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07 May 2011 16:24

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Politics: Despite proximity, Jon Huntsman ignores nearby GOP convention

  • Give back — as much as you’re able. Work to keep America great. Serve her, if asked. I was, by a president of a different political party. But in the end, while we might not all be of one party, we are all part of one nation, a nation that needs your generational gift of energy and confidence.
  • Former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman • Making his first speech since leaving his post — a commencement speech for the University of South Carolina which smartly stayed away from the politics for the most part. Huntsman, by the way, wants to run for president. He made sure his speech was hip — he even dropped a lyric from Ben Folds Five! — but otherwise kept low-key. You know what was happening next door, by the way? That’s right, the state’s GOP convention, which Huntsman didn’t even make an appearance at. It’s fascinating, because a number of other presidential candidates were there. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 May 2011 10:41

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Politics: Journalists dropped everything after Osama bin Laden’s death

  • Where were you when you found out Osama bin Laden died? If you were anything like us, you were sitting in a bar in Virginia Beach, having your birthday weekend abruptly ended by a historic news story, reblogging and retweeting stuff on your phone and taking grainy photos of the bar’s TV screen when something notable happened. (We have the photos to prove it.) Maybe you might’ve been watching “The King’s Speech” on pay-per-view and had to pause it in the middle. Or perhaps you were getting off a plane when your phone started buzzing with all sorts of crazy crap. Or about to get on one — to Afghanistan — when you suddenly had to jump off and cover a major story at home. Or maybe you were sitting in bed, reading a book about Bob Dylan. Or maybe you were actively ignoring the news, only to have your daughter call you to point out that all hell was breaking loose. All of these scenarios happened to journalists. All of them stopped what they were doing and got directly to work. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 May 2011 15:52

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Politics: Maddow wants the media to stick to the facts on bin Laden’s death

  • There’s going to be plenty of time to score political points on this. Osama bin Laden is going to be dead forever. Osama bin Laden is never coming back.
  • Rachel Maddow • Discussing attempts in the news media to tilt the facts of the Osama bin Laden raid to suit certain political themes, in her appearance on The Daily Show last night. Maddow is spot on in this analysis, for a very good reason — it’s demonstrably obvious that news agencies since bin Laden’s death don’t have a conclusive, clear view of exactly what went down. This is borne out by the wild conflicts and discrepancies in reporting various details of the operation since word broke on Sunday. Maddow, to her credit, has done two episodes of her show post-bin Laden, and both were earnestly refreshing in acknowledging that waiting for verifiable fact is more useful than rushing to make the story sound cooler, or fit into a political narrative. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 May 2011 15:30

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Politics: Apache tribe wants apology over Bin Laden’s “Geronimo” moniker

  • geronimo A prominent and storied Native American leader, known for his daring attacks and escapes while battling both Mexican and U.S. soldiers — also, the code name given to Osama bin Laden in last weekend’s operation.
  • apache The modern representation of Geronimo’s Apache tribe, from Sill Falls, Oklahoma, has taken issue with this. Tribe Chairman Jeff Houser wants an apology from the White House for using Geronimo as the bin Laden code name. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 May 2011 10:59

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Politics: Mitch Daniels’ limited foreign policy cred becoming obvious

  • Monday In perhaps the meekest single comment ever published, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels’ staff revealed he had no official opinion on Osama bin Laden’s death. Not even a “heckuva job?” It’s not like you couldn’t glean these details from a newspaper or anything.
  • Tuesday The strange revelations continued when he revealed to a roomful of reporters that he probably couldn’t take on Obama in a foreign policy debate. “His foreign-policy details are TBD,” noted the National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru. Well, guess he’s not running. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 May 2011 10:33

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Politics: Tim Pawlenty: Get off the sideline, GOP! BEAT THIS OBAMA GUY!

  • I think it’s time to say, ‘It’s time to get off the sideline.’ We’ve got less than a year and a half to beat him … and it’s going to take all of us going full tilt to beat him.
  • Tim Pawlenty • Coming up with a line which could perhaps be a rallying cry for the GOP over the next year and a half. “It’s time to get off the sideline” would also work as a rallying cry during the third quarter of a football game. T-Paw could totally be the new Michael Irvin! But in all seriousness, this is a good line. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 May 2011 01:15

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Politics: Mitch Daniels mum on the death of bin Laden

  • NO Mitch Daniels has no comment on bin Laden’s death source
  • » Dodging a softball: Indiana governor and possible presidential candidate Mitch Daniels has made a strange choice in steadfastly refusing to release any statement on the death of Osama bin Laden. When Jennifer Rubin at The Washington Post e-mailed him to ask if he had any response to the news, his staff answered in one word: “No.” This is odd, as the death of the world’s most-wanted man is a) certainly newsworthy enough for a presidential candidate to bother responding to, and b) probably the easiest news for any politician to formulate a response to. You really can’t screw this one up; it’s a slam-dunk! Just say, “I’m glad bin Laden’s dead,” and call it a night. Rubin takes Daniels’ silence as a sign that he’s not serious about running for president, and we think she’s onto something.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

02 May 2011 16:22

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Politics: Counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan gives more info on bin Laden killing

  • Insider insight into bin Laden mission: As stated by Obama administration counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan, the U.S. would have claimed bin Laden alive if possible, but the al-Qaeda leader and his allies started a firefight that led to his death. He also said that President Obama and his aides were watching the operation in real time in the White House Situation Room, which he called “clearly very intense.” No kidding! Brennan also revealed that there are, in fact, photos of bin Laden’s corpse, but the White House has not yet decided whether to release them — a sensitive decision to be sure. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 May 2011 15:03

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Politics: Conservatives praise Obama on bin Laden killing

  • question One political question in the wake of the killing of Osama bin Laden is how the President’s political rivals, usually a very vociferous bunch, would react to the news that a person they’d built into such a boogeyman pulled this off.
  • answer All it takes to get bipartisanship is to kill a nationally loathed terrorist, it seems. Rush Limbaugh praised Obama today, as did Dick Cheney and John Boehner — this is a watershed moment for people’s perception of the President. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 May 2011 01:12

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Politics: President Obama reassures American Muslims: ‘no war on Islam’

  • I’ve made clear, just as President Bush did shortly after 9/11, that our war is not against Islam. Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer of Muslims. Indeed, al Qaeda has slaughtered scores of Muslims in many countries, including our own. So his demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity.
  • President Barack Obama • In his speech tonight, announcing that a U.S. special operation had killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. The President takes a very good tact here in distancing bin Laden and his organization from the Muslim community writ large. His reminder that bin Laden had himself killed many Muslims in service of his terror campaigns (and within our nation, as well, with many Muslims killed on 9/11) is an important one, too often lost in recent politicking. Even amidst what looks like broad jubilation domestically at the news, it’s important to keep the celebrating a positive thing, not something that turns at all ugly on our Muslim brethren. The President clearly wanted to short circuit that, as best he could, by emphasizing solidarity. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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