WaPo: TownHall Staged With Pro-Obama Persons Asking Questions

Well, this is certainly something that they all do:

[W]hile the online question portion of the White House town hall was open to any member of the public with an Internet connection, the five fully identified questioners called on randomly by the president in the East Room were anything but a diverse lot. They included: a member of the pro-Obama Service Employees International Union, a member of the Democratic National Committee who campaigned for Obama among Hispanics during the primary; a former Democratic candidate for Virginia state delegate who endorsed Obama last fall in an op-ed in the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star; and a Virginia businessman who was a donor to Obama's campaign in 2008.

Source: Washington Post

Obama's Pot Comment Has Andy Sullivan In a Lather

I guess Obama can do something to upset Andrew Sullivan after all. During his online townhall meeting, Obama rejected, with a giggle, the notion that legalizing pot would translate into gobs of tax revenue and jobs. Sullivan is not amused.

Sorry, Andy, but I'm with the President on this one. People often strain to fit their desire to smoke pot into politically mainstream policies like access to health care (medicinal marijuana) or economic growth and development (taxing pot). Why not advocate decriminalization on its own merits? If you want to light up a joint, make the case for doing so. But I imagine that most people who smoke pot are not relieving arthritis pain, and they probably do not want to pay a sales tax in order to enjoy their high.