2008 Presidential Poll

Jesse Jackson: political icon, civil rights leader, adulterer…castrator?

You can’t help but wonder: if this was reality, could John McCain comment on this blog?

The Obama campaign is condemning as “tasteless and offensive” a New Yorker magazine cover that depicts Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) in a turban, fist-bumping his gun-slinging wife as an American flag burns in their fireplace.

The New Yorker says it’s satire. It certainly will be candy for cable news. 

The Obama campaign quickly condemned the rendering. Spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement: “The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Senator Obama’s right-wing critics have tried to create. But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive.

The issue, which goes on sale Monday, includes a long piece by Ryan Lizza about Obama’s start in Chicago politics. 

Comments are welcome.

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Iran’s missile tests sparked a new foreign policy row in the US presidential race, with Republican John McCain demanding tougher sanctions and Democrat Barack Obama urging rugged diplomacy.

The presidential rivals sketched sharply different approaches after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard test-fired a missile capable of reaching Israel, provoking global condemnation.

“We have lines of communication with the Iranians and they are many,” McCain told reporters in Pennsylvania, saying Iran had already been offered a sheaf of incentives to change its ways.

“Their behavior has obviously not changed — the time has now come for effective sanctions on Iran,” McCain said.

Senator Obama argued for a carrot-and-stick policy of tightened sanctions and a more robust diplomatic effort by the United States to persuade Iran to halt its nuclear program.

“Through its nuclear program, missile capability, meddling in Iraq, support for terrorism, and threats against Israel, Iran now poses the greatest strategic challenge to the United States in the region in a generation,” he said in a statement.

“It’s time to offer the Iranians a clear choice between increased costs for continuing their troubling behavior, and concrete incentives that would come if they change course.

“The threat from Iran’s nuclear program is real and it is grave. As president, I will do everything in my power to eliminate that threat, and that must begin with direct, aggressive, and sustained diplomacy.”

McCain rebuked Obama for his failure to vote for a Senate measure last year that branded the Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization.

“It’s my understanding that this missile test was conducted by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard,” McCain said.

“This is the same organization that I voted to condemn as a terrorist organization when an amendment was on the floor of the United States Senate. Senator Obama refused to vote, called it a provocative step,” he said.

Obama aides said he thought the Guard should be designated a terrorist group, but balked at “aggressive” language in the resolution which he warned could be used to justify the use of US forces in Iraq to strike Iran.

It also said McCain’s stance on Iran had been proven ineffective.

“With Iran now spinning 3,800 centrifuges, threatening Israel, meddling in Iraq, and funding terrorists, the current policy toward Iran that Senator McCain has fully supported is clearly failing,” said Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan.

The Illinois senator also drew fire from McCain for his offer to talk directly to the leaders of Iran and other US foes, but he countered that only sustained and forceful US engagement would work.

“Working with our European and regional allies is the best way to meet the threat posed by Iran, not unilateral concessions that undermine multilateral diplomacy,” McCain said in a written statement.

“Iran’s most recent missile tests demonstrate again the dangers it poses to its neighbors and to the wider region, especially Israel,” McCain said.

But Obama countered that the Iranian crisis was being exacerbated by a lack of active US diplomatic action.

The McCain campaign seemed to sense the dramatic missile tests could provide an opening to question Obama’s perceived inexperience.

“Senator Obama’s actions and his words don’t match,” said Republican Senator John Thune, a McCain supporter, on a conference call.

“This is where there is tremendous contrast with Senator McCain, who clearly understands the threat, who has demonstrated that over a long period of time, and who, I believe is ready to be commander-in-chief on day one.”

The long-range Shahab-3 with a conventional warhead was among a broadside of nine missiles fired off from an undisclosed location in the Iranian desert.

The firing comes at a time of growing tension over Tehran’s nuclear drive, which Iran insists is aimed solely at generating energy but the West fears could be aimed at making an atomic bomb.

The battle of the “I love…” campaign ads continues - hot off the Campaign Tv Ads YouTube channel, John McCain’s “LOVE” advertisement, published today:

The point? John McCain loves his country. But Barack Obama loves his country too, according to this ad.

Do you think McCain loves America more because of his military service? The McCain campaign is hoping you do.