In recent days, Gallup has been putting out great state-by-state numbers on Obama’s declining approval ratings and declining Democratic Party identification. The information is not clearly predictive of election day 2012. Much is sure to change, and much will be dependent on who Republicans nominate to challenge Obama. But a look at the …
Boehner & McConnell’s Secret Plan to Avert a Shutdown
House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have been working behind the scenes to draft a two-week stopgap measure to avert a government shutdown that would include $4 billion in immediate cuts, according to House and Senate GOP aides.
The House would move first – the Rules Committee could meet as early as …
Indiana Republicans Table “Right to Work” Bill
Democratic legislators in Indiana, mirroring their Wisconsin counterparts’ desperation, fled the state and its police jurisdiction Tuesday in order to deny Republican lawmakers the quorum necessary to proceed on a “right to work” bill, legislation that would prevent employers and unions from signing contracts that require
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Obama Still Against Gay Marriage, Except In Court
President Obama has told the Justice Department to stop defending the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, a law that bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages. But White House Spokesman Jay Carney said today that Obama’s legal opinion is “distinct” from Obama’s own personal view of gay marriage. “The presidents …
Big Dollars at Stake In Western Arms Sales to Autocrats
By TIME contributor Mark Benjamin
Short of nuclear weapons technology, international arms sales don’t tend to attract too much public scrutiny. One exception is when it becomes painfully clear that those sales are helping to prop up brutal autocrats who suppress their citizens and when those weapons are allegedly put to use by …
What Wealth Buys In Politics: A Crank Call To Gov. Scott Walker
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker got pranked. A talk show host, claiming to be conservative moneybags David Koch, called up the governor to talk about the union showdown in the state. Walker did not really say much different in private than he would have in public. (“Yeah, good stuff,” Walker says about Andrew Brietbart, at one point, but …
Obama Administration Scores a Legal Win on Individual Mandate
As Adam already noted, a third Clinton-appointed federal judge ruled late yesterday that the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate passes constitutional muster. Two federal judges appointed by Republican presidents have said the opposite.
Adopting many of the well-worn arguments offered by the Obama Department of Justice, …
Morning Must Reads: Limit
Union supporters rally at the doors of the state capitol in Columbus, Ohio on February 22. (REUTERS/Michael Munden)
–Libya laughs at Gaddafi, but Robert Baer worries he could sow chaos.
–Governor Walker calls senate Democrats back to Wisconsin as assembly Democrats filibuster. Collective bargaining aside, his plan isn’t about …
David Wu Apologizes for the Part of the Story No One Cared About
Perhaps confused by the Christopher Lee photo episode a few weeks ago, Rep. David Wu apologized yesterday on “Good Morning America” for emailing staff Halloween pictures of him dressed as a tiger last fall. Unless it’s a very different tiger suit than the kind I’m imagining (or unless he was dressed not as a tiger, but as Tiger), it …
What Wisconsin Has Wrought: Labor Unrest Spreads
On Tuesday afternoon, the 12 members of Ohio’s Senate Insurance, Commerce and Labor Committee convened in a corner room on the second floor of the state senate building in Columbus. No vote or amendment was on the agenda, just a hearing on what is simply called Senate Bill 5. Outside the door, hundreds of protesters pressed into the …
Gaddafi’s Blood-Soaked Hands
It was not long after he received a secret warning from the Italian government in April 1986 and narrowly escaped being blown to bits by American bombers that Muammar Gaddafi declared his intention to become Emperor of Africa. What followed as the increasingly erratic Gaddafi pursued his megalomaniacal dream was one of the most obscene …
1,000 Words
Shutdown Doublespeak
House and Senate leaders seem to be speaking over each other rather than to one another in the debate over spending cuts that could shutdown the government on March 4 – not a good sign.
House Speaker John Boehner today reiterated his position that the Senate take up the 2011 spending bill passed by the House early Saturday. …