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Bill Clinton just sent Obama supporters and email saying that he has joined President Obama as first prize in the latest campaign fundraising raffle.

Hillary Clinton can’t be bothered by chatter about her physical appearance, the secretary of state told CNN’s Jill Dougherty in an interview on Tuesday. Asked about a photo of her wearing very little make-up that was tauntingly posted on yesterday’s Drudge Report, Clinton replied, “I feel so relieved to be at the stage I'm at in my life right now, Jill, because if I want to wear my glasses, I'm wearing my glasses.”

25-year-old Ann Arbor man is challenging U.S. Rep. John Dingell for his seat, claiming the long-time congressman isn't progressive enough.Daniel Marcin, who is pursuing a doctorate in economics at the University of Michigan, filed nearly 1,800 petition signatures with the state on Monday to appear on the ballot.Running as a Democrat, he'll face Dingell, D-Dearborn, in the Aug. 7 primary, competing in Southeast Michigan's newly drawn 12th District."I'm definitely to that guy's left," Marcin said of Dingell, attacking the 85-year-old congressman's record on environmental issues, same-sex marriage and tax policy."John Dingell acts like he's Mr. Senior Congressman," Marcin said. "If...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday she wanted to see a female US president during her lifetime -- but insisted she was ready to "get off the high wire" of top-level politics. "I hope so. I really want to see that in my lifetime," Clinton said during a town hall meeting at a girls school in India's Kolkata, when asked about the prospects of a woman taking America's top job for the first time. Clinton praised India's "great display of women empowerment" due to the prominent role played by female politicians over the years but said that in the...

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James Carville chose these colorful words to describe Rick Santorum after Mitt Romney swept three Republican primaries Tuesday: “He was like a chicken with his head chopped off. The chicken is dead. The only person that don’t know it is the chicken.” The Democratic strategist, not known to mince his words, said in a late-night interview with CNN that Santorum “can flop around all he wants to [but] they’re not going to nominate him.”

Dear friend, Right now Virginia Republicans want make our Commonwealth a place where a woman who makes the agonizing and deeply personal decision to terminate a pregnancy must endure an invasive transvaginal ultrasound whether her doctor thinks she needs it or not. Republicans want to make Virginia a place where cracking down on imaginary "voter fraud" is sufficient justification for making seniors, African Americans and any of the thousands of people without government-issued identification jump through burdensome hoops just to exercise their right to vote. Republicans want Virginia to be a place where women don't know if they will continue...

President Barack Obama painted the state of the union as strong and safe in his third address to the nation, but glossed over solutions to some of the nation's biggest problems. The President, running for reelection, touched base on all major issues including the economy, energy, regulation, immigration and education. He exuded confidence and laid out many points he is expected to hit on the campaign trail. Although Obama has failed in the past at every attempt to work with the Republicans in the Congress, he still attempted to reach out to the opposition. Most Republicans and Democrats could agree...

The U.S. is pulling its troops out of Iraq by the end of the year. Well, not quite.There will still be a large group of soldiers left behind to train Iraqis and to repair the war-damaged sites. Now, will someone from the White House hierarchy, past or present, please tell the American people why we invaded Iraq in March 2003? The truth and nothing but the truth - that will be the day. Why are we still speculating on the reasons we went to war in the first place, other than to hunt down and kill Saddam Hussein, the brutal...

Newt today said that if Pelosi wants to disclose information about himself from when she was on the ethics committee, that the House should immediately file charges against her as that is a violation of the rules of the House: First of all I’d like to thank Speaker Pelosi for what I regard as an early Christmas gift. If she’s suggesting she’s gonna use material she developed while she was on the ethics committee, that is a fundamental violation of the rules of the House and I would hope members would immediately file charges against her the second she does...

U.S. leaders haven't spoken of disarmament lately. Why not? Iran is on the verge of creating a nuclear weapon. This is bad news for the U.S. and Israel, who have warned Tehran against holding nuclear power. The U.S. needs to step in and mollify at the crucial moment. Israel has been able to sabotage any Iranian progress in developing nuclear prowess, but no one has produced a key to a more peaceful route to reconciliation. So where are the peacemakers? Israel wants the U.S. to step in or even lead the way to block Iran's new nuclear ambitions. Iran, which...

President Obama needs to fire a lot of people. That’s the conclusion of longtime Democratic strategist and TV pundit James Carville, who unloaded on Obama Thursday for failing to change his White House team despite months of lagging poll numbers and stagnant economic indicators. “For God's sake,” Carville wrote on CNN’s web site , “why are we still looking at the same political and economic advisers that got us into this mess? It's not working.”

Liberal firebrand Michael Moore called on President Obama to respond to the U.S. credit downgrade by arresting the leaders of the credit-ratings agencies. On his Twitter feed Monday, the Oscar-winning film director also blamed the 2008 economic collapse on Standard & Poor’s — apparently because it and other credit-ratings agencies did not downgrade mortgage-based bonds, which encouraged the housing bubble and let it spread throughout the economy. “Pres Obama, show some guts & arrest the CEO of Standard & Poors. These criminals brought down the economy in 2008& now they will do it again,” Mr. Moore wrote.

President Barack Obama is finally setting goals to pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan. It's about time. Americans are coming around to the futility of all that killing and dying. The timetables are admittedly loose and flexible. Some interests would keep us in the hostile sites forever. We still have troops in Japan and Germany - thousands of soldiers are still there, so many years after World War II ended. We also have 700 military outposts around the world, some big and some small. Why? We have yet to hear the real reason we invaded Iraq. I have heard several...

Friends, We are 4 days aways from our first-ever Virginia Summit! We're only able to do an event this large and exciting because of the strong and enthusiastic support of my ad hoc Summit team, Organizing for America and the Virginia Commonwealth University Young Democrats. If you haven't registered please do so today! Registration is only $25, and you can reserve your spot online right now by clicking here: https://www.vademocrats.org/contribute/summit. I am also very excited to announce our Saturday evening culminating event, The Virginia Summit Celebration! This is a fundraising event and tickets are $35. Richmond's Mayor, Dwight Jones, is...

Helen Thomas is troubled by the lack of leadership from the top in Washington. At an appearance at Busboys and Poets bookstore on Sunday, Thomas was asked her opinion on the state of the country. "I went through the Great Depression, World War II, Vietnam, Korea, Vietnam and now Iraq and Afghanistan. What the hell is going on? Don’t we ever learn anything? I think that we are — there is no inspiration from the top. President Obama doesn’t have enough courage to do the right thing. And I think there is no real leadership in this country and there...

President Barack Obama took a giant and courageous step when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to call. He literally told the Israeli leader where to jump. Actually, he told Netanyahu that the 1967 borders should be the starting point for peace negotiations with Palestinian leaders. As expected, the Israeli leader rejected the proposal outright. Why? Because of the "facts on the ground" - facts incidentally created by the Israelis, who have illegally usurped land and water from the Palestinians, by sheer military aggression. Israel now has 78 percent of Palestinian land, taken in violation of the international law that...

The Republicans have tough solutions to meet the nation's financial crisis. The GOP leaders at first targeted their favorite nemesis - Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and Social Security. But then reality set in, and they retreated from major hopes of serving those programs at the altar of fiscal reform. Then, too, they may have been influenced by the national election in 2012. There is also the obvious input of the Tea Partiers who became incensed when the GOP appeared to be backing away from slashing social programs that help the poor and sick. Social Security, dating back to 1935, a...

Osama bin Laden wasn't killed by a Navy SEAL team, he was straight up executed, Michael Moore told TheWrap on Wednesday. The "Fahrenheit 9/11" director has been setting Twitter aflame Wednesday afternoon urging the Obama administration to come clean about the circumstances surrounding the terrorist leader's death -- particularly in light of the White House's shifting account of last weekend's firefight in Abbottabad. The Oscar-winning director has been tweeting about his belief that Bin Laden should have received a trial, and his theory that Pakistan was keeping the Al Qaeda head under house arrest.

Congress tied the Obama administration's hands in trying the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and his accomplices, Attorney General Eric Holder said Monday, announcing that he was left without a choice and has referred the cases to the Defense Department for trial. In stark language, Holder lambasted Congress for imposing restrictions blocking any detainees from being tried in the U.S., saying that the "unwise and unwarranted restrictions" undermine the U.S. in counter-intelligence and counter-terror efforts. Expressing his disappointment in no uncertain terms, the attorney general said that as a native New Yorker, he knows as well...

So unfolds the latest chapter in Alec Baldwin’s ongoing flirtation with public office: The “30 Rock” actor told CNN’s Eliot Spitzer that he’s “very interested” in a political run. Of course, Baldwin knows there are plenty of obstacles in his way: He loves acting and his current state of New York is flooded with established political players. “It’s something that I’m very, very interested in,” said Baldwin in an interview set to air Wednesday night. He said what he wants to see from elected leaders is “people who have not lost sight about what the middle class in this country...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Kennedys have held congressional seats, the presidency and the public's imagination for more than 60 years. That era ends when Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island vacates his U.S. House seat next month, leaving a City Council post in California as Camelot's sole remaining political holding.

Just in case one tended to think that Helen Thomas’ anti-Semitic rant last June was just a momentary lapse or comment taken out of context, her latest public appearance puts the case for her bigotry beyond doubt. The Detroit Free Press reports on Thomas’ remarks at a workshop that focused, ironically, on anti-Arab bias. She told the group that “Zionists” control US foreign policy and “other institutions,” and that they own Hollywood, Wall Street, Congress, and the White House

November 15, 2010 - The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee Research Institute (ADCRI) is delighted to announce that world-renowned Composer and Pianist, Mr. Malek Jandali, will be making a special appearance at the Thursday, November 18, 2010, Gala in honor of Helen Thomas. Mr. Jandali will perform a piano composition exclusively dedicated to Ms. Thomas. Yesterday, at the Kennedy Center, Mr. Jandali premiered his musical project Echoes from Ugarit. The beautiful composition was based on the oldest music notation in the world (discovered in Ugarit, Syria). The Gala evening will also feature testimonial remarks by friends and admirers of Ms. Thomas, and...

Six months after her legendary journalism career ended when she said that the Jews should leave Israel and "go home" -- comments she later apologized for -- Helen Thomas will give the keynote address at a workshop hosted by Arab Detroit. The event is called "Images and Perceptions of Arab Americans: The New America: Mom, Apple Pie, and Arab Bashing."

Per copyright restrictions and FR posting guidelines, can't display the article. So, here's a link: http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2010/12/graydon-201012

Which party do you feel will do a better job handling the nation's main problems over the next few years? Democrats Republicans Neither

Colorado’s Independence Institute may have uncovered a big scandal: “Independence Investigates” has obtained internal emails from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) showing that a software control intended to prevent the payment of unemployment insurance to unqualified citizens as well as to illegal aliens was shut off in early 2009. The emails dictate that former CDLE unemployment insurance director Mike Cullen demanded “Work Order 51662” be given top priority within the department. Completion of the work order would mean various questions asked of someone filing for unemployment regarding citizenship would effectively be ignored by a computer system. What’s...

Arab American National Museum in Michigan launches campaign to raise money for statue of veteran White House correspondent who ended career by saying Jews should 'get the hell out of Palestine' WASHINGTON - Ahead of her 90th birthday, veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas, who resigned following her offensive remarks against Israel, may be getting a statue in her honor at the Arab American National Museum in Michigan. Supporters of the initiative in Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit and the town with the second largest Arab community in the United States, are trying to raise money to have the copper...

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama acknowledges that the fall elections could amount to a referendum on his stewardship of the nation's affairs. [SNIP] But he also says the midterm congressional elections could come down to "a choice between the policies that got us into this mess and my policies that got us out of this mess."

THE shocking images of oil-covered wildlife and ruined beaches across the Gulf of Mexico have horrified millions. But passionate green campaigner Sir Paul McCartney believes the environmental disaster may have a silver lining, with the search for clean, renewable energy now being pushed forward. The Beatles legend said: "Sadly we need disasters like this to show people. Some people don't believe in climate warming - like those who don't believe there was a Holocaust."

<p>WASHINGTON -- Say it isn’t so, Mr. President. You surely are not going to make a deal with Republicans to cut Social Security benefits, are you?</p> <p>Here’s word from The Nation Magazine: “The President intends to offer Social Security as a sacrificial lamb to entice conservative deficit hawks into a grand bipartisan compromise in which Democrats agree to cut Social Security benefits while Republicans accede to significant tax increases to reduce government red ink.”</p>

WASHINGTON -- At last! President Barack Obama held a full-scale White House news conference Thursday, his first since July 22. His record on presidential news conferences has been abysmal. True, he held a forgettable news conference on Feb. 9, the day the government was shut down because of blizzards. Very clever. He is considered a great communicator. So what’s the deal? He is surely well-primed on the issues and headlines of the day. Speeches and well-placed interviews won’t cut it. He should be quizzed, as he was Thursday by reporters trying to get to the bottom of the Obama administration’s...

WASHINGTON -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai got a close look at the cost of war and American sacrifices last week in a rare travel schedule for a visiting head of state. The administration of President Barack Obama rolled out the red carpet as a peace offering to gloss over the public friction that caused the proud Karzai earlier this year to threaten to join the Taliban -- the enemy. Or is the enemy al-Qaida? Or both? Between meetings with administration officials, the Afghan leader’s orientation visit included a trip to Walter Reed Army Medical Center where wounded U.S. soldiers from...

An Eloquent Defense Of American Democracy Obama Also Notes Harshness Of Public Discourse Helen Thomas, Hearst White House columnist WASHINGTON -- The U.S. is so divided that it seems to me that the nation has lost its compass. Even in times of national crisis, including the Great Depression, World War II, the Vietnam War and a string of scandals such as Watergate, the political center has held together. But now I’m not quite so sure. President Barack Obama has been most conciliatory as he seeks the middle ground on a host of issues, even to the point of caving to...

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama needs to wake up to the fact that the nation’s school systems are going down the drain. Thousands of teachers are facing a payless summer. Millions of school children are looking at a drop in educational standards and bigger classes. We are depriving students of their right to a decent education. Granted that school systems are under state control, the federal government needs to step up and help them overcome their financial woes. Aren’t the schools too important to fail? U.S. priorities are to spend billions every week for the unjustified and unexplained wars in...

WASHINGTON -- Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell met with two dozen top Wall Street executives recently and got his marching orders: Just say “no” to any new regulations designed to prevent another Great Recession, the worst economic calamity since the Great Depression in the 1930s. But something happened soon afterward. Faced with the politically tough strategy of defending Wall Street amid widespread public anger, McConnell stepped back and has begun talking about how a bipartisan bill to regulate Wall Street is likely to emerge from the Senate. I bet he got some strong advice from fellow Republicans, especially those facing...

WASHINGTON -- The forthcoming departure of Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is a great loss to the country, especially to progressives. Stevens, a Republican, was appointed to the high court in 1975 by President Gerald Ford. Over the next 35 years, he grew in office and eventually adopted liberal views about the death penalty, abortion rights, protection of gay rights and curbing executive power. Stevens is brilliant, eloquent, outspoken and unafraid to change his mind, as evidenced by some of his votes on the court. He voted in favor of affirmative action, after first questioning it. He declared that...

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama is learning to be a strong president. Yes, he can. When Obama took office, it wasn’t clear whether he had any firm principles. This perspective grew when he seemed oblivious to the harsh reality that Republicans weren’t going to sign on to his health care plan, no matter what. Obama became the Great Compromiser when he watered down his original concepts in a vain effort to appease his opponents, even though they had zero interest in working with him. The president had a light-bulb moment, at least publicly, earlier this week when he was interviewed...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took a muted victory lap today after the historic House vote on health care reform, but didn't dispute a description of her clout in helping win passage of the bill. Diane Sawyer's exclusive interview with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi."Most powerful woman in American history?" "World News" anchor Diane Sawyer asked Pelosi today, citing an article in The Economist.

WASHINGTON -- Billions are being spent for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but we have stingy budgets for the stubborn needs on the home front. Thousands of teachers have been laid of, schools closed and homes foreclosed all over the country. Banks are holding back on loans to small businesses and the jobless rate remains stubbornly high. Call it a "recession" or a "depression," we know there is great deprivation in the lives of millions, especially those who have lost their jobs. In many ways, President Barack Obama has run up against a Republican iron curtain in his attempts...

WASHINGTON -- Finally! President Barack Obama has at last zeroed in on the greedy health insurance companies and their opposition to health reform. It’s about time. The president also seems to have awakened the public to the fact that congressional Republicans have mounted a solid wall of resistance to serious efforts at improving the American health care system. Obama is now in the final chapter of his year-long effort to win legislation that would make health insurance affordable and accessible to more Americans, 46 million of whom lack coverage. The Republicans have been admirable for their party discipline: They have...

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is finding her voice in the world of foreign affairs -- and it’s the sound of hawk-speak, filled with threats and warnings. She has warned that Iran is becoming a military dictatorship. She is trying -- with some success -- to persuade U.S. allies to support stronger sanctions against Teheran. There’s no sign that the U.S. is about to invade Iran but there’s tons of speculation that the Pentagon has been tasked to figure out what bunker-buster bombs would do to Iran’s underground nuclear industry and whether such an attack would help or...

WASHINGTON -- Enough already. President Barack Obama’s admirable quest for bipartisanship is a voice crying in the wilderness. Oh yes, he has another chance at bat when he hosts a summit meeting Feb. 25 at Blair House, the president’s guest house across the street from the White House. He has invited the leaders of both parties to the televised meeting designed to "jump start" the discussion about health care reform. Obama said he does not want the talks to devolve into political theater. "I want a substantive discussion," he said. The summit follows Obama's televised sparring with House Republicans at...

The only problem with Democrats falling to the ground and playing the victim over people noticing that their policies don't work is that their lame "Bush did it too" excuse holds no water. Bush read Richard Reid his "rights" because he had no other choice...

February 5, 2010 WAIT, I THOUGHT CALLING PEOPLE SOCIALISTS WAS A “SMEAR.� Gallup: Majority of Dems View Socialism Positively.Related: A Stroll Down Extremism’s Memory Lane. In response to a question asking Democratic Party delegates whether they felt George W. Bush was legitimately elected in 2000, fully 91% of respondents said he wasn’t. The poll also noted the response rate of self-identified Dems overall, 78% of whom thought Bush’s 2000 election was illegitimate (question 56). Just for perspective. Posted at by Glenn Reynolds at 7:08 am

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama does have a foreign policy. It’s called war. Unfortunately, the president has not defined any real difference between his hawkish approach to international issues and that of his predecessor, former President George W. Bush. Where’s the change we can believe in? Bush left a legacy of two wars, neither of which was ever fully explained or justified. Obama has merely picked up the sword that Bush left behind in Iraq and Afghanistan. Both wars lack a formal congressional declaration of war. In the struggle against terrorism one might say, "Who cares?" Well, one group that...

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama set a goal to change the way Washington works. That was a far-fetched dream, to say the least, at a time where there is no comity in the country and no move toward political reconciliation. The Washington scene -- reflective of the nation -- is fragmented between nay-saying conservatives who seem against every thing, and liberals and moderates in search of a middle ground. It seems impossible to find that mythical location. The divisions are propelled by anger, dissatisfaction and undoubtedly some fear of the future. Obama is the fall guy for this, raising Republican...

Democrats would not be playing the blame game with one another for the loss or for the healthcare debacle if they had only pointed fingers at those (or in this case, the one) who put Americans (and most of the world) in the predicament we’re in: George W. Bush.

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama is a much wiser man as he starts his second year in office. When he arrived at the White House, Obama inherited an insurmountable legacy of a deep recession and two wars in the Middle East. These are issues hardly adaptable to instant solutions for an impatient public. He was flying high as a presidential candidate offering "change" from the heavy hand of conservatives empowered from the days of Ronald Reagan, who had turned the country to the right. Since those halcyon inaugural days the president surely has learned that there is no such thing...