Maybe progressives and the middle class need to sort of face up to the fact that the president is not that much into them, that he would rather hang out with Larry Summers, or flirt with Olympia Snowe, or play wargames late into the night with General Petraeus.
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A coalition of Mexican mayors has asked the United States to stop deporting illegal immigrants who have been convicted of serious crimes in the U.S. to Mexican border cities, saying the deportations are contributing to Mexican border violence.
The request was made at a recent San Diego conference in which the mayors of four Mexican border cities and one U.S. mayor, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, gathered to discuss cross-border issues.
The Illinois poll we’ll release this week won’t do much to change the conventional wisdom on either the Senate or Gubernatorial race in the state but it does have one pretty surprising finding: Barack Obama’s approval numbers have dropped into negative territory even with likely voters in his home state. 44% approve of the job he’s doing while 49% say they disapprove.
California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman today found herself battling allegations that she knowingly employed an undocumented immigrant housekeeper, failed to pay a portion of her wages and then fired her in an act of political damage control.
The documents, which Whitman claims Nicky filled out and signed back in 2000 during her application for employment, appear to show that the maid stated under the penalty of perjury that she was a “lawful permanent resident” of the United States.
Whitman also claims Nicky provided her with a social security card and valid California Driver’s License with her employment application … which Meg kept and has now handed over to TMZ.
A conservative nonprofit group is running radio ads in Alaska portraying U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski as a spoiled princess trying to hold onto a seat her father gave her.
The ad by Pennsylvania-based Let Freedom Ring is airing in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau. The group’s president, Colin Hanna, wouldn’t disclose the purchase price of the buy.
Fire Barney! Fire Barney! Fire Barney!
One closing remark that I want to make: It is inexcusable for any Democrat or progressive right now to stand on the sidelines in this midterm election. There may be complaints about us not having gotten certain things done, not fast enough, making certain legislative compromises. But right now, we’ve got a choice between a Republican Party that has moved to the right of George Bush and is looking to lock in the same policies that got us into these disasters in the first place, versus an administration that, with some admitted warts, has been the most successful administration in a generation in moving progressive agendas forward.
The idea that we’ve got a lack of enthusiasm in the Democratic base, that people are sitting on their hands complaining, is just irresponsible.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's negative ratings have hit an all-time high in the new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. A full 50 percent of those surveyed have a somewhat or very negative impression of Pelosi, while just 22 percent have a somewhat or very positive impression of her.
Pelosi's negative rating is precisely the same as oil giant BP, which has taken a public relations beating in the aftermath of the Gulf oil spill.
In one of the most closely watched U.S. House races in the nation, Republican Daniel Webster now holds a 7-point lead over Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson in Central Florida's 8th Congressional District, according to a new Sunshine State News Poll.
Webster, a former state senator, leads the freshman congressman 43-36 in the survey of 559 likely voters conducted Sept. 25-27.
In the survey, 71% of Republicans described themselves as tea-party supporters, saying they had a favorable image of the movement or hoped tea- party candidates would do well in the Nov. 2 elections.
Forty-seven House Democrats — enough to give Republicans a victory on taxes if the issue came to a vote — are breaking ranks with President Barack Obama by calling on party leaders to continue Bush-era tax cuts on investment income.
The lawmakers, led by Rep. John Adler, D-N.J., have sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying they strongly support extending the current tax rates on capital gains and dividends.
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care has notified customers that it will drop its Medicare Advantage health insurance program at the end of the year, forcing 22,000 senior citizens in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine to seek alternative supplemental coverage.
The decision by Wellesley-based Harvard Pilgrim, the state’s second-largest health insurer, was prompted by a freeze in federal reimbursements and a new requirement that insurers offering the kind of product sold by Harvard Pilgrim — a Medicare Advantage private fee for service plan — form a contracted network of doctors who agree to participate for a negotiated amount of money. Under current rules, patients can seek care from any doctor.
But the new comments from Obama constitute the president’s most direct attack yet on the network owned by business mogul Rupert Murdoch.
Fox News pushes “a point of view that I disagree with. It’s a point of view that I think is ultimately destructive for the long-term growth of a country that has a vibrant middle class and is competitive in the world,” Obama said.
Only 38 percent of respondents said Obama deserves to be reelected, even though a majority of voters hold a favorable view of him on a personal level. Forty-four percent said they will vote to oust him, and 13 percent said they will consider voting for someone else.
“I am a 9/11 Truther,” Sheehan told a large crowd at the All Souls Church on the upper East Side of Manhattan, who endorsed her with a long standing ovation.
“I do think it was an inside job,” Sheehan said. “We just don’t know – I don’t know – how far inside it went. But, you know, I’m sure Dick Cheney had something to do with it.”
Among cable news channels, Fox was the clear winner, with 42 percent of respondents saying it is their main source, compared with 30 percent who cited CNN and 12 percent who rely on MSNBC.
Am I calling you a socialist? Yes, I am. I firmly believe that you are a socialist and a globalist, and that you think America should have a comeuppance and have our playing field leveled to match those of other countries not as industrious or as innovative as we are.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) warned Republicans will investigate President Obama’s birthplace if they take over Congress.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met here, September 21, with 100 leaders and representatives of anti-war, labor, alternative media and Iranian and Palestinian solidarity organizations. Among the participants were Sarah Martin, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Margaret Sarfehjooy, board member of the Minneapolis-based Women Against Military Madness, former attorney general Ramsey Clark, former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, Sara Flounders from the International Action Center, Brian Becker of the ANSWER coalition, Ramona Africa of the Free Mumia Coalition and Amiri Baraka, poet and activist...
After listening intently to the statements of 22 of the participants, President Ahmadinejad said, “We have a treasure chest full of views. I agree with everything you have said... Read more here.
THE United Nations was set today to appoint an obscure Malaysian astrophysicist to act as Earth's first contact for any aliens that may come visiting.
Mazlan Othman, the head of the UN's little-known Office for Outer Space Affairs (Unoosa), is to describe her potential new role next week at a scientific conference at the Royal Society’s Kavli conference centre in Buckinghamshire.
If Rep. Gene Taylor had his way, Rep. Ike Skelton would replace Nancy Pelosi as Speaker next year.
Taylor told The Hill that he’d like to see Skelton, a Missouri Democrat and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, succeed Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) if Democrats retain a slimmer hold on the House after the November elections.
Taylor’s suggestion reflects a broader sentiment among conservative Democrats that Pelosi is too liberal and indicates she may not win unanimous support from the caucus in 2011, as she did in 2007 and 2009. A number of House Democrats in tight re-election battles, including Reps. Bobby Bright (Ala.), Walt Minnick (Idaho), and Chet Edwards (Texas), have not committed to voting for Pelosi as Speaker.
Democrats found time to bring a comedian to Capitol Hill, but refuse to have a vote on preventing tax increases at the end of the year, House Minority Leader John Boehner said Sunday, lamenting Congress’ plan to skip a vote on extending Bush-era tax cuts into next year.
Boehner, R-Ohio, who appeared with Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on “Fox News Sunday,” said he wants House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to hold a “fair and open debate” on tax rates because he’s confident a bipartisan majority would vote to continue current levels for all tax brackets, which would bring some certainty about the economy for the coming year.
“Taliban Dan Webster... hands off our bodies and our laws”
President Obama’s political organizing group is throwing its hat in the ring of increasingly popular marches in Washington D.C. as it pushed supporters on Saturday to attend next weekend’s rally on the National Mall.
Organizing for America, the Democratic National Committee’s group that lauds Obama’s legislative policies, sent out the e-mail blast advertising the Oct. 2 One Nation, Working Together rally as “the biggest progressive demonstration in decades.”
“Republicans are again playing politics with our national security. Today they blocked the Senate from debating a bill that would give our troops the resources they need to keep America safe – stopping not only funding for combat vehicles and bulletproof vests or measures to improve our military’s readiness, but even a well-earned pay raise to help our troops and their families make ends meet.
“I am disappointed that my Republican colleagues put partisan politics ahead of the best interests of the men and women who courageously defend our nation. Democrats will continue to fight for our troops and will work to ensure that our troops have the resources they need to do their jobs.”
ANDREW BREITBART: So you're, you're officially not a Libertarian anymore, right? I mean, this position...
MAHER: Well..
BREITBART: ...has run so far from the Libertarian position. Is this, so you admit that you have more of a, you know, European socialist leaning perspective on this issue?
(AUDIENCE LAUGHTER)
BREITBART: Why is that funny?
The look on Maher's face at this moment said it all:
MAHER: I'm, I'm not afraid, it's not, I'm not afraid to say European socialism works.
Most of the findings focused on a group called Houston Votes, a voter registration group headed by Steve Caddle, who also works for the Service Employees International Union. Among the findings were that only 1,793 of the 25,000 registrations the group submitted appeared to be valid. The other registrations included one of a woman who registered six times in the same day; registrations of non-citizens; so many applications from one Houston Voters collector in one day that it was deemed to be beyond human capability; and 1,597 registrations that named the same person multiple times, often with different signatures. Read more here.
With a little over a month until Election Day, Congressional Republicans have the clear advantage with voters nationwide, a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll says.
In a generic ballot matchup, the Republican leads the Democrat by 9 points among likely voters - 53 percent to 44 percent.
That spread is slightly smaller than the 55-42 percent advantage Democrats had at the same point in 2006, ahead of their major electoral victories that handed them control of both the House and Senate.
"This guy's nothing but a big bully."
"He's throwing his weight around again."
"Conservative talk-show hosts and heavy-handed politicians like Christie."
"He's a cold-hearted fat slob."
Christopher Coates, former voting chief for the department’s Civil Rights Division, spoke under oath Friday morning before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, in a long-awaited appearance that had been stonewalled by the Justice Department for nearly a year.
Coates discussed in depth the DOJ’s decision to dismiss intimidation charges against New Black Panther members who were videotaped outside a Philadelphia polling place in 2008 dressed in military-style uniforms — one was brandishing a nightstick — and allegedly hurling racial slurs...
Nearly three months later, Coates backed up Adams’ claims. In lengthy and detailed testimony, he said the department cultivates a “hostile atmosphere” against “race-neutral enforcement” of the Voting Rights Act.
President Barack Obama is contending with the lowest approval rating of his 20-month presidency, a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll finds.
The president’s approval rating now stands at 42 percent – an all time low in CNN polling and 8 points lower than where Obama was only three weeks ago. Moreover, 56 percent of all Americans think the president has fallen short of their expectations.
If the women at the feminist group The New Agenda do not hear an apology soon from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for his “sexist” comment, he will be facing more than just a few frowning fems.
At a New York fundraiser hosted by Mayor Michael Bloomberg earlier this week, Reid praised New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand for being the “hottest member” in the Senate.
In a dramatic development that could shake the political leadership of the Justice Department, career lawyer Christopher Coates has sent a letter to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights offering to testify Friday on matters related to the controversial New Black Panthers voter-intimidation case.
Ten months ago, Coates, the award-winning former chief of the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division, was subpoenaed by the Commission to testify about the case. He was subsequently instructed by DOJ officials to ignore the subpoena. Within the past hour, commissioners were informed that Chairman Gerald Reynolds had spoken with Coates and that the chairman would reconvene the Commission's ongoing hearing on Friday at 9:30 a.m. to hear Coates's testimony.
New York voters will, unusually, elect 2 United States Senators in 2010. In the Special Election to fill the final 2 years of Hillary Rodham Clinton's term, incumbent Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand and former Congressman Republican Joe DioGuardi today finish effectively even, Gillibrand's nominal 1-point lead being within the survey's theoretical margin of sampling error. Gillibrand leads in the 5 boroughs of NYC, trails elsewhere. Men vote Republican, women vote Democrat and, in this contest, cancel each other out. Lower-income voters break significantly Democrat. Middle-income and upper-income voters break slightly Republican.
Republican 22nd Congressional Candidate Allen West leads Incumbent Ron Klein 48% – 42% in a survey conducted by Wilson Research Strategies on September 20-22, 2010.
“While we are encouraged by our latest poll results, our campaign to restore honor, integrity and character to Washington is just getting started,” said LTC(R) Allen West. He continued, “I will continue to press on, and take our message of smaller government, constitutional values and principled leadership directly to the citizens of the 22nd Congressional District. The only poll that matters is the one that will come out on the evening of November 2nd.”
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) is vowing to block a Senate vote to confirm President Obama’s choice to head the White House Office of Management and Budget unless a temporary ban on offshore oil-and-gas drilling is removed.
Her pledge to hold up the nomination of Jack Lew represents a dramatic political escalation of Landrieu’s fight against the federal moratorium on deepwater drilling and the slowdown in permits for shallow water projects.
White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer, writing on the White House blog, said Republicans “doubled down on the same ideas that hurt America’s middle class,” listing tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, tax hikes for the middle class, “cutting rules and oversight” for financial services, health care and oil, all while adding to the deficit.
Republicans would counter that they are trying to cut taxes across the board and save taxpayer dollars by a federal hiring freeze and caps on spending. The agenda will be formally unveiled at an event in Sterling, Va., Thursday, in a rollout reminiscent of the 1994 Contract with America
... It is definitely an advantage for us because we have aligned ourselves with those who passed Social Security, Medicare and now health care for all Americans as a right not a privilege.
First of all , I don't accept that premise in any way shape or form. The momentum is with us. We are out there to dispel many of the misrepresentations that have been going out there for nearly two years by the Republicans and the special interests, the oil industry, the health insurance industry, the banks and their allies.
“If your kids are going to graduate from college, now he or she gets health care, your heath care, while he or she looks for a new job,” Redfern reportedly said. “It’s in the very base terms we win these arguments. Every time one of these f–kers says, excuse my language …”
Bill Clinton asked the American people Wednesday to give the Democrats two more years to dig the country out of the economic hole he blamed on the Republicans – and then, if the Democrats fail, “throw us all out.”
The former president said in an interview with The Associated Press that the Democrats can still pull the November midterm elections out of the fire if they go on the offensive.
A new Rasmussen Reports poll shows Alaska Republican Senate nominee Joe Miller with a surprisingly comfortable lead over incumbent and write-in candidate Lisa Murkowski.
In the poll, Miller had the support of 42 percent of Alaska voters, while Murkowski was just slightly ahead of Democratic nominee Scott McAdams with 27 percent. McAdams finished in third place with 25 percent.
Senate Republicans just said they will move tomorrow to strip Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, from her post as ranking Republican on the Senate Energy Committee.
Republicans say Wednesday they will vote to elect an acting ranking member and then the full GOP conference will ratify the vote…
Another Republican came out of the Senate GOP lunch and told CNN it was clear Murkowski has virtually no support among her colleagues anymore. That senator spoke on condition of anonymity, in order to speak freely about a private meeting.
7. free from prejudice or bigotry; tolerant: a liberal attitude toward foreigners.
8. open-minded or tolerant, esp. free of or not bound by traditional or conventional ideas, values, etc.
I love Jimmy Carter! Jimmy Carter is so honest and out there. You know sometimes, I hear people say, 'Oh, Obama, his term could become like Jimmy Carter's.' Yeah, I wish...
Canadian diplomats at the United Nations have boycotted a speech by the president of Iran, a spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Tuesday.
Western diplomats, including those from Canada, have in recent years made a show of walking out on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad whenever he addresses the UN General Assembly.
Catherine Loubier, spokeswoman for Cannon, says the boycott was intended as a protest against Iran’s human rights record and controversial nuclear program.
Occupation of countries, including Iraq, has continued for the last three years. Not a day goes by without hundreds of people getting killed in cold blood. The occupiers are incapable of establishing security in Iraq. Despite the establishment of the lawful Government and National Assembly of Iraq, there are covert and overt efforts to heighten insecurity, magnify and aggravate differences within Iraqi society, and instigate civil strife.
Just watch what is happening in the Palestinian land. People are being bombarded in their own homes and their children murdered in their own streets and alleys. But no authority, not even the Security Council, can afford them any support or protection. Why?
According to The Hill’s analysis of financial disclosure forms filed last summer, the Speaker’s net worth rose more in 2009 than any other lawmaker’s, from $13.7 million in 2008 to $21.7 million in 2009.
Coons inherited a surplus. Celebrating victory on election night in 2004, he said his “top priority would be to continue balancing the budget without increasing property taxes,” according to an account in the local News Journal. Yet in 2006, he pushed through a 5 percent increase in property taxes. In 2007, he raised property taxes 17.5 percent. In 2009, he raised them another 25 percent.
Coons wanted to raise other taxes, too. He proposed a hotel tax, a tax on paramedic services, even a tax on people who call 911 from cell phones.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had an unusual form of praise for New York’s junior senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, this morning at the fundraiser Mayor Bloomberg hosted for him at his townhouse – referring to her as “the hottest member” as she sat just a few feet away, according to three sources.The comment prompted Gillibrand to turn red, according to the sources, and created a bit of stir among the small crowd there.
I’m so damn glad that you can never be my wife because I surely wouldn’t have to listen to that prattle from you every day.
We've reached a point now where it's like a milk cow with 310 million tits! Call when you get honest work!
This would mean no tax change for 98% of American families and at least 97% of small businesses.The claim 97% of small businesses would not be affected is disingenuous. It depends on how you classify a small business. The numbers Democrats tout include every part-time blogger, after work yard business and housewife with an eBay store. These are not the small businesses that are stimulating the economy and providing jobs. If you look full-time small business owners, 48% will be hit by the tax increase. They will likely reduce employees to cover this tax hike and reduce the expected revenue benefit. Oh and about that expected benefit. Annually, it will only cover 9 days of the federal deficit under optimistic projections.
“Raising taxes on the top 2% of households, as Mr. Obama proposes, would bring in $34 billion next year: enough to cover nine days’ worth of the deficit,” notes The Economist. So that is what all the political fuss about extending the Bush tax cuts for another year is all about. Does this make any sense? After all, errors in estimating next year’s revenues are typically much larger than $34 billion. (emphasis mine)
