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WASHINGTON (CBSDC/AP) — White House aides are accusing soldiers who served with Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl are “swift boating” him following his release over the weekend after five years in captivity. NBC News’ Chuck Todd reported Monday that the White House did not expect this sort of vitriolic backlash exchanging five high-level Taliban members held at Guantanamo Bay for Bergdahl, who left his Army post in 2009 in Afghanistan and was subsequently taken captive. “They did not expect this backlash on Bergdahl himself,” Todd reported on NBC’s “Today.” I’ve had a few aides describe it to me as we didn’t...

If America's newly free POW really was a deserter, the White House is in deep trouble.On Sunday, National Security Advisor Susan Rice said former American prisoner of war Bowe Bergdahl served with "honor and distinction" before he was captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Two days later, the secretary of the Army said the branch will investigate whether Bergdahl deserted his fellow soldiers -- an allegation that if true would transform the public perception of the POW and drastically complicate the White House's attempts to defend its prisoner exchange, which involved the release of five Taliban operatives from Guantanamo Bay....

(VIDEO-AT-LINK) Todd: White House was 'caught off guard' MSNBC’S Chuck Todd observed Tuesday that the White House was “caught off guard” by the disastrous public roll out of their prisoner exchange for Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. Todd and Andrea Mitchell agreed that the White House had likely thought there would be “some euphoria around this, the only POW that was remaining in Afghanistan, that there would be a rally around the flag. That didn’t happen.” “They were expecting criticisms of Gitmo, criticisms of the detainees that were chosen,” Todd said. “They did not expect this criticism of the attempt to...

.... President Barack Obama bowed, looking delighted. His greeter, after all, was a 55-inch-tall, give or take, humanoid robot with the look of a diminutive Star Wars storm trooper. “It’s nice to meet you, too,” Obama said, pausing to watch the robot, named ASIMO, perform during a tour of the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. Despite Obama’s background in constitutional law, there’s a presidential geek side that always seems charmed, if not bemused, by technological advances....

It’s Friday, do you know where your President is?He was last spotted in Japan where, I see, Drudge mocked him for bowing to a robot - butt you have to admit, the little guy was really good. The robot I mean:Besides, in Japan bowing is a way of life. Especially for tall people.And you know how BO likes to adapt to the local customs and culture; everywhere except America. So far Big Guy has been treated like royalty, first at the world famous “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” restaurant in the Tokyo where the starting price is an unbelievable $300 per...

New York (AFP) - New York police Tuesday were eating extra helpings of humble pie after asking people to post images of themselves and NYPD officers on Twitter -- only to face a deluge of pictures of alleged police brutality. "Do you have a photo w/ a member of the NYPD? Tweet us & tag it #myNYPD. It may be featured on our Facebook," the department posted on its NYPD News Twitter feed, hoping to fuel a feel-good, low-cost public relations campaign. -snip- One image showing police after striking a protestor brought the remark "Here the #NYPD engages with its...

It’s not often that a political candidate’s re-election campaign speech goes viral. But no doubt Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos would have liked the video of his speech over the weekend in the coastal city of Barranquilla to have gone viral because of the power of his message, or mesmerizing oratorical style, instead of The Spot. Video of the speech shows a spot appearing and spreading on Santos’ pants – which unfortunately were a light tan color – during his speech to supporters.

Cultural trends are often said to “jump the shark” when they go too far and become laughable or obsolete. The White House is in this territory with its desperate—desperate—marketing of Obamacare. Today, Lance Bass—a member of the boy band *NSYNC, which was popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s—tweeted that he was “entering the White House to meet w the President to discuss health care reform.” He added a website address: “HealthCare.org.” Politically active Twitter users quickly mocked this high-level meeting and the fact that the pop star of yesteryear didn’t even know he was supposed to be pointing...

. Three weeks ago, John Kerry came, saw, and launched a blitz-diplomatic campaign which promptly resulted in, well, Russia annexing Crimea. Now it is the turn of that other foreign policy titan, neo-con John McCain, to complete Kerry's job and finally launch the GDP-boosting World War III. He may have the chance to do that as soon as Thursday, when he, along with other senators, is slated to travel to Ukraine to "show support for the government there." Or, said otherwise, to show support for the government that is in power thanks to an illegitimate and deadly coup that took...

Things that make you go hmmmmmm

HONOLULU — He won’t use it, and he didn’t actually sign up for it himself, but President Barack Obama has enrolled for health coverage through the new insurance exchanges. Announcing his enrollment Monday, the White House called it a symbolic show of Obama’s support for the fledgling exchanges where millions of Americans must buy insurance or face a penalty. Ironically, it also served as a reminder of just how complex and sometimes daunting the process can be. Obama, like so many other Americans, couldn’t use the website. “The complicated nature of the president’s case required an in-person sign-up,” the White...

Obama's identity could not be verified in government database when they tried to sign him up for Obamacare. Via TIME: . . . The aide added that Obama only signed himself up, and not the rest of the First Family. Obama also did not enroll through the troubled Healthcare.gov or the D.C. exchange’s website. Aides signed him up in person over the weekend, due to the “complicated nature of the President’s case,” the White House aide said. Some of Obama’s personal information is not readily accessible on the government databases used by the website for identity verification.  Obama's personal info is...

The obligatory follow-up to Ed’s post earlier. When they said O was planning to enroll today, I thought they meant he’d take a break from the links for half an hour to punch in his info on the D.C. exchange website. Upon reflection, though, that was silly. Of course the president’s not going to entrust his vital info to one of these tinpot online exchanges. He knows better than anyone how vulnerable they are; the one he built himself was so grotesquely flawed, his own security team wouldn’t sign off on it. Special procedures would be needed. I think it’s...

President Barack Obama symbolically enrolled in a new health insurance exchange created by the Affordable Care Act over the weekend, a White House aide said Monday. [Snip] But Obama’s move is only symbolic, because as president he receives coverage from military physicians of the White House Medical Unit. [Snip] The President selected a bronze plan.” The aide added that Obama only signed himself up, and not the rest of the First Family. Obama also did not enroll through the troubled Healthcare.gov or the D.C. exchange’s website. Aides signed him up in person over the weekend, due to the “complicated nature...

At 3:08 p.m. this afternoon, the White House tweeted out a photo of President Barack Obama, urging people to sign up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, that was kind of begging to be photoshopped: The White House ✔ @WhiteHouse Follow President Obama: "#GetCovered because nobody should go broke just because they get sick." http://go.wh.gov/c8nakG , 3:08 PM - 12 Dec 2013 Politics More: Congress Barack Obama Ted Cruz Obamacare It Took Ted Cruz Just 10 Minutes To Mock Photoshop Obama's Obamacare Sign Brett LoGiurato Dec. 12, 2013, 3:38 PM 5,505 29 inShare1 At 3:08 p.m. this afternoon,...

ou can't make things like this up, but this unnamed man apparently did. From AP via My Way News (12/11/2013): Mandela ceremony interpreter called a 'fake' JOHANNESBURG (AP) - A man who provided sign language interpretation on stage for Nelson Mandela's memorial service, attended by scores of heads of state, was a "fake," the national director of the Deaf Federation of South Africa said on Tuesday. Asked about the claim by The Associated Press, South Africa's government said it was preparing a statement. Three sign language experts said the man was not signing in South African or American sign languages....

I'm sure Christiane Amanpour thought these words during the CNN broadcast of Mandela's memorial were about as brilliant as they come.It says this is a moment of re reconciliation for Mandela. And President Obama is doing the diplomatic thing. He's not just going to walk by and ignore these people who are there....This is a man (Mandela), it is so true, who brought people together in life and he continues to bring people together today. He continues to bring people together in death. Really though, one has to wonder which...man...is bringing all these leftist/communist kindred spirits together...

It’s that time of the year again folks, when two lucky turkeys come to Washington, spend time at a swanky hotel, get some facetime with President Obama at the White House, before spending the rest of their days at a historic Virginia farm. But those days are always short. Gobbler and Cobbler—last year’s set of turkeys who attended the annual Presidential Turkey Pardon—have both died, Whispers has learned. Gobbler, Cobbler’s understudy, died in February. … Cobbler, 2012’s official pardoned turkey, lived through the summer and was euthanized on Aug. 22. …