Date: 1/30/2009
By LIZ SIDOTI
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican Party chose the first black national chairman in its history Friday, just shy of three months after the nation elected a Democrat as the first African-American president. The choice marked no less than “the dawn of a new party,” declared the new GOP chairman, former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele.
Republicans chose Steele over four other candidates, including former President George W. Bush’s hand-picked GOP chief, who bowed out declaring, “Obviously the winds of change are blowing.”
Steele takes the helm of a beleaguered Republican Party that is trying to recover after crushing defeats in November’s national elections that gave Democrats control of Congress put Barack Obama in the White House.
GOP delegates erupted in cheers and applause when his victory was announced, but it took six ballots to get there. He’ll serve a two-year term.
Steele, an attorney, is a conservative, but he was considered the most moderate of the five candidates running.
He was also considered an outsider because he’s not a member of the Republican National Committee. But the 168-member RNC clearly signaled it wanted a change after eight years of Bush largely dictating its every move as the party’s standard-bearer.
Steele became the first black candidate elected to statewide office in Maryland in 2002, and he made an unsuccessful Senate run in 2006. The former chairman of the Maryland Republican Party currently serves as chairman of GOPAC, an organization that recruits and trains Republican political candidates, and in that role he has been a frequent presence on the talk show circuit.
He vowed to expand the reach of the party by competing for every group, everywhere.
“We’re going to say to friend and foe alike: ‘We want you to be a part of us, we want you to with be with us.’ And for those who wish to obstruct, get ready to get knocked over,” Steele said.
“There is not one inch of ground that we’re going to cede to anybody,” he added.
“This is the dawn of a new party moving in a new direction with strength and conviction.”
His job is to spark a revival for the GOP as it takes on an empowered Democratic Party under the country’s first black president in the next midterm elections and beyond.
He replaces Mike Duncan, who abandoned his re-election bid in the face of dwindling support midway through Friday’s voting.
Two others who trailed farther back in the voting eventually followed suit, former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell and Michigan GOP chairman Saul Anuzis.
In the sixth and final round of voting, Steele went head-to-head with his only remaining opponent, South Carolina GOP chief Katon Dawson. Steele clinched the election with 91 votes; a majority of 85 committee members was needed.
Just eight years after Republicans controlled both the White House and Congress, the GOP finds itself out of power, without a standard-bearer and trying to figure out how to rebound while its foe seems to grow ever stronger.
The Democratic Party boasts a broadened coalition of voters — including Hispanics and young people — who swung behind Obama’s call for change. At the same time, the slice of voters who call themselves Republican has narrowed. The GOP also has watched as Democrats have dominated both coasts while making inroads into the West and South, leaving Republicans with a shrunken base.
Despite the run of GOP losses, Duncan had argued that he should be re-elected because of his experience; his five challengers called for change and said they represented it.
As he left the race, Duncan thanked Bush and said of his two-year tenure: “It truly has been the highlight of my life.”
Another candidate, former Tennessee GOP Chairman Chip Saltsman, withdrew from the race on the eve of voting and with no explanation, saying only in a letter to RNC members, “I have decided to withdraw my candidacy.”
Saltsman, who ran former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s failed presidential campaign last year, saw his bid falter in December after he drew controversy for mailing to committee members a CD that included a song titled “Barack the Magic Negro” by conservative comedian Paul Shanklin and sung to the music of “Puff, the Magic Dragon.”
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On the Net:
Republican National Committee: http://www.rnc.org
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
CNN: Gupta approached about surgeon general post
Date: 1/7/2009
By LAURAN NEERGAARD
AP Medical Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Barack Obama’s reported choice for surgeon general, CNN medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta, could bring a dose of star power to a job that hasn’t had that much clout in decades.
Gupta doesn’t just play a doctor on TV, he’s a neurosurgeon who still scrubs in part-time in one of the nation’s toughest hospitals when he’s not on CNN assignments that have taken him from Hurricane Katrina to Iraq. He also has co-hosted a health “network” that beams feel-good advice on TVs in clinic waiting rooms around the country — one that has drawn some criticism for drug-company promotion.
The surgeon general doesn’t set health policy — but the office can be an effective bully pulpit, and a major report aimed at Congress just last month called for “a more prominent and powerful role for the surgeon general who … should be a strong advocate for the American people.”
Past surgeons general pushed the nation to fight tobacco and AIDS. Having such a well-known TV personality could give the post a reach not seen since the renowned C. Everett Koop, who served under President Ronald Reagan and helped make AIDS a public health issue rather than a moral one — in an era before the 24/7 news cycle.
With the celebrity behind Gupta’s medical credentials, “it’s like a name-brand immediately,” said Dr. Michael Johns, chancellor at Emory University in Atlanta, where Gupta, 39, is an assistant professor of neurosurgery.
“If chosen, Dr. Gupta’s communication skills and medical knowledge could be a boon to the new administration’s health system reform efforts,” noted Dr. Joseph Heyman, chairman of the American Medical Association’s board.
And in contrast to the grandfatherly Koop, People magazine named the then-single Gupta one of the sexiest men of 2003.
However, a surgeon general would “need to demonstrate skills that are too often missing in medical news on TV: skepticism about the science and a careful analysis of both the benefits and harms of medical care,” said Drs. Lisa Schwartz and Steven Woloshin of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice.
The pair raised questions about drug-company sponsorship of some programs Gupta hosted in a broader critique of medical media coverage last fall, and on Tuesday they urged careful examination of any potential conflicts of interest.
CNN said Obama had approached Gupta about the job but said he would not comment on the discussions.
“Since first learning that Dr. Gupta was under consideration for the surgeon general position, CNN has made sure that his on-air reporting has been on health and wellness matters and not on health care policy or any matters involving the new administration,” the cable network said Tuesday.
Two Democrats with knowledge of the discussions over the surgeon general spot said Gupta was under consideration but cautioned a choice has not been made. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media on the matter.
Obama’s transition office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Gupta has made a handful of political donations in recent years, but appears to have stayed out of the 2008 presidential race.
To take the job, he’d have to give up a lucrative media-and-medical empire. Gupta hosts “House Call” on CNN, contributes reports to CBS News, and writes a column for Time magazine, as well as operating and overseeing residents part-time at Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital, known for its trauma cases.
During the Clinton administration, Gupta was a White House fellow and special adviser to then-first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Gupta grew up in the Detroit area, the son of parents who moved from India in the 1960s to work at a Ford plant. He earned undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Michigan.
CBS News is a unit of CBS Corp.; CNN is owned by Time Warner Inc.
___
On the Net:
Obama transition: http://www.change.gov
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
By LAURAN NEERGAARD
AP Medical Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Barack Obama’s reported choice for surgeon general, CNN medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta, could bring a dose of star power to a job that hasn’t had that much clout in decades.
Gupta doesn’t just play a doctor on TV, he’s a neurosurgeon who still scrubs in part-time in one of the nation’s toughest hospitals when he’s not on CNN assignments that have taken him from Hurricane Katrina to Iraq. He also has co-hosted a health “network” that beams feel-good advice on TVs in clinic waiting rooms around the country — one that has drawn some criticism for drug-company promotion.
The surgeon general doesn’t set health policy — but the office can be an effective bully pulpit, and a major report aimed at Congress just last month called for “a more prominent and powerful role for the surgeon general who … should be a strong advocate for the American people.”
Past surgeons general pushed the nation to fight tobacco and AIDS. Having such a well-known TV personality could give the post a reach not seen since the renowned C. Everett Koop, who served under President Ronald Reagan and helped make AIDS a public health issue rather than a moral one — in an era before the 24/7 news cycle.
With the celebrity behind Gupta’s medical credentials, “it’s like a name-brand immediately,” said Dr. Michael Johns, chancellor at Emory University in Atlanta, where Gupta, 39, is an assistant professor of neurosurgery.
“If chosen, Dr. Gupta’s communication skills and medical knowledge could be a boon to the new administration’s health system reform efforts,” noted Dr. Joseph Heyman, chairman of the American Medical Association’s board.
And in contrast to the grandfatherly Koop, People magazine named the then-single Gupta one of the sexiest men of 2003.
However, a surgeon general would “need to demonstrate skills that are too often missing in medical news on TV: skepticism about the science and a careful analysis of both the benefits and harms of medical care,” said Drs. Lisa Schwartz and Steven Woloshin of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice.
The pair raised questions about drug-company sponsorship of some programs Gupta hosted in a broader critique of medical media coverage last fall, and on Tuesday they urged careful examination of any potential conflicts of interest.
CNN said Obama had approached Gupta about the job but said he would not comment on the discussions.
“Since first learning that Dr. Gupta was under consideration for the surgeon general position, CNN has made sure that his on-air reporting has been on health and wellness matters and not on health care policy or any matters involving the new administration,” the cable network said Tuesday.
Two Democrats with knowledge of the discussions over the surgeon general spot said Gupta was under consideration but cautioned a choice has not been made. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media on the matter.
Obama’s transition office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Gupta has made a handful of political donations in recent years, but appears to have stayed out of the 2008 presidential race.
To take the job, he’d have to give up a lucrative media-and-medical empire. Gupta hosts “House Call” on CNN, contributes reports to CBS News, and writes a column for Time magazine, as well as operating and overseeing residents part-time at Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital, known for its trauma cases.
During the Clinton administration, Gupta was a White House fellow and special adviser to then-first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Gupta grew up in the Detroit area, the son of parents who moved from India in the 1960s to work at a Ford plant. He earned undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Michigan.
CBS News is a unit of CBS Corp.; CNN is owned by Time Warner Inc.
___
On the Net:
Obama transition: http://www.change.gov
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Blagojevich lawyer to submit Obama report to panel
Date: 12/29/2008
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The lead attorney for Gov. Rod Blagojevich said he plans to submit President-elect Barack Obama’s internal report on contacts with the scandal-plagued governor to the Illinois House committee weighing impeachment.
Attorney Ed Genson told the Chicago Sun-Times on Sunday the report would support Blagojevich’s claims that he hasn’t done anything wrong in his handling of Obama’s vacant U.S. Senate seat.
Earlier in the week, Obama released the internal report supporting his insistence that there had been no inappropriate contact with the governor’s office by Obama or his staff.
State Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, chairwoman of the committee, said Sunday that Genson’s request to submit the report would probably be approved. But she expressed skepticism that the report would prove the governor’s innocence.
“Maybe in this particular instance someone didn’t run a stop sign, but it doesn’t say they didn’t run a different stop sign,” she said.
The House panel is scheduled to meet Monday.
Genson’s move comes after the committee rejected his request to subpoena incoming Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, whose testimony he said would also bolster Blagojevich’s claims of innocence.
“Since I can’t subpoena anyone, this is the next best thing,” Genson said.
The panel rejected his subpoena request after U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said testimony from Emanuel and others would interfere with his investigation.
Currie said Fitzgerald has not yet responded to the committee’s request to access wiretap recordings used to build the case against Blagojevich.
“They understand this is urgent,” Currie said of the U.S. attorney’s office, “so I suspect we’ll hear from them very soon.”
Blagojevich was arrested Dec. 9 on charges accusing him of scheming to swap Obama’s vacant Senate seat for profit, shaking down a hospital executive for campaign donations and other wrongdoing. The two-term Democratic governor has declared his innocence and says he will fight the charges.
While Blagojevich has ignored repeated calls for his resignation, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn said Sunday he expects Blagojevich to be impeached and removed from office by the Illinois Legislature by Abraham Lincoln’s bicentennial birthday celebration on Feb. 12.
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Information from: Chicago Sun-Times, http://www.suntimes.com/index
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The lead attorney for Gov. Rod Blagojevich said he plans to submit President-elect Barack Obama’s internal report on contacts with the scandal-plagued governor to the Illinois House committee weighing impeachment.
Attorney Ed Genson told the Chicago Sun-Times on Sunday the report would support Blagojevich’s claims that he hasn’t done anything wrong in his handling of Obama’s vacant U.S. Senate seat.
Earlier in the week, Obama released the internal report supporting his insistence that there had been no inappropriate contact with the governor’s office by Obama or his staff.
State Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, chairwoman of the committee, said Sunday that Genson’s request to submit the report would probably be approved. But she expressed skepticism that the report would prove the governor’s innocence.
“Maybe in this particular instance someone didn’t run a stop sign, but it doesn’t say they didn’t run a different stop sign,” she said.
The House panel is scheduled to meet Monday.
Genson’s move comes after the committee rejected his request to subpoena incoming Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, whose testimony he said would also bolster Blagojevich’s claims of innocence.
“Since I can’t subpoena anyone, this is the next best thing,” Genson said.
The panel rejected his subpoena request after U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said testimony from Emanuel and others would interfere with his investigation.
Currie said Fitzgerald has not yet responded to the committee’s request to access wiretap recordings used to build the case against Blagojevich.
“They understand this is urgent,” Currie said of the U.S. attorney’s office, “so I suspect we’ll hear from them very soon.”
Blagojevich was arrested Dec. 9 on charges accusing him of scheming to swap Obama’s vacant Senate seat for profit, shaking down a hospital executive for campaign donations and other wrongdoing. The two-term Democratic governor has declared his innocence and says he will fight the charges.
While Blagojevich has ignored repeated calls for his resignation, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn said Sunday he expects Blagojevich to be impeached and removed from office by the Illinois Legislature by Abraham Lincoln’s bicentennial birthday celebration on Feb. 12.
___
Information from: Chicago Sun-Times, http://www.suntimes.com/index
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Waxman topples Dingell for key panel chair
Date: 11/20/2008
By ANDREW TAYLOR
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Rep. Henry Waxman — a liberal ally of Speaker Nancy Pelosi — has wrested the chairmanship of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee from veteran Rep. John Dingell when the new Congress convenes in January.
Waxman, a California liberal and avid environmentalist and booster of health care programs, toppled Dingell Thursday on a vote of 137-122 in the Democratic Party caucus, capping a bitter fight within party ranks.
Dingell has been the top Democrat on the panel for 28 years and is an old-school supporter of the auto industry. Waxman has complained that the committee has been too slow to address environmental issues like global warming.
“The next two years are critical,” said Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., who spoke on Waxman’s behalf in the closed-door caucus. “It’s not personal. It’s about the American people demanding that we embrace change and work with the president on critical issues of climate change and energy and health care.”
Waxman, 69, is an accomplished legislator. He had chaired the Energy and Commerce health and environment subcommittee for 16 years and won a series of piecemeal expansions of the Medicaid health care program for the poor that added many children to the program. He’s also taken on the tobacco companies.
The Energy and Commerce panel is one of the most important House committees, with sweeping jurisdiction over energy, the environment, consumer protection and health care programs such as Medicaid and the popular State Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Waxman has been the top Democrat on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee for the last 12 years. Since Waxman became chairman of that panel two years ago, it has taken the Bush administration to task over global warming and allegations that it muzzled government scientists. It also has investigated the White House’s political operation, the use of steroids in sports and, most recently, abuses behind the financial collapse.
Dingell, 82, has been the committee’s top Democrat for 28 years and is an important ally of automakers and electric utilities. He’s considered one of the House’s premier legislators, with a lengthy track record on health, consumer issues and the environment, among other things.
Dingell’s defenders said he had done nothing to deserve being dumped, pointing to the panel’s busy workload over the last two years, including successfully enacting an energy bill that raised automobile fuel economy standards to 35 miles per gallon by 2010.
“I think it was highly inappropriate,” said Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va. “There was no obvious reason for it other than the desire for another person to chair the committee.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By ANDREW TAYLOR
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Rep. Henry Waxman — a liberal ally of Speaker Nancy Pelosi — has wrested the chairmanship of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee from veteran Rep. John Dingell when the new Congress convenes in January.
Waxman, a California liberal and avid environmentalist and booster of health care programs, toppled Dingell Thursday on a vote of 137-122 in the Democratic Party caucus, capping a bitter fight within party ranks.
Dingell has been the top Democrat on the panel for 28 years and is an old-school supporter of the auto industry. Waxman has complained that the committee has been too slow to address environmental issues like global warming.
“The next two years are critical,” said Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., who spoke on Waxman’s behalf in the closed-door caucus. “It’s not personal. It’s about the American people demanding that we embrace change and work with the president on critical issues of climate change and energy and health care.”
Waxman, 69, is an accomplished legislator. He had chaired the Energy and Commerce health and environment subcommittee for 16 years and won a series of piecemeal expansions of the Medicaid health care program for the poor that added many children to the program. He’s also taken on the tobacco companies.
The Energy and Commerce panel is one of the most important House committees, with sweeping jurisdiction over energy, the environment, consumer protection and health care programs such as Medicaid and the popular State Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Waxman has been the top Democrat on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee for the last 12 years. Since Waxman became chairman of that panel two years ago, it has taken the Bush administration to task over global warming and allegations that it muzzled government scientists. It also has investigated the White House’s political operation, the use of steroids in sports and, most recently, abuses behind the financial collapse.
Dingell, 82, has been the committee’s top Democrat for 28 years and is an important ally of automakers and electric utilities. He’s considered one of the House’s premier legislators, with a lengthy track record on health, consumer issues and the environment, among other things.
Dingell’s defenders said he had done nothing to deserve being dumped, pointing to the panel’s busy workload over the last two years, including successfully enacting an energy bill that raised automobile fuel economy standards to 35 miles per gallon by 2010.
“I think it was highly inappropriate,” said Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va. “There was no obvious reason for it other than the desire for another person to chair the committee.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Gen. Tommy Franks: Obama will ‘do the right thing’
Date: 11/12/2008
By ROCHELLE HINES
Associated Press Writer
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Retired U.S. Army Gen. Tommy Franks, who developed and executed the Iraq invasion plan, said President-elect Obama will “do the right thing” when it comes to the war.
Franks, who spoke with reporters before being inducted into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame, said that as a senator, Obama had limited access to those who conducted day-to-day military operations. As president, Franks said, Obama will gain a different perspective.
“I give him a lot of credit for being a very, very bright man,” Franks said Tuesday. “Nobody will have to give him instructions. He’ll figure it out all by himself. And at the end of the day, he’ll do the right thing.”
Obama pledged during the campaign to bring all combat troops home within 16 months of his inauguration Jan. 20.
Franks was commander in chief of the U.S. Central Command when the United States began military action in Afghanistan in 2001 and invaded Iraq in 2003. He retired in August 2003.
The Oklahoma-born, Texas-bred four-star general said the United States has 230 years of experience in changing administrations. “Sen. Barack Obama is going to be the next president of the United States and I’m going to support him.”
Franks said he would have to “wait and see” what a Democratic-controlled House and Senate would do to funding for the military, but hoped there wouldn’t be a decrease in money to upgrade equipment for the troops.
“What we need to do with our military is spend as necessary to get the right size force with the right kind of equipment,” he said.
“It seems to me it would be a little disingenuous for the Democrats on the one hand to complain that not all American soldiers have the very best body armor or the very best Humvees … and then all of a sudden decide they need even less than they have now.”
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By ROCHELLE HINES
Associated Press Writer
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Retired U.S. Army Gen. Tommy Franks, who developed and executed the Iraq invasion plan, said President-elect Obama will “do the right thing” when it comes to the war.
Franks, who spoke with reporters before being inducted into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame, said that as a senator, Obama had limited access to those who conducted day-to-day military operations. As president, Franks said, Obama will gain a different perspective.
“I give him a lot of credit for being a very, very bright man,” Franks said Tuesday. “Nobody will have to give him instructions. He’ll figure it out all by himself. And at the end of the day, he’ll do the right thing.”
Obama pledged during the campaign to bring all combat troops home within 16 months of his inauguration Jan. 20.
Franks was commander in chief of the U.S. Central Command when the United States began military action in Afghanistan in 2001 and invaded Iraq in 2003. He retired in August 2003.
The Oklahoma-born, Texas-bred four-star general said the United States has 230 years of experience in changing administrations. “Sen. Barack Obama is going to be the next president of the United States and I’m going to support him.”
Franks said he would have to “wait and see” what a Democratic-controlled House and Senate would do to funding for the military, but hoped there wouldn’t be a decrease in money to upgrade equipment for the troops.
“What we need to do with our military is spend as necessary to get the right size force with the right kind of equipment,” he said.
“It seems to me it would be a little disingenuous for the Democrats on the one hand to complain that not all American soldiers have the very best body armor or the very best Humvees … and then all of a sudden decide they need even less than they have now.”
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
A tough time for comics with Obama as president?
Date: 11/10/2008
By FRAZIER MOORE
AP Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) _ Where’s the funny in Barack Obama?
That question, which dogged TV humorists throughout the presidential race, has gained new urgency now that Obama is headed for the White House.
His victory last week signaled imminent hardship for comics who lampoon political leaders for a living. The laugh-a-minute 2008 campaign is history, and soon there’ll be no President Bush to kick around in comedy sketches or talk-show monologues.
Adding to the jesters’ plight: Obama will soon be sworn in as the next Punch-Line-In-Chief.
Here is a man who inspires admiration, excitement or, maybe, suspicion. What he doesn’t inspire (in any measurable quantity, so far) are cheap laughs.
“A dignified, thoughtful, charismatic, smart man who doesn’t run at the mouth,” summed up Craig Ferguson, host of CBS’ “Late Late Show,” in the aftermath of eight go-go Bush years for comics. “Is it a challenge to our creative juices to find something funny about Obama? God, yes!”
Right after the election, some TV wags were even waxing nostalgic on the air, however tongue-in-cheek.
On Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart said he was already missing the Bush administration — and his own George W. Bush impression, which had served him so well at the anchor desk.
“As a comedian,” NBC’s Jay Leno echoed to his “Tonight Show” audience, “I’m going to miss President Bush. Barack Obama is not easy to do jokes about. He doesn’t give you a lot to go on. See, this is why God gave us (Vice President-elect) Joe Biden.
“When one door closes, another one opens up.”
True, as a six-term U.S. Senator and lately as Obama’s running mate, Biden has cemented his reputation for blurting out remarks before they’re vetted by his brain. (Item: Biden declared that “Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television” to address the nation when the stock market crashed in October 1929 — even though Herbert Hoover was president then and TV was barely invented.)
“He’s a little more gregarious, runs around and slaps people on the back, he’s cheery-looking,” said Ferguson, who agreed that Biden is the comics’ consolation prize. “You can at least put him in a sketch.”
The host of HBO’s “Real Time,” comic Bill Maher describes himself as “a policy guy who tries to stick more to what politicians do than who they are.” But that doesn’t mean he’s immune to the problem Obama represents.
“It’s always better if the president is stupid, or fat, or cheating on his wife, or angry, or a phony. This guy is none of those things. And that,” said Maher with a laugh, “is really unfair.
“But, c’mon, on balance, aren’t we all happier that we have somebody who isn’t such an easy target? I mean, comedians have had it really easy for the last eight years.”
Humor often relies on stereotypes and caricature, but comics haven’t yet sussed out how to caricature Obama, and so far he has defied any categorical stereotypes — even that of a black man.
Magician-comedian Penn Jillette recalled how “there have been jokes about Bush that had nothing to do with him being stupid or wrong — just about his being from Texas, since he has a slight Texas accent.
“But if you wanted to do black jokes about Obama, none of them are applicable: It’s as if he were from Texas, but without the Texas accent.”
Jillette ventured an idea for putting Obama in the comic cross-hairs: Crack wise about his notion “that government can solve a lot of the problems that were previously left to the individual. I would be talking about the audacity of government giving people that kind of hope.”
Ferguson proposed poking fun at Obama’s “deification” by his more fervent supporters. It’s no long-term solution for comedians, but it might buy them some time.
Obama’s do-no-wrong aura is sure to be short-lived, as Americans observe him no longer full-tilt on the campaign trail but instead slogging through each presidential workday.
And humor springs from increased familiarity with the target of the jokes.
“In time, that will happen,” said “Saturday Night Live” cast member Fred Armisen, who last February scored the show’s plum role impersonating Obama — “in time, not just with me, as we see more and more of him.”
And as comedians search for Obama’s laughs-generating sweet spot, they should fight the urge to go easy on him out of misconceived racial sensitivity, said D.L. Hughley.
“If you call yourself a comic, you can’t excuse the most powerful man in the world,” said Hughley, who is black and host of “D.L. Hughley Breaks the News” on CNN. “He is the most powerful man on the face of the planet. He is The Man!”
And many changes await in an Obama presidency that will serve the cause of humor. Meanwhile, much about the comedy landscape will be the same, as Hughley was reminded as he headed home on election night.
“I had watched it in Harlem,” he said. “I was elated, smiling from ear-to-ear, excited that the country I love now decided that they love people like me back, and in a major way. And I flagged a cab. And that cab drove right by me. Then I tried to flag another one, and it drove right by.”
Recalling the experience, he couldn’t help laughing that a black man couldn’t get a cab to stop in Obama’s America. Until comics find the key to the funny in Obama, they’ll have plenty else to make jokes about.
___
AP Entertainment Writer Jake Coyle contributed to this report.
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CBS is owned by CBS Corp; CNN and HBO are owned by Time Warner; Comedy Central is owned by Viacom; NBC is owned by General Electric.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Frazier Moore is a national television columnist for The Associated Press. He can be reached at fmoore(at)ap.org
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By FRAZIER MOORE
AP Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) _ Where’s the funny in Barack Obama?
That question, which dogged TV humorists throughout the presidential race, has gained new urgency now that Obama is headed for the White House.
His victory last week signaled imminent hardship for comics who lampoon political leaders for a living. The laugh-a-minute 2008 campaign is history, and soon there’ll be no President Bush to kick around in comedy sketches or talk-show monologues.
Adding to the jesters’ plight: Obama will soon be sworn in as the next Punch-Line-In-Chief.
Here is a man who inspires admiration, excitement or, maybe, suspicion. What he doesn’t inspire (in any measurable quantity, so far) are cheap laughs.
“A dignified, thoughtful, charismatic, smart man who doesn’t run at the mouth,” summed up Craig Ferguson, host of CBS’ “Late Late Show,” in the aftermath of eight go-go Bush years for comics. “Is it a challenge to our creative juices to find something funny about Obama? God, yes!”
Right after the election, some TV wags were even waxing nostalgic on the air, however tongue-in-cheek.
On Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart said he was already missing the Bush administration — and his own George W. Bush impression, which had served him so well at the anchor desk.
“As a comedian,” NBC’s Jay Leno echoed to his “Tonight Show” audience, “I’m going to miss President Bush. Barack Obama is not easy to do jokes about. He doesn’t give you a lot to go on. See, this is why God gave us (Vice President-elect) Joe Biden.
“When one door closes, another one opens up.”
True, as a six-term U.S. Senator and lately as Obama’s running mate, Biden has cemented his reputation for blurting out remarks before they’re vetted by his brain. (Item: Biden declared that “Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television” to address the nation when the stock market crashed in October 1929 — even though Herbert Hoover was president then and TV was barely invented.)
“He’s a little more gregarious, runs around and slaps people on the back, he’s cheery-looking,” said Ferguson, who agreed that Biden is the comics’ consolation prize. “You can at least put him in a sketch.”
The host of HBO’s “Real Time,” comic Bill Maher describes himself as “a policy guy who tries to stick more to what politicians do than who they are.” But that doesn’t mean he’s immune to the problem Obama represents.
“It’s always better if the president is stupid, or fat, or cheating on his wife, or angry, or a phony. This guy is none of those things. And that,” said Maher with a laugh, “is really unfair.
“But, c’mon, on balance, aren’t we all happier that we have somebody who isn’t such an easy target? I mean, comedians have had it really easy for the last eight years.”
Humor often relies on stereotypes and caricature, but comics haven’t yet sussed out how to caricature Obama, and so far he has defied any categorical stereotypes — even that of a black man.
Magician-comedian Penn Jillette recalled how “there have been jokes about Bush that had nothing to do with him being stupid or wrong — just about his being from Texas, since he has a slight Texas accent.
“But if you wanted to do black jokes about Obama, none of them are applicable: It’s as if he were from Texas, but without the Texas accent.”
Jillette ventured an idea for putting Obama in the comic cross-hairs: Crack wise about his notion “that government can solve a lot of the problems that were previously left to the individual. I would be talking about the audacity of government giving people that kind of hope.”
Ferguson proposed poking fun at Obama’s “deification” by his more fervent supporters. It’s no long-term solution for comedians, but it might buy them some time.
Obama’s do-no-wrong aura is sure to be short-lived, as Americans observe him no longer full-tilt on the campaign trail but instead slogging through each presidential workday.
And humor springs from increased familiarity with the target of the jokes.
“In time, that will happen,” said “Saturday Night Live” cast member Fred Armisen, who last February scored the show’s plum role impersonating Obama — “in time, not just with me, as we see more and more of him.”
And as comedians search for Obama’s laughs-generating sweet spot, they should fight the urge to go easy on him out of misconceived racial sensitivity, said D.L. Hughley.
“If you call yourself a comic, you can’t excuse the most powerful man in the world,” said Hughley, who is black and host of “D.L. Hughley Breaks the News” on CNN. “He is the most powerful man on the face of the planet. He is The Man!”
And many changes await in an Obama presidency that will serve the cause of humor. Meanwhile, much about the comedy landscape will be the same, as Hughley was reminded as he headed home on election night.
“I had watched it in Harlem,” he said. “I was elated, smiling from ear-to-ear, excited that the country I love now decided that they love people like me back, and in a major way. And I flagged a cab. And that cab drove right by me. Then I tried to flag another one, and it drove right by.”
Recalling the experience, he couldn’t help laughing that a black man couldn’t get a cab to stop in Obama’s America. Until comics find the key to the funny in Obama, they’ll have plenty else to make jokes about.
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AP Entertainment Writer Jake Coyle contributed to this report.
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CBS is owned by CBS Corp; CNN and HBO are owned by Time Warner; Comedy Central is owned by Viacom; NBC is owned by General Electric.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Frazier Moore is a national television columnist for The Associated Press. He can be reached at fmoore(at)ap.org
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Democrats, Republicans agree on something: anxiety
Date: 10/27/2008 2:50 PM
By HEATHER LALLEY
CHICAGO (AP) _ Victoria St. Gelais is panicky. Tami Brewster-Barnes feels the nerves in the pit of her stomach. Steven Valentine is losing sleep as his mood rises and falls with John McCain’s poll numbers.
Voters around the country, whether they support McCain or Barack Obama, say they are experiencing nail-biting, ulcer-inducing anxiety ahead of next week’s election and all that’s riding on it.
“I have kind of a general feeling of near panic on occasion,” says St. Gelais, a 48-year-old McCain supporter in Ormond Beach, Fla. “The thought of Obama winning right now is scaring me to death. … I’m just anxious and even a little depressed.”
St. Gelais, like many, says she’s not sleeping well, is watching Fox News nearly all day, and “lives on her computer,” following all of the polls and the latest news. If Obama wins, she’ll be devastated.
“I would equate it to a death,” she says.
Although polls favor Obama a week before the election, it’s not just Republicans getting the jitters. Democrats are on high alert after losing two close elections to President Bush in the last eight years.
Democratic blogger Cynthia Liu has dubbed it “Post-Traumatic Election Anxiety Disorder,” with hallmarks including restless Web surfing for election information, sleeplessness and making desperate calls to undecided voters.
“It’s a very high-stakes election,” says Liu, a writer in Los Angeles.
Nancy Molitor, a psychologist in Wilmette, Ill., says this is the most anxious she has seen her patients in 20 years of practice.
“Human beings, generally we do better in periods of calm, stability and certainty,” Molitor says.
And right now — with war, a historic election and a looming financial crisis — is most certainly not a time of calm. People are reporting trouble sleeping, edginess, irritability, and increased absences and distractions at work, Molitor says.
Add to that 24-hour cable news shows and near nonstop reporting, blogging and commenting online, and you’ve got a virtual stressfest for political junkies.
Elections generate so much stress because people vote out of a “very, very core place in their personalities,” says Lisa Miller, an associate professor of psychology and education at Columbia University Teachers College in New York.
“It has to do with their existential view of how the world works,” Miller says. “The fear is that a candidate who shares a different fundamental view of human nature is rattling.”
Plus, we project all of our hopes and fears onto a candidate to protect us and keep us safe, she says — so much so that the president becomes a “father figure.”
“It certainly makes sense that the uncertainty of a parental figure could be evocative,” she says.
Brewster-Barnes, a 40-year-old health-insurance company employee in Vancouver, Wash., wants to be able to tell her grandchildren that she voted for the first black president. But she also worries that Obama’s racial background might turn off other voters.
So she’s done all she could, including making phone calls on behalf of the campaign and donating to the cause even though money is tight.
“It was something I had to do,” she says.
The election is even affecting the timing of Ray Brun’s move. Currently, Brun and his family live in the swing state of New Hampshire, but they’re packed up and ready to move to Kentucky — after casting their votes for McCain, he says.
“I think our votes up here will be a little more influential,” says Brun, 29.
Voting early, talking to friends or donating money are all healthy, pro-active responses, says Gretchen Rubin, a New York-based writer whose book, “The Happiness Project,” comes out next year. Rubin spent a year testing every theory, study and self-help axiom on happiness that she could find.
“One thing I’ve learned from my study of happiness that is crazily effective is that you should act the way you want to feel,” Rubin says. “We really feel because of the way we act.”
When all else fails, she says, remember this: “No one’s trying to ruin the country. Everybody’s going to try to do their best.”
Kellie Brown knows that. But the 32-year-old mom and technical recruiter in Evergreen, Colo., desperately wants Obama to be the next president. Even the polls showing him in the lead are no solace.
“I hate hearing those polls because I feel like it gives people the false thought that they can just relax and maybe not go to vote,” Brown says.
What will happen when America wakes up on Nov. 5 and the results are in?
Valentine, a 19-year-old sophomore at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, says he doesn’t know what he’ll do if McCain loses.
“The College Republicans have given up countless hours of our time,” Valentine says. “I haven’t really prepared myself for (a McCain loss). I don’t know what I’m going to do when the election is over.”
As the race wraps up, Molitor is concerned about those who have the most emotional investment in the election.
“Some people are going to have to mourn this,” she says. “This is going to be like a loss. It’s going to be like a death. Some have been very passionate. It’s become their life. It’s become an obsession. And those people I’m worried about.”
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Alaska’s Gas Pipeline: Pipe Dream?
Date: 10/25/2008 12:17 PM
By JUSTIN PRITCHARD and GARANCE BURK
Associated Press WritersANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) _ Gov. Sarah Palin’s signature accomplishment — a contract to build a 1,715-mile pipeline to bring natural gas from Alaska to the Lower 48 — emerged from a flawed bidding process that narrowed the field to a company with ties to her administration, an Associated Press investigation shows.
Beginning at the Republican National Convention in August, the McCain-Palin ticket has touted the pipeline as an example of how it would help America achieve energy independence.
Despite Palin’s boast of a smart and fair bidding process, the AP found that her team crafted terms that favored only a few independent pipeline companies and ultimately benefited the winner, TransCanada Corp.
And contrary to the ballyhoo, there’s no guarantee the pipeline will ever be built; at a minimum, any project is years away, as TransCanada must first overcome major financial and regulatory hurdles.
In interviews and a review of records, the AP found:
—Instead of creating a process that would attract many potential builders, Palin slanted the terms away from an important group — the global energy giants that own the rights to the gas.
—Despite promises and legal guidance not to talk directly with potential bidders, Palin had meetings or phone calls with nearly every major candidate, including TransCanada.
—The leader of Palin’s pipeline team had been a partner at a lobbying firm where she worked on behalf of a TransCanada subsidiary. Also, that woman’s former business partner at the lobbying firm was TransCanada’s lead private lobbyist on the pipeline deal. Plus, a former TransCanada executive served as an outside consultant to Palin’s pipeline team.
—Under a different set of rules four years earlier, TransCanada had offered to build the pipeline without a state subsidy; under Palin, the company could receive a maximum $500 million.
“Governor Palin held firmly to her fundamental belief that Alaska could best serve Alaskans and the nation’s interests by pursuing a competitive approach to building a natural gas pipeline,” said McCain-Palin spokesman Taylor Griffin. “There was an open and transparent process that subjected the decision to extensive public scrutiny and due diligence.”
There were never more than a few players that could execute such a complex undertaking — at least a million tons of steel stretching across some of Earth’s most hostile and remote terrain.
TransCanada estimates it will cost $26 billion; Palin’s consultants estimate nearly $40 billion.
The pipeline would run from Alaska’s North Slope to Alberta in Canada; secondary lines would take the gas to various points in the United States and Canada.
Building such a pipeline had been a dream for decades. The rising cost and demand for energy injected new urgency into the proposal.
When Palin was elected governor two years ago, she vowed to take on Exxon Mobil Corp., ConocoPhillips and BP, the multinational energy companies that long dominated the state’s biggest industry.
Palin ousted fellow Republican Gov. Frank Murkowski, who negotiated a secret pipeline deal with the “Big Three” energy companies. That deal went nowhere.
The new governor tackled the pipeline issue with gusto, meeting with representatives from all sides and assembling her own team of experts to draw up terms.
Palin invited bidders to submit applications and offered the multimillion-dollar subsidy. Members of her team say that without the incentive, it might not have received any bids for the risky undertaking.
Palin’s team was led by Marty Rutherford, a widely respected energy specialist and veteran of state government. Rutherford solidified her status when, in 2005, she joined an exodus of Department of Natural Resources staff who felt Murkowski was selling out to the oil giants.
What the Palin administration neglected to mention in its announcement of Rutherford’s appointment was that in 2003, Rutherford left public service and worked for 10 months at the Anchorage-based Jade North lobbying firm. There she did $40,200 worth of work for Foothills Pipe Lines Alaska, Inc., a subsidiary of TransCanada.
Foothills Pipe Lines Alaska Inc. paid Rutherford for expertise on topics including state legislation and funding related to gas commercialization, according to her 2003 lobbyist registration statement.
Palin has said she wasn’t bothered by that past work because it had occurred several years before. But Rutherford wouldn’t have passed her new boss’ own standards: Under ethics reforms the governor pushed through, Rutherford would have had to wait a year to jump from government service to a lobbying firm.
Rutherford also has downplayed her work for Foothills.
“I did a couple of projects for them, small projects,” she told a state Senate committee examining the TransCanada bid earlier this year. While a partner, Rutherford said, she “realized that my heart was not in the private sector, it was in the public sector.”
At one point, Palin’s pipeline team debated Rutherford’s role, but concluded there was no problem, said Revenue Department Commissioner Pat Galvin, another team member.
Patricia Bielawski, Rutherford’s former partner at Jade North, spent last summer in Juneau, the state capital, serving as TransCanada’s lead private lobbyist. While the Legislature debated — and ultimately approved — the TransCanada deal, Bielawski met with lawmakers and sat in on the public proceedings, several legislators said.
Bielawski told AP that Rutherford never directly lobbied the Legislature for Foothills, and that Rutherford broke no rules.
But others say it’s a legitimate question.
“I’m not saying someone’s getting paid off for a sweetheart contract, but it’s very hard to ignore that this is your former partner and your former client standing there before you,” said Republican Sen. Lyda Green, a Palin critic who in August voted against awarding TransCanada the license.
Tony Palmer, the TransCanada vice president who leads the company’s Alaska gas pipeline effort, rejects the suggestion that his company benefited.
“We have gained clearly no advantage from anything that Ms. Rutherford did for Foothills some five years ago on a very much unrelated topic,” he said.
Rutherford did not respond to interview requests. But McCain-Palin spokesman Griffin said Rutherford “had no decision-making role or authority,” and contended that such matters were handled by others on the Palin pipeline team.
TransCanada also had a connection to the team hired by the Palin administration to analyze the bid. Patrick Anderson, a former TransCanada executive, served as an outside consultant.
In January 2007, Palin spoke the first of at least two times to Vice President Dick Cheney, the Bush administration’s point person on energy issues, according to calendars obtained by the AP. Cheney’s staff pressed the Palin administration to draw in the energy companies, said current and former state officials involved in those discussions.
As the governor’s approach unfolded in the spring of 2007, Palin said she saw problems if the firms that own the gas also owned the pipeline. They could manipulate the market or charge prohibitive fees to smaller exploration firms, discouraging competition.
Several important requirements in the legislation were unpalatable to the big oil companies. In the talks under Murkowski, the firms asked that the rates for the gas production tax and royalties be fixed for 45 years; Palin refused to consider setting rates for that long.
Under her process, pipeline firms had an advantage because they simply pass alo ng taxes paid by oil and gas producers.
Oil company officials warned lawmakers they wouldn’t participate under those terms. Still, in a near unanimous vote, the Legislature passed the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act in May 2007, as generally written by Palin’s pipeline team.
Once the state issued its request for proposals on July 2, 2007, the level of communication between the government and potential bidders was supposed to decrease drastically. State lawyers advised public officials to keep their distance, and bidders were told to submit questions on a public Web site.
But Palin had conversations with executives at most of the major potential bidders during that period, according to her calendars, which indicate that the pipeline was the subject of the discussions, or that the conversations occurred immediately after a briefing with Palin’s pipeline team.
TransCanada’s Palmer described communication with state officials as nonexistent.
According to the governor’s official schedule, however, Palin called TransCanada President and CEO Hal Kvisle on Aug. 8, 2007. Palmer said the call was to clarify the bidding process.
Griffin said that in keeping with legal guidance, Palin never spoke in any of the meetings about the competitive bidding process.
By the Nov. 30 submission deadline, there were five applications. But the state disqualified four for failing to satisfy the bill’s requirements.
That left TransCanada.
The Canadian giant had been pursuing an Alaska pipeline since at least 2004, when the company negotiated a deal with Rutherford that the state ended up shelving. While the details remain confidential, six people familiar with the terms told the AP that TransCanada was willing to do the work then without the large state subsidy.
In testimony this July before the state Senate, Rutherford described the 2004 deal as presenting different trade-offs.
Others who reviewed the deal think much of the $500 million will be wasted money.
“Most definitely TransCanada got a sweetheart deal this time,” said Republican Sen. Bert Stedman, who voted against the TransCanada license. “Where else could you get a $500 million reimbursement when you don’t even have the financing to build the pipeline?”
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Associated Press writer Brett J. Blackledge contributed to this report.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
“According to the World Bank, about 100 billion cubic metres of natural gas are burned off or vented every year—the equivalent of all the annual gas consumption in England, France, and Germany combined. It is also an enormous waste of money. Gas flaring squanders about $31 billion in natural gas annually.”
“We should also not forget the human-health impacts of burning off unwanted and often unrefined gas in the atmosphere. Incomplete combustion from flaring can release many known carcinogens, such as benzene, toluene, xylene, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.”
The past few years Americans have been shocked with news of oil company profits, something that argumentatively might have gone towards reducing these unnecessary CO2 emissions, especially in light of the global warming crisis. For every light bulb you’ve replaced and every mile you’ve chosen not to drive, it is far from comforting to think of gas flares lighting the skies across the planet at cross purposes to reason. The oil industry is not subject to carbon emission tax systems.
This lack of foresight in the name of easy profit affects all of us who are left wondering what the energy future holds and what impact it may have.
On the web: http://www.straight.com/article-148407/gas-sector-has-carbon-emissions-burn