Opinion
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By: Mark Hemingway
The Hill: The tally of House Democrats calling on Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) to resign his seat in Congress stood at eight as members adjourned for the August recess late Friday. That number includes Rep. Mike Arcuri (D-N.Y.), the first Democrat from Rangel’s home state to call for his ouster. And so far, every House Democrat who...By: Gary Andres
The proportion of Republicans, Democrats, and independents that turnout to vote shape the outcome of every election. Even small shifts in these percentages can dramatically alter political outcomes. And this November’s midterm is no exception. But estimating the partisan composition of the electorate – and especially making comparisons over time — is...By: Mark Hemingway
Here’s your Friday night news dump — move over Charlie Rangel: Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) has chosen to go through an ethics trial, like the one lined up for New York Rep. Charles Rangel, rather than accepting charges made by an ethics subcommittee, a source familiar with the process tells POLITICO. The back-to-back trials...By: Mark Hemingway
With the dismal GDP figures that came in today, The New York Times isn’t mincing words. The outlook for jobs and economic growth is bleak: There is no more disputing it: the economic recovery in the United States has indeed slowed. The nation’s economy has been growing for a year, with few new jobs...By: Michael Barone
Our friends at the Washington Post gave front-page treatment this morning to SEC charges that Texas billionaires Sam Wyly and Charles Wyly gained $550 million in fraudulent stock trades. It also noted prominently that they are big contributors to Republican politicians. “SEC Charges Billionaire Texas Brothers Who Donate to GOP With Fraud,” the headline declared,...By: Julie Mason
Gibbs: I hope that thing has an airbag. (reuters photo) OMG. POTUS is driving! We get so used to seeing him doing the presidential stuff -- striding on and off official aircraft, looming over a podium, signing things. So when he does something really ordinary -- and our obsession with President Obama paying cash for things is well-documented on this blog -- the press corps goes all agog. Today he's in Michigan at a GM plant where they make the new, electric Volt cars. Earlier, he visited a Chrysler plant. From the pool report: Your pooler will send Chrysler plant report shortly but breaking news from second stop is that POTUS just drove (after consultations w Secret Service and Robert Gibbs' voiced hope that the electric Volt had an airbag) He stepped excitedly into a Black...By: Joel S. Gehrke Jr.
Angst over House GOP fund-raising woes has reduced Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, to a “Boehner for Speaker” marketing gimmick that amounts to a pay-to-play arrangement between the Minority Leader and well-heeled lobbyists. Politico has the story: According to materials distributed by Boehner’s camp and obtained by POLITICO, lobbyists and other major donors across the country who...By: Charlie Spiering
Today President Obama will likely tout the Chevrolet Volt today, as he takes a victory lap around Detroit celebrating all of the saved jobs in the auto industry. The New York Times today published an op-ed from Edward Niedermeyer of Portland Oregon roundly trashing the Chevrolet Volt, arguing that it is a taxpayer funded mistake. Quantifying just how much taxpayer money will have been wasted on the hastily developed Volt is no easy feat. Start with the $50 billion bailout (without which none of this would have been necessary), add $240 million in Energy Department grants doled out to G.M. last summer, $150 million in federal money to the Volt’s Korean battery supplier, up to $1.5 billion in tax breaks for purchasers and other consumer incentives, and some significant portion of...By: Mark Tapscott
National Journal's Jonathan Rauch has an interesting piece up today that serves as a prime illustration of how the mainstream media so often carries water for the liberal Democrat wing of the Washington political establishment. Rauch tries to portray new data from the Pew Center for the People and the Press on the pronounced and strengthening trend to the Right among independents as evidence that the Tea Party will benefit the GOP in the 2010 elections but will have an opposite effect thereafter. That's the "Tea Party Paradox," according to Rauch: "The very forces that are leading to the Republican surge in 2010 may also create a painful dilemma for the GOP thereafter," Rauch said. "The reason lies with an emerging phenomenon of which the tea party movement is just a leading...By: Charlie Spiering
Katie Couric writes in her ‘Notebook’ blog that Obama was right to reach out to the daytime TV audience by appearing on ‘The View.’ “At a time when unemployment is near 10 percent and consumer confidence is falling, daytime television viewers may be exactly who President Obama needs to reach.” Couric noted, “Many of those women…and...By: Timothy P. Carney
Did you hear Congress is considering a bill that would set new federal standards for carbon monoxide detectors, and also provide federal subsidies for such detectors? I just heard about it today, in a press release, sent out by the company that presumably wrote the measure and stands to profit from it: the U.S. House of Representatives has taken a major step to expand protection by passing the "Residential Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Prevention Act." Kidde, the leading manufacturer of residential CO alarms, fully supports this bill and commends the House of Representatives for its commitment to safety. I'm not saying Kidde's support for and profit from the bill makes this a bad bill. I'm not even terribly bothered by the legislation, although I don't yet see a constitutional...By: Mark Hemingway
Two Texas businessmen, Charles Wyly Jr. and Samuel Wyly, are being accused of massive fraud by the Securities and Exchange commission. You can read the SEC complaint here, but the short version is the brothers are accused of funneling some $750 million worth of stock in four companies the two owned through a byzantine series of...By: Mark Hemingway
Looks like the latest results aren’t much changed from two weeks ago: Republican Pat Toomey continues to hold a small lead over Democratic Congressman Joe Sestak in Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Pennsylvania Voters shows Toomey earning 45% support, while Sestak picks up 39% of the vote....By: Charlie Spiering
After taking a beating from the press (and Jon Stewart) regarding taxes on his $7 million yacht, Sen. John Kerry is in full damage control mode to set the record straight. The Massachusetts senator met with Boston Globe reporters for 45 minutes yesterday in hopes to put the issue to rest. “Legally, I’m not compelled (to pay the taxes),’’ he said. “But politically, and in terms of the perception, that is something that came at us unexpectedly, before I had gotten to the point of doing what we needed to do. That’s the way it is, that’s the way life is sometimes. . . . I should have paid more attention and done it faster or whatever. I just didn’t think we had to.’’ Watch...By: Mark Hemingway
One of Bush’s signature initiatives was combating AIDS. Despite being a favorite cause of the liberal in-crowd, Bush never seemed to get much credit for it. But I guess you don’t know what you’re missing until it’s gone: “If I were to characterize the mood here, I would say it was a combination of rage...By: Mark Tapscott
Political interference from the Obama White House and Attorney General Eric Holder's Justice Department - not excessive secrecy and bureaucratic inefficiency, as alleged by The Washington Post - are the two biggest problems facing the U.S. intelligence community, according to former Human Events editor and senior Pentagon official Jed Babbin. In an important column posted earlier today on Real Clear Politics, Babbin, author of six books on military and defense issues - argues that excessive political controls since the Clinton era have encouraged a "CYA attitude" in the intelligence community that puts excessive emphasis on insuring proper procedure is followed rather than focusing on obtaining credible, actionable intelligence about the intentions and capabilities of America's enemies...By: Byron York
The historian Garry Wills has written a brief item for the New York Review of Books blog about a dinner with President Obama on June 30, 2009. In that dinner with Wills, eight other historians, and three White House staffers, Obama was seeking to learn, in Wills’ words, “what history could teach him about conducting...By: Matthew Sheffield
Via Huffpo: During his daily press briefing on July 13, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was peppered with questions about why the president’s popularity numbers are in decline and his policy positions are so difficult to sell. ABC News’s Jake Tapper sought reaction to the network’s newest poll showing that 51 percent of respondents would rather...By: Kate Tummarello
Ousted former federal agricultural official Shirley Sherrod made news Thursday by announcing a lawsuit against conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart who, she claims falsely accused her of being racist against white people. Although it would make for an interesting showdown, media lawyers contacted by the Examiner said that that Sherrod’s case stands little chance of succeeding or even making it to trial. According to Ron Coleman, intellectual property attorney and blogger and general counsel for Media Bloggers Association, “[Sherrod] is a public figure, and she would certainly have to prove actual malice to prevail,” something that would be much more difficult than proving negligence on the part of Breitbart. Andrew Mirsky, an intellectual...By: Matthew Sheffield
Ever since the NAACP began stepping up its attacks on the limited government movement through charges of racism against the Tea Parties, it’s become rather apparent that there was a concerted effort behind this rhetoric. After reading the words of Mary Frances Berry, one of the more prominent leaders in the far-left black political scene, one need...By: Mark Hemingway
Surprise! Corruption is still a major problem in organized labor: After years of fighting criminal charges, the former head of the union that represents carpenters in New York City pleaded guilty on Wednesday to taking part in a racketeering scheme stretching back over a decade, the authorities said. The former leader, Michael J. Forde, was accused along...By: Julie Mason
Thanks, Gavin. I like your hair, too. (ap photo) Certain feminist elements of the Internet -- and also those for whom the hairier aspects of politics seem a continual surprise -- are presently bunched up over Tuesday's Public Policy Poll that asks Californians whether Barbara Boxer or Carly Fiorina has the better hair. Cueing outrage: Not the hair! So sexist! Can't we move beyond judging women for their looks?! We can and do. The poll also asks about job performance, voter preference and Barack Obama (but not his hair). When concerns like hair and wardrobe cease to be stealth issues for voters (and yes, the news media), then candidates and consultants will quit polling on them. See: Hillary Clinton's pantsuit, an enduring sartorial icon of the 2008 campaign. It was a dowdy...By: Timothy P. Carney
I just got an email sent under the name of Vice Presidet Joe Biden, asking me for money to battle the "special interests." When our administration and this movement decided to take on the special interests, we knew we were making a choice. And the consequences are clear. These groups have fought us at every turn in our struggle for change, and now they're trying to drown out our voices -- and our accomplishments -- with their campaign cash this fall. Please donate $5 today and help us take back this election from the corporate interests. So Biden must be gearing up to battle the party that has received the majority of money from each of 15 highest-spending industries this year, including a 30 percent advantage in money from Wall Street, right? The VP must be rallying the little...By: Barbara Hollingsworth
Rep. Charles Rangel, D-NY, the scandal-tainted former chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has apparently cut a deal with the House Ethics Committee not to air his dirty laundry in public because it could further damage the Democratic Party during a tough mid-term election. The House trial of Rangel on formal charges of tax...By: Mark Hemingway
The Hill, July 20: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign has turned to DVDs to help retire its debt from the 2008 presidential race. Her campaign circulated a fundraising e-mail on Tuesday saying that donors who contribute $35 or more to retire the “last bit” of the debt will receive a DVD of the former first...By: Charlie Spiering
Jon Stewart skewers Charlie Rangel, John Kerry and Rod Blagojevich in 'Corruptdate' segment Stewart highlighted Rangel lecturing an MSNBC reporter for asking the congressman if he was worried about losing his job: "What are you talking about? Are you trying to make copy for yourself?. . . What network are you from? Well your young I guess you need to make a name fore yourself, but basically you know its a dumb question and I'm not going to...By: Charlie Spiering
The AP reports that former Agriculture Department employee Shirley Sherrod plans to sue Andrew Breitbart who posted an edited video of her making racially tinged remarks last week. The edited video posted by Andrew Breitbart led Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to ask Sherrod to resign, a decision he reconsidered after seeing the entire video of her March speech to a local NAACP group. In the full speech, Sherrod spoke of racial reconciliation and lessons she learned after initially hesitating to help a white farmer save his home. She said she doesn't want an apology from Breitbart for posting the video that took her comments out of context, but told a crowd at the National Association of Black Journalists annual convention that she would "definitely...By: Matthew Sheffield
As expected, the questions from the hosts during President Obama’s appearance on “The View” aren’t super substantial. One topic of potential interest for political junkies: the president admitted that he was not invited to the upcoming wedding of Chelsea Clinton, daughter of his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton. Asked by co-host Barbara Walters whether he was invited to attend the festivities, the president said that he was not: “You know, I was not invited because Hillary and Bill, properly, want to keep this as a thing for Chelsea and her soon-to-be husband. And I am going to have the exact–I’m letting you guys know now that y’all probably will not be invited to [Obama daughters] Malia’s...By: Timothy P. Carney
Regulatory Robbery is one of my favorite beats -- when big business uses regulation and taxes to hurt competitors, pinch customers, squeeze suppliers, or otherwise profit at the expense of the politically less-connected. A travel blog, View from the Wing, reports on a current case of possible Regulatory Robbery. In brief, New York State is considering a tax on hotel bookings through the likes of Orbitz and Expedia -- one that wouldn't apply to direct booking through the hotel. In more detail: The New York Times reports that the current version of the pending New York State budget includes a 20 percent increase in hotel occupancy taxes for travel intermediaries (meaning travel agencies, tour operators and online travel companies). Get that? A tax on travel agencies and online...By: Mark Hemingway
A few weeks ago we saw a University of Illinois professor who was fired after a student complained that he was teaching Catholic doctrine on homosexuality in a course titled, appropriately enough, “Introduction to Catholicism and Modern Catholic Thought.” Now a court has upheld the expulsion of a Christian student at a public university in Michigan...
The Hill:
The tally of House Democrats calling on Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) to resign his seat in Congress stood at eight as members adjourned for the August recess late...
The proportion of Republicans, Democrats, and independents that turnout to vote shape the outcome of every election. Even small shifts in these percentages can dramatically...
Here’s your Friday night news dump — move over Charlie Rangel:
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) has chosen to go through an ethics trial, like the one lined up for...
With the dismal GDP figures that came in today, The New York Times isn’t mincing words. The outlook for jobs and economic growth is bleak:
There is no more disputing it:...
Today’s Featured Writers
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One respectable answer is that they don't. Many an op-ed has been written to elaborate the point, but this won't be one of them. Such answer is neither useful nor reassuring...
Outside of the Arabian Peninsula, where in the world do you think absolute monarchies still exist? A strong clue is given in this Daily Telegraph story about the fate of the...
“The republic has no need of science or of chemistry.”
With these words, a French tribunal confirmed its 1794 sentence of death on Antoine Lavoisier, the great...
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