The Democratic National Committee has had years to prepare for the 2012 convention. On Sept. 5, the well-scripted event was on track to set up the crowd for a rousing speech from President Bill Clinton. However, a voice vote on the party platform created quite a stir – and some outrage – from party faithful.
The CNN camerawoman who had peanuts thrown at her at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. – and who was told by that attendee that “this is how we feed animals” – has been identified as 34-year-old Alabama native Patricia Carroll. Carroll, who is black, told the Maynard Institute, “I hate that it happened, but I’m not surprised at all. This is Florida, and I’m from the Deep South. You come to places like this, you can count the black people on your hand. They see us doing things they don’t think I should do.”
One notable development coming out of the news surrounding the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., has been the unveiling of a film and three YouTube videos to add to the GOP’s arsenal against President Obama.
In the first collaboration of its type in the nation, media members in the St. Louis area are banding together to map out the political landscapes in Illinois and Missouri.
If successful, the Internet collaboration could serve as a blueprint for combined coverage in other community-focused endeavors across the region.
The nation’s political blogosphere has been in an uproar the past few days over comments made by U.S. Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.), a GOP conservative running for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Claire McCaskill.
Akin ignited a firestorm in the “Show Me State” – and across the country – when he said “legitimate rape” almost never leads to pregnancy because “the female body has ways to try and shut that whole thing down.” His comments, carried by St. Louis television station KTVI in its “Jaco Report” Aug. 19, drew swift, sharp rebukes from Democrats and Republicans from coast to coast.