All Entries in the "Barack Obama" Category

Oklahoma attorney general will campaign for P’Pool

By Jack Brammer
jbrammer@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — Republican attorney general nominee Todd P’Pool will get an assist in his campaign from Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, who has garnered national attention in his fight against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

P’Pool, the Hopkins County attorney who faces Democratic incumbent Jack Conway in the Nov. 8 general election, said Monday that Pruitt will campaign with him in September.

Pruitt grew up in Lexington and earned a baseball scholarship at the University of Kentucky before attending law school in Oklahoma.

Earlier this year, Pruitt filed suit against the federal EPA for trying to shut down coal-burning plants in Oklahoma. He also has joined in a lawsuit against health care reforms pushed by President Barack Obama.

Pruitt is the latest in a series of leading Republicans to announce they will assist P’Pool this fall in his election. Others include Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, former Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson and former UK basketball star Travis Ford.

–Jack Brammer

Beshear denies accusation that he misled public about Obama visit

By Beth Musgrave
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — Gov. Steve Beshear said Thursday that he did not mislead the public when he said a scheduling conflict prevented him from appearing with President Barack Obama at Fort Campbell in May.

Although the White House did not extend a formal invitation for Beshear to attend Obama’s appearance, Beshear said he would have been there to greet the president if his schedule had allowed it.

“We learned of the president’s visit about 36 hours before it was to take place,” Beshear said during a Capitol news conference called to discuss an education grant. “There were apparently no formal invitations sent, but I feel as governor it is always my responsibility and privilege to welcome a president of the United States.”

At the time of Obama’s appearance, Beshear said he was already scheduled to meet with executives at Churchill Downs on the friday before the Kentucky Derby.

Kentucky receives $4.2 million in federal aid for storm clean-up

FRANKFORT — Gov. Steve Beshear announced Tuesday that Kentucky will get a $4.2 million National Emergency Grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to create 317 temporary jobs for eligible dislocated workers to help with clean-up efforts from April’s severe storms, tornadoes and flooding.

“This money will help Kentucky communities rebuild after suffering extensive damage this spring,” Beshear said in a statement. “The temporary jobs it will create will not only benefit current jobseekers but will provide much-needed assistance in those hard-hit areas.”

The federal grand, awarded to the state Education and Workforce Development Cabinet, will fund a variety of services, including providing temporary employment on projects to assist with clean-up, demolition, repair, renovation and reconstruction of destroyed public structures, facilities and lands within the affected communities, as well as the delivery of humanitarian aid and safety assistance, as needed.

Funds may also be used to provide core, intensive and retraining services to participants who cannot return to work.

Republican leaders try to unify party at Frankfort rally

By Jack Brammer
jbrammer@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — Republicans tried to heal rifts from Tuesday’s primary elections for state offices and unify party support for November’s general election at a rally Saturday at party headquarters.

The two losing candidates for the Republican primary for governor — Louisville businessman Phil Moffett, who enjoyed widespread Tea Party support, and Jefferson County Clerk Bobbie Holsclaw, who prevailed in the state’s most populous county — were there to stand by party nominee David Williams.

But they said later that their roles in Williams’ fall campaign remain uncertain.

Ben Chandler says ‘gruesome’ bin Laden photos should be released

By Halimah Abdullah and Michael Doyle — habdullah@mcclatchydc.com

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler, D-Versailles, is among a select group of lawmakers who have viewed the graphic photos of Osama bin Laden’s body, and he believes they should be released to the public.

“They were gruesome, quite gruesome,” said Chandler, who sits on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and who saw the photos Thursday morning. “Some were clearly taken shortly after the event and others that were taken before burial after his body had been washed. They showed him from several different angles. The striking thing was the size of the wound on his head.”

Chandler described a large wound that spread over most of bin Laden’s head, severe bruising, swelling and brain matter. The level of specific detail depicted in the photos, coupled with DNA evidence provided, should serve as proof of bin Laden’s death, Chandler said.

However, he’s aware that conspiracy theories will continue to swirl on the Internet. Chandler said he feels strongly that President Barack Obama should release the photos to help quell rumors and serve as a deterrent to would-be terrorists.

“The truth is there are going to be some people who either believe in conspiracy theories or push propagandas for their own purposes,” Chandler said. “History suggests it is a good idea to show the body or pictures to put at ease as many people as you can.”

In Kentucky, Obama thanks troops who raided bin Laden

By Jack Brammer and Steven Thomma
jbrammer@herald-leader.com

FORT CAMPBELL — President Barack Obama on Friday privately thanked some of the special military operators who killed Osama bin Laden during his first visit to Kentucky since becoming president. “Job well done,” he said of their daring raid.

In a series of closed-door meetings, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden met with some of the special operations forces who went on Sunday’s early morning raid in Pakistan, and with members of the broader assault force that supported the mission.

“I came here for a simple reason: to say thank you on behalf of America,” Obama told soldiers at Fort Campbell, the home of the 101st Airborne Division, after his private meetings.

“Thanks to the incredible skill and courage of countless individuals, intelligence, military, over many years, the terrorist leader who struck our nation on 9/11 will never threaten America again,” he said.

Beshear will miss Obama’s visit to Kentucky

FRANKFORT — Gov. Steve Beshear will not accompany President Barack Obama on Friday when Obama visits Fort Campbell to greet soldiers who have returned from Afghanistan.

Vice President Joe Biden also is scheduled to make the trip to Kentucky.

“Unfortunately, the president’s visit was not confirmed until late last night – too late to make arrangements in the governor’s schedule, considering his Oaks Day obligations,” said Beshear spokeswoman Kerri Richardson when asked why Beshear will not be with the president, a fellow Democrat.

“However, the governor congratulates the president and the Navy SEALs for their incredible actions this week, and the soldiers and families of Fort Campbell will surely appreciate the president’s visit and gratitude,” she said.

McConnell leads charge against Obama environmental rules

By Halimah Abdullah and Renee Schoof — habdullah@mcclatchydc.com

WASHINGTON — In Kentucky, where coal mining has been the lifeblood of many rural communities, miners and the lawmakers who represent them say the Obama administration’s push for regulations that cap greenhouse gases and toughen mine permitting requirements feels like an assault.

In response, lawmakers from Kentucky and other mining states have battled the administration’s efforts through legislation designed to weaken the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulatory authority and by attacking agency director Lisa Jackson.

This week alone, there are three measures up for debate in the Senate that would revise critical parts of the Clean Air Act. The proposals, sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, Senate finance committee chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V., are vital to helping shore up the economy, say supporters.

“Americans are tired of the White House paying lip service to their struggles while quietly promoting effort after effort, either through legislation or through some back-door regulation, that make it harder, not easier, for businesses to create new jobs,” McConnell said on the Senate floor Tuesday.

Kentucky Poll: Attitudes about Obama, health care and spending favor Rand Paul

PDF: Detailed poll results

By Bill Estep – bestep@herald-leader.com

Kentuckians’ attitudes on three key issues — President Barack Obama, health care reform and government spending — tilt Republican Rand Paul’s way in the U.S. Senate race, according to a new Kentucky Poll.

The central tactic of Paul’s campaign has been to link his Democratic opponent, Attorney General Jack Conway, to Obama, and the numbers bear out the political wisdom of that move.

More than half — 56 percent — of likely voters in the statewide poll said they disapprove of Obama’s performance as president. Only 38 percent said they approve of the job the president is doing, while 6 percent said they weren’t sure.

One key reason is the Democratic president is simply more liberal than many voters in Kentucky, said political observers and people contacted in the poll.

McConnell credits Bush for end of U.S. combat troops in Iraq

UPDATED AT 5:45 P.M.

By Jack Brammer – jbrammer@herald-leader.com

President Barack Obama’s formal announcement of the end of American combat troops in Iraq is “welcome news,” but it was the “determination and will” of former President George W. Bush that made it happen, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday.

McConnell, R-Ky., told several hundred Tuesday at a Commerce Lexington luncheon that the military surge late in the Bush administration, which Obama criticized at the time, ultimately made it possible to remove troops from Iraq.

“It sure makes things easier when you reject your own campaign rhetoric about how the surge — the Petraeus plan — shouldn’t happen and wouldn’t work,” McConnell said. “It makes it easier to talk about fulfilling a campaign promise to wind down our operations in Iraq when the previous administration signs the security agreement with Iraq to end our overall presence there.”

“You might recall that the surge wasn’t very popular when it was announced. You might also recall that one of its biggest critics was the current president,” he said.

McConnell agreed with remarks by Obama that “much hard work remains in Iraq.”

On other subjects during his speech at Lexington’s Hyatt Regency, McConnell said: