April 2007: Hillary Rodham Rodham Would Begin Diplomatic Discussions with Troublesome World Leaders

Clinton Blasts President Bush’s Foreign Policy
(CBS/AP) DECORAH, Iowa Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday criticized President Bush’s foreign policy, and said if she were president she would do things differently, including beginning diplomatic talks with supposed enemies and sending envoys throughout the world. “I would begin diplomatic discussions with those countries with whom we have differences, to try to figure out what is the depth of those differences,” said Clinton, who spoke to about 1,000 people at Luther College in Decorah in northeastern Iowa. “I think it is a terrible mistake for our president to say he will not talk with bad people. You don’t make peace with your friends — you have to do the hard work of dealing with people you don’t agree with,” said Clinton, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. Opening talks with other countries doesn’t mean the U.S. won’t defend its interests whenever necessary, she said, “but what it means is that we should discuss other routes before we decide we’re going to pursue military options. “We cannot provide the leadership we need unless we are willing to try engage the other countries,” she said, She dished out plenty of criticism about the war in Iraq, and said when it comes to Iran, the U.S. needs to engage those with the real power — the clerics. Of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad she said: “He’s like their front man, he’s like their puppet. He goes out and gets people agitated and says things that everybody responds to, but he’s not making the decisions. The decisions are being made within the alternative government of these clerics. “We have no idea of how these people think, we have no contact with them,” Clinton said, arguing that she’s advocated for years to have a process of diplomacy with Iran. “If we ever have to use force against any country, it should be seen as an action of last resort, not first resort,” she said.

http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_112220939.html

Obama’s Great Idea: Sex-ed for kindergarteners

Obama’s Great Idea: Sex-ed for kindergarteners
By Michelle Malkin • July 19, 2007 11:31 AM
Oh, boy, Obama. Via ABC News:
ABC News’ Teddy Davis and Lindsey Ellerson Report: Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., told Planned Parenthood Tuesday that sex education for kindergarteners, as long as it is “age-appropriate,” is “the right thing to do.”
“I remember Alan Keyes . . . I remember him using this in his campaign against me,” Obama said in reference to the conservative firebrand who ran against him for the U.S. Senate in 2004. Sex education for kindergarteners had become an issue in his race against Keyes because of Obama’s work on the issue as chairman of the health committee in the Illinois state Senate.
“‘Barack Obama supports teaching sex education to kindergarteners,’” said Obama mimicking Keyes’ distinctive style of speech. “Which — I didn’t know what to tell him (laughter).”
“But it’s the right thing to do,” Obama continued, “to provide age-appropriate sex education, science-based sex education in schools.”
No condoms and bananas left behind!
The Obama campaign scrambled to do damage control when pressed about his comments:
When Obama’s campaign was asked by ABC News to explain what kind of sex education Obama considers “age appropriate” for kindergarteners, the Obama campaign pointed to an Oct. 6, 2004 story from the Daily Herald in which Obama had “moved to clarify” in his Senate campaign that he “does not support teaching explicit sex education to children in kindergarten. . . The legislation in question was a state Senate measure last year that aimed to update Illinois’ sex education standards with ‘medically accurate’ information . . . ‘Nobody’s suggesting that kindergartners are going to be getting information about sex in the way that we think about it,’ Obama said. ‘If they ask a teacher ‘where do babies come from,’ that providing information that the fact is that it’s not a stork is probably not an unhealthy thing. Although again, that’s going to be determined on a case by case basis by local communities and local school boards.’”
In addition to local schools informing kindergarteners that babies do not come from the stork, the state legislation Obama supported in Illinois, which contained an “opt out” provision for parents, also envisioned teaching kindergarteners about “inappropriate touching,” according to Obama’s presidential campaign.

http://michellemalkin.com/2007/07/19/obamas-great-idea-sex-ed-for-kindergarteners/

Clinton, Obama Address La Raza Conference

Clinton, Obama Address La Raza Conference
Rachael AramReporting
(CBS4) MIAMI BEACH As they competed Sunday to woo Hispanic voters, Hillary Clinton touted her personal connection to the community, while Barack Obama emphasized the intertwined struggles of black and Hispanic AmericansBecause their platforms are so similar — both support a path to legalization for illegal immigrants, improved border security and universal health care and preschool — the way Clinton and Obama approach Hispanic voters will likely be key in the primary season.The candidates spoke before roughly 2,000 Hispanic educators, activists and community and business leaders at the annual conference of the nation’s largest Hispanic civil rights organization, the National Council of La Raza, in Miami Beach.Both received strong ovations but were presented in very different settings.A relaxed Clinton sat in a turquoise silk jacket for an informal interview with Monica Lozano, publisher of the nation’s largest Spanish-language newspaper, during the event’s signature Latinas Brunch.”I told Monica we should talk like we’re two girlfriends, and you just can eavesdrop,” Clinton joked to the audience.Asked how her views of Hispanics have been shaped, the New York senator and former first lady recalled registering Hispanic voters in south Texas in 1972.And she highlighted her close relationships with prominent Hispanics, including Sen. Bob Mendendez, D-N.J.; her campaign manager, Patricia Solis Doyle; and Dolores Huerta, a longtime activist who helped found the United Farm Workers Union along with Cesar Chavez.”It’s not so much reading a briefing book or being handed a policy paper that says this is what you should say when you’re in front of an audience of Latinos,” Clinton said. “It’s who you are and what you believe in.”Clinton ended by bringing out a mariachi band and a cake to celebrate the birthday of one of her campaign chairs, former La Raza president Raul Yzaguirre.Obama cut a more formal presence, standing behind a podium in a dark suit and speaking directly to the crowd before taking questions.He linked the civil rights struggles of blacks and Hispanics by quoting a 1968 telegram the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. sent Cesar Chavez during Chavez’s 25-day fast on behalf of farmworkers.”As brothers in the fight for equality,” Obama quoted, “our separate struggles are really one for freedom, dignity and humanity.”That sentiment remains true today, Obama said.”If there’s a child stuck in a crumbling school who graduates without ever learning to read, it doesn’t matter if that child is a Latino from Miami or an African-American from Chicago or a white girl from rural Kentucky, she’s still our child, and the struggle is our struggle,” he told the audience.The Illinois senator mentioned his work to improve public housing for low-income families in Chicago and his decision to march last year with Hispanic protesters against a stringent immigration bill.Even Obama’s Reggaeton introduction music seemed a subtle reference to the connection between black and Hispanic cultures, with its mix of Latin and hip hop beats.Both candidates promised to push for comprehensive immigration reform during their first year in office. Both stressed their support for legislation to help qualified high school graduates here illegally to attend college and eventually earn U.S. residency.Clinton said she believed both that bill and one to create a path to citizenship for farmworkers still had a chance to pass the current Congress.While Democrats are expected to receive the majority of the Hispanic vote, Republicans are not ready to cede the field. On Sunday, Republican hopeful Mitt Romney, who has taken a hard line on immigration, told a crowd of Republican Hispanics that they are “quintessentially American.”Romney, fellow Republican candidates Rudy Giuliani and John McCain, and Democratic candidates John Edwards and Bill Richardson were also invited to the four-day La Raza conference but did not attend.

http://cbs4.com/topstories/local_story_203092734.html

Romney Hits Obama on Early Sex Education

Romney Hits Obama on Early Sex Education
Republican Mitt Romney directly appealed to social conservatives in South Carolina on Thursday, criticizing Democratic rival Barack Obama for supporting age-appropriate sex education for children as young as kindergartners.
“Senator Obama is wrong if he thinks science-based sex education has any place in kindergarten,” Romney told some 150 people at a restaurant in the northern part of the state. “We should be working to clean up the filthy waters our kids are swimming in.”
Obama, campaigning in New Hampshire, told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday that Romney was only trying to “score cheap political points.” He said he was noting in his comments that he supported laws in Massachusetts and New Hampshire in which local communities and parents can decide how to provide children with information about sexual predators.
The criticism aimed at Obama was part of a broader effort by the Romney campaign to heighten its presence in the early voting state, which holds its primary Feb. 2.
The leading GOP candidate, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, has been dogged by the bad news about his state campaign chairman, Treasurer Thomas Ravenel, who was indicted on federal cocaine distribution charges. Financial woes and staff shake-ups have hit John McCain’s campaign.
Strategists for Romney expect former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson to make a play for the state’s conservative vote should he forge ahead with a candidacy in September. Romney is trying to win them over now.
Just this week, Romney’s wife, Ann, participated in a two-day bus tour of South Carolina. The Romney campaign also included South Carolina in the rotation for a new television ad focusing on preventing children from seeing inappropriate material on television and elsewhere. Romney’s ads had been running only in early voting Iowa and New Hampshire and on cable.
June Bond, a Republican from Spartanburg, introduced Ann Romney as her husband’s starter wife and trophy wife “all in one,” a clear reference to his rivals. Giuliani is thrice married; Thompson’s second wife is more than two decades younger.
“South Carolina is important to us, which is evident given our travel there, the town hall meetings and the organizing that is taking place on the ground,” said Romney spokesman Kevin Madden. “We haven’t matched our level of advertising that is taking place in states like Iowa and New Hampshire, but the work on building the infrastructure required to compete there is definitely taking place.”
One potential obstacle for Romney are the Christian evangelicals who hold sway in the GOP primary. A number have expressed concerns about backing Romney, who is a Mormon.
As Romney has taken the lead in polling in both Iowa and New Hampshire, McCain finds himself struggling to rebound from his troubled campaign. McCain backers circulated two memos Thursday in which the Arizona senator’s campaign seeks to make the case for a comeback and explain a way forward.
In one, the campaign compares McCain’s woes to those of Ronald Reagan in 1980 and argues: “Ultimately when Ronald Reagan took control of his own campaign, he started to see successes.” The message: McCain is doing the same.
The other, a seven-page “Road to Victory 2008” document, lays out a path to the nomination through the early contest states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
Romney’s criticism of Obama followed similar comments the evening before, when he told a GOP fundraising dinner in Colorado Springs, Colo.: “How much sex education is age appropriate for a 5-year-old? In my mind, zero is the right number. Romney’s campaign later released a statement touting himself and criticizing Obama. The headline on the statement: “A record of promoting abstinence, not sex education for kindergartners.”
While governor of Massachusetts, Romney funded abstinence education over family planning and abortion services. But in 2002, he also checked “yes” in a Planned Parenthood questionnaire that asked: “Do you support the teaching of responsible, age-appropriate, factually accurate health and sexuality education, including information about both abstinence and contraception, in public schools?”
Earlier this week, Obama told a Planned Parenthood forum that he considers sex education for kindergartners appropriate if it is geared to their age level.
Obama also recalled being lambasted for his position during his 2004 Senate race against GOP opponent Alan Keyes. Obama said then – and repeated to the Planned Parenthood supporters – that the type of health education he supports is, for example, warning young children about inappropriate touching.
He has also said that if kindergartners ask teachers questions like where babies come from they should be given accurate information, not told a story about storks.
On Thursday, Obama told the AP that politicians shouldn’t engage in hypocrisy over the issue.
“We have to deal with a coarsening of the culture and the over-sexualization of our young people,” Obama said. “Of course, part of the coarsening of that culture is when politicians try to demagogue issues to score cheap political points.”
He added: “What we shouldn’t do is to try to play a political football with these issues and express them in ways that are honest and truthful. … Certainly, what we shouldn’t do is engage in hypocrisy.”
Before his election to the U.S. Senate, Obama was a state senator and chairman of a committee that approved legislation that would have altered Illinois’ sex education standards to include instruction in any grade from kindergarten through 12th, rather than grades 6-12.
Deleted from the 2003 bill was language calling for sex education courses to honor “monogamous heterosexual marriage” and would have softened the state’s emphasis on abstinence, while adding that any course materials should be “age and developmentally appropriate” and based on the latest scientific studies.
The full Senate never voted on the measure, and it ultimately died.

http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2007/7/20/72423.shtml?s=po

Obama and Edwards Promise Universal Coverage for Abortions

Democrats pledge support for wide access to abortion

By Mike DorningWashington BureauPublished July 18, 2007
WASHINGTON — Elizabeth Edwards said Tuesday that her husband’s health-care plan would provide insurance coverage of abortion.Speaking on behalf of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards before the family planning and abortion-rights group Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Edwards lauded her husband’s health-care proposal as “a true universal health-care plan” that would cover “all reproductive health services, including pregnancy termination,” referring to abortion.
Edwards was joined by Democratic candidates Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) at the group’s political organizing conference in addressing issues at the core of the political clash between cultural liberals and conservatives, including abortion rights, access to contraception and sex education.The recent 5-4 Supreme Court decision upholding a federal ban on a late-term abortion procedure that opponents call “partial-birth abortion” has increased anxieties among reproductive-rights advocates over the future of constitutional protections for abortion rights. All three of the Democratic campaigns used the forum to signal their determination to appoint Supreme Court nominees who would uphold the 1973 Roe vs. Wade abortion ruling.Obama, who earlier gained the endorsement of Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian Fenty, offered the group a vision of equal opportunity for women, tying a call for improved access to contraceptives for low-income women with a call for an “updated social contract” that includes paid maternity leave and expanded school hours.Asked about his proposal for expanded access to health insurance, Obama said it would cover “reproductive-health services.” Contacted afterward, an Obama spokesman said that included abortions.Clinton has not yet released her health-care proposal. She provided a bruising critique of Bush administration policies and Republican conservatives on abortion rights and contraception policy.She criticized cuts in contraception services for low-income women, lengthy delays in approving over-the-counter sales of the “morning-after” contraceptive pill and redirection of sex education funds to abstinence-only programs that do not include information on contraceptive use or condoms toto prevent the spread of AIDS.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-dems18jul18,1,639458.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true