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26 Jul 2011 14:13

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Politics: Stylin’: Michele Bachmann spends a lot on hair and makeup

  • $4,700 the amount she spent on a stylist source
  • » Most people don’t make that in a month: For a candidate that is championing lower spending to conserve taxpayer dollars, that seems quite a lot of money to spend on herself. It’s also far more than she spent on stylists than during her Congressional campaign. Appearances may be important when running for president — don’t get us wrong, anything to help her prevent a Nixon moment — but this seems a tad excessive. And it’s an excess not uncommon to Democrats, either — John Edwards famously got $200 haircuts in his pre-scandal days.
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Jul 2011 10:30

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Politics: Nancy Pelosi stuck defending trip to Detroit Auto Show

  • $35,000 to see the shiny new cars source
  • » That’s taxpayer money, by the way: While it’s a drop in the bucket, it’s understandable why Pelosi might get guff for this — because the Detroit Auto Show is a gaudy showcase event if there ever was one, and she used taxpayer money to send a dozen congressmen to the event back in 2010, when she was speaker. Pelosi’s spokesperson, Drew Hammill, defended her actions: “Congress made an historic commitment to the auto industry to drive innovation and modernization, and to save hundreds of thousands of jobs,” he said. “It was critical that taxpayer dollars received proper oversight, and the bipartisan visit was critical to that process.”
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Jul 2011 01:55

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Politics: Rep. David Wu won’t run for re-election amid “unwanted sexual encounter”

  • He’s still determining his political future, but he will not run for re-election. He’s fully focused on fulfilling his elected duties and serving his constituents to the best of his duties here in the House.
  • David Wu’s spokesman, Erik Dorey • Revealing that the troubled congressman, a Democrat, won’t run for re-election. Fortunately for him, Wu is low-profile enough that he hasn’t faced intense scrutiny to the level of Anthony Weiner, which means that he might be able to weather the storm and keep his job for another year … if he’s careful. However, Wu faces much harsher charges than Weiner ever did — allegations of an unwanted sexual encounter with an 18-year-old woman. On top of that, he has some embarrassing photos that work well next to a story like this one. So who wants to take bets on how long it takes for him to resign? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Jul 2011 23:09

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Politics: A little perspective on this whole deficit mess

  • This graph, courtesy of the New York Times, has been making the rounds today, and it’s worth examining. Note that health care reform, much-maligned by the right as deficit-killer, cost less than even the most inexpensive of George W. Bush’s policies (that policy being Medicare Part D). Note also that the Bush tax cuts alone added more to the deficit than all of President Obama’s new policies combined — and that’s including projected spending over the course of a theoretical second term.  source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Jul 2011 22:58

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Politics: Nate sets us straight

  • A very good point. We tend to forget that, as crazy as it sounds, some people’s idea of fun doesn’t involve reading about the debt limit, America’s credit rating, or parliamentary procedure in the United States Senate. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Jul 2011 22:02

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Politics: Obama speech light on policy, heavy on politics

  • We were planning on live-blogging the President’s primetime speech on the debt ceiling, but there wasn’t much to live-blog about. He didn’t support or reject any new policies, or endorse a specific strategy for raising the debt limit. Rather, the President doubled-down on the importance of avoiding default, reinforced hard distinctions between him and House Republicans, and make slight adjustments to his political positioning. He warned, in his most explicit language yet, of the consequences default would have for average Americans. He came out hard for progressive taxation, hammering the Republicans for refusing to consider raising taxes on the rich, and explicitly asked constituents to call their representatives in Congress and voice support for the White House’s “balanced.” In general, as was the case in his press conference last Friday, the President ended up sounding a whole lot more partisan than normal, but didn’t deliver any game-changers. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jul 2011 21:49

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Politics: Box office: Sarah Palin documentary not showing long-term staying power

  • 63% the 2nd week box-office dip for “The Undefeated” source
  • » Not showing staying power: While the Sarah Palin documentary didn’t suffer the steepest dip this weekend (that honor goes to the final “Harry Potter” film, which didn’t even score two consecutive weeks at the top of the box office), it didn’t show the growth that many slow-rollout films often do. For a small release like “The Undefeated,” though (which actually expanded its theater count slightly, but has only made roughly $100,000 during its two-week run), that’s not very good for its long-term prospects — nor was its $1,714 per-screen count. You know what would be? If Sarah Palin announces a presidential run. (h/t ohheybill)
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

24 Jul 2011 10:59

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Politics: Troubled congressman David Wu now faces new world of trouble

Wu reportedly had what was described as an “unwanted sexual encounter” with an unnamed woman right around the period this super-weird photo of him was taken. Uh-oh. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jul 2011 10:42

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Politics: The long and short of it: Debt ceiling talks get complicated, stay complicated

  • long The Democrats are pushing for a longer-term debt ceiling increase in a deal that includes some revenue increases. House Speaker John Boehner has suggested that he favors a long-term plan that goes through 2012, but is having trouble selling it to his own party.
  • short Republicans, on the other hand, have suggested increasing the debt ceiling for a period less than a year in length, in part for political leverage so they can push for later long-term spending cuts during an election year. Obama suggests this is akin to playing with fire. source
  • » So, who’s the loser in all of this? The consumer and taxpayer. The uncertainty on this issue has affected the markets in some ways already (see the price of gold for example), and could endanger your ability to get a loan at a reasonable rate if the talks fail to straighten course. You may see some possible instability this week, as a deal perilously hangs in the balance.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Jul 2011 14:14

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Politics: John Edwards owes federal government lots of ca$h or something

  • $2.3million owed back to the Feds for his election fail source
  • » Yeah, you weren’t entitled to those matching funds: The main issue that Edwards faces is that he received federal matching funds up the wazoo — funds which he didn’t end up using and now has to pay back. But that said, it’s not even the worst issue our boy is facing — see, he recently got indicted on felony charges involving his reported usage of $900,000 to hide his pregnant mistress, Rielle Hunter, from sight.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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