Obama "removes all doubts" that the US is against Islam, Obama loses argument to Palin, Repealing DOMA

1) Obama: Encouraged on Mideast peace Seated next to President Hosni Mubarak, who was making his first visit to the U.S. capital in five years, Obama thanked his Egyptian counterpart for joining him in trying to construct a deal that has eluded world leaders for more than six decades. The 81-year-old Egyptian leader, who was estranged from the Bush administration, said Obama had "removed all doubts about the United States and the Muslim world." Yeah, no kidding… Mubarak said, "The Islamic world had thought that the U.S. was against Islam, but his (Obama's) great, fantastic address there has removed all those doubts." …To that end, Obama has demanded that the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu freeze construction of Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, land that the Palestinians want for a state. Netanyahu's public refusal has opened a rare rift between the traditionally close allies. …Mubarak had been a regular visitor to Washington during the Clinton administration. Then he stayed away to protest the U.S. invasion of Iraq and President George W. Bush's intensified pressure to open the Egyptian political system and moderate its human rights policies. See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090818/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_mubarak For example, human rights policies like supporting the mass killings in Darfur: One hundred Jewish leaders and Holocaust scholars have harshly criticized Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for "giving the red carpet" to his Sudanese counterpart Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for the mass killings in Darfur in western Sudan. See: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1108245.html 2) Palin Wins  If she's dim and Obama is brilliant, how did he lose the argument to her? The first we heard about Sarah Palin's "death panels" comment was in a conversation last Friday with an acquaintance who was appalled by it. Our interlocutor is not a Democratic partisan but a high-minded centrist who deplores extremist rhetoric whatever the source. We don't even know if he has a position on ObamaCare. From his description, it sounded to us as though Palin really had gone too far. A week later, it is clear that she has won the debate. …The Los Angeles Times reports that Palin has won a legislative victory as well: …The Palin claim about "death panels" was so widely discredited that the White House has begun openly quoting it in an effort to show that opponents of the healthcare overhaul are misinformed. You have to love that last bit. The fearless, independent journalists of the Los Angeles Times justify their assertion that the Palin claim was "widely discredited" with an appeal to authority--the authority of the White House, which is to say, the other side in the debate. One suspects the breathtaking inadequacy of this argument would have been obvious to Times reporters Christi Parsons and Andrew Zajac if George W. Bush were still president. And of course this appears in a story about how the Senate was persuaded to act in accord with Palin's position--which doesn't prove that position right but does show that it is widely (though, to be sure, not universally) credited. See: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204409904574350400852801602.html 2a) "We Have a Tire Track On Our Chest": President Obama Faces Possible Rebellion of House Democrats The president's liberal allies on health care reform have a message for the president: Don't think you can drop the public option without a fight.  "If the president thinks we're gonna get the votes without the public option, he's got another think coming," Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-NY, told ABC News. "That won't pass the House." Over the weekend, the President seemed to change his tone on whether a final health care reform bill had to include a public option -- something that just two months ago, he indicated was a deal-breaker. Sounds like a game of good cop/bad cop to me. “Oh, I had to do it because The House made me do it”.  See: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/08/we-have-a-tire-track-on-our-chest-president-obama-faces-possible-rebellion-of-house-democrats.html 2b) And yet…Gibbs insists Obama not backing off public option WASHINGTON – White House spokesman Robert Gibbs insists the Obama administration has not shifted its goals on health care reform or distanced itself from a government-run public insurance option. He said in a meeting with reporters Tuesday morning that news stories suggesting that the administration was ready to abandon the public option as it battles to push health care reform through were overblown. The rash of reports began after Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (seh-BEEL'-yuhs) appeared to signal the president was open to health care cooperatives as an alternative. Gibbs said there was no intention to indicate a change in policy. He said, "If it was a signal, it was a dog whistle we started blowing weeks ago." See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090818/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_health_care_overhaul 2c) How’s That Government-run Health Care Working Out Canada? Last week we passed along the news that the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority is considering cutting more than 6,000 surgeries to make up for a $200 million budget shortfall. British Columbia Medical Association president Dr. Brian Brodie called the proposed surgical cuts “a nightmare.” See: http://blog.heritage.org/2009/08/17/hows-that-government-run-health-care-working-out-canada-2/ 2d) AARP loses members over health care stance WASHINGTON (AP) — About 60,000 senior citizens have quit AARP since July 1 due to the group's support for a health care overhaul, a spokesman for the organization said Monday. See: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-08-17-aarp-health-overhaul_N.htm 3) Morning Bell: A Clunker of a Stimulus Cash for Clunkers has failed at everything but adding to the debt. It has not created any new car sales, but only shifted them into a narrow two month window. It has not stimulated any new consumer spending as consumers just cut back in other areas to pay for their new cars. And finally, it has done nothing for the environment since the new cars get driven more than the clunkers, and the clunkers are then destroyed a tremendous waste of resources that only hurts the environment. It is no wonder that the President did not celebrate yesterday’s stimulus anniversary more prominently. If this is what his relationship with the American economy looks like after just six months, the honeymoon is assuredly over. See: http://blog.heritage.org/2009/08/18/morning-bell-a-clunker-of-a-stimulus/ 4) President Obama insult by Glenn Beck has advertisers boycotting show The boycott of Fox News host Glenn Beck gathered more steam Monday when retailing giant Wal-Mart and seven other companies pulled their ads from his show, organizers said. …Among those bailing on Beck: GMAC Financial Services, Best Buy, CVS and Travelocity. …A total of 20 companies have pulled their ads in the last two weeks, Color of Change says, including Geico, ConAgra, RadioShack, Men's Wearhouse, State Farm, Sargento and Procter & Gamble.  Judging from Monday night's broadcast, there were plenty of companies eager to fill the ad slots, including The Wall Street Journal, DirecTV, Honda and Oprah Winfrey's Oxygen Channel.  Hundreds of Beck fans have voiced support for him on a counterprotest Web site, DefendGlenn.com, which urges consumers to boycott the advertisers who pulled out of Beck's show. See: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2009/08/18/2009-08-18_companies_boycotting_beck_for_bam_bash.html 5) White House wages war on marriage act If DOMA declared unconstitutional, 'individual states would be sitting ducks The Obama Justice Department has filed a legal brief in support of repealing the federal Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, but critics are warning the move will jeopardize state rights. …In a written statement, Obama declared:  [T]he Department of Justice has filed a response to a legal challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act, as it traditionally does when acts of Congress are challenged. This brief makes clear, however, that my Administration believes that the Act is discriminatory and should be repealed by Congress. I have long held that DOMA prevents LGBT couples from being granted equal rights and benefits. While we work with Congress to repeal DOMA, my Administration will continue to examine and implement measures that will help extend rights and benefits to LGBT couples under existing law. …"Federal DOMA makes it clear that states have the right to regulate marriage within their borders, and they cannot be forced to recognize same-sex marriages from other states," he said. "If federal DOMA were to be struck down, that whole area of the law would be in jeopardy." See: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=107257 6) Conservatives Now Outnumber Liberals in All 50 States, Says Gallup Poll (CNSNews.com) - Self-identified conservatives outnumber self-identified liberals in all 50 states of the union, according to the Gallup Poll.   At the same time, more Americans nationwide are saying this year that they are conservative than have made that claim in any of the last four years. In 2009, 40% percent of respondents in Gallup surveys that have interviewed more than 160,000 Americans have said that they are either “conservative” (31%) or “very conservative” (9%). That is the highest percentage in any year since 2004. Only 21% have told Gallup they are liberal, including 16% who say they are “liberal” and 5% who say they are “very liberal.” See: http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/52602