Sarah Palin Vanity Fair interviewer: 'The worst stuff isn't even in there'

The author of a 'blistering' Vanity Fair profile of former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin has told the hosts of MSNBC's Morning Joe that the 'worst stuff isn't even in' the profile.

"The worst stuff isn't even in there," Michael Joseph Gross said on "Morning Joe" Thursday. "I couldn't believe these stories either when I first heard them, and I started this story with a prejudice in her favor. I have a lot in common with this woman. I'm a small-town person, I'm a Christian, I think that a lot of her criticisms of the media actually have something to them. And I think she got a bum ride, but everybody close to her tells the same story."

He later told the hosts that her political career primarily hinges on her ability to keep on lying and get away with it. "If we decide to let her keep lying and getting away with it, she's gonna still be around," he said. "But if we start returning to the standard that a politician has to talk with people, and a politician has to tell the truth, then she's outta here, because she can't stand up to that." [Via HuffPo]

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Pentagon declined to investigate hundreds of purchases of child pornography

A 2006 Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigation into the purchase of child pornography online turned up more than 250 civilian and military employees of the Defense Department -- including some with the highest available security clearance -- who used credit cards or PayPal to purchase images of children in sexual situations. But the Pentagon investigated only a handful of the cases, Defense Department records show.

The cases turned up during a 2006 ICE inquiry, called Project Flicker, which targeted overseas processing of child-porn payments. Read more.

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How Barack Obama Became Mr. Unpopular: Time Magazine

The Barack Obama that most Hoosiers remember voting for can still be found on YouTube. He stands before a cheering Elkhart high school gymnasium in August 2008, tireless, aspirational, promising a new America of jobs and hope. "We can choose another future," says the newcomer with the funny name. "So I ask you to join me."

Today that view of Obama is harder to find in Indiana. A couple of weeks back and a dozen miles west of Elkhart, hundreds gathered in another school gym - except this time it was for a job fair. Read the rest from Time Magazine. 

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Tony Blair: Gordon Brown has 'zero' emotional intelligence

Tony Blair repeatedly assured Gordon Brown that he would not contest the Labour leadership, then resolved within minutes of hearing of John Smith's death to stand, telling Peter Mandelson "it's mine", the former prime minister admits for the first time in his autobiography.

Blair reveals that even before Smith's death he was "straining at the leash", straying out of his policy brief and becoming more convinced that "something was missing" in Brown's ability to lead. He admits that he toyed with the idea of leadership before Smith's death in 1994, but told Brown he had his backing in order to avoid a battle. Read the rest at The Guardian

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The six richest politicians in Congress (PHOTOS)

Despite the economic downturn, many members in Congress are still sitting pretty (financially speaking, that is). Turns out, it's not just fat cats on Wall Street who are getting all the fun. Check out our list of the top ten richest politicians in congress. Captions via the Huffington Post.

Senator John Kerry: $188 million

Sen. John Kerry (D- Mass.) can thank wife Teresa Heinz Kerry for the bulk of his fortune. The heir to the Heinz ketchup company married the senator in 1995.

Darrell Issa (R-Calif): $160.1 Million

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) made his money by founding Directed Electronics, the largest maker of car security systems in the United States.

Jane Harman (D-Calif.): $152.3 Million

The California Democrat is another case of marrying well. Rep. Jane Harman's (D-Calif.) husband, Sidney, founded Harman International Industries, which makes loudspeakers, CD and DVD players, and other electronics.

Michael McCaul (R-Texas): $73.8 Million

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) is married to Linda McCaul, the daughter of the founder of Clear Channel Communications, one of the largest radio empires in the United States.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va.): $83.7 Million

An old money candidate, Sen. Jay Rockefeller's (D-W. Va.) money can be traced back generations to his great-grandfather, John D. Rockefeller, the Standard Oil tycoon.

View the top ten list at Huffington Post.

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Blair is 'desperately sorry' for Iraq war deaths

Former British prime minister Tony Blair said he was "desperately sorry" over the deaths in the Iraq war, in extracts released Tuesday from his memoirs. Blair said he was "sorry for the lives cut short", but maintained it was right to remove dictator Saddam Hussein from power, in extracts from "A Journey", his account of his decade in office. He said the aftermath of the 2003 invasion was "terrible" and said he wept over the loss of life.

Blair said he still felt a sense of "anguish" for the relatives of those killed in the conflict. Read the full article from AFP.

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Americans agree: 59% say Palin couldn't be president

Any 2012 presidential bid is looking that little bit less viable today for Sarah Palin, the Governor of Alaska and high-profile vice-presidential candidate for the 2008 election. A new poll, released today, reveals that 59% of people who responded believe that she lacks the skills necessary for the job.

In the survey, conducted as a joint venture by 60 Minutes and Vanity Fair, conducted Aug. 3-5 by CBS News among 847 adult respondents, 59% told pollsters that they thought Palin could not be an effective president compared to only 26% who said that she could be.

Eighty percent of liberals reportedly said that Palin couldn't be an effective president, while still under half - 47% - of Republicans believed that she could be.

The latest pollster.com ratings put her in a position where she is '52.7% unfavorable'.

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Obama blasts lies, disinformation

President Barack Obama dismissed a recent poll showing that a third of Americans don’t know he’s a Christian – and blamed an online campaign of misinformation by his conservative enemies for perpetuating the myth that he’s a Muslim.

Obama, speaking with NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams on Sunday afternoon, was equally dismissive of conservative talk show host Glenn Beck – saying he didn’t watch the Fox host’s Saturday rally in Washington but wasn’t surprised that Beck was able to “stir up” people during uncertain economic times.

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US is leaving a 'legacy of waste' in Iraq

Reporting from Khan Bani Saad, Iraq — The shell of a prison that will never be used rises from the desert on the edge of this dusty town north of Baghdad, a hulking monument to the wasted promise of America's massive, $53-billion reconstruction effort in Iraq.

Construction began in May 2004 at a time when U.S. money was pouring into the country. It quickly ran into huge cost overruns. Violence erupted in the area, and a manager was shot dead in his office. The Iraqi government said it didn't want or need the prison. In 2007 the project was abandoned, but only after $40 million of U.S. taxpayer money had been spent.

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'America is better than Glenn Beck' (Opinion)

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was already dead when I was born, and yet I idolized him the way most children idolized athletes and pop stars. I had the poster and the T-shirt, I knew the speeches and the places he’d marched.

He was smart and brave, steadfast and unmovable. He was a man consumed by conviction and possessed by the magnificent radiance of the earnestly humble. He was an eloquent speaker and a beautiful writer. He cared more about justice and equality than fame or fortune. He was a beacon of light in a world beset by darkness. Read the rest here.

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Glenn Beck: I won't be running with Palin in 2012

The star of the big conservative rally of the week stopped by the press to deny any notion that he might be running for President with Alaskan glam-girl Sarah Palin in 2012.

"Not a chance. I don't know what Sarah's doing; I hope to be on vacation. I have no desire to be president of the United States, zero desire. I don't think that I would be electable, and there are far too many people who are far smarter than me to be president."

Beck caused controversy (he is a conservative commenter for Fox News) when he decided to hold the rally on the same day and in the same location as the one Martin Luther King held several decades ago - where he gave his stirring 'I Have a Dream' speech.

He is no stranger to such controversy, though. He once called Obama a racist, among other things.

"I don't want to retract—I want to amend. I think it's much more of a theological question. I didn't understand really his theological viewpoints come from Liberation Theology; that's what I think at the gut level I was sensing, and I miscast it as racism."

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George Bush and Tony Blair secretly 'plotted' to stop Gordon Brown becoming PM

According to the Telegraph, Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, tried to prolong his time as Prime Minister because there were concerns coming from across the Atlantic that Gordon Brown was very difficult to deal with.

The White House warnings, the Sunday Telegraph published this morning, played a key role in Mr Blair’s attempt to cling on to power until at least 2008, and to groom David Miliband as his successor.


Senior officials within the Bush administration sounded warnings after Brown met with then secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. Brown is said to have 'harangued' her over policy issues such as aid, development and Africa. 

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Levi Johnston regrets apologizing to Sarah Palin: "I've never lied about anything"

The father of Sarah Palin's grandson and former Playgirl model Levi Johnston has said that he regrets apologizing to his mother-in-law, the former Vice Presidential nominee for the 2008 Republican bid for the White House, because he sounded 'like a liar'.

According to CBS News, Johnston says that he regrets having apologized about lying because he's 'never lied about anything'.

"I don't really regret anything," Johnston said, who has appeared nude on the cover of a female-targeted pornographic magazine. "But the only thing I wish I wouldn't have done is put out that apology 'cause it kind of makes me sound like a liar. And I've never lied about anything. So that's probably the only thing. The rest of the stuff I can live with."


Johnston has expressed some interest in politics since becoming part of the Palin's extended family, reports CBS, "While he has not officially declared which political office he aspires to, his manager, Tank Jones, has said Johnston is interested in a run for mayor or city council. Earlier this month, Jones confirmed the 20-year-old Johnston planned to run for office as part of a reality TV show." The network reported. 


"I can't guarantee or promise you anything but I'm gonna try... That's the goal," he said. [CBS News]

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Democratic congressman makes joke about Nancy Pelosi: "She might get sick and die"

Bob Bright, the Montgomery mayor who is currently facing off for a tough congressional seat in Alabama as a Democrat, has caused controversy after he made a joke about Nancy Peloci's death at a political event on Saturday.

Speaking at a high-profile Democratic Party event, Bright jokingly suggested that Pelosi could fall ill and die within the coming months. "That remark drew laughter from the crowd," reports the Montgovmery Advertiser. He "joked that Pelosi might lose her own election, decide not to run for the speaker’s job or otherwise not be available."


Bright is reportedly the first Democrat since the nineteen-sixties to represent the conservative district. His battle to be reelected is expected, the Advertiser reports, to be one of the most competitive races this fall. 

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Former Republican chairman comes out of the closet

Former Republican chairman Ken Mehlman says he wishes he had come out of the closet sooner, having told a high-profile magazine in an interview that he is gay.

In an interview with The Atlantic, the former campaign manager for George W. Bush said that he had come to the conclusion recently that he was gay and wished to talk about it with someone, and become an advocate for gay marriage.

He is to participate in a fundraiser supporting a lift on California's ban on gay marriage in the coming months.

“It’s taken me 43 years to get comfortable with that part of my life,” said Mehlman, now working at a highly-respected New York private equity firm. “Everybody has their own path to travel, their own journey, and for me, over the past few months, I’ve told my family, friends, former colleagues and current colleagues and they’ve been wonderful and supportive. The process has been something that has made me a happier and better person. It’s something I wish I had done years ago.”

Finally, he says that he had tried to work within the Republican Party in getting members to more openly reach out to the gay community.

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Chasers' parody: Why I voted Greens (VIDEO)

"I was just stoned on election day...that's why I voted Greens". In this hilarious satire from ABC's 'Chaser's War on Everything' on the Australian election, the team explores what would possibly possess people to vote for the Green Party.

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Police ask Alvin Greene to leave restaurant following fight

Police have reported that a relatively unknown democratic senate candidate named Alvin Greene was asked to leave a South Carolina restaurant after one of his colleagues got into a fight with another diner eating near them.

Officials from the local Democratic Party in Oconee County had asked Greene to speak at a monthly conference held by the group, however this invitation has now been rescinded after further allegations of showing pornography to a college student continue to come against him.

According to the Associated Press, "Seneca Police Chief John Covington said Tuesday that Greene showed up anyway and a woman with him got into an argument with people at the restaurant. Party officials called police, who kicked out the pair and ended the party’s meeting. No charges were filed."


Greene has thus far denied all invitations from the Associated Press to speak on the matter.  

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RNC member: Obama told muslims he was a muslim

In the wake of a number of polls which suggest around one in five Americans incorrectly believe that Obama is a muslim, a Republican National Committee member has criticized the coverage of the issue by online magazine Politico. "BTW he personally told the muslims that he IS a muslim," wrote the Iowa RNC member. "Read his lips."


In addition to this, Kim Lehman, the woman behind the messages, lashed back at an article by the site which, she claims, was trying to 'protect' Obama. 

Several blogs and news websites have since picked up her remarks against the President as a news story. 

When contacted by reporters, Lehman reportedly stuck by her opinion and the views she had expressed online, saying "I was watching television when he was over there talking to the Muslim world and he made it, in my opinion, clear he was partially Muslim," Lehman told the Huffington Post. "The way he was approaching that speech was, 'Hey I'm one of you. I'm with you.' He didn't have to say that... but he did."

"Again, going back to his speech... he would have said I'm a Christian and I'm from the Christian religion and we can work together. It didn't appear to me he said Christianity was part of his religion," she said when asked about Obama's claims that he is a Christian. 

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Obama on jobs: It's Congress' fault (VIDEO)

President Barack Obama today commented on job growth and economic recovery - particularly in the Labour sector. Among other things, Breitbart reports, he calls on a partisan minority to stop obstructing and allow legislation that will help small businesses grow and hire to have an up-or-down vote. 


He continues that the legislation he is promoting is fully paid for, and will not add any more money to the large deficit already boasted by the United States government. "This is not one of those times. This bill is based on ideas of both Democrats and Republicans", he says. 

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Rev. Graham says Obama was 'born a muslim'

In the wake of a new poll suggesting one in five Americans incorrectly believe that Obama belongs to the Islamic faith, a highly respected and influential Christian leader has said publicly that he believes Obama was 'born a muslim'.

I think the president's problem is that he was born a Muslim, his father was a Muslim. The seed of Islam is passed through the father like the seed of Judaism is passed through the mother. He was born a Muslim, his father gave him an Islamic name," he told CNN in an interview which aired on Thursday.

"Now it's obvious that the president has renounced the prophet Mohammed, and he has renounced Islam, and he has accepted Jesus Christ. That's what he says he has done. I cannot say that he hasn't. So I just have to believe that the president is what he has said," he continued, going on to say "the Islamic world sees the president as one of theirs."

The President, himself, had published in his bestselling memoir that his father was an atheist by the time he was born. He eventually divorced his mother. Obama had little contact with his father during childhood.

The misinformation surrounding Obama's faith and nationality continues, despite active press action by the White House and other officials to correct the issues surrounding the controversy. A recent poll found that 18% of those surveyed incorrectly said that Obama's faith was Islam - up 11% from March 2009.

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