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PRESIDENTIAL WATCH
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(caricatures by
Linda Eddy)
Friday, July 25, 2008
GENERAL NEWS HEADLINES with excerpts
UK Times mocks Obama:
'He ventured forth to bring light
to the world
[WARNING: SATIRE!]
"The anointed one's pilgrimage to the Holy Land is a miracle in action - and a blessing to all his faithful followers"
..."On the Seventh Day he walked across the Channel of the Angles to the ancient land of the hooligans. There he was welcomed with open arms by the once great prophet Blair and his successor, Gordon the Leper, and his successor, David the Golden One.
And suddenly, with the men appeared the archangel Gabriel and the whole host of the heavenly choir, ranks of cherubim and seraphim, all praising God and singing: “Yes, We Can.”
Poll: McCain gains on Obama in 4 key states
The
four polls conducted by Quinnipiac University in
partnership with the Wall Street Journal and
washingtonpost.com show that McCain is running
slightly ahead of Obama in Colorado, is close in
Minnesota and has narrowed the gap in Michigan and
Wisconsin. In Colorado, McCain was ahead 46% to 44%.
Obama led in Michigan, 46% to 42%; by 46% to 44% in
Minnesota and by 50% to 39% in Wisconsin, according to
the four state polls posted on the
university website.
The new polling data come in a week in which Obama has virtually monopolized news coverage of the presidential campaign with a nine-day trip through war zones, the Mideast and Europe. "Sen. Barack Obama's post-primary bubble hasn't burst, but it is leaking a bit," Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, stated on the website.
see also:
Obama wins fans abroad, loses ground against McCain at home
Fawning over Obama
"Barack Obama
has found his people.
But, unfortunately for his election prospects,
they're German, not American."
-The Guardian, UK
Obama scraps visit to wounded U.S. troops in Germany
Sen. Barack Obama scrapped plans to visit wounded
members of the armed forces in Germany as part of his
overseas trip, a decision his campaign said was made
because the Democratic presidential candidate t
UPDATE: DoD says Obama camp nixed visit, not them
"We
made it clear to him that campaign staff and press would
not be permitted to accompany him," Chief Pentagon
spokesman Geoff Morrell said of Obama. "We relayed
those ground rules. They made a choice based upon the
information we relayed to them. It was their choice. We
had nothing to do with it."
Obama speech in Berlin draws massive crowd
video
transcript
... crowd estimated at more than 200,000
"People of Berlin, people of the world, this is our moment. This is our time," he declared.
"The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand," Obama said, speaking not far from where the Berlin Wall once divided the city.
"The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes, natives and immigrants, Christians and Muslims and Jews cannot stand," he said.
see also:
Obama promises to 'remake the world'
THE CANDIDATES:
John McCain... today's headlines with excerpts
McCain: "a throng of adoring fans awaits Senator Obama in Paris -- and that's just the American press."...
McCain to meet with Dalai Lama
John
McCain planned to meet with the Dalai Lama today in a
show of solidarity with the Tibetan spiritual leader and
as a rebuke to China's treatment of the people he
represents.
"I've been a great admirer of the Dalai Lama," McCain told reporters Thursday while campaigning in Ohio, calling the Dalai Lama "a transcendent international role model and hero."
Push for drilling benefits McCain
Sen. John McCain's efforts to tap voter discontent over soaring energy prices have helped produce his first poll lead in Colorado, a near dead-heat in Michigan and improving numbers in two other states.
The Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday showed Mr. McCain topping Democratic presidential opponent Sen. Barack Obama 46 percent to 44 percent in Colorado, after trailing by five percentage points a month ago. The results surprised politicos in the state, many of whom were predicting that Mr. Obama would win Colorado as part of the Democratic Party's recent successes here.
McCain in Ohio: meets with business leaders, cancer survivors
Thursday evening, he made a point of noting that Obama was skipping a "presidential town hall" here focused on cancer issues, which was hosted by cyclist and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong.
... Armstrong, delivering the closing remarks at the event, emphasized that he was not endorsing a candidate, although he had tough words for Obama.
"We know that Sen. McCain's opponent, Sen. Obama, could not be here because he's overseas, but he does not get a pass," Armstrong said. "We fully expect Sen. Obama to talk about the very same issues, and we expect him to lay out his plan and his agenda."
Sarkozy: Obama is my pal
"Obama?
He's my pal," the president told Le Figaro. "Unlike my diplomatic
advisors, I never believed in Hillary Clinton's chances. I always said
that Obama would be nominated."
Sarkozy added that an Obama victory "would validate" his strategy of reconcilation with the United States. His embrace of the United States has made him American conservatives' favorite Continental politician, but he doesn't seem to be reciprocating.
Obama vague on issues, pleases crowd in Europe
For
Senator Barack Obama, who came to Europe once in the last four years,
making a stop in London on his way to Russia, the response of many
Europeans to his potential presidency has been gratifying — emotional,
responsive, replete with the sense of hope he seeks to engender about
a more flexible, less ideological America.
European governments and politicians are not so sure.
... Eberhard Sandschneider of the German Council on Foreign Relations said, “The Obama who spoke tonight did not put all his cards on the table.” Mr. Obama “tried to use all the symbolism of Berlin to indicate that as president he would reach out to Europe,” Mr. Sandschneider said. “But between the lines he said very clearly that Europe needs to do more,” especially on Afghanistan and Iraq.
Europeans are wary about Mr. Obama’s call for more European money for defense and more soldiers for the fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan. They worry that he will not alter what they see as President Bush’s unbending bias in favor of Israel.
Former Soviet dissident Sharanksy: 'Big concern' about Obama
Sharansky’s
comments carry great weight here [in Israel] and for policy-makers in
the West. Though he resigned from the Knesset as a stalwart Likud
backer in 2006, he has remained active in the political debate.
... “[Obama] is definitely a big concern for me,” he says.
Sharansky thinks Obama has “a little record or almost no record, while the one who he is competing with is McCain, and we know for sure his principles.”
Sharansky continues the train of thought: “It is very alarming for me the way Senator Obama voted, the way he spoke about his desire to negotiate with Ahmadinejad, and the way some of his advisers think.
“I was at AIPAC. He made a very strong speech, speaking about a Jewish state, defensible borders, a united Jerusalem, then the next day he started correcting himself.”
Obama Remembers a YouTube Debate Answer He Didn't Give
Barack Obama continues backpeddling from his infamous Meet With President Ahmadinejad Without Preconditions declaration. Now he's misstating his own YouTube answer...
Writes the National Review Online: "I know Obama's pledge in the YouTube debate has become a pain in the neck to him, but he really shouldn't be allowed to rewrite history so blatantly."
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