Iranian president and clown-of-the-century nominee Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made his sober annual sojourn to speak at the United Nations today. In previous years, half the delegates have walked out after Ahmadinejad railed against Jews, America, and rational thinking—but things were truly different exactly the same this year. Ahmadinejad gave his usual dumb speech filled with anti-Semitic conspiratorial BS, and delegates from the U.S., France, Germany, the United Kingdom and nearly a dozen other countries all walked out in disgust. You can watch his entire "argle-bargle" speech at the bottom, if you so wish. more ›

We've already heard of Mayor Bloomberg's post-MLK speech gaffe, but those present say that his speech at the National Action Network's annual Martin Luther King Day event didn't go so great either. He was booed so much when he made his entrance that the beginning of his speech as inaudible, and about a dozen people continued heckling him throughout his speech. (The Wall Street Journal thinks it's residual blizzard anger, ABC 7 thinks its about Cathie Black.) However, he reportedly turned those raspberries into lemonade by the end of the night. more ›

Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg, when he was addressing Staten Island's 117-year-old Westerleigh Improvement Society, showed off his iPad, which he was using instead of paper notes. But interacting with the touchscreen was a little hard: "I put some notes on it [that] normally I have on my cards, and we'll see whether or not this works. Right away, I just went zipping off to the wrong place." more ›

President Obama addressed the graduates at West Point Academy on Saturday, saying, "Adversaries want to divide us, but we are united by our support for you - soldiers who send a clear message that this country is both the land of the free and the home of the brave." His comments about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the threats of terrorism received applause from the graduates, but Fox News apparently didn't like it! Filmmaker Michael Moore posted the Fox video on Twitter, which features what seems to be an edited pause, making it look like Obama was met with silence when he said the country is poised to end the war in Iraq this summer. However, Michael Moore isn't exactly the most unbiased reporter. Watch the Fox version for yourself: more ›

Bloggers and techies are booing Obama's commencement speech at Hampton University, where he took shots at the iPad and social media for being a "distraction...rather than a tool of empowerment." The notoriously Blackberry addicted president, who gives his weekly address on YouTube and has his own Facebook page, claimed he didn't know how to use most of the tech toys and warned against blogs perpetuating the "craziest claims." Now, the blogs are revolting. more ›

In his commencement speech to students at Hampton University, President Obama warned that the Xbox and the iPads are melting the minds of American youths. The charming president opened with killer material about Mother's Day and the area sports team, earning the graduates' trust before hitting them with the harsh reality of technology. He said, “With iPods and iPads; Xboxes and PlayStations—none of which I know how to work—information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation." He also warned against trusting the blogs, on which "some of the craziest claims can quickly claim traction." Be careful, Obama; the Facebook can giveth and the Facebook can taketh away. more ›

President Obama spoke about financial reform at Cooper Union yesterday, telling an audience that included lawmakers and critics—like Mayor Bloomberg, who is wary of hurting NYC's cash cow—and titans of finances—like Goldman Sachs' Lloyd Blankfein—telling them, "I believe in a strong financial sector that helps people to raise capital and get loans and invest their savings. That’s part of what has made America what it is. But a free market was never meant to be a free license to take whatever you can get, however you can get it. That’s what happened too often in the years leading up to this crisis." (Transcript) more ›

Governor Paterson has announced he will, as expected, that he will not run for governor this year, "Today I'm announcing I'm ending my campaign for the governor of New York. I cannot run for office and manage the state's business at the same time. Right now New York State needs a leader full-time." However, he did not resign, pointedly saying, "There are 308 days left in my term—I will serve every one." Below, liveblog of his press conference. more ›

President Obama spent the afternoon in the Situation Room meeting with his national security team, the first face-to-face meeting with some two dozen advisers since the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. Following the meeting, the president acknowledged that the government knew of “other red flags” in the failed underwear bombing plot. "This was not a failure to collect intelligence, it was a failure to integrate and understand the intelligence that we already had," Obama told reporters at the White House. For good measure, he added that "the system has failed" in a major way. But at least the FAIL wasn't as bad as the one in Slovakia on Saturday! more ›

President Obama arrived in Copenhagen this morning to address the UN conference on climate change. In a stern speech delivered hours after his arrival, Obama told world leaders and their delegates that "the time for talk is over... All of you would not be here unless you — like me — were convinced that this danger is real. This is not fiction, it is science." The President's arrival came as any agreement on climate change remained out of reach, and China, the world’s leading emitter of greenhouse gas pollutants, was accused of holding back progress in the climate talks by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. During his address (text here, video below), Obama expressed frustration and urgency: more ›

Governor David "Downer" Paterson was at the Museum of American Finance on Wall Street earlier today to talk about how screwed New York is. He called the state "ground zero for the recession" and said, "We have a ‘lack of cash’ crisis in this state. We are in a very deep quagmire. New York is now at the breaking point. We are about to cross the financial Rubicon into fiscal disaster." To bail water, Paterson promised to begin delaying payments for services in order to keep the state solvent. And he's ready to defend the stop-payments in court. more ›

State Senator Diane Savino, who represents Staten Island and Brooklyn, is getting praise for her speech in favor of gay marriage during the ultimately unsuccessful vote in the Senate yesterday. She pointed out, "We're giving away husbands on a TV show," referred to fellow State Senator Thomas Duane's relationship with his partner, "I will tell you, I'm over the age of 40--and that's all you're going to get from me--but I have never been able to maintain a relationship of the quality and length that they have. We have nothing to fear from love and commitment. My only hope, Tom, is that we pass this bill and the governor signs it and that we can learn from you, and that you don't learn from us," and ended with, "We have nothing to fear from love and commitment." more ›

Former President George W. Bush spoke at the GET MOTIVATED seminar in Fort Worth, TX, telling the crowd, "I don't see how you can be president without relying on the Almighty... I can tell you that one of the most amazing surprises of the presidency was the fact that people's prayers affected me. I can't prove it to you. But I can tell you some days were great, some days not so great. But every day was joyous." There was love in the air; one man told the Star-Telegram, "I was ready to put him back in office." The Rachel Maddow Show's Kent Jones was there and heard, "George Bush was the best speaker so far." more ›

Yesterday, Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took to the United Nations General Assembly stage—and got the U.S., French, British, Canadian and other delegations to walk out when he referred to Israel in his speech: "It is no longer acceptable that a small minority would dominate the politics, economy and culture of major parts of the world by its complicated networks, and establish a new form of slavery, and harm the reputation of other nations, even European nations and the US, to attain its racist ambitions." more ›

President Obama has accepted a South Carolina Republican's apology for shouting, "You lie!" during his health care reform speech to Congress last night. Speaking to reporters after his Cabinet meeting today, Obama said that Wilson apologized "quickly and without equivocation," adding, "We all make mistakes." But we don't all have to be such assholes! If a Democrat had disrupted President Bush during one of his speeches to Congress—when he actually was, you know, lying—the GOP would have probably had the heckler hung for treason. more ›

Following criticism of President Obama's plan to speak about education to schoolchildren, the White House released the text of the speech yesterday. Last week, one parent in Texas, apparently concerned that his school district hadn't approved the speech, told the NY Times, "I don’t want our schools turned over to some socialist movement." Fortunately, the "socialist movement" seems limited to "If you quit on school - you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country" and "I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter." more ›

At a breakfast forum this morning, Representative Anthony Weiner – a likely mayoral candidate – handed out a 5,000 word manifesto about how he would keep the city affordable for the middle class. The Sun has it that Weiner also used his half-hour speech to criticize the proliferation of big-box chains in New York, wondering, “What is the value of having a Wal-Mart on Queens Boulevard that wipes out economic development on the rest of Queens Boulevard. What is the value of saving 15 or 20% on that pair of jeans, in terms of creating jobs for the rest of Queens?” But the congressman also stressed that he's a "middle-class New Yorker.” And later: “I’m cheap.” more ›

Like the last party guest who lingers long after her welcome and leaves the hosts feeling a little awkward and anxious for her departure, Hillary Clinton finally conceded that she is not going to get the nomination of the Democratic Party in the 2008 Presidential election. In a fairly upbeat address at the National Buildings Museum in Washington, DC, Clinton pledged to work to unite Democrats after a long and bitter campaign. more ›

Fans of Phish, the Clinton-era jam band road hogs, had high hopes for a reunion last night when the band appeared at the Theater at Madison Square Garden to accept a Lifetime Achievement award at the 7th annual Jammy Awards. But instead the four members gave polite acceptance speeches and walked off without so much as an a cappella “Freebird.” more ›

Later today ABC will join together Barack Obama with the ladies of The View. While they tell us the main focus of their interview segment is on the "controversial remarks of Reverend Jeremiah Wright" (something that Elizabeth Hasselbeck has slammed him for in the past), one of the clips shows Barbara Walters telling Obama he is, "very sexy looking." At which point the presidential candidate needs to fan himself from the 78-year-old news legend's praise! more ›

Barack Obama has popped up in the form of street art in Brooklyn, and AAVR Magazine points out the Grattan Street mural near the Morgan L stop. That's part of his More Perfect Union speech in the background, and yes, it looks a little bit more like Fred Armisen's Fauxbama than the real thing. more ›

In a televised address Monday night, Polish President Lech Kaczynski showed a clip depicting a gay couple (pictured) from Queens getting married in Toronto five years ago. Kaczynski’s anti-gay speech was meant to warn Polish conservatives about what lies ahead if Poland ratifies the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights. Here's TV news coverage of the gay marriage storm gathering at Poland's borders. more ›

Besides killing Mom ‘n’ Pop stores and displacing low-income residents, the rapid gentrification seen in some New York neighborhoods may be flushing the city’s famous working class dialect down the terlet. more ›

Just in time for Super Tuesday, a bunch of big and small names have banded together in support of Barack Obama. The below video was directed by Jesse (son of Bob) Dylan and features the Black Eyed Peas will.i.am, Scarlett Johansson, "Micheal" from Lost, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Herbie Hancock, and many more putting a musical spin of one of Obama's speeches. more ›