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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

18 Jul 2011 11:02

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Politics: Debt ceiling poll: Everyone looks bad, but Obama looks least bad

  • 71% disapprove of the way Republicans have handled the debt ceiling crisis — just 21 percent approve
  • 48% disapprove of the way Obama has handled the situation; by contrast, 43 percent approve source
  • » Obama’s the best in a bad bunch: According to a CBS News poll, while nobody’s doing particularly hot in the current debt crisis negotiations, Obama can at least say that he’s doing better than everyone else. Democrats in Congress have a meager 31 percent approval rating. But let’s face it — this has always been a fight between Republicans and Obama, with congressional Democrats off to the side. So the result is nothing but notable. Let’s raise the question: If the government defaults, is this 1995 all over again for the GOP?
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Jul 2011 21:53

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Politics: Republicans Senator: “We’ve got nobody to blame but ourselves”

  • Maybe the debt ceiling was the wrong place to pick a fight, as it related to trying to get our country’s house in order…maybe that was the wrong place to do it.
  • GOP Senator Bob Corker • In a shockingly frank admission that the Republicans overplayed their obstructionist hand. The phrase “pick a fight” implies antagonism for antagonism’s sake which, if one reflects on the Republican party’s behavior over the last three years, would seem an appropriate implication. Another Senate Republican, Lindsey Graham, had a similar confession: “Our problem is we made a big deal about this for three months…we’ve got nobody to blame but ourselves.” Yes, indeed. These confessions bode well for the prospects of a deal passing the Senate, but the House remains another question entirely. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Jul 2011 10:05

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Politics: Bachmann retakes Waterloo for purposes of presidential campaign

  • Credit to Bachmann: By naming her first campaign clip “Waterloo,” she certainly is going far to retake the word away from that battle Napoleon lost. And the chiming guitars do give her talk of not raising the debt ceiling the warmth that few thought the topic had. Though if we were to do this again, we might focus less on the wasteful spending and more on the economy. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Jul 2011 20:31

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Politics: Two Senate Republicans budge on raising revenue. Well, kinda.

  • I think it’s clear that the Republicans are opposed to any tax hikes, particularly during a fragile economic recovery. Now, do we believe tax reform is necessary? I would say absolutely.
  • Sen. John Cornyn • Opening the door for the possibility of raising revenue … very slightly. See, Cornyn is OK with changing the tax code so as to fix loopholes in it. But he won’t willingly offer to raise taxes, no ifs, ands or buts. Sen. John McCain is in the same boat, willing to consider “revenue raisers” — without offering details. Now, this all seems like “whatever,” until you realize that this is the closest any members of the GOP have gotten to the idea of raising taxes — or any revenue at all, that is. How pathetic is it that this as far as the GOP has been willing to compromise on this issue? Why should Democrats have to do all the compromising? This isn’t even a step forward. This is like kicking your foot forward a quarter-inch by accident. This redefines movement. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Jun 2011 15:24

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U.S.: Slim margin eliminates one of Wisconsin GOP’s recall efforts

  • 2 signatures short for Wisconsin Rep. John Nygren’s recall candidacy source
  • » GOP pushback comes up a hair short: Following challenges by the Democratic Party in Wisconsin, the state’s Government Accountability Board has ruled that 26 of the Nygren campaign’s recall petition signatures are invalid, and as that left Nygren with just 398 signatures, they kicked him out of the race. Nygren is pursuing legal options, and frankly we don’t expect this to be over — two signatures is such a slim margin, it seems obvious that every last signature is again going to get combed over. The GOP still has a candidate, an activist named David VanderLeest, but given his comparatively lackluster background, we imagine they’re pushing to get Nygren back.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Jun 2011 20:16

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Politics: Michele Bachmann on hot seat trying to explain off subsidies

  • $30,000 the amount the counseling clinic Bachmann’s husband reportedly received in subsidies (some of them federal) over the past five years
  • $260,000 the amount a Wisconsin family farm, reportedly part-owned by Bachmann, reportedly received in federal subsidies source
  • » Oh no! That means … Bachmann, who’s suddenly become a GOP frontrunner, found herself on the defending end of tough questioning from Chris Wallace this morning over the allegations, uncovered by the Los Angeles Times. Bachmann’s stance: The money for the clinic went for employee training and never actually went to the clinic itself. And Bachmann and her husband don’t have a financial hand in her father-in-law’s farm — which the Times says is inaccurate, according to financial records. Even if that’s not the case, let’s twist that last one for kicks: But that means a family member of hers takes government subsidies! Political liability!
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

22 Jun 2011 14:44

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Politics: Sarah Palin’s “One Nation” bus tour runs out of gas

  • Sarah’s tour has made a premature stop. It’s pretty unclear exactly why. There she was, soaking up the national spotlight, making moves to make herself a top contender for the GOP’s presidential nomination. Then, after getting some facts wrong about Paul Revere, she vanished from the spotlight. Now, she’s back in Alaska, and her plans for the rest of her road trip are on hold. She never did get a chance to meet up with prominent people in those always-important early voting states, and heading home early could cost her a lot of the momentum she’d built thus far. She’s doing a few other things — namely, she has a documentary coming out — but other than that, she’s left her followers wondering what she’s doing. Frankly, we are too. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Jun 2011 10:29

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Politics: Jon Huntsman enters the ring with a refreshing level of respect

  • I respect the President. He and I have a difference of opinion on how to help the country we both love. But the question each of us wants the voters to answer is who will be the better President; not who’s the better American.
  • 2012 presidential candidate Jon Huntsman • During his announcement this morning. Huntsman represents a bit of a breath of fresh air in this campaign — one obvious from this speech. He disagrees with the president ideologically, but won’t stoop to the level of some of his GOP opponents and call him a jerk. And you know what? In this era of 24-hour news turning every piece of a debate into its own little mini-spat, that’s refreshing. While Huntsman’s name recognition is currently low, we expect it to go up. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Jun 2011 17:02

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Politics: A bumpy ride: Romney unveils new attack ad against Obama

  • Bump in the road: Be warned, you’re going to hear those four words a lot in this new ad by the Mitt Romney campaign. The ad has stirred up some discussion, specifically because it’s making such a strident criticism of such an offhanded turn of phrase. Arguments about the content of the ad aside, though, here’s what we’ll say: This is a poorly constructed piece of political handiwork. The reason being, the ad uses the words “bump in the road” so many times that they begin to lose all impact well before the end (in which it dissolves into a full cacophony of “bumps in the road”). It’s really, really trying too hard, which is something we sometimes think about Mitt himself. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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