http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/us-politics/ Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/it-takes-a-brave-leader-to-barack-for-gay-marriage/ US President Barack Obama has come out in support of gay marriage in a TV interview. The news followed growing accusations that he believed in same-sex marriage but wasn’t expressing that for political reasons. It is, after all, an election year, and the President has been under pressure to toe the line with conservative electorates that could get him over the line in November. It’s a ballsy move from the President. Who knows how Obama’s decision will play with US voters, who latest opinion polls show are marginally in favour of same-sex marriage (at best). But whatever your view on the issue, at least Obama is standing behind his convictions, however long it took for him to get to the point of expressing them. Up until this point, the President was increasingly being accused of, well, “Gillard-ing” the issue. That is, many people believed he supported same-sex marriage and many people also believed he and his political team just thought the political waters were too fraught for him to say it. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/it-takes-a-brave-leader-to-barack-for-gay-marriage/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/it-takes-a-brave-leader-to-barack-for-gay-marriage/#item8461 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 When talk show host Stephen Colbert announced his quasi-bid for the US presidency, he presented American voters with an embarrassing democratic dilemma: How were they going to tell the mock candidates from the real ones? Lovers of fine farce will be familiar with Colbert’s work. His hallucinatory satire is so formidable it can be seen from space (where a NASA astronautical treadmill was recently named COLBERT in his honour).  On the off chance you aren’t a religious tuner innerer to the Comedy Channel at 7pm on weeknights, Colbert is the anchor for The Colbert Report. He’s a maniacal, semi-fictitious character who displays breathtaking audacity when it comes to speaking truthiness to power. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/colberts-foray-shows-up-the-real-clowns-in-the-us-circus/ When talk show host Stephen Colbert announced his quasi-bid for the US presidency, he presented American voters with an embarrassing democratic dilemma: How were they going to tell the mock candidates from the real ones? Lovers of fine farce will be familiar with Colbert’s work. His hallucinatory satire is so formidable it can be seen from space (where a NASA astronautical treadmill was recently named COLBERT in his honour).  On the off chance you aren’t a religious tuner innerer to the Comedy Channel at 7pm on weeknights, Colbert is the anchor for The Colbert Report. He’s a maniacal, semi-fictitious character who displays breathtaking audacity when it comes to speaking truthiness to power. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/colberts-foray-shows-up-the-real-clowns-in-the-us-circus/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/colberts-foray-shows-up-the-real-clowns-in-the-us-circus/#item7606 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 When talk show host Stephen Colbert announced his quasi-bid for the US presidency, he presented American voters with an embarrassing democratic dilemma: How were they going to tell the mock candidates from the real ones? Lovers of fine farce will be familiar with Colbert’s work. His hallucinatory satire is so formidable it can be seen from space (where a NASA astronautical treadmill was recently named COLBERT in his honour).  On the off chance you aren’t a religious tuner innerer to the Comedy Channel at 7pm on weeknights, Colbert is the anchor for The Colbert Report. He’s a maniacal, semi-fictitious character who displays breathtaking audacity when it comes to speaking truthiness to power. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/sex-scandals-should-not-render-a-leader-impotent/ As is the rite of passage for all conservative politicians, Republican hopeful Newt Gingrich has found himself embroiled in a sex scandal. Wife number two claims Newt asked for an “open marriage”. She, shockingly enough, now considers him too much of a jerk for office. In even more yawn-worthy news, fellow hopeful, Rick Santorum, has pounced on naughty Newt and determined that those extramarital hijinks raise questions about moral character. Moral character. You know, the most fundamental of leadership qualities. Because, you might be the smartest, the wisest, the most hard-working of all politicians, but one sexual snafu and it can all end in a finger-snap. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/sex-scandals-should-not-render-a-leader-impotent/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/sex-scandals-should-not-render-a-leader-impotent/#item7594 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 When talk show host Stephen Colbert announced his quasi-bid for the US presidency, he presented American voters with an embarrassing democratic dilemma: How were they going to tell the mock candidates from the real ones? Lovers of fine farce will be familiar with Colbert’s work. His hallucinatory satire is so formidable it can be seen from space (where a NASA astronautical treadmill was recently named COLBERT in his honour).  On the off chance you aren’t a religious tuner innerer to the Comedy Channel at 7pm on weeknights, Colbert is the anchor for The Colbert Report. He’s a maniacal, semi-fictitious character who displays breathtaking audacity when it comes to speaking truthiness to power. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/can-obama-win-the-election-yes-he-can-maybe/ Barack Obama was always going to have a tough presidency. He set the bar so high for himself during the arduous two year lead-up to his election that he was always at risk of sailing right under it when it came time to start enacting the “Change we can believe in”. Indeed, back in 2008 there were times when it seemed his strategists took their cues from Napoleon Dynamite’s Pedro, as he essentially promised the electorate: “vote for me and all your wildest dreams will come true”. In the nearly three years since he took office, he has made some important steps – passing a (slightly watered-down) health care package, most notably – but so many of his promises have gone unfulfilled and, although it pains me deeply to say it, his presidency thus far has been a bit of a wet firecracker. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/can-obama-win-the-election-yes-he-can-maybe/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/can-obama-win-the-election-yes-he-can-maybe/#item7494 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 When talk show host Stephen Colbert announced his quasi-bid for the US presidency, he presented American voters with an embarrassing democratic dilemma: How were they going to tell the mock candidates from the real ones? Lovers of fine farce will be familiar with Colbert’s work. His hallucinatory satire is so formidable it can be seen from space (where a NASA astronautical treadmill was recently named COLBERT in his honour).  On the off chance you aren’t a religious tuner innerer to the Comedy Channel at 7pm on weeknights, Colbert is the anchor for The Colbert Report. He’s a maniacal, semi-fictitious character who displays breathtaking audacity when it comes to speaking truthiness to power. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/gop-god-guns-and-gays/ On Wednesday, Iowa voters were the first in the union to ink their index finger, so to speak, handing Mitt Romney a win with one of the barest margins in recent history - just eight votes - but for all intents giving Rick Santorum the decisive moral victory. Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry rounded out the top five. A mediocre cache of candidates in 2012 for sure, but in a lot of ways that makes it all the more frightening, mainly (but not exclusively) for gays in America. Some 60,000 people caucused for Romney and Santorum; the difference between the two was less than half a Duggar family. That’s the family famous for 19 Kids and Counting, the reality series about evangelical Christians Jim Bob (yes, really) and Michelle Duggar and their brood of nineteen children (yes, really really). Twelve Duggar children travelled to Iowa to support Rick Santorum, trumpeting his socially conservative religious views. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/gop-god-guns-and-gays/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/gop-god-guns-and-gays/#item7487 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 When talk show host Stephen Colbert announced his quasi-bid for the US presidency, he presented American voters with an embarrassing democratic dilemma: How were they going to tell the mock candidates from the real ones? Lovers of fine farce will be familiar with Colbert’s work. His hallucinatory satire is so formidable it can be seen from space (where a NASA astronautical treadmill was recently named COLBERT in his honour).  On the off chance you aren’t a religious tuner innerer to the Comedy Channel at 7pm on weeknights, Colbert is the anchor for The Colbert Report. He’s a maniacal, semi-fictitious character who displays breathtaking audacity when it comes to speaking truthiness to power. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/our-american-dream-our-american-nightmare/ When the Reverend Seth Kaper-Dale took over the running of the Reformed Church of Highland Park, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, he didn’t realise that most of his Indonesian Christian congregation was living illegally in the United States. Now, after almost a decade of battles, a deadline is pressing hard on 73 members of his church, who are being told to go back to Indonesia. This may seem like an old story; and one that is happening far from Australia. And it is, on both counts. But these Indonesians, living in fear in New Jersey, still somehow seem to me like Australia’s neighbours. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/our-american-dream-our-american-nightmare/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/our-american-dream-our-american-nightmare/#item7341 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 When talk show host Stephen Colbert announced his quasi-bid for the US presidency, he presented American voters with an embarrassing democratic dilemma: How were they going to tell the mock candidates from the real ones? Lovers of fine farce will be familiar with Colbert’s work. His hallucinatory satire is so formidable it can be seen from space (where a NASA astronautical treadmill was recently named COLBERT in his honour).  On the off chance you aren’t a religious tuner innerer to the Comedy Channel at 7pm on weeknights, Colbert is the anchor for The Colbert Report. He’s a maniacal, semi-fictitious character who displays breathtaking audacity when it comes to speaking truthiness to power. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/presidential-wannabe-perry-is-all-hat-no-cattle/ Just when you thought the race for the Republican Party nomination for US president could not become more bizarre, Texas governor Rick Perry, 61, throws his hat in the ring. As they say in Texas, Perry is “all hat and no cattle”. Politically he represents the frontier-style brand of bare-knuckle American conservatism that often surprises and puzzles overseas observers. One respected Texas political analyst described Perry as “yet another small-minded, right wing, Texas governor” who on August 13 portrayed himself as THE Christian presidential candidate at a ‘Prayer-A-Palooza’ campaign launch at a Houston football stadium. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/presidential-wannabe-perry-is-all-hat-no-cattle/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/presidential-wannabe-perry-is-all-hat-no-cattle/#item6548 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 When talk show host Stephen Colbert announced his quasi-bid for the US presidency, he presented American voters with an embarrassing democratic dilemma: How were they going to tell the mock candidates from the real ones? Lovers of fine farce will be familiar with Colbert’s work. His hallucinatory satire is so formidable it can be seen from space (where a NASA astronautical treadmill was recently named COLBERT in his honour).  On the off chance you aren’t a religious tuner innerer to the Comedy Channel at 7pm on weeknights, Colbert is the anchor for The Colbert Report. He’s a maniacal, semi-fictitious character who displays breathtaking audacity when it comes to speaking truthiness to power. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/political-dream-team-unite-to-save-the-world/ “This is enough to choke a horse,” confided Bill Clinton - “this” being climate change, “one of the two or three biggest challenges in the world”. Clinton was speaking in April in a joint interview with New York mayor Michael Bloomberg. Together, the “big dawg” former president and the diminutive, billionaire mayor have formed what amounts to an informal, two-man committee to save the world. It’s not a new concept. The original ‘committee to save the world’ was conjured up in 1999 by the journalist Joshua Cooper Ramo, who appointed the then-Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, US Treasury secretary Robert Rubin and the man who would succeed him, Larry Summers. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/political-dream-team-unite-to-save-the-world/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/political-dream-team-unite-to-save-the-world/#item6023 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 When talk show host Stephen Colbert announced his quasi-bid for the US presidency, he presented American voters with an embarrassing democratic dilemma: How were they going to tell the mock candidates from the real ones? Lovers of fine farce will be familiar with Colbert’s work. His hallucinatory satire is so formidable it can be seen from space (where a NASA astronautical treadmill was recently named COLBERT in his honour).  On the off chance you aren’t a religious tuner innerer to the Comedy Channel at 7pm on weeknights, Colbert is the anchor for The Colbert Report. He’s a maniacal, semi-fictitious character who displays breathtaking audacity when it comes to speaking truthiness to power. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/palin-is-poised-to-trump-her-opponents/ The US is fighting three wars – give or take Libya. Unemployment just ticked up to 9.1 per cent. In coming weeks, the nation faces a critical decision to raise the $14 trillion debt ceiling. So why is America’s political class still squawking over Sarah Palin? Last week, the former Alaska governor threw the 2012 Republican primary race into chaos - not by announcing her candidacy, but simply renting a bus and hoiking it on vacation. She rode in a bikie parade. She made a cameo at the National Archives. Like the garden gnome in Amelie, her cherubic face popped up in a reel of happy snaps from Gettysburg to the Liberty Bell to New York’s Ellis Island. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/palin-is-poised-to-trump-her-opponents/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/palin-is-poised-to-trump-her-opponents/#item6010 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 When talk show host Stephen Colbert announced his quasi-bid for the US presidency, he presented American voters with an embarrassing democratic dilemma: How were they going to tell the mock candidates from the real ones? Lovers of fine farce will be familiar with Colbert’s work. His hallucinatory satire is so formidable it can be seen from space (where a NASA astronautical treadmill was recently named COLBERT in his honour).  On the off chance you aren’t a religious tuner innerer to the Comedy Channel at 7pm on weeknights, Colbert is the anchor for The Colbert Report. He’s a maniacal, semi-fictitious character who displays breathtaking audacity when it comes to speaking truthiness to power. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-evil-genius-of-donald-trump-the-birther/ They say there’s no such thing as a silly question - but sometimes it can be silly to answer one. US President Barack Obama has finally put to rest to the allegations he wasn’t born in the United States (and would therefore be ineligible to be president) by releasing his long form birth certificate. The conspiracy theories of the “birthers” have been dogging the political campaign for what seems like forever. Led by tycoon-turned-candidate Donald Trump they had finally reached a level where the president felt he had to respond. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-evil-genius-of-donald-trump-the-birther/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-evil-genius-of-donald-trump-the-birther/#item5729 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 When talk show host Stephen Colbert announced his quasi-bid for the US presidency, he presented American voters with an embarrassing democratic dilemma: How were they going to tell the mock candidates from the real ones? Lovers of fine farce will be familiar with Colbert’s work. His hallucinatory satire is so formidable it can be seen from space (where a NASA astronautical treadmill was recently named COLBERT in his honour).  On the off chance you aren’t a religious tuner innerer to the Comedy Channel at 7pm on weeknights, Colbert is the anchor for The Colbert Report. He’s a maniacal, semi-fictitious character who displays breathtaking audacity when it comes to speaking truthiness to power.