House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) says Republicans are to blame for the tax hike on small businesses which will go into effect on January 1. He does not accept the premise that the Democratic leadership is responsible now to extend the lower tax rates.
HUMAN EVENTS caught up with Majority Leader Hoyer after a press conference for the Democrats’ so-called “Make It In America” agenda.
“The Republicans put in their bills that these policies, tax levels, in place now will phase out this year," Hoyer insisted. "That was a Republican policy.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi threw her endorsement in Chicago's mayoral race to former House colleague Rahm Emanuel on Thursday.
After praising Emanuel at a press conference and saying she had given him encouragement at a White House meeting that day, Pelosi answered “yes” when a reporter asked whether she would endorse the outgoing chief of staff.
President Obama is expected to announce Emanuel's departure – and the promotion of longtime aide Pete Rouse – at a White House ceremony Friday.
Emanuel, who Pelosi said had the “affection” of his former House peers, has polled in Chicago and has begun working to assemble a campaign team.
He is not expected to officially announce his candidacy until after embarking on a “listening tour” of Chicago neighborhoods – a campaign technique that echoes the one used by former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton when she moved to New York in a successful Senate bid.
Emanuel is a native of the Chicago area but has spent much of the last two decades in Washington as a White House aide and lawmaker
The DSCC has canceled some ad reservations in Kentucky, a likely sign that the Democratic committee is re-evaluating whether it is worth spending money there this year.
A Republican source who monitors ad buys told Hotline On Call that the DSCC has canceled reservations there for next week. The DSCC had reserved about $292K worth of air time during that time span.
The move may indicate that Democrats view the race between AG Jack Conway (D) and ophthalmologist Rand Paul (R) as moving outside their grasp.
It is worth noting, however, the Democrats reserved $1.6M in Kentucky and have yet to go on the air there. Therefore, the DSCC is not completely pulling out of the state. They could still use their later reservations to air ads.
The DSCC declined to comment on its ad buy strategy.
The cancellation is another indication that the DSCC is re-evaluating its spending strategy as some states that were believed to be sure things have become increasingly competitive. Earlier Wednesday, the DSCC reserved air time in Connecticut, a state the was firmly in the Democratic column at the beginning of the cycle. The DSCC reserved $250K in Connecticut, roughly the same amount it is canceling in Kentucky.
The cancellation also comes a day after the DSCC unexpectedly went up in West Virginia, a sign that that race has also tightened.
On Wednesday's Rick's List, CNN's Rick Sanchez implied that Fox News played some kind of part in James O'Keefe's attempted "punk" of correspondent Abbie Boudreau: "The same right-wing videographer, who entrapped and embarrassed innocent people in the past, tries it again- this time on a CNN correspondent....How could he try something so stupid, and what was Fox News's role?"
Whitman: "Perhaps Jerry Brown has been in politics too long to know any other way to do politics and this is a baseless smear attack and he should be ashamed of himself"
"More women will die"....Another smear ad and a new low for Harry Reid
REID: "More than 200,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year. In 2007, Barbara Trznadel was one of them. She was diagnosed with malignant breast cancer after a mammogram. The preventive screening saved her life.
Early detection is the best way to improve the survival rate for breast cancer, and mammograms are the best form of early detection available. But Sharron Angle would have allowed Big Insurance to put profits first and deny coverage for this live-saving testing"
PBS's Judy Woodruff asks Pelosi about Speaker Boehner
I kinda like that question from Judy Woodruff
PBS: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tells the PBS NewsHour's Judy Woodruff that the 2010 midterm elections will be defined by her party's support for the middle class and Republican support for corporate interests
39 seats in the House and she hands that gavel back to John Boehner
CHICAGO – Two people close to Rahm Emanuel said Thursday he will resign as White House chief of staff on Friday, and will begin his campaign for Chicago mayor by meeting with voters in the city on Monday.
The two people familiar with his plans, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they did not want to pre-empt Emanuel's announcement, said he will return to Chicago over the weekend and begin touring neighborhoods on Monday.
"He intends to run for mayor," one of the people told The Associated Press.
Both people said they did not know when Emanuel would make an official announcement about his mayoral bid but that he would launch a website with a message to Chicago voters in the near future.
Emanuel's plans have been the source of widespread speculation both in Chicago and Washington, D.C. ever since Mayor Richard Daley announced this month he would not seek re-election. In an April television interview, Emanuel had called it "no secret" he'd like to run for mayor.
gallup.com PRINCETON, NJ -- Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin lead other potential candidates in Republicans' preferences for the party's 2012 presidential nomination. Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, and Ron Paul also receive more than 5% support from Republicans nationwide
*Which would you most likely to support for the Republican nomination for President in 2012 .
Failed Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad bragged that he hoped to murder at least 40 innocent victims, and would have attempted a second attack two weeks later if he hadn't been busted, the feds revealed yesterday.
The terrorist wannabe also told of watching real-time video feeds over the Web to plan his botched blast at the Crossroads of the World, court papers said.
"According to Shahzad, he wanted to select the busiest time for pedestrian traffic in Times Square because pedestrians walking on the streets would be easier to kill and injure than people driving in cars," prosecutors wrote.
The chilling confessions were disclosed in a legal brief that says the Pakistani immigrant should get life in prison at his scheduled sentencing next week.
Prosecutors said Shahzad's "lasting sense of pride in his actions" -- including calling himself a "mujahid," or Muslim holy warrior, during his guilty plea -- left "no potential for rehabilitation."
The feds also gave the judge two videos, including a demonstration of what would have happened if Shahzad, 31, had succeeded in setting off his homemade car bomb on May 1. The fireball obliterated about a dozen dummies arrayed around a truck and turned four nearby vehicles into wreckage that was sent hurtling through the air in a Pennsylvania field.
AD: "So they're gonna come up here and drop another dirty money bomb on Alaska and try to take our seat?"..."They fooled a lot of people during the primary, but we're onto them now"
Great job Lisa, great job making sure the tea party turns out for Joe Miller on election day. This is sad coming from a Republican...
Following that, she released a how-to on the write in...
DOVER, Del. — Longtime Republican congressman Mike Castle has ruled out a write-in campaign in the U.S. Senate race in Delaware.
Castle is also a former two-term governor and the longest serving congressman in state history. He lost the GOP primary earlier this month in a stunning upset to tea party favorite Christine O'Donnell.
He issued a statement Wednesday night saying he had ruled out a write-in campaign, which many supporters had asked him to consider.
The decision brings an end to a political career stretching over four decades.Castle had until Thursday afternoon to declare his candidacy in writing.
His decision leaves O'Donnell to face Democrat Chris Coons in November for the Senate seat long held by Joe Biden before he became vice president.
CASTLE: "While I would have been honored to represent Delaware in the U.S. Senate, I do not believe that seeking office in this manner is in the best interest of all Delawareans," Castle said in a statement released this evening. "Therefore, it's time for Jane and me to begin thinking about the next chapter of our lives"
CapTon’s Kaitlyn Ross just sent this explosive video shot with her cell phone outside the Business Council’s annual meeting in Bolton Landing tonight.
As Kaitlyn reported at the top of Capital Tonight, the exchange is between Carl Paladino and NY Post State Editor Fred Dicker, who nearly came to blows and had to be separated.
The candidate for governor and journalist are shown having a confrontation over Dicker allegedly sending a photographer to follow around the 10-year-old daughter Paladino fathered outside his marriage. The Buffalo businessman called Dicker a “stalking horse” for his Democratic gubernatorial opponent, Andrew Cuomo.
Michael Caputo, Paladino’s campaign manager, tried to diffuse the situation with some levity, saying: “Fred, you’re out of line, you’re off the Christmas card list.”
But then Caputo continued to lay into Dicker, accusing him of “working for Cuomo” and calling him a “terrible journalist.” Caputo also said Dicker would no longer be receiving any more communications from the Paladino campaign.
McDonald's Corp. has warned federal regulators that it could drop its health insurance plan for nearly 30,000 hourly restaurant workers unless regulators waive a new requirement of the U.S. health overhaul, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The move is one of the clearest indications that new rules may disrupt workers' health plans as the law ripples through the real world.
Trade groups representing restaurants and retailers say low-wage employers might halt their coverage if the government doesn't loosen a requirement for "mini-med" plans, which offer limited benefits to some 1.4 million Americans. The requirement concerns the percentage of premiums that must be spent on benefits.
While many restaurants don't offer health coverage, McDonald's provides mini-med plans for workers at 10,500 U.S. locations, most of them franchised. A single worker can pay $14 a week for a plan that caps annual benefits at $2,000, or about $32 a week to get coverage up to $10,000 a year.
Last week, a senior McDonald's official informed the Department of Health and Human Services that the restaurant chain's insurer won't meet a 2011 requirement to spend at least 80 percent to 85 percent of its premium revenue on medical care.
McDonald's and trade groups say the percentage is unrealistic for mini-med plans because of high administrative costs owing to frequent worker turnover, combined with relatively low spending on claims.
Democrats who drafted the health law wanted the requirement to prevent insurers from spending too much on executive salaries, marketing and other costs that they said don't directly help patients.
cdn.turner.com If the election for U.S. Senate were held today and the candidates were Scott McAdams, the Democrat and Joe Miller, the Republican, who would you be more likely to vote for or would you write in the name of Lisa Murkowski, who is also running? Wow that's close right? No, not exactly
Here's why: This is a TELEPHONE survey of the 3 candidates, it's real easy for someone to say the "Lisa Murkowski" over the phone during a survey, it's a whole different ball game to go down to a polling place on election day and write-in Lisa Murkowski's name who WILL NOT BE on the ballot...
I'm predicting on election night November 2nd, Lisa Murkowski won't get 20% of the vote.
Republican Florida House hopeful Daniel Webster says he has pulled in $70,000 in campaign funds in the two days since Democratic opponent Rep. Alan Grayson released an attack ad comparing Webster's views to those of the Taliban.
Webster campaign manager Brian Graham told Fox News Wednesday morning that online contributions totaled $60,000 and climbing, and a tracker on Webster's campaign website shows contributions by noontime have grown to the $70,000 mark.
"It made people angry," Graham told Fox News. "It offended people. To compare a statesman like Daniel Webster to a terrorist organization is unconscionable."
Graham said the ad also had the unintended consequence of introducing his candidate to more voters.
"That very same anger caused a lot of media attention and press attention that Daniel Webster wouldn't have gotten otherwise, so perhaps we should send Mr. Grayson a thank you note," Graham said.
Grayson, who trails Webster by seven points in a recent Sunshine State News Poll, stands by the "Taliban Dan" ad, telling MSNBC in a contentious interview Wednesday, "The Taliban tried to impose their bizarre religious views on the rest of us, and so does my opponent."
**Update** Webster is now over $100k in the last 48 hours. You can go to his website here to donate at electwebster.com ..And as soon as this POS starts making more than $5 dollars a day, I'm gonna send him a donation too... .
STATEMENT: "The MRC unequivocally denounces James O’Keefe for his attempted assault on CNN. It isn’t just childish and immature; it’s ugly, dishonest and filthy. There is no place in the conservative movement for this type of behavior and that’s exactly what I warned about in a commentary piece I submitted to CNN.com just two days ago.
"Could the Citizen Journalist abuse the public trust?" I wrote in this piece that should run in the next few days. "Hypothetically, of course. Conservatives must all guard against this. Let there be scrutiny, by all means." And I repeat: there must be scrutiny.
Bottom line: We want nothing to do with O’Keefe or his dirty antics.
AP video: This woman appears in court without all her bandages, what a awful story, she's permanently scared for life, now she's facing charges, all of this was a result of splashing drain cleaner on her own face...Sad...
Her face was red and blotchy but largely unbandaged as a 28-year-old Vancouver woman appeared in court to plead not guilty to charges arising from her false claim that a stranger splashed acid in her face. (Sept. 29)
Wouldn't it be great if the GOP candidate carried Illinois in 2012, it's not impossible, George W. Bush carried Al Gore's home state of Tennessee in 2000 publicpolicypolling
The Illinois poll we'll release this week won't do much to change the conventional wisdom on either the Senate or Gubernatorial race in the state but it does have one pretty surprising finding: Barack Obama's approval numbers have dropped into negative territory even with likely voters in his home state. 44% approve of the job he's doing while 49% say they disapprove.
Obama's home state approval numbers had before avoided some of the trends dragging down his numbers in other states but that's no longer the case. Independents strongly disapprove of him with just 35% feeling he's doing a good job to 57% unhappy.
Whatever support he may have maintained with Republicans has now evaporated, with only 3% of them approving of him. And although his 80/12 spread with Democrats is still pretty solid it's not what it had been previously.
Still it's a sign that even on the home front Obama can't be expected to be much of a help this fall.
Rep. Charlie Melancon, the Democratic Senate nominee in Louisiana, plans to run a two-minute television ad as early as Wednesday night addressing his GOP opponent's 2007 prostitution scandal, a spokesman for Melancon's campaign said.
The ad, an abridged version of a Melancon campaign film called "Forgotten Crimes," features an audio recording of a "French Quarter prostitute," who describes her experience with Sen. David Vitter.
"He went in, took a shower, spoke very little to me at first," she says. "He did his thing. He wasn't there 15, 20 minutes at that."
Recent polls have shown Melancon trailing Vitter. The new ad also includes statements by various unidentified Louisiana residents.
Whitman spokeswoman Andrea Jones Rivera said Allred's news conference was politically motivated. She called Allred "a shameful manipulator" who is a supporter of Jerry Brown
Republican candidate for governor, Meg Whitman, admitted Wednesday that she employed an illegal immigrant for nine years.
The candidate's former housekeeper Nicky Diaz was joined by attorney Gloria Allred, a longtime Democratic supporter, at a news conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday. Allred claims that Diaz was not paid for all of the hours she worked, and said she would be filing a claim against Whitman.
Allred said that during Diaz's years of employment, Whitman caused her "to feel exploited, disrespected, humiliated and emotionally and financially abused." "The relationship was terminated last year by Ms. Whitman for what appeared to be political reasons involving Ms. Whitman's decision to run for governor," Allred said. Allred contended that Whitman knew her client was an illegal immigrant, but kept her employed until she decided to run for governor.
"Nicky Diaz was my housekeeper from 2000 to 2009. We consider Nicky a friend of our family and were saddened this morning to hear about her legal action," Whitman said in a statement released Wednesday.
Whitman spokeswoman Andrea Jones Rivera said Allred's news conference was politically motivated. She called Allred "a shameful manipulator" who is a supporter of Jerry Brown -- Whitman's Democratic opponent in the hotly contested governor's race. "With the polls tied, it comes as no surprise that the morning after a successful debate for Meg that the sleaze machine of the political left is now focused on the politics of personal destruction."
Paul LePage later told the AP that he regrets his choice of words but stands behind the intent. Here's the video
Republican candidate for governor offered a blunt suggestion to the president, per the AP.
"As your governor, you're going to be seeing a lot of me on the front page, saying 'Governor LePage tells Obama to go to hell,'" said GOP candidate Paul LePage. firstread.com
LePage tells The Associated Press that he regrets his choice of words, but he stands behind its intent. He says the administration's spending is driving up the national debt and "taking us to a place where my children and my grandchildren will never come back."
Republican Marco Rubio continues to hold an 11-point lead over independent candidate Charlie Crist in Florida’s race for the U.S. Senate.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Florida finds Rubio with 41% support, while Crist, the state’s current governor, picks up 30% of the vote. Democrat Kendrick Meek comes in third with 21%. Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate, and five percent (5%) are undecided.
The race remains Leans Republican in the Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 Senate Balance of Power rankings. Two weeks ago, the findings were virtually identical: Rubio 41%, Crist 30%, Meek 23%.
Since mid-April, support for Rubio, a former state House speaker, has ranged from 34% to 41%. Support for Crist has run from 30% to 38% over the same period. Meek, a U.S. congressman from south Florida, has been stuck in third place with 15% to 23% of the vote.
CNN - Delaware state Attorney General Beau Biden said his state's Republican Senate nominee, Christine O'Donnell, "should be taken seriously."
"She should be taken seriously. [Democratic Senate nominee] Chris [Coons] is taking her seriously. My party is taking her seriously," Biden told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King in an interview set to air Wednesday.
O'Donnell has received national attention for a number of controversial comments she made in the 1990s.
"It's not about what you see on the national television shows," Biden said, seemingly referring to some of those comments. "It's about where they [Coons and O'Donnell] stand on the issues."
Biden said he's content with his decision to stay out of Delaware's Senate race this year. "I only had one choice to make and that's to finish my job as attorney general and that's what I did," Biden said. "I'm not kicking myself."
When asked if his father, Vice President Joe Biden, might consider a 2016 presidential run, the younger Biden remained circumspect.
"He's completely committed to making sure Democrats are elected on November 2 and that this administration wins in 2012," he said. "But most importantly, brings the change that they both set out to do in cold days in Iowa."
You can tell he's boiling over this latest stunt by the Democrats
Pence: "What's happening in Washington D.C. this week is unconscionable, Democrats are putting politics over prosperity, 15 million Americans are unemployed, millions more have given up looking for word, it's clear the economic policies of this administration have failed, but now Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats want to allow one of the largest tax increased in American history to take effect in just over 100 days, and House Republicans won't stand for it"
Soon to be Speaker of the House John Boehner also outraged
Darrell Issa to House Democrats: Vote on tax relief or resign
Webster 43% Grayson 36%, the poll was conducted September 25-27, I would have to think that the gap is now even wider since the news of how out of context the despicable 'Taliban Dan' ad was and how a good man was smeared....
A new poll by Sunshine State News shows Republican Daniel Webster leading Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson by seven points in Central Florida's 8th Congressional District.
Webster, a former state senator, tops the freshman congressman 43-36 in the survey conducted this week.
TEA Party candidate Peg Dunmire drew 6 percent and George Metcalfe, running with No Party Affiliation, garnered 3 percent. Nine percent remained undecided.
Grayson appears to have an uphill battle as the poll showed the congressman with a 51 percent unfavorable rating with the poll's 559 respondents.
Sunshine State News polls conducted by Voter Survey Service called Rick Scott's narrow primary victory over Bill McCollum in the GOP gubernatorial primary. We were the first to project Republican Marco Rubio's double-digit lead in this fall's U.S. Senate race.
The congressional survey was conducted Sept. 25-27 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.
The NRCC put together a few clips on Alan Grayson, even without the 'Taliban Dan' ad, these alone should sink him...Roll tape
The man is an out of control loose cannon....
The Daniel Webster campaign put out this web ad from his wife of 38 years early this morning, talking about the smear ads from Grayson. Sandy Webster: "I've been married to Daniel Webster 38 amazing years, he's always shown me the love and respect any woman would cherish, making what Alan Grayson did so degrading, Grayson manipulated a video to tear down a man of character"
On his show last Friday, MSNBC’s Ed Schultz went off on New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and now TVNewser hears Schultz has been reprimanded by MSNBC president Phil Griffin. Here’s what Schultz said:
“Here’s the bottom line. What we’re seeing out of this governor of New Jersey is just go to the money, cut whoever you have to cut. There is no ramification for any of this because he’s a cold-hearted fat slob anyway…”
Just last month, Schultz got a talking to from Griffin and from NBC News president Steve Capus for yelling in the newsroom, “I’m going to torch this [bleep]ing place.” Schultz was upset about not being included in promotional spots for upcoming primary election coverage.
Is it possible to jump the shark on the second night of a show? Yes it is, Lawrence O'Donnell goes from the Vice President on his show debut, to the joke named Levi Johnston. Way to go Lawrence, can't wait to see the ratings for that second night
MATTHEWS: "Let me finish tonight with some hope for progressives. There is a decent chance this next month the Democrats can snare victory from the teeth of disaster. Never doubt that disaster looms. If the young voters have something better to do Tuesday, November 2nd, if the progressive activists become passive, if the Democrats fail to embrace the Independents, catastrophe looms. The Senate and the House could both be lost. Republicans could gain an iron grip on the Congress road-blocking everything, killing the Obama dream in its bed"
So, this is the open question, not will it be a tough election for Democrats, but more to the heart of it: will it be the kind of crushing defeat that leads to a year of backbiting, that leads to division and ultimately to defeat? Or will it be an election night outcome from which they can recover and ultimately rally? ...Look, the bad guys are gaining. Yes, it's time to hit the metal and drive the freaking car.
WASHINGTON -- Former Massachusetts Governor Michael S. Dukakis, the failed 1988 presidential nominee, recently visited the White House and delivered his strategy for the midterm elections: pound key precincts across the country with the message that Republicans want to implement the same policies that led to the Great Recession.
Dukakis, who said in a telephone interview that he "popped in" to the White House while on a trip here several weeks ago, said he told aides to President Obama that Republicans "want to go back and do exactly what got us in this mess in the first place."
"It seems to me there has to be a single message coming from Democrats, from the president on down," Dukakis said. "We've got to pound that message as hard as can from now until November."
Asked if the White House aides were receptive, he said, "I think they certainly get it." He declined to name the aides he met at the White House.
Dukakis said that it was also important for Democrats to remind voters that former President George W. Bush left the country with an increasing deficit.
Urging Democrats to focus the message through grassroots efforts in key precincts, Dukakis concluded: "If we do that and deliver this message over and over again, we are going to be OK."
Flashback: You wanna take advice from this guy?
In 1988 Bush/Quayle won 40 out of 50 states over Dukakis/Benson, 426 electorale votes to 111...
Rahm Emanuel to tenants living in his Chicago home: I need my house back, tenants: sorry, can't help you...
Was there a beer summit today? Getty photo, Obama in Albuquerque US President Barack Obama meets with Andy and Etta Cavalier at their home before hosting a backyard discussion on the economy on September 28, 2010 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The seat that late Senator Robert Byrd held for a half a century, more bad news for the Dems, as undecideds and Independents break for the GOP as the election nears, something Dick Morris said would happen...
Republican John Raese has edged ahead of West Virginia’s popular Democratic Governor Joe Manchin for the first time in the state’s special U.S. Senate race.
A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely West Virginia Voters finds Raese earning 48% support to Manchin’s 46% when leaners are included. Two percent (5%) prefer some other candidate, and four percent (4%) are undecided.
These findings move the contest from Solid Democratic to a Toss-Up in the Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 Senate Balance of Power rankings.
This race has been closer than expected for weeks as Manchin, despite his popularity with voters in the state, faces an electorate that is even unhappier with the national Democratic agenda than voters in most other parts of the country.
The survey of 500 Likely Voters in West Virginia was conducted on September 27, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
Do West Virginia voters really feel that strongly about President Obama and the Democrats’ agenda? What’s their beef? How popular is Manchin really? Become a Platinum Member and find out.
John Raese's new ad ties Manchin to Obama
The Manchin campaign releases and ad on Raese. It must be the latest DNC talking point for "tax breaks that ship our jobs overseas," this is about the 10th time I've seen it in a week. (Listen to fear they are trying to inject in the ad here from the announcer)
The detestable Alan Grayson is challenged by MSNBC Contessa Brewer, he doesn't back away from one bit. Brewer continues to challenge Grayson: "Why twist his words?"
A “leadership breakfast” that helped kick off the second day of Advertising Week 2010 on Tuesday. Jeff Zucker, the chief executive of NBC Universal, who disclosed on Friday that he would step down after Comcast completes its takeover of NBC Universal. Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic congresswoman from California who is hoping to remain Speaker of the House after the midterm elections on Nov. 2.
Mr. Zucker interviewed Speaker Pelosi at the start of the breakfast, held in Midtown Manhattan and sponsored by the women and lifestyle entertainment networks unit of NBC Universal. Mr. Zucker’s participation in the event was scheduled before his announcement that the leadership of Comcast was not interested in him staying on after the acquisition is finished.
That Mr. Zucker is, in the parlance of politics, a lame duck was not mentioned during the lively give-and-take between the two. And although politics was not the ostensible subject of the interview, Mr. Zucker started by asking the speaker whether she would still be in that post after Election Day.
“I fully expect to be speaker of the House five weeks from now,” Ms. Pelosi replied, saying voters must choose between a return “to the failed policies of before” and a better future.
“I have great confidence in my candidates,” Ms. Pelosi said, referring to the other Democrats running for re-election, “and they’re doing just fine in their districts.”
“We’re very enthusiastic about what we’re seeing” in those districts, she added, despite polls suggesting the Republicans have a strong chance of retaking the House majority.
reuters.com Former President Jimmy Carter has been hospitalized in Cleveland, Ohio, for an unknown health issue, according to Jackie Mayo, the public information officer for Cleveland Hopkins International Airport
Video from ABC 5 Cleveland
**Update** Carter notreleased from Cleveland hospital
ORACLE, Ariz. (KGUN9-TV) - That controversial billboard in Oracle has come down. Just two days after the owners told Nine On Your Side it would stay up. So why the about-face? Frank Pierson says he replaced his so-called "message art" because Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu agreed to meet with him and discuss immigration reform.
"We feel that it served its purpose," said Pierson. "We got a conversation going."
The old sign displayed the image of an El Salvadoran family next to a quote from Sheriff Babeu implying the family is a "threat to national security." Sheriff Babeu said the implied connection painted him as a "racist."
Sheriff Babeu, outraged by the billboard, called for Pierson to take it down even though it sits on private property and is considered an exercise in "freedom of speech."
Today, Pierson replaced the sign with a new one that reads: "Nation of Immigrants."Pierson says political figures, and not his billboard, are the one's misleading people.
"They've been trafficking in false information about illegal's and tarring with a broad brush families who should not be denigrated under any circumstances what so ever because they're here to feed their families," said Pierson. "And we ought to respect that because we would do the same ourselves that's the nature of who we are."
Sheriff Babeu says he's happy Pierson took down his controversial sign. On the flip side, Babeu says he wants the same as Pierson: to create dialogue that calls for solutions.
However, Babeu says securing the border should come first then compromise."When all the rhetoric ad heated anger calms down... address that wholly.
But if the old sign stirred controversy, the new sign is also stirring new debate.
When President Obama arrives in Wisconsin for a campus rally on Tuesday, he'll be visiting a state where his party and his policies are in big trouble with voters.
Democrats are hoping to build a firewall with cash infusions and special attention from the president around a group of incumbent senators to preserve a majority in the upper chamber.
But the latest round of Fox News battleground state polls suggests Democrats have their work cut out for them, especially in Wisconsin where incumbent Sen. Russ Feingold is trailing his Republican challenger badly.
The latest surveys were conducted on Sept. 25 in Wisconsin, Washington, Colorado, Ohio and Illinois by Pulse Opinion Research for Fox News. Each survey included 1,000 likely voters and has a margin of sampling error of three percentage points for the total sample.
Johnson, who owns a plastics company in Oshkosh, leads Feingold 52 to 44 percent with a scant 3 percent undecided in the latest Fox News battleground state poll. In the survey of likely voters, only 10 percent said that they could still change their minds in the remaining five weeks
1* If the 2010 Election for United States senate, were held today would you vote for Republican Ron Johnson or Democrat Russ Feingold?
Democrats are considering cramming as many as 20 pieces of legislation into the lame-duck session they plan to hold after the Nov. 2 election.
The array of bills competing for floor time shows the sense of urgency among Democratic lawmakers to act before the start of the 112th Congress, when Republicans are expected to control more seats in the Senate and House.
But, given the slow pace of the Senate, it also all but guarantees that Democrats will be hard-pressed to pass even a small part of their lame-duck agenda.
The highest-profile item for November and December is the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, passed under President George W. Bush, which expire at year’s end.
Democrats have promised they will not allow tax rates to rise for families making less than $250,000 a year.
Democratic leaders have also prioritized the defense authorization bill, which includes a repeal of the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that bans gays from serving openly in the military.
Democrats and gay-rights activists fear repeal could prove impossible if Republicans control the House or additional Senate seats.
Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), the chamber’s second-ranking Democrat, has promised to push for a vote on the DREAM Act, which would give the children of illegal immigrants a chance to earn legal residence.
WASHINGTON — The FBI and the U.S. Labor Department are investigating prominent labor leader Andy Stern in their probe of corruption at the Service Employees International Union, according to two people who have been interviewed by federal agents.
The two organized labor officials met with federal agents this summer to answer questions about a six-figure book contract that Stern landed in 2006 and his role in approving money to pay the salary of an SEIU leader in California who allegedly performed no work.
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the investigation. The FBI and the Labor Department's office of inspector general declined to comment for the record.
The disclosure about the federal inquiry of Stern — who abruptly resigned as president of the 2.2-million member SEIU in April — comes just weeks ahead of contentious congressional elections in which the union is spending an estimated $44 million to support its favored Democratic candidates.
The SEIU has been plagued with several financial scandals since 2008, when the Los Angeles Times reported that Tyrone Freeman, head of the union's largest California local, misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars from the union. The union ousted Freeman and demanded that he return the money. No federal charges have been filed against him, but SEIU spokeswoman Michelle Ringuette said the union has been cooperating with the FBI.
Stern left his post two years before the end of his term, saying he wanted to focus more on his personal life. He remains a member of President Barack Obama's deficit commission and a highly influential figure in the White House, where he was one of the most frequent visitors last year
"I think we're in the midst of a disaster, the Obama Administration, the regime and its agenda is a disaster for this country as founded, there is a systematic destruction of the private sector of this country taking place"
What on God's earth is he talking about? On 9/11 2996 people were killed, we can absorb that? 1,609 people lost a spouse or partner, more than 3,051 children lost parents, how did this man become President?...Here's the video
Bob Woodward talking about President Obama’s private interview with him in the White House where Obama said that the United States “can absorb a terrorist attack.” The audio of Obama saying that to Woodward is then played on the video, and Woodward said, “I jumped in my chair a little bit” when he heard Obama say that.
NEW VIDEO: Of course, the clip is not even close to the context that Alan Grayson used it in, in fact, it's exactly the opposite
Webster: "Find a verse, I have verse for my wife, I have verses for my wife, DON'T pick the one's that say she should submit to me, that's in the bible, but pick the one that you're supposed to do, so instead love your wife even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it"
A good man has been smeared here...
I wonder if all those people, who were foaming at the mouth at the Shirley Sherrod video being taken out of context will express the same kind of outrage here? MSNBC, CBS, ABC, CNN and Media Matters, where are you on this one?
Plant workers at the Chrysler Jefferson North Assembly plant in Detroit have lost their jobs after a video showing some of them drinking during their lunch break was aired on Fox 2 News.
Fox 2 Investigative Reporter Rob Wolchek's story was first broadcast on Wednesday night. In the report, video clearly shows workers drinking beer and smoking what appeared to be marijuana.
The video instantly went viral on the internet, getting seen by millions of people across the country. It became the subject of local Detroit talk radio shows and quickly grew into a national story, getting air-time on most mainstream news networks.
Today Chrysler announced that 13 of the 15 people identified in the video have been discharged. Two employees have been laid-off without pay for a period of one month.
Chrysler Group Closes Jefferson North Employee Cases Chrysler Group has completed its investigation of the Jefferson North employees recently suspended for inappropriate conduct during their lunch period.
It has been determined that 13 employees engaged in behavior that violated the Companys Standards of Conduct and these 13 employees were discharged today. Two remaining employees will receive a one month disciplinary layoff
Biden blames the Bush Administration for the first 2 minutes, then says "blaming the other guy isn't enough"..."Before we turned on the lights, we were handed a bill for $1.3 trillion dollars in debt from the previous year" (Complete lie)
Ted Stevens may still have a voice in Alaska politics.
Mr. Stevens, the late Republican Senator from Alaska who lost his reelection bid in 2008, had taped two campaign spots — one for the primary and one for the general election — for his fellow Republican colleague, Senator Lisa Murkowksi, but was killed in a plane crash in southern Alaska shortly before the ads were set to air. Ms. Murkowski never released either ad, and lost the Republican primary to Joe Miller, a little-known attorney who was endorsed by the Tea Party Express.
But now that Ms. Murkowski has launched a write-in campaign to retain her Senate seat, the spots Mr. Stevens taped may have a second life. Her campaign is considering releasing the ads, one of which features Mr. Stevens speaking directly to the camera.
Steve Wackowski, a campaign spokesperson, said that they are waiting until after Mr. Steven’s burial, which will take place Tuesday at Arlington National Ceremony, before they broach the idea with his family and make any final decisions.
If they do use the ads, they have not yet decided whether they’ll air them as they were shot, or tweak them to reflect the new political landscape and Ms. Murkowski’s write-in bid — another decision, Mr. Wackowski said, that they would make with input from the Stevens family.
“I know he would say if he had spent all of that time taping the commercials, ‘We’d better damn well use them,’” said Mr. Wackowski, who previously worked for Mr. Stevens.
Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson said Monday that she should have been more diligent in overseeing the allocation of scholarship money that ultimately went to her relatives and the children of an aide. But she refused to apologize or acknowledge that she did anything wrong.
“I haven’t made a judgment,” Johnson told The Dallas Mornings News Editorial Board when asked whether what she did was wrong. “When this is over, it will be clear that I broke no rules.”
The Dallas Morning News has reported that Johnson awarded at least 23 Congressional Black Caucus Foundation scholarships to her relatives and to children of a top aide -- a violation of the foundation’s anti-nepotism and residency rules.
Johnson said repeatedly in the editorial board session that she has taken responsibility for the mistake and has repaid the foundation $31,000 from her personal trust fund.
“Perhaps I should have been more diligent, that’s why I took full responsibility,” Johnson said. “My constituents know me. I know that they know my work and they know my results.”
Johnson also said she was victimized by an orchestrated attempt to discredit her.
The majority of Americans disapprove of President Obama's performance in office and would considering voting to replace him in 2012, according to a new Politico/George Washington University Battleground Poll.
The poll, which sampled 1,000 registered "likely" voters between September 19-22, indicated that only 38 percent of Americans think Mr. Obama deserves re-election, while 44 percent said they planned to vote for someone else and 13 percent said they were considering that option.
While the majority of voters approved of Mr. Obama on a personal level, Americans indicated a deep dissatisfaction with his success in economic recovery and job creation. Forty-nine percent of those surveyed said they thought congressional Republicans would do a better job than Mr. Obama at turning the economy around, and 51 percent thought Republicans would be better at creating jobs. Forty-one percent said they thought Mr. Obama would do a better job with the economy, and 40 percent thought he would more effectively create jobs.
In general, most Americans viewed Mr. Obama's performance so far unfavorably. Forty-five of the 51 percent of Americans who said they disapproved of the job he has done so far as president said they felt strongly about their disapproval. Forty-six percent of Americans approved of Mr. Obama's job performance, and 35 percent of those supporters approved strongly.
20. Do you think President Obama has performed his job as President well enough to deserve re-election, will you consider voting for someone else, or do you think you will vote to replace Barack Obama? (via politico)
