MRS. OBAMA: Thank you, guys. Thank you so much. Wow! (Applause.) Look at you guys. (Applause.) All right, you all rest yourselves. You’ve got a big day tomorrow. I want you guys to be ready.
It is beyond a pleasure and an honor, truly, to be with you here today to celebrate the class of 2014. Thank you so much for having me. I’m so proud of you guys. (Applause.) Days like this make me think of my own daughters, so forgive me if a get a little teary. You guys look great.
We have a great group of students here. We have students from Highland Park High School. (Applause.) We have Hope Street Academy students here today. (Applause.) Topeka High School is in the house. (Applause.) And of course, we have Topeka West High School in the house. (Applause.)
Posted By Patrick Howley On 9:32 PM 12/01/2013 In |
The company that earned the no-bid contract to build the failed Obamacare website also runs the Army’s disastrous Human Terrain System in Iraq and Afghanistan, which has been accused of fraud, sexual harassment and racism.
The much-maligned Human Terrain System (HTS), launched in 2007, sends academics from social science fields like anthropology and linguistics into war zones to help soldiers understand the local population. The Army spent $58 million on the program in 2013, down from $114 million in 2011.
CGI Federal, the U.S. arm of the Canadian CGI Group and the designer of the failed Obamacare website, attempted a failed turnaround in HTS during the Obama administration. The young company, which employs Michelle Obama’s former Princeton classmate and Christmas guest Toni Townes-Whitley as a top executive, received eight figures from the Army in 2013 for the project, records reveal.
The national obesity rate has expanded since 2012, even as federal regulators and first lady Michelle Obama exhort the nation to slim down, eat less and exercise.
The adult obesity rate climbed from 26.1 percent in January 2011, up to 27.2 percent in late 2012, according to Gallup’s survey, released on Friday – a 4.2 percent rise in 24 months.
The jump is a surprise, partly because the obesity rate had drifted down from 26.5 percent in January 2009, to 26.1 percent in January 2011, during the recession.
For more than a decade, federal health agencies have tried to reverse the growing obesity rate. In 2000, for example, the agencies announced their goal of reducing obesity to 15 percent by 2010.
The federal takeover of the nation’s health sector via the Obamacare law is also being used by experts to tighten the nation’s girth. Health companies must include anti-fatness measures in the benefit plans they offer to the nation. The value of the mandates is unclear, but they will likely fatten revenues of professionals in the anti-fat business.
Gallup’s survey showed that the obesity rate is lower among populations that are wealthy, white, older and live on the West coast. Rates are higher among populations that are middle-aged, black, latino, poorer and who live in the south.
“The U.S. obesity rate thus far in 2013 is trending upward and will likely surpass all annual obesity levels since 2008,” the Gallup report said.
Gallup also suggested that employers regulate their employees’ weight.
“Employers can also take an active role to help lower obesity rates… The annual cost for lost productivity due to workers being above normal weight or having a history of chronic conditions ranges from $160 million among agricultural workers to $24.2 billion among professionals,” Gallup claimed.
MIchelle Obama has also tried to draft companies in her waistline-reducing agenda.
Kids’ waistlines matter because the costs of treating adults’ obesity “matter for every business in America,” she wrote in February 2013.
“We spend $190 billion a year treating obesity-related health conditions like diabetes and heart disease, and a significant portion of those costs are borne by America’s businesses,” she wrote.
“We need every business in America to dig deeper, get more creative, and find new ways to generate revenue by giving American families better information and healthier choices. We know this can be done in a way that’s good for our kids and good for businesses,” she wrote.
In August, the first lady tried to claim that her “Let’s Move” campaign deserved credit for a drop in the number of obese children.
“Obesity among low-income preschoolers declined, from 2008 through 2011, in 19 of 43 states and territories studied, said a study released in August by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Today’s announcement reaffirms my belief that together, we are making a real difference in helping kids across the country get a healthier start to life,” said an August statement from the first lady.
The results were “evidence of progress,” according to her website, LetsMove.gov.
“Let’s Move! is a comprehensive initiative, launched by the First Lady, dedicated to solving the challenge of childhood obesity within a generation, so that children born today will grow up healthier and able to pursue their dreams,” according to the site.
The government-centered program does allow a role for parents.
“Everyone has a role to play in reducing childhood obesity, including parents, elected officials from all levels of government, schools, health care professionals, faith-based and community-based organizations, and private sector companies,” the site declares.
Posted By Patrick Howley On 4:57 PM 10/25/2013 In |
First Lady Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is a top executive at the company that earned the contract to build the failed Obamacare website.
Toni Townes-Whitley, Princeton class of ’85, is senior vice president at CGI Federal, which earned the no-bid contract to build the $678 million Obamacare enrollment website at Healthcare.gov. CGI Federal is the U.S. arm of a Canadian company.
Toni Townes ’85 is a onetime policy analyst with the General Accounting Office and previously served in the Peace Corps in Gabon, West Africa. Her decision to return to work, as an African-American woman, after six years of raising kids was applauded by a Princeton alumni publication in 1998
George Schindler, the president for U.S. and Canada of the Canadian-based CGI Group, CGI Federal’s parent company, became an Obama 2012 campaign donor after his company gained the Obamacare website contract.
As reported by the Washington Examiner in early October, the Department of Health and Human Services reviewed only CGI’s bid for the Obamacare account. CGI was one of 16 companies qualified under the Bush administration to provide certain tech services to the federal government. A senior vice president for the company testified this week before The House Committee on Energy and Commerce that four companies submitted bids, but did not name those companies or explain why only CGI’s bid was considered.
On the government end, construction of the disastrous Healthcare.gov website was overseen by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), a division of longtime failed website-builder Kathleen Sebelius’ Department of Health and Human Services.
Update: The Daily Caller repeatedly contacted CGI Federal for comment. After publication of this article, the company responded that there would be “nothing coming out of CGI for the record or otherwise today.” The company did however insist that The Daily Caller include a reference to vice president Cheryl Campbell’s House testimony. This has been included as a courtesy to the company.
PUBLISHED: 09:42 EST, 7 October 2013 | UPDATED: 09:44 EST, 7 October 2013
The website dedicated to helping find kidnapped children has been turned off during the government shutdown but the First Lady’s healthy living initiative has not received the same treatment.
Amber Alerts advertise national and local cases where children have been abducted, and since it is not considered an essential service like national defense, it has not been funded during the shutdown.
One website that apparently is too important to unplug? First Lady Michelle Obama’s ‘Let’s Move’ campaign, as that is one of the few government websites still operational.
Pulling the plug: The Amber Alert website displays this message now like many government-funded programs
Up and running: Michelle Obama’s healthy living website makes no mention of being hindered by the shutdown
Agency websites like the Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and the National Weather Service all have had their websites taken down or bannered with a warning that the information is not being updated during the federal shutdown.
Mrs Obama’s Let’s Move website, which is clearly run by the government since the address ends with ‘.gov’, has no such notification and is operating as usual.
The Department of Justice, which has had 15 per cent of it’s own workforce furloughed during the shutdown, said that even though the Amber Alert website is down, they are still working on the abduction cases.
‘Amber alerts are uninterrupted. They get issued by states and counties, which do notifications to media, on twitter, highway signs, etc,’ an unidentified Justice Department official told Buzzfeed.
Local issue: Text alerts will still be sent to smartphones near the suspected abductions during the shutdown
Communication: Amber Alerts will still be sent to freeway signs but that order has to come from a federally funded program
‘The .gov site is informational, not the law enforcement tool.’
In spite of their claims that searches would continue uninterrupted, NBC Los Angeles said that may not be the case.
The local affiliate reports that messages on freeway signs that typically flash descriptions of the abductor’s cars would need to be ordered by the federally-funded program in the state capitol which is clearly hindered by the shutdown.
State-wide alerts to smartphones and local media will still be sent out.
PUBLISHED: 15:58 EST, 24 September 2013 | UPDATED: 20:57 EST, 24 September 2013
Fakest of the fake? Barack Obama’s Twitter following includes 19.5 million people who don’t exist, and the first lady has 1.9 million nonexistent fans of her own
Among influential U.S. political tweeters, President Barack Obama is the undisputed king of the fake followers. A MailOnline analysis ranks his sizable Twitter following as the most deceptive total among the 21 most influential accounts run by American politicians: More than 19.5 million of his 36.9 million Twitter followers are accounts that don’t correspond to real people.
The four phoniest accounts in the sample, which included Democratic and Republican Party leaders in Washington, D.C., were those belonging to President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, first lady Michelle Obama and the White House communications shop.
Of the president’s 36.9 million Twitter followers, an astonishing 53 per cent – or 19.5 million – are fake accounts, according to a search engine at the Internet research vendor StatusPeople.com. Just 20 per cent of Obama’s Twitter buddies are real people who are active users.
Overall, the five most influential accounts linked to the Obama administration – the first lady has two – account for 23.4 million fake followers.
Biden’s nonexistent fans make up 46 per cent of his Twitter total, with 20 per cent being ‘real’ followers. The White House’s followers are 37 per cent fake and 25 per cent active; the first lady’s primary account is 36 per cent fake and 29 per cent active.
The Daily Caller reported on Tuesday that Michelle Obama’s Twitter followers included nearly 2 million nonexistent people, a number that lines up with MailOnline’s findings.
Fake Twitter followers seem to be chasing U.S. politicians on both sides of the aisle, but Barack Obama is the undisputed champ
A matched ticket: Vice President Biden’s fake-follower ranking was 46 per cent, with just one-fifth of his supposed Twitter audience consisting of human beings who are actually listening
Michelle Obama’s complaints about Americans’ diet and exercise are falling on deaf ears, at least among the 71 per cent of her Twitter followers who aren’t tuning in
The difference between fake followers and ‘real’ ones is comprised of ‘inactive’ accounts, which may relate to real people but no longer send tweets with any regularity.
There are several reasons why so many followers of a given Twitter account might be considered ‘fake.’ In some cases, direct marketers and other spammers follow influential accounts en masse, hoping to be followed in return.
Twitter’s own CEO, Dick Costolo, has a personal feed followed by 1.1 million people, but 31 per cent of them are fake.
There is also the possibility that prominent politicians are buying blocks of Twitter followers. Such an accusation was leveled at Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in 2012.
The digital security company Baccardua Labs toldThe Guardian that Romney’s surge of new followers at the time were ‘not from a general Twitter population but most likely from a paid Twitter follower service.’
‘Romney’s newest followers could have been paid for by himself, his associates or by his opponents. So far, there is not a feasible way to confirm who is responsible,’ said the report’s author, Jason Ding.
No such report about Obama’s social media accounts was published.
MailOnline looked at 21 accounts, and the numbers show that just about everyone in Washington is at least 11 per cent phony — at least on Twitter
Up, up, up! Vice President Joe Biden is second only to his boss in the fake follower department
Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich has made a name for himself among conservatives with nearly 1.5 million Twitter followers, but more than 400,000 of those don’t appear to be real
When the White House tweets … only one-quarter of its followers are receiving the message. About 37 per cent of them aren’t real, and another 38 per cent aren’t active on Twitter
One British company called Buy More Followers advertises online that it offers ‘a wide range of packages,’ providing as many as 100,000 artificial but ‘real looking’ Twitter followers for a relatively modest £189.99. The company also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Did he? One report determined that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s social media staff purchased a raft of Twitter followers to boost his online credibility
The most genuine follower totals in MailOnline’s sample were those of the four congressional ‘whips’ – the second-in-command members in each party who enforce discipline and count heads before votes are called.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, boasts a Twitter account with only 11 per cent ‘fake’ followers, a number matched by Minority Whip John Cornyn, a Texas Republican.
‘Twitter is a great medium for Sen. Cornyn to stay in direct contact with Texans,’ press secretary Megan Mitchell said.
GOP House Majority Whip Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California was second-best among Republicans, with 12 per cent of his followers lacking pulses and names. Democratic House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland came next with 13 per cent.
‘Twitter and other social media platforms are an effective method for online conversations about important issues in Congress,’ said Hoyer spokesperson Amanda Ott, noting that her boss ‘continues to emphasize engaging with his constituents and the broader American public through social media.’
Near the other end of the scale, however, four of the most prominent House and Senate leaders – from both major parties – gave the Obama administration a run for its money.
Playing it straight: GOP Sen. John Cornyn (L) and Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin (R) had the best records, with just 11 per cent of their Twitter followers regarded as phony
Grass roots? About 29 per cent of Sen. Marco Rubio’s 431,000 Twitter followers don’t appear to be living, breathing people
House Speaker John Boehner had the worst record among members of Congress whose Twitter accounts MailOnline sampled. One-third of his speaker account’s followers – 33 per cent – are fake, which is a greater proportion than the 30 per cent who exist and are active tweeters. Boehner also has a second account with a 24 per cent ‘fake’ rating.
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid followed with 29, 29 and 28 percent fake followers, respectively.
The White House offered no reply to messages seeking comment
PUBLISHED: 22:39 EST, 4 June 2013 | UPDATED: 00:20 EST, 5 June 2013
First lady Michelle Obama, usually upbeat and positive in public, turned sour Tuesday night and threatened to leave after a gay-rights heckler interrupted her speech at a Democratic National Committee fundraising dinner
First lady Michelle Obama’s speech at a Washington, D.C. political fundraiser was interrupted by a lesbian protester on Tuesday night, and she threatened to leave the event if the gay rights activist wasn’t forced to leave. But the official White House transcript doesn’t indicate anything about the heckler or Mrs. Obama’s audible reaction.
While the first lady was speaking to approximately 200 Democratic Party loyalists who paid up to $10,000 to attend the event at the swanky Washington home of a wealthy lesbian couple, the protester interrupted with demands that the president issue an executive order forcing federal contractors to stop discriminating against gay and transgendered job applicants.
Amanda Terkel, a Huffington Post scribe who served as the night’s ‘pool’ ‘reporter, wrote that the ‘[m]ost notable part of the event was an interruption from a protester about 12 minutes into the 20-minute speech. A pro-LGBT rights individual standing at the front began shouting for an executive order on gay rights.’
‘”One of the things I don’t do well is this,” replied FLOTUS to loud applause,’ according to Terkel. ‘She left the lectern and moved over to the protester, saying they could “listen to me or you can take the mic, but I’m leaving. You all decide. You have one choice.”‘
The crowd, the pool report continued, ‘started shouting that they wanted FLOTUS to stay.’
Terkel reported that when the protester was escorted out, she shouted about being a ‘lesbian looking for federal equality before I die.’
In a later report, she added that ‘Heather Cronk, co-director of the pro-LGBT rights group GetEQUAL, … identified the protester as one of their activists, Ellen Sturtz.’
Mrs. Obama brought her speaking talents – and her considerable wingspan – to stump for Democratic candidates, but got her feathers ruffled by the lesbian avenger
Terkel advised her fellow reporters to ‘[p]lease check quotes with [the] official transcript.’
But when the White House’s transcript arrived, The Daily Caller reported Tuesday night, it didn’t include any indication of an acrimonious exchange — and was missing Mrs. Obama’s threat to leave the event.
GetEQUAL activist Ellen Sturtz heckled Michelle Obama on Tuesday night, demanding that the president sign an executive order banning federal contractors from discriminating in their hiring on the basis of sexual orientation
The only indication in that transcript that anything was amiss is a note about an ‘(Inaudible audience interruption.)’
‘I lived and worked in the closet, hiding who I was in order to earn a living,’ Sturtz said in a statement late Tuesday night.
‘I had planned to speak tonight with DNC officials but, as the First Lady was talking about our childrens’ future and ensuring that they have everything they need to live happy and productive lives, I simply couldn’t stay silent any longer.’
‘I’m looking ahead at a generation of young people who could live full, honest, and open lives with the stroke of the President’s pen,’ she insisted.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
But White House Press Secretary Jay Carney took an oddly coincidental question earlier in the day during his regularly scheduled briefing about the same discrimination issue that had Sturtz shouting at the top of her lungs.
A reporter asked Carney for a progress report on ‘a study of LGBT workplace discrimination possibly led by the Council of Economic Advisors,’ which was commissioned in 2012 after the president declined to sign an executive order banning the practice.
White House press secretary Jay Carney took a moment Tuesday from his ‘patent troll’ discussion to parry a question about the presidents plan to ban federal contractors’ workplace discrimination against gays
‘I don’t have any updated status on that for you,’ Carney said. ‘I can tell you that the president has long supported, as you know, an inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act. … And his administration will continue to work to build support for it.’
‘The president’s record on support for LGBT rights is significant and well known,’ Obama’s chief spokesman added.
Mr. Obama, he said, ‘believes that the right approach to this problem is an inclusive piece of legislation, and that’s the approach that we’re taking. It was the approach that we took with repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” And we continue to support this effort.’
PUBLISHED: 15:33 EST, 22 May 2013 | UPDATED: 19:45 EST, 22 May 2013
A young Michelle Robinson, the future first lady of the United States, may have dated Treasury Department Inspector General J. Russell George at Harvard Law School, a new report claims.
George, 49, has testified in two congressional hearings about the IRS’s unethical targeting of conservative organizations with special scrutiny after they applied for tax-exempt status.
The revelation of a previous link to Michelle Obama came in a lengthy interview with George – published a week after the IRS scandal was brought to light.
U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George (L) testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday about IRS abuses of right-wing nonprofit groups. National Journal reported hours earlier that he had dated the first lady while the two were in law school
Mrs. Obama (L), equal parts political cohort and marital consort, has become a force to be reckoned with in Washington
Mrs Obama has never spoken publicly about her boyfriends during the years before she met Barack Obama – the future president – at a Chicago law firm where they were both associates.
George and Mrs Obama, then Michelle Robinson, graduated together from the university in 1988.
He told the National Journal that the two shared social circles at Harvard, and were both active in the Black Law Students Association.
But Virginia Republican Rep Tom Davis, who worked with George as staff director of the House Oversight committee in the late 1990s and early 200s – the same committee that questioned George on Wednesday, said the relationship was more than just friendly.
‘I think he actually dated Michelle at one point,’ Davis told National Journal.
Pressed about his purported love interest from a quarter-century ago, George said that conclusion ‘is overstating it.’
First Lady Michelle Obama is pictured on Wednesday alongside Aidan LeBlanc, a 12-year-old 6th grader dressed as Abraham Lincoln from Willow Springs Elementary School, in Washington
In their early years together, Michelle Robinson and Barack Obama spent a Christmas holiday together in Hawaii. They were married in October 1992, four years after her Harvard Law School graduation
‘Michelle was a lovely person, and down to earth,’ he said, recalling times when Black Law Student Association members ‘went out for pizza; we would go out together.’
‘Don’t get me in trouble,’ George told the Washington newspaper, after ‘pausing for a beat.’
From Harvard, the future Mrs Obama got a job at a law firm in Chicago, one of just 14 black lawyers in an office of hundreds.
It is at that firm of Sidley & Austin that she met Barack, who arrived as a summer associate in 1988.
For their first date in 1989, Obama took her to the Art Institute of Chicago and to see the Spike Lee film Do the Right Thing.
After stopping for ice cream at Baskin-Robbins, the two shared their first kiss. A plaque now marks the location.
Kissing plaque: A 3,000-pound granite marker has been erected in Chicago to commemorate where the president first kissed Michelle in 1989
Did a young Michelle Robinson catch the eye of the Treasury Inspector General J. Russell George more than four years before she married the future president? A Virginia congressman who once worked with him on Capitol Hill remembers it that way
They married in 1992 at the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.
George, who was born in New York City, attended Harvard Law in between stints working for then-Senator Bob Dole of Kansas and serving in the administration of President George H.W. Bush, both Republicans.
In 1995, he returned to Washington for good after he took a job at Committee on Government Reform, among other high-profile positions in government.
He was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as inspector general of the Corporation for National and Community Service before moving on to his current post in 2004.
Mrs Obama’s time at the prestigious Cambridge, Massachusetts law school put her squarely in the middle of the nationwide debates raging about race politics in the 1980s.
J. Russell George (L) testified on May 17 alongside the outgoing acting IRS Commissioner Steve Miller before the House Ways and Means committee. George wrote the report that officially recounted an audit of the IRS’s scandalous behavior toward tea party groups
During her final year at Harvard, she wrote an article for the Black Law Students Association’s newsletter in which she argued that the school was perpetuating ‘racist and sexist stereotypes’ because it wasn’t hiring enough minority law professors based on the color of their skin.
The Daily Caller first reported on the essay, in which she wrote that hiring on the sole basis of merit, instead of recruiting according to affirmative-action principles, ‘serve[d] to legitimize students’ tendencies to distrust certain types of teaching that do not resemble the traditional images’ of law school.
The future first lady lauded the teaching styles of liberal academics Martha Minow and Charles Ogletree, who ignored the traditional question-and-answer ‘Socratic method’ in favor of other habits.
Harvard Law School may have been the ultimate matchmaker society in the late 1980s, connecting Michelle Robinson romantically with future president Barack Obama and the future chief inspector of the Treasury Department
She also praised critical race theory, the idea that powerful groups of people – including caucasians – use the law as an instrument to oppress the powerless, including blacks.
Mrs. Obama also wrote a message for the Harvard Law School’s yearbook in which she called for greater civility in American society.
‘After three years,’ wrote the graduating lawyer-to-be, ‘I continue to be struck by the tremendous talent and energy among HLS students and faculty.
‘The diversity of campus life challenges all of us to question our assumptions, listen to other viewpoints, and articulate our values in a spirit of mutual respect and tolerance.’
PUBLISHED: 16:57 EST, 4 April 2013 | UPDATED: 17:25 EST, 4 April 2013
Personal information belonging to the Secret Service’s new director Julia Pierson has been hacked and published online according to new claims now under federal investigation.
The hacking would be the latest in a string of such incidents against top officials that include first lady Michelle Obama and CIA Director John Brennan.
The information on the website included a Social Security number, phone numbers, and a credit report that includes accounts with The Home Depot, Sears, and Macy’s.
Hacked: Julia Pierson, seen after being sworn-in as the new director of the U.S. Secret Service late last month, has allegedly been hacked with her private information published online
It was unclear how much of the data that appeared on http://www.exposed.re was accurate or who posted it.
The website appeared to have information about other government officials and celebrities that had been published online previously at another Internet address, http://www.exposed.su.
That address appears to have been taken down after its launch last month.
In that one-month period the former site was viewed more than a half a million times,Information Week reports. The latest site reports more than 770,000 page views and counting.
‘We are investigating and we are aware of the matter,’ a Secret Service spokesman said without commenting further.
Creeper: The website, pictured, claims to also have the information of national players like Hillary Clinton, John Brennan and stars like Kim Kardashian
Pierson was sworn into office on March 27 and is the first woman to head the agency which protects the president.
An FBI spokeswoman said ‘we’re aware of the reports’ but she would not say whether the FBI was investigating them.
The Internet domain country code for the island of Reunion is .re, while .su was the domain code for the Soviet Union.
The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has announced plans to allow special services access to financial data of all citizens who have accounts in the U.S.. This applies to both Americans and foreigners.
Reportedly, the goal is to deal a blow to financing of terrorist organizations and organized crime groups. Access to personal financial data will thus be granted to the CIA and National Security. Until now, such access was open only to the FBI.
The document which outlines the plan, notes that its development is at an early stage, and it’s hard to say when it will be implemented.
According to statistics from the U.S. Treasury, more than 15 million cases of “suspicious activity” in citizens’ accounts are reported annually.
Earlier, it was reported that several prominent U.S. public and political figures had their personal financial data hacked into. Among them were the U.S. president’s wife, Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
PUBLISHED: 20:35 EST, 8 December 2012 | UPDATED: 20:55 EST, 9 December 2012
Anyone doubting the veracity of Washington rumours that Anna Wintour, the famously icy fashion queen of New York City, will soon become a high-profile American ambassador in Europe should look no further for substantiation than the archives of Vogue magazine.
In March 2009, the magazine – ruled by Wintour as her personal fiefdom – devoted its cover and eight glossy pages inside to an interview with the new First Lady Michelle Obama alongside a fabulously glamorous set of photographs shot by legendary portrait photographer Annie Leibovitz.
The ‘Michelle Obama Edition’ hit the newsstands with the glowing headline The First Lady The World’s Been Waiting For – and transformed her public image at a stroke.
Vogue editor Anna Wintour, pictured at the 58th London Evening Standard Theatre Awards in November, is being put forward to become an ambassador to Paris
Icy fashion queen of New York City: Anna Wintour backstage at Barclays Center of Brooklyn on December 8, 2012 in New York City
When she first appeared on the political stage, Michelle was dismissed as a slightly awkward, intellectual lawyer: an angrier, African-American version of the young Hillary Clinton. But when Vogue was finished with her, Michelle was recreated as a softly elegant global fashion icon and role model: a perfect Jackie to her husband’s JFK for a multi-racial age.
The Vogue cover was the culmination of a year of hard work by the ambitious and hard-working Ms Wintour, a committed Democratic Party fundraiser who spotted the White House potential of the Obamas when Barack was still regarded as a rank outsider.
As his star began to rise, Michelle appeared in clothes by fresh, exciting young designers, and political sources say the influence of Ms Wintour on her choice of wardrobe is unmistakable. ‘Anna makes Mrs Obama feel glamorous,’ an administration insider told The Mail on Sunday.
So successful has Wintour’s guidance been that Michelle, rather than Barack, was regarded as the star of this year’s bitterly fought Presidential election.
Now highly placed diplomatic sources in Washington have revealed Michelle is driving the campaign to reward Ms Wintour by making her an ambassador to Paris. The move has been greeted by astonishment on this side of the Atlantic, particularly because of Ms Wintour’s reputation as a capricious ice maiden. Indeed her legendary frostiness, which earned her the soubriquet Nuclear Wintour, seems at odds with the art of international diplomacy.
The proposed appointment is backed by First Lady Michelle Obama, pictured at the Democratic National Convention in the U.S., who was featured on the front cover of Vogue in 2009
She once described overweight people in Minneapolis as looking like ‘little houses’, and she is known for frequent angry outbursts. Her chilly demeanour is made all the more intimidating by her love of dark glasses – even indoors.
British journalist Toby Young – who satirised his five-year stint in New York with Conde Nast, the magazine company that publishes Vogue, in the book and film How To Lose Friends And Alienate People – said: ‘She presides over the fashion business with the imperial hauteur of a Prussian general and expects instant, unquestioning obedience.
‘It’s hard to imagine a personality less suited to the world of international diplomacy. She left school at 16 and has been working in fashion ever since. Obama’s chauffeur probably knows more about international relations than her. It’s like Caligula making his horse a senator.’
One fashion editor in London said: ‘It’s incredible the most powerful nation on Earth should even consider appointing the least diplomatic woman on Earth as an envoy. She is joyless and intimidating.’
The ‘Michelle Obama Edition’, pictured, was the culmination of a year of hard work by hard-working Anna
Tales of Wintour’s capriciousness are legion. When she hosted the Evening Standard theatre awards in London last month, she demanded gold chairs, gold cutlery and a 22ft yew hedge be installed inside the venue. She asked for the temperature to be turned down, that a guest who arrived with her baby be removed and summarily cancelled dessert. At a New York fashion ball at the Metropolitan Museum she asked to be informed about the size of the knots on the ties of the waiters.
She put noses out of joint two years ago by giving a speech at a London Fashion Week soiree at No 10, rather than leaving it to a British fashion leader. Samantha Cameron was said to be so terrified of her that she acquiesced immediately.
But in America, the idea of Ambassador Wintour has scarcely raised an eyebrow. Sir Christopher Meyer, former British envoy to Washington, said last night it would be entirely in keeping with US tradition.
He said: ‘Americans have always regarded their top ambassadorial positions as political appointments, a reward for services rendered.’
The current US envoy to London, Louis Susman, is a banker from Chicago who was a major Obama fundraiser in 2008. Obama also appointed Dan Rooney, owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers football team, as ambassador to Dublin.
U.S Secretary of State Hillary Clinton makes a speech at a dinner held by the U.S embassy in Paris last year
In the past 50 years, nine out of ten US ambassadors to Paris and London have been political appointees rather than career diplomats. British-born Ms Wintour is an American citizen and Sir Christopher added: ‘There is no systemic reason why Anna Wintour shouldn’t be an ambassador.’
Meanwhile a State Department insider told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Anna Wintour’s friends have expressed an interest in making sure that she is nominated to become an ambassador to a major Western European nation. I have had this confirmed from a friend in the political office at the White House. I am also told there is only a slight chance Wintour will end up in London.’
Mrs Obama, instead, is said to be pushing vigorously for her to be sent to France, despite the fact that she is said to speak little French. The State Department insider told The Mail on Sunday that Ms Wintour is currently ‘under consideration’, adding: ‘Paris is her number one choice. I gather Ms Wintour finds the Paris house and grounds particularly spectacular.’
It is easy to see why the US ambassador’s official residence should appeal to Ms Wintour. The grand mansion, once the home of Baron Maurice de Rothschild, is one of the most imposing houses (after the Elysee Palace) on the Rue du Fauborg St Honore, which is itself regarded as the most fashionable street in the world.
State Department insiders are at pains to say that, if appointed, Ms Wintour would be expected to concentrate on using her close relationship with President Obama to influence French president Francois Hollande. Her personal style, love of Parisian haute couture and elitist views about beauty and femininity are expected to go down well.
Anna Wintour would be expected to focus on using her relationship with President Obama to influence French president Francois Hollande if she was sent to Paris, pictured
Ms Wintour’s supporters in the Democratic Party hierarchy point to her tireless fundraising for Obama as evidence of her focus, contacts and drive. She helped design a range of election merchandise that raised £25 million for the party and organised a series of glittering fundraising dinners where celebrities paid £25,000 each to meet the Obamas over dinner at Sex And The City star Sarah Jessica Parker’s Manhattan town house, and at the home of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. Ms Wintour is said to have personally overseen the preparations with the iron hand for which she was satirised in the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada.
If divorcee and mother of two Ms Wintour is nominated as an ambassador, the appointment must be confirmed by the US Senate.
One obstacle might be money. Ms Wintour is well-paid – her salary is believed to be £1.2 million – but not independently wealthy. It is believed she has calculated she will need £500,000 a year to fulfil the job in the style she regards as appropriate.
Some in Washington have raised the possibility that her ambassadorship could be discreetly ‘sponsored’ by American fashion designers Michael Kors or Ralph Lauren.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said last week: ‘I have no personnel announcements to make.’
Vogue said: ‘Anna Wintour is very happy with her current job.’
Engineering Evil: If anyone finds a link to the audio of the alleged event…Please post in comments…THX 😉
Posted on November 1, 2012 at 9:25pm by Jason Howerton
UPDATE (10:25 p.m. ET): In an exclusive interview with TheBlaze, WOFL Fox 35 reporter Mike Synan said he is “100 percent positive” that the crowds were chanting “Hail Obama!” at the event. Further, he said there were at least three or four other local TV stations at the event that heard it as well.
“We all started talking about it after my tweet started getting attention,” he told TheBlaze. Everyone was “in agreement” about what was being chanted and many agreed it was “tacky.”
People have questioned Synan’s claim, some because they are Obama supporters and others because there is no video that proves inconclusively that “Hail Obama!” was being shouted at the rally.
Synan said the chant began before Michelle Obama took the stage and before the TV stations were plugged into the audio and the TV stations were unable to capture video.
Responding to his critics, the 15-year veteran reporter said he would have reported it the same way if the crowds were chanting “Hail Romney.”
“I am just a reporter,” Synan told TheBlaze. “I just report on what happens.”
However, in 15 years he said he was never heard a crowd say “hail” before anyone’s name, much less a politician. He said some of his colleagues at other local news outlets didn’t think it was as newsworthy as he did.
“I don’t think anybody else thought it was a big deal like I did,” he said. “They generally say the same things at these rallies, so my ears are always up for something that’s different.”
TheBlaze is currently reaching out to other reporters who Synan says can corroborate his claim.
Here is Synan’s report for WOFL Fox 35:
FOX 35 News Orlando
–
Read TheBlaze’s original story below:
Crowds of President Barack Obama’s loyal supporters chanted “Hail Obama!” during a campaign rally featuring First Lady Michelle Obama in Daytona, Fla. on Thursday, according to a local reporter who was at the event.
Mike Synan, a local reporter for WOFL in Orlando, says he is positive that “hundreds” of people in the crowd at the rally chanted “Hail Obama,” not something that sounded similar. He also said he would not risk his 15-year reputation as a journalist to make something up.
Mike Synan@msynan
Crowd for #FLOTUS event in Daytona now chanting “Hail Obama”. Wow, just wow #fox35
1 Nov 12 Reply
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Synan spent hours defending his claim as Obama supporters attacked him for making up “a load of crap” and others questioned if he heard correctly. The local reporter did not walk back his claim:
Mike Synan@msynan
True. Would not lie. Chanting “Hail Obama” RT @jeffreybillman: @msynan For real, or are you just Drudge-baiting?
1 Nov 12 Reply
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Mike Synan@msynan
100% RT:”@shoutingboy: @msynan Are you sure they weren’t chanting “MICHELLE Obama”?”
1 Nov 12 Reply
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Mike Synan@msynan
@Pizentu I did not mishear. Was not the full crowd. Someone would yell “hail Obama” and hundreds that could hear that person would repeat
1 Nov 12 Reply
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Mike Synan@msynan
100% sure it was “Hail Obama” RT @Macrotots: @Romniac @msynan Are you sure it’s not “Hell”??? Or (worse) “Heil”?
1 Nov 12 Reply
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Mike Synan@msynan
Not that we have. Much too far before the event and not entire crowd, so would be muddled RT:@vulgarUG: @DrewMTips @msynan Is there video?”
1 Nov 12 Reply
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Mike Synan@msynan
I am the reporter, and not the only one who heard it. Would never ruin 15 years of cred RT:”@Sanosuke1981: @msynan it’s a load of crap.”
1 Nov 12 Reply
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Mike Synan@msynan
I am the reporter, and not the only one who heard it. Would never ruin 15 years of cred RT:”@Sanosuke1981: @msynan it’s a load of crap.”
1 Nov 12 Reply
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While WOFL was not able to get video of the chant, TheBlaze is currently on the lookout for video captured by participants or bystanders. Check back for updates.
Last year she was hailed as one of the most influential people in the world – a defender of women’s rights as Afghanistan’s only female head prosecutor.
Ms Bashir has been lauded by both Michelle Obama and Hilary Clinton – and she was one of ten women to receive a ‘Women of Courage’ Award in Washington last year.
But Maria Bashir’s reputation is now in doubt after the Times revealed that Ms Bashir is also the most prolific prosecutor of women for Afghanistan’s so-called ‘moral’ crimes, such as adultery.
While Ms Bashir campaigns against abuse husbands, more than half of the 172 women jailed in Afghanistan for sex outside of marriage (known as ‘zina’) have come from her province.
Defender or jailer? Maria Bashir, pictured with with First Lady Michelle Obama U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has jailed more than 100 women for adultery in Afghanistan
The Herat province’s population stands at an estimated 1.7million, and Afghanistan as a whole has a population of 35million.
Last week Ms Bashir, who became lead prosecutor in 2006, and has prosecuted nearly a thord of the 78 women jailed for murder in Afghanistan, was promoted to become Herat’s attorney-general.
The Times said diplomats are ‘shocked’ by the extraordinary tally of women imprisoned for adultery.
It further says that 101 out of 136 women serving in Herat’s women jail are there for adultery, one of the moral crimes which campaigners for women’s rights are trying to remove from Afghanistan.
Two sides: Maria Bashir, attorney general of Herat comforting Arefa, a victim of domestic violence, in Herat, Afghanistan, last year
When she received her award, the two presidential wives said: ‘Ms Bashir has waged a determined campaign against crime and corruption.
‘She stands out as a champion of judicial transparency and women’s rights, and exemplifies the resilience of Afghan women.’
When the Times contacted Ms Bashir, she said she was unaware that her prosecution rate was so much higer than other provinces, but blamed it on her province’s closeness to the border with Iran.
She said: ‘If it is higher it’s because we are bordered with Iran, which culturally influences Afghans.’
Candy Crowley admitted that Mitt Romney was RIGHT to criticise Barack Obama for his response to the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi just hours after she apparently sided with Obama at a crucial point in the high drama presidential debate on Tuesday night.
The moderator’s shock intervention, in which she cut Romney short when he claimed that Obama had failed to say the attack was the work of terrorists in the his Rose Garden statement the following day, has been met with outrage.
However, Crowley appeared to backtrack just a few hours after she left the GOP candidate exposed on the stage in front of millions of viewers. She admitted that Romney had been ‘right in the main’ but added that he had ‘picked the wrong word’.
The row intensified when Michelle Obama was caught on camera applauding Crowley’s intervention – despite rules banning members of the audience from clapping or otherwise showing support during the debate, which has been called the ‘most rancorous’ in history.
The fiery clash came as President Obama continued to struggle in the polls, with the latest data showing a six-point lead for Romney, who is also performing strongly in the Democratic-leaning swing state of Wisconsin.
Scroll down for footage of the electric clash
Hot seat: Moderator Candy Crowley talks to the audience at Hofstra University on Long Island last night before Barack Obama and Mitt Romney took to the stage for the second presidential debate
At loggerheads: Both candidates talk at once as they disagree over how Obama handled the Benghazi attack
No pussyfooting around: Crowley often struggled to control the candidates as they spoke over each other
Not impressed: Mr Obama fixes an angry stare at his opponent
A storm of protest has followed the incident. Top Romney allies said Crowley ‘had no business’ intervening in the argument, accusing her of ‘getting in the game’ rather than being an impartial observer.
During a question about security at the Benghazi compound, where four American officials including ambassador Chris Stevens were killed on September 11, Obama said he was ultimately responsible as commander-in-chief.
Romney then questioned whether or not Obama had called the consulate attack an ‘act of terror’ in his Rose Garden address the following day.
While Obama cut across Romney – saying ‘look at the transcript’ – Crowley seemed to back up the President, telling the Republican governor that Obama did ‘call it an act of terror’.
THAT CRUNCH EXCHANGE IN FULL
ROMNEY: You said in the Rose Garden the day after the attack it was an act of terror. It was not a spontaneous demonstration.
OBAMA: Please proceed.
ROMNEY: Is that what you’re saying?
OBAMA: Please proceed, Governor.
ROMNEY: I want to make sure we get that for the record, because it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in Benghazi an act of terror.
OBAMA: Get the transcript.
CROWLEY: It – he did in fact, sir.
OBAMA: Can you say that a little louder, Candy?
CROWLEY: He did call it an act of terror. It did as well take two weeks or so for the whole idea of there being a riot out there about this tape to come out. You are correct about that.
Her interjection drew applause from the audience, led by Mrs Obama, but angered political commentators, who accused Crowley of stepping in on behalf of the President.
Breitbart editor Ben Shapiro called the moderator’s reactions a ‘disgrace’ while his colleague John Nolte said Crowley ‘lied to save Obama’.
Democratic strategist Joe Trippi told Fox News the exchange was ‘going to help the President’, adding: ‘There’s a ref, and the ref just threw the flag.’
Romney advisor Ron Kaufman continued the sporting metaphor as he said: ‘At different times tonight, she in fact got into the game, and she wasn’t on the sidelines.’
And former New Hampshire governor John Sununu said: ‘Candy was wrong, and Candy had no business doing that, and Candy didn’t even keep the time right.’
However, top Romney aide Eric Fehrnstrom insisted he was relaxed about the controversial intervention, saying: ‘I don’t complain about the refs – I think Candy was dandy.’
The shock moment came in the middle of what CBS News anchor Scott Pelley described as ‘the most rancorous presidential debate ever’, adding: ‘We have never seen anything like that in presidential history. They turned every question from the audience into an attack on the other.’
Crowley often struggled to control the candidates as they spoke over each other amid angry exchanges.
The pair bordered on being physically aggressive, coming toe-to-toe and looming over each other as they gesticulated at each other.
Obama’s in-your-face performance was a major improvement on his display in Denver, and viewers rated him the winner by a seven-point margin in a CNN poll – 46 per cent, compared to 39 per cent for the challenger.
But Romney scored a number of points, especially on the economy, and in the CNN poll only 38 per cent felt Obama had a clear plan for the country while 50 per cent thought Romney had one.
In another poll by CBS, 37 per cent of those surveyed said Obama won with Romney trailing at 30 per cent.
Obama’s much better showing might not be enough to halt his slide in the national polls, which has seen Romney gain around five points nationally and take a narrow but clear lead.
The Gallup tracking poll on Wednesday gave the Republican a lead of six points as he took 51 per cent of the vote, with 45 per cent for Obama, while he was just one point behind in Wisconsin, where the incumbent has until now held on to a large lead.
Early reports indicated that the debate on Long Island had pulled in a smaller audience than the first event in Denver, with around six per cent fewer tuning in.
Crowley’s interjection angered political commentators, who said she had stepped in on behalf of the President
Rule-breaking: Michelle Obama can be seen clapping in the bottom right corner of this image
Obama at one point said it was ‘offensive’ of Romney to suggest that his administration’s response to the Libya consulate attack was politically motivated.
Obama said: ‘The day after the attack, Governor, I stood in the Rose Garden, and I told the American people and the world that we are going to find out exactly what happened, that this was an act of terror.’
Romney then questioned the veracity of Obama’s remarks. He said: ‘I want to make sure we get that for the record, because it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in Benghazi an act of terror.’
While Romney continued to question Obama’s claims, Crowley interjected: ‘He [Obama] did in fact, sir.’
Obama then said: ‘Can you say that a little louder, Candy?’ to laughter and applause from the audience.
Then rather belatedly, Crowley told Romney: ‘He did call it an act of terror. It did as well take – it did as well take two weeks or so for the whole idea of there being a riot out there about this tape to come out. You are correct about that.’
The exchange was the only point during the debate when Crowley sought to correct one of the candidates on a point of fact.
The morning after: Obama leaves the White House on Wednesday morning after the debate
Happy? Romney walks up to his campaign plane at the airport in Ronkonkoma, New York on Wednesday
YOU DECIDE: TRANSCRIPT OF OBAMA’S ROSE GARDEN SPEECH
Last night’s second presidential debate reignited the controversy over Obama’s words following the September 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya.
The following day, he made this speech from the White House Rose Garden:
‘Of course, yesterday was already a painful day for our nation as we marked the solemn memory of the 9/11 attacks. We mourned with the families who were lost on that day. I visited the graves of troops who made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan at the hallowed grounds of Arlington Cemetery, and had the opportunity to say thank you and visit some of our wounded warriors at Walter Reed.
‘And then last night, we learned the news of this attack in Benghazi.
‘As Americans, let us never, ever forget that our freedom is only sustained because there are people who are willing to fight for it, to stand up for it, and in some cases, lay down their lives for it. Our country is only as strong as the character of our people and the service of those both civilian and military who represent us around the globe.
‘No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for.
‘Today we mourn four more Americans who represent the very best of the United States of America. We will not waver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this terrible act. And make no mistake, justice will be done.’
A number of audience members could clearly be heard applauding the line. Nearly all the applause came from the higher levels of the auditorium, not from the debate participants.
But one person within the inner circle did participate in the illicit ovation – Mrs Obama was caught on camera clapping during the heated back-and-forth.
The First Lady was given three tickets to the debate and allowed to sit among the participants who were involved with questioning the candidates.
The moderator later appeared to backtrack on her own comments, saying ‘it was just the natural thing to come out of me’ but admitting that the substance of Romney’s assertion was correct.
‘He was right in the main, I just think he picked the wrong word,’ she said during a post-debate appearance on CNN.
The audience member who asked the question which touched off the controversy said he did not feel Obama had answered his query.
‘I really didn’t think he totally answered the question satisfactorily as far as I was concerned,’ Kerry Ladka told the Washington Post.
Ladka, 61, asked who ‘denied enhanced security’ to the Benghazi consulate – but the President avoided the issue, instead offering a tribute to U.S. diplomats and an attack on his opponent.
After the debate, Obama approached Ladka for a two-minute conversation in which he said he could not answer the question because ‘releasing the individual names of anyone in the State Department would really put them at risk’.
The undecided voter told the Post, ‘I appreciate his private answer more than his public answer’ – though his high regard for Romney’s business record means he has still not made up his mind how to vote.
Another questioner, Jeremy Epstein, did decide whom to vote for during last night’s debate – but has refused to say which candidate he now supports.
The 20-year-old student paid tribute to both participants, saying: ‘Mitt Romney’s first answer – I felt like he was staring into my soul, just right through me, when he was asking me the question.
‘And then when the President came up, I felt like he, you know he started up by saying my future’s bright – I feel like they were both sincere.’
Epstein spoke to the two candidates after the debate – and argued with Obama over whether he would beat him in a one-on-one game of basketball.
Carol Goldberg said she had been swayed towards the President based on his answer to her question about how to keep jobs from being outsourced overseas.
Obama replied, ‘There are some jobs that are not going to come back. Because they are low-wage, low-skill jobs. I want high-wage, high-skill jobs.’
‘I believe that’s true,’ Goldberg told the Huffington Post. ‘I thought that was a very good answer.’
Fighting talk: Romney and Obama clash during the debate, with the President on more aggressive form than the first time they met
Anger: Romney lost his temper at one point as he ordered the President not to interrupt himDuring his Rose Garden address on September 12, the day following the attack in Benghazi, Obama said: ‘No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for.’
While he did therefore establish a link between the raid and ‘terror’ as a whole, he did not explicitly say that he believed it to have been conducted by terrorists.
And over the next few days, the President repeatedly linked the attack to protests against a U.S.-made YouTube video mocking the Prophet Muhammad which were sweeping the Muslim world at the time.
The attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi was a talking point again during Vice President Joe Biden’s debate last week.
Biden claimed in the debate with Republican VP nominee Paul Ryan that ‘we weren’t told’ about requests for extra security at the consulate.
TIMELINE OF ADMINISTRATION’S SHIFTING POSITION ON DEADLY ATTACK
September 11: Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others are killed in an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.
September 12: Barack Obama makes a statement saying, ‘No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation,’ but does not explicitly label the raid a terrorist attack.
September 13: White House press secretary Jay Carney blames the assault on a U.S.-made YouTube video mocking the Prophet Muhammad.
September 16: Susan Rice, American ambassador to the UN, says she believes the attack ‘began as a spontaneous, not premeditated, response’ to protests over the video.
September 20: Carney says, ‘It is self-evident that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack.’
September 25: Obama declines to label the attack as terrorism during an appearance on The View.
October 9: State Department officials insist they never linked the attack to the video protests.
Relief: The GOP candidate kisses his wife Ann on stage at the end of the evening’s proceedings
Embrace: The First Couple hugged after the debate, with Mrs Obama, like her counterpart, dressed in pink
In waiting: Romney with his wife Ann, in a pink brocade coat over her neon dress, and their son Matt and his wife Laurie sit backstage before the debateOn Monday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was forced to come to his defence.
Pushing back against Republican criticism of the Obama administration for its handling of the situation, Clinton said that security at all of America’s diplomatic missions abroad is her job, not that of the White House.
She said: ‘I take responsibility… The President and the Vice President wouldn’t be knowledgeable about specific decisions that are made by security professionals.’
The Libya question was one moment when Crowley struggled to rein in the debate on Tuesday night.
She failed to shut down both Obama and Romney when they ran over allocated times and attacked each other in angry exchanges.
In her opening statement at the town hall debate in New York,Ms Crowley said: ‘Because I am the optimistic sort, I’m sure the candidates will oblige by keeping their answers concise and on point’.
It was revealed from CNN timekeeping on the debate, that Obama had spoke for three extra minutes
The President got 44:04 minutes of speaking time, while Romney got 40:50.
BARACK OBAMA IN QUOTES
On the budget:
‘Governor Romney’s allies in Congress have held the 98 per cent hostage because they want tax breaks for the top 2 per cent.’
On Romney’s economic plan:
‘Governor Romney doesn’t have a five-point plan, he’s got a one-point plan. To make sure that the folks at the top play by a separate set of rules.’
On Romney’s investments in China:
‘Governor, you are the last person who is going to get tough on China.’
On his pension:
‘I don’t look at my pension, it’s not as big as yours, so it doesn’t take as long.’
On being defended by the moderator:
‘Can you say that a little louder, Candy?’
MITT ROMNEY IN QUOTES
On his opponent:
‘Thank you, Mr President, for being a part of this debate.’
On the deficit:
‘I know what it takes to balance budgets. I’ve done it my entire life.’
On interruption:
‘You get your chance in a moment, I’m still speaking.’
On Obama’s response to the Libya attack:
‘The President, the day after it happened, flies to Las Vegas for a political fundraiser.’
On the President’s rhetoric:
‘He’s great as a speaker, and describing his plans and vision. That’s wonderful, except we have a record to look at.’
Pressure to perform: Obama arrives at JFK Airport in New York yesterday afternoon
Rose Garden: Obama with Hillary Clinton on September 12, the day after the Libya attacks. He used the phrase ‘acts of terror’ but Romney last night claimed this was not specifically about the killings in Benghazi
Killings: Ambassador Chris Stevens was one of four Americans murdered in Benghazi on September 11 (right)
Obama and Romney had both expressed concern over Crowley’s role ahead of the debate because she was robust in saying beforehand that she would not shirk from guiding the conversation.
Lawyers for both Democratic and Republican campaigns complained about comments the CNN journalist made ahead of the town hall-style debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York tonight.
Her job was to referee the two presidential candidates as they answered questions from online viewers and members of the audience.
But in an interview, she indicated that she planned to take a more aggressive stance than the last moderator Jim Lehrer who was roundly criticized for a listless performance and letting Obama and Romney walk all over him.
Where PBS veteran Lehrer said his job was to stay out of the way, Crowley planned a different set of tactics.
The political correspondent said: ‘Once the table is kind of set by the town hall questioner, there is then time for me to say, “Hey, wait a second, what about x, y, z?”‘
Both candidates appeared less than pleased with her remarks – and they weren’t the only ones.
The Commission on Presidential Debates has also complained, saying Crowley’s remarks are vastly different from the memo that was signed by lawyers for both campaigns.
‘In managing the two-minute comment periods, the moderator will not rephrase the question or open a new topic,’ the legal document obtained by Time says.
PUBLISHED:12:38 EST, 4 October 2012| UPDATED:13:19 EST, 4 October 2012
In a move that smacks of a nanny state, a Florida school district is debating installing video cameras on cafeteria dustbins so that it can monitor what its students are throwing away.
The Lake County School Board is considering the extreme food-salvage method because of the thousands of dollars lost through food wastage, Fox News reported.
Officials claimed that more than $75,000 worth of fresh fruit and vegetables have found its way from kids’ plates to the trash can since the Obama Administration launched a policy in January forcing schools to be more healthy.
Schoolchildren are rebelling against their schools’ healthy eating policies by chucking their fruit and vegetables in the trash
‘It’s fairly specific recipe of what they would like us to serve,’ Lake County School Board member Tod Howard told Nbc News.
‘Unfortunately, much of it has to do with fresh fruit and vegetables and it seems to be going into the trash. And that’s not okay.’
Not everyone is happy about the potential filming, however, including parents who do not want to see ht trash cams adopted.
‘So we’re going to spend how many more thousands of dollars to put cameras on trash cans to document the thousands of dollars in food the kids are throwing away,’ one parent wrote on ClickOrlando.com
‘This is a no brainer, kids are not going to eat the stuff served at school. Has anyone really looked at these lunch trays?’
Among objections are that kids and parents themselves run the risk of being caught on camera themselves and personally penalized.
Obama (left) is behind the fruit-and-vegetable regime. Michelle Obama (right) and her ‘Let’s move’ programme campaign for people to eat more healthily and do more exercise
‘Because no matter what they say, they are going to try to identify the kids throwing the food away and then social workers and courts will get involved,’ wrote another disgruntled commenter.
‘If your child doesn’t eat his school lunch, you will face punishment. Think I’m wrong? There are cities and states that punish the adults if the children are truant or get in trouble with the law in any manner.
‘Your kid threw away a carrot? Go to jail. This is what we are coming to.’
But Howard is adamant that the cameras will serve a quality purpose.
‘If we just can’t get kids to eat broccoli and 90 percent of it is going in the trash – that’s a waste of taxpayer dollars – and the federal government needs to look at their mandate,’ he said.
‘We have no choice in the matter. This is just a tool to help us document he issue.’ A decision has yet to be made.
Do students eat like prisoners? Graphic shows the average contents of a jailhouse meal versus a school lunch
This infographic was posted on the site, comparing the average daily offerings of jailhouses and elementary schools.
Both meals contain roughly the same number of calories (around 1,400) but what’s shocking is that prisoners are allowed a greater serving of fruit and vegetables than growing children.
Students are missing out on essential vitamins and mineral, being served just half a cup of fruit or vegetables, compared with prisoners’ half cup plus one piece of fruit.
They are also given less meat – a maximum of two ounces – while inmates get three or four.
Money-saving prison chefs can feed an inmate on approximately $2.62-per-day, compared with $2.68 for just one school lunch.
Healthier: Inmates get a half cup of vegetables plus one piece of fruit per meal
And they have to be frugal – in 2009 the federal budget for prison food was $205 million, while school chiefs are allocated a significantly higher annual fund of around $11 billion for school food programmes.
But it seems the money could be more wisely spent. Less than one third of school food operations meet the recommended standard for saturated fat in their meals.
Equally alarming is the revelation that meat products go through fewer standard tests than the ground beef served at fast food chains such as McDonald’s and Burger King.
Perhaps student ought to take inspiration from the residents of one Vermont prison who in 2008 filed a lawsuit over ‘nutraloaf’, which they argued was more punishment than nourishment.
Shocking: Students get less fruit and vegetables than prisoners in their lunches
Fakest of the fake? Barack Obama’s Twitter following includes 19.5 million people who don’t exist, and the first lady has 1.9 million nonexistent fans of her own
Fake Twitter followers seem to be chasing U.S. politicians on both sides of the aisle, but Barack Obama is the undisputed champ
A matched ticket: Vice President Biden’s fake-follower ranking was 46 per cent, with just one-fifth of his supposed Twitter audience consisting of human beings who are actually listening
Michelle Obama’s complaints about Americans’ diet and exercise are falling on deaf ears, at least among the 71 per cent of her Twitter followers who aren’t tuning in
MailOnline looked at 21 accounts, and the numbers show that just about everyone in Washington is at least 11 per cent phony — at least on Twitter
Up, up, up! Vice President Joe Biden is second only to his boss in the fake follower department
Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich has made a name for himself among conservatives with nearly 1.5 million Twitter followers, but more than 400,000 of those don’t appear to be real
When the White House tweets … only one-quarter of its followers are receiving the message. About 37 per cent of them aren’t real, and another 38 per cent aren’t active on Twitter
Did he? One report determined that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s social media staff purchased a raft of Twitter followers to boost his online credibility
Grass roots? About 29 per cent of Sen. Marco Rubio’s 431,000 Twitter followers don’t appear to be living, breathing people
Hot seat: Moderator Candy Crowley talks to the audience at Hofstra University on Long Island last night before Barack Obama and Mitt Romney took to the stage for the second presidential debate
Crowley’s interjection angered political commentators, who said she had stepped in on behalf of the President
Rule-breaking: Michelle Obama can be seen clapping in the bottom right corner of this image
Happy? Romney walks up to his campaign plane at the airport in Ronkonkoma, New York on Wednesday
Fighting talk: Romney and Obama clash during the debate, with the President on more aggressive form than the first time they met
Anger: Romney lost his temper at one point as he ordered the President not to interrupt himDuring his Rose Garden address on September 12, the day following the attack in Benghazi, Obama said: ‘No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for.’
Relief: The GOP candidate kisses his wife Ann on stage at the end of the evening’s proceedings
Embrace: The First Couple hugged after the debate, with Mrs Obama, like her counterpart, dressed in pink
In waiting: Romney with his wife Ann, in a pink brocade coat over her neon dress, and their son Matt and his wife Laurie sit backstage before the debateOn Monday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was forced to come to his defence.
Pressure to perform: Obama arrives at JFK Airport in New York yesterday afternoon
Rose Garden: Obama with Hillary Clinton on September 12, the day after the Libya attacks. He used the phrase ‘acts of terror’ but Romney last night claimed this was not specifically about the killings in Benghazi
Will this young girl’s end up in the garbage?
Larger: 
Healthier: Inmates get a half cup of vegetables plus one piece of fruit per meal
Shocking: Students get less fruit and vegetables than prisoners in their lunches
