Cher Backs Obama for President

[cal04]

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/cher%20backs%20obama%20for%20us%20president_1085184

Pop singer CHER has offered her support to U.S. Presidential candidate BARACK OBAMA, insisting the nation needs someone to "heal" its divide.

The 62-year-old performer revealed her political leanings by showing off a 'Barack The Vote' T-shirt during an appearance on U.S. morning show Today on Thursday (30Oct08).

Asked about her political fashion statement, Cher revealed she's fully behind the Democrat as he prepares for the presidential election next week (04Nov08).

She says, "He is by far the best candidate. I'm an independent (voter) but I don't think I could ever vote Republican... I was telling someone, 'I've been alive for 11 presidents and I feel this is the worst time I've ever seen.'

"The country's so divided and it's still going to be divided. But there are some people who are healing people, and there are some people - like this president we have right now (George W. Bush) - who says he's the Big Decider, but I really think he's the Big Divider."

Cher on the Today Show
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/27453660#27453660

[qanda]

1. I still remember when Cher called C-SPAN one morning

It was during the Iraq war and she made so much sense. I would be shocked if she ever voted for a Republican.

On Edit-- Here's the transcript from her C-SPAN call:

CHER c-span transcript

Peter Slen, C-Span Moderator: Good Morning Miami Beach

caller: good morning! thank you for c-span, i watch it every day!
uh, i would like to say i had the occasion the other day to spend the entire day with troops that had come back from iraq & had been wounded &..um...i also visited troops during the vietnam era...but the thing that i was most shocked by...um...as i walked into the hospital the first person i ran into was a boy about 19 or 20 years old who'd lost both of his arms...& when i walked into the hosptial & visited all these boys all day long...uh...everyone had lost either one arm...one limb or two limbs or had lost one limb & there were...there were a lot of legs that seemed to be missing & a couple of the boys told me it was because that their vehicles ...that the rockets pierce the vehicles so much its like being kind of in a tin can...it doesnt have...there isnt...the walls of the humvees are very soft & theres no protection...but three guys in the same vehicle have lost a leg.
...& another thing that i saw was that...um...if theyd lost one leg that... that shrapnel that had hit the other leg had been so devatating that they were having to pull like the thigh...you know...the muscle & the thigh around the bottom of the calf to try to make the leg workable but in some cases these boys had lost one leg & the other leg was so damaged that they werent sure what they were gonna be able to do.

C-Span Moderator: where did you spend tthe day?

caller: walter-reed.

C-Span Moderator: & youre down in miami beach, back in miami beach?

caller: i'm down here today.

C-Span Moderator: what were you doing @ walter -reed? are you a volunteer?

caller: no, i was just asked to come & spend the day. i was working that day in washington dc &...

C-Span Moderator: what kind of work do you do?

caller: um, i'm an entertainer.

C-Span Moderator: oh, what kind of entertaining? are you USO?

caller: no, i actually was called by the USO but i'm...i'm...i'm just...i'm an entertainer. & i really dont want to go much past that but...um...

C-Span Moderator: is this CHER?

caller: yeah.

C-Span Moderator: (worshipful silence) ok. & you spent the day @ walter-reed.

caller: yeah. & i spent the day with, i mean they were great guys...&...& the the men that took me around were in the...you know...the services,you know, they were fabulous men...uh...mike & john &...& they these boys had unbelievable courage & they still said for the most part hat they were glad that they they did it, they felt that it was their duty...& there were a few of the national guards that felt it was their duty that once they were over there but they wondered why they were taken out of america to spend that much time as as actual service men when they really felt that their job was to be, you know, protecting this country.
...but i i have to say that they had the most unbeleivable courage & it took everything that i have as a person to...to not...you know... break down while i was talkin to these guys...but i just think that if there was no reason for this war this was the most heinous thing i'd ever seen...& also i wonder why...why are none of cheney, wolfowitz, bremer, the president, why arent they taking pictures with all these guys...coz...i dont understand why these guys are so hidden & why...& why there arent pictures of them because you know, talking about the dead & the wounded...thats two different things but these wounded are so devastadley wounded...you know...that i think that... the wounded...its just... its unbelievable...its just unbelieivable to me & i'm an independant but i....

C-Span Moderator: are you supporting anyone yet for 2004?
you supported ross perot, correct? in 92?

caller: yeah, i mean when i heard him talk right in the beginning i thought that he would bring some sort of common-sense business approach & also less partisianship but then of course...you know...i was completley disappointed like everyone else when he just kind of cut & run & no one knew exactly why ...you know...being that maybe he couldnt have withstood all the investigation that goes on now...but...um...you know...i'm not a bush supporter, that for sure...& im definitley not ashcroft or cheney or any of them...but i would just like to see them have...you know, if youre going to send these people to war then dont hide them, you know &...&...& have some... have some news coverage where people are sitting & talking to these guys & seeing how they are & seeing their spirit & its just...i just...
i think its a crime

C-Span Moderator: when you were up here for your farewell concert earlier this month, is that when you went to walter reed?

callr: yeah.

C-Span Moderator: ok well thanks for your time this morning, thanks for watching

callre: oh i have to tell you i watch you every day & i really appreciate it because i go all over the world & i must say that the news we get in america has nothing to do with the news that you get outside of this country & i think thats why people dont..people dont understand why so many of the allies did not...you know, our usual allies did not join us because if you get outside the united states you hear a different kind of news you know & so...

C-Span Moderator: whats your favorite news source outside the US?

caller: well theres a source that i really like inside the US that gives you special documentaries called WORLDLINK but i think my favorite source outside the US is BBC because they are our allies but you still get...on the nightly news you get...you know, much more coverage & i think much more honest coverage...I dont know, i guess they're not...well...they're independant so they're not owned by any of the major corporations that are... you know, have vested interes in this war.

C-Span Moderator: thanks for your call this morning.

caller: ok, thank you!

[rosesaylavee]

5. "it's a crime" - Cher is dead on right about that. n/t

[yellowcanine]

12. Oh, unfortunate choice of words in light of what happened to Sonny.

[Bluenorthwest]

8. I heard that call happen

Cher is too cool.

[Conza88]

9. Wow

Thanks for posting that exchange!
Amazing, amazing

[WCGreen]

2. Well, there you have it...

[Doctor_J]

3. Go find a pic and add her to my thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=7645315&mesg_id=7645315

[cal04]

6. done and thanks

finally found one in her Barack the vote shirt

:hi:

[Faygo Kid]

4. Love it! Makes me want to watch "Moonstruck" again.

Loretta Castorini: Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. It has been two months since my last confession.

Priest: What sins have you to confess?

Loretta Castorini: Twice I took the name of the Lord in vain, once I slept with the brother of my fiancee, and once I bounced a check at the liquor store, but that was really an accident.

Priest: Then it's not a sin. But... what was that second thing you said, Loretta?

[minnesota_liberal]

10. I remember falling asleep during that film

[armed_and_liberal]

11. If Cher met McCain..

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x-fkSYDtUY>

BTW, Moonstruck is my favorite movie

[chollybocker]

7. Anyone with a gay child who votes Republican?

Oh yeah, that's a paddling.