John Edwards Admits to Out of Wedlock Affair

Washington Post, August 8th, 2008
Howard Kurtz & Lois Ramano

Saying he was “ashamed of my conduct and choices,” former North Carolina senator and onetime Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards today admitted publicly that he had an affair with a campaign videographer in 2006, but he emphatically denied a tabloid newspaper’s report that he fathered the woman’s 5-month-old child.

In a written statement issued hours after ABC News quoted Edwards as having admitted the affair in an interview to be broadcast tonight, the 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee said apologies to his loved ones and supporters were “inadequate,” and he berated himself in striking terms.  Click here to read more in the Washington Post.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer also has a story worth reading.

The deal is expected to cost thousands of Americans jobs.  McCain aided by lobbyist Rick Davis put together the sale of Airborne Express to the European transportation conglomerate DHL Inc.  In the process as many as 10,000 Ohio jobs will be eliminated and another 20,000 Ohio jobs are at risk.

DHL deal gone sour haunts McCain in Ohio

The firm may close its hub, imperiling nine county economies. A campaign aide lobbied for its parent company.

By Bob Drogin, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 8, 2008

WILMINGTON, OHIO — Finally given a chance to address Sen. John McCain, Mary Houghtaling choked up Thursday and began to cry.

Wiping away her tears, she told the presumptive Republican presidential nominee how a controversial corporate deal he backed in 2003 as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee — the sale of Airborne Express cargo service to a German conglomerate that owns DHL and the subsequent expansion of the air freight hub here — had gone horribly wrong.

Now, its business in a tailspin, DHL wants to combine operations with rival United Parcel Service and close its huge hub here. If the merger goes through, community officials and union leaders warn, staggering job losses will eviscerate the economy and the social fabric of nine struggling counties in southeast Ohio.

“Never before have so many people been abandoned at once,” said Houghtaling, who runs a local hospice. “It is inconceivable to think about losing 10,000 jobs in the first wave, and the estimates run in the 30,000 range as the wave continues.”

Houghtaling first warned McCain of the pending catastrophe July 9 when he campaigned nearby. The candidate vowed to return and bring help.

But on Wednesday, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that McCain’s campaign manager, Rick Davis, previously worked as a lobbyist for the German group, Deutsche Post World Net, and was paid $185,000 to help engineer the 2003 deal, plus another $405,000 for other work.

Davis helped Deutsche Post overcome objections in the Senate when the German company was negotiating the purchase, the paper reported. As head of the commerce committee, McCain fought back proposed amendments in a defense spending bill that would have barred a foreign-owned company from flying U.S. military equipment or troops. [By this action, John McCain specifically helped the merger to go through maximizing values to Davis's client.]

Click here to read more in the Los Angeles Times.

In the brave new world of legalized domestic spying, FBI focuses on phone calls made by or to reporters at the New York Times and Washington Post.

F.B.I. Says It Obtained Reporters’ Phone Records

New York Time, August 8, 2008

WASHINGTON — The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Friday that it had improperly obtained the phone records of reporters for The New York Times and The Washington Post in the newspapers’ Indonesia bureaus in 2004.

Robert S. Mueller III, director of the F.B.I., disclosed the episode in a phone call to Bill Keller, the executive editor of The Times, and apologized for it. He also spoke with Leonard Downie Jr., the executive editor of The Washington Post, to apologize.

F.B.I. officials said the incident came to light as part of the continuing review by the Justice Department inspector general’s office into the bureau’s improper collection of telephone records through “emergency” records demands issued to phone providers.

The records were apparently sought as part of a terrorism investigation, but the F.B.I. did not explain what was being investigated or why the reporters’ phone records were considered relevant.  Click here to read more in the NY Times.

Senator Barack Obama is doing much better than you might think among Christians.  He is trails only among Evangelicals.

Minnisota Public Radio, August 12th 2008

A poll by the Barna Group, a Christian polling and research organization says Democrat Barack Obama maintains a nine point lead over Republican John McCain among Christians. The poll finds that the race is tightening.

Among the key findings -

1) Of the 18 faith groups identified in the polls, McCain is only leading among evangelicals and it’s a narrow lead. Obama leads among the other 17 faith groups identified including the born again vote (Barna notes that would mark the first time in more than two decades that the born again vote has swung toward the Democratic candidate.

2) McCain has a narrow lead among evangelicals but a third say they’re undecided and McCain’s support is weakening among the group:

While some Christian voters seem to be questioning their early support for Obama, the McCain candidacy does not seem to be gaining momentum among evangelicals. Since June, the current level of support Sen. McCain has among evangelical voters has declined significantly (dropping from 78% to 61%).

Click here for more at Minnesota Public Radio.

The New York Times has a column talking about lobbyist donations to political campaign. Findings; lobbyists give big money and usually give 80% to one side or the other.

New York Times, Aug 14th, 2008

Before Congress adopted a new ethics law requiring lobbyists to detail their campaign giving, the conventional wisdom had been that most lobbyists hedged their bets by donating freely to members of both parties.

But the first filings under the law show that party loyalty often wins out. More than three-fourths of the federally registered lobbyists making campaign contributions in excess of $25,000 this year have showered money mainly on one political party or the other, according to the reports they filed with Congress at the end of last month.

Campaign finance experts say the reports, which cover the first half of 2008, do not fully reflect the lobbyists’ influence because they do not disclose all the ways lobbyists can help politicians raise money. But the reports do provide a detailed look at special-interest giving and the way money nurtures relationships between lobbyists and politicians in Washington. Click here to read more in the NY Times.

The neo-conservative christian based wing of the Republican Party is up in arms as McCain refuses to discount VP choices merely for being Pro-Choice.

Yahoo News, Aug 14th 2008

Top social conservative leaders in key battleground states are urging John McCain not to pick a running mate who supports abortion rights, warning of dire consequences from a Republican base already unenthused about their nominee.

McCain’s comments Wednesday to the Weekly Standard’s Stephen Hayes that former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge’s pro-abortion rights views wouldn’t necessarily rule him out quickly found their way into the in-boxes of Christian conservatives. For those who have been anxiously awaiting McCain’s pick as a signal of his ideological intentions, there was deep concern that their worst fears about the Arizona senator may be realize be realized.

“It absolutely floored me,” said Phil Burress, head of the Ohio-based Citizens for Community Values. “It would doom him in Ohio.”   Click here to read more at Yahoo.

Such a guy, here’s the President of the United States.

SaddleBrooke Democrats now have video on the site. Enjoy…

Many states are throwing out voting machines like the ones purchased by Jan Brewer for Arizona

Problems include vanishing votes, breakdowns and vulnerability

Associated Press, Aug 20th 2008

The demise of touch-screen voting has produced a graveyard of expensive corpses: Warehouses stacked with thousands of carefully wrapped voting machines that have been shelved because of doubts about vanishing votes and vulnerability to hackers.

What to do with this high-tech junkyard is a multimillion-dollar question. One manufacturer offered $1 a piece to take back its ATM-like machines. Some states are offering the devices for sale on eBay and craigslist. Others hope to sell their inventories to Third World countries or salvage them for scrap.

A few more are holding out hope that the machines, some of which were purchased for as much as $5,000, could one day be resurrected. Thank you, Jan Brewer.  Click here to read more at the Dubuque, Iowa Tribune Hearld.

In our view, this is a good move that emphasizes the need for all Democrats to get together.  Defeating neo-Konservatism is the priority now.

New York Daily News
Kenneth Bazinet, August 23, 2008

WASHINGTON – Hillary Clinton is expected to release her delegates and urge them to vote for Barack Obama during a meeting Wednesday with New York’s conventioneers, the Daily News has learned.

“She is going to strongly encourage everyone to support Obama,” said a party official made aware of Clinton’s plans.

Most ex-candidates release their delegates to vote any way they wish, but this move is designed to quell fears that the Clintons’ loyalist followers are still miffed that Obama prevailed and will boycott his candidacy.

Recent polls shows that the majority of Clinton backers already have moved into the Obama camp, but there are still some rogue holdouts the Clintons hope to convert – or at least silence.

Ted Kennedy is reportedly traveling to Denver to make a speech before the Democratic National Convention tomorrow evening.  We look forward to watching it on NBC at 7pm tomorrow evening.

Kennedy to Address DNC

Boston Globe, August 24th 2008

In a development that is sure to bring the house down, US Senator Edward M. Kennedy is expected to attend the Democratic National Convention, most likely to deliver a speech tomorrow night.

Kennedy is battling brain cancer, and his doctors are said to be worried that his treatment has compromised his immune system and that attending the convention could put him at further risk. Still, the senator has recently told people that he has a speech written for the convention and that he badly wants to come, pending a final medical consultation.

Buzz has built among Massachusetts politicos that Kennedy would come, and today a source close to the family confirmed that he had made a decision to come.

“He is definitely planning to be here,” said the Kennedy family confidant. “The whole Kennedy family will be in a special section. It should be quite moment.”

Kennedy’s family is also convening in Denver, including sister Jean Kennedy Smith, sister-in-law Ethel, nephews Joe and Stephen Smith, and nieces Kathleen Kennedy and Caroline Kennedy, who will also address the convention.

A Kennedy speech is usually a convention highlight, and Kennedy revels in an address that elicits a regular response from the crowd.

Given Kennedy’s illness, this year’s speech should be especially poignant.

The senator was very active in the primary campaign, endorsing Barack Obama and hitting the campaign trail for him.