Obama & Hillary Top Gallup's Most Admired Persons Of 2013 Poll

Gallup reports:

For the sixth consecutive year, Barack Obama ranks as the Most Admired Man among Americans, and Hillary Clinton is again the Most Admired Woman. Both won by comfortable margins. Hillary Clinton has been named Most Admired Woman a total of 18 times, more than any other woman in Gallup's history, including each of the last 12 years. Clinton first won the distinction in 1993, when she was first lady, and has continued to rank at or near the top of the list while serving in a variety of public roles including as U.S. senator and as secretary of state. The 15% naming her this year is down from 21% last year and is the lowest figure for her since 2006.

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Posted in: 2013 in review,Barack Obama,Hillary Clinton,polls

New Petition From The RNC

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Posted in: Barack Obama,GOP,Obamacare,RNC

Politifact's Lie Of the Year: If You Like Your Health Insurance, You Can Keep It

Politifact has named its Lie Of The Year for 2013.

It was a catchy political pitch and a chance to calm nerves about his dramatic and complicated plan to bring historic change to America’s health insurance system. "If you like your health care plan, you can keep it," President Barack Obama said -- many times -- of his landmark new law. But the promise was impossible to keep. So this fall, as cancellation letters were going out to approximately 4 million Americans, the public realized Obama’s breezy assurances were wrong. Boiling down the complicated health care law to a soundbite proved treacherous, even for its promoter-in-chief. Obama and his team made matters worse, suggesting they had been misunderstood all along. The stunning political uproar led to this: a rare presidential apology.

Right wing sites (which typically denounce Politifact) are doing back flips.

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Posted in: 2013 in review,Barack Obama,Obamacare,PolitiFact

Today's NYC Tabloids

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Posted in: Barack Obama,NYC,selfie,tabloids

Obama Snaps Selfie At Mandela Funeral

At today's funeral for Nelson Mandela, President Obama posed for a selfie with British Prime Minister David Cameron and Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt. This landed the president on the mocking Tumblr, Selfies At Funerals, and has spawned the usual ridicule across Teabagistan.

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Posted in: Barack Obama,funerals,Nelson Mandela,selfie

President Obama Alludes To LGBT Rights During Speech At Mandela's Funeral

The funeral is continuing at this writing, see the live video below this post. The Washington Post published the president's remarks, which included a reference to LGBT rights.

It is a question I ask myself - as a man and as a President. We know that like South Africa, the United States had to overcome centuries of racial subjugation. As was true here, it took the sacrifice of countless people - known and unknown - to see the dawn of a new day. Michelle and I are the beneficiaries of that struggle. But in America and South Africa, and countries around the globe, we cannot allow our progress to cloud the fact that our work is not done. The struggles that follow the victory of formal equality and universal franchise may not be as filled with drama and moral clarity as those that came before, but they are no less important. For around the world today, we still see children suffering from hunger, and disease; run-down schools, and few prospects for the future. Around the world today, men and women are still imprisoned for their political beliefs; and are still persecuted for what they look like, or how they worship, or who they love.

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Posted in: Barack Obama,LGBT rights,Nelson Mandela,South Africa

Obamas Send Pop-Up Holiday Card

JMG reader Bill expects that the folks in Teabagistan will somehow find a way to turn this into a secret message about communism.

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Posted in: Barack Obama,White House,Xmas