President Bush said Monday that he is "fired up" for the coming Olympics in China, and hopes that the U.S. mountain biking team needs some help.
During a speech at the White House to members of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams, Bush said, "Some of you are young -- the youngest teammate is a 15-year-old diver -- and some of you are older. There's a 58-year-old sailor, which gives this 62-year-old mountain biker hope that you may need me in Beijing."
Bush has repeatedly expressed a great deal of excitement for the games, including an attempt at scoring tickets for the U.S.-China men's basketball game from Chinese President Hu Jintao.
"I'm really looking forward to watching the American Olympic team compete, particularly with the mighty Chinese team. And I'm hoping to get tickets for the U.S.-Chinese basketball game. If you could help me get a ticket, I'd appreciate it," Bush said at a press conference with the Chinese leader at the G8 conference in Tokyo.
The John McCain campaign owes American Express $1.37 million in credit card debt and fees, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
A memo from the Democratic National Committee mocked the number, claiming "the campaign is taking its cues from the McCain's personal finances."
In June the McCain's reported more than $100,000 in personal credit card debt. Reports on Cindy McCain's personal finances have shown the beer heiress has charged as much as $500,000 in one month on an American Express card.
John McCain incorrectly stated Monday morning that Iraq shares a border with Pakistan.
Asked if the situation in Afghanistan is "precarious and urgent" on ABC's Good Morning America, McCain said, "it's a serious situation, but there's a lot of things we need to do."
"We have a lot of work to do and I'm afraid it's a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq/Pakistan border."
McCain did not catch or correct himself later in the interview.
This is second high profile geographical error McCain has made in as many weeks. Last week, McCain made repeated reference to the country of Czechoslovakia, which split into two separate countries in 1993.
John McCain's newest television ad, released today and set to air on national cable, blames Barack Obama for rising gas prices.
A narrator accuses Democrats of "saying no" to lower costs by opposing more offshore oil drilling, then tells viewers they have Obama to thank for higher prices at the pump.
McCain, President Bush, and congressional Republicans have pushed for more offshore drilling. Some drilling already occurs, though the federal government does not give out new leases, per a congressional moratorium.
Obama and Democrats oppose new offshore drilling. See the ad below:
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee holds a nearly 2-to-1 edge in cash on hand over its Republican counterpart.
The DSCC raised $20.9 million during the second quarter, and has $46.2 million in cash on hand. The National Republican Senatorial Committee has $24.6 million in the bank after raising $15.3 million during the quarter.
Senate Democrats have now outraised the NRSC by a total of $93.3 million to $58.8 million this election cycle.
"We are exactly where we need to be to run strong winning campaigns and expand our majority," DSCC Chairman Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said.
House Democrats meanwhile hold a nearly 6-to-1 cash on hand advantage over the National Republican Congressional Committee.
The NRCC, which has been plagued by financial scandal, raised $6.1 million in June and has $8.5 million in the bank.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has $54.7 million in cash on hand after raising $10.0 million in June.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) loaned an additional $1 million to her presidential campaign after dropping out in June, according Federal Election Commission filings.
Clinton loaned the money in order to keep up with growing debt owed to vendors, which reached $12 million by the end of June after totaling $10.4 million in May.
Barack Obama landed in Iraq today and has already met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Reuters is reporting.
Obama traveled there early this morning from Kuwait, where he spent last night after a visit to Afghanistan Saturday and Sunday.
The senator's touchdown in Iraq comes just after Maliki told German magazine Der Spiegel that Obama "is right when he talks about 16 months" as a withdrawal timetable for U.S. troops.
John McCain said he would make both foreign and domestic concerns high priorities as president.
"Oh, I think you have to do both," said McCain on CBS Monday when asked whether foreign or domestic policy would be the higher priority in a McCain administration.
McCain continued: "Obviously the security of our citizens is a president's first priority. But the economy is hurting very badly. We need to do a lot of things now: nuclear power, which Senator Obama opposes; offshore drilling, which he opposes. We've got to -- we've got to have hybrid, hydrogen. We've got to have wind, solar, tide. We've got to embark on a national mission for energy independence, keep people in their homes, and recover the economy. So I think Americans are hurting very badly and it's of the highest priority."
Liberal bloggers have said that McCain is vulnerable when it comes to the economy. McCain had said during the primaries that economics wasn't something "I understood as well as I should." And in recent weeks, Democrats jumped on a remark by former Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), then McCain's economic adviser, that the United States was a "nation of whiners."
Barack Obama, talking tough about al Qaeda, said that Pakistan needs to do more than fire the "occasional shot" to contain the terrorist threat near its border.
Obama, in an interview with CBS News that aired Sunday, said he hopes that the United States doesn't have to take unilateral military action against al Qaeda in Pakistan, something he suggested he was willing to do last year.
But he said that he, as president, would send a "clear message" to Pakistan that it needed to act against the al Qaeda threat.
"Well, you know, I think that the U.S. government provides an awful lot of aid to Pakistan, provides a lot of military support to Pakistan," Obama said. "And to send a clear message to Pakistan that this is important to them as well as to us, that I think -- that message has not been sent."Obama said that the United States should take unilateral action if "we had actual intelligence against high-value al Qaeda targets and the Pakistani government was unwilling to go after those targets."
Obama added that his willingness to conduct a unilateral strike, which he first voiced last August, wasn't a shift from the current doctrine under President Bush.
"Both the administration and some of my opponents suggested, you know, 'You shouldn't go around saying that,'" Obama said. "But I don't think there's any doubt that that should be our policy and will continue to be our policy."
He later added: "I don't think there's going to be a change there. I think that in order for us to be successful it's not going to be enough just to engage in the occasional shot fired. We've got training camps that are growing and multiplying."
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