Making his first television appearance since his February assault on Rihanna Chris Brown talks about the assault on Rhianna Wednesday on ‘Larry King Live.’ CNN has released a preview clip of the interview, in which Brown alludes going into detail on that violent night.
In the clip, King asks the R&B star if he remembered hitting Rihanna, which he has since been charged and sentenced for. Brown bluntly replies: “No.”
When King presses Brown about how he felt watching all of the coverage of the incident, Brown didn’t expound much more. “I just look at it like, ‘Wow.’ I’m in shock because first of all that’s not who I am as a person. And that’s not who I pride myself on being,” Brown said.
He went on to say that “When I look at the police reports … I don’t know what to think.”
Brown’s mother was by his side for the interview, telling King that her son “has never ever been a violent person,” and that she “was totally shocked” when she found out what happened.
Brown was sentenced on Aug. 25 for felony assault. He was given five years probation and six months of community labor.
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At the age of 34, Virginia Gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonell did not hesitate to reveal his feelings about women and gays. Julien Walker shed light on the new twist in that campaign as a result of the revelation.
McDonnell’s graduate thesis adds new twist to campaign
By Julian Walker
The Virginian-Pilot
August 31, 2009
RICHMOND
Bob McDonnell isn’t the first politician whose past writings have gotten him into hot water, but he is the latest now that a 20-year-old graduate thesis he penned has surfaced.
The paper, submitted in 1989, shows McDonnell’s thoughts at the time about the harmful social impact of working women, feminists and nontraditional families; the flaws of public education; and his disagreement with a federal court decision allowing the use of contraceptives by unmarried couples.
The contents of the thesis were first reported Sunday in The Washington Post. McDonnell, the Republican candidate for governor, wrote it at age 34 as a candidate for law and master’s degrees at what is now Regent University in Virginia Beach.
Democrats immediately pounced on the paper. Gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds’ campaign labeled it a window into archconservative values that belie the moderate image McDonnell has tried to portray.
McDonnell, now 55, dismissed the writings in an e-mail as an academic exercise that doesn’t reflect his current beliefs.
“Like everybody, my views on issues have changed as I have gotten older,” McDonnell said. “When I left the academic world and went into public service my record has been one of proposing innovative ideas, building consensus and getting bipartisan results to improve the lives of Virginians.”
The scrutiny of McDonnell’s writings is similar to that faced by U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, whose 1979 article about the perils of women in military combat drew criticism during his 2006 senatorial race.
Likewise, Barack Obama’s past writings about race drew fire during his presidential campaign last year.
The stir caused by Webb’s and Obama’s writings didn’t derail their campaigns. What potential harm McDonnell’s thesis will cause his campaign is unclear, according to observers who have long followed Virginia politics.
“As with anything else in politics, it’s a piece of the mosaic that is created prior to Election Day. The only question is how big a piece, and that’s up to the candidates,” said University of Virginia political science professor Larry Sabato.
“If McDonnell handles it well and continues to talk it back, it could be a small piece,” he added. “This is something Deeds can run with and it’s necessary to an upset victory by him, but it’s not sufficient for an upset victory. Unless Deeds makes this a major continuing issue, voters are not going to cast their ballots on the basis of this.”
The topics covered in the 93-page thesis raise questions that McDonnell will have to answer, said Mark Rozell, George Mason University political science professor.
“This story casts him in a wholly different light for many people who did not know about McDonnell’s past views on a variety of social issues,” he said. “It is now much more than a charge from Democrats that ‘Hey, this guy is an extremist’ when he had been so successful portraying himself as moderate.”
The thesis argues in support of a range of public policy changes aimed at supporting what McDonnell calls “traditional family values” by rewarding people who adhere to them and refusing government aid to those who don’t.
“Every level of government should statutorily and procedurally prefer married couples over cohabitators, homosexuals, or fornicators,” McDonnell wrote in one passage. “The cost of sin should fall on the sinner not the taxpayer.”
McDonnell can disavow his words or defend them, Rozell said, but he “cannot write this off as some kind of meandering youthful indiscretion.”
Since the work came to light, McDonnell has held up his record in public office as the true example of his beliefs, noting that, for example, he hired several women for senior positions as attorney general. He also mentioned his 1995 legislative work on welfare reform, which he said became a model for the national law signed by Democrat Bill Clinton, as a reflection of his views on family policy.
A statement released by the state Democratic Party noted that McDonnell cast several votes against the use of contraceptives in some circumstances while a member of the House of Delegates.
Republicans were as quick to defend McDonnell Sunday as Democrats were to condemn him.
“My overwhelming political sense of it is that voters are going to say, ‘Give me a break,’ ” said Gary C. Byler, GOP 2nd Congressional District chairman. “I don’t think 1 in 50 is going to care about what Bob wrote in his dissertation. If this is the best they can come up with, it just shows how desperate Democrats are and it tells me the Deeds campaign is in trouble.”
The responses were reversed when the Webb and Obama writings made headlines in recent years.
“There’ll be the usual dollop of hypocrisy on both sides. There always is,” predicted Sabato, noting that the lesson from McDonnell’s current troubles is “yet another reminder to people with ambitions to be very careful what they write and say.”
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In an interview on NBC’s “Today” show, the elder Jackson broke his silence about his son’s shocking June 25 death but refused to finger a suspect in what the coroner ruled last week was a homicide.
“We want justice,” he said. “All of them should pay that’s involved.”
Jackson’s death was ruled a homicide last week after the Los Angeles coroner’s office determined the King of Pop was felled by a lethal dose of the powerful anesthetic Propofol.
Papa Jackson said he was unaware of his son’s drug use and had no idea what kind of medication he was taking at the time of his death.
Dr. Conrad Murray, the singer’s personal physician who was with him the day he died, could soon face manslaughter charges in connection to administering the drug to Jackson for a sleep aid at his rented Holmby Hills mansion.
The elder Jackson remained mum when pressed on whether he thought the doctor should face charges.
Murray told cops he gave the drug to Jackson intravenously for six weeks before he thought the singer might be developing an addiction to it.
The day Jackson died the singer had reportedly been begging Murray for what he called his “milk” for six hours.
There were 82 minutes that passed before Murray called 911 and the doctor didn’t tell emergency room personnel that he had given Jackson the drug, according to reports.
The elder Jackson spoke after the King of Pop was awarded a star on the Palms Casino Resort Walk of Fame this weekend on what would have been his 51st birthday.
“I wish he was here to see this take place,” Joe Jackson said at the ceremony.
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Health-care reform is the No. 1 domestic priority. With all the charges and countercharges, those who will be affected, the American people, are understandably confused. Many are angry. Reform of our health-care system is a gigantic undertaking, but too many measures have been drafted in congressional committees by liberal Democrats. It’s become too much for many to grasp.
After 35 years in Congress, I know there are times when a fresh start is advisable.
If I were a White House adviser, I would suggest that the day Congress reconvenes, President Obama’s version of reform should be introduced by Democratic leaders in the House and Senate. Health-care reform is the vital issue of our time, and Obama should be out front with his specific plan on this make-or-break issue.
Many of us were taught that the president proposes and Congress disposes. Today, Congress is doing both — with the president relegated to the role of cheerleader in chief as he campaigns for various House committees’ efforts. Certainly, Obama supports much in these proposals — but Barack Obama is our president, not a commentator.
Obama’s approval numbers would jump 10 points if Americans knew he was fully in charge. A tactical move of introducing his own plan would also stir more Republicans to become active for reform in critical areas. Right now the president’s biggest problem is with congressional Democrats, who are split and searching for a way out of the medical wilderness.
In short, the president, Congress and the public are choking on all this, and choking is not covered by the legislation.
When I served as Senate Republican leader, I recall President Ronald Reagan telling me after he’d sent a bill that I would introduce that he wanted it all — but that if I could get 70 to 80 percent, to run with it, and he would try to get the rest later. Neither Reagan nor Obama has been considered a master of Congress, but both are known for their great popularity and for understanding the art of reaching for more than they could reasonably expect. Now, consider this: Members of Congress want to keep their jobs. They support their president, but they also want to be employed, with a good health plan (like the one they enjoy now), after this president or even the next has come and gone. So votes on this issue are not simply partisan. They are also about survival. Most lawmakers, Republican or Democratic, will think long and hard before casting this vote — to avoid backing into a buzz saw.
Once the president has staked out his position, which will provide room for amendments, the debate will narrow, and bipartisan bargaining and other political maneuvering can begin.
The goal is getting legislation without driving certain private sectors, such as the health-insurance industry, out of business. Issues such as administrative costs and coverage for those with preexisting conditions can be resolved without any “public option” or the “co-op” provision under discussion. All of these can be postponed for five years or more. If the industry has not shown marked improvement by then, reforms could be imposed because most of the proposed legislation, if passed, would not be implemented for three to four years in any case. I believe the industry is responsible and would clean up its act, as needed, as soon as possible.
Along with former senators Howard Baker and Tom Daschle, I serve on the advisory board of the Bipartisan Policy Center, a group searching for common ground on health care, energy, agriculture, transportation and national security. After more than a year of work on health care, we made our recommendations public in June. We were assisted by many experts, including Chris Jennings, President Bill Clinton’s top health adviser, and Mark McClellan, who headed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Food and Drug Administration under President George W. Bush.
Out of Congress now, we have no votes and no power — but we have our credibility. It is pleasing that many lawmakers, particularly the Senate Finance Committee leaders, Democrat Max Baucus and the GOP’s Chuck Grassley, have looked favorably upon some of our recommendations.
Having watched Congress tackle health reform before, I think it best to avoid the “reconciliation” process, by which part of a plan could be written into legislation that requires 51 votes, and not 60, on its way to passage. This president may be up to his ears in Democratic votes, but I suspect that many will not vote for a bill put forth through reconciliation.
Republicans have different ideas but for the most part are positive about reform if the government has a minimal role. Democrats would eventually regret it if Republicans are forced to take a nearly party-line vote. Obama should get the credit if legislation passes but, more important, get the blame if final legislation draws only a few GOP votes and brings more taxes, more government and more spending .
A bipartisan ending will have more credibility with the American people. Indeed, most important legislation in U.S. history has had broad bipartisan support. As a supporter of bipartisan health reform, I hope the president has gotten some rest in the past week. I also hope he puts the final touches on his own health bill. I’d bet a bottle of aspirin that it would cure many of his headaches.
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In an upcoming interview with E! News, singer Christina Aguilera opens up about her private life with husband Jordan Bratman and their son Max. During the emotional interview, the ‘Dirty’ singer breaks down recalling how she met Bratman and what he really means to her. The full interview airs on E! on September 2nd, but check out the clip above.
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