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Washington - The number of hate crimes in the United States climbed slightly in 2008, while anti-gay or religion-motivated attacks surged markedly, according to new government data Monda

"...Austin Hill...you just a racist; you just can’t handle the black man bein’ in charge..." Those remarks were left for me in a voicemail message about six weeks ago. The call was placed to my Blackberry one weekday morning while I was on-air hosting talk radio in Phoenix, Arizona. I don’t know who the woman was that made the call (the "caller i.d." was blocked), and I didn’t recognize the voice. But somebody who had access to my personal mobile number left that message for me at a very strategic time – a time when I was obviously not going...

It sounded to White House advisers like a good idea. Put President Barack Obama on five Sunday morning talk shows. This would focus attention on health care, re-establish momentum, and show off Mr. Obama's passion, intelligence, and persuasive abilities. It didn't work. Mr. Obama made a classic mistake of politicians on a downward-bending arc. He jumps out in front of the cameras without having something fresh to offer.

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT TO THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY United Nations Headquarters New York, New York 10:10 A.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Mr. President, Mr. Secretary General, fellow delegates, ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to address you for the first time as the 44th President of the United States. (Applause.) I come before you humbled by the responsibility that the American people have placed upon me, mindful of the enormous challenges of our moment in history, and determined to act boldly and collectively on behalf of justice and prosperity at home and abroad. I have been...

"...These are bits and pieces of an increasingly unrestrained manifestation of racism directed toward Mr. Obama that is being fed by hate-mongers on talk radio and is widely tolerated, if not encouraged, by Republican Party leaders. It’s disgusting, and it’s dangerous. But it’s the same old filthy racism that has been there all along and that has been exploited by the G.O.P. since the 1960s. I have no patience with those who want to pretend that racism is not an out-and-out big deal in the United States, as it always has been. We may have made progress, and we may...

What I wrote last year about candidate Barack Obama -- that to win he had to be seen as "the least-aggrieved black man in America" -- may be even more relevant now. To lead this diverse and fractious nation effectively, the president has to negotiate racial issues with delicacy, caution and tact. He has to give even his most vocal critics the benefit of the doubt. But I don't. So I can say in plain language that Jimmy Carter was right in essence, but wrong in degree. It seems clear to me that some -- but not "an overwhelming portion,"...

DAYTON — Sen. Sherrod Brown said Friday, Sept. 18, that he believes President Obama should have a health reform bill — one with a government-run insurance plan and universal coverage — on his desk by late fall. The Ohio Democrat said he would be “hard-pressed” to vote for a bill that does not include a government insurance plan as one of the options available to people. He made his comments following a breakfast speech sponsored by the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Also Friday, an audience member asked Brown about comments by Nancy Pelosi, the...

Jimmy Carter: Wilson Comments 'Based on Racism' ASSOCIATED PRESS September 15, 2009 ATLANTA (AP) -- Former President Jimmy Carter said Tuesday that U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson's outburst to President Barack Obama during a speech to Congress last week was an act ''based on racism'' and rooted in fears of a black president. ''I think it's based on racism,'' Carter said at a town hall held at his presidential center in Atlanta. ''There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president.'' The Georgia Democrat said the outburst was a part of a disturbing...

It is clear and not coincidence that FOX continues to attack and divide our nation along racial lines. We believe our country is beyond this type of attack and call on all Americans to demand that FOX stop its racist coverage.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has agreed the House should vote next week on scolding Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) for his outburst during President Barack Obama's speech unless he apologies on the floor of the House. "There was a violation of the rules of the House," said Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly. "It needs to be resolved by an apology or a resolution." A Democrat will introduce a "resolution of disapproval" Monday or Tuesday unless Wilson formally apologizes on the House floor. The House returns Monday. Wilson shouted "You lie!" Wednesday night during Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress, after Obama...

If you believe Huffington Post contributor David Sirota there are only two types of people in the world, those who agree with everything President Obama says and does, and those who are racist. Sirota is a "racer" someone who uses race as the political excuse for just about everything, and takes it to an extent which goes beyond any sense of reality. Other famous racers are Janine Garafolo, who said that the people participating in the April Tea Parties were doing so because they objected to a African American President, and embattled Congressman Charlie Rangel who blames protests against Obamacare...

Editor, At the risk of sounding sexist, how did the health care debate get hijacked by an overgrown teenage girl on Facebook? Sarah Palin quit her job as governor of Alaska to become an unpaid right-wing blogger, yet still has the power to disrupt any rational discourse. Possibly related: How did someone like Palin even rise to the spotlight in the first place? Her rise was born in the waning days of the contentious Democratic primaries between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. After the controversial Democratic National Convention Rules Committee decision to split in half the delegates from Michigan and...

Alaska Democrats on Monday accused Republican Gov. Sarah Palin of abdicating her duties with her decision to travel outside the state this week as the state Legislature’s session winds down. "She is putting her national political ambitions ahead of the needs of Alaska," Alaska Democrat Party Chairwoman Patti Higgins said at a news conference. The Legislature must conclude its work by Sunday, with the federal stimulus package and the capital budget yet to be approved. Palin is scheduled to leave the state later this week to attend a right-to-life fundraiser Thursday in Indiana....

Taken as a package, Obama said, his agenda in Europe should be the common goals among people of faith during holy days of Easter and Passover. "These are two very different holidays with their own very different traditions. But it seems fitting that we mark them both during the same week," Obama said. "For in a larger sense, they are both moments of reflection and renewal. They are both occasions to think more deeply about the obligations we have to ourselves and the obligations we have to one another, no matter who we are, where we come from, or what...

Just like movie studios release excerpts of upcoming films to generate excitement and hopefully a big audience, that’s what 60 minutes is doing to preview President Obama’s appearance on the news show tonight. And as disgruntled moviegoers know, half the time the trailers are better than the actual movies. Here’s hoping that tonight’s show fares better than this dog, this flop, or this disaster. It should do well. To make sure it was interesting, they interviewed him for over 90 minutes (and the teleprompter wasn’t invited). Based on the excerpts they released, if it were a movie, it could be...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is denying Republican claims that she is partisan, saying she has been open to GOP ideas. In an interview with Charlie Rose on Friday, Pelosi was asked what is the most unfair and misleading impression of her. Pelosi initially said she doesn’t think about it, but when pressed, the Speaker took on her Republican critics. “There seems to -- some people think there seems to be a market for saying that I am very partisan, and that I don't give the Republicans their opportunity. That simply is not true.

"It literally look[s] like Nazi Germany -- it really did. I make -- said that point. It just does not seem -- like not only are we not welcome -- not only are we not welcome, but they don’t even care what we think."

NEW YORK – MSNBC's Chris Matthews said he was surprised by the "peculiar stagecraft" of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's response to President Barack Obama's speech to Congress, leading him to quietly say "Oh God" as Jindal approached a microphone. The remark inspired a brief Internet guessing game about who had said it and questions about whether someone at MSNBC was mocking the Republican governor. Matthews' barely audible "Oh God" appeared to be a classic case of someone talking on TV without realizing their microphone was on, and potentially embarrassing to a network many Republicans already regard with suspicion because of...

Us” meaning the GOP, of course. I appreciate his willingness to beat himself up in the name of regaining the public’s trust, but, er, is the man of Steele being perhaps a bit too self-deprecating here? Even Beck’s taken aback by the brutal candor of it (but in a good way!)

Press Releases Contact: Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami 202-226-7616 For Immediate Release 02/13/2009 Pelosi: ‘After All the Debate, This Legislation Can Be Summed Up in One Word: Jobs’ Washington, D.C. — Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke on the House floor this afternoon in strong support of the joint House-Senate conference report on HR 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The House approved the measure this afternoon by a vote of 246 to 183. The Senate is expected to pass the legislation later today and President Obama will sign it into law next week. “Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, I...