Senator John McCain on the Tonight Show last night answered some questions for Jay Leno about Sarah Palin, Joe the Plumber, the campaign, and his future.
Leno: “How have you been doing?”
McCain: “Well, I’ve been sleeping like a baby. I sleep two hours, wake up, and cry. Sleep two hours, wake up, and cry.”
Here are all three parts of the interview:
This interview was a nice tie-in with Veteran’s Day and reminds me just how good McCain can be with the media. This truly seems to be his home.
The Catholic Church appears to be getting ready for a fight with the Obama Administration on several fronts:
BALTIMORE — The president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops told his fellow prelates Monday that while they should “rejoice” at the election of an African-American president, they should confront him over his support for abortion rights.
“The common good can never be adequately incarnated in any society when those waiting to be born can be legally killed at choice,” the president, Cardinal Francis George, the archbishop of Chicago, said in an opening address to about 300 bishops gathered here for their national meeting. “Common ground cannot be found by destroying the common good.”
Cardinal George’s remarks were a repudiation of the “common good” approach to the abortion issue that President-elect Barack Obama and Democratic Party leaders, including some prominent Roman Catholics, honed in the recent election.
Sounds like the bishops are concerned that a liberal Democrat in the White House may mean more policies that stray from Catholic teachings.
John Podesta, Obama’s transition chief, has said the president-elect is considering reversing President Bush’s limit on federal spending for embryonic stem cell research.
Catholic leaders are among those who consider destroying embryos akin to killing a fetus. Obama, along with many moderate Republicans, has supported the research in an effort to find cures for diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
It’s not all bad news for Bishop George, the Proposition 8 issue in California is a victory for the Church:
George pointed to the success of Proposition 8 in California as an example that America’s emphasis on individuality has gone too far and failed.
“For me, what that confirms is the ideology of individual rights is not adequate to treating every public-policy decision that comes before the people and our legislatures,” he said.
In my opinion, the Catholic Church needs to recognize that the world has changed and continues to change. Unless they adapt their teachings, the world may just move on without them.
It’s been a very historic day in American politics. President-elect Barack Obama made his first trip to the White House today and met President Bush in his new home.
The outgoing president and first lady Laura Bush greeted Obama and his wife Michelle with smiles and handshakes as they stepped from their limousine to begin a tour of what will be their new home after Obama is sworn in on Jan. 20.
The two men were headed to the Oval Office where they were expected to discuss the global financial crisis, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and other challenges the Republican president will bequeath to his Democratic successor.
It was their first face-to-face encounter — a visit steeped in symbolism — following Obama’s resounding victory over Republican John McCain in Tuesday’s election, which will make him America’s first black chief executive.
Can you imagine what it was like for Obama today? That must be an incredible feeling of responsibility and success to walk into the White House as the future commander-in-chief. Like the outcome of the election or not, you have to marvel at the way our government turns over power with a handshake and a smile. This country is truly amazing.
In interesting report out this morning speaks about President Barack Obama’s plan for rapid policy enactment via executive orders:
John Podesta, Obama’s transition chief, said Sunday Obama is reviewing President Bush’s executive orders on those issues and others as he works to undo policies enacted during eight years of Republican rule. He said the president can use such orders to move quickly on his own.
“There’s a lot that the president can do using his executive authority without waiting for congressional action, and I think we’ll see the president do that,” Podesta said. “I think that he feels like he has a real mandate for change. We need to get off the course that the Bush administration has set.”
That’s one way to bring rapid change. Just by-pass the balance of powers and make it happen. I’m not sure it’s constitutionally legal, but it is a tool that can be used. Why do I have such a feeling of dread as I read this…
WASHINGTON — The United States military since 2004 has used broad, secret authority to carry out nearly a dozen previously undisclosed attacks against Al Qaeda and other militants in Syria, Pakistan and elsewhere, according to senior American officials.
These military raids, typically carried out by Special Operations forces, were authorized by a classified order that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld signed in the spring of 2004 with the approval of President Bush, the officials said. The secret order gave the military new authority to attack the Qaeda terrorist network anywhere in the world, and a more sweeping mandate to conduct operations in countries not at war with the United States.
Undoubtedly a response to the September 11 attacks, but this seems very dangerous. Why would you need this type of broad authority?
According to a senior administration official, the new authority was spelled out in a classified document called “Al Qaeda Network Exord,” or execute order, that streamlined the approval process for the military to act outside officially declared war zones. Where in the past the Pentagon needed to get approval for missions on a case-by-case basis, which could take days when there were only hours to act, the new order specified a way for Pentagon planners to get the green light for a mission far more quickly, the official said.
Truth be told, the American people wanted to see action in response to 9/11 and they wanted action now. Knowing politics, these types of attacks would take a long time to approve and I’m quite certain that the Al-Qaeda targets would be long-gone when the approvals came. These groups are organized, professional, and always on the move.
Fighting a war with terror is not like fighting a standard war. Terrorists don’t fight fair. Terrorists don’t fight by the rules. Terrorists want the biggest impact for their action; even if it means killing innocents. Terrorists only understand one thing, to kill. How does a “civilized” nation fight that type of group and still maintain the moral high ground? I’m not sure you can.
One thing I know for certain, this policy will be eliminated under President Obama and I hope it is not a mistake.
Politics is a rough sport. One minute you are on top of the world and the next, you are frowning at questions in front of bright lights. Barack Obama has his first issue with his first hire, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel
President-elect Barack Obama’s newly appointed chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, served on the board of directors of the federal mortgage firm Freddie Mac at a time when scandal was brewing at the troubled agency and the board failed to spot “red flags,” according to government reports reviewed by ABCNews.com.
According to a complaint later filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Freddie Mac, known formally as the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, misreported profits by billions of dollars in order to deceive investors between the years 2000 and 2002.
Emanuel was not named in the SEC complaint (click here to read) but the entire board was later accused by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) (click here to read) of having “failed in its duty to follow up on matters brought to its attention.”
In a statement to ABCNews.com, a spokesperson said Emanuel served on the board for “13 months-a relatively short period of time.”
He’s only had the chief of staff postion a relatively short period of time as well. If Emanuel had a hand in the Freddie Mac disaster, this could be the first major gaff of the Obama Administration. We will have to watch closely and see how this one develops.
Only days after the election, Barack Obama and his advisers appear to be wasting little time in dealing with the economic crisis that faces our country:
Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) — President-elect Barack Obama will meet tomorrow with his economic advisory group, a team that includes billionaire investor Warren Buffett, ex-Commerce Secretary William Daley and former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.
After the meeting in Chicago, Obama will hold his first press conference since winning the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 4, according to a statement from his transition team. Vice President-elect Joe Biden will also attend.
As Obama builds-out his cabinet, all the world markets will watch one key position.
The market is looking closely at who Obama will name as Treasury Secretary. Top candidates for the job included Timothy Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Summers and Volcker.
A Reuters poll of economists found 26 of 48 respondents thought Geithner would be chosen for the job, while Summers came second with 14 votes.
Whoever takes the Treasury job will guide the $700 billion economic bailout package and the regulatory reform needed to prevent a repeat of the current crisis.
While it appears that Summers may be one of the two leading candidates, he may not sit all that well with the left side of the Democratic party:
His experience, however, has a downside for a campaign that sold Americans on a message of change. In the Clinton administration, Summers was a major proponent of free trade, deregulation and free market-oriented policies, which have come under fire in recent months as the economy has spiraled downward.
But even former critics note that in the seven years since he’s left government, Summers has taken a more progressive stance on economic issues. In a regular Financial Times column, he’s pushed for greater financial regulation, restrictions on trade and closing the income gap.
“He didn’t understand that stuff five years ago, but he does now,” said a liberal economist and distant Obama adviser. “A lot of times you have the Greenspan problem, where you get to a point in your economic life and you can’t evolve even if the data tells you too.”
I like the sound of the free-market approach and am a little bit scared by the, “He didn’t understand that stuff five years ago” statement. Didn’t understand what? The need for more government oversight in the market? That will not make Wall Street happy.
Geithner, who like Obama is only 47 years old, has demonstrated ability to handle a crisis, said economists close the transition. And a confidante of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Geithner been at the very center of the government’s fast-evolving response to the financial crisis, chairing meetings at his New York office.
He began sounding the alarm about risks associated with lacking federal oversight over complex financial products years before the current crisis. In 2005, at his urging, financial services companies established a national registry to help process and track their trades of credit derivatives, an insurance-like product bought by financial services companies to cover risky subprime mortgage investments.
What a mess we are in. Hopefully, one of these two will be the correct choice to get things back on line and moving forward again.
Wearing black-and-white striped prison uniforms and with chains around their wrists, waists and ankles, Cowart and Schlesselman spoke only to say “not guilty” during a brief hearing before a federal magistrate in Memphis.
The charges in the seven-count indictment carry a maximum punishment of 50 years in prison and fines of $540,000.
Court records say Cowart and Schlesselman, whom authorities say are white supremacist skinheads, told investigators they planned to conduct a national crime spree that would include a string of armed robberies and the murders of 88 black people.
The number has significance for white supremacists. “H” is the eighth letter of the alphabet and 88 is skinhead code for “Heil Hitler,” authorities say.
Shocking that they would plead “not guilty.” Even more disturbing, we will have to continue hearing about these two idiots for years to come. Hopefully we can all agree, there is no room for hate in this country anymore and individuals like these two morons should be dealt with in the harshest manner possible. The world is different and better now than it was 40, 60, 150 years ago and that is a good thing.
Now that the election is over, many fingers are being pointed in the Republican party as to why John McCain did not win the presidency. The stories have started to surface about possible strife within the McCain/Palin campaign.
We’ve all heard the stories about Palin’s $150,000 wardrobe, but how that wardrobe was purchased sheds additional light on the incident and Palin herself. As reported in the NY Times:
On Wednesday, two top McCain campaign advisers said that the clothing purchases for Ms. Palin and her family were a particular source of outrage for them. As they portrayed it, Ms. Palin had been advised by Nicolle Wallace, a senior McCain aide, that she should buy three new suits for the Republican National Convention in St. Paul in September and three additional suits for the fall campaign. The budget for the clothes was anticipated to be from $20,000 to $25,000, the officials said.
Instead, in a public relations debacle undermining Ms. Palin’s image as an everywoman “hockey mom,” bills came in to the Republican National Committee for about $150,000, including charges of $75,062 at Neiman Marcus and $49,425 at Saks Fifth Avenue. The bills included clothing for Ms. Palin’s family and purchases of shoes, luggage and jewelry, the advisers said.
Sorry, but this sounds like an episode of the Beverly Hillbillies. “Todd, get out of that cement-pond and load-up the truck. We got us a blank check and we gona shop in the big city! Gona get me some luggage and clothes for the young’uns.”
Fox News reported Wednesday that Palin’s lack of knowledge on some topics also strained relations. Carl Cameron reported that campaign sources told him Palin had resisted coaching before her faltering Katie Couric interviews; did not understand that Africa was a continent rather than a country; and could not name the three nations that are part of the North American Free Trade Agreement — the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Africa as a country? Ouch. If you missed the Palin/Katie Couric interview (because they didn’t have electricity in your cave), here is a taste.
It hurts just watching that again. I still can’t make any sense out of those incoherent ramblings. Clearly, she could have benefited from some serious preparation from staffers who knew what they were talking about. After all, this does appear to be her first rodeo. Perhaps the staffers were distracted:
The disclosures are made in “How He Did It, 2008″, in Newsweek’s Special Election Project, a behind-the-scenes account of the presidential election produced the day after the polls closed.
The magazine also claims that at the GOP convention in St. Paul, when aides Steve Schmidt and Mark Salter went to her hotel room to brief her, Ms Palin walked into the room wearing only a towel, with another on her wet hair. She told them to chat to Todd, adding: “I’ll be just a minute.”
This story just gets better and better. What is really freighting is she appears to be the best candidate the Republicans have to offer in 2012. Clearly, this is the time for some serious change.
CHICAGO (AP) — Barack Obama said Thursday that fellow Chicagoan and former Clinton administration aide Rahm Emanuel will serve as White House chief of staff. “No one I know is better at getting things done,” Obama said of the hard-charging congressman.
The No. 4 Democrat in the House, Emanuel quoted Obama’s campaign slogan in saying he was leaving a job he loves for one reason: “I want to do everything I can to help deliver the change America needs.”
The selection of a chief of staff is a key first step in building his administration. So, why choose Emanuel?
In selecting Rep. Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff, President-elect Barack Obama turned to someone who has made a quick fortune as an investment banker, earned a six-figure fee to sit on the board of a troubled government-sponsored mortgage company, and became a top recipient of Wall Street campaign cash in Congress, public records show.
“This is an ironic choice for a president-elect who has promised to change Washington,” House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio said in a statement.
What’s the best way to play good cop? Get a really hard-core bad cop. That’s precisely what Barack Obama did Thursday in his first move as president-elect, selecting notoriously pugnacious Democratic Rep. Rahm Emanuel to serve as his chief of staff. “No one I know is better at getting things done than Rahm Emanuel,” Obama said in announcing his pick.
That’s one way of putting it. Emanuel, 48, has developed a reputation as a fierce taskmaster since his days as a Clinton White House operative, so much so that even his mother reportedly calls him “Rahmbo.” He once sent a rotting fish to a pollster who rubbed him the wrong way, and he seems to delight in wagging his partially lopped-off middle finger at rivals (the result of a teenage meat-slicing mishap). “He’s got this big old pair of brass balls, and you can just hear ‘em clanking when he walks down the halls of Congress,” Paul Begalatold Rolling Stone back in 2005, after serving with Emanuel on Clinton’s staff.
Rahmbo. I like the sound of that! With all the financial troubles facing the country, Emanuel would appear to be an ideal choice for chief of staff.
