Wednesday, January 30, 2008

"Obama Snub / Clinton Snub" - AP Reporter LAURIE KELLMAN's Fixed Story Covers Up Truth

"Obama Snub / Clinton Snub" - AP Reporter LAURIE KELLMAN's Fixed Story Covers Up Truth





There's a photo going around that if you're in, or interested in politics, you've seen by now. It's this one on the left taken at Monday's State Of The Union Adress and appears to show Senator Barack Obama turning his back on Senator Clinton as she's shaking Senator Kennedy's hand. Now that photo was taken by J. Scott Applewhite of the Associated Press and was used as the focus of a "story" written by LAURIE KELLMAN of the same AP. The photos been copied again and again, and Obama accused of snubbing Hillary Clinton.

Well, there's two main problems. First, that's not the only photo and there's one with a different angle -- in fact several and all by Getty Images and not the Associated Press.

Second, when I called Laurie Kellman to ask her why she didn't look at photos that show a clapping Senator Obama in communication with Sen. Claire McKaskill, who endorsed him, she didn't return my calls, and I phoned her three times. On top of that, the AP reporter I did talk to seemed to think it was Kellman's right to tell the story the way she did, which is journalistically unprofessional.



Ok, now to the other photo.

This photo on the right shows Senator Obama clapping and looking at Claire McKaskill, who is also obviously turning and looking at Barack Obama, and this is while Senator Kennedy has reached over to Senator Clinton. So it's clear that Senator Obama was indeed distracted by Senator Claire McKaskill while Senator Clinton reached over.

Now, it's also clear that Senator Clinton didn't call to Senator Obama to get his attention, leaving one to wonder if Senator Clinton was actually seeing a chance to set up Senator Obama, an effort that actually proves right in line with other actions Senator Clinton has taken, but that's for another column. Why? Because there's more - yet another photo I want you to see.

This photo shows Senator Obama looking toward his right and our left and clearly at another person just half in and out of the screen -- a person wearing the same red suit and standing in the same area that Senator Clinton was in, and both Obama and the person are obviously engaged in a happy moment because he's grinning ear to ear.



Now, in all of the photos, Senator Clinton's the closest woman wearing red with respect to Senator Obama. She sat next to Senator Joe Biden, and both were only a few feet from Obama and Kennedy.

And in case you question if Barack Obama and Claire McKaskill were really talking, I offer you this photo for view, which also shows Obama, Kennedy, and McKaskill in deep conversation. And remember, both Kennedy and McKaskill have endorsed Obama. Why didn't Senator Clinton shake Claire McKaskill's hand?



Hmm??

I've asked this and I'll ask it again. With all of the well-wishers who came to Senator Obama, why would Kellman -- who was in the chamber -- seek to place the blame of rudeness on Senator Obama? It's a question that Kellman should answer, but she's not talking. Maybe this will draw her out of the shadows.

She has to answer why she ignore the other photos. Saying she didn't know about them is irresponsible to say the least and I'll bet she knew that there were other angles. I also wonder if her editor put her and the photog up to this. I'll lay a bet they cropped the photo to take Sen. Claire McKaskill out of it, thus leaving what looks like Obama just plain turning away.

He wasn't. And LAURIE KELLMAN should be taken to the journalistic woodshed for this unprofessional act. Plus, Senator Clinton also is to blame as she could have just made sure Barack saw her rather than play high school games. But that's Senator Clinton for ya, and she wants to be president.

Geez!

John Edwards To Drop Out Of Presidential Race At 1 PM EST Today



Wow. On the eve of Super Tuesday and Thursday's Democratic Presidential Debate we have this new bombshell: former Senator John Edwards is reportedly going to annouce that he's dropping out of the Democratic Presidential Race according to the Associated Press and the Washingon Post.

This move comes as a surprise as Edwards vowed to take his effort and his 53 delegates all the way to the Democratic Natonal Convention. It also effectively tosses out the polls taken of how candidates may perform on Super Tuesday and really gives Senator Barack Obama -- the person who's approach and policies were more closely matched with Edwards -- a clear and possible shot at beating Senator Clinton for the nomination.

The next question is this: will Edwards endorse Senator Obama for President? It seems the next logical move. It can also be considered as throwing a total monkey wrench into Senator Clinton's plans, because now there's no candidate to split the full anti-war vote. Obama stands alone.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Kofi Bonner | Lennar's Kofi Bonner Heads SF 49ers Stadium Project

My long-time Cal friend Kofi Bonner 's back in the SF Bay Area and has been working for Lennar Corporation on the matter of bring the San Francisco Bayview Hunter's Point area a new football stadium. Not a better guy to do the job! Kofi Bonner was the one who redeveloped Emeryville.

Monday, January 28, 2008

President Bush Gives Consumer Safety Job to Gail Charnley - Coal Industry Champion

Wow. This is a really controversial appointment. What was President Bush thinking in giving the consumer watchdog job to Gail Charnley, someone who protected firm that employ coal miners?

Clinton Snubs Obama In Greeting Ted Kennedy During State Of The Union



ALERT: AP's Laurie Kellman at center of fixed "snub" story - click here!

After a day which saw Senator Ted Kennedy endorse Senator Barack Obama for president, you'd think Senator Clinton would take time to avoid playing games with Senator Obama.

Not so.

Instead of directly congratulating Senator Obama, Senator Clinton reaches over and calls only to Ted Kennedy as if Barack wasn't even there! Insulted, and forced to give space to Ted Kennedy so he could reach Senator Clinton's hand Barack turned.

Frankly, I don't blame him. Senator Clinton can't be civil at all; she has to be "in-your-face" rude, which she was.

ValleyWag.com Happy Hour At Mooses In SF - ValleyWag.com



ValleyWag.com editor Owen Thomas graciously invited me to join him at Mooses for his firm's Friday Happy Hour. The star of this show was Laura Goldberg, the noted tech publicist who's currently with Ask.com, and we were joined by the founder of Lunch 2.0 and some other colorful people.

Fun times!

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Montel: Talk About Troups Who Died & Heath Ledger

This is a great moment captured for YouTube. Montel Williams of the Montel show is a guest on Fox News to talk about Heath Ledger and his new book, but he throws Fox a curve by asking that they not talk about Heath Ledger and instead mention the Iraq War soldier who passed on the day before after being killed by a suicide bomber. Montel said that we've lost 28 American solidiers this year already -- that's more than one for each day of the month. Are we becoming too used to this? I'm not, but it seems Fox News is. Watch this video: