News

Oprah Winfrey has issued a denial of a Drudge story claiming the talk show host doesn't want to allow Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) to appear on the show:

The item in today's Drudge Report is categorically untrue. There has been absolutely no discussion about having Sarah Palin on my show. At the beginning of this Presidential campaign when I decided that I was going to take my first public stance in support of a candidate, I made the decision not to use my show as a platform for any of the candidates. I agree that Sarah Palin would be a fantastic interview, and I would love to have her on after the campaign is over.

Republicans made healthcare and economic policy recommendations a total of 19 times in major speeches at their St. Paul convention this week, according to a count by Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

This from an SEIU release earlier today:

TOTAL WORDS SPOKEN:

John McCain has ruffled a few feathers after playing the 1977 Heart song "Barracuda" after his acceptance speech Thursday night at the Republican National Convention. As it turns out, band members Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson aren't too fond of Palin -- and took to their official website to condemn his playing the song without their permission.

"Sarah Palin's views and values in NO WAY represent us as American women," the Wilsons wrote in a statement. "We ask that our song 'Barracuda' no longer be used to promote her image. The song 'Barracuda' was written in the late '70s as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women. (The 'barracuda' represented the business.) While Heart did not and would not authorize the use of their song at the RNC, there's irony in Republican strategists' choice to make use of it there."

The Wilson sisters said their representatives at SONY BMG and Universal Publishing have sent a cease-and-desist notice to the McCain campaign to not use the song in the future. The Wilsons explained that GOP officials never asked permission to use the song and that they wouldn't not have received it even if they had.

This is the second time the McCain camp has gotten in trouble for using music without the artists' permission in as many weeks.

Introducing Palin in Ohio, McCain entered to Van Halen's "Right Now." The bands publicist quickly informed the media that Van Halen did not give the Republican campaign permission to use the song.

- Katie Stapleton-Paff

John McCain and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) are settling into the roles they played at the GOP convention.

In a campaign event in Cedarburg, Wis., McCain was the good cop, talking about government reform and his economic proposals, while Palin played the bad cop, going after Democrat Barack Obama.

Palin was especially tough on Obama's judgment on the war in Iraq.

"Good judgment in the commander in chief can make the difference between victory and defeat, between avoiding a crisis and inviting a catastrophe," she said. "And the best case point is the surge in Iraq, which Barack Obama opposed because he said it was doomed to fail. But just last night -- just last night, Sen. Obama finally broke and brought himself to admit what all the rest of us have known for quite some time, and that's thanks to the skill and valor of our troops, the surge in Iraq has succeeded."

Palin was referring to Obama's remark in a Fox News interview Thursday that the surge had succeded "beyond our wildest dreams."

"I guess when you turn out to be profoundly wrong on a vital national security issue, maybe it's comforting to pretend that everyone else was wrong too," Palin added.

Palin also derided Obama's work as a community organizer in pushing back against Democratic attacks on her own experience as a small-town mayor.

"I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, only you have actual responsibilities," she said, repeating a line she used in her convention speech.

McCain, meanwhile, mentioned Obama only once, to note his opposition to domestic offshore oil drilling. Instead of attacking Obama, McCain spent most of his time talking about government waste.

"I've fought corruption, and it didn't matter -- it didn't matter if they were Democrats or Republicans," McCain said. "I fought the big spenders, I fought the pork barrelers."

Georgia Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland is standing by his statement that Barack Obama is "uppity," claiming that he has never heard of the term being used in a "racially derogatory sense."

"It is important to note that the dictionary definition of 'uppity' is 'affecting an air of inflated self-esteem -- snobbish,'" Westmoreland said in a statement. "That's what we meant by uppity when we used it in the mill village where I grew up."

"I've never heard that term used in a racially derogatory sense," the Georgia Republican added.

Westmoreland has been catching heat for his use of the term Thursday during a discussion with reporters about GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's speech.

"Just from what little I've seen of her and Mr. Obama, Sen. Obama, they're a member of an elitist-class individual that thinks that they're uppity," Westmoreland said.

John McCain's nomination acceptance speech last night attracted more TV viewers nationwide than Barack Obama's acceptance speech last week, while the Republican convention outperformed its Democratic counterpart in overall viewership for its final three days, Nielsen announced this afternoon.

McCain's speech drew 38.9 million viewers, while Obama's Invesco Field address drew 38.4 million one week before. Obama's live audience vastly outnumbered McCain's, as Obama managed to fill Denver's 76,000-seat Invesco Field, home of the Denver Broncos.

Overall, the GOP convention bested its Democratic counterpart by just over 11.3 million viewers in a side-by-side comparison of the conventions' second, third, and fourth days. (The first day of the RNC was largely put on hold as Hurricane Gustav made landfall in Louisiana early Monday morning.)

McCain's speech aired following the opening game of the 2008-2009 NFL season, between the Washington Redskins and defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants. NBC, which broadcast the game, promoted McCain's speech during the game to its football viewers.

John McCain has been the target of attacks by unions, but he's not holding Todd Palin's union membership against him.

In fact, McCain touted the fact that Palin, husband of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, belongs to the United Steelworkers during a campaign event Friday.

McCain made the remark after jokingly calling Todd Palin "crazy" for being a world champion snowmobiler.

what a guy, a commercial fisherman, a union member, and a devoted father," McCain said.

Palin works as a production operator for BP, the oil company.

The United Steelworkers and other unions, including the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union, have criticized McCain in ads and in statements for his opposition to a bill that makes it easier to organize.

Both the Gallup and Rasmussen daily tracking polls show John McCain closing the gap with Barack Obama.

Obama leads the Republican 48 percent to 44 percent in Gallup's Friday poll. Obama had led by seven percentage points on Thursday. The poll includes only responses taken before McCain's convention speech Thursday.

In Rasmussen's Friday survey, Obama leads 46 percent to 45 percent. He had led by four percentage points on Thursday.

The two candidates were virtually tied in the polls before the start of the Democratic convention. Obama pulled slightly ahead after his speech on the final day of his convention.

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) questioned the patriotism of Barack Obama's upbringing yesterday, according to the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier.

"There is no part of that that I would subject a child, a young man or woman to. I don

Former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) has cancelled all his public appearances before Election Day, saying that he didn't want to distract from Barack Obama's campaign.

Edwards had committed to at least three events on universities. He hasn't made any public appearances since admitting to an extramarital affair last month.

"Nothing is more important than electing Barack Obama and Joe Biden," Edwards said in a statement. "I don't want my appearance at these events to be a distraction from the important issues of the election, or from the important purpose of these meetings."

Edwards was scheduled to speak at Hofstra University Monday, at the University at Buffalo in an event with former White House aide Karl Rove on Sept. 26, and at the University of Illinois Oct. 14.

Edwards would have been paid $65,000 for his Illinois appearance, reports The News-Gazette in central Illinois.