tagged w/ Presidential Debate
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This is another excerpt clip from the rally and protests at Hofstra University in Long Island during the 3rd Presidential debates on October 15, 2008. Theresa Guttierez, who is involved with the New York May 1st Coalition, discusses her experience organizing for immigrant rights, and the need for more action.This is another excerpt clip from the rally and protests at Hofstra University in Long... more
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Palin porn, VH1's new show, Paul Krugman nude, and the final debate in 30 seconds.
infoMania is a half-hour satirical news show that airs on Current TV. The show puts a comedic spin on the 24-hour chaos and information overload brought about by the constant bombardment of the media. Hosted by Conor Knighton and co-starring Brett Erlich, Sarah Haskins, Ben Hoffman, and Sergio Cilli, the show airs on Thursdays at 10 pm Eastern and Pacific Times and can be found online at current.com/infomania. And make sure to check out our facebook profile for special features at infomaniafacebook.com.
Palin porn, VH1's new show, Paul Krugman nude, and the final debate in 30 seconds.... more
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One of the best moments has to be when Dave asks McCain about Sarah Palin's competence to be president in a "9/11-type" crisis. He is very clearly uncomfortable. Hilarious.One of the best moments has to be when Dave asks McCain about Sarah Palin's competence... more
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Forrest Hylton: Neither McCain nor Obama really know what 's happening in South America.
In the third and last presidential debate Senator John McCain defended a free trade agreement between Colombia and the US as a "no brainer" and once again derided Senator Obama for never having travelled south of the border. Obama, to McCain's amazement, actually showed he knew one or two things about the situation on the ground. But journalist and author Forrest Hylton, an expert on Colombia and Bolivia, argues neither candidate is really aware of crucial political, economic and social processes developing in South America for a few years now, and he is pessimistic on the US under a new presidency making up for lost time.
Forrest Hylton is the the author of Evil Hour in Colombia (Verso, 2006), and with Sinclair Thomson, co-author of Revolutionary Horizons: Past and Present in Bolivian Politics (Verso, 2007). He is a regular contributor to New Left Review and NACLA Report on the Americas.
Forrest Hylton: Neither McCain nor Obama really know what 's happening in South... more
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People's regard for the Republican presidential nominee has deteriorated across-the-board since September, an Associated Press-Yahoo! News poll showed Friday, with McCain losing ground in how favorably he's seen and in a long list of personal qualities voters seek in White House contenders.
Perceptions of Obama have improved or remained steady. Beyond views of the two rivals' character traits, McCain faces another problem — Obama is more trusted on the economy, the contest's commanding issue, including a 15-percentage-point edge for better grasping how the raging financial crisis is affecting people.
Obama's image has been sturdy even as voters' views of the overall campaign have tumbled downhill since September. The portion of people saying the contest excites them has sunk to 32 percent while those calling it frustrating have grown to 41 percent — and in both cases, six in 10 of those whose feelings have worsened are McCain backers.
People's regard for the Republican presidential nominee has deteriorated... more
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John McCain just hung his entire presidential debate on an Ohio plumber his campaign never even vetted.
And while we're on the subject, how does a guy who made $40,000 last year, and has a tax lien and no plumber's license buy a company worth $250,000?
Sounds like the same old lies we've come to expect from McCain-Palin. And it only took the mainstream media a few hours to figure it out.John McCain just hung his entire presidential debate on an Ohio plumber his campaign... more
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Now, tell me again how a guy who made $40K last year, and has a tax lien, AND, has no plumber's license, is going to buy a company worth $250K?
Sounds like more republican B.S. to me. And it didn't take long for the mainstream media to dig it out.Now, tell me again how a guy who made $40K last year, and has a tax lien, AND, has no... more
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“Joe the plumber,” the new face of middle-class America after Sen. John McCain made him famous in Wednesday night’s presidential debate, isn’t technically a plumber, and he probably wouldn’t be adversely affected by Sen. Barack Obama’s tax plan. But the issues he raises are important and worth examining for their impact on small businesses.
Joe the plumber — Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, 34, of suburban Toledo, Ohio — is the first to say that he’s not the story and that no one should listen to him when it comes to tax policy.
“I just hope I’m not making too much of a fool of myself and can get some type of message out there as far as, you know, really watch actions and learn for yourself,” Wurzelbacher said Thursday outside his home. “Don’t take other people’s opinions.”
Wurzelbacher first came to attention over the weekend, when he engaged Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, in a six-minute discussion of tax policy at a rally in Holland, Ohio. He told Obama that he was a plumber and was hoping to buy his boss’s business, which he said made $250,000 to $280,000 a year. He was concerned, he said, that Obama’s economic proposals would mean he’d be kicked into a higher tax bracket.
Wednesday night, McCain adopted Wurzelbacher as the representative of struggling middle-class Americans, addressing many of his comments directly to “Joe the plumber,” whom he misidentified as “Joe Wurzelburger.”
“The real winner last night was Joe the plumber. Joe’s the man,” McCain said Thursday at a campaign rally in Downington, Pa. “He won, and small businesses won across America. They won because Americans are not going to let Senator Obama raise taxes in a tough economy.”
Legally speaking, Wurzelbacher isn’t a plumber, because he isn’t licensed by Toledo, Lucas County or the state of Ohio. A representative of the Toledo Building Inspection Division said a plumber must be registered with the state and only then can apply for a city plumbing contractor’s license.
Wurzelbacher said he worked under the license held by his boss, Al Newell of Newell Plumbing and Heating Co. of Toledo. Newell is a licensed plumbing contractor in Toledo, records show. But anyone working under Newell should have a journeyman’s plumbing license or an apprenticeship license, officials said.
Building Inspection officials said Newell was responsible for making sure that anyone working under him was licensed. The Toledo Plumbing Board of Control may consider sanctions against Wurzelbacher or Newell, officials told NBC affiliate WNWO of Toledo.
“There’s a lot I’ve got to learn” about the plumbing business, Wurzelbacher said Thursday.
Wurzelbacher also acknowledged that he had no specific plans for buying Newell’s business, saying he and Newell had simply talked about the idea from time to time. He might have difficulty making the purchase: Court records from his divorce show that Wurzelbacher made $40,000 in 2006.
Even if he did buy Newell Plumbing and Heating, Obama’s tax plan wouldn’t affect him. While Wurzelbacher told Obama that he would be taxed at a higher rate because the company grossed more than $250,000 a year, Ohio business records show the company’s estimated total annual revenue as only $100,000. Actual taxable income would be even less than that.
In any event, Obama’s tax plan specifies that the higher rate would apply only to income above the $250,000 threshold. Assuming Wurzelbacher’s income as owner somehow hit $280,000 — the top end of his supposition of the company’s revenue — only the extra $30,000 would be taxed at a higher rate. “Joe the plumber,” the new face of middle-class America after Sen. John McCain... more
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It seems picking the embarrassment known as Sarah Palin for his running mate and throwing his party under the bus in the process, just wasn't enough for John McCain to establish himself as the single biggest idiot in politics today.
Here he is doing his best imitation of an elderly man who's off his meds, in his last presidential debate.
Seems to fit right in with the folks who attend his rallies doesn't it? Only there's no beer can, or a car up on cinderblocks in the backyard, or a rifle to shoot at "revenuers."
What an idiot.It seems picking the embarrassment known as Sarah Palin for his running mate and... more
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... as anti-war protesters scuffle with police during final TV debate
An agitated and angry John McCain threw everything he had at Barack Obama in their final presidential debate early today – but he still failed to land a knock-out blow on the unruffled Democrat frontrunner.
Desperate to give his flagging campaign a lift, the Republican nominee mixed a flurry of personal and policy attacks on his unflappable and sometimes bemused rival.
With an edgy mix of impatient eye-rolling and sidelong glares bordering on contempt, Mr McCain, 72, treated the 47-year-old Illinois senator like a naughty schoolboy, peppering him with jibes over the economy, abortion rights, healthcare and taxes.
As the televised joust got underway, anti-war protesters scuffled with police outside the debate venue.
Several protesters were arrested and others were injured by police on horseback.
McCain went toe-to-toe with Mr Obama over his links to ‘old, washed up terrorist’ William Ayers, a subject that was taboo in their two previous debates.
But Mr Obama, who today was shown to be ahead by 49 to 44 per cent in a new Reuters poll, refused to rise to his opponents’ taunts.
Pundits were mixed in their reaction to the most heated head-to-head confrontation yet at Long Island’s Hofstra University in New York, with Republican analysts praising Mr McCain’s punchy performance as a possible springboard for a comeback.
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Click on the link for the full article.... as anti-war protesters scuffle with police during final TV debate
An agitated... more
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For independent voters, Barack Obama won all three debates with John McCain.
Senator John McCain needed a game changer in the last presidential debate with Senator Barack Obama. Independent voters say it didn't happen - and once again awarded the debate to Obama. Although McCain came out swinging, Obama's strategy stayed the same: cooly and calmly explain each of his plans. Pepe Escobar argues this was pure theater; in the real world, the financial crisis rages, and none of the candidates really bothered to address in depth the seriousness of it all.
Pepe Escobar, born in Brazil is the roving correspondent for Asia Times and an analyst for The Real News Network. He's been a foreign correspondent since 1985, based in London, Milan, Los Angeles, Paris, Singapore, and Bangkok. Since the late 1990s, he has specialized in covering the arc from the Middle East to Central Asia, including the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He has made frequent visits to Iran and is the author of Globalistan and also Red Zone Blues: A Snapshot of Baghdad During the Surge both published by Nimble Books in 2007.
For independent voters, Barack Obama won all three debates with John McCain.... more
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All eyes and ears are on the debate, but what about people hit hard by US crises at home and abroad?
Today a horde of journalists descends on Hempstead, NY, to cover the third and final presidential debate. But ANP left the pack to hear from people outside of the media spotlight, people hit hard by our nation's crises at home and abroad.
All eyes and ears are on the debate, but what about people hit hard by US crises at... more
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Debates should not be confused with trips to Lourdes: Few miracles are dispensed.
John McCain needed a miracle in his final debate with Barack Obama on Wednesday night, a miracle that would wipe away McCain’s deficit in the polls and re-energize his flagging campaign.
He did not get one. The clouds did not part. Heavenly choirs were not heard. Instead, the American public heard angry attacks from McCain.
Sometimes McCain attacked directly, and sometimes he attacked sarcastically, but he never stopped attacking. And he never rattled Obama. Obama answered every attack and kept his cool.
How cool? Obama was so cool that after 90 minutes under blazing TV lights, an ice cube wouldn’t have melted on his forehead.
McCain attacked him on everything from wanting to raise the taxes of Joe the Plumber - - now the most famous plumber in America and at serious risk of becoming so wealthy his taxes will go up no matter who wins - - to not traveling enough.
“I admire so much Sen. Obama’s eloquence,” McCain sneered. “Sen. Obama, who has never traveled south of our border.” (This from a man whose running mate got her first passport last year.)
But McCain didn’t just attack, he also defended, including defending those people who attend his rallies and the rallies of Sarah Palin who have shouted nasty and threatening things when Obama’s name is mentioned.
“Let me say categorically that I am proud of the people who come to my rallies,” McCain said. “I am not going to stand for anybody saying that the people who come to our rallies are anything other than patriotic citizens.”
Obama responded to all this — what else? — coolly.
“I don’t mind being attacked for the next three weeks,” Obama said. “What the American people can’t afford is four more years of failed economic policies.”
He never got off his game plan. He never got shook up.
The biggest impact of the three presidential debates for Obama was not anything said or not said. It was impressionistic: Obama simply did not appear to be the scary “other” that McCain needs him to be. “When people suggest that I pal around with terrorists, then we are not talking about issues,” Obama said smoothly.
For McCain, the biggest impact of the debates was visual: In the first debate he refused to look at Obama, in the second debate McCain appeared to careen around the stage and in this last debate McCain would scribble furiously with his Sharpie as Obama was talking or else smirk in response to what Obama was saying.
(more at the link)Debates should not be confused with trips to Lourdes: Few miracles are dispensed.... more
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The United Association became the first International Union to endorse Senator Barack Obama as its candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. This endorsement was discussed with the General Executive Board and they concurred.
Barack Obama is the choice of the UA because he has always fought for working people throughout his career and will do the best job of bringing badly-needed change to Washington. Obama will help us keep existing jobs and work to develop new, higher paying jobs here in America, reform our health care system, fix our ailing schools and make sure that the pensions of our retirees are safe.
I have had a long-standing, working relationship with Barack. The UA was one of the first unions in Illinois to endorse him as a candidate for the U.S. Senate. Barack Obama has personally reached out to the UA to request our support for his presidential candidacy, and he has solicited our views on the issues that are important to our union and its members. No other candidate, of either party, has requested our support or solicited our views!
One of the keys to our endorsement was that Senator Obama backs a strong energy and industrial construction policy, which is very important to the future of our union. He is in favor of nuclear power, the construction of new refineries, fossil fuel power plants and chemical plants. He has also endorsed innovative energy initiatives, including ethanol plants, coal gasification and biodiesel production. He also clearly recognizes the need to upgrade all of our current industrial plants to comply with clean air and water standards. Barack realizes we have to become less reliant on foreign oil and gas and develop an energy program that we self-sustain here in the United States.
To meet the challenges of clean water, he recognizes the need to replace and/or upgrade our water treatment and wastewater systems. His support of our position on all of these issues more than justifies our endorsement. We need to support Barack Obama because he provides more than lip service to our concerns.
We remain a bi-partisan organization. However, our best hope for clear direction and responsible change in our national government calls for our support of Barack Obama. The economic indicators show a weakening national economy and we need someone to both invigorate our economy and provide hope for our country.
Fraternally yours,
William P. Hite
General PresidentThe United Association became the first International Union to endorse Senator Barack... more
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What about jobs? Is Wall Street a metaphor for capitalism? Who will fight for the poor and working class? And McCain's own "connection" to Bill Ayers. Victor Navasky, Jill Nelson, and Mark Green on what they would ask the candidates.What about jobs? Is Wall Street a metaphor for capitalism? Who will fight for the poor... more
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GRITtv
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1 year ago
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Falling behind in the polls, Republican candidate John McCain hopes to shake up the presidential race in his final debate with Democrat Barack Obama, who will be looking to close the deal with voters unhappy with the country's direction.Falling behind in the polls, Republican candidate John McCain hopes to shake up the... more
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Bill Fletcher: We need public investment in infrastructure and a basic change in the way we live. Part 2
Immediately following the second Presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain, Senior Editor Paul Jay spoke with Bill Fletcher, Jr.. In part two of that interview, Bill discusses the sort of response he would hope to see from a new President to address the roots of the crisis.
Bill Fletcher, Jr. is a columnist, activist, author and labor organizer. He is the Executive Editor of The Black Commentator and his newest book, co-written with Fernando Gapasin, is entitled "Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path Toward Social Justice". He is the a cofounder of the Center for Labor Renewal, has served as President of TransAfrica Forum and was formerly the Education Director and later Assistant to the President of the AFL-CIO.
See Part 1 at: http://current.com/items/89386881_contempt_from_mccain_as_obama_pulls_ahead
Bill Fletcher: We need public investment in infrastructure and a basic change in the... more
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John McCain, debating himself on George W. Bush
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