind for the gay life, which makes him the perfect “finding oneself” role model for what’s left of the Episcopal Church.
Later, Quinn finds space in her op-ed to describe the pre-election “Jeremiah Wright episode” as “hopelessly misunderstood by most Americans.” No, most Americans understood Wright all too well, which is why the media kept him out of sight.
More on this story can be found at:
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Perspectives/Default.aspx?id=337574
3.
When the World Loves America
By Christopher John
Barack Obama has been elected President. We were told there was an absolute need that we elect him. That more than his race, more than the historical significance of electing a black (and white) man as President of the United States, it was most important to elect Obama President for what it would mean to the rest of the world.
Right now the rest of the world absolutely loves Barack Obama. They see him as not only America's savior but also the worlds. Now that the "one we've been waiting for" is here, it might be a good time to look back to the last time American had that elusive moral high ground. When everyone loved our American President.
He was a fresh new face. He was young and attractive, he reminded people of JFK. He was hip, he played the sax, wore Ray-Ban sunglasses and inspired the youth to "rock the vote." He was an eloquent and smooth-talker, he would be everything to everyone. And of course he wore boxers.
He was supported by an adoring media, loved by the Hollywood elite, was a champion of minorities, excited the young and "hip" and had the respect of the leaders and people of many nations. The world and America were galvanized as they hoped for change. It was 1993 and Bill Clinton was President.
Yet while President, America was involved in conflict (the polite term for war) and suffered greatly from terrorism. How many remember the Bosnian War, when Clinton ordered military attacks on Serbia leaving hundre ds of thousands of refugees and civilian deaths, captured US soldiers and a further strained relationship with Russia?
How many remember or admit that America and Americans were also attacked several times during Clinton's two terms of worldwide adoration? Al Qaeda orchestrated the bombing of The USS Cole and the bombing of two U.S. Embassies in Africa. The combined attacks resulted in thousands of deaths and casualties.
Clinton actually aggressively retaliated with a series of cruise missile strikes, one of which destroyed a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan that manufactured half the medication for humans and animals. The administration claimed it produced chemical weapons. An investigation later proved that claim to be false. There was no worldwide condemnation and Clinton was not villainized. That's one positive side effect when adored Presidents order military strikes.
Perhaps most ironically and conveniently forgotten was the fact that Clinton bombed Iraq -- citing among other dangers, the need to stop Saddam Hussein's pursuit of weapons of mass destruction. Seriously. In case you aren't paying attention, this was before George W. Bush was President, before "Bush lied, people died" and before anyone "voted for it before they voted against it."
The good news is that even bombing Iraq and pursuing the elusive weapons of mass destruction is excusable and buried in history when your President is so revered. The bad news is the world conveniently puts its head in the sand and the adored President hardly elicits an objection from his fans while far more nefarious attacks are planned.
Bill Clinton was the President in 1993 when the almost unthinkable occurred. America was attacked when the World Trade Center was bombed. It's important to understand that even though the terrorists failed in their ultimate goal of knocking down both towers, their intention was to do exactly that. If they succeeded we would be talking about 2/26/03 as the worst terrorist attacks in US history.
Even so, the terrorists who loved our President committed the first act of war on American soil since Pearl Harbor. The rest of the world, allegedly enamored with America and our President, yawned. Then the American loving terrorists spent another eight years plotting to do it again while we peacefully did little. The world approved.
With the well-liked Clinton in office, the gentler America still managed to be an enemy to far too many. Men, women and children were still being killed. Oddly, Europeans and the rest of the world have never been particularly upset when Americans die. The problem is when Americans protect or defend themselves - this offends them.
Neither do they care if the world really is any "safer," or if the usual nations sponsor and encourage terrorism, the usual regimes oppress their people, and the usual tyrants and dictators demand the death of certain people or countries. Contrary to the propaganda that a particular President causes these conditions if he is hated, the world is a consistently violent place regardless of the likeability of the President.
4.
An Obama Tilt in Campaign Coverage
By Deborah Howell
The Post provided a lot of good campaign coverage, but readers have been consistently critical of the lack of probing issues coverage and what they saw as a tilt toward Democrat Barack Obama. My surveys, which ended on Election Day, show that they are right on both counts.
My assistant, Jean Hwang, and I have been examining Post coverage since Nov. 11 of last year on issues, voters, fundraising, the candidates' backgrounds and horse-race stories on tactics, strategy and consultants. We also have looked at photos and Page 1 stories since Obama captured the nomination June 4.
The count was lopsided, with 1,295 horse-race stories and 594 issues stories. The Post was deficient in stories that reported more than the two candidates trading jabs; readers needed articles, going back to the primaries, comparing their positions with outside experts' views. There were no broad stories on energy or science policy, and there were few on religion issues.
Bill Hamilton, assistant managing editor for politics, said, "There are a lot of things I wish we'd been able to do in covering this campaign, but we had to make choices about what we felt we were uniquely able to provide our audiences both in Washington and on the Web. I don't at all discount the importance of issues, but we had a larger purpose, to convey and explain a campaign that our own David Broder described as the most exciting he has ever covered, a narrative that unfolded until the very end. I think our staff rose to the occasion."
The op-ed page ran far more laudatory opinion pieces on Obama, 32, than on Sen. John McCain, 13. There were far more negative pieces about McCain, 58, than there were about Obama, 32, and Obama got the editorial board's endorsement. The Post has several conservative columnists, but not all were gung-ho about McCain.
Stories and photos about Obama in the news pages outnumbered those devoted to McCain. Reporters, photographers and editors found the candidacy of Obama, the first African American major-party nominee, more newsworthy and historic. Journalists love the new; McCain, 25 years older than Obama, was already well known and had more scars from his longer career in politics.
The number of Obama stories since Nov. 11 was 946, compared with McCain's 786. Both had hard-fought primary campaigns, but Obama's battle with Hillary Rodham Clinton was longer, and the numbers reflect that.
McCain clinched the GOP nomination on March 4, three months before Obama won his. From June 4 to Election Day, the tally was Obama, 626 stories, and McCain, 584. Obama was on the front page 176 times, McCain, 144 times; 41 stories featured both.
Our survey results are comparable to figures for the national news media from a study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism. It found that from June 9, when Clinton dropped out of the race, until Nov. 2, 66 percent of the campaign stories were about Obama compared with 53 percent for McCain; some stories featured both. The project also calculated that in that time, 57 percent of the stories were about the horse race and 13 percent were about issues.
Counting from June 4, Obama was in 311 Post photos and McCain in 282. Obama led in most categories. Obama led 133 to 121 in pictures more than three columns wide, 178 to 161 in smaller pictures, and 164 to 133 in color photos. In black and white photos, the nominees were about even, with McCain at 149 and Obama at 147. On Page 1, they were even at 26 each. Post photo and news editors were surprised by my first count on Aug. 3, which showed a much wider disparity, and made a more conscious effort at balance afterward.
Some readers complain that coverage is too poll-driven. They're right, but it's not going to change. The Post's polling was on the mark, and in some cases ahead of the curve, in focusing on independent voters, racial attitudes, low-wage voters, the shift of African Americans' support from Clinton to Obama and the rising importance of economic issues. The Post and its polling partner ABC News include 50 to 60 issues questions in every survey instead of just horse-race questions, so public attitudes were plumbed as well.
The Post had a hard-working team on the campaign. Special praise goes to Dan Balz, the best, most level-headed, incisive political reporter and analyst in newspapers. His stories and "Dan Balz's Take" on washingtonpost.com were fair, penetrating and on the mark. His mentor, David S. Broder, was as sharp as ever.
Michael Dobbs, the Fact Checker, also deserves praise for parsing campaign rhetoric for the overblown or just flat wrong. Howard Kurtz's Ad Watch was a sharp reality check.
The Post's biographical pieces, especially the first ones -- McCain by Michael Leahy and Obama by David Maraniss -- were compelling. Maraniss demystified Obama's growing-up years; the piece on his mother and grandparents was a great read. Leahy's first piece on McCain's father and grandfather, both admirals, told me where McCain got his maverick ways as a kid -- right from the two old men.
But Obama deserved tougher scrutiny than he got, especially of his undergraduate years, his start in Chicago and his relationship with Antoin "Tony" Rezko, who was convicted this year of influence-peddling in Chicago. The Post did nothing on Obama's acknowledged drug use as a teenager.
The Post had good coverage of voters, mainly by Krissah Williams Thompson and Kevin Merida. Anne Hull's stories from Florida, Michigan and Liberty University, and Wil Haygood's story from central Montana brought readers into voters' lives. Jose Antonio Vargas's pieces about campaigns and the Internet were standouts.
One gaping hole in coverage involved Joe Biden, Obama's running mate. When Gov. Sarah Palin was nominated for vice president, reporters were booking the next flight to Alaska. Some readers thought The Post went over Palin with a fine-tooth comb and neglected Biden. They are right; it was a serious omission. However, I do not agree with those readers who thought The Post did only hatchet jobs on her. There were several good stories on her, the best on page 1 by Sally Jenkins on how Palin grew up in Alaska.
In early coverage, I wasn't a big fan of the long-running series called "The Gurus" on consultants and important people in the campaigns. The Post has always prided itself on its political coverage, and profiles of the top dogs were probably well read by political junkies. But I thought the series was of no practical use to readers. While there were some interesting pieces in The Frontrunners series, none of them told me anything about where the candidates stood on any issue.
Deborah Howell can be reached at 202-334-7582 or ombudsman@washpost.com.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/07/AR2008110702895.html
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