Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Barack Obama seriously considered picking former foe Hillary Clinton as his vice presidential running mate last year but rejected her because he was worried about controlling Bill Clinton. In a new book, the US president's 2008 campaign manager David Plouffe reveals the behind-the-scenes calculations as Obama searched for a vice presidential nominee and finally settled on Joe Biden. "If his central criterion measured who could be the best VP, she had to be included in that list," Plouffe wrote in advance excerpts of the book "Audacity to Win" published in Time magazine. "She was competent, could help...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US Central Intelligence Agency had a secret plan to capture or kill Al-Qaeda operatives but it was terminated by new CIA Director Leon Panetta, The Wall Street Journal said late Sunday. Citing unnamed former intelligence officials familiar with the matter, the newspaper said the precise nature of the highly classified effort remained unclear, and the CIA would not comment on its substance. According to current and former government officials, the agency spent money on planning and possibly some training of its operatives for the mission, the report said. It was acting on a 2001 presidential legal...

CHICAGO – Shortly after his 2002 election, Gov. Rod Blagojevich told Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. he didn't appoint the congressman's wife as lottery director because he had refused him a $25,000 campaign donation, a person familiar with the conversation told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "Blagojevich went out of his way to say, 'You know I was considering your wife for the lottery job and the $25,000 you didn't give me? That's why she's not getting the job,'" the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing federal investigation. Jackson's name has played prominently ever since Blagojevich...

MB mayor wants bike events nixed McBride stands by comments about Bikefest attendees By Emma Ritch The Sun News Myrtle Beach Mayor Mark McBride refused to apologize Tuesday for comments about black bikers and asked council members to cancel Saturday's Atlantic Beach Bikefest events at the convention center. Mickey James, president of the Myrtle Beach branch of the NAACP, criticized McBride at Tuesday's City Council meeting and asked the mayor to apologize publicly for statements in an October deposition that have been highlighted by national and local leaders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "Council shouldn't...

EDMONTON -- Corrections Canada won't let guards at maximum-security prisons wear stab-proof vests because it sends a confrontational "signal" to prisoners, says a department spokesman. "If you have that kind of presence symbolized by (a stab-proof vest), you're sending a signal to the prisoner that you consider him to be a dangerous person," said Tim Krause. "It interferes with what we call 'dynamic security.' We want staff to talk to prisoners, to see how they're doing." At Stony Mountain Institution only guards in the emergency response unit are allowed to wear the stab-proof vests, said unit manager Linda Garwood-Filbert. The...

Miss Marple tipped me off to this on the running commentary from the National Review Online Site.Anyone have more details?