American Politics Today

http://www.latimes.com/

Good thing former Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) CEO Carly Fiorina is running to be California's next U.S. senator. She wouldn't stand a chance at getting elected queen of Wall Street. http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/08/24/carly-fiorina-has-got-a-chance-to-be-a-senator/

Barack Obama should concentrate his town hall meetings of the time left during the month of August in the more friendly large blue states. Enough false publicity for the radical noisy right in the town halls held in rural America and relatively small states specially the red or pink ones.

Patrick Joseph "Pat" Toomey, Sr. (born November 17, 1961) is an American politician. He was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, representing the Lehigh Valley-based 15th congressional district from January 1999 to January 2005, when he retired after running for a seat in the United States Senate. From 2005 to 2009. HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pat Toomey, who as a little-known congressman nearly defeated Sen. Arlen Specter in the 2004 primary, announced Wednesday that he will mount another challenge when Specter seeks the Republican nomination for a sixth term next year. http://www.toomeyforsenate.com/site/c.nkLVJ6MMKrH/b.5302129/k.953F/The_Official_Campaign_Website_for_Pat_Toomey_for_US_Senate.htm

President Barack Obama reaches around the head dress of Chief Joseph Medicine Crow to place a 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom around his neck, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/external/search.hosted.ap.org/wireCoreTool/Search?type=Photo&output_format=PARA&query=CHIEF+JOSEPH+MEDICINE+CROW&SITE=ORAST&SECTION=HOME

Meg Whitman, right, former eBay chief executive

"One day God's going to stand before you, and he's going to judge you and the rest of your damn cronies up on the Hill" Angry Guy. Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter did not have an easy morning. At a town-hall meeting in Lebanon County, a conservative bastion that hasn't voted for a Democratic president in the past 50 years. http://nymag.com/ http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2009/08/the_town_hall_clip_that_will_f.html

It is getting ugly down there. Democratic Rep. David Scott, who is black, said the swastika is the latest example of what he believes is an increasingly hateful and racist debate over reforming health care. The Atlanta lawmaker said he also has received mail in recent days that used N-word references to him, and that characterized President Barack Obama as a Marxist. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_health_care_swastika;_ylt=AphUvMYwzgrg7r2irB10F3lH2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTJxczRlb2plBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkwODExL3VzX2hlYWx0aF9jYXJlX3N3YXN0aWthBGNwb3MDNgRwb3MDNgRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3JpZXMEc2xrA3N3YXN0aWthcGFpbg--

Hill is a leader of the Blue Dogs, the caucus of 51 conservative Democrats whose hard-bargaining support is critical to President Obama's bid to overhaul the health system.

In the final Senate tally, nine Republicans joined majority Democrats and the Senate's two independents to support Sotomayor's confirmation. They included the Senate's few GOP moderates and its lone Hispanic Republican, retiring Sen . Mel Martinez of Florida , as well as conservative Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee , the party's third-ranking leader. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/07/sotomayors-swearing-in-to_n_253693.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Obama and Congress Shouldn't Let Polls Guide Health Reform http://www.politicsdaily.com/

"What I have seen Adm. Mullen do in the last year, 18 months is take far more ownership of the war in Afghanistan and success in the outcome there than any of his predecessors," said David W. Barno, a retired Army lieutenant general who led the military command in Afghanistan from 2003 to 2005. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mullen-war3-2009aug03,0,1532805.story