[Photos by TIFFANY YOON] BY GREG ADOMAITIS President Barack Obama came to town this afternoon to attend an invitation only fundraiser for Senator Arlen Specter at the Convention Center. White House press pool reports indicate the haul was hefty. Christopher Nicholas, Specter’s campaign manager, said that they were “within striking distance” of the $2.5 million goal for the two-tiered event. Proceeds were to be split between the Specter campaign and the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee. Guests dined on steak, crab cakes, potatoes, carrots and green beans. For giving $10,000 or raising $50,000, donors posed for photos with the president and […]
OFF THE RECORD: Obama Calls Kanye A ‘Jackass’
During an off-the-record portion of an interview with CNBC, ABC reporter Terry Moran overheard the president call Kanye West a ‘Jackass’ — for storming stage and grabbing the mic from Taylor Swift in the middle of the country star’s acceptance speech — and immediately Twittered it, along with the snarky zinger “now THAT’s presidential”. ABC quickly pulled the tweet and apologized, but the damage was already done — ABC’s Twitterstream has a million-plus followers and Obama’s remark was immediately screencapped, retweeted ad nauseum and then picked up by the MSM, becoming the latest much ado about nothing to burn up […]
PUNKING THE HATERS: Man Parades PUBLIC OPTION NOW Sign Through Sea Of DC Teabaggers
FLICKR: This brave man walked through the anti-health care crowd with his large poster and was immediately set upon by the crowd. One person spit on him, while others pushed and tried to grab his flag until the police intervened. Most of the crowd around him turned on him like rabid dogs, yelling epithets and things like commie, why dont you leave this country etc. Impressively, he remained unflappable and had this little smile on the whole time. MORE SALON: Why then do nearly all of the Republicans in Congress find it so difficult to empathize with the tens of […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Edward M. Kennedy, who died Aug. 25, 2009 after serving 46 years in the U.S. Senate, kept careful notes and journals about his life for nearly 50 years. Now, in his posthumously published memoir True Compass, Kennedy reflects on the controversies, successes and tragedies of his famous family. The book, which was co-authored by Ron Powers, is published by Twelve Books. Jonathan Karp, editor-in-chief and publisher of Twelve, speaks with Terry Gross about his experiences working with the late senator in the final year of Kennedy’s life. RADIO TIMES Hour 1 According to the most recent Department of […]
DUH: Another ACORN Office Falls For Hooker Sting
NEW YORK POST: The scandal surrounding the left-wing activist organization ACORN has spread to New York, with employees at its Brooklyn office caught on video helping supposed ladies of the night get loans for their dream houses of ill repute. Rather than reminding the women that prostitution is dangerous and illegal and advising them to change their careers, counselors at the social-services group shockingly offer suggestions on how they can launder their earnings. “Honesty is not going to get you the house,” a loan counselor at the offices told two activists posing as a mortgage-seeking pimp and prostitute. “You can’t […]
Obama In Town Tomorrow To Raise Cash For Specter
INQUIRER: Airforce One will touch down at 3:45 p.m. at Philadelphia International Airport. A motorcade will then travel up Interstate 95 to the Convention Center for a 4 p.m. reception for 750 invitees. More than 1,000 people are expected to attend the event which organizers hope will raise $2.5 million for Specter’s campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. MORE CQ POLITICS: Coaxing Arlen Specter into switching parties and running for re-election as a Democrat was a major coup for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who is bending the Senate’s schedule to accommodate a presidential fundraiser for Specter Tuesday afternoon […]
DOOMSDAY: Libraries To Close October 1st If State Legislature Is Still Dicking Around With Budget Fix
INQUIRER: The Free Library of Philadelphia has posted notices at its branches and on its web site advising users that all libraries will close at the end of business on Oct. 2 if the state Legislature does not act on the city’s budget request. The notices also say that all material will now be due Oct. 1 and that nothing can be borrowed after Sept. 30. Besides closing libraries, the Nutter administration’s so-called Plan C doomsday budget includes eliminating court-system funding, shutting down all recreation centers and laying off up to 3,000 workers, including police and firefighters. MORE PHILLY CLOUT: […]
PASS THE HENNESSY: Kanye Joe Wilsons The VMAs
[Photo courtesy of JUST JARED] MTV: The rapper stormed the stage just after the first award, for Best Female Video, was presented to Taylor Swift. He cut the teen singer off, grabbing the mic and protesting in support of Beyonce. “I’m sorry, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time,” he proclaimed as B looked on from the crowd, stunned. His protest against Swift, however, was not well received. West stood briefly on the stage after his comments as the crowd was silent. Audience members then began to clap in support of Swift after West left the […]
HOT DOCUMENT: Good Things Come To Those Who Sellout The Public Option For A Little Filthy Lucre
CNN: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, in comments at separate news conferences, said they would support any provision that increases competition and accessibility for health insurance – whether or not it is the public option favored by most Democrats. Pelosi, who said as recently as Tuesday that a public option was essential for passing a health-care bill in the House, on Thursday used language on the issue similar to Obama’s speech. MORE OPEN LEFT: This announcement came just hours before Steve Elmendorf, a registered UnitedHealth lobbyist and the head of UnitedHealth’s lobbying firm Elmendorf Strategies, […]
HYPOCRITIC OATH: Government-Run Health Care Is Bad For America But Good For Joe Wilson’s Family
NEWSWEEK: JOE WILSON (R-SC) IS PASSIONATE ABOUT STOPPING GOVERNMENT RUN HEALTH CARE! Except that he’s not — at least not when it comes to his, and his family’s, government-run health care. As a retired Army National Guard colonel, Wilson gets a lot of benefits (one of which, apparently, was not a full appreciation of the customs, traditions, and courtesies that mandate respect for one’s commander in chief). And with four sons in the armed services, the entire Wilson brood has enjoyed multiple generations of free military medical coverage, known as TRICARE. Yes, it’s true. As politicos and town-hall criers debate […]
GLENN BECKISTAN: Lawyers Threaten Defamation Suit Against Web Site, But Still No Denial
ARS TECHNICA: The Communications Decency Act basically protects registrars and web hosts from liability for the content that people put up using such services, so the letters to the registrar aren’t so much a legal threat as an attempt to get the website owner’s contact info without a subpoena. And the trademark claims made at WIPO? Levy thinks they sound “preposterous.” But the possibility of a US defamation/libel suit against the anonymous site operator is a real one. Certainly, domain names alone “can be defamatory,” Levy says, pointing out that the first iteration of the site posed the “rape and […]
BRENDAN CALLING: Make It A Federal Holiday
PW: [T]he woman who gave birth to my son was evacuated from the World Trade Center, and ferried across the Hudson to safety. So it is impossible for me, and anyone else who watched the attacks unfold, to forget. And yet to this day, while proclamations are issued and communities gather for memorial events and services, there is no federal holiday memorializing the attacks of September 11, the people who died, or the people who rushed to the rescue. There is something deeply wrong with that. One of my favorite holidays is the Martin Luther King Day of Service, which […]
POTUS: Speech On Health Care Reform
[CBS: During a special full-length primetime broadcast, President Barack Obama addressed the U.S. Congress in order to tackle concerns over the ongoing legislation and debates over health care reform.] * NEW YORK TIMES: There was high drama in the setting and most of all in the timing. After a summer of chaos, criticism and confusion, President Obama stood before Congress on Wednesday night — with three major networks broadcasting live (Fox sat out the speech in favor of the season premiere of “So You Think You Can Dance”) — and tried to seize the last word on health care reform. “And […]