Frank Rich: ‘Palin’s Cunning Sleight Of Hand’ Liberals had a blast mocking Sarah Palin last weekend when she was caught addressing the Tea Party Convention with a cheat sheet scrawled on her…
During On the Record, Fox News contributor Rick Santorum criticized President Obama’s approach toward Iran, stating that the administration is not “condemn[ing] the regime for being evil and persecuting their people.” In fact, Obama has said, “The United States joins with the international community in strongly condemning the violent and unjust suppression of innocent Iranian citizens, which has apparently resulted in detentions, injuries, and even death.”
Santorum criticizes Obama for not condemning Iran
Santorum: What we’re not doing is “to go out and condemn the regime for being evil and persecuting their people.” From the February 12 edition of Fox News’ On the Record with Greta Van Susteren:
SANTORUM: In fact, what we’re doing is, in fact, not doing the other thing that we did in Poland and we did with the Soviet Union, which was to go out and condemn the regime for being evil and persecuting their people. Instead, what the president is doing is trying to engage them. Trying to talk to them. Trying to convince them to give up their weapons and instead — their potential weapons — instead of siding with the pro-democracy movement. He has not sided with them. He has said that they — that Iran shouldn’t torture them. But that’s not exactly embracing the movement in trying to overturn the regime.
Obama has condemned “the violent and unjust suppression of innocent Iranian citizens”
Obama: “The United States joins with the international community in strongly condemning the violent and unjust suppression of innocent Iranian citizens.” In a statement made on December 28, 2009, Obama said:
OBAMA: [L]et me also briefly address the events that have taken place over the last few days in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The United States joins with the international community in strongly condemning the violent and unjust suppression of innocent Iranian citizens, which has apparently resulted in detentions, injuries, and even death.
For months, the Iranian people have sought nothing more than to exercise their universal rights. Each time they have done so, they have been met with the iron fist of brutality, even on solemn occasions and holy days. And each time that has happened, the world has watched with deep admiration for the courage and the conviction of the Iranian people who are part of Iran’s great and enduring civilization.
What’s taking place within Iran is not about the United States or any other country. It’s about the Iranian people and their aspirations for justice and a better life for themselves. And the decision of Iran’s leaders to govern through fear and tyranny will not succeed in making those aspirations go away.
Obama: [W]e support the human rights of the women marching through the streets of Iran.” During his State of the Union address on January 27:
OBAMA: As we have for over 60 years, America takes these actions because our destiny is connected to those beyond our shores. But we also do it because it is right. That’s why, as we meet here tonight, over 10,000 Americans are working with many nations to help the people of Haiti recover and rebuild. (Applause.) That’s why we stand with the girl who yearns to go to school in Afghanistan; why we support the human rights of the women marching through the streets of Iran; why we advocate for the young man denied a job by corruption in Guinea. For America must always stand on the side of freedom and human dignity.
‘Warning: Tea Party In Danger’: Leader Slams Palin As ‘Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing’ A prominent Tea Party leader from Texas is warning that the movement “is becoming nothing more than a wholly owned subsidiary of the Republican Party” and slamming Sarah Palin as representing “a growing insider’s attack to the heart of the Tea Party.”
Lawsuit: Blackwater Put Filipino Prostitute On Government Tab A lawsuit filed by two former employees of Blackwater charges that controversial security contractor defrauded the U.S. government, including charging it for strippers and prostitutes, the New York Times reports.
California police are turning DUI checkpoints into profitable operations that are far more likely to seize cars from unlicensed minority motorists than catch drunken drivers.
Be Careful What You Wish For As I’ve said before the right wing of American Politics is a pretty fractious bunch. It now appears that the Pro-business wing is getting pretty worried about the anti-business rhetoric of the Tea Party Populists. Conventional wisdom is that…
What Tea Partiers Do — and What They Should Do I don’t see why Tea Party Patriots in Nashville paid Sarah Palin $100,000 for a keynote last week when, for no more than the love of country, they could have honored me, a living witness to the Boston Tea Party…
Far-Right Radio Host Savages Palin: It?s ?Suicide? For Republicans To Choose Palin As Our 2012 Nominee On Thursday, a Washington Post-ABC News poll had some bad news for Sarah Palin: 71 percent of the American public — including 52 percent of Republicans — don’t think the former Alaska governor is qualified to be president. This week, far-right radio host Michael Savage voiced some of these GOP complaints, saying that the Party […]
On Thursday, a Washington Post-ABC News poll had some bad news for Sarah Palin: 71 percent of the American public — including 52 percent of Republicans — don’t think the former Alaska governor is qualified to be president. This week, far-right radio host Michael Savage voiced some of these GOP complaints, saying that the Party would essentially be committing “suicide” if it made Palin its 2012 nominee:
If you want Obama for a second term, just make sure that Sarah Palin is the Republican nominee. … And I am telling you, that if they make that idiotic mistake of pushing her as their lead candidate, it’s over; Obama will get a second term, no matter how bad his presidency has been. That’s my opinion. It’s one man’s opinion. It doesn’t mean I don’t agree with her politically. It doesn’t mean I think she’s a bad person.
She’s not electable as president. She doesn’t have…the gravitas. He doesn’t either. That doesn’t mean — She’s not the right person. We need a businessman. We need someone with guts, preferably someone who’s served in the military. That means we have nobody. And please don’t tell me about Mr. Brown. God! Please! I warned you! Don’t Obama-size these guys.
It’s ironic that Savage criticizes Palin for not being a “businessman,” considering that that line is a frequent attack she throws at Democrats. In her recent speech to the National Tea Party convention, she cited her experience with Todd’s “commercial fishing business” as evidence that she knows how to “tighten our belts” and “cut back budgets” — unlike the politicians in Washington.
Savage also went after Palin’s arrangement with Fox News, saying that it was unethical and disingenuous:
You know what disturbs me? This is the part that worries me a little bit. She went to work for Fox News, and at the same time, she’s fundamentally running for the presidency. At the same time. I mean, the last I checked, you can’t do that. The last I checked is that you have to leave a media job in order to announce your candidacy. What is this? You can’t have it both ways. Either you’re running, or you’re not. Don’t play a game with the American people. We’re not stupid.
Listen here:
Savage’s alternatives for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination? Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) or James Inhofe (R-OK). (HT: Andrew Sullivan)
New poll finds more Americans in favor of eliminating the filibuster. One of the greatest obstacles to passing progressive legislation in Congress has been the use of the filibuster in the Senate. With upwards of “40 cloture votes since the start of the 111th Congress in January, this Senate is on pace to record the second-largest number of filibuster roll calls,” transforming what was intended to […]
One of the greatest obstacles to passing progressive legislation in Congress has been the use of the filibuster in the Senate. With upwards of “40 cloture votes since the start of the 111th Congress in January, this Senate is on pace to record the second-largest number of filibuster roll calls,” transforming what was intended to be a seldom-used procedural tactic into an all-out tool for obstructionism. Now, a new CBS/New York Times poll finds that more Americans support ending the filibuster and requiring legislation to pass by a simple majority:
As you may know, the Senate operates under procedures that effectively require 60 votes, out of 100, for most legislation to pass, allowing a minority of as few as 41 senators to block a majority. Do you think this procedure should remain in place, or do you think it should be changed so that legislation is passed with a simple majority?
Should remain 44 Should be changed 50 [Don’t Know] 6
Changing the filibuster would not be without precedent. In 1975, the filibuster threshold was lowered from 67 to 60. Sens. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) have introduced legislation that would “change Senate procedure to create a four-step process that would eventually allow a majority of 51 votes, rather than 60, for cloture — ending debate and moving to a final vote on passage of a bill.” Yet Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has “dismissed the effort” as unlikely to succeed. OpenLeft’s Chris Bowers has an ongoing whip count for the effort to pass Harkin’s reforms here.
Under Obama, more targeted killings than captures in counterterrorism efforts When a window of opportunity opened to strike the leader of al-Qaeda in East Africa last September, U.S. Special Operations forces prepared several options. They could obliterate his vehicle with an airstrike as he drove through southern Somalia. Or they could fire from helicopters that could land…
Don’t Treat Terrorists Like Common Criminals Senator Lindsey Graham The Obama administration's decision to prosecute the mastermind of 9-11 Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and four other co-conspirators in civilian court in New York City makes no sense to most Americans — including me.All of these cases were pending before military commission at Guantanamo Bay before the Obama administration suspended the trials and dismissed charges. That was a major mistake in the war on terror. Receive news alertsThese Al Qaeda terrorists are not common criminals.Their attacks resulted in the biggest loss of American life from an act of war on our homeland since the Civil…
Disconnect with Washington Has Never Been Greater Larry Kudlow, RCP The disconnect between Washington and the rest of the country has never been greater. Why can't the political class in the District of Columbia produce a fiscal product that voters, taxpayers and investors are willing to consume?According to The Washington Post, voters want smaller government and fewer government services by a large 58 percent to 38 percent margin. Pollster Scott Rasmussen reveals that 61 percent of voters believe tax cuts help the economy, that 59 percent think tax cuts are a better job-creation tool than increased government spending and that another 59 percent believe…
China & the Cyber War James Fallows, The Atlantic sponsored by by James Fallows Image credit: Marcos Chin Early in my time in China, I learned a useful lesson for daily life. In the summer of 2006, I saw a contingent of light-green-shirted People’s Liberation Army soldiers marching in formation down a sidewalk on Fuxing Lu in Shanghai, near the U.S. and Iranian consulates. They looked so crisp under the leafy plane trees of the city’s old colonial district that I pulled out a camera to take a picture of them—and, after pushing the button, had to spend the next 60 seconds running at full tilt away from the…
"Change you can believe in." "We must pledge once more to walk into the future." "Help me take back America." Obama is a savvy sloganeer — but what's behind his brand?
"We are a Christian nation founded on Christian principles," says one board member. "The way I evaluate history textbooks is first I see how they cover Christianity and Israel."
This Just in, on Earmarks and Public Paralysis “…[T]he delinquencies of the states have, step by step, matured themselves to an extreme which has at length arrested all the wheels of the national government… The [members of Congress] will consider the conformity of the thing proposed or required…
Dershowitz Under Siege Alan Dershowitz is feeling the heat. Last week, the Harvard Law professor agreed that Judge Richard Goldstone, author of the report on war crimes in Gaza, is a “moser,” Hebrew term for a snitch. Historically (i.e., in the case of…
Google Plays Politics Google’s announcement yesterday that it was going to finance some ultra-High Speed Broadband test markets only highlights the dizzying ascent of video online. The average broadband user spends about 760 minutes a month watching online video. Clearly the world of…
Army spares single mother from a court-martial, but still demotes her and revokes benefits. Spc. Alexis Hutchinson, a 21-year-old Army cook, refused to deploy to Afghanistan in November because she had no one to take care of her 10-month-old son. Hutchinson said when she brought her situation to her superiors’ attention, they told her that she would have to deploy anyway and place the child in foster care. […]
Spc. Alexis Hutchinson, a 21-year-old Army cook, refused to deploy to Afghanistan in November because she had no one to take care of her 10-month-old son. Hutchinson said when she brought her situation to her superiors’ attention, they told her that she would have to deploy anyway and place the child in foster care. After skipping her unit’s flight out of Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, GA, military police arrested her, and the Army eventually filed charges. However, today, the New York Times reports that the Hutchinson won’t be facing a court-martial, which could have resulted in jail time if she had been convicted:
On Thursday, Specialist Hutchinson received an other-than-honorable discharge, ending an impasse that had surprised many legal experts and spurred lively debate in military circles.
In a news release, the Third Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Ga., said Specialist Hutchinson’s rank had been reduced to private and that she would lose some Army and veterans’ benefits.
Last year, there were more than “10,000 single parents on active military duty deployed overseas,” and legal experts speculated that commanders may have been using Hutchinson’s case to “send a message to other single-parent soldiers in the brigade.”
Palin bars media from two upcoming Florida events. Fox News contributor Sarah Palin will make two high-profile appearances in Central Florida next month, but the press will not be welcomed. Palin’s camp has barred the media from recording or photographing the former governor’s speeches, so if reporters want to attend, they’ll have to buy a ticket like anyone else. (Prices are between […]
Fox News contributor Sarah Palin will make two high-profile appearances in Central Florida next month, but the press will not be welcomed. Palin’s camp has barred the media from recording or photographing the former governor’s speeches, so if reporters want to attend, they’ll have to buy a ticket like anyone else. (Prices are between $150 and “at least” $250.) The Orlando Sentinel reports that the unusual decision was made by Palin’s handlers, not local organizers:
“These are the terms of the contract that were presented to us,” said Orange County Republican Party Chairman Lew Oliver, who said he is ecstatic that the GOP “rock star” will headline his group’s annual major fundraising event.
Oliver acknowledged that previous Lincoln Day dinner speakers — mostly elected officials and political hopefuls — have sought media coverage. However, he said, “this is an unusual circumstance.”
Palin’s speaking fees are also not being disclosed, but she was paid a reported $100,000 for speaking at the National Tea Party Convention last week. Palin has consistently tried to limit media access at her recent events, even discouraging “attempts at citizen journalism” by barring attendees at her book-signings from carrying cell phones or cameras, and refusing to “talk about politics with them.” Several local Alaska bloggers were put on a black list and banned from Palin’s Wasilla book-signing, and at a December event at the Mall of America, officials initially said that “only English speaking press” would be let in.
Senate Democrats race to regain bipartisan coalition on jobs bill Senate Democrats scrambled Friday to reassemble a bipartisan coalition for a jobs bill after Republicans defected over Majority Leader Harry M. Reid’s decision to scale back the legislation to appease rank-and-file liberals.
Under plan, intelligence agencies would be consulted before reading of rights The Justice Department and the FBI will consult with the intelligence community on information about terrorism suspects arrested in the United States before deciding whether to read them their Miranda rights under a plan now under review in the White House, according to senior administration…
White House formally invites Republicans to health-care summit The White House formally invited Republicans on Friday to attend a health-care summit Feb. 25, calling it “the next step” in the process of reforming the country’s broken health insurance system and pledging to post the text of a reform proposal online before the gathering.
Thirst for Limited Government Welch & Gillespie, Honolulu Star-Bulletin The independent-bent thirst for limited government is more than just some marginalized shouting By Matt Welch and Nick Gillespie Reason magazine and Reason.com POSTED: 10:11 a.m. HST, Feb 09, 2010 So where were you during the great Civil War of 2009?What, you don't remember it?Six months ago, you may dimly recall, the nation's elite guardians of political discourse were sounding the alarm about what New York Times bloviator Frank Rich described as “the simmering…
Political Class Must Heed Voters’ Message Michael Graham, Boston Herald When Scott Brown stunned the Massachusetts establishment, some state Democrats said it was time to hit the panic button. But I didn't know they meant that literally.According to yesterday's Herald, Boston City Hall has been testing ePanicButton software. "[City] workers would be able to hit a button on their computer or push a pedal on the floor to summon help if an angry taxpayer storms into City Hall or if someone arguing a parking ticket gets out of hand," the Herald reported."Angry taxpayers"? Aren't those the people who showed up at…
The White House Critics Are Misguided Ali Soufan, New York Times SINCE Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York announced that he no longer favored trying Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed 9/11 mastermind, in a Manhattan federal court because of logistical concerns, the Obama administration has come under increasing attack from those who claim that military commissions are more suitable for prosecuting terrorists. These critics are misguided. As someone who has helped prosecute terrorists in both civilian and military courts "” I was a witness for the government in two of the three military commissions convened so far…
When Elites Bash Elitism Joan Walsh, Salon The same day the Washington Post released a poll showing a staggering 71 percent of Americans — and a majority of Republicans — don't think Sarah Palin is qualified to be president, the Post's David Broder and Time's Joe Klein wrote columns proclaiming Palin a towering political force on the American landscape. It's rare that Beltway conventional wisdom gets proven false the very same day it surfaces. But that probably won't stop it from spreading.Broder praised Palin's “pitch-perfect recital of the populist message.” Klein hailed “the brilliance…
Poll Shows Americans’ Dissatisfaction with Gov’t, Doubts About Palin Do Americans really get what the tea party movement is about? Did Sarah Palin’s performance at last weekend’s inaugural Tea Party Convention in Nashville help or hurt her standing among her fans and would-be supporters? These may not be questions that keep us all up at night, especially in these hard times—but hey, that’s what pollsters are for. Seems like the answers to both of our questions here would tend toward the negative, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. What’s more, the poll’s results suggest that over half of the country is quite displeased with the way the federal government is currently operating. Just bad news all around for Washington types of all stripes, in other words, but the former Alaska governor seemed to take a particular hit in terms of her public image. Note to Palin: Consider using a teleprompter, perhaps? —KA The Washington Post: The opening is clear: Public dissatisfaction with how Washington operates is at its highest level in Post-ABC polling in more than a decade—since the months after the Republican-led government shutdown in 1996—and negative ratings of the two major parties hover near record highs. […] Although Palin is a tea party favorite, her potential as a presidential hopeful takes a severe hit in the survey. Fifty-five percent of Americans have unfavorable views of her, while the percentage holding favorable views has dipped to 37, a new low in Post-ABC polling. There is a growing sense that the former Alaska governor is not qualified to serve as president, with more than seven in 10 Americans now saying she is unqualified, up from 60 percent in a November survey. Even among Republicans, a majority now say Palin lacks the qualifications necessary for the White House. Palin has lost ground among conservative Republicans, who would be crucial to her hopes if she seeks the party’s presidential nomination in 2012. Forty-five percent of conservatives now consider her as qualified for the presidency, down sharply from 66 percent who said so last fall. Read more
Do Americans really get what the tea party movement is about? Did Sarah Palin’s performance at last weekend’s inaugural Tea Party Convention in Nashville help or hurt her standing among her fans and would-be supporters? These may not be questions that keep us all up at night, especially in these hard times—but hey, that’s what pollsters are for.
Seems like the answers to both of our questions here would tend toward the negative, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. What’s more, the poll’s results suggest that over half of the country is quite displeased with the way the federal government is currently operating. Just bad news all around for Washington types of all stripes, in other words, but the former Alaska governor seemed to take a particular hit in terms of her public image. Note to Palin: Consider using a teleprompter, perhaps?? —KA
The Washington Post:
The opening is clear: Public dissatisfaction with how Washington operates is at its highest level in Post-ABC polling in more than a decade—since the months after the Republican-led government shutdown in 1996—and negative ratings of the two major parties hover near record highs.
[…] Although Palin is a tea party favorite, her potential as a presidential hopeful takes a severe hit in the survey. Fifty-five percent of Americans have unfavorable views of her, while the percentage holding favorable views has dipped to 37, a new low in Post-ABC polling.
There is a growing sense that the former Alaska governor is not qualified to serve as president, with more than seven in 10 Americans now saying she is unqualified, up from 60 percent in a November survey. Even among Republicans, a majority now say Palin lacks the qualifications necessary for the White House.
Palin has lost ground among conservative Republicans, who would be crucial to her hopes if she seeks the party’s presidential nomination in 2012. Forty-five percent of conservatives now consider her as qualified for the presidency, down sharply from 66 percent who said so last fall.
Mark M. Little, Ph.D.: Health Care Innovation Now While health care debates run on, technology and innovation are accelerating. I believe we are at a point of inflection where we can look to a world of better, more affordable health care.
Carol Smaldino: Shades of Praise and Prejudice for the Movie Precious I liked the film “Precious,” and I think it’s worth talking about. Any work of art, film, or music that provokes deeper awareness of our differences and similarities, can make a dent in the usual lack of dialogue.
During his February 11 radio program, Rush Limbaugh advanced the right-wing myth that the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) “was used by ACORN and their allies to wreck the housing market by wrecking the mortgage market” and thus caused the financial crisis. Limbaugh later added: “Obama still supports the very thing that caused the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the first place. ACORN still supports it. [Rep.] Barney Frank and [Sen.] Chris Dodd, both of whom should be sharing a cell with Bernie Madoff, still support it”
From the February 11 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks’ The Rush Limbaugh Show:
LIMBAUGH: So what exactly, I need to ask, what exactly did the Republicans do to reduce regulations? Honestly. What specifically did they do that eliminated key regulation that would have prevented the housing collapse. Specifics please. They can sit around here and they can blame Bush and blame the Republicans all they want but I want to know what the Republicans did. Because the truth of the matter is, they did it.
The Community Reinvestment Act was hatched by Carter, it was expanded by Bill Clinton, it was used by ACORN and their allies to wreck the housing market by wrecking the mortgage market by demanding that mortgages be given to people who could no way pay them back. Ergo the sub-prime mortgage crisis. It was called affordable housing and it was designed to wreck the whole system. AIG and the rest, I mean the- I meant I’m not I don’t defend AIG, but they were treating loans derivatives, if you will, that was based fundamentally on loans created by liberal policies.
[…]
Meanwhile, in case you don’t know it, Obama still has not killed the Community Reinvestment Act. Obama still supports it. Obama still supports the very thing that caused the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the first place. ACORN still supports it. Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, both of whom should be sharing a cell with Bernie Madoff, still support it. So let me challenge. They’re not going to come on this program and debate me. I know they’re not going to do that on healthcare. Let me challenge them again. Obama and the Democrats, eliminate the Community Reinvestment Act and all laws that compel banks to make loans to poor people who can’t afford them.
Fact: Experts say CRA did not contribute to financial crisis “in any substantive way”
Bernanke: Experience “runs counter to the charge that CRA was at the root of, or otherwise contributed in any substantive way to, the current mortgage difficulties.” In a November 25, 2008, letter, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke stated: “Our own experience with CRA over more than 30 years and recent analysis of available data, including data on subprime loan performance, runs counter to the charge that CRA was at the root of, or otherwise contributed in any substantive way to, the current mortgage difficulties.”
Most subprime mortgages not issued by institutions under CRA. In a speech criticized efforts to blame CRA lending for weaknesses in the mortgage market, article, Daniel Gross, a business columnist for Newsweek and author of Dumb Money: How Our Greatest Financial Minds Bankrupted the Nation, criticized the notion that affordable housing initiatives caused the financial crisis, writing that “the notion that the Community Reinvestment Act is somehow responsible for poor lending decisions is absurd” and that “lending money to poor people and minorities isn’t inherently risky. There’s plenty of evidence that in fact it’s not that risky at all.” Gross further explained, “On the other hand, lending money recklessly to obscenely rich white guys … can be really risky. In fact, it’s even more risky, since they have a lot more borrowing capacity.”
Fact: Since 2008, Limbaugh has repeatedly parroted debunked CRA claim
Following the aftermath of the financial crisis in 2008, Rush Limbaugh hasfrequentlyusedhisradioshow — and on one occasionThe Jay Leno Show — as a platform to make the false claim that the CRA and affordable housing led to the subprime mortgage crisis.
Yoo: Je Ne Regrette Rien Asked at an event whether he would have done anything differently with regard to the torture memos he wrote, John Yoo said no, but that he would have been sure to “say nice things about everyone, I guess,” according to a corespondent.
Lawsuit: Blackwater Put Filipino Prostitute On Government Tab A lawsuit filed by two former employees of Blackwater charges that controversial security contractor defrauded the U.S. government, including charging it for strippers and prostitutes, the New York Times reports.
“If Ted Kennedy was Patrick’s model for his public life, his aunt, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, is the model for what comes next. As a private citizen, she leveraged the family name to found and promote the Special Olympics, now a worldwide organization.”
Said Kennedy: “It’s our family’s biggest legacy. I’m awed by it.”
Buddy TV Ironically it was former Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci — who was mulling a challenge to Rep. Patrick Kennedy — who actually first broke the news on Rhode Island television that Kennedy would retire.
Spc. Alexis Hutchinson, a 21-year-old Army cook, 
Fox News contributor Sarah Palin will make two high-profile appearances in Central Florida next month, but the press will 