GOP State Legislatues Using Jim Crow Laws To Stop Obama Re-election.

WASHINGTON, April 21 (Reuters) - New state laws designed to fight voter fraud could reduce the number of Americans signing up to vote in this year's presidential election by hundreds of thousands, a potential problem for President Barack Obama's re-election bid.

Voting laws passed by Republican-led legislatures in a dozen states during the past year have sharply restricted voter-registration drives that typically target young, low-income, African-American and Hispanic voters - groups that have backed the Democratic president by wide margins.

A further 16 states are considering bills that would end voter registration on election days, impose a range of limits on groups that register voters and make it more difficult for people to sign up, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School.

The new laws - many of which include measures requiring voters to show a photo ID at the polls - could carve into Obama's potential support in Florida, Ohio and a few other politically divided states likely to be crucial in the Nov. 6 election, analysts say.

The analysts note that massive registration drives in 2008 helped put millions of people aged 18 to 29 on voting rolls, and that age group - which makes up roughly one-quarter of the U.S. electorate - helped propel Obama to victory, voting 2-to-1 for him.

Rock the Vote, a nationwide organization that mobilizes young voters, said the new laws would make it more difficult for the group to educate people on how to sign up to vote.

"The types of laws have varied, but state by state they've added up to the fact that it's going to be harder for young people to get registered and vote in this election cycle," said Heather Smith, president of Rock the Vote.

"We have a very busy year ahead of us, and a very important one," she added. "What a shame if we can't continue to engage this generation in the political process because these laws have made it harder."

Read More http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/22/voter-id-laws-obama_n_1442338.html

President Willing To Talk About Weed, But It Want Be Legalized,

Obama said he doesn't "mind a debate" over drug legalization even though he doesn't believe it “is going to be the answer."

“I don’t mind a debate on issues such as decriminalization,” Obama told Univisión’s Enrique Acevedo while in Colombia for the Summit of the Americas. "I personally don't agree that that's a solution to the problem, but I think that, given the pressures that a lot of governments are under here -- under resourced, overwhelmed by violence -- it’s completely understandable that they would look for new approaches and we want to cooperate with them."

Obama went on to clarify his own stance on the issue.

"I don't think legalization of drugs is going to be the answer," Obama said.

Obama will likely face pressure this weekend from other leaders who are pushing to legalize marijuana and other illicit drugs in an effort to prevent drug trafficking. The president -- who had a progressive attitude toward drug legalization during his 2008 campaign -- has since hardened his stance on the issue.

Obama's trip to Colombia made headlines Friday night when a dozen Secret Service agents providing security on the trip were relieved of duty because of allegations of misconduct. The Associated Press reported the misconduct involved prostitutes in Cartagena, site of the Summit of the Americas.



Source http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/14/obama-drug-legalization_n_1425746.html?ref=san-francisco&ir=San%20Francisco

Money Coming In From Across Seas To Get President Obama Out.

Even in the era of unbridled campaign contributions, Irving Moskowitz's $1 million donation in February to American Crossroads, the Karl Rove-linked super PAC, is eye-catching.

A retired physician who made a fortune purchasing hospitals and running bingo and casino operations in the economically depressed California town of Hawaiian Gardens, Moskowitz is well-known to those who follow the Israel-Palestine conflict. His contributions to far-right Jewish settler groups, questionable archaeological projects and widespread land purchases in East Jerusalem and the West Bank have routinely inflamed the region over the past four decades and, according to many familiar with the conflict, made him a key obstacle to peace in the Middle East.

Now, at age 83, Moskowitz has turned his money on the American political realm in a more prominent fashion than ever before, funding "birther" groups that question the legitimacy of President Barack Obama's U.S. citizenship and others that stoke fears about the president's alleged ties to "radical Islam."

Although he has funded Republican politicians and organizations in the past, his $1 million donation to American Crossroads is his biggest contribution to U.S. electoral politics to date. Moskowitz did not respond to requests for comment from The Huffington Post. American Crossroads told HuffPost that it does not comment on its donors.

Read More http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/12/irving-moskowitz-israeli-settlements-anti-obama-super-pac_n_1416041.html

Sorry Newt, If Trayvon Would Have Been White, He Would Have Had Justice.

Republican hopeful Newt Gingrich slammed Barack Obama on Friday, saying the president's remarks about the fatal February shooting of Trayvon Martin were "disgraceful."

President Barack Obama addressed Martin's death during a Rose Garden appearance earlier Friday, framing the tragedy in personal terms by saying, "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon." Gingrich responded to Obama's remarks during a "Hannity Radio" interview:

What the president said, in a sense, is disgraceful. It’s not a question of who that young man looked like. Any young American of any ethnic background should be safe, period. We should all be horrified no matter what the ethnic background.

Is the president suggesting that if it had been a white who had been shot, that would be OK because it didn’t look like him. That’s just nonsense dividing this country up. It is a tragedy this young man was shot. It would have been a tragedy if he had been Puerto Rican or Cuban or if he had been white or if he had been Asian American of if he’d been a Native American. At some point, we ought to talk about being Americans. When things go wrong to an American, it is sad for all Americans. Trying to turn it into a racial issue is fundamentally wrong. I really find it appalling.

Read More http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/23/newt-gingrich-trayvon-martin-barack-obama_n_1376659.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

Wisconsin GOP Gov. Walker Fears President Obama Will Win State, That's Why State Has Jim Crow Voter ID Law.

Mitt Romney will “do very well” in Wisconsin if he wins the Republican presidential nomination, Governor Scott Walker said, although President Barack Obama has the edge heading into the November election.

Walker, a 44-year-old Republican who took office after the 2010 elections that also gave the party a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, said “conventional wisdom” in his state is that Romney will face Obama. The president stands to gain from any improvement in the economy, he said.

“Any time you have an incumbent, it’s always an uphill battle,” Walker said on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt,” airing this weekend.

“If they feel like we’re headed toward greater prosperity not only in Wisconsin, but across the country, then I think the president’s going to continue,” Walker said.

Read More http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-25/romney-in-uphill-fight-against-obama-in-wisconsin-walker-says.html

Rick Santorum Talks Down To The 99%

Republican presidential contender Rick Santorum clashed with Tacoma Occupy protesters Monday night during his first visit to a state he said would be a "momentum changer" heading into Super Tuesday.

Minutes into Santorum's speech, protesters began chanting and shouting. They rarely stopped over the next half-hour.


"I think it's really important to understand what this radical element represents," Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, told hundreds of supporters gathered outside the Washington Historical Museum. "What they represent is true intolerance."

Read More http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/14/occupy-wall-street-rick-santorum_n_1275497.html?ref=divorce&ir=Divorce&utm_source=pulse&utm_medium=direct

The Only Way A Republican Would Vote For President Obama, If He Changed His Skin Color.

In order to understand how deeply ingrained Republican hatred for President Barack Obama truly is, you need only ask one question: What would the president have to do to win your support?

It's rhetorical. There is nothing the president could do, save become a Republican himself, to placate many angry Republican voters. But when asked to at least consider the idea of backing him, the answers people give can be revealing.

"I wouldn't go across the street if he paid me $500," said Steve Voss, a resident of Henderson, Nevada, who watched former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney address several hundred supporters Friday evening. "I'd throw a rock at him. All right, maybe a water balloon."

Read More http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/04/nevada-republican-voters-barack-obama_n_1254980.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp000000

White GOP feel its OK to Disrespect the President Because He Is Black.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer traded words with President Obama after she greeted him at a Phoenix airport Wednesday.

Brewer and Obama "spoke intensely for a few minutes" after he landed at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, according to a White House pool report. At one point, the GOP governor shook her finger at the president.

"He was a little disturbed about my book," Brewer told a reporter after the incident, referring to her political memoir, "Scorpions for Breakfast." In the book, Brewer depicted Obama as "patronizing" during an earlier meeting.

Read More http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/25/jan-brewer-obama_n_1232367.html