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Yeah, I know they all break campaign promises, but this has to be among the brassiest, most cynical and craven political lies in decades. As you listen to this promise (it's short, watch the whole thing), is there a single thing that Obama says about crooked, back-room dealing politicians in bed with the pharmaceutical companies that doesn't apply to directly to him this morning?

ANSWERING THE ALARM: As the president and first lady return to Washington from Oslo, Vice President Biden heads out on a trip to New England to campaign for Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) The VP will appear with Dodd at a fire station in East Hartford, Conn., where authorities have been given $3.39 million in stimulus funds to build a new facility - and where fire fighters successfully extinguished a five-alarm fire earlier this week. Whether Biden can perform the same kind of emergency response for Dodd's reelection campaign is another story... http://www.politico.com/politico44/ Also, The Obama extension campaign headquarters is doing...

Congressman Eric Massa paid himself and his wife a total of $33,000 from his campaign funds during last year race for the 28th Congressional District.... federal records show Massa took a salary of $15,000 while his wife was paid $18,000 working as the campaign's treasurer. Massa raised $2.1-Million dollars for the 2008 campaign against former Congressman John Randy Kuhl.

In October of 2008, Senator Obama's campaign accused Senator John McCain of planning to gut Medicare. ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (AFP) — Barack Obama's White House campaign Monday accused John McCain of plotting to impose savage cuts on government-run health care programs that insure the elderly and the poor.It was the latest attack from the Democrat's camp over an emotive issue that is taking on new urgency at a time when many Americans fear losing their jobs and thus the health care coverage that comes from their employers... "This plan would be a disaster. It would dramatically reduce the quality of...

He may have promised to change Washington, but President Barack Obama is continuing one of its most renowned patronage traditions: bestowing prized ambassadorships on big donors. Of the nearly 80 ambassadorship nominations or confirmations since Obama’s Inauguration, 56 percent were given to political appointees and 44 percent have gone to career diplomats, according to records kept by the American Foreign Service Association. The latest nomination came this week, when Beatrice Wilkinson Welters was nominated to serve as ambassador to the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. Welters, a longtime advocate for underprivileged children, and her husband, Anthony,...

Dear Friends, I pulled this twit from Doug Hoffman's Campaign facebook page: Tweet, Facebook, text, IM, make calls -- but get out the vote. Let the voice of the people, not the Pelosis be heard. #tcot LETS GET GOING AND Make some GOTV calls for him, and other buzz on the webb to help keep Mr. Hoffman's momentum gong..! The same can be said for Mr. Christie up in New Jersey as well..(and Harmer in CA 10), McDonnell.

SCOZZAFAVA's DROPPING OUT: WHO DOES IT HELP? HOFFMENTUM! Dede Scozzafava is suspending her campaign in New York's 23rd Congressional District. From BREAKING: Scozzafava suspends NY 23 campaign: Republican Dede Scozzafava has suspended her bid in next Tuesday’s NY 23 special election, a huge development that dramatically shakes up the race. She did not endorse either of her two opponents -- Conservative party candidate Doug Hoffman or Democrat Bill Owens. Scozzafava has “probably made her last campaign appearance between now and Election Day,” spokesman Matt Burns told POLITICO. “She’s releasing her support to the two other candidates." "I had a discussion...

HACKENSACK, N.J. – President Barack Obama on Wednesday urged New Jersey to keep Democrat Jon Corzine as governor, calling him an honorable man who puts the people's interests first. "That's the kind of governor that Jon Corzine has been. That's the kind of governor that Jon Corzine will continue to be. That's why New Jersey needs to give Jon Corzine another four years," Obama told a cheering crowd of more than 3,000 in a gymnasium at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Making his second political trip of the week in support of a Democrat on the Nov. 3 ballot, Obama touted Corzine's...

During the entire Bush administration critics accused him of using religion for political purposes. Many people were aghast that our President was a religious man.******- Obama chose the members of the advisory council precisely because they would fulfill his political goals. In this case, he wants to turn the American people against Israel and has the audacity of using a religious group to do so. Any Jewish person who has an atavistic fear of religion being used as a cudgel to hurt Jews should wonder why our President supports such a policy. I believe it is abhorrent that Obama and his...

THE top US military commander in Afghanistan has been effectively rebuked by President Barack Obama's man in the Pentagon for running a public campaign to back his request for more troops. Defence Secretary Robert Gates yesterday spoke out just days after General Stanley McChrystal declared any scaling back of operations in Afghanistan, such as that favoured by some White House officials, would be short-sighted. In a speech to the Association of the US Army, Dr Gates urged advisers to Mr Obama to keep their views on the deteriorating allied position in Afghanistan behind closed doors. "In this process, it is...

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has been quietly assembling the blueprint of a presidential campaign and will announce Thursday the support of a group of high-level political strategists and donors, complemented by a handful of top new media consultants, POLITICO has learned. Pawlenty, under the radar of D.C.’s political community, has locked up some of the key operatives who engineered then-President George W. Bush’s reelection campaign — a significant feat for a little-known Midwestern politician. Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/27785.html#ixzz0SgYFjiV3

The phrase "not raising taxes" means ONLY not raising taxes that go to the "general fund." But "everything else is on the table." He says clearly that when he says he will not raise taxes that he will raise taxes on gasoline. That's clear, right? Here's the video.

www.JoeWilsonForCongress.com

We cannot forget to remind folks, now that the Senate has voted 83-7 to strip ACORN of millions of taxpayer funds and the white-hot klieg lights have been turned on this bunch of goons, that President Obama was completely and utterly in bed with them throughout his entire adult life. These are his people. He was a commmunity organizer and they are the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. He trained them, he defended them as an attorney, and he paid them a pile of cash last year to help him get elected and then had to 'amend' the...

Hackers Imperil Wilson Campaign Web Site Sources close to the South Carolina congressman charge that hackers have blitzed his campaign Web site JoeWilsonforCongress.com with a series of attacks that periodically shut down the site. 

Today, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on the constitutionality of the restrictions that have been placed on corporate money in politics. The ruling may be one of the Court’s most critical decisions in an age which has seen one Presidential campaign accumulate almost a billion dollars in contributions. When the constitutionality of any far reaching federal law is opposed, it is a matter of national relevance, however, when a law affecting the foundation of the Democracy is challenged, such event should be arousing everyone’s notice and should be at the forefront of all news media outlets. The case in...

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court next week will hear arguments on whether corporations and unions have a right to spend their money on campaign advertisements, in a case that tests not only a central pillar of federal campaign-finance law but the court's own respect for precedent.

Although written in July 09, this is still relevant quote: Obama was holding an evening prime-time news conference at a time when his long-running post-inaugural honeymoon appears to be ending. Several polls show his job approval rating dropping and that Americans are having doubts about his prescriptions for the economy and healthcare. They are concerned that his $787 billion economic stimulus plan has not helped the economy and are having sticker shock at the $1 trillion cost of the healthcare plan.

It's not about saving the health care bill. It's about saving his presidency!Just before President Obama left on his vacation to Martha's Vineyard, he held a meeting with members of Organizing for America, the grass roots group which morphed over from his presidential campaign. He warned them not to get all "wee weed up" with his recent slide in the polls and the sour outlook for passing the most ambitious version of Democrats health care takeover. Looking back to a year ago he said: OBAMA: Just remember we've been through this before. Some of you were involved when we were...

Oil industry protest campaign adds to summer heat on President Barack ObamaProtests against Barack Obama are spreading across America like wildfire on a summer prairie, fuelled by an angry and fearful oil industry. By Leonard Doyle in Washington Published: 7:04PM BST 22 Aug 2009 Still grappling on one front with opponents of his healthcare reforms, the President now faces a separate battle against an equally powerful foe: America's oil companies. As the Mr Obama begins his summer family holiday on the island retreat of Martha's Vineyard, a raucous new group of protesters has begun venting its anger about his plans...

Rielle Hunter, John Edwards' former mistress, went inside the federal courthouse in Raleigh Thursday morning. A grand jury is meeting in the courthouse. FBI agents escorted Hunter into a back entrance ... Edwards, a former U.S. senator from North Carolina and two-time presidential candidate, is under investigation to see if campaign funds were illegally paid to Hunter. There is also widespread speculation that Edwards fathered her child.

RALEIGH (AP) — The former mistress of John Edwards arrived at a federal courthouse in Raleigh where a grand jury was meeting Thursday — an appearance that comes as federal investigators examine the two-time presidential candidate's finances. Rielle Hunter walked into the building through a back entrance and holding a young child. Edwards adamantly denied during his confessional interview with ABC News last summer that he had fathered a child with Hunter, and he welcomed a paternity test. His wife, Elizabeth, has said while promoting her book that she doesn't know if her husband is the father.

For Immediate Release July 27, 2009 Contact: Leslie Miller 202-624-6911 (lmiller@teamster.org) Web Site, Ad Campaign, e-Activism Part of Unprecedented Union Effort Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa on Monday announced that the union will campaign vigorously for health care reform using a new Web site, an ad campaign, call-in days, e-activism and events planned throughout Congress’s August recess. The campaign will kick off with a new Web site today, teamstersforhealthcarereformnow.com, to mobilize members in the fight for health care reform. The Web site launch will be supported by a Web-based ad campaign on targeted state blogs and on-line publications.Tens of thousands...

Few political junkies were surprised Monday when Republican Meg Whitman announced she had plunked down $15 million from her own wallet to bolster her gubernatorial campaign. After all, Whitman, the former CEO of the online auction house eBay, is a billionaire who had promised to spend as much as $150 million of her own money to become governor. But her latest contribution left political analysts and staffers in opposition camps puzzling over what she's going to do with all that money. As could be expected, the Whitman campaign wasn't revealing much as far as strategy. But one thing about her...

The Republican candidate for governor of Virginia indicated that he remains open to having Gov. Sarah Palin, R-Alaska, campaign for him -- but said no plans for such an event are in the works. Bob McDonnell, R-Va., said on ABCNews.com's "Top Line" today that he doesn't know yet whether Palin will campaign on his behalf in Virginia -- reiterating his official campaign stance. "I don't know how this recent announcement -- which I still don't fully understand, I only know what I've read in the media -- how that fully plays out, and whether she's going to just prefer a...

Daily poll question: Should politicians be ousted from office if they break campaign promises?

President Barack Obama on Thursday selected for ambassadorships in Europe two of his presidential campaign's biggest fundraisers, extending a pattern of rewarding political supporters. Obama chose career foreign service officers to head U.S. embassies in Latvia, Benin and Zimbabwe. Obama said he will nominate William Eacho, chief executive officer of Carlton Capital Group, a private investment company, to be ambassador to Austria. Eacho raised more than $500,000 for Obama's presidential run; he and his immediate family also donated $226,000 to federal politics in 2007-08, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group that tracks money in politics.

While searching an entirely different matter ... I happened on this. A little difficult to read and it is VWERY long (you've been warned), but I find it fascinating reading and I (at least) can glean some parallel and insight from this.

Former Ohio Republican Rep. John Kasich on Monday formally announced his 2010 campaign for the governorship, setting up a possible contest with Democratic incumbent Ted Strickland. Kasich disclosed his candidacy in his hometown of Westerville, a Columbus suburb that he represented in the House (1983-2001). His announcement was expected; Kasich last month formed a campaign committee to begin raising money for the governor's race.

Do you agree with putting limits on how much money someone can donate to a state political candidate? Yes 90.3% No 9.7% Total votes: 289

Hollywood fat cats are planning to shell out the big bucks for a Democratic National Committee fundraiser. President Obama will be the star of the multimillion dollar Beverly Hills event. The recession doesn’t seem to have dampened donations on the left coast. The dinner tab will be $30,400 per couple. And a thousand bucks gains entrance to a reception. Hollywood political consultant Andy Spahn told Variety that the sluggish economy is not slowing the response from potential donors. “We will meet our goal,” Spahn bragged to Variety. “It is a tough economy, but there is tremendous excitement about Barack Obama's...

Senator Cornyn, Thank you for your email solicitation. Unfortunately, I cannot in good conscience provide any funds to the NRSC. In my judgement, the GOP in Washington and the NRSC in patricular is too feckless to be trusted to spend my hard earned money wisely. I cite your decision to prematurely and ill-advisedly support Gov. Crist of FL in his senate race as one recent example. You haven't been paying attention. The grassroots in this country are saying they want something else than socialism-lite. We want a return to first principles; a return to the Founders' good work and a...

US Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) is probably among the most despised members of Congress these days. As Chairman of the House Banking Committee, most people have seen his arrogant, condescending manner in various television interviews over the past several months. Well, it turns out that not everyone is upset with ol' Barney. Boston-based Fidelity Investments wants to make sure that Frank wins his next election. So a few weeks ago they "reached out" to him and threw a fund-raiser for Frank at their downtown Boston offices, netting $28,000 for Frank's campaign fund, which was reported in the Boston Herald last...

The campaign's over, Obama; it's time to lead John Kass April 26, 2009 In Europe, he chastised America for what he called our "arrogance." In the Caribbean, he gave the dictator of Venezuela a warm smile and a handshake, and called him "amigo." Before the Saudi king, he bowed low and long. And just the other day, in a cynical nod to Turkish generals, the American president who campaigned for human rights quietly avoided the word "genocide" in a resolution marking the anniversary of the 1915 Ottoman Turkish slaughter of more than a million Armenian Orthodox Christians. A few years...

This week CRP posted new 2010 fundraising profiles for members of Congress, including the total that each lawmaker has raised and spent in the 1st Quarter of 2009. Who's raising the most? Who's already spent the most? With nearly all of the records now in from the Federal Election Commission (with the exception of some senators who aren't up for re-election until at least 2012 and have more time to raise money), we offer a few of our observations: Among members of the House of Representatives, Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.) and Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) have so far raised the...

Images of world’s leading politicians were used in printing a series of advertising posters, which appeared in the streets of Amsterdam on the threshold of the birthday of the Queen of the Netherlands. Posters and postcards depict US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wearing a swimsuit and an orange wig and saying: “Up for a party?” French President Nicolas Sarkozy appears hugging his Italian counterpart Silvio Berlusconi. The two politicians have orange boas around their necks: “Let’s go party!” the slogan on the poster says. Another poster with US President Barack Obama and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was supposed...

Back in 1976 and early 1980 everybody knew about Ronald Reagan's political operatives. He had John Sears and Charlie Black. After they were fired we all learned about the late great Lee Atwater. During Senator Jesse Helms early hard-fought campaigns his top political brains Carter Wreen and Tom Ellis developed a nationwide reputation for great campaign strategy. But who does Governor Sarah Palin have who really thinks through her political fund spending decisions?. Perhaps there are many good thinkers with her. Does anyone know who has influence with her and her campaign tactics in Alaska?

BATON ROUGE -- As Gov. Bobby Jindal's profile in the Republican Party rises, so does the bill for Louisiana taxpayers. Widely considered a GOP presidential contender, Jindal insists he's only interested in re-election as governor, but he has traveled to a dozen states to collect campaign dollars and stump for himself or other Republicans. An Associated Press review shows that providing legally mandated security on such trips has cost the state treasury tens of thousands of dollars since Jindal took office in January 2008, money that has not been reimbursed by Jindal or his campaign.

Democratic candidate hopeful, Barack Obama, on the campaign trail in January of '08: Obama: No warrantless wiretaps if you elect meby Anne Broache HANOVER, N.H.--Barack Obama may be leading the Democratic presidential pack in every major poll here, but that didn't dissuade the Illinois senator from a final early-morning rally with the Facebook generation. Clearly not content to leave their votes to the whims of online politicking, the Illinois senator stepped onto a stage fashioned in a Dartmouth College gymnasium, pulled an index card from his inside jacket pocket, and launched into a familiar set of talking points centered...

Brady Campaign's long record of dishonesty and questionable fundraising practicesLike a hungry ghoul salivating over a fresh grave, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence is exulting over recent murders that provide an excuse to disarm law-abiding American citizens. The Brady Campaign argues that gun laws will prevent violent criminals and Mexican drug gangs from obtaining firearms. The success of such laws, including handgun licensing and registration as advocated by the disgraced Million Mom March, in keeping weapons out of the hands of the individual who killed more than a dozen people in Binghamton NY, speaks for itself. In New...

STRASBOURG, France – Courting Europe with an American-style campaign, President Barack Obama on Friday talked up his plans — popular here — to eliminate nuclear weapons, close the Guantanamo Bay prison and tackle global warming. In return, he's hoping for European popular support in the anti-terror fight in Afghanistan. ... But the European public has no stomach for more intense military involvement by their nations. .. Obama and his aides sought ahead of time to frame that outcome in the best possible light.

Where Ronald Reagan tore down a wall, Barack Obama has hit one – and it’s made of bricks. European support for the American president is suffering. As Gregor Peter Schmitz asserts in Der Spiegel, “it has become clear that the most contentious issues [between the U.S. and Europe] have been shelved.” This means Obama is no longer asking Europe to replicate his idea of a stimulus plan and he’s not pushing for military help in Afghanistan. On both issues European leaders have declared, “No we can’t.” And people say Bush squandered the world’s sympathy? Anyone remember nuggets like this from...

First we find out that Christ Dodd - the Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee - had received more money from the most slimeball of the big Wall Street players than anyone with the possible exception of now-president Barack Hussein. Then we find out that Chris Dodd wrote a clause that essentially specifically exempted AIG bonus money in Barack Hussein's stimulus package - but only at the direct behest of Barack Hussein's Treasury Department, Dodd hastened to add. Now we find out that AIG was basically under the distinct impression (and we can only wonder how they got that impression)...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned whether government regulation of a movie critical of former presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton might also be used to ban books critical of political hopefuls during election season. One justice warned that the future of the nation's campaign finance law could ride on their decision on whether the anti-Clinton movie was journalism or a political attack ad. Government lawyers argued that conservative group Citizens United's 90-minute documentary "Hillary: The Movie" is a political ad just like traditional one-minute or 30-second spots and therefore regulated by the McCain-Feingold law, the popular name...

BARACK Obama and New York senator Charles Schumer, leading the charge to recoup $US165million ($250million) in bonuses paid to employees of AIG, received nearly $US150,000 in campaign donations from the bailed-out US insurance giant. As the White House attempted to contain a furore that threatens to damage the President's standing, New York newspaper Newsday reported that AIG donated $US101,332 to the US President last year, second only to Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate banking committee, who received $US103,100. Senator Schumer, who proposed legislation yesterday that would claw the bonuses back through a special tax of almost 100per cent on...

US President Barack Obama mustered his powerful campaign army on Monday, calling on his millions of supporters to lobby on behalf of his budget and economic plan. The appeal to back the president was made in an email and video sent out by "Organizing for America," the organization which morphed out of Obama's campaign machinery to push his agenda when he entered the White House. In the video, Mitch Stewart, the director of Organizing for America, urged the president's supporters to take part in the "Organizing for America Pledge Project."

He is about to sign his OWN earmarks into law. Lying sack . . .

Bailout firms pay big to D.C.Members of Congress are reluctant to swear off campaign donations from rescue recipients. By Karen E. Crummy The Denver Post Posted: 03/08/2009 12:30:00 AM MST After the biggest federal bailouts in U.S. history, top Washington lawmakers are largely unwilling to say whether they will continue to accept campaign contributions from some of their biggest donors: political action committees and employees of institutions that received the money. Companies that collected bailout money — General Motors, Goldman Sachs, AIG, to name a few — contributed $37 million to federal campaigns last year, with 57 percent of that...

WASHINGTON – Lawyers hired by mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac are quietly investigating the firm's own $2 million lobbying campaign, The Associated Press has learned. The lobbying effort helped quash proposed new regulations on the company before the housing market collapsed. It was not immediately clear how much Freddie Mac is spending to investigate its own conduct or whether it is spending any federal bailout money on the internal probe. The firm was placed under U.S. government control due to its massive investment losses. One of Washington's leading law firms, Covington & Burling LLP, has spent more than a month...

Eat your heart out Jack Abramoff. President Obama looks forward to a guaranteed supply of Democrat campaign money which will make the imprisoned Republican fundraiser look like the small time operator he was. And better yet, Obama's multi-billion dollar nationwide scheme to circumvent campaign spending laws comes neatly disguised as a Hawaii-only deal for "reconciliation" and "justice". "Campaign finance" isn't even in the bill's description. It is called the Akaka Bill. Reintroduced February 4 for the 2009 Congressional session as S381 and HR862, the Akaka Bill creates a process to establish a Native Hawaiian Tribal Government. If it reaches his...