Taylor Marsh - News, Political Analysis, Foreign Policy, and Independent Political Opinion on Progressive Politics
Taylor Marsh has been writing on line since 1996, with the archives provided here a representation of that work.
Archive | July, 2011
Obama Trailing Among Independent Voters
Independent registered voters are currently more likely to vote for the Republican candidate (44%) than for Obama (34%), though one in five do not have an opinion. Republicans and Democrats show strong party loyalty in their vote choices, with Republicans showing somewhat stronger loyalty.
Independents are just one reason establishment Republicans will go to the mat to keep Michele Bachmann and her ball and chain husband from rising to the top.
Mitt Romney as the Republican nominee will provide a wealth of ammunition for Democrats. The late Sen. Ted Kennedy provides the path and the foreshadowing of what could come.
Politico’s piece today reveals why, which also provides un-aired as well as aired ads from Ted Kennedy’s old campaign archives. Romney’s troubles begin with Bain Capital.
A company that laid off hundreds of employees. A federal “bailout” to rescue a failing bank. Mitt Romney, at the center of it all.
[...] The never-aired “bailout” ad [see below], shared with POLITICO by one of Kennedy’s advisers, remains an unexploded grenade from that race, underscoring Romney’s vulnerability in the first presidential election fought since the 2008 financial meltdown.
According to former Kennedy advisers, the ad never ran because it turned out to be unnecessary: Kennedy had already broken Romney with a series of ads tying him to layoffs in Indiana.
[...] Greg Mueller, the conservative public relations man and former Pat Buchanan adviser, argued that the offensive against Romney was well under way: “They’re trying to hit him on Bain, companies that Bain had under their umbrella, where people lost their jobs.”
[...] In one instance, Romney sat on the board of a medical supply company, Damon Corp., which later paid $119 million in penalties for billing unnecessary blood tests to Medicare during the period of Romney’s involvement.
The Tea Party crew has said they’ll do everything to stop Romney, but I haven’t seen or heard much from them lately.
In the believe it or not column, Romney’s finally spoken on the debt ceiling debate. A balanced budget amendment is his “line in the sand.” What a putz. Oh, and Mr. Romney also believes that civilians shouldn’t control the military.
Just what we need, another national candidate from the Republicans who believes the role of commander in chief is to be a puppet of his generals.
**UPDATED BELOW**
Mr. Paul will not be back to Congress after his last presidential run. His brand of courage on our foreign interventionism has always been refreshing, even if he’s wrong on many other matters. Particularly, I always find it odd that these freedom fanatics think this is something that’s not for women.
Love him or hate him, this ad is brilliant.
Long before Sarah Palin swooped in, or Michele Bachmann stirred, it was Ron Paul who inspired the Tea Party movement. There’s a reason he has loyal followers on the Right.
UPDATE: I thought I’d add the back and forth between Paul and Bernanke yesterday, because it was one of those fascinating moments that has endeared Ron Paul to his many fans.
“When you wake up in the morning, do you think about the price of gold,” Rep. Paul asked. After pausing for a second, Bernanke responded, clearly uncomfortable. that he paid much attention to the price of gold, only to be interrupted once again.
“Gold’s at about $1,580 [an ounce] this morning, what do you think of the price of gold?” asked Rep. Paul. A stern-faced Bernanke responded people bought it for protection and was once again cut-off, with Ron Paul once again on the offensive.
“Is gold money?” he asked. Clearly bothered, Bernanke told the representative, “No. It’s a precious metal.”
After Paul interrupted him to note the long history of gold being used as money, Bernanke continued, “It’s an asset. Would you say Treasury bills are money? I don’t think they’re money either but they’re a financial asset.”
“It will hurt her… If voters see the Republican Party, if they see us as intolerant and attacking a certain population of fellow Americans, it’s not a winning combination. I’m not the only one who says this. There are many other strategists that, regardless of their orientation, are concerned that we could lose the voters that we gained in the 2010 election cycle.” – Religious right rushes to Bachmann’s defense following ‘ex-gay’ reports
The Bachmanns have been making a lot of news lately. The few women who have attempted the national ticket tango have all had spousal issues, but Michele Bachmann breaks the mold for something Americans on the whole won’t accept. It was one thing when Geraldine Ferraro’s husband caused a scandal for her, or when Hillary’s former president husband became part of her campaign narrative. Marcus Bachmann is in a completely different category.
Even if you don’t understand that homosexuality is who someone is, you’d think people would get that if you’re heterosexual and you didn’t choose to be that it has something to do beyond what you decide to be.
Supposed “Christian values” put beside judgments that proclaim a person needs “curing” from who they are make a mockery of spirituality itself and the very nature of someone’s God that is supposed to be perfect. How can any god create a person or thing that is inherently flawed? Different, perhaps. Something you struggle to accept, absolutely. But a human trait that you decide needs curing? But, of course, this theory is nothing new.
Mr. Bachmann is not only a problem for Mrs. Bachmann, he’s a disgrace to her candidacy.
Problem is that the candidate for president is in cahoots with her crackpot mate.
And let’s be honest, shall we, the tape released earlier with audio of Mr. Bachmann talking about gays and their alleged “sinful nature” says a lot more about him than it does anything. It’s not only creepy to hear a grown man talk like this, using the word “barbarian,” but there’s something about Mr. Bachmann that just doesn’t seem quite right and I’m not the only one that felt this way when the tape came out. Why aren’t more people talking about that?
The candidate better keep Marcus under lock and key, because if this guy gets in front of a real reporter he’s going to be exposed for a lot more than a conversion therapy wacko. He just won’t pass the national ticket test. Because even those Americans who are still evolving on gay marriage and the reality that gays are who they are because, well, just like heterosexuals it’s who they are don’t want their bigotry to have a standard bearer like Marcus Bachmann. There’s just something un-American about pretending to cure gayness.
Michele Bachmann’s lunacy towards gays and lesbians isn’t a killer for the Republican party, unfortunately. However, for a woman gaining real support from the Right it is cause to pause when considering any role she might have on the GOP ticket.
Bigotry is so last century.
BREAKING…. Moody’s puts the U.S. on notice.
President Barack Obama abruptly ended a tense budget meeting on Wednesday with Republican leaders by walking out of the room, a Republican aide familiar with the talks said. – Reuters
It’s all about averting default now.
Tapper’s title is stark: President Obama: We Need to Decide by Friday if We’re Working on a Compromise Deficit Reduction Bill or Just Some Way to Avoid Default.
Amidst discussions of credit ratings agency Moody’s putting the U.S. on review for downgrade, President Obama told congressional leaders today that by Friday they all have to decide what they’re doing: a compromise package to reduce the deficit, or if there’s no willingness to compromise, some other way to raise the debt ceiling and avoid defaulting. – Jake Tapper
Chuck Todd tweeted: Early GOP readout indicates today’s debt talks ended “abruptly” with POTUS. Described as “tense.” Todd also said “Both sides quietly grumble group’s too big to get true frank talks.”
From a CNBC tweet: Cantor: President ‘Abruptly Walked’ Out Of Debt Talks – Areas Of Agreement ‘Not Even $1.4T’ In Savings – DJ.
Felicia Sonmez, congressional blogger for the Washington Post, tweeted that “Cantor offered to support two separate debt-ceiling votes.”
Jill Jackson from CBS tweeted: Obama wants deal to get the government thru 2012. So he threatened to veto smaller bills and told Cantor not to call his bluff.
Eric Cantor also told FNC that “all progress in debt talks has been erased,” via a tweet from Maggie Haberman.
I told you it was tense in town.
**UPDATED**
Frankly, I wouldn’t even be writing this piece if it wasn’t for Tim Pawlenty falling off the grid, because early polls aren’t very illustrative. It’s just that even after “Meet the Press,” debates and pimping the press, he still can’t get any respect.
I don’t know how it gets any worse for TPaw, someone I said from the start wouldn’t pass muster and didn’t have a prayer to beat Obama, who’s in a different political league. But elite politicos and many cable talking heads proclaimed him golden.
For Pawlenty to come back, Bachmann’s surge would have to prove to be fleeting, which certainly can happen, though the latest debt ceiling collision between establishment Republicans and the Tea Party faction doesn’t foreshadow that happening anytime soon.
That is, unless and until Rick Perry enters the race. Because let’s face it, the Republican Party is a big old boys’ club at heart. From Jonathan Martin.
The Texas governor and his top advisers are feeling out early-state Republican activists on the phone. He met for lunch in Austin Tuesday with former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. Next week, he’ll join a group of top national Republican donors for dinner in the state capital, POLITICO has learned. [...] Dave Carney, Perry’s chief strategist, said they had no “hard deadline,” but called Labor Day the outer end of when Perry will have to make up his mind. “I have always expected him to make a decision by the end of the summer,” the strategist said.
I guess Perry is going the Palin route to foreign policy credibility. As an update, I missed the piece in Salon about Perry’s reported ties to the neo-Confederate movement. What’s with Republicans and groups like this?
From Quinnipiac, the bad news for TPaw, who once was seen as the conservative contender:
Minnesota U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, a relative newcomer in the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, is surging and now trails former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney 25 – 14 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has 12 percent, followed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry with 10 percent. No other contender is over 6 percent.
You notice that Tim Pawlenty isn’t even in the opening paragraph?
That’s because he’s slid to 3%. That’s right, 3.
Rounding out the possible Republican presidential field are entrepreneur Herman Cain at 6 percent, Texas U.S. Rep. Ron Paul at 5 percent, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at 5 percent, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty at 3 percent, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan each at 1 percent or less.
Huntsman down with Thaddeus McCotter is as close to underachieving as it can get.
Pres. Obama whoops them all, though against Romney, at this point, the President can’t get above 50 percent, which you can bet will get David Plouffe’s attention.
President Barack Obama tops all leading GOP White House hopefuls, hitting the all- important 50-percent mark against every candidate but Romney:
47 – 41 percent over Romney, unchanged from June 8;
50 – 38 percent over Bachmann, who was not matched against Obama June 8;
53 – 34 percent over Sarah Palin, compared to 53 – 36 percent June 8;
50 – 37 percent over Perry, who was not matched against Obama June 8.
Republicans aren’t thrilled about Romney, but now that Pres. Obama has shown his hand that he’s hell bent on cutting entitlements, the Left isn’t exactly enthused either. How badly Republicans want to beat Obama could be the difference.
Oh, how I love the feeling of schadenfreude on a hot summer morning.
News Corporation (“News Corp”) announces that it no longer intends to make an offer for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC (“BSkyB”) not already owned by it.
Chase Carey, Deputy Chairman, President and Chief Operating Officer, News Corporation, commented: “We believed that the proposed acquisition of BSkyB by News Corporation would benefit both companies but it has become clear that it is too difficult to progress in this climate. News Corporation remains a committed long-term shareholder in BSkyB. We are proud of the success it has achieved and our contribution to it.”
As for the screen shot above, it’s the front page of the Daily Mirror, via Twitpic (h/t @GGreenwald).
This is going to hit Republican wannabes like a fat two-by-four in the head.
Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said in a video posted early Wednesday that it raised more than $47 million and the Democratic National Committee brought in more than $38 million through the end of June, building a foundation for advertising and get-out-the-vote efforts in next year’s election. Obama’s team had set a public goal of $60 million combined. [...] About 98 percent of the donors gave $250 or less. Messina said the average donation was about $69.
Obama broke his previous fundraising record of $33.1 million during the same quarter in 2007 and surpassed finance efforts by his predecessors. … Obama Fundraising For 2012 Campaign, DNC Breaks Record
Mitt Romney leads Republicans with $18 million in the past quarter, with HuffPost $12 million this year also coming from an indepedent group supporting Romney. But then there’s a huge drop to Tim Pawlenty at $4.2 million, Jon Huntsman at $4.1 million, a number that includes “about half” coming from Huntsman’s personal wealth. Bachmann has yet to report.
I’m in the minority on the Left, but Sen. Mitch McConnell’s diabolically devious political hail Mary to dump the debt ceiling issue (and spending challenges) into Pres. Obama’s lap sounds to me like a real problem for the White House. Whatever you say about McConnell’s plan, he’s saved the entitlement argument, while stuffing Pres. Obama’s “grand bargain” down his throat and hung him out to dry with his base, who now knows he’s willing to sell out the safety net. And the President doesn’t even have a win to show for his policy plank-walking, with his entitlement proffer kaput. With entitlements now on the table in perpetuity, Democrats and progressives know conclusively that Pres. Obama won’t protect what most Democrats hold dear, which includes if he’s reelected. In what world is that not a problem for the White House?
Under McConnell’s proposal, the president would send a request to Congress for a series of debt limit increases that would have to be offset with spending reductions elsewhere. Congress would be allowed to vote on a resolution of disapproval that would kill the increase, but the president would be able to veto that resolution. Congress then would have to come up with a two-thirds supermajority to prevent the debt ceiling from increasing. A provisional $100 billion would be immediately added to the debt ceiling at the time of the president’s first request to avert default this August while the potentially time-consuming procedural back-and-forth with the White House began.
However, McConnell’s push to have three votes on raising the debt ceiling before 2012 could be rejected by President Barack Obama, given that the president has said he will not sign any deal that does not extend past next year’s election. But an agreement on a three-vote strategy could satisfy Obama’s requirement that a plan be in place to increase the debt ceiling during that time frame.
I’ve never bought the notion that Obama would veto smaller plans.
McConnell’s gambit, which has 47 members supporting it in the Senate, has infuriated the Tea Party House caucus and their supporters, but that’s a bigger problem for 2012 candidates than anything, helping Bachmann and making the entry of Rick Perry even more possible. The Tea Party was always going to be a problem in ’12, but this could unhinge everything.
Watching Rev. Al Sharpton, who’s been tearing it up on MSNBC lately, talking to Rep. Clyburn, both of these men were hailing Pres. Obama’s leadership and willingness to deal seriously on entitlements, but also pushing for revenues. The next segment had a Tea Party leader squealing to high heaven. Maybe I’m wrong, but if Democrats are circling the wagons around Obama, with the Tea Party raising hell, while Grover Norquist backs McConnell, something tells me the GOP establishment feels they’ve found their way through without letting Obama declare victory.
Unless, of course, Obama stands up to do just that. He could come out to talk about what he wanted to do, but the Republicans wouldn’t do it and claim grown-up status. He’s popular enough to do it and he’s got the political chops, especially when he’s up against it, which he is now. It’s not like it hasn’t been obvious that Pres. Obama wanted to go all the way, including entitlements. Somehow he has to tie up his message to independents and how he did the responsible thing, while Rep. balked.
It’s obvious Pres. Obama pissed McConnell off in their last meeting and today was the result. But now McConnell’s brain child has to get pass the House. Rumble.
Meanwhile…. Over 470 business leaders say raise the debt ceiling.
Jennifer Rubin got the exclusive from McConnell in “eat your own darn peas.”
Erick Erickson’s head exploded, because McConnell gave Obama more power, this time over something significant.
Michele Malkin is head-banging.
Unsurprisingly, Markos and Josh Marshall don’t buy “evil genius.”
…and Lawrence O’Donnell still needs a lifeline and a rewrite on last night’s bad analysis on “Now, specific policy issues aside…”, because entitlement sacrifices are no big deal, Obama’s tactics equal “strategic brilliance” on the debt ceiling battle.
There’s nothing worse than your adversary doing something for which you’re not the least prepared and I bet the White House was just as stunned as everyone else that Sen. Mitch McConnell ceded debt ceiling power to the Executive.
This guy needs to find a path to run as an Independent.
Of course, there’s no path to win that way, but he could cause nightmares for Pres. Obama and the Republican nominee, which would be well worth it as an exercise.
Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who would like to be the Republican nominee in the White House race, said Tuesday he’s not about to sign the spending limit pledge that a South Carolina senator has turned into a threshold test for 2012 presidential hopefuls seeking his support.
… The pledge says spending cuts are needed to lower the deficit and capped to balance the budget while Congress and the states approve a constitutional amendment requiring balanced budgets.
“I don’t sign pledges — other than the Pledge of Allegiance and a pledge to my wife,” Huntsman said. He says he told DeMint “You just have to understand that’s where I come down.”
It’s irresponsible for anyone to pledge that the federal gov. should be held to a balanced budget, something that is so counter to the purpose of government when the country gets in trouble it further illustrates the idiocy of Tea Party people.
On Afghanistan, Huntsman makes Obama sound like Bush, while revealing himself as someone ready to turn away from the Bush-Obama war machine that has us entrenched in wars we can’t afford, in countries we have no business conducting military exercises.
“We have fought the good fight in Afghanistan,” Huntsman said. “Only Afghanistan can solve Afghanistan. We can’t want them to have a country more than they want to have a country. And I’m here to tell you that we need to make sure Americans take care of America at this point in our history.”
Huntsman also believes that Libya was a bad decision, which it was.
For years, the American military has believed that public anger over government-linked corruption has helped swell the Taliban’s ranks, and that Ahmed Wali Karzai played a central role in that corruption. He has repeatedly denied any links to Afghan drug trafficking.
According to three American military officials, in April 2009 Gen. David D. McKiernan, then the top American commander in Afghanistan, told subordinates that he wanted them to gather any evidence that might tie the president’s half brother to the drug trade. “He put the word out that he wanted to ‘burn’ Ahmed Wali Karzai,” one of the military officials said.
The gnashing of teeth over Ahmed Wali Karzai is because of the vacuum he leaves.
Also in Afghanistan, the man who mutilated Aisha, part of the torturers who cut off her nose, has been released. All sorts of excuses are being used, but the reality is that all the U.S. military might and money cannot change the culture of Afghanistan to save the women.
Now, with Pres. Karzai’s half brother dead, someone who was corrupt and also had an important role in negotiations with the Taliban and others, a dead end for the U.S. in Afghanistan seems even more apparent.
… Whether or not the Mirror’s claims are verified, the allegations may raise the volume on questions about the editorial judgment and ethics employed by Murdoch titles in the U.S. “The News of the World has lots of reporters at any given time on the ground in the U.S.,” Murdoch biographer Michael Wolff tells CBS News. “Many of its stories, particularly many of its celebrity stories, are dateline here. So, I think that’s the next step.” [...] – Murdoch’s hacking woes grow; 9/11 victims eyed?
This story boggles the mind. Following it since it broke has been a stunning trip through the worst media scandals in modern times, with no parallel. The villain in this tale is a notorious conservative whose propaganda outreach includes the most popular cable TV channel in the U.S., Fox News Channel. Even after the worst was uncovered, with images of grubby people deleting phone messages from missing 13-year-old Milly Dowler’s phone, Ruppert Murdoch shows no remorse. It’s all about his enemies trying to get even with him.
What Murdoch seems most desperate about is saving his monopoly hunger from running aground. His bid to buy BSkyB is stalling since this scandal exploded, with Labour leader Ed Miliband vowing to challenge Mr. Murdoch until the bitter end.
Bloomberg’s Lizzy O’Leary mis-reported News Corp. was to bow out of the Sky bid earlier today.
Then Forbes reported that after News Corp. withdrew its pledge to spin off Sky News as a condition for acquiring BSkyB, Britain’s Competition Commission could go “for a full-scale inquiry,” which is exactly what has happened.
While the latest from the The Independent on the political targets brings in Gordon Brown:
… Brown joins a long list of Labour politicians who are known to have been targeted by private investigators working for News International, including the former prime minister Tony Blair and his media adviser Alastair Campbell, the former deputy prime minister John Prescott and his political adviser Joan Hammell, Peter Mandelson as trade secretary, Jack Straw and David Blunkett as home secretaries, Tessa Jowell as media secretary and her special adviser Bill Bush, and Chris Bryant as minister for Europe.
[...] The sheer scale of the data assault on Brown is unusual, with evidence of attempts to obtain his legal, financial, tax, medical and police records as well as to listen to his voicemail. All of these incidents are linked to media organisations. In many cases, there is evidence of a link to News International.
Scotland Yard recently wrote separately to Brown and to his wife to tell them that their details had been found in evidence collected by Operation Weeting, the special inquiry into phone hacking at the News of the World. It is believed that this refers to handwritten notes kept by Mulcaire, which were seized by police in August 2006 and never previously investigated. Brown last year asked Scotland Yard if there was evidence that he had been targeted by the private investigator and was told there was none.
Journalists who have worked at News International say they believe that Brown’s personal bank account was accessed on several occasions when he was chancellor of the exchequer. An internal inquiry by Abbey National’s fraud department found that during January 2000, somebody acting on behalf of the Sunday Times contacted their Bradford call centre six times, posing as Brown, and succeeded in extracting details from his account.
Scotland Yard involved in Murdoch’s messy and possible malfeasance, with all sorts of politicians being targeted is especially interesting when you consider what might happen if this had happened in the U.S. It puts the 2000 election finale in perspective, a time when Roger Ailes allowed the relative of George W. Bush to control the election results that fateful election. From Rolling Stone on Ailes, just to drive home the entire picture, now that we see what’s hitting the fan in Britain:
But it was the election of George W. Bush in 2000 that revealed the true power of Fox News as a political machine. According to a study of voting patterns by the University of California, Fox News shifted roughly 200,000 ballots to Bush in areas where voters had access to the network. But Ailes, ever the political operative, didn’t leave the outcome to anything as dicey as the popular vote. The man he tapped to head the network’s “decision desk” on election night – the consultant responsible for calling states for either Gore or Bush – was none other than John Prescott Ellis, Bush’s first cousin. As a columnist at The Boston Globe, Ellis had recused himself from covering the campaign. “There is no way for you to know if I am telling you the truth about George W. Bush’s presidential campaign,” he told his readers, “because in his case, my loyalty goes to him and not to you.”
In any newsroom worthy of the name, such a conflict of interest would have immediately disqualified Ellis. But for Ailes, loyalty to Bush was an asset. “We at Fox News,” he would later tell a House hearing, “do not discriminate against people because of their family connections.” On Election Day, Ellis was in constant contact with Bush himself. After midnight, when a wave of late numbers showed Bush with a narrow lead, Ellis jumped on the data to declare Bush the winner – even though Florida was still rated too close to call by the vote-tracking consortium used by all the networks. Hume announced Fox’s call for Bush at 2:16 a.m. – a move that spurred every other network to follow suit, and led to bush wins headlines in the morning papers.
[...] Dwell on this for a moment: A “news” network controlled by a GOP operative who had spent decades shaping just such political narratives – including those that helped elect the candidate’s father – declared George W. Bush the victor based on the analysis of a man who had proclaimed himself loyal to Bush over the facts. “Of everything that happened on election night, this was the most important in impact,” Rep. Henry Waxman said at the time. “It immeasurably helped George Bush maintain the idea in people’s minds that he was the man who won the election.”
After Bush took office, Ailes stayed in frequent touch with the new Republican president. “The senior-level editorial people believe that Roger was on the phone every day with Bush,” a source close to Fox News tells Rolling Stone. “He gave Bush the same kind of pointers he used to give George H.W. Bush – delivery, effectiveness, political coaching.” In the aftermath of 9/11, Ailes sent a back-channel memo to the president through Karl Rove, advising Bush to ramp up the War on Terror. As reported by Bob Woodward, Ailes advised Bush that “the American public would tolerate waiting and would be patient, but only as long as they were convinced that Bush was using the harshest measures possible.”
Fox News did its part to make sure that viewers lined up behind those harsh measures. The network plastered an American flag in the corner of the screen, dolled up one female anchor in a camouflaged silk blouse, and featured Geraldo Rivera threatening to hunt down Osama bin Laden with a pistol. The militarism even seemed to infect the culture of Fox News. “Roger Ailes is the general,” declared Bill O’Reilly. “And the general sets the tone of the army. Our army is very George Patton-esque. We charge. We roll.”
As an aside, Roger Ailes is the man who tried to save Sarah Palin from herself when she was choosing whether to wade into the Loughner tragedy, but even with Mr. Ailes’s formidable power and standing as the Republican political general, Sarah thought she knew best. Few people survive this type of arrogance in a party that considers FNC its megaphone and election death star.
Topping the already cruel cravenness is covering for Rebekah Brooks, as so many others lose their jobs.
Michael Wolff, who has written a biography on Murdoch, was a guest on Keith Olbermann’s “Countdown” all last week and though I find him an arrogant boor, he has made some interesting points amidst his mumbling pontification. With so many of those unemployed being journalistic types, this story has the possibilities of a never ending soap opera, with grudges sure to continue to pop up in salaciousness still to come.
Vendetta, anyone?
But could what happen over there hit Murdoch over here?
**UPDATED**
“I’m prepared to take on significant heat from my party to get something done.” – Pres. Obama
There’s something haunting about this photo. Obama look on as history passes.
President Barack Obama watches the launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis on a television monitor in the Outer Oval Office, July 8, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
In August 2009, on a visit to Elkhart, Indiana to tout his stimulus plan, Obama sat down for an interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd, and was conveyed a simple request from Elkhart resident Scott Ferguson: “Explain how raising taxes on anyone during a deep recession is going to help with the economy.” Obama agreed with Ferguson’s premise – raising taxes in a recession is a bad idea. “First of all, he’s right. Normally, you don’t raise taxes in a recession, which is why we haven’t and why we’ve instead cut taxes. So I guess what I’d say to Scott is – his economics are right. You don’t raise taxes in a recession. We haven’t raised taxes in a recession.” – Stephen Hayes, the Weekly Standard
If you watched the Sunday shows you heard this refrain repeated over and over again: Not long ago, Obama warned that raising taxes in a struggling economy is “the last thing you want to do.”
Pres. Obama has never made the Democratic economic case, because he doesn’t believe in it.
Now he’s managed to elevate Speaker Boehner as the “grown up” Republican, while Eric Cantor, who did all the talking yesterday, is the crank.
Chuck Todd said a mouthful this morning on his show. John Boehner “presides over the conference, he doesn’t lead them.”
The debt ceiling will be extended, that much we know. Wall Street called Republican central and threatened them, so now everyone’s on message.
So why is Pres. Obama continuing to push for the biggest deal he can get, including entitlements? It’s what he wants.
UPDATE – NOTES on presser: Obama talks about a “balanced” approach, that includes “shared sacrifice…” that would take on “sacred cows” and “preserve the integrity of the programs…” “Resistance on my side to do anything on entitlements.”
“We’re going to resolve this and we’re going to resolve this for a reasonable period time and in a serious way.” – Pres. Obama
What happens if Rep. continue to balk on no tax increases? “I will not sign a 60 day, a 30 day or a 90 day extension.” “Pull off the band-aid, eat our peas.”
“Nobody has talked about increasing taxes now. Nobody has talked about increasing taxes next year,” Obama continued.
“I have a stake in John Boehner persuading his caucus…” Obama continues to back up Boehner, which is only going to make Eric Cantor stronger.
“The vast majority of Democrats on Capitol Hill would prefer not doing anything on entitlements… Medicare, in particular will run out of money & we will not be able to sustain that program… It is not an option to do nothing. …”
Pres. Obama then focuses on progressives by trying to twist the truth about entitlements, that it must be done now, tied to the debt ceiling, which is untrue. “Trimming benefits” and “increasing revenue.”
The above quote from Pres. Obama reveals his conservative approach to entitlements once again. He admits that Social Security isn’t the problem, that targeting SS for change is very tough and even though it’s not needed now it’s perfect timing do it when you’re doing a lot of tough votes, meaning Obama’s purposely squeezing Democrats on entitlements using the debt ceiling to do it.
It looks like a scene from HBO’s “True Blood” before all hell breaks loose.
Newsweek‘s got Sarah Palin standing in a field of flowers in some sort of odd outfit, with the backdrop of trees looking quite eerie. I’d ask what was she thinking, but while Michele Bachmann is doing the tough slog of campaigning for president, Palin continues to market herself, dragging her sycophantic pack around by their cluelessness.
“I believe that I can win a national election,” Sarah Palin declared one recent evening, sitting in the private dining room of a hotel in rural Iowa. The occasion for her visit to quintessential small-town America was a gathering of the faithful that would have instantaneously erupted into a fervent campaign rally had she but given the word. Instead, it had been another day on the non–campaign trail, this one capped by a sweet victory: she had just attended the premiere of a glowingly positive documentary about her titled The Undefeated.
“The people of America are desperate for positive change, and deserving of positive change, to get us off of this wrong track,” she told me during a conversation that lasted late into the night and, inevitably, kept returning to the subject that has titillated the media and spooked Republican presidential contenders for months: her political intentions. “I’m not so egotistical as to believe that it has to be me, or it can only be me, to turn things around,” she said. “But I do believe that I can win.”
There is nothing quite so sad as to see arrogance drape a former political force in a blanket of delusion.
Once upon a time, Sarah Palin could have won the Republican nomination. But then the Arizona tragedy happened and she took target practice on her career.
There might be a woman to make history in the 2012 election, but it won’t be Sarah.
Bachmann received support from 25 percent of likely Iowa caucus goers in the poll, while Romney is backed by 21 percent. The poll also shows signs of growth for former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, who now stands in third place in statistical tie with Herman Cain at just under nine percent. Ron Paul finished with six percent, Newt Gingrich with four percent, Rick Santorum with two percent, and Jon Huntsman rounded out the field with one percent. – Bachmann Overtakes Romney in Iowa
Seeing her posed on the deck in clothes looking rather ridiculous, while Bachmann hits the presidential circuit says it all.
Sarah struggles to remain relevant, while Michele Bachmann overtakes the field, and pretty soon she’ll simply be the first female vice presidential candidate on the Right who couldn’t figure out how to do anything else with the shot she got.
Bachmann’s politics are crazy, but she’s started out as a serious force in the GOP presidential competition of 2012, something Sarah Palin will never be.
Palin saying she “can win a national election” sounds more like she’s trying to convince herself. Remembering the good old days and the time when everyone was waiting for her to game up and enter, then realizing that it’s easier to say you can win than try and find you can’t.
