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76 killed in Jamrud mosque Pakaboom
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 6: Politix
14 00:00 lotp [4] 
5 00:00 DepotGuy [4] 
1 00:00 newc [1] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 4: Opinion
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Home Front: Politix
Obama Town Hall Questioners Were Campaign Backers
The Teleprompter Jesus couldn't allow the message to deviate, nor be expected to respond to unvetted opposition questions. Think of the squeals of hysterical outrage if Rove had done this for Chimpy McHalliburton? He's a fake
President Obama has promised to change the way the government does business, but in at least one respect he is taking a page from the Bush playbook, stocking his town hall Thursday with supporters whose soft -- though far from planted -- questions provided openings to discuss his preferred message of the day.

Obama has said, "I think it's important to engage your critics ... because not only will you occasionally change their mind but, more importantly, sometimes they will change your mind," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs recounted to The Post's Lois Romano in an interview Wednesday.

But while the online question portion of the White House town hall was open to any member of the public with an Internet connection, the five fully identified questioners called on randomly by the president in the East Room were anything but a diverse lot. They included: a member of the pro-Obama Service Employees International Union, a member of the Democratic National Committee who campaigned for Obama among Hispanics during the primary; a former Democratic candidate for Virginia state delegate who endorsed Obama last fall in an op-ed in the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star; and a Virginia businessman who was a donor to Obama's campaign in 2008.
Posted by: Frank G || 03/28/2009 10:40 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Teleprompter Jesus. LOL.
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/28/2009 10:52 Comments || Top||

#2  does this really surprise anyone
Posted by: rabid whitetail || 03/28/2009 11:25 Comments || Top||

#3  Gawd, It's Martin Luther King hooked on electronics.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 03/28/2009 11:26 Comments || Top||

#4  taking a page from the Bush playbook

Frank G, it seems the WaPo is asserting that, in fact, Dubya's people DID do this. I don't recall it. In this case do I trust my memory or the WaPo's connection to reality?
Posted by: Verlaine || 03/28/2009 12:14 Comments || Top||

#5  These sheeple knew they were media administration "plants" and were probably rewarded handsomely for their deeds. They are little more than shameless, leftest, tools of the Obama state.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/28/2009 12:19 Comments || Top||

#6  The Democrats have got the dog and pony show down pat. You have to have a fake front when the top woman in congress is from the gueer captial of the world, the top male in congress is from the gambling capital of the world, and the oval office occupant is from the shake down capital of the world.
Posted by: Elmereque Thaiper5816 || 03/28/2009 12:23 Comments || Top||

#7 
Obama needs to remember that the MSM built him up and they can knock him down. Do they have the guts we'll see.
Posted by: macofromoc || 03/28/2009 13:46 Comments || Top||

#8  Verlaine, to my knowledge W's staff did not do this, or we'd still be hearing about it. Looks to me like WaPo defensiveness over the lameness of their messiah: "see? they did it too!1!!..or something"
Posted by: Frank G || 03/28/2009 13:56 Comments || Top||

#9  Cause a question for the President is a f***ing valuable thing, you just don’t give it away for nothing.
Posted by: DMFD || 03/28/2009 14:02 Comments || Top||

#10  Teleprompter Jesus. LOL.

I hate you!
Posted by: Spirit || 03/28/2009 15:18 Comments || Top||

#11  I recall Bush's team would pick very friendly venues and keep pesky non-supporters out. They'd have tickets for the event and distribute the tickets to supporters. No tickee, no entry. I don't recall them using campaign backers as plants for questions, though if everyone in the hall is a supporter, that's hardly needed.

I should note that the whole idea of having a friendly venue packed with supporters is not a new idea in politics, nor is it new to use tickets to a 'free' event to ensure a welcome reception.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/28/2009 15:35 Comments || Top||

#12  I seem to recall during the Republican primary some of the 'debate' questioners were outriger Democratic Operatives.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 03/28/2009 15:43 Comments || Top||

#13  The last time they went unscripted they got Joe the Plumber.
Posted by: Skunky Glins 5*** || 03/28/2009 19:28 Comments || Top||

#14  I recall Bush's team would pick very friendly venues and keep pesky non-supporters out.

Didn't they also more or less keep out the press? If I'm remembering that correctly it's an important difference from O's 'town hall'.
Posted by: lotp || 03/28/2009 20:10 Comments || Top||


Democrat Up In Race For Gillibrand's Seat
An update on the heated special election in the NY-20 congressional district, the race to replace Kirsten Gillibrand. A new Siena College poll out today has Democrat Scott Murphy up four points heading into the final weekend of campaigning.

Perhaps in an effort to take advantage of this momentum, the Democratic National Committee is running an ad on Albany-area TV touting this week's endorsement of Murphy by President Obama. "In the worst recession in a generation, upstate New Yorkers deserve someone with the right skills to represent them in Washington. That's why President Obama is supporting Scott Murphy for Congress," an announcer says in the ad that will run through Monday. "[I]n Congress, he'll work with President Obama to spur investment and create jobs right here at home."

Mark Gersh, NCEC Director in Washington, DC and CBS News consultant, puts the contest and the region in perspective this way: "Historically upstate New York has favored Republican congressional districts.... [But] as of now, Republicans control only two seats north of New York City. Democrats have enjoyed enormous success in upstate and suburban New York since 2006. In those last two elections, John Hall (19th district), Kirsten Gillibrand (20th district), Mike Arcuri (24th district), Dan Maffei (25th district) and Eric Massa (29th district) have captured Republican seats.
Posted by: Fred || 03/28/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yeah, vote democrat. They have been so successful in bankrupting you thus far.

You are lost on how Providence is applied, and yours is all over and spent. FDR was not woth a years worth of protection of this country, and Obama and Pelosi are not worth a breath.

WAKE UP OR DIE>

LAST WARNING AMERICA.

Socialist ARE FKTARDS., And YOU are Fool. Be the ball you want ME TO PUNT.
Posted by: newc || 03/28/2009 2:09 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Die Hildebeast wanted Netanyahu to kick Arad out of their meeting
Laura Rozen reports: Clinton wanted Netanyahu to kick Uzi Arad out of their meeting:

[W]hen Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Netanyahu at the King David Hotel earlier this month, such was the concern that a certain former Mossad analyst who now serves as Netanyahu's security advisor may pose a counterintelligence problem that, after conferring with an aide, Clinton suggested to Netanyahu that they reduce the number of people in the room.

... Arad has been unable to get a U.S. visa for the past two years, he has suggested, because he was identified in a 2005 indictment (though not by name) as one of the Israelis who met with then-Pentagon Iran specialist Larry Franklin. Franklin pled guilty in 2005 on charges related to unauthorized disclosure of national-security information to people not authorized to receive it, including officials with the Israeli government.

Clinton's suggestion was made, sources say, in the hopes that Netanyahu would get the message and excuse Arad from the meeting. What happened instead, sources report, was that Netanyahu dismissed from the meeting Israeli ambassador to Washington Sallai Meridor, who has since announced his resignation. (An account of the meeting previously published on ForeignPolicy.com revealed that Clinton seemed remarkably constrained and tight-lipped during it.)

U.S. officials knowledgeable about the meeting declined to comment about the incident but did not deny that Arad's presence at the meeting was a concern to the U.S. delegation.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/28/2009 05:20 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Bibi knows exactly who and what he's dealing with.
Posted by: Frank G || 03/28/2009 10:45 Comments || Top||

#2  A counterintelligance problem? He's an Israeli spy. He's going to tell the Israelis what happened in the meeting?

If we're pissed off over the Franklin incident, be straightforward and say so. Say we're not dealing with someone who help flip a U.S. analyst.

I like the Israelis and love my country. This nonsense makes me sick.
Posted by: DoDo || 03/28/2009 12:22 Comments || Top||

#3  Didn't Hillary try to get Jonathan Pollard (convicted and sentenced to life Israeli spy) pardoned during her Senate campaign?
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 03/28/2009 17:22 Comments || Top||

#4  you mean when she needed NY Jew votes? Like when the pardons came in for poll group "victims", the New Square Hasidic Juice? Jeebus, aren't you the cynical one!
Posted by: Frank G || 03/28/2009 17:41 Comments || Top||

#5  "Arad has been denied a U.S. visa under section 212 3(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. This gives consular officers and the Justice Department authority to bar people who may seek 'to violate any law of the United States relating to espionage or sabotage' from entering the country."


Obviously some say Arad is cool as the other side of the pillow and should be welcomed to highly classified meetings with the US DoS. Others suggest, because of his sketchy past, he should just be marginialized but still be able to participate in the vapor. Still others believe he should rot in a prison cell; same as his fellow commrades that have stolen highly classified intelligence from the the US. Then again, some believe lying spies that pretend to be friends deserve a much harsher form of justice. You make the call.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 03/28/2009 20:57 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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1Thai Insurgency
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1al-Qaeda in Europe

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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2009-03-28
  76 killed in Jamrud mosque Pakaboom
Fri 2009-03-27
  Pakaboom kills 11 in Tank
Thu 2009-03-26
  Drone attack kills six in Pakistain
Wed 2009-03-25
  North Korea loading rocket on launch pad
Tue 2009-03-24
  Indian Army:16 Infiltrators: 8 in Kupwara overtime
Mon 2009-03-23
  Five soldiers, 6 militants killed in Kashmir battle
Sun 2009-03-22
  Prabhakaran & Son sighted in ''No Fire Zone''
Sat 2009-03-21
  Pak fires on Indian army positions
Fri 2009-03-20
  Jihad Unspun Proprietress Held for Ransom by Taliban
Thu 2009-03-19
  Canadian-Lebanese in court over Paris bombing
Wed 2009-03-18
  Islamic courts go to work in Swat
Tue 2009-03-17
  Death toll at 11 in Pindi kaboom
Mon 2009-03-16
  Zardari caves: Judges restored
Sun 2009-03-15
  Nawaz arrested!
Sat 2009-03-14
  Sudan: Kidnappers demand Bashir arrest warrant be dropped


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