Did Idaho GOP Congressional Candidate Vaughn Ward Copy An Obama Speech?

Vaughn Ward, running in Idaho’s first congressional district, and who recently said, “I don’t care what Puerto Rico is…It doesn’t matter” (after calling it a “country”), gave a January speech that mimics President Obama’s speech to the 2008 Democratic Convention. Ward is already under fire for replicating the language of others on his web site.

Ward’s site, according to the Spokesman-Review, cribbed language on tax relief from Kentucky Rep. Geoff Davis, on marriage from South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint and on health care from an op-ed authored by Georgia Rep. Tom Price. Ward even duplicated a line on small …

More Rand Paul Views: Deport Terrorists To Afghanistan; Iran With A Nuke Not a Threat

One has to wonder how mainstream Republicans will react to their candidate for Senate from Kentucky when they hear the full range of Rand Paul’s views. (h/t Greg Sargent)

Paul has expressed foreign policy views that have yet to attract serious attention but also raise questions about his true core beliefs.

For instance: Paul has suggested deporting terrorists to Afghanistan and has said that it’s not a threat if Iran has a nuke — both views that smack of his father’s staunch isolationism.

On the terrorist issue, he said this in 2009:

“If you’re not going to convict them …

Keep On Drilling, Baby! Nineteen US Approved Drilling Waivers Since Oil Spill.

by Thomas Wellborn

Nineteen  environmental waivers have been granted by the US government for gulf drilling projects, in spite of a May 14th promise by President Obama that companies would no longer be given the luxury of bypassing environment reviews of their drilling procedures.  In addition to these waivers for mostly deepwater drilling initiatives, 17 drilling permits were also granted, according to the New York Times.

At least six of the drilling projects that have been given waivers in the past four weeks are for waters that are deeper — and therefore more difficult and dangerous — than where …

Arizona Looks To Reassign Teachers With Heavy Accents

The Arizona Board of Education is sending evaluators into classrooms to see if teachers speak good enough English.

Teachers who are not fluent in English, who make grammatical errors while speaking or who have heavy accents will be temporarily reassigned.

“As you expect science teachers to know science, math teachers to know math, you expect a teacher who is teaching the kids English to know English,” said Tom Home, state superintendent of public instruction.

State officials say this has nothing to do with the state’s recently-passed immigration law. Critics say with cuts in education, the focus shoudl be elsewhere.…

Robert Gibbs To Sarah Palin: Get “Slightly More Informed” About Oil Industry

The Obama administration is pushing back against accusations it’s not acting aggressively enough in dealing with the Gulf oil spill. Robert Gibbs appeared on Face the Nation to make the case. (h/t Mediaite)

The government is doing everything human and technologically possible…We are watching everything that they are doing. There’s no doubt we’ve had some problems with BP’s lack of transparency, we asked that a video feed be made public and that took ten days…we are working every minute of every day to ensure the response is everything it should be.

Gibbs goes into greater detail about what the …

More GOP Fallout: Chair Michael Steele “Not Comfortable” With Paul’s Civil Rights Stance

On This Week, Republican Party Chair Michael Steele put some distance between himself and Kentucky’s GOP’ Senate candidate Rand Paul.

Anchor Jake Tapper asked Steele, “Are you comfortable with” Paul’s views?

“I’m not comfortable with a lot of things,” Steele said.

“It sounds like you’re not comfortable with it,” Tapper said.

“I just said I wasn’t comfortable with it,” Steele replied.

“I think it’s important to understand that Rand Paul has clarified his statement and reiterated his support for…pushing civil rights forward, as opposed to going backwards,” Steele said on This Week. “Any attempt to look backwards is not …

Rand Paul Not Answering Questions Raises More Questions

Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul’s decision to cancel his appearance on Meet the Press, instead of clarifying his positions, leaves more questions unanswered.  Where does he stand on regulating minimum wage? How about child labor laws?  And has the week that he wished were his honeymoon period, instead weakened him as a candidate? (h/t TV Newser)

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Sarah Palin: Rand Paul Is Learning What It’s Like To Be Me

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin defended Rand Paul on Fox News Sunday, blamed the media for the problems Paul is having, and compared his plight to her own. Poor, poor Sarah.

Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul is feeling what it is like to be Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice presidential candidate said Sunday, comparing the media’s preoccupation with Paul’s recent statements about the 1964 Civil Rights Act to her own treatment in the press.

According to Palin, it’s not Rand’s views that are the problem, it’s the media and personalities with their own agendas.

“One thing that …

If Jesus Christ Ran For President

If Jesus were a candidate for president, opposition researchers would have a field day. This video came out in 2008, but is still relevant.

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Who Will Be First To Call Lamar Alexander A Socialist?

Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander favors a government takeover of BP Oil. On Face the Nation, the plaid-shirted one, who has railed against “government takeovers” in the past, suddenly thinks it’s a good idea. (h/t Think Progress)

Alexander: There’s one thing [the administration] could do. Under the law, they could fire BP and take it over. But the truth is the federal government probably doesn’t have the capacity to do that. ... Read more »

Q: But would you favor taking over BP if that became necessary?

Alexander: Sure, that’s up to the President to decide…Under the law the …

Sarah Palin Remains A “Big Suporter Of Offshore Drilling”

In spite of the tragedy in the Gulf, Sarah Palin told Fox News Sunday that she is a “big supporter of offshore drilling.”

But Palin also tells “Fox News Sunday” that oil companies need to be held accountable. The former Alaska governor suggests that drilling on land in places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is safer than trying to extract oil from beneath the ocean floor.…