It seems increasingly likely that the Pakistani Taliban were behind Faisal Shahzad’s attempted bombing of Time Square for all that they disavowed him. Which is why Senators Chuck Schumer of New York, Kay Hagan of North Carolina and New Jersey’s Frank Lautenberg and Bob Menendez sent a letter to the State Department on Tuesday …
Senate
Morning Must Reads: Empathy and Envy
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images
—John Dickerson examines Obama’s argument that Kagan, like Sotomayor, understands the everyman and brings empathy to court. It well may be her (and his) judicial philosophy, but it’s not something well-grounded in Kagan’s credentials or life story. But the purpose of the empathy narrative …
First Reactions to Kagan’s Nomination
Clearly, President Obama’s choice of Solicitor General Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court came as no surprise to many. Reactions flooded my inbox before Obama was even done speaking. Here are some excerpts – in order that I received them – of statements reacting to Kagan’s nomination. Some interesting highlights: Mitch McConnell …
Winning the Immigration Lottery
Dems are still moving ahead with the legislation but here’s a story from me about why the GOP is unlikely to play this year. There’s actually more risk in the Democratic strategy than I’d previously seen: a lot of folks on both sides are concerned that the draft legislation thus far was released — the compromise that was being …
Morning Must Reads: Kagan
Photo by Ryan Kelly/Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images
–Conventional wisdom played out; Obama will tap Solicitor General Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court. The White House is rolling out with a 10 a.m. ET event where the president and his pick are both expected to speak.
–Never having served on the bench, Kagan’s record is …
The Call: Shaking Up The Establishment
This week’s podcast features Jay and Alex talking about Bob Bennett’s tough road to re-election, David Obey’s retirement and more. Enjoy:
Morning Must Reads: Spring
Official White House photo by Pete Souza
–The economy added jobs 290,00 jobs in April, the biggest jump in four years. The unemployment rate rose to 9.9 percent as the labor force swelled with people looking for work. President Obama is expected to address the report at 11 a.m. ET.
–Last night in financial reform: The GOP …
Obama Gets Hands-On With Financial Reform
The White House’s general approach to legislation has been to be an interested party — a nudge here, a supportive statement there — while the president himself stays out of the nitty-gritty day-to-day process. Many a commentator insisted he was too aloof on health care, letting petty and parochial interests in Congress hijack his …
The Trader’s View On Derivatives Reform
Wallace C. Tubeville, a former Goldman Sachs VP and former CEO of derivative broker VMAC, has done us all a service. In a post on New Deal 2.0, he lays out the over-the-counter derivative trader’s view of why financial reform is a bad thing.
A level playing field is anathema to the trader. Successful traders must have advantages over
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Morning Must Reads: The Brits
Photos by Oli Scarff-Pool/Getty Images; Dan Kitwood/Getty Images; Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
–The UK’s general elections are today. Our colleague Glen Levy has a nice walk-up and Nate Silver runs over possible outcomes.
—Damian Paletta has more on the Republican plan for Fannie and Freddie I mentioned last night. It would …
Today in Financial Reform: Not Much
The Senate began voting on amendments to their financial re-regulation bill in earnest Wednesday with changes from Barbara Boxer and the Shelby/Dodd tag-team sailing through on bipartisan votes. The ultimate impact to the bill? Not a lot. Boxer’s amendment was a three-paragraph gimmee explicitly stating in plain language what the …
Crist Pulls ahead
Morning Must Reads: Contagion
Workers gather oil-soaked algae near Gulfport, Mississippi. (Ben Gruber/Reuters)
–No surprises in Indiana GOP Senate candidate Dan Coats’ or Ohio Dem Senate contender Lee Fisher’s primary victories last night; Elaine Marshall and Cal Cunningham head to a runoff in North Carolina’s Democratic Senate contest.
–Chris Dodd and …