Chanhassen Villager - National Politics - Comments

Obama wins historic

FAdams — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:13:22 -0600

Obama wins historic election

President-elect Barack Hussein Obama (D- Ill.) will be the first non-Caucasion president of the United States.

Sen. Norm Coleman seems to have hung on to his senate seat, holding off challenger Al Franken. U.S. Rep. John Kline has retained his seat in Congress to represent the Second Congressional District. U.S. Rep. Michelle Bachmann also retained her seat in the Sixth District. And former State Rep. Eric Paulsen is now a U.S. Rep. for the third district. He keeps the seat held by retiring Jim Ramstad in Republican hands, but Minnesota's suburbs bucked the nationwide trend, as across America the Republican Party suffered Senate losses and House losses.

The Democrats still don't have a fillibuster-proof majority, and as the Republican Party regroups and recasts itself for the next election, a public that's anxious for better days watches and waits to see what a Democratic president, House and Senate will do. Things have gotten markedly worse since the Democrats took control of Congress and the Senate two years ago. Will a President Obama resist the urge to veer sharply left, along with the unpopular members of Congress. Or will he govern from the center?

It's been a long election season. Let's get on with life. And this concludes the National Politics forum.

Palin cleared in

FAdams — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:38:24 -0600

Palin cleared in "Troopergate"

Media reports today state that Timothy J. Petumenos, the independent counsel to the Alaska Personnel Board, concluded that in the firing of the former Alaska public safety commissioner Walt Monegan, "There is no probable cause to believe that the governor or any other state official violated the Alaska Executive Ethics Act in connection with these matters."

Ohio Coal Association

FAdams — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:16:46 -0600

Ohio Coal Association president Mike Carey issued the following statement in response to recently unearthed remarks from Senator Barack Obama about the nation's coal industry.

To see a video of these remarks, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMwBbl6RoIs.

"Regardless of the timing or method of the release of these remarks, the message from the Democratic candidate for President could not be clearer: the Obama-Biden ticket spells disaster for America's coal industry and the tens of thousands of Americans who work in it.

"These undisputed, audio-taped remarks, which include comments from Senator Obama like 'I haven't been some coal booster' and 'if they want to build [coal plants], they can, but it will bankrupt them' are extraordinarily misguided.

"It's evident that this campaign has been pandering in states like Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Indiana and Pennsylvania to attempt to generate votes from coal supporters, while keeping his true agenda hidden from the state's voters.

"Senator Obama has revealed himself to be nothing more than a short- sighted, inexperienced politician willing to say anything to get a vote. But today, the nation's coal industry and those who support it have a better understanding of his true mission, to 'bankrupt' our industry, put tens of thousands out of work and cause unprecedented increases in electricity prices.

"In addition to providing an affordable, reliable source of low-cost electricity, domestic coal holds the key to our nation's long-term energy security - a goal that cannot be overlooked during this time of international instability and economic uncertainty.

"Few policy areas are more important to our economic future than energy issues. As voters head to the polls tomorrow, it is essential they remember that access to reliable, affordable, domestic energy supplies is essential to economic growth and stability."

The Ohio Coal Association (OCA) is a non-profit trade association representing the interests of Ohio's underground and surface coal mining producers. The OCA represents nearly 40 coal producing companies and more than 50 Associate Members, which include suppliers and consultants to the mining industry, coal sales agents and brokers and allied industries. The Ohio Coal Association is committed to advancing the development and utilization of Ohio coal as an abundant, economic and environmentally sound energy source.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton

FAdams — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:05:56 -0500

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said that two right-leaning papers, the Washington Times and the New York Post, have lost their seats on the Obama plane, along with the Dallas Morning News.

He said the campaign was making space for the dropped outlets on the campaign bus where possible, and that they were encouraged to travel with Senator Joe Biden.

McCain barred liberal columnists Maureen Dowd and Joe Klein from his campaign plane.

Pres. Clinton in town for

FAdams — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:53:14 -0500

Pres. Clinton in town for Dems

As Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama holds onto a double-digit lead in Minnesota over Sen. John McCain, DFL U.S. Senate hopeful Al Franken is losing ground to incumbent Senator Norm Coleman.

A Rasmussen poll released Thursday morning showed Franken down four percentage points to Coleman, Coleman's biggest lead since April, according to Rasmussen.

"Coming off what many view as his strongest debate performance of the campaign last Thursday, Coleman leads Franken 43% to 39% in the latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of voters in the state. Independent candidate Dean Barkley is favored by 14%. Four percent (4%) remain undecided. A week ago Franken had a four-point lead, 41% to 37%, and Barkley, the wild card in the race, registered 17% support."

Along the way, Coleman picked up the endorsement of the Star-Tribune.

President Bill Clinton is scheduled to be at the Minneapolis Convention Center, Hall A, to rally Democrats to get out and vote for change. The rally is set for Thursday, Oct. 30, with the doors to open at 7 p.m. and the rally to begin at 7:30.

Palestinian Ibrahim Abu

FAdams — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 09:00:48 -0500

Palestinian Ibrahim Abu Jayab, 24, lives with his family in Nusayrat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip. He's a young Palestinian refugee just doing his part to get out the vote for Barack Obama. With a little help from the Internet, he is cold calling random American families from his parent's home imploring them to vote Obama, according to a report on Yahoo News http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow/photo//081028/481/1caabe54532f44....

Congress gets richer in

FAdams — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 13:52:22 -0500

Congress gets richer in 2007

A story published by McClathy Newspapers details the wealth of our Congressional leaders in Washington, D.C.

It begins: "Times are tough, but don't worry about most members of Congress making ends meet."

"Overall, nearly two of every three senators are millionaires. That includes presidential candidates Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill."

For the full story, go to http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/story/54838.html.

I grew up in Lake County,

Ruth Anne Maddox — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:13:43 -0500

I grew up in Lake County, Indiana -- across the bridge from Gary in Hammond -- and there was always some form of corruption going on there so it's no surprise that ACORN didn't fall too far from that tree, either.

Indiana's secretary of

FAdams — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 08:50:32 -0500

Indiana's secretary of state, Todd Rokita, has requested a criminal investigation into ACORN, which is accused of submitting hundreds of bogus voter registration forms in northern Lake County. The request is based on his examination and analysis of 1,438 questionable voter registration applications ACORN submitted in the county, which includes the city of Gary.

The number of voters

FAdams — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 09:20:21 -0500

The number of voters registered in an Alabama county exceeds the total number of adults in the county.

Alabama's Republican Secretary of State said it would be nice to have 100 percent of the adult population registered, but it's impossible.

As people point at the organization, ACORN, as the culprit, a man named Michael Solomon (acornwatch.org) is sounding the alarm. His Website, www.acornwatch.org, tracks possible fraud.

"They get paid by the number of people they register," he said durin a Sunday morning television interview. "It's out of hand. It could change an election."

Right now 15 states are facing voter fraud allegations. Will the elections this year really be free and fair?

Colorado Democrats accused a

FAdams — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:09:25 -0500

Colorado Democrats accused a Republican county clerk Wednesday of falsely informing Colorado College that students from outside the state could not register to vote if their parents claimed them as a dependent on their tax returns, according to democraticunderground.com.

At a news conference in Colorado Springs, Democrats also criticized Robert Balink, the El Paso County clerk and recorder, who was a delegate to the Republican National Convention, for taking other steps they said would dampen voting by college students, who are expected to heavily favor Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

A top Iranian official has

FAdams — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:02:30 -0500

A top Iranian official has said Barack Obama is the favoured candidate of Tehran, calling him more "rational" than John McCain in remarks that could be used against the Democratic U.S. presidential hopeful.

Biden predicts international

FAdams — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 14:02:22 -0500

Biden predicts international crisis

Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden at a fundraiser in Seattle said that there will be “an international crisis” within the first six months of a Barack Obama administration.

Biden said that “it will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We're about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America.”

“Watch. We're going to have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy,” Biden said.

In no way related to the

FAdams — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:08:51 -0500

In no way related to the Obama campaign, more than 30,000 Florida felons who by law should have been stripped of their right to vote remain registered to cast ballots in this presidential battleground state, according to a Sun Sentinel investigation. Go to http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-flbfelons1012sbo....

NBC releases story on Obama

FAdams — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:26:00 -0500

NBC releases story on Obama campaign meeting with radical Muslims

The Obama campaign’s Muslim outreach director has been guarded from NBC News reporters seeking answers about the campaign's participation in a meeting in mid September that was attended by several controversial Muslim activists.

One meeting attendee was Mahdi Bray of the Muslim American Society. Bray’s critics say he has a history of defending terrorists. At a rally in 2000 he openly supported the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah. In a 2004 interview, he called the Israeli assassination of a Hamas spiritual leader an “unlawful, cowardly and dangerous act of state-sponsored terrorism,” according to NBC.

Also attending the meeting was Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. CAIR is an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing case.

National Politics

FAdams — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 22:18:57 -0600

There's so much happening on the national political scene everyday that I think it deserves a blog all its own. Feel free to post news content and informed dialogue.