Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama launched a new website Thursday devoted to dousing "smears" against the first African-American with a serious shot at the presidency.
The site at www.fightthesmears.com debunks false rumors doing the rounds of the Internet and right-wing media outlets -- including one recent assertion that Obama's wife Michelle has been caught on tape slurring white people.
Obama's main campaign website already had a fact-check section to refute rumors such as the Christian candidate is a secret Muslim. But aides said the new site went further in inviting supporters to spread the word.
"We created an interactive tool to allow our supporters to fight back against these smears in the same way that they received them -- on the Internet," campaign spokesman Tommy Vietor said.
The new initiative was launched after reports, by conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh among others, that a videotape existed showing Michelle Obama using the derogatory term "whitey" in the couple's former church.
No such tape has surfaced despite frenzied speculation by right-wing pundits and blogs, and Obama last week decried the mainstream media's attention to "dirt and lies."
Political candidates have traditionally refused to acknowledge slanderous rumors for fear of giving them respectability. But given the slew of emailed attacks being spread against Obama, his campaign said it had no choice but to respond in kind.
"Whenever challenged with these lies, we will aggressively push back with the truth and help our supporters debunk the false rumors floating around the Internet," Vietor said.
Left with a candidate whom the world has passed by -- one they themselves have tarred "liberal" -- the reactionary Right responds with the only tool left in their box: lies intended to provoke fear.
The Texas Republican Convention gets under way in earnest today in downtown Houston with an appeals court still considering a lawsuit aimed at changing the gathering's procedures.Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and state House Speaker Tom Craddick are today's scheduled featured speakers for the gathering of about 10,000 delegates and activists at the George R. Brown Convention Center.
Speakers set for Friday and Saturday include Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison and national GOP figures Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney.
A group of Republicans including supporters of Paul's presidential campaign and others sued the party last week on grounds that it fails to follow state law that requires procedures to make the convention's actions official. The group essentially alleges that party leaders ignore the rules to retain power and limit dissent — a charge the party denies.After County Court-at-Law Judge Roberta Lloyd said Monday she had no jurisdiction to try the lawsuit, the group appealed to the all-Republican, Houston-based First Court of Appeals, which refused Wednesday to intervene on an emergency basis. That means the convention will kick off at 1 p.m. free of any court orders.
But the court — justices Tim Taft, Sam Nuchia and Jane Bland — asked lawyers in the case to send written arguments on the case by 5 p.m. today, leaving the possibility of further court action.
The Paulies will likely disrupt this convention in some benign fashion. I'm just sorry I don't have the stomach to be around so many Republicans long enough to cover their convention, because it would probably be a laugh a minute.
Update: Harold Cook welcomes the delegates.
An official close to the investigation said agents determined the fire was a criminal act after reviewing footage from security cameras. A national response team from the U.S. Department of Justice arrives Monday to help dig through the wreckage for clues.No one was injured in the four-alarm blaze, which engulfed the historic landmark and sent orange flames billowing from the front door and second story terrace.
...Department of Public Safety security officers, who stay on the property, were alerted to the fire by a tripped smoke alarm. An officer went to examine the cause, saw flames coming through the front of the house and immediately called the Austin Fire Department about 1:45 a.m.
By the time fire trucks arrived a few minutes later, the fire had made its way into the attic space. Firefighters trained fire hoses from all four directions on the exterior of the house in an effort to save it.
More than 100 firefighters battled the blaze for hours. Though the blaze had been extinguished by an 11 a.m. press conference, firefighters could be seen hosing down remaining hotspots.
“What has been lost today can never be replaced,” said governor’s press secretary Robert Black, citing damage from fire, water and smoke. “It’s an extraordinary amount of loss.”
State officials were unable to estimate Sunday’s financial loss. They said the silver lining was that all art work, furniture and historical artifacts had been removed as part of the renovation, which included extensive asbestos removal and replacing virtually all the plumbing. The work began last September. ...
Efforts to determine the cause of the blaze were stymied Sunday morning by fears that the roof would collapse. But investigators found telling clues by reviewing surveillance cameras, and by interviewing security personnel, bystanders and some downtown residents.
“They indicated there was somebody here who potentially set the fire,” Mr. Maldonado said.
(Doggett) hobbled onto the convention stage, slowed by a broken leg, to rail against the Republicans and the “Bush-Chicanery administration” to a very receptive crowd.“Thanks to Tom DeLay I’ve had the opportunity to represent much of Texas, just not all at the same time,” Doggett quipped.
The “W” in George W. Bush must stand for “worse-ever” or “whopper”, Doggett said, referring to the book by former Bush press secretary Scott McClellan.
And he quashed the notion that John McCain would bring anything other than a redux of the Bush administration.
“Been there and done that, done that for eight painful years.”
Thank you very, very much. Well, this isn't exactly the party I'd planned, but I sure like the company.
(APPLAUSE) And I want to start today by saying how grateful I am to all of you, to everyone who poured your hearts and your hopes into this campaign, who drove for miles and lined the streets waving homemade signs, who scrimped and saved to raise money, who knocked on doors and made calls, who talked, sometimes argued with your friends and neighbors...
(APPLAUSE)
... who e-mailed and contributed online, who invested so much in our common enterprise, to the moms and dads who came to our events, who lifted their little girls and little boys on their shoulders and whispered in their ears, "See, you can be anything you want to be."
(APPLAUSE)
To the young people...
(APPLAUSE)
... like 13-year-old Anne Riddell (ph) from Mayfield, Ohio, who had been saving for two years to go to Disney World and decided to use her savings instead to travel to Pennsylvania with her mom and volunteer there, as well.
To the veterans, to the childhood friends, to New Yorkers and Arkansans...
(APPLAUSE)
... who traveled across the country, telling anyone who would listen why you supported me. And to all of those women in their 80s and their 90s...
(APPLAUSE)
... born before women could vote, who cast their votes for our campaign. I've told you before about Florence Stein (ph) of South Dakota who was 88 years old and insisted that her daughter bring an absentee ballot to her hospice bedside. Her daughter and a friend put an American flag behind her bed and helped her fill out the ballot.
She passed away soon after and, under state law, her ballot didn't count, but her daughter later told a reporter, "My dad's an ornery, old cowboy, and he didn't like it when he heard Mom's vote wouldn't be counted. I don't think he had voted in 20 years, but he voted in place of my mom."
(APPLAUSE)
============================
Trailblazers asks some tough questions. I don't have the same disagreement; I'm feeling the unity this afternoon.
We like to fight in Texas. Philadelphia has Independence Hall; we have the Alamo. Oregon has Lewis and Clark; we have William B. Travis and Sam Houston. It is common knowledge that honky-tonks were created so people could fight to music.
In Texas, the hybrid system suits us fine because we Texans like a little of this and a little of that. Why opt for just voting or for just a caucus when you can have both? We like to sample a little of each, which, in case you were wondering, explains the popularity of Mexican food and barbecue in Texas. Any Mexican restaurant that doesn’t have a different combination platter named for every city on both sides of the border and a couple of suburbs of San Antonio isn’t going to stay open for more than a month. If you order barbecue in North Carolina, you get a plate heaped with a gray mound of something horrible they did to pork. Then, as if to rectify it, they pour pure, unadulterated vinegar all over it. In Texas, you get a choice of at least six meats and seven sides, not to mention four kinds of cobbler and three pies for desert. The best barbecue joints in Texas have two sauces, for those fool enough to ruin perfectly good meat with ’em—the sweet one and the other one.
We are a fighting, hybrid bunch of people.
Folks who complain that Democrats won’t win if we keep fighting just might have caught themselves some memory problems. Texas Democrats are at our most powerful when we fight like the dickens. There were bitter, name-calling, biting, and hair-pulling battles between Lloyd Bentsen and Ralph Yarborough. Ann Richards and Jim Mattox fought each other mean and propelled us to the governor’s mansion. Compared with those battles, this is vacation Bible school.
Monica is a young Latina confined to a wheelchair who communicates by voice recognition computer and worked and organized supporters during this past primary, second to no one. Monica is the daughter of a Vice President of the local CWA and her belief in the political system is strengthened by the help and encouragement she has received from various elected officials since her debilitating accident five years ago. She is truly an inspiration to all with her determination, her dedication and her excitement.
A clean sweep took place in the district which includes portions of West and Southwest Harris County, portions of Ft. Bend, Brazoria, Galveston, and Jefferson Counties. The district currently has no elected Senator but will soon be represented by Chris Bell. Both incumbent SDEC members from the district, Ella Tyler and Arif Gafur were turned out of office with their defeat by CAROL WRIGHT of Harris County and ALAN BLAKELY of Brazoria County.
U.S. Rep. John Culberson's Democratic challenger harvested some political power at the international wind power convention here Monday.Michael Skelly, a wind power executive, is co-chairing the American Wind Energy Association convention, and some attendees also contributed to his campaign at a Monday fundraising event.
Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and retired Gen. Wesley Clark, a former Democratic presidential candidate, were the magnets at the campaign function. They are also featured speakers at the alternative energy convention.
It's pretty much over for Cumbersome at this point. He simply cannot compete with Skelly for media attention, money, or even influence. An incumbent Republican Congressman, tied still to Tom DeLay and the failures of the Bush administration, who cannot raise money and can't get any free media without ridicule.
Cornyn is now fifth in the Senate Republican leadership, right behind his fellow Texan, Kay Bailey Hutchison, and the article says it has been assumed he would try to follow her into the No. 4 job once she starts running for governor, which she is expected to do sometime next year.As Cornyn demonstrated late last year when another leadership job came open, Cornyn is not looking to challenge Hutchison or try to move ahead of her.
Here’s an interesting quote in the story from an anonymous Republican: “John is very interested in advancing in leadership, and he feels trapped by (Hutchison) right now. He can’t leapfrog over her. As long as she’s there, it’s an uncomfortable position for him.”
Everybody: take off your hat and say "Aww."
Let's remind Roll Call that Box Turtle John has a strong opponent. Let's fill Col. Noriega's boots while he's away serving his country for the next two weeks.
McClellan pointed to the timing of Clarke's book.
"If Dick Clarke had such grave concerns, why wait so long? Why wait until the election?" Instead, McClellan said, Clarke "conveniently" released a book in the middle of the campaign season.
Former US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill has provided the grist for an unflattering tell-all book about the Bush White House called "The Price of Loyalty". ... Mr O'Neill said President Bush was disengaged, "a blind man in a room full of deaf people," and said the administration was hatching plans to invade Iraq from the day Mr Bush entered office.
"We appreciate his service, but we are not in the business of doing book reviews," he told reporters. "It appears that the world according to Mr. O'Neill is more about trying to justify his own opinion than looking at the reality of the results we are achieving on behalf of the American people. The president will continue to be forward-looking, focusing on building upon the results we are achieving to strengthen the economy and making the world a safer and better place."
"Give me something bizarre to play, or put me in a dress and I'm fine," Korman jokingly said in a 2005 Chicago Sun-Times interview.
Korman and Conway developed an uncanny rapport that made them arguably one of television's most lethal comic teams; Conway's on-camera ad-libs often made Korman crack up; producers wisely kept them in the show.
For about eight years, until late last December, the pair toured the country in a stage show that, more than anything, was a homage to their years with Burnett. They performed about 120 shows a year.
"I don't know whether either one of us was the straight man," Conway said. "The most important thing in comedy when you're working together is for one guy to know when to shut up. And we both knew when to shut up; quiet show, actually."
One of their favorite routines from the Burnett show was the dentist sketch, "where I kind of anesthetize my entire body with Novocain" while trying to fill Korman's teeth, Conway told The Times on Thursday.
"They play it at all the dental schools, as kind of an introduction on how not to do it," Conway said.
The Texas Progressive Alliance
Proudly Presents
The Third Biennial Blogger’s Caucus
Thursday, June 5, 2008
8:30 p.m. - Midnight
The Cedar Door
2nd and Brazos
Austin, Texas
Come and have a drink with the best and brightest from the Texas Blogosphere.
Me, too.
Update: And you can meet really important people, such as SD-11 Texas Senate candidate Mighty Joe Jaworski. Many more to be announced in the coming days.
Sydney Pollack, a Hollywood mainstay as director, producer and sometime actor whose star-laden movies like “The Way We Were,” “Tootsie” and “Out of Africa” were among the most successful of the 1970s and ’80s, died Monday at home here. He was 73.
The young Marine came back from the war, with his toughest fight ahead of him.
Sgt. Merlin German waged that battle in the quiet of a Texas hospital, far from the dusty road in Iraq where a bomb exploded, leaving him with burns over 97 percent of his body.
No one expected him to survive.
But for more than three years, he would not surrender. He endured more than 100 surgeries and procedures. He learned to live with pain, to stare at a stranger's face in the mirror. He learned to smile again, to joke, to make others laugh.
He became known as the "Miracle Man."
But just when it seemed he would defy impossible odds, German lost his last battle this spring — an unexpected final chapter in a story many imagined would have a happy ending. ...
Merlin German died after routine surgery to add skin to his lower lip.
He was already planning his next operations — on his wrists and elbows. But Renz also says with all the stress German's body had been subjected to in recent years, "it was probably an unfair expectation that you can keep doing this over and over again and not have any problems."
The cause of his death has not yet been determined.
"I may no more understand why he left us when he did than why he survived when he did," Renz says. "I don't think I was meant to know."
As people learned of his death last month, they flocked to his hospital room to pay their last respects: Doctors, nurses, therapists and others, many arriving from home, kept coming as Friday night faded into Saturday morning.
German was just 22.
No doubt you've already seen this recently unearthed clip of Bill O'Reilly experiencing, um,temperamentaltechnical difficulties on the set of Inside Edition during his pre-FOX days. The O'Reilly Factor really hasn't changed him that much - he's still the same unhinged, unstable, belligerent blowhard.O'Reilly has tried to laugh this off, but there's plenty more fun to be had. Stephen Colbert released a clip of one of his own past freakouts, and Keith Olbermann invited an O'Reilly-type body language expert to talk about O'Reilly's dictatorial body language. Some terrific remixes of O'Reilly's meltdown have started surfacing, like this hilarious one from Barely Political; there's even been a dance remix.
So we at FOX ATTACKS! thought we'd invite all of you to submit your own O'Reilly Tantrum remixes! As you can see from the clips above, there are a lot of directions you could take this, so go for whatever you think is the funniest, most entertaining and adheres with the Fair Use doctrine. You can find a downloadable Quicktime version of the original clip here - the rest is up to you!
When you have finished your video, post it on YouTube and paste the URL into the comments section of our blog. Once we have enough videos, we'll put them on a page where everyone can view them and vote on them. There will be prizes for winners in multiple categories.
Can't wait to see what you guys come up with!
"Thank you for welcoming me here tonight."
I know that we are all proud of Barack Obama, who has risen from humble beginnings to such heights -- great heights, perilous heights. As you may know, 30% of serious accidents occur from a height of 10 feet or above.
And so we now set out together on our journey -- a journey of hope, a journey of change, and yes, a journey of great demands. For the presidency places great demands on all of us -- err, those who hold the office -- we have seen how quickly it can age people, as in the poignant photographs of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was succeeded by Harry S. Truman while still in office.
In this journey, we have put forward our shared goals -- of expanded health coverage, against the unexpected and often fatal illnesses that can rob even those citizens that seem the healthiest of their ability to work, even of their lives. Of protection against unexpected attack on our country, often aimed at those who are placed in the most critical positions to lead this nation. Of conservation of our precious energy resources, without which, even the most powerful of us can wind up stranded in a desert motorcade, without food, water, or wireless reception to contact others for help. Of greater support for culture and the arts -- beginning with increased support for our very own Ford's Theatre here in Washington, DC.
Many of you will hear Barack speak later today, from a platform in Norman, Oklahoma -- a humble platform, a rickety platform, a platform susceptible to Norman's notoriously strong and unexpected winds. There -- God willing -- he will tell you of what we hope to accomplish. He will speak of the unity that he and I wish to achieve for this nation, just as Andrew Johnson and Lincoln strove for such national unity. And he will tell you of our wish for change.
Change. An important word. None of us can know the changes that will occur in our lives. None of us can predict what momentous events, what disasters may befall us. A simple damaged left engine turbine stabilizer in a campaign plane. A frayed electrical line dangling, unseen, from a remote access satellite hookup van. A safe, falling unexpectedly to the sidewalk from the 8th floor of the Hotel Aldion in Norman, Oklahoma.
And so we must dedicate ourselves, we must consecrate ourselves, to reach these most important national objectives today -- while we still can. And like Kennedy, Garfield, McKinley, and other Presidents before him, we know that Barack Obama will strive to achieve these goals -- in the face of the awesome unknowns that lie before us all.
Thank you."
