These can’t be the headlines Democrats were hoping to see attached to their Occupy movement: “Occupy Clashes Test Mayors, The Wall Street Journal; Oakland and Other Cities Begin Cracking Down on Occupy Protests, The New York Times; With Eye on Oakland, Officials Seek Peaceful End to Occupy Camps, The Los Angeles Times; Police Arrest Protesters, Atlanta Journal Constitution; City Kicks Occupy Lawrence Out of South Park, Kansas City Star; Wall Street Protesters Find Cities’ Patience Wearing Thin, USA Today.
U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren bragged earlier this week that she “created much of the intellectual foundation for what they do.” So far, what the occupy movement does is claim ownership over prime downtown real estate, set up squalid and lawless encampments that are inevitably labeled health hazard’s by local authorities, and then get arrested causing local governments millions in overtime. Across the country, mayor after mayor, many of them Democrats, are coming to the conclusion that tolerating these magnates for disorder maybe wasn’t a good idea.
Back in Oakland, Mayor Jean Quan, who supported Occupy Oakland before agreeing to their eviction, is now facing the end of her political career. A recall effort was already underway before Tuesday’s riots, and now an online petition condemning the raid has already collected 1,500 signatures. How many more Dems will see their careers end by involving themselves with the Occupy movement?
Around the Bigs
The Washington Examiner, Despite ‘ban,’ fat-cat lobbyists bankroll Obama: Despite promising not to take money from lobbyists, President Obama has raked in cash from the owners and CEOs of lobbying firms, corporate vice presidents for government relations, and managing directors for public policy.
Politico, Indicted Goldman exec was major Dem donor: Rajat Gupta, the former head of McKinsey & Co. and Goldman Sachs indicted for insider trading this week, has given over $100,000 to Democrats.
The Washington Examiner, Debt committee still deeply divided: A rare public hearing held by the Super Congress showed there is little chance the body will agree on a debt reduction plan before the November 23rd deadline.
Roll Call, Using the Word ‘Obamacare’ for Political Gain: Democras are banning the use of the word “Obamacare” from taxpayer-financed mass mailings. Dems claim that the term is “partisan or political.”
The Wall Street Journal, State Tax Haul Jumps 10.8%: Thanks to a slowly recovering economy and tax hikes, state tax revenue jumped 10.8% this year.
The Hill, Second Democrat says he’ll support repeal of CLASS health program: Rep. Jim Matheson, R-Utah, became the second Democrat to support repealing the CLASS Act portion of Obamacare. Rep. Dan Lipinski, D-Ill., has already sponsored legislation to repeal the provision.
The Washington Post, European leaders agree on plans to shore up banks in effort to contain debt crisis: European banks and other investors reached an agreement with European leaders to take a 50% loss on Greek bonds. European leaders also agreed to add a trillion dollars to the EU’s bailout fund.
USA Today, editorial, Say yes to building the Keystone oil pipeline: Coming out for the Keystone XL pipeline, USA Today’s editors write: “The Keystone pipeline would provide about a half-million more barrels a day from one of this nation’s closest and most reliable allies. The right answer on the Keystone pipeline is yes.”
Public Policy Polling, Wisconsin Recall Prospects Dimming: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s approval rating continues to climb and is now at 47/51. It was 43/54 back in May. A plurality of voters 49/48 now oppose recalling him.
Campaign 2012
Poll:A new CNN/Time poll shows Mitt Romney in first place in four of the biggest states where early nominating contests will be held. In Iowa, Romney is up 24/21 on Herman Cain; in New Hampshire, Romney is up 40/13; in South Carolina, Romney is up 25/23; and in Florida, Romney is up 33/18.
Romney: Mitt Romney flipped back to supporting Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s government union reform law yesterday, after first declining to support the law while campaigning in Ohio Tuesday. “I fully support Gov. Kasich’s Question 2 in Ohio,” Romney told The Hill at a campaign stop in Virginia Wednesday. “I’m sorry if I created any confusion there.”
Romney: The Wall Street Journal praises Mitt Romney for telling the Las Vegas Journal-Review: “[D]on’t try and stop the foreclosure process. Let it run its course and hit the bottom. Allow investors to buy homes, put renters in them, fix the homes up. Let it turn around and come back up. The Obama Administration has slow-walked the foreclosure processes that have long existed, and as a result we still have a foreclosure overhang.”
Perry: Rick Perry spokesman Mark Miner said Perry will attend the next Republican debate in Michigan, but may stop going to any debates after that.
Righty Playbook
AEI’s James Pethokoukis details 7 reasons why Obama is wrong on income inequality.
RedState‘s Erick Erickson calls The Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin, “a Mitt Romney blogger ” who “claims to be a conservative covering the conservative movement, though she has nothing in common with conservatives other than hating terrorists” and is best described as “‘Likud’ rather than Republican or conservative.”
At Politico, Rubin responds: “You want a Washington Post journalist to comment on an anti-Semitic screed by some blogger? My arms are not long enough to punch down that far.”
Lefty Playbook
Georgetown history professor Michael Kazin tells Salon where he thinks the Occupy movement is heading: “The most optimistic way to look at it is that this protest campaign will be a catalyst for people working on issues of economic justice anywhere in the country and, to a degree, in other countries as well. The negative possibility is that this will devolve like the global justice campaign of a decade ago, which is best known for the Battle of Seattle in 1999. ”
ThinkProgress’ Igor Volsky says Mitt Romney’s proposed Medicaid cuts are even bigger than Paul Ryan’s: “Ryan already aims to shrink the federal government’s contribution to Medicaid by 35 percent in 2022, converting the existing federal matching rate for each state into a block grant and growing the grant by approximately 3 percent annually (as compared to the estimated 6.5 percent to 7 percent annual growth* in federal expenditures that would occur under current law). Romney told Hannity that he would grow his Medicaid block grants by just 1 to 2 percent per year.”
The American Prospect‘s E.J. Graff makes the case for abortion: “If it’s okay to abstain from sex, or to use contraception, then it’s okay to clean out a uterus of those gathering storm cells as well.”
