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23 Jan 2011 21:50

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Politics: Supreme Court justices may skip this year’s State of the Union

  • last year Obama gave the Supreme Court a piece of his mind during his State of the Union speech, making the justices collectively uncomfortable as he ripped them for hurting campaign finance reform.
  • this year The big statement that the justices could make is whether or not to sit out. Samuel Alito is staying home. John Roberts is undecided but has questioned whether justices should attend anymore. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Jan 2011 19:16

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Politics: Obama’s State of the Union plan: Jobs, jobs and more jobs

  • My number one focus is going to be making sure that we are competitive, that we are growing, and we are creating jobs not just now but well into the future.
  • President Barack Obama • Revealing to supporters through his Organizing for America grassroots thingy that he would be focusing on jobs during the State of the Union this time around. “We’re up to it, as long as we come together as a people – Republicans, Democrats, Independents – as long as we focus on what binds us together as a people,” he said. Odds are that Tea Partier Michele Bachmann will pop a hole in that optimism for bipartisanship by the second minute of her response-to-the-response SOTU response, which, based on her long track record, will most assuredly be loaded with lies. So much for that hope, Obama. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Jan 2011 18:03

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Politics: State of the Union: There’s a response to Paul Ryan’s response

  • reasoned The GOP’s official response to Obama’s State of the Union will feature Paul Ryan’s uniquely reasonable principled fiscal conservatism on display.
  • crazy But wait, there’s another “official” response. Michele Bachmann will be on the Tea Party Express Web site after Ryan gets done to offer a second response. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Jan 2011 13:54

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Politics: Paul Ryan’s Republican State of the Union response: The right guy?

  • Paul Ryan, here’s your potential moment. If the GOP wants to get any leverage on Obama’s upcoming State of the Union address, they’d be crazy not to go with someone like Ryan for the response. Already a political lifer at age 39 (almost 40), his thoughtful approach to the budget crisis, which still emphasizes extreme cuts, is at least put a little bit more nicely than anything Mitch McConnell has ever said. Obama even takes him seriously, and we’ve taken notice of him in the past, too. The thing is, if Ryan keeps at what he’s good at – his honest likability, his sincere belief in the issues and his nicer approach than some of his colleagues – he’ll do better than some of the other guys recently in this spot, like Bobby Jindal (though Bob McDonnell did well in 2010). source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Jan 2011 14:03

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Politics: Tom Coburn has date for the State of the Union: Chuck Schumer

They’ll be paired, “Odd Couple”-style, in an attempt to be more civil. “We don’t sweep differences under the rug,” Chuck said. “Tom and I have real differences, but we can do it civilly.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Dec 2010 10:24

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Politics: Here’s Obama’s tactical strategy for the tax compromise

  • So, how does Obama expect the tax compromise to pass? According to David Axelrod (who spoke on CNN’s “State of the Union” today), it’ll go a little like this: First, the Senate will take up the compromise Monday, written in such a way that it’ll probably pass there (barring more awesome Bernie Sanders filibusters). Then … well, we’ll let David finish this: “We believe that when it comes back to the House, that we will get a vote, and that we’ll prevail there.” So, long story short – the Obama administration expects one chamber to fall, and when that one does, so will the other one. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 May 2010 10:21

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Politics: Times Square incident: Sunday talk shows rife with speculation?

  • When they say it’s certainly a one-off, it’s an appropriate question to say, ‘How do you know that; was this based on real briefings?’ To me, the most basic question in journalism is, ‘How do you know that?’ They won’t always tell you, but you can gauge a lot by their response.
  • Columbia University graduate journalism Professor John Dinges • Regarding the seemingly knowledgeable responses of leaders on the Sunday talk shows about an incident that happened just the night before. Many of them – including New York Sen. Charles Schumer and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano – spoke of the incident as if they had the evidence to say it was a lone wolf incident, at a point when investigators were still working. While each claimed later that they had been briefed about the incident beforehand by authorities, it still raised a lot of questions, especially since the investigation was just beginning. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

31 Jan 2010 23:42

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Politics: Max Headroom: Paul Krugman has brass cajones, and then some


  • Owning the interview Scott Brown had a good chance to chill with Barbara Walters recently, and he does a really great job of coming off really smart in this interview – much smarter than Babs, in fact. The whole “big tent” thing should sit well with tea partiers, though. Heh heh.
  • A “deliberate” Rip New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, a pretty smart guy if you ask us, was also on ABC’s “This Week” and had a pretty amazing rip on Fox News, calling their handling of the health care debate “deliberate misinformation.” He says it right to Roger Ailes’ face.

  • Call it CandyLand John King of CNN’s Sunday show, “State of the Union,” is headed to the grind of weekday analysis. (And he’s taking his magic wall with him.) His replacement? Candy Crawley. She’s going to be the only female host of a Sunday talk show, which should be interesting.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Jan 2010 11:48

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About, U.S.: Our plans for world domination, State of the Union editon

  • Over the last few weeks, we’ve been hanging out with AOL News/Sphere. Cool guys. Anyway, this morning we posted a breakdown of the State of the Union. We’ll be working on more stuff like this in the future – we’ll keep you posted. Thanks for taking a stray kitten in, guys. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

28 Jan 2010 01:48

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U.S.: Some quick takes on Obama’s State of the Union speech

  • We have lots more written up about Obama’s SOTU speech, but we’re saving that for later. Simply put: It was a good speech but we have no clue if it’ll change anything. Here are some more thoughts:
  • Biggest shot in the arm His reminder to Senate Democrats not to back down after losing their 60th vote in Scott Brown’s surprise Massachusetts win. After a week and a half of crying in locked rooms and saying “woe is me,” it was exactly what was needed.
  • Biggest disappointment Obama admitted that the three-year partial budget freeze wouldn’t take place until 2011, which drew big boos from many. “It’s the way budgets work,” he claimed. He wasn’t upfront about this in his speech, which was pretty bad form.
  • Most amusing moments There were two – Obama’s bringing up of the Supreme Court decision on campaign finance reform to utter blankness on the part of the Court, and Michelle Obama’s obvious desire to not be there. You could totally read her face! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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