Mark Adomanis discusses a New York Times article on Romney’s Russia views: The article also briefly outlines Romney?s very strange belief that Russia is somehow on pace to become an economic hegemon. Indeed the extent to which Romney?s beliefs differ from those of Leon Aron, his Chief Russia adviser, is scarcely believable and, frankly, more [...]
current events articles news reports world politics international politics news websites world news today top news stories
Mark Adomanis discusses a New York Times article on Romney’s Russia views: The article also briefly outlines Romney?s very strange belief that Russia is somehow on pace to become an economic hegemon. Indeed the extent to which Romney?s beliefs differ from those of Leon Aron, his Chief Russia adviser, is scarcely believable and, frankly, more [...]
current events news today today news news for today news of today political science house representatives
Mark Adomanis discusses a New York Times article on Romney’s Russia views: The article also briefly outlines Romney?s very strange belief that Russia is somehow on pace to become an economic hegemon. Indeed the extent to which Romney?s beliefs differ from those of Leon Aron, his Chief Russia adviser, is scarcely believable and, frankly, more [...]
news websites world news today top news stories politics news women in politics news politics worldwide news
By Greg Hanscom
Twenty years ago, major U.S. environmental groups helped rally support for the Earth Summit in Rio. Today, they can hardly be bothered with it.
Source: http://grist.org/politics/will-old-school-green-groups-sleep-through-the-earth-summit/
world report Barack Obama political party current news news report news article political cartoons
By Grist staff
Finding a good, green wedding present can be quite the commitment. Umbra vows to help out. 
political analysis daily politics current event articles government issues conservative news political groups congress vote
Historian Robert Caro has spent nearly four decades telling the story of President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Gwen Ifill and Caro discuss the pivotal four years between 1960 and 1964 when Johnson rose from senator to an overshadowed vice president, and then to president — the premise of his latest biography, “The Passage of Power.”
JEFFREY BROWN: And finally tonight, the unfolding drama of a political figure at a key turning point in American history.
Gwen Ifill has our conversation.
GWEN IFILL: Historian Robert Caro has spent nearly four decades telling the story of a single man, former President Lyndon Baines Johnson. The fourth hefty volume in his series of biographies is “The Passage of Power.” It covers the pivotal four years between 1960 and 1964, as Johnson rose from senator to vice president then, through the stunning tragedy of the Kennedy assassination, to president.
And there is yet a fifth volume to come.
Robert Caro joins me now.
Thank you.
ROBERT CARO, author: Nice to be here.
GWEN IFILL: It seems like this is a book about transformation.
ROBERT CARO: Yes, the transformation of Lyndon Johnson at the beginning of it is the mighty Senate majority leader, the most powerful majority leader in history.
He descends to the pit of the vice presidency and three years of humiliation. And then, in a single crack of a gunshot, it’s all reversed, and he’s president of the United States.
GWEN IFILL: You use that term crack of a gunshot throughout the book. It seems like that that is the running theme.
ROBERT CARO: Well, you know, and the people who are in — when you ask John Connally, for example, he says: Everyone else thought it was a motorcycle backfire or a firecracker. But I was a hunter all my life. I knew it was the crack of a hunting rifle.
So does the Secret Service agent in Johnson’s car. At the moment the gunshot fire — sounds, he sees President Kennedy two cars above start to fall to the left. He whirls around, he grabs Lyndon Johnson’s shoulder, throws him down to the floor of the car, leaps over the backseat, and lays on top of him — Johnson was later to say, “I will never forget his knees in my back and his elbows in my back” — and shields Johnson’s body with his own as they’re racing to Parkland Hospital.
GWEN IFILL: This moment, this transformative moment in our history, happened just at a time when Lyndon Johnson was his most miserable in his entire public career as vice president.
ROBERT CARO: He was telling his aides to find other jobs. He said, I’m finished. Go with somebody else.
GWEN IFILL: And it’s possible that Kennedy thought he was finished, too.
ROBERT CARO: Well, it certainly was starting to look like that might be more of a possibility.
GWEN IFILL: Let’s talk a little bit about his relationship with the Kennedys.
Garry Wills wrote one of the reviews of this book. And he described the book as a moral disquisition on the nature of hatred.
ROBERT CARO: Well, you know, there are three strong personalities, Lyndon Johnson, Jack Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy.
Lyndon Johnson despises Jack Kennedy. When he’s the Senate majority leader, Kennedy is a young senator. Johnson said of him, he’s pathetic. He was pathetic as a senator. He didn’t even know how to address the chair. He used to mock him. He used to literally call him not a man’s man. He said — he used to say to people, you know how skinny his ankles are? And he’d hold up his fingers like this.
He doesn’t realize. He thinks he’s going to have the Democratic nomination in 1960. He doesn’t realize that this young senator for whom he has no respect really is a great politician and is racing around the country corralling delegates, impressing people, and taking the nomination away from him. By the time Johnson wakes up, it’s really too late.
GWEN IFILL: And that his little brother, who eventually was considered really — the real number two when President Kennedy was president, even though he was attorney general, that he would be undercutting him at every turn. At least, that’s the way Johnson saw it.
ROBERT CARO: Bobby Kennedy, you know, you hate to use words as a historian like hatred, but hatred isn’t too strong a word to describe the relationship between Robert Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. They hated each other.
Robert Kennedy said of Lyndon Johnson after his brother was killed, he said — he never would call Johnson president. So when he uses the word president, it’s his brother. He said, my president was a gentleman and a human being. This man is not. He’s mean, bitter, vicious, an animal in many ways.
GWEN IFILL: An animal.
There were two episodes right around the assassination between them, one in — when — actually when Lyndon Johnson call Robert Kennedy to ask if it was okay to get sworn in, in Dallas, and the other when Bobby Kennedy arrived at Air Force One when the plane landed in Washington.
ROBERT CARO: That telephone call, you know, is one of the things that when you learn about it, you’re really sad. I mean it’s a moment you can hardly understand.
Robert Kennedy is sitting by the swimming pool at Hickory Hill, his place in Virginia. Suddenly, he sees a workman painting the house clap a transistor radio to his ear and come running down toward the pool. At the same moment, the telephone rings on the table by him. And Ethel, his wife, picks it up. And it’s J. Edgar Hoover to tell Robert Kennedy that his brother has been shot.
Less than an hour later, the man that Robert Kennedy hated is on the phone to him asking the formalities of how he assumes his brother’s power. The secretary who took down the oath, Johnson asked Robert Kennedy for the wording of the oath.
You know Kennedy — he could have asked any one of a hundred people for that. And the secretary — Kennedy has Nicholas Katzenbach, his deputy, give him the oath. I asked the secretary, a woman name Marie Fehmer, who still lives in Washington, you know what it was like. And she says, Katzenbach’s voice was like steel. Bobby wasn’t. He had started. I thought, you shouldn’t be doing this.
GWEN IFILL: Jackie Kennedy was also — we see her in that photograph. And she gave great legitimacy to the passing of power by standing next to Lyndon Johnson when he took that oath. But she had mixed feelings as well about Johnson.
ROBERT CARO: Well, you know, she once wrote to Ted Sorensen after — you must know how frightened my husband was that Lyndon Johnson might become president.
This is really after the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the — Johnson was so hawkish in the meetings of the ExComm.
GWEN IFILL: He was hawkish and he was pretty much pushed to the side as well. . .
ROBERT CARO: Yes.
GWEN IFILL: . . . during that period.
ROBERT CARO: Yes.
GWEN IFILL: So, let’s keep back on this transformation theme.
So he becomes president through no actions of their own. There’s this boiling resentment. This is this grief which overcomes all of the members of the Kennedy inner circle.
ROBERT CARO: Yes.
GWEN IFILL: And yet here comes the Texan to take over. And in his first speech to a joint session of Congress, what does he do? He decides to take on civil rights.
ROBERT CARO: Yes. And he says the most important thing we can do is pass the civil rights bill that Jack Kennedy introduced and fought for, for so long.
And he picks up this bill. You know, at the time that Kennedy was assassinated, at the moment he was assassinated, his two top-priority bill, civil rights and tax cuts, are really dead in the water. And Congress — Congress has stopped them. The Southerners control I think it’s nine of the 16 great standing committees of the Senate. They control the Senate absolutely.
The civil rights bill hasn’t even gotten over to the Senate. It’s in the House Rules Committee, which is ruled over by Judge Howard W. Smith of Virginia. And he is refusing even to tell anybody when he will get to have hearings on the civil rights bill.
Johnson — you know, Johnson was a genius. He was a legislative genius. He remembers that a representative, Richard Bolling of Missouri, has introduced the discharge position to take the bill away from Smith’s committee. Now, these petitions seldom go anywhere. And a president is never behind them because it’s challenging all the House prerogative.
Johnson makes a call to Bolling. And you have to say the first half of the call is Johnson saying, I will never interfere with the House prerogatives. Then, he says to Bolling, do you see any way to get this out of committee? Bolling says no. And I wrote in the book, if there was only one lever, Lyndon Johnson was going to push it. And to watch him push that discharge petition through and get the civil rights bill is legislative genius.
GWEN IFILL: It’s the old Lyndon Johnson that we know from “Master of the Senate,” your last book.
ROBERT CARO: Yes.
GWEN IFILL: And it’s him come back. But — and in it, he also says — you quote him as saying to Doris Kearns Goodwin, the historian, “I had to take the dead man’s program and turn it into the martyr’s cause.”
ROBERT CARO: Yes.
And he uses the sympathy that people had for Kennedy. That helped him get the bills moving, but none — he also uses his great knowledge of legislative techniques and the secrets of the Senate to get these bills moving.
GWEN IFILL: And in the next book, we will hear about what brought him down. And that’s the war in Vietnam.
ROBERT CARO: Very dark story.
GWEN IFILL: Very dark story.
ROBERT CARO: Sad story.
GWEN IFILL: But we look forward to reading it.
Robert Caro, thank you so much.
ROBERT CARO: Thank you, Gwen.
JEFFREY BROWN: You can find more of Gwen’s interview with Robert Caro, plus photos from his book on our website.
Source: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/white_house/jan-june12/lbj_05-10.html
Zoe Lofgren Sam Farr Dennis A. Cardoza Jeff Denham Jim Costa Devin Nunes Kevin McCarthy
IndieGala has added a new title to its latest pay-what-you-want indie bundle: DeadEnd: Cerebral Vortex. They describe the game as a "surreal first-person labyrinth game" featuring 20 different levels, multi-language support, and a "unique artistic concept of alternating realities."
Source: http://www.gamepolitics.com/2012/05/11/indiegala-bundle-adds-deadend-cerebral-vortex
news world current event current events news today today news news for today news of today
BY STEVE HEARSUM
Curious as to what possessed the CEO to propose that strategy, when everyone knows it is barking mad? Baffled as to why you have just spent three hours in a meeting that was supposed to come up with a cunning plan, and all you are left with is a set of vague and fluffy actions requiring yet more interminably long strategy meetings?
Decisions! Decisions!
Most life changing events in our careers have at their root someone, somewhere, deciding something. Sometimes we may be present to influence that, others not. Either way, what, if anything, can we do about it? And how actually do humans make decisions? I mean, it?s a rational process, right?….
Source: http://www.officepolitics.com/advice/?p=2264
united states house of representatives current politics presidential cabinet political organizations political topics world news daily obama articles
Lately there has been a lot of talk about education technology in these parts. For example, MIT and Harvard are about to put more classes online with their new, $60 million edX partnership. But are universities really taking advantage of the latest tech trends? Though they were early adopters of the Web, they seem to [...]
government issues conservative news political groups congress vote major news world news headlines political studies
“Medical costs continue to loom large over retirement, a report from Fidelity Investments says.
A 65-year-old couple retiring this year without any employer-based health coverage would need an estimated $240,000 to cover medical costs through retirement, according to Fidelity’s latest estimate. That’s a 4 percent increase from last year’s figure. (The number has increased by 50 percent since 2002, when Fidelity first calculated the cost at $160,000.)
The estimate assumes the couple is covered by traditional Medicare, the federal health plan for the elderly. The estimate is based on life expectancies of 17 years for men, and 20 years for women.”
via New Estimate Sees Rise in Medical Costs in Retirement – NYTimes.com. By ANN CARRNS- NY Times
My mother is 90 and has Alzheimers and a variety of other ailments. Her expenses would be on the high side of the typical retiree.
I manage her life and care, and I bear much of the out of pocket expenses so I have a pretty good idea of the costs. Not counting long term care costs, her out of pocket medical expenses including Medicare and Medigap premiums and prescription drugs are about $7,500, and she takes multiple medications. If my father were still alive, I can imagine that their combined expenses would be around $15,000 per year. So the $240,000 estimate seems reasonable.
That’s enough to be ruinous for many Americans. This country is insane. We spend 19% of GDP on the medical business while no other civilized nation spends more than 10-11% and they all get better statistical outcomes. Doctors and medical labs and clinics are paid twice as much here as anywhere else in the world. Carpetbagging providers pull up stakes in their homelands to come to the US and profiteer because the pickings are so juicy. Meanwhile 4o million Americans don’t have access to affordable medical services. People die or face financial ruin because of this insane system. American business is less competitive in the world market because of it. This must stop. The playing field must be leveled in all respects.
Other nations have crushed the private medical cartel that owns the US political system and have taken the delivery of health care away from the criminals that run that system. That’s the only solution that works. Obamacare is no solution. We must end the private, for profit medical business and put medical services under government control. Nothing less will work.
The bribery of our elected officials by the medical industry cartel must end. It will end sooner or later, because this system is so corrupt and rotten, it will eventually collapse.
That day cannot come soon enough for senior citizens and for all who are deprived of the opportunity to get medical care at a fair and reasonable cost.
Please follow Your Money on Twitter and Facebook.
Join the conversation about this story »
government news article government news articles latest political news headline news today latest government news political facts political current events
Mark Adomanis discusses a New York Times article on Romney’s Russia views: The article also briefly outlines Romney?s very strange belief that Russia is somehow on pace to become an economic hegemon. Indeed the extent to which Romney?s beliefs differ from those of Leon Aron, his Chief Russia adviser, is scarcely believable and, frankly, more [...]
Lois Capps Elton Gallegly Howard P. McKeon David Dreier Brad Sherman Howard L. Berman Adam B. Schiff
Dmitri Trenin attributes Putin’s recent decision not to attend the G-8 summit at Camp David to domestic political concerns: But what looked initially a technical exercise — forming the new cabinet — appears less of a formality. Moscow is awash with contradictory rumors about who’s in and who’s out, and the general confusion is palpable. [...]
government current events current government events united states house representatives political information political opinion united states house of representatives current politics
Are successful entrepreneurs born with an innate sense that tells them which risky business bets will pay off? Or is this a skill that that can be learned over time? To Babson College President and Xconomist Leonard ?Len? Schlesinger, the answer to both questions is yes. There are occasional business prodigies like Steve Jobs who [...]
Source: http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2012/05/10/xconomist-of-the-week-len-schlesinger-on-learning-by-doing/
political topics world news daily obama articles recent political issues politics current events politics articles articles on politics
Why did one of Massachusetts? biggest companies just spend more than $400 million on an Israeli tech firm with no products and no revenue? It?s all about the flash. EMC, the Hopkinton, MA-based data storage giant (NYSE:EMC), confirmed it has acquired Israeli flash-storage startup XtremIO in an all-cash transaction. Media reports put the price of [...]
political news article international news headlines national news today recent world news political news articles usa government news political issues in america
James Inhofe, chief Senate climate denier, has a lot of terrible ideas. But this one may be the worst ever: Require Senate confirmation for all of EPA’s 10 regional administrators.
Source: http://grist.org/politics/james-inhofes-worst-idea-ever/
state government news political news today world politics news Martha Roby Mike Rogers Robert B. Aderholt Mo Brooks
Source: http://www.newser.com/story/145856/gop-should-look-to-millennials-change-its-tone.html
government issues conservative news political groups congress vote major news world news headlines political studies
On Friday commercial remote sensing company GeoEye surprised many in the space field when it announced an unsolicited offer to acquire its chief rival, DigitalGlobe. GeoEye is offering $17 per share in cash and stock, valuing DigitalGlobe at $792 million, a 26% premium compared to DigitalGlobe’s stock price at the close of trade Thursday. (DigitalGlobe [...]
Mike Thompson Wally Herger Daniel E. Lungren Tom McClintock Doris O. Matsui Lynn C. Woolsey George Miller
Iowans, there is no need for you to caucus tonight. It seems that new information has come out that suggests your effort to support the candidate of your choice does not matter at all. The Iowa GOP leaders will decide the winner, not you. So, go ahead and snuggle up in front of your TV’s [...]
Nancy Pelosi Barbara Lee John Garamendi Jerry McNerney Jackie Speier Fortney Pete Stark Anna G. Eshoo
Earlier tonight Michelle Bachmann lost her Iowa Campaign chairman to the Ron Paul campaign. She lashed out claiming it was financially motivated. Not true, says her current Iowa Political Director. Here is the relevant portion of Bachmann’s statement after the defection occurred: Kent Sorenson personally told me he was offered a large sum of money [...]
local government news federal government news current political news state government news political news today world politics news Martha Roby
A lot of people think tuberculosis is a thing of the past, but it remains one of the most deadly diseases in the world. Now the Seattle-based Infectious Disease Research Institute is getting ready to take it on with a new vaccine being prepped for clinical trials. IDRI said today it has formed a partnership [...]
Source: http://www.xconomy.com/seattle/2012/05/09/idri-aeras-team-up-to-develop-tuberculosis-vaccine/
current events news today today news news for today news of today political science house representatives
With just a few weeks left until its big demo day, organizers of the Seattle Angel Conference are announcing the finalists competing for an investment of about $100,000. And it?s a pretty wide range of startups, from tools for software developers to outdoor clothing and even neighborhood grocery stores. I wrote about the Seattle Angel [...]
Source: http://www.xconomy.com/seattle/2012/05/10/seattle-angel-conference-finalists/
united states news political articles political blog top news today presidential polls world breaking news breaking world news
Office-Politics #101: What NOT to Do to Get Ahead at Work
#1. Do NOT wound the King, unless you?re going to kill him.
#2. Do NOT badmouth. It feels good but?.
#3. Do NOT sacrifice your values. Take the emergency exit.
#4. Do NOT be afraid to say you?re sorry. Groveling may help you keep your job.
#5. Do NOT feel sorry for yourself. Nobody likes whiners.
#6. Do NOT accept interviews with Rolling Stone Magazine.
#7. Do NOT underestimate your adversary.
Source: http://www.officepolitics.com/advice/?p=2633
washington news political views weekly news usa news gov news news gov nation news
Across the country, Ron Paul and his army of supporters have been quietly taking over the GOP at the state and county level, winning party leadership positions and picking up delegates who will carry the torch for Paul at the Republican National Convention this summer.
In most cases, these party power plays have been legitimate; Ron Paul supporters have out-organized and out-numbered their Mitt Romney counterparts, using complex party rules to secure delegate slots for Paul supporters.
But in Idaho, the “takeover” mentality appears to have gotten out of hand.
In recent reports from the Idaho Statesman, several of Paul’s Idaho activists have detailed plans for a “hostile takeover” of the state Republican Party convention, and a “scorched earth” strategy to overturn the results of Idaho’s March caucuses, which Romney won with 62% of the vote.
According to the Statesman, the strategy involves winning two-thirds of precinct elections, which select delegates for the Idaho GOP convention. If they can pull off the landslide, then Paul-friendly delegates can move to suspend the rules at the state convention, and reject Romney’s slate of RNC delegates, replacing them with Paul supporters.
The plan is extreme, even by Paul standards. In a statement today, the Paul campaign disavowed the “hostile takeover” plan, which it attributed to “isolated instances of grassroots activists.”
“The Ron Paul campaign’s delegate-attainment strategy being implemented nationally at party processes that follow so-called ‘beauty contests’ is not, and has never been, meant to somehow rewrite the outcome of past nominating contests,” campaign manager John Tate said in the statement. “The Ron Paul 2012 Presidential campaign condemns efforts to expand its influence in the Republican Party in Idaho and beyond when these activities are couched as vengeful, underhanded, or markedly distasteful.”
The statement is an obvious attempt to distance Paul from some of his more zealous supporters, and to assuage concerns that his campaign is planning some kind of chaos for the convention.
That may be easier said than done. In another incident today, well-known Ron Paul activist Adam Kokesh pondered the relative benefits of assassinating Mitt Romney during a segment on his online talk show. BuzzFeed reports that the Secret Service is following up on the comments.
Kokesh has actually been causing problems for the Paul campaign since Paul endorsed his 2010 bid for Congress. Paul’s campaign chairman Jesse Benton told BuzzFeed that Kokesh is a “deeply troubled individual with whom we cut off contact a long time ago.”
“These are definitely outliers,” Paul campaign spokesman Gary Howard told Business Insider. “Almost all of the grassroots supporters are all positive people who are just trying to participate in the process.”
But while Kokesh and the Idaho activists may be outliers, the incidents reinforce the perception that Paul’s supporters are an unruly — and sometimes downright scary — bunch.
This reputation is not particularly helpful as Paul and his acolytes strive to remake the Republican Party in their image.
When asked if he plans to embarrass Romney at the convention, Paul is indignant:
“That is against my plan so I don’t like that even being a suggestion,” the candidate told CNN Wednesday. “I’m in it for very precise reasons: to maximize our efforts to get as many delegates as we can. I’m still a candidate, and to promote something that is very, very important, that is a change in the direction for the Republican Party.”
Clearly, Paul understands that letting his supporters run roughshod over the party in Tampa would be detrimental to his goals. But it remains to be seen if the man who gave the Liberty Movement its voice can also silence it when the time comes.
Please follow Politics on Twitter and Facebook.
Join the conversation about this story »
current events articles news reports world politics international politics news websites world news today top news stories
By Sarah Laskow
There are infinite ways to interpret Jane Jacobs? legacy. Well, 580, at least.
Source: http://grist.org/cities/jane-addiction-can-one-humble-city-lover-be-all-things-to-all-people/
Ed Pastor David Schweikert Jeff Flake Raul M. Grijalva Gabrielle Giffords Eric A. Crawford Tim Griffin
OfficePolitics.com asked best-selling author Dan Heath how an Office-Politics reader (a teacher in an inner city high school) could make change happen, when change is very hard.
SWITCH: How to change things when change is hard
Why is it so hard to make lasting changes in our companies, in our communities, and in our own lives? The primary obstacle is a conflict that?s built into our brains, say Chip and Dan Heath, authors of the critically acclaimed bestseller Made to Stick.
Psychologists have discovered that our minds are ruled by two different systems?the rational mind and the emotional mind?that compete for control. The rational mind wants a great beach body; the emotional mind wants that Oreo cookie. The rational mind wants to change something at work; the emotional mind loves the comfort of the existing routine. This tension can doom a change effort?but if it is overcome, change can come quickly. In Switch, the Heaths show how everyday people?employees and managers, parents and nurses?have united both minds and, as a result, achieved dramatic results.
“Are you aching for change? Switch can help you understand what’s blocking the change you want — and how to go about removing those roadblocks and making change happen. I highly recommend it. Plus the Heath brothers have gone the extra mile. Their site is loaded with free resource tools to help you apply the Switch principles, whether you’re in a Fortune 500 company, a local non-profit group, or an individual looking to change yourself! You can also listen to Chip and Dan Heath talk about Switch in this podcast.” Franke James, Office-Politics.com founder and Author, Dear Office-Politics, the game everyone plays.
Dear Office-Politics,
I work at a small inner city high school in Los Angeles. I have been there for 20 years and have witnessed teachers do all kinds of improper things such as leaving early, talking on cell phones in the hall, showing movies and basically being incompetent by not teaching but just sitting at their desks doing nothing.
Lately, at meetings, I have been trying to shed some light on these problems and put some pressure on the administration to work on these problems. Of course, the majority of the teachers are angry at me because they have been enjoying the perks of not being held accountable. They tell me to mind my own business and to just worry about my classroom.
Source: http://www.officepolitics.com/advice/?p=1838
today news news for today news of today political science house representatives congressman news articles
Members of the House of Representatives narrowly accepted an amendment late Tuesday night cutting NASA’s budget by $126 million. The amendment, sponsored by Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY), transferred $126 million from NASA’s Cross-Agency Support account to the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program in the Department of Justice. The amendment passed 206-204, with 61 Republicans [...]
Howard P. McKeon David Dreier Brad Sherman Howard L. Berman Adam B. Schiff Henry A. Waxman Xavier Becerra
During a two-hour hearing on Thursday, the House Appropriations Committee debates and then approved by voice vote the Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) appropriations bill. The committee made no amendments to the bill that affects NASA, which receives a little less than $17.6 billion in the bill. In his statement introducing the bill, Rep. Frank [...]
Jackie Speier Fortney Pete Stark Anna G. Eshoo Michael M. Honda Zoe Lofgren Sam Farr Dennis A. Cardoza
Photo courtesy Every1against1.com
Updated 9:14 p.m. ET | Voters in North Carolina approved the constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, according to an Associated Press report.
The Rev. William Barber knows that many North Carolinians don’t agree with same-sex marriage. But the leader of the state NAACP hopes that voters will focus on another question, and he’s using a new technique to make the point.
“When you say, ‘Do you believe hate and discrimination should be in the Constitution?’ there’s a very different answer on this,” Barber told the NewsHour in a phone interview Monday. “We believe that’s extraordinarily dangerous. It sets up different precedents.”
“What if we put the Voting Rights Act up for a popular vote? What if we put the ’64 Civil Rights Act up for a popular vote?”
North Carolinians voted Tuesday on a proposed amendment banning all unions other than marriage between a man and a woman. Barber wanted his association’s push to prompt black voters into passionate opposition.
The North Carolina NAACP invested in robocalls, newspaper ads and fliers asking for votes against the amendment. And in radio ads, Barber speaks over cool electronic music about the amendment being “deceptive.”
“Whether you believe in or disagree with same-sex marriage you should always be against division and hate and discrimination” being codified into law, he says in the ads.
The pastor said religion has nothing to do with it.
Another group, Every1Against1, is using a similar message, using powerful imagery reflective of the turbulent South during the civil rights era. The ads depict buses, restaurants and park with Jim Crow law-style settings. One image shows two water fountains, one labeled “gay” and the other “straight.”
Still, black voters, in other states’ referendums and in recent polls, have resoundingly opposed same-sex marriage. The outcome of the North Carolina vote — and black voters’ responses to it — may lay a foundation for a vote on gay marriage this November in Maryland, The Washington Post reported this week.
Barber refused to say how much his group has spent on the media campaign. However, it’s one of the most expensive media campaigns by the North Carolina NAACP, he said.
NAACP groups have refrained from using such direct and incendiary appeals when marriage battles played out in other states. And the national NAACP still hasn’t put effort into state-level fights.
You can read a description of the proposed amendment, poised to pass Tuesday despite the campaign’s efforts, here.
political issues presidential candidates economic news political news current events articles news reports world politics
My mom keeps my college diploma in a frame on the wall of her home office, but the last time I saw my college transcripts, two apartments ago, they were sitting in a moving box along with a decade?s worth of tax returns. Luckily, in the journalism profession, one doesn?t generally need to keep track [...]
presidential cabinet political organizations political topics world news daily obama articles recent political issues politics current events
Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney debate in February in Mesa, Arizona. Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images.
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum finally endorsed presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, but he made clear he wants to have a say in the direction of the campaign. Santorum’s email to supporters late Monday made the case for Romney but also revealed that the bruises from the tough primary fight had not fully healed.
After 11 victories and a late surge during the primary season, perhaps no candidate in the race leveled sharper attacks against Romney than Santorum, who in late March called the former Massachusetts governor “the worst Republican in the country to put up against Barack Obama.” Santorum’s move on Monday represents the latest sign that the conservative base of the party is coalescing around Romney, despite their previous disagreements.
In his email, Santorum dished on his private meeting with Romney, calling the Friday huddle in Pittsburgh “candid, collegial and focused on the issues that you helped me give voice to during our campaign.” He said that during the meeting he “felt a deep responsibility to assess Governor Romney’s commitment to addressing the issues most important to conservatives, as well his commitment to ensuring our appropriate representation in a Romney administration.”
Santorum said that Romney “listened very carefully to my advice” on making the nation a manufacturing “superpower” once more. “[W]hile our policy prescriptions differed, he clearly expressed his desire to create more opportunities for those that are feeling left behind in this economy,” Santorum wrote.
What’s more, Santorum said he “strongly encouraged” Romney to “add more conservative leaders as an integral part of his team” as he puts together his staff.
But the ultimate message of the email was the one that will get the attention: The long primary is over, and Santorum embraced Romney as the nominee.
“The primary campaign certainly made it clear that Governor Romney and I have some differences. But there are many significant areas in which we agree: the need for lower taxes, smaller government, and a reduction in out-of-control spending,” Santorum wrote.
Santorum listed other areas of agreement such as abortion and marriage policy, as well as preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Santorum said that while he had “concerns” about Romney’s ability to make the case against President Obama’s health care law, he was confident Romney would work with Republicans in Congress to repeal the measure.
Santorum added: “Above all else, we both agree that President Obama must be defeated. The task will not be easy. It will require all hands on deck if our nominee is to be victorious. Gov. Romney will be that nominee and he has my endorsement and support to win this the most critical election of our lifetime.”
In a postscript at the end of his email, Santorum also promised he’d soon make “another big announcement” about his own political future.
ELECTION-O-RAMA
With the GOP nominating fight a done deal, Tuesday’s voting drama rests with a veteran Republican senator in Indiana, a fight between labor voters over which Democrat will face GOP Gov. Scott Walker in Wisconsin’s recall next month, and an amendment to the North Carolina constitution that would ban same-sex marriage.
Lugar, a six-term Hoosier State senator and the former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, has had more than a year and all of the financial and organizational advantages of incumbency to prepare for this moment.
But the 80-year-old senator is poised to be unseated by state treasurer Richard Mourdock, who has the backing of Tea Party groups, Santorum and other conservative figures. Last year, few thought Mourdock had a chance, and his fundraising was lackluster at best. But the most recent poll in the state found Mourdock topping Lugar by 10 points.
David Catanese writes in Politico that Lugar would be just the sixth incumbent Republican senator to lose in a primary in three decades.
Rep. Joe Donnelly is the Democratic candidate, and should Mourdock be victorious Tuesday, expect the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to take a closer look at the Hoosier State to try and flip the seat this fall.
Don’t miss Gwen Ifill’s April piece on the race.
We’ll also be closely watching the amendment in North Carolina and the Wisconsin primary contest.
THE RON PAUL COUP
There hasn’t been a primary for two weeks and Romney has been declared the presumptive GOP nominee, but Texas Rep. Ron Paul continues to pick up delegates, Katelyn Polantz reports.
The strategy is simple: Separate from pledging a vote, Paul asks supporters to pledge participation as a delegate. Then, they’ll try to capitalize on fans’ rabid enthusiasm (especially compared to Romney’s backers) to harness power at the convention.
Paul’s strategy isn’t just to win a delegate here and there. Instead, he collected support from almost all delegates in Nevada by focusing on the state delegate conventions rather than the popular vote. Jon Ralston of the Las Vegas Sun described the Paul-controlled delegates as being in a “frenzy.”
In Maine, Paul supporters dominated the state’s at-large vote over the weekend.
Paul’s surge in delegates won’t win him the nomination, but supporters hope that it will give his political platform more sway in Romney’s campaign and within the party. Paul wasn’t allowed to speak at the convention in 2008, but it will be hard to see Romney denying him time at the podium in Tampa this year, given the numbers he is slowly collecting.
THE POLITICS OF SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
On Monday, Gwen Ifill spoke with Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage and former Clinton adviser Richard Socarides about the politics of the same-sex marriage debate, in light of Vice President Joe Biden’s comments over the weekend on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Socarides urged President Obama to complete his evolution on the issue. “I think, unfortunately, some of his advisers have made a political calculation that this position where he’s evolving, whether he neither supports it nor is against it, is somehow politically advantageous between now and the election. But I think there’s no question, based upon all the things that the president has done to advance the cause of gay and lesbian civil rights, that, you know, he believes in equality,” Socarides said. “You have to have full quality. And full equality means equal rights.”
Brown said he agreed with Socarides that the president’s decision was motivated by political considerations.
“Time after time, the administration has refused to do anything to protect marriage, while, at the same time, President Obama continues to say that he believes marriage is the union of a man and a woman. And, clearly, that’s because of the political reality that strong numbers of Democrats oppose redefining marriage,” Brown contended.
You can watch the segment here or below:
EmbedVideo(3336, 482, 304);
(Mark Leibovich has more in the New York Times about Biden’s uneasy role on the national stage.)
A Gallup poll released Monday found 50 percent of Americans believe same-sex marriage should be legal, down from 53 percent last year. Forty-eight percent of Americans said they opposed legalizing gay marriage.
An amendment to ban same-sex marriage is expected to pass in North Carolina, but with smaller margins than have been seen in other states over the last few years.
2012 LINE ITEMS
Scott Wilson writes in the Washington Post that the anti-incumbent message found in Europe’s elections should be a “political warning” for the president. (Watch the NewsHour’s segment on the elections here.)
The Obama campaign plans to tweak Romney on Tuesday for a comment he made about student loans in Ohio. The campaign is hosting a conference call with its press secretary, Ben LaBolt, and Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer before Romney’s event at Lansing Community College in Michigan. The push is timed to coincide with Congress’ return and the president’s drumbeat on the student loans bill. “If students at Lansing Community College are wondering what Mitt Romney has to say to them today, the message is clear: you’re on your own,” the campaign said in a release.
A woman at Romney’s rally in Cleveland in Monday said the president “should be tried for treason” for “operating outside the construction of our Constitution.” The presumptive GOP nominee did not rebuke her charge with his initial response, but following the event said he disagreed with her statement.
The Teamsters union endorsed Mr. Obama on Monday with fighting words for his challenger. A press release called Romney a “vulture capitalist.”
Nicholas Confessore reports for the New York Times that “major liberal donors including the financier George Soros are preparing to inject up to $100 million into independent groups to aid Democrats’ chances this fall” after spending months waiting it out. The plan is to focus on “grass-roots organizing, voter registration and Democratic turnout,” he writes.
What happens when you roast a donkey low and slow? The Democratic Party’s convention organizers are selling BBQ sauces in a new fundraising effort.
TOP TWEETS
Man to Gov. Bob McDonnell at Wendy’s in Danville: “We need you to be vice president” lockerz.com/s/207231695
— Christina Bellantoni (@cbellantoni) May 7, 2012
And on word 925 of an 1,115-word e-mail, Sen. Santorum reveals that Gov. Romney has won his endorsement. #2012
— Phil Elliott (@Philip_Elliott) May 8, 2012
Obama in Albany tomorrow. Not necessarily the best place to get away from the gay marriage story. bit.ly/JRKZcf
— Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) May 8, 2012
It’s Vernors ginger ale, the stuff @AnnDRomney says she and native Michiganders bleed, at East Lansing Marri instagr.am/p/KWPaK4ITpu/
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) May 8, 2012
OUTSIDE THE LINES
A source tells the Morning Line that the Democratic House Majority PAC will spend $340,000 over three weeks on an ad targeting Republican Jesse Kelly as “extreme” in the Arizona special election to replace former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
Roll Call’s Joshua Miller on what’s expected to be an “ugly” GOP primary between House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman John Mica and freshman Sandy Adams in Florida.
Fox News’ Chad Pergram on Rep. Charlie Rangel’s return to Washington this week.
Terry McAuliffe, former Democratic party chairman and top adviser to Bill and Hillary Clinton, may try a second time for the Virginia governorship. Again, Sen. Mark Warner’s name finds its way into talk of the 2013 Virginia governor’s race.
Former Rep. Gary Condit is back on the campaign trail, reports the Washington Post’s Emily Heil. His son is running for Congress in California.
Another bit in North Carolina’s sexual harassment settlement: The state Democratic Party moved almost $10,000 to a secret legal defense team this year.
Stephen Colbert’s “Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow, which has almost $794,000 in its treasury, spent a paltry $28,000 in March. In contrast, it spent roughly $130,000 in January of this year,” reports Rachel Leven in The Hill.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., issued a statement praising Beastie Boys rapper Adam “MCA” Yauch, who died on Friday.
The NewsHour’s Spencer Michels looks at the incredible, edible … bug? Yes, you read that right.
ON THE TRAIL
All events are listed in Eastern Time.
President Obama visits the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering’s Albany NanoTech Complex at the State University of New York at 12:10 p.m. and gives remarks on the economy at 1:25 p.m. He later returns to Washington and delivers the keynote address at the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies 18th Annual Gala Dinner at 5:55 p.m.
Vice President Biden delivers remarks at the Rabbinical Assembly’s annual convention in Atlanta at 10:45 a.m.
Mitt Romney attends a campaign event in Lansing, Mich., at 12:35 p.m.
Ron Paul has no public campaign events scheduled.
All future events can be found on our Political Calendar:
For more political coverage, visit our politics page.
Sign up here to receive the Morning Line in your inbox every morning.
Questions or comments? Email Christina Bellantoni at cbellantoni-at-newshour-dot-org.
Follow the politics team on Twitter: @cbellantoni, @burlij, @elizsummers, @kpolantz and @indiefilmfan.
Jeff Denham Jim Costa Devin Nunes Kevin McCarthy Lois Capps Elton Gallegly Howard P. McKeon
Dear Office Politics,
I have worked in a high-stress but free-wheeling media office for more than 20 years, and am good at my job, have OK people skills and am generally respected. I received a promotion about a year ago. However, since moving into a particular department (mostly other women) about 10 years ago, I’ve apparently stepped on a few toes because I don’t quite fit in with the group and have, on a couple of occasions, voiced my opinions on ethical issues that have cropped up. As a result, a couple of co-workers are cool to me, rarely speak to me and exclude me from non-work conversations. A couple more who are close to those two are also quite cool. The rest are neutral (or so I thought).
Source: http://www.officepolitics.com/advice/?p=379
government issues conservative news political groups congress vote major news world news headlines political studies
The House is scheduled to start debate today on HR 5326, the Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriations bill. (Depending on the number of amendments proposed, the bill may not be up for a final vote until Wednesday or Thursday.) Late yesterday, the White House issued a statement of administration policy (SAP) on the bill, outlining [...]
Jerry McNerney Jackie Speier Fortney Pete Stark Anna G. Eshoo Michael M. Honda Zoe Lofgren Sam Farr
There was little hope and change in Obama’s State of Union speech last night. In fact, he demonstrated how far America has fallen away from the principles of our Founders. When Obama suggested that states require high school students stay in school until they reach age 18 or graduate, I nearly lost it. If you [...]
Source: http://libertymaven.com/2012/01/25/sotu-america-is-doomed-but-there-is-hope-in-ron-paul/12133/
political opinion united states house of representatives current politics presidential cabinet political organizations political topics world news daily
Including family planning and reproductive health in the Earth Summit agenda should be a no-brainer. 
Source: http://grist.org/article/why-arent-womens-issues-on-the-agenda-at-rio20/
Terri A. Sewell Don Young Eni F. H. Faleomavaega Paul A. Gosar Trent Franks Benjamin Quayle Ed Pastor
We don’t know for sure, but several reports suggest that President Barack Obama will endorse same-sex marriage during his hyped-up interview with ABC News today.
The interview, conducted by Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts, was taped at the White House this afternoon, and details are expected to leak any minute now. Excerpts will released this afternoon, The full segment is set to air tomorrow morning.
Obama has been under increased pressure to define his stance on gay marriage this week, in the wake of Vice President Joe Biden’s remark on Sunday that he is “absolutely comfortable” with same-sex marriage. Since then, the White House press corps have been bombarding Press Secretary Jay Carney about the President’s position on the issue.
Now, in the wake of yesterday’s passage of a same-sex marriage ban in North Carolina — the state that will, incidentally, host the Democratic National Convention this year — it is virtually guaranteed that Obama will be asked to clarify his stance during this afternoon’s interview.
There is some indication that Obama is ready for the question — and that the interview was actually planned for the explicit purpose of debuting the President’s new position. According to The New York Times, the interview was hastily planned after Biden’s comments, suggesting that the White House wanted to get the President in front of cameras quickly, to handle the issue in person.
This post has been updated
Please follow Politics on Twitter and Facebook.
Join the conversation about this story »
news websites world news today top news stories politics news women in politics news politics worldwide news
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., speaks with Judy Woodruff about his plan to tackle the nation’s escalating fiscal crisis, as outlined in his new book “The Debt Bomb.” Coburn says “everyone,” from both the right and the left, must sacrifice to fix the country’s mounting debt problems.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And to another kind of crisis, a fiscal one.
Last week, we talked with congressional scholars Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein about their book, “It’s Even Worse That It Looks.” They put the blame for Congress’ inability to resolve budgets and other problems primarily on Republicans.
For a different perspective, I sat down earlier today with another author, Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma.
Sen. Tom Coburn, thank you very much for talking with us.
SEN. TOM COBURN, R-Okla.: I’m happy to talk with you.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So you have written a book. The title is “The Debt Bomb.” What is it? What caused it?
SEN. TOM COBURN: Well, both parties have caused it. Careerism has caused it.
And you’re seeing it played out today in Washington before this election. Nobody wants to make the hard choices. Nobody wants to be totally honest with the American people when, in fact, we can get reelected without doing so.
And so what has happened over the years is we have built programs, well-intentioned, compassionate hearts, and haven’t put the revenues to pay for them, and haven’t done the oversight on the things we have done with good intentions to clean them up and make sure they’re not wasteful.
So what we have created is a situation where the next generation is really at risk. This generation is at risk. If you have an IRA, for example, and you are planning on retiring in five or six years, with the inflation that’s coming, it’s not going to be adequate.
And so what we’ve done is we have actually lived the last 30 years in this country off the next 30. And the bill is due.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So much of this book is about what should be done about it. Tell us in a nutshell what you think should be done about this.
SEN. TOM COBURN: As a physician, I see symptoms that manifest from a disease.
The disease is the political class, both parties in this country, and their desire to be careerists. The symptoms are all these problems that we have with all these programs. Most Americans don’t realize that the federal government’s twice as big as it was 10 years ago in terms of the dollars that it spends.
And so there are tons of problems that we could address if we would be honest with the American people, but most politicians don’t want to tell you, you can’t have something in the future when they’re coming up on an election.
JUDY WOODRUFF: You advocate big cuts in discretionary spending. You talk about a hatchet to discretionary spending.
When people hear that, they think, what does that mean? You talk about making a sacrifice in order to have future prosperity. Who — which Americans would sacrifice?
SEN. TOM COBURN: Everybody.
The only way to do this is to make sure it is seen as everybody sharing in the sacrifice to get our country back where it needs to be. We haven’t lost the American spirit. If we had leadership that pulled this country together around what the problems are and said, here are the problems, Medicare’s absolutely unsustainable, Social Security is unsustainable, discretionary spending is unsustainable, our Defense Department is unsustainable, here are the problems, and here are the options that we can fix them.
And if we delay putting off those sacrifices, and, in other words, taking some of the pain, the pain is going to be much more difficult and much more severe, especially those people who are highly dependent on the rest of us for their aging years or their medical needs right now.
JUDY WOODRUFF: One of the things you talk about is saving, I think you say, $3 trillion over a period of years just by cutting out duplication, waste.
Every president I can remember has come into office saying we need to do something about waste, fraud, and abuse. But once you get here, they have gotten here, they found out it’s a lot more complicated than that.
SEN. TOM COBURN: Well, it isn’t.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So. . .
SEN. TOM COBURN: What has happened is, it’s not presidents. It’s Congress. And that’s the point I make in the book.
Here’s Medicare. We’re worried about Medicare. And we can document that there’s at least $100 billion a year in fraud and Medicare. Why? Why would he have a system — if the system is designed to be defrauded, why haven’t we changed the system?
JUDY WOODRUFF: What about the role that the tax cuts have played that came in under the previous administration, under President Bush, and the two wars, all of which have contributed enormously?
SEN. TOM COBURN: There’s no question that they have contributed.
But you need to look at their scope. The wars are $1.2 trillion, all right? We have unfunded liabilities of $131 trillion in Medicare and Social Security alone. That’s with — here’s the other thing that most people don’t know. Government uses government accounting. If you use generally accepted accounting principles, our unfunded liabilities right now that your kids, my kids, and our grandkids are going to have to pay for us is $131 trillion.
That’s a million dollars per child born today in this country.
JUDY WOODRUFF: A big part of the argument, as you know very well, is Democrats say — many Democrats say there needs to be some parity between spending cuts and taxes, that revenues have got to go up.
SEN. TOM COBURN: I agree with that. I will. . .
JUDY WOODRUFF: But your party doesn’t agree with that. So how do you. . .
SEN. TOM COBURN: Well, my party does agree with it.
Paul Ryan put revenue on the table. Pat Toomey in the super committee put revenue on the table. Bowles-Simpson put revenue on the table. The gang of six put revenue on the table. The key is, is, do you create a tax code that will, in fact, enhance investment which will grow our economy, rather than use the tax code to take those decision-makers who have capital now and make them not players in the economy?
JUDY WOODRUFF: You also write, Senator, about the — what’s happened in Europe. You talk about the international welfare state, the collapse of that, the disincentives to work.
Now, what we have seen lately in Europe is governments have reacted to that with these so-called austerity programs, and now the voters are saying, it’s too much, it’s too far.
Is austerity a sound economic policy?
SEN. TOM COBURN: No, you have to have both.
You have to incentivize growth, but you have also to have austerity. But my contention in our country is, we don’t have to have austerity. We just need to have some common sense applied to what we’re doing. When you have 47 different job training programs that we spend $19 billion a year on, all but three of them overlap one another, there’s no metric to say they’re working, as a matter of fact, the proof is, is that they’re not working, and we continue to do the same thing, the American people say, why would you do that?
Why would you have 47? Why not have three, put a metric on it, and see if it works? We have a job training program that’s designed to keep people in the job training business employed, but not to train people for jobs that are available in our economy.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So you’re not concerned that the kind of — that the austerity moves that we saw in Europe, if they happened here, could create the same kind of backlash?
SEN. TOM COBURN: I would tell you that if you actually do the work and know what’s going on in our government, that you could easily take $250 billion a year out of our government and transfer that to flattening the code, so that the average middle-income taxpayer, hardworking middle-income taxpayer actually pays less in taxes, and you will get a boon to our economy.
In other words, not spend it here, and transfer it to the middle-income taxpayer, and you will get a boon. And we’re getting no economic return for it. That’s the problem.
JUDY WOODRUFF: But you’re talking about a culture, a kind of conduct on the part of members of Congress. How do you change that, Senator. . .
SEN. TOM COBURN: You change who’s here.
JUDY WOODRUFF: . . . quickly enough to do something about this debt crisis?
SEN. TOM COBURN: You change who’s here.
It’s term limits. I’m self-imposed in terms limits. I know that this place changes people. And everybody — these people are great people here. They’re well-intentioned, but they’re double-minded. Get reelected, that’s what is number-one goal. Fix the country becomes number two because you can’t fix the country unless you’re here.
And what I wanted to do with this book is expose the American public what is actually going on here and why we’ve not addressed the problem and what the consequences are going to be.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Sen. Tom Coburn, the author of the new book “The Debt Bomb,” thank you very much for talking with us.
SEN. TOM COBURN: Thank you. Pleasure to be with you.
Source: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/jan-june12/coburn_05-08.html
top news stories politics news women in politics news politics worldwide news political polls political culture
Indiana voters sent Richard Lugar to the U.S. Senate six times, but not again this year. He lost Tuesday to Tea Party-backed state Treasurer Richard Mourdock. Gwen Ifill, Greg Fettig of Hoosiers for a Conservative Senate and political analyst Brian Howey discuss why Lugar lost and preview the race to fill his seat in the Senate.
GWEN IFILL: The Tea Party staged a vigorous comeback last night, defeating an iconic Midwestern Republican.
MAN: Well, good luck.
SEN. RICHARD LUGAR, R-Ind.: Thank you very much.
GWEN IFILL: Indiana voters have sent Richard Lugar to the U.S. Senate six times since 1977, but his seventh try wasn’t the charm.
SEN. RICHARD LUGAR: Hoosier Republican primary voters have chosen their candidate for the United States Senate. I congratulate Richard Mourdock on his victory in a hard-fought race.
GWEN IFILL: The 80-year-old Lugar was crushed by State Treasurer Richard Mourdock, losing by more than 20 points, and winning only two of the state’s 92 counties.
The Tea Party-backed Mourdock said Lugar was out of touch with his home state and had grown too close to Democrats in Washington. But Lugar, who has made his reputation mainly on matters of foreign policy, said such cooperation is needed now more than ever.
SEN. RICHARD LUGAR: We are experiencing deep political divisions in our society right now. And these divisions have stalemated progress in critical areas. But these divisions are not insurmountable. And I believe that people of goodwill, regardless of party, can work together for the benefit of our country.
GWEN IFILL: Democrats who worked with Lugar in the Senate praised him today.
SEN. JOHN KERRY, D-Mass.: Dick argued that bipartisanship isn’t an end in itself, and it’s sometimes mistaken for centrism and compromise, when in fact, it is really the way of what he called being a constructive public servant. It is the way a constructive public servant approaches his or her job, with self-reflection, discipline and faith in the goodwill of others.
GWEN IFILL: Republicans were largely silent, but not Richard Mourdock.
CROWD: Mourdock! Mourdock! Mourdock!
GWEN IFILL: At his victory rally, Mourdock said Hoosiers were not voting against Lugar; they were voting for a different approach to governing.
RICHARD MOURDOCK (R): This race is not about animosity. It is about ideas. It is about the direction of the Republican Party. It is about the direction of our country.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GWEN IFILL: Mourdock also pledged to help alter that direction.
RICHARD MOURDOCK: Hoosier Republicans want to see the Republicans inside the United States Senate take a more conservative track, and we’re looking forward to helping them do that.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GWEN IFILL: The departure of yet another mainstream moderate could further alter the Senate landscape this fall. Democrats are defending 23 seats in November, Republicans only 10.
The most hotly contested races for both parties are under way in Massachusetts and Nevada. President Obama won Indiana in 2008, but the state is up for grabs once again this fall, when Mourdock will face Democrat Joe Donnelly, a three-term congressman.
With more on how Lugar was defeated, and what it means, we turn to Greg Fettig, co-founder of Hoosiers for a Conservative Senate, and Brian Howey, a political analyst and author of the Howey Politics Indiana newsletter.
Welcome, gentlemen. Good to see you in Indianapolis there tonight.
Brian Howey, what happened last night? Your poll that came out I guess last Friday showed a 10-point gap, but by the time it was said and done last night, it was a 20-point drubbing.
BRIAN HOWEY, Howey Politics Indiana: Yes.
Well, we were in the field in late March. And Sen. Lugar had a seven-point lead, but it was at 42 percent. And, of course, you know any incumbent, particularly somebody who’s been there for three decades, that’s that far south of 50 percent is in big trouble. And certainly, the poll that we released, Howey/DePauw poll that we released last Friday had Richard Mourdock up 10 percent.
And our Democratic pollster, Fred Yang, basically said the bottom could drop out on Sen. Lugar. And that’s certainly what happened. I mean, I don’t think anybody was predicting that 20 percent margin, but we knew it had a good chance to grow.
GWEN IFILL: How much of the bottom dropping out was caused by a change of mood in the Indiana electorate this year, and how much of it was self-inflicted by Dick Lugar himself?
BRIAN HOWEY: Well, it’s probably a little bit of a lot of things, his age, 80 years old, his longevity, the fact that in our March poll, Congress had a 10 percent approval rating among Hoosier voters. Those were all problems.
I have got to give the Tea Party credit. They came up with a candidate. They kept the field restricted to one challenger. And then the Lugar campaign really didn’t handle the residency issue very well. That was in the headlines for, oh, about six weeks. And it fed right into Richard Mourdock’s narrative.
And so all those things, it was like the classic death by 1,000 nicks.
GWEN IFILL: A thousand nicks.
Greg Fettig, let’s talk about what the Tea Party did in this case. Was this an anti-Lugar vote in the end, or was it a pro-Mourdock vote, or neither?
GREG FETTIG, co-founder, Hoosiers for a Conservative Senate: Well, actually, I mean, we believe we have an excellent candidate with Richard Mourdock. He really espouses was the Tea Party believes. And that’s back to constitutional conservatism.
And it’s not so much it was strictly anti-Richard Lugar. It was anti-establishment moderates. And like it or not, our country, politically, is polarized. That’s the fact of the matter, where not only are we fighting for the heart and soul of American — America that we see and should be based on the Constitution, but also within the GOP.
So what you saw last night was really a purity purging of that. And he’s commended by many as one that does reach across the aisle, but, unfortunately, in our mind, that’s a one-way road. The other side, the Democrats, don’t seem to do that. And, in fact, they advocate that, but in their mind, that’s we surrender, we being the Republicans, would surrender to their ideals. So that’s just the society we have. . .
GWEN IFILL: So you think. . .
GREG FETTIG: I’m sorry?
GWEN IFILL: I was just saying, so you think polarization is a good thing?
GREG FETTIG: No, not necessarily. It’s just the fact of what faces — it’s a reality today in American politics.
And I believe it’s been perpetuated by one party, but to reach across the aisle and work with them, when they’re not working — them being the Democrats — they’re not working, reciprocating, so like it or not, it’s the sad state of American politics, but until one political ideology or the other wins, that’s just the way it’s going to be.
GWEN IFILL: Dick Lugar had a reputation, Mr. Fettig, for being an expert on foreign policy matters. Do you think that made no dent whatsoever in the electorate in a year when the economy is driving things?
GREG FETTIG: Well, here in Indiana overall, it probably didn’t.
In the Tea Party, they’re very well-versed people within the movement that that does matter. I mean, the START treaty, we weren’t happy with, and we think that’s an old-fashioned, 1980s approach to a completely different scenario of what we see today.
But, bottom line, it’s the economic crisis the country is — the debt crisis that we face. We are going on four years now in this crisis, with no end in sight. Sen. Lugar, when he first was elected to office, the national debt was around $700 billion, and now it’s at $16 trillion.
So I really don’t and most of my peers within the movement don’t see how the same thing is going to get different results. So it was really time for a change.
GWEN IFILL: Brian Howey, how much of a role did outside money play in this campaign? There was a lot of money coming into the Tea Party groups. There was a lot of money obviously spent by an incumbent senator. Did it shape what happened?
BRIAN HOWEY: It absolutely did.
I mean, we’re looking at I have heard anywhere from $3 to $4 million that came in. It seemed to me like Richard Mourdock kind of subcontracted his campaign out to the NRA, FreedomWorks, and Club for Growth. They did a lot of bundling, a lot of direct mail, a lot of TV purchases. I’m not sure Richard Mourdock could have pulled this off if he didn’t have all the outside money coming in.
And that concerns me. On one hand, we have incumbents who seem impervious to defeat, and yet on the other hand, we seem to be replacing it with a Citizens United decision, in which a certain opaqueness has come over the process. And I think it’s going to really cause some problems down the road as this trend spreads to more states and more Senate seats.
GWEN IFILL: Mr. Fettig, as a beneficiary of some of that money, what do you think?
GREG FETTIG: Well, I’m going to disagree with that, because Sen. Lugar himself had a lot of outside money. He — fund-raisers in Washington and New York City. He did have super PACs outside our borders that contributed to his campaign.
As a senator, his votes don’t just affect the citizens of Indiana. They affects all American citizens, the national debt crisis, the bailouts. All the taxpayers across the United States are liable for that debt. So to say that nobody outside Indiana should have any influence whatsoever, I just don’t believe in that.
GWEN IFILL: Brief answer from both of you, if you will. Is Indiana in play for the fall, starting with you, Mr. Fettig?
GREG FETTIG: No, absolutely not. Indiana is a red state. I truly believe President Obama won’t be voted in, in Indiana in the fall.
Joe Donnelly’s got a limited following, name recognition. And we, as in the Tea Party, are not done after yesterday. We continue to march forward and fully anticipate to be victorious in November as well.
GWEN IFILL: Brian Howey, quickly.
BRIAN HOWEY: Yes. Howey/DePauw had the race tied, 35 percent each for Joe Donnelly and Richard Mourdock. Over the past 24 years, we have had 16 years of Democratic governors. And Evan Bayh held this seat for two terms. A Democrat can do it.
GWEN IFILL: Brian Howey, Greg Fettig, thank you both so much.
GREG FETTIG: Thank you.
BRIAN HOWEY: Thank you.
Source: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/jan-june12/lugar_05-09.html
gov news news gov nation news political issues presidential candidates economic news political news
Today . . . The “Repeal the REAL ID Act” is DownsizeDC.org’s oldest active campaign. It is also one of our most successful. Public outrage from the Left, Right, and Middle has persuaded many state legislatures to refuse to implement it. The Obama Administration, which to its credit doesn’t like this Bush-era law, keeps issuing [...]
Source: http://libertymaven.com/2012/03/19/time-to-resist-real-id/12143/
political blog top news today presidential polls world breaking news breaking world news up to date news presidential system
Photo by Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
What’s the significance of President Obama’s evolution on gay marriage?
In terms of policy, probably not much. He made clear in his interview with ABC News that he still considers the issue one for the states to resolve. But in an election year, the political impact could be much bigger.
Across the 12 county types in Patchwork Nation, there are very different reactions to the issue. As we’ve noted in more in-depth reporting, some county types — the wealthy Monied ‘Burbs, collegiate Campus and Careers, and big city Industrial Metropolis — believe by wide margins that homosexuality as a lifestyle should be accepted by society. Others – like the culturally conservative Evangelical Epicenters, Mormon Outposts and African American heavy Minority Central counties — feel strongly that it should be discouraged.
A recent Pew Research Center poll broken into Patchwork Nation’s 12 county types offers some clues about what Obama’s announcement could mean on Election Day. That poll finds that most of our county types are not — or at least were not when the poll was conducted in mid-April — particularly focused on the issue.
Who’s Focused on It?
In nine of the 12 county types, fewer than one-third of those surveyed said they thought gay marriage was very important to them.
The three county types where more than one-third said it was very important: the Evangelical Epicenters, the aging Emptying Nests and the Mormon Outposts. (The sample size in the Mormon Outposts counties was too small to be considered significant.)
Of those three types, only the Emptying Nests are likely of any significance to Obama. The strong Republican streak in the Evangelical Epicenters and Mormon Outposts means he will almost certainly lose by massive margins in those counties this fall. He did in 2008.
The Emptying Nest counties tend to vote Republican but by smaller margins. Obama could hope to steal some votes out them, and they are located extensively around the crucial Industrial Midwest and upper Great Plains states. They are the light-green counties on the map below.
In the always-important, swing-voting Monied ‘Burbs, less than 30 percent of those polled said they thought they issue was very important.
That Was Then
There are some very big caveats on those numbers, though.
First, what exactly does very important mean? Looking at these numbers and the cultural predispositions of these county types, one would assume it means that opposing gay marriage is preferable and a key social issue. But without a more direct question, it’s harder to read the results out of the Monied ‘Burbs and some other types, such as the Campus and Careers and the largely exurban Boom Towns.
Second, how much did the ground shift with Obama’s announcement? Now that the gay-marriage issue is front and center in people’s minds, will their feelings about it change? That remains to be seen, and it will be better understood in the string of polls on this issue that are sure to appear in the coming weeks and months.
But viewed from this moment with these numbers and what we know about these communities, Obama’s announcement, while momentous, seems unlikely to significantly shake up the race.
Source: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2012/05/president-obama-same-sex-marriage-support.html
news around the world political problems presidential debate latest breaking news politics polls united states news political articles
The Netherlands is the first country in Europe to pass a net neutrality law (thanks to Michael Chandra for multiple tips on this story). The Dutch Senate adopted the net neutrality provisions in a new Telecom Law that was approved on Tuesday night. Those changes to the law were approved unanimously, according to the Senate.
Source: http://www.gamepolitics.com/2012/05/09/netherlands-approves-net-neutrality-law
Brad Sherman Howard L. Berman Adam B. Schiff Henry A. Waxman Xavier Becerra Judy Chu world news
Judge James Robart of the U.S. District Court of Western Washington today extended a temporary restraining order that he issued last month that prevents Motorola from enforcing any injunction from any other court against Microsoft until he reaches a decision in the Seattle case. Judge Robart extended the temporary restraining order because he needed more time to sort out the case, but that didn't stop him from delivering some harsh criticisms to both sides of the legal battle over patents and licensing.
Xavier Becerra Judy Chu world news news world current event current events news today
Stanley Weiss has written an “open letter to Mitt Romney,” which is by far the weirdest commentary on the Lugar-Mourdock Senate primary race I have read: Governor, now that you are the presumptive Republican nominee, you face a choice. You can either give in to the ignorance and intolerance of tea party purists like Richard [...]
government articles current events in the world world current events politics daily united states congress news headlines today political analysis
CCP Games announced some good news for EVE Online players in the United Kingdom: UK players will be able to pay £9.99 for their monthly EVE Online subscriptions in pounds sterling. The alternate payment method was introduced, they say, to accommodate requests by the UK Community to pay in British Pounds rather than in Euros. This means that UK customers are saving about 20 percent on the price of their EVE subscriptions.
Source: http://www.gamepolitics.com/2012/05/08/ccp-offers-uk-players-currency-alternative-eve-subscriptions
news government government in the news news about the government washington news political views weekly news usa news
Source: http://www.newser.com/story/145706/lugar-rips-partisanship-in-congress-foe.html
Howard P. McKeon David Dreier Brad Sherman Howard L. Berman Adam B. Schiff Henry A. Waxman Xavier Becerra
Tom Ricks misinterprets Lugar’s defeat about as badly as one can: The defeat of Richard Lugar in the Indiana Republican Party primary for Senate last night tells me two things. First, it says that the national security centrist position continues to erode. Losing Lugar reminds me of the defeat a few years back of Rep. [...]
political news article international news headlines national news today recent world news political news articles usa government news political issues in america