Best line of a fairly uneven skit:
"As Republicans we don't have to agree on everything. You like Rush, Eric here likes Sean, someone else might like Michael Savage. We're a big tent party".
Breaking news on rising GOP stars and the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination
"As Republicans we don't have to agree on everything. You like Rush, Eric here likes Sean, someone else might like Michael Savage. We're a big tent party".
Don't know if anybody has yet noticed in the Republican Party but President Obama was presented last week a major talking point for 2012.
He'll sign today one of the largest tax cuts in history.
In spite of the White House pointing this out to journalists, it is funny how little remarked-upon this is.
It's hard imagine we won't hear about this four years from now. And if that's not boxing a future Republican candidate in ahead of time, I don't know what is.
In defense of Romney and others, though, the terrain on gay rights has been shifting so fast that most politicians in the middle have been caught out in the cold -- both moderate Republicans who find their "progressiveness" on gay issues is no longer so compelling to LGBT voters, and moderate Democrats who find themselves on the wrong side of a signal civil rights issue.
(To that end, Obama will be probably be the last Democratic presidential nominee to oppose same-sex marriage.)
It's a long way from Palin's early tenure.... the hugely popular governor got the state to give $1,200 to most Alaskans in a one-time fuel relief payout that totaled about $740 million. That payout was on top of a record $2,069 dividend from the state's oil royalty investment program, which distributes checks annually.This investment program also talks about oil trading, which is highly profitable and the most traded commodity. One of the most effective ways to trade oil is to choose automated trading bots like oil profit. It allows its users to invest effectively in oil without having to constantly monitor the trading activity themselves. Get to know more at öl profit erfahrungen, if you want to profit from oil trading.
The state has socked away $1 billion in an education fund for the next school year and education officials say another $1 billion is expected go into the fund this year for future use. More billions went into state savings as well, Palin said.
"We're more prepared than other states because of the prudence there.... We crossed that first hurdle."
.... "the citizens of Louisiana, whose educational well-being the governor claims to be so concerned about, are now paying the price — literally — for his loyalty to his conservative Christian base."
"Cantor obviously hopes to repeat the 1993-94 'revolution' during which relentless Republican opposition to Clinton stalled progress and shattered Democratic congressional majorities in the mid-term election.
.... There wasn’t an economic crisis then; today there is, and it’s urgent. Yet the Republicans are coming across as bitter and obstructionist, determined to bring the President down no matter what the cost to the country. This is not the architecture of a successful electoral strategy; it is a spasm arising from ideological rigor mortis
I have some people I know who are staffers for Cantor, and they say that's come up more than once. Iraq Vote = Stimulus Vote is a quiet underpinning to this - they are also talking a lot about the Healthcare vote in 1993, and how the GOP didn't go along with it, and the disaster was blamed on Clinton, which lead to their Congressional comeback. That won't happen now, but they do see the possibility of something good happening for it.
"Judd Gregg has more backbone than anyone in politics today. He did his best to cross over and help Pres. Obama. But as Gregg and I discussed in a recent CNBC interview, the senator has a long and outstanding record as a tax-cutter, budget-cutter, deficit-cutter, and debt-cutter.... how many major public figures would have simply drawn a line in the sand and said, No, I simply cannot cross that line?
.... He ought to think very seriously about a presidential run. I mean it. This is an act of courage. That’s what we need."
Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who has always been pro-life, might be a better test of evangelical willingness to support a Mormon presidential candidate than a formerly pro-choice, pro-gay rights governor of Massachusetts.
On the other hand, Huntsman might have even bigger problems among secularists. Romney's Massachusetts residence and Bain background gave him some distance from anti-Mormon stereotypes that will be difficult for a Utah governor to achieve.
Maybe Mitt Romney’s adherence to the teachings of Joseph Smith proves him a sucker. But there’s no sign of the sucker about him when he reads a balance sheet! Why should we assume he’d be any more gullible when it came time to negotiate a treaty or face down a foreign threat or review an EPA regulation?
....If candidates like these [Romney and Huntsman] cannot be elected to national office because of their religious affiliation, then our Republican talent pool looks dangerously shallow. It’s important to know: how thick are the barriers against a Mormon president – and what might help to surmount them?
“.... the Senator is a longtime Republican who was backing Ronald Reagan in 1984 when Perry was a Democrat trying to elect Walter Mondale.... Democrats rejected Perry. He switched parties. Now he’s having trouble winning elections as a Republican. KBH is a Republican by conviction and Perry is a Republican by convenience."
By 12:30 p.m., close to 400 viewers were tuning in online. Newt Gingrich stopped by uninvited; he said he read about the get-together in blogs.
For the crowd of zoo-goers in Naples Monday, a newt was the last creature they expected to see, especially a Newt Gingrich.
Despite the presence of a Republican response, Barack Obama has a big advantage.
More people pay attention to the president’s address. After all, he gets to speak in front of the entire Congress. He’ll have all of the orchestrated standing ovations.... The Republican response will be the equivalent of holing up in a closet with a webcam.
The theme of this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) should be “Cocooning our way to Irrelevancy” or perhaps “How to lose the next 5 elections in 10 easy steps.... It’s as if the debacles of 2006 and 2008 never happened. Does it matter that the very same people who helped get us clobbered the last two election cycles are running seminars and roundtables at the conference?"
Some conservatives might not like the smell inside the “Big Tent” but turning up your nose at people who disagree with you on one or two issues is just plain nuts. “Litmus tests” and the like are all well and good unless you are a minority, getting smaller and less relevant, and don’t wish to find a way back in order to compete in the marketplace of ideas.
One sign is Crist's frequent fundraising trips to Washington, D.C., where national leaders are touting him as an unbeatable candidate. Another indication was Crist's appearance this week in Fort Myers at a rally with President Barack Obama supporting the stimulus bill. And perhaps the biggest sign: Crist's own acknowledgment that he is considering a run.... A veteran Republican political consultant who requested anonymity called it a "done deal."
Of a dozen Republican consultants, political scientists, fundraisers and GOP leaders contacted, only one said Crist would not run. They all say Crist is acting more like a national figure than a governor.
.... On Friday, when the Manatee County Republican Party holds its annual Lincoln Day Dinner, neither Crist nor state party chairman Jim Greer, a key Crist ally, will attend. Both will be in Washington for a fundraiser -- Crist's fourth visit to Washington this year.
"His actions speak louder than his words," said Chris Ingram, a Republican political consultant.
.... while I am reluctant to recommend that the president give another Republican a chance at joining the Obama team, there is someone who seems ideally suited by personality and preparation: Mitt Romney. Romney's skill as a capable financial workout artist saved the 2002 Olympics from almost certain failure and successfully restructured innumerable private firms. In the GOP presidential primary, the ultrapartisanship of Mike Huckabee and John McCain derisively hung the "flip-flop" label on Romney or his intelligent open-mindedness, but in the light of day, that is better understood as a badge of honor.
The Republicans need to break free of an economic theory that was drafted on economist Arthur B. Laffer's napkin. Supply-side theory may have sufficed at a different time, but giving the wealthy more reasons not to notice that 90 percent of the wealth is held by 1 percent of the nation takes no account of the present economic reality. Trickle-down tax relief, by definition, trickles, and when you've got a nation losing jobs monthly by the hundreds of thousands, trickling is not the answer.
“They’re talking about a major film studio locating in Utah.... It’s my understanding from the people working on the studio that my bill is really important for them to locate the studio here. So if my bill does not pass, then the incentives that the (film) companies feel they need would not be there — and they’d choose either New Mexico or Michigan — states that have twice the incentive that my bill has.”
“By the way, our youth would like me to point out that Utah is rapidly becoming one of the hottest movie-making destinations between New York and Los Angeles. And if SB14, sponsored by Sen. Lyle Hillyard, is successful, the entire cast of ‘High School Musical’ may need to become permanent residents of our state.”
Needless duplication of services in this relatively small state has plagued South Carolina's budget for years. ALL of the regional campuses of the University of South Carolina are no more than 2 hours from the main campus in Columbia. The ones that are being targeted for closing are even closer than that.
Why does this state need so many regional campuses when they are within relatively easy driving distance of the main campus?
By 12:30 p.m., close to 400 viewers were tuning in online. Newt Gingrich stopped by uninvited; he said he read about the get-together in blogs.
“They’re making sure that all portions of the Obama coalition are carefully tended. Presidents lose re-election when they waste their term. You waste your term when you don’t use presidential travel wisely.”
.... the choice of Colorado as a backdrop for economic recovery legislation puzzled some because Colorado is not as badly off as manufacturing states where the economy is in free-fall. Nor is it considered to be among the hardest-hit by the foreclosure crisis.
"From having spent a career in the private sector, Governor Romney has some ideas on what it will take to get the economy moving again. He's going to continue to speak out on this and other subjects because he cares deeply about a strong and prosperous America."
All three men have national ambitions, whether in 2012 or beyond. And, it's not too early to see these attempts to emerge as the leading economic voice in the party as a precursor to that broader fight down the line.
In politics (as in life), every action tends to produce an equal and opposite reaction. When the president signs his economic stimulus bill today, watch for the pull in the other direction.
"I don't think he took as hard of a hit as people had anticipated. When 2012 rolls around, he'll be on the short list."
Palin, who backed an abstinence-only sex education program when she ran for governor in 2006, told Van Susteren to expect abstinence from all teenagers was "not realistic."
"Get beyond the ideal of abstinence," the 44 year old, new grandmother said. "Hey, life happens."
"Not the most ideal situation, certainly you make the most of it," said the governor.
"If it's not financial, it's not inconceivable the memories of the McCain issue may be on his mind. He may be downsizing, so when he runs next time he doesn't have four to five homes for his opponent or President Obama to talk about."
These are heavy-duty flacks, trained in dealing with political scandals and celebrity disasters. Two of its founding partners have experience in the Bush White House. Just a few months ago, Ben Porritt was a spokesman for the McCain campaign, handling Sarah Palin.
Porritt, who did not return phone calls Monday to discuss his latest client, was the one who answered questions on cable news network MSNBC to defend Palin when the vice presidential candidate insisted that the First Amendment should protect her from attacks from the news.
The GOP has decided that Eric Cantor is their fair haired boy. He's young, he has hair and he's Jewish.
This is the new GOP outreach. Find black, Jewish (and eventually gay) Republicans, move them up, and hope no one notices that they share none of the political views of their respective groups.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.... opened the congressional recess from Washington by reminding news organizations today she’s got backing if she runs for governor from past presidents of the Texas Federation of Republican Women.
Her campaign touted endorsements from 11 past presidents of the Texas federation and presidents of the National Federation of Republican Women.