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27 Jul 2011 23:52

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Politics: McCain invokes “Lord of the Rings” in debt ceiling tirade

  • The Republican House that failed to raise the debt ceiling would somehow escape all blame. Then Democrats would have no choice but to pass a balanced-budget amendment and reform entitlements, and the tea-party Hobbits could return to Middle Earth having defeated Mordor.
  • John McCain • Ripping the Republican Party on the Senate floor. He later derided House Republicans’ approach to the debt-ceiling discussions as “the kind of crack political thinking that turned Sharron Angle and Christine O’Donnell into GOP Senate nominees.” source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 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

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

05 Jun 2011 11:06

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Politics: Herman Cain fawns over himself in the third person

  • That’s what I think connects with people, Herman being Herman. And you notice, Herman enjoys life — I can smile, I can have a sense of humor, I’m being Herman.
  • Herman Cain • Speaking about himself in first-person and third-person in the same sentence as part of a fawning New York Times piece on his rise as a 2012 GOP candidate. The crux of the piece: His voter recognition is still low, but the Republicans who know him absolutely adore him. He’s a dark-horse candidate, kids — the Howard Dean of this election cycle. Speaking of Howard Dean, did you hear this crap he said about Sarah Palin having a chance at beating Obama? *facepalm*  source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 May 2011 09:53

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Politics: Michele Bachmann: Sarah Palin and me friends, not opponents

  • We’re friends. And I don’t consider her a competitor … I think there’s enough room for a lot of contenders. And I think there’s no question in 2012, the Republicans will field a wide bench of contenders against President Obama. And I think the comparison will be very favorable.
  • Rep. Michele Bachmann • Trying to offer a retort to the idea that she wouldn’t be able to run for president if Sarah Palin were to run, presumably because the politicians are so similar that they’d hurt one another’s chances in 2012 (though Bachmann, let’s be honest, has a lower profile). “I compare myself to Barack Obama. Not to any of the other Republican candidates,” she claimed. Bachmann, who benefited in her 2010 run from a Palin endorsement, was on various news programs this morning. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 May 2011 00:15

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Politics: Sharron Angle isn’t running for Congress after all

  • NO you won’t have Sharron Angle to kick around anymore source
  • » She’s sitting this one out: After declaring a run for the recently-vacated House seat in Nevada, former Senate candidate Sharron Angle is withdrawing her candidacy. Why, you ask? Well, Nevada’s special election laws are vague, and there was some dispute as to how the election would unfold. Angle was hoping for a jungle-style free-for-all, as that would allow her to bypass a primary, but a recent court decision puts the state GOP in charge of nominating a candidate. Because of her embarrassing loss to Harry Reid last November, Angle isn’t very well-liked by the Republican establishment, and there’s no way they were going to nominate her. She hasn’t ruled out a run in 2012, though, so we may not have heard the last of Sharron “Some of you look a little more Asian to me” Angle.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 May 2011 11:28

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Politics: Herman Cain: National security’s off my agenda … until I’m elected

  • Herman Cain doesn’t want to talk national security. At least not until after he’s elected. “The right approach is that the day I’m elected, I would start on that plan. I think it is disingenuous to tell the American people what I would do,” he told Fox News Sunday this morning. OK … so, we understand that he might not be privy to the documents that Obama has at his disposal, but seriously? National security isn’t something you, as a presidential candidate, are allowed to ignore. This is one of the reasons people will want to vote for you. Waiting to explain your national security plan until after people have put you into office — forcing people to go in blind on one of the key things a president does — is a dangerous stance that will not fly with mainstream voters, Herman. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

21 May 2011 14:19

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Politics: Herman Cain: Nobody knows him, but those who do like him

  • “I once Ate a pizza, and it was this big. That’s why they called me the Godfather.” (OK, he didn’t say that; we just love the photo.) Herman Cain, who we’ve covered before on numerous occasions, is the latest guy to drop his hat into the presidential ring. “Let me tell you some of the reasons why I’m running for president of the United States.We have become a nation of crises,” he said when making his announcement today. He’s a bit of a wildcard — he doesn’t have strong name recognition, but he does have the kind of business acumen which makes him pretty desirable. His polling shows a pretty interesting trend — not many people know him, but those who do freaking love him. More:
  • 29% of self-described GOP voters know who Herman Cain even is, according to a May 17 Gallup poll
  • <0.5% of voters in that poll picked the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO as their first choice for president in 2012
  • 71% of people who did know anything about the Herminator, however, had positive feelings about him source
  • » Can he make a run? As we noted in a Webdoc we made a couple weeks back, he kinda killed it at the Fox News presidential debate — which didn’t feature any major candidates, to Cain’s benefit. With big-name establishment Republicans failing to wow the field and loaded with reasons to nick their reputation (looking at you Newt), folks like Cain and Ron Paul have a good chance of doing well this time around. We expect his name recognition to go way up. (photo from Gage Skidmore‘s Flickr page)
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Apr 2011 16:29

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Politics: Sharon Angle sings for Tax Day protesters

  • Because we can: Sharon Angle sings “God Bless The USA.” The defeated Republican Senatel candidate has said she’ll be running for the House seat being vacated by Republican Dean Heller in 2012, but if that doesn’t work out, maybe she can put a band together. How about “Sharon and the Right Angles?” source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Apr 2011 13:03

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Politics: Report makes GOP’s budget cut deal look a lot lamer

  • $38
    billion     the agreed-upon spending cuts in the budget compromise struck in a shutdown-preventing bipartisan deal late last week
  • $350
    million     the actual value of the immediate cuts, according to the CBO, since most of the real effect is stretched over future years source
  • » So, what the hell can John Boehner do now? This recent analysis, if it’s both correct and widely disseminated, could have huge implications for the GOP going forward. Since becoming Speaker of the House, the contortions Boehner has made to try to appease the Tea Party contingent have been obvious and striking — it’s clear that his fiscal conservatism is less their sort and more that of establishment Republicanism, by which I mean he doesn’t really care about spending cuts in any significant measure. The $38 billion figure itself was but a minute fraction of the federal deficit, and Boehner looks really ineffective after if these numbers stick. Will the Republican and Tea Party marriage begin to splinter over news like this?
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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