Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:
Two’s Company
We reported earlier that today in Arizona, President Obama unveiled his housing plan aimed at stemming the nationwide wave of foreclosures. The president spent Tuesday night at the InterContinental Montelucia Resort & Spa just outside Phoenix. But he was not the only famous politician on hand.
November election opponent John McCain was hosting a fundraiser at the hotel for his Senate re-election campaign. McCain’s former campaign manager, Rick Davis, joked with Time agazine: “We were here first.”
In an ironic twist, the lender backing the resort which opened last November began foreclosure proceedings earlier this month.
Double Standard?
As President Bill Clinton opposed same-sex marriage and even signed into law the Defense of Marriage Act, that legislation — said the federal government — cannot treat same-sex relationships as marriages for any purpose. But LifeSiteNews.com reports Mr. Clinton tried to penalize a hotel owner for supporting the California ballot provision that eliminated the right to marry for same-sex couples.
The report says the former president recently tried to have a speaking engagement which was booked for the San Diego Manchester Grand Hyatt, moved somewhere else after pressure from gay rights groups. The move ultimately failed and Mr. Clinton did appear. But it would have cost the hotel tens of thousands of dollars.
Spokeswoman Wendy Wright for the Concerned Women for America said that Mr. Clinton’s action, “reveals the depth of his hypocrisy.”
Under Wraps
The Obama administration prides itself on transparency. But the Politico newspaper reports that since taking office, President Obama has issued three executive orders, a presidential memorandum, a presidential notice and a proclamation — all unannounced by the White House press office and not posted to the White House Web site.
The moves came to light only after the official paperwork was transmitted to the federal register, a daily log of formal notices compiled by the national archives.
A White House spokesman, Ben Labolt, says, “this is a simple oversight… this is a non-story — the documents are posted on the Web site.”
Where’s the Party?
And finally, Texas Republican Congressman Lamar Smith contends that when Democrats are involved in scandals, the mainstream media choose to ignore their party. He tells humanevents.com: “two weeks ago the governor of Illinois was removed from office. All three television networks ran full reports… not one report mentioned that he is a Democrat… CNN ignored the party affiliation of the Democratic mayor of Baltimore as news broke that she had been indicted. The Associated Press did the same while covering the indictment of the former Democratic mayor of Detroit. And in the aftermath of his sex scandal, network newscasts apparently forgot that the former governor of New York is a Democrat.”
— FOX News Channel’s Zachary Kenworthy contributed to this report.
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