Barack Obama said Tuesday that the GOP has no right to accuse him of having a "September 10 mindset."
The Illinois senator said Republicans have no "standing to suggest that they've learned a lot of lessons from 9-11," according to the AP.
Obama went further to say the GOP "helped to engineer the distraction of the war in Iraq at a time when we could have pinned down the people who actually committed 9-11."
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said that John McCain has gone back on his previous position on domestic drilling for oil.
"Well, it's a classic flip-flop," Nelson told MSNBC's David Shuster on Wednesday. "In his 2000 race, he was all for protecting Florida's economy and environment by not drilling. Since then, I've talked to John several times as we crafted a compromise two years ago to give additional drilling in the gulf, but to keep it away from Florida and from the military training and testing area, which is the largest training and testing area in the world. And the Department of Defense simply cannot have oil rigs down there where they're doing all that live-fire exercises. And I'm surprised that John has done this, and he ought to know better."
McCain had supported a ban on offshore drilling as a presidential candidate in 2000, but he called for lifting that ban on Monday.
MoveOn.org and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees released a new television spot Tuesday again hitting John McCain over his call for a continued U.S. presence in Iraq.
In the spot, which will begin airing on CNN and MSNBC Wednesday for a week, a mother and her newborn son tell McCain that he "can't have him" be a part of U.S. operations in Iraq. The two groups, which have backed Barack Obama for president, will spend $543,000 on the ad, which will also air in local Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin stations.
Below is the script, followed by video of the ad.
Hi, John McCain, this is Alex, he's my first.
So far, his talents include trying any new food and chasing after our dog.
That, and making my heart pound every time I look at him.
So, John McCain, when you said you would stay in Iraq for 100 years, were you counting on Alex?
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) will appear on a conference call with her former top campaign donors to urge them to start giving to Barack Obama, TalkingPointsMemo reports.
The blog reports that Obama himself wants the Clinton fundraisers to start donating to his campaign so that he can help build a war chest to take on John McCain.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said that Sens. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) are open to a Senate Ethics Committee investigation into whether the real estate loans they received from Countrywide Financial were properly obtained.
"It's my understanding that Sen. Dodd and Sen. Conrad said they would welcome an investigation by the bipartisan Ethics Committee," said Reid, when asked by reporters Tuesday whether he had concerns about the loans. "I don't know if anyone's asked for this to be heard by them, but certainly you're not getting any push-back from Dodd."
Dodd, Conrad, former Obama veep vetter James Johnson, ex-Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson, former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala and former assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke have all received loans from Countrywide that have come under greater scrutiny. Portfolio reported that each of them obtained loans through a special Countrywide program that waived certain fees and rules for important persons.
After former Vice President Al Gore endorsed Barack Obama last night, Gore has been at the center of veep speculation. But Obama is not so sure that Gore would even want the job.
"He may not want to be vice president again, since he
For anyone still thinking that foreign policy will dominate this year's election cycle, a Senate Republican press conference Tuesday will serve as a wake-up call.
"I think the biggest issues that this election will be decided on this year is energy, the cost of gasoline at the pump, the cost of food in the food stores," said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas).
Her statements come on the same afternoon that John McCain plans to give a speech calling for domestic oil drilling to help decrease the United States' dependence on foreign oil.
Hutchison went on to tout McCain's plan to increase the domestic energy supply and criticize Democrats for failing to match it with one of their own.
"All of these things are a package that Americans will be able to see would give us energy independence by the year 2025," Hutchison said of McCain's proposals. "That is something Americans can grasp as a goal. And John McCain is putting that forward."
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) is back in the mix as he surfaced today to attack Barack Obama over national security. John McCain's campaign released a statement from Giuliani to further recent attacks on Obama for his support of U.S. court jurisdiction over terrorism suspects.
"Throughout this campaign, I have been very concerned that the Democrats want to take a step back to the failed policies that treated terrorism solely as a law enforcement matter rather than a clear and present danger," Giuliani said. "Barack Obama appears to believe that terrorists should be treated like criminals--a belief that underscores his fundamental lack of judgment regarding our national security. In a post 9/11 world, we need to remain on offense against the terrorist threat which seeks to destroy our very way of life."
Giuliani has been largely absent from campaign talk since McCain clinched the GOP nomination, taking a back seat in national attention to other former GOP presidential hopefuls. Pundits have debated former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's VP stock, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee made waves by joking about Obama being shot at, but Giuliani has largely remained silent.
Today McCain utilized Giuliani as a leading conservative voice in national security. McCain has attacked Obama for a remark he made yesterday about suspected terrorists, calling the Illinois senator "naive."
Yesterday Obama said, "What we know is that, in previous terrorist attacks
Read more...
David Axelrod, the head strategist for Barack Obama's campaign, talked "politics" Tuesday at Democratic senators' weekly lunch.
Axelrod, who spoke with reporters after the meeting, told the senators that the selection process was still at the beginning stages and the campaign is going through it in a "methodical way." Axelrod said that it was "not clear" whether they will replace Jim Johnson, the member of the running mate vetting team who stepped down last week. He said that the group did not discuss vice presidential candidates.
"We want to work closely with [the senators]," Axelrod said. "Every single person in there has a wealth of knowledge about their states and about the issues facing this country."
He added that he wants to open a dialogue with the group, as the Obama campaign does not consider itself the "repository of all wisdom."
Axelrod also made clear to the group that Obama plans to campaign everywhere in the country, said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) were absent at the lunch.
Most Viewed RSS Feed »
