Politicians

Here is the transcript of Sen. Barack Obama's remarks after he won the Democratic presidential primary in South Carolina. Thank you, South Carolina. Thank you to the rock of my life, Michelle Obama. Thank you to Malia and Sasha Obama, who haven't seen their daddy in a week. Thank you to Pete Skidmore for his outstanding service to our country and being such a great supporter of this campaign. Watch a thankful Obama after his primary win Over two weeks ago, we saw the people of Iowa proclaim that our time for change has come.

Greek politicians traded insults and accusations following new talks with President Karolos Papoulias to broker a coalition government, an effort that will resume Monday. Papoulias called together the leaders of the three biggest parties Sunday, a week after indecisive elections and three failed attempts to form a government raised the possibility of new elections in the debt-stricken country. His office announced late Sunday that those talks would continue Monday morning. After the meeting, the leader of the radical leftist Syriza coalition said other parties wanted Syriza to be their "partners in crime," adding: "We can't do that.

From Correspondent Liz Weiss ;BOSTON CNN Take a look at your average politicians schedule and its easy to see how health could take a back seat to staying in office.;There are fundraising dinners and latenight brainstorming sessions. There are long days on the campaign trail with snatched snacks instead of substantive meals, and there are street fairs where every booth is overflowing with fatty foods and insistent cooks.;Its no wonder that few U.S. politicians look very fit.;Boston Mayor Tom Menino is no different than many of his peers except in one way he makes time to stay in shape.

Street violence aside, there was something exhilarating about this week's public reaction to the Hungarian prime minister's confession that his government was guilty of playing fast and loose with the truth. More than 10,000 people stormed the streets of Budapest on Monday night after Ferenc Gyurcsany admitted: "We lied in the morning, we lied in the evening, and also at night," -- a conversation that had presumably been taped in the afternoon. The public anger reveals that until now, Hungary's voters had presumably believed that Gyurcsany's government had actually been telling the truth, an assumption many might laughingly dismiss as naive.

More than 30 Iranian opposition politicians have gone on trial behind closed doors, an event that human rights supporters said was timed to embarrass Iran's reformist president. The group, many of them veteran liberal politicians, have been charged with acting against the country's national security and planning to overthrow the regime. Authorities did not announce the exact number of people being tried. The trial was being held on Sunday at Tehran's Islamic Revolutionary Court, which said in a statement that the security nature of the charges required the trial to be held in camera, or behind closed doors.

Politicians are always trying to pimp journalists. And we journalists were always seducing and then abandoning them after we have used them up or exposed them. It is a silly game that has little to do with making America work well. In fact, some of the most remarkable human beings you could ever want to meet in life are politicians. The interaction of politico and journalistico has got to be arguably one of the more significant human interactions in a working democracy, not to mention in aberrational psychology!

Several Mexican politicians were killed in a plane crash in a Pacific resort town Friday, authorities said. Two congressmen, a mayor-elect and a local political party chairman were among those who died in a plane crash in Huatulco, Oaxaca, a statement from Mexican President Felipe Calderon's office said. Congressmen Guillermo Jose Zavaleta Rojas and Juan Huerto Montero -- both from Calderon's National Action Party -- were killed, the statement said. All five passengers on the plane and its pilot were killed in the crash, the statement said.

After months of aggressive campaigning and with nearly 99 percent of ballots counted, politicians were the big winners in Tuesday's midterm election, taking all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, retaining a majority with 100 out of 100 seats in the Senate, and pushing political candidates to victory in each of the 36 gubernatorial races up for grabs. While analysts had been predicting a possible sweep for months, and early exit-poll numbers seemed favorable, politicians reportedly exceeded even their own expectations, gaining an impressive 100 percent of the overall national vote.

The next time you see a dog chase after a car, ask yourself what would happen if the dog actually caught it. American lawmakers were chasing Toyota this week, investigating its safety standards and questioning its executives in televised hearings that drew the entire country's attention. Americans love their cars and buy more Toyotas than any drivers on Earth. But mechanical problems in Toyota vehicles are suspected of links to dozens of deaths. The company has apologized repeatedly and says it's fixing the problems with a global recall of more than eight million vehicles.

Mourners included Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Marlo Thomas, Phil Donahue and Shirley MacLaine. Past and present elected officials included former New York Mayor Ed Koch, mayoral candidate Ruth Messinger and Peter Vallone, New York city council speaker and gubernatorial candidate. ;Many of the mourners wore purple ribbons and armbands because purple was Abzugs favorite color, as well as the color of the suffragettes;Abzug represented the West Side of Manhattan for three terms in the 1970s.

There had to be something special about Rebekah Brooks. Here was a woman, after all, who managed to be a close friend of Tony and Cherie Blair, then a friend (perhaps less close and more briefly) of Gordon and Sarah Brown, and then a very close ("lots of love") friend of David and Samantha Cameron. Given the personality differences between those involved, and given their political differences, it is at least surprising that any one person could be cosy with them all. And for one woman to overcome the jealousy and suspicion of Brown towards a former chum of Blair, and then of Cameron towards a former chum of Brown and Blair, is nothing short of remarkable.

Politicians and celebrities were quick to weigh in, via Twitter and in statements, on news of U.S. President Barack Obama's support for same-sex marriage. Here are some reactions: Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) "Thank you President @BarackObama for your beautiful and brave words. I'm overwhelmed. " "Glee" actress Jane Lynch (@janemarielynch) "Pretty darn happy today. Thanks Mr President, for supporting the dignity of my family and so many others!" New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg)

Greek politicians failed to forge a coalition government Wednesday as a leftist leader huddled separately with two of his counterparts who've supported the austerity initiatives he opposes.Alexis Tsipras of Syriza met with Evangelos Venizelos of the socialist PASOK party a day after laying out a radical agenda he hopes to pursue if he becomes prime minister. He was still talking with Antonis Samaras of center-right New Democracy late Wednesday. Tsipras has until Thursday to form a government or admit defeat, but he faces an uphill task.

As the first week of the John Edwards federal criminal trial comes to an end, where the former Democratic senator and presidential candidate is accused of using hundreds of thousands of dollars of donations to conceal his affair with a campaign videographer without reporting the money to federal authorities, we wanted to take a look back at some statistics about other politicians in trouble. Based on these numbers, Edwards certainly isn't the first pol to get himself into some hot water -- personally, politically or legally.

A lie and a nose job may cost an Egyptian politician his spot in parliament. Anwar al-Bilkimy, a newly elected legislator, was forced to resign from the ultra-conservative al-Nour Party after lying about having plastic surgery, Ahmed Khalil, a party spokesman said late Monday. Black and blue from his rhinoplasty, al-Bilkimy told parliamentarians that his face was bandaged because gunmen attacked him after he refused to get out of his car, Khalil said. Suspicious, the al-Nour Party, who's hardline creed forbids plastic surgeries, formed a committee to investigate his story and found out that he had lied, a party statement said.

The mayor of a Japanese city has sparked outrage after playing down a well-documented massacre of civilians in China's former capital more than 70 years ago. An estimated 300,000 people died when Japanese troops invaded the city of Nanjing in China's Jiangsu province in 1937, unleashing a campaign of rape, murder and looting that became known as the Nanjing Massacre. The event was recently portrayed in a movie starring Christian Bale called "The Flowers of War. " But earlier this week, Takashi Kawamura, the mayor of Nagoya, told a visiting delegation from Nanjing that he believed only "conventional acts of combat" took place there, not the mass murders and rapes, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Former Czech President Vaclav Havel, one of the leading anti-Communist dissidents of the 1970s and 1980s, has died at the age of 75, his spokeswoman announced Sunday. "Vaclav Havel left us today," Sabina Tancevova said in a short statement on Havel's website. Havel, a puckish, absurdist playwright turned political activist, spent four and a half years in prison for opposing Czechslovakia's Communist government before emerging as a leader of the Velvet Revolution that swept it aside in 1989.

When the euro became official tender 12 years ago, it was hailed as an economic and social savior, "the beginning of a strong European Union," according to the EU's top official at the time. But now, in the middle of several economic crises, its effectiveness is coming into question. "The euro was sold to Europeans by politicians as a brilliant way of integrating Europe more. The irony is that it has had exactly the opposite effect," said Harvard historian Niall Ferguson. "It is causing the disintegration of Europe.

A Pakistani politician and his bodyguard were killed Monday in a suicide attack in northwest Pakistan, a police official told CNN. Hanif Jadoon had just finished morning prayers on the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha when a bomber approached his car and detonated his explosives, police official Muhammad Ejaz Khan said. The attack took place in the Swabi district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of Islamabad. Jadoon was a member of the Awami National Party, a secular party often targeted by the Taliban.

If Herman Cain committed sexual harassment and is now lying about it, his goose is cooked and it should be. But if he is telling the truth, there is something terribly disconcerting about the way the Washington "scandal industrial complex" -- full of reporters, former campaign workers and pundits -- has reacted to this sad story. After the story broke in Politico, Cain the next day denied that he sexually harassed anyone, which after all, is the core issue. Since then, other anonymous sources claim they too were harassed, without anyone really knowing what the alleged harassment entailed.