• IN THIS SECTION

June 5, 2008

Exclusive: Thursday, June 5

Presidential Watch

Obama's Ex-Church Has Won $15M in Federal Grant Money

Jeff Goldblatt, FoxNews.com

Across America seven days a week, parents drop their kids at day care centers, which are supported by funding from the federal government.

But what makes one facility noteworthy in inner city Chicago is that it's run by Trinity United Church of Christ. It's the same church whose former head pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, drew widespread scrutiny after he cursed the U.S. government for its treatment of African-Americans.

FOX News has learned that over the last 15 years, Trinity has received at least $15 million in grants from the federal government - in other words, taxpayer money.

Records show this money supported a variety of outreach: everything from low income housing to nutritional programs for needy kids to money for HIV/AIDS education. Wright blames the government for intentionally infecting the African-American community with that deadly virus.

DePaul University journalism professor Laura Washington, who specializes in race and politics, said Wright is a hypocrite for taking money from the government. Read article.

Is Barack Obama a Muslim wolf in Christian wool?

Reuven Koret, Israel Insider.com

The glib handling of criticism of his relationship with the anti-American ("God Damn America!") and anti-Israel ("a dirty word for Negroes") Reverend James Wright may have bought him a little time. But the legacy of dissimulation about his long-concealed identity is about to come crashing down around the ears of Barack Hussein Obama, courtesy of the assembled testimony of his family, friends, classmates and teachers.

Obama's official campaign site has a page titled "Obama has never been a Muslim, and is a committed Christian." The page states, "Obama never prayed in a mosque. He has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian who attends the United Church of Christ."

Yet the accumulated research from primary sources who knew Obama from his childhood indicate that he was a devout Muslim, the son of a devout Muslim, the step-son of a devout Muslim and the grandson and namesake ("Hussein") of a devout Muslim. He was registered in school as a Muslim and demonstrated his ability to chant praise to Allah in impressive Arab-accented tones even as an adult. Just as he has not disavowed his "uncle" Jeremiah, neither has he disavowed his Muslim faith that he was born into, raised with, celebrated and never abandoned. He just covered it over with a thin veneer of his own self-styled "Christianity." Read article.

Barack Obama: Muslim Apostate - For Al Qaeda, the answer - and the implication - is clear.

Shireen K. Burki, CS Monitor.com

Osama bin Laden must be chuckling in his safe house. After all, the 2008 campaign could very well give Al Qaeda the ultimate propaganda tool: President Barack Hussein Obama, Muslim apostate.

The fact that Senator Obama - the son of a Muslim father - insists he was never a Muslim before becoming Christian is irrelevant to bin Laden. In bin Laden's eyes, Obama is a murtad fitri, the worst type of apostate, because he was blessed by Allah to be born into the true faith of Islam.

There are two types of apostates according to sharia (Islamic law) and the Hadith (sayings of the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him).

The first type is murtad milli, one who converted to Islam and later renounced the faith. The second, and most egregious, type is murtad fitri. It refers to a person born of a Muslim father who renounces his birthright. Two recent examples of the latter are Magdi Allam (a male Egyptian who converted to Catholicism in Italy) and Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Somali-born woman who's now an atheist). Both now face death threats.

According to Islamic jurisprudence, children of a Muslim father - even an apparently nonpracticing one, such as Obama's father, and irrespective of the mother's faith - are automatically Muslims. Most Muslims around the world agree: A child of a Muslim father is a Muslim. Period. Read article.

Barack Obama: Dividing (By Race) to Conquer?

Carol Platt Liebau, Townhall.com

For someone whose campaign supposedly brought with it the promise of racial healing, Barack Obama has so far done little to effect any meaningful interracial understanding. His press conference yesterday, announcing his departure from Trinity United Church of Christ, is just the most recent indication that Obama's status as a "great hope" for racial healing has been considerably overrated.

Neither explanation for some of his remarks yesterday is likely to burnish Obama's credentials as a racial reconciliator. Either Barack Obama doesn't understand what the Wright controversy was really about - or he understands all too well, and has decided that exacerbating racial tensions is preferable to voters believing he was a little too comfortable for two decades at a church where nasty racialist rhetoric emanated regularly from the pulpit.

After offering his statement about leaving Trinity, Obama engaged in the following exchange with a reporter:

Q: Senator Obama, do you think that it will be possible for you to join another black church or historically black church, or do you think that as a matter of sort of - do you think that political correctness is going to be an issue in this election and that'll be a factor in the racial mix of the church that you join?

A: You know, it's an interesting question. Read article.

The Comeback Id

Todd S. Purdum, Vanity Fair.com

To know Clinton is, sooner or later, to be exasperated by his indiscipline and disappointed by his shortcomings. But through it all, it has been easy enough to retain an enduring admiration-even affection-for a president whose sins against decorum and the dignity of his office seemed venial in contrast to the systemic indifference, incompetence, corruption, and constitutional predations of his successor's administration. That is, easy enough until now.

This winter, as Clinton moved with seeming abandon to stain his wife's presidential campaign in the name of saving it, as disclosures about his dubious associates piled up, as his refusal to disclose the names of donors to his presidential library and foundation and his and his wife's reluctance to release their income-tax returns created crippling and completely avoidable distractions for Hillary Clinton's own long-suffering ambition, I found myself asking again and again, What's the matter with him?

As I sought to answer that question for myself, in conversations with dozens of current and onetime Clinton aides, many of whom I have known all these years (Clinton himself declined to be interviewed), I realized just how much about the former president is not known, and not knowable, at the moment, mostly because of his unapologetic stonewalling.

Virtually no one, except Ron Burkle, knows just what Clinton put into Burkle's investment business, or just what he has done since to earn millions of dollars, with the prospect of reaping millions more. Most of the names of the donors who have contributed some $500 million to Clinton's library and foundation over the past decade are not known, either. Virtually no one, except his doctors and family, knows the precise state of Clinton's health. Virtually no one really knows what strategic role he has played in his wife's campaign. Read article.

The invisible impeachment

Jeanne Cummings, Politico.com

As the Democratic primary season nears a close, the candidates have talked about dozens of policies, fended off a host of attacks and studiously avoided one topic: the impeachment of President Clinton.

Whether that's a product of self-control or self-preservation, the tactical decision by Hillary Rodham Clinton's opponents to steer clear of any direct reference to what may have been the defining moment of the Clinton White House seems remarkable given the duration and intensity of the 2008 primary campaign.

While Republicans signaled early that it would be a major issue should she win the nomination, it has been a forbidden topic for her primary rivals since early 2007, when David Geffen, a former Clinton ally and a Hollywood supporter of Barack Obama, felt the wrath of the Clinton camp - and received a scolding from the Obama campaign - after raising it in an interview.

The reasons for the silence are both obvious and subtle.

Raising it could do more harm than good - particularly in a Democratic primary - since most party activists still view the painful saga as an act of supreme hypocrisy and partisan overreach by congressional Republicans.

"Voters don't have much of an appetite for this," said Peter Hart, an independent Democratic polling expert. "There's nothing about this election that suggests people want to wallow in the past."

Such an attack could have had the boomerang effect of generating sympathy and support for Sen. Clinton, who was personally wounded by the scandal that led to the impeachment charges. Read article.

They're Just Not That Into Her

Kathryn Jean Lopez, NRO.com

I'll spare you the video this time, but a conversation on MSNBC a few minutes ago had Clinton winning the election is she only looked human more often on the campaign trail.

Hillary Clinton is not losing the Democratic-nomination fight because people think she's a robot. Hillary Clinton is losing the Democratic-nomination fight because she's not Barack Obama. Let's face it: The young black guy trumped her identity-politics card. (And the Clinton camp sure did try to make their woman card work.) Hillary Clinton is losing the nomination fight because people - even Democrats - are tired of the Clintons. Read article.

Is Mitt McCain's top wingman?

Salena Zito, Pittsburgh Live.com

Maybe it's time John McCain got another person to run on the Republican ticket with him besides George W. Bush.

Branding is a big part of campaigning. So far, the best branding on the 2008 campaign trail has been orchestrated by the Democratic National Committee and Barack Obama. Their incessant use of every possible combination of McCain-Bush makes it hard to separate the two men from each other.

The best way to combat this negative branding is pretty simple: Change the conversation. One quick way to remove Bush from the McCain ticket would be to begin a very public, speculative discussion about McCain's running mate.

Combating negative branding also can be managed by taking your opponent's perceived weaknesses and turning them into your positive. Right now, the Democrats' Achilles' heel is that their party is fractured between Obama and Hillary Clinton -- and the only way they seemingly can recover is to place both candidates on the party's presidential ticket. Read article.l

Campaign 2008: Kinder and Gentler?

Pat Sajak, JWR.com

Welcome, Republicans, to 2008's kinder and gentler presidential campaign, where new ground rules are being drawn up to assure Americans that their warm and sensitive political candidates won't have their feelings bruised by mean and nasty negative charges. It's a campaign where vigorous debate is welcomed, as long as it doesn't imply any shortcomings on the other side.

It's a campaign in which it's okay to accuse one side of championing a "naïve foreign policy", as long as the side making the accusation is the one that can't be accused of hiding racial or gender meanings in that criticism. You say there are no such implications? Hah! Just what you'd expect a misogynistic racist to say.

It's a campaign in which any question is off-limits merely by being dismissed as off-limits and any issue is irrelevant if it's said to be so.

The hypocritical, one-sided nature of this New Campaign was neatly, hilariously and unintentionally summed up by two back-to-back sentences in that Times editorial: "Those failed policies are one reason we yearn for the coming change of administration and for the next president to reject Mr. Bush's bullheadedness. We also yearn for a more civilized and respectful political dialogue." Apparently, the staff cutbacks at the Gray Lady included the Department of Irony.

So, Republicans, enjoy the coming campaign. You might still win, but it'll have to be with both hands tied behind your back. Read article.

Reagan's would-be assassin aided by top Obama adviser

Aaron Klein, WND.com

An attorney and top foreign policy adviser to Sen. Barack Obama is coming under fire for representing controversial figures, including an accused human rights abuser, an alleged murderer of a U.S. soldier and even the would-be assassin of President Ronald Reagan.

Greg Craig, who has been termed the "lawyer of the left," represented John Hinckley Jr., who attempted to assassinate Reagan in 1981 by firing six bullets at the president as he left a hotel. Craig was reportedly the architect of Hinckley's successful defense in which he was found not guilty by reason of insanity, even though reports by the federal prosecution found Hinckley sane.

As a partner in the high-powered Washington, D.C., law firm of Williams & Connolly, Craig represented former Bolivian Defense Minister Carlos Sanchez-Berzain in a federal lawsuit of "crimes against humanity" due to his alleged role in the suppression of labor union riots in 2003 that resulted in the deaths of 67 people. Read article.

31,000 Signatures Prove ‘No Consensus' About Global Warming

Melinda Zosh, AIM.org

Presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Monday that "we have to get used to the idea that we can't keep our houses at 72, drive our SUVs and eat all we want." Arthur B. Robinson, president and professor of chemistry at the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, has a different response.

"I don't want to give up eating all I want because of a failed hypothesis," said Robinson at the National Press Club here on May 19. Robinson said global warming is not a threat to America. He said that the global temperature increased by just .5 degrees in the last century.

Robinson spoke about his petition signed by 31,000 U.S. scientists who reject the claims that "human release of greenhouse gases is damaging our climate."

"World temperatures fluctuate all the time," said Robinson. "The temperature of the Earth has risen many times, far more times than carbon dioxide could drive it. There is no experimental evidence that humans are changing the environment..."

Robinson said that in recent years the U.N. and a group of 600 scientists, representing less than one percent of the scientific population, reached a "consensus" that global warming is happening. This has never been done before, Robinson insists.

Dennis Avery, Director for the Center of Global Food Issues at the Hudson Institute, agrees with Robinson. "Nobody can do science by a committee. You do science by testing," said Avery. "To me it is appalling that an international organization of the stature of the U.N. would ignore the evidence of past climate changing." Read article.

Barack Obama's Anti-Military Problem

Ben Shapiro, Townhall.com

Does disdain for the military matter anymore?

If Barack Obama's candidacy is any indication, it does not. Sen. Obama gave a graduation speech at Wesleyan University on Sunday, May 25. In it, he praised students for their public service. He also asked them to forego the business world in favor of careers in public service. "I ask you to seek these opportunities when you leave here, because the future of this country -- your future -- depends on it. At a time when our security and moral standing depend on winning hearts and minds in the forgotten corners of this world, we need more of you to serve abroad.

As president, I intend to grow the Foreign Service, double the Peace Corps over the next few years, and engage the young people of other nations in similar programs, so that we work side by side to take on the common challenges that confront all humanity."

Notice anything missing in that list of public service jobs Obama will push? Read article.