For the guy who came THISCLOSE to becoming president 8 years ago but then left elective politics behind to become a movie 'star' and lecture about the environment, global warming, the Iraq War and President Bush, former Vice President and Nobel Laureate Albert Arnold Gore Jr. still makes headlines about the 2008 presidential race -- even though he's not campaigning for anybody. Maybe it's because he hasn't endorsed anybody yet that commentators, pundits and speculators are wondering what Big Al is up to, what surprise he's planning or what impact he might eventually have. Though I admit I'd have liked to have seen him as president, I think his time has passed and these articles are basically just fantasy... But still, they make for good readin'.
Check out these links:
FROM TIME'S JOE KLEIN: IS AL GORE THE ANSWER?
FROM TCPALM.COM: DON'T DISCOUNT GORE-LED TICKET
FROM THE HUFFINGTON POST: AL DE GORE
FROM THE DRAFT AL GORE CAMPAIGN: WATCHING AND WAITING...
And finally this humorous take on the whole idea:
FROM WONKETTE: WHITE MALE RESTORATION: COULD LIBERAL ELITIST AL GORE WIN NOMINATION?
For those who feel the need to believe and spread lies about Barack Obama being a Muslim, as if that in and of itself is supposed to be bad, read this article from the Associated Press. Think what you want to about Obama and his candidacy, but BE INFORMED and reject the petty and malicious tactic of spreading lies anonymously on the Internet or elsewhere.
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Obama Fights False Links to IslamBy JIM KUHNHENN
Associated Press Writer
For Barack Obama, it is an ember that he has doused time and again, only to
see it flicker anew: links to Islam fanned by false rumors, innuendo and
association.
Obama and his campaign reacted strongly this week when a photo of him in
Kenyan tribal garb began spreading on the Internet. And the praise he received
Sunday from Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan prompted pointed questions
-- during Tuesday night's presidential debate and also in a private meeting
over the weekend with Jewish leaders in Cleveland.
During the debate, Obama repeated his denunciation of Farrakhan's views,
which have included numerous anti-Semitic comments. And, after being pressed,
he rejected Farrakhan's support in the presidential race.
The Democratic candidate says repeatedly that he's a Christian who took the
oath of office on a family Bible. Yet on the Internet and on talk radio -- and
in a campaign introduction for John McCain this week -- he is often depicted,
falsely, as a Muslim with shadowy ties and his middle name, Hussein, is
emphasized as a reminder of Iraq's former leader.
"If anyone is still puzzled about the facts, in fact I have never been
a Muslim," he told the Jewish leaders in Cleveland, according to a
transcript of the private session.
The photo of Obama wearing Kenyan tribal raiments -- taken by an Associated
Press photographer during his visit in 2006 to the country where his father was
born -- resurfaced on the Internet amid unsubstantiated claims that it was
being circulated by members of Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign. Clinton and
her aides said they had nothing to do with it. The Obama campaign accused them
of "shameful, offensive fear-mongering."
On Tuesday Republican candidate McCain denounced the introduction he got in
Cincinnati that criticized Obama in vivid terms. Talk show host Bill Cunningham
referred to Obama three times as "Barack Hussein Obama" and called
him a "hack, Chicago-style" politician during the introduction of
McCain.
The Obama campaign is closely attuned to the rumors and insinuations.
Information on Obama's Christian faith is prominently available on the
"Know the facts" page of his Web site. The campaign has distributed
flyers to churches in states with presidential contests. And it encourages
supporters to flag any attack that may make its way into cyberspace.
"Our campaign is vigilant in quickly responding to any information
about Senator Obama that surfaces, be it on the Internet, in the media or from
our opponents," spokesman Bill Burton said Wednesday.
If there is confusion -- and opportunity for political mischief -- it
derives at least in part from Obama's rich cultural background. His mother was
a white woman from Kansas, his father was Kenyan and he spent part of his
childhood in Indonesia, a largely Muslim country.
"My grandfather, who was Kenyan, converted to Christianity, then
converted to Islam," Obama said Sunday. "My father never practiced;
he was basically agnostic. So, other than my name and the fact that I lived in
a populous Muslim country for four years when I was a child, I have very little
connection to the Islamic religion."
Obama has become careful in denouncing the links, lately noting that some
rumors about him also have been insulting to Muslims. Jim Zogby, founder and
president of the Arab American Institute, said many Arab Americans are drawn to
Obama because of his cultural background.
"It is clear he wants to have a broader relationship with the Muslim
world," Zogby said. "He has a biography that connects him to the
Muslim world."
Obama, though in the presidential limelight now for more than a year, is
still introducing himself to voters. An AP-Yahoo poll in January asked people
to volunteer the first few words that came to mind about each of the
candidates, and 4 percent of the respondents, unprompted, mentioned the word
Muslim when describing Obama.
Some of the rumors and allegations about Obama are clearly not true, yet
still spread, often anonymously:
-- A debunked chain e-mail circulating widely on the Internet suggests he is
hiding his Islamic roots. It says he was sworn into the Senate on the Quran and
turns his back on the flag during the Pledge of Allegiance.
He took his Senate oath with his hand on a family Bible, and he says,
"Whenever I'm in the United States Senate, I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America." In fact, no candidate could survive if
he publicly spurned the pledge.
-- Another false report says he attended a Muslim madrassa school as a child
in Jakarta. Obama was born in Hawaii and moved to Indonesia when he was 6 to
live with his mother and stepfather. He returned to Hawaii when he was 10 to
live with his maternal grandparents. Interviews last year by The Associated
Press at the elementary school in Jakarta found that it is a public and secular
institution and has been open to students of all faiths since before Obama
attended in the late 1960s. Said vice principal Akmad Solichin: "Yes, most
of our students are Muslim, but there are Christians as well. Everyone's
welcome here."
-- Obama also has faced questions about his pastor at Trinity United Church
of Christ in Chicago, where he has been a member for 20 years. Trinity calls
itself "Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian." But it
accepts non-black congregants. The United Church of Christ's president and
general minister, the Rev. John H. Thomas, was quoted in a church publication
as pointing out that the Rev. Jane Fisler-Hoffman, Illinois Conference
Minister, who is white, "has been a member of the congregation for
years."
-- Obama has been asked about Farrakhan's words of praise and Farrakhan's
receipt of an award from "Trumpet Newsmagazine," a Trinity church
publication last month. Obama told Jewish leaders Sunday: "An award was
given to Farrakhan for his work on behalf of ex-offenders completely unrelated
to his controversial statements. And I believe that was a mistake and showed a
lack of sensitivity to the Jewish community and I said so."
Farrakhan did not endorse Obama but said Sunday: "This young man is the
hope of the entire world that America will change and be made better."
Asked Tuesday night whether he would accept support from Farrakhan, Obama said:
"I live in Chicago. He lives in Chicago. I've been very clear, in terms of
me believing that what he has said is reprehensible and inappropriate. And I
have consistently distanced myself from him."
Following an exchange with Clinton, he then added: "There's no formal
offer of help from Minister Farrakhan that would involve me rejecting it. But
if the word 'reject' Senator Clinton feels is stronger than the word
'denounce,' then I'm happy to concede the point, and I would reject and denounce."
This week I was moved to write a commentary about the race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The essay appears on the MyFoxNY.com You Decide page.
Here's a taste of it and the link:
Hillary Clinton Doesn't Get It About Barack ObamaHillary Clinton deserves a lot of respect for everything she has accomplished and she would probably be a hard-working, effective president. But her troubled campaign seems to have devolved into a chorus of misguided and ultimately self-defeating jabs at Barack Obama, repeating this "nice speeches won't get things done" nonsense.
CLICK READ THE FULL COMMENTARY
The latest issue of BARRON'S (which is part of Dow Jones, a sister company
of MyFoxNY.com) has an interesting article about how your taxes will change
(probably go up) regardless of who wins the White House, Democrat or
Republican.
The article has a great quote from Charles Rangel, the dean of the New York
congressional delegation. I laughed out loud when I read it:
"I don't spend much time
listening to the candidates, either Republican or Democratic, because they
don't have to deal with the details... I'm too old to think about doing nothing
until there's a new administration. I'm 78; at my age I don't buy green bananas."
--Rep.
Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE
