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McCain Palin LIVE now

If you couldn't tell from my post below, I think the McCain housing plan is a disaster. It's Dodd-Frank on steroids. I didn't get the chance to ask any questions in the conference call earlier, but here is what was one my mind: 1. Why are you replicating the Dodd-Frank legislation bailout in your plan? Their plan gave $300 billion to FHA to guarantee failed mortgages. It passed in July. Shouldn't we give that some time to work? 2. Why does your plan empower the Treasury Secretary to buy up these failed mortgages and renegotiate them? Shouldn't that power be...

There are other threads here that point out some of the disappointments of this town hall debate. There are other threads that denounce Senator John McCain along with Barack Obama. There are other threads that provide an outlet to cry and declare defeat. Well, Free Republic Folk, I for one, am NOT willing to concede. I am not willing to see just the bad without seeing the good. I am not willing to give ONE inch to that terrorist loving, slim associating, undeserving domestic thug while we still have an honorable man who gave real truth, real character and real...

Just as Charlie Gibson did in his interview with Sarah Palin, Katie Couric set out to humiliate the Republican vice-presidential candidate with a series of "gotcha" questions. This tactic -- rarely employed with major liberal candidates -- could be used equally effectively against Couric, or most any other liberal member of the television news media. It would be highly instructive to have Couric asked questions in the same way in which she (and Gibson) asked questions of Palin. For example: Q: Critics of the war in Iraq argue that prior to the invasion of Iraq, America had never attacked a...

The bailout bill that the U.S. Senate passed late Wednesday night is not the remedy for what ails this nation's economy. While we are all anxious to take action to help America recover from it's current financial crisis, it does us no good to pass a bill that does not address the underlying problem before us, and that's the credit crunch. After the defeat of the original proposal in the House on Monday, Congress had an opportunity to really address some of the shortfalls of the failed bill. Instead they loaded on millions of dollars in pork barrel spending and...

For decades most of the organized Left has fought against Republicans and conservatives more than against the world's greatest evils. During the Cold War, starting in the late 1960s, one heard little if anything from the Left about the evils of Communism or of Communist societies such as the Soviet Union or Communist China. But one heard a great deal about the evils of American anti-Communists; Ronald Reagan was vilified much more than Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. But last week, a new line seems to have been crossed. The organized Jewish Left -- i.e., left-wing Jewish organizations that claim to...

The Mother of All Bailouts has many fathers. As panicked politicians prepare to fork over $1 trillion in taxpayer funding to rescue the financial industry, they've fingered regulation, deregulation, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Community Reinvestment Act, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, both Bushes, greedy banks, greedy borrowers, greedy short-sellers and minority home ownership mau-mauers (can't call 'em greedy, that would be racist) for blame. But there's one giant paternal elephant in the room that has slipped notice: how illegal immigration, crime-enabling banks and open-borders Bush policies fueled the mortgage crisis. It's no coincidence that most of the areas hardest...

<p>Jews, according to both anti-Semites and philo-Semites, are smart folks. Anti-Semites claim that Jews are highly intelligent -- and therefore threaten the world via conspiratorial monetary and political control. Philo-Semites point out that Jews have provided a vastly disproportionate number of Nobel Prize winners, as well as various leading scientists, philosophers, writers and artists. Virtually everyone agrees, then, that Jews are intelligent. And yet for all of our intelligence (I am an Orthodox Jew), large groups of American Jews lack the most basic instinct for self-preservation; they lack the understanding to protect Jews by acting to protect Israel. The non-religious Jewish community demonstrates particular blindness. Most non-religious Jews, who see no special value in Jewish identity, distract themselves with "social justice" policies -- policies like abortion-on-demand and gay marriage -- that directly contravene traditional Jewish values. Meanwhile, they ignore existential threats to Jews worldwide -- threats they cannot escape with protestations that they aren't practicing Jews, or that their Judaism only goes as far as the occasional bagel. For many non-religious Jews, political liberalism trumps both Jewish values and Jewish existence. How else to explain the disastrous series of events last week in New York? The United Jewish Appeal Federation of New York scheduled an anti-Iran rally highlighting the blatant Jew-hatred of visiting Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Federation invited both Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin (R-AK). Palin accepted. So, at first, did Clinton -- but when she learned that she would be appearing on the same stage as Palin, she backed out. At that point, the organizers of the rally made a terrible decision: They disinvited Palin. Politico.com reported that the decision was made after Democrats complained that they did not want the rally turned into a partisan event. This is the height of idiocy. In the possibility of a nuclear Iran, Jews face the gravest menace since the 1973 Yom Kippur War. They must mobilize every ally, unearth every friend, in order to create a groundswell of support for a military strike against Iran by Israel -- the only true solution to Iranian nuclear ambition. And yet they turned away Sarah Palin -- perhaps the future vice president of the United States, and at the moment, the most popular female politician in the United States -- because they feared offending Democrats. Only a baseline allegiance to the Democratic Party -- only a deep-rooted leftist partisanship -- can explain such behavior. Any rational group, seeking to draw attention to the Iranian situation, would leap at the opportunity to host Palin, who routinely draws tens of thousands of fans. More than that, any rational group would recognize that if high-ranking Democrats withdraw from anti-Iran rallies simply to avoid being seen in public with high-ranking Republicans, then perhaps Democrats aren't the friends of Israel they purport to be. Any rational group would be suspicious that Hillary Clinton is more concerned with Sarah Palin than Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Any rational group would use their anti-Iran rally as a forum for candidates, allowing those with the most pro-Israel message to capitalize politically. Instead, the organizers disinvited Palin. In doing so, they demonstrated a political bias unworthy of a pro-Israel organization. More than that: In rejecting Palin, they demonstrated loyalty to Democrats over loyalty to Jewish causes. That became especially clear when the text of Palin's un-given speech was released. "We gather here today to highlight the Iranian dictator's intentions and to call for action to thwart him," the speech reads. "He must be stopped. The world must awake to the threat this man poses to all of us. Ahmadinejad denies that the Holocaust ever took place. He dreams of being an agent in a 'Final Solution' -- the elimination of the Jewish people. He has called Israel a 'stinking corpse' that is 'on its way to annihilation.' … Iran should not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons. Period. And in a single voice, we must be loud enough for the whole world to hear: Stop Iran!" This is strong stuff. And it is stuff that the rally organizers abandoned when they kowtowed to Democrats rather than recognizing that support for Israel must be a non-partisan issue. It was foolish. It was dangerous. And most of all, it was dishonorable.</p>

If Barack Obama loses the 2008 election, liberal hell will break loose. Seven weeks before the 2008 presidential election, liberals are warning America that if Barack Obama loses, it is because Americans are racist. Of course, that this means that Democrats (and independents) are racist, since Republicans will vote Republican regardless of the race of the Democrat, is an irony apparently lost on the Democrats making these charges. That an Obama loss will be due to racism is becoming as normative a liberal belief as “Bush Lied, People Died,” a belief has generated intense rage among many liberals. But “Obama...

Barack Obama's surrogates have been trying to convince the American people that his judgment is so impeccable that his lack of experience is irrelevant. However, it's hard to make that case when the candidate in question is the single biggest gaffe machine to hit American politics since Howard Dean. You think Joe Biden cranks out a lot of dumb quips? Well, Biden is a rank amateur compared to Obama. As you read these brainless comments, keep in mind that the biggest challenge I had in creating this list was limiting it to only 10 snafus. In fact, there were so...

Slow Joe at the Pro Hall of Fame, courtesy of Jake Tapper, who is clearly becoming the most-read reporter on the trail: Although Biden said he was a Steelers fan in a meeting with the team's coach Mike Tomlin on August 29, he later said in a September 8 visit to a Green Bay bar outside of Lambeau Field that he'd been a Packers fan since grade school. Today he added three more favorites to the list -- the Eagles, the Colts and the Giants. As he looked at the jersey of former Philadelphia Eagle Reggie White, Horrigan said he...

McCain is a natural at these things, but Palin did very well. She answers questions in her folksy, non-Washington, regular gal way. For example, most politicians, including McCain, refer to Washington, D.C. as "Washington," but Palin, like a lot of regular Americans, tends to use the term "D.C." Click the photo for the video link. It is 37 minutes long but here are a few markers by topic. 2:00 - A proud PUMA opened the questioning; Sarah responds. 8:00 - Earmarks - McCain on corruption and evil practices in government; how to clean it up 10:35 - Palin's best answer...

Here is audio of the McCain / Palin Town Hall Meeting in Michigan yesterday, September 17, 2008, and a video link as well . . . . (Audio / Video at link)

Have you ever heard Hollywood liberals talk about suspected Islamic jihadists the way they talk about suspected Republican "book-banners"? The September 11 terrorist attacks didn't turn celebrity leftists into hawks. But the minute they started reading false rumors about Sarah Palin restricting unfettered access to "Daddy's Roommate" and "Heather Has Two Mommies" in her hometown library, Tinseltown's docile doves became militant warmongers. Actor Matt Damon, parroting left-wing Internet lies about Sarah Palin censoring novels while mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, took a defiant stand against the "terrifying possibility" of a McCain-Palin victory. "We can't have" book-banning, he inveighed. And now we...

Last week, the Barack Obama campaign ran an ad against John McCain. The ad didn't target McCain on policy or even on personality -- it targeted him on his age. While a picture of a disco ball is seen, followed by one of McCain in huge square-framed glasses, the narrator announces, "1982!" "John McCain goes to Washington. Things have changed in the last 26 years. But McCain hasn't. He admits he still doesn't know how to use a computer. Can't send an e-mail After one president who was out of touch, we just can't afford more of the same." It...

Sarah Palin's reputation survived her interview with ABC News' Charlie Gibson. The same cannot be said for Charlie Gibson. On my radio show last week, I twice defended Barack Obama. Once, against those conservatives who took a comment made by Obama in an interview with George Stephanopoulos out of context and suggested that Obama had inadvertently admitted he was a Muslim. And again, when I contended that Obama did not imply that Palin was a pig in his now famous "lipstick on a pig" reference. I mention this only because I want to assume that people of good will on...

WATCH JOHN MCCAIN TOWN HALL MEETING LIVE NOW! Click the link above for the video of Sen. McCain's Town Hall Meeting that just got underway in Orlando, Florida.

Obama interview: How does it feel to break a glass ceiling? How does it feel to “win”? How does your family feel about your “winning” breaking a glass ceiling? Who will be your VP? Should you choose Hillary Clinton as VP? Will you accept public finance? What issues is your campaign about? Will you visit Iraq? Will you debate McCain at a town hall? What did you think of your competitor’s [Clinton] speech? Palin interview: Do you have enough qualifications for the job you’re seeking? Specifically have you visited foreign countries and met foreign leaders? Aren’t you conceited to be...

John McCain was trained as a fighter pilot. In his selection of Sarah Palin, and in his convention and campaigning since, he has shown that he learned an important lesson from his fighter pilot days: He has gotten inside Barack Obama's OODA loop. That term was the invention of the great fighter pilot and military strategist John Boyd. It's an acronym for Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. "The key to victory is operating at a faster tempo than the enemy," Boyd's biographer Robert Coram writes. "The key thing to understand about Boyd's version is not the mechanical cycle itself, but rather...

Let's talk Mommy Wars, double standards and the media elite. Last Friday, Howard Gutman, a member of the Obama campaign's National Finance Committee, attacked Sarah Palin's ability to be a good parent and have a high-powered public life at the same time. In a finger-wagging appearance on the Laura Ingraham radio show, Obama's operative scolded the Republican mother of five children for not putting her professional career on hold. "Your responsibility is to put your family first," Gutman lectured as he singled out Palin's Down Syndrome baby and pregnant teenage daughter. "The proper attack is not that a woman shouldn't...

Virginity is hilarious, according to MTV Video Music Awards host Russell Brand. After Brand was done encouraging Americans to vote for Barack Obama because George W. Bush is a "retarded cowboy fellow," he attacked the Jonas Brothers for wearing promise rings, rings intended to demonstrate support for abstinence until marriage. "I'm beginning to wonder if the Jonas Brothers are quite what they seem," said the freaky-looking, scruffy-haired, tightly-garbed former dope fiend and sex addict. "Because if they were, how come I've got this little ring now?" Brand held up a supposed promise ring. "I mean initially, he was a little...

When the McCain and Palin families assembled together on stage at the conclusion of the Republican Convention in Minnesota, I felt profoundly encouraged about the future. There are seven McCain children, and five Palins—for a total of twelve offspring for the ticket. Among the Democrats, Senator Obama has two children, and Senator Biden has three – for a total of five. Meanwhile, in an interview scheduled for broadcast this Monday, Michelle Obama told TV host Ellen DeGeneres “I’m done” when asked if she wanted another child. “This campaign is that child,” she said. Of course, it’s possible that some of...

As I walked out after viewing John McCain's nomination acceptance speech into the balmy Northwestern evening, with the sun still illuminating the apricot clouds on the horizon, I looked up at the row of houses just across the street, and saw, through each of their front windows, eerily identical TVs showing the same giddy delegates and reporters and pundits at the Republican National Convention. John McCain's speech was moving, smart and well-delivered for his television audience on streets just like this one across America. The nominee punctuated his words with many wide smiles, grinning during a pause for disruptive protesters:...

There's something about outspoken conservative women that drives the Left mad. It's a peculiar pathology I've reported on for more than 15 years, both as a witness and a target. Thus, the onset of Palin Derangement Syndrome in the media, Democratic circles and the cesspools of the blogosphere came as no surprise. They just can't help themselves. Liberals hold a special animus for constituencies they deem traitors. Minorities who identify as social and economic conservatives have left the plantation and sold out their people. Women who put an "R" by their name have abandoned their ovaries and betrayed their gender....

"There is a special place in hell for women who do not help other women," former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright once remarked. Where, then, are the liberal women when it comes to Alaska Governor Sarah Palin? Palin became the first woman to grace a Republican ticket on Friday, August 29, when Senator John McCain selected her as his running mate. The following day, a diarist at the mainstream left-wing Daily Kos (Barack Obama himself appeared as a Kos diarist back in 2005) suggested without any evidence whatsoever that Sarah Palin's son, Trig, recently born and with Down syndrome, was...

Campaigns usually collapse because of gaffes -- off-the-cuff actions that accidentally reveal the true nature of candidates. And the Barack Obama campaign has had more than its share of revealing gaffes: Obama's statement that rural voters turn to God, guns and racism because they have no jobs; his explanation that proper tire gauge use would fix high gas prices; his self-aggrandizing exhortation that he has "become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions"; his associations with Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers and Tony Rezko; the list goes on and on. But gaffes are not the...

I joked about the hokeyness of last nights "Town Hall" segment at the Democratic National Convention during our Live Blog session and suggested that Billy Mays would be the next guest. Apparently Michael Goldfarb of the McCain campaign agreed. . . . (see video of the mock Dem Town Hall)

Earlier this month Andrew Sullivan, a well-known writer, once in the center, now on the left, nominated me for what is apparently his lowest badge of distinction for defending citizens who shoot to wound graffiti vandals, or "taggers," while committing their vandalism. Under the heading, "Malkin Award Nominee," Sullivan provides a quote from my radio show: "'So you will now say -- I hear the voice of an ACLU member -- 'Dennis, do you think that this guy should have shot these people spray painting graffiti on his shop?' To which my answer is yes. I do. Not to kill....

Why do conservatives and liberals respond so differently to the current war in Georgia? The answer to that question exposes the great political divide separating left and right, Democrats and Republicans, in today’s America. The stark contrast between Barack Obama and John McCain at this weekend’s televised Civil Forum at California’s Saddleback Church further underlined the vast gulf in worldviews when it comes to injecting moral standards or arguments into politics. Conservatives approach every challenge with a determination to approach the question (as far as possible)as a choice between right and wrong, good and evil. Liberals, on the other hand,...

Late Sunday night, my wife and I drove from Sacramento, Calif., to Los Angeles. We figured that it would be wise to leave Sacramento in the early evening to avoid traffic. At 7 p.m., we climbed into the car and headed for Interstate 5, the major highway connecting Northern California and Southern California. For the first five hours of the drive, things went as planned. The highway was relatively clear, and we sailed along happily at 80 mph. Then we saw it. A sign. A large orange sign reading: Freeway Closed Ahead, 11 p.m.-4 a.m. It was too late to...

We are constantly reminded about the destructive consequences of religion -- intolerance, hatred, division, inquisitions, persecutions of "heretics," holy wars. Though far from the whole story, they are, nevertheless, true. There have been many awful consequences of religion. What one almost never hears described are the deleterious consequences of secularism -- the terrible developments that have accompanied the breakdown of traditional religion and belief in God. For every thousand students who learn about the Spanish Inquisition and the Salem Witch Trials, maybe two learn to associate Gulag, Auschwitz, The Cultural Revolution and the Cambodian genocide with secular regimes and ideologies....

This is a live blog event that happened 8/16/08 LIVE from Seattle Center: "We the People" all star panel kicks off AM 1090's annual town hall forum has just kicked off here at Seattle Center's Exhibition Hall, where a packed house of progressive activists have gathered to listen to a panel of nationally syndicated talk show hosts talk about the 2008 presidential campaign and American politics. Five of us from NPI are here, liveblogging and taking pictures. The panel includes Mike Malloy, Randi Rhodes, Sam Seder, Rachel Maddow, Thom Hartmann, and Stephanie Miller, with Ron Reagan moderating. Each host was...

A man, they say, can be judged by his friends. If that's the case, then Barack Obama can surely be judged by George Clooney. The UK Daily Mail reported this week that the "Ocean's Eleven" actor regularly speaks with and text messages the presumptive Democratic nominee, advising him on everything from fashion to foreign policy. "George has been giving him advice on things such as presentation, public speaking and body language and he also emails him constantly about policy, especially the Middle East," stated a Democratic Party insider. "George is pushing him to be more 'balanced' on issues such as...

Jeannie Burlsworth, Founder and Chairman of Secure Arkansas, is hosting two town hall meetings in Northwest Arkansas which are open to the public and will focus on the impact of illegal immigration on the taxpayers of Arkansas. The first meeting will be held at the Rogers Public Library Monday, August 18 at 6:30 p.m. in the RPL Community Room. The second meeting will be at the Jones Center for Families in Springdale on Tuesday, August 19 at 6:30 p.m. in the Chapel. Jeannie Burlsworth said, "Are you tired of illegal aliens unfairly benefiting from the privileges of citizenship in Arkansas?...

There is an unfortunate side to a 24 hour news cycle consisting to 30 second sound bytes: A Shortened Memory. On July 11th, Carissa Picard, managing director of the Fort Hood Presidential Town Hall Consortium announced that on August 11th, this past Monday, the group would hold a Town Hall meeting at Fort Hood consisting of Military personnel and their families. The Military Townhall meeting would eventually be sponsored by 15 different military and veterans groups including the Military Officers Association of America and the Enlisted Association of the National Guard. Additionally, CBS News had reached an agreement with the...

Democratic strategists loudly insist that the tawdry sex scandal consuming John Edwards will do no damage to the Obama campaign. Despite the very public embraces between the former North Carolina senator and the presumptive nominee, Obama apologists (can we coin a new term-- "Obamapologists"?) dismiss the Edwards case as an irrelevant distraction. After all, they say that their man never seriously considered his former rival as a potential running mate or even for a major cabinet post, so the unfolding disgrace of a one-time elected official bears no connection to Barack's visionary campaign of hope, change, and global redemption. For...

The following is a list of beliefs that I hold. Nearly every one of them was a liberal position until the late 1960s. Not one of them is now. Such a list is vitally important in order to clarify exactly what positions divide left from right, blue from red, liberal from conservative. I believe in American exceptionalism, meaning that (a) America has done more than any international organization or institution, and more than any other country, to improve this world; and (b) that American values (specifically, the unique American blending of Enlightenment and Judeo-Christian values) form the finest value system...

The L.A. Times blames the lack of interest by voters in Veterans Issue as the reason for the almost-zero attendance. Heh.

John McCain has launched a new interactive YouTube "Virtual Town Hall Meeting." From the McCain Campaign: We've created this virtual town hall meeting to enable you to learn more about where John McCain stands on the issues and his vision for the future of our country. Please click on a button to watch John McCain's response to the question." ----------------------------------------------------------- This comes soon after McCain takes the lead in Youtue hits over Obama.

This 2008 presidential election cycle has been jam-packed with irony. John McCain has been forced to rely on the 527 groups he so despises; Barack Obama has been denounced by members of the black community but embraced by upper class whites; the Clintons have been rejected by the very media that put them in power. But perhaps the most ironic fact of the 2008 election cycle is this: John McCain will win the 2008 election because the war in Iraq was not a war for oil. Since the liberation of Iraq in March 2003, liberals have been screaming that the...

He's says he already did those when he debated Hillary. McCain's guy did a nice job in responding. McCain's campaign, keeping with their new line of attack against Obama, expressed disappointment and offered a dose of sarcasm in response to the news. "We understand it might be beneath a worldwide celebrity of Barack Obama’s magnitude to appear at town hall meetings alongside John McCain and directly answer questions from the American people, but we hope he’ll reconsider," said Brian Roges, a McCain spokesman. Love that Celebrity stuff. It's called going after your opponent's (substanceless) strength.

Here is video of a town-hall meeting in Racine, Wisconsin today, July 31, 2008, where an 18-year old woman told Sen. John McCain that Obama "terrifies me." She urged McCain to "call him on every shot," and not let Obama get away with "anything." The clip goes on to show an older woman in the audience thanking John McCain for being "such a Great American." . . .(see video)

"Texas authorities on Tuesday indicted the leader of a polygamous sect ... on charges of felony sexual assault on a minor, the first criminal charges to stem from a massive raid on the group's West Texas compound," The Los Angeles Times reported last week (http://tinyurl.com/6oenlz). The Associated Press and other media used similar words: "indicted polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs ... charges of felony sexual assault of a child." Straightforward reporting? In my "20/20" special "Sex in America", polygamy activist Mark Henkel said no, it's an ignorant distortion. "The media kept saying, 'Polygamist leader, polygamist leader,'" Henkel told me. "But...

Barack Obama's messianic tour of Europe is over. And, like Jesus, he has risen again -- in the polls. According to Gallup's daily tracking poll, Obama is now up 8 percent among registered voters. According to Rasmussen, his lead is a whopping three points. (According to USA Today/Gallup, John McCain actually leads Obama among likely voters by 4 percent. But God knows that Jesus' poll numbers are always vacillating, too.) Obama's return has meant jubilation in the streets. Demure virgins wave palm fronds over the triumphant conqueror as he wanders the highways and byways of the campaign trail. Obama gracefully...

To better understand Sen. Barack Obama, his speech before 200,000 Germans in Berlin is one good place to start. As we shall see, however, it does not leave one secure as to the senator's understanding of history, of America's role in the world, and what to do about evil, among other important issues. Obama: "At the height of the Cold War, my father decided, like so many others in the forgotten corners of the world, that his yearning -- his dream -- required the freedom and opportunity promised by the West." Promised by the West? Or promised by America? It...

In a desolate public park in Columbus, Ohio, a man responded to the advances of a topless woman. She asked him to "show me yours." When he did, police officers arrested him. Columbus law says her being topless is OK; exposing his genitalia is not. Why did cops hide in the shadows to arrest a man no one but they could see? On last week's "20/20", Dr. Marty Klein pointed out that the police weren't protecting children. "There were no children anywhere in sight. In fact, there were no adults anywhere in sight." Klein says it's part of "America's War...

It is difficult to imagine Israel attacking Iran. It is, however, more difficult to imagine Israel not attacking Iran. Consider three questions: First, does Iran mean what it says about destroying Israel? When its leaders repeatedly call for Israel's annihilation, after referring to it as a cancer and using other rhetoric not heard on a national level since the Nazi regime's depiction of Jews, is this just rhetorical flourish? Or do they really hope and plan to destroy Israel? Second, can Iran do it? One can hope and even plan to do something outrageous, but that does not necessarily mean...

The most effective of all morality-based arguments for same-sex marriage, the one that persuades more people than any other argument, is the one that equates opposition to same-sex marriage with the old opposition to interracial marriage. The argument, repeated so often that it sounds incontestable, is this: Just as parts of American society once had immoral laws that forbade whites and blacks from marrying, so, today, society continues to have immoral laws forbidding men from marrying men and women from marrying women. And just as decent people overthrew the former, decent people must overthrow the latter. Thanks in large part...

Presidential candidate Senator Obama (D-Ill.), spurned an invitation from a coalition representing armed services personnel, veterans and their families to participate in a nationally televised town-hall-style meeting with the presidential candidates near Fort Hood, Texas, the largest active-duty military base in the country. Obama campaign spokesman, Ron Ehwey, characterized the planned event as “an attempted ambush by ‘hostile forces.’” “We’re leading in the polls,” Ehwey boasted. “There’s no need for our man to take this kind of risk.” Ehwey rebuffed allegations of “cowardice,” saying that “the American people need a leader who understands which risks are worth taking, not some...

The New York Times is reporting that Sen. Barack Obama is refusing to meet John McCain for a debate on Foreign Policy before a Town Hall Meeting audience composed of veterans, military service members, and military families from the Fort Hood, Texas military base. CBS has agreed to televise the event on August 11, from 9-11 p.m. EDT. Obama has refused to attend, and his campaign won't even suggest a date that is not in conflict with their schedule, according to organizers. This is the same Barack Obama who arrogantly said he would meet John McCain "anytime, anywhere" to debate...