NO MORE MR. NICE GUY: Obama Henchmen Killed The Colbert Candidacy
Two prominent supporters of Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in South Carolina called state Democratic Party officials urging them to oppose putting comedian Stephen Colbert’s name on the primary ballot, according to party officials and Obama supporters with knowledge of the calls.
Colbert, the host of Comedy Central’s “Colbert Report,” saw his hopes to be placed on the primary ballot ended last week when the South Carolina Democratic Party executive council voted 13-3 to block his bid, with the majority of voters saying he was not a viable enough candidate to be included in the primary. [via CNN]
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SURVEY SAYS: Only 38% Of Downloaders Paid For New Radiohead
Nearly two-thirds of downloaders paid nothing for Radiohead’s latest album, a survey has suggested. Fans were invited to put their own price on the 10 MP3 files that made up In Rainbows, from nothing to £100. But internet monitoring company Comscore found that only 38% of downloaders willingly paid to do so. The average price paid for the album was $6 (£2.90), the study – based on a survey of the online behaviour of over two million internet users – found. American fans were the most generous, paying on average $8.05 (£3.85), compared to the $4.64 (£2.22) paid by those outside the US. However industry experts said the report showed that only the most successful bands could afford to take such risks. [via the BBC]
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HARD TO BE A DEMOCRAT: Do-Nada Dems Thwart Kucinich Bid To Impeach V.P.
On a day intended for moving long-overdue annual spending bills, the House instead spent a good chunk of yesterday wrangling over an entirely different endeavor: a motion to impeach Vice President Cheney. For more than six months, Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio), a long-shot presidential candidate, has labored to bring to a vote his plan to send the vice president packing.
Kucinich says Cheney lied to Americans in the run-up to the Iraq war, chiefly about evidence that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. But yesterday, the antiwar liberal’s seemingly quixotic effort drew unexpected support from Republicans, who saw a golden opportunity to engage Democrats in a debate on the issue. During the subsequent vote, Republicans were far along toward helping kill the resolution when they began switching their “yes” votes to “no’s,” clearly hoping for a public debate that would have showcased the Democrats’ most vocal lefties.
“The Constitution has been under attack by this administration,” Kucinich told a reporter during the vote, and his effort is “part of a growing movement” to defend it. “This isn’t a Democratic-Republican issue.” But it became a partisan issue yesterday once Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) moved to table Kucinich’s resolution. Hoyer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have said they will not back such symbolic gestures, for fear of burnishing Congress’s current do-nothing image. But in the end, Hoyer settled for sending the resolution to the Judiciary Committee. There it is destined for oblivion. [via WASHINGTON POST]
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