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Moments after voting to authorize the bill, the Democrat told the floor he had goofed. "I'd like to be recorded as a 'no' vote," he said, according to transcripts, adding that he had mistakenly voted in favor of the legislation. By claiming to have made an error, Obama's "intent" to vote against the measure was noted in the record. But his initial "yes" stood. Obama made six similar "mistakes" during his state Senate years, twice on hotly contested measures.

The "pro-choice" candidate for senator, and later governor, of Massachusetts is now the "pro-life" candidate for president of the United States. His record as governor is controversial, however. Interviewed by Tim Russert on "Meet the Press" last Sunday, Romney claimed that he took a "pro-life" position on "every piece of legislation" that came before him. But that is untrue, at least by his present definition of what constitutes "life." The Facts Romney announced his conversion to "pro-life" views in an editorial in the Boston Globe on July 25, 2005, the day after vetoing a bill expanding access to the so-called...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said in an interview published on Saturday the size of a residual U.S. force left in Iraq after the withdrawal of combat troops would be "entirely conditions-based."

Play of the Day: McCain's Mom on Mormons Nov 9 07:33 PM US/Eastern 103 Comments McCain’s Mother Goes After Romney and Mormons Related Stories Radar: McCain Clarifies Mom's Mormon Slam MEREDITH, N.H. (AP) - John McCain's 95-year-old mother, in a swipe at her son's rival Mitt Romney, said Friday that Mormons were to blame for the scandal that rocked the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. During an appearance on MSNBC, Roberta McCain laid out why her son, John, deserves to win the Republican presidential nomination. But in evaluating McCain's primary rivals, she criticized Romney's Mormon faith and his time in...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican John McCain says he opposed President Bush's tax cuts because they didn't come with spending cuts. That is not what he said at the time. In a presidential debate on Wednesday, McCain said he voted against the Bush tax cuts because he wanted to rein in spending. "I disagreed when we had tax cuts without spending restraint," the Arizona senator said. The explanation fits with his history of railing against wasteful federal spending. But it does not fit with McCain's comments when he opposed the Bush tax cuts in 2001 and 2003. In 2001, McCain said...

Forget Dennis Kucinich’s claims about seeing UFOs. The new unsolved mystery of the campaign trail is the “whisper.” The blogosphere was abuzz Friday morning over an audible whisper that cut through the mix during the GOP presidential debate in Boca Raton, Fla., the night before. It’s unclear who it was, but the voice could be heard after moderator Tim Russert asked Mitt Romney whether, as a fan of Ronald Reagan, he would “do for Social Security what Ronald Reagan did in 1983.” Right before Romney answered, somebody seemed to whisper: “He raised taxes.” And then Romney responded, as if taking...

A photograph of GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney at a 1994 Planned Parenthood fund-raiser has surfaced, once again raising questions about the former Bay State’s governor’s abortion flip-flopping. The picture, a copy of which was obtained by the Herald, shows Romney and his wife Ann at a house party fund-raiser in Scituate with Nicki Nichols Gamble, who was the president of the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts at the time. Romney has already downplayed ties to Planned Parenthood after revelations that Ann Romney donated $150 to the group. Gamble said the pic was snapped at an event at GOP activist...

The landscaper who Mitt Romney fired earlier this week for continuing to employ illegal immigrants says the termination boils down to little more than politics. The GOP presidential candidate cut ties with Ricardo Saenz, of Community Lawn Service in Chelsea, Mass., in anticipation of a Boston Globe article reporting that the company employed undocumented workers a year after the hiring practices were first revealed. Romney said he gave the company a second chance and that "the company's failure to comply with the law is disappointing and inexcusable." But Saenz told FOX25 in Boston that Romney did not demand that the...

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Tuesday in a Nevada television interview that he supports letting states "make their own decision" about whether to keep abortion legal. "My view is that the Supreme Court has made an error in saying at the national level one size fits all for the whole nation," Romney told Nevada political columnist Jon Ralston in a televised interview. "Instead, I would let states make their choices."

After years of claiming to be an excellent swimmer and stories of swimming at his house on Lake Winnipesaukee, a stunning new photo, sent anonymously to FreeRepublic, clearly indicates that this is yet another lie from the Romney machine! Photo: ROMNEY CAN'T SWIM!!!

HOLLYWOOD - Controversial filmmaker Michael Moore has defended his new documentary Sicko from claims foreign distributors aren't interested. The movie, which takes aim at America's healthcare system, has so far failed to attract bids in the U.K. Industry insiders suggest poor box office takings and mixed reviews in the U.S. could be to blame. However, Moore insists he's not worried by Britain's apparent apathy...

COPENHAGEN, Denmark - Demolition crews on Monday started tearing down a disputed youth center that was at the heart of recent street riots in Copenhagen. Workers wore face masks under their helmets to conceal their identities as an excavator tore into the so-called Youth House, a graffiti-sprayed brick building in the Noerrebro district of the Danish capital. A police anti-terror squad on Thursday evicted squatters from the building, triggering three nights of clashes with leftist youth that turned parts of the city into a battle zone. More than 600 people were arrested and more than 20 injured as protesters hurled...

Sales of boxed copies of Windows Vista at retail stores significantly trailed those of Windows XP in each product's first week on shelves, according to new figures from NPD. The market research firm's data showed the number of copies of Vista purchased was nearly 59 percent less than the number for its predecessor XP, looking at the first week of sales. Revenue was also down, but less dramatically, with the dollar value of first-week Vista sales off 32 percent from that seen with XP. Vista went on sale both on retail shelves and on new PCs on January 30. Businesses...

Ballmer delivers sobering message at Microsoft event By John Letzing, MarketWatch Last Update: 6:20 PM ET Feb 15, 2007 SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Steve Ballmer tempered the expectations of analysts at an event Thursday, telling them their predictions for sales of the company's new operating system are too high, while those for its operating expenses may be too low. The New York event was held by Microsoft (MSFT Microsoft Corporation to lend insight into the company's strategy for its fiscal 2008 beginning in July. Without offering a specific differing forecast, Ballmer told assembled analysts their estimates...

The recommendations of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group were broadly welcomed by most Republicans and Democrats in Washington yesterday, but received a far cooler reception in Iraq, Iran, Israel and from the US military.The report, which calls for the withdrawal of all US combat troops from Iraq by early 2008, negotiations with Iran and Syria, and a renewed Middle East peace initiative, was a rare triumph of political compromise in Washington. But for those directly affected by the Iraq war and the wider regional instability — the Iraqis themselves, Israel and the US troops on the ground — the report...

Sheehan's Texas protests die down Nation: Anti-war demonstrations smaller; critics say movement lost fire. By Angela K. Brown, Associated Press Long Beach Press Telegram CRAWFORD, Texas - This one-stoplight town, especially the road leading to President Bush's ranch, turned out to be much quieter than it was last summer. The 700-resident town's streets were clogged last year as more than 10,000 people began streaming in over the 26-day vigil, which started when Cindy Sheehan demanded to talk to Bush about the war that claimed her oldest son's life in 2004. It was a different picture last month when war protesters...

The progressive network Air America tonight scoops up the slings and arrows it aims at President Bush and moves them to its new home a few blocks downtown. Starting tomorrow, Air America will be heard on WWRL (1600 AM), ending a 29-month run at WLIB (1190 AM). -snip- The move to WWRL will reduce Air America's coverage in some parts of the metropolitan area, since WWRL's signal isn't quite as strong as WLIB's and there are areas where it is hard to pick up. Questions continue to circulate about the financial health of the network, which has experienced cash crises...

Desiree Fairooz, of CodePink, a woman-initiated grassroots organization, traveled from Arlington to participate. After reading from a prepared statement, Fairooz lambasted the war, the president and government leaders who she said were in Iraq with the sole intent to steal oil, build an embassy and make the country "America's 52nd state."

    John Kerry's sorriest moment, until now, sounded like this: "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it." But this week he has arguably outdone that equivocation.     "It is essential to acknowledge that the war itself was a mistake," the Massachusetts Democrat told a crowd of cheering leftists Tuesday at the "Take Back America" conference in Washington. "It was wrong, and I was wrong to vote for that Iraqi war resolution." He called on President Bush to withdraw all troops from Iraq by the end of the year. Sen. Hillary Clinton disagreed and was booed. Thus,...

This is my first vanity, so please indulge me. Dixie Chicks tour tickets went on sale today to the public in many market and it's starting to look a disaster, especially in the Red States. There were initial indications that internet pre-sale ticket sales were going badly last week, but this confirms the news. A review of seat availabilities on Ticketmaster indicate first-day and pre-sale ticket sales for the portly traitors are: Detroit-Bad Pittsburgh-Disaster Philadelphia-Bad Boston-Almost Sold Out Wash. DC.-Selling Well Chicago-Selling Well Minneapolis-Bad Fargo-Meltdown Disaster Glendale, AZ-Bad Omaha-Disaster Denver-Disaster Dallas-Disaster Nashville-Meltdown Disaster Tampa-Meltdown Disaster Sunrise, FL-Meltdown Disaster Atlanta-Selling Okay...

The way I see it, Dan Brown should be very happy for Fandango, which allowed millions of theater-goers to see "The Da Vinci Code" before reading the reviews. Normally, movies don't crash, losing 57% of their audience in the second weekend. Especially not when the 2nd weekend is a holiday weekend and the first weekend was not. But normally people who see movies this stupid have already invested in their Jar-Jar Binks Happy Meal Action Figure. Go figure that the Happy Meal featuring a dead, naked museum curator with a pentagram scratched in his back didn't sell to well. (OK,...

Early critics seemed happy to try to break "The Da Vinci Code." Reaction ranged from halfhearted admiration to boredom to derision among journalists at the first press screening of the Ron Howard-Tom Hanks blockbuster in waiting, premiering Wednesday at the Cannes Film Festival and opening worldwide through Friday. "`Da Vinci' never rises to the level of a guilty pleasure. Too much guilt. Not enough pleasure," wrote critic Kirk Honeycutt in the trade paper The Hollywood Reporter.

Jeers, hisses and laughter was not "Canned", and what must have been a real disappointment for Tom Hanks who always looks surprised because of his facelift. The movie "The DaVinci Code", which is based upon a fictional story about how Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and had a child, takes two and a half hours to finish, but only thirty minutes to put a number of the audience to sleep, only to be awakened by laughter, where laughter is not appropriate or planned.According to reports some people walked out during the movie's closing minutes, and when the credits rolled there...

CANNES, France (Reuters) - Journalists gave eagerly awaited film "The Da Vinci Code" a cool reception at its first press screening on Tuesday, a day ahead of the world premiere of the adaptation of Dan Brown's controversial novel. The release of the big-budget Hollywood thriller has already prompted a wave of protests from Christians across the world who believe the theories put forward in the novel are blasphemous. One of the central characters suggests Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalene and they established a dynasty which elements within the Church would stop at nothing to try to cover up. The outcry...

The boycott of U.S. businesses dubbed "A Day Without Gringos," and aimed at supporting migrants in the U.S., appears to have had little impact, the head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico said Tuesday. Monday's protests were timed to coincide with "the Great American Boycott" in the United States, where hundreds of thousands of immigrants stayed away from jobs and schools across the country. "Even though we don't have conclusive numbers, I think there wasn't a lot of negative effect," Chamber President Larry Rubin said by telephone from Washington, where he and other business leaders are lobbying for...

WITH a grin that is instantly recognisable, the candidate strolls past flashing poker machines in a Las Vegas casino, sticks out his hand and introduces himself: “Hi, my name is Jack Carter. My father used to be President.� Even the rows of chain-smoking gamblers, their eyes usually fixed to the whirring symbols before them, turn their jaded faces and look with astonishment at the spitting image of the Georgia peanut farmer who in 1976 came from nowhere to win the White House. Mr Carter, the oldest son of Jimmy Carter, is seeking a US Senate seat for the Democrats in...

'King Kong' Bombing Big Time at Box Office Friday, December 16, 2005 By Roger Friedman What's happened? Peter Jackson's "King Kong" — a three-hour, $300 million extravaganza that wowed advance screening audiences — is a catastrophe in the making. On Thursday, Kong's take was a measly $6,295,755 — off $35.5 from Wednesday's weak $9,755,745 opening day. Kong ranks now as the 21st best Wednesday opening ever — a dubious distinction. Something is certainly wrong. It could be the movie's daunting length, or even a slow middle section that would have benefited from cutting. The leads are all solid actors —...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - From afar, Treasurer Phil Angelides and Controller Steve Westly appeared to get a big boost out of the closing days of the special election. The two declared Democratic candidates for governor were busy last weekend courting the base, getting lots of TV time and vigorously denouncing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's ballot agenda. But a closer look showed much of the spotlight went instead to two other Democrats who also were out on the campaign trail last week - Hollywood stars Warren Beatty and Rob Reiner, neither of whom have said they want to run for governor. Still, some...

San Francisco, California (AHN) - Dell Inc., posted preliminary third-quarter earnings below expectations after weak sales in U.S. and Britain. Dell also says it would take charges of about $450 million in the third quarter for costs of repairing some computer systems for customers, cutting jobs and restructuring units. The company said it expects to report revenue of $13.9 billion, below its earlier forecast of $14.1 billion to $14.5 billion and analysts' $14.3 billion estimate. U.S. consumer and British unit sales "fell short of expectations," Dell says. "They were seeing some weakness in desktop and strength in notebooks, but...

  HEAR MAD hillary talks #3:"What, me worry?"THE THREAT OF TERRORISM IS AS CLOSE AS A CLINTON IS TO THE OVAL OFFICE MAD hillary talks seriesWHY MISSUS CLINTON IS DANGEROUSFOR THE CHILDREN, FOR AMERICA, FOR THE WORLD (viewing movie requires Flash Player 7, available HERE) MAD hillary talks series #1ALFRED E."What, me worry?" CLINTON + CRAZY HIL MAD COVER STORY THE THREAT OF TERRORISM AS CLOSE ASA CLINTON TO OVAL OFFICE MAD hillary talks series #2HILLARY'SMIDDLE-FINGER MINDSET Do you really want THAT fingeron the button? by Mia T, 7.25.05COPYRIGHT MIA T 2005 "The Sudanese wanted America to start dealing with...

US Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, who had hoped to replace George W. Bush as president yesterday, instead sat in the cold and clapped as the Republican began a second four-year term. Iowa Democratic Senator Tom Harkin patted Senator Kerry on the back shortly before the inauguration Senator Kerry had hoped would be his. As Mr Bush delivered his inaugural address, Senator Kerry, about 10m away on the steps of the US Capitol, joined other lawmakers and the crowd in repeated applause. Senator Kerry looked relaxed, at times wistful. He frequently smiled, able to hide any disappointment over what...

Kerry states support for bi-partisanship and hope for success for Condi as Secretary of State BEFORE he actually votes against her. He just can't help himself. He is his own's best devil's advocate. This man just can't help but argue with himself.

"Daredevil" movie franchise starring Jennifer Garner, is that Ben Affleck is mercifully absent this time around. Garner's character was killed near the end of "Daredevil," but she's brought back to life by her blind martial arts trainer, the fortune-cookie-aphorism-dispensing Stick (Terence Stamp), who works no such miracles on this dead-on-arrival movie. Instead, another character named Typhoid (Natassia Malthe), who literally sucks the life out of people, seems to have also worked her powers on Garner, who this time around is entirely lacking the charm and charisma she demonstrated in "Daredevil," much less "13 Going on 30" and "Alias." Now a...

Read down to item linked to USA Today: Peter Johnson reports "Nightline" just notched its lowest number of average viewers ever, from a high in 1993 of 6.2 million to a low last year of 3.7 million. The same is true for Sunday public affairs show "This Week," with a high of 4.9 million in 1993 compared with 2.5 million last year, behind No. 1 NBC's "Meet the Press" (4.3 million) and CBS' "Face the Nation" (3.8 million).

HIS LATEST attempt at ridiculous historical revisionism, “Alexander,” having met defeat at the box office, director Oliver Stone has sought a scapegoat for his failure: Americans. “Americans don’t read about ancient history like the Europeans. And in America there is a raging fundamentalism and morality,” Stone said last week in an attempt to explain his flop. “From day one the Bible Belt people did not show up because there was one phrase throughout the media and that was ‘Alex the gay.’” According to Stone, the “raging fundamentalism and morality” of Americans kept his film from doing well because we didn’t...

Alexander, 15 cert, 173 min Oliver Stone's Alexander limps to these shores as bloodied and bruised as its conquering hero, Alexander the Great, after the battle of Gaugamela in 331BC. Only without the victory. Barbs of gleeful scorn protrude from its back, the names of usually mild-mannered American critics attached. And that groaning you hear on the battlefield is the sound of Warner Bros accountants totting up the box-office takings. We'd heard much about the highlights in Colin Farrell's hair, which are admittedly distracting. And we'd heard that the movie was an outright disaster, which it is: lumpen, pedantic, agonisingly...

As I predicted, the "remake" of the classic "Flight of the Phoenix" is yet another case of the doofuses running Hollywood thinking they can better their betters. "THE FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX" (2004) Production Cost: $ 25 million Marketing Cost: $ 20 million (est.) Total since release: $17,537,973 (three weeks) Viewer drop-off since release: 85% Daily revenue per screen week of 3 January: $ 97 Who but the liberal morons running Hollywood would think that they could replace Jimmy Stewart, Hardy Kreuger, Richard Attenborough, Ernest Borgnine, Peter Finch, and Ronald Fraser with yucking-it-up Dennis Quaid, "rapper" Tyrese Gobson, and Miranda...

Thursday, Jan. 6, 2005 8:40 a.m. EST Oliver Stone Blames His Flop on Christians Castro-loving movie director Oliver Stone refuses to take responsibility for the box-office and critical failure of his ludicrous bomb "Alexander." In fact, he "put the blame on the fundamentalist morality in some parts of the United States," the Associated Press reported today. American audiences' rejection of the terrible movie, whose low point is Angelina Jolie as a Freudian mother from hell vamping with snakes while talking in a Natasha Badenov accent, is a sign of "a raging fundamentalism in morality," Stone complained in London. "I was...

LONDON - Director Oliver Stone said he was surprised by the critical reaction to his historical epic "Alexander" — and put the blame on the fundamentalist morality in some parts of the United States. Critics lambasted the film, which stars Irish actor Colin Farrell, and some conservative groups condemned Stone's depiction of the Macedonian conqueror's sexuality. "I was quite taken aback by the controversy and fierceness of the reviews about a character we don't really know too much about," Stone told reporters in London Wednesday before the film's British premiere. "I operate on my passion and sometimes I'm naive, I...

LONDON — Director Oliver Stone (search) said he was surprised by the critical reaction to his historical epic "Alexander" (search) — and put the blame on the fundamentalist morality in some parts of the United States. Critics lambasted the film, which stars Irish actor Colin Farrell (search), and some conservative groups condemned Stone's depiction of the Macedonian conqueror's sexuality. "I was quite taken aback by the controversy and fierceness of the reviews about a character we don't really know too much about," Stone told reporters in London Wednesday before the film's British premiere. "I operate on my passion and sometimes...

Director Oliver Stone turned on American critics and audiences on Wednesday, saying they had focused solely on the issue of homosexuality in "Alexander," his big-budget epic that portrays the Macedonian hero as bisexual. He also blamed the U.S. invasion of Iraq (news - web sites) for the movie's poor performance at the box office, arguing that people were distracted by comparisons between Alexander the Great's forays into the Middle East and President Bush. "The homosexuality thing was a buzzword and got all around," Stone told Reuters Television in London at the film's British premiere. "It was a hot button issue...

LONDON (AFP) - Oscar-winning writer-director Oliver Stone blamed "raging fundamentalism in morality" for the frosty reception that his new film "Alexander" is getting in his native United States. In London for its British premiere, Stone, 58, said that after a career full of cage-rattling work, he thought a biopic of Alexander the Great, the 4th century Macedonian-born conquerer, would be "a safe subject". But he said he was "quite taken aback by the controversy and fierceness of the reviews" which greeted its US release, including outrage at the film's suggestion that Alexander was bisexual. "Sexuality is a large issue in...

LONDON (AFP) - Oscar-winning writer-director Oliver Stone blamed "raging fundamentalism in morality" for the frosty reception that his new film "Alexander" is getting in his native United States. In London for its British premiere, Stone, 58, said that after a career full of cage-rattling work, he thought a biopic of Alexander the Great, the 4th century Macedonian-born conquerer, would be "a safe subject". But he said he was "quite taken aback by the controversy and fierceness of the reviews" which greeted its US release, including outrage at the film's suggestion that Alexander was bisexual. "Sexuality is a large issue in...

Oscar-winning writer-director Oliver Stone blamed "raging fundamentalism in morality" for the frosty reception that his new film "Alexander" is getting in his native United States

LONDON (AFP) - Oscar-winning writer-director Oliver Stone blamed "raging fundamentalism in morality" for the frosty reception that his new film "Alexander" is getting in his native United States. In London for its British premiere, Stone, 58, said that after a career full of cage-rattling work, he thought a biopic of Alexander the Great, the 4th century Macedonian-born conquerer, would be "a safe subject". But he said he was "quite taken aback by the controversy and fierceness of the reviews" which greeted its US release, including outrage at the film's suggestion that Alexander was bisexual. "Sexuality is a large issue in...

Alexander the Not So GreatBy Hugh Davies (Filed: 31/12/2004) The Hollywood film director Oliver Stone said yesterday that the flop in America of his £83 million production about Alexander the Great was 'dismaying', confessing that more people watched it on the opening weekend in Croatia 'than in the entire' Deep South. Mr Stone said: "I still think it's a beautiful movie, but Alexander deserves better than I gave him. There was clear resistance to his homosexuality. It became the headline to the movie. Oliver Stone talks to lead actor Colin Farrell on set "They called him Alexander the gay. That's...

'Alexander' on Life Support Warner Brothers is about ready to pull the plug on Oliver Stone's "Alexander." The $200 million movie has become a gigantic fiasco, the company's biggest since Kevin Costner's "The Postman" took in only $17 million. "Alexander," which stars Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie and Val Kilmer, has only grossed $33.9 million. The sad fellow took in a little over $41,000 during the holiday weekend on its remaining (and paltry) 232 screens. That translates into $177 per show. Ouch! The remaining exhibitors who have had this dud are now entering their sixth week and will likely dump it....

WASHINGTON (AP) - Reflecting on how he delivered President Bush his second term, White House political adviser Karl Rove admitted Sunday that John Kerry's vote for, then against, funding in Iraq and Afghanistan was the "gift that kept on giving." The deft strategy of Rove, whom Bush calls the architect of his re-election campaign, is credited with helping move the nation from the 49 percent to 49 percent stalemate of the 2000 election to a 51 percent to 48 percent split in the Republicans' favor. "The country is still close, but it has moved in a Republican direction, and this...

Saturday, Oct. 30, 2004 1:46 p.m. EDT Kerry Endorsed Bush's Tora Bora Strategy After Osama bin Laden released his pre-election video yesterday, John Kerry repeated his criticism that President Bush let the terror kingpin get away by "outsourcing" the job to Afghan forces when we had bin Laden cornered in the Tora Bora mountains. But it turns out that in December 2001, when the Tora Bora operation was under way, Kerry endorsed Bush's tactics during an interview with CNN's Larry King. Kerry said the Bush plan to get bin Laden "is having its impact, and it is the best way...