Posts Tagged ‘Barack Obama’
Beebe stands by his man
State Rep. Steve Breedlove, D-Greenwood, should be happy to know that his re-election campaign ranks high on Gov. Mike Beebe’s list of priorities.
Beebe said today he recently refused to cancel plans to appear at an upcoming campaign event for Breedlove in favor of an event that had been scheduled for the same day with former Arkansas first lady Hillary Clinton in support of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.
“They had it scheduled at a time that I’d already committed to a Democratic state representative to be at a fundraiser for him in the western part of the state, actually Breedlove,” Beebe said. “I said I can’t back out on that, so they moved it to a later evening event where I can be there.”
Asked for specifics about the event for Obama, Beebe referred questions to state Democratic Party Chairman David Pryor. Party spokeswoman Darinda Sharp said later that a visit by Clinton has not been confirmed.
“We don’t know who is and isn’t coming yet,” she said.
Former President Bill Clinton said last week he planned to campaign in Arkansas for Obama. An Obama campaign worker said Monday that no Arkansas appearances by either Bill or Hillary Clinton are on the campaign’s calendar at the moment.
Breedlove will face Republican challenger John Van Gorder of Greenwood in the Nov. 4 election.
Arkansans like Palin
Arkansas delegates, like other Republicans in the convention hall Wednesday, had only good things to say about Sarah Palin’s vice presidential acceptance speech.
Delegates had been excited all week about John McCain’s surprise choice for a running mate. They said Palin kept impressing with her remarks.
“It was awesome. She hit it out of the park and it’s still going,:” said Robin Lundstrum of Springdale. “She hit all the right notes.”
Lundstrum said she was pleased to hear Palin’s assurance that America would become energy independent during a McCain-Palin administration. She also was satisfied that Palin talked tough on taxes.
“I’m just so pleased, she didn’t talk over all the issues. She just told you what she thought. She doesn’t talk out of both sides of her mouth,” Lundstrum said.
During a week where the McCain-Palin campaign announced that Palin’s 17-year-old daughter was pregnant, Arkansas Delegate Joseph Wood of Fayetteville said he thought it was important Palin didn’t gloss over her family issues.
“She said what she needed to say about the challenges her family has faced and she did a good job,” Wood said. “She didn’t go into all the dirty details.”
Palin, too, struck the right tone on Democratic candidate Barack Obama, Wood said.
“She didn’t go after Obama. She just went after his record,” Wood said.
Huckabee speech text
Here’s the text of Mike Huckabee’s remarks, as prepared for delivery Wednesday at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn.
As much as I appreciate the opportunity to speak tonight, I really was originally hoping for the slot on Thursday called the acceptance speech. But I am delighted to speak on behalf of my 2nd choice for the Republican nomination for President, John McCain — a man with the character and stubborn kind of integrity that I want in a President.
I grew up at a time and in a place where the civil rights movement was fought. I witnessed first hand the shameful evil of racism. I saw how ignorance and prejudice caused people to do the unthinkable to people of color not so many years ago.
So, I say with sincerity that I have great respect for Senator Obama’s historic achievement to become his party’s nominee — not because of his color, but with indifference to it. Party or politics aside, we celebrate this milestone because it elevates our country.
But the Presidency is not a symbolic job, and I don’t believe his preparation or his plans will lift America up.
Obama was right when he said this election is not about him, it’s about YOU.
When gasoline costs $4 a gallon, it makes it tough if you’re a single mom to get to your job each day in the used car you drive. You want something to change.
If you’re a flight attendant or baggage handler and you’re asked to take a pay cut to keep your job, you want something to change.
If you’re a young couple losing your house, your credit rating, and your American dream, you want something to change.
John McCain offers specific ideas to respond to this need for change. But there are some things we never want to change — freedom, security, and the opportunity to prosper.
Barack Obama’s excellent adventure to Europe took his campaign for change to hundreds of thousands of people who don’t even vote or pay taxes here.
It’s not what he took there that concerns me. It’s what he brought back. Lots of ideas from Europe he’d like to see imported here.
Centralized governments may care for you from cradle to grave, but they also control you. Most Americans don’t want MORE government — they want a lot less.
Abraham Lincoln reminded us that a government that can do everything FOR us can also take everything FROM us.
I really tire of hearing how the Democrats care about the working guy as if all Republicans grew up with silk stockings and silver spoons. In my little hometown of Hope, Arkansas, the 3 sacred heroes were Jesus, Elvis, and FDR, not necessarily in that order.
My own father held down two jobs, barely affording the little rented house I grew up in. My Dad worked hard, lifted heavy things, and got his hands dirty. The only soap we had at my house was Lava. Heck, I was in college before I found out it wasn’t supposed to hurt to take a shower.
I’m not a Republican because I grew up rich, but because I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life poor, waiting for the government to rescue me.
John McCain doesn’t want the kind of change that allows the government to reach deeper into your paycheck and pick your doctor, your child’s school, or even the kind of car you drive or how much you inflate the tires.
He doesn’t want to change the very definition of marriage from what it has always meant throughout recorded human history. It is not above John McCain’s pay grade to grasp the simple fact that human life begins at conception, and he is committed to protecting it.
Maybe the most dangerous threat of an Obama presidency is that he would continue to give madmen the benefit of the doubt. If he’s wrong just once, we will pay a heavy price.
John McCain will follow the fanatics to their caves in Pakistan or to the gates of hell.
What Obama wants to do is give them a place setting at the table.
John McCain is by far the most prepared, experienced, and tested Presidential candidate. Thoroughly tested.
When John McCain received his country’s call to service, he didn’t hesitate, and he didn’t choose the easy path. He sat alone in the cockpit, taking off from an aircraft carrier to fly in unfriendly skies, knowing he might not make it back.
And one day, he didn’t make it back. He was shot down and captured. He was brutally tortured.
He could have eased his own pain and even cut short his imprisonment by uttering a few simple words renouncing his country. But he loved his country and knew that to return with honor later was better than to return without it now.
Most of us can lift our arms high in the air to signify that we want something. His arms can’t even lift to shoulder level, a constant reminder that his life is marked not by what he wants to receive, but by what he’s already given.
Allow me to tell you about someone who understands this type of sacrifice better than anyone.
On the first day of school in 2005, Martha Cothren, a teacher at Joe T. Robinson High School in Little Rock, was determined that her students would not take their education or their privilege as Americans for granted. With the principal’s permission, she removed all the desks from her classroom. The students entered the empty room and asked, “Mrs. Cothren, where are our desks?” “You get a desk when you tell me how you earn it,” she replied.
“Making good grades?” asked one student.
“You ought to make good grades, but that won’t get you a desk,” Martha responded.
“I guess we have to behave,” offered another.
“You WILL behave in my class,” Mrs. Cothren retorted, “but that won’t get you a desk either.”
No one in first period guessed right. Same for second period.
By lunch, the buzz was all over campus… Mrs. Cothren had flipped out ….wouldn’t let her students have a desk. Kids had used their cell phones and called their parents.
By early afternoon, all 4 of the local network TV affiliates had camera crews at the school to report on the teacher who wouldn’t let her students have a desk unless they could tell her how they earned it. By the final period, no one had guessed correctly.
As the students filed in, Martha Cothren said, “Well, I didn’t think you would figure it out, so I’ll have to tell you.”
Martha opened the door of her classroom. In walked 27 veterans, some wearing uniforms from years gone by, but each one carrying a school desk.
As they carefully and quietly arranged the desks in neat rows, Martha said, “You don’t have to earn your desks … these guys already did.
They went halfway around the world, giving up their education and interrupting their careers and families so you could have the freedom you have.
No one charged you for your desk. But it wasn’t really free. These guys bought it for you. And I hope you never forget it. ”
I wish we all would remember that being American is not just about the freedom we have. It’s about those who gave it to us.
Ladies and Gentlemen, John McCain is one of those people who helped buy the freedom that we enjoy and the school desks we had.
It’s my honor to do what I can to help him have a desk that he has earned one in the Oval Office.
Arkansans exuberant over Obama
Long security lines meant a 3-hour wait for incoming state House Speaker Robbie Wills, D-Conway, before he got into Denver’s Invesco Field for the final night of the Democratic National Convention on Thursday.
Those Arkansans who made it into the stadium more quickly sat for hours beneath an unrelenting sun waiting for the real star of the night, presidential nominee Barack Obama.
“It was worth the wait,” Wills said.
The delegates waved American flags and posters for the duration of Obama’s acceptance speech. The Arkansas delegation sat about 40 yards to the left of the stage on the football field-turned-convention hall.
As fireworks exploded and confetti drifted down toward some of the estimated 80,000 people in attendance, Arkansan Susana O’Daniel was hard-pressed to find words to capture the moment.
“I am so overwhelmed right now,” she said.
The Washington County resident who supported Sen. Hillary Clinton said Obama correctly used the speech not only to inspire, but to offer some specifics about what he would do as president.
“It was really good to have his point-by-point layout and his plan,” O’Daniel said. “This will go a long way. Everybody is united now. Everybody.”
Karla Bradley, the first vice chairman of the state Democratic party, said the speech “was about bridging the gaps to solve problems that maybe we thought we couldn’t solve.”
“It was a departure from the cynicism we have had the past eight years,” said Bradley, also of Washington County.
One of only eight Arkansas delegates who entered the national convention as an Obama delegate was also impressed with the speech.
“I think it was right on,” said Kedrin Edgerson of Jonesboro. “I think everyone was touched by it. Everyone knows we need change and he has a plan to do it.”
The Obama campaign has a tougher task ahead in its bid to win over Natural State voters.
And I would walk 500 miles…
Spectators eager to see Barack Obama’s historic acceptance speech tonight face extremely long lines to get into Invesco Field for the event.
Six hours before Obama was expected to take the stage, a line of ticket-holders snaked more than a half-mile outside the Denver’s NFL stadium.
Security was extremely tight at the outdoor venue. Attendees passed bags through X-ray machines and stepped through metal detectors. Bottled-water drinkers were required to take a sip before they could pass through security. Presumably, that was so that law enforcement could be sure the liquid wasn’t hazardous.
More than 70,000 people are expected to attend the fourth night of the Democratic National Convention as Obama accepts his party’s presidential nomination. It marks the first time a major political party has nominated a black candidate.
Obama’s speech falls on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington.
More than a hundred Arkansans are expected for the final night of the Democratic National Convention. The party gave the state’s delegation enough of the in-demand passes to accommodate Arkansans who are not delegates.
The state’s 47 delegates will be seated with other state delegations in prime seats on the football field.
The 5,000 or so people already in the stadium at 2:30 p.m. Mountain should have brought sunscreen. Though the temperature is pleasant (in the upper 70s) the sun is unmerciful.
The Denver Convention and Visitors Bureau warned visitors this week that the sun’s rays are 25 percent stronger in Denver than elsewhere in the country because of the region’s altitude.
Denver is exactly a mile high.
Quote of the Day
“I haven’t actually spoken to Barack because he’s busy, really busy. This morning, he was in the john. I was knocking on the door. All I got to say was ‘Love ya.’”
“Yes, he does that too. I know you don’t think he does.” — Maya Soetoro-Ng, Barack Obama’s sister, acknowledging that her brother — who has obtained a cult-like following among some supporters — has normal, human bodily functions.
Soetoro-Ng spoke at breakfast meeting with delegates to the Democratic National Convention from Arkansas and Hawaii.
Aloha, Arkansas
Fans of the television show “Lost” got a surprise treat Thursday during a joint meeting with the Hawaii delegation to the Democratic National Convention.
Daniel Dae Kim, who plays Jin on the popular show, found himself at breakfast with the Hawaiian group. “Lost” is filmed in Hawaii.
“We’re going from the state of our last great president to the state of our next great president,” said Kim. Barack Obama is a Hawaii native.
“So I think there’s a bit of history in this room right now and I’m glad to be a part of it,” he added.
He was accompanied by Kelly Hu, an actress and former Miss Hawaii. Hu starred as Lady Deathstrike in X2, the sequel to the X-Men movie. She was also in the movie “The Scorpion King.”
Hu said she and Kim took a red-eye flight from Hawaii to Denver overnight Thursday. They were in town for Obama’s acceptance speech tonight at Invesco Field.
Obama’s sister is scheduled to speak at the joint delegation meeting.
Arkansas, Hawaii, and Delaware delegations are all staying in the same hotel.
Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, noted the unique grouping: Bill Clinton was born in Arkansas, Obama in Hawaii and Joe Biden, the vice presidential nominee, is a senator from Delaware.
“Isn’t this a great day where we can put Arkansas and Delaware and Hawaii together, this day was destined to happen,: Abercrombie said.
He added an aside to the group from Arkansas: “Who would have believed that Bill Clinton was going to come out of Arkansas and win not only the first time but kick $#! the second time?”
Barack Star
Barack Obama made a surprise appearance at the Pepsi Center just after Joe Biden wrapped up his vice presidential acceptance speech.
Hundreds of reporters and delegates that had been streaming out of the arena stormed back in when Obama hit the stage.
The capacity crowd of 19,000 greeted the presidential nominee with the ovation usually reserved for stoked fans at a rock concert. Then again, it’s no secret that a political convention isn’t much more than a show.
The convention moves Thursday to Invesco Field, Denver’s football stadium. More than 75,000 people are expected to attend.
The weather forecast for the outdoor event is 70 degrees and clear.
Arkansas roll call
Arkansas delegates to the Democratic National Convention cast 37 votes for Barack Obama during Democrats’ official roll call to nominate their presidential choice this afternoon.
Eight votes went to Hillary Clinton, who earlier Wednesday released her pledged delegates to vote for Obama if they so chose.
Rebecca Gwatney, who announced the state Democrats’ votes inside the convention hall, said they heeded Hillary Clinton’s call for unity within the party.
Clinton won the state’s Democratic primary overwhelmingly on Feb. 5. Before Wednesday, her pledged delegates from Arkansas outnumbered Obama’s nearly 4-to-1.
Initially, the secretary of the convention incorrectly announced the state’s tally as unanimous for Obama.
State Rep. Steve Harrelson, D-Texarkana, who is seated with the state’s delegation, said Gwatney’s microphone was mistakenly cut off before she read the vote totals.
Here is her statement in its entirety, courtesy of the Democratic Party of Arkansas:
On behalf of the great state of Arkansas, the adopted home of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the state that provided her with her largest margin of 70 percent in the 2008 Democratic primary, and a state with an admiration for Bill and Hillary Clinton that is unmatched throughout this country, I am proud tonight to follow Sen. Clinton’s call for unity, and to unite behind Sen. Barack Obama and elect him the next president of the United States.
Arkansas casts 37 votes for Barack Obama and eight for Sen. Clinton.
Together we will take back the White House.
Arkansans eager to hear native son
Arkansas delegates expect a frenzied crowd to welcome former President Bill Clinton tonight when he speaks at the Democratic National Convention.
Clinton, governor of Arkansas for more than a decade, will take the stage at 8 p.m. Central. Like his wife on Tuesday, Clinton is likely to endorse Barack Obama and call for Hillary Clinton supporters to rally around the presumptive Democratic nominee for the general election.
Delegates last night got a preview of what to expect when the former president enters the Pepsi Center tonight.
Fayetteville’s David Whitaker said almost every convention-goer turned to watch Bill Clinton when he arrived last night for his wife’s speech.
“I felt sorry for the speaker at the rostrum because when President Clinton entered, I swear, the poor speaker lost our attention for five minutes as people looked and craned their necks and waved,” Whitaker said.
“I fully expect when the president enters the room that place is going to come apart,” he added.
Remarks made by the former president in the past have added to speculation that he is not completely behind Obama’s presidential bid.
Arkansans said such speculation is nonsense generated by the opposition party.
“The talk about tension is Republican garbage,” said Don Bishop of Harrison. “That is not going on and it is not relevant at this convention. Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton support Barack Obama, period.”
