Politics without a political slant – marublog

A Republican state senator is being criticized for a post on his blog that shows photos of Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden wearing similar clothing, along with a line that says the difference between them is “a little B.S.”

The image was posted on Sen. Kevin Bryant’s blog on Friday. It appears to be a photo of a T-shirt with images of bin Laden and Obama wearing turbans and the words “OBAMA” AND “OSAMA,” with the “B” and “S” highlighted in red.

“It’s just one of those pictures that I received by e-mail,” Bryant told The Associated Press on Monday. “I hope people will understand the sarcasm in it.”

He said he had been unaware of the uproar last week over a caricature of a turban-wearing Obama and his militant wife on the cover of The New Yorker.

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Boston Globe sports columnist Bob Ryan’s son, Keith, was found dead in Pakistan. This has been rumoured around the internet for most of the day, it has now been confirmed.

Keith Ryan, was a diplomatic attache for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Ryan, 37, apparently took his own life and was found in Islamabad, according to the U.S. State Department.

Ryan leaves behind a wife and eight-year-old triplets.

Ryan’s father, Bob Ryan, told the Boston Globe, “the only word to describe the sensation is devastated … We will always have questions.”

I would like to publicly express my deepest sorrow for Bob and his family for their Loss.

Today, Monday, Senator Edward Kennedy, brother of the late JFK, endorced Sen. Barack Obama for president. He said “It is time again for a new generation of leadership”.

“It is time now for Barack Obama,” the Massachusetts senator added.

He also said that Obama would be ready “on Day 1′ to be president’

Kennedy stood with Barack Obama, Rep. Patrick Kennedy (his son), and his niece, Caroline Kennedy, before a capacity crowd of students at American University in Washington who were all screaming for Obama.

“Like you, we want a president who appeals to the hopes of those who still believe in the American dream,” he said.

“I’ve found that candidate. And it looks to me like you have too,” he said.

“The dream has never died … it lives on in those Americans, young and old, rich and poor, black and white, Latino and Asian and Native American, gay and straight, who are tired of a politics that divides us and want to recapture the sense of common purpose that we had when John Kennedy was president of the United States of America,” Obama replied.

“That is the dream we hold in our hearts,” Obama said. “That is the kind of leadership we long for in this country. And that is the kind of leadership I intend to offer as president of the United States of America.”

Caroline Kennedy endorsed Obama this weekend in a NY Times editorial.

Kennedy Endorcing Obama

80% of the ‘Black vote’, the vast majority of them black women pushed Barack Obama into the landslide victory he predicted. Obama’s message as we move to the vote by 22 states on ‘Super Tuesday, is even more strongly pushing for change:

“Real leadership is about candor, and judgment, and the ability to
rally Americans from all walks of life around a common purpose – a
higher purpose”, he declared, to much applause.

Caroline Kennedy (JFKs daughter) has endorsed his candidacy saying he would be “A President like my father”.

Online donations to his campaign are now flooding in at over half a million dollars an hour!

Senator Clinton said “We now turn our attention to the millions of Americans who will make
their voices heard in Florida and the twenty-two other states as well
as American Samoa who will vote on February 5,”.

Not even a “congratulations Obama”?

My advice to Hillary? Drop Bill, he is weighing you down – Exit polls are clearly showing undecided voters may have been turned off by his tactics and flocked to Obama.

“We want change” – “Tired of business as usual”

Watch his Victory Speech in South Carolina

Both Obama and Clinton will get a ‘heads up’ on where they stand in South Carolina this weekend (Saturday). It is expected that over a 300k will turn up to vote. This is the first Democratic primary in the South, a place where the electorate is made up of about half black voters.

Who will come out on top, Obama or Clinton – as with all voting it always calls for a bit of lip service:

“I am absolutely convinced that we can win here, and we can win anywhere in the country,” Obama said at a late night rally in Columbia. Obama has been spending the pat week campaigning heavily across Columbia State.

Clintons view was “I have no idea what’s going to happen tomorrow. We’re working as hard
as we can to reach as many voters as possible”.

South Carolina polls close at 7 p.m. EST, with results available soon afterward. This will be the latest test for Obama (Illinois) and Clinton (New York), in the race for the Democratic presidency candidicy.

“Campaigns are contentious,” Hillary Clinton told reporters on Friday in Rock Hill, South Carolina. “There is a perfectly legitimate role for drawing contrasts, for pointing to people’s records, for correcting the record.”

Other candidates have blasted them for their squabbling and spin doctoring.

Saturdays Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll showed Obama with a 41 percent to 26 percent edge over Clinton in South Carolina, with Edwards in third place with 19 percent.

The lead for Obama, who would be the first black U.S president, is fueled by his 62 percent support among black voters, the poll found. Clinton and Edwards are tied among white voters at 35 percent, with Obama at 19 percent.

The Illilnois senator was quoted as being “a ground breaking nominee” and the best candidate to unite the country, repairing the US reputation around the world. “Sen. Obama is the only Democrat who plausibly can say that he wants to work with Americans across the political spectrum” The State (Columbia) said on its web site. Click here to read The State’s Obama endorsement.

This was followed up on Wednesday when The New York Observer backed their own state’s Sen. Clinton with the following:

“New Yorkers might ask why they should not pull a lever for our junior senator, Hillary Rodham Clinton. While Mrs. Clinton is an extraordinary United States senator for New York, we believe that Mr. Obama can be a great president for the United States of America,”

The New York paper then followed up with:

“Most of the other candidates have absorbed, assimilated or appropriated Mr. Obama’s issue of change. It is a powerful concept. But a great deal of the argument for Mr. Obama’s candidacy is about one great issue in American life: restoring and reinvigorating American democracy.” Click here to read The New York Observer’s Obama endorsement.