TPM lets people know that this wasn't a free ride for President Barack Obama and the media. I can hear Sean Hannity say the "Obama Mania Mainstream Media" once again!
Benjy Sarlin
It isn’t easy being the guy in charge. A new study from Pew Research Center of campaign coverage finds that only 9% of news reports on President Obama have been “positive,” easily the lowest number of any of the major candidates. Surprisingly, Rick Perry fares the best with 32% positive coverage and non-candidate Sarah Palin is right behind him at 31%. Take a look:
Study finds harsh media coverage for Obama
By Brian Montopoli, CBS News
President Obama "has suffered the most unrelentingly negative treatment" of all presidential candidates over the past five months, according to a study released Monday from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism.
Pew found that Mr. Obama was the subject of negative assessments nearly four times as often as he was the subject of positive assessments. It found he received "positive" coverage nine percent of the time, "neutral" coverage 57 percent of the time and "negative" coverage 34 percent of the time.
The study, which was conducted using a combination of "traditional media research methods [and] computer algorithms to track the level and tone of coverage," cuts against the widespread conservative claim that the "liberal media" aides Mr. Obama and other Democrats while attacking Republicans.
Pew says it looked at coverage from more than 11,500 news outlets, including local and national broadcasts, news websites and blogs.
Mr. Obama's negative coverage could be explained in part by the fact that he is "covered largely as president rather than a candidate," Pew said - and coverage of him is linked to the struggling economy.
Among the Republican presidential candidates, Pew found that Rick Perry has received the most positive coverage of all the candidates, with 32 percent positive coverage. He was followed by Sarah Palin (31 percent), Michele Bachmann (31 percent), Herman Cain (28 percent) and Mitt Romney (26 percent.) Palin, a vocal critic of the media, ultimately decided not to seek the GOP nomination.
Perry had the best ratio of any candidate, with 32 percent positive coverage to 20 percent negative coverage, a 12 percent net positive ratings in terms of coverage. He was followed by Palin (with 9 percent net positive coverage), Bachmann (8 percent net positive), Cain (5 percent net positive), Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman (both with 4 percent net positive coverage.) Pew found that Cain surged in positive coverage starting in late August - even before he did so in the polls.
The only candidate who received more negative coverage than Mr. Obama was Newt Gingrich, whom Pew found was the subject of negative coverage 35 percent of the time. That can be attrubited in part to his early stumbles, including his criticism of the House GOP Medicare plan and the decision by top staffers to abandom Gingrich's campaign. While Pew found that Mr. Obama received just nine percent positive coverage, however, Gingrich received 15 percent positive coverage.
The candidates with the worst coverage ratio were Mr. Obama (25 percent net negative coverage), Gingrich (20 percent net negative), Rick Santorum (3 percent net negative) and Mitt Romney (1 percent net negative.)
As Politico's Keach Hagey notes, Pew found that Mr. Obama had widely positive media coverage during his first 100 days in office, with 42 percent positive coverage and 20 percent negative coverage.
To assess the tone of coverage, PEJ researchers then employed computer algorithmic software from Crimson Hexagon. Researchers conducted a tone analysis and then "trained" the algorithm to follow the same rules as they had themselves. PEJ also conducted inter-coder tests to ensure the computer coding was replicable and valid by comparing human coding to the results derived by the algorithm. The project also had different people build the algorithms separately to ensure that they were achieving consistent results. Each computer algorithm was then additionally tested for reliability by having multiple researchers review the content assessed and the results. The tone analysis was conducted on two different samples. The first was of the coverage and commentary on more than 11,500 news outlets, based on their RSS feeds. While the content is text based, the material on various television news sites often closely resembled the stories that had aired on television, and in some cases were exact transcripts. The second was from hundreds of thousands of blogs. (Facebook and Twitter feeds were not included after researchers found that the political assessment offered there was typically quite brief or referred to blog or news content.)
Republicans are opposing the American's Jobs Act that President Barack Obama presented to the Congress. The plan calls for $448 billion in job creation, infrastructure and spending cuts for the middle class. The president's plan calls for tax increases on the high end earners. The Republicans oppose the tax increases and just about everything the president wants. We're in gridlock right now and people are suffering. The overall job approval is 15% and Americans are really fed up with the way Congress is acting.
The America's Job Creator Plan is a ten page plan in which includes tax cuts, deregulation and the repeal of the Affordable Health Care for America Act (Obamacare).
Key Republicans want to pass a clearly partisan bill in which they know President Obama will reject upon its passage. Senator John McCain (R-Arizona), Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina), Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-Texas) once again prove that even if they wanted to try they fail at doing so!
President Barack Obama jobs plan is 200 pages. The Republicans have ten pages. There's something wrong here!
Opinion: The job crisis: Solved in 10 pages?
GOP’s Plan for America’s Job Creators is empty of any real solutions
House Republicans, led by Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), recently released their Plan for America’s Job Creators. The document, as well as a shortened summary version, can be accessed from http://majorityleader.gov.
When I first opened the full document, I thought I had chosen the summary by mistake. As Paul Krugman notes, it “has to rely on extra-large type and lots of pointless pictures to bulk it out even to 10 pages.” Indeed, the equivalent of four pages of the document consists of images of cars at the gas station, scissors cutting red tape, and the like. Another page is a platitude-ridden introduction that could be substituted by manic repetition of the phrases “common-sense,” “pro-growth,” “job creators,” and “remove Washington” to the same effect.
But what of the other five pages? Surely there is some substance in there! Let us explore the House
Republican eight-pronged approach to job creation.
First we must deal with the problem of “burdensome regulations.” (I only use quotes because “burden” is mentioned no less than five times in half a page.) House Republicans offer the sensible first step of passing “legislation that requires a congressional review and approval of any proposed federal government regulation that will have a significant impact on the economy.” If you are as impressed as I initially was, take note of which regulations House Republicans have singled out for the chopping block: EPA-mandated limits on greenhouse gas emissions, the FCC’s net neutrality proposal, and restrictions on pesticide use. Of course.
Next on the agenda is the quixotic yet admirable task of fixing the tax code once and for all. Their proposal is a flat federal tax rate of 25 percent for businesses and individuals. If this proposal sounds ridiculous to anyone with concern for the poor and the working class, be comforted by the fact that Republicans only want to “ensure that everyone pays their fair share.” Never mind the fact that such a change would actually raise the effective income tax rate for the vast majority of Americans. As a benchmark for comparison, a married couple filing jointly with a taxable income of $282,000 currently pays about 25 percent income tax. House Republicans’ goal to cut taxes solely for the wealthiest Americans is abundantly clear.
The third proposal — to pass free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea — has apparently been blocked by Democrats’ posturing for three years. Well, one politician’s posturing is another politician’s attention to human rights abuses in Colombia or the well-being of auto workers in America.
The fourth step is fostering entrepreneurship by reforming the U.S. patent system. This proposal has received broad bipartisan support and collaboration. The House Patent Reform Act of 2011 was passed in the House Judiciary Committee by a vote of 32-3 on April 14. In short, it is not a solely Republican solution as the document declares.
The next two opportunities for improvement are visa reform and the reauthorization of the FDA user fee programs, through which the FDA collects money from companies seeking drug or medical device approval in order to test said products. I don’t have much to say about these proposals, mostly because they are hardly even proposals. House Republicans do not make plain exactly what they plan to do, but they do make it apparent that they will be Creating American Jobs. Indeed, I’m not sure what the purpose is of the page allotted to these two topics. I wonder whether Eric Cantor and his ilk are hoping that if they repeat the phrases “job creation,” “job creators,” “create American jobs,” etc. — which they did 31 times in the 86-sentence document — they will ingrain in the reader a subconscious association between Republicans and job creation.
Now, what do House Republicans have to say about energy? They first make it clear that the problem is rising energy costs and point out that, since President Obama took office, the price of a gallon of gas has doubled. This is a facile and erroneous observation and an obvious attempt to falsely pin blame to Obama.
Gas prices fell dramatically after the record-setting summer of 2008 because of the global economic meltdown.
The fact that they started to rise afterward has nothing to do with the president.
To suggest that we should prefer an economy in shambles over $4-per-gallon gasoline is ridiculous. What’s more, the primary method that Republicans have suggested to lower gas prices is “Drill, baby, drill.” They don’t seem to realize that feeding an addiction is nothing more than a short-term solution.
And House Republicans don’t stop there. They go on to fault Obama and congressional Democrats for our largest-ever budget deficits. As ignorant of history as ever, they overlook the budget surpluses of a decade ago and the catastrophic effects of the global financial collapse.
With the way they continue to insult the American people with these so-called “solutions,” it’s obvious House Republicans do not take us seriously, and we have every reason to respond in kind.
This issue has circulated through the conservative blogs and media for the last three months.
Operation Fast and Furious was a sting run by the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) between 2009 and 2010 as part of Project Gunrunner in its investigations into illegal gun trafficking. The stated purpose of the operation was to permit otherwise-suspected straw purchasers to complete the weapon's purchase and transit to Mexico, in order to build a bigger case against Mexican criminal organizations suspected of being the ultimate buyer.
During the operation, the sale of at least 2,000 guns were facilitated by ATF knowing most would be trafficked to Mexico. By June 2011, the guns have been linked (through eTrace, ATF's electronic tracing program) to some 179 crime scenes in Mexico.
Of the 2,000 guns knowingly released by ATF agents, only 600 are reported as recovered by officials. The remaining 1,400 guns have not been recovered.
Congressman Darrell Issa (R-California) is heavily involved in the Operation Fast & Furious scandal. The Republicans and conservatives call for Attorney General Eric Holder to resign. Republicans once again have their asses wrapped around the American flag in defense of another "culture" war. Instead of worrying about what they were elected for, we see the Republicans wasting time, money and patience.
WASHINGTON — In a fiery summons to an important voting bloc, President Barack Obama told blacks on Saturday to quit crying and complaining and "put on your marching shoes" to follow him into battle for jobs and opportunity.
And though he didn't say it directly, for a second term, too.
Obama's speech to the annual awards dinner of the Congressional Black Caucus was his answer to increasingly vocal griping from black leaders that he's been giving away too much in talks with Republicans -- and not doing enough to fight black unemployment, which is nearly double the national average at 16.7 percent.
"It gets folks discouraged. I know. I listen to some of y'all," Obama told an audience of some 3,000 in a darkened Washington convention center.
But he said blacks need to have faith in the future -- and understand that the fight won't be won if they don't rally to his side.
"I need your help," Obama said.
The president will need black turnout to match its historic 2008 levels if he's to have a shot at winning a second term, and Saturday's speech was a chance to speak directly to inner-city concerns.
He acknowledged blacks have suffered mightily because of the recession, and are frustrated that the downturn is taking so long to reverse. "So many people are still hurting. So many people are barely hanging on," he said, then added: "And so many people in this city are fighting us every step of the way."
But Obama said blacks know all too well from the civil rights struggle that the fight for what is right is never easy.
"Take off your bedroom slippers. Put on your marching shoes," he said, his voice rising as applause and cheers mounted. "Shake it off. Stop complainin'. Stop grumblin'. Stop cryin'. We are going to press on. We have work to do."
Topping the to-do list, he said, is getting Congress to the pass jobs bill he sent to Capitol Hill two weeks ago.
Obama said the package of payroll tax cuts, business tax breaks and infrastructure spending will benefit 100,000 black-owned businesses and 20 million African-American workers. Republicans have indicated they're open to some of the tax measures -- but oppose his means of paying for it: hiking taxes on top income-earners and big business.
But at times, Obama also sounded like he was discussing his own embattled tenure.
"The future rewards those who press on," He said. "I don't have time to feel sorry for myself. I don't have time to complain. I'm going to press on."
Caucus leaders remain fiercely protective of the nation's first African-American president, but in recent weeks they've been increasingly vocal in their discontent -- especially over black joblessness.
"If Bill Clinton had been in the White House and had failed to address this problem, we probably would be marching on the White House," the caucus chairman, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri, recently told McClatchy Newspapers.
Like many Democratic lawmakers, caucus members were dismayed by Obama's concessions to the GOP during the summer's talks on raising the government's borrowing limit.
Cleaver famously called the compromise deal a "sugar-coated Satan sandwich."
But Cleaver said his members also are keeping their gripes in check because "nobody wants to do anything that would empower the people who hate the president."
Still, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., caused a stir last month by complaining that Obama's Midwest bus tour had bypassed black districts. She told a largely black audience in Detroit that the caucus is "supportive of the president, but we're getting tired."
Last year, Obama addressed the same dinner and implored blacks to get out the vote in the midterm elections because Republicans were preparing to "turn back the clock."
What followed was a Democratic rout that Obama acknowledged as a "shellacking."
Where blacks had turned out in droves to help elect him in 2008, there was a sharp drop-off two years later.
Some 65 percent of eligible blacks voted in 2008, compared with a 2010 level that polls estimate at between 37 percent and 40 percent. Final census figures for 2010 are not yet available, and it's worth noting off-year elections typically draw far fewer voters.
This year's caucus speech came as Obama began cranking up grass-roots efforts across the Democratic spectrum.
It also fell on the eve of a trip to the West Coast that will combine salesmanship for the jobs plan he sent to Congress this month and re-election fundraising.
Obama was leaving Sunday morning for Seattle, where two money receptions were planned, with two more to follow in the San Francisco area.
On Monday, Obama is holding a town meeting at the California headquarters of LinkedIn, the business networking website, before going on to fundraisers in San Diego and Los Angeles and a visit Tuesday to a Denver-area high school to highlight the school renovation component of the jobs package.
Media Matters for America, a non-profit liberal media resource group has been gunning for Fox News over the past few years. With the first African American to be elected as president, Barack Obama and the network have been at odds over issues. And with that, comes the blatant disrespect and subtle racism to him.
The conservative network wasted no time trying to tie the high educated Obama with racial stereotypes of Black culture. Last year, the president stated that his interest in hip-hop music rappers like Nas and Lil' Wayne, the website Fox Nation post the president's love for gangster rappers. First Lady Michelle Obama host a poetry session at the White House and invites rapper Common. Common becomes a "cop killing" rapper. Three days after the killing of Osama bin Laden. Now as the president celebrates his birthday at the White House and invites Chris Rock and Jay-Z to the event, it's a "Hip-Hop BBQ".
Say what you will—Fox Nation knows how to keep things unique. We also love the url for the item:
http://nation.foxnews.com/president-obama/2011/08/05/obama-parties-chris-rock-jay-z-and-whoopi-while-rome-burn
Towards the end of a recent interview with Rolling Stone, President Obama was asked about his musical preferences, he replied:
My iPod now has about 2,000 songs, and it is a source of great pleasure to me. I am probably still more heavily weighted toward the music of my childhood than I am the new stuff. There's still a lot of Stevie Wonder, a lot of Bob Dylan, a lot of Rolling Stones, a lot of R&B, a lot of Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Those are the old standards.
A lot of classical music. I'm not a big opera buff in terms of going to opera, but there are days where Maria Callas is exactly what I need.
Thanks to Reggie [Love, the president's personal aide], my rap palate has greatly improved. Jay-Z used to be sort of what predominated, but now I've got a little Nas and a little Lil Wayne and some other stuff, but I would not claim to be an expert. Malia and Sasha are now getting old enough to where they start hipping me to things. Music is still a great source of joy and occasional solace in the midst of what can be some difficult days.
Soul, folk, rock, R&B, jazz, "A lot of classical", and some rap; sounds like a fairly diverse musical palate. This represents the musical tastes of a number of Americans of the president's generation, especially those with school age children. Diversity is good, unless you are reading the Fox Nation website. According to Huffington Post, Fox Nation took this description and briefly posted the headline, "President of the United States Loves Gansta Rap" with photos of tattoo laden Nas and Lil' Wayne thrown in for "flava".
How does the president's acknowledgment of an appreciation for rap music become a love for "gangsta rap"?
This is not too subtle code language from conservative media that the "de-racialized" President Obama has an affinity for some element of African-American culture and this is something to fear. Here is another example in a long list of examples of how some elements in the media and politics continue to play to the fears of too many in America by fanning the flames of prejudice and racism.
Since his days as a candidate for the U.S. Senate in Illinois Barack Obama has talked about equality and one America. During his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention he said that the greatness of this nation can be summed up in the declaration, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal... There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America." In his famous "race speech" in 2008 Senator Obama talked about continuing the long march, "of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America."
For too many in this country, this de-racialized race-neutral politics coming from a man of African decent is something to fear. Former Republican congressman Tom Tancredo opened the Tea Party convention by calling for a reinstatement of Jim Crow type literacy tests for voters and saying, "This is our country...Let's take it back." Who's country is it and Tancredo wants to take it back from whom?
Recently in an interview with National Review's Robert Costa former House speaker Newt Gingrich said,
"What if [Obama] is so outside our comprehension, that only if you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]? ...This is a person who is fundamentally out of touch with how the world works, who happened to have played a wonderful con, as a result of which he is now president." Again, not so subtle code language playing to the fear of President Obama's Kenyan heritage and to the unfounded rhetoric of the "birther" movement. Actually, anti-colonial behavior is a good thing if you are a victim of colonialism.
According to Rep. Pete King (R-NY), President Barack Obama is "probably the most threatened president ever." Most of these threats are not because of health care reform, the stimulus bill, or the problems with Israel. There are still too many people in America that refuse to allow him to govern as the president; they will oppose him at every turn because he's an African-American who is the president .
Numerous cartoons have featured President Obama and/or first lady Michelle Obama as monkeys, terrorists, or Muslim suicide bombers. What are they afraid of? President Obama has called for change not Mau Mau revolution. He is working within the established structure, not working to overthrow it. The president loves gansta' rap? During the Henry Louis Gates arrest in Cambridge, President Obama said that the arresting officers "acted stupidly" not as NWA said, "F**k the Police".
The Fox Nation claim that the "President of the United States Loves Gansta' Rap" is a bit far fetched and nothing but a scare tactic. It's the latest example in a long line of contradictions that are grounded in a fear of the African-American influence in a fictitious "post-racial" America. Or as Public Enemy would say, "Fear of a Black Planet".
Dr. Wilmer Leon is the Producer/ Host of the nationally broadcast call-in talk radio program "Inside the Issues With Wilmer Leon," and a Lecturer in the Department of Political Science at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Go to www.wilmerleon.com or email: wjl3us@yahoo.com.
Fox News and The Drudge Report caters to the worst of society. Subtle racism and misinformation creates the toxic environment that spawns in the conservatives who support the Tea Party let alone the entire Republican Party.
A "Vile" rapper by the name of Common is attending the White House at the discretion of Barack Obama and Michelle Obama. You know the two radicals who are destroying our nation with their "socialist" policies, their lack of judgment, their lavish parties while everyone else is living paycheck to paycheck!
Common who's radical ties to Trinity United Church, you know the church with racist Jeremiah Wright saying "God Damn America" and "America's Chicken's Coming Home To Roost!"
The conservatives will flutter down the comments page defending their actions to go after First Lady Michelle Obama, President Barack Obama and rapper Common.
Sean Hannity in particular, is not backing down from the controversy. The talker devoted a segment of his radio show and television program to complain about the decision to allow Common to perform at the White House.
He once again goes on and on about the same old narratives that helped Barack Obama win the election.
Conservatives are trying their best to avoid mentioning the recovering economy, the decline in fuel and oil prices, the steady growth in jobs and the killing of Osama bin Laden. They have a pretty weak field of candidates for the Republican nomination. And what's left....
Republican governor who recently called upon citizens for civil discourse is finally seeing sanity. The controversial governor vetoes a law that requires those who run for president to produce proof of United States citizenship. Jan Brewer also vetoes a law that would require gun owners to carry on public institutions and colleges. This may have pissed off the Tea Party with this one.
Brewer Vetoes Birther Bill In Arizona
Eric Kleefeld | April 18, 2011, 10:28PM Talking Points Memo
Gov. Jan Brewer (R-AZ), who has been a darling on the right for her battles with the Obama administration over illegal immigration, health care and other issues, has now taken a potentially bold step against the Tea Party base: She has vetoed a "birther bill" -- a piece of legislation motivated by conspiracy theories about President Obama place of birth, requiring candidates for public office to submit proof of U.S. citizenship to the state Secretary of State before they could appear on the state's ballot.
"I do not support designating one person as the gatekeeper to the ballot for a candidate, which could lead to arbitrary or politically motivated decisions," Brewer said in her veto message, the Associated Press reports. Brewer herself is a former Arizona Secretary of State.
"In addition, I never imagined being presented with a bill that could require candidates for president of the greatest and most powerful nation on Earth to submit their early baptismal circumcision certificates' among other records to the Arizona secretary of state. This is a bridge too far."
Earlier, Brewer had foreshadowed her decision with skeptical statements about the bill: "I think my big concern probably, just shooting a little bit from the hip, is the fact that I don't know if we regulate federal elections."
It should be noted, however, that the bill had previously passed the legislature with margins that would potentially be veto-proof: 20-9 in the Senate, and 40-16 in the House. The question, then, is whether Brewer's veto would take the wind out of the bill's sails or if its backers will try to override the veto and be able to hold on to their numbers.
Today’s installment of “heinous, unacceptable racism disguised as ‘jokes’” features a Republican official on Orange County, California, President Obama, and monkeys in photoshop. GOP official Marilyn Davenport is coming under fire for sending other Republican officials an email depicting President Obama as a chimpanzee, in the arms of chimpanzee “parents,” claiming, “Now you know why– no birth certificate! [sic].” Davenport is sticking to her guns, blaming the media for making too much of a fuss.
Among Davenport’s detractors (including, one would hope, “everyone else”), local news station KCAL caught up with former California Republican chairman Michael Schroder, who correctly posited: “no average person would send this out and feel comfortable with this, that this was just a joke.” Then again, Schroder also notes Davenport doesn’t come into this embarrassment with a clean slate– among the people in Orange County Republican politics she has defended are an official who sent an email with an illustration of the White House covered in watermelons and an official who opposed the installation of grass near beaches on the point that “grass attracts Mexicans.”
Nonetheless, Davenport said off-camera that she considered the email merely a “joke” and was confused as to why the media had blown the issue way out of proportion. She is still on the governing board of the county party, though one can expect that not for long.
More from Mediaite
The Orange County Republicans and various Tea Party activists protest an Islamic Mosque in Yorba Linda, California.
WASHINGTON -- After announcing it would try 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged conspirators by military commission rather than in a civilian trial, the Obama administration quickly scapegoated Congress to explain the decision.
Attorney General Eric Holder announced Monday that his department was scrapping its November 2009 decision to hold Mohammed’s high-profile trial just blocks from the World Trade Center. Instead, they were moving the venue to Guantanamo Bay. Holder and other administration officials said the policy reversal was due to congressional interference in executive counterterrorism efforts and “needless” drumming-up of controversy.
“The reality is, I know this case in ways that members of Congress do not,” Attorney General Eric Holder said during a press conference. “I have looked at the files. I have spoken to the prosecutors. I know the tactical concerns that have to go into this decision. So do I know better than them? Yes.”
The attorney general said had not arrived at the decision comfortably. Had he had his druthers, Holder claimed, he would have kept the trial in its original setting, but the legislative branch controls the money for transferring the prisoners and securing the site.
The Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 prohibits use of funds to transfer defendants from Guantanamo Bay to the United States. In a file dismissing the indictment of Mohammed and the four alleged conspirators sent to the Southern District of New York on Monday morning, members of the U.S. Attorney’s Office pointed to the act as the prohibitive restriction preventing a federal trial.
Before Holder’s announcement, a Department of Justice official said that a military commission trial had become the “only option available given congressional restrictions.” If the message wasn’t clear enough, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney cited “congressional reaction to some of the goals that were laid out” as one of the reasons for the reversal. Asked whether blaming Congress was going to be the simple pushback, another official replied, “We're just explaining the facts.”
“[Congress has] taken one of the nation’s most tested counterterrorism tools off the table and tied our hands in a way that would have serious ramifications,” Holder said. “We will continue to seek to repeal those restrictions.”
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If the Obama administration were seeking to make a villain out of the legislative branch, they had willing partners in some congressional lawmakers. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) took a break from budget negotiations to praise the administration for following the will of an “overwhelming bipartisan opposition from the American people and their elected representatives here in Congress.” Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called Holder’s announcement the “final nail in the coffin of that wrong-headed idea,” referring to the possibility of a civilian trial. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), chair of the Homeland Security Committee, described the change as “a long-awaited step in the right direction.”
Others in Washington seemed to agree with Holder that Congress had played a guiding role in the reversal of course. “I believe that the Congress forced the president into this decision,” Col. Lawrence Wilkerson said, “first, by their abject lack of courage in not wanting [Mohammed] tried ‘in their city, in their courtroom,’ and, second, by their inability to present the president with an alternative other than the military system.”
But Wilkerson, a onetime chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, refused to absolve the Obama administration entirely. “Of course the president, in complying, demonstrated a decided lack of moral courage as well,” he said.
It appears debates over the legal parameters of national security law don’t break down perfectly either along party lines or between branches of government. And while the vast majority of lawmakers praised moving Mohammed’s trial back to Guantanamo, others expressed both disappointment with the development and with what they considered to be Obama’s willingness to let it happen.
"I felt that if the scene of the crime was New York, why not try him in New York?" Rep. Jose Serrano (D-N.Y.) said. “I don't think we should do anything that gives the terrorists the ability to say they've disrupted the normal way we do things. Normally, we would have tried [Mohammed] at the scene of the crime.”
Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, said, “Had [Obama] showed some courage to begin with on these national security issues, I think he could have made huge gains.” But, he added, “Obama backed down every time there was a whiff of an oppositional problem on national security.”
Michael McAuliff and Jon Ward contributed to this report.
My opinion on the issue.
There's more important things for the Justice Department. According to the American people, there's a birth certificate that Barack Obama must show since he's not a legitimate president.
Or the New Black Panther Party. You know those two guys that were in a Black neighborhood who were "blocking" white voters from entering a polling place.
And there's the issue with Shira's Law. You know there's thousands of Americans who want Shira's Law and despite it never happening in the United States, our two Muslim (by the way Black) congressman and Radical Imams wants it so they can punish our patriotic American who relish in Don't Tread On Me Flags, and Old Glories.
No Eric Holder, Attorney General of The United States, the American people want to worry about your words about being a "nation of cowards when it comes to race", or "my peoples". Even though they taken statements out of context, the American people think that your handling of our safety is completely a disaster.
No matter how many years ago, we the American people would rather forget the first conspirators of WTC in 1993. They were tried and convicted in U.S. Federal Court and sent to prisons.
Seriously, Attorney General Holder was really annoyed with Congress. The Republicans invoked fear and the Democratic Party were concern about their loses in the 2010 Midterm Elections. They bucked the Justice Department.
During the 2008 U.S. Presidential Elections, Geraldine Ferraro talked really greasy about Barack Obama, then Senator and Democratic nominee.
She said that if it wasn't for the Black people and their obsession to vote for Black candidates, then Senator Hillary Clinton would have clinched the Democratic nomination. Asserting that Ferraro became livid when her daughter voted for Barack Obama in a primary, which reflected a generational difference among American women in how they viewed the significance of a woman being elected president.
Although not contributing to the current Tea Party movement, she along with disgruntled Democratic voters went forth with the P.U.M.A. and Democrats for McCain nonsense, which later merged with the conservative Tea Party movement. Each sought a goal to which demonizes it President Barack Obama, the first Black president.
She's was the first woman to be nominated as a vice presidential candidate. She will be forever marveled by her abilities to stand up for women rights.
Ferraro didn't make it to see the first woman president. Although if alive today, she'll rally for Michele Bachmann or Sarah Palin in the quest to put the first female commander in chief!
But all aside, I don't wish any ill upon her family! I am reminded that some people will never like you no matter what you do, and despite her bitter words to Barack Obama and black leaders, she stood the forefront for women to rally upon success.
President Barack Obama calls Geraldine Ferraro a political trailblazer who broke down barriers for women and Americans of all backgrounds.
Obama says his daughters — Sasha and Malia — will grow up in a more equal country because of Ferraro's career and her ideals.
Ferraro was the first female vice presidential nominee on a major ticket when she was Democrat Walter Mondale's running mate in 1984. He lost to Ronald Reagan.
Ferraro, a three-term congresswoman from New York City, died Saturday in Boston, where she was being treated for blood cancer. She was 75.
Obama says Ferraro "fought to uphold American's founding ideals of equality, justice and opportunity for all."
Congresswoman Michele Bachmann relays the normal talking points of conservative media.
Such talking points fuel speculation that the congresswoman may push her tin foil hat into the arena.
This is the most misinformed politician in modern history.
Why on earth should anyone support the reincarnation of Joe McCarthy?
Nevermind, she already having a cult based following who reads comments like mine and rehash their attacks against people who don't support her, the Tea Party, Fox News, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin and anything else they claim as "conservative".
Note the quotation marks, people! They aren't conservative!
They will attack me as a dependent on government handouts, a radical "socialist", an Obama zombie, a misinformed blogger, commentator, publisher of a written article, and repeat the notion there's only "liberal media".
Since I'm a Black person, they'll just say I'm a "racist" for voting for Barack Obama because it's not fair that Black American voters have a choice between their candidate and the "BLACK" Democratic candidate.
Supporters of the conservatives mentioned will use either class warfare rhetoric, name calling, patriotic mongering, use of racial, homophobic, and disability slurs, and petty smears against the president, his family, Vice President Biden and the Democratic leadership.
The prolonged economic downturn has made white Americans – especially those without a college degree – more pessimistic than blacks and Hispanics, and has driven them toward the Republican Party, a new survey has found.
Half of all so-called “non-college whites” identified themselves as Republicans or Republican-leaning independents, including 42 percent who call themselves conservatives, according to data released Tuesday from a poll conducted by The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University.
Whites surveyed in the poll were generally more negative than blacks and Hispanics about their own economic prospects and those for the country, and less educated whites were the most negative. President Barack Obama struggled to capture the non-college white vote in 2008, with then-Sen. Hillary Clinton beating him by a 2-to-1 margin among that demographic in the Democratic primaries. Republican Sen. John McCain won 58 percent of the non-college white vote in 2008, while Obama got the support of 40 percent of the demographic.
Sixty-eight percent of blacks and 46 percent of Hispanics said that Democrats understand Americans’ economic problems better than Republicans, while 27 percent of whites said the same. Whites, though, are more positive about the GOP, with 38 percent of those surveyed saying Republicans feel Americans’ financial pain better than Democrats. Just 8 percent of blacks and 19 percent of Hispanics said the same.
Non-college whites were less positive about the Obama administration’s efforts to improve the economy than were more educated whites – 14 percent of non-college whites said the president’s economic policies are making the economy better, but double that percentage of college-educated whites said the same.
Overall, 18 percent of whites said they thought the president’s economic policies were helping the economy improve, while 59 percent of blacks and 36 percent of Hispanics said Obama’s policies were helping the economy get better.
One in 10 whites without a college degree said they are satisfied with the economy, while about 60 percent said the country’s best days are behind it and that it will be a long time before the economy begins to recover. Blacks were more optimistic, with 35 percent of those surveyed saying the country’s best years were in the past, and 59 percent saying better days are still to come.
Whites are also downtrodden about their own economic prospects than they have been in years past, with 41 percent of whites surveyed saying that “hard work is no guarantee of success” in the U.S. economy, and 43 percent of non-college whites saying the same.
WASHINGTON – House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) on Tuesday showed little concern for the federal job losses that could result from the GOP's proposed spending cuts.
"In the last two years, under President Obama, the federal government has added 200,000 new federal jobs. If some of those jobs are lost so be it. We're broke," Boehner told reporters, according to Talking Points Memo.
"The biggest danger to our country is if we do not act," the speaker added. "The status quo is shackling the future for our kids and grandkids – that's why we have to act."
Republicans have proposed a slew of budget cuts worth $32 billion to a multitude of federal programs.
GOP lawmakers have long insisted that federal spending cuts and job growth go hand in hand, portraying heavy government spending as a prime cause of the economic downturn.
"Where are the jobs?" was an oft-repeated slogan by Boehner during the 2010 midterm election cycle, as he and his colleagues attacked Democrats' stimulus and other spending programs.
But Boehner's remarks not only reveal that Republicans accept those two goals may be contradictory, they suggest that the GOP considers spending cuts a higher priority.
As the unemployment rate remains high at well above 9 percent, surveys consistently show that jobs are the top concern on voters minds.
President Barack Obama unveiled his budget this week, also calling for across-the-board cuts to various programs, receiving criticism from progressives and being dismissed as insufficient by Republicans.
GOP-led House is moving to restrict funding of abortions
By William Douglas | McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — The battle over abortion takes center stage in Congress this week as two House subcommittees hold hearings on separate bills that would expand restrictions on federal funding of abortions.
The "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act" would eliminate tax breaks for abortions. The "Protect Life Act" would restrict use of federal funds for abortions under the new health care law. While both may pass the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, their prospects of passing a Democratic-held Senate or escaping President Barack Obama's veto pen are slim to none.
"They can't expect this legislation to go beyond the House or Representatives," said Steve Smith, a political science professor at Washington University in St. Louis. "It allows the House Republicans to do something symbolically important for their coalition base."
Still, the bills have alarmed abortion-rights advocates, who say they are attempts to attack legalized abortion — federally funded or not — through the tax code and measures to deny women access to the procedure.
"These bills represent a new front in the abortion war," said Donna Crane, policy director for NARAL Pro-Choice America. "The idea...of using the tax code to impose political views, that's extremely alarming."
Opponents of legal abortion, emboldened by powerful support in a Republican-controlled House, say the bills are just the beginning.
"The Republicans in the House are definitely following the promise they made to undo the damage that's been done," said Kerry Brown, a spokeswoman for Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion group.
The "No Taxpayer for Abortion Act," designated H.R. 3 and sponsored by Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), seeks to codify provisions of the so-called Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funding for abortion but must be renewed by Congress annually.
In addition, Smith said his bill would "permanently end any U.S. government financial support for abortion whether it be direct funding or by tax credits or any other subsidy." A House Judiciary subcommittee will hold a hearing on it Tuesday.
Smith's bill stirred a huge uproar among abortion-rights advocates by listing victims of "forcible rape" among those who would be exempted from the bill.
"Forcible rape" wasn't fully defined in the bill, but abortion-rights supporters warned that the term could be used to block access to abortion for rape victims who were drugged, unconscious or mentally ill.
A spokesman for Smith said the term was dropped from the bill Thursday after Smith concluded that the term was being "misconstrued." That wasn't enough to satisfy abortion supporters.
"The fact that it took weeks of public outrage before the new House leadership was shamed into giving up one if its efforts to redefine rape to deny women access to abortion shows how out of touch they are with the values of the American people," said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. "Simply put, the now discarded 'forcible rape' provision is just the beginning of what's wrong with Rep. Smith's bill."
Like Smith's bill, the Protect Life Act, or H.R. 358, sponsored by Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.), seeks to restrict the use of federal funds under the new health care law, but isn't as aggressive in terms of using the tax code. The House Energy and Commerce health subcommittee, which Pitts chairs, will hold a hearing on it Wednesday.
Late last week, abortion-rights supporters turned their attention to Pitts' bill, saying it contains language that would allow hospitals to deny a woman an abortion, even if her life were in jeopardy.
Andrew Wimer, a Pitts spokesman, calls the accusation false. He said the language is an attempt to include in the health care law a "conscience clause" for doctors and hospitals that object to performing abortions.
"These are typical attacks that come up," Wimer said.
Abortion foes both in and out of Congress say they're undeterred by criticism. Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said that taking on abortion would be a House priority under his leadership.
"A ban on taxpayer funding of abortions is the will of the people, and it ought to be the will of the land," Boehner told reporters last month. "The current law, particularly as enforced by this administration, does not reflect the will of the American people."
One of Boehner's guests at Obama's State of the Union address last month was Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, D.C. The United States National Conference of Catholic Bishops has endorsed both bills.
Brown of Susan B. Anthony's List said that backing from Boehner and 80 of the 87 new House Republicans will improve their chances of getting legislation through.
NARAL's Crane looks at the diminishing numbers of abortion supporters in the House and the rising GOP numbers in the Senate and worries. While many experts believe a measure to restrict access to legalized abortion couldn't make its way from the Senate to Obama's desk, Crane isn't so sure.
She counts 40 senators who solidly support abortion rights, 46 who oppose abortion — and the rest of them sitting on the fence.
NARAL's strategy for dealing with the changing landscape: "Make sure the White House is the ultimate firewall," Crane said.
Some on the political left have inflammatory rhetoric!
Chris Matthews continues to make the rift between reality and insanity grow.
Throwing out this racial slur isn't productive to the public cries for civility. Since it's on the Huffington Post, it's almost certain that NewsBusters or The Drudge Report will seize on the comment and run this "fire Matthews" campaign from the Fox News camp.
Chris Matthews is no better than the average Glenn Beck or Sean Hannity on their worse day with a headache and sour throat.
I usually throw my most harshest comments at Rush Limbaugh, Matt Drudge, Andrew Breitbart, Bill O'Reilly, Greta Van Susteren, Beck and Hannity! But it's going to be some my harshest comments aimed at Matthews, Ed Schultz, Eliot Spitzer, Keith Olbermann, Stephanie Miller, and Randi Rhodes!
The left should let the right destroy themselves. We know [these conservatives] are not productive to public discourse, why are you stooping to their level?
The left talkers shouldn't feed the fire of those who relish in this division and divisiveness of the American political movement! After this comment, I'll be willing to tone it down only if the heated rhetoric is lowered a notch!
I made a video denouncing Republicans lame attempt to court Black voters with this "Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Was A Republican" campaign. Also took a parting shot at NPR and Fox News commentator Juan Williams.
if you are annoyed with Republicans and conservatives pushing this "Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican", tell them the Democratic Party can claim the first black president and first woman House Speaker. Barack Obama was endorsed by Bernice King and Martin Luther King III, the leaders of the SCLC.
No matter how hard, France Rice and her Black Republicans tried, they failed in bring Blacks to the Republican Party. Just 12% of Blacks support the Republican Party.
The treatment of Michael Steele also shows that the Republicans have no patience for people who don't fit the agenda.
Conservatives whether they are Democrat or Republican harbor bigoted views towards, Blacks, Hispanics, Middle Eastern American, GLBT, and women.
Even though many who were close to the preacher claim that King was nonpartisan, this rumor was spewed on the internet by Rice and a former SCLC worker by the name of Alveda King who was the niece of Dr. King.
Francis Rice her organization the National Black Republican Association tried to murky the Democratic primaries by present the tired Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican. Thankfully this woman and her group were properly dismissed by many including the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
The National Black Republicans Association (NBRA) is a Florida based group of African American conservatives. NBRA is led by Dr. Frances Rice, a staunch conservative who is an African American. Rice was former lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force, by my account. Her group is funded by the Heritage Foundation and has at most over 100 members. http://nbra.info/
Lynn Swann, Michael Steele and J. Kenneth (Ken) Blackwell were the first Republican African Americans from their home state to run for higher political office. Swann lost in a race for Pennsylvania governor. Steele lost in a U.S. Senate race in Maryland, then later ran for the National Republican Chairman's position. Blackwell lost in a race for governor for Ohio. So far the only achievements in the Congress since J.C. Watts, Jr. are freshman Tea Party Republican Congressmen Allen West of Florida and Tim Scott of South Carolina.
I can't say much about Michael Steele, these days. He embroiled in a major scandal right now and is at the verge of being fired by Republicans. He stumbled by apologize to Rush Limbaugh, spending on his book tour and lavish parties. Steele, a moderate Black Republican claims he's a conservative.
Did anyone remind these clowns on the right that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was nonpartisan?
Did anyone remind these clowns on the right that, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King were considered liberal for their views on civil rights, human rights, stance against the Vietnam War and concerns for poverty?
Did anyone remind these clowns that 1960s New York Congressman Emanuel Celler, Democrat drafted the bill? By the way, he was a White Jewish man who pushed for equal rights.
Did these clowns on the right happen to mention that the 88th and 89th United States Congress was controlled by Democratic Party?
Did anyone remind these clowns about Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy, Arizona Senator Berry Goldwater, both Republicans and their stances on civil rights?
Did anyone remind these clowns on the right about J. Edgar Hoover's attempts to label Dr. King a "communist" and "socialist"? It's kind of like today's modern conservatives are attacking President Obama by labeling him as such!
Did anyone remind these clowns about current West Virgina Senator Robert Byrd, denouncing his past and endorsing then-senator Barack Obama for president?
Can someone remind the Republicans that non-whites (Black, Hispanic, Arab, Asian, and Native Americans) have very little support for the party today! In the 2006 Midterm Elections, the GOP won 51% of white votes, 37% of Asian votes, and 30% of Hispanic votes, while winning only 10% of Black votes.
Can someone remind the Republicans, that the Democratic Party can claim the first Black president?
I'm just saying!
Today's Republican Party is embolden in the divisive politics once practiced 50 years ago. They have no concerns about Civil Rights! They are not reaching out to non-white voters. And sure the Republicans this year won the midterms with gains and least members of Congress who are non-white, their positions are setbacks to the achievements of Dr. Martin Luther King.
Anyone who harbors conservative views, whether they are Democrat, Republican or Independent are single issue voters who have a bigoted view of Blacks, Hispanics, Arab Americans, Native Americans, women and GLBT.
I am not a race-baiter or a Democrat. I am an independent voter who is socially liberal, fiscally conservative. Pretty much a moderate. I don't follow groups and you are not my brother. I have a sister.
Where do we go from here? Race-baiting and fear-mongering a tactic of conservative activism. It's frustrating that the Republican Party is determined to attack President Obama, but this "socialist" nonsense is really making me more likely to continue ignoring Republicans.
Just about 90% of Republicans/conservatives believe that President Obama is a "socialist", "Marxist", and/or other ridiculous accusations. So much for a post-partisan America!
Is it fair for me to say that anyone who criticizes President Obama by throwing the ridiculous "socialist" claim are Anti-American. The conservative media have went into full spin with this "socialist" fear-mongering. And to top that, in my opinion as well as the title of this video, the Republicans and their allies in the conservative media have used "racial undertones" towards the president.
They won't say it, but they found a way to beat the odds!
39 percent of Republicans believe Obama should be impeached, 29 percent are not sure, 32 percent said he should not be voted out of office.
36 percent of Republicans believe Obama was not born in the United States, 22 percent are not sure, 42 percent think he is a natural citizen.
31 percent of Republicans believe Obama is a "Racist who hates White people" -- the description once adopted by Fox News's Glenn Beck. 33 percent were not sure, and 36 percent said he was not a racist.
63 percent of Republicans think Obama is a socialist, 16 percent are not sure, 21 percent say he is not
24 percent of Republicans believe Obama wants "the terrorists to win," 33 percent aren't sure, 43 percent said he did not want the terrorist to win.
21 percent of Republicans believe ACORN stole the 2008 election, 55 percent are not sure, 24 percent said the community organizing group did not steal the election.
23 percent of Republicans believe that their state should secede from the United States, 19 percent aren't sure, 58 percent said no.
53 percent of Republicans said they believe Sarah Palin is more qualified to be president than Obama.
Conservatives tend to be more likely racists, bigots and ignorant.
By Daniel Tencer Friday, January 29th, 2010 -- 3:24 pm
UPDATE AT BOTTOM: Fox News cut live feed of Obama debate half-way through; GOP aides say allowing cameras was a 'mistake'
A combative President Obama sparred back and forth with Republicans at a House GOP retreat in Baltimore Friday, telling House members they had backed themselves into a corner by painting his administration as being radical.
It was an unusual question-and-answer session that some observers have compared to Question Period in the British House of Commons, when the prime minister takes questions from opposition lawmakers. And even some conservative commentators admit Obama won the debate and gave himself a much-needed image boost.
Invited by the GOP to attend their annual conference, the president accepted but surprised Republicans with a request to allow cameras into the conference room, Politico reports. The GOP agreed.
Weaving between pleas for bipartisanship and direct criticism of GOP politicking, the president took Republicans to task for voting against last year's stimulus package and then attending "ribbon cuttings" for projects funded by it.
"A lot of you have gone to ribbon cuttings for the same projects that you voted against," Obama said. "I say all this not to re-litigate the past, but it's simply to state, the component parts of the recovery act are consistent with what many of you say are important things to do."
Obama touched repeatedly on the theme that, in opposing his policies, Republicans at times oppose things that are in line with their ideology. Among those things, Obama argued, are his proposed fee on banks and a freeze on discretionary spending.
"Join me" in passing the spending freeze, Obama asked the GOP, adding there's "nothing in this proposal that runs contrary to the ideological predisposition of this caucus."
On the proposed bank fee, designed to recoup some of the money the US government lost in bailing out the banks in 2008, Obama told House Minority Leader John Boehner: "If you listen to the American people, John, they’ll tell you they want their money back."
And in very frank language, Obama warned the GOP they are painting themselves into a political corner by using strong rhetoric in opposing White House ideas.
"If the way these issues are being presented by the Republicans is that this is some wild-eyed plot to impose huge government in every aspect of our lives, what happens is you guys don't have a lot of room to negotiate with me," the president said. "The fact is that many of you, if you voted with the administration on something, are politically vulnerable with your own base in your own party. You've given yourselves very little room to work in a bipartisan fashion because what you've told your constituents is this guy is doing all kinds of crazy stuff that's gonna destroy America."
The president also chastised Republicans for presenting health care reform as "some Bolshevik plot." But he spent a considerable amount of time arguing for bipartisanship, and for his own credentials as an open-minded leader who can work across party lines.
"I am not an ideologue," Obama said, adding, "These are serious times and what's required of all us is to do what's right for our country even if it's not best for our politics. ... There may be better things than poll numbers."
Even some conservative commentators conceded that Obama won the day.
"Obama did well, got the better of GOP today," the Weekly Standard's Michael Goldfarb tweeted. "Fortunately, we got the better of him the last six months or so. And health care is dead."
"It would be hard to argue the exchange is anything but a plus-plus for Obama and the GOP," he wrote. "Both sides emerged from it looking as if, contra the public's greatest fears, they are serious about the deficit and health-care reform. ... [T]he Republicans went a long way toward showing that they are hardly a party of obstructionists with no solutions to offer Americans."
UPDATE: Some commentators are pointing to the fact that Fox News cut off the live feed of Obama's debate half-way through as proof that the president got the better of the GOP on Friday.
"Perhaps the most telling aspect of the speech reactions," writes David Weigel at the Washington Independent, is that "Fox News, alone among cable networks, cut away mid-broadcast and went to a newsless interview with Rep. Peter King (R-NY)."
NBC's Luke Russert offered more evidence that at least the GOP views it as a loss for their side.
"GOP aides telling me it was a mistake to allow cameras into Obama's QA with GOP members," Russert tweeted Friday. "Allowed BO to refute GOP for 1.5 hours on TV."
Conservative activists James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles poised as a "pimp" and "prostitute" in an attempt to uncover wrongdoing at community housing group Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). They generated mainstream coverage after they filmed several workers talking about illegal activities.
The roller coaster of stupidity in the name of conservatism. James O'Keefe, 25 along with three other men were arrested for attempting "bug" Louisiana Democratic senator Mary Landrieu's main office in New Orleans.
Perhaps the most disturbing thing in the media, investigative journalism. Andrew Breitbart, a conservative blogger with ties to Matt Drudge was promoting videos by O'Keefe and his former girlfriend Hannah Giles. The pair were convinced that the community organization group ACORN was responsible for Barack Obama's victory in 2008 through "voter fraud" and "illicit activities". They traveled to ten ACORN locations and managed to videotape a few of the workers talking about "how to created fake voter registrations", "smuggling El Salvadoran children for prostitution" and convinced a woman to "admit that she murdered her husband". They wanted to expose the liberal lies and shame the group.
The CEO of the community group Bertha Lewis slammed the pair, Fox News (which heavily promoted the pair) and the Republican Party for creating a "witch hunt" and slander of an organization that helps low income families find housing. ACORN is currently in the process of suing Breitbart, O'Keefe and Giles for restitution and unauthorized filming in a private business.
The impact of the videos affected the lawmakers and many broke ties to the group. The House of Representatives and Senate have voted unanimously to sever funding to the organization group. The U.S. Justice Department is fighting the repeal the decision made by Congress.
Since the videos were posted on YouTube, O'Keefe and Giles became internet sensations. Unfortunately, Ms. Giles image was tarnished in the matter and hasn't been featured in many of the filming by O'Keefe.
To make matters worse, this arrest has been buzzing across the internet. Many liberals are thrilled to see this person arrest, and conservative voice despair and anger to the actions. One prominent conservative activist, Michelle Malkin dismissed him and severed ties to O'Keefe. In one of her postings, Malkin stated:
"Let it be a lesson to aspiring young conservatives interested in investigative journalism: Know your limits! "Know the law. Don’t get carried away. And don’t become what you are targeting."
Details on the matter: Associated Press
Conservative ties bind 4 La. phone plot suspects
New Orleans (AP) - Four men accused of trying to tamper with Democratic U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu's office phones shared a common experience as young ideologues writing for conservative publications.
Federal authorities said two of the men posed as telephone workers with hard hats, tool belts and fluorescent vests and walked into Landrieu's office in a New Orleans federal building Monday. The others are accused of helping to organize the plan.
The most well-known suspect is James O'Keefe, 25, who posed as a pimp for a hidden-camera expose that damaged the reputation of the liberal community-organizing group ACORN and made him a conservative darling.
O'Keefe and suspect Joseph Basel, 24, formed their own conservative publications on their college campuses. A third suspect, Stan Dai, 24, was editor of his university's conservative paper and directed a program aimed at getting college students interested in the intelligence field after 9/11.
The fourth suspect, Robert Flanagan, 24, wrote for the New Orleans-based conservative Pelican Institute and had recently criticized Landrieu for voting in favor of health care legislation after securing a Medicaid provision helpful to her state.
O'Keefe was a featured speaker at a Pelican Institute luncheon days before his arrest, though institute president Kevin Kane said Wednesday that he had no idea what happened at Landrieu's office or what the four were doing there. Flanagan, son of the acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, was a contract worker for the institute, mostly writing for its blog.
"Robert has done terrific work and I think very highly of him, and am very sorry to see him in this difficult situation," Kane said.
It's not yet clear whether the plan was a prank intended to be captured on camera or a more serious attempt at political espionage, as claimed by state Democrats who dubbed it "LouisianaWatergate."
Democratic National Committee spokesman Hari Sevugan said Republicans once praised O'Keefe as an American hero, "yet today, in light of these deplorable and illegal attacks on the office of a United States senator by their champion, Republicans have not offered a single iota of disgust, a whisper of indignation or even a hint of outrage."
In October, Rep. Pete Olson, R-Texas, sponsored a resolution praising O'Keefe and the woman who posed as a prostitute, Hannah Giles, for their investigation of "fraudulent and illegal practices and misuse of taxpayer dollars" by ACORN. Thirty-one Republican congressmen signed on as co-sponsors.
In response to the arrests, Olson said that "if recent events conclude that any laws were broken in the incident in Sen. Landrieu's office — that is not something I condone."
A witness told authorities O'Keefe was sitting in the waiting area of Landrieu's office and appeared to record Basel and Flanagan on his cell phone when they arrived posing as phone workers. Landrieu, who was in Washington at the time, said in a statement that the plot was "unsettling" for her and her staff.
A federal law enforcement official said one of the suspects was picked up in a car a couple of blocks away with a listening device that could pick up transmissions. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the information was not part of the FBI affidavit. Another official said Dai was the suspect arrested outside.
All four were charged with entering federal property under false pretenses for the purpose of committing a felony, which carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
"It was poor judgment," Flanagan's lawyer, Garrison Jordan, said. "I don't think there was any intent or motive to commit a crime."
O'Keefe, Basel and Dai returned to the courthouse carrying suitcases Wednesday morning for private appointments with the department that handles arrangements with defendants before trial. None would comment as they entered and exited the courthouse.
Flanagan, who was not with them, is the only suspect who lives in Louisiana. Basel is from Minnesota; O'Keefe, New Jersey; and Dai, the D.C.-Virginia area.
As O'Keefe left jail Tuesday with Dai and Basel, he said only "Veritas," Latin for truth.
As he got into a cab outside, O'Keefe said, "The truth shall set me free." His father, James O'Keefe, Jr., of Westwood, N.J., said he had not spoken to his son in several days and did not know he had traveled to New Orleans, let alone why he went to Landrieu's office.
"That would not be something that I can even imagine him doing," he said. "I think this is going to be blown out of proportion."
The allegations were quickly condemned by ACORN, the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now. Its political affiliates have registered hundreds of thousands of voters in urban and other poor areas of the country.
O'Keefe's arrest "is further evidence of his disregard for the law in pursuit of his extremist agenda," ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis said in a statement. The organization's Twitter feed commented on the news: "Couldn't have happened to a more deserving soul."
Last year, O'Keefe used a hidden camera to record ACORN staffers who appeared to offer illegal tax advice and support the misuse of public funds and illegal trafficking in children.
The videos were first posted on biggovernment.com, a site run by conservative Andrew Breitbart. In the past, Breitbart has said O'Keefe — now a paid contributor to BigGovernment.com — is an independent filmmaker, not an employee.
In an e-mail to The Associated Press, Breitbart said: "We have no knowledge about or connection to any alleged acts and events involving James O'Keefe at Senator Mary Landrieu's office."
Dai is a former assistant director of a program at Trinity Washington University that taught students about careers in intelligence, university president Patricia McGuire said. It was part of a national effort to interest students at liberal arts colleges in careers in intelligence but did not teach spy craft, she said.
He was listed as a "freelance consultant" in a Junior Statesmen program at the Central Intelligence Agency where he appeared as a speaker.
O'Keefe and Basel were also active in conservative publications at their respective colleges, Rutgers University and the University of Minnesota-Morris. They gave a joint interview Jan. 14 to CampusReform.org, a Web site that supports college conservatives on student publications.
"I happen to call what I do shoe leather journalism and not advocacy journalism," O'Keefe was quoted as saying. "So, I would consider it just journalism."
___
Associated Press Writers Kevin McGill in New Orleans, Pete Yost in Washington, Justin Pritchard in Los Angeles and Ben Nuckols in Baltimore contributed to this report.
