Obama's Spiritual Advisor and Mentor Reverend Jeremiah Wright Speaks Today in DC at the National Press Club

[After appearances on PBS and at the NAACP, it will be interesting to see what the Reverence Jeremiah Wright says today in DC about why he is right and America is wrong.]

National Press Club (http://www.press.org/)

Event Name: Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright
Event Date: Apr. 28, 2008
Event Type: NPC Breakfast
Time: 8:30 AM
Sponsored by: Speakers Committee
Event Location: Ballroom

Details:
The Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., senior pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, will discuss the role of faith in the public square in a presentation entitled, The African American Religious Experience; Theology & Practice, at a National Press Club breakfast on April 28th.

Dr. Wright will also talk about his pastorate, his development as a theologian and teacher, and the how the issues of social justice and global inequities have shaped his faith and his fight for those who are most marginalized in society. He will address the legacy and tradition of education in his family. And Dr. Wright will put into perspective theologically, historically and politically, his ministry and public service that has been so widely discussed in the media.

Dr. Wright will retire from Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago in June, where he served the 8,000-member congregation for 36 years. While at Trinity he developed nearly 100 active ministries/outreach programs and seven separate corporations that continue to serve the greater Chicago community. He is a sought after lecturer and teacher and speaks at some of the nation's most prestigious universities and seminaries.

The National Press Club breakfast will begin promptly at 8:30 a.m.

The National Press Club is located at 14th and F Streets, NW, one block west of Metro Center. More information about the Club and its programs is found on its Internet website: press.org.

THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT.

McCain on WWE Monday Night RAW: Whatcha Gonna Do When John McCain and all his McCainiacs Run Wild on You!

Click above or click here to view this recent World Wrestling Entertainment Monday Night RAW appearance by Senator John McCain.

Best line from JSM:

"Americans don't watch wrestling because we are BITTER, we watch WWE because wrestling is about celebrating our FREEDOM! Its about fighting to be our BEST...So, can you smell what the Mac is cookin!"

I know day late and dollar short on this post, but cool to see this side of the Mac.

Johnny Mac Working Hard in Ohio on his "It's Time for Action" Tour; PA Dem Primary Today

On Tuesday, the second day of the weeklong "It's Time for Action Tour," John McCain will travel to Youngstown, OH to discuss the economic challenges facing the area and solutions for a brighter future.

In Youngstown, John McCain will visit Fabart Inc., a heavy metal fabricating facility that shut down after struggling in Chapter 11 status. Senator McCain will then hold a Town Hall meeting at Youngstown State University (YSU). His final stop will be at Fire Line Inc., a company that works with YSU to develop and place students in advanced manufacturing and technical jobs. Click here to learn more.

“The struggles of this community and others like it matter when we talk about our nation's economy - they are not just a problem, they're a priority. What matters most of all is that you didn't give up."
Fact Sheet
Click Here to Explore Day One

As for Ohio and Pennsylvania, after Hillary wins PA today, hopefully by a big margin, McCain will have a clear road to victory in these two States when he faces Obama in November. How can Pennsylvanians and Ohioans and other hard-working people in the rust belt support a candidate who thinks they cling to guns, religion and wanting secure borders only because they are bitter? I don't think so.

Save the Date: DC YP4McCain Event on May 1st

Dear DC Young Professionals for John McCain:

While the Democrats continue to duke it out, Senator McCain has spent his time since clinching the GOP nomination on Super Tuesday, campaigning throughout the country and unveiling several domestic policy initiatives. Recently, the Senator continued to discuss at Town Hall forums and speeches across the county, his comprehensive plan to maintain America’s position as the leading global economic harbinger of innovation, advancement, and education. The campaign launched a new television ad, entitled “Ignite,” which details the Senator’s positive vision for a strong, competitive, and prosperous American economy. You can view the new ad which will run in Ohio and Pennsylvania, by clicking this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHAAnSppMvU

We all have been waiting for another Young Professionals low-dollar event in DC. The wait is over! Mark your calendars for May 1st, on the roof-top of Covington Burling on Pennsylvania Avenue. An invitation will be provided this week as well as a link to purchase your ticket online. Tickets will be $250/person. If you want to serve as an event Co-Host you can contact Dianne Kube at 703-650-5711 or dkube AT mccain08hq DOT com Stay tuned for an event invitation this week. Please tell your friends and colleagues and ask them to come out. This will be a fun event and an opportunity to continue to rally around our candidate and help him raise the funds needed to remain competitive with his Democrat opponent – whomever that may be!

(h/t to your friend and mine Anne Gavin)

Guess Who's Coming to the Catholic Breakfast?

There is an exciting event tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn. A good Conservative and former Fred Thompson '08 advisor, Joe Cella, was a co-founder of the NCPB and actively coordinates the Breakfast.

Although the Pope will probably not be able to make it to the NCPB due to a prior commitment to speak at the U.N. tomorrow at 10am, this should be an excellent event. Can you guess who the special political guest might be? I hope he is able to sit down for an interview with EWTN and reach out to Catholics.

The 5th Annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast
April 18, 2008
Washington, D.C.
Friday, April 18, 2008 (all events at Hilton Washington)

6:00 AM Doors open

7:15 AM Rosary
7:45 AM Breakfast is served
8:00 AM EWTN broadcast begins
8:30 AM Breakfast program beginsKeynote speaker, Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City & Special political guest

9:30 AM Breakfast program ends

9:30 AM Dedicated time to visit Exhibit Tables
10:00 AM Educational Program Begins
10:00 AM Live broadcast of Pope Benedict’s Address to the UN General Assembly
10:45 AM Michael Novak, noted author, lecturer, winner of Templeton Prize
11:45 AM Marcus Grodi, star of EWTN, noted lecturer and author
1:00 PM Educational Program ends

Drip, Drip, Drip; Damage Control for Obama's Honest View of Bitter Pennsylvania and Small Town-America Voters

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, if you support the Second Amendment, attend Church and have faith in God, according to Barack Obama, you only turn to these traditions because you are bitter. Folks, this is not a gaffe! This is who he truly is...Obama truly believes this:

You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them…And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not.

And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

-Barack Obama- (h/t to HotAir)

Having lived in Philadelphia for a number of years, I think you would be hard pressed to find people living in Lehigh, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Reading, York, Harrisburg, Erie and other towns that have faith and believe in the Second Amendment because they are just bitter. In other words, certain folks who may vote for Hillary Clinton in the primary or may vote for John McCain in the general election are just misguided, bitter people.

Asked to respond, McCain adviser Steve Schmidt called it a “remarkable statement and extremely revealing.”

“It shows an elitism and condescension towards hardworking Americans that is nothing short of breathtaking,” Schmidt said. “It is hard to imagine someone running for president who is more out of touch with average Americans.”

-McCain '08 Response-

Now, if this view doesn't slowly continue to drip, drip, drip and gain attention about the true Obama, then I suppose people are not paying attention and we deserve what we get. You add Obama's harsh anti-rural, anti-religious, anti-gun rhetoric to his deep, long-term relationship with the Reverend Jeremiah Wright and his anti-America views, probably centered on this same "bitterness." It makes you think that just maybe Obama really does believe that Americans think the U.S. is unfair, hateful and bitter. Doom and Gloom and name calling is not a winning position to take, but for purposes of a McCain victory, I hope the MoveOn.org types continue to rally to Barack Obama. Remember, his wife only became proud of America for the first time in her life this year because her husband is winning the Dim nomination.

Then, you also have Obama's top Military Advisor Tony McPeak, who blames NYC and Miami Jewish people for our problems in the Middle East. For some reason, McPeak has not garnered much attention in the liberal mainstream media, but it shows a pattern. Although Obama says he is for Change and Bringing People Together, he seems more and more divisive by the day. If people think this will all go away after he picks up the nomination, all the money in the world will not save someone's candidacy who calls rural voters bitter because they might be different than inner city voters and brings the Wrights and McPeaks into their inner circle and then continues to defend them.

Virginia will go McCain by at least 5%, but to the extent this continues, the lead may approach double digits. Like Wright with his out-of-touch comments, Obama continues to refuse to address his out-of-touch comments about rural voter sentiment. Everything Obama tries to defend himself, if you pay careful attention, he changes the actual words he says he said because his actual quotes above and the context in which he said them are simply indefensible. Remember, Obama tossed this political bomb as red meat to a very liberal San Francisco - Speaker Pelosi-type crowd as to why gun-toting, religious folks are just bitter people. Sounds like Obama must have talked to Fairfax's own, Virginia Senate Leader Dick Saslaw when he mentioned gun-supporters being Deliverance types during the GA session earlier this year.

I think you can place Florida and the NRA-member rich Michigan in the McCain column. If Hillary does not get the Dim nomination, go ahead and place Pennsylvania in the McCain column as well. Not sure how Obama wins with only CA, MA, MD, NY and VT in his column, but it will be fun watching him try.

McCain Calls on the PRC to Be a Responsible Stakeholder in the Modern World

(Picture above: The bigger and better People's Liberation Army. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, smell the coffee! Last year, it was announced that the military budget for the People's Republic of China for 2007 was 350.92 billion yuan, or roughly US$44.94 billion. This marked a 17.8% increase over the previous year, or +$6.8 billion. Imagine that force coming down on anyone, especially monks in Tibet.)

STATEMENT BY JOHN MCCAIN ON CHINA AND THE OLYMPIC GAMES
For Immediate Release
Contact: McCain '08 Press Office
Thursday, April 10, 2008

ARLINGTON, VA -- U.S. Senator John McCain today issued the following statement on China and the Olympic Games:

"Our relationship with China is important, and we value our ability to cooperate with the Chinese government on a wide variety of strategic, economic, and diplomatic fronts. But the Chinese government needs to understand that in our modern world, how a nation treats its citizens is a legitimate subject of international concern. China has signed numerous international agreements that make China's treatment of its citizens a subject of legitimate international concern, not just a matter of national sovereignty. To be a responsible stakeholder in the modern world, a government must also be responsible at home, in protecting, not trampling, the rights of its people.


"I deplore the violent crackdown by Chinese authorities and the continuing oppression in Tibet of those merely wishing to practice their faith and preserve their culture and heritage. I have listened carefully to the Dalai Lama and am convinced he is a man of peace who reflects the hopes and aspirations of Tibetans. I urge the government of the People's Republic of China to address the root causes of unrest in Tibet by opening a genuine dialogue with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, aimed at granting greater autonomy. I urge the Chinese authorities to ensure peaceful protest is not met with violence, to release monks and others detained for peacefully expressing their views and to allow full outside access to Tibet.

"I understand and respect Prime Minister Brown's decision not to attend the Olympic opening ceremonies. I believe President Bush should evaluate his participation in the ceremonies surrounding the Olympics and, based on Chinese actions, decide whether it is appropriate to attend. If Chinese policies and practices do not change, I would not attend the opening ceremonies. It does no service to the Chinese government, and certainly no service to the people of China, for the United States and other democracies to pretend that the suppression of rights in China does not concern us. It does, will and must concern us."

Hot Blogger News: John McCain's RNC Deputy Chairman Frank Donatelli to Appear at YRLC 2008

Update: Young Republican Leadership Conference 2008 in Washington, DC (April 30 - May 4)

Frank Donatelli, Senator John McCain's Selection for RNC Deputy Chairman and Member of former President Ronald Reagan's inner circle will speak at next month's YR National Leadership Conference. Please visit YRLC 2008 by going to their web site at: www.yrlc2008.net or blog at: www.yrlc2008.blogspot.com


Mr. Donatelli will be joined by other Star Conservatives such as:

• U.S. House Minority Leader John Boehner
• Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Author of Real Change
• The Honorable Ed Gillespie
• U.S. House Republican Policy Committee Chairman, Congressman Thaddeus McCotter
• Congressman Mac Thornberry
• Former YRNF Chairman, Congressman Kevin McCarthy
• GOPAC Chairman and FOX News Contributor, Michael Steele
• National Campaign Chairman for Governor Mike Huckabee and former Reagan Administration official, Ed Rollins
• Senior Adviser to Mitt Romney for President and former White House Political Director for President George H. W. Bush, Ron Kaufman
• Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic.com
• Ross Douthat, Senior Editor for The Atlantic Monthly
• Ramesh Ponnuru, Senior Online Editor at the National Review
• Angela McGlowan, Author of Bamboozled

Young Republican Federation of Virginia Annual Convention Kicks-Off Tonight

(Pictured above: Richmond, Virginia - Host City of this Year's YRFV Annual Convention)

Registered Convention YRs and Supporters, join the YRFV tonight around 7:30pm in Richmond at the BlackFinn Restaurant located at: 1001 Haxall Point in Richmond.

Then, tomorrow, the Convention kicks off bright and early at 8:00am at the Richmond Omni Hotel (host of this year's Annual YRFV Convention) located at: 100 South 12th Street, Richmond, VA 23219

For the latest updates and Convention Spotlights on the YRFV Convention Panels and Speakers, please visit the YRFV's Blog at: http://www.yrdominion.typepad.com/

A sample of the featured YRFV Convention speakers include:

(Pictured above: Former Governor Jim Gilmore, Candidate for U.S. Senate)

(Pictured above: Attorney General Bob McDonnell)

(Pictured above: Lt. Governor Bill Bolling)

(Pictured above: Chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors Corey Stewart)

(Pictured above: Delegate Sam Nixon)

Recap of Day 2 (Virginia Stop) of John McCain's Service to America Tour

Speech at Episcopal High School "I doubt I will ever meet another person who had the impact on my life that my English teacher at Episcopal High School did. But I know there are many Americans who should teach and could influence children as beneficially as he did me. All children should have a teacher like I had, who they remember when they have children and grandchildren as one of the most fortunate relationships in their lives."

Full Text Below

Service to America: Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia
April 1, 2008

Speech Given at Episcopal H.S.

ARLINGTON, VA -- U.S. Senator John McCain will deliver the following remarks as prepared for delivery during the second stop of his "Service to America" tour today at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia at 10:45 a.m. EST:

Thank you. I'm happy to be back at Episcopal, my alma mater, which I have many happy memories of, and a few that I'm sure former teachers, school administrators and I would rather forget. Until I enrolled at Episcopal, my education had been constantly disrupted by the demands of my father's naval career, which required us to move so often that I lost track of the number of schools I attended. My parents had resolved finally to put an end to our haphazard education and enrolled my sister, brother and me in boarding schools. I arrived here a pretty rambunctious boy, with a little bit of a chip on my shoulder. I was always the new kid, and was accustomed to proving myself quickly at each new school as someone not to be challenged lightly. As a young man, I would respond aggressively and sometimes irresponsibly to anyone whom I perceived to have questioned my sense of honor and self-respect. Those responses often got me in a fair amount of trouble earlier in life. In all candor, as an adult I've been known to forget occasionally the discretion expected of a person of my years and station when I believe I've been accorded a lack of respect I did not deserve. Self-improvement should be a work in progress all our lives, and I confess to needing it as much as anyone. But I believe if my detractors had known me at Episcopal they might marvel at the self-restraint and mellowness I developed as an adult. Or perhaps they wouldn't quite see it that way.

However much I was captive to the unruly passions of youth, which some of my classmates and friends at Episcopal could attest to as they shared more than a few of those attributes themselves, after a difficult first year adjusting to life here, I came to appreciate this place very much. Episcopal had borrowed some of its traditions from military academies. One in particular, bothered me a bit: the designation of first year students as "rats," and the mild hazing that accompanied the designation. Mild or not, I resented it, more than I should of, and I made my resentment clear in my usual immature ways to upperclassman and school officials, piling up demerits and earning the distinction at the end of the year of "worst rat." But, for whatever reason, Episcopal did offer me a home here, and if it regretted that decision, it didn't make it known through the usual means.

Memory often accords our high school years the distinction of being among the happiest of our lives. I remember Episcopal in that light. The academics were superb and serious, a testament to the many fine teachers here. Athletics were accorded almost equal weight, and I appreciated the opportunity it gave a mediocre athlete to participate in team sports. And the honor code here -- I will not lie, I will not cheat, I will not steal -- was much the same as the code my parents had taught and which would govern my behavior at Annapolis and in the Navy. And if I didn't appreciate it as much as I should have, I learned to do so when my honor was challenged by more serious threats than I ever faced in high school. And I had good friends here, and those friendships make up the best parts of my remembrance.

There was one friendship that enriched my life at EHS beyond measure. Were William B. Ravenel the only person I remembered from Episcopal, I would credit those days among the best in my life. His influence in my life was more important and more benevolent than that of any person outside my family. Mr. Ravenel was head of the English Department, and coached the junior varsity football team, on which I played. He had been a star running back at Davidson College and had a master's degree in English from Duke. Like most men of his generation, he had known far greater danger than that posed by a tough defensive line. He had served in Patton's tank corps during the Third Army's aggressive advance across Europe, and had survived hard encounters with Hitler's panzer divisions. He was a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, the only master at school who still served in the military.

He seemed to his students to be as wise and capable as anyone could expect to be. He loved English literature, and taught us to love it as well. He had a way of communicating with his students that was uniquely personal and effective. He made us appreciate how profound were the emotions that animated the characters in Shakespeare's tragedies. MacBeth and Hamlet in his care were as compelling to boys as they were to the most learned scholar. No other teacher had as much of our respect and affection. He was simply the best man at the school; one of the best men I have ever known.

As luck would have it, I was ordered to work off my demerits in Mr. Ravenel's yard. I don't know if school authorities were intentionally doing me a favor and knew that Mr. Ravenel would be able to help repair the all-too-evident flaws in my personality. Neither do I know why he took an interest in me. But I count the fact that he did among the most fortunate relationships in my life. I discussed all manner of subjects with him, from sports to the short stories of Somerset Maugham; from his combat experiences to my future. He was one of the few people to whom I confided that I was bound for Annapolis and a Navy career, and to whom I confessed my reservations about my fate.

In the fall of my senior year, a member of the j.v. football team had broken team rules. I cannot recall the exact nature of the offense, but it was serious enough to warrant his expulsion from the team. Mr. Ravenel called a team meeting, and most players argued the accused should be dropped from the roster. I offered the only argument for a less severe punishment.

The student in question had broken training. But unlike the rest of us, he had chosen at the start of the year not to sign a pledge promising to abide faithfully by the training rules. Had he signed it, I wouldn't have defended him. Moreover, he had confessed his offense and expressed remorse freely without fear of discovery. I thought his behavior honorable. So did Mr. Ravenel. But he kept his own counsel, preferring his boys to reason the thing out for ourselves. As we were doing so, Mr. Ravenel began to nod his head when some of the others began to take up the defense. Finally, he closed the matter by voicing his support for leniency. The team voted to drop the matter. After the meeting broke up, Mr. Ravenel told me we had done the right thing and thanked me. He said he had been anxious before the meeting, but had not wanted to be the one who argued for exoneration. He wanted the decision to be ours. He told me he was proud of me.

Every child should be blessed with a teacher like I had, and to learn at institutions with high academic standards and codes of conduct that reinforce the values their parents try to impart to them. Many students do have that opportunity. But too many do not. And government should be concerned with their fate. I supported the No Child Left Behind Act because it recognizes that we can no longer accept high standards for some students and low standards for others. With honest reporting of student progress we begin to see what is happening to students who were previously invisible to us. That is progress on its own, but we can and we must do better.

If a failing school won't change, it shouldn't be beyond the reach of students to change their schools. Parents should be able to send their children to the school that best suits their needs just as Cindy and I have been able to do, whether it is a public, private or parochial school. The result will not be the demise of the public school system in America, but competition that will help make public schools accountable and as successful as they should be in a country as great and prosperous as ours. Teaching is among the most honorable professions any American can join. After our parents, few people influence our early life as profoundly as teachers. Theirs is an underpaid profession, dedicated to the service of others, which offers little in the way of the rewards that much of popular culture encourages us to crave -- wealth and celebrity. But though it might lack much in the way of creature comforts and renown, teaching offers a reward far more valuable: the profound satisfaction that comes from knowing you have made a difference for the better in someone else's life. Good teachers occupy a place in our memory that accords them a reverence we give few others. We should be wise enough to understand that those who work diligently and lovingly to educate the children we entrust to their care, deserve the gratitude and support many of us wish we had given those of our own teachers, who once made such a difference in our own lives.

We should reward the best of them with merit pay, and encourage teachers who have lost their focus on the children they teach to find another line of work. Schools should compete to be innovative, flexible and student-centered institutions, not safe havens for the uninspired and unaccountable. They should be able to compete for dedicated, effective, character-building teachers, hire them and reward them. I believe we should encourage military veterans to enter the teaching profession, and I've advocated the Troops-to-Teachers Act. The sense of heightened responsibility and duty to a cause greater than themselves that veterans were taught in the discipline and code of conduct of the armed forces make many of them excellent candidates to impart those virtues to our children, and help them see the value of learning as a means to self-improvement and much nobler ends. There is no reason on earth that this great country should not possess the best education system in the world. We have let fear of uncertainty, and a view that education's primary purpose is to protect jobs for teachers and administrators degrade our sense of the possible in America. There is no excuse for it.

In the global economy what you learn is what you earn. But today, studies show that half of Hispanics and half of African Americans entering high school do not graduate with their class. By the 12th grade, U.S. students in math and science score near the bottom of all industrialized nations. We need to shake up failed school bureaucracies with competition, empower parents with choice, remove barriers to qualified instructors, attract and reward superior teachers, and have a fair, but sure process to weed out incompetents.

Speaking personally, I doubt I will ever meet another person who had the impact on my life that my English teacher at Episcopal High School did. But I know there are many Americans who should teach and could influence children as beneficially as he did me. All children should have a teacher like I had, who they remember when they have children and grandchildren as one of the most fortunate relationships of their lives.

I have never forgotten the confidence Mr. Ravenel's praise and trust in me gave me. Nor have I forgotten the man who praised me. Many years later, when I came home from Vietnam, Mr. Ravenel was the only person outside of my family whom I wanted to see urgently. I felt he was someone to whom I could explain what had happened to me, and who would understand. That is a high tribute to Mr. Ravenel. For I have never known a prisoner of war who felt he could fully explain the experience to anyone who had not shared it.

I regret that I was never able to pay him that tribute. He had died of a heart attack two years before I came home. He lived for only fifty-three years, but in that time he had made a life for himself and so many others that was so much greater than the brief moment of life he was allowed. His death was a great loss to his family, friends, Episcopal, to the students he had taught with such devotion and to everyone who had been blessed with his company, a loss I still find difficult to accept. But because he helped teach me to be a man, and to believe in the possibility that we are not captive to the worst parts of our nature, I will always believe that there is a Mr. Ravenel somewhere for every child who needs him.