How Many Apologies Does This Make Now?

Campaigners can apologize all they want, but people are only speaking their minds.

That's how it is in America. Nasty and intolerant. So, what's new?

McCain campaign apologizes to Romney
By AMY LORENTZEN,
Associated Press Writer
Sat Jun 23, 12:04 AM ET

John McCain's presidential campaign has apologized to Republican rival Mitt Romney for comments about the Mormon church allegedly made by a volunteer earlier this year.

The incident dates to a meeting of Iowa Republican activists in April, where McCain's Warren County chairman, Chad Workman, is alleged to have made negative comments about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Mormon faith. Romney is a Mormon.

A participant at the meeting said Workman questioned whether Mormons were Christians, and he referenced an article alleging that the Mormon church supports the Islamic militant group Hamas. The participant talked to The Associated Press on Friday on condition of anonymity because he is involved in Iowa politics and wanted to protect his identity.

In response to a question on whether Mormon women were more likely to be stay-at-home mothers, the participant said Workman associated the treatment of Mormon women with the Taliban.

Workman didn't return a call Friday afternoon.

McCain spokesman Danny Diaz said, "we apologize for any comment made concerning Governor Romney's religion. ... Such comments are inappropriate and unacceptable."

Romney's Iowa campaign manager Gentry Collins said the campaign has accepted the apology from McCain's campaign, and "it's our expectation that he'll make sure that these kinds of things don't happen again.

"It's our view that attacks of religious bigotry have no place in politics today," he said.

The apology comes just days after Republican presidential hopeful Sam Brownback issued a similar one for a campaign staffer's e-mail to Iowa Republican leaders that was an apparent attempt to draw unfavorable scrutiny to Romney's Mormon faith.
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MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Democrat Barack Obama on Friday vowed to institute ethics reforms if elected president, including tough restrictions on lobbying by former political appointees.

The first-term Illinois senator, who has backed legislation to reduce the influence of big money and special interest in lawmaking, offered several proposals. Most notable would be prohibiting political appointees in his administration from lobbying the executive branch for the remainder of his time in office.

Those who join an Obama administration would not be able to work on regulations or contracts directly related to their former employers for two years.

"When I am president, I will make it absolutely clear that working in an Obama administration is not about serving your former employer, your future employer or your bank account — it's about serving your country, and that's what comes first," he said in a speech at New Hampshire Community Technical College in Manchester, N.H.

Under the current administration, Washington lobbyists have turned government "into a game only they can afford to play," Obama said. "A game played on a field that's no longer level, but rigged to always favor their own narrow agendas."

"In our democracy, the price of access and influence should be nothing more than your voice and your vote," he said.

Obama's plan also calls for ending the abuse of no-bid contracts, restoring objectivity to the executive branch and increasing public access to information. He acknowledged that such promises are common but argued that he has the experience and will to follow through.

In the Senate, Obama has supported legislation that would impose additional restrictions on lawmakers becoming lobbyists and establishes new disclosure rules for lobbyists.

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NEW YORK (AP) — A billionaire and former CEO, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has cast himself as a leader who governs the city like a business, but his predecessor and potential presidential rival, Rudy Giuliani, is taking credit for inventing the concept.

On a campaign swing through Florida, Giuliani was asked about the differences between him and Bloomberg, whose announcement this week that he had left the GOP clears the way for a possible independent presidential run.

"I think there were a lot of differences. But there was one similarity that probably overwhelmed the differences. We both view New York City from the point of solving problems, from a commonsense approach. I used to call it running New York like a business," Giuliani told reporters Thursday.

"I think I started that," he added. "I think I created that revolution, and I think Mayor Bloomberg has continued it, and I admire him very much for doing that. I will always admire him, whether he becomes a Democrat, an independent or whether he becomes a Republican again."

Though its unlikely Bloomberg would have been elected in 2001 without Giuliani's support, the current mayor has declined to endorse Giuliani, offering instead polite praise.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — In one of the first national polls since New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg left the Republican Party, a Newsweek survey found him having a modest impact so far on the 2008 presidential race.

Only 5 percent said they were very likely to vote for Bloomberg should he run for the White House, with another 21 percent saying they were somewhat likely to do so. Nearly three-fourths of Democrats, two-thirds of Republicans and half of independents said they were unlikely to vote for Bloomberg, a multibillionaire businessman who has not said he will run for president.

In matchups against some of the two major parties' leading contenders, Bloomberg took 4 or 5 points from the Democrat and 5 to 10 points from the Republican. He typically got 10 to 14 percent of the total vote in those trial heats.

For example, the survey showed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., leading former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani by 51 percent to 44 percent. When Bloomberg was added to the mix, it was Clinton 46 percent, Giuliani 37 percent and Bloomberg 11 percent.

On the other hand, Bloomberg may have room to increase his support. Sixty-eight percent of registered voters questioned said they know little or nothing about him, and 57 percent said there should be a third major party.

The survey involved telephone interviews with 1,001 adults and was conducted on June 20 and 21. The margin of sampling error for them, and for the 831 registered voters included, was plus or minus 4 percentage points.

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HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Friday it would be a mistake to close the Guantanamo Bay detainee facility, a step the Bush administration is considering.

Romney said terrorists housed at the facility need to stay in Cuba — far from the U.S. court system.

"I believe that Guantanamo plays an important role in protecting our nation from violent, heinous terrorists," he said. "Guantanamo is a symbol of our resolve."

The former Massachusetts governor made the comments to reporters after speaking at a convention of Montana Republicans, where he promised, if elected, "there will be a war waged on the terrorists."

Romney said terror suspects need to be kept at Guantanamo so they don't get safe harbor in the legal system. Terrorists, he said, don't get such constitutional rights.

The Bush administration is nearing a decision to close the Guantanamo Bay detainee facility and move terror suspects to military prisons elsewhere, senior administration officials said Thursday. Recent military court decisions have hampered administration efforts to begin prosecuting dozens of detainees.
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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Democrat Bill Richardson said Friday that if elected president, he would ask potential Supreme Court nominees about their view on abortion and reject those who say Roe v. Wade should be overturned.

Presidents typically say they don't ask potential justices about their views on specific cases, but Richardson said Friday that he would make an exception for the landmark 1973 case, which legalized abortion.

"I know I am going to upset some people, but this is what I would ask them," said Richardson. "I would say, 'Do you believe that Roe v. Wade is settled law?' If they say yes, they have a good chance of being picked. If they say no I will not pick them."

The New Mexico governor was asked how he would select Supreme Court nominees during a forum at Drake University in Des Moines. He was beginning a two-day trip to the early voting state.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton claimed Friday that the Bush administration makes poor Americans feel "invisible" and promised to restore funding to programs promoting economic development, education, crime prevention and the environment in cities.

"Too many Americans feel invisible today," she said at the 75th annual meeting of The U.S. Conference of Mayors. "And quite often you're the only ones who see this."

Clinton cited as abandoned by the Bush administration a single mother struggling to find affordable child care; a father afraid to allow his son to play outside, fearing an injury would lead to expensive hospital treatment; people still homeless in Louisiana and Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina; and a child attending a crumbling school.

"You know these people and they're not invisible to you and they're not invisible to me," the New York senator said. "And I pledge they will not be invisible to the next president of the United States."

The former first lady said that as president she would propose municipal grants for environmental projects that encouraged "green collar" jobs for middle-class workers and restore funding for police departments and Community Development Block Grants that her husband, Bill Clinton, initiated while president.
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NEW YORK (AP) — Except for the American flag backdrop and the presidential candidate onstage, Sen. Barack Obama's fundraiser Friday night could have been mistaken for a rock concert.

Beer was served in plastic cups, the young crowd snapped photographs with cell phones, and a deafening roar of approval met Obama at the Hammerstein Ballroom — a venue known for rock, rather than rubber chicken.

"How are you, New York City!" Obama shouted, after being introduced by folk singer Ben Harper. "Back in the Big Apple!"

The evening mirrored Obama's campaign aura — youthful, polished and filled with idealistic talk of the future. Invoking the successes of the civil rights movement, he challenged the crowd, which consisted mostly of people under 40, to get involved in politics.

"There's a wind that's blowing," he said. "The air is stirring. People are waking out of their slumber."

Obama's speech encompassed most of his campaign talking points, including the need for universal health care, reforming public education and ending the war in Iraq.
"And while we're at it, we're gonna close Guantanamo," he said, referring to the detention facility for terror suspects in Cuba.
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Associated Press writers Holly Ramer in Concord, N.H., Matt Gouras in Helena, Mont., Sara Kugler and Meghan Barr in New York, Laura Wides-Munoz in Hialeah, Fla., Mike Glover in Des Moines, Iowa, Alan Fram in Washington, and Andrew Glazer in Los Angeles contributed to this report.


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The Nazis, Fascists and Communists were political parties before they became enemies of liberty and mass murderers.