Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Will Israel Attack Iran Before The Election To Help McCain?

Israel, Iran, and the November election

Israel, Iran, and the November election
Chad Groening OneNewsNow.com

US and Israeli flagsA Jerusalem-based journalist says the overwhelming sentiment in Israel right now is that Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States, and that the Jewish state will have to take care of the Iranian nuclear problem on its own.

Aaron Klein, Jerusalem bureau chief for WorldNetDaily, covered Senator Obama's recent visit to the Holy City. Even before Obama's arrival in Israel, says Klein, the people there had already made up their minds about the inevitability of Obama becoming president. So the clock may already be ticking for a unilateral Israeli strike against Iran's nuclear program, he says.

"In Israel, there already is an assumption that Obama is going to win," the journalist states. "And then Israel knows that the window to do anything about it [Iran] would have to be before...the November elections or before the next president, which Israel does assume to be Barack Obama, is installed in January."

On the other hand, Klein does not think it would be wise for Israel to attack Iran as long as Ehud Olmert is prime minister there. "[T]he man couldn't handle a war against a few thousand guerrilla troops in Lebanon in 2006 [and] he has bungled every Israeli Defense Force operation since he's been in office," says the Middle East observer.

Klein admits he is concerned about a scenario in which Barack Obama is the U.S. president at the same time Ehud Olmert is prime minister of Israel.

Israel, Iran, and the November election

McCain Seen as Less Likely to Bring Change, Poll Finds

McCain Seen as Less Likely to Bring Change, Poll Finds
By ROBIN TONER and ADAM NAGOURNEY - NY Times
September 17, 2008

WASHINGTON — Despite an intense effort to distance himself from the way his party has done business in Washington, Senator John McCain is seen by voters as far less likely to bring change to Washington than Senator Barack Obama. He is widely viewed as a “typical Republican” who would continue or expand President Bush’s policies, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

Polls taken after the Republican convention suggested that Mr. McCain had enjoyed a surge of support — particularly among white women after his selection of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate — but the latest poll indicates “the Palin effect” was, at least so far, a limited burst of interest. The contest appeared to be roughly where it was before the two conventions and before the vice-presidential selections: Mr. Obama had the support of 48 percent of registered voters, compared with 43 percent for Mr. McCain, a difference within the poll’s margin of sampling error, and statistically unchanged from the tally in the last New York Times/CBS News poll, in mid-August...

Read the rest of the story:
McCain Seen as Less Likely to Bring Change, Poll Finds

AP Interview: Rove: Palin excitement will subside

AP Interview: Rove: Palin excitement will subside
By MATT SEDENSKY

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Republican tactician Karl Rove said Wednesday that Sen. John McCain's vice presidential pick was a political choice and that excitement over Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will subside.

"Nothing lasts for 60-some-odd days," Rove told The Associated Press after appearing at a health care conference. "Will she be the center of attention in the remaining 48 days? No, but she came on in a very powerful way and has given a sense of urgency to the McCain campaign that's pretty remarkable."

Rove said Palin was a "political pick" just as Sen. Barack Obama's choice of Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden was, and that she is not the most qualified candidate. Biden, well-versed in foreign policy issues after more than three decades in the Senate, makes up for the Illinois senator's lack of experience in that area. Palin has been governor for less than two years, and was mayor of small-town Wasilla before that.

Read the rest of the story:
AP Interview: Rove: Palin excitement will subside

Barack Obama - Fundamentals of Economy Ad

Palin brings gender politics back in US polls

Palin brings gender politics back in US polls
Sarah Jacob NDTV.com
September 17, 2008

Perhaps it is ironic. Days after Sarah Palin joined team McCain, on Wednesday 6 national women's groups announced they were endorsing Barack Obama.


Kim Gandy, president of National Organization for Women, says, "Sarah Palin does not support the things that NOW stands for. She believes that no abortion be allowed under any circumstances not even in the case of a child victim of rape or incest. Her positions are completely out of touch with American women."

Palin's stand on abortion may be difficult hurdle for feminists to come to terms with but polls show America's most famous hockey mom boosting GOP nominee Senator John McCain's popularity among white women and independents.

Latest polls show Senator McCain has pulled even with Senator Obama in national polls, thanks to a 20-point swing among white women, who now favor the McCain-Palin ticket by 12 points.

Brian Darling, an analyst with the Heritage Foundation, says: "There are two very good reasons why McCain made this pick. One it helps shore up his credentials among conservatives. He has picked some body who is pro life, some body who is pro family some body who is very good conservative credentials also and fits in the maverick frame work that McCain has wrapped up and also it helps him with women."

Read the rest of the story here:
Palin brings gender politics back in US polls

NOW's political PAC says no to Sarah Palin

LA Times blogs
NOW's political PAC says no to Sarah Palin (while avoiding broaching her name)

On the one hand, it is an endorsement that comes as no surprise.

On the other hand, the decision by NOW's political arm to officially embrace the Democratic presidential ticket is a step out of the ordinary -- traditionally, the group does not announce a pick in the fight for the White House.

Kim Gandy, the president of the 42-year-old National Organization for Women, in a statement released Tuesday, called it "very unusual" for the group's political action committee "to endorse in a presidential election." But referring to Barack Obama, she added, "this is an unprecedented candidate and an unprecedented time for our country."

The statement, after detailing specific policy areas in which Obama's record squares with NOW's agenda, offers this summary:

For more than a decade, Barack Obama has said "yes" to women's rights, while John McCain has consistently said "no" -– NO to pay equity, NO to contraceptive access and reproductive rights, NO to appointing Supreme Court judges who will uphold women's rights and civil rights, NO to funding shelters and other anti-violence programs, and NO to supporting working moms and dads with policies that support work/life balance.

In the statement that supports the ticket that does not include a women while turning its back on the one that does, no mention is made of Sarah Palin.

On a similar note, Obama running mate Joe Biden gets an approving nod in a lengthy New Republic article reviewing his record on women's issues.

Writer Fred Strebeigh notes that since Biden got tapped for the vice presidential slot, he "has been pitted against women, first taking the job that many Hillary Clinton supporters felt was her due, then facing off against another historic woman, Sarah Palin, who could become the first female vice president of the United States. ... But the irony of this assessment is that Biden has some of the best feminist bona fides around."

Read the rest of the story:
NOW's political PAC says no to Sarah Palin

Barack Obama: "I will NOT raise taxes. Period!"