Another Don't Blame Me from Obama - Dem calls it BS

WASHINGTON (CNN) – A well-known Democratic strategist in Virginia is blasting the White House for placing anonymous quotes in the Washington Post in a pre-emptive effort to blame Creigh Deeds for what might be a loss in the state's upcoming gubernatorial election.

David "Mudcat" Saunders, who gained political fame helping Democrat Mark Warner reach out to rural voters during Warner's successful 2001 gubernatorial bid, told CNN Friday that trying to blame Deeds is "bulls**t" when Democrats around the country are "just tired of politics."

"The Democrats right now are a real bruised brand right now where I am," Saunders said in a phone interview from his home near Roanoke. "There was so much energy put into last year's race, everybody's just burned out. You can't get anybody fired up."

In a story published Friday, a senior administration official told the Post that the Deeds campaign ignored their advice to embrace the president, which the official claimed would have boosted the Democratic candidate's lackluster support among the African-Americans and young voters who supported Obama in 2008. - CNN

Obama Loses bid to Lock Out FOX News

The Obama administration on Thursday failed in its attempt to manipulate other news networks into isolating and excluding Fox News, as Republicans on Capitol Hill stepped up their criticism of the hardball tactics employed by the White House.

The Obama administration on Thursday tried to make "pay czar" Kenneth Feinberg available for interviews to every member of the White House pool except Fox News. The pool is the five-network rotation that for decades has shared the costs and duties of daily coverage of the presidency.

But the Washington bureau chiefs of the five TV networks consulted and decided that none of their reporters would interview Feinberg unless Fox News was included.

The administration relented, making Feinberg available for all five pool members and Bloomberg TV.

The pushback came after White House senior adviser David Axelrod told ABC News' "This Week" on Sunday that Fox News is not a real news organization and other news networks "ought not to treat them that way."

Media analysts cheered the decision to boycott the Feinberg interview unless Fox News was included, saying the administration's gambit was taking its feud with Fox News too far. President Obama has already declined to go on "Fox News Sunday," even while appearing on the other Sunday shows.

"I'm really cheered by the other members saying "No, if Fox can't be part of it, we won't be part of it,'" said Baltimore Sun TV critic David Zurawik, calling the move to limit Feinberg's availability "outrageous."

"What it's really about to me is the Executive Branch of the government trying to tell the press how it should behave. I mean, this democracy -- we know this -- only works with a free and unfettered press to provide information," he said.

Fox News legal analyst Peter Johnson Jr. said the administration was potentially in violation of the Constitution with its attempt to restrict access to the "eyes and ears" of the country.

"What was averted was a very serious constitutional violation by the White House," Johnson said. "There cannot be selective and arbitrary access to the White House based on some subjective determination."

Several top White House advisers have appeared on other news channels to criticize Fox News' coverage of the administration, dismiss the network as the mouthpiece of the Republican Party and urge other news organizations not to treat Fox News as a legitimate news network.

On Wednesday, Obama, speaking publicly for the first time about his administration's portrayal of Fox News as illegitimate, said he's not "losing sleep" over the controversy. - FOX News Story

Obama's Chicago Style Thuggery Government

"His father was a great friend of my father." The reference to William Ayers' father was how Mayor Richard M. Daley began his defense of Barack Obama for his association with the unrepentant Weather Underground terrorist. Daley's father, of course, was Richard M. Daley, mayor of Chicago from 1955 until his death in 1976. Ayers' father was head of Commonwealth Edison, the Chicago-based utility, from 1964 to 1980.

You bet they were great friends. That's governance, Chicago style. The head of government is friends with the heads of every big business, lobby and union, and together they make decisions on how everyone else will live. Those on the inside get what they want. Those on the outside -- well, they get what the big guys want them to have. That's life in the big city.

It's not the worst way to run a city. I know -- I'm from Detroit, which might be better off if it had mayors named Daley for 41 of the last 54 years. But it's not the optimal way to run a national administration, at least if you've promised to bring in a new era of bipartisanship and mutual respect. Even so, it appears to be the way that Barack Obama, who once aspired to be mayor of Chicago, has decided to run his administration.

We can see that nowhere better than on the health care issue. Over the spring and summer, the White House door has been wide open to lobbyists from health care businesses. The doctors' lobby has gotten promises that physician payments won't be knocked down too much. In return, they are expected to lobby for whatever bill the congressional Democrats come up with.

The pharmaceutical firms' lobbyist, former House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin, has gotten assurances that his clients' business model won't be wrecked any more than it already has been by stringent regulation. In return PhRMA is running TV ads for health care reform.

The health insurance companies were on board, too. Until, that is, Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus presented his bill requiring them to cover anyone who applies but exacting only small fines from healthy individuals who decide not to buy insurance until they get sick. Since this looked like a quick road to bankruptcy, the health insurers' lobby commissioned a study that pointed out, correctly I think, that the Baucus bill would increase the cost of insurance to those who already have it.

The response of the Chicago-style Obama White House was reminiscent of the response of the late Mayor Daley when asked an inconvenient question by a reporter whose father and brother were Democratic precinct committeemen. "Sometimes in the best of families, there's a bad apple," replied Daley, to the bewilderment of reporters from out of town. A bad apple is, in Chicago, a former great friend who is not playing team ball.

So the health insurers have been denounced by White House spokesmen and Democratic congressional leaders as foul fiends and gougers of working families. Prominent Democrats have been talking about revoking insurance companies' exemption from the antitrust laws (granted so that small firms would have access to data needed to compete with the giants). Translated into Chicagoese: Nice little insurance company you got there. Too bad if something happened to it.

The same treatment is being given to Fox News, which according to White House spokesmen, "is not a news organization." "Other news organizations, like yours," Obama consigliere David Axelrod told ABC News, "ought not to treat them that way."

In other words, when Fox breaks the news that the White House green czar is a self-proclaimed "Communist" or that operatives of pro-Obama ACORN have been aiding and abetting child prostitution, other news outlets should spike the story. Or risk being demoted from great friend to bad apple.

Last February, Obama told Fox News (to which I am a contributor), "I don't always get my most favorable coverage on Fox, but I think that's part of how democracy is supposed to work. You know, we're not supposed to all be in lockstep here."

Now we are. Maybe Obama thought everyone in Washington would be his great friend. Having encountered un-Chicago-like dissent and disagreement, he has responded with classic Chicago brass knuckles. We'll see how far this kind of thuggery gets him.

Michael Barone is senior political analyst for The Washington Examiner.

-RASMUSSEN REPORTS

H1N1 Flu Vaccine Scarce, Where is Obama?

This is an opinions piece.

Where is all the outrage? Where is FEMA? Where is the Health and Human Services Director? Where in the Hell is Obama?

Everyone knew that this was going to be a major outbreak. They closed schools and even whole cities several months back because of the H1N1 Virus.

The Government promised Millions of Vaccines. Where are they? Blaming other people doesn't work. It didn't work for Bush with Katrina. It shouldn't be working for Obama now.

The Government laid a great big goose egg on this one and there is no outrage. Sure there is some whining here and there, but no outrage. Obama and his Team are 100% responsible. It is their duty to keep us safe and healthy. Isn't that what all the Healthcare reform fuss is about. The Government is responsible to keep us healthy.

Well, if this is any indication of the type of Government run Health Care that we can expect we all better hope that they vote NO on that. They can't even get control of one virus. What in the hell would they do if they had the entire health system and all of it's issues. WOW, this is a dry run at what Government run Health Care would be like and now we all know what the decision should and must be.

Obama's War Machine vs. Chamber of Commerce

The White House and environmental groups are turning up the heat on the Chamber of Commerce, and some of its member companies are feeling the burn.

At a National Press Club event last week, seven different reporters tried to ask the chairwoman of Royal Dutch Shell how her oil company could push for climate legislation while maintaining its membership in the Chamber.

Toyota has been inundated with calls and e-mails from Prius owners, pushed by MoveOn.org to demand an explanation of how the automaker’s membership in the Chamber squares with the green vibe it wraps around its hybrid cars.

And New York-based Mohawk Fine Papers — “the largest premium paper manufacturer in North America” — pulled out of the Chamber this week. It was the seventh company to resign over the business lobby’s opposition to climate change legislation.

“For us to advocate for a sensible climate change policy, for us to champion that cause, is completely inconsistent with paying dues to an organization that takes a position on the issue like the Chamber,” says George Milner, Mohawk’s vice president for environmental affairs.

The Chamber is pushing back, sending top officials out to make its case on TV and in print interviews and blaming Democrats and liberal interest groups for trying to coerce it into changing its position. - Politico Story

My question is, why is everyone bowing in to the almighty Obama. If you disagree with the man and his politics then tell him to go fly a kite. Don't let him and his mafia bully you into falling in line with him.

If you genuinely agree with him then so be it. That is OK too. I am just flat out flabbergasted that no one his calling him and his team on their bully tactics. This is the leadership that we want our youth looking up too. If you don't get your way you blame it on someone else and then bully everyone until you do?

Some Democrats Not Happy with Obama's Chicago Style Politics

A White House effort to undermine conservative critics is generating a backlash on Capitol Hill — and not just from Republicans.

“It’s a mistake,” said Rep. Jason Altmire, a moderate Democrat from western Pennsylvania. “I think it’s beneath the White House to get into a tit for tat with news organizations.”

Altmire was talking about the Obama administration’s efforts to undercut Fox News. But he said his remarks applied just the same to White House efforts to marginalize the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a powerful business lobby targeted for its opposition to climate change legislation.

“There’s no reason to gratuitously piss off all those companies,” added another Democrat, Rep. Jim Moran of Virginia. “The Chamber isn’t an opponent.”

POLITICO reported earlier this week on an all-fronts push by the White House to cut the legs out from under its toughest critics, whether it’s the Chamber, radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck and the rest of the Fox News operation.

White House Communications Director Anita Dunn has defended the push, saying the administration made “a fundamental decision that we needed to be more aggressive in both protecting our position and in delineating our differences with those who were attacking us.”

Congressional Republicans counterattacked Thursday. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said the administration was “targeting those who don’t immediately fall in line” with “Chicago-style politics” aimed at “shutting the American people out and demonizing their opponents.” - Politico Story

It is nice to see that people are starting to see through the Obama Administration and their Thuggery Type politics.

Obama White House Fired Up over Cheney Remarks

A day after former Vice President Cheney charged the Obama administration ...

... with "dithering" over its strategy for the war in Afghanistan, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs returned fire with guns blazing.

"What Vice President Cheney calls dithering, President Obama calls his solemn responsibility to the men and women in uniform," Gibbs said Thursday. "I think we've all seen what happens when somebody doesn't take that responsibility seriously."

Calling Cheney's comment "curious," Gibbs attacked the Bush administration for allegedly taking years to provide the support necessary for the war effort in Afghanistan.

"I think it's pretty safe to say that the vice president was for seven years not focused on Afghanistan," Gibbs said. "Even more curious given the fact that an increase in troops sat on desks in this White House, including the vice president's, for more than eight months."

Cheney offered his dim assessment of the Obama administration's approach to Afghanistan at a Wednesday dinner hosted by the Center for Security Policy, where the former vice president was present with the group's "Keeper of the Flame" award.

"Having announced his Afghanistan strategy last March, President Obama now seems afraid to make a decision, and unable to provide his commander on the ground with the troops he needs to complete his mission," Cheney said. "The White House must stop dithering while America’s armed forces are in danger. Make no mistake: Signals of indecision out of Washington hurt our allies and embolden our adversaries. Waffling, while our troops on the ground face an emboldened enemy, endangers them and hurts our cause."

The former vice president also addressed comments made last Sunday by Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, blaming the Bush administration for taking an inadequately active approach to shaping war strategy.

Cheney retorted that Bush administration officials were digging into "every aspect of Afghanistan policy" last fall and briefed the Obama transition team on their findings and recommendations.

"The new strategy they embraced in March, with a focus on counterinsurgency and an increase in the numbers of troops, bears a striking resemblance to the strategy we passed to them," Cheney said.

Gibbs sidestepped a question about whether Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, who was tasked with assessing war strategy by the Bush administration, had filed a report with the recommendations Cheney mentioned.

"I have not looked at that review," Gibbs said. "I don't know whether what he describes is accurate."

Cheney’s remarks had the West Wing "fired up" Thursday morning, according to one aide. - Politico

Maybe something will get them fired up to act! This White House is the most waffling inactive all talk Administration we have ever seen. They tell you all the things that they are going to do. They just don't ever seem to act on it.

Obama Polling Numbers Struggling to get to 50%

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 26% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. That’s the lowest level of Strong Approval yet measured for this President. Thirty-nine percent (39%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -13 (see trends).

For the first time during Obama’s time in office, the Approval Index has been in negative double digits for seven straight days. Fifty percent (50%) of Democrats Strongly Approve while 66% of Republicans Strongly Disapprove of his performance. Among those not affiliated with either major political party, 18% Strongly Approve and 42% Strongly Disapprove. - Rasmussen Reports Poll

Obama Steps into White House vs. FOX News Battle

President Obama spoke publicly for the first time Wednesday about his administration's portrayal of Fox News as an illegitimate news organization -- only to say he's not "losing sleep" over the controversy.

Obama, in an interview with NBC, at first attempted to deflect a question about the White House's criticism of Fox News, saying "the American people are a lot more interested in what we're doing to create jobs or how we're handling the situation in Afghanistan."

The interviewer then pressed, noting that Obama's advisers have targeted the network openly.

"I think that what our advisers simply said is, is that we are going to take media as it comes," Obama said. "And if media is operating, basically, as a talk radio format, then that's one thing. And if it's operating as a news outlet than that's another. But it's not something I'm losing a lot of sleep over."

Several top White House advisers have gone on other channels to criticize Fox News' coverage of the administration, dismiss the network as the mouthpiece of the Republican Party and urge other news organizations not to treat Fox News as a legitimate news station.

And on Tuesday, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said White House officials "render (that) opinion based on some their coverage and the fairness of that coverage."

But asked how Fox News was different from other news organizations, Gibbs mentioned the channel's 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. shows, in an explicit reference to "Beck" and "Hannity" -- even though those two shows represent opinion programming. - FOX News Story

You Tube Videos - Changing Locks - Republicans vs. Democrats - Welcome to Congress

ABC News' Rick Klein and Matthew Jaffe report: Somebody call a divorce lawyer.

This tale has secret videotaping, a staged walk-out, and -- finally this week -- one side secretly changing the locks on the other.

And everyone involved is a member of Congress.

It's the latest turn in an increasingly acrimonious stand-off inside the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the House's chief investigatory committee, the panel perhaps best known in recent years for the steroids-in-baseball hearings.

The dispute was months in the making. But Republicans turned up the temperature last week by vowing to force a committee vote on subpoenaing a fresh round of documents in its investigation of Countrywide Financial, the collapsed mortgage giant.

Democrats labeled that a political stunt, designed to embarrass two key Democratic lawmakers -- Sen. Chris Dodd and Sen. Kent Conrad -- who got special VIP loans through Countrywide.

But rather than taking the political risk of bringing the motion to a vote, Democrats pulled off what appeared to be a stunt of their own: When the time came for the scheduled vote last Thursday, they huddled in a back room -- denying Republicans the quorum they needed to take action.

Then things got interesting. Republican staff members had secretly set up a video camera outside the committee room. The camera captured a stream of Democrats leaving through a side door of the very committee room they were scheduled to be in -- calling into question Democrats' claim that a scheduling conflict involving another committee meeting prevented their attendance.

Republicans put the video on YouTube, juxtaposing the empty chairs and the Democrats filing out of the room. They put it all to the tune of "Hit the Road, Jack."

Not everyone was laughing. On Tuesday, the committee's Democrats let the Republicans know that their keys wouldn't work in the hearing room anymore. They'd had the locks changed.

Why? "Because they [Republicans] don't know how to behave," Chairman Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., told Politico. Towns' office did not respond to request for comment. - ABC News Story

The Decision to Save the UAW

WASHINGTON -- The shockingly poor financial management of General Motors and Chrysler weakened their case for a government bailout, but officials feared letting the automakers collapse would severely harm the U.S. economy, the former head of the Obama administration's auto task force says.

In a first-person account posted on Fortune's Web site Wednesday, Steven Rattner said he was alarmed by the "stunningly poor management" at the Detroit companies and that GM had "perhaps the weakest finance operation any of us had ever seen in a major company."

GM's board of directors was "utterly docile in the face of mounting evidence of a looming disaster" and former GM chairman and chief executive Rick Wagoner set a tone of "friendly arrogance" that permeated the company, Rattner wrote.

"Certainly Rick and his team seemed to believe that virtually all of their problems could be laid at the feet of some combination of the financial crisis, oil prices, the yen-dollar exchange rate and the UAW" (United Auto Workers union), Rattner wrote.

He described his six-month stint leading the auto task force, which pushed GM and Chrysler into quick bankruptcies last summer with the help of billions of dollars in federal aid. The task force won concessions from the union, suppliers, bondholders and dealers, and the U.S. government now owns nearly 61 percent of GM and 8 percent of Chrysler.

"We were shocked, even beyond our low expectations, by the poor state of both GM and Chrysler. Looking just at the condition of GM's finances and Chrysler's new-car pipeline, the case for a bailout was weak," Rattner wrote.

"But on the other hand, as we surveyed the interconnected web of finance companies, suppliers and related businesses, the potential impact of the likely alternative -- liquidation -- stunned us. We imagined that the collapse of the automakers could devastate the Midwest beyond imagination."

GM said in a statement it is "a new company with a strong balance sheet, less debt and a fresh product lineup that is making consumers take notice. ... Looking back doesn't help us with the important work we have in front of us. We are grateful for the second chance our nation's support has given us, and we are confident we will succeed."

Rattner said the task force was divided on whether to save Chrysler. Chrysler was poorly run during its alignment with Daimler AG, and "larded up with debt, hollowed out by years of mismanagement, Chrysler under (private equity firm) Cerberus never had a chance."

The task force determined that Chrysler could not survive without a corporate partner and turned to Italy's Fiat Group SpA. Fiat took control of Chrysler after it emerged from bankruptcy protection in June and received a 20 percent stake in the company, with the opportunity to take on 35 percent.

As for GM, Rattner said Wagoner told him in mid-March that he wanted to remain at the company but was willing to step down to help GM. Rattner said Fritz Henderson, who succeeded Wagoner as chief executive, "conveyed more energy and openness to change." - FOX News Story

I wish that this Administration would just come out with the truth about this whole Auto Bailout. It never was about GM or Chrysler or Ford, it was all about the UAW. This wasn't about keeping those companies afloat, it was saving the jobs of the Union Workers.

Obama Polling Numbers Declining More

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows that 27% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty percent (40%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -13. That’s just a point above the lowest level ever recorded for this President. It’s also the sixth straight day in negative double digits, matching the longest such streak (see trends). - Rasmussen Reports Poll

TARP May have Helped but with High Cost

WASHINGTON - A government watchdog said the $700 billion bailout for the financial industry played a major role in rescuing the economy over the last year but also engendered anger and distrust among Americans because of secrecy and confusion about the way the program was handled.

The mixed and blunt assessment by Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general in charge of oversight for the bailout fund, appears in a quarterly report scheduled for release Wednesday. Barofsky said the Troubled Asset Relief Program has come at great cost to taxpayers, to the integrity of the financial system and to the public's perception of the federal government.

"Despite the aspects of TARP that could reasonably be viewed as a substantial success," he wrote, "Treasury's actions in this regard have contributed to damage the credibility of the program and of the government itself, and the anger, cynicism and distrust created must be chalked up as one of the substantial, albeit unnecessary, costs of TARP."

Barofsky said public suspicion was fed by Treasury's decision not to require banks to report how they used their rescue money and its "less-than-accurate" statements describing the financial condition of nine large banks that benefited from large infusions of aid. The TARP program began under the administration of President George W. Bush and has expanded under President Barack Obama. - MSN Story

Critique of White House in FOX News Battle

Any one who has ever spent any extended amount of time with children knows that if you put something in front of them and tell them not to do it, the "not to do thing" becomes enticing. So, the best thing to do is not to give credence to something and just ignore it.
That is exactly what the White House has not done in their battle with Fox News Channel. It has raised the level of rancor higher than it should be.

The White House hasn't asked my advice but I will give it here:

Ignore your issues with Fox News Channel unless something that's being reported on a news segment is wrong. Ignore pretty much everything that is being said on the opinion side as it is just opinion. The White House does not make a habit of addressing the various protests in front of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue so why should it spend valuable time and energy addressing opinion shows? -- By addressing your beefs with talk radio and talk television shows that you think are slanted against you, you just give them more and more legitimacy.

I have been working for Fox News as a confirmed liberal contributor for twelve years.
I know from the inside of the Fox News Channel operation that they are clear about the dividing line between reporting and opinion. They don't like to mix the work of reporters and the show hosts nor should they. I sit at the White House with Fox's White House reporters and they have asked the same questions as other reporters -- both during the Bush administration and the Obama administration.

As a liberal commentator on Fox News Channel I have never been told what to say and have only been asked to restrain myself once in twelve years. And when was that? -- It was on the day that Michael Jackson died and the producer asked me to keep my negative views to myself till some time had passed. That's a concern I can respect. They welcome my thoughts and views and they would welcome President Obama's views as well.

The president needs to reach out to all Americans -- even the ones who completely disagree with him. His communication staff should suggest he do interviews with Fox News Channel and let his message be heard directly by Americans who did not vote for him or don't like his polices. The White House should also know their numbers. One study done by an independent media group found that almost a third of Fox's viewers were Democrats and independents.

The Obama communications strategy needs to let the criticism of the president and the administration roll off their back. It's a mistake to spend valuable communications capital on upping the ante and continuing the fight. What you resist persists.

Ellen Ratner is Washington bureau chief of Talk Radio News Service and a Fox News contributor.

FOX News

More Heat from Congress on BCS Champions

Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) and Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) said Monday that they are backing a federal political action committee "dedicated to discarding the Bowl Championship Series and instituting a competitive post-season championship for college football."

The people behind Playoff PAC – whose tagline is "Beat the BCS. Save College Football." – believe that the Bowl Championship Series is "inherently flawed," the group said in a press release.

"It crowns champions arbitrarily and stifles inter-conference competition," the group argued.

"Fans, players, schools, and corporate sponsors will be better served when the BCS is replaced with an accessible playoff system that recognizes and rewards on-the-field accomplishment. To that end, Playoff PAC helps elect pro-reform political candidates, mobilizes public support, and provides a centralized source of pro-reform news, thought, and scholarship."

Abercrombie said the release of BCS rankings on Sunday underscore the fact that "selecting a major college football national champion is still arbitrary and anti-competitive."

"The BCS process continues to operate like an exclusive country club rather than a true play-off system," he said. "I fully support Playoff PAC's efforts to bring change to college football."

Hatch echoed that sentiment, calling the BCS "fundamentally unfair." - CBS News Story

More White House Critics of FOX News

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Tuesday pointed to two top-rated opinion shows on Fox News as the reason why the Obama administration has castigated the network as an illegitimate news organization.

Gibbs weighed in on the controversy after several top White House advisers have gone on other channels to criticize Fox News' coverage of the administration, dismiss the network as the mouthpiece of the Republican Party and urge other news organizations not to treat Fox News as a legitimate news station.

Gibbs said White House officials "render (that) opinion based on some their coverage and the fairness of that coverage."

But asked how Fox News was different from other news organizations, Gibbs mentioned the channel's 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. shows, in an explicit reference to "Beck" and "Hannity" -- even though those two shows represent opinion programming.

Informed that those hours are for opinion programming, Gibbs said: "That is our opinion."

Michael Clemente, senior vice president of news for Fox News, issued a statement Tuesday defending the company.

"Hundreds of journalists come to work each day at Fox News all deeply committed to their craft. It's disappointing that the White House would be so dismissive of their fine work and continue their vengeful war against a news organization," he said.

The White House also appeared to stand by its effort to urge other networks to isolate and alienate the channel. Gibbs said Tuesday that it's up to the White House Correspondents Association to decide whether Fox News should continue to be part of the White House pool which covers President Obama. - FOX News Story

What a bunch of cry babies. For crying out loud. They attack anyone who doesn't share their opinion. Everything that goes wrong in the world has to be George Bush's fault. This whole mess was left to them by Bush.

Is there any hint of leadership in this White House?

Dept. of Defense Can't Wait on Decision about Troops

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday that the Obama administration cannot wait for the Afghan election to be resolved before making a decision on troop levels, appearing to be at odds with White House officials who have tied a decision on U.S. strategy to the resolution of the election and political stability.

Gates suggested the election would not have an immediate impact on the overall situation in the country.

He told reporters aboard his plane to Tokyo that the administration cannot "sit on our hands."

The comments come after Afghanistan's election commission ordered a runoff Nov. 7, following an inquiry that found thousands of ballots were fraudulent. President Hamid Karzai accepted the decision.

But White House officials, as well as Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., have suggested that U.S. strategy toward Afghanistan is contingent on political stability.

"Quite frankly, I think any credible person in this country would make a case that all the troops in the world will not solve a problem without a partner that is there ultimately to help," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday. "None of this is going to work without credible partners."

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said over the weekend that it would be "reckless" to make a decision on troop levels without doing a "thorough analysis" of whether the U.S. has a "true partner in governing."

And Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, bluntly said it would be "irresponsible" to commit more troops before the election is resolved.

These comments drew widespread criticism from Democrats and Republicans in Congress Monday. They said a runoff is important, but that U.S. military strategy is not dependent on who's leading the country. - FOX News Story

Democrats Health Care Plan - Dump It on National Debt?

When President Barack Obama promised that health care reform would be fully paid for, many wondered how Democrats would fund a key provision whose cost is almost a third of the reform’s $900 billion price tag: protecting doctors from annual cuts to their Medicare reimbursement rates.

The Senate’s answer? Leave it out of the health care bill, rename it a “budgetary problem” and fix it separately — but without paying for it — by lumping it into the national debt. Voilà, promise kept.

That’s how Senate Democrats are dealing with their $245 billion Medicare reimbursement dilemma. The so-called doc fix was long expected to be part of comprehensive health care reform, but House and Senate Democrats now are signaling that they plan separate bills to deal with the expensive problem.

In the Senate, the bill could be on the floor as early as this week, but the fix-it-now, pay-for-it-later approach is already drawing fire from Republicans, moderate Democrats and budget watchdogs.

Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense said the tourniquet tactic is “like saying I can meet my weight-loss goals if I ignore my butt. Or I can ignore my calorie limit if I eat food standing up.”

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who said his conference supports the fix and will introduce amendments to pay for it, also criticized the move as a budgetary sleight of hand. - Politico Story

White House Goes after FOX News

A White House attempt to delegitimize Fox News – which in past times would have drawn howls of censorship from the press corps – has instead been greeted by a collective shrug.

That’s true even though the motivations of the White House are clear: Fire up a liberal base disillusioned with Obama by attacking the hated Fox. Try to keep a critical news outlet off-balance. Raise doubts about future Fox stories.

But most of all, get other journalists to think twice before following the network’s stories in their own coverage.

"We're doing what we think is important to make sure news is covered as fairly as possible," a White House official told POLITICO, noting how the recent ACORN scandal story started because Fox covered it “breathlessly for weeks on end.”

“And then you had a couple days of breast-beating from The Washington Post and The New York Times about whether or not they were fast enough on the ACORN story,” the official said. “And it's like: Wait a second, guys. Let's make sure that we keep perspective on what are the most important stories, and what's being driven by a network that has a perspective. Being able to make that point has been important.”

To some media observers, it’s almost the definition of a “chilling effect” – a governmental attempt to steer reporters away from negative coverage – but the White House press corps has barely uttered a word of complaint. - Politico Story

Voter Fraud May have Tipped New York Election

Brian Suozzo voted with an absentee ballot in the Working Families Party primary on Sept. 15 because, as his application stated, he was "at home recovering from medical procedure."

Jessica Boomhower's application said she would be attending a "work conference in Boston."

Michael Ward couldn't vote in person because he was "taking care of elderly parent."

Kimberlee Truell was on a "Bus trip to casino," as was Miguel Vazques.

The only problem with these absentee ballot records at the Rensselaer County Board of Elections in Troy, N.Y., is that they're phony, voters and investigators say -- and they've prompted what's being called an unprecedented investigation of suspected voter fraud.

Thirty-eight forged or fraudulent ballots have been thrown out -- enough votes, an election official admits, to likely have tipped the city council and county elections in November to the Democrats. Candidates would have been able to run both on the Democratic and Working Families Party lines in two weeks, and that could have given the Democrats in the general election.

A special prosecutor is investigating the case and criminal charges are possible. New York State Supreme Court Judge Michael Lynch ruled that there were "significant election law violations that have compromised the rights of numerous voters and the integrity of the election process." - FOX News Story

White House Claims 250,000 Educational Jobs Saved

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration says spending aimed at boosting the economy has created or saved 250,000 teaching or other education jobs this year.

A White House report released Monday concludes that money from a $787 billion stimulus package has helped states fill budget gaps that would have cost teachers their jobs in school districts and public universities across the country.

The 250,000 figure is significantly higher than the 30,000 jobs the administration said last week were created or saved by businesses that won federal contracts under the stimulus law. It also represents an early preview of jobs numbers being announced in two weeks associated with education spending and federal grants awarded under the stimulus effort. - FOX News

Stay tuned for this. I don't believe a bit of it. If they truly saved 250,000 this would be top BREAKING NEWS!!!! However I believe the truth will be hidden in the numbers when the full report comes out. This is another one of those snow jobs that we get regularly.

School Administrators are Getting out of Control

The parents of an Eagle Scout who was suspended from his upstate New York high school for a month over a 2-inch pocketknife he kept locked in his car have retained a lawyer to appeal their school district's zero-tolerance policies and demand that their son's record be cleared.

Education lawyer Victor DeBonis is working pro bono for the family of 17-year-old Matthew Whalen, who has been banned from Lansingburgh High School for 20 school days.

Whalen's father said he hopes the school board will reverse the decision of Lansingburgh Central School District Superintendent George Goodwin, who extended Matthew's initial five-day suspension into a monthlong sentence — and he is threatening a lawsuit if all other options are exhausted.

"If they overturn the superintendent's actions and expunge my son's record, I guess we're done," said Bryan Whalen, who said DeBonis filed the appeal Monday morning. "If they don't, then there will be further steps."

Whalen says the school district violated his son's due process by disregarding state education guidelines when they suspended him. Whalen said he received written notification of the suspension six days too late, according to state law.

The high school senior has nearly completed the term of his suspension, but Whalen's family hopes to have his record cleared by the time the teen applies to the U.S. Military Academy.

"It should be just reversed and expunged because it was just wrong — procedurally they did everything they could do wrong," the father said - FOX News Story

I really think that this country has flat out lost its mind. School's are getting out of control with this so called zero tolerance crap. Use your common sense for crying out loud. You are suppose to be teaching our kids and some of the stuff that you come up with is the biggest pant load of crap I have ever heard.

These people that we are putting in charge of educating the youth don't have brain cell one to handle every day decisions and yet they are the leaders of our youths education?

White House Brags - We Controlled the Press

The Obama campaign's press strategy leading up to his election last November focused on "making" the media cover what the campaign wanted and on exercising absolute "control" over coverage, White House Communications Director Anita Dunn told an overseas crowd early this year.

In a video of the event, Dunn is seen describing in detail the media strategy used by then-Sen. Barack Obama's highly disciplined presidential campaign. The video is footage from a Jan. 12 forum hosted by the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development in the Dominican Republic.

"Very rarely did we communicate through the press anything that we didn't absolutely control," Dunn said, admitting that the strategy "did not always make us popular in the press."

The video drew attention after Dunn kicked off a war of words with Fox News last Sunday, calling the network "opinion journalism masquerading as news." The White House stopped providing guests to "Fox News Sunday" in August after host Chris Wallace fact-checked controversial assertions made by Tammy Duckworth, assistant secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Dunn complained about the fact-checking last Sunday. In the January forum, she provided details about the lengths to which the Obama campaign went to control the media message. - FOX News Story

Not like this should be any shocker to anyone. People who weren't totally in denial saw this right before our very eyes. While everyone was bashing everyone from Hillary to McCain, Obama was portrayed as walking on water.

Obama Not a Friend of Teachers Unions?

A skirmish between powerful teachers’ unions and President Barack Obama over nearly $5 billion in education spending is shaping up as a preview of the battle to come over No Child Left Behind in Congress early next year.

But the tables are turned: now the unions are worried that Obama, a Democratic ally, is going to be just as tough on them as President George W. Bush, a longtime foe.

The dispute adds teachers’ unions to a growing list of key Democratic constituencies that have been frustrated by Obama’s lunges toward the political middle, along with gay-rights activists upset Obama won’t lift the ban on gays in the military, and Latino officials who say Obama is slow-walking immigration reform.

So far, both the unions and Education Secretary Arne Duncan have tried to avoid a full-on collision, and the unions are showing new flexibility in accepting previously unheard-of moves like stricter teacher evaluations.

But they’re also making it clear they'll only go so far with Obama, who was booed at two teachers' union conventions when he was a candidate.

One of the little-noticed aspects of Obama’s presidency is how much his approach to education mirrors Bush’s – heavy on testing and data-collection, with support for charter schools, teacher evaluations and merit pay. - Politico Story

That is what you get when you throw your support behind someone who simply tells you what you want to hear. You have to research them. Teachers should have known better.

White House Plan - Destroy the Chamber of Commerce

The White House and congressional Democrats are working to marginalize the Chamber of Commerce — the powerful business lobby opposed to many of President Barack Obama’s first-year priorities — by going around the group and dealing directly with the CEOs of major U.S. corporations.

Since June, senior White House officials have met directly with executives from more than 55 companies, including Chamber members Pfizer, Eastman Kodak and IBM.

“We prefer the approach — particularly in this climate — where the actual people who are on the front lines, running businesses, trying to create jobs, come and advise us on policy,” senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett told POLITICO in a not-so-subtle effort to portray the Chamber as out of touch with business reality.

Chamber officials say the White House is scapegoating the Chamber and other trade associations as a way of dividing the business community, a move that could help the administration made headway on health care reform, climate change legislation and regulatory reform.

“It’s happening with the deliberate hope and attention to weaken the influence of this institute and the business community in town,” said Bruce Josten, executive vice president for government affairs at the Chamber. “When they launch a frontal assault against free enterprise and the Chamber of Commerce, I can guarantee it is not lost on any trade association executives or staff in this town.” - Poltico Story

Media Falls for Climate Change Hoax

In a dramatic shift, the Chamber of Commerce announced Monday that it is throwing its support behind climate change legislation making its way through the U.S. Senate.

Only it didn’t.

An email press release announcing the change is a hoax, say Chamber officials.

Several media organizations fell for it.

A CNBC anchor interrupted herself mid-sentence Monday morning to announce that the network had “breaking news,” then cut away to reporter Hampton Pearson, who read from the fake press release.

Pearson quickly followed up with a second report saying the “so-called bulletin” was an “absolute hoax.” Smelling a rat, CNBC’s Larry Kudlow demanded to know whether the White House had been involved.

In a story posted Monday morning, Reuters declared: “The Chamber of Commerce said on Monday it will no longer opposes climate change legislation, but wants the bill to include a carbon tax.”

Reuters updated the story to acknowledge the hoax, but it was too late: The Washington Post and the New York Times had already posted the fake story on their Web sites. - Politico Story

Dem. Rangel's Ethic Woes Hurting other Democrats

Support for Charles Rangel within his home state delegation is showing signs of strain — with upstate New York Democrats grumbling about the impact of Rangel’s ethics woes on their already tenuous reelection chances.

Politically vulnerable junior Democrats have been agitating with more senior counterparts to intervene — either with Rangel or with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) — in an attempt to ease Rangel out as Ways and Means chairman until the House ethics committee completes its review of the allegations against him, members tell POLITICO.

“The past month it’s escalated,” said one of the lawmakers, noting that Rangel’s restatement of his personal finances in August “put additional pressure on those members” from northern swing districts.

“There’s concern. There’s rumblings,” said another New York member about the dean of the state delegation. “Is it palpable? No. But there is talk.”

Several members of the delegation said Democratic Reps. Eric Massa and Michael Arcuri, both elected by the barest of margins, have been the most rattled.

A top House Democrat said the complaints don’t pose an immediate threat to the Ways and Means chairman but “are significant” because they reflect growing impatience among Democrats from all over the country disgusted with the slow pace of the yearlong Rangel investigation.

A major crack in the pro-Rangel facade appeared last week when Bill Owens, the Democratic candidate for the western New York seat vacated by Republican John McHugh, essentially endorsed a GOP effort to strip Rangel of his committee post. - Politico Story

Support for Democratic Health Care Reform Falls

Just 42 percent of voters support Democrats' health care reform plans even though a majority wants Congress to pass some version of reform, according to a new poll released Monday.

The Rasmussen survey shows 54 percent is opposed to the plans backed by President Obama and Democrats in Congress. The percentage of voters supporting the proposals is down 2 points from the previous week and down 4 points from the week before that.

The survey reflects persistent public skepticism toward the health care overhaul in its current form, even as it advances steadily through Congress. The Senate Finance Committee last week became the last of five congressional panels to approve its version of health care reform -- the full House and Senate still have to merge and vote on their separate packages.

The Rasmussen poll showed that seniors are even more heavily opposed to the plans, with 59 percent opposed and just 36 percent supporting.

However, most voters expect the package to clear Congress. The Rasmussen poll showed 56 percent says passage is likely.

The survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted Oct. 10-11. It had a margin of error of 3 percentage points. - FOX News

Obama White House at War with FOX News

The White House escalated its offensive against Fox News on Sunday by urging other news organizations to stop "following Fox" and instead join the administration's attempt to marginalize the channel.

White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel told CNN that President Obama does not want "the CNNs and the others in the world [to] basically be led in following Fox."

Obama senior adviser David Axelrod went further by calling on media outlets to join the administration in declaring that Fox is "not a news organization."

"Other news organizations like yours ought not to treat them that way," Axelrod counseled ABC's George Stephanopoulos. "We're not going to treat them that way."

By urging other news outlets to side with the administration, Obama aides officials dramatically upped the ante in the war of words that began earlier this month, when White House communications director Anita Dunn branded Fox "opinion journalism masquerading as news."

On Sunday, Fox's Chris Wallace retorted: "We wanted to ask Dunn about her criticism, but, as they've done every week since August, the White House refused to make any administration officials available to 'FOX News Sunday' to talk about this or anything else."

The White House stopped providing guests to 'Fox News Sunday' after Wallace fact-checked controversial assertions made by Tammy Duckworth, assistant secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, in August. Dunn said fact-checking an administration official was "something I've never seen a Sunday show do."

"She criticized 'FOX News Sunday' last week for fact-checking -- fact-checking -- an administration official," Wallace said Sunday. "They didn't say that our fact-checking was wrong. They just said that we had dared to fact-check."

"Let's fact-check Anita Dunn, because last Sunday she said that Fox ignores Republican scandals, and she specifically mentioned the scandal involving Nevada senator John Ensign," Wallace added. "A number of Fox News shows have run stories about Senator Ensign. Anita Dunn's facts were just plain wrong." - FOX News Story

Is it just me or what? The Obama White House goes after a news organization simply because they don't agree with them.