Fox News’s Shep Smith apologized on Friday after the network aired a carjack suspect shooting himself in the head after a police chase west of Phoenix. “We really messed up,” Smith admitted after a hasty commercial break. “That didn’t belong on TV.” According to Mediabistro, studio crew members gasped as the suspect shot himself, and Smith said “get off, get off, get off” and asked the control room to cut away. The suspect had fired shots at pursuing officers along a dirt road, and then jumped out of the car, put the gun to his head, and slumped to the ground.
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President Obama will take the stage before the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday and make the declaration that the U.S. plans to stand firm in the face of anti-Americanism across the globe and assert its determination to keep Iran's nuclear ambitions at bay. While the election is clearly looming in the background of virtually anything the president does, Obama plans to keep his Republican opponent out of today's discussion at the U.N. That hasn't stopped Mitt Romney from criticizing the incumbent's foreign-policy leadership ahead of his big speech. "This is time for a president who will shape events in the Middle East, not just be merciful or be at the mercy of the events," Romney said Monday.
It’s just not a good look when a government official tells the press to “*** Off,” let alone to do so in writing. Unfortunately for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, her longtime aide and personal spokesman Philippe Reines reportedly did just that in a heated email exchange with a BuzzFeed reporter. BuzzFeed’s Michael Hastings emailed Reines, asking him a series of questions about the State Department’s handling of the security situation in Benghazi and about Reines’s “offensive” attack on CNN. When Hastings probed for answers “that aren’t bullshit for a change,” Reines lost his cool, calling Hastings an “unmitigated ***,” before telling him to “have a good day. And by good day, I mean *** Off.”
Illinois women in need of emergency contraception will now have to examine their pharmacies more carefully. Last week, an appellate court in the state ruled that pharmacists don't have to stock the morning-after pill, whose brand name is Plan B, if they have religious objections to the medication, which prevents a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex or contraceptive failure. The ruling negates a 2005 mandate from former Governor Rod Blagojevich stating that all pharmacies must stock the pill. It echoes a similar ruling passed in Washington this year.
With less than 50 days until the elections, Republicans aren’t too psyched about Mitt Romney’s chances. The nerves come after the candidate failed to weather a storm over his “47 percent” comments. Many Republicans tell Politico that to win, Mitt has to focus on swing states (cough cough, stop raising cash in Utah) and talk about the economy. One bundler tells Politico that the campaign is “imploding.” Meanwhile on a radio show in Nevada, running mate Paul Ryan said that Romney was “obviously inarticulate” in his point. President Obama told Letterman his opponent was “writing off a big chunk of the country.
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How will Mitt Romney’s beleaguered campaign explain this ghost in the GOP nominee’s closet? In a video taken at a fundraiser earlier this year, Romney is captured telling some 30 big donors that 47 percent of all voters will vote to reelect the president because “they are dependent on government,” “believe that they are victims,” and “believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it.” The anonymous filmmaker posted several clips across the Internet Monday and leaked the video in full to Mother Jones, where Romney can be seen and heard making incendiary remarks about immigrants and Obama supporters “who pay no income tax.” Romney's campaign responded in a statement that the candidate wants to "help all Americans struggling in Obama's economy." Many are of the belief that this video could sink the Romney campaign.
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Google defiantly told the White House over the weekend that it will not take down the anti-Islam video that sparked demonstrations across the Muslim world, saying the Innocence of Muslims clip falls “clearly within our guidelines.” But the company is restricting the YouTube clip in some ways: Google blocked access to the video in Libya, Egypt, India, and Indonesia, citing “very sensitive situations.” Those countries have deemed the video illegal, but otherwise the clip would not violate terms of use. YouTube said in a statement. “We work hard to create a community everyone can enjoy and which also enables people to express different opinions. This can be a challenge because what’s OK in one country can be offensive elsewhere.”
CAUTION: VIDEO MAY BE CONSIDERED INSENSITIVE TO SOME AUDIENCES
The attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other staffers in Libya may have been planned by al Qaeda, U.S. officials said Wednesday. The Obama administration says it is now investigating whether the attacks were planned to mark the anniversary of 9/11. Officials say the attack bears hallmarks of the al Qaeda–linked group Ansar al Sharia. “This was a precision attack,” Libya expert George Joffe told the BBC. “One that would have required a degree of planning. It may well have been inspired by the call by al-Qaeda’s Ayman al-Zawahiri to avenge the killing of Abu Yahya al-Libi.” Many also speculate that an anti-Islamic film has spearheaded calls for violence in the region.
A new CNN/ORC International poll found that 52 percent of registered voters now back President Obama, while just 46 percent still back his challenger, Mitt Romney. The president received a 4-point bump following the Democratic National Convention last week. President Obama’s favorability rating rose to 57 percent last week, which is the highest it has been since 2010. Mitt Romney’s favorability rating rose to 53 percent after the Republican National Convention, but it fell to 48 percent one week later. The conventions are supposed to present candidates with opportunities to rally their base and see numbers surge.
In his acceptance speech to close out the DNC Thursday, President Obama highlighted the “choice between two paths." “On every issue, the choice you face won’t be just between two candidates or two parties,” Obama said to cheering crowds. In going with the convention theme of the American dream, Obama hit hard on his grandparents' rise to the middle class. Obama also turned on the jokes, saying that Republicans that "taking two cuts and call me in the morning" would cure everything. Obama also paid tribute to the military—a theme of the evening—and also praised the country after "a new tower rises above the New York skyline, al Qaeda is on the path to defeat, and Osama bin Laden is dead." Obama touched on his signature "hope" campaign, saying "I have never been more hopeful about America." Not all Americans approved of the President's message or delivery, however.
"We were so young, so in love, and so in debt.” That’s how first lady Michelle Obama began her convention speech Tuesday, which focused on her family’s roots as average Americans who struggled to achieve the “American Dream.” She recalled dating Barack when his “only pair of decent shoes was a half size too small” and the “simple joys” of family life before her husband ran for president. Four years after the election, she said she’s “seen firsthand that being president doesn’t change who you are—it reveals who you are.” She said her husband is a man who understands the necessity of financial aid, that women are capable of making choices about their bodies and health care, and that when you’re presented with the “doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you." Voter reaction has been quite positive.
In a radio interview last week, Republican vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan claimed his fastest marathon time was under three hours. The running world was skeptical. It turns out that Ryan ran Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, Minn., in 1990, when he was 20 years old. His time? 4:01:25. Making things even more awkward for the Ryan camp is the fact that this is the only marathon he's ever run. By Saturday night, Ryan admitted he misspoke when said he had run a marathon in "two hours and 50-something minutes."
Yahoo News fired Washington bureau chief David Chalian after he got caught during an online broadcast on Wednesday suggesting that Mitt Romney and the GOP were not concerned about African-Americans suffering from Hurricane Isaac. “They’re not concerned at all. They’re happy to have a party with black people drowning,” he said. Yahoo News released a statement saying, “David Chalian’s statement was inappropriate and does not represent the views of Yahoo!.”