OBAMA DAILY NEWS Saturday June 14, 2008

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WELCOME TO OBAMA DAILY NEWS

Saturday June 14, 2008


Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., and his wife Michelle,
walks down the steps of his campaign charter plane, Friday, June 13,2008, in Columbus, Ohio.
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)


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1. RIP Tim Russert

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2. Tim Russert's last good advice

Tim Russert's last good advice

Vigilance needed on campaign claims
Big issues, not smears, need to be the focus
Tim Russert Washington bureau chief NBC News Fri., June. 13, 2008

Tim Russert is NBC News’ Washington bureau chief and host of Meet the Press.
He regularly offers MSNBC.com’s readers his insight and analysis into questions
about politics past, present and future.


Msnbc: Tim, www.fightthesmears.com is a web site launched by the Barack Obama campaign to combat potentially damaging rumor about the candidate and his wife, Michelle. Is this necessary? How big of a problem is this really?

Tim Russert: It’s amazing how much the Internet has changed our lives. People get emails that make accusations without foundation and they are circulated around the country within seconds and suddenly become topics of conversations around water coolers or in lunchrooms.

I remember being in Indianapolis covering the Indiana primary and a man came up to me and said he wasn’t going to vote for Senator Obama because he was very concerned about the comments made by Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s pastor. I said, “That’s interesting. As a reporter, I’m curious what comments particularly bothered you?” He said, “Well, I can’t think of any that come to mind, but I also read on the Internet that he’s a Muslim.” And I said, “Now wait a minute. You can’t have both. You can’t be offended by his Christian minister and then say he’s a Muslim. You’ve got to pick one.”

But that just underscores what we’re dealing with in this modern era.

...more at the link

[Cha]

10. Good advice Tim..

RIP Tim Russert.

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3. Obama wants payroll tax on incomes above $250,000

Obama wants payroll tax on incomes above $250,000
By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writer Fri Jun 13

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Democratic Sen. Barack Obama on Friday called for higher payroll taxes on wage-earners making more than $250,000 annually, a step that would affect the wealthiest 3 percent of Americans.

The presidential candidate told senior citizens in Ohio that it is unfair for middle-class earners to pay the Social Security tax "on every dime they make," while millionaires and billionaires pay it on only "a very small percentage of their income."

The 6.2 percent payroll tax is now applied to all wages up to $102,000 a year, which covers the entire amount for most Americans. Under Obama's plan, the tax would not apply to wages between that amount and $250,000. But all annual salaries above the quarter-million-dollar amount would be taxed under his plan, Obama said.

Obama also said his rival, John McCain, has indicated in the past he was willing to consider higher payroll taxes.

But Douglas Holz-Eakin, the Republican candidate's senior economic policy adviser, said that as president, McCain would not consider an increase "under any imagineable circumstance."

..more at the link

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4. Fact Check: McCain and Social Security

Fact Check: McCain and Social Security
Fri Jun 13 By CALVIN WOODWARD AP

WASHINGTON - John McCain has long advocated letting workers divert some of their payroll taxes into private accounts. So when he says now that he won't privatize Social Security, that raises eyebrows.

But is he flip-flopping?

No, not at all. The Republican presidential candidate is playing a game of semantics.

He doesn't want to call his plan what is really is — a partial privatization of the Social Security system.

Democrats play the same game, on the other side.

...Obama, while keeping Social Security whole, proposes various incentives for people to build up their nest egg in private investments.

...more at the link

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5. Colin Powell Slams Bush, Open To Backing Obama

Colin Powell Slams Bush, Open To Backing Obama
Mark Nickolas on Jun 13, 2008 - Political Base

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell continues to make noise that he's open to backing Barack Obama (D):

Colin Powell said Thursday in Vancouver that he is considering voting for Democrat Barack Obama in November -- and he took shots at the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq war and the holding of terrorism suspects in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Granted, this is what Powell has said for some time, but if he would really damage McCain if he crossed the political aisle and backed Obama. It would also probably do some good in helping him restore his credibility.

I very vividly remember that when Powell went to the UN to make the case against Iraq, he convinced me and I was in support of the initial invasion. I even articulated my reason at the time that Powell wouldn't lie. I'm still angered by what he did to exaggerate the threat of this disastrous war, but he's one of the few people of this corrupt administration that has a chance of rehabilitating his image. Backing Obama would be a good first step.

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6. McCain Supreme Court: Nightmare for Women, Workers and Justice

McCain Supreme Court: Nightmare for Women, Workers and Justice
by Brent Budowsky at the Smirking Chimp June 13, 2008

Want to overturn Roe v. Wade and begin a new political civil war over abortion? How about a Supreme Court that supports the George Bush approach of executive power similar to royal monarchs, with massive and illegal wiretapping thrown in, legalized by a McCain court?

The Supreme Court is not only one branch of government, it is the branch that determines the powers of the other two branches. In the world of George Bush and John McCain, the executive branch is all-powerful with no meaningful checks and balances.

With a Supreme Court that would fully support this radical and extreme notion of unlimited, pre-emptive executive power, the sins of George Bush are only the beginning of what a McCain court would make the law of the land.

» article continues...

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7. Report: 25 million Americans underinsured

Report: 25 million Americans underinsured.

A new study from the Commonwealth Fund shows that the number of Americans forced to pay high medical expenses has skyrocketed since 2003. The report found that 25 million working-age Americans were underinsured last year, up 16 percent from 2003. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, family premiums have jumped 78 percent since 2001, while wages have only risen 19 percent, barely keeping pace with inflation.

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8. Department of Tee Hee

Department of Tee Hee June 13 Betty Cracker

So did someone really hack Taylor Marsh's site? Or did she stage the attack to rid herself of the bitter chorus of Clinton dead-enders who are impeding her ability to claw her way back into relevancy? Only her hairdresser knows for sure...

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9. Wouldn't have thought I'd see the McCain or Obama logo on these

An array of condoms featuring images of presumptive Republican presidential
nominee John McCain (R-Ariz.) and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee
Barack Obama (D-ILL.) are displayed on the desk of entrepreneur Ben Sherman
Thursday, June 12, 2008 in New York. Sherman's company, Practice Safe Policy,
launched the line of condoms which are available exclusively online. (AP Photo/Stephen Chernin)