Democrat Senator Barack Obama snared the coveted endorsement of former US secretary of state Colin Powell and announced a record fundraising haul, handing another setback to Republican Senator John McCain’s lagging presidential campaign.
The decision by Powell, a Republican who served as US President George W. Bush’s first secretary of state, undermines McCain’s claim that his rival is not ready to be commander-in-chief of the US military. It could help Obama seal the deal with independent and moderate voters concerned about his qualifications.
Obama’s staggering US$150 million in donations last month more than doubles his previous record
‘INACCURATE’
McCain, meanwhile, stumping in swing state Ohio, pushed himself as an advocate of working class Americans and small business owners while asserting that the Illinois senator’s tax plan amounted to socialism.
Powell called McCain’s words “an unfortunate characterization that isn’t accurate” and part of an overly negative campaign by “my beloved friend and colleague John McCain, a friend of 25 years.”
“I think we need a transformational figure. I think we need a president who is a generational change and that’s why I’m supporting Barack Obama, not out of any lack of respect or admiration for Senator John McCain,” Powell said on NBC television.
In addition to criticizing what he said was an overly negative McCain campaign, Powell said the 72-year-old’s running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, was not presidential timber.
“I don’t believe she’s ready to be president of the United States, which is the job of the vice president,” Powell said.
McCain was being interviewed on Fox News as Powell endorsed Obama. He reacted by reminding viewers he had the backing of four former secretaries of state and scores of military leaders.
“We have a respectful disagreement,” he said of Powell.
Powell said he recognized the racial aspect of his endorsement, but said that was not the dominant factor in his decision.
Powell also said he was troubled that some Republicans — he excluded McCain — continue to say or allow others to say that Obama is a Muslim.
RALLY WITH HILLARY
Obama aimed to put another dent in John McCain’s comeback hopes yesterday with a double-bill rally in Florida with ex-foe Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to kick off a frenetic final fortnight of the White House race.
In Florida, Obama and Clinton were to headline a joint rally and several separate events yesterday, pitching for a state that had looked solid for McCain.
Clinton is very popular in Florida and trounced Obama in the primary there, but the contest was declared void after the state violated scheduling rules.
McCain, 72, was meanwhile on the defensive yesterday, attempting to cling onto states that helped send Bush back to the White House in 2004. He was campaigning in midwestern Missouri yesterday.
He will fly on to Pennsylvania, a Democratic state in 2004 and a Republican target this year that now seems clearly tipping toward Obama.
Also See: UN study says that toilets are needed to combat poverty、Poverty remains off the table in the US election
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS