Former Sec. of State Powell says Cheney is wrong about Obama's national security strategy

Appearing Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation former Secretary of State Colin Powell voiced support for President Obama's national security strategy. Referencing former Vice President Dick Cheney's recent attacks on the President’s strategy, Secretary Powell indicated they were not borne out by the facts.

In discussing the issue with host Bob Schieffer, Powell expressed doubt on what have become Cheney’s continual attempts to undercut the national security efforts of President Obama. He also defended the president on the war in Afghanistan and continuing support for Pakistan's government, and the use of federal courts to prosecute suspected terrorists, instead of the military commission process.

The Secretary said that in eight years the military commissions have put only three people on trial; and two of them served relatively short sentences and are now free. He further added that the federal courts, the Article 3 regular legal court system, had put dozens of terrorists in jail, and that they we’re fully capable of handling these cases. Powell didn’t believe that military commission was the way to handle suspected terrorist base on recent history of the military commission.

Powell had previously served as George W. Bush's secretary of state and was instrumental in easing concerns of many elder statesmen just prior to the launch the Iraq war in 2003. He had appeared before the United Nations and presented many assertions on supposed Iraqi nuclear capabilities that later proved to be false.

Watch the interview here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN3mObA9InE&feature=player_embedded

New poll shows 87% of Tea Party activists support Republicans, which contradicts their own claims of being independents

According to a national poll conducted in February by CNN/Opinion Research Corp, a significant majority of Americans think that government is broken.  The pollsters interviewed 1023 adult Americans by telephone, 954 were registered voters. The poll showed that 86% of people questioned said that the system of government was broken, an 8% increase from 2006; with 14 percent saying no.

Of the 86% who believed it’s broken, 81% of those say that the government can be fixed; only 5% say was beyond repair.

The poll indicated that the increase in those who believe government was broken is highest among higher-income Americans and people who live in rural areas, a bulk of those are groups that make up a large part of the Tea Party activists.

The Poll revealed that 64% of all Americans say they like the idea of a third party to run against the Democrats and Republicans. 124 of the poll respondents said they had donated money or attended rallies in support of the so called “Tea Party”.

Respondents were asked who they would support if the elections for Congress were being held today. 45% would support a Democrat, 47% would support a Republican. When asked the same question in a poll conducted in October 2009, 50% favored a Democrat and 44% favored a Republican.

Of those who identified with the so called “Tea Party” 4% identified themselves as Democrats, 52% as independents, and 44% as Republicans.

When asked who they would support for congress, 5% would support a Democrat, and 87% would support a Republican.           

The overwhelming support for Republicans by those affiliated with the “Tea Party” indicated in this poll appears to contradict the independent affiliation that the majority identified themselves with.     

Republican California Governor labels his Republican colleagues as Hypocrites on the Stimulus Bill

Today Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Calif.) appeared on ABC’s This Week with host Terry Moran where the Governor labeled his Republican colleagues in Washington as patent hypocrites on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, more commonly known as the stimulus package. When asked by Mr. Moran if railing against the stimulus bill in public while taking credit for stimulus-related projects and ceremonies in their home districts was hypocritical, the Governor responded “Exactly”, referring that it was.

The Governor noted that he thought it interesting to have all those Republicans running around pushing back on the stimulus money, saying that it doesn’t create any new jobs; and yet go out and do photo ops in their districts and say: 'Isn't this great, look at the kind of money I've provided for the state and this is money to create jobs, and this has created 10,000 new jobs, this has created 20,000 new jobs”.

Schwarzenegger said that his Republican colleagues should be asking themselves on how they can support president in order to stimulate the economy back to good health, instead of solely focusing on trying to gain political advantage for the next election'

The governor laid down a marker to all those who allege that the stimulus hasn't created a job. He said they should talk to the 150,000 people getting jobs in California from both the private sector and the public sector.


See interview here:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2010/02/schwarzenegger-rendell-republicans-playing-politics-on-stimulus.html