FROM THE GOP PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE LAST NIGHT AT MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY:

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said he was “embarrassed” for his party and for the GOP White House hopefuls that skipped the forum — Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Fred D. Thompson and Senator John McCain.

All four candidates, who lead in the polls, cited scheduling conflicts in choosing to skip the debate. Tavis Smiley, the nationally known PBS correspondent and host of the forum, said earlier this week that the candidates should not skip the debate at a historically black university.

The candidates who did attend the forum also criticized their absent rivals.

I want to be president of the United States, not just president of the Republican party,” Huckabee said. “Quite frankly for a lot of people there’s a perception that black Americans don’t vote for Republicans. I proved that wrong in Arkansas with 48 percent of African-Americans voting for me.”

Kansas Senator Sam Brownback said the absence of the leading Republican candidates was a “disgrace.”

I think it’s a disgrace for our country, I think it’s bad for our party and I don’t think it’s good for our future,” he said. “You grow political parties by expanding your base … what they’re doing is sending a message of narrowing the base.”

Brownback  said voters in early primary states should condemn the absent candidates by casting their ballots for one of the candidates on stage.

Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo of course jumped to remind attendees that he was the only Republican candidate to speak at an N.A.A.C.P. convention in July.

Also present: California Congressman Duncan Hunter, Texas Congressman Ron Paul, Alan Keyes.

Amongst topics of Iraq, healthcare, and immigration, the forum was the first debate to touch the Jena 6 controversy.

Click here to watch last night’s forum.

RAGMAG previously reported on the MoveOn.org ad flack here.

After fielding rampant criticism over the controversial MoveOn.org ad that critcized General David Petreaus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, the New York Times admitted that it should not have given a discount for the ad.

The full page ad, an expensive venture which normally would have cost $142,000, instead cost the liberal advocacy group $65,000.

 In other words, less than half.

We made a mistake,” Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis said.

MoveOn.org, said they were unaware of the discount and promised to send the Times $77,000 to make up the difference.

But its not just the dscount the Times regrets but pubishing the ad in the first place.

The Times also violated its own advertising policy, which bars “attacks of a personal nature,” Clark Hoyt wrote in his column. Hoyt wrote that the ad:

 gave fresh ammunition to a cottage industry that loves to bash The Times as a bastion of the ‘liberal media.’ ”

Oooooo I just love the verbage there.

Hoyt’s column comes 3 business days after the Senate voted 75 to 25 to denounce the ad on Friday.

Even MoveOn.org is feeling regrets as it told its members in a recent e-mail that maybe “the language went too far”, still the group said:

 …make no mistake: this is much bigger than one ad.”

Joining the long line of celebrities producing fragrances, Usher premiered his new line of perfume and cologne at Macy’s in New York this week and by the looks of the photos is was a star studded event.

The fragrance, simply titled “Usher: She and Usher: He” has already been panned by critics. Vibe.com said “As we previously mentioned, Usher is yet another celebrity putting out a fragrance this year. Well, the women’s perfume and men’s cologne finally hit the shelves this week and word is that the scents are funky–and not in a good way. We’re surprised that fans aren’t feeling Tameka Foster’s bottled musk. NOT!”