Techfun » barak obama http://blog.techfun.org Linux, Politics, Whatever... Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:24:37 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 President Bush’s Post-Election Radio Address http://blog.techfun.org/2008/11/president-bushs-post-election-radio-address/ http://blog.techfun.org/2008/11/president-bushs-post-election-radio-address/#comments Sun, 09 Nov 2008 16:29:05 +0000 JD Thomas http://blog.techfun.org/?p=1224 President Bush wished Obama well and promised to make a smooth transition a top priority for his remaining time in office in this week’s Radio Address to the Nation (Audio).

Good morning.  Earlier this week, more than 120 million Americans went to the polls and voted for a new President and Congress.  No matter how we cast our ballots, all Americans have reason to be proud of our democracy.  Our citizens have chosen a President who represents a triumph of the American story — a testament to hard work, optimism, and faith in the enduring promise of our Nation.

When I called President-Elect Obama to congratulate him on his historic victory, I told him that he can count on my complete cooperation as he makes his transition to the White House.  Ensuring that this transition is seamless is a top priority for the rest of my time in office.  Our country faces economic challenges that will not pause to let a new President settle in.  This will also be America’s first wartime presidential transition in four decades.  We’re in a struggle against violent extremists determined to attack us — and they would like nothing more than to exploit this period of change to harm the American people.

So my Administration will work hard to ensure that the next President and his team can hit the ground running.  For more than a year now, the White House and agencies throughout the Federal government have been preparing for a smooth transition.  We’ve provided intelligence briefings to the President-Elect, and the Department of Justice has approved security clearances for members of his transition staff.  In the coming weeks, we will ask Administration officials to brief the Obama team on major ongoing policy issues, ranging from the financial markets to the war in Iraq.  I will keep the President-Elect fully informed on important decisions during this critical time for our Nation.  Taken together, these measures represent an unprecedented effort to ensure continuity throughout the executive branch.

A successful transition is just one of the many important tasks remaining for my Administration.  Yesterday we learned that America’s economy lost jobs in the month of October, and I will continue working hard to return our Nation to the path of prosperity and growth.  To help address the global financial crisis, my Administration will host an historic international summit in Washington on November 15.  We will also keep urging Congress to approve America’s free trade agreements with Colombia and Panama and South Korea.  We will continue working to defeat the terrorists and extremists abroad, to keep the American people safe here at home.

Americans expect their President to conduct the people’s business.  I will continue to uphold this solemn obligation for as long as this office remains in my trust.  In the meantime, I join the American people in wishing President-Elect Obama every success.  Laura and I wish the Obama family as much joy and happiness as our family has found in this wonderful house.

Thank you for listening.

]]> http://blog.techfun.org/2008/11/president-bushs-post-election-radio-address/feed/ 0 Obama calls for “Swift Action” on the Economy http://blog.techfun.org/2008/11/obama-calls-for-swift-action-on-the-economy/ http://blog.techfun.org/2008/11/obama-calls-for-swift-action-on-the-economy/#comments Sat, 08 Nov 2008 04:07:48 +0000 JD Thomas http://blog.techfun.org/?p=1221 President-Elect Obama Meets with Economic Advisers, Calls for “Swift Action” on the Economy | Change.gov

Friday, November 7, 2008 06:20pm EST

President Elect Obama's First Press ConferenceBarack Obama today held his first press conference as President-Elect to call for “swift action” to fix the nation’s economy.

“Immediately after I become president I will confront this economic crisis head-on by taking all necessary steps to ease the credit crisis, help hardworking families, and restore growth and prosperity,” President-Elect Obama said.

The press conference followed a private meeting of Obama’s Transition Economic Advisory Board, a group of 17 leaders on economic issues that includes former U.S. Treasury Secretaries Robert E. Rubin and Lawrence E. Summers, Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Warren Buffett.

]]> http://blog.techfun.org/2008/11/obama-calls-for-swift-action-on-the-economy/feed/ 0 FC Debunks McCain’s Newest Ad http://blog.techfun.org/2008/08/fc-debunks-mccains-newest-ad/ http://blog.techfun.org/2008/08/fc-debunks-mccains-newest-ad/#comments Fri, 22 Aug 2008 23:39:57 +0000 JD Thomas http://blog.techfun.org/?p=959

On the defensive over the extent of multiple McCain homes, the GOP candidate strikes back. But his TV spot gives an oversimplified and misleading account of how Obama bought his own $1.6 million house in Chicago.

  • The ad says Chicago power broker Tony Rezko got “political favors” including “$14 million from taxpayers.” But there’s no evidence of any connection to the Obama home purchase. The $14 million was to build apartments for low-income seniors.
  • Obama wrote a letter supporting the “worthy” project, but both men say Rezko didn’t ask for the letter. It says Rezko “purchased part of the property [Obama] couldn’t afford.” Rezko’s wife did buy an adjoining tract but later sold the land at a profit. Obama paid market price for his home.

McCain launched the attack after Obama ran one capitalizing on McCain’s inability to recall for an interviewer how many homes the McCains own. Obama’s ad says it’s seven. The best tally we’ve seen puts the figure at eight, counting all the apartments and homes owned by McCain’s wife, Cindy, and various family trusts, for themselves and their children.

Note: This is a summary only. The full article with analysis, images and citations may be viewed on the FactCheck.org Website.

]]> http://blog.techfun.org/2008/08/fc-debunks-mccains-newest-ad/feed/ 1 “The Little Black Man Child” http://blog.techfun.org/2008/08/the-little-black-man-child/ http://blog.techfun.org/2008/08/the-little-black-man-child/#comments Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:53:40 +0000 JD Thomas http://blog.techfun.org/?p=952 MediaMatters.org has an article about Rush Limbaugh’s show yesterday in which he complains that you cannot criticize the “little black man-child” – referring to Senator Obama.

Hat tip to Pam Spaulding at Pam’s House Blend
– An Online Magazine in the Reality-Based Community.

LIMBAUGH: Quickly, L.A. Times poll: “More striking, however, is the drop in Obama’s favorable rating. Obama’s favorable rating has slid from 59 percent to 48 percent since June. At the same time his negative rating has risen from 27 to 35 percent. The bulk of that shift stems from Republicans souring on Obama amid ferocious attacks on the Democrat by McCain and his allies.” That’s it — see, there are Democrats — the drive-bys are just so upset with these so-called “ferocious attacks.” These have been benign. Even the Britney Spears/Paris Hilton ad was funny. It was benign.

Obama’s patriotism is not being attacked in an ad. McCain’s just out there saying he’s putting his own personal political ambition ahead of the country’s. It’s — you know, it’s just — it’s just we can’t hit the girl. I don’t care how far feminism’s saying, you can’t hit the girl, and you can’t — you can’t criticize the little black man-child. You just can’t do it, ’cause it’s just not right. It’s not fair. He’s such a victim.

Check out the audio for yourself.
]]> http://blog.techfun.org/2008/08/the-little-black-man-child/feed/ 2 “Caroline: Pull a Cheney!” – An Open Letter to Caroline Kennedy http://blog.techfun.org/2008/08/caroline-pull-a-cheney-open-letter-to-caroline-kennedy/ http://blog.techfun.org/2008/08/caroline-pull-a-cheney-open-letter-to-caroline-kennedy/#comments Tue, 19 Aug 2008 23:54:12 +0000 JD Thomas http://blog.techfun.org/caroline-pull-a-cheney-open-letter-to-caroline-kennedy

What Obama needs is a vice presidential candidate who is NOT a professional politician, but someone who is well-known and beloved by people across the political spectrum; someone who, like Obama, spoke out against the war; someone who has a good and generous heart, who will be cheered by the rest of the world; someone whom we’ve known and loved and admired all our lives and who has dedicated her life to public service and to the greater good for all.

That person, Caroline, is you.

I cannot think of a more winning ticket than one that reads: “OBAMA-KENNEDY.”

excerpt – Michael Moore Letter

read more | digg story

]]> http://blog.techfun.org/2008/08/caroline-pull-a-cheney-open-letter-to-caroline-kennedy/feed/ 0 The RNC’s Secret Rezko Connection http://blog.techfun.org/2008/06/rnc-secret-rezko-connection/ http://blog.techfun.org/2008/06/rnc-secret-rezko-connection/#comments Thu, 05 Jun 2008 02:22:58 +0000 JD Thomas http://blog.techfun.org/?p=755 RNCThe RNC has decided to cut out the extraneous middlemen this year. Unlike the “Swiftboat Veterans for Truth” campaign against Senator John Kerry in 2004, the RNC has taken the cheap way out. For a mere $9.00 a year domain registration fee they were able to launch RezkoJudgment.com. This new site is meant to draw attention to the fact that Barak Obama had business dealings and took campaign money from Antoin “Tony” Rezko, an Illinois businessman who was convicted of sixteen counts of fraud and money-laundering charges in federal court. Obama was not accused of any wrongdoing.

Rezko and ObamaMr. Rezko is not in the same league as Republican lobbyist and Tom Delay’s pal Jack Abramoff, but when the Republican National Committee can’t find anything good to say about their candidate they have to take what they can get.

Unlike Abramoff’s patrons who are under investigation or indictment, Barak Obama is NOT under investigation or being charged with anything related to the Rezko crimes.

This new RNC site contains a YouTube hosted video with lots one lovely photoshopped picture of Rezko & Obama and a second mashup of two different photos designed to make it look like they are pals.

The photos have been masked to remove any possible context from the picture and are used to zoom around the screen and make the two look joined at the hip as well as a little news feed to keep you up to date on the latest “Headlines” about Rezko. In this context Headlines refers to RNC press releases as opposed to … ya know.. NEWS headlines.

Bush Rezko Mashup

The whole aim is to cast doubts on Obama’s judgement and fitness to serve in office. The fun part of all this is that it took less than five minutes over on OpenSecrets.org to discover that Mr. Rezko was an equal opportunity donor.

He donated money to over two dozen candidates and issue groups over the period for which there are electronic, searchable records. Those candidates are of both parties, but one two time recipient of Mr. Rezko’s largess jumped out at me.

To the best of my recollection, George W. Bush was running for President in October of 1999 and December of 2003. During those campaigns Mr. Rezko donated $5,000 to Mr. Bush.

This is the same George W. Bush who, according to the RNC’s Party Leadership page, heads the very organization that has created and promoted RezkoJudgement.com. Now that takes REAL balls.

Rezko's Bush Donations

When I see such stunning hypocrisy right there out in the open I can understand why Blanca DeBree loves her Republicans. If the National Democratic party tried something like this they’d be flayed alive on Fox News and the rest of the TV news channels, but the thing is, the RNC will get away with it.

And of course, it wouldn’t be a proper Republican “viral” ad without the requisite “Angry Black Man” shot included for good measure.

Angry Black Man

]]> http://blog.techfun.org/2008/06/rnc-secret-rezko-connection/feed/ 1 If You Cannot Say Something Nice… http://blog.techfun.org/2008/05/if-you-cannot-say-something-nice/ http://blog.techfun.org/2008/05/if-you-cannot-say-something-nice/#comments Mon, 26 May 2008 04:13:54 +0000 JD Thomas http://blog.techfun.org/?p=738 I get a lot of press releases every day, but the ones from the Republican National Committee always catch my eye. I readily admit that I do not pay much attention to what John McCain is doing on the campaign trail and I keep hoping I’ll get the highlights via these press releases. I started noticing a trend a few weeks ago and decided to keep track of the releases they have been sending out to the news media.

Despite the fact that John McCain has made 26 individual campaign speeches, townhall meetings, and fund raisers in the month of May so far, the RNC only found 5 1/2 things to say about their presumed candidate. However, they did find the time to create forty-eight press releases discussing Barak Obama.

I find it very disturbing that the Republican National Committee did not learn from the trouncing they took in the 2006 midterm elections and recognize that people want to vote for a candidate and not against one. I understand that John McCain is no where near as exciting of a candidate as Barak Obama, but there must be more information about him that the GOP wants people to know about.

Here are the May 2008 Press Releases from the Republican National Committee up through May 25th. I have color coded them for easy reading. The titles in bold red are about John McCain, the titles in bold blue are about Barak Obama, the bold black entries are not about any candidate, and the lone bold purple item is about both McCain and Obama.

  • Thursday, May 01, 2008 – In Case You Missed It: The Right Rx (op-ed by McCain)
  • Thursday, May 01, 2008 – In Case You Missed It: RNC Victory Chairwoman Carly Fiorina On Obama’s Opposition To Gas Tax Relief (PR/Advisor and Former CEO of HP who left with a $21 million in cash gets snarky while confusing State and Federal politics on CNN)
  • Friday, May 02, 2008 - Reap the Windfall? (The RNC trashes Obama’s support of a Windfall profit tax on the record profits by the Oil Industry.)
  • Friday, May 02, 2008 – In Case You Missed It: RNC Victory Chairwoman Carly Fiorina On Sen.McCain’s Plan For Gas Tax Relief (Ms. Fiorina, head of echoes her early comment about Obama’s position on a gas tax holiday when he was a Illinois state Senator.)
  • Sunday, May 04, 2008 – RNC Chairman Responds to Howard Dean’s Appearance on FOX News Sunday (Chairman Robert M. “Mike” Duncan trashes Clinton and Obama’s understanding of economics while ignoring his own candidate’s self admitted lack of economic knowledge: “I’m going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated.”)
  • Sunday, May 04, 2008 – Obama: Wrong on Foreign Policy (The RNC continues its normal oversimplification of foriegn policy and creates a strawman argument to insist that Obama’s views will get us all killed.)
  • Monday, May 05, 2008 – RNC Statement on Cinco de Mayo (Chairman Robert M. “Mike” Duncan “With Senator John McCain as our presumptive presidential nominee, our Party will continue to support the American Dream and offer opportunities to make it a reality.”- because, ya know, Democrats want to kill the American Dream and eliminate opportuinities.)
  • Monday, May 05, 2008 - In Case You Missed It: Obama Says Teamsters Need Less Oversight (The RNC criticizes Obama’s position on phasing out union oversight thats been in place for 16 years and giving the Teamsters a chance to stand on their own two feet and fight corruption from within. The press release implies that Obama wants to remove all oversight as opposed to reducing it over time.)
  • Monday, May 05, 2008 – In Case You Missed It: One CEO’s View: Why McCain’s Health Plan Is Better (Ms. Fiorina talks up McCain’s health care policy while obliquely pointing out that so many years of Republican control of the federal government has resulted in a situation where the “government is demonstrably inefficient, ineffective, and in some cases corrupt.”)
  • Monday, May 05, 2008 – Senator McCain – The Right Choice For Hispanics (Another Carly Fiorina op-ed piece – this time it lays claim to support for McCain by the “Latino community.”)
  • Tuesday, May 06, 2008 – RNC Chairman Robert M. “Mike” Duncan On Gas Tax Relief And Judicial Appointments (More promotion of McCain’s call for “gas tax relief” and a ‘coded’ promise that McCain will continue to appoint the same kinds of judges that G.W. Bush has been selecting.)
  • Tuesday, May 06, 2008 – RNC Victory Chairwoman Carly Fiorina On Judicial Appointments And Gas Tax Relief (Ms. Fiorina echoes Mr. Duncan on judicial appointments and “Gas Tax Relief”, but in the opposite order. She says McCain will focus on judicial experience but use the two newest Supreme Court justices as templates in selecting his appointments.)
  • Wednesday, May 07, 2008 – Ringing Endorsement (This is a sound-bite ready press release designed to devalue the endorsements Obama has received from George McGovern and Moveon.org.)
  • Thursday, May 08, 2008 – In Case You Missed It: Iraqi Army: Al Qaeda In Iraq Leader Nabbed (The RNC claims that Abu Ayyub al-Masri, leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, had been captured and that this would be a major blow against al-Qaeda in Iraq. However, two days later CBC reported “The U.S. military is denying claims by the Iraqi government that the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq has been captured, saying it was someone else with a similar name.” but the RNC had moved on by then and did not issue a retraction.)
  • Friday, May 09, 2008 – Obama’s Faulty Tax Argument (This is a WSJ op-ed piece by Andrew G. Biggs in which he seems to claim that since letting the Bush tax cuts expire would not completely solve the Social Security shortfalls that we should leave them in place.)
  • Friday, May 09, 2008 – Obama Uninformed on Oregon (Another sound-bite kit with no real substance in which Obama is chastised for listening to advice on capital gains tax rates from billionaire Warren Buffet.)
  • Saturday, May 10, 2008 – Obama’s New Hamas Standard (Yet another sound-bite kit, this one on Obama’s dismissal of an advisor who met with Hamas before tailing off to once again conflates the idea of ‘talks’ and ‘appease’ regarding Obama’s willingness to speak with our enemies.)
  • Sunday, May 11, 2008 – Obama’s Nonsensical Foreign Policy (Obama, after saying he would not meet with Hamas because they are not a state and do not recognize Israel, is somehow blamed for a statement by a Hamas political advisor in which he says “”We don’t mind-actually we like Mr. Obama. We hope he will (win) the election and I do believe he is like John Kennedy, great man with great principle, and he has a vision to change America to make it in a position to lead the world community but not with domination and arrogance…”)

    You get the idea. If you want to read the rest of the RNC statements they can be found in their May 2008 News Archive.

  • Monday, May 12, 2008 – Obama’s Inability To Hire Good Help Rears Its Head … Again
  • Tuesday, May 13, 2008 – Obama: Show-Me Higher Taxes
  • Wednesday, May 14, 2008 – Obama’s Power Shifting
  • Wednesday, May 14, 2008 – RNC Response to Obama Comments on Medical Marijuana Laws
  • Wednesday, May 14, 2008 – NARAL’S Choice
  • Wednesday, May 14, 2008 – RNC Statement in Response to Court’s Ruling Against Frivolous DNC Lawsuit
  • Wednesday, May 14, 2008 – RNC Statement on Edwards’ Endorsement of Obama
  • Thursday, May 15, 2008 – RNC Statement in Israel’s 60th Anniversary
  • Thursday, May 15, 2008 – Obama V. Advisor
  • Friday, May 16, 2008 – Obama Misfires on Guns
  • Friday, May 16, 2008 – Obama’s Puzzling Policy
  • Friday, May 16, 2008 – Ringing Endorsement (This is a repeat of the earlier release of the same name.)
  • Saturday, May 17, 2008 – In Case You Missed It: How To Enrage A Democrat
  • Sunday, May 18, 2008 – Biden: Obama’s “Wrong Answer” on Hostile Leaders
  • Monday, May 19, 2008 – Obama’s Ill-Timed Tax Increases
  • Monday, May 19, 2008 – In Case You Missed It: Bring On The Foreign Policy Debate
  • Monday, May 19, 2008 – Obama’s Mistaken Security
  • Monday, May 19, 2008 – RNC Response to Daschle Statement on Obama’s Pledge to Negotiate Without Preconditions
  • Tuesday, May 20, 2008 – Obama: Weak in Cuba
  • Tuesday, May 20, 2008 – In Case You Missed It: Obama’s Vulnerable On National Security
  • Tuesday, May 20, 2008 – RNC Statement on Cuban Independence Day
  • Tuesday, May 20, 2008 – Obama’s Special Interest Hypocrisy
  • Wednesday, May 21, 2008 – Obama: Wrong for Florida
  • Wednesday, May 21, 2008 – In Case You Missed It: Obama Needs A Quick Refresher Course In Cold War History
  • Wednesday, May 21, 2008 – They Said It!: Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM) On Not Talking To Ahmadinejad
  • Wednesday, May 21, 2008 – Obama’s Precondition Confusion?
  • Wednesday, May 21, 2008 – Obama’s Lobbyist Hypocrisy
  • Thursday, May 22, 2008 – In Case You Missed It: Obama’s Troubling Instincts
  • Thursday, May 22, 2008 – Obama’s Foreign Policy Primer
  • Thursday, May 22, 2008 – Obama’s Lobbyist Exam
  • Thursday, May 22, 2008 – Obama’s Lobbyist Denial
  • Thursday, May 22, 2008 – Obama Fact Check on Israel
  • Friday, May 23, 2008 – In Case You Missed It: The Obama Learning Curve
  • Friday, May 23, 2008 – Obama: Weak on Cuba
  • Friday, May 23, 2008 – Obama’s Cuba Conversion
  • Friday, May 23, 2008 – Obama’s Bad Week on Preconditions
  • Friday, May 23, 2008 – RNC Statement on Memorial Day
  • Saturday, May 24, 2008 – In Case You Missed It: Obama Qualifies Stance On Iran Diplomacy
  • Saturday, May 24, 2008 – Obama’s FARC Faux Pas
  • Sunday, May 25, 2008 – In Case You Missed It: What The FARC Was Obama Talking About?


]]> http://blog.techfun.org/2008/05/if-you-cannot-say-something-nice/feed/ 0