måndag 31 mars 2008

Lite valstatistik

McCain Running Strongly In Some Key Democratic States

By CQ Staff1 hour, 47 minutes ago

Arizona Sen. John McCain is running strongly in three states that have been solidly Democratic in recent presidential elections; a particular surprise is New Jersey where, a month ago, Illinois Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton had a double-digit lead, according to a new round of state-by-state general election match-ups.

The series of polls by Rasmussen Reports, which included Michigan and Washington State, also underscored what most other national and state polling has found - high negatives for Clinton as far as favorability ratings. McCain often scores the highest favorability ratings, while Obama comes out on the positive side, but by lesser margins.

Rasmussen says McCain and the Democrats are in a statistical tie in New Jersey, with McCain leading Clinton 45 percent to 42 percent and Obama by 46 percent to 45 percent, with a 4 point margin of error. A month ago, Obama ran closely with McCain but Clinton, showing strength in her neighboring state, had led McCain 50 percent to 39 percent.

McCain is also running a close race with the Democrats in Michigan, according to the Rasmussen survey conducted March 25. He leads Obama 43 percent to 42 percent, and Clinton by 45 percent to 42 percent, with a 4.5 percent margin of error.

McCain is viewed favorably by 55 percent of voters, Obama by 50 percent and Clinton by 47 percent. This is a state the Democrats have carried in the last four elections. It is also one of the two states (the other being Florida) where the controversy continues over the Democratic Party's decision to strip both of their delegates for breaking party rules by moving up the dates of their primaries. Forty-five percent of Michigan Democrats say there should be some kind of a re-vote, while 39 percent disagree. Mirroring a Gallup poll earlier today, a plurality of Democrats believe Obama would be a stronger opponent for McCain than Clinton (by a 48 percent to 41 percent margin) and 58 percent expect Obama to win the nomination.

Rasmussen noted that the Republicans have not carried New Jersey for 20 years, but added "in recent years, several GOP candidates have done well in spring polls only to see their hopes fade in the fall." Clinton's favorability rating - at 50 percent - is a little better here than in other state-by-state surveys, but it still represents a 6 point decline since the last poll. McCain's favorable rating is 61 percent and Obama's is 58 percent. The economy is cited as the top issue by 47 percent with only 12 percent rating it excellent or good. Twenty-two percent cite Iraq as the top issue, but among those, 39 percent believe the situation will worsen in the next six months compared to 32 percent who believe it will improve.

And in Washington State, Rasmussen finds McCain is competitive with both Democrats, according to a poll conducted March 27. Obama leads him 48 percent to 43 percent while McCain leads Clinton 46 percent to 43 percent. The margin of error is 4.5 percent. In its Feb. 28 polling, McCain and Obama were statistically tied while Clinton was ahead 48 percent to 40 percent. On the scale of favorability ratings, Obama registers at 57 percent, McCain at 56 percent and Clinton, whose negatives repeat state after state, is at 43 percent. The last time a Republican won this state was in the Ronald Reagan landslide of 1984.

The economy is cited as the top issue by most voters (37 percent) with Iraq next (24 percent). Only 14 percent of Democrats say the economy is good or excellent. Thirty-nine percent believe the U.S. is winning the war on terror.

To see a full round-up of recent state-by-state general election match-ups, see the version of this story on CQ Politics Poll Tracker.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20080331/pl_cq_politics/politics2694330 2008-03-31

Islam nu större än katolska kyrkan

Muslims more numerous than Catholics


By ALESSANDRA RIZZO, Associated Press WriterSun Mar 30, 2:48 PM ET

Islam has surpassed Roman Catholicism as the world's largest religion, the Vatican newspaper said Sunday.

"For the first time in history, we are no longer at the top: Muslims have overtaken us," Monsignor Vittorio Formenti said in an interview with the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano. Formenti compiles the Vatican's yearbook.

He said that Catholics accounted for 17.4 percent of the world population — a stable percentage — while Muslims were at 19.2 percent.

"It is true that while Muslim families, as is well known, continue to make a lot of children, Christian ones on the contrary tend to have fewer and fewer," the monsignor said.

Formenti said that the data refer to 2006. The figures on Muslims were put together by Muslim countries and then provided to the United Nations, he said, adding that the Vatican could only vouch for its own data.

When considering all Christians and not just Catholics, Christians make up 33 percent of the world population, Formenti said.

Spokesmen for the Vatican and the United Nations did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment Sunday.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080330/ap_on_re_eu/vatican_muslims
2008-03-31

John McCain behöver pengar

Hösten 2007 stötte McCain på stora ekonomiska problem. Sedan dess har han återhämtat sig. Likväl ligger han långt bakom både Senator Clinton och Senator Obama ifråga om donationer. Och McCain har heller inte lyckats få igång de mängder av tunga namn som bidrog till stöd för Bush två kampanjer. I januari fick McCain in 12 miljoner dollar, och i februari 11 miljoner - och allt som allt har han samlat in 60 miljoner dollar. Det kan jämföras med Clinton som samlade in 36 miljoner dollar i februari, och med Obama som under samma månad drog in 55 miljoner dollar. En ganska stor skillnad med andra ord. Allt som allt har Obama samlat in 200 miljoner dollar. Innan det allmänna valet kommer igång i höst måste McCain dels få in betydligt mer pengar för att kunna konkurrera effektivt med de tämligen rika Demokraterna - samt omorganisera sin kampanjstab att finansiera en heltäckande nationell kampanj. New York Times skriver följande intressanta artikel om ämnet:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/31/us/politics/31donate.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

2008-03-31

ABCNews: Reportage om McCain och Irak

ABCNews visar ett reportage som frågar sig hur det kommer att gå för McCains presidentambitioner om situationen i Irak inte förbättras?

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4554046

lördag 29 mars 2008

Oliver Stone i färd med film om George W. Bush

Oliver Stone håller på att välja ut någon att spela George W. Bush om vars live Stone ska göra en film som ska ha premiär innan President Bush lämnar Vita Huset nästa år. Jag såg nyligen hans film om Richard Nixon - en film som i mångt och mycket var bra, men jag tror inte jag kommer att ha lika lätt att acceptera en film om George W Bush. Intressant ska det dock bli.

Oliver Stone casting film on Pres. Bush

By JAKE COYLE, AP Entertainment WriterFri Mar 28, 6:12 PM ET

Like a bill being rapidly pushed through legislation, Oliver Stone's film about President George W. Bush is expected to begin shooting within a month with a goal toward being released before the president leaves office next January.

A person close to the film, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because plans were still being formalized, said Stone's "W." will begin filming in late April in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Academy Award-winning director only began shopping his script for financing in January, but has quickly captured the interest of investors and Hollywood.

Stone has said that the film, which will focus on the life and presidency of Bush, won't be an anti-Bush polemic, but, as he told Daily Variety, "a fair, true portrait of the man. How did Bush go from being an alcoholic bum to the most powerful figure in the world?"

Representatives for Stone would not confirm reports in Variety and elsewhere about casting decisions because of unfinalized contracts. Expected to play the president is Josh Brolin, who played another Texan in the Coen brothers' Oscar-winning "No Country for Old Men."

Expected to portray First Lady Laura Bush is Elizabeth Banks, whose credits include "The 40 Year-Old Virgin" and the upcoming "Zach and Miri Make a Porno."

"W." will be Stone's third film dealing with presidential matters, following "Nixon" and "JFK." The filmmaker has been an outspoken critic of the administration's decision to invade Iraq.

A Hollywood firebrand, Stone's films also include the Vietnam sagas "Born on the Fourth of July" and "Platoon," which won four Oscars including best picture and director, and 2006's "World Trade Center," about two policemen buried in the rubble of the towers after the Sept. 11 attacks.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080328/ap_en_mo/film_oliver_stone_bush
2008-03-29

fredag 28 mars 2008

GOP looks to 'McCain Democrats'

Det verkar se ganska bra ut för McCain trots allt. Yahoo News berättar i en färsk artikel att McCain drar fler människor från motsatt parti än Demokraternas kandidater gör. I Hillarys fall var det väl ingen direkt överraskning, däremot var det både kul och intressant att höra att McCain dock drar fler Demokrater till sig än Obama drar till sig Republikaner. Den fd framträdane Demokraten Joe Liebermans tydliga stöd till John McCain kan förmodligen också ge McCain än push framåt även bland Demokrater.

GOP looks to 'McCain Democrats'

David Paul KuhnThu Mar 27, 5:41 AM ET

A new analysis of March polling data suggests that John McCain's cross-party support surpasses that of either Barack Obama or Hillary Rodham Clinton.

According to data provided by the Gallup Organization at Politico’s request, in a hypothetical contest between McCain and Obama, McCain wins 17 percent of Democrats and those leaning Democratic, while Obama wins 10 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaners.

In a potential contest with Clinton, McCain wins 14 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaners while Clinton wins 8 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaners.

By way of comparison, exit polls in 2004 reported that George W. Bush won 11 percent of Democrats and John F. Kerry won 6 percent of Republicans.

The new analysis, calculated from a compilation of Gallup’s daily polls between March 7 and 22, seems to indicate that there are more “McCain Democrats” than the much-ballyhooed “Obama Republicans” — or “Obamacans,” as they are sometimes referred to.

The polls were aggregated at Politico’s request as part of an effort to assess the cross-party appeal of each candidate. The compilation created a larger sample size, allowing pollsters to more accurately decipher voting patterns by party affiliation.

McCain’s potential to win more crossover votes than either of the Democrats, a finding that also surfaces in surveys conducted by Fox News/Opinion Dynamics and in private GOP polls, could upend the political calculus for the November general election.

Equally important, Gallup finds that McCain wins independents against either Democrat — 48 to 23 percent against Clinton, and 40 to 31 percent against Obama.

In 2004, exit polls showed independents cast 26 percent of the vote, splitting their support evenly between Bush and Kerry.

Both the Republican National Committee and the McCain campaign are depending upon McCain’s potential appeal to Democrats and independents to compensate for the depleted Republican ranks.

“Democrats currently have a lead in voter identification; it’s axiomatic that you have to look beyond your party’s base to get to 50 percent,” said Frank Donatelli, the deputy chairman of the RNC.

Late February polling by the RNC, passed along to top officials in the McCain campaign, also found that more Democrats said they would vote for McCain than Republicans said they would vote for Obama, according to an RNC operative and a senior adviser to the McCain campaign.

“There will be something in the range of a quarter of Democrats available or accessible to him when the this Democratic contest is over but that doesn’t mean we won’t have to work for them,” said a senior McCain adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

That estimate may prove optimistic, though not wildly.

A Fox News poll released last week also found that McCain wins 18 percent of Democrats while Obama wins 11 percent of Republicans. McCain maintains his advantage among independents in the Fox poll, as well.

Clinton, according to the Gallup findings, hemorrhages slightly fewer Democrats than Obama. But Obama more than compensates for Clinton’s strength among Democrats with his greater capacity to narrow McCain’s advantage among independents. Private polling conducted by Republican strategist Tony Fabrizio reflects the same trend.

“There’s going to be McCain Democrats,” Fabrizio said, adding that it was only a question of whether they will be a small sliver of the political left or a movement toward McCain.

If Obama is the Democratic nominee, the McCain adviser said the campaign will target male and female blue-collar white Democrats, a group viewed by Republicans as Obama’s soft spot.

“They already sense that [Obama] may be too liberal,” the adviser added. “They tend to also agree with McCain on the war and on social issues and we’ll have to satisfy them that McCain agrees with them on the economy.”

McCain’s appeal to Democrats has some Republican strategists envisioning a Ronald Reagan-like road map for the 2008 race. Today, most of the so-called Reagan Democrats have become independents.

“One similarity between 1980 and 2008 is you have a very tough Democratic primary,” said the RNC’s Donatelli, who served as the political director in the Reagan White House. “After that ended, there were a lot of bruised feelings and Democrats who would not vote for the winner.”

Gallup published results Wednesday that showed evidence supporting a similar scenario for 2008. Twenty-eight percent of Clinton’s supporters say they would vote for McCain if Obama is the Democratic nominee. The data, aggregating the same period of March polling, also showed 19 percent of Obama’s supporters pledging to back McCain if Clinton wins the nomination.

“The bulk of the Democrats you would try to appeal to are not Harvard-educated lawyers who are feminists. They’re working-class Democrats that you have more of a shot at getting. And the core of that appeal is social conservatism, right to life, Second Amendment and obviously national security,” Donatelli said.

Comparing Reagan to McCain, Donatelli said “both of them were and are viewed as mavericks, and a lot of that is character, and a lot of that is the persona of the individual. And it’s issue-based too, because you’ve challenged the orthodoxy on occasion.”

Democrats say they must undercut McCain’s maverick image in order to shore up their flank.

“People tend to confuse maverick with moderate,” said Steve Rosenthal, a Democratic leader in mobilizing voters. Rosenthal said Democrats must position McCain as a conservative and introduce them to the “real John McCain” on issues ranging from abortion to the war in Iraq to the environment.

“If Republicans are successful in defining John McCain as a moderate who can work across party lines and is a straight talker, then we will be in a real battle to win Democrats in some of these swing states,” he continued.

“Against McCain,” Rosenthal said, “it’s clear this is going to be an extremely close race. Anybody who thought that Democrats were going to waltz to the White House in 2008 is crazy.”

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080327/pl_politico/9229 2008-03-28

Islamkritisk dokumentär

Den holländske politikern Geert Wilders har i dagarna publicerat sin islamkritiska dokumentär Fitna, som förväntas skapa stor irritation hos muslimer. Även många västerländska kommentarer och politiker verkar ha tagit avstånd från dokumentären - ofta pga rädsla för repressalier mot nederländska medborgare världen över.

Jag stötte på ett citat av Wilders som jag finner tankvärt i dagens svenska kränkhetsmentalitet:

– Det är inte mitt syfte med filmen men jag förstår att folk kan känna sig kränkta. Men det spelar ingen roll. Det är deras problem, inte mitt problem, säger han till holländska medier.

Det påminner oss om att vår viktigaste ledstjärna aldrig får vara huruvida någon part kan kränkas, utan huruvida vi söker försvara demokratin. Om ledstjärnan vore kränktheten så borde vi också sluta kritisera nazism, eftersom nynazister kan bli kränkta. Det skall bli mycket spännande att se hur muslimerna kommer att reagera på detta.

För mera läsning: SVD

torsdag 27 mars 2008

McCain: Nyheter - goda och dåliga

Bråken mellan Demokraterna Hillary Clinton och Barack Obama visar sig ha gynnat Republikanen John McCain. Inte bara skulle McCain om det var presidentval idag, vinna över båda Demokratiska kandidater - idag visade också en undersökning att ca 20 procent av Hillarys väljare skulle rösta på McCain om det visade sig att Obama nominerades. På samma sätt skulle kring 17% (kan minnas siffrorna fel) av Obamas anhängare rösta på McCain om Hillary nomninerades. Huruvida detta verkligen är sant eller ej, återstår förstås att se när inbördesstridernas hetta väl lagt sig och det Demokratiska partiet (försökt) enas igen. Men hittills så är detta alltså goda nyheter för John McCain.

Lite mindre goda, men desto mer allvarliga nyheter är förstås det allvarligt försämrade läget i Irak. Sadrs shiamilis, som visserligen avradikaliserats med tidens gång, men som fortfarande har som målsättning att upprätta en islamistisk stat, åtminstone snarlikt det teokratiska shiitiska system som finns i grannlandet Iran - har nu hamnat i öppen militär konflikt med Iraks shiiitiske premiärminister al Malaki som beslutat att en gång för alla slå ner milisrörelsen för att på så sätt visa att det är den irakiska regeringen som har kontroll över Irak - och inledde sina operationer i tisdags. Yahoo News rapporterar 2008-03-27:

U.S. President George W. Bush praised Maliki's "boldness" in launching the operation and said it showed the Iraqi leader's commitment to "enforce the law in an even-handed manner."

Tens of thousands of Sadr supporters marched in Baghdad in a massive show of force for the cleric, demanding Maliki's removal. In the vast Sadr City slum, named after the cleric's slain father, crowds of angry men chanted slogans.

"We demand the downfall of the Maliki government. It does not represent the people. It represents Bush and Cheney," marcher Hussein Abu Ali said.

Såvida inte al Malaki snabbt dels lyckas få kontroll över shiamilisen, och dels lyckas fylla det vakuum och erbjuda det irakiska folket det beskydd som milisen faktiskt ger, så kommer situationen dock att bli mycket svår. De amerikanska styrkorna har inte blandat sig i konflikten, utan valt att hellre fokusera på sunnitiska terrorister, dvs Al Qaida. Ett försämrat läge i Irak är dock också ett försämrat läge för John McCain som byggt största delen av sin kampanj på Irakkriget.

Obama tycks ha klarat sig ur pastor Wright-krisen

En ny opinionsundersökning visar att Obama inte tappat nämnvärt mycket popularitet efter avslöjandena om hans pastors anti-amerikanska uttalanden. Clinton däremot är mindre populär nu än för sju år sen. Yahoo News rapporterar följande:

Obama blasts McCain on economy

by Stephen Collinson2 hours, 46 minutes ago

Barack Obama locked horns with John McCain over the economy Thursday, as a new poll suggested he escaped unscathed after remarks by his former pastor engulfed his campaign in controversy.

Fresh from a short vacation in the US Virgin Islands, Obama fired a new volley at the Republican White House candidate, in a battle sure to intensify if he beats Hillary Clinton to the Democratic presidential nomination.

"John McCain has said that he doesn't understand the economy as well as he should, and yesterday he proved it in the speech he gave about the housing crisis," Obama said in North Carolina Wednesday.

"He said that the best way for us to address the fact that millions of Americans are losing their homes is to just sit back and watch it happen.

"We've been down this road before. It's the road that George Bush has taken for the last eight years," Obama said.

"Whether the rest of America is struggling with rising tuition or skyrocketing health care costs, plant closings or crumbling schools, the answer is always the same: 'You're on your own.'"

His remarks were a taste of a full bore attack on McCain in a major speech on the economy Thursday in New York.

A new poll meanwhile showed Clinton's popularity plunging to a seven-year low while Obama's dipped only slightly despite the recent controversy over his outspoken pastor.

According to the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, Clinton received a 37 percent positive rating, her lowest since March 2001, two months after she took office as New York senator.

But her opponent saw no significant change in his positive rating, down to 49 percent from 51 percent two weeks ago.

The poll was taken Monday and Tuesday, a week after Obama's landmark speech on race in America in which he criticized his former pastor Jeremiah Wright's comments on racism and US foreign policy, but declined to denounce him.

Democratic pollster Peter Hart called the survey of 700 voters with a 3.7 percent margin of error a "myth-buster" showing that the race row was "not the beginning of the end for the Obama campaign," the Wall Street Journal said.

The McCain campaign appeared keen to take up battle with Obama, accusing him of stooping to "attack and smear" tactics at odds with his vow to cleanse Washington's gridlocked politics.

"Barack Obama's diagnosis for our housing market is clearly that Barack Obama knows best -- raise taxes on hardworking Americans and give government a prescription to spend," said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds.

"John McCain has called for an immediate and balanced approach to provide transparency and accountability in an effort to help homeowners who are hurting, while Barack Obama has made a 10 billion dollars election-year promise that is sure to raise taxes and handcuff an already struggling economy."

In a major foreign policy address in Los Angeles Wednesday, McCain broke with President George W. Bush on disputes that frayed US global alliances, but argued America had a moral duty to stay on in Iraq.

The Arizona senator offered olive branches to Europe on global warming, said he would close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, and softened the unilateralist tone which prevailed through much of the Bush administration.

He carved out clear differences with Obama and Clinton, who have both vowed to end the unpopular Iraq war and bring US troops home if elected president in November.

"We have incurred a moral responsibility in Iraq. It would be an unconscionable act of betrayal, a stain on our character as a great nation, if we were to walk away from the Iraqi people," he said.

McCain warned withdrawal could precipitate regional chaos, boost Al-Qaeda and bolster Iran, drawing the United States into a wider, more difficult war.

His Democratic foes hit back.

"Like President Bush, Senator McCain discounts the warnings of our senior military leadership of the consequences of the Iraq war on the readiness of our armed forces, and on the need to focus on the forgotten front line in Afghanistan," Clinton said.

"Like President Bush, Senator McCain wants to keep us tied to another country's civil war," she said.

Källa: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080327/pl_afp/usvote 2008-03-27

onsdag 26 mars 2008

Påvedop förvånar muslimer

Den muslimske journalist från Italien som på lördagen konverterade till katolicismen i en offentlig ceremoni i samband med påvens påskfirande, säger att han räknar med dödshot efter konverteringen. Bland muslimer väcker det offentliga dopet förvåning.

Läs mer...

Appeasing Islam

Det här har inte mycket att göra med presidentvalet i USA, men Pat Condells budskap är något av det bästa jag hört:

tisdag 25 mars 2008

Clinton snubblar på sig själv

Obama snubblade smått pg a sin hetlevrade pastor - Hillary Clinton har nu trampat i ett snarlikt klavertramp, med den skillnad att hon snubblat på sig själv. I ett kampanjtal förklarade hon hur hon under ett besök till Bosnien 1996 lämnade planet duckandes, för att undvika eld från krypskyttar. Ett påstående som förstås inte verkar speciellt troligt då möjligheten knappast ens existerar att Secret Service skulle tillåtit USA:s första dam att ta en sådan enorm risk - och ett påstående som heller inte var sant. Det fanns krypskyttar i bergen runtomkring staden - men inga krypskyttar beskjöt Clinton när hon landade, och varken hon eller någon annan behövde ducka för några kulor. Clinton har i efterhand hävdat att hon minns fel - men detta har rubbat förtroendet för henne som "den starke" demokratiske kandidaten ifråga om utrikespolitik. Yahoo News rapporterar i följande mycket intressanta artikel:

ON DEADLINE: Hillary's Flight of Fancy



By RON FOURNIER, Associated Press Writer2 hours, 2 minutes ago

Why wasn't the truth good enough for Hillary Rodham Clinton?

That's a question worth considering as the former first lady tries to contain damage to her credibility after getting caught exaggerating the danger of her 1996 trip to Bosnia. Two others: Is there a pattern of embellishment? And is she held to a higher standard than her rival, Barack Obama?

The answers: Yes, she's held to a higher standard and, yes, she does exaggerate her credentials. Perhaps she's driven by insecurity; Clinton must think her resume needs padding to reflect "35 years of experience" and the promise to be "ready on Day One."

Otherwise, the truth would have sufficed.

The fact is that Clinton and her entourage were warned in advance that Bosnia was hostile territory and that there had been sniper fire reported in the hills surrounding the tarmac at some point before the trip. As a journalist on the trip, the story I wrote began, "Venturing to the front lines of the Bosnia peacekeeping mission, Hillary Rodham Clinton greeted U.S. troops today and heard horror stories about the region's devastating civil war."

It continued: "Security was tight — fighter jets accompanied her DC-17 cargo plane to Tuzla — but officials said the first lady took no extraordinary risks on the trip."

In her biography, Clinton wrote about the reports of snipers in the hills and said she met with local children on the tarmac, adding that the gathering was cut short by security concerns. All plausible, and a mission to be proud of.

But during a speech last week on Iraq, Clinton stretched the truth to the breaking point. "I certainly do remember that trip to Bosnia and ... there was a saying around the White House that if a place was too small, too poor, or too dangerous, the president couldn't go, so send the first lady. That's where we went. I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base."

Hogwash. The truth is:

• There was no sniper fire.

• Nobody ducked for cover.

• Bad weather, not security concerns, kept her husband from making the same trip a few months earlier.

Clinton and her aides stood behind the story — which she has told more than once — until video surfaced showing the former first lady, her daughter, Chelsea, and their entourage strolling off the plane and walking calmly across the tarmac.

"I made a mistake," she said Tuesday. "That happens. It proves I'm human, which you know, for some people, is a revelation."

To be sure, Clinton is not the first American to pad a resume. She's not even the only candidate for president to do so.

Obama has exaggerated his role in reaching a compromise in the Senate on immigration as well as his authorship of a bill to address the housing crisis. Voters need to weigh such distortions when they consider whether the freshman senator from Illinois truly is a new breed of politician.

What makes Clinton's situation unique — and the Bosnia embellishments so damaging — is the fact that the New York senator has built her candidacy on the illusion of experience. Any attack on her credentials is a potential Achilles heel.

As first lady, she did not attend National Security Council meetings, did not receive the presidential daily briefing on terrorism and other threats and did not have a top level security clearance. Her foreign trips were glorified goodwill tours, a collection of photo opportunities and sightseeing trips.

Still, Clinton was an exceptionally active first lady who knows more than most about what it takes to be president. So it must drive her nuts when Obama and his allies dismiss her role. Their condescension must make it harder for Clinton to accept the fact that hers was a largely ceremonial job, especially after her ill-fated attempt to overhaul the nation's health care system.

And so the best explanation for her Bosnia embellishment may be this simple, and this human: She's overcompensating.

That would explain why it wasn't good enough to say she visited Northern Ireland five times and urged the rivals to make peace. No, Clinton claims she "helped bring peace to Northern Ireland."

She didn't just urge the Macedonian government to open its borders to refugees. No, she "negotiated open borders to let fleeing refugees into safety from Kosovo."

Polls show that voters wonder about Clinton's honesty and authenticity. The Bosnia story plays to that character issue. As former Vice President Al Gore could tell her, once the media and voters start doubting a candidates' integrity, every episode that fits that narrative gets blown out of proportion.

Gore never said he invented the Internet; his mistake was to place himself more centrally than warranted at the creation of the technology. But such nuance was lost on people who voted against him in 2000.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE: Ron Fournier has covered politics for The Associated Press for nearly 20 years. On Deadline is an occasional column.

Källa: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_campaignplus/20080325/ap_ca/on_deadline_bosnia 2008-03-26

U.S. news video contradicts Clinton on Bosnia vis

Hillary Clinton sa under en av sina kampanjer att hon under ett besök i Bosnien 1996 landade under krypskytteeld. Något CBS dock kolla upp, och det visar sig att verkligheten bara delvis var så som Hillary beskrev saken. Här är artikeln:

CBS News Video from Hillary Clinton's 1996 visit to Bosnia as first lady contradicts a more dramatic description the Democratic presidential candidate gave in a recent campaign speech.

In news video shown on CBS on Monday, Clinton is seen casually walking from her plane and greeting a young girl. CBS said the pictures were recorded at a greeting ceremony when the plane landed.

At a recent campaign event, Clinton, who was accompanied by her daughter Chelsea, said she remembered landing under sniper fire.

"There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base," Clinton said.

At the time of the trip, the Bosnia war was over but hostilities continued.

CBS reported that Clinton aides said the video "was not quite as dramatic as Clinton put it."

"She meant that there was fire on the hillside around the area when we landed, which was the case," campaign spokeswoman Lissa Muscatine told CBS.

(Reporting by Joanne Allen, editing by Vicki Allen)

Källa: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080325/ts_nm/usa_politics_clinton_video_dc 2008-03-25

måndag 24 mars 2008

Heta brudar

2008 US campaign wars spill into retail front

by Jitendra JoshiSun Mar 23, 4:07 AM ET

Tony Baltes has been making US election gear for three decades and has seen nothing like it before. Rocketing demand for campaign products has left his small company gasping for breath.

"For the 2008 election, it's off the charts. We're getting ready for a tsunami and we're just trying to hold on," the 59-year-old founder of Ohio-based Tigereye Design told AFP.

Tigereye is the exclusive provider of merchandise to the Democratic campaign of Barack Obama, but has received urgent requests from aides to Hillary Clinton to plug gaps in her own product line-up.

When the manufacturer won the Obama contract in February 2007, it employed 18 people churning products out of one warehouse. Now there are 120 workers on two sites working three shifts around the clock.

"The campaigns are buying a good deal of stuff to give away at rallies, but what's been unprecedented is the amount of stuff that people are buying for themselves, at full retail price," Baltes said.

For comparison, Tigereye had sold about three million buttons (badges) at this stage of the 2004 election cycle. This time round, button sales have topped 13 million, and other product lines are up by a factor of three or four.

T-shirts, hats, lapel pins and bumper stickers have long been staples of US election retailing. But in the scintillating 2008 race, the products are getting more exotic and, thanks to the Internet, more readily available.

Rearranging boxes of "Hillary Nutcracker" kits -- a doll-like tool sold with real walnuts -- at her shop in Washington's Union Station, Tudi Huff sighed when asked if there was much demand for John McCain merchandise.

Playing cards and coffee mugs featuring the Republican hopeful occupied an ill-lit corner of "America's Spirit Store," an emporium of campaign kitsch.

"She's selling OK but not nearly at the rate of Obama," Huff said, as two middle-aged women from Arkansas giggled beside full-length cardboard cut-outs of McCain and Clinton.

Around the corner at the Alamo Flags stall, Karen Gustafson was laden with Obama and McCain merchandise. The 46-year-old Texan, visiting the nation's capital for a spring break, plans to vote for the Republican.

"I do love Obama," Gustafson, a systems analyst for a pharmaceutical company, said as she cradled a "Yes we can!" mug. "I just can't stand his policies."

In the Democrats' epic nominating battle, Obama enjoys a slender lead in delegates over Clinton and pundits see their race going all the way to the party's convention in August.

But in the merchandise wars, the Illinois senator is trouncing his New York rival, reflecting the lock he has on the younger and more Internet-savvy electorate.

At CafePress.com, where customers can design their own clothing and novelty products, Obama stuff now accounts for 70 percent of all candidate-related sales.

In a media release, CafePress said Obama leads in sales of themed underwear and dog gear, but Clinton has the edge in teddy bears and beer glasses.

Karen Bard, "pop culture expert" at eBay, said the online auction house had seen healthy sales of Clinton T-shirts by New York fashion designer Marc Jacobs, who is the creative director at Louis Vuitton.

But those paled next to demand for T-shirts bearing a limited-edition print of Obama by urban art collective Obey, which Bard said had sold for an average of 380 dollars.

All of the presidential campaigns have harnessed the Internet to add retailing to their fundraising operations. Products bought through their websites count as campaign contributions under federal law.

Merchandise bought through third-party vendors escapes federal limits on donations -- and the profits are pocketed by the sellers.

But Baltes, who said all his products are union-made in the United States, argued there was more than enough to go round.

"The campaigns didn't anticipate the demand and neither did anyone else. It's a phenomenon we just haven't seen before," the Tigereye boss said. "This year, everyone wants to tell the world who they're supporting."

Pity, however, the spurned presidential hopeful.

At Alamo Flags, fridge magnets bearing the grinning visage of former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani were gathering dust, even at the discount price of one dollar each.

Källa: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080323/bs_afp/usvoteretail 2008-03-24

söndag 23 mars 2008

Patriotism spat tars latest round of Clinton-Obama battle

by Michael MathesSun Mar 23, 7:09 AM ET

The campaigns of the Democratic White House hopefuls braced for fierce confrontation Sunday, after former president Bill Clinton appeared to question the patriotism of his wife Hillary's rival, Barack Obama.

In the latest sparring match between the increasingly bitter fight for the Democratic presidential nomination, an Obama aide hit back by likening ex-president Clinton to communist-hunting 1950s senator Joseph McCarthy.

Just weeks before a crucial primary clash in the state of Pennsylvania, which will go a long way to deciding who will face off Republican John McCain in the November election, former president Clinton sparked a new row.

"I think it would be a great thing if we had an election year where you had two people who loved this country and were devoted to the interest of this country," he told a group of veterans Friday in Charlotte, North Carolina.

"And people could actually ask themselves who is right on these issues, instead of all this other stuff that always seems to intrude itself on our politics."

Clinton was apparently referring to his wife and McCain, leaving Obama out in the cold.

Obama advisor Merrill McPeak, a retired air force general, responded on Saturday saying: "As one who for 37 years proudly wore the uniform of our country, I'm saddened to see a president employ these kind of tactics."

"He of all people should know better because he was the target of exactly the same kind of tactic when he first ran 16 years ago," he told Obama supporters in Medford, Oregon, with the Illinois senator at his side.

McPeak, who was an Air Force chief of staff during the first Persian Gulf war, apparently referred to attacks Bill Clinton sustained in the 1992 campaign from then-president George H.W. Bush, who had raised questions about a trip Clinton took to Moscow in 1970 during the Vietnam war.

McPeak's criticism was even blunter on Friday, when he said, according to television reports, that Bill Clinton's comments "sounds more like McCarthy."

"I grew up, I was going to college when Joe McCarthy was accusing good Americans of being traitors, so I've had enough of it," he said.

Hillary Clinton's campaign swiftly denounced McPeak's comments as "a pathetic misreading" of the president's remarks.

"Comparing Bill Clinton to Joseph McCarthy is an outrage and ought to be retracted," Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson said.

The New York senator's campaign further railed on the Obama camp for an "unremitting assault on her credibility and character," accusing him of attacking her to detract from incendiary statements made by his pastor.

Obama's campaign has regained momentum in recent days, starting with an endorsement from the country's only Hispanic governor, New Mexico's Bill Richardson.

He has re-taken the lead in the latest Gallup poll, showing 48 percent of support compared to Clinton's 45 percent, and new figures reveal his financial edge over his rival in the most expensive US presidential election ever.

Obama's campaign out-fundraised and outspent Clinton's campaign in February, and finished the month with significantly more cash in hand as the pair rev up for 10 more nominating clashes.

The latest monthly financial reports to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) show Obama took 55 million dollars in contributions in February, with minimal debt.

New York Senator Clinton raised 35 million, but has outside debts of 3.7 million -- not including the five million dollars of her own money she lent her campaign in January when it was in trouble.

Obama had nearly 39 million dollars on hand at the end of February, compared with 33 million for Clinton, and her campaign acknowledged that all but 11 million was ring-fenced for use in the general election campaign.

Estimates show Obama leading the former first lady in nominating delegates 1,628 to 1,493. But Clinton, who also trails in the popular vote, hopes to build a case for her candidacy with a triumph in the April 22 primary in delegate-rich Pennsylvania, where she leads in opinion polls.

A candidate needs 2,025 delegates to secure the nomination.

Källa: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080323/ts_alt_afp/usvote_080323110945 2008-03-23

Oro för splittrat Demokratiskt parti

Jag skrev igår ett inlägg om hur Demokraterna är splittrade. Idag bekräftade CNN dessa farhågor i följande inslag http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/03/23/costello.bitter.ending.cnn som enligt färsk statistik förklarar att om superdelegaterna ger Clinton vinsten, så kommer hela 92% av Obamas anhängare att bli arga eller besvikna. Men Clintonanhängarna känner på precis samma sätt. Om Obama vinner nomineringen så kommer 73% av Clintons anhängare att bli arga eller besvikna. CNNs reporter frågar sig slutligen om ens den ene kandidatens möjliga endorsement av vinnaren kommer att lyckas ena partiet efter detta långa, hätska primärval. Just nu, tycks McCain ha alla vindar i sina segel, och om det Republikanska paritet länge betraktas som det givna förlorarpartiet i höstens val, så kan nog konstateras att det för närvarande är Demokraterna som seglar i motvind.

lördag 22 mars 2008

Cheney calls U.S. commitment to Israel's security 'unshakable'

Vice President Dick Cheney said Saturday the U.S. has an "enduring and unshakable" commitment to Israel's security and its right to defend itself against those bent on destroying the Jewish state.

At the start of a weekend of talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, Cheney also said the Bush administration wants to see a "new beginning" for the Palestinian people and is committed to pursuing a Mideast peace deal.

Cheney's visit is part of the U.S. strategy to keep the pressure on the two sides, despite recent bloodshed, to agree on a framework for peace before President Bush leaves office in January.

"America's commitment to Israel's security is enduring and unshakable, as is our commitment to Israel's right to defend itself always against terrorism, rocket attacks and other threats from forces dedicated to Israel's destruction," Cheney told reporters before an evening meeting with Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert.

"America's committed to moving the process forward," Cheney said. But, he said, "it is not America's role to dictate the outcome." The U.S. wants to see a resolution to the conflict and will provide support and encouragement to help make that happen.

Cheney reaffirmed Washington's commitment to the establishment of a Palestinian state and assured Palestinian leaders that "they, too, can be certain of America's good will" as the U.S. tries to help Israel and the Palestinians reach an accord.

"We want to see a resolution to the conflict, an end to the terrorism that has caused so much grief to Israelis and a new beginning for the Palestinian people," he said.

He made direct mention of parts of the Middle East where the U.S. says efforts are under way to foment violence and undermine stability in the region.

"As we continue to work to peace, we must not and will not ignore the darkening shadows of the situations in Gaza, in Lebanon, in Syria and in Iran and the forces there that are working to derail the hopes of the world," Cheney said.

Speaking of the strong U.S. ally, Cheney said America "will never pressure Israel to take steps that threaten its security."

Olmert said Israel, too, is worried about Iran and is "anxious to carry on" negotiations with the Palestinians. His government is watching "the behavior of Syria and the Hezbollah" and shares concerns with the U.S. about attacks from Gaza against Israeli civilians.

Cheney, who just wrapped up two days of meetings in Saudi Arabia, planned to attend an Easter service Sunday in Jerusalem, then go to Ramallah in the West Bank for talks with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.

Bush asked Cheney to visit Israel to discuss the peace process and other regional issues in advance of Bush's trip in May to mark the 60th anniversary of the modern state of Israel, according to Cheney spokeswoman Lea Ann McBride.

Bush hosted a Mideast peace conference in November in Annapolis, Md., to kick off the latest effort to resolve the decades-old conflict, and visited the region in January, followed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in March. She plans to return in April.

After Olmert and Abbas agreed at the Annapolis conference to return to peace talks, they resumed along the outlines of a plan that calls for the eventual creation of an independent Palestinian state through several stages. In the first, Israel was supposed to freeze all construction in West Bank settlements. The Palestinians were to dismantle militant groups such as Hamas that attack Israel.

Neither side fulfilled those initial obligations and recent violence has threatened progress.

Israel is conducting peace negotiations with Abbas' West Bank-based government, while waging a bloody battle with Hamas militants in Gaza, who have fired rockets at Israeli communities in southern Israel. Israel has retaliated with attacks that have killed scores of civilians in Gaza.

In Saudi Arabia, Cheney held private talks with King Abdullah on stabilizing the volatile energy market. It was not immediately clear whether Cheney asked the Saudi leader to increase oil production to hold down rising gasoline prices.

The White House contends that oil producers could suffer because of economic slowdowns in the U.S., where pump prices are topping $3 per gallon, and other major oil customers as a result of high energy prices.

Källa: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080322/ap_on_go_pr_wh/cheney 2008-03-22

Splittrade Demokrater

Världen runt så betraktas någon av Demokraternas kandidater när det allmänna presidentvalet väl infaller kunna kamma hem en promenadseger. "Vem skulle vilja ha en Republikan i Vita Huset efter fyra år med Bush?", tycks vara omvärldens -
och inte minst svensk medias resonemang. Att amerikaner inte ser saken riktigt på det sättet visar de senaste opinionsmätningarna som säger att Republikanernas kandidat John McCain skulle vinna över både Hillary Clinton och Barack Obama om det var presidentval idag. Fram tills valet den 2a november kan dock givetvis detta förändras och vad som helst hända. Konstateras kan dock att det Demokratiska partiet är splittrat - och oavsett vem av dess två kandidater som vinner partinomineringen så är det rimligt att ställa frågan ifall tiden räcker till för att ena partiet igen, efter en lång och stundom bitter kamp mellan dess två kandidater. Bill Clinton har å sin frus vägnar flitigt angripigt sin partikollega (men sin frus motkandidat) i hätska ordalag, och idag i North Carolina uttryckte den tidigare presidenten att det vore fantastiskt om presidentvalet skulle stå mellan hans fru och Republikanernas kandidat John McCain, eftersom de två var två människor som älskade USA och var hängivna dess bästa. I dagarna har Barack Obama kritiserats för att inte distanserat sig tydligare från sin pastor som bl a uttryckt att Gud borde förbanna, snarare än välsigna Amerika - och Bill Clintons uttalande skulle således kunna betraktas som en indirekt anspelning på att Obama inte var någon sann patriot (till skillnad från hans fru Hillary, och, hör och häpna, även John McCain -vars patriotism inte kan betvivlas ens av Demokrater). Just på det sättet uppfattade också Obamas kampanjarbetare Clintons utspel, varpå Obamas rådgivare i utrikespolitiska frågor jämförde Bill Clintons uttalande med John McCarthys retorik på 60-talet där denne på dåliga grunder ifrågasatte goda amerikaners patriotism - en jämförelse som inte kan betraktas som något annat än mycket kraftig. En av Clintonkampanjens företrädare menade dock att parallellen till McCarthy var absurd.
Utan att spekulera i saken i sig, så står det dock tydligt att Demokraterna är splittrade. Hårda ord har uttalats från både Clintons som Obamas håll. Och även om partiledningen givetvis kommer att göra allt för att ena partiet i kampen mot Republikanerna under John McCains befäl senare i höst, så talar i nuläget mycket för att Demokraterna kommer att få det mycket tuffare än någon förmodligen någonsin trott.

torsdag 20 mars 2008

Clintons erfarenhet ifrågsätts

Samtidigt har dock Hillarys papper från sin tid som presidentfru i Vita Huset släppts som visar på att Hillary väldigt sällan deltog i de svåra politiska besluten. Något som minskar trovärdigheten för hennes påstående om att hon, i motsats till Obama, har den erfarenhet som krävs för att vara redo på dag 1.

DN skriver följande:

Clintons erfarenhet ifrågsätts

"Ready from day one" - reda från dag ett - har varit senator Hillary Clintons motto i sin kampanj för att bli det demokratiska partiets presidentkandidat. Detta ifrågasätts nu av nyligen offentliggjorda dokument.


Den demokratiska presidentkandidaten Hillary Clintons påståenden om att hon "är redo att leda landet från dag ett" har varit ett av hennes tyngsta argument mot den mera oerfarne motståndaren Barack Obama i den pågående kampanjen.

Senator Clinton har vid upprepade tillfällen talat om hur hon varit delaktig i flera av de stora beslut som hennes man Bill Clinton fått ta under sin tid som president.

Detta ifrågasätts nu sedan 17.481 sidor med dokument har offentliggjorts. Där framgår att senator Clinton inte deltagit i de svåra besluten utan ofta befunnit sig på annan plats, skriver The Guardian.

I ett ofta visat reklaminslag frågar Hillary Clintons PR-makare retoriskt om vem tittaren skulle vilja ha som president när telefonen ringer mitt i natten och ett viktigt beslut måste fattas. Washington Post har gått igenom ett antal samtal som väckt en sittande president på natten och inte funnit något exempel på att presidenten också då måsta ta några beslut.

Istället har det rört sig om information om händelser som när Ronald Reagan väcktes sedan ett iranskt passagerarplan skjutits ned, George Bush då en kupp såg ut att vara på gång mot Mikhail Gorbatjov och när Bill Clinton fick veta att förhandlingarna för att få en kidnappad kubansk pojke hade brutit samman.

Washington Post konstaterar att dessa och flera andra nattliga samtal hade gjorts för att informera presidenten och för att inte allmänheten sedan skulle undra varför deras högste befälhavare hade sovit medan större händelser hade inträffat.

Den dokumentation som rör Hillary Clintons tid i Vita huset och som nu har offentliggjorts av Nationalarkivet i Washington och William Jefferson Clintons bibliotek är omfattande. De 17.481 sidorna beskriver Hillary Clintons åtaganden som rikets första dam.

Dokumenten har begärts ut av en konservativ lobbygrupp, Judicial Watch, och en talesman för gruppen säger till The Times att paret Clinton har gjort allt de har kunnat för att förhindra att dokumenten skulle lämnas ut.

Chris Farrell, forskningsledare vid Judicial Watch, säger att ytterligare 20.000 sidor väntar på att lämnas ut.

De dokument som lämnats ut avslöjar att istället för att visa att den demokratiska senatorn varit djupt delaktig i de stora beslut som fattats i Vita huset, vilket Clinton påstått under kampanjen, så visar dokumenten enligt The Guardian att hon ofta hade helt andra uppgifter.

Senator Clinton har till exempel vid flera tillfällen sagt att hon varit inblandad i de förhandlingar som ledde fram till fred på Nordirland, den så kallade Långfredagsöverenskommelsen.

Istället visar nu dokumenten att Hillary Clinton medan förhandlingarna manglades fram den 9 och 10 april 1998 befann sig på den nationella pressklubben i Washington där hon deltog i ett "Hats on Bella"-party för att hedra en nyligen avliden kongressledamot från New York. Medan president Clinton satt i telefon med förhandlarna på Nordirland mötte Hillary förintelseöverlevaren Elie Wiesel.

När president Bill Clinton nådde en av sina största framgångar och representanthuset röstade igenom ett frihandelsavtal (Nafta) mellan USA, Kanada och Mexiko den 17 november 1993 mötte Hillary Clinton anhöriga till kongressledamöter.

När hutuextremister inledde den slakt på tutsier som snart övergick i ett regelrätt folkmord, 8.000 dödade första dagen, hade Hillary Clinton en rad möten med anställda och gav intervjuer för medier i hälsofrågor.

När USA besköt Serbien med missiler den 24 mars 1999 befann sig Hillary Clinton inte i Vita husets krigsrum utan på guidad tur i Konungarnas dal i Egypten.

Vid ett viktigt tillfälle har dock Hillary Clinton varit i Vita huset samtidigt som det skrevs historia konstaterar The Guardian. Det var den 15 november 1995 när hennes man Bill inledde sitt förhållande med Monica Lewinsky på en toalett i Ovala rummet.

Clas Svahn, clas.svahn@dn.se

Källa: DN http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=148&a=753656 besökt 2008-03-20

Clinton takes lead over Obama in Gallup poll

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has moved into a significant lead over Barack Obama for the first time in weeks in the race for the party nomination, according to a Gallup poll.

The March 14-18 national survey of 1,209 Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters gave Clinton, a New York senator, a 49 percent to 42 percent edge over Obama, an Illinois senator. The poll has an error margin of 3 percentage points.

Gallup said it was the first statistically significant lead for Clinton since a tracking poll conducted February 7-9, just after the Super Tuesday primaries. The two candidates had largely been locked in a statistical tie since then, with Obama last holding a lead over Clinton in a March 11-13 poll.

Gallup said polling data also showed presumptive Republican nominee John McCain leading Obama 47 percent to 43 percent in 4,367 registered voters' preferences for the general election. The general election survey has an error margin of 2 percentage points.

The Arizona senator also edged Clinton 48 percent to 45 percent but Gallup said the lead was not statistically significant.

(Reporting by David Morgan, editing by Vicki Allen) Clinton takes lead over Obama in Gallup poll

Källa: Yahoo News: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080320/ts_nm/usa_politics_gallup_dc
Besökt 2008-03-20

Obamas tal om pastor Wright och rasism i USA

Obamas tal i fyra delar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzMFK_51NQc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw2QIaGR8bY&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXSoZJQ8t5s&feature=related


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IONO36SlAc&feature=related

Talet är otroligt bra, och förmodligen det bästa tal Obama någonsin hållit. Han drar slutsatser jag helt håller med om, och betonar saker amerikanska politiker alltför länge ignorerat. Det är dock ett inte alltid helt lättsmält resonemang, och huruvida han lyckas överbygga den skada på hans kampanj som pastor Wright skapat, återstår att se. Färsk statistik visar att Hillary Clinton nu för första gången på länge tagit ledning över Obama i opinonsmätningarna. Men hur det än förfaller sig med popularitetsstatisitken för Obama, så är talet väldigt bra, och väldigt viktigt. Amerikanska politiker, oavsett om de är Demokrater eller Republikaner har en kaliber som får svenska politiker att framstå som bebisar i sandlådan.

söndag 16 mars 2008

Irakkriget i omvärldens blickfång

En insändare jag skrev till vår lokaltidning Allehanda.se, som dock refuserades:

Irakkriget i omvärldens blickfång

Det är nu fem år sedan kriget i Irak inleddes. Ett krig som påverkat också Sverige, som tar emot flest irakiska flyktingar i Europa. Det borde därför vara av intresse att sätta sig in det amerikanska perspektiv som föranlett kriget.
Detta sägs det i Sverige dock sällan något om, vilket statsvetaren Joakim Nilsson uppmärksammade i P1 den 21/1 i år, och påvisade hur svensk media nästan alltid framställer Republikaner som bovar och Demokrater som hjältar.
Nyligen besökte jag en utställning på Öviks museum om lemlästade amerikanska krigsveteraner från Irak. Syftet var enligt arrangörerna att väcka debatt. Men med tanke på svensk allmänhets redan ensidiga förståelse, så tillför en sådan utställning inte något nytt i debatten. Riktiga motargument finns det dock gott om:
1993 skildrades i SVT:s Dokument Utifrån situationen i Irak efter Gulfkriget 1991, när FN under USA:s ledning drivit ut Saddam Hussein från Kuwait, som denne tidigare ockuperat. President George Bush Sr valde dock att inte gå in i Irak och avsätta Saddam Hussein, med motiveringen att detta skulle innebära tusentals amerikaners död och anarki i landet. I programmet framställdes dock helt andra orsaker: Bush struntade folkets lidande eftersom USA tjänade pengar på att sälja vapen till Saddam, och därför inte ville avsätta diktatorn. För att understryka denna tes filmades en irakisk pojke som sa: ”I Amerika och England säger de att den som dödar är en brottsling. Saddam dödade min far – så varför behandlar de inte Saddam som en brottsling?”
Poängen med dokumentären var solklar: Bush handlade högst omoraliskt som inte avsatte Saddam Hussein.
Retoriken i USA var liknande: en senator förklarade 1992 hur han två gånger krävt av Kongressen att ta itu med hårdhandskarna med Saddam Hussein, som ju stödde terrorister, mördade sitt eget folk, och försökte utveckla kemiska, biologiska och nukleära vapen. Senatorn som dundrade ut detta krigsbudskap var Demokrat och hette Al Gore.
Men historien är lätt att glömma. När nuvarande president Bush år 2003 faktiskt avsatt Saddam Hussein protesterade en ny generation USA-kritiker, men nu av motsatt anledning: USA gick in för att stjäla olja. Att anklagelsen var inkonsekvent påminde svensk media inte om, och man skildrade aldrig den amerikanska utgångspunkten för kriget, som kan sammanfattas i Bushs två nya policyförändringar efter terrorattacken 2001:
Bush ansåg att policyn från kalla kriget om Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), där två stormakters likvärdiga kapacitet att utplåna varandra skulle förhindra att någon av dem angrep den andre inte fungerade mot självmordsterrorister. Därför behövde krigspolitiken omvärderas. Hot skulle angripas i förebyggande syfte för att det som hänt den elfte september inte skulle hända igen.
Det andra var att sprida demokrati. Under kalla kriget hade policyn varit att det var bättre med västvänliga diktaturer än med kaos. Bush menade dock att detta var en kortsiktig lösning: bästa sätt att skapa verklig stabilitet – var att ge dem frihet, eftersom fria demokratier inte krigar mot varandra.
Det var utifrån den första premissen Irakkriget inleddes år 2003, och det är utifrån den andra som det fortgår, i ett land där en islamistisk totalitarism kämpar mot dem som vill leva i frihet, om Iraks framtid. 4000 amerikaner har dött i försvaret av den bräckliga irakiska demokratin. Och att dessa soldater skickades i krig på grunder som visade sig vara felaktiga är orsak till amerikansk självkritik. Men det är knappast för deras skull som européer demonstrerar. De är arga på grund av en ensidig världsbild som svensk media sällan gör speciellt mycket för att nyansera. Joakim Nilsson säger avslutande i SR:

”Oavsett vad vi i Sverige har för politisk övertygelse måste vi förstå vår omvärld. Vi behöver inte gilla det vi ser, hör och läser – men vi måste förstå. Utan förståelse blir vi naiva och fördummade, och frågan är vad det är för slags förståelse vi får av USA när vi hör svenska mediers beskrivningar? Den som verkligen vill lära sig något om amerikansk politik gör förmodligen bäst i att inte ta del av nyhetsrapporteringar från Sverige.”

Ronie Berggren, Örnsköldsvik

McCain makes unexpected visit to Iraq

Sen. John McCain, the Republican Party's presumptive nominee for president who has linked his political future to U.S. success in Iraq, was in Baghdad on Sunday for meetings with Iraqi and U.S. diplomatic and military officials, a U.S. government official said.

Details of McCain's visit were not being released for security reasons, the U.S. embassy said.

McCain's visit was not announced and he was believed to have been in the country for several hours before reporters were able to confirm his arrival. It was unclear who he met with and no media opportunities or news conferences were planned.

McCain, a strong supporter of the U.S. military mission in Iraq, is believed to be staying in the country for about 24 hours.

"Senator McCain is in Iraq and will be meeting with Iraqi and U.S. officials," said Mirembe Nantongo, spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

This is his eighth visit to Iraq. He's accompanied by Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. Before leaving McCain said his trip to the Middle East and Europe was a fact-finding venture, not a campaign photo opportunity.

The senator last met with Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki last November during the Thanksgiving holiday.

McCain was to meet Sunday with Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh. Later in the day, he and Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, were planning to talk. It was also thought McCain would meet with al-Maliki.

"We were informed that John McCain landed in Iraq Sunday morning. A meeting will take place with the Iraqi government," said Ali al-Moussawi, an official in the Iraqi prime minister's office.

There were no details immediately available about McCain's meetings and his schedule for the day apparently remained in flux, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity as the official was not authorized to release the information.

McCain's weeklong trip also includes stops in Israel, Jordan, Britain and France.

McCain is expected to meet with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for the first time, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy for the third time. He met and corresponded with Sarkozy both before and after the French president was elected. The two last saw each other last summer.

McCain has relationships with every leader in Israel he plans to see, including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and hawkish opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

Ahead of the trip, McCain expressed worries that insurgents might try to influence the November presidential election with increased attacks in Iraq.

"Yes, I worry about it," he said Friday in Springfield, Pennsylvania. "And I know they pay attention, because of the intercepts we have of their communications."

McCain told reporters later that al-Qaida remains smart and adaptable despite an increase of U.S. troops in Iraq.

A defiant supporter of the 2003 invasion and President Bush's troop increase last year, McCain is likely to focus in Iraq on the drop in sectarian violence and U.S. and civilian casualties since last summer.

Källa: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080316/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_mccain 2003-03-16

lördag 15 mars 2008

Reportage om Obamas Pastor

CBS Chicago har här ett reportage om Obamas pastor, där denne fortsätter slänga ur sig vidrigheter:

http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=43051@wbbm.dayport.com

Obama tar avstånd från sin pastors uttalanden

Obama denounces pastor's 9/11 comments

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer 7 minutes ago

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Friday denounced inflammatory remarks from his pastor, who has railed against the United States and accused its leaders of bringing on the Sept. 11 attacks by spreading terrorism.

As video of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright has widely aired on television and the Internet, Obama responded by posting a blog about his relationship with Wright and his church, Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, on the Huffington Post.

Obama wrote that he's looked to Wright for spiritual advice, not political guidance, and he's been pained and angered to learn of some of his pastor's comments for which he had not been present. A campaign spokesman said later that Wright was no longer on Obama's African American Religious Leadership Committee, without elaborating.

"I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies," Obama said. "I also believe that words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialogue, whether it's on the campaign stump or in the pulpit. In sum, I reject outright the statements by Reverend Wright that are at issue."

In a sermon on the Sunday after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Wright suggested the United States brought on the attacks.

"We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye," Wright said. "We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost."

In a 2003 sermon, he said blacks should condemn the United States.

"The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme."

He also gave a sermon in December comparing Obama to Jesus, promoting his candidacy and playing down Clinton.

Questions about Obama's religious beliefs have dogged him throughout his candidacy. He's had to fight against false Internet rumors suggesting he's really a Muslim intent on destroying the United States, and now his pastor's words uttered nearly seven years ago have become an issue.

Obama wrote on the Huffington Post that he never heard Wright say any of the statements that are "so contrary to my own life and beliefs," but they have raised legitimate questions about the nature of his relationship with the pastor and the church.

He explained that he joined Wright's church nearly 20 years ago. He said he knew Wright as a former Marine and respected biblical scholar who lectured at seminaries across the country.

"Reverend Wright preached the gospel of Jesus, a gospel on which I base my life," he wrote. "... And the sermons I heard him preach always related to our obligation to love God and one another, to work on behalf of the poor, and to seek justice at every turn."

He said Wright's controversial statements first came to his attention at the beginning of his presidential campaign last year, and he condemned them. Because of his ties to the 6,000-member congregation church — he and his wife were married there and their daughters baptized — Obama decided not to leave the church.

Obama also has credited Wright with delivering a sermon that he adopted as the title of his book, "The Audacity of Hope."

"With Reverend Wright's retirement and the ascension of my new pastor, Rev. Otis Moss, III, Michelle and I look forward to continuing a relationship with a church that has done so much good," he wrote.

Also Friday, the United Church of Christ issued a 1,400-word statement defending Wright and his "flagship" congregation. John H. Thomas, United Church of Christ's president, lauded Wright's church for its community service and work to nurture youth. Other church leaders praised Wright for speaking out against homophobia and sexism in the black community.

"It's time for all of us to say no to these attacks and to declare that we will not allow anyone to undermine or destroy the ministries of any of our congregations in order to serve their own narrow political or ideological ends," Thomas said in the statement.

___

AP Religion Writer Eric Gorski in Denver contributed to this report.

___

On the Net:

http://www.barackobama.com

Källa: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080314/ap_on_el_pr/obama_pastor 2008-03-15

fredag 14 mars 2008

Obama tar avstånd från sin pastor

WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Friday denounced inflammatory remarks from his pastor, who has railed against the United States and accused its leaders of bringing on the Sept. 11 attacks by spreading terrorism.

As video of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright has widely aired on television and the Internet, Obama responded by posting a blog about his relationship with Wright and his church, Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, on the Huffington Post.

Obama wrote that he's looked to Wright for spiritual advice, not political guidance, and he's been pained and angered to learn of some of his pastor's comments for which he had not been present. A campaign spokesman said later that Wright was no longer on Obama's African American Religious Leadership Committee, without elaborating.

"I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies," Obama said. "I also believe that words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialogue, whether it's on the campaign stump or in the pulpit. In sum, I reject outright the statements by Reverend Wright that are at issue."

In a sermon on the Sunday after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Wright suggested the United States brought on the attacks.

"We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye," Wright said. "We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost."

In a 2003 sermon, he said blacks should condemn the United States.

"The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme."

He also gave a sermon in December comparing Obama to Jesus, promoting his candidacy and playing down Clinton.

Questions about Obama's religious beliefs have dogged him throughout his candidacy. He's had to fight against false Internet rumors suggesting he's really a Muslim intent on destroying the United States, and now his pastor's words uttered nearly seven years ago have become an issue.

Obama wrote on the Huffington Post that he never heard Wright say any of the statements that are "so contrary to my own life and beliefs," but they have raised legitimate questions about the nature of his relationship with the pastor and the church.

He explained that he joined Wright's church nearly 20 years ago. He said he knew Wright as a former Marine and respected biblical scholar who lectured at seminaries across the country.

"Reverend Wright preached the gospel of Jesus, a gospel on which I base my life," he wrote. "... And the sermons I heard him preach always related to our obligation to love God and one another, to work on behalf of the poor, and to seek justice at every turn."

He said Wright's controversial statements first came to his attention at the beginning of his presidential campaign last year, and he condemned them. Because of his ties to the 6,000-member congregation church — he and his wife were married there and their daughters baptized — Obama decided not to leave the church.

Obama also has credited Wright with delivering a sermon that he adopted as the title of his book, "The Audacity of Hope."

"With Reverend Wright's retirement and the ascension of my new pastor, Rev. Otis Moss, III, Michelle and I look forward to continuing a relationship with a church that has done so much good," he wrote.

Also Friday, the United Church of Christ issued a 1,400-word statement defending Wright and his "flagship" congregation. John H. Thomas, United Church of Christ's president, lauded Wright's church for its community service and work to nurture youth. Other church leaders praised Wright for speaking out against homophobia and sexism in the black community.

"It's time for all of us to say no to these attacks and to declare that we will not allow anyone to undermine or destroy the ministries of any of our congregations in order to serve their own narrow political or ideological ends," Thomas said in the statement.

Källa: Yahoo!

Några positiva siffror

Han [McCain] kan då glädja sig med att stödet för Irakkriget är det högsta sedan 2006. 53 % tror att USA kommer bli framgångsrika, upp från 42 % i september förra året. De som tycker att kriget går bra ökar också från 30 % för ett år sedan till 48 % idag, lika många som tycker det går dåligt. 49 % vill att trupperna ska tas hem så snart som möjligt, 47 % vill att de stannar tills uppgiften är avklarad.

Källa: Sundin

Det händer inte särskilt mycket dessa dagar, därför får allehanda opinionsmätningar av politikers popularitet stort utrymme. Låt oss jämvföra dem. I DN/Synovate har 40 procent av svenska folket förtroende för statsminister Fredrik Reinfeldt, medan samma mätning ger 38 procent för oppositionsledaren Mona Sahlin. I USA visar Rasmussen att 37 procent av amerikanerna anser att president George W Bush gör ett bra jobb. Allt medan 42 procent enligt NBC/WSJ har en “positiv uppfattning” om förre presidenten Bill Clinton.

Källa: Erixon

torsdag 13 mars 2008

Hillary ber om ursäkt för att hon är gift med Bill

Nä, riktigt så allvarligt är det inte. Men hon ber USA:s svarta amerikaner om ursäkt för sin makes uttalande i South Carolina, tidigt i primärvalsyran; där denne nämnde Jesse Jackson. Här är artikeln:

Clinton apologizes to black voters

WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton did something Wednesday night that she almost never does. She apologized. And once she started, she didn't seem able to stop.

The New York senator, who is in a tight race with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination, struck several sorry notes at an evening forum sponsored by the National Newspaper Publishers Association, a group of more than 200 black community newspapers across the country.

Her biggest apology came in response to a question about comments by her husband, Bill Clinton, after the South Carolina primary, which Obama won handily. Bill Clinton said Jesse Jackson also won South Carolina when he ran for president in 1984 and 1988, a comment many viewed as belittling Obama's success.

"I want to put that in context. You know I am sorry if anyone was offended. It was certainly not meant in any way to be offensive," Hillary Clinton said. "We can be proud of both Jesse Jackson and Senator Obama."

"Anyone who has followed my husband's public life or my public life know very well where we have stood and what we have stood for and who we have stood with," she said, acknowledging that whoever wins the nomination will have to heal the wounds of a bruising, historic contest.

"Once one of us has the nomination there will be a great effort to unify the Democratic party and we will do so, because, remember I have a lot of supporters who have voted for me in very large numbers and I would expect them to support Senator Obama if he were the nominee," she said.

The Clintons long have enjoyed overwhelming support from black voters, but that has been eclipsed during the primaries and caucuses by enthusiasm and support for Obama, who has pulled huge margins among black voters. Arguments over the role of race and gender have flared up repeatedly throughout the contest between Obama, who would be the nation's first black president, and Clinton, who would be its first female one.

Earlier in the day, Hillary Clinton supporter and fundraiser Geraldine Ferraro gave up her honorary position with Clinton's campaign after she said in an interview last week that Obama would not have made it this far if he were white. Obama said Ferraro's remarks were "ridiculous" and "wrong-headed."

Of Ferraro's comment, Hillary Clinton told her audience: "I certainly do repudiate it and I regret deeply that it was said. Obviously she doesn't speak for the campaign, she doesn't speak for any of my positions, and she has resigned from being a member of my very large finance committee."

As first lady and senator, Clinton rarely cedes an inch to her critics. On the issue of her vote to authorize the Iraq war, for instance, she steadfastly has refused to apologize, coming close by saying she regrets it, despite calls from many anti-war voters in the party to make a more explicit mea culpa.

Her third conciliatory statement of the evening was more in keeping with that fighting stance.

Asked about the government's efforts in the Gulf States after Hurricane Katrina, Hillary Clinton turned an apology into a criticism of President Bush, who happened to be speaking at a Republican event in another room at the same hotel.

"I've said it publicly, and I say it privately: I apologize, and I am embarrassed that our government so mistreated our fellow citizens ... It was a national disgrace," she said.

Källa: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080313/ap_on_el_pr/clinton_s_apologies 2008-03-13

Obamas radikale pastor

Intressant video om Obamas Pastor:

Han säger bla annat God Damn America.

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4443230

McCain intervjuas på CBS 60 Minutes

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=3920199n

Bully Billy

Ibland kan man tycka synd om den förre president Clinton. Till skillnad från sin hustru som är full av energi och kampvilja, så tycks Clinton till största del uppträda som en pensionerad polishund. Han gör sitt bästa för att verka stursk, kamplysten och pampig, men lyckas inte särskilt bra.

Inte nog med blåsvädret kring de senaste turerna. I detta klipp när han ska kampanja för sin fru, möter han tydligen en publik som kritiserar istället för att applådera honom. Clinton gör sitt bästa för att lösa sitautionen, men är det bara jag som tycker att han smått låter som en bakfull alkis som gör sitt bästa för att stå på benen utan att rapa: http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4439546

onsdag 12 mars 2008

McCain More Hawkish Than Bush on Russia, China, Iraq

Hans Nichols

(Corrects typographical error in 17th paragraph.)

March 12 (Bloomberg) -- John McCain is at least as determined as George W. Bush to stay the course in Iraq and more confrontational than the president on foreign policy issues ranging from Russia and China to North Korea.

The perception that McCain is less bellicose than the administration is belied by his own positions. He's skeptical about Bush's plan to provide nuclear fuel to North Korea. He has signaled he would be tougher on China. And he called Russia's elections ``rigged'' even as Bush said he wanted a ``close'' relationship with the president-elect.

``On Russia and China, he is clearly more hawkish than Bush,'' said Ken Weinstein, chief executive officer of the Hudson Institute, a research group in Washington.

McCain, 71, an Arizona senator, departs for Europe and the Middle East this week, having weathered the contest for the Republican presidential nomination with his image as an internationalist on foreign policy largely intact.

Democrats are eager to challenge the notion of the former prisoner of war as a leader who understands the costs and consequences of armed conflict.

``This is a man who hasn't seen a country he doesn't want to bomb or invade,'' said Ivo Daalder, a former National Security Council aide in the Clinton administration who has advised Democrat Barack Obama in his run for the White House.

By emphasizing his ``more moderate approach on detainee policy and climate change,'' the former naval aviator has been able to cloak his ``more hawkish position on non-proliferation, China and Russia,'' said Daalder.

Visiting `Old Europe'

McCain has embraced his image as a Republican who receives invitations to conferences in what former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld once derided as ``Old Europe,'' counting leaders such as Germany's Angela Merkel and France's Nicolas Sarkozy as friends.

He's billing his trip to Europe and the Middle East, which includes Iraq, as a listening tour. ``I would like to talk to our friends about ways that we can better cooperate,'' he told reporters in St. Louis.

Yet even on Iraq, McCain has argued for a tougher response than Bush.

He called for an additional 100,000 troops in 2004, presaging the ``surge'' strategy of dispatching 30,000 additional soldiers that the president announced in early 2007. At the same time, he was critical of Rumsfeld and warned that the U.S. was losing the war.

Hardline Positions

On a host of other issues, McCain has telegraphed a more unilateral approach than Bush.

On China, he has said he will make it clear to the government that the U.S. is unhappy at the weakness of the currency and the ``repression of democracy.'' He also vows to oppose any effort by China to force reunification with Taiwan.

``He thinks we need to make sure that the hard edge of the balance is kept up,'' said Gary Schmitt, a McCain adviser and senior fellow at the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute.

On North Korea, he questions the agreement by the administration to provide nuclear fuel in exchange for the country suspending its nuclear-enrichment program.

``The jury is still out on North Korea, and Senator McCain has been a little more skeptical about the route they've gone,'' said Schmitt.

McCain has also differentiated his Russia policy from that of the White House, insisting that when he looks at the eyes of departing President Vladimir Putin, he sees the ``K.G.B,'' not the man Bush once said was ``deeply committed to his country.''

`Rigged' Elections

After the Russian elections earlier this month, McCain said they were ``clearly rigged.'' Bush told President-elect Dmitry Medvedev he wanted a ``close working relationship.''

McCain's aides said he has voiced concern that Medvedev is still chairman of OAO Gazprom, whose recent reduction of natural gas supplies to Ukraine is ``a real problem,'' said Randy Scheunemann, an adviser. He also supports a path to membership for Ukraine and Georgia in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Neither McCain nor Bush has ruled out the use of force in Iran or North Korea. Nor will McCain sit down with leaders of those countries, or Cuba, unless conditions are met. Both say troop withdrawals in Iraq will be determined by events on the ground, not timetables set in Washington.

McCain's campaign aides have taken pains to knock down the notion that he is more of a hardliner than Bush.

``He's no neoconservative,'' said Charlie Black, another top adviser. ``But he believes in supporting countries that are struggling.''

Party Split

The Republican Party has been divided between self-styled ``realists'' such as Brent Scowcroft who didn't support the invasion of Iraq, and ``idealists,'' such as Richard Perle and Robert Kagan, who urged Bush to depose Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in the name of democracy.

The so-called realists were skeptical of Bush's plan to bring freedom to the Middle East and worried that regime change in Iraq would have unintended consequences throughout the region.

McCain is a ``realistic idealist,'' said Mark Salter, a senior adviser.

His foreign policy worldview is defined by ``standing up for people he thinks are being abused,'' said Salter. ``Here was a guy who was deprived of liberty.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Hans Nichols in Washington at hnichols2@bloomberg.net

Källa: http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20080312/pl_bloomberg/apzut4blweek 2008-03-12

DN: McCain klantar till det

DN har en märklig nyhetsvideo om John McCain. På rubriken står det:

"Klantar till det
Han vann primärvalen - annars är det mycket som går åt skogen för John McCain."

På videon kan man se hur det är problem med några mikrofoner när McCain skall tala vid ett möte i Florida; och efter mötet råkar en kameraman stöta i McCains huvud, inte speciellt hårt dock ser det ut som, med sin kamera.

En vidare textkommentar ges under videofönstret:

"John McCain-bloopers. Micken krånglar, kameramännen skallar honom - och var är Bushs stöd? McCain må vara klarp presidentkandidat, men är det överhuvudtaget något annat som går vägen? (TT) "

Med hänsyftning på "var är Bushs stöd?" visar de ett klipp från Bushs endorsement av McCain där Bush säger ungefär "He's not gonna need my help in Texas, it's gonna be a landslide victory", utan att visa att Bush i samma tal också säger något i stil med att han kommer att hjälpa McCain så gott han kan varhelst McCain vill ha hans "pretty face". Frågan, "var är Bushs stöd?" tycker jag är väldigt märklig. De flesta svenskar har ju knappast sett videon där Bush stöder McCain, så de blir inte medvetna om DN:s grova vinklingar av sanningen.

Vad är det egentligen McCain klantar till? Är det verkligen mycket som går åt skogen för McCain? Jag tycker att videon är lite kul att titta på, men rubriken väldigt missvisande.

tisdag 11 mars 2008

Saturday Night Live räddar dagen!

Kanske är det att ta i att säga att det var Saturday Night Lives show i New York som i sista sekund räddade sin senator från att förlora kampanjen mot Obama. Deras (i tidigare blogginlägg länkade) komiska sketch om primärdebatterna i Ohio och Texas mellan Hillary och Obama, ledde till att tidningarna började granska Obama noggrannare - kanske låg det något i Hillarys kritik mot att denne behandlats alldeles för snällt. Och dagarna därefter vann Hillary både Texas och Ohio. Nu har SNL gjort en ny sketch där man driver med Hillarys senast tv-reklamklipp om vem som är den bäste befälhavaren om telefonen ringer kl 3 på natten. Här är sketchen.

måndag 10 mars 2008

Welcome to the Clintstones

I flera dagar har nu både Bill och Hillary Clinton pratat om hur bra Obama skulle bli som vice-president åt Hillary Clinton om bara hon vann nomineringen. Ett indirekt sätt att säga att hon, om hon blev presidentkandidat, gärna skulle ha med Obama som vice-president.

När Obama väl bemödade sig med att bemöta Clintonfamiljens småprat, svarade han spontant att detta måste vara första gången i amerikansk valhistoria som den som ligger under i primärvalet frågar den som leder om denne vill få andraplatsen?

En viktig poäng, minst sagt. Men Obama hade fler saker att säga, vilket framgår i en artikel av NY Times. En av Hillary Clintons viktigaste argument i denna valkampanj har varit att hon som (enligt sin egen utsago) är mer erfaren, till skillnad från Obama är redo att leda Vita Huset från dag 1. Något hon som framkom i hennes senaste reklamvideo som frågar vem det amerikanska folket skulle känna sig tryggast med att svara i telefonen om det ringde till Vita Huset kl 3 på natten - varefter kampanjvideon givetvis antyder att Hillary vore den bästa commander in chief. Problemet med detta resonemang, menade dock Obama - var att om Hillary inte ansåg honom vara lämplig att vara president, borde hon inte heller anse honom vara lämplig att vara vice-president, eftersom vice-presidentens viktigaste uppgift är att kunna ersätta den riktiga presidenten. För att citera Obama i hans retoriska svar till Hillary Clintons inbjudan: “If I’m not ready, how is it that you think I should be such a great vice president?”

Givetvis är Obamas poäng lika strålande som självklar - åtminstone för de flesta utöver makarna Clinton. Här är en video där Obama kommenterar Clintons:



Under presidentvalskampanjen 1996 spreds det för första gången politisk propaganda på Internet. I en av radioreklam om dåvarande president Bill Clintons kampanj fick Bill och hans familj öknamnet "Clintstones" - efter den tecknade stenåldersfamiljen Flintstones. Med uttalande lika dumma och inkonsekventa som Hillary och Bills senaste utspel skulle öknamnet nog kunna bli brukligt än en gång. Nyligen tog visserligen Clinton-kampanjens talesman Howards Wolfson avstånd från Clintons tidigare uttalande genom att säga att han inte ansåg att Obama skulle bli någon bra vice-president. Men, den som sa re han va re.... Eller Stupid is as stupid does....

McCain lanserar ideologisk video

McCain visar att han avser förvalta den reaganska politikens idealism, optimism och framtidstro.

fredag 7 mars 2008

En dans för McCain

Bush var i Afrika nyligen där han bland annat dansade med Bushmännen (i två bokstavliga bemärkelser - då Bush var oerhört populär bland sina afrikanska vänner) - häromdagen endorsade han också John McCain som anlände från en nyvunnen seger i Texas. Av någon orsak (kanske för att resan mellan Texas och Washington är rätt lång) fick Bush vänta några minuter extra på att McCain skulle dyka upp - han passade då på att visa upp sina nyvunna dansegenskaper för journalistkåren :)

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4393304

Debatt: om USA-valet och om "Islamofobi"

Stina Dabrowski leder i SVT programmet Debatt som ikväll handlade dels om USA-valet och dels om "Islamofobi".

I den första halvan av programmet som handlade om USA, befann sig bland annat Göran Rosenberg där han förklarade sin sympati med Obama. Den andra debatten handlade om islam, och även där kom kritik mot Bush fram av den iranske anti-amerikanske umeå-läraren som jag ännu inte lärt mig namnet på. Debatten kan i alla fall ses här:

http://www.svt.se/svt/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=84185&lid=Debatt&from=menu

torsdag 6 mars 2008

SNL Obama and Hillary parody

Jag skrev i ett tidigare inlägg om Saturday Night Lives parodisketch på Hillary och Obamas debatt. Här är en annan del av den parodin: