Friday, July 25, 2008

The Friday Five

Every Friday we're highlighting five events happening around the country that we've found in PartyBuilder's Events system.

Here are 5 events happening around the country. If you don't see one in your neck of the woods, click here to search for one near you. Or better yet, create your own!

1. Holt County Cookout with Scott Kleeb (Inman, Nebraska)

The Holt County Democratic Party of Nebraska invites you to join U.S. Senate candidate Scott Kleeb for a cookout followed by a discussion on healthcare, energy, and the future of Nebraska.

2. Fish Fry in the Park (Biloxi, Mississippi)

Fresh fried catfish and Democratic politics will be served at the third annual "Fry in the Park". Join us August 2nd, 11-3 at Hiller Park Pavilion on Biloxi's beautiful back bay. Catfish plates will be 10 dollars in advance or 15 at the door, proceeds are going to open the fall presidential campaign office.

3. Soldotna, AK 'Progress Days' Parade and Civic Celebration (Soldotna, Alaska)

Annual Parade and Celebration featuring a Parade through down-town Soldotna, Alaska; a market, booths, food etc. The District-33/34 Alaska Democratic Party and local candidates will be on hand to register voters, campaign, etc.

4. Barack Obama Birthday Bash @ Grijalva HQ! (Tucson, Arizona)

Come celebrate our future President's birthday at Grijalva for Congress Headquarters. Food and drinks will be provided. We will be organizing our coordinated efforts for the fall to re-elect Congressman Grijalva and make Barack Obama our next President.

5. JDsForObama08 (Miami, Florida)

The mission of this grass roots effort is to contact by personal visits as many legal professionals, law students, Judges and legal organizations as possible to enlighten them to get more active in this Historic election.

Posted by Jonah Goodman at 6:39 PM | Comments (0) | Digg This!

CQ Swings House Races Towards Democrats

CQ Politics swings twelve of fourteen House races towards the Democrats:

CQ Politics today is changing the race ratings in 14 congressional districts in 10 states to reflect changing political circumstances that mean brighter prospects for the Democrats, who are expected to augment their 236-199 majority in the U.S. House in the November elections.
Twelve of the 14 race rating changes favor the Democrats, compared to two that favor Republicans, who are trying to limit their losses this year after suffering a net loss of 30 House seats in the 2006 election.

Posted by Matt Ortega at 11:32 AM | Comments (0) | Digg This!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Video: Senator Barack Obama's Speech in Berlin

If you missed Senator Barack Obama's speech in front of 200,000 waving American flags, and chanting "Obama!" or want to watch it again -- check out this video!

Posted by Matt Ortega at 7:30 PM | Comments (0) | Digg This!

McCain Slams Obama's Speech in Berlin, Forgets Canada

Last month, John McCain spoke in Ottawa, Canada, but this afternoon, he attacked Senator Barack Obama for delivering a speech in Berlin to 200,000 waving American flags and chanting "Obama!"

In his interview with NBC's Kelly O'Donnell, which will air on NBC's Nightly News tonight, McCain questions whether Obama should have given a speech in Berlin before becoming president.
"I would rather speak at a rally or a political gathering any place outside of the country after I am president of the United States," McCain told O'Donnell. "But that's a judgment that Sen. Obama and the American people will make."

However, on June 20, McCain himself gave a speech in Canada -- to the Economic Club of Canada -- in which he applauded NAFTA's successes. An implicit message behind that speech was that Obama had been critical of the trade accord. Also, McCain's trip to Canada was paid for by the campaign. [emphasis added]

Posted by Matt Ortega at 5:32 PM | Comments (0) | Digg This!

McCain versus McCain Spokesman on Transition Team

While John McCain's press office was blasting Senator Obama's preparation for the possibility of a transition to an Obama administration, John McCain was defending the move.

BREWER: And I know the McCain campaign is also responding to the news that Barack Obama has already set up a presidential transition team, the team that would go from one president to the next. And McCain’s statement reads “Before they’ve even crossed the 50-yard line the Obama campaign already dancing in the end zone with a new White House transition team. The American people are more concerned with Barack Obama’s poor judgment and readiness to lead than his inaugural ball.” Is this a theme that the campaign is going to push, that Obama’s getting ahead of himself?
AIGNER: Well that was actually, the statement that you just read was from a spokesperson for the campaign. John McCain just sat down with NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell just an hour ago and she asked him about the transition team. And he said of course every campaign once you get to this stage, and you’re on the verge of securing your party’s nomination at the convention, you begin to think of how you transition to the presidency. McCain said that he, himself, was already of course working on policy and political proposals to they could hit the ground running. He’s spoken with his advisors about how exactly they would enact those proposals and enact the policies that are important to him. Although he said that on a specific staff level and on an organizational level, they might not be stepping up to the place where Obama’s stepping up. He said the American people will have to decide whether that’s presumptuous or not. [emphasis added]

John McCain says one thing, his campaign does another. Seems to be a pattern this election cycle.

Posted by Matt Ortega at 4:39 PM | Comments (0) | Digg This!

First Major Conflict Since 9/11?

In the now infamous interview between CBS' Katie Couric and John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee apparently believes the war in Afghanistan, where the 9/11 attacks originated, is not a "major conflict."

Couric: Sen. Obama also told me, Sen. McCain, that the money spent on those additional troops, on the surge, might have been more effective had it gone to Afghanistan or even to a better energy policy in the United States. What's your response?
McCain: The fact is we had four years of failed policy. We were losing. We were losing the war in Iraq. The consequences of failure and defeat of the United States of America in the first major conflict since 9/11 would have had devastating impacts throughout the region and the world. [emphasis added]

According to John McCain, the war in Afghanistan doesn't count as a "major conflict." That explains why the Bush/McCain policies of ignoring Afghanistan and diverting resources to Iraq have led to the major problems we currently see there after nearly seven years of war.

Senator Barack Obama, however, advocated for a stronger American commitment to Afghanistan. Additionally, in his speech in front of nearly a quarter million Berliners today, Senator Obama called on Europe to commit more to the fight in Afghanistan, the true central front in the war on terror.

Update: Here's the video:

Posted by Matt Ortega at 4:02 PM | Comments (0) | Digg This!

McCain's Cheesy Denial

Earlier this week, John McCain grossly misstated the timeline of the Anbar awakening as having taken place because of the surge, despite the fact that it started almost four months before the surge was even announced.

Reporters peppered John McCain with questions about his factually incorrect timeline in the cheese aisle of a Pennsylvania supermarket. McCain attempted to explain that up is down, the sky is green, and he did not jumble the timeline of events.

Posted by Matt Ortega at 1:54 PM | Comments (0) | Digg This!

Watch Senator Barack Obama in Berlin Live

Posted by Matt Ortega at 1:00 PM | Comments (0) | Digg This!

Arizona Turning Blue

In the New York Times, John McCain's home state of Arizona is not in his safe column.

But a variety of factors have made Mr. McCain’s chances in Arizona less assured than they ordinarily would seem, which his campaign has acknowledged.
The number of independent voters in Arizona has risen 12 percent since 2004, and those voters have helped send a Democrat to the governor’s mansion and given the party four of the state’s eight Congressional seats — including two in 2006, one in a historically Republican district.

At the same time, Arizona Democrats, like many of their counterparts around the country, have outpaced Republicans in voter registration, adding almost 20,000 voters to the rolls since March, compared with the Republican majority’s 8,600 new voters. The second-term Democratic governor, Janet Napolitano, remains wildly popular.

And Democrats are not going to cede the state to McCain, either:

“John McCain has striking vulnerabilities here,” said Emily DeRose, spokeswoman for the Arizona Democratic Party. “We are going to take him to the mat. We are not giving him a pass in Arizona.”

Posted by Matt Ortega at 12:30 PM | Comments (0) | Digg This!

Senator Barack Obama to Deliver Speech in Berlin at 1pm EDT

Senator Barack Obama will deliver a speech in Berlin, Germany at the Siegessäule, or the Victory Column, in Tiergarten Park at 1pm Eastern.

In the meantime, check out these photos from Senator Obama's arrival in Berlin:

Posted by Matt Ortega at 11:52 AM | Comments (0) | Digg This!

Jobless Claims Jumped

The fundamentals of our economy are strong, says John McCain. Reuters, however, has a different story:

The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits jumped 34,000 last week, government data on Thursday showed, reflecting seasonal volatility typical at this time of year.
Initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits rose to a seasonally adjusted 406,000 in the week ended July 19, from a revised 372,000 the prior week, the Labor Department said. It was the highest reading since late March.

So stop your whining.

Posted by Matt Ortega at 10:00 AM | Comments (0) | Digg This!

Top McCain Adviser Lobbied for 'Cash for Access' Payne's Companies

The parade of embarrassing John McCain advisers continues. This week? Top foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann is tied to the "cash for access" lobbyist, Stephen Payne. Houston Chronicle:

Over that week, more questions have been raised about the Houston lobbyist's professional and political activities. While the spotlight shined first on Payne's connections to President Bush, Vice President Cheney and other top administration officials -- and his attempt to raise cash for the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum -- attention has now shifted to the relationship between Payne and presumptive presidential nominee John McCain's top foreign policy adviser, Randy Scheunemann.
Scheunemann lobbied in Washington on behalf of Payne's companies, Caspian Alliance, which works with Central Asian regimes on energy projects. (The London Times reported that Caspian Alliance was providing advice to the Kazakh state-owned oil and gas company, KazMunayGas.)

Posted by Matt Ortega at 9:13 AM | Comments (0) | Digg This!

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

McCain Cancels Event Aboard Oil Rig Due to Weather

Think Progress:

In announcing his newfound support for offshore drilling, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) consistently touts the safety of offshore oil exploration. “[I]t’s safe enough these days that not even Hurricanes Katrina and Rita could cause significant spillage,” he said recently. To make his case, McCain was scheduled to helicopter tomorrow to an oil rig in the Gulf Coast.

But it seems even McCain is fearful of being caught on an offshore oil rig during rough weather.

The weather event that forced McCain to cancel his event is the category 2 storm, Hurricane Dolly that made landfall in South Texas this afternoon.

John McCain, however, is among the many Republicans who continues to push the false talking point that Hurricane Katrina, a category 5 storm, did not cause any oil spills in the Gulf Coast.

The truth?

As the Wonk Room has reported, the clear satellite evidence of major spills was borne out by final reports. In May 2006, the U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) published their offshore damage assessment: “113 platforms totally destroyed, and 457 pipelines damaged, 101 of those major lines with 10″ or larger diameter.” [...]

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Caused 124 Offshore Spills For A Total Of 743,700 Gallons. 554,400 gallons were crude oil and condensate from platforms, rigs and pipelines, and 189,000 gallons were refined products from platforms and rigs. [MMS, 1/22/07]

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Caused Six Offshore Spills Of 42,000 Gallons Or Greater. The largest of these was 152,250 gallons, well over the 100,000 gallon threshhold considered a “major spill.” [MMS, 5/1/06]

Yet another case of the John McCain Campaign Playbook -- say and do anything to get elected.

Posted by Matt Ortega at 6:34 PM | Comments (0) | Digg This!