Category: Politics

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Politics

It’s Almost Official – Hillary Clinton Is Running For President in 2016

At a recent event in Washington featuring a speech by Hillary Clinton, the performance of the Secretary of State and the reception she received from those in attendance were analyzed by David Remnick of The New Yorker, and the conclusion to him was convincing – that Hillary Clinton was running for President of the United States in 2016.

Hillary Clinton was the main speaker. In a packed ballroom of the Willard Hotel, she was greeted with a standing ovation and then a short, adoring film, a video Festschrift testifying to her years as First Lady, senator, and, above all, secretary of state. The film, an expensive-looking production, went to the trouble of collecting interviews with Israeli politicians—Benjamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak, Tzipi Livni—and American colleagues, like John Kerry. Tony Blair, striking the moony futuristic note that was general in the hall, said, “I just have an instinct that the best is yet to come.”

The film was like an international endorsement four years in advance of the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary. The tone was so reverential that it resembled the sort of film that the Central Committee of the Communist Party might have produced for Leonid Brezhnev’s retirement party if Leonid Brezhnev would only have retired and the Soviets had been in possession of advanced video technology. After it was over there was a separate video from the President. Looking straight into the camera, Obama kvelled at length: “You’ve been at my side at some of the most important moments of my Administration.”

When the videos were over (and as the evening moved on), there was much chatter about what Clinton would do after she steps down from the Cabinet next month—get a haircut; take a few weeks sleeping off jet lag at Canyon Ranch; read the polls and the political landscape; do good works; do good works for the good people of, say, Iowa—and so on. Everyone had a theory of which they were one hundred percent certain. There wasn’t much doubt about the ultimate direction. 2007-8 was but a memory and 2016 was within sight. She’s running.

“I am somewhat overwhelmed, but I’m obviously thinking I should sit down,” Clinton said as the videos concluded. “I prepared some remarks for tonight, but then I thought maybe we could just watch that video a few more times. And then the next time, I could count the hairstyles, which is one of my favorite pastimes.” An old joke with Hillary, but the crowd, tickled to be there, rosy with wine, roared.

 

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Politics taxes

Most Americans Pay Lower Taxes Under Obama Than They Did In The 1980’s

Alan Hicks divides long days between the insurance business he started in the late 1970s and the barbecue restaurant he opened with his sons three years ago. He earned more than $250,000 last year and said taxes took more than 40 percent. What’s worse, in his view, is that others — the wealthy, hiding in loopholes; the poor, living on government benefits — are not paying their fair share.

“It feels like the harder we work, the more they take from us,” said Mr. Hicks, 55, as he waited for a meat truck one recent afternoon. “And it seems like there’s an awful lot of people in the United States who don’t pay any taxes.”

These are common sentiments in the eastern suburbs of St. Louis, a region of fading factory towns fringed by new subdivisions. Here, as across the country, people like Mr. Hicks are pained by the conviction that they are paying ever more to finance the expansion of government.

But in fact, most Americans in 2010 paid far less in total taxes — federal, state and local — than they would have paid 30 years ago. According to an analysis by The New York Times, the combination of all income taxes, sales taxes and property taxes took a smaller share of their income than it took from households with the same inflation-adjusted income in 1980.

Households earning more than $200,000 benefited from the largest percentage declines in total taxation as a share of income. Middle-income households benefited, too. More than 85 percent of households with earnings above $25,000 paid less in total taxes than comparable households in 1980.

h/t The New York Times

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Benghazi Benghazi Politics

Claire McCaskill – Republicans Are “Looking For A Scalp” And Susan Rice Has One.

Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill appeared on Meet The Press today and defended United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice. Asked about Susan Rice and the roadblock Republicans are building to deny her the job of Secretary of State, McCaskill said;

“I think it’s terribly unfair what has happened to Susan Rice.

“I do not understand for the life of me — the talking-points came from the intelligence community, yet you don’t hear one criticism of [former CIA Director] David Petraeus. It was his shop that produced the talking-points that Susan Rice talked about, and she mentioned al-Qaeda in the interviews.”

McCaskill also compared Susan Rice to Condoleezza Rice, who worked in the Bush administration and promoted the Bush talking-points making it possible to start the war in Iraq.

“I mean, really? Is there a double-standard here? It appears to most of us that there is. A very unfair one. This is a strong, smart, capable, accomplished woman, and I think there are too many people over there that are looking for a scalp.”

Republicans led by John McCain and Lindsey Graham have vowed not to support Susan Rice’s nomination for Secretary of State if she is nominated by President Obama, and they claim the talking-points Rice used to describe the events in Benghazi is their reason to deny her the nomination. McCaskill correctly pointed out that these talking-points did not come from Rice, but this little fact makes no difference to Republicans.

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democrats Politics taxes weekly address

Republicans – Using The Middle Class As Bargaining Chip To Get More Tax Cuts For The Rich

Two years ago, Republicans held the middle class American people hostage and demanded that the rich get a continuation of the Bush tax cuts. Those tax cuts were set to expire the last day of December 2010, but Republicans told the President that if the rich couldn’t get more tax cuts, then the middle class would suffer. To avoid more suffering by the middle class, the President went along with the Republicans’ demands.

And here we are again, except this time, the American people voted for President Obama knowing that he was going to end those tax cuts for the rich. That was what he campaigned on for almost two years and the American people approved. But Republicans are still turning a deaf ear to what the people want and again, two years later, Republicans are trying to use middle class America as a bargaining chip to get more tax cuts for the rich.

Their playbook worked in 2010, but something seems different this time around as cracks are developing within the Republican ranks. Republicans like Rep. Chris Gibson (R-N.Y.) signed the Grover Norquist pledge not to raise taxes, but he recently released a statement saying that he “doesn’t plan to [re-sign] it for the 19th Congressional District.” And another New York Republican Representative Peter King, has decided to leave Grover’s pledge, calling it a two-year deal.

Republican Lindsey Graham has also voiced his opinion against the pledge. “When you talk about eliminating deductions and tax credits for the few, at the expense of the many, I think over time the Republican party’s position is going to shift,” Graham said. “It needs to, quite frankly, because we are $16 trillion in debt.”

But even with these and other Republicans changing their minds on the no-tax hike pledge, the Republican House Leader John Boehner is still trying to hold the gun to the head of the middle class. Boehner recently held a press conference criticizing the President’s plan because he thinks the plan raises more revenue from taxing the rich, than from services he want wants to cut from the poor.

President Obama is hoping that there are enough Republicans willing to go against their desire to sink the middle class to protect rich people. In his recent weekly address, the President said;

So let’s begin by doing what we all agree on. Both parties say we should keep middle-class taxes low. The Senate has already passed a bill to keep income taxes from going up on middle-class families.  Democrats in the House are ready to do the same thing. And if we can just get a few House Republicans on board, I’ll sign this bill as soon as Congress sends it my way. 

The president’s plan would allow the tax cuts to continue for the middle class and those earning up to $250,000 a year. Those earning over $250,000 would see their rates on income above that amount go back to what those rates were under the Clinton administration. The Democratic controlled Senate has already passed this bill, but Boehner and the Republicans refuse to bring the bill to the House floor for a vote.

If Republicans and Democrats cannot agree on this issue over the next few weeks, all the Bush tax cuts would expire and automatic cuts will go into effect in January. The preferred method of course, would be working out a deal between the two parties, but that must be done with  the rich and the middle class carrying the burdens of that deal, not just the middle class. And including the rich in such a deal is something Republicans are against.

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking towards December 31st.

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Politics Unemployment

CBO Reports: Extending Unemployment Benefits Create Jobs

Here’s some news we already knew. The Congressional Budget Office has released a report claiming that extending long term unemployment benefits add more jobs to the economy.

Here’s the report:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Extending the current level of long-term unemployment benefits for another year would add 300,000 jobs to the economy, according to a report from the Congressional Budget Office.

The analysis released Wednesday from the nonpartisan office estimates that keeping jobless benefits would cost the government $30 billion. But it would also lead to more spending by the unemployed, boosting demand for goods and services and creating new jobs.

Federal long-term unemployment benefits are set to expire on Dec. 29 for more than 2 million workers unless Congress approves an extension. Democrats have called for reauthorization of extended benefits, but Republicans generally oppose more jobless aid without additional spending cuts to offset the cost.

“This report is more evidence that extending help to those who are seeking work is a better investment for our economy than extending tax breaks for those resting comfortably atop the economic ladder,” said Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Regular jobless benefits generally last up to 26 weeks for eligible workers who lose their job and are seeking employment. Since the recession began in 2008, the federal government has offered up to 47 weeks of additional benefits.

The CBO report found that for every dollar of jobless benefits that the unemployed spend, there is a $1.10 boost to the economy.

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Benghazi Politics

Meanwhile, Sen John Kerry Remains Quiet

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. John Kerry is angling to be the nation’s top diplomat by being, well, diplomatic.

The longtime Democratic lawmaker from Massachusetts has largely stayed quiet while President Barack Obama considers him for the next secretary of state. Kerry has asked his supporters to avoid overt lobbying of the White House on his behalf. And he’s defended his chief rival for the post, Susan Rice, amid Republican criticism of her initial explanation of the attack on Americans in Benghazi, Libya.

Kerry’s strategy reflects what people close to the senator say is his disdain for some aspects of Washington’s personnel politics. But it also underscores his awkward role in the process. If Obama taps Rice for the job Kerry covets, the senator would have to shepherd her difficult nomination through the foreign relations committee he chairs.

White House officials say Obama is still mulling over his pick to replace outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, though a decision is expected soon. Rice, who has a close relationship with the president, is widely viewed as the favorite. But Kerry’s stock may be rising as GOP lawmakers threaten to hold up Rice’s confirmation until they’re satisfied with her answers about the early public statements about the Benghazi attack.

But don’t expect Kerry or his allies to make his case to Obama as the president nears a decision, as is standard practice for people who are on a short list for a new job. People close to the senator say he finds backroom lobbying for top jobs irritating and counterproductive. That view, they say, is shaped from his experience on both sides of the process: as a contender for previous high-level jobs and as the one making the decision in 2004, when he tapped John Edwards as his running mate during his presidential bid.

“John Kerry is very seasoned at how personnel decisions get made by chief executives,” said Michael Meehan, a former Kerry aide. “He wouldn’t be out there advising anybody on how to make this decision.”

While Rice has several high-level advocates in the White House, particularly among advisers who have been with Obama since his 2008 campaign, Kerry has his fans within the administration as well. He backed Obama early in his 2008 presidential run and was under consideration to be his first secretary of state. More recently, Kerry spent months helping Obama with his campaign debate preparations, playing the role of Republican nominee Mitt Romney in practice sessions.

h/t AP

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Politics

Grover Norquist – Republicans Must Keep The President “On A Rather Short Leash”

Am I reading too much into this? Am I misrepresenting what Grover Norquist is really saying here?

With all the blatant disrespect this particular president has endured from these Republicans, I’ll put Grover’s statement in the same category as that of the common Republican racist who shouted out “you lie” at the president while he addressed the nation, or the racist Romney adviser who threw out the usual stereotypical buzzword of “lazy” while referring to the first black president. Or the racist Republican governor who felt the need to point her old wrinkled finger in the president’s face as if he needed scolding.

Grover’s “short leash” comment came in an interview with Mike Allen at Politico Playbook Breakfast. Grover, respected and loved in the Republican circle and the  author of the no-tax “pledge” most congressional and senate Republicans signed, is considered smart enough to know the sentiment his statement would conjurer up. But he opened his mouth and said them anyway.

The conversation between the two men was about the so-called fiscal cliff and the Bush Tax cuts set to expire at the end of December. It went like this:

Mike Allen: This president is not going to extend [the Bush tax cuts], he knows that he loses his leverage that way.

Grover Norquist: Well, the Republicans also have other leverage. Continuing resolutions on spending and the debt ceiling increase. They can give him debt ceiling increases once a month. They can have him on a rather short leash… Here’s your allowance, come back next month if you behave.

Mike Allen: Okay, wait. You’re proposing that the debt ceiling be increased month by month?

Grover Norquist: Monthly if he’s good. Weekly if he’s not.

Apparently this president, this particular president, is looked upon as an animal by the leaders in the Republican party.

Categories
Benghazi Politics rachel maddow Senate

Why Are Republicans Going After Susan Rice? Rachel Maddow Explains – Video

Rachel Maddow has a very interesting take on why Republicans – led by John McCain and Lindsey Graham – are so against the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice. And according to Maddow’s theory, the reason has absolutely nothing to do with Rice’s ability to do the job and everything to do with another Massachusetts Senator, John Kerry.

Maddow explains: Ambassador Rice is one of two candidates reportedly on the short list to become the next Secretary of State after Hillary Clinton. The other candidate on that short list besides Rice, is Massachusetts Senator John Kerry. And if somehow Susan Rice is disqualified from becoming Secretary of State and President Obama picks John Kerry instead, guess what happens in the United States Senate… Massachusetts suddenly has an open Senate Seat, as well as a certain Republican Senator from that state [Scott Brown] who is basically sitting around doing nothing since he just lost his re-election effort [against Elizabeth Warren].

In her typical way, Maddow breaks it down like this:

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Mitt Romney Politics

President Obama And Mitt Romney Will Dine On Thursday

‘I do think he did a terrific job running the Olympics,’ Obama said. ‘And you know, that skill set of trying to figure out how do we make something work better applies to the federal government. There are a lot of ideas that I don’t think are partisan ideas but are just smart ideas about how can we make the federal government more customer-friendly.’

That was President Obama a week after winning re-election, as he answered a reporter’s question about a promise he made to meet with his Republican rival after the election. Well sources are quoting Romney aides, stating that a lunch between the two is set for Thursday.
Obama aides reached out to Romney shortly before Thanksgiving to start working on a date for the meeting.

‘It was a gracious invitation from the president, which Mitt Romney was glad to accept,’ a top Romney aide said.

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Anthony Weiner Politics

Anthony Weiner Steps Back Into The Limelight

Former Congressman Anthony Weiner is taking another step back onto the political stage after the sexting scandal that upended his career.

Weiner has co-authored an opinion piece about the suffering in the Rockaways following Hurricane Sandy. The column, written with Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Queens), appears in Wednesday’s Daily News.

Weiner said he was simply trying to shine a spotlight on the battered and frequently forgotten neighborhood, which he represented in Congress for more than a decade.

“I care very deeply about the people in Rockaway as well as Manhattan Beach and Sheepshead Bay,” he said in a brief interview with the News.

“I owe them my political career and they have been very good to my family. I want to make sure their plight is known.”

Weiner said the op-ed is not part of a plan to repair his public image – but it’s sure to stoke new talk of a potential political comeback.

Weiner stayed out of the spotlight after resigning his congressional seat last year. He said he wanted to heal his relationship with his wife, Huma Abedin, after “the damage I have caused.”

h/t The Daily News

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Benghazi Benghazi Politics

Tom Ricks Slams The Fox Network While On The Fox Network – Video

Tom Ricks went into the lion’s den and poked the lion right in the eyes. Mr Ricks, the author of The Generals and Senior Fellow at Center for a New American Security, went on Fox News and told the Republican network the truth, that Benghazi was pushed by the network because they thought there were some political benefits for the Republican party.

I’m pretty sure Tom Ricks has permanently lost his pass to Fox News.

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Politics

Walk, Cory, Walk!

Let the political salivating begin. The prospect of a Cory Booker-Chris Christie throw-down has the twitterverse all atwitter and the national press sharpening its knives and pens. All that’s left is for both candidates to announce their intentions and we’ll have a money-soaked affair that will make Linda McMahon‘s spending for the Connecticut Senate race look like a sale at Woolworth’s. Or K-Mart, or S. Klein’s. Or whatever the zeitgeist will give us.

If I’m Newark Mayor Cory Booker, and I am decidedly not, I’m going to think long and hard about whether I’m entering this race. He’s given a deadline of mid-December for his decision, as has Governor Christie, and I think he should take all the time he needs.

This is a tricky decision for Booker. He has a national reputation, is an excellent speaker, uses the latest technology, is well-educated and gained stature because of his work trying and partially succeeding in rebuilding Newark into an entertainment, sports and business destination. He’s made some missteps along the way, but for the most part, he’s done all he can do on the job.

And then there’s education. If you gave me a choice of issues that could trip up a candidate, education would not be first, but this is one of Booker’s big problem for next year. For one, he entered into an agreement with Christie to accept $100 million from Facebook’s Marc Zuckerberg to finance the Newark public schools. Then he hired Cami McCormick to run the schools and the residents didn’t take too kindly to her reformy policies which included closing schools and implementing private sector methods on her employees. And just last week, fueled by Facebook’s money, the Newark teachers adopted a contract that incorporates merit pay, test-based teacher evaluations, and almost total administrative control of the hiring and firing process.

Good for Newark. Good for Booker. Bad for education, and potentially bad for a Booker statewide campaign.

Why?

Because Booker’s education agenda, like Christie’s and even president Obama’s, is based on misguided and counterproductive policies that sound like they will result in better teaching and learning, but will create a competitive environment that is poison to collegiality and sharing, the cornerstones of effective schools. Add in the fact that no other school district in the state would be able to do this under constrained budgets and state aid reductions, and you have a situation that is unique to Newark and that virtually no other district in New Jersey will want to emulate. In short, he’s associated with the very policies that most teachers in state object to, and teachers are a vital Democratic voting bloc. This is his problem. Without the enthusiastic support of the teachers, Booker will most likely lose. It’s not that teachers will vote for Christie; they just might not vote for Booker.

Booker needs the teachers who voted for Christie in Ocean, Monmouth and Morris Counties. He needs the teachers who were lukewarm about Jon Corzine in 2009 to come out in force for him in 2013. He needs more of the public workers in Mercer, Middlesex, and southern Somerset. And he needs to make sure that Camden, home of George Norcross, and Essex, home of Joseph DiVincenzo, vote for him in great numbers despite what what will be enormous pressure from both men and political machines to protect what they’ve won under Governor Christie. And quite honestly, with all of the above educational baggage, I think this will be a great challenge.

What the Democratic Party needs next year is a candidate who understands that private money and testing are not the answers to what ails education. In fact, New Jersey ranks very high nationally in reading, math, SAT and Advanced Placement scores. Most of the suburban areas of the state have fine schools that don’t need the kind of overhaul that Christie and the far right have peddled for the past 10 years. And some urban schools are just as good, turning out high-achieving students that go on to terrific colleges or vocational programs. Better to focus on alleviating poverty and raising expectations in subpar schools than overhauling the entire system.

Cory Booker might yet be able to unite the Democrats behind him in 2013 and win the election. After all, Christie will now need to re-prioritize his agenda because, in the wake of Sandy, tax cuts and job growth will be very difficult to achieve. Plus, there might be enough far right Republicans in New Jersey who will not support the governor because of his perceived role in Mitt Romney’s defeat. His near 60% approval ratings will also come down. In short, Chris Christie is beatable, and I think that Cory Booker can be the candidate that defeats him. My concern is that he’ll need to be clearer about his education agenda if he wants the wholehearted support of New Jersey’s public school teachers.

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