Political News Summary: Monday, April 6 – Tuesday, April 7, 2009
| President Obama spent two days in Turkey, before ending his trip with an 
unannounced visit to the troops in Iraq, bringing the war back to the forefront of the news again.
In Turkey, Obama reached out to Muslims, telling them;
. “One of the great strengths of the United States is ... we have a;very large Christian population -- we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values.”
You can view the video here. Obama also held a town hall with Turkish students, and spoke to Turkish lawmakers where he told them that America is not at war with Islam.
“The United States is not, and will never be, at war with Islam,” Obama declared, adding that America's relationship with the Muslim world “cannot, and will not, just be based upon opposition to terrorism. We seek broader engagement based on mutual interest and mutual respect.”
In Iraq, the president invoked warmer feelings from the Iraqis than former President Bush had. He also spoke to U.S. troops in Bagdad, telling them
“Under enormous strain and under enormous sacrifice, through controversy and difficulty and politics, you have kept your eyes focused on just doing your job and because of that, every mission that has been assigned from getting rid of Saddam to reducing violence, to stabilising the country, to facilitating elections, you have given Iraq the opportunity to stand on its own as a democratic country.”
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| The Vermont legislature overrode the governor’s veto, and became the first state to legalize gay marriage through a legislature's vote, Beginning on September 1, gay and lesbian couples will be able to legally marry in Vermont. Great job, Vermont!
Four states now have same-sex marriage laws and other states soon could follow suit. Bills to allow same-sex marriage are currently before lawmakers in New Hampshire, Maine, New York and New Jersey. The three other states that currently allow same-sex marriage _ Connecticut, Massachusetts and Iowa _ each moved to do so through the courts, not legislatures. Source
In the District of Columbia, the city council voted to recognize gay marriages performed in other states.
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| The results of a poll conducted by the Washington Post-ABC News in late March, indicate that the majority of Americans approve of Barack Obama’’s pledge seeking “a new way forward” with the Muslim world, even as the poll revealed that fully 48% of respondents have a negative view of Islam.
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| 71 lawmakers break the law re earmarks. Some of the most notable of the lawbreakers are Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Mn), Don Young, the King of 
Earmarks (R-Ak), and Roy Blunt (R-Mo), the former minority whip now running for Senate.The new rule concerning earmarks was issued by the House in February.The rule states that members of Congress must post info on their submitted requests to their official House website when the request is made to allow some opportunity for public scrutiny. Funding will not be considered where this rule is not followed --- so they say.
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| Michelle Bachmann, a Republican Rep./wingnut from Minnesota, strikes yet again. I wonder if she really believes the stuff she comes up with. *shaking head*
Appearing on Minnesota radio station KTLK-AM, the Republican congresswoman expressed her concern that the White House was trying to put in place “re-education camps for young people, where young people have to go and get trained in a philosophy that the government puts forward.”
She is referring to
the widely popular and bipartisan Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which would expand national community service programs from 75,000 positions to 250,000.
You can listen to the audio of Michelle-the-wingnut here, and read the story, here.
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| Bill O’Reilly tells softball interviewer, Liz Smith:
“I believe I have more power here than any politician in the country.”
Oh, sweet narcissism….
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| If you’re rooting for Al Franken in the much protracted Minnesota race, you’ll be happy to know that he has acquired another 87 votes:
The only way for Coleman to overcome this lead would be to win an appeal against the election court's prior rulings in favor of strict standards to let in new ballots, or to somehow win his much more far-fetched proposal to retroactively declare a number of absentee votes illegal and deduct them from the totals based on countywide averages.
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| MEDIA MATTERS log, April 6 - April 12, 2009
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Images by the AP and the AFP.
