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JULY 16, 2009 Obama and the Speech What is the point and purpose of the President's orations? DANIEL HENNINGER. Can Barack Obama talk his way onto Mount Rushmore? He might. In fact, if just half of what Mr. Obama has said that he, we or the world should do comes to pass, he's going straight to that mountain. More than any U.S. president, The Speech is the primary vehicle of Barack Obama's politics. Web sites have been erected as shrines to his speeches. Obamaspeech.com offers the text of 100 Obama speeches back to 2002. The electronic library stops at January...

Today's Brack Obama press conference has been moved indoors over fears that Washington's heat and humidity might make Associated Press White House reporter Jennifer Loven's hair explode live on national TV:

I'll start it off.... Hopie changie dork Married to Aunt Esther clone With boob belt and arms.

Turns out that a McCain did emerge from the 2008 election victorious — not the captivity-surviving, straight-talking, Palin-picking Republican senator from Arizona but his Bud Light-drinking, talk-show-appearing, insouciantly Twittering 24-year-old daughter. “My cab driver is totally vibing me out,” Meghan McCain Twittered to her online devotees Thursday evening. “Just asked me if my cheekbones are real? Wtf, u can have fake cheekbones???” Yep, that’s the one. While John McCain has gone back to being the senior senator from Arizona, Meghan — Columbia grad, former "Saturday Night Live" and Newsweek intern — has crashed the Republican Party like a slightly tipsy...

Former eBay boss Meg Whitman isn't really a California cowgirl, but she plays one on the cover of Fortune magazine. When Whitman, who wants to be California's next governor, did a photo shoot in Half Moon Bay for the lead story in this week's issue, she used a four-legged prop named Brandy. In a note at CNNMoney.com, Fortune editor at large Patricia Sellers revealed that it was a rent-a-horse that appeared on the cover and in a picture inside. "The horse on the cover, Brandy, isn't Whitman's, but she does ride in Telluride, Colorado, where she and her neurosurgeon husband,...

Did you feel it? The political ground shifting beneath President Barack Obama since his speech last week to Congress? It's been  downhill since and I'm not referring mainly to the Dow Jones record-setting dive. The pivot point of the shift was the speech, or rather what the speech did to the evolving public narrative of Obama.Let's review:* Since the first of the year, Rush Limbaugh's audience has exploded , according to Howard Kurtz of The Washington Post, even as his daily assaults on Obama have intensified. The conservative Talk Radio maestro has become the most listened-to radio personality in America since before Paul Harvey.Demand for his air...

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama is comparing the stock market to the daily tracking polls used during campaigns, saying that paying too close attention to Wall Street's "fits and starts" could lead to bad long-term policy. Obama spoke to reporters Tuesday after meeting in the Oval Office with visiting British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Obama said he is not measuring policies against "the day-to-day gyrations of the stock market," but by whether lending is flowing more freely, businesses are investing and the unemployed are going back to work. He said he is "absolutely confident" that those things will happen....

Sens. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Wednesday dusted off the reform mantle and formally launched their latest crusade: significantly curbing the use of earmarks in appropriations.

HONOLULU – The media glare, the constant security appendage and the sheer production that has become a morning jog or a hankering for an ice cream cone – it’s been closing in on Barack Obama for some time. Now the president-elect appears increasingly conscious of the confines of his new position, bristling at the routine demands of press coverage and beginning to chafe at boundaries that are only going to get smaller. Obama even took the unusual step Friday morning of leaving behind the pool of reporters assigned to follow him, taking his daughters to a nearby water park without...

Remember the days when Sen. John McCain was the Democratic Party’s best friend? And a BFF, as well, to the Mainstream Media? Well, they’re ba-a-a-ck. John McCain, resuming his place as a favorite Sunday morning talking head, gave Democrats and liberal media types exactly what they wanted this weekend: He attacked the Republican National Committee for highlighting Barack Obama’s connections to Illinois’ scandal-ridden soon-to-be ex-governor, Rod Blagojevich. “In all due respect to the Republican National Committee,” McCain told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, “I think we should be working constructively together.”

You know what? I'm tired of the leftists of all different types that think they have it over me. I hardly ever wear a "wife beater" t-shirt, but when I do, cops hardly ever pull up in front of my 3000 sq ft brick home (except for when the County Sheriff stops in for an iced tea or to talk about football, when we're going hunting next, or where to go to catch some bass). I don't have any cars on blocks in my front yard, though I have some friends who do. Dogs hardly ever sleep on my front...

The Case for choices within the Roman Catholic Church is a very important not only for the Church Hierarchy but for all catholic people active or lapsed. Fact we have amalgamations and or closing down of churches in Europe and America on a grand scale exception is Poland who have seen a growth both to the Roman Catholic Church and the National Catholic church which Rome does recognise as valid. Anglican Clergy can do a quick conversion course and receive Catholic Orders along with his wife and kids. However if Fr o flattery dares to have an affair out he...

"On the death penalty, Mr. Obama wrote in his memoir, “The Audacity of Hope,” (Crown, 2007), that the penalty “does little to deter crime.” But he added that society has the right to express outrage at heinous crimes. During his 2004 Senate campaign, he publicly supported the death penalty, even as he called the justice system flawed and urged a moratorium on executions." "Mr. Obama is an introspective candidate, and perhaps the best analyst of his own political style. “I serve as a blank screen,” he wrote in “The Audacity of Hope,” “on which people of vastly different political stripes...

McLean, VA – On September 6, 2007, Fred Thompson will be announcing his intention to run for President of the United States with a webcast available to millions at www.imwithfred.com. The launch of the video will be followed by a five-day campaign tour through Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. “I believe that there are millions of Americans who know that our security and prosperity are at risk if we don’t address the challenges of our time; the global threat of terrorism; taxes and spending that will bankrupt future generations, and a government that can’t seem to get the most...

Anonymous No More By Howard KurtzWashington Post Staff Writer Friday, July 27, 2007; 8:50 AM (Much snippage) The magazine's editor, Franklin Foer, disclosed in an interview that Beauchamp is married to a New Republic staffer, and that is "part of the reason why we found him to be a credible writer." Foer also said Beauchamp "has put himself in significant jeopardy" and "lost his lifeline to the rest of the world" because military officials have taken away his laptop, cellphone and e-mail privileges.As both the military and the magazine investigate Beauchamp's allegations, a personal blog surfaced in which Beauchamp said...

The World Economic Forum in Davos is a sanctuary for America-bashers. John Kerry was the star there yesterday. In case you missed it, Allah's got video and the lowdown. All I can say is: Thank God for the Swift Boat Veterans. Davos is getting feedback. LGF'ers are leading the charge. Matt at Blackfive notes that while Kerry schmoozed former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, evidence of Iranian special ops orchestration of the horrific attack on US troops in Kerbala is building.

DALLAS – She flashed her car lights at male drivers and motioned for them to pull over, then told them she was a police officer and that they could avoid court by paying a fine on the spot, police say. Now 32-year-old Jennifer McGowan of Dallas is being held on suspicion of impersonating a police officer at the Lew Sterrett Justice Center. Bond was set $3,500, said Deputy Michael Ortiz, Dallas County Sheriff’s Department spokesman.Jail records show McGowan previously has been arrested for burglary of habitation and prostitution.McGowan was arrested about 2 p.m. Wednesday in the Fort Worth Avenue...

Tonight, embattled University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill issued a statement defending his scholarship and threatening the school for attempting to fire him. CU announced on Monday a decision to terminate Churchill, who began to be investigated for academic misconduct after an essay he wrote compared victims of the September 11th terrorist attack to an infamous Nazi. Statement released Tuesday by University of Colorado-Boulder professor Ward Churchill: It was quite predictable that Interim Chancellor Phil DiStefano would recommend that I be fired from my tenured professorship at the University of Colorado/Boulder. After all, he was effectively ordered to find some...

Texas: A U-S soldier's wife is launching real and virtual bake sales to raise money to buy body armor for troops -- even though the government has promised to rush more protective gear to those on Iraq's front lines. Tammara Rosenleaf's husband deployed from Fort Hood in December. She said the Bake Sales for Body Armor fund-raiser also will provide medical supplies, communications equipment and other needed gear. Rosenleaf hosts the first bake sale tomorrow in Montana. Beatriz Saldivar of Fort Worth -- whose nephew Daniel Torres was killed in Iraq a year ago -- said she plans to help...