Texas Governor and GOP Presidential hopeful  Rick Perry accused the Obama administration of “over-the-top rhetoric” and “disdain for the military” for what they have said about the video with shows four US Marines urinating on dead Taliban soldiers.

Perry, speaking on CNN’s State of the Union said the marines involved should be reprimanded but not prosecuted on criminal charges.

He was quoted as saying,

 ”Obviously, 18 and 19-year-old kids make stupid mistakes all too often. And that’s what’s occurred here. What’s really disturbing to me is the kind of over-the-top rhetoric from this administration and their disdain for the military.”

Senator John McCain, the top Republican on the Senate armed services committee, and 2008 presidential candidate expressed a concern that the images could damage the ability of the US military to win the war.

He said to the same CNN program,

“The Marine Corps prides itself that we don’t lower ourselves to the level of the enemy. So it makes me sad more than anything else, because … I can’t tell you how wonderful these people [marines] are. And it hurts their reputation and their image.”

Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta, and President Obama have both demanded swift and severe punishment for the Marines if found to have committed the act.  Panetta said the video could be used by the Taliban to undermine Afghan peace talks.

The video in question shows the four marines standing over three obviously dead Taliban soldiers.  After two of them urinate on the bodies, one says “how you feeling now buddy?”.

Desecrating the dead is a violation of the Geneva Convention.

How do you feel about the video of US Marines urinating on the Taliban dead bodies?

Watch the video here.

Rick Perry Slams Obama Over Afghanistan Video is a post from: The Inquisitr

Senator John McCain has stepped up to endorse Mitt Romney for the role of 2012 Republican presidential nominee four years after McCain lost his own election battle to President Obama.

John McCain headed to New Hampshire to offer his endorsement ”to make sure we make Mitt Romney the next president of the United States of America.”

You may recall that John McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney fought a hard battle for the GOP endorsement in 2008 and when he lost it was Romney endorsing McCain for the same role.

The John McCain endorsement of Mitt Romney comes just hours after Romney won the Iowa Caucus by a mind-boggling low eight votes.

Having McCain on his side could be a big positive factor for Romney in New Hampshire since the Senator has plenty of experience campaigning in the region following his 2000 and 2008 presidential bids.

The New Hampshire primary will take place new Tuesday and Mitt Romney is polling with a substantial lead at this point, then again he was in Iowa for some time as well.

In his endorsement of Mitt Romney Senator John McCain said:

“He will lead from the front as Ronald Reagan did, not from behind as this president [Barack Obama] does.”

McCain did not explain exactly how Mitt Romney will be like Ronald Reagan, I’m guessing by giving more to the rich in the hopes they’ll give some back to the poor. I don’t know if that’s quite possibly the worst comparison to make when the middle class in America is vanishing but it’s probably not the best choice in statement.

Do you believe that the John McCain endorsement of Mitt Romney will make a difference not only in the GOP primary but also in a potential showdown with President Obama?

John McCain Endorsed Mitt Romney After Iowa Caucus Victory is a post from: The Inquisitr

Mitt Romney is on the defensive with his plans to cut government spending.  The Massachusetts Republican had to tell an audience in Iowa that “We are not going to kill Big Bird” when asked about his spending plans, according to the Huffington Post.  Romney wants Sesame Street and other public programming to be paid for by advertisements and not the taxpayers.

He also signaled that under his administration, the National Endowment for the Arts would also be cut, asked to survive on private donations and not taxpayers dollars.

Romney made a statement that basically spells out how he views every program in America.

“My test is, is a program so critical that it’s worth borrowing money from China to pay for it?”

Democrats were looking at his proposals to defund the arts with a bit a skepticism, as the National Endowment for the Arts and National Public Radio have long been a desired treat on the Republican Chopping block.

“The GOP should be less preoccupied with silencing cookie monster and more focused on reviving the economy,” replied Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.).

in 1995, when Newt Gingrich was Speaker of the House, Lowley had invited Bert and Ernie to testify before Congress when Gingrich tried to cut their funding then.

Romney says that when he is President he will cut $500 billion dollars a year from the federal budget by the end of his first term.  While this would be a drastic cut, it still would more than a trillion dollars a year short of a balanced budget if spending continues at its current levels.

Since losing to John McCain in the 2008 Republican Primary, Mitt Romney has been running an aggressive campaign to become the nominee to face President Barack Obama in 2012.  He is currently polling second in most key battleground states.

Watch a video of Romney telling the Iowa crowd his plans for Big Bird.

Mitt Romney: “I Am Not Going To Kill Big Bird” [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Militant conservative Ann Coulter isn’t one to mince words.

Author of a series of books with increasingly alarming titles accusing the left of everything from godlessness to treason, Coulter isn’t above using strong language to get her point across. So when the flaxen-haired GOP-atrix appeared on Joe Scarborough’s Morning Joe on MSNBC Tuesday, it wasn’t technically very surprising a large portion of her unvarnished opinion about some fellow Republicans was bleeped or muted- making the gist of her complaints unintelligible.

The audible portion of Coulter’s comments Tuesday morning went something like this:

“I’d rather have [?] McCain was consistent, he was [?] we have Romney and Gingrich [?], …what did I say? Douchebag?”

Which kinda reads like GOP Mad Libs! (Amusingly, the “douchebag” at the end wasn’t censored.) So later in the day, Coulter appeared on left-leaning Joy Behar’s show, and clarified her remarks about McCain, Romney and Gingrich. Coulter explained:

“I said ‘dickweed,’…They were talking about the lack of consistency, people complain about it with Romney…and I was just making the point, I don’t think consistency is the most important value. And you know, look at John McCain, he was consistently a dickweed.”

Lefty Behar and the conservative pundit then discussed whether Behar’s show had been cancelled due to a “vast right-wing conspiracy,” and Coulter admitted that she appreciated Behar’s show and would miss it when it departs from the airwaves. Coulter lamented that Behar’s show was one of the few of its kind where she could avoid news about Casey Anthony, who Coulter dubbed a “white trash bimbo.”

Ann Coulter Clarifies: Dickweed, Not Douchebag in Rant on ‘Morning Joe’ is a post from: The Inquisitr

Apparently, it’s been NBC’s mission of late to recruit as many high-profile contributors as possible, preferably those who happen to be sons or daughters of notable politicians.

The latest to join MSNBC’s roster of contributors is Meghan McCain, the company announced on Monday. McCain was a frequent guest on the network for the past two years, but now she’ll be a paid, regular contributor on MSNBC.

“It’s a unique opportunity to share my perspective as a Republican on a network I respect and have built a relationship with over the past two years,” McCain said in a statement.

McCain is the second daughter of a politico to join the network in under a month. Just last week, NBC announced that Chelsea Clinton, daughter of Bill and Hillary Clinton, signed on with the network. Clinton will be working on “NBC Nightly News” and will be acting as a correspondent on Brian Williams’ newsmagazine, “Rock Center with Brian Williams“.

Back in 2009, it was announced that then-27-year-old Jenna Bush Hager, daughter to George W. Bush and Laura Bush, signed on with TODAY as a correspondent.

McCain is a frequent contributor at The Daily Beast. She also has a memoir out, “Dirty Sexy Politics“, and a children’s book, “My Dad, John McCain“.

Do you welcome McCain as an MSNBC contributor, or do you think her hiring smells of nepotism?

[Image credit: Reuters/Lucas Jackson]

Meghan McCain signs on as MSNBC contributor is a post from: The Inquisitr

John McCain has taken a hard line stance against Libya’s Moammar Ghadafi over the last several months but that wasn’t always the case, according to a cable released by WikiLeaks, McCain at the urging of Moammar’s fifth son and national security adviser promised to provide the regime with military supplies, including new aircraft as late as 2009.

According to Politico, while McCain wasn’t alone during that meeting, with Senators Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins and Joe Lieberman it was McCain who did most of the negotiating.

During his talk with Moammar’s son he did say Libya needed to give up weapons of mass destruction, but also said ties with the US were strong and he went on to thank Libya for their hard stance on terrorism.

For his part Lindsey Graham tried to cover up the meetings discussion in May, noting that the talks didn’t go anywhere:

“We never did anything,” he said. “I didn’t feel comfortable pushing the Pentagon to provide military aircraft to Libya. None of us did.”

It’s not the first time the U.S. would have armed someone who eventually became an enemy of their own state, CIA operatives and other members of the armed forces helped train Osama bin Laden and his men before they turned from allies to enemies of the United States.

More documents from the Wikileaks file dump could shed more light on how the situation progressed, however with 250,000 files to search through, those details could be slow to arrive.

WikiLeak: John McCain Sided With Moammar Gadhafi is a post from: The Inquisitr

Akon’s threatening to move back to Africa, kind of like how Seal and Heidi Klum are saying they’ll leave, but with less panache because (let’s face it) he’s not as popular as he thinks. He spends way too much time attacking his own fans to get much sympathy from us, but the threat is there nonetheless:

“If he [Obama] doesn’t get into office, I’m gonna change my citizenship,” he said. “I’m moving back to Africa. You can hold me to that. I’m afraid to live there if he [McCain] is President. The decisions he makes scare me: he’s making selfish decisions, he’s doing whatever it takes to get into office.”

Akon had a few choice words on Sarah Palin in the same interview with The Guardian, commenting that “she’s definitely going to be president” because McCain won’t make it “eight years.”

Unfortunately, Akon is unable to vote due to a previous felony conviction. Perhaps that’s why he’s making up for it by being extra vocal this time, because, as The Guardian noted, he “does not have a track record of speaking out on politics.”

Akon Will “Move Back to Africa” If McCain Wins is a post from: The Inquisitr

The virtual world’s election poll, a survey of more than 37,000 respondents, revealed that 72 percent of teens and young adults would like to see Barack Obama as the next president of the United States.

This year’s election was a natural fit for the launch of the According to Teens Report,” said Scott Kinzie, VP of creative and user experience at Gaia Online. “At Gaia Online we have the unique ability to tap millions of Gen Yers and we believe it’s imperative to understand what’s guiding the youth vote. With this new survey program we’re hoping to serve as a trusted source on all things teen, helping relevant parties better understand this often misunderstood generation.”

If only these teens and young adults leave Gaia Online for a few precious minutes and help in educating the real world of the importance of this election…

If Gaians can only vote is a post from: The Inquisitr

Although Obama had a substantial lead in all parts of the world, the margin was less pronounced in some regions. Europe, North America, and Africa were most strongly pro-Obama (at 87%, 87%, and 88%, respectively), followed by Asia (83%), Latin America (81%), and South Asia (85%). The region that was most sympathetic to Senator John McCain was the Middle East– where only 58% supported Obama compared to 25% support for McCain.

The survey was representative of approximately 25,000 respondents from 192 countries. The survey was conducted in eight languages, including English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Japanese, Thai, and Chinese. Out of all survey participants, 59% were male and 41% were female.

Meanwhile, MySpace revealed that its own survey showed that 60 percent of its eligible voters prefer Senator Barack Obama while 34 percent goes for Senator John McCain.

But again, as lessons of election history have taught us, anything can happen as the race tightens.

Obama wins in hi5.com and MySpace is a post from: The Inquisitr

The new ColbertNation.com is the hub for all things Stephen Colbert featuring links to every Colbert related gossip online. It is the best place to stay up-to-date on all the latest news and buzz about the show. On the home page, users can find information about upcoming guests, special events and on-air stunts like the “Green Screen Challenges.” The homepage also includes an area called “State of the Nation” which not only reflects site activity like the most recently posted videos, but gives users updates on everything happening in Colbert’s world on and off the show.

“I’m thrilled with our new web site. I only wish John McCain knew how to get there,” Colbert said.

Colbert must be out of touch with technology news. He was obviously not informed that John McCain helped in creating the miracle called Blackberry.

Comedy Central Launches ColbertNation.com, the Home of the True Maverick is a post from: The Inquisitr

Some one doing the graphics for CBS News may have decided to have a some fun September 15, sneaking in a three eyed smiley face at the end of a quote from the New York Times lashing Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s hiring practices.

The smiley appears directly after the line “including the head of the division of Agriculture who cited her childhood love of cows…” per the pick above.

The full video below. The smiley appears at 1:04 and is visible until 1:13 in the clip.

Update: someone has pointed out that this could simply be a juxtaposition of the CBS watermark and the dots at the end of the quote. Could well be, although part of the logo disappears in the shot to make the smiley face when we can see the full logo before and after, demonstrating that either magically, or by human intervention, we get a three eyed smiley face. Either way though, it certainly looks funny, and three eyed smiley fans will be happy with the end result

CBS sneaks three eyed smiley into Palin report? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert cartoon series had a problem, he couldn’t find independent advice on which Presidential candidate has the best economic policies for America. As Adams notes “for once I asked not what my country could do for me” and instead commissioned a survey of over 500 economists to give him the answer.

Democrats will be pleased to learn that 59% of the economists surveyed say Obama would be best for the economy long term, with 31% picking McCain, and 8% saying there would be no difference.

Adams though takes the figures further. 48% of economists surveyed were declared Democrats vs 17% republicans, so naturally there is a bias in the results. 88% of Democratic economists think Obama would be best, while 80% of Republican economists pick McCain. Independent economists lean toward Obama by 46% compared to 39% for McCain.

On 13 key issues, the economists favor Obama on 11 of the top 13 issues, but among independents 54% believe that in the long run there would either be no difference between the candidates or McCain would do better.

Adams conclusion: “Many of you will wonder how reliable economists are. In my view, if an economist uses a complicated model to predict just about anything, you can ignore it.”

The full details on the Dilbert site here.

Dilbert creator commissions survey on who would best run America is a post from: The Inquisitr

Barley Political takes on VP season with the same zeal as it did with Obama Girl. Stick with the video, it improves as it goes along.

VP Hopefuls Call Senator Obama is a post from: The Inquisitr

Google has announced the launch of Power Readers in Politics, a political news aggregation site where journalists and political campaigns share stores via Google Reader.

Included in the aggregation mix along with both the McCain and Obama campaigns are leading political journalists including Mark Halperin and Adrianna Huffington.

Google is pitching the site as:

We’re reading a lot about the candidates and the media this election season. But what are they reading? At google.com/powerreaders now you can track the news sites and blogs Barack Obama and John McCain read (from Drudge to The Daily Show) and follow articles catching the eyes of leading political journalists….share articles that interest them. You can follow shared articles and blog posts, or you can add participants’ reading lists or shared news feeds to your own Reader account.

Shared Google Reader blogs aren’t new, but this is the first time I can recall Google creating a special site for shared feeds based around a topic. More notably though, it’s a content play by Google. This is a news aggregation site, and a decent one at that, but it automatically competes with any existing players in this space. Whether that’s good or bad I’ll leave others to call, but it does seem to be part of the pattern where Google is moving away from empowering creators to being a competitor in its own right.

Google launches another content play: political news aggregator is a post from: The Inquisitr

Wow– Roseanne Barr is totally going to give Rosie a run for her money in terms of lashing out at other celebrity figures. After Angelina Jolie’s noncommittal response on her voting preference, Roseanne took the opportunity to tell her and Brad off (and let them know why they should be voting for Barack Obama):

“jon voight your evil spawn angelina jolie and her vacuous hubby brad pitt make about forty million dollars a year in violent psychopathic movies and give away three of it to starving children trying to look as if they give a crap about humanity as they spit out more dunces that will consume more than their fair share and wreck the earth even more. (just sayin’).

Also miss jolie says she likes mccain too and hasn’t decided who to endorse….huh? Aren’t you supposed to be somewhat enlightened [...] ??????!!!!”

Isn’t Roseanne afraid of whom she might run into at the next celebrity bash? Even if the bed you make is ruby-strewn, you’ve still got to lie in it– and with a power couple like Brad and Angelina, you can bet I’d think twice about laying into them for what looks like No Apparent Reason.

I really doubt that they run in the same circles, anyway.

Image: WireImage

Beware the Wrath of Roseanne Barr is a post from: The Inquisitr

Britney Spears responds to Paris Hilton’s Response to John McCain’s anti Barrack Obama campaign ad. A little lame, but it has its moments.

Paris Hilton John McCain Ad: Britney Spears Response is a post from: The Inquisitr