Articles of Interest 2-15-08
265 Days until Election Day
MORNING UPDATE:
Governor Mitt Romney endorsed Senator John McCain for the Republican nomination…encouraging his delegates, finance team and activists to join the McCain team heading into November.
"This is a man who tied his political fortunes to the fortunes of his country in a time of war," Romney said. "Such courage is not always rewarded in politics, but it was this time – and that is a credit to both the man and to the party he will lead in the election of 2008."
"This is a man capable of leading our country at a dangerous hour," said Romney while stressing the need to unite the Republican Party for the sake of winning a national campaign. “Right now the Democrats are fighting. Let’s all come together," he said.
Barack Obama…the candidate of “Chang –ing” rhetoric…unveils his economic plan at GM plan after ripping the domestic auto industry…our press release below:
Michigan Republican State Convention begins tonight in Lansing. Join us.
For those of you who miss Greg McNeilly, he’s now blogging on AOL’s Political Machine. Catch his latest at:
http://news.aol.com/political-machine/bloggers/greg-mcneilly/
The State Convention is this Friday and Saturday at the Lansing Center. National Convention delegates and alternates will be elected at the Friday night caucuses. Anyone interested in running for a slot must fill out and return a presidential preference form by 6pm on Friday night. The schedule and forms are available at:
THE REST OF THE STORY:
- Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama unveiled his economic plan in front of autoworkers at a General Motors plant Wednesday afternoon.
“So when I talk about real change that will make a real difference in the lives of working families - change that will restore balance in our economy and put us on a path to prosperity - it's not just the poll-tested rhetoric of a political campaign. It's the cause of my life. And you can be sure that it will be the cause of my presidency from the very first day I take office,” (Obama Address to Janesville Autoworkers, 2/13/08).
Obama’s plan promised $210 billion in new government spending to create jobs, but the candidate was wittingly silent on his earlier call for domestic automakers to stop “rewarding failure” when he addressed the Detroit Economic Club last spring.
“Today there are two kinds of car companies: those that mass produce fuel-efficient cars and those that will. The American auto industry can no longer afford to be one of those that will…Even as (American auto companies) shed thousands of jobs, and billions in profits over the past few years, they continued to reward failure in some cases with lucrative bonuses for CEOs,” (Obama Address to the Detroit Economic Club, 5/7/07).
Obama has sponsored legislation that would raise corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards by 4% every year. Michigan Republicans and Democrats united in opposing the plan that almost all experts agreed would have crippled domestic auto companies and led to more job loss.
This is not only hypocritical, but is an example of pandering at its worst. Sucking up to autoworkers in the Midwest now, after trying to cut their throats in Washington last spring is an insult to Michigan voters that will not be forgotten in November.
Michigan’s suffering economy needs more than another smooth talking politician offering nothing but grandiose spending plans and not much else. Obama has clearly demonstrated that when it comes to Michigan, politics comes before people.
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
Michigan GOP meets Friday, Saturday to pick delegates
2/14/2008, 5:27 p.m. EST
By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Republicans will meet for two days starting Friday to choose delegates to the Republican National Convention.
The Republican National Committee stripped Michigan of half its national convention delegates for defying party rules by moving its presidential primary to Jan. 15. Florida suffered the same fate after moving its primary to Jan. 29.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080215/POLITICS/802150374/1022/POLITICS
Friday, February 15, 2008
Capitol report
Finance reform touted for court bids
Traverse City group to push for using public funds on campaigns for Supreme Court seats.
Charlie Cain / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
LANSING -- Backers of languishing legislation that would provide public financing for Supreme Court candidates are hoping to jump-start the bill.
A group of Traverse City residents, including former first lady Helen Milliken, are coming to Lansing on Tuesday to try to persuade lawmakers to pass it.
The measure is designed to remove the need for judicial candidates to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions, much of it from people who have business before the high court. They believe it would lessen the appearance of conflicts of interest or favored treatment and build greater public confidence in the impartiality of the judiciary.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080215/POLITICS/802150382/1022
Friday, February 15, 2008
Driver's license rule modified
Legislature OKs bill to allow permits to nonresident legal immigrants.
Gary Heinlein / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
LANSING -- The state Senate and House on Thursday passed a bill that would allow the secretary of state's office to resume giving licenses to legal immigrants who are not permanent residents.
Once in effect, the legislation would solve a problem that affects more than 400,000 foreign workers and university students. A December 2007 Michigan attorney general's opinion, and Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land's interpretation of it, denies Michigan driver's licenses and ID cards to people who aren't permanent residents.
The bill passed Thursday is intended to fix that, while also making licenses more compliant with the federal Real ID Act, which is part of the country's effort to block foreign terrorists.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080215/NEWS06/802150362/1008
Licenses for immigrants approved Legislature
Granholm expected to sign measure that allows temporary visitors to drive
February 15, 2008
By DAWSON BELL
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
The Michigan House and Senate approved legislation Thursday to grant driver's licenses to legal immigrants on temporary visas, apparently ending a brief crisis over whether a new Secretary of State policy denying licenses to illegal immigrants also applied to legal immigrants.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Jennifer Granholm said she supports the legislation and is expected to sign it within days.
Lansing policymakers had been under intense pressure to act because of fears the state economy would be disrupted if thousands of legal visitors on work or student visas were unable to drive while here.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080215/NEWS06/802150353/1008
Bill could mean big savings on auto insurance for seniors
February 15, 2008
By CHRIS CHRISTOFF
FREE PRESS LANSING BUREAU CHIEF
LANSING -- Most Michigan drivers older than 64 could drop unlimited medical insurance coverage on automotive policies and save hundreds of dollars a year under a bill that passed a House committee Thursday with bipartisan support.
But the proposed change may rekindle prickly debates over Michigan's one-of-a-kind no-fault law.
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080215/OPINION02/802150311/1085/OPINION
Published February 15, 2008
[ From Lansing State Journal ]
John M. Dunn: State has five research universities to build upon
LSJ's intentions correct, but its review is lacking
The LSJ Editorial Board got it right Feb. 4 when it called on the governor and Legislature to look to the state's higher education funding shortcomings - rather than university endowments - as a way to address tuition increases.
As a relatively new member of Michigan's higher education community, however, I was startled by the board's lack of in-depth knowledge about the state's most important resource: its five public research universities.
In addition to the three outstanding institutions identified by the LSJ as Michigan's research universities, the state is fortunate to have two more nationally regarded research schools: Western Michigan University and Michigan Tech. Each of the five has been designated by the Carnegie Foundation classification system, which is recognized as the gold standard for describing the mission and capabilities of U.S. colleges and universities.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080215/NEWS06/802150315/1008
CMU can't keep Promise
Tuition plan no longer affordable
February 15, 2008
By PEGGY WALSH-SARNECKI and ROBIN ERB
FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITERS
Faced with uncertainty in Lansing and rising costs to pay staff and utilities, Central Michigan University has ended the state's only long-term guaranteed tuition plan less than three years after it began.
The problem is the Promise plan works only with relatively stable funding, and that hasn't been the case in Michigan, said CMU President Michael Rao. CMU's current state appropriation is roughly $82 million, about the same amount as in the 1990s and not enough to continue the Promise, he said.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080214/METRO/802140508/1022/POLITICS
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Kilpatrick aide: Conyers threatened me
Christine MacDonald / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- An aide to Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick filed a police report today claiming Monica Conyers, the short-tempered City Council president pro-tem and wife of U.S. Rep. John Conyers, threatened to get a gun and shoot him at a city pension board meeting.
But a spokesman for Conyers says she was the real victim in the hubbub.
According to the police report filed today by DeDan Milton, an assistant to Kilpatrick, Conyers "threatened to shoot (Milton) with her gun" and made "several aggressive movements toward (Milton) in a threatening manner."
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080215/OPINION01/802150317/1007/OPINION
Friday, February 15, 2008
Editorial
Plan for Orchard Lake Road has merit
Businesses should consider donating land for widening
The Detroit News
Businesses along Orchard Lake Road should consider the request to donate strips of land for improvements planned by the Road Commission for Oakland County.
There is no obligation to donate land to government, of course. And there is no penalty for declining the request. But the road commission's proposal holds benefits for both the public and the affected Orchard Lake businesses.
Land owners who give up a strip of property along the road would be in line for a tax break, having less taxable property. Plus there could be a tax deduction for donating the land, says the road commission. A better road -- widened into a boulevard -- would provide decades of intangible benefits to businesses, easier access for customers and a better all-around motoring experience. And for some, benefits might include the warm glow of being a good citizen.
http://www.livingstondaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080215/NEWS01/802150310/1002
Deal could help county schools
By Cyndi Lieske
DAILY PRESS & ARGUS
State Rep. Chris Ward, R-Brighton, has worked to ensure a boost in funding for Livingston County schools next year, and local school officials are working to keep the extra dollars flowing in future years as well.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm's 2009 executive budget, for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, includes a "2X agreement" that gives the state's lowest-funded school districts an increase of $216 per student, as opposed to the $108-per-student increase all schools in the state would receive.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080215/POLITICS/802150308/1022/POLITICS
Friday, February 15, 2008
U.P. judge faces judicial commission complaint
Associated Press
DETROIT -- The Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission on Wednesday filed a complaint against an Upper Peninsula judge, accusing her of taking too long to issue legal decisions and failing to respond to administrative inquiries.
The complaint was made against Judge Mary Brouillette Barglind of the 41st Circuit Court in Dickinson, Menominee and Iron counties.
Contacted late Wednesday afternoon, Barglind said she had not yet had a chance to read the complaint.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080215/OPINION03/802150313/1007/OPINION
Friday, February 15, 2008
Mark Gaffney: Labor Voices
Millionaire leaders stiff working class
Congressional leaders should listen to unions or they should be replaced
The economic stimulus plan recently negotiated by President Bush and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi left behind millions of unemployed working-class Americans.
The legislation is a classic case of putting politics over policy and vote pandering over results. It helped the wealthy who have lobbyists and did not help regular people.
It is important to note that America's unions criticized the package on behalf of the unemployed, both union and nonunion workers. But the unemployed still were left out of the package.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080215/POLITICS/802150332/1022/POLITICS
Friday, February 15, 2008
Few earmarks for Michigan
Federal funding for special state projects is $228M, fifth lowest.
Deb Price / Detroit News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- A taxpayers group says Michigan received a total of $228 million in earmarks in all the congressional appropriations bills for fiscal year 2008, putting the state near the bottom in terms of getting special projects money based on its population.
Keith Ashdown of Taxpayers for Common Sense said Michigan was the fifth-lowest state, based on the per-capita amount of its total earmarks in 2008 appropriations bills.
The state receiving the most in per-capita earmarks was Alaska, with $346 million; the lowest was Arizona, at $118 million, he said.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080215/OPINION01/802150312/1007/OPINION
Friday, February 15, 2008
Opinion
Voters get what they pay for with caucuses
Gail Collins
Once again, we are discovering that our election process works great as long as it doesn't actually have to decide anything.
Democrats are having an exciting race for the presidential nomination, which always means trouble. Now we're being told that it all comes down to Ohio (engaged in voting-machine litigation) and Texas, which has a system that involves both a primary and a caucus.
One-third of the states that have voted for a presidential nominee so far have done it by caucus. There is an impression abroad that these caucuses are grass-roots democracy. Even if that were true, which it's not, consider whether you would really want a presidential nominee selected by about 20 colorful characters in a barn.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080215/POLITICS01/802150333/1022/POLITICS
Friday, February 15, 2008
Levin backs proposal to seat Michigan's delegates
Gordon Trowbridge / Detroit News Washington Bureau
U.S. Sen. Carl Levin on Thursday endorsed a proposal from a Democratic colleague that the national party agree to seat Michigan's convention delegates without favoring either of the candidates in the party's closely contested presidential race.
Levin said the proposal from Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., would "reduce the heat" on what has become a contentious issue between candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and a worry for Democrats concerned the fight over Michigan and Florida's contested primaries would distract from the party's efforts this fall.
But it's not clear how Cardin's proposal could meet three apparently conflicting goals: Seating the Michigan and Florida delegates; honoring the results of those states' primaries; and hurting neither Clinton nor Obama.
Chinese official calls ‘b------t’ on Rep. McCotter; congressman contemplates giving him the fing
By Betsy Rothstein
Posted: 02/13/08 03:51 PM [ET]
After a Chinese businessman told The Financial Times that Rep. Thaddeus McCotter’s (R-Mich.) national security concerns about U.S.-China business ties were “b------t,” the lawmaker told ITK late Tuesday that he would consider a non-violent form of retaliation.
“If I ever meet him I will express my position in sign language,” McCotter said of Xu Zhijun, chief marketing officer of Huawei Technologies.
McCotter, the GOP Policy Committee chairman, told ITK that he wasn’t startled by the official’s use of profanity. “I’m from Detroit,” he said. “I think he was understating his position. ... He has just shown us what ‘undiplomatic’ means.”
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FDA_DEMOCRATS?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Feb 14, 10:22 PM EST
Stupak calls for FDA resignation
By KEN THOMAS
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A key House Democrat said Thursday that the head of the Food and Drug Administration should resign in the wake of a probe over an antibiotic and news of a blood thinner linked to allergic reactions and four deaths.
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., who heads an investigative panel that conducts oversight of the agency, said in an interview with The Associated Press that FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach should step down because "it's just a total lack of leadership."
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080215/OPINION02/802150303/1085/OPINION
Published February 15, 2008
[ From Lansing State Journal ]
Susan J. Demas: Attack of the right-wing cannibals
Column available online only
It's the electability, stupid.
Conventional wisdom says ideology is king and Republicans must wheezingly lurch to the right to win in November. John McCain better pick Mitt Romney, Sean Hannity or Tom DeLay (if he's not in the slam) as veep if he wants to perk up the base.
The same debate is bobbing up in the 7th Congressional District. In the most overlooked story last week, some Michigan GOP poobahs are fishing for a candidate to knock off freshman U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg in a primary.
The preacher's problems evidently go beyond the congressional cafeteria mucking up his coffee, as he recently whined to the media. The darling of the Religious Right is a top 10 Democratic target, has burned through a lot of green and is desperately struggling to raise more.
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080215/OPINION02/802150314/1085/OPINION
Published February 15, 2008
[ From Lansing State Journal ]
Tim Skubick: Leaders want Obama No. 2
Granholm & Co. want Clinton atop the ticket
Hillary Clinton revealed the other day that she has a picture of Barack Obama, his family, and her hanging in her office. Wonder if she'll hang another photo there with him and her, arms stretched over their heads in the traditional hand-holding pose, accepting the nomination for president and vice president?
Six months ago that would have produced sarcastic laughter, but suddenly, the prospects of a Clinton- Obama ticket is not so far-fetched.
NATIONAL STORIES
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080214/NATION/20731775/1001
Romney endorsing McCain
By Liz Sidoti
February 14, 2008
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Republican campaign dropout Mitt Romney agreed today to endorse Sen. John McCain for the party's presidential nomination and ask his national convention delegates to swing behind the front-runner, according to officials familiar with the decision.
Romney collected 280 delegates during his run through the early primaries and caucuses, enough to move McCain close to the total of 1,191 needed to clinch the nomination a full nine months before the November general election.
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=25028
Romney Endorses McCain
by Michelle Oddis
Posted: 02/14/2008
Mitt Romney, after a contentious campaign, has just endorsed his former GOP rival Sen. John McCain’s bid for the White House. With his endorsement Romney has urged the 286 delegates that he won -- before he suspended his candidacy -- to support McCain.
At his campaign headquarters in Boston with John McCain at his side, Romney said “I am honored today to give my full support to John McCain for president…I’m officially endorsing his candidacy and asking my delegates to give him their support."
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080215/OPINION03/802150305/1007/OPINION
Friday, February 15, 2008
Clarence Page:
McCain does it his way
A few hours after Mitt Romney abruptly withdrew from the presidential race, making John McCain the clear Republican frontrunner, McCain faced an overflow crowd of conservatives in the same Washington ballroom like Daniel entering the lions' den. Daniel fared a little better, but amazingly not by much.
Word apparently went out hours earlier that there would be no booing of McCain by the mostly youthful Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) delegates, according to Politico.com columnist Anne Schroeder Mullins. If so, keeping this crowd polite would be quite a feat. At last year's convention every mention of McCain's name was greeted with jeers.
McCainiacs Must Persuade Grassroots, Not Commentators
By David Limbaugh
Friday, February 15, 2008
Political commentators from various points on the right-wing spectrum are still arguing about the McCain presidential candidacy, lecturing and scolding each other -- as if their opinions are going to decide the election. They take themselves too seriously.
The McCainiacs are warning McCain's conservative opponents that unless they stop criticizing McCain immediately, he'll never recover in time for the general election.
This assumes that if the pundits come around, the grassroots will follow, like mindless sheep. Newsflash: They are neither intellectually shallow nor easily led. They are informed, engaged, independent minded and principled.
http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2008/02/11/daily33.html?jst=b_ln_hl
Thursday, February 14, 2008 - 9:27 AM MST
McCain resignation talk swirls, Pederson, Barrett, Shadegg, Flake among possible contenders
The Business Journal of Phoenix - by Mike Sunnucks Phoenix Business Journal
U.S. Sen. John McCain's office Wednesday countered speculation that the Arizona Republican would resign this summer to focus on his presidential bid.
McCain spokeswoman Melissa Shuffield told the Phoenix Business Journal that McCain has "no current plans" to step down from his Senate seat.
A summer resignation could create a mad dash to succeed McCain in the November election. Gov. Janet Napolitano would appoint an interim senator to serve until the November election if McCain resigns. State law requires that appointment to be of the same party as the officeholder.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0208/Huck_to_the_Caymans.html
February 14, 2008
Read More: Huckabee
Huck to the Caymans
Nope, there are no delegates to be had there.
But there are speaking fees.
Per Fox's Fin Gomez, Huck is giving a talk at the Young Caymanian Leadership Awards banquet on Grand Cayman. He'll be down on the island from Friday through Sunday.
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=25036
Romney's Next Move
by John Gizzi
Posted: 02/15/2008
Republican chairmen in the three primary states where Mitt Romney emerged triumphant last month hailed the former presidential hopeful’s decision yesterday to release the delegates he won and endorse John McCain. Romney, who also won six other state contests in which delegates were decided by caucus or convention, effectively ended his presidential bid with his blessings of McCain.
“I think it's the right thing to do to help bring the party together and start focusing our efforts on the Democrats,” said Saul Anuzis, state party chairman of Michigan (where Romney was born and won his first primary contest). “That will carry a lot of weight here in Michigan with his strong grassroots organization”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/15/opinion/15brooks.html?_r=2&ref=opinion&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Fresh Start Conservatism
By DAVID BROOKS
Published: February 15, 2008
In the 19th century, industrialization swept the world. Many European nations expanded their welfare states but kept their education systems exclusive. The U.S. tried the opposite approach. American leaders expanded education and created the highest quality work force on the planet.
That quality work force was the single biggest reason the U.S. emerged as the economic superpower of the 20th century. Generation after generation, American workers were better educated, more industrious and more innovative than the ones that came before.
That progress stopped about 30 years ago. The percentage of young Americans completing college has been stagnant for a generation. As well-educated boomers retire over the next decades, the quality of the American work force is likely to decline. Mitt Romney captured the consequences in his withdrawal statement: “I am convinced that unless America changes course, we will become the France of the 21st century — still a great nation, but no longer the leader of the world.”
Daily Presidential Tracking Poll
Thursday, February 14, 2008
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows Barack Obama opening a double-digit lead over Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic Presidential Nomination. Today’s results show Obama earning support from 49% of Likely Democratic Primary Voters while Clinton attracts 37% (see recent daily numbers). Perhaps the most stunning aspect of the Obama surge is that he now leads 46% to 41% among women. Clinton retains a lead among the narrower subset of white women, but her lead in that vital demographic is down to just three percentage points.
http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=12740
By Obama We Were Saved
By George Neumayr
Published 2/14/2008 12:08:57 PM
Senator Barack Obama rejects the "politics of the past" while borrowing from its phoniest chapters. His promised caravan toward a new Camelot, with Teddy Kennedy bringing up the rear, may generate feelings in Chris Matthews' leg and cause women to swoon, but over time it is likely to pall and bore.
Obama's speeches are like cotton candy, sweet but substanceless and dangerous to one's health if turned into a steady diet. Is he saying nothing? Unfortunately not. Glimpsed through the haze of his sophistical rhetoric is something, and it is tiresomely false, namely, the dogmatic assertion that "hope" and liberalism are synonymous.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/02/14/america/LA-POL-Nicaragua-Ortega-Obama.php
Nicaraguan leader calls Obama's campaign 'revolutionary'
The Associated PressPublished: February 14, 2008
MANAGUA, Nicaragua: President Daniel Ortega, who led the 1979 revolution in Nicaragua, says Barack Obama's presidential bid is a "revolutionary" phenomenon in the United States.
"It's not to say that there is already a revolution under way in the U.S. ... but yes, they are laying the foundations for a revolutionary change," the Sandinista leader said Wednesday night as he accepted an honorary doctorate from an engineering university.
Ortega led a Soviet-backed government that battled U.S.-supported Contra rebels before he lost power in a 1990 election. He returned to office last year via the ballot box.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080215/POLITICS01/802150353/1022/POLITICS
Friday, February 15, 2008
Clinton: Rein in special interests
Jim Kuhnhenn / Associated Press
LORDSTOWN, Ohio -- Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, criticized for taking corporate special interest contributions, proposed restrictions on a wide array of industries Thursday and stepped up her assault on rival Barack Obama, casting him as the candidate more beholden to corporations.
In a speech to General Motors workers and executives, Clinton trumped Obama's own economic plan from a day before and appeared to be channeling former rival John Edwards' populist anti-corporate message.
"For seven long years, we've had a government of, by, and for the special interests, and we've had enough," the New York senator told an audience at a GM plant that she toured here. "It's time to level the playing field against the special interests and deliver 21st-century solutions to rebuild the middle class."
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8525.html
Clinton pits herself against business
By: Mike Allen
Feb 14, 2008 12:32 PM EST
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) trashed an array of corporate interests in an economic speech in Ohio Thursday, vowing that as president she would go after oil, credit-card, insurance, pharmaceutical, investment and loan firms.
Delivering a major economic address ahead of the Buckeye State’s crucial March 4 primary, Clinton also slammed Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) as a lightweight, declaring: “My opponent gives speeches, I offer solutions.”
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080214/D8UQD0G00.html
Black Lawmakers Rethink Clinton Support
Feb 14, 6:32 PM (ET)
By DAVID ESPO
WASHINGTON (AP) - In a fresh sign of trouble for Hillary Rodham Clinton, one of the former first lady's congressional black supporters intends to vote for Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention, and a second, more prominent lawmaker is openly discussing a possible switch.
Rep. David Scott's defection and Rep. John Lewis' remarks highlight one of the challenges confronting Clinton in a campaign that pits a black man against a woman for a nomination that historically has been the exclusive property of white men.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/gerard_baker/article3371856.ece
February 15, 2008
Hillary can still save her bacon
Both Democrats have been far too overconfident. A Clinton victory remains possible
Gerard Baker
Hubris, the ineradicable flaw that helps humans to clutch defeat from the jaws of victory, has played merry havoc with this eventful US presidential primary season.
For most of last year it masqueraded as a sagacious self-confidence that animated Hillary Clinton's presidential ambitions. She had the name, her people said, she had the money, she had the experience, the connections, the command of policy. What could possibly go wrong? This certainty, of course, was more than just the usual product of an insufficiency of humility. It was the central, self-reinforcing argument for the Clinton candidacy. The more they could persuade people that she was invincible, the more invincible she would in fact be.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120302279226969393.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
Confidence or Derangement?
By PEGGY NOONAN
February 15, 2008
"This is death by a thousand cuts." That's what they keep saying about Hillary Clinton.
Think of what this week was for her. She awoke each day having to absorb new sentences in a paragraph of woe:
Three more primary losses, not even close. Now it's eight in a row. A slide in the national polls. Staff shakeup: soap-opera-watching campaign manager out, deputy out. Bill's former campaign manager, David Wilhelm, jumps for Barack Obama. Josh Green, in a stunning piece that might be called a meticulously reported notebook dump, says, in The Atlantic, that Mrs. Clinton made personnel decisions based only on loyalty, not talent and skill. (There's a lot of that in the Bush White House. The loyalty obsession is never a sign of health.) The Wall Street Journal reports "internal frictions" flaring in the open, with Clinton campaign guru Mark Penn yelling, "Your ad doesn't work!" to ad maker Mandy Grunwald, who fires back, "Oh, it's always the ad, never the message."
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/02/superdelegates.html
Superdelegates get campaign cash
Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor February 14, 2008 03:54 PM
Many of the superdelegates who could well decide the Democratic presidential nominee have already been plied with campaign contributions by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, a new study shows.
"While it would be unseemly for the candidates to hand out thousands of dollars to primary voters, or to the delegates pledged to represent the will of those voters, elected officials serving as superdelegates have received about $890,000 from Obama and Clinton in the form of campaign contributions over the last three years," the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics reported today.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/13/AR2008021303418.html?tid=informbox
Hardbrawl
Candid Talker Chris Matthews Pulls No Punches
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 14, 2008; Page C01
Last fall, as network executives, members of Congress and other hotshots gathered beneath a massive tent at Washington's Decatur House to celebrate the 10th anniversary of "Hardball," Chris Matthews began to address the crowd.
Dispensing with the usual platitudes about his MSNBC show, Matthews vowed not to be silenced by Bush administration officials. And he let loose with this broadside: "They've finally been caught in their criminality."
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MjVlMzY3ZmM0MjYwYTk5ZjliOWNlNTFlZTk1ODc0MTg
Truce!
By the Editors
The percentage of Americans who consider themselves Republicans has plummeted. Young people voted for John Kerry and have not become more conservative since 2004. Democrats think they just might get a filibuster-proof Senate capable of enacting national health care and confirming liberal justices to the Supreme Court in 2009. So many conservatives have decided that now is a good time to turn on each other in a fight as bitter as it is counterproductive.
Partisans of John McCain say his conservative critics are “deranged.” They say those critics are merely trying to get attention for themselves. The talk-show hosts who dislike McCain, they say, are irrelevant — when they are not saying those hosts will cost Republicans the election and thus endanger the national defense.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02152008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/the_world_according_to_joe_97784.htm
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO JOE
LIEBERMAN ON AMERICA'S CHALLENGES
February 15, 2008 -- ASKED to describe the threats the next president will face, Sen. Joe Lieberman's voice remains calm - but there's no mistaking his determination to win every fight forced upon us.
Either the best actor on earth or the most decent man in American politics (I'd bet on the latter), Lieberman is precisely the sort of statesman we need to have thinking hard about our security - not just about today's headline issues, but also about those that will trouble the world for decades.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8519.html
Party activists bring down Maryland duo
By: Josh Kraushaar
Feb 13, 2008 08:44 PM EST
Nearly two decades have passed since the last Maryland congressman got knocked off in a primary election. But on Tuesday, two of them fell to defeat, one from each party, sending a clear warning signal to wayward incumbents who run afoul of the party’s activist base.
The losses suffered by Reps. Wayne Gilchrest (R-Md.) and Albert Wynn (D-Md.) had nothing to do with the more customary reasons why incumbents fail to win renomination. Neither was ensnared in scandal or endangered by a recent redistricting. Rather, the pair lost largely because they were not ideologically in sync with the party base.
Feb 15, 3:18 AM EST
US economy officials loosen their lips
By JEANNINE AVERSA
AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Could the nation's top economic officials be abandoning the colorless, cryptic language of Fedspeak in describing the state of the economy?
Well, it seemed that way at times during a Senate Banking Committee hearing Thursday. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson talked about the challenges the country faces from a housing slump and credit crunch and what additional steps might be taken to bring about relief.
Feb 14, 11:07 PM EST
Bernanke warns of worsening economy
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER
AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Using words like "sluggish" and "deteriorated," Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gave a starkly pessimistic assessment of the nation's economy on Thursday and signaled that the Fed will cut interest rate cuts further if needed to combat the adverse effects of a prolonged housing slump and a severe credit crisis.
Both Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told a congressional hearing that the economy could still avert a full-blown recession, but Democrats said they believed the government should be doing much more to help millions of Americans cope with a threatened tidal wave of mortgage foreclosures.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02132008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/the_immigration_answer_97438.htm
THE IMMIGRATION ANSWER
By KRIS W. KOBACH
February 13, 2008 -- ON Jan. 1, Arizona became the first state to require all em ployers to confirm workers' legal status via the federal "E-Verify" system. Having survived a federal court challenge last Thursday, the law promises to transform the immigration crisis in America.
After just six weeks, Arizona's system is already working: Newspapers in the state report that illegals are self-deporting by the thousands. Apartment complexes in Phoenix and Tucson confirm that thousands of tenants have skipped town. Many are returning across the border to Mexico.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080215/NATION/802150343/1022/POLITICS
Friday, February 15, 2008
FEMA to get families out of tainted trailers
Michael Kunzelman / Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS -- After downplaying the risks for months, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Thursday it will rush to move Gulf Coast hurricane victims out of roughly 35,000 government-issued trailers because tests found dangerous levels of formaldehyde fumes.
FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison said the agency hopes to get everyone out and into hotels, motels, apartments and other temporary housing by the summer, when the heat and stuffy air could worsen the problem inside the trailers.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said fumes from 519 tested trailers and mobile homes in Louisiana and Mississippi were, on average, about five times what people are exposed to in most modern homes. Formaldehyde, a preservative commonly used in construction materials, can lead to breathing problems and is also believed to cause cancer. The findings stirred worry and anger across the Gulf Coast, where FEMA is already a dirty word and housing has been scarce since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck in 2005.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WHITE_HOUSE_CONTEMPT?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Feb 14, 11:05 PM EST
House holds Bush confidants in contempt
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House voted Thursday to hold two of President Bush's confidants in contempt for failing to cooperate with an inquiry into whether a purge of federal prosecutors was politically motivated.
Angry Republicans boycotted the vote and staged a walkout.
The vote was 223-32 to hold White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers in contempt. The citations charge Miers with failing to testify and accuse her and Bolten of refusing Congress' demands for documents related to the 2006-2007 firings.
House finds Bolten, Miers in contempt of Congress
By Alexander Bolton and Klaus Marre
Posted: 02/14/08 02:21 PM [ET]
The House voted Thursday to hold White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify before a panel investigating the firing of several United States attorneys.
Ahead of the vote, Republicans had walked out in an effort to show that they want to work on a permanent update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) rather than be part of a “partisan fishing expedition,” as House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) put it.
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/republicans-walk-out-on-contempt-vote-2008-02-14.html
Republicans walk out on contempt vote
By Klaus Marre
Posted: 02/14/08 01:49 PM [ET]
House Republicans Thursday left the chamber ahead of a vote seeking to hold White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify before a panel investigating the firing of several United States attorneys.
The move was intended to show that Republicans want to work on a permanent update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act rather than be part of a “partisan fishing expedition,” as House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) put it.
Feb 15, 5:39 AM EST
Bush, Congress in spy bill standoff
By PAMELA HESS
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- With a deadline looming, President Bush and congressional Democrats are locked in a standoff over the government's authority to spy on foreign phone calls and e-mails that pass through the United States.
A temporary law that makes it easier to carry out that spying expires Saturday night at midnight, and Bush and his top intelligence officials say the consequences are dire. Al-Qaida, Bush says, is "thinking about hurting the American people again," and would be helped if U.S. eavesdropping is hampered.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080215/POLITICS/802150344/1022/POLITICS
Friday, February 15, 2008
Waterboarding put on hold, Congress hears
Laurie Kellman / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- A senior Justice Department official told Congress on Thursday that laws and other limits enacted since three terrorism suspects were waterboarded have eliminated the technique from what is now allowed.
"The program as it is authorized today does not include waterboarding," Steven G. Bradbury, acting head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, told the House subcommittee on the Constitution. "There has been no determination by the Justice Department that the use of waterboarding under any circumstances would be lawful under current law," he added.
However, under questioning later, Bradbury added that the department also hasn't determined whether it would be unlawful. "The department, as I've tried to indicate, has not had occasion to address the question since the enactment of these new laws."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080214/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_al_qaida
Al-Qaida in Iraq threatens Israel
By MAAMOUN YOUSSEF, Associated Press Writer
Thu Feb 14, 6:58 AM ET
CAIRO, Egypt - The purported leader of al-Qaida's affiliate in Iraq called in a new posting on a militant Web site on Thursday for attacks on Israel and proposed that Iraq's territory be a "launching pad" to seize Jerusalem.
In the 30-minute audiotape, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, said to head the Islamic State of Iraq, lashed out at Arab and Palestinian groups — especially the Palestinian Hamas — for failing to liberate the Palestinians.
He also called on Hamas' military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, to break away from the group's political leadership and liberate Jerusalem, or Al-Quds as the city is called in Arabic.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8UQ407O0&show_article=1
Iran's President to Visit Iraq in March
Feb 14 08:17 AM US/Eastern
By SINAN SALAHEDDIN
Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD (AP) - Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will make a landmark visit to Iraq on March 2, the first-ever trip by an Iranian leader, the Iraqi government said Thursday.
Ahmadinejad will meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and President Jalal Talabani during his two-day visit, according to an Iraqi government spokesman.
"The two countries will discuss bilateral relations and joint projects," spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080215/POLITICS/802150339/1022/POLITICS
Friday, February 15, 2008
Bush's Africa trip will focus on poverty
Jennifer Loven / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- President Bush will find violent conflicts threatening nearly every corner of Africa when he begins a six-day visit Saturday. But the continent's turmoil is not expected to be Topic A for the president.
Fighting disease and poverty and promoting growth, development and security will be Bush's main themes as he travels with his wife, Laura, to Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia.
"There's a preference in these trips ... to put the emphasis on things that make you happy and to avoid talking about things that make you sad," said Stephen Morrison, the co-director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Africa program. "This is not a conflict-resolution trip."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080214/wl_nm/russia_putin_dc
Putin will be long-serving, powerful premier
By Michael Stott
Thu Feb 14, 11:25 AM ET
MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he intended to become a powerful and long-serving prime minister after leaving the Kremlin but rejected suggestions he would dictate orders to his likely successor.
Putin, giving his last annual news conference before his second term ends in May, said he fully trusted the Kremlin's candidate for president, First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, and would have no problems working with him.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DEAD_SATELLITE?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Feb 15, 6:19 AM EST
US to try to shoot down spy satellite
By LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Taking a page from Hollywood science fiction, the Pentagon said Thursday it will try to shoot down a dying, bus-size U.S. spy satellite loaded with toxic fuel on a collision course with the Earth.
The military hopes to smash the satellite as soon as next week - just before it enters Earth's atmosphere - with a single missile fired from a Navy cruiser in the northern Pacific Ocean.
The dramatic maneuver may well trigger international concerns, and U.S. officials have begun notifying other countries of the plan - stressing that it does not signal the start of a new American anti-satellite weapons program.
