Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that his country would welcome a new approach from the United States that's less confrontational.
"Today, we see new behavior shown by the United States and the officials of the United States," said Ahmadinejad in an interview on NBC that aired Monday. "My question is, is such behavior rooted in a new approach, in other words mutual respect, cooperation and justice? Or this approach is a continuation in the confrontation with the Iranian people, but in a new guise?"
Last weekend, U.S. Undersecretary of State William Burns joined diplomats from Iran and five other countries in talks over the Islamic state's nuclear program. The United States and other Western nations have called on Iran to halt the enriching of uranium, a step in the process of developing nuclear weapons.
Ahmadinejad, who is the country's highest elected official yet serves under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, added in the interview that Iranians had become "acclimated" to a U.S. policy marked by confrontation.
"If this is the continuation of the old process, well, the Iranian people needs to defend its right, its interests as well," he said. "But if the approach changes, we will be facing a new situation, and the response by the Iranian people will be a positive one."
Sorting through Saturday's 72-13 vote on the Senate housing bill, one finds a curious split between the chamber's two top Republicans: Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky voted for the bill, while Minority Whip Jon Kyl of Arizona opposed it.
The likely, unsurprising answer: Politics. McConnell is facing a somewhat challenging re-election this fall from Democratic businessman Bruce Lunsford, while Kyl doesn't face voters again in the Grand Canyon State until 2012. Kyl was also joined by 12 other senators, all Republicans, in opposing the bill.
Still, McConnell and Kyl are usually in lockstep on most major votes, and their staffs take pains to emphasize that the two leaders work in harmony.
Speaking publicly on Tuesday, McConnell said "most of my members share [the] view that we need to wrap this up. It's been going on for a while, and it's time to -- time to finish it."
Kyl issued a statement that blamed his opposing vote on the bill's cost and ineffectiveness.
"In Arizona and across the nation, homeowners are having a hard time making their mortgage payments, but the legislation Congress approved today is not aimed at helping them," Kyl said. "Rather, it is designed to bail out mortgage lenders and the two big government enterprises Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. In fact, the bill will place an immense financial burden on every American taxpayer, including those who are struggling to make their mortgage payments, and waste billions of dollars in misguided efforts to help lenders deemed 'too big to fail.'"
John McCain said Friday that Barack Obama's plan for a 16 month phased redeployment of US troops out of Iraq would be "a pretty good timetable."
McCain was trying to explain during an appearance on CNN that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki "won't" ask for US troops to leave early into the next president's term, despite Maliki previously voicing support for Obama's plan.
Asked to clarify why the Iraqi prime minister would say he supports the timetable, but would not ask for a withdrawal, McCain explained, "he said it's a pretty good timetable based on conditions on the ground. I think it's a pretty good timetable."
"But they have to be based on conditions on the ground. This success is very fragile. It's incredibly impressive, but very fragile. So we know, those of us who have been involved in it for many years, know that if we reverse this, by setting a date for withdrawal, all of the hard-won victory can be reversed," the Arizona Republican said.
John McCain was helping a woman and her family put groceries in her cart at a store earlier this week when jars of applesauce spilled out into the aisle. It does not appear that McCain was responsible for the spill.
The Republican National Committee updated a clock on its web site Friday to indicate that Barack Obama has now been to Iraq, five days after the Democratic presidential nominee touched down in the country.
The clock, which the RNC prominently features on the front page of its web site, previously read "Days Since Barack Obama Visited Iraq." But after being contacted about the clock Friday afternoon, the RNC changed it to read "Days Between Barack Obama
New surveys show Barack Obama running competitively with John McCain in two traditionally red states, North Dakota and Mississippi.
The polls, conducted by Research 2000 for Daily Kos, have Obama trailing McCain 42 percent to 45 percent in North Dakota and 42 percent to 51 percent in Mississippi. Since the margin for error in the North Dakota poll is 4.5 percentage points, the race is virtually tied. The error margin in Mississippi is 4 percent.
John McCain is scheduled to appear in Cincinnati, Ohio, hometown of potential running mate Rob Portman, on the day before the Olympics begin.
McCain aides have said that the Republican is likely to announce his veep pick before the Olympics, which start Aug. 8. McCain is scheduled to appear at a fundraiser for his campaign and the Ohio Republican Party Aug. 7 in Cincinnati, WHIO reports.
Portman represented Cincinnati in the House from 1993 to 2005. He later became the U.S. Trade Representative and the White House budget director.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) had kind words for both of the presidential candidates, but he did not endorse either during a much-awaited speech before Minnesota's Independence Party.
Bloomberg, a former Democrat who won two mayoral terms as a Republican, said that both candidates are capable of acting independently, Minnesota Public Radio reports. But he said that independents such as himself should press both candidates to engage in meaningful debate.
"I think independents should vote for whichever of the two major candidates that they think will do the best job," Bloomberg said. "They don't want to waste their vote, but independents as a bloc should demand answers, and that's what this is all about."
Before the Independence Party event, party officials had told Bloomberg, who also appeared on Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's (R) radio show Friday, to balance praise for John McCain with praise for Obama, ABC News reports.
The Republican National Committee has rolled out a search toolbar for Firefox and Internet Explorer that allows the committee to raise cash every time a supporter to conducts a Yahoo search.
When a supporter using the toolbar searches the Internet they automatically send a small donation to the RNC. Users pick the size of each donation, which averages three cents per search.
The tool also guides users to specific vendors which give the RNC a portion of the sales revenue generated by the searches. The money from the vendors is technically a payment back to the toolbar's user, like a commission on a sale, that the user then automatically donates to the RNC.
When supporters install the toolbar they sign off on a licensing agreement stating that the cash back they get for using vendors will get transferred to RNC coffers. Over 300 vendors have signed on, including Amazon and eBay.
Since the money from the vendor comes in the form of an individual contribution it does not violate FEC rules.
In addition to its fundraising capacity, the RNC will also use the toolbar to disseminate information. Messages from the RNC are delivered through a widget on the toolbar, which also includes an RSS reader.
The toobar was invented by FreeCause to raise funds for a breast cancer charity group and has since been employed by several other fundraisers. The RNC is the first political group to implement the fundraising tool. Several Democratic and Republican candidates and committees have contacted the company interested in creating their own version.
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