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09 Nov 2011 19:03

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Politics: Join us for tonight’s CNBC GOP presidential debate!

  • “Your money, your vote”: We’re thrilled to be covering tonight’s GOP presidential debate, coming from Oakland University in Michigan. This one is being presented by CNBC, and is purported to be about jobs, economics, and fiscal issues. (Follow along at our CNBC Debate tag.) However, with one of the two contenders pictured above fighting off a slew of increasingly damaging sexual harassment claims, it’s anybody’s guess what the tone of this debate will be. Especially considering Mitt Romney, the man who stands to retain frontrunner status if Cain falters, has employed a somewhat hands-off approach in prior debates. Smelling some blood in the water, will Mitt attack or hang back?
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Nov 2011 15:47

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Politics: Rep. Joe Walsh yells at his constituents at public event

  • Well, that went great: The above video is a bewildering lesson in how not to deal with constituents. Rep. Joe Walsh, a member of the GOP’s freshman class in the House, blows up during a public event at a bar in Illinois. The video, which runs about seven minutes, highlights a shocking contrast between Walsh’s behavior and those of the people questioning him; the people, while confronting Walsh’s politics, were entirely within the bounds of polite discourse. Even as Walsh moves to one woman specifically and yells at her, her expression seems one of bemused surprise. Walsh has since excused his behavior by claiming he was “working on an empty stomach.” source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Nov 2011 14:21

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Politics: Bill Clinton: why not three terms for a president?

  • Wonder where he got that idea? To be clear, Clinton is not proposing this as some sort of self-interested scheme to sweep back into the White House — he emphasized that it shouldn’t count for anybody who’s already served, and with a recurring history of heart issues and the Clinton Global Initiative to run, it seems unlikely a third Presidential effort would be in the best interests of his health or professional life. That said, his argument is simple and seems reasonable enough: that citizens should have the right to elect a president to a third term, but only after he’s taken a term off. (Photo by Mortiz Hager, courtesy of World Economic Forum) source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Nov 2011 13:54

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Politics: OWS members start trek to Washington DC

  • 240 mile march by Occupy Wall Street, from NYC to DC source
  • » Hitting the road: A group of OWS protesters have embarked on this lengthy walk, expecting to arrive in Washington DC on November 23rd, the congressional committee deadline on whether to keep the Bush-era tax cuts extensions President Obama agreed to last year. The Occupy movement, obviously, would like to see these cuts expire; while this would raise the tax burden of middle-income Americans to a remote extent, it would also cause a very large influx of revenue from the class most buoyed by the Bush tax policy — that vaunted 1%. The march consists of a mere dozen or so protesters right now, but they expect (we suspect rightly) to gain large numbers as they work their way towards the capitol.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Nov 2011 13:53

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Politics: Ohio referendum brings good, bad news for President Obama

  • good “Issue 2,” on which a yes vote meant approval of the Ohio state GOP’s stripping of public employees’ collective bargaining rights, was resounding defeated with 63% voting no. Gov. John Kasich’s chastened reply: “The people have spoken clearly.”
  • bad Ohioans also passed an amendment to their state constitution, saying they can’t be forced to buy health insurance. So while a union-backed Obama looks stronger now in Ohio, the health care mandate seems to irk voters in the critical swing-state. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Nov 2011 18:29

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Politics: The Lewinsky scandal’s spazzy little brother

  • “It’s not just men who potentially sexually harass women.” Herman Cain just gave a press conference addressing the sexual harassment accusations his ex-employees keep hurling at him, and we can’t say it went very well. He clarified nothing, repeated what he’s been saying all along (“These women are lying and I never harassed anyone”), and made a few unforced errors–such the true but utterly irrelevant reminder above–that can’t do anything but hurt him going forward. Here are some of the best/worst.
  • On his time as CEO“I have seen instances where it could be interpreted as sexual harassment, and if I saw it…I dealt with it immediately, before the other person perceived it as an infringement of their privacy.” In other words, Herman Cain can detect harassment before the victims even know they’re being harassed!
  • On taking a polygraph“Yes. Yes, I absolutely would [take a lie detector test]. But I’m not gonna do that unless I have a good reason to.” This is the kind of thing someone says when they don’t want to take a lie detector test.
  • On who’s behind it all“The Democrat Machine in America has brought forth a troubled woman to make false accusations.” Cain initially claimed that it was Rick Perry’s doing; now, it’s the Democrats. Also, Cain is fooling himself if he thinks Democrats want to prevent him from getting the nomination. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Nov 2011 14:29

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Politics: DC appeals court rules in favor of health care law

  • Affordable Care act ruled constitutional: Not that it hasn’t been ruled unconstitutional before, and not that this is the last you’ll hear of the issue. That said, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Affordable Care Act yesterday, a move considered a surprise given the court’s conservative tilt. Said Judge Laurence SIlberman: “That a direct requirement for most Americans to purchase any product or service seems an intrusive exercise of legislative power surely explains why Congress has not used this authority before — but that seems to us a political judgment rather than a recognition of constitutional limitations.” source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

07 Nov 2011 15:06

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Politics: “Mr. Cain has never harassed anyone.”

  • Team Cain triples down: “All allegations of harassment against Mr. Cain are completely false. Mr. Cain has never harassed anyone.” That’s the campaign’s official statement on the latest harassment allegations, and it’s a notably firm denial. There’s very little wriggle room; if, say, some sort of evidence were to come out against Cain, he’d have a hard time coming off as anything but a bold-faced liar. This would seem to imply that Cain is confident no hard evidence will surface–a confidence that, in itself, doesn’t imply innocence or guilt. The statement also inexplicably patted Cain on the back for his “clear foreign policy vision,” perhaps in an attempt to divert media attention to another, less salacious Herman Cain controversy. (Picture credit: Gage Skidmore)  source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Nov 2011 14:35

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Politics: Herman Cain’s accuser speaks out

  • He pulled my head towards his crotch… I said, ‘I have a boyfriend.’ He said, ‘You want a job, right?
  • Sharon Bialek, on Herman Cain • Bialek is fourth former Restaurant Association Employee to accuse Cain of sexual harassment–and the first to come forward publicly. For now, we’ll treat these accusations as just that–accusations. Also notable: Bialek is being represented by celebrity attorney Gloria Allred, who’s previously taken on Tiger Woods and Meg Whitman, amongst many others.  source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Nov 2011 09:29

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Politics: Ron Paul wins another straw poll; Herman Cain right behind

Despite a scandal that chewed up much press energy this week, Herman Cain was only two points behind Ron Paul in a Republican straw poll in Illinois. But Paul still kicked his butt. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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