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News

Is Obama hiring professional actors for his next townhall meeting?

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Here’s the story from the moderately leftist ABC News.

Excerpt:

When President Obama sits down for his MTV town hall this Thursday, the audience of young people who will ask him questions will have been gathered by a casting call.

According to the casting call for the event from talent agency Backstage.com, first reported by National Review Online, the company requests applications for the event, asking what issues the person is “passionate about,” requiring a “short description of your political views,” and also asks for a recent photo.

“MTV, BET and CMT are casting the audience for town hall meeting with President Obama. Shooting Oct. 14, 4 p.m. in Washington, D.C. Seeking—Audience Members: males & females, 18+,” the casting call says, “To ensure that the audience represents diverse interests and political views, include your name, phone number, hometown, school attending, your job and what issues, if any, you are interested in or passionate about. Also, provide a recent photo and short description of your political views.”

The casting call says that there is no pay for the appearance at the town hall.

Dubbed “A Conversation with President Obama”, MTV touted that the town hall will bring the president before 250 young people  that represent a “broad cross-section of backgrounds, interests and political viewpoints,” who will ask questions of the president and over Twitter.

[…]During the 2008 presidential campaign candidate Obama took pains to express that his town halls across the country were entirely authentic, given reports then of the Hillary Clinton campaign planting two questions at her town halls events.

[…]The White House did not immediately respond to questions about Thursday’s town hall.

I found what appears to be the casting e-mail at The Blog Prof.

 

News

Democrats and pro-abortion groups target pro-lifers in FBI and DOJ training

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From Life News. (H/T The Blog Prof)

Excerpt:

Documents LifeNews.com obtained today reveal the Obama administration partnered with leading pro-abortion organizations to host an FBI training seminar in August with the main focus of declaring as “violent” the free speech activities of pro-life Americans.

On August 25, 2010, the FBI and the United States Department of Justice co-sponsored a training seminar with Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Federation and the Feminist Majority Foundation.

When information about the seminar, which took place at FBI headquarters in Portland, Oregon, reached pro-life advocates, they asked officials for permission to attend and were granted access to the seminar and the training materials.

FBI and Obama administration officials provided participants with an 84-page document entitled “Resource Guide: Violence Against Reproductive Health Care Providers” that contained print copies of Power Point presentations prepared by the Justice Department and an analysis of alleged pro-life “violence” prepared by the pro-abortion groups.

The so-called violence perpetrated by pro-life advocates mostly contained examples of constitutionally-protected free speech, including activities such as praying, providing women outside abortion centers with alternatives information, and peaceful protesting or picketing.

Matt Bowman, a top attorney at the Alliance Defense Fund, told LifeNews.com today that the cooperation between the Obama administration and pro-abortion organizations to target pro-life free speech should cause alarm.

“The information presented in the seminar raises serious concerns over the United States government’s treatment of nonviolent free speech activities as ‘violence’ subject to investigation and prosecution,” he said.

“Abortionist organizations have long lobbied to use the law to silence free speech activities. But in this seminar the FBI and USDOJ included those views in their own training seminar materials,” he added. “This raises serious concerns about the United States government investigating peaceful, legal free speech activity in efforts that are ostensibly aimed at violence.”

The Obama administration documents, on page 39-41 specifically list the names of pro-life organizations and websites sponsored by peaceful nonviolent groups.

Some of the organizations named in the FBI/DOJ seminar materials include 40 Days for Life, the ACLJ, Concerned Women for America, National Right to Life, Priests for Life, and Students for Life of America.

Julie Abbate of USDOJ, who presented at the seminar, is the attorney who filed a federal lawsuit in August 2010 against a pro-life advocate solely for leafleting while, allegedly, one time, crossing a driveway in front of an abortion center.

“The lawsuit is further evidence that USDOJ is putting its resources into prosecuting peaceful activity on public sidewalks, rather than violence,” Bowman said.

My previous post about the administration’s opinion of pro-lifers and other conservatives.

Obama is the most pro-abortion president ever.

UPDATE: James informs me that Verum Serum has a number of stories linked about pro-abortion clinic violence against pro-lifers.

News

Rocket scientist Republican candidate pulls ahead in deep blue district

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UPDATE: She’s now up 39 to 37 according to a new poll.

Amazing story from the moderately left-wing Politico. (H/T The Other McCain)

Excerpt:

Add Rep. Raul Grijalva to the growing list of Democratic worries this election season.
Party operatives say there’s increasing concern that the Arizona Democrat’s reelection bid could turn into a “sleeper” race for Republicans after Grijalva — responding to enactment of a tough new immigration law — called for an economic boycott of his own state amid a housing crisis and record unemployment.

Four Democratic sources from different parts of the country said that there is new attention to a race that was long considered in the bag.

And a recent poll, obtained by POLITICO, found that Grijalva and Republican challenger Ruth McClung, a real-life rocket scientist, were in a dead heat, even though Washington prognosticators have declared the deep-blue seat safely Democratic.

As they work to buttress their majority against a coming Republican storm, Democrats can ill afford to spend time or resources defending incumbents in seats where they should have a clear advantage. But the Grijalva seat potentially being in play is a sign of the increasingly expanding Republican playing field for the midterm elections. . . .

The bolding is from Robert Stacy McCain’s post.

McCain writes:

A couple weeks ago, when I first blogged about Ruth McClung’s campaign in AZ-7, it was basically as favor to an Arizona friend. Here was an excellent candidate running a g0od grassroots campaign and, as always, I love a scrappy underdog. Grijalva’s stupidity in calling for a boycott of his own state was so remarkable as to deserve another mention.

There was a chance for an against-the-odds upset but, honestly, I never expected to see a poll three weeks before Election Day showing a dead heat in AZ-7. Look at the data: Grijalva’s negatives are 47% against a positive of 39%, while Grijalva’s “deserves re-election” number is a mere 36% against 50% for “give new person a chance.” This is an incumbent in serious trouble.

To have these kind of results, when McClung reported a mere $16,000 cash on hand in early August — incredible!

Here’s her latest ad:

In related news, ECM sent me this Wall Street Journal article.

Excerpt:

Republican challengers are suddenly threatening once-safe Democrats in New England and the Northwest, expanding the terrain for potential GOP gains and raising the party’s hopes for a significant victory in next month’s elections.

Republican advances in traditionally Democratic states, including Connecticut, Oregon and Washington, may not translate into a wave of GOP victories. But they have rattled local campaigns and forced the Democrats to shift attention and money to races they didn’t expect to be defending.

[…]Democrats are buying advertising in places they hadn’t previously reserved it, a strong indication the battlefield is expanding. That includes New England, which hasn’t a single Republican House member. A new ad by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee began airing this week in the Massachusetts district covering Cape Cod, where Democratic Rep. Bill Delahunt is retiring and ex-police sergeant Jeff Perry is posting a strong GOP challenge.

In Connecticut, polls published this week show Democratic Reps. Chris Murphy and Jim Himes in dead heats with their GOP rivals. The non-partisan Cook Political Report on Friday moved Mr. Murphy’s race into a more competitive category, from a “likely” win to “lean” Democratic.

The November elections are looking very bad for the Democrats.