Progress with the G-20 in Pittsburgh
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Saturday, September 26, 2009
President Obama's Weekly Address, September 26 , 2009 (Video and Transcript)
Friday, September 25, 2009
Want outrageous? A woman, awakens in the night, her breast is bleeding but her insurance company DENIES the claim (Video)
If a woman awakens with her breast bleeding and soaked, don't you think that there is something WRONG HERE? For Blue Shield of California, absolutely, NOT.
One of the worst abuses of private insurance companies is the practice of using spurious reasons to deny claims. In April, Rosalinda Miran-Ramirez awoke and found her shirt soaked in blood. Realizing that her “her left breast [was] bleeding from the nipple,” she rushed to the emergency room.
Today, CBS-5 reports that this San Francisco Department of Public Health employee has had her claim denied because her insurance company, Blue Shield of California, didn’t consider her situation to be an “emergency.” Even though her doctor told her it was likely a tumor, Blue Shield said that Miran-Ramirez should have known it wasn’t:But Miran-Ramirez said the real shock came when her insurance company, Blue Shield of California HMO, which had initially approved the claim for the emergency room visit, reversed course and sent her a new bill three months later requiring her to pay the total charges for that visit: $2,791.00.
Why? Documents from Blue Shield indicate the company had reviewed the case and determined Miran-Ramirez “reasonably should have known that an emergency did not exist.”
And we have members in congress who are FIGHTING for these VERY insurance companies. This is sick and pathetic. But the outcome, once Blue Shield of California was put on TV, they paid the claim. Geez, we have thousands of these stories whose claims will not be paid. That is the sad thing about this whole situation. A government run public option to put these sorry insurance companies IN CHECK, is fine by me.
Video here:
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G20: First Ladies Group Photo Pittsburgh, PA
And the official portrait is taken. From top left to right: Dr. Pimpen Vejjajiva of Thailand, unknown, Margarida Sousa Uva, wife of EU Commission Chairman Jose Manuel Barroso, Therese Rein of Australia, Filippa Reinfeldt of Sweden, Laureen Harper of Canada, Sarah Brown of the UK, Miyuki Hatoyama of Japan, Ban Soon Taek, wife of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, unknown, Azeb Mesfin of Ethiopia. Bottom left to right: Sonsoles Espinosa of Spain, President of Spain, Nompumelelo Ntuli of South Africa, Kim Yoon-ok of Korea, Margarita Zavala of Mexico, Marisa Leticia Lula da Silva of Brazil, Michelle Obama, Ani Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia, Carla Bruni Sarkozy of France, Svetlana Medvedev of Russia, Emine Erdogan of Turkey, and Gursharan Kaur of India
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G20: "The Ladies Dinner"
First Lady Michelle Obama hosts spouses of world leaders attending the G-20 Pittsburgh Summit during a dinner
at Rosemont Farm in Pittsburgh, Penn., Sept. 24, 2009.
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G20: President Obama's statement on Iran's secret nuclear facility (Video/Transcript)
President Obama with President Sakrozy and Prime Minister Brown
MSNBC Video
Transcript
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Thursday, September 24, 2009
The Obamas host the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh, PA (pictures)
The Obamas host the International Heads of States
Obamas Red Carpet, 'Up Close and Personal'
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FLOTUS, Michelle Obama debuts as international host tonight during the G-20 Summit
Interesting events, Mrs. Obama has scheduled.
While the presidents and prime ministers spend Thursday evening and Friday chewing over the world's problems, Mrs. Obama will entertain their spouses by introducing them to Pittsburgh as well as to some of her own interests, including art and architecture, arts education, and sustainable farming and eating locally grown food.
Events are scheduled for a working farm owned by Teresa Heinz Kerry, a performing arts school and a museum dedicated to Andy Warhol, the 20th century pop artist and Pittsburgh native.
The spousal program kicks off Thursday with dinner at the farm in Fox Chapel, just outside the city, owned by Heinz Kerry, a noted local philanthropist who is married to Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. The farm raises livestock and grows fruits and vegetables; some of it will be served at the private dinner.
In Washington, Mrs. Obama has been promoting locally grown food and healthier eating with a popular fruit and vegetable garden on the White House lawn, and she recently helped open a farmers' market near the mansion.
For Friday, Mrs. Obama — who has held jazz, country music and poetry events at the White House and is an advocate for art and music education — has lined up a tour of Pittsburgh Creative & Performing Arts. The magnet school in the city's downtown cultural district has more than 800 full-time sixth- through 12th-grade students who study dance, instrumental and vocal music, writing, acting and other creative arts.
The spouses will drop in to various classrooms as students rehearse for coming performances. They also will be treated to a show organized by Mrs. Obama featuring performances by students and such notable musical artists as cellist Yo-Yo Ma, country superstar Trisha Yearwood and singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles.
Read it all, here
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Vice-President Joe Biden's town hall with seniors on health care (Video)
Vice President Biden discusses a new report on how the President's health insurance reform will make Medicare stronger for Americas seniors in a town hall at Leisure World in Maryland. He is joined by HHS Secretary Sebelius and Nancy-Ann DeParle from the White House Office of Health Reform. September 23, 2009.
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Rahm Emanuel stated the senate will not pass a bill with the public option
If this happens the Democrats are in for a long 2010.
This is 2009, not 1993, yet Emanuel runs that White House as if Clinton still was in it. Bad sign.
People have changed and Obama won with a mandate, but you would think this White House one by .05 percentage point and not almost 8. The continued begging of Republicans for a vote on health care is just too much.
The pressure from the left, which are ACTIVISTS that get out the vote and donate money are angry. Many wanted single payer, like Medicare, but stepped down for the public option. The Obama White House put themselves in this spot. Obama campaigned for two years for "health care like congress", a public plan. Again, the voters remember this and they want it.
While at it, I don't see or hear ANYTHING from the Obama White House stating they will recind mandates. Yes, mandates. Mandates are FORCING the public to purchase health insurance, bringing these criminal insurance companies new customers!!! Is that fair?
If this bill is Welfare for the Insurance Companies, 2010 is going to be a long slough for Democrats.
The Senate has been fairly clear that they cannot pass a healthcare bill including a public option, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel asserted Wednesday evening.
Emanuel professed pessimism that healthcare reform would include a strict public (or "government-run") option, though he signaled an expectation that House liberals may still push for the prized reform.
"I think Senate's been clear about the prospect there is," Emanuel told PBS's Charlie Rose when asked if healthcare can pass with the public option. "That doesn't mean in the House they're not going to come to the table and demand it."
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Wednesday, September 23, 2009
President Obama speaks at the Clinton Global Initiative (Video)
The President delivers remarks at the Clinton Global Initiative at the Sheraton Hotel in New York City. September 22, 2009.
Transcript and YouTube
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FLOTUS, Michelle Obama the "Lady in Red" (pictures)
Michelle Obama, First Lady of the United States of America, at the United Nations to listen to her husband's speech for the 64th General Assembly.
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Republicans request 72 hrs so lobbyists can read the health care reform bill
Is anyone shocked at this?
Read it all, here.
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Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) compares Obama and the Democrats to monkeys (Video)
Well, I did not want to post this but Blunt is taking heat for his racist rhetoric in Missouri. Blunt is running for the senate in 2010, and he thinks this will help? I don't see how he can win with rhetoric like this, it is a total turnoff.
MADDOW: Behold, a Missouri congressman, candidate for U.S. Senate, until recently, the number three Republican in the House, telling what seems to be a really long, meandering, gut-churning racist joke.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ROY BLUNT (R), MISSOURI: Supposedly it’s the turn of the 19th century, the end of the 19th century, beginning of the 20th century, there was a group of British occupiers in a very lush, very quiet, very peaceful, very uneventful part of India. And this group of British soldiers who were occupying that part of India decided they’d carve a golf course out of the jungle of India. And there was really not much else to do. So, for over a year, this was the biggest event going on getting this golf course created.
And they got the golf course done and almost from the day the first ball was hit on this golf course, something happened they didn’t anticipate. Monkeys would come running out of the jungle and they would grab the golf balls. And if it was in the fairway, they might throw it in the rough. If it was in the rough, they might throw — they might throw it back at you.
And I can go into great and long detail about how many things they did to try to eliminate the monkey problem, but they never got it done. So finally, for this golf course and this golf course only, they passed a rule, and the rule was you have to play the ball where the monkey throws it. And that is the rule in Washington all the time.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MADDOW: Well, who does what? So, who’s the — who’s the monkey in Washington in this story? It’s Republican Congressman Roy Blunt who wants to be the next Republican senator from the great state of Missouri. Mr. Blunt performed his lamentation of Washington monkey at this weekend’s Values Voter Summit in Washington.
Read it all here
h/t Daily Kos
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Rachel Maddow exposes and destroys Rep. Mike Ross (D-AR), who is in lockstep with the insurance companies against health care reform (Video)
Sarah Palin is unpatriotic
One thing about politics is this, you can disagree and argue all you want, but a POLITICIAN, a KNOWN POLITICIAN don't go to Hong Kong (territory of China) and slam the current sitting U.S. President. Sorry, I have not liked a lot of politicians, but going overseas to slam a sitting president to a communist territory is only one thing, "unpatriotic". This is why Palin won't be President of the United States.
Former U.S. vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, criticized for her lack of foreign policy experience, emerged in Asia on Wednesday to share her views from "Main Street U.S.A." with a group of high-flying global investors.
In her first trip to the region, the former Alaska governor addressed an annual conference of investors in Hong Kong in what was billed as a wide-ranging talk about governance, economics and U.S. and Asian affairs.
Two US delegates left early, according to AFP, with one saying "it was awful, we couldn't stand it any longer." He declined to be identified.
"I'm going to call it like I see it and I will share with you candidly a view right from Main Street, Main Street U.S.A.," Palin told a room full of asset managers and other finance professionals, according to a video of part of the speech obtained by The Associated Press. "And how perhaps my view of Main Street ... how that affects you and your business."
Palin spoke out against government intervention in the economy. "We got into this mess because of government interference in the first place," Palin said, according to the Wall Street Journal. "We're not interested in government fixes, we're interested in freedom," she added.
OK, did you get all this? Then she talks about health care to foreign nationals, but again she does not do her homework, most of these countries already have universal health care and look at our country as idiots in not having it.
So, this is what Palin does give anti-American rhetoric on foreign soil. Is this patriotic? No, it is dumb just as she is. I am sure there will be a YouTube video floating around here soon on her speech.
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h/t Daily Kos
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Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Bank of America to change policies on overdraft fees
I have written about Bank of America (BofA) a few times. This bank was outrageous in its overdraft fees and I had to have it out with them to reverse the charges on what happened to me.
The atmosphere is toxic to banks from the public right now and rightly so. These companies have been complicit with Wall Street in the housing crisis and have had to have OUR MONEY to save their asses.
I was not a fan of Obama bailing these banks out because they chose to get in the predicament that these institutions were in, but to repeatedly shaft the public is just too much. Now change is in the air.
Bank of America Corp. said Tuesday it's capping the fees it charges customers for overdrawing their accounts, backpedaling on the hikes the company imposed just this year.
Starting Oct. 19, Bank of America said it will no longer charge overdraft fees when a customer's account is overdrawn by less than $10 in one day. A $35 fee will still be levied if the account isn't brought into balance within five days.
The Charlotte, N.C.-based bank also will limit to four the number of times an overdraft fee can be charged on an account per day. Just this year, the bank had raised that cap from five to 10. It also raised the fee this year for the first overdraft in a 12-month period to $35 from $25 — a hike that still stands. read the rest here...
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Speaker Pelosi "NO DEAL" to Blue Dogs
Again, who needed to be whipped in the first place? The Blue Dogs, not the Progressives. Count the votes folks, count the votes, the White House finally got that message.
Speaker Pelosi is nixing a deal she cut with centrists to advance health reform, said a source familiar with negotiations.
Pelosi’s decision to abandon the agreement that was made with a group of Blue Dogs to get the bill out of committee would steer the healthcare legislation back to the left as she prepares for a floor vote.
Sorry, no pity party here for the Blue Dogs. This group have been obstructionists in health care matters, just read here about Rep. Mike Ross (D-AR) and his sweetheart deal with USA Drug. The problem with Ross is that his district is FOR THE PUBLIC OPTION, while he is trying to kill it. With this stuff going on, how can you possibly trust the Blue Dogs to do anything on the up and up?
Pelosi is planning to include a government-run public option in the House version of the healthcare bill. She wants to model it on Medicare, with providers getting reimbursed on a scale pegged to Medicare rates.
"The speaker is full-steam-ahead," said a senior Democratic aide.
Blue Dog Democrats, many of whom represent rural districts where Medicare reimbursement rates are low, vehemently oppose tying the public option to Medicare.
Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.) and a group of fellow Blue Dogs had negotiated a deal with Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) in July that would remove the link to Medicare. Under that plan, officials with the government-run plan would negotiate individually with providers.
That move, which drew howls of protest from liberal members, prevented the bill from getting stuck in committee. But Ross returned from the August break saying he couldn't support a public option under any circumstances, essentially withdrawing his support for the deal.
What will happen when the vote comes around is this, members of congress, especially the Blue Dogs who are in districts that want the public option will have unparalleled pressure to vote NO on the health care bill. If they don't they will then be told by their insurance lobbyists paycheck pals that another candidate will be backed, the blitzkrieg of ads will run in their districts and they will be defeated.
Now these blue dogs can go against their constituents at their peril, but they won't get cover from the White House, in the end.
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In case you missed it: President Obama's speech on growth in the economy from Troy, NY, September 21, 2009 (Video)
The President lays out his vision for innovation, growth, and quality jobs from Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, NY. September 21, 2009.
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Obama dress makes worst dress list at the Emmys
Victoria Rowell, (from the Young and Restless fame and former squeeze of Wynton Marsalis) actually came to this event in this? Girl, PUHLEAZE. We all like Obama but that dress gots to go!!! h/t Positively Barack
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The typical Republican Response on lack of health care, "Get ‘An Existing Government Program’ Or Find Charity" (Video)
Read it all here.
And we want this party to be in control again?
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President Obama's remarks after a joint meeting with Israeli and Palestanian leaders (Video)
President Barack Obama, center, shake hands with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, right, in front of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009.
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President Barack Obama at UN Climate Change Summit (Video)
In his first address to the United Nations as Commander-in- Chief, President Obama addresses the pressing issue of climate change. The one-day UN summit brought together delegations from 90 nations. September 22, 2009
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Monday, September 21, 2009
Joe Biden: If the GOP succeeds it is the end of the road for Obama (roll eyes)
Look, there are just some things you don't say in the open. Again, here is Joe Biden on the 2010 elections:
Vice President Joe Biden said today that if Democrats were to lose 35 House seats they currently hold in traditionally Republican districts, it would mean doomsday for President Obama’s agenda.
Biden said Republicans are pinning their political strategy on flipping these seats.
“If they take them back, this the end of the road for what Barack and I are trying to do,” the vice president said at a fundraiser for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) today in Greenville, Delaware.
Republicans need to pick up 40 seats next November to take back control of the House.
There are 49 seats currently held by Democrats in districts that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) won in last year’s presidential election.
Biden said these House seats are Republicans “one shot” at breaking the Obama administration’s agenda. But if Democrats can hold on to those seats, “the dam is going to break,” he said, and a new era of bipartisanship will begin.
“All the hidden Republicans that don’t have the courage to vote the way they want to vote because of pressure from the party … it will break the dam and you will see bipartisanship,” Biden said.
Republicans welcomed the vice president’s assessment of the 2010 landscape. read more here...
Which brings me back to Governor David Paterson (D-NY) and the Obama White House floating that Paterson should step aside because of his dismal poll numbers and the mishandling of the State House. Obama is not running next year, so the very top of the ticket will be any gubernatorial candidate that is running in each state. A weak top of the ticket can drag the whole package down.
What Biden said merits, but if the Democrats can finally get it together on this health care bill, I believe the damage will be far less. And Biden, well what can I say? Biden just gave the Republicans, GOP a talking point starting tomorrow morning.
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GOP health care tactics, "...you will be denied based on race and age" (Video)
Yes, the shit is that desperate.....and all those phone calls, emails, faxes to the Democratic Leadership, IT IS WORKING.....and these Blue Dogs are finding their constituents want the PUBLIC OPTION, damn too, bad for them and that insurance money....From Rachel Maddow featuring former CIGNA Executive, Wendell Potter....
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President Obama on David Letterman, September 21, 2009 (Full Video)
Obama: "....I was actually black before the election....."
Full Show
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House moving to extend unemployment insurance as Obama states, "unemployment a problem for one more year"
The House in Congress is moving to extend unemployment benefits, further:
A bill offered by Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., and expected to pass easily would provide 13 weeks of extended unemployment benefits for more than 300,000 jobless people who live in states with unemployment rates of at least 8.5 percent and who are scheduled to run out of benefits by the end of September.
The 13-week extension would supplement the 26 weeks of benefits most states offer and the federally funded extensions of up to 53 weeks that Congress approved in legislation last year and in the stimulus bill enacted last February.
People from North Carolina to California "have been calling my office to tell me they still cannot find work a year or more after becoming unemployed, and they need some additional help to keep their heads above water," McDermott said.
This is a tough one. There are no jobs, not in the future horizon. Are green jobs coming? Yes, I think so, but the fact is there are none here in abundance, yet, and this is going to be a problem going down the road for the Obama Administration. This talk of the "recession is over" is pretty bogus when the jobless numbers are atrocious.
President Barack Obama says he expects unemployment will be a "big problem" for at least another year.
Speaking during taping of "The Late Show" with David Letterman, Obama called the $787 billion economic stimulus program that Congress enacted earlier this year a "tourniquet" that stopped the economic bleeding. Without that spending, he said another 1.5 million jobs, or more, would have been lost.
But Obama said it's going to take time for the economy to become whole again. As he put it, "Unemployment is going to be a big problem for at least another year." The nation's unemployment rate hit 9.7 percent in August. Most economists expect it to top 10 percent next year.
Unemployment a big problem for another year, well, congress keep the unemployment checks FLOWING.
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Governor Paterson is a "dead man walking" (Video)
Wow, Paterson got a long way to go with very little time. An upset in NY State is bad news for Democrats.
Obama White House leaking that they want Paterson to step aside is a death blow to Paterson raising money.
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Watch President Obama on Letterman tonight, 10:35 PM CST on CBS
Obama also had his most irreverent answer yet on the question of whether some of the vitriolic reaction to his health care plan is driven at least partly by racism.
“First of all, I think it’s important to realize that I was actually black before the election,” Obama said to huge laughs from Letterman and the audience.
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Michael Moore's new film, CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY, must see
This is one documentary that I will go into the theater to see. Why? It is all about capitalism, Wall Street greed, the status quo, the damn banks, the financial structure in this country.
It is already getting rave reviews all over the country and internationally. Always remember, Michael Moore was always ahead of the game with Roger and Me, Fahrenheit 9/11, Sicko. He was CORRECT in what was going to happen, and he is CORRECT in what is happening now. Status Quo and Greed has no party label and what is happening to folks out here in this country is across the board.
Barack Obama Must See Michael Moore's New Movie (and So Must You)!
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Banks continue to gouge its depositors
Well, I bank with Bank of America. I have had issues with this bank for not posting checks in a timely basis, which ended up in huge bank fees. I was able to get everything reversed and from that incident, I watch everything like a hawk with this bank.
But, Bank of America is not the only one who gouges its customers, most of these banks do. This brings me to why the American Public is very angry at bailing these banks out and definitely do not want ANY MORE TAX PAYERS DOLLARS going to the banking industry, period. This industry tied with Wall Street is the reason the housing market is HOSED.
So, like a cheap suit, when you need money you try to get it the best way you can, even if it means abusing your depositors.
A backlash is brewing on Capitol Hill against banks that charge large fees for overdrafts without asking or telling customers, the latest sign that the financial crisis is shifting the balance of power from banks toward borrowers.
Banks struggling to survive have become increasingly reliant on the fees, which could total $38.5 billion this year.
But congressional Democrats, who pushed through new restrictions on credit cards this spring, now are promising a crackdown on overdraft fees, using words like "criminal" and "rip-off" to describe the practice of letting people overspend and then charging them fees without warning. Most overdrafts are now incurred on debit card transactions. read more here....
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In case you missed it: FLOTUS, Michelle Obama's speech on health care reform and women (Video, Transcript)
FULL VIDEO BELOW:
Transcript
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Sleazebag John Edwards close to admitting he is the father of Rielle Hunter's child
Yes, he is the baby's daddy, while his wife is struggling with terminal cancer.
Let's not forget this:
Mr. Young, who has since renounced that statement, has told publishers in a book proposal that Mr. Edwards knew all along that he was the child’s father. He said Mr. Edwards pleaded with him to accept responsibility falsely, saying that would reduce the story to one of a political aide’s infidelity.
In the proposal, which The New York Times examined, Mr. Young asserts that he assisted the affair by setting up private meetings between Mr. Edwards and Ms. Hunter. He wrote that Mr. Edwards once calmed an anxious Ms. Hunter by promising her that after his wife died, he would marry her in a rooftop ceremony in New York with an appearance by the Dave Matthews Band.
Damn, had to drag Dave and his band through his DRAMA.
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Michelle Obama shot down Hillary Clinton as VP
Ah, it is book time.
Many books already have been written, with many more to come. New book, "Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage," by author Christopher Andersen.
To be honest, after Hillary Clinton dragged out the primary and it did fracture the party, I am not surprised that Michelle Obama just said, "NO".
Andersen reports Michelle Obama shot down Hillary Clinton as a potential vice president, opting for Joe Biden. Michelle's opposition was possibly the deciding voice in the debate, Andersen writes.
"Do you really want Bill and Hillary just down the hall from you in the White House?" she reportedly told her husband. "Could you live with that?"
Then it appears that Michelle Obama was the one who convinced her husband the slogan, "Yes, We Can" will work. He did not like it initially, thought it was corny.
The President initially blanched when his now-famous campaign slogan was first introduced by political guru David Axelrod during the 2004 Illinois Senate race, a new book reports.
"I don't like it. Come on," Obama was quoted as saying in "Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage," by author Christopher Andersen.
Obama felt the catch phrase was "childish" and "corny," and even asked his staff to find something else - until his wife, Michelle, convinced him otherwise, the book reports.
"It will work," she said, swaying the future President. "Trust me."
Order the book from Amazon, here
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Afghanistan, more troops or failure (Video)
President Obama campaigned on getting out of Iraq and fighting the real war, Afghanistan, but so far, there have been neither updates nor mission of this fight. This was a problem with the Bush Administration, no clear explanation of abandoning Afghanistan but fighting in Iraq, which turned out to be one of the biggest 21st century mistakes by any industrialized country.
The problem with Afghanistan is the same as Iraq, mission, troops and money being spent. The Obama Administration has not come out, yet, with the cost of Afghanistan and if it is around 10B as the estimated cost for Iraq, the public is not going to buy it. The generals in Iraq are now stating they need more troops, but the Obama Administration is hesitant about that one, since the public is souring fast on Afghanistan. Then with all the illegal events from the hands of Blackwater, the State Department extends their contracts, meaning we continue to rely heavy on contracting to assist in Afghanistan, as Iraq.
The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan has reported to President Barack Obama that without more troops the U.S. risks failure in a war it's been waging since September 2001.
"Resources will not win this war, but under-resourcing could lose it," Gen. Stanley McChrystal wrote in a five-page Commander's Summary. His confidential 66-page report, sent to Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Aug. 30, is now under review by Obama.
"Although considerable effort and sacrifice have resulted in some progress, many indicators suggest the overall effort is deteriorating," McChrystal said of the war's progress.
This rhetoric sounds very similar and familiar to me, just like Iraq, along with losing more servicemen daily in Afghanistan. Many Americans, by this time are war weary. With much going on in the public's private life, spending continuous money on a war with the real possibility of being a bust, like Iraq, will not sit well.
I understand the concept of getting Osama bin Laden, but at this point for me, it is too late. Sure, if we catch him great, but look at the money and expense it took and at the clip of eight years and counting.
Sooner than later the public is going to really start questioning the purpose of being in Afghanistan and catching bin Laden, almost nine years later won't be enough. All the money spent on bailouts, Wall Street, the banking industry, the auto industry, and the question mark on health care, many are questioning when is it going to end. The previous administration is definitely at fault for putting this country in a very bad position internationally and domestically, but Obama Administration better have a clear cut way of getting out of Afghanistan, if it is not in this country's best interest. And proof of this, well at least some proof, the public's taste and support for Afghanistan has dropped.
Finally, with all the money being spent for YEARS on Iraq and Afghanistan, with bailing out Wall Street the very cancer that put this country in the financial demise it is in, bailing out the auto industry that NEVER had a forward thinking thought, helping these banks which many Americans said to let them fail, when is this government, administration going to do the right thing and put the citizens first on the list. The proof will be the health care bill; this will be proof for many.
As the health care debate is being watched, so is Afghanistan.
Pentagon Seeks to Force Obama's Hand
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Sunday, September 20, 2009
Another cool Obama Girls pic with Bo (picture)
Bo, as my dogs, love that tummy rub. The girls are waiting on their dad to come off Marine One. (9/15/09) Go Malia and Sasha!!
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And Fox News? They are angry that Obama "bypassed" them for the Sunday Media Blitz (Video)
It is warranted. Fox News is full of it. And the independents are watching FOX, they matter, yeah they do. They ended up voting for OBAMA. Fox News, please. And Chris Wallace seems to really be upset.
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Obama Media Blitz: CBS's Face the Nation (Video, Transcript)
AND RNC CHAIRMAN MICHAEL STEELE'S RESPONSE
Transcript
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Obama Media Blitz: CNN's State of the Nation with John King (Video)
RACE
CIA Investigation of Bush Era Tactics
Health Care and Mitch McConnell
OOPSY....
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Obama Media Blitz: NBC's Meet the Press (Video and Transcript)
President Barack Obama Meets the Press this Sunday. He goes one-on-one with David Gregory about the many challenges facing his administration: passing health care reform, improving the economy, getting people back to work and forging a future in Afghanistan. Then, the Republican response. We'll speak exclusively with House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Plus, insights from our political roundtable: The Washington Post's Eugene Robinson & Politico's Roger Simon.
Transcript
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Obama Media Blitz: ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos (VIDEO)
TAXES
HEALTH CARE & RACE
("Race is such a volatile issue in this society," said Obama, who insisted that government's involvement in health care and other avenues is "probably the biggest driver of the vitriol right now.")
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White House asking NY Governor Paterson to step aside
Well, this is something.
The Obama White House is asking Governor Paterson to step aside, in other words they are worrying about New York State and the congressional delegation there. A weak governor does not help anyone in the mid-term elections.
My take, I did not like how Paterson handled the senate appointment for Hillary Clinton's seat. He should have just appointed Caroline Kennedy, but ended up with Kristen Gillibrand who is not as we say a progressive, totally a Blue Dog.
Let's see how this one plays out.
President Obama has sent a request to Gov. David A. Paterson that he withdraw from the New York governor’s race, fearing that Mr. Paterson cannot recover from his dismal political standing, according to two senior administration officials and a New York Democratic operative with direct knowledge of the situation.
The decision to ask Mr. Paterson to step aside was proposed by political advisers to Mr. Obama, but approved by the president himself, one of the administration officials said.
[snip]
The general election is more than a year away, but Mr. Obama and his political team are moving now in part because of signals from Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, that he may run for governor, according to Democrats who have spoken with White House officials. Many Democratic leaders believe that Mr. Giuliani’s presence at the top of the Republican ticket could spark enthusiasm among his party’s voters, who might otherwise have little desire to go to the polls.
[snip]
In addition, the relationship between Mr. Obama and Mr. Paterson has been shaky, dating to the governor’s selection of a replacement for Hillary Rodham Clinton, who resigned from the Senate to become secretary of state. White House officials had received assurances from Mr. Paterson that he would not pick Kirsten E. Gillibrand, then a little-known Democratic congresswoman from a heavily Republican district outside of Albany, according to a prominent Democrat who discussed the matter with a senior White House official.
The White House and Democratic House leaders were concerned that her sudden departure from the House would give Republicans a prime opportunity to reclaim the seat. Aides to the president conveyed those concerns to the governor, according to Democrats who have discussed the matter with Mr. Obama’s aides.
In the end, Mr. Paterson selected Ms. Gillibrand anyway, infuriating White House officials and Democratic leaders in Washington. Making matters worse, the governor also publicly snubbed Caroline Kennedy, a close personal friend and ally of Mr. Obama’s, who announced in December her wish to be chosen as Mrs. Clinton’s replacement, but then withdrew her name from consideration in January, citing personal reasons.
Wow, politics a spectacular sport!!
NY Times
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