Got suckered in by that first one, plus there's nothing going on. Pics via.
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Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), under fire in a GOP primary for his support for the bailout, is now claiming, inaccurately, that Barack Obama joined him in suspending his presidential campaign to address the 2008 financial crisis.
Dear Senator: We all saw this on the Tee Vee Machine. You boasted about your suspending your campaign, and challenged Obama to do the same... remember?
In fact, of course, McCain returned to Washington of his own volition. And in an interview with TPM today outside the Senate chamber, McCain acknowledged as much -- but also appeared to try to drag Obama into the mess.
So why are you saying this again? Are you trying to lose the election?
"[Bush] didn't ask me to suspend my campaign," said McCain. "I suspended my campaign -- as did Senator Obama -- to come back to Washington because the President had told me that we were in a world financial collapse. That's why I did what I did. I always said that consistently."
No. Nononono. NO! Remember that whole debate thing? And how...? And the boasting...? And country first... ? And... ? Oh geez, just read this and follow the links:
But unlike McCain, Obama never announced he was suspending his campaign. Quite the opposite, in fact: After McCain's announcement, Obama said he still planned to show up for the presidential debate that Friday,arguing that a president needed to be able to do two things at once.
[A]ccording to Sasha Abramsky's latest book, Inside Obama's Brain, the president is too complex to be pigeonholed. [...]
Obama is an extremely complex, multilayered personality. [...]
Yes, he's an idealist, but he's also intensely pragmatic. And it's that fusion of pragmatism and idealism that makes him an effective politician. Idealism without pragmatism could degenerate into just a series of high-flown, oratorical feats. But it's Obama's ability to then knuckle down and do the hard work and actually push for specific policy reforms. There was a lot of mettle underneath the idealism. [...]
What I found is that this is a man who knows how and when to compromise. In some ways, he's quite like Muhammad Ali. He lets himself lean backwards. He lets himself look like he's going onto the ropes, and then, very effortlessly, he counterattacks.
Before heading home from Indiana yesterday, following his commencement address at The University of Notre Dame, the president stopped off in Indianapolis for two political fundraisers.
About 40 people attended a $15,000-per-couple event for the Democratic National Committee, which raised between $300,000 and $400,000 for the party. Some 650 people packed a second fundraiser, for four Indiana Democratic congressmen. Tickets for that even ranged from $250 to $5,000 per person.
Indiana native John Mellencamp performed at the larger fundraiser. For Mellencamp, it was a return to politics. The rock legend took to the stage at Obama campaign events last year during the Indiana primary.
Last November, Obama became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Indiana since 1964.
President Barack Obama returns to Arizona State University today to rally graduates sobered by bleak job prospects and tout the value of higher education and public service.
Obama will deliver the commencement address during what has evolved into a Sun Devil Stadium extravaganza that will pit his trademark soaring oratory against the Valley's soaring temperatures. Many of the 71,000 people expected for the speech will wait for hours in searing triple-digit heat to hear a speech that will last about 20 minutes.
The president is expected to "discuss the amazing opportunity that graduates have, the challenging world that they enter into," said Robert Gibbs, White House press secretary. As he has done before, he is likely to talk about the importance of "the choices that you make leaving college, about being involved in your community and serving a purpose higher than yourself."
During 2008, the new president's first name ranked 2,409th on the Social Security Administration's annual list of the most popular baby names. That's a jump of more than 10,000 spots from the name's previous ranking in the 12,535th spot during 2007.
"President Obama's popularity peaks among Americans under the age of 30, who are, in turn, most likely to be having babies," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.
-- Barack Obama, quoted in a new epilogue to Sen. Harry Reid's autobiography, about Sen. John McCain's decision to "suspend" his presidential campaign.
NEW YORK "The 2008 election was the first in which more than half the voting-age population used the internet for political purposes,” a new report by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, released late today, reveals. It also concludes, "Obama supporters were more active online than McCain supporters and online political users became more partisan in their information-seeking behavior."
Some 55% of all adults said they went online for news and information about the election or to communicate with others about the race. The percentage of Americans relying on the internet as a major source of campaign news more than doubled since the 2000 election (from 11% to 26%).
Obama backers took advantage of various emerging web activities – from text notifications to posting original content -- much more than McCain supporters, by roughly 3-2 or 2-1 margins. Fully 15% of Obama backers donated to his campaign online, compared with just 6% on the McCain side.
The survey, indeed, found that social media platforms and video-sharing sites “played a key role in 2008 as voters went online to share their views with others and try to mobilize them to their cause."
An HBO movie about the recent Presidential race, with actors portraying Barack Obama, John McCain, Sarah Palin, and Hillary and Bill Clinton? Variety is reporting just such a project, based on a book that doesn't exist yet, but it does have a title: Game Change: Obama And The Clintons, McCain And Palin, And The Race Of A Lifetime. The book is being written by Time Magazine editor-at-large Mark Halperin and New York Magazine political correspondent John Heilemann.
Given HBO's Emmy-winning success with political movies such as Recount and John Adams, this makes sense from a show-biz point of view, and Charles Leavitt, who'll adapt the book, is quoted as saying, "It's funny to call Obama and Hillary characters, but that's how I have to look at them."
Damn, you know you're a geek when this sounds like the best movie you've heard of in years. I can't find any info on when it will be in theaters though. Background on how it came about here.h/t Ben.
Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group has acquired all media rights internationally (excluding U.K. TV) and domestic home entertainment rights to the documentary "By the People: The Election of Barack Obama."
Produced by Edward Norton's Class 5 Films and directed by Amy Rice and Alicia Sams, the previously untitled pic will see U.S. theatrical distribution via HBO Documentary Films.
Film follows the former Illinois senator from the announcement of his candidacy to his historic election and inauguration. Told through exclusive footage of Obama and his staff, "By the People" is touted as an all-access pass to campaign life on the road to the White House.
I put this in the link post, but it deserves more attention. Via Greg-
Lots of folks this morning are writing about these astonishing new poll numbers released by The Washington Post that show a huge majority says it’s important to improve relations with the Muslim world.
No question — those are interesting numbers. But there’s also this, from the internals:
In trying to improve U.S. relations with Muslim nations, do you think Obama will (go too far), (not go far enough) or handle it about right?
Too far 22%
Not far enough 9%
About right 65%
No opinion 4%
So a big majority simply has faith that Obama will get the balance right as he repairs relations with the Muslim world.
One of the lesser-remarked-upon aspects of Obama’s Presidency is the surprising levels of innate trust people seem to have in Obama’s competence and judgment — they simply expect that he’s going to get it right.
I think this attests to the surprising durability of the Obama brand under the stresses of actual governing, which has done little to erode people’s basic trust in Obama’s competence and in the idea that he’s doing what he thinks is right for the country.
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