Limbaugh and Robertson Remove All Doubt As to Their Stupidity

I’ve heard of idiots, but radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh and televangelist Pat Robertson have sealed their spots as being right at the top in that field with their comments in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti that has killed tens of thousands. Critics from all directions are denouncing their remarks as insensitive to the disaster and attempts to score political points from human tragedy. Even fellow conservatives have said that they are deeply insensitive.

Limbaugh said the earthquake has played into Obama’s hands, allowing the president to look “compassionate” and “humanitarian” while at the same time bolstering his standing in both the “light-skinned and dark-skinned Black community in this country.” Then added: “We've already donated to Haiti. It’s called the U.S. income tax.” His comments were, in part, a riff on Senator Harry Reid’s remark in a new book that President Obama was able to win the election because he is “light-skinned” and lacks a “Negro dialect.”

The president speaks for the country when he says we’re going to go in there. Whether you like a person or not you respect the position. He criticized President Obama for holding a news conference the day after the earthquake. As far as I can remember the U.S. has been the leader in helping when others have suffered and the president at the time has always held a press conference to pledge U.S. aid. The saying goes “it’s better to have people think you are stupid than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. Maybe the question is whether Limbaugh is upset because we are donating to a predominately Black country or whether he dislikes the thought of a Black man being in charge. With thousands of people dead already and as the suffering continues in Haiti, Limbaugh and his kind only care about one thing: destroying President Obama.

While Limbaugh received a sprinkling of support, nobody of note has stepped up to defend Pat Robertson’s claim that Haiti got hit by an earthquake because it is “cursed.” Speaking about the disaster during his program “The 700 Club” on the Christian Broadcasting Network, Robertson said that when Haiti was still a French colony its leaders “swore a pact to the devil” to get out from “under the heel of the French. But ever since they have been cursed by one thing after the other.” “That island of Hispaniola is one island. It is cut down the middle on the one side is Haiti the other is the Dominican Republic. Dominican Republic is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, etc. Haiti is in desperate poverty.” Robertson has a long history of making controversial remarks on his program.

In reality Haiti is in the situation it is in because of poor leadership of past dictators. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and just like any third world country, there is no middle ground; you are either very rich or very poor, with most falling into the latter category.

Stevie Wonder Awarded and Performs at the White House

President Barack Obama presented Stevie Wonder with the nation’s highest award for pop music last night at a concert and award ceremony hosted by the president and First Lady Michelle Obama in the East Room of the White House. He gave the superstar the Library of Congress’ Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. In presenting the award the president said that Stevie Wonder was a major part of the essence of the now first couple’s courtship.

Stevie Wonder cited Martin Luther King Jr., his faith and his mother during an acceptance speech that flowed into a set of President Obama’s favorite songs. The 25 Grammy Award-winning musician joked that he looked forward to writing more love songs — perhaps a soundtrack for “you know, maybe I’ll be a part of creating some more of those babies.”

President Obama told guests that Stevie Wonder's music was also the soundtrack to his youth and marriage. President Obama praised Stevie Wonder’s decades-long career and a style that has blended pop and funk, R&B and gospel. First lady Michelle Obama spoke in more personal terms, calling Stevie Wonder “one of the world’s greatest artists.” She recalled how she and her grandfather would listen to Wonder’s albums together. Michelle Obama told the crowd that Wonder's love song, "You and I," had been the couple's wedding song. "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours," was often played at then Senator Obama's campaign stops.

Although the president is a well-known fan — Stevie performed at his nominating convention in Denver last summer and at a Lincoln Memorial concert before his January inauguration — the Library of Congress had decided to honor Stevie Wonder before President Obama won the election.

The Gershwin Prize honors George and Ira Gershwin and is given for lifetime achievement in popular music. Stevie Wonder’s performance will be broadcast Thursday night on PBS stations as part of a White House series on the arts.

Gospel singers Mary Mary, hip-hop musician will.i.am and jazz singer Tony Bennett were among the other performers at the concert. The president said the event was part of he and the first lady’s effort to open the White House to a broader community.

Senator Obama's 'Diplomacy' Wins a Republican Endorsement

The ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee parted ways with his party's presidential nominee Wednesday by endorsing Democratic Senator Barack Obama's approach to diplomacy. In a speech at the National Defense University, Indiana Republican Senator Richard G. Lugar weighed the benefits of talking to foreign leaders, including U.S. enemies, against other actions, such as military force. The issue marks one of the sharpest divides between Senator Obama and Senator McCain, who has called the Democratic nominee naive for suggesting that he would sit down with leaders such as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Senator Lugar praised Obama, noting that isolation often does not resolve contentious issues. "He correctly cautions against the implication that hostile nations must be dealt with almost exclusively through isolation or military force," Lugar said in a prepared remarks released before his speech. "In some cases, refusing to talk can even be dangerous."

Lugar cited North Korea, which was just removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terror, as a diplomatic success story and urged more contact with Syria and Iran.

This is not the first time senators Lugar and Obama have seen eye-to-eye on foreign policy issues. Lugar noted back in July that he was "pleased" to have worked with Senator Obama on nuclear proliferation issues after an Obama ad ran mentioning Lugar by name.

Senator Obama Wins First Debate

Toward the end of last night's debate Senator John McCain laid out his rationale in this election in a few words: he said, Senator Obama lacks the "knowledge and experience to be President." The presidency will turn on whether the American people agree with McCain on that. But on this night, Senator Barack Obama emerged as a candidate who was at least as knowledgeable, judicious and unflappable as McCain on foreign policy ... and more knowledgeable, and better suited to deal with the economic crisis and domestic problems the country faces.

There was nothing in this debate that was a knockout blow and nothing that should change the current course of the campaign. I don't think many votes, or opinions, were changed. But Senator Obama seemed plenty presidential; McCain seemed more careful as if he had to think about every word in case he utter another foolish line like his "the fundamentals of the economy are good."

McCain tried to pick fights with Obama on the details of foreign policy, while Obama was concerned with strategy, and an overall vision for the country. He brought up the damage done to America's standing in the world, and also the one who insisted on putting the war in Iraq in a broader strategic context: it had hurt America's overall position in the Middle East by empowering Iran and allowing Al Qaeda to regain strength in Afghanistan.

McCain was clearly the aggressor and rarely acknowledged Obama. But, the problem with McCain's aggressiveness was that it almost always involved misstating (lying) Obama's positions—on offshore drilling, nuclear power, talking to our enemies, raising taxes on the middle class, attacking Pakistan ... the same list of untruths McCain has stuck with throughout the campaign. When Obama chose to criticize McCain it was on big things—supporting the war in Iraq, opposing alternative energy, standing by the Republican philosophy of taxation (or should I say lack of it for the rich.)

McCain was also confused about what "preconditions" means in diplomacy. The Bush Administration had, until recently, set a precondition for talks with Iran: that the Iranians had to stop processing nuclear fuel. Obama says that he would talk to the Iranians—as former Secretary’s of State Henry Kissinger and James Baker would—without setting that condition. (It all double talk anyway as precondition is redundant, all conditions for starting a negotiation are pre-.) One missed opportunity by Obama: he could have noted that the Iraqi government has agreed to his idea of a timetable and asked McCain, Do you want to stay longer than the Iraqis want us there?

Obama spoke in a stronger, firmer voice. He was clear, and straightforward. He looked directly into the camera; McCain rarely, if ever, did. As a matter of fact he never even looked at Obama during the debate, as if he would lose it if he looked at Obama. Isn’t that what you teach your sons – shake hands with a good grip and look the person you are talking to in the eye. In this debate with the topic of foreign policy and national security, Obama did everything he had to do. And since McCain patterns himself as a foreign policy and national security expert, I thought McCain did less so. The early polling seems to agree with me.

A pair of one-night polls gave Senator Barack Obama a clear edge over Senator John McCain in their first presidential debate. Fifty-one percent said Obama did a better job in the faceoff while 38 percent preferred McCain, according to a CNN-Opinion Research Corp. survey of adults.

Obama was widely considered more intelligent, likable and in touch with peoples' problems, and by modest margins was seen as the stronger leader and more sincere. Most said it was McCain who spent more time attacking his opponent.

In a CBS News poll of people not committed to a candidate, 39 percent said Obama won the debate, 24 percent said McCain and 37 percent called it a tie. Twice as many said Obama understands their needs than said so about McCain.

And NOW McBu$h Wants Change Also

Senator John McBu$h promised the delegates who had just chosen him to lead the fight to keep the White House in the hands of their party that he was going to “change”. "We're going to recover the people's trust by standing up again for the values Americans admire. The party of Lincoln, Roosevelt and Reagan is going to get back to basics." He and his newly-minted running-mate both are trying to distance themselves from Bu$h administration and I’m wondering how do you do that while accepting the nomination of their party. Why don’t they declare themselves independents?

Of course, McBu$h had to say this. Dubya Bu$h is a very unpopular president, with an approval rating as low as that of Richard “Tricky Dick” Nixon in the midst of the Watergate scandal. And the Republican party has become so riddled with corruption that, at their convention that has been graced with the presence of Newt Gingrich, Tom DeLay and others party leaders who have been forced from office under clouds of scandal, McCain felt required to announce that, "I've fought corruption, and it didn't matter if the culprits were Democrats or Republicans." He HAD to "admit mistakes were made" with Dubya and the Republican Congress...or look foolish and put no distance between himself and them. He HAD to SOUND more moderate, after the pandering to the base to get the nomination. And he HAD to throw out some lines that appeal to independents, even Democrats, and know that well, I gave the Hard Righties Palin...that should keep them happy and quiet. And he knows that Rush Limbaugh and Fox News will lavish high praise upon his speech.

The whole anti-Republican Republican hoax might have succeeded, were it not for the fact that McCain's speech was at odds not merely with his own voting record – 90 percent with Bu$h – and his own Bu$h-on-steroids agenda. Even as he was pledging to "change the way government does almost everything," McBu$h announced his commitment to much, much more of the same.

He pledged to maintain endless occupations of distant lands that empty the U.S. Treasury of precious resources that might pay for infrastructure renewal, housing and job creations initiatives for hurting Americans.

He outlined trade and tax policies that would extend, rather than alter a failed economic status quo.

He reintroduced flawed proposals for health care, education and entitlement reforms that Americans have wisely rejected.

And he threatened to achieve "energy independence" by declaring: "We will drill…", "We'll drill…", "More drilling…" Even well known oil people like T. Boone Pickens is declaring that we can not dig our way out of the mess that we are in.

McBu$h’s rhetoric was that of a liberated man declaring his independence from his party's failed president and corrupt Congresses. But his platform was that of Republican candidate who, for all of his talk of reform, offers the crudest continuity to a country that is crying out for change.

Notice McBu$h only mentioned his experience in Congress only a few times while dwelling on his experience as a POW more than 40 times. We appreciate his time as a POW, but that does not qualify you to be president of the U.S.

Maybe John McBu$h WAS considered a 'Maverick'. And at one point maybe he was? But, what in the last eight years (and especially the last nine months) proves to us that he is a maverick? (90% voting record with George Dubya Bu$h?) No! Sponsoring a somewhat practical immigration bill only to declare that he will vote against it after becoming the nominee? No! Being forcefully opposed to any form of torture and then bowing to pressure and allowing Bu$h to 'tweak' the Military Commissions Act so that Bu$h himself defines torture? No!!

I say that John McCain was NEVER a maverick! He is a typical corrupt politician who was bought by Charles Keating and Cindy McCain's father early in his political career. After getting caught up in the Keating 5 thing, he sought out Feingold to save his political career with the McCain-Feingold legislation, which FAILED to get the money out of politics. It failed because McCain fought to establish new loopholes with the 527s, and shift the soft money to political parties. McBu$h's current love affair with lobbyists shows his true Keating 5 colors, and proves he really is more of the same corrupt politics-as-usual rather than the change he wished he could be. (Another “hero” was named in the Keating 5 also – Senator John Glenn). They both were cleared of having acted improperly but were reprimanded by Congress for exercising “poor judgment”.

McCain bucks his party, he is a "maverik!" That's the story line he has ben peddling all year. Then he picks a right-wing extremist to round out his ticket, after his first picks, Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge, were squashed by the party he supposedly stands up to. Man, you cons are a joke!! And...it turns out that when the chips start to fall, you turn to...God and guns!
After you got your critercized comments that the Senator Barack Obama made about you doing just that.

That change thing is working so good for Senator Obama that Senator McBu$h has decided to jump on it too. But, painting black spots on a pig does NOT make it a dalmatian... even if you can teach it to bark.

Bernie Mac Hospitalized with Pneumonia

While Bernie Mac (real name: Bernard Jeffery McCullough) remains in a Chicago hospital with pneumonia, his publicist, Danica Smith, said in a statement that the 50-year-old actor/comedian is responding well to treatment and should be released soon.

The pneumonia is not related to an inflammatory lung disease known as sarcoidosis which causes inflammation in the lungs, lymph nodes and other organs. That condition has been in remission since 2005.

Most recently Mac made headlines when he attended a Barack Obama fundraiser and made a few lighthearted comments about the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. "I'm proud of him because politics is dirty, especially with Republicans," he said. "People like rumors. They are going to say things like, you know, 'You was in the club with Lil' Kim, and you and Kanye West got in a fistfight.' "

In addition to his appearance in last year's hit "Transformers," Mac has recently been working on the TV series "Starting Under," as well as several films, including the Samuel L. Jackson flick "Soul Men" (slated for release later this year) and the John Travolta comedy "Old Dogs," which is scheduled for a 2009 release.