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10 Nov 2010 21:34

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U.S.: Obama’s fiscal commission: Cut defense spending, lose the contractors

  • $4 billion in deficit cuts proposed over the next freaking decade
  • $3T the cost to keep the Bush tax cuts for households that make under $250,000 over the next decade
  • 3/4ths of the proposed cuts would be from the Defense Department; the rest would be from tax revenues
  • 250k number of contractors whose jobs would be eliminated under the proposal, saving $18.4 billion source
  • » How will Congress adopt these ideas? Don’t expect a wholesale adoption of these ideas pushed forward by a bipartisan team of Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, but the ideas will definitely push Congress in a fiscally mindful direction.

03 Nov 2010 10:43

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Politics: Bipartisanship: Harry Reid promises things will be different this time

  • We know that the Republicans of this last Congress picked up the name ‘The Party of No.’ I think that Democrats have to work with Republicans, and Republicans have to work with Democrats. It’s not a one-sided deal.
  • Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid • Promising to offer more opportunities for collaboration with the more-evenly-divided Senate and Republican-leaning House. Reid continues: “We need to stop using words like ‘chastened’ and I think what we have to do is recognize that all of us, all of us who are going to be in Senate, have to work together. That’s the message from the American people.” There’s a difference between Harry saying it and it actually happening. Remember that, dudes. source

03 Nov 2010 10:35

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Politics: Prop 23’s smoke and mirrors didn’t fool California voters

  • 61.4% of Californians saw through the ploy and voted against the proposition
  • 38.6% of Californians didn’t, or personally work for the oil industry source

03 Nov 2010 01:18

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03 Nov 2010 01:08

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Politics: Fox News on Sharron Angle: Her loss leads to Tea Party questions

  • This is a race where there’s going to be a lot of Monday Morning Quarterbacking regarding the Tea Party.
  • Fox News analyst Carl Cameron • Bringing some perspective to the whole Harry Reid/Sharron Angle situation. As Cameron notes, the seat seemed likely to turn GOP … until Angle became the nominee. Reid was that unpopular in Nevada. But Angle proved to be a very weak competitor (even though she was in it until the end), meaning that Reid gets another six years, as well as another run at Senate Majority Leader. Honestly, this was the biggest loss of the night for the GOP, and one that they can attribute directly to Tea Party influence. source

02 Nov 2010 21:55

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U.S.: Don’t !*&@ with Frank: Barney Frank easily re-elected to House

Yeah, Frank’s doing alright. He may have had a somewhat tough re-election campaign, but he’ll spend another day chillin’ in the House. 16 terms, folks. source

02 Nov 2010 21:38

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Politics: Oh Alan Grayson: We’ll miss you, you big lug you. Kinda.

  • It often seemed like Grayson putting on a piece of performance art, attacking Republicans with all the vitriol they normally use to attack Democrats, questioning their moral values and basic sense of humanity – and for this, people called him crazy.
  • Talking Points Memo writer Eric Kleefeld • Summing up the political career of Alan Grayson, a one-term congressman who perhaps had the most interesting career of any one-term congressman in years. He brought the kind of rage from the left that many on the left were used to hearing from the right. And for that, he goes home. He lost by nearly 20 percent. Dude fell hard. And flat. We will miss Grayson for the simple fact that he made the House more interesting while he was there. We won’t miss him because he was pretty much the best example of amplifying everything and hearing nothing – on either side. Jon Stewart might as well have done his whole rally to criticize Grayson’s media-attracting ways. source
 

02 Nov 2010 21:23

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Politics: Are the Republicans headed towards House control?

  • YES CNN is projecting it, which is kind of a big deal source
  • » What that means: That means CNN is projecting a bloodbath, and that the Democrats will lose at least fifty House seats. How bad will the bloodletting be? Let’s find out.

02 Nov 2010 20:52

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Politics: Democrats go down! Three races where incumbents fell flat

  • Perriello Tom Perriello was able to get Obama to rally for him last weekend, but he lost anyway. Guess that isn’t worth much.
  • Grayson Alan Grayson, the controversial hard-left “die quickly” congressman, won’t be returning for a second term.
  • Boucher Longtime Rep. Rick Boucher‘s vote on cap-and-trade seems to have done him in. He lost in his Virginia race.

02 Nov 2010 20:07

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Politics: Midterms: Rand Paul wins, and he deserves respect for his win

  • Dear Rand Paul: Congratulations. Sincerely. You ran a better campaign than your opponent, and eventually you got past your gaffes to win in Kentucky without much trouble at all. While you’ll remain controversial to many for your small-government-heavy views, you didn’t win tonight in spite of your views. You won because you beat your opponent (see: Aqua Buddah). Sure, we had our beefs with some of your views, but as the campaign worked towards the end, we found ourselves actually respecting you a little. The way your campaign handled the head-stomper proved you’re past the point of gaffes. So, tonight, as the left accepts its fate, we’ll see more candidates lose. But let it be on the record that Rand Paul earned his victory tonight. source