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More controversy, challenges, and distractions for the White House… The judicial ruling on Arizona's immigration law was a legal -- but not political -- victory for Team Obama… The ethics hearing on Charlie Rangel convenes at 1:00 pm ET… Newt to blast Obama in speech on national security… And progressives will warn the White House and Democrats over any benefit cuts to Social Security… Obama talks education and defends "Race to the Top" in speech at 10:05 am… What happens when tax cuts become politically toxic? Government turns to taxes on legalized gambling… Rick Scott and Jeff Greene lead in Florida… Profiling Mike Pence's inner circle… And previewing IL-10.
*** More controversy, challenges, and distractions: Oil is no longer leaking into the Gulf, the Shirley Sherrod story is over, and Robert Gibbs' statement about the House playing field now seems like old news. But news events, challenges, and distractions continue to confront the White House in what has been the spring/summer of its discontent. Let's start with the news yesterday that a judge blocked the most controversial portions of Arizona's immigration law. While it was a legal victory for the Obama administration, it wasn't necessarily a political one (that's probably why we didn't see President Obama talk about it yesterday). Our NBC/MSNBC/Telemundo poll back in May showed that 61% of Americans supported Arizona's immigration law, while 36% opposed it. That said, because there's no longer a sense of urgency, the legal process will likely take its time, and that could mean that immigration could go away as a political issue this November.
*** The Rangel ethics hearing: Another unwanted news event for the White House and Democrats is today's 1:00 pm ET hearing into the ethics allegations involved Rep. Charlie Rangel (D). "Barring a last-minute settlement agreement over allegations that … Rangel violated House rules, a special ethics panel will meet Thursday to set the stage for a rare ethics trial," Roll Call writes. "According to sources knowledgeable of the ethics process, the public meeting will serve as an organizational session, including statements from the adjudicatory panel's leadership, chairwoman Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), who is also ethics chairwoman, ranking member Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), ethics ranking member Jo Bonner (R-Ala.) and Rep. Gene Green (D-Texas)… The panel will also read a 'statement of alleged violations' detailing the accusations against Rangel." If a settlement isn't reached with Rangel, a trial would take place in September.
*** Newt pinch-hitting for Cheney; progressives threaten Dems over Social Security: Here's maybe another distraction for the White House today -- Newt Gingrich's 2:00 pm speech blasting the Obama. As CNN recently reported, Newt's speech "will reprimand the Obama administration's 'willful blindness' to the threat of extremist Islam." And yet another distraction: At 10:00 am ET at the National Press Club in DC, progressive leaders -- like AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, AFSCME chief Gerald McEntee, and MoveOn's Justin Ruben -- hold a press conference to send a warning to Democrats. Their message: They'll hold Democrats accountable for voting for any proposed benefit cuts to Social Security (including raising the retirement age) coming out of Obama's deficit/debt reduction commission.
*** Obama defends 'Race to the Top': At 10:05 am ET, President Obama is delivering what the White House is billing as a major speech on education at the National Urban League's convention. According to excerpts, he will defend his administration's "Race to the Top" initiative. "I want teachers to have higher salaries. I want them to have more support. I want them to be trained like the professionals they are," Obama is expected to say. "All I'm asking in return -- as a president, and as a parent -- is a measure of accountability. Surely we can agree that even as we applaud teachers for their hard work, we need to make sure they're delivering results in the classroom. If they're not, let's work with them to help them be more effective. And if that fails, let's find the right teacher for that classroom." Obama's appearance on "The View" also airs today.
*** What happens when tax increases become politically toxic: This New York Times story grabbed our attention: "With pressure mounting on the federal government to find new revenues, Congress is considering legalizing, and taxing, an activity it banned just four years ago: Internet gambling." We've already mentioned that some states are looking at legalizing sports gambling as a way to collect more revenues. And what's probably next? Legalized marijuana. This is all the unintended consequence of making all tax increases politically toxic.
*** Meg Whitman and immigration: If the immigration issue goes away in November, as we speculated above, that could also end up helping Meg Whitman out in California. Just think if the most controversial aspects of the law had gone into effect today, that might have created a political headache for the California Republican. While she opposes the Arizona law, she spoke out against "amnesty" during his primary against Steve Poizner, and Pete Wilson -- champion of Prop. 187 -- serves as her campaign chairman. And those issues probably would have been resurrected if the law had gone into effect in neighboring Arizona. Due to California's geographic closeness, the media in California would be all over this story, covering how the law is implemented.
*** Scott, Greene lead in Florida: The latest Quinnipiac poll finds that the two wealthy outsiders running for governor and the Senate in Florida -- Rick Scott (R) and Jeff Greene (D), respectively -- have double-digit leads with less than a month before the state's Aug. 24 primary. In Florida's GOP gubernatorial primary, Scott has an 11-point lead over onetime front-runner Bill McCollum, 43-32%. And in the Democratic Senate primary, Greene has jumped out to a 10-point advantage in the poll, 33%-23%. According to the conventional wisdom, these results are very good news for Democrats. Why? Because, despite their wealth, both Scott and Greene are flawed candidates, which ostensibly would help Alex Sink (D) in the governors race and Charlie Crist (I) in the Senate contest.
*** 2012 Thursday: In our weekly series looking at the inner circles of the possible 2012 candidates, we turn our attention today to Indiana Rep. Mike Pence, the third-ranking House GOP leader. The list includes: senior adviser Bill Smith, his longtime chief of staff to his personal office who ran his first campaign; Marc Short, chief of staff to the House GOP conference; GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway; Bill Neale, an Indianapolis lawyer who serves as Pence's campaign treasurer; and Kyle Robertson, who's in charge of national fundraising. Also advising: former Sen. Phil Gramm, GOP lawyer Cleta Mitchell, strategist Rex Elsass of the Strategy Group for Media, former Rep. David McIntosh, former Attorney General Ed Meese, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council; and spokesman Matt Lloyd.
*** Testing the waters and history: Though no congressman has been elected president since James Garfield in 1880 -- 130 years ago -- Pence shows signs testing the waters and trying his luck. He has already made multiple trips to Iowa, raised/transferred $1 million to the NRCC (his Win Back America PAC has donated more than $110,000 to candidates/committees), has more than $700,000 cash on hand for his 2010 reelection bid (with no serious challenger), and is working with conservative groups in building a direct mail file. Pence will spend most of August in Indiana, but then will travel the country in September and October. Pence is someone very comfortable in front of a camera; in fact, he could be a Huckabee-like figure -- someone who will not say no to a TV interview and use it as a shot to catapult in a place like Iowa. But is there room for two folks from Indiana, if Mitch Daniels decides to run?
*** 75 House races to watch: IL-10: This is the seat being vacated by GOP Rep. Mark Kirk, who is running for Senate. The Democratic nominee is business consultant Dan Seals (who was the party's unsuccessful nominee in '06 and '08). The Republican nominee is pest-control businessman Robert Dold. Obama won 61% of this district in '08, and Kerry won 53% in '04. Both Cook and Rothenberg rate the contest as a toss-up.
*** More midterm news: In California, a new PPIC poll has Jerry Brown at 37% and Meg Whitman at 34% in the governors race, and Barbara Boxer at 39% and Carly Fiorina at 34%... In Kentucky, the Louisville Courier-Journal writes that coal company executives "are considering whether to launch an industry-funded campaign organization aimed at defeating Kentucky Democrats Jack Conway and Ben Chandler and others deemed to be 'anti-coal'"… And in New Hampshire, a new WMUR/Granite State Poll finds that Kelly Ayotte holds an 8-point lead over Paul Hodes, "but that's a slide from the 15-point edge she held in April," WMUR writes.
Countdown to KS and MO primaries: 5 days
Countdown to CO, CT, and MN primaries: 12 days
Countdown to Election Day 2010: 96 days
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Think Progress: The House Republican leadership is urging its members to vote against a bill that would aid 9/11 responders suffering from health problems. The GOP policy statement complains that the aid program, which will be paid for by closing “a tax loophole on foreign companies with U.S. subsidiaries,” “creates a massive new entitlement program.”
Hey Pat - great comment! A real shame that the Democrats don't pound this vote against 9/11 responders suffering from health problems they picked up responding to 9/11 more vocally and more often. The repugnant ones are all wee wee'd up dissing the 9/11 responders as nothing more than another entitlement program, now the Democrats need to hammer this home everyday on every news outlet possible - especially the Fox Noose channel the official propaganda channel of the KKK. We all know that they only want to support the tax cut welfare entitlement program for the rich and greedy.
Hey looking forward to seeing your Celtics whip up on the Heatstroke, the most hated team in the NBA. Lakers got better with new additions of Steve Blake, Matt Barnes and Theo Ratliff. I hope your Celtics got better and will be rooting for them to make the Finals again so we get to whoop it up next June.
Yes Eric, going through the basketball playoffs with you was a great deal of fun. It was one helluva series. You are different from my baseball rivals. You made it all fun as I came here each morning to dissect the possible outcomes.
Hope to see you again next year, same time, same place.
I'm still laughing that Tim Kaine and Debbie Wasserman Schultz unveiled a truly excellent Democratic Party campaign tactic with their awesome republican tea party contract on America, listing their ten commandments of repugnant one hatred for America. Now the Democrats need to take that contract against America and repeat early, repeat it often. It's all about repetition, must make sure that the whole Democratic Party sings it everyday, not necessarily all of it but parts of it everyday. Democrats have to make sure to point it out everytime they speak with the media and hopefully MSNBC tv will make like the Fox Noose channel and make an endless loop out of it everyday.
I would have shortened the point about privatizing Social Security or wanting to get rid of it to a very short sharp the tea bagging repugnant ones want to get rid of it. While the repugnant ones are trying to go after the Democrat's base of women voters the Democrats need to go after the dopes of nope's base of clueless old geezers. Time for Democrats to scare the old geezers silly that the repugnant ones want to kill Social Security.
We all know that it's the clueless scared old geezers who support the repugnant ones and who will come out to vote this November in big numbers. Time for Democrats to attack the repugnant one's base of old geezers and scare them straight back to the Democratic Party. Democrats need to hammer on the tea bagging dopes of nope by showing Scary Sharry Angle saying she wants to eliminate SS or show her old website data that says it. Everyday from now until November the Democrats need to scare old geezers silly about maybe losing their SS or getting it reduced. If Democrats separate the old geezers away from the dopes of nope then the Democrats won't lose seats they'll gain seats!
Obama is an idiot for appointing so many corrupt conservatives to his budget deficit reduction committe because their big idea to balance the budget is to do it on the backs of SS recipients. His weak Neville Chamberlain leadership in appeasing the Neo-Nazi dopes of nope while short changing us Liberals and Labor on that committee is going to cost him a lot of support from his once loyal base. Obama had better get a clue and replace some of those corrupt conservatives with more Liberals and Labor or he's going to destroy our party from within with his weak leadership.
I was reading in the newpaper yesterday about all this money being funneling thru Iraq and last year Iraq paid over a billion dollars for bribery. Then I started thinking and the more I thought about it the madder I got because who knows that could be my money or your money they are spending.
I recall Bush saying that the oil would pay for the war!!! Haven't seen that happen yet!!!
TRR,
Good points.
What Bush ment to say is the oil would pay for Haliburton. We can only imagine what those dollars and all the dollars (tax payer monies) we are paying for Afghanistan, corporate welfare, tax cuts for the richest 5% of the population, etc. could do for the American people.
This is why we have to keep up the fight and let the American people know how the republicans do not represent middle America.
As of yesterday the EPA was estimating that there were over 1 million gallons of oil in the Kalamazoo river. One minute we were watching the scenes on the news coming from the Gulf, the next minute the scenes on the news were coming from our own backyard. I believe as a society we have a tendency to "forget" things like this very quickly and move on to other "hot" topics. Isn't it nice of all those big ol' oil companies to continue to give us new disasters on a somewhat regular basis so that it stays fresh in our minds! Maybe this time we can all stay focused on the damage that results from things like this long enough to really give the search for more affordable alternative energy options the serious attention it deserves.
"Unbelievable", isn't it? We also focus so single-mindedly on one thing that we don't see the forest for the trees. Witness this mostly unreported incident http://www.propublica.org/article/bp-texas-refinery-had-huge-toxic-release-just-before-gulf-blowout at the same facility where there was a massive fire and explosion in 2005. Plus a big spill on the North Slope that went undedected for a considerable period while the pipeline just continued to pump poison onto the tundra.
That's just BP, too. We're focused there right now, but if this company is THAT irresponsible when it comes to workplace safety and environmental protection it's just not concievable to me that they're the only bad actor in the industry.
If you really want to get FIRED UP - I highly recommend the HBO Docomentray 'Gasland'.
It's about what's going on here in the US with natural gas drilling or 'fracking' as it's called!
You'd be amazed at how many times the names Cheney & Halliburton are mentioned!
And you'll be sick to your stomach about what's being done to Americans in the name of GREED!
Feisty
I haven't seen the documentary but read that some of the interviews include people from North Texas that are opposed to the seemingly safe process of drilling for natural gas. Here in Texas this could be a problem if contaminants get into our aquifers. There is also vocal opposition to granting additional leasing rights.
http://energyandenvironmentblog.dallasnews.com/archives/natural-gas/
Also, there is a concern about this "fraking" procedure causing seismic activity. For those that say I'm pasting this from a left wing, tree hugging, source this link came from Fox News,
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526233,00.html
Fortunately the new EPA head overseeing Texas is Al Armendariz, an environmental and civil engineering from Southern Methodist University. He is forcing Texas to prove that the corporation plants can self regulate rather than follow EPA standards.
Thanks for the info on what's happening in your part of the country YellowDog!
They are using over 596 toxic chemicals in the fraking process, even though a majority of them are known carcinogens!
Thanks to the Halliburton loophole they are NO longer required to disclose what they are!
Unfortunately some aquifirs have already been compromised! Nothing like water out of your kitchen tap exploding & burning to get your day started!
What they fail to realize is that life on earth will cease to exist without H2O!
And what's wrong with being a liberal tree hugger? ;0) You're in GOOD company!
Say hi to Dad!
You know with the Repbulicans, 9 Billion lost in Afghanistan, 7.1 million in debt left off the reporting. It's the NEW math. lol
Democrats are yet to get fired up and be ready to go for the November elections. What this government
has achieved within only 18 months deserve to be commended. We all know that it has not been easy to
pass all that have been passed both in the house and the senate given the stiff opposition from the party on NO.
They decided to unite as a team and block even what they know is good for the country for political reasons.
Democrats are never good at doing that. Even in the year 2000 when Republicans shamefully stole the election, Democrats were quick to forgive and were still ready to vote along with them Republicans on various issues for the sake of the country.
The President does not vote in any of the houses and can never force any individual senator to vote in any
way. He can only try to persuade which he has always done to his best. Other than that, there is nothing
much that he can do to make an individual senator such as Olympia Snow to vote a certain way; otherwise
he would have made her vote for public option in the health care bill. We should therefore not blame these
leaders for not having done much and if anything, they have done more than what previous governments did in only 18 months.
November elections will yield a huge victory for the Democrats.
I say round them all up and send them back
If you are a patriot of the USA It is time the American legal citizen unit and put a stop to the Illegal immigration that is flooding the USA. Every day there is robberies, raps, Id thefts, killings, drug deals that is cometied by Illegals. A lot of crimes by Illegals are not reported by the news media. Try to keep it quiet so we don’t know how bad it is.
9/11is nothing compared to the suffering that Illegals. Bring to the USA. Some statistics say there are at least 2,200 American deaths A year due to Illegals. There is thousands of killings in Mexico every year and don’t kid your self that will come poring over in to the USA. There are already car bomb, Mexican bullets hitting US government buildings
I say round them all up and send them back send emails to roduscitizen@yahoo.com
Rod Johnson:
"I say round them up and send them back".
How?
WOW Rob, sounds like you copied and pasted a whole episode of Glenn Beck, nothing but lies and made up crap. Were you borne a liar or did Beck teach you how to lie and make crap up?
Rod Johnson - Yes we need to deal with this issue with comprehensive immigration reform.
As I read your post it made me smile that you use unsubstantiated fear mongering to make your point. Silly.
So I'll end by being silly. What makes it a crime to rap? "Every day there is(should have used are) robberies, raps..." You can't do conjugation well, can you?
Rod Johnson
so are you going to round up ALL the illegals? if yes then are you going to deport the white and asian illegals? your asking me what white illegals are they,
russian, you know they come here on temporary visas and over stay there welcome. there are illegals as well, some for people from poland, ukrain. what about the canadian as well you know they do the same thing.
what i'm saying is that the 12 million illegals here are not all from mexico and central america. right and if you say they cause no trouble then you will prove my point, this is all about race.
wow, reading these liberal lemming wing nut posts I almost forgot that BUSH AND CHENEY AREN'T IN OFFICE ANYMORE!!!!!! Your enabler, irresponsible, incompetent party is almost over and you are in DENIAL!!!!
husky,
Thank God Bush and Cheney are no longer in office, but the damage that they did will be felt for a generation. They nearly destroyed America and nearly destroyed the world economy as well, yet YOU and the other right wingers are in total denial. The Repubs have PROVEN themselves to be corrupt, irresponsible, big deficit spenders and vastly incompetent, which is why they were voted out of power starting in 2006 and 2008 and will be further marginalized in November.
Have a great day thinking about that one!
Your post Husky shows just how desperate you teabagger republicans really are. You know your going to lose more seats this November. So who's in denial.
Anyone else notice how no matter what the subject, no matter if they've been mentioned or not, someone always pops up to say "All you people do is blame everything on Bush and Cheney"? Seems to me the Party of Personal Responsibility is awfully sensitive to having to take responsibility.
Lets not count our chickens before they hatch ( or pay our doctor bills with them ) I know Chuck Todd and most in the "liberal media" have decided that the election is already over and republicans are just killing time till they control of congress. But I am sure you remember they also have been claiming for months that Harry Reid was number one on their list for democratic loses, but now that Angle has self imploded, silence.
Just remember all of 2008 the msm said the election was over and Hilary was going to be the nominee, and she couldn't win over McCain. The pundits don't have a clue what their talking about, their just trying to make headlines. Nobody would listen to or watch them if they told the truth and said the Democrats were going to ad to their majorities.
Remember when Karl Rove, quoted elsewhere on this thread as proof that the Bush Administration didn't misrepresent the true situation in Iraq, said "You have polls, I have THE polls"? That was shortly before the 2008 election and much of the press backed away from their growing feeling that it would be a strong Democratic election. Karl is, after all "The Architect".
Message to Chuck Todd and his Band of Media Stooges--
Your title of this post is typical of the lightweight approach you have taken on a number of crucial political topics for some time now. Chuck in particular, is anything but astute in his TV appearances and he has repeatedly demonstrated a penchant for regurgitating the Fox mantra rather than an ability to develop independent thought. He surely does not befit the stature once occupied by Tim Russert. He is every bit as guilty as Fox in pushing a biased message (hardly a liberal one) based on these "newsworthy" items and almost immediately dismisses them as distractions when the so-called news cycle passes. The Democrats' doom and demise which he "reported" incessantly in recent months is hardly a reality. The judge's decision yesterday while a legal one is not a political success he says? Who cares? It is the freakin' right decision! Why should a law's benefit especially one of this significance be measured primarily in political chits than its adherence to the Constitution? Oh, I get it, its because that's the Republican paradigm which he seems intent on making reality. Do us all a favor Chuck: make your move to Fox. Your intellectual peers there await your arrival.
Did Newt have his pants on while giving a speech? Maybe he is going to make us another contract to break. Newt record on spending is just plan bad. I do like how Newt has taken the high road by fear mongering on Islam he needs the light on Obama in hope people memories are short.
With all the garbage going on in Washington DC maybe it's time to seriously remind these people this country is like a boat thats sinking. If one end goes down so does the other end. Send your Reps in congress a bottle of Imodium AD and tell them to get their @!$%# together. We have had enough of their diarhea. That includes Pelosi, Gingrich and everyone inbetween.
Distractions, controversy and LIES LIES LIES. I'm so fed up with Washington as a whole. I'm fed up with everyone blaming the President for their daily struggles while at the same time complaining that the Government is trying to take over their lives and freedom. I'm tired of all the stupid, talking-heads in the news media who blabber on constantly, speculating with no facts at all. What happend to Journalism in this country? I'm tired of this President and his idiotic administration for playing soft and not confronting the lies and nonstop vicious attacks from the right-wing media - who want nothing but to divide this country and see this President/Administration fail. The Democrats are incompetent. The Republicans are greedy. Both parties are interested in nothing but POWER. This country is in really bad shape. For those of you who believe in a higher power - now would be a good time to start praying - even though we all know - things will get worse before they get better.