Who won tonight's debate?

UPDATE: Poll is over, here are the results.



While not scientific, the results are interesting since in our straw poll of Democratic candidates overall, you guys overwhelmingly chose Edwards 2-1 over Obama and Hillary (more on that tomorrow).

Curious what you all think. Weigh in in the AMERICAblog straw poll in the right hand column. You have one hour, voting stops at 11:05PM Eastern. And be sure to weigh in in the comments as well - I'm seriously curious what folks thought, what effect did the Obama-Hillary brawl have on your opinion? Read the rest of this post...

Ooh yummy, ANOTHER Democratic debate open thread

Hillary says Obama is in favor of sexual abuse and putting sex shops near children. It's going to be very interesting to see how people react to this debate.

Hillary just told us that she regretted voting for the bankruptcy bill in 2001. But she hasn't told us that she regretted voting for the war, has she? And, she just got booed for an attack on Obama.

Wow, this is an actual debate. Seriously, you guys just missed some brutal back and forth between Hillary and Obama.

Wow, brutal outright lie from Hillary. Obama said he "liked" the ideas of the Republicans? Nice spin, but an outright lie. Obama said the Republicans have had all the ideas the past few decades and that it was time that the Democrats started promoting big ideas. It is a flat out lie to say that Obama said he liked the GOP ideas or that they were good ideas. Flat out lie.

Huh, I didn't realize this was another 3-candidate debate. Good. Though I do miss Gravel.

Yes, there's another one. And yes, we're watching it. My eyes, my eyes... Read the rest of this post...

Obama and the gays, again

Obama's relations with the gay community were off to a great start yesterday morning. Obama had just addressed the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, MLK's own church (text of the speech and video here), and Obama went out of his way in the speech to call the black community to task for having "scorned our gay brothers and sisters instead of embracing them."

Not bad, considering candidates don't usually admonish their own in order to get votes.

Then, word started getting around (i.e., I started getting lots of emails) that Obama was embracing yet another homophobic friend-of-Bush, a la the controversy a few months ago in which Donnie McClurkin, a gospel singer (and Bush supporter) who advocates that gays can (and should) be "cured" emceed an Obama fundraiser. This time around, it's Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, a black minister who says he's been asked by the Obama campaign to travel around the country on their behalf. The controversy? The minister's church runs a ministry that tries to cure gays.

Or at least they did. The ministry's Web site no longer contains the page promoting their anti-gay/ex-gay ministry, but I still have a copy that you can see below:


(click image for a larger copy)

The really important part is the lead that reads:

We are pleased to announce the creation of “ The Way, The Truth and The Life”, a program created to provide Christ Centered instruction for those seeking freedom from homosexuality, lesbianism, prostitution, sex addiction and other habitual sins.

Oops.

Why I'm actually not that upset about all of this (and much more), after the jump...

Caldwell, for his part, issued the following statement today:

"Metanoia Ministries is not an active ministry of my church. It was run by an outside group and I was not aware that it was still linked to my website. Neither Senator Obama nor his staff knew of this outside ministry, nor have they expressed any agreement with my church's beliefs on gay rights. I support Senator Obama because of his ability to bring Americans together, not because of our agreement or disagreement on any one issue."

Well, not so fast. The ex-gay group wasn't "linked" from Caldwell's Web site, they were a part of Caldwell's Web site. An entire page was devoted to their "ex-gay" services, and the director of the ex-gay program, Barbara Hicks, has an email address at Caldwell's church. There's nothing outside about this at all (though it is good that Caldwell is feeling the need to distance himself from the "cure the gays" crowd).

I've talked to the Obama campaign about this, and they assure me of a few things:

1. Caldwell has not, and will not, be asked to do anything for the campaign (and this means, we hope, that Obama won't be doing appearances with the man any time soon).
2. Caldwell was simply wrong when he told the papers this weekend that the campaign asked him to travel around the country on their behalf. In other words, Caldwell was freelancing when he called the paper for an interview.

The reason the McClurkin controversy really got my goat wasn't that Obama had scheduled a homophobic superstar to emcee a campaign event. (I doubt Obama knew about McClurkin's dark side when the event was scheduled.) What bothered me was that even after Obama learned that McClurkin was a real jerk he still kept him on the schedule (and surprise, surprise, McClurkin then spent half an hour at the event railing against gays). From what we know, Caldwell isn't McClurkin - Caldwell may embrace the "ex-gays," but he's not an ex-gay leader like McClurkin (though I'm not going to give the guy any PFLAG awards). But more importantly, Caldwell doesn't appear to have any role at all in the Obama campaign, nor will he (though he did appear previously at a few Obama events). If that's true, and coming on the heels of Obama's rather gutsy pro-gay comments at MLK's church yesterday morning, I'm a lot less troubled by this controversy than I was the previous.

Bottom line: Obama gets some some major chits for what he did yesterday morning, and with that in mind, I think on this one we can give him a pass.

UPDATE: A reader emailed me this link, noting that Caldwell was invited by Obama's campaign to appear at the McClurkin fundraiser. I knew that already, and the campaign didn't lie to me about it - in fact they acknowledged that he was there. But, the issue isn't what the campaign did before they knew he was a problem, the issue is what they do now. If they say he's not going to be asked to do anything for the campaign, until proven otherwise, that's a darn good answer. Read the rest of this post...

Under pressure, Canada removes US from torture list

Fannee Doolee hates torture but loves waterboarding.

Read the rest of this post...

Martin Luther King memorial to be Made-in-China

What, the Soviets weren't available anymore so we went for the next best oppressor of 1 billion human rights? Rather disgusting. More background here. Read the rest of this post...

McCain has yet to win a simple majority of Republican votes

An interesting observation in today's Washington Post:

McCain has yet to clearly win the Republican vote in any contest this year. In South Carolina, he and Huckabee evenly divided GOP voters. The senator's margin came from independents, who represented one-fifth of the vote. The same pattern occurred in New Hampshire, where McCain and Romney evenly split Republicans and McCain won by a big margin among independents. In Michigan, Romney decisively won Republicans on his way to victory there.

And this is why McCain worries me. Yes, he doesn't thrill a majority (or plurality) of Republicans, but he does win over independents, who push him into a majority. The past several years, independents have hated the Republicans and sided with us. McCain threatens that dynamic. Read the rest of this post...

Bill Maher sends sex columnist Dan Savage to Huckabee country

Dan (of "Savage Love" fame) doesn't disappoint. (Hat tip, TowleRoad.)

Read the rest of this post...

Bush to cut state anti-terror funds

Hi, Democrats. This is one of those things we call a gift from God. It's one of those moves that ends careers. That wins you elections. That destroys your enemy. It's one of those things that if we did it, we'd be paying for the gaffe for decades.

The Bush administration will cut counterterrorism money for police, firefighters and rescue departments next year...

So where is the coordinated Democratic campaign to destroy the Republicans over this incredible mistake? To forever brand them as a party weak on terror?

[Crickets]

I don't want to hear anymore about how you don't have a big enough majority in the House or Senate. You just got handed a gift from God. What you plan to do with it will speak volumes about whether you deserve to remain in office. Read the rest of this post...

Huck's biggest supporter slams McCain for being too old

It's getting good and ugly and personal on the GOP side:

Campaigning for Mike Huckabee, actor Chuck Norris said Sunday that Sen. John McCain is too old to handle the pressures of being president.

"I didn't pick John to support because I'm just afraid that the vice president would wind up taking over his job in that four-year presidency," said Norris, who was hosting a fundraiser for Huckabee at his Lone Wolf Ranch.

"So we need to find someone that can handle it for four years or eight years ... that has the youth and vision and communication skills to make that work." Norris, 67, is four years younger than McCain, who will be 72 in August.

Read the rest of this post...

Monday Morning Open Thread

We've heard his name mentioned a lot lately. Listen to the words from Dr. King that changed the country:

Read the rest of this post...

European markets drop fast at opening

The opening in London, Paris and Frankfurt markets has been ugly, just like Asia. Where are the Republican presidential candidates during this collapse? They're still talking about tax cuts instead of addressing real world problems that their party created. It's incredible to even imagine that we're heading into a recession - if we're not already there - and this group is debating issues that were laid to rest a few years ago.

Outside of extreme right wing circles, people know that tax cuts do not "pay for themselves" as the right likes to say. Never have, never will. They can provide benefits but as a long term solution to the current economic problems, not at all. Giuliani may not have a chance to mingle with people outside of his million dollar plus salary circles but people in the real world are fed up with tax cuts for the elite and the middle class squeeze. Times have changed, but the GOP is still stuck in the past. Why is it so hard for them to understand that most of the country has been left behind while only the select few have profited? Read the rest of this post...

Asian markets drop hard in response to Bush stimulus

Bush is not very popular with voters at home. The Middle East dislikes him as much as ever. Wall Street wasn't happy and today, the Nikkei lost 3.9% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng has dropped 3.5%. China, who has to be worried about a failing US economy, shed an amazing 5.1% on the Shanghai Composite.

The GOP used to chuckle at the world, dismissing Bush detractors at home and abroad as know-nothings who just didn't get it. Bush knew more than everyone else and made the tough choices that weren't popular, but were right. Gosh, how are they all feeling about that now? How'd it all work out? Read the rest of this post...