Lebron James donates $20k to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign

By Andrew Malcolm
Los Angeles Times blog
July 29, 2008
Click here for the original article

Not sure how we missed him the other day in another one of Dan Morain’s comprehensive campaign finance roundups. After all, the guy is about two feet taller than our garage door.

But LeBron Raymone James, the 6-8 “small” forward for the Cleveland Cavaliers, has endorsed Barack Obama for president.

If by endorsing, you mean donating $20G’s to a committee devoted to electing the freshman Illinois Democratic senator as president on Nov. 4.

James, an Akron native, was the No. 1 NBA draft choice in 2003 out of St. Vincent-St. Mary High School. He got $90 million for a shoe-endorsing contract with Nike before playing one minute in the NBA. So he sure must have pretty feet.

Presumably James can afford the political donation. Maybe he’ll also throw in a pair of running shoes for Obama to finish the race.

As you can easily see from the video highlights below, the much-touted James has turned out to be a pretty mediocre pro player, actually. He managed to be elected league Rookie of the Year only once. He’s been on the All-NBA team only four times and was league scoring champion this past season.

Sure, as you can see, he’s large (250 pounds), but he’s quick, jumps high and makes baskets from great distances.

Other than that, not much to show.

The absurdity of a Bob Barr candidacy under the Libertarian Party cloak

If you are:

Pro-Iraq War
Pro-Patriot Act
Pro-Drug War
Anti-Gay Marriage

Then VOTE for Bob Barr!
YOUR MAN FOR 2008!

More MSM coverage for Senator Jim Webb… could this be a VP nod indication?

Looks like Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) is picking up more coverage lately. Could this be an indication he is being highly considered for Obama’s VP position? I like Jim Webb but he hasn’t been a senator for very long and this form of inexperience could come back in November and bite the democrats in the ass.. no pun intended.

But I guess if you seriously want change, you’ll have to accept that it may very well come in the form of inexperience.

08AMA!

Arming Obama:
Sen. Jim Webb — Vietnam Vet, ‘Redneck’ — Is Emerging As the Democrats’ Military Point Man; The ‘VP!’ Chant

By Monica Langley
Wall Street Journal Online – WSJ.com
June 21, 2008
Click here for the original article

WASHINGTON, D.C. — With his two Purple Hearts, three tattoos and spoiling-for-a-fight attitude, Sen. Jim Webb is emerging as the Democrats’ point man on two of the most profound matters facing the electorate this November: national defense and the military.

A highly decorated war veteran who opposes the Iraq war, Sen. Webb is considered by many Democrats to be the best person to go into battle against another war hero, expected Republican nominee Sen. John McCain. The ex-Marine, who hails from the important swing state of Virginia, could also become Sen. Barack Obama’s go-to person on national security, where the Democratic presidential candidate’s résumé is weak compared with rival Sen. McCain’s.

His rising star has been enhanced by the expected passage of a GI bill he championed, which provides money for veterans to go to college, and which President Bush recently accepted despite his earlier veto threat. All that makes Sen. Webb one of the most talked-about possible vice-presidential contenders.

Yet, Sen. Webb, a politician for less than two years, could be a risky combatant for the Democratic party. The 62-year-old lawmaker and novelist has a zeal that sometimes defies political niceties: He didn’t shake President Bush’s hand when the president asked about his son’s deployment to Iraq. Some of his views aren’t politically correct. He contends that “poor whites” are an oppressed class, and defends Confederate soldiers for fighting for state sovereignty.

A spokeswoman says Sen. Webb “speaks artfully about complex issues that many politicians shy away from, and it’s his authenticity that is so compelling.”

The self-described “redneck” occasionally carries a concealed pistol, and is still suspect to some Democrats for having served as Secretary of the Navy in the Reagan administration. He speaks fluent Vietnamese with his third wife, a lawyer who fled Vietnam as a girl and whom he calls his “warrior queen.” He takes long walks in Arlington Cemetery, stopping recently to place a rock on the headstone of Sen. McCain’s father, a tradition that signals respect for the dead…

Click here for the full story

Newsweek: Obama leads McCain by 15%

By Michael Hirsh
Newsweek.com
June 20, 2008
Click here for the original story

Barack finally has his bounce. For weeks many political experts and pollsters have been wondering why the race between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain had stayed so tight, even after the Illinois senator wrested the nomination from Hillary Clinton. With numbers consistently showing rock-bottom approval ratings for President Bush and a large majority of Americans unhappy with the country’s direction, the opposing-party candidate should, in the normal course, have attracted more disaffected voters. Now it looks as if Obama is doing just that. A new NEWSWEEK Poll shows that he has a substantial double-digit lead, 51 percent to 36 percent, over McCain among registered voters nationwide…

Click here for the full article
(Photo by Emmanuel Dunand, AFP-Getty Image)

Why Barack Obama was right to reject public financing — Huffington Post

By John K. Wilson
HuffingtonPost.com
June 20, 2008
Click here for the original article

From the article:

“By rejecting public financing, Obama can campaign nationwide, and he has promised a 50-state strategy. Under public financing, 90% of the country outside the swing states will be ignored. Without public financing, the Obama campaign has realized that setting up a campaign office in Idaho actually pays for itself from the donations of Idahoans who want to see a new kind of president. This is good for democracy, because it means more people across the country will be involved in the presidential process. And it creates the potential for Obama to win a landslide victory and help transform Congress and state offices. The public financing system would kill a 50-state strategy.

Under public funding, instead of campaigns largely controlling the campaign message, outside groups will determine the commercials seen by people (and therefore much of the media coverage about the campaign). Instead of small donors owning the campaigns, it will be the big donors who fund the national parties and “independent” 527 groups who determine the next president. The Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) found that $442 million was spent by 527 groups on federal elections in 2004. Compared to that sum, which may easily exceed half a billion dollars this year, the $84.1 million in public financing is a drop in the bucket. Because of this system, public financing is actually more likely to lead to the corruption of our political process. The candidate who wins will owe an obligation to the big 527 and party donors who made victory possible, rather than the millions of Americans who will fund the campaign without public financing…”

Click here for the full article

See also: What is a 527 Group?

McCain Calls for More Offshore Drilling… While Campaigning in Houston….

redgreenandblue.org — Despite the fact that he supported a moratorium on offshore drilling during his previous run for the White House and he has opposed opening up drilling in the past, McCain called for lifting the moratorium on offshore drilling yesterday in Houston. But what would you expect he would say in Houston?

When in Rome…

Click here for the original article

If Politicians Used Their Facebook Mini-Feeds

From GiantLists.com…

#01   Barack Obama has invited Hillary Clinton to use the Career Search application.

#02   John McCain just wrote on Cindy McCain’s wall: “Trashy make-up wearing c*nt.”

#03   Hillary Clinton has updated her status: “bored… lol…. just waiting by the phone…”

#04   Want to be the first to write on George W. Bush’s Wall?

#05   John McCain needs help updating his profile picture.

#06   Welcome, Barack! Hillary Clinton has poked you.

#07   John Edwards updated his status: “just back from the stylist and feeling sexxay!!”

#08   Bill Clinton is now single.

#09   Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton are now friends. They found each other in the “VP Hopefuls” group.

#10   John McCain turns 102 today!

#11   Barack Obama terrorist fist-jabbed Michelle Obama.

Tim Russert.. a Journalist’s hero

This video will come to be known as one of the last yet most influential reporting Russert ever did. You know he meant a lot to the journalistic and political worlds when his open declaration that Obama won the nomination actually made news on its own. I don’t think anyone could ever replace him.

Official response from Barack Obama:

“I’ve known Tim Russert since I first spoke at the convention in 2004. He’s somebody who, over time, I came to consider not only a journalist but a friend. There wasn’t a better interviewer in TV, not a more thoughtful analyst of our politics, and he was also one of the finest men I knew. Somebody who cared about America, cared about the issues, cared about family. I am grief-stricken with the loss and my thoughts and prayers go out to his family. And I hope that, even though Tim is irreplaceable, that the standard that he set in his professional life and his family life are standards that we all carry with us in our own lives.”

Obama campaign forgets to register FightTheSmears.ORG… uh oh.

The site featuring the above information was taken down today. Supposedly the perpetrator is a real supporter of Obama, but maybe plans on turning it into an Anti-McCain site.

CNN Political Ticker: Ron Paul is OUT

From CNN Political Editor Mark Preston

Ron Paul is suspending his presidential campaign.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Texas Rep. Ron Paul announced Thursday he is suspending his bid for the Republican presidential nomination to focus his time on building an organization to help recruit and elect “limited government Republicans.”

“We want to elect constitutionalists, limited government Republicans across the country at the state and federal level,” said Paul spokesman Jesse Benton.

The congressman will speak about his political plans at the Texas Republican State Convention being held in Houston. Late Thursday afternoon, Paul launched a Web site for his new organization where he explained the decision to suspend his presidential campaign and form “Ron Paul Campaign for Liberty.”

“With the primary season now over, the presidential campaign is at an end,” Paul said in the letter. “But the larger campaign for freedom is just getting started.”

Arizona Sen. John McCain locked up the GOP nomination back in March, but unlike his fellow Republicans running for president, Paul never abandoned his White House bid.

Paul’s decision to leave the race is an acknowledgment he had no chance of winning the GOP nomination. But even in loss, Paul is one of a handful of candidates who walked away from this presidential contest a winner. His presidential campaign had a broad base of support that included traditionally fiscal and socially conservative Republicans to young people who were angry about the U.S. decision to wage war against Iraq.