Barack Obama is our choice for president of the United States...

WOW!
There are some Americans that do value intelligence and not just shoppers!

Choice is clear: Obama for president
The Record, of Stockton, California, may not be the most well-known of newspapers, but they have been, for a number of decades, one of the most consistent. The last time the paper endorsed a Democrat for the White House, the year was 1936 and the lucky endorsee was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Since then, the closest a Democrat has come was in 1992, when they endorsed neither Bill Clinton nor George H. W. Bush to send a message that "a larger role for the third-party candidate" was warranted.

That's all changed over the weekend, in a move the California paper describes as a turning of the "tide":



For the first time in 72 years, The Record is endorsing a Democrat for president.

Franklin D. Roosevelt got our nod in 1936.

The reasons for the endorsement of Barack Obama over John McCain are articulated in the editorial on this page.

The unanimous decision was made by our editorial board, which consists of Publisher Roger W. Coover, Managing Editor Donald W. Blount, Opinion Page Editor Eric Grunder, Human Resources Director Sandi Johnson and me.

There are many who will question - with some validity - the power or value of such an endorsement. Our decision is hardly going to tip the balance in a competitive presidential election.




September 28, 2008 6:00 AM
Barack Obama is our choice for president of the United States.

He has demonstrated time and again he can think on his feet. More importantly, he has demonstrated he will think things through, seek advice and actually listen to it.

Obama is a gifted speaker. But in addition to his smarts and energy, possibly his greatest gift is his ability to inspire.

For eight years, American politics has been marked by smears, fears and greed. For too long, we've practiced partisanship in Washington, not politics. The result is a cynicism every bit as deep as that which infected the nation when Richard Nixon was shamed from office and when Bill Clinton brought shame to the office.

This must end, but John McCain can't do it. He can't inspire, nor can he really break from a past that is breaking this nation.

McCain is an American hero, and he has served this country in the Senate with determination. He has gone against his party, but the fact is his ties to the Bush administration and its policies are deep. Americans know we cannot keep going down this path.

McCain, who has voted consistently for deregulation, started off two weeks ago declaring the U.S. economy fundamentally sound but ended the week sounding like a populist. Who is he really?

He tends to shoot from the hip and go on gut instinct. The nation cannot go through four more years of literally and figuratively shooting now and asking questions later.

But the fact is, we worry he won't have four years. If elected, at 72, he would be the oldest incoming president in U.S. history. He's in good health now, we're told, although he has withheld most of his medical records. That means Gov. Sarah Palin could very well become president.

And that brings us to McCain's most troubling trait: his judgment.

While praiseworthy for putting the first woman on a major-party presidential ticket since Geraldine Ferraro in 1984, his selection of Palin as a running mate was appalling. The first-term governor is clearly not experienced enough to serve as vice president or president if required. Her lack of knowledge is being covered up by keeping her away from questioning reporters and doing interviews only with those considered friendly to her views.

We're not suggesting Obama is without faults. He, like McCain, has demonstrated a marked lack of knowledge in recent days about the financial mess facing this nation.

But unlike McCain, who is trying to position himself as a born-again regulator, Obama would increase the oversight of our markets and demand accountability. He would actually put regulators in the oversight agencies that were systematically dismantled by the Bush administration.

While the blame doesn't all accrue to the Bush administration, the past eight years have been marked by looking the other way. McCain aided and abetted that behavior.

Republicans have tried repeatedly to paint Obama as an elitist. Hardly. He grew up in a single-parent home and, by the sheer force of his desire and cerebral horsepower, ended up at Harvard Law School, where he became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review.

He could have gone for the money. He didn't. He went to Chicago, where he worked to give a voice to those who didn't have one.

That's hardly the mark of an elitist.

He hasn't lost touch with regular people, whereas McCain doesn't even know how many homes he owns.

Obama rose quickly through the Illinois Legislature and propelled himself into the U.S. Senate.

After winning the Democratic nomination against a large and highly experienced field of candidates, Obama picked one of them, Joe Biden, as his running mate. Biden brings to the ticket the vast foreign affairs experience and knowledge that Obama lacks.

Obama has been accused of being an empty suit, all talk and no action. There's no "there" there, his detractors say.

The charge is no more credible than that of him being an elitist.

Obama can inspire, and our nation desperately needs an inspirational leader. And he does not carry the deep scars of Vietnam, as do many of McCain's generation.

He offers hope. A new way of doing business. And a belief that our system of government can be made to work.

He's the clear choice.

VICE PRESIDENT DICK......

Cheney travels to Georgia, Ukraine next week

Aug 25 09:01 AM US/Eastern

US Vice President Dick Cheney will visit war-torn Georgia as well as Ukraine and Azerbaijan next week and meet with the three countries' presidents, the White House said Monday.
"President Bush has asked the vice president to travel to Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine and Italy for discussions with these key partners on issues of mutual interest," the White House said in a statement.

Cheney will be the most senior US official to visit the region since Russian troops invaded Georgia two weeks ago amid a dispute over the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.


Copyright AFP 2008, AFP stories and photos shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium

DICK CHENEY goes to GEORGIA.....not clost to ATLANTA

For those of you that are so ignoraant in WORLD GEOGRAPHY!

Now that the eyes are on LA and MN , DICK will sneak off to UKRAINE and GEORGIA.

IS anyone watching this LIAR and NEO CON that took us into a IRAQ?

UPDATE 2-Cheney to visit Georgia, Ukraine in September
Mon Aug 25, 2008 3:12pm BST
which hosts two major energy pipelines

CRAWFORD, Texas, Aug 25 (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney will visit Georgia early next month, the White House said on Monday, in an effort to help shore up the small but vital ally after its war with Russia.

At the request of President George W. Bush, Cheney will meet Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and also visit Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Italy during his trip, which will begin on Sept. 2, his office said in a statement.

"The president felt it was important to have the vice president consult with allies in the region on our common security interests," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said in Texas, where Bush was spending two weeks at his ranch.

Cheney is due to meet President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Viktor Yushchenko, the president of Ukraine, who has pressed to join the NATO alliance quickly after the Russia-Georgia crisis that unnerved many former Soviet republics.

Russia and Georgia, which hosts two major energy pipelines, went to war after Tbilisi tried to retake the breakaway pro-Russian province of South Ossetia on Aug. 7-8, prompting an overwhelming counter-attack from Moscow.

Russian troops moved into Georgia beyond South Ossetia and a second separatist region of Abkhazia, leading to criticism from the United States and others that Moscow had gone too far.

In Italy, Cheney will meet leaders including Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and address a forum in Lake Como entitled "Intelligence on the World, Europe and Italy," the vice president's office said.

An administration official said the trip had been planned before the fighting broke out between Georgia and Russia but "obviously it has taken on greater importance since recent events." (Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky; Editing by John O'Callaghan)

CNN likes to brag on their coverage.....really?

John McCain Doesn't Know How to Use a Computer (Video)This video appears to be from at least six weeks ago, but no one has really commented on it. Do we want a commander-in-chief who can't use a computer without assistance?

Washington is full of these guys, and it's so depressing. Larry Craig once said "I've never used the internet" (though we know he was lying). Ted Stevens thinks the internet is a series of tubes. Bush uses "the Google." I can't wait until we have a computer-literate generation of leaders in our Capitol.

McCain Computer Illiterate Opinion and Commentaries
The Atlantic: The Information Age (June 24, 2008)
The Caucus (The New York Times): McCain and the Internets (June 24, 2008)
David Corn: Can a Guy (McCain) Who Doesn't Know How To Use a Computer... (June 24, 2008)
Online Media Daily: McCain Camp Downplays E-Factor In Face Of Obama's... (June 24, 2008)
BuzzFlash.org: If you are running for president, you should have a clue.. (June 17, 2008)
The New York Sun: McCain and the Computer (June 17, 2008)
McCain Computer Illiterate Blogs
Google Blog Search: McCain Computer Illiterate
NewsBusters: CNN: Computer Illiterate McCain Too Stupid to be President (June 26, 2008)
The Gun Toting Liberal: Sheriff John McCain Doesn’t Understand “The Internets” (June 25, 2008)
The Talent Show: A Series of Tubes (June 24, 2008)
It's Not Me, It's You: Sad or Hilarious? You Be the Judge ... (June 24, 2008)
Crooks and Liars: “Aware of the Internet,” Computer Non-User McCain Touts... (June 24, 2008)
Gizmodo: Mac vs. PC: The Republicans (February 4, 2008)
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