Obama and another very bad week

[Not my words:]When sermons of Obama’s Chicago pastor, Jeremiah Wright, surfaced during the Iowa primaries, it threatened to derail Obama’s campaign. ABC aired one where Wright screamed, “Goddamn America!” Edward Klein interviewed Wright, who told him Obama’s team tried to buy his silence.
‘Man, the media ate me alive,” Wright told me when we met in his office at Chicago’s Kwame Nkrumah Academy. “After the media went ballistic on me, I received an e-mail offering me money not to preach at all until the November [2008] presidential election.” 
“Who sent the e-mail?” I asked Wright.

AP

QUIET, PLEASE: President Obama’s onetime pastor Jeremiah Wright says he was offered money not to preach.

“It was from one of Barack’s closest friends.”
“He offered you money?”
“Not directly,” Wright said. “He sent the offer to one of the members of the church, who sent it to me.”
“How much money did he offer you?”
“One hundred and fifty thousand dollars,” Wright said.
“Did Obama himself ever make an effort to see you?”
“Yes,” Wright said. “Barack said he wanted to meet me in secret, in a secure place. And I said, ‘You’re used to coming to my home, you’ve been here countless times, so what’s wrong with coming to my home?’
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/the_bribe_to_silence_wright_io9jneobl3fUF0cb7LpcNM#ixzz1ulaRQ5Zm
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Newsweek Cover: Obama 'First Gay President'

Newsweek's May 21 issue declares Barack Obama the country's "first gay president." (Newsweek)

It won't be nearly as controversial as Time magazine's breastfeeding cover, but Newsweek's May 21 issue declares Barack Obama the country's "first gay president."
The accompanying cover story was written by Andrew Sullivan, the popular--and openly gay--political blogger. The magazine even gives the commander-in-chief a rainbow halo.  http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/newsweek-cover-obama-gay-president/story?id=16338110#.T7DttMXp7Dc
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Good Morning America's Robin Roberts on Thursday made little effort to hide the excitement she felt when Barack Obama came out in support for gay marriage. Touting her exclusive interview with the President, Roberts marveled that, just talking about it, "I'm getting chills again." She added that the moment "was not lost on anyone" who was in the White House, Wednesday.  http://www.mrc.org/biasalerts/robin-roberts-awed-obamas-gay-marriage-stand-i-get-chills-when-i-hear-it

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OBAMA'S OWN WORDS TRAP HIM:

2008: "Navy Seal Team 6 is Cheney's private assassination team."
2011: "I put together Seal Team 6 to take out Bin Laden."

2008: "Bin Laden is innocent until proven guilty, and must be

captured alive and given a fair trial."
2011: "I authorized Seal Team 6 to kill Bin Laden."

2008: " Guantanamo is entirely unnecessary, and the detainees should not be interrogated."
2011: "Vital intelligence was obtained from Guantanamo detainees that led to our locating Bin Laden."
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"It was a house of cards and it collapsed in the most destructive, worst crisis that we’ve seen since the Great Depression," Obama said. "And sometimes people forget the magnitude of it. You know, you saw some of that in the video that was shown. Sometimes I forget."
Mitt Romney's press secretary, Andrea Saul, responds: "It’s not surprising that a president who forgot to create jobs, forgot to cut the debt, and forgot to change Washington has now admitted that he’s forgotten about the recession. In fact, it seems that the President has forgotten that he’s been in office for the last three-and-a-half years. In November, the American people won’t forget." http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obama-sometimes-i-forget-magnitude-recession_644355.html?nopager=1
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Underwear bomb plot: British and US intelligence rattled over leaks

Leak about UK involvement described as despicable by CIA as anger turns to Obama administration for compromising mission. 

Mike Scheur, the former head of the CIA's Bin Laden unit, said the leaking about the nuts and bolts of British involvement was despicable and would make a repeat of the operation difficult. "MI6 should be as angry as hell. This is something that the prime minister should raise with the president, if he has the balls. This is really tragic," Scheur said.

He added: "Any information disclosed is too much information. This does seem to be a tawdry political thing."  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/11/underwear-bomb-plot-mi6-cia-leaks

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In Europe, where more than 200,000 people thronged a Berlin rally in 2008 to hear Barack Obama speak, there's disappointment that he hasn't kept his promise to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, and perceptions that he's shunting blame for the financial crisis across the Atlantic.

In Mogadishu, a former teacher wishes he had sent more economic assistance and fewer armed drones to fix Somalia's problems. And many in the Middle East wonder what became of Obama's vow, in a landmark 2009 speech at the University of Cairo, to forge a closer relationship with the Muslim world.  http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OBAMA_WORLD_VIEW?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=

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Gallup released their annual state-by-state presidential approval numbers yesterday, and the results should have 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue very worried. If President Obama carries only those states where he had a net positive approval rating in 2011 (e.g. Michigan where he is up 48 percent to 44 percent), Obama would lose the 2012 election to the Republican nominee 323 electoral votes to 215.  http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/gallup-state-numbers-predict-huge-obama-loss/352881
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The House Thursday passed a Republican budget bill that would hike federal employees' pension contributions by 5 percent of their pay.  http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20120510/BENEFITS01/205100305/1001
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The GOP-led House of Representatives approved an amendment to a 2013 appropriations bill on Wednesday that would prohibit the Department of Justice (DOJ) from using its departmental funds to defend against legal challenges to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare.

“My amendment prohibits DOJ from spending funds we don’t have in defense of a program the American people do not want,” Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who introduced the amendment, said in a statement.
“The Supreme Court has heard arguments and is set to reveal their decision on the constitutionality of the president’s health care mandate next month,” said Blackburn. “The Supreme Court is the highest court in the land and DOJ should not need additional resources for any future defense.” http://patdollard.com/2012/05/house-votes-to-prohibit-doj-from-using-funds-to-defend-legal-challenges-to-obamacare/
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