United States

McCain tracks Obama’s every move, online

Sophie — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:49:23 +0200

People who criticise McCain for his "older than the Golden Gate" status will be silenced by the senator's newly acquired high-tech internet skills, says his campaign team. On Tuesday, the 71-year-old uploaded a tool allowing him to survey Barack Obama's website and point out any single modification that his competitor made to certain parts of his manifesto.

The tool immediately highlighted any alteration made to the Iraq pages on the official Obama website. The tiniest change - even a deleted comma - would be automatically coloured either red (deletion) or green (addition), by the system. McCain was hoping to draw attention to Obama's change of heart on the Iraq issue. While the Democratic nominee has always assured voters that he would immediately withdraw from the country, he recently decided against the idea. McCain was also hoping to use the tool to push on with his endeavour to publicly undermine Obama's foreign policy plans. Is this something we should get used to? Will Sarko's site be tapped next time an election comes round in France?

Update: Not so media savvy after all! If you try McCain's Obama-tracking site today, the alterations no longer appear. Is Obama's team even more on the ball?

Mitt Romney for McCain VP?

Sophie — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:48:20 +0200

When they were in competition with each other, Mitt Romney and John McCain fought bare-knuckled for the presidential nomination. But now that McCain has secured the place and is on the lookout for a running-mate, speculation that Romney will be chosen is mounting. So what would the conservative Mormon bring to the table as the country's vice president?

Romney campaigned for the primaries with a video that began "McCain is not as conservative as Romney". Describing himself as "a full-spectrum conservative" and a supporter of "limited government", the "preservation of marriage", and "a foreign policy based on the national interest", Romney sparked a fierce battle between the two. Each insisted that he was the one who would work hardest for the economy and for freedom of speech, and fight hardest against abortion rights, gay marriage and terrorism, until the former governor of Massachusetts stepped down in early February. Five months later and the dual long over, everyone wants to know whether the pair would, and could, work together in the White House.

Obama a Muslim and Michelle a militant?

Sophie — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:51:55 +0200

Despite huge criticism for depicting Barack Obama and his wife, satirically, in a radically unpatriotic light, The New Yorker magazine refuses to apologise, saying that "satire is part of what we do". Obama's campaign team doesn't find it so funny though.

The illustration shows the Democratic candidate dressed in traditional Islamic clothing along with his Kalashnikov-armed wife in what looks like the oval office. Below a painting of what seems to be Osama bin Laden, the American flag burns in the fireplace. Obama's campaign team yesterday condemned the satirical depiction, calling it "tasteless and offensive". The New Yorker's editor defended it however, saying that the cover was "meant to bring things out into the open, to hold up a mirror to prejudice, the hateful, and the absurd". He also pointed out that the copy of the New Yorker, which is a publication known for its liberal leanings, also contains two in-depth articles about the Illinois senator.

Obama has faced continuous allegations about his religious beliefs and the Islamic faith, and 12% of Americans actually believe that he is a Muslim, while he insists that he is Christian. In an attempt to counteract this rumour, and others, he launched the site called Fight The Smears.

The illustration was drawn by cartoonist Barry Blitt, who said that the picture was inspired by the "preposterous" idea that "the Obamas are branded as unpatriotic (let alone as terrorists)".

Reverend Jackson wants to "cut Obama’s n*ts off"

Sophie — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:14:44 +0200

Civil rights activist and friend of the late Martin Luther King, Jr., Jesse Jackson made a blunder on Sunday when he said something he shouldn't have... on Fox News. He didn't realise the cameras were rolling when he leant over to his neighbour to tell him, regarding Obama, "I wanna cut his nuts off".

The Reverend Jesse Jackson was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988. He was appearing on "The O'Reilly Factor" on Sunday when he insists that he didn't know his microphone was turned on. His comments wouldn't be so surprising if he had not publicly announced his support for Barack Obama's candidacy. He has since apologised and been forgiven by the Illinois senator.

Video posted on YouTube by jbranstetter04

Fox didn't release the video until Wednesday.

Kill off Iranians with cigarettes, says McCain

Sophie — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 12:16:04 +0200

John McCain came up with a novel way to combat America's longstanding Iranian foe yesterday.

Joking with a reporter at a campaign meeting in Pittsburgh, the Republican candidate suggested that exporting cigarettes to Iran might be "a way of killing ‘em". He was responding to a report that showed a tenfold increase in tobacco exports from the US to Iran during the hostile Bush era since 2001. Maybe not such a novel idea after all?

Video © CNN 8 July 08

He didn’t bother with Athens, but Bush will go to the games in Beijing

Ségolène — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:42:28 +0200

Posted on Flickr by ack-online.de

During a visit to Japan on Sunday, George Bush announced that he plans to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing, deeming a boycott of the event "an affront to the Chinese people". One of our Observers for the US reminds us that in contrast, Bush didn't bother going to the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Angela Merkel and Gordon Brown have said that they will not be going. Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country has just taken over the rotating EU presidency, has said that he'll announce his decision at the G8 summit, which opened on the Japanese island of Hokkaido today. According to sources close to the French president he is planning to go. He will also pay a visit to the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, before the trip.

Fox News doctors photos of critical journalists

Ségolène — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:48:13 +0200

Fox News aired doctored photos of two New York Times journalists who criticised the channel. After commenting that the right wing news source was losing viewers, the paper's reporter Jacques Steinberg and editor Steven Reddicliffe appeared on the channel with distorted features.

Attacked for singing the "black national anthem"

Sophie — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:11:00 +0200

A relatively unknown jazz singer has caused outrage in the US after unexpectedly singing the "Black National Anthem" in place of the Star-Spangled Banner at a council event in Denver.

René Marie was invited to the city council's State of the City address on Tuesday where she was expected to sing America's traditional national anthem. However, although she sang to the right tune, the lyrics were those of writer James Weldon Johnson's hymn "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" - also known as "The Black National Anthem". The singer, who only told a few close friends about her plans, received mild applause. The council president Michael Hancock, who hosted the event and knew nothing about the alteration, received a barrage of insulting letters. The city's mayor, Michael Hickenlooper, said that the act showed a "lack of understanding" and that it overshadowed his speech. But Marie refuses to apologise, saying that she expressed herself artistically and would do the same thing again. As the controversy entered its third day, Barack Obama said yesterday that there "is only one national anthem" and she should have sung that one.

A damning video for a Brooklyn hospital

Sophie — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:11:07 +0200

This CCTV video, taken in the psychiatric ward of a Brooklyn hospital on 19 June, has caused outrage in the US. The footage shows a woman collapsed on the floor while staff apparently choose to ignore her. When help is finally called after an hour, the woman is already dead.

Jamaican-born Esmin Elizabeth Green was admitted to Kings County Hospital after suffering a nervous breakdown. The 49-year-old social worker was administered tranquilizers and had been sitting in the waiting room for 24 hours when she fell to the ground at 5:30 am. None of the patients nearby reacted. A security guard approached her, but then walked away. Almost an hour later, medical personnel came to her assistance. But they were too late.

The medical report that logged Green's death shows that staff reported that she was "sitting quietly in [the] waiting room" until 6:20 am when they noticed she had passed away and immediately tried to help her. Unfortunately for them, the CCTV footage proves quite the opposite. The video was released by the New York Civil Liberty Union, who had filed a case against the hospital for filthy conditions and the abuse of sedatives about a year earlier. The lawsuit would likely have been left at the bottom of a pile, but might be taken more seriously now.

"I find gay marriage bizarre"

Sophie — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:34:43 +0200

Photo: Gino Ginelli on Flickr

On June 16, California became the second American state to give the green light to gay marriage. We asked our Observers, from China to Ghana, if there's a chance of seeing the same thing happen in their own countries.