RELATED: Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton has raised more money from lobbyists than any other presidential candidate, while Republican John McCain has more of them assisting his campaign, according to a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization. Clinton took in $823,087 from registered lobbyists and members of their firms in 2007; McCain, the second-biggest recipient, took in $416,321, reported the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks political giving. Democrat Barack Obama doesn’t take money from registered lobbyists, though he received $86,282 from employees of firms that lobby, according to the center. McCain has 26 registered lobbyists as campaign advisers or fund-raisers, compared with 11 […]
I, VOTER: These Pretzels Are Making Me Thirsty!
As I write this, the polls here in New Jersey are still several hours from opening for their Super Tuesday vote-a-thon. This is handy, as it gives me yet more time to torture myself as I decide whether to vote for Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary, picking between two historic choices presented to me in this fifth presidential contest in which I am eligible to cast a ballot. It’s funny, though. Perhaps naively, I thought the choice would be easier when the time came that I had the opportunity to cast a meaningful, non-symbolic vote for […]
WINGBOWL ’08: Heavy Metal Barfing Lot
VIDEO: ScrappleTV at Wingbowl 2008
HOT DOCUMENT: Rick Santorum Robo-Slimes McCain
Per Romney sources, the call is going into California, Colorado, Alaska and a few other Super Tuesday states: “Hello, this is Senator Rick Santorum calling to let you know I am supporting Mitt Romney and urging you to support him next Tuesday. “As Republican leader in the U.S. Senate, I worked hard to stop the democrats and help pass a conservative agenda. A few senators like John McCain stood in our way. John McCain voted against the president’s tax cuts, worked with Ted Kennedy to pass what many people call amnesty for illegal aliens and he even opposes the marriage […]
OBAMELOT: Robert DeNiro Is Tired Of Waiting
NEW YORK TIMES: 1:11 p.m. — As the crowd at the Meadowlands awaited Mr. Obama’s arrival, Mr. De Niro made a surprise appearance and received a thunderous welcome. Mr. De Niro said he’d never before made a political speech, and the actor made a special appeal to the young people and first-time voters, saying that Mr. Obama gave them someone to gather behind. “You wanted to vote, you just didn’t have anyone to vote for,” he said. ” Well you know what? I felt the same way. Until now.” Mr. De Niro introduced Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts; his niece […]
NEWS CLUES: Like A Nightstick At A Pinata Party
GAMBLE & HUD: City Claims Feds Forced Discount Land Deal For Kenny Gamble President Bush’s housing czar pressured the Philadelphia housing agency to transfer land worth $2 million to Kenny Gamble, the music producer turned developer, and retaliated when the agency would not knuckle under, a lawsuit says. The Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) says the top federal housing official, Alphonso Jackson, improperly sought to steer the land to Gamble at a big discount. In court filings, Carl Greene, PHA’s executive director, says Jackson, secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, called Mayor John Street twice to lobby on Gamble’s […]
WILL FERRELL: Bud Light Superbowl Ad
Very funny, but Bud Light still sucks.
REVEALED: The Peaceful Easy Death Of Ernie Pyle
This photo provided by Richard Strasser, perhaps never before published, shows famed World War II war correspondent Ernie Pyle shortly after he was killed by a Japanese machine gun bullet on the island of Ie Shima on April 18, 1945. On the third morning, a jeep carrying Ernie Pyle and three officers came under fire from a hidden machine gun. All scrambled for cover in roadside ditches, but when Pyle raised his head, a .30 caliber bullet caught him in the left temple, killing him instantly. Roberts and two other photographers, including AP’s Grant MacDonald, were at a command post […]
FOLLOW THE MONEY: Yes Virginia, There Is More To Arlen Specter’s Patriot Acts Than Meets The Eye
ATTYTOOD: When Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter went more public last week with his increasingly strange and quixotic battle against the National Football League — supposedly over the New England “Spygate” scandal — some politically savvy wags raised an interesting point. They noted that the longtime GOP stalwart’s No. 2 source of campaign funds in recent years has been none other than employees of Comcast Corp. and their families, linked to at least $153,600 in donations going back to 1989. That’s significant because Philadelphia-based Comcast has been engaged in a protracted war with the NFL over an issue that has nothing […]
WORTH REPEATING: Big Brother Is Winning
Jonathan, Beginning at 2:30 p.m. EST today, the Senate resumed debate on the pending FISA bill, by proceeding to vote on a series of amendments, most proposed by Democrats, to improve the bill. Key amendments include one jointly sponsored by Sens. Dodd and Feingold to strip the bill of telecom immunity; an amendment from Sen. Feinstein to transfer the telecom cases to the FISA court; an amendment jointly sponsored by Sens. Specter and Whitehouse to substitute the government for the telecoms as defendants; and an amendment from Sen. Feinstein emphasizing that FISA is the “exclusive means” by which the Government […]
KILLADELPHIA: 2 More Dead Since U Went To Bed
INQUIRER: A 43-year old man was shot and killed this morning in Philadelphia, police said. The unidentified man was found with a gunshot wound to the head in the 2500 block of South 66th Street at about 7:23 a.m. He was pronounced on the scene by medics. Yesterday, police responded to the 3800 block of Parrish Street at 3:13 a.m. and found Anthony Saunders, 39, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Saunders, of 4600 block of Apple Lane in Deptford, had been shot in the face and body, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 3:26 a.m. No […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Missed evidence, ignored clues, political considerations—did the 9/11 Commission really issue the definitive report on the September 2001 terror attacks? In his new book, The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation, New York Times investigative journalist Philip Shenon scrutinizes those charged with analyzing the terror attacks and uncovers new information about the commission’s complicated relationship with the Bush White House. PLUS, Can there be a middle ground in the debate about the separation of church and state? John DiIulio, Jr, a Democrat who served as the director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community […]
ENDORSEMENT: He Is The One
…To Lead Us Out Of The Matrix Of Our Own Bullshit REUTERS: Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama opened narrow leads on Hillary Clinton in California and Missouri one day before crucial “Super Tuesday” nominating contests in 24 states, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Monday. Obama and Clinton were deadlocked in New Jersey, and Obama enjoyed a double-digit advantage over Clinton in Georgia in two other Democratic contests on the biggest single day of voting ever in a U.S. presidential nominating campaign. “The momentum is with Obama,” said pollster John Zogby. “If this trend continues it could be a […]