American Morning
Is oil spill President Obama's Katrina?
(CNN) – The ruptured undersea well off Louisiana is spewing about 210,000 gallons (5,000 barrels) of crude a day into the Gulf of Mexico. And efforts to corral the rapidly growing oil spill have so far been unsuccessful.
In the past few days, some of the focus has shifted to the White House and whether it sprang to action soon enough to make a difference. Some critics are calling this "Obama's Hurricane Katrina." Our Jim Acosta has the report.
The 'young guns' of the GOP
By Bob Ruff and Carol Costello, CNN
(CNN) – You might think that Republican "young guns" are youthful, pro-gun members of the GOP. Actually, it's the name of a program created by the National Republican Congressional Committee (RNCC) to recruit and help promising new GOP candidates who are running for House seats.
We decided to talk a look at "young guns" to understand a bit better how national parties recruit their candidates.
For the GOP, any non-incumbent running for Congress can join the program. While many have applied (114 so far), few (10 so far) have been chosen. In order to become a full-blown "young gun" and receive the full package of financial and other help from the national party, candidates must prove they can win their district by meeting a set of criteria. The entry level position in the program is "on the radar," followed by "contender" and then "young gun".
Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas oversees the program. He insists an allegiance to conservative ideology is not the main criterion in recruiting and supporting candidates. What is? "Well, I've said for a long time, we got a big litmus test: to be able to win your district."
New rules limit time on grounded planes
(CNN) – We've heard the horror stories of stranded airline passengers, babies screaming, travelers stuck in planes on the tarmac for hours without food or water. Starting tomorrow, it's three hours and you're out of a stuck airplane. Our Jeanne Meserve has the details of the new airline passenger bill of rights law.
Crist crossing party lines in race for Senate?
(CNN) – Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has until the end of the week to decide whether to drop the Republican Party and run as an independent in the race for Senate. Time is not on his side and neither are some GOP leaders who are threatening to pull their support from the one-time party favorite. Our John Zarrella has the report.
Are corporations people, too?
By Bob Ruff and Carol Costello, CNN
(CNN) – Can you imagine a world in which your next congressman is “sponsored” by Pepsi? Or Walmart? Or any corporation for that matter? Well, it may not be so far-fetched.
Enter the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in January that the “prohibition of corporate independent (political) expenditures is an outright ban on free speech.” That ruling, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, effectively opened the flood gates to allow, for example, Pepsi or Walmart, or any company to pay for advertising supporting or opposing a political candidate – so long as it’s not done in league with a candidate. Labor unions, just like corporations, are also now free to pay for political advertising.
The first political ad bought and paid for by a corporation has appeared in several small newspapers in east Texas. KDR Development Inc., a real estate company, took out an ad opposing Chuck Hopson, a Republican running for reelection to the Texas legislature. Hobson told CNN, “a friend of mine called and said, 'Chuck, there’s a corporate ad against you in the paper.' And I said, 'yea, who is it?'”
Larry Durrett is the president of KDR. He ran unsuccessfully against Hopson in a previous election. (We called several times asking Durrett for a comment, but he did not return any of our phone calls.) The KDR ad reads, “Vote for a Real Republican,” and it goes on to criticize Hopson for “(supporting) the Democratic platform and agenda.”
KDR isn’t exactly a Fortune 500 company, but Durrett wonders: “What if it’s a big company that America loves or what if it’s a company that American hates?”
Avlon: Birthers have 'deep discomfort' with Obama as president
Editor’s note: John P. Avlon is a senior political columnist for The Daily Beast and author of the new book "Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America." Previously, he served as chief speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and was a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/13/john.avlon.art.jpg caption="CNN Independent analyst John Avlon says the birthers’ claims that President Obama is ineligible to be president should be on the ash-heap of discredited conspiracy theories by now."]
By John Avlon, Special to CNN
The wingnut wars continued this week with revivals of unwelcome old fringe fault lines: the birthers are back in the form of a state legislature vote and members of a teacher’s union are protesting budget cuts with a prayer for the New Jersey governor’s death and comparisons to genocidal dictators.
The birthers’ claims that President Obama was not born in the United States and is therefore constitutionally ineligible to be president should be on the ash-heap of discredited conspiracy theories by now. But despite his birth certificate being put online by the Obama campaign back in June of 2008, verified by both Politifact and the Republican governor of Hawaii, Linda Lingle, the desperate attempt to de-legitimize our duly elected president has its defenders. Add to that list the GOP members of the Arizona House of Representatives, who by a vote of 31 to 21, voted this week to require President Obama – or any presidential candidate – to submit their birth certificate to appear on the state ballot.
Arizona Republican State Representative Cecil Ash appeared on CNN's "AC360" on Wednesday night to defend the ridiculous bill (which still has to pass the state Senate), and in his fumbling offered this revealing explanation:
"I think there's been a lot of controversy over the issue, created a division among a lot of people in the United States, for better or worse, many people don't believe he is a U.S. citizen, they believe he has loyalties, divided loyalties I suppose you could say."
Fears of “divided loyalties” is what this is ultimately about – a deep discomfort with Obama as president, rooted in a twisted belief that he is fundamentally un-American. The birth certificate is both a symbol of this belief and an attempt to undo an election after the fact, stemming off the deeper dynamic that has caused some unhinged people to believe that losing an election is the equivalent of living under tyranny. The wingnut legislators who voted for this bill ought to be ashamed for this ugly bit of pandering while remembering a bit of apparently forgotten wisdom – everyone is entitled to their own opinion but not their own facts.
About this Show
Welcome to the American Morning blog where you can get daily news updates from American Morning's reporters and producers. Join us for "the most news in the morning," weekdays from 6-9 a.m. ET, only on CNN.
On Twitter
