This press release from House GOP Leader John Boehner's office just got our attention:
House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) today joined House Oversight & Government Reform Ranking Member Darrell Issa (D-CA) in sending a letter to Vice President Joe Biden, asking him to stop using the fictitious and unverifiable metric of jobs "saved or created" when discussing the results of Washington Democrats' $787-billion "stimulus."
It was the "(D-CA)" after Issa's name that got us going. Could a Democrat really have crossed party lines to go up against the White House?
Not being familiar with the party affiliation of all 435 members of the House, we double-checked on Issa, who we were pretty sure was a Republican.
He certainly is.
As we've learned many times over, everybody needs a copy editor. We've called Boehner's office to tell them of the typo.
As for the topic of the press release, the letter from Boehner and Issa is online here.
Their main complaint, the press release says, is that Democrats are:
"Attempting to disguise the fact that the 'stimulus' isn't working by releasing a stream of questionable -- or outright inaccurate -- statistics, including the number of jobs 'saved or created' -- a metric the Obama Administration seems to have made up out of thin air. It's time to bring facts back to this debate, and a good first step would be for Vice President Biden to stop citing these fictitious figures."
Here, by the way, is the firmly committed Republican Issa last week making the case that the "saved or created" phrase is misleading:
There's live coverage here of the South Carolina House Impeachment Subcommittee hearing that just got underway. At issue: Whether to impeach Republican Gov. Mark Sanford for leaving the state for five days this summer -- to see a mistress in Argentina, not to hike the Appalachian Trail as he told some aides -- and related alleged misconduct.
Might former CNN host Lou Dobbs run for the White House in 2012?
Dobbs, who split ways with CNN earlier this month over his commitment to "advocacy" journalism, told former Tennessee senator (and, briefly, 2008 GOP presidential contender) Fred Thompson yesterday that he just might mount an independent bid for the presidency.
As Politico says, Dobbs' answer "fueled already rampant speculation about his political future."
Last week, NPR's Political Junkie blog asked its readers "what's the FIRST thing Lou Dobbs will be doing now that he's left CNN?" Sixty six percent said "join the Fox News Channel."
When we asked last week if Two-Way readers would like to see Dobbs run for president, 68% said no.
"South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford faces 37 ethics charges he broke state laws limiting official use of airplanes and involving campaign money," the Associated Press is reporting. It says "the details were released Monday by the State Ethics Commission. They came five days after the panel charged the governor without offering any specifics."
As the AP puts it, "Sanford has been under scrutiny since he vanished for five days over the summer, reappearing to tearfully admit to an extramarital affair with a woman he later called his 'soul mate.' " You might recall the frenzy that occurred when Sanford returned from Argentina to confess his sins.
It's up to the state attorney general to decide if any of the allegations warrant prosecution. Sanford's lawyers have previously said such accusations involve only minor and technical matters.
The civil charges, which carry a maximum $74,000 in fines, stem from a three-month investigation by the state ethics commission and could be pivotal in a push by some lawmakers to remove him from office.
The Roman Catholic bishop of Providence says he did not order priests in his diocese to stop giving Communion to Democratic Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island.
He did, though, nearly three years ago ask Kennedy to stop receiving Communion because of the lawmaker's support of abortion rights, Bishop Thomas Tobin says.
"If I had told 300 priests of the diocese in any format not to give Communion to Kennedy or anybody else, you think that would have remained confidential?" Tobin asks in this morning's Providence Journal.
Kennedy told the newspaper Friday that Tobin had "instructed me not to take Communion and said that he has instructed the diocesan priests not to give me Communion."
In today's ProJo, Tobin calls Kennedy's claim "absolutely inaccurate."
As the Associated Press writes, the "bitter dispute over abortion ... has revealed the depth of the divide among Catholics over how politicians should reconcile their faith with their public duties."
Kennedy is the son of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts.
For the first time in the 10 months since he took office, President Barack Obama's approval rating has dropped below 50% in Gallup's daily "tracking" poll.
The polling firm just reported that its surveys show "49% of Americans approving of the job Barack Obama is doing as president."
And the gap between Obama's "approval" and "disapproval" numbers has narrowed to five percentage points: 44% of those surveyed disapprove of the job he's doing, Gallup says.
The numbers, Gallup writes:
Are based on telephone interviews with 1,533 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Nov. 17-19, 2009, as part of Gallup Daily tracking. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is +/- 4 percentage points.
It adds that "most of the recent decline in support for Obama occurred in July and August." And:
Obama now is the fourth fastest to drop below the majority approval level, doing so in his 10th month on the job. Gerald Ford dropped below 50% approval during his third month in office, and Bill Clinton did so in his fourth month. Ronald Reagan, like Obama, also dropped below 50% in his 10th month in office, though Reagan's drop occurred a few days sooner in that month.
Gallup has been doing presidential approval polling since the Truman administration, and it says "all presidents except John Kennedy dropped below the majority approval level at some point in their presidencies, and all recovered after the first time below this mark to go back above 50% approval."
Pollster.com collects data from a variety of pollsters. It's latest average of those surveys puts Obama's approval rating at 50.5% and his disapproval rating at 44.5%.
The Senate Select Committee on Ethics has sent Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill., a "public letter of qualified admonition" for "providing incorrect, inconsistent, misleading or incomplete information" about the events that led to his being appointed to fill the seat vacated by President Barack Obama.
Burris' statements, the committee says, reflected unfavorably upon the Senate.
They did not, however, amount to "actionable violations of law," the bi-partisan panel added.
The Chicago Tribune writes that Burris, "sought to cast the committee's action as a vindication" because it did not find he broke the law and issued a statement saying:
"I am pleased that after numerous investigations, this matter has finally come to a close. I thank the members of the Senate Ethics Committee for their fair and thorough review of this matter, and now look forward to continuing the important work ahead on behalf of the people of Illinois."
As Planet Money's Daniel Costello reports this morning, "Rep. Ron Paul, the Texas Republican and lifelong critic of the Federal Reserve, scored a big win Thursday on Capitol Hill by getting a House panel to pass a bill requiring new reviews of the Fed's interest-rate decisions."
The Wall Street Journal writes that "Mr. Paul's amendment removes restrictions on the Government Accountability Office's auditing authority, giving auditors access to every item on the Fed's balance sheet. He for more than 20 years has championed significantly neutering the Fed."
And The Washington Post adds that on a day when the administration was under attack from several lawmakers over its economic policies:
Perhaps most troubling for the administration was that one of the few measures to succeed Thursday was an amendment by Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) that would subject the Federal Reserve to unprecedented scrutiny. ...
Paul and allies in both parties -- more than 300 members of Congress have endorsed the measure -- are looking to increase oversight of an institution they consider partly to blame for the financial crisis. Federal officials and many private economists worry that the amendment could make future central bank policymakers reluctant to take unpopular steps to prevent inflation or support the economy for fear of second-guessing by Congress and government auditors.
So, the theory in support of the Fed's traditional independence is that it shouldn't be subject to political pressures from the White House or Congress because that could adversely affect its role in setting monetary policy.
The counter-argument is that the unelected officials at the central bank have too much power.
Also, early in my career -- when I covered economics for USA TODAY -- I found William Greider's 1989 book Secrets of the Temple of enormous help in understanding the central bank and why some have questions about the power it has.
In his round of interviews with the TV news networks, President Barack Obama has -- as you would expect -- discussed all the hot topics of the day.
His conversation with Fox News Channel's Major Garrett, which airs this evening on Fox's Special Report with Bret Baier, was no different. Obama said:
-- He's hopeful the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, "will be closed next year." That's a bit different than his promise last January that the facility would be shuttered within a year.
-- "Nobody's been more disappointed than I have to see how high the unemployment rate has gotten. And, I spend every waking hour, when I'm talking to my economic team, about how we are going to put people back to work."
-- While in South Korea, where he arrived today, he will press to get a free trade deal done with that country. "This is a region where right now we're sending about 25-26% of our exports. If we just boosted our share of exports by 1%, that might be 250,000 well paying jobs in the United States."
And then there was this more playful comment. Will he read 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's much-publicized book, Going Rogue?
"I probably will not, but I wish her well, you know, it looks like she's going to do very well without my readership."
It is, of course, worth restating that this was an interview with Fox News -- the network the White House has been at odds with.
West Virginia's Gov. Joe Manchin will hold a ceremony in the state capitol. "On Nov. 18, a West Virginian breaks all records and makes history," Manchin said in a statement. "Sen. Byrd sets the gold standard for what it means to be an outstanding public official."
The man who isn't getting as much attention today, is Arizona's "silent senator," Democrat Carl Hayden.
Was a legislative giant who was instrumental in the evolution of modern Arizona, with the 1968 creation of the Central Arizona Project water-delivery system perhaps his greatest achievement.
Known as the "silent senator" because he chose his words carefully, Hayden was the state's first representative in the House (Arizona became a state in 1912) and after moving to the Senate in 1927 served seven consecutive terms in that chamber.
"To me, he was the most honest politician that I'd ever known or even heard about," Roy Elson, Hayden's longtime Senate chief of staff, tells Nowicki. "He was just an institution in himself in that he did things all over the country, not just in Arizona."
Byrd turns 92 on Friday. Hayden died in 1972 at the age of 94.
"Free tickets for Palin's (Dec. 2) speech," the local News Leader writes, "were distributed on a first-come, first-served basis after the college announced Oct. 19 that she was coming to campus. As part of her contract with the private school, the media will be barred from covering Palin's speech, according to a college spokeswoman."
Palin will, though, be signing books that day at a Borders in Springfield, Mo. The News Leader says "there will be a limit of two autographed books per family, and Palin will not autograph any campaign paraphernalia or write any personal messages."
Perhaps a reporter or two could get in line?
The former Alaska governor told ABC News' Walters, by the way, that running for president in 2012 isn't on her "radar screen" right now -- but did not rule that out. She also said she doesn't feel responsible for the GOP ticket's loss last year and that she was "devastated" to learn about daughter Bristol's pregnancy.
Had a great conversation today with Barbara Walters regarding America's special needs community. Her compassion for those who some in our society see as "less than perfect" comes from personal experience as she was so close to her sister. Barbara wrote lovingly about her sister in her #1 bestselling memoir titled, Audition. Barbara and I even attempted to interview Trig during this segment, but he was about as patient through the interview as any other one-and-a-half-year-old child! I appreciate Barbara highlighting America's special needs community. The beautiful heart of our country shines when we embrace these precious ones. Knowing of their unconditional love and need for our embrace reminds me every day of what really matters in this world.
Update at 10:50 a.m. ET: Rod Dreher, an editorial columnist at the Dallas Morning News and the voice behind the blog Crunchy Con: Conservative Politics and Religion, is scheduled to review Going Rogue on today's All Things Considered. Click here to find an NPR station near you.
Tidbits about what's in Sarah Palin's new book continue to emerge. According to The Washington Post, Palin writes that she was quite comfortable with the idea of being the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee:
The former Alaska governor says in the book that her selection was neither "anticipated nor sought," but she adds: "Yet when God presents those doors, we think, Yes. This is right. This fits."
As we said earlier, Going Rogue: An American Life, officially goes on sale tomorrow.
The Chicago Tribune says Bush and Clinton "will share a McCormick Place stage May 4, taking questions submitted by BIO President Jim Greenwood after opening remarks by the former Democratic and Republican presidents."
The next day at the conference, former vice president Al Gore (Bush's opponent in the 2000 presidential election), will deliver the convention's keynote address.
As NPR's Martin Kaste reminded us on Morning Edition, today's the day Sarah Palin's pre-recorded interview with Oprah Winfrey goes on the air and tomorrow's the day that the former Alaska governor's first book officially goes on sale:
Meanwhile, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee continues to assail the Associated Press for its reporting about what's in her book. "Still Making Things Up?" she asks of the AP in her latest Facebook posting.
The AP's Calvin Woodward wrote over the weekend that:
Sarah Palin's new book reprises familiar claims from the 2008 presidential campaign that haven't become any truer over time.
Ignoring substantial parts of her record if not the facts, she depicts herself as a frugal traveler on the taxpayer's dime, a reformer without ties to powerful interests and a politician roguishly indifferent to high ambition.
Andrew Sullivan of The Daily Dish is taking Palin on, issuing an open challenge "to clear up any factual inaccuracies or misunderstandings that we might have unwittingly published" by relying on the AP.
Palin's book is called Going Rogue: An American Life and has already inspired some of her critics to publish Going Rouge: An American Nightmare.
As you probably have heard, the AP snagged a copy of my memoir, Going Rogue, before its Tuesday release. And as is expected, the AP and a number of subsequent media outlets are erroneously reporting the contents of the book. Keep your powder dry, read the book, and enjoy it! Lots of great stories about my family, Alaska, and the incredible honor it was to run alongside Senator John McCain.
One of the USA TODAY outlets I used to work for, On Politics, blogged yesterday about the Associated Press and its reporting -- including at least one mistake -- about what is in the book (which is due for release on Tuesday).
Initially, AP said Palin wrote about being billed $500,000 to pay for the "vetting" done by GOP presidential nominee John McCain's campaign before she was picked to be his running mate. Later, AP changed its story to say that the vetting represented about one-tenth of the $500,000 in legal bills she ran up because of "frivolous ethics complaints."
Trevor Potter, who was a lawyer for the McCain-Palin campaign, told On Politics that as far as he knows "the campaign did not receive any bill from Gov. Palin for legal expenses connected to her vetting, nor did the campaign ask her to pay any vetting-related expenses."
The rollout for former Alaska governor Sarah Palin's highly anticipated and score-settling memoir began Thursday with all the orchestrated stagecraft, wild accusations, inconvenient leaks and media fascination that characterized her campaign as Sen. John McCain's running mate during the 2008 presidential race.
Palin's already taped her sit-down with Oprah Winfrey, which is set to air on the media queen's show Monday. Oprah's put some clip from the appearance online here.
Dobbs turned into an advocate in recent years, especially on issues related to immigration and the Obama administration. He became a champion of sorts for many conservatives, and a lightning rod for criticism from liberals. One part of his announcement that certainly stands out was this:
"Some leaders in media, politics and business have been urging me to go beyond the role here at CNN and to engage in constructive problem-solving as well as to contribute positively to a better understanding of the great issues of our day."
That at least raises the possibility of a future in politics for the 64-year-old Dobbs. And if he did, a run for federal office (maybe even the White House?) would seem most likely. So, we wonder:
Or:
(For the record: These are not scientific surveys. They'll close at 8 p.m. ET Friday.)
On Morning Edition, NPR's David Folkenflik talked about the changes in Dobbs' career in recent years.
There will be some "score settling with McCain aides" and "a hearty bashing of the national media" in former Alaska governor Sarah Palin's book Going Rogue, which is set for release next Tuesday, Time's Mark Halperin reports on his The Page blog.
Halperin, who's got good contacts, says he's talked about the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee's book with "various sources who have seen or been briefed" on its contents.
What's else should we know about the book, according to Halperin's sources?
"Calling All Bloggers" is the headline at the widely read, conservative Power Line blog, where John Hinderaker writes that he is:
Delighted to be collaborating with Joe Trippi, one of my favorite liberals, on a bipartisan project to support America's veterans. The project is called the Eleven Eleven campaign; the objective is to get 11 million Americans to contribute $11 apiece to support America's vets. The campaign will be internet-driven, and all bloggers are invited to participate.
According to Eleven Eleven, there's a "blogger call" tonight at 8 p.m. ET during which Hinderaker, Trippi, Gold Star mother Ruth Stonesifer and Beyond Tribute Executive Director Matthew Boulay will talk about the campaign and how bloggers can get involved. Click here for more information about that. BeyondTribute.org, which has begun the Eleven Eleven project, is a coaltion of 11 charities "that specialize in direct services and/or advocacy for veterans of all eras and conflicts."
Actress Kim Cattrall explains in this video how contributions can be sent via text messages:
Eleven Eleven gets its name from Veterans Day (Nov. 11; this Wednesday) and from its goal to get 11 million Americans to each donate $10 -- to which Beyond Tribute will add another $1 to bring it up to $11.
There's not going to be a "debate" next February between former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton after all.
According to the Associated Press, spokesman for both men confirm that the event's been called off because "an overeager promoter had inaccurately hyped it as a debate." The ex-presidents wanted to have just a moderated "discussion."
"Debate" is exactly the word that MSG Entertainment used. Its announcement is no longer posted online, but here's what it said yesterday:
The 42nd president of the United States, Bill Clinton, and the 43rd president of the United States, George W. Bush, will debate topics ranging from the economy, to foreign policy, to the current administration. The series will be formatted to allow for President Clinton and President Bush to each present their thoughts on a wide range of important current events and national issues through a moderated question and answer period during which the moderator can elicit information and insights into particularly pertinent topics of the day. The moderator for this highly anticipated event will be announced in the coming weeks.
MSG also called it the "hottest ticket in political history."
Maybe some other time?
By the way, more than 2,200 folks responded to our question yesterday about which former president would "win." As of this moment, almost 60% have said Clinton. Of the rest, 28% have chosen "neither" and 13% picked Bush.
On the morning after the morning after the analysis continues about what, if anything, Tuesday's elections say about the mood of the country, the president's popularity and what will happen on Election Day in 2010.
Politico says the results have congressional Democrats "focused like never before on jobs -- their own."
The Boston Globestrikes a similar theme: " Democratic moderates who will determine the fate of much of President Obama's domestic agenda heard an early warning from this week's off-year elections: Congress had better do something about the economy, or sitting lawmakers will lose their jobs in 2010."
The Wall Street Journal says the votes have "left Democrats scrambling to renew the coalition that elected President Barack Obama after independent voters, whose power to determine U.S. elections is rising with their numbers, broke heavily toward Republicans."
And USA TODAY is looking well down the road. It's top political story is headlined "Huckabee Leads Republican Prospects In Poll." Those prospects would be the Republican Party's 2012 presidential hopefuls.
Also on Morning Edition Andrew Exum of the Center for a New American Security told host Renee Montagne that Obama should use the possibility of sending more troops to Afghanistan as leverage to push President Hamid Karzai to clean up government corruption:
Later today, All Things Considered is planning to spend an hour on Afghanistan and the issues Obama is considering as he debates whether to send more U.S. troops there. Click here to find an NPR station near you.
Other news:
-- The Associated Press -- AARP To Endorse House Health Care Plan: "The House is steaming toward a historic vote on President Barack Obama's remake of the U.S. health care system, with Democratic leaders increasingly confident and the powerful seniors' lobby AARP about to get on board. A debate and vote are expected Saturday on the 10-year, $1.2 trillion bill that would extend coverage to 96 percent of Americans, require employers to insure their employees and bar such insurance company practices as dropping coverage for sick people."
-- The Guardian's Greenslade blog -- Reporter For French News Service Detained In Iran: "An Iranian journalist working for the international news agency Agence France Presse has been detained by Iran's security forces. Farhad Pouladi was taken into custody while on his way to cover a state-sanctioned rally to mark the 30th anniversary of the US embassy takeover. AFP's acting bureau chief in Tehran, Jay Deshmukh, says the reporter's whereabouts are unknown."
As NPR's Mike Pesca said on Morning Edition, the Yankees got some clutch performances from some big stars and proved they are "once again the toughest out in baseball":
Clinton spokesman Matt McKenna says the event was canceled after an overeager promoter billed it as a debate. The spokesman says the Feb. 25 event had been planned as a moderated, serious discussion between the two former presidents.
Former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton will "debate the most pertinent current events" on stage at Radio City Music Hall in New York next Feb. 25.
MSG Entertainment says:
Bush & Clinton. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
The 42nd president of the United States, Bill Clinton, and the 43rd president of the United States, George W. Bush, will debate topics ranging from the economy, to foreign policy, to the current administration. The series will be formatted to allow for President Clinton and President Bush to each present their thoughts on a wide range of important current events and national issues through a moderated question and answer period during which the moderator can elicit information and insights into particularly pertinent topics of the day. The moderator for this highly anticipated event will be announced in the coming weeks.
Now, we wonder -- in this totally unscientific survey that's just for fun, is not meant to be a true measure of public opinion and will close in 24 hours -- what you think:
As Frank said earlier, it's unlikely President Barack Obama' political opponents are going to agree -- but the White House is doing its best to make the case that yesterday's elections weren't about the president.
The Associated Press says that:
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Wednesday that voters went to the polls in Virginia and New Jersey to work through "very local issues that didn't involve the president." The presidential spokesman said voters were concerned about the economy. He said "I don't think the president needed an election or an exit poll to come to that conclusion."
Obama's fellow Democrats lost their gubernatorial bids in both New Jersey and Virginia.
Earlier today, NPR news analyst Juan Williams said he believes it was the economy that drove the results:
Politico's John Harris and Jonathan Martin, though, think that Virginia and New Jersey votes were "an unmistakable rebuke of Democrats, reshuffling Obama's political circumstances in ways likely to have severe near-term consequences for his policy agenda and larger governing strategy."
And even if the results aren't a direct statement about Obama, The Wall Street Journal's Jonathan Weisman and Corey Dade write that the "Republican sweep in Virginia and New Jersey on Tuesday shifted the political terrain against President Barack Obama only a year after his historic election."
The president himself is expected to offer his analysis later today.
Update at 10:55 a.m .ET. NPR's Don Gonyea tells us that Gibbs also said:
-- "I think the data from the gubernatorial races demonstrates that voters went to the polls ... to talk about and work through very local issues that didn't involve the president."
-- The message the president takes away is that: "You have two very local elections, you had a special election in California which Democrats retained the seat in the 10th district of California. Elements of the Republican Party sought greatly to nationalize the election yesterday in New York (for the 23rd congressional district) ... and they lost."
-- Obama is "disappointed that his friend John Corzine didn't win (re-election as governor of New Jersey). Again, I think if you look at the exit polling that is pretty clear on this, people went to the polls to vote on local issues not (to) register support for or opposition to the president."
-- The lesson from New York's 23rd congressional district, which a Democrat has won for the first time since before the Civil War, is that: "We watched a party (the GOP) pick a candidate and then purge that candidate. ... So I think it proves that anger can get you 45 % of the vote and that doesn't win you most elections."
-- The president did not watch news coverage of the returns as they came in last night.
For more news and analysis of the elections, see Political Junkie.
Saying that she has learned in recent years that "decisions made by the Senate impact every family and every business, of any size, in America," former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina used an op-ed in The Orange County Register to announce today that she's running as a Republican against Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer of California in next year's election.
The morning-after punditry is in full-swing now that the smattering of elections across the nation are over. As we wrote, Republicans had a good day -- winning the governors' mansions in New Jersey and Virginia. But Democrats managed to take advantage of a split with the GOP to take a New York congressional seat that had been in Republican hands since before the Civil War.
NPR's Political Junkie blog will have much more about the election results as the day continues.
Among the other stories making headlines:
-- The Guardian -- "British Soldiers Killed In Attack By Afghan Policeman": "Five British soldiers have been killed and several others injured in a gun attack by a 'rogue' Afghan policeman in Helmand province, the Ministry of Defense said today. The soldiers -- three from the Grenadier Guards and two from the Royal Military police -- were killed by gunshot wounds suffered in the attack, which happened in the Nad-e'Ali district yesterday."
NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reports from Kabul: The Afghan police officer ran from the scene, and "the feeling is that he's crossed over and joined the Taliban."
-- BBC News -- "Iran Police Clash With Protesters": "Police have clashed with opposition supporters in the Iranian capital, Tehran, witnesses and state media say. Police used tear gas and batons, said witnesses. Unconfirmed reports said the authorities had also opened fire."
Related conversation on Morning Edition -- Protests Were Widespread Despite Government's Warning: Borzou Daragahi of the Los Angeles Times talks with host Steve Inskeep about this 30th anniversary of the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran, and the remarkably different (anti-government) kind of protests that occurred today:
-- Morning Edition -- Secretary Clinton Says Her Comments About Israeli Settlements Did Not Create A "Long-Term Problem". The secretary of State spoke with NPR's Jackie Northam:
-- CNN International -- "Israel Detains Ship Loaded With Weapons": "The Israeli Navy detained a ship loaded with weapons that was traveling about 100 miles west of the country's coast and headed to Syria, Israeli officials said Wednesday. The ship was detained on Tuesday and was escorted to an Israeli port to be searched, an Israel Defense Forces statement said."
-- The Wall Street Journal -- "Fears Of A New Bubble As Cash Pours In": "Concerns are mounting that efforts by governments and central banks to stoke a recovery will create a nasty side effect: asset bubbles in real-estate, stock and currency markets, especially in Asia."
Related news to watch for today: Federal Reserve policymakers end two-days of meetings. They're expected to say this afternoon that they aren't going to adjust short-term interest rates, which it how is holding between zero and 0.25%.
-- The Times of London -- "German Government Blasts 'Unacceptable' GM U-Turn": "Germany's Economic Minister today branded a decision by America's General Motors to scrap the sale of its European business as 'totally unacceptable.' ... British unions were delighted with the decision, which was announced late yesterday after a GM board meeting in Detroit."
Related story by The Detroit News -- "GM Calls Off Sale, Keeps Opel": "General Motors Co.'s board of directors Tuesday voted to keep its German carmaker, Adam Opel GmbH, instead of selling it to Canada's Magna International Inc. and its Russian partner, Sberbank. The board based its decision, in part, on an improved business environment in Europe and GM's overall financial health and stability since emerging from bankruptcy court after receiving about $50 billion in federal aid."
Celebrating in Richmond: Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, left, and Virginia governor-elect Bob McDonnell. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
By Mark Memmott
Good morning.
If you're just tuning back in, here are the highlights from Tuesday's elections:
-- Republicans took the two gubernatorial races, in Virginia and New Jersey.
-- A Democrat, Bill Owens, won New York's 23rd congressional district. That hadn't happened since before the Civil War. But the major reason was another civil war -- within the GOP.
-- Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, a Democrat, won an unprecedented fifth term.
-- Houston's mayoral election is headed for a December runoff. City Controller Annise Parker could become Houston's first openly gay mayor. She'll face former city attorney Gene Locke.
On Morning Edition, NPR news analyst Juan Williams said Bloomberg's narrow re-election underscores the "anti-incumbent" fever in much of the nation.
And, Juan said, Republican Bob McDonnell's victory in the Virginia governor's race stands out: The social conservative ran as a "pragmatic politician focused on solving the state's problems" and won, just a year after Democrat Barack Obama won the state in the presidential race.
Juan also believes that in the Virginia and New Jersey races, it wasn't Obama who was the issue. The economy was the overriding issue:
Our colleague Ken Rudin at the Political Junkie will have much more about the meaning of Tuesday's results. He and Frank were busy last night live-blogging.
Tuesday night was one of those nights that President Barack Obama would like to forget. And will try hard to.
But his political opponents and even some of his allies won't let him.
Republicans won governorships in two states Obama had in his win column last November, New Jersey, a decidedly blue state, and Virginia, which looked mighty purple last year but has a more reddish tinge as of Tuesday night.
These weren't surprises. But Democrats had hoped that at least New Jersey would hang in there with them. It didn't.
His opponents will claim the Republican victories show his growing political weakness and that his leadership and ideas are being rejected by some of the very same people who helped elect him president. Even some of his allies may say this, if not to him then to each other.
But what does it all mean?
First off, Obama won't be as concerned about Election Night 2009 as he will 2010 when the congressional mid-terms happen.
And he won't be as concerned about the mid-terms as he will Election Night 2012 when he stands for re-election.
Join us here for our live blog of Election Night 2009. We'll be starting up at 7 pm ET when the polls close in Virginia and following results in races across the nation as they come in.
NPR's Julie Rovner reports that House Republicans are putting together legislation to overhaul health care that does not reduce spending on Medicare or raise taxes. She filed this report for NPR's next newscast:
NPR obtained a draft of the House Republican bill, which leaders caution is still a work in progress. Many of the pieces are familiar ones -- they're bills passed by earlier GOP-led Houses, but never enacted. They include making it easier for small businesses to band together to buy insurance; allowing insurance companies to sell policies across state lines, and limiting damage awards in medical malpractice lawsuits. The bill also includes strict limits on abortion funding and a ban on benefits to illegal immigrants.
There are a few elements that overlap those in the Democrats' health bill, including eliminating insurance companies' ability to impose annual or lifetime limits on benefits.
The House bill is expected to come to the floor for debate by the end of this week.
The Two-Way and NPR's Political Junkie blog, by Ken Rudin, will be combining forces later today to "live-blog" election results from Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Houston, Atlanta and other voting places across the nation. We'll embed a "Cover It Live" box in both blogs so that you can see what Ken and Frank are reporting -- and comment as well.
Ken did a "what to watch for" post here. As he says, "off-year elections" can send important signals about what lies ahead:
In 1993, a year after Bill Clinton's election, Republicans wrestled the governorships away from the Democrats in both states, and they also won the mayoralty in five-to-one Democratic New York City. A sign of things to come for the GOP? Well, the next year the party won control of both the House and Senate for the first time since 1952.
Of course, being the responsible sort of "junkie" that he is, Ken also had to temper expectations:
Sometimes these elections tell us nothing. Look no further than 2001, when Democrats recaptured the governorships in Virginia and New Jersey -- a scant few weeks after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. And yet, the following year, Republicans made historic gains in Congress, with 9/11 being a major factor.
If you want an audio preview, here's a "set-up piece" from NPR's Dave Mattingly and Isaac-Davy Aronson of NPR member station WNYC:
A year ago in St. Louis. They're back at it today. (J. Scott Applewhite / AP)
By Mark Memmott
Vice President Joe Biden and the woman who ran against him last year did some long-distance sparing today.
Biden, at a rally for New York congressional Democratic contender Bill Owens, took a verbal shot at former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, who's a supporter of Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman in Tuesday's crazy special election for New York's 23rd district (where Republican nominee Dede Scozzafava has dropped out and endorsed the Democrat).
Using energy as an issue with which to score some rhetorical points, Biden said that "the fact of the matter is, Sarah Palin thinks the answer to energy is 'drill, baby, drill,'" according to The Hill. "It's a lot more complicated, Sarah!"
Palin, on her Facebook page, writes that "as the vice president knows, I have always advocated an all-of-the-above approach to American energy independence. ... There's one way to tell Vice President Biden that we're tired of folks in Washington distorting our message and hampering our nation's progress: Hoffman, Baby, Hoffman!"
Even if there isn't any voting going on tomorrow in your town, city or state, NPR's Ken Rudin and Mara Liasson explained on Morning Editionwhy you might want to care:
The results are going to be viewed as a referendum on how President Barack Obama is doing:
As they say, the wildest race seems to be in New York's 23rd Congressional District, where the Republican nominee has dropped out and endorsed the Democrat -- not the Conservative Party candidate who has attracted support from 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and other high-profile figures.
As Politico explains, Democrats worked hard to win former GOP candidate Dede Scozzafava's support.
Also Tuesday; voters elect governors in New Jersey and Virginia; mayoral slots are on the ballots in New York City, Atlanta and several other major cities; and voters in Maine will decide whether to permit same-sex marriage.
By this morning, the survey in that post had attracted nearly 750,000 votes and the post had more than 1,100 comments.
I wrote earlier this morning in an update to that entry:
Thanks to all those who were inspired to vote. As Raw Story explains, the poll touched off a competition. That's a good thing, in my opinion. These kinds of surveys aren't meant to be scientific. They're intended to stimulate discussion and give folks another way to express themselves. We certainly accomplished that.
Now, can I make a small request? Perhaps some who came here to vote and comment could come back to The Two-Way on occasion and contribute again to the discussions? We value your input.
As you can see, there are now more than 1.1 million votes on the survey and 2,100 comments with this post.
We've also received several hundred e-mails. Here's a representative sample:
-- Chuck Parker: "Conservatives should be allowed to have one Network on their side, that being FOX since the libs have ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and MSNBC acting as unpaid mouth pieces for Obama."
-- Wendy Glenn: " WE LOVE FOX. They tell it like it is and we make up our mind. It is a REAL news station. From loyal patriotic Arizona Ranchers!"
-- Paul Ingram: "NPR should be more objective instead of being a mouthpiece for the Obama administration, What a great opportunity you have of education and spreading truth to the population , taking neither side in any political dispute. Just the unvarnished facts."
-- Lyn Underdahl: "Fox News provides the opportunity for its listeners to be informed about all the issues. President Obama wants it 'His way or the highway'. Fox News has taken in on the 'high way' by encouraging Americans to get involved in what is being said, what is happening and those in charge who dictate what will become law. The talent of the News staff @ Fox is very credible. Hats off to all of you at Fox News! You make a difference in our World. Thank you for caring about about your listeners."
Many e-mailers wanted to make sure we knew that there had been an online effort, fueled by e-mail chains and blogs, among Fox News fans to "win" the poll. John Plotkin said he had received an e-mail from conservative "friends," urging that he vote in the survey. "If you think your poll results are accurate, think again," Plotkin added.
As I noted on Saturday, this isn't a scientific survey. It's an online poll that successfully got folks talking about a very interesting story.
Thanks again to all those who've taken part. We hope to keep hearing from you.
Public opinion polls can be done in a variety of ways. There's the standard "live operator" survey, where actual human beings dial up voters. There's the fairly new "automated" phone survey, where everything is done by computer. And there's the Internet, where folks answer on the Web.
The number crunchers at Pollster.com let you see President Barack Obama's approval and disapproval ratings any way you like.
If you generate a typical Pollster.com set of fever lines, which include all three types of polls from dozens of top survey firms, the post-Inauguration Day trends look like this:
Politico forecasts "an ethical dust storm that will empower the Republicans and could imperil efforts to get health care reform through the House next week."
The Atlantic Wire writes that "the investigations -- as well as the leaked report -- could have serious repercussions for the lawmakers targeted and for legislation attached to them."
The Post writes that:
The 22-page "Committee on Standards Weekly Summary Report" gives brief summaries of ethics panel investigations of the conduct of 19 lawmakers and a few staff members. It also outlines the work of the new Office of Congressional Ethics, a quasi-independent body that initiates investigations and provides recommendations to the ethics committee. The document indicated that the office was reviewing the activities of 14 other lawmakers. Some were under review by both ethics bodies.
The ethics committee -- officially known as the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct -- has issued a statement noting that:
At any one time, the Committee has dozens of matters regarding Members, Officers, and employees before it, including both investigations and requests for advice regarding House rules, financial disclosure, and travel, among other issues. No inference to any misconduct can be made from the fact that a matter is simply before the Committee.
The only names the committee wanted to publicly acknowledge yesterday were those of California Democrats Maxine Waters and Laura Richardson.
The Associated Press writes that "Waters came under scrutiny after former Treasury Department officials said she helped arrange a meeting between regulators and executives at OneUnited Bank last year without mentioning her husband's financial ties to the institution. ... The investigation also will determine whether Richardson received an impermissible gift or preferential treatment from a lender, 'relating to the foreclosure, recission of the foreclosure sale or loan modification agreement' for her Sacramento, Calif., property."
Update at 2:05 p.m. ET:Politico now writes that "seven members of the powerful House panel that handles the Pentagon's purse -- and the lucrative earmarks inside -- have been under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, according to an internal ethics committee document obtained by The Washington Post. The list includes the names of the five most senior defense appropriators from the majority Democratic side -- Reps. John Murtha, Norm Dicks, Peter Visclosky, Jim Moran and Marcy Kaptur -- as well as the ranking Republican on the committee, Bill Young of Florida, and Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), who is in the midst of a tough primary battle for the Senate seat being left open by retiring Sen. Sam Brownback."
If you've been wondering how many jobs the White House thinks have been created or saved by this year's $787 billion stimulus program, keep an eye on Recovery.gov. The administration plans to release its latest numbers on just that subject today.
NPR's Scott Horsley and Politico's Mike Allen say that administration officials have sent reporters an e-mail to say that they anticipate reports from state and local governments, businesses and organizations "will credit the Recovery Act with directly creating or saving about 650,000 jobs." The e-mail says that number stems from about half of the stimulus spending so far, meaning the program has likely "created or saved at least 1 million jobs."
CNN is also already reporting the news will be that 650,000 jobs were saved or created by about $150 billion in the funding so far. That's the number The Wall Street Journalis citing as well.
We'll pass along more news as it comes in -- as well as the inevitable second-guessing and analysis from various quarters.
Today's release by the independent Recovery, Accountability, and Transparency Board shows that recipients of a subset of Recovery Act funds have reported creating or saving 640,329 jobs so far. Since this reporting is based on only a portion of the Act's funds -- about $160 billion, which represents less than half of the money put to work so far -- it represents a subset of the jobs created or saved. This number also leaves out indirect jobs: employment created as a result of ARRA funds money spent by direct recipients. ...
Since, as noted above, the recipient reporting represents less than half of the obligations plus tax cuts so far, we can get a rough sense of its comparability to the more comprehensive estimates above by doubling the recipient-reported job creation of 640,329, yielding a jobs number -- almost 1.3 million. ...
Given that more than half of Recovery Act funds have yet to be obligated, the fact that many funded projects have a lot more hiring to do, and the fact that these reports account for around 640,000 jobs through the end of September despite all the omissions just noted, we are solidly on track to meet our goal of 3.5 million jobs saved or created by the end of next year.
Update at 12:45 p.m. ET: At the White House a moment ago, Vice President Joe Biden just remarked that "I can say without fear of being contradicted by any responsible source that so far" the stimulus has saved or created more than 1 million jobs.
Here's audio of the vice president:
Update at 8:05 a.m. ET. More from CNN:
"We're solidly on track to create or save 3.5 million jobs by the time this program winds down," administration economist Jared Bernstein told CNN on Friday. "There's a lot more ammunition in that Recovery Act. The stimulus package is absolutely working, both in GDP terms and in terms of saving or creating jobs."
Among the other stories making headlines this morning, as we just reported it looks like there's a deal in place to end the political crisis in Honduras and return ousted president Manuel Zelaya to office.
Other news:
-- Morning Edition -- "Afghan Decision Will Come With A Price Tag". NPR's David Welna reports that the high financial cost of any surge in the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan is putting some Democrats in a tight spot:
-- The Washington Post -- "Dozens In Congress Under Ethics Inquiry": "House ethics investigators have been scrutinizing the activities of more than 30 lawmakers and several aides in inquiries about issues including defense lobbying and corporate influence peddling, according to a confidential House ethics committee report prepared in July."
Related story by The Associated Press -- Ethics Committee Says No Inferences Should Be Drawn: "The House ethics committee announced Thursday it is investigating two California Democratic lawmakers (representatives Maxine Waters and Laura Richardson), but its embarrassed leaders then had to explain that other members -- named in a confidential memo that leaked out -- may have committed no wrongdoing."
-- The Associated Press -- "Search Is On For Mid-Air Collision Survivors In California": "The U.S. Coast Guard and Navy were searching early Friday for as many as nine people off the Southern California coast following a collision between a Coast Guard plane and a Marine Corps helicopter, officials said. The crash was reported at 7:10 p.m. Thursday, about 50 miles off the San Diego County coast and 15 miles east of San Clemente Island, Coast Guard spokeswoman Petty Officer Allyson Conroy said."
-- The New York Times -- "Iran Rejects Deal To Ship Out Uranium, Officials Report": " Iran told the United Nations nuclear watchdog on Thursday that it would not accept a plan its negotiators agreed to last week to send its stockpile of uranium out of the country, according to diplomats in Europe and American officials briefed on Iran's response."
-- The Associated Press -- "France's Jacques Chirac Ordered To Stand Trial": "Former French President Jacques Chirac has been ordered to stand trial in an alleged corruption scandal dating back to his tenure as Paris mayor, a judicial official said Friday. A magistrate has ordered Chirac to stand trial on charges of 'embezzlement' and 'breach of trust,' the official said."
Frank Browning reports on the story for NPR from Paris:
The 2008 Republican presidential nominee renewed his criticism of President Barack Obama's decision-making process today, saying that Obama "needs to make this decision and soon" regarding whether to send a large number of additional troops to Afghanistan.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told CBS-TV's The Early Show that U.S. military leaders are "becoming frustrated" as the White House continues its policy review:
NPR's Giles Snyder adds that the president has said he won't rush a decision and does not want to risk additional American lives unless it's necessary:
His office swears (pun intended) that it's unintentional. But reading down the lines, it sure looks like California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger dropped an F-bomb on his critics in the California State Assembly.
San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross show how, in a veto message, the guvernator's words line up so that if you read down the left side it spells out ... well, we can't write what it spells out. Let's just say it's a pretty common two-word combination in which the first word is four letters long and begins with "F" and the second word is three letters long and begins with "Y".
According to Matier and Ross, Schwarzenegger was vetoing a "rather mundane bill" sponsored by state Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, who earlier this month told the governor to "kiss my gay ---".
Schwarzenegger press spokesman Aaron McLear calls it a "weird coincidence."
The possibly profane message was first spotted by SFBG Politics, a blog by the San Francisco Bay Guardian. Fair warning: Its story does not shy away from the adult language.
Update at 3:25 p.m. ET: Well, All Things Considered host Melissa Block just got off the phone with a Goucher College professor who studies cryptological mathematics. The professor, Robert Lewand, told her the odds of those letters appearing exactly where they did are:
"About 5.5 in 1 trillion."
"It would be very, very unlikely that would happen by chance," Lewand added.
Another clue that tells him the letters didn't get where they did by accident: The word "kicks" at the start of the fourth line in the sequence. "There are relatively few words in the English language that begin with 'k'," Lewand said. "They really had to search for that one."
More from Melissa's conversation with Lewand is due on today's edition of ATC. Click here to find an NPR station near you.
Update at 4:05 p.m. ET. And here are two audio clips from that conversation. First, Lewand on the odds:
HarperCollins paid former Alaska governor Sarah Palin a $1.25 million "retainer" for the book she and a conservative writer have penned, the Anchorage Daily News reports.
The amount was included in financial disclosures made this morning in Alaska.
Going Rogue: An American Life is due in bookstores Nov. 17.
How's her deal compare to some others?
In 2001, former president Bill Clinton got an estimated $10 million to $12 million, which at the time was a record for a nonfiction work. Then, in 2006, Oprah Winfrey struck a deal that her publisher claimed was worth even more.
As we've previously reported, some of Palin's critics are coming out with a book of their own: Going Rouge: Sarah Palin, An American Nightmare.
Translation: Lieberman, the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee, will go against the wishes of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and support an attempt by Republicans to filibuster the Reid version of health care legislation if the bill includes the so-called public option.
And Lieberman's vote is critical because without him Democrats wouldn't have the 60 senators they can usually count on for support -- and 60 is the magic number needed to shut down a filibuster.
Lieberman told the Associated Press that he's worried that the public part of the plan would drive up insurance premiums.
One possible point of compromise: Lieberman told the AP is his "open to discussing" a plan that would be set up and run by the states.
Going against his old pals in the Democratic Party is not particularly new for Lieberman. In 2008 he campaigned enthusiastically for Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain.
Asked on C-SPAN'sWashington Journal yesterday if he might run for president in 2012, former House speaker Newt Gingrich said:
"Callista (his wife) and I are going to think about this in February 2011. And we are going to reach out to all of our friends around the country. And we'll decide, if there's a requirement as citizens that we run, I suspect we probably will. And if there's not a requirement, if other people have filled the vacuum, I suspect we won't."
Here's a video clip:
That sounds quite similar to what the Georgia Republican was saying back in 2007 about whether he would run for the White House in 2008.
In the end, he decided not to seek his party's nomination.
Good morning to those who just heard on Morning Edition about Rogue and Rouge, the real Sarah Palin memoir and the competing parody -- a collection of essays by some of critics of the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee.
We began this poll about the parody last week, and by 7:15 a.m. ET this morning more than 6,600 people had voted. The results as of that moment:
-- 75% said: "Hate it! I'll buy Rogue.
-- 16% said: "Love it! I'll buy Rouge.
-- 9% said: "Count me out. I don't want either book".
As we noted last week, besides the clever difference in the titles there will be one very easy way to tell the difference between the books (which both hit stores the week of Nov. 16).
Rouge (the parody) is going to be a paperback. Rogue (Palin's memoir) will be a hardcover.
And, Pew says, "fewer also see global warming as a very serious problem -- 35% say that today, down from 44% in April 2008."
The researchers' overall conclusion: "There has been a sharp decline over the past year in the percentage of Americans who say there is solid evidence that global temperatures are rising."
"The priority that people give to pollution and environmental concerns and a whole host of other issues is down because of the economy and because of the focus on other things. ... When the focus is on other things, people forget and see these issues as less grave."
The national telephone survey of 1,500 adults was done from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4. Pew says the margin of error on each result is +/- 3 percentage points.
It should not have come as a surprise to former Alaska governor Sarah Palin and her publisher that somebody would take the title of her upcoming memoir, flip two letters and come up with a parody.
That's exactly what's happened. As Entertainment Weekly reports, editors of the "left-leaning" The Nation plan to publish Going Rouge: Sarah Palin, An American Nightmare on Nov. 17 -- the same day that the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee's Going Rogue: An American Life hits bookstores.
The covers will be remarkably similar.
But there will be two easy ways to tell the difference between the two books. First, Going Rouge is going to be a paperback, while Going Rogue will come out in hardcover. And second, Going Rouge will be a series of essays from some very liberal, very critical critics of Palin.
So few folks should be fooled -- though you never know.
What should be the queen of all media's first question for the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee?
-- Will you run for president in 2012?
-- Why did you resign as governor?
-- Have you spoken to Sen. McCain lately?
Feel free to use the comments thread to offer other suggestions.
And we wonder what you think about the Palin-Winfrey sit-down (which, if it goes on as planned, comes just a day before the former governor's memoir hits bookstores):
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments in the case of men who have challenged the U.S. government's right to continue holding them at the Guantanamo Bay detention center even though it's been determined they represent no threat to the USA.
Whether the case will ever really reach the High Court isn't clear, however. All but one of the group -- ethnic Uighurs from western China -- have already been released or will be soon. If none are left at the detention center by the time the case would be heard next year, it might be dismissed instead.
Also today, a new coalition of retired U.S. military officers and the progressive group VoteVets.org released the first of what it says will be a series of national TV ads urging Congress to "close Gitmo now":
In less than 20 minutes the Reuters news agency just went from reporting what would have been major news -- a reversal by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on its opposition to major climate change legislation -- to saying that the scoop was a "hoax."
At 11:10 a.m. ET, Reuters issued this "alert":
US CHAMBER OF COMMERCE SAYS WILL NO LONGER OPPOSE CLIMATE CHANGE LEGISLATION, WANTS CARBON TAX IN SENATE BILL
That would be quite a surprise, given the Chamber's high-profile opposition to the Waxman-Markey and Kerry-Boxer bills -- opposition that has led some high profile members, including Apple and Levi Strauss, to leave the organization in recent weeks.
At 11:29 a.m. ET, though, Reuters followed with this:
CORRECTED-US CHAMBER SAYS STATEMENT THAT CHAMBER HAS DROPPED OPPOSITION TO CLIMATE CHANGE BILL A "HOAX"
Earlier this month, Chamber President/CEO Thomas Donohue laid out the Chamber's thinking on climate change. He said then that the Chamber believes the Waxman-Markey Bill would drive up the cost of doing business and end up costing the nation jobs. The nation needs "sensible regulation," he said:
Update at 11:45 a.m. ET: It looks like someone put together a very convincing website and press release that are not actually from the Chamber.
Two things that have tipped off skeptics: The fake "press release" misspells Donohue's name; and the phone number for contact information doesn't match any of the phone numbers at the real Chamber.
Both stories center on the "tangle of ethical issues" that House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., finds himself in.
Some Democrats in the Empire State, Politico says, are worried about the effect that Rangel's problems could have on their tough re-election contests in 2010. The concern is particularly acute for some upstate House members, who are always in danger of losing their jobs because they come from generally conservative districts. They want Rangel's problems sorted out as quickly as possible -- and would like to see him step down as Ways and Means chairman while the House ethics committee continues its probe of his financial dealings.
But Republicans have a problem, Politico reports:
Should they push hard now to knock Rangel off his powerful perch at Ways and Means or try to keep the story alive as long as possible and milk as much of a "political advantage" from it as they can? Further complicating their thinking:
(House GOP leader John) Boehner and other top Republicans don't want to make Rangel into a sympathetic figure and are sensitive to any accusation from African-Americans that there is a GOP campaign to remove him from power. Boehner, who had ethics problems himself in the mid-1990s, also wants to avoid a full-blown ethics war with Democrats. Boehner fears retaliation against some of his members, such as GOP Reps. Don Young of Alaska and Jerry Lewis of California, who face their own ethics issues.
Arianna says that Biden should underscore his opposition to a build-up of U.S. forces in Afghanistan by stepping down if President Barack Obama decides to send a large number of additional troops to that country. It would be, she writes, something that "generations to come" would be grateful for and a "crowning moment in a distinguished career" for Biden. And Biden could then become "the natural leader of the movement to wind down this disastrous war and focus on the real dangers in Pakistan."
Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, just said she will vote for the 10-year, $829-billion health care plan put together by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont.
Is the bill "all that I want? Far from it," Snowe said.
But, "the consequences of inaction dictate the urgency of Congress to take every opportunity to demonstrate its capacity to solve the monumental issues of our time."
That means Snowe is the first -- and very possibly will be the only -- Republican to support the legislation.
The committee looks to be headed to a vote on the plan within the next hour or so. Passage is expected -- 13 of the 23 committee members are Democrats.
Update at 2:10 p.m. ET: Just a few moments ago, President Barack Obama hailed Snowe for being "extraordinarily diligent in working ... so that we can reduce the costs of health care" and make sure that those who don't have insurance get it.
Update at 1:36 p.m. ET. NPR's David Welna reports that:
Snowe's decision to vote for the Finance Committee health care legislation allows the Democrats who've been pushing for that bill to say it has bipartisan support -- a claim none of the four other Congressional committees that have approved health care bills can make.
Update at 1:12 p.m. ET: Snowe also said her vote to move the bill out of the committee is a reflection of something the American people want -- "they want us to continue working" on a health care overhaul.
President Barack Obama talks about defending America but does little about it -- that's the message in a new Web video from Keep America Safe, a group co-founded by one of former vice president Dick Cheney's daughters.
Elizabeth Cheney's group says it aims to "provide information for concerned Americans about critical national security issues." Her co-founders are conservative commentator William Kristol and Debra Burlingame, sister of an American Airlines pilot who was killed on 9/11. Burlingame is co-founder of 9/11 Families for a Safe and Strong America.
Here's the video:
Cheney tells Politico that in her view, "the policies being proposed by the Obama administration are so radical across the board. ... Whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, you want the nation to be strong and so many steps this president is taking are making the nation weaker."
This is a big day for the effort in Washington to overhaul the nation's health care system.
The Senate Finance Committee is set to vote on Chairman Max Baucus' version of an overhau. And while passage is expected because Baucus and his fellow Democrats hold 13 of the committee's 23 seats, it's not certain whether every Democrat will vote "aye" and many eyes will be on Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine to see if she crosses party lines to support the bill.
As the Associated Press notes, "the committee's centrist legislation is seen as the best building block for a compromise plan that could find favor on the Senate floor."
On Morning Edition, NPR's Julie Rovner talked with host Steve Inskeep about the insurance and hospital industries' problems with the committee's legislation. She says Democrats are likely to lose only one vote in the committee. And, says Julie, while there are still months to go before any overhaul bill lands on President Barack Obama's desk, there is "an air of inevitability" about some form of an overhaul being passed this year:
The NPR Health Blog is following the overhaul effort and related issues.
The House Ethics Committee just announced it is expanding its investigation of Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., NPR's Andrea Seabrook reports from the Capitol.
The committee also reported that so far it has authorized nearly 150 subpoenas, interviewed more than 30 witnesses and analyzed more than 12,000 pages of documents.
A decline in support for Democratic candidates has brought Republicans almost even with their rivals as voters think about which party to support in next year's mid-term Congressional elections, Gallup reports this morning:
Forty-six percent of registered voters say they would vote for the Democrat and 44% say the Republican when asked which party's candidate they would support for Congress, if the election were held today.
In early July, Democrats were favored by 50% of those polled -- to 44% who sided with Republicans.
Gallup adds that:
The closeness of the two parties in voter preferences today is similar to that found in most Gallup readings from 1994 through 2005 (spanning the period when Republicans won control of the U.S. House, and subsequently maintained it for more than a decade).
The Republican Party's relatively strong position on the generic ballot in the latest poll, conducted Oct. 1-4, stems from the support of political independents, who now favor Republican over Democratic candidates by 45% to 36%. In July, independents were evenly divided in their party voting preferences, whereas last fall they showed a clear preference for the Democrats.
The latest results are based on a national telephone survey of 906 registered voters, conducted Oct. 1-4. The margin of error on each result is +/- 4 percentage points.
African-Americans and other minorities are much more likely than whites to say that "President Obama's economic stimulus package" has been a good thing, a poll released today by the ethnic news media co-op New America Media shows.
NAM, a collaborative effort of 2,000 ethnic news organizations enlisted pollster Sergio Bendixen to do a national survey over three weeks from late August through mid-September. Some of the results:
Alaska's most famous teen dad continues to enjoy his 15 minutes.
Levi Johnston's in a new in a TV ad for pistachios -- one that makes light of his status as the unwed father of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin's grandson:
As USA TODAY reports, it's part of a $15 million ad campaign from the pistachio industry, which obviously thinks that sex sells.
Another macaca-esque incident in a Virginia political campaign.
This time it happened in the race for the state's governor. Sheila Johnson, the billionaire whose money came from Black Entertainment Television, the cable channel she co-founded with her former husband, made fun of the Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds who sometimes stutters when he speaks.
Speaking to a group of supporters of Republican candidate Bob McDonnell, Johnson said:
"We need someone who can really communicate. And Bob McDonnell can communicate. The other people that I talk to, especially his op-op-op-op-op-op opponent could not articulate what needed to be done. He did this all through my interview with him."
U.S. conservatives are celebrating like Brazilians after the failure of Chicago to win the 2016 Olympics despite the Copenhagen lobbying efforts of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama to bring home the gold, as it were.
And their joy seems only magnified by Chicago being dumped from the competition for the games after just the first round of voting.
Just minutes after the news broke, RedState's Erick Erickson took glee in Chicago - and, by extension, Obama's - rejection.
"Hahahahaha," he wrote. "I thought the world would love us more now that Bush was gone. I thought if we whored ourselves out to our enemies, great things would happen. Apparently not.
So Obama's pimped us to every two bit thug and dictator in the world, made promises to half the Olympic committee, and they did not even kiss him."
Conservative commentator Michelle Malkin, meanwhile, wrote that the news effectively ended the Obama campaign motto of "Yes We Can" by dawning in a new slogan: "No, You Can't."
"This is a big win and a massive relief for taxpayers," she wrote. "But Chicago cronies are not going to take this well. Gird your loins."
It's been known for quite some time that there was bad blood between 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and the team that ran GOP presidential nominee John McCain's campaign.
He offered that bit of biting analysis at a "First Draft of History" forum sponsored by The Atlantic, The Aspen Institute and the Newseum.
Added Schmidt:
"In the year since the election has ended, she has done nothing to expand her appeal beyond the base ... The independent vote is going to be up for grabs in 2012. That middle of the electorate is going to be determinative of the outcome of the elections. I just don't see that if you look at the things she has done over the year... that she is going to expand that base in the middle."
Here's a video clip. At the end, Democratic strategist Bob Shrum jokingly gives Palin a big endorsement:
As for McCain, Politico writes today that he's trying "to reshape the Republican Party in his own center-right image."
After Republican Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina shouted "you lie!" during President Barack Obama's address to a joint session of Congress last month, Democrats demanded he apologize from the House floor and passed a resolution condemning his outburst.
We polled Two-Way readers and the 16,330 who responded were almost evenly split over whether Congress should have punished Wilson.
Update at 12:10 p.m. ET. Pelosi says Grayson should apologize, the AP reports:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says anyone using harsh rhetoric to raise fears about health care reform should apologize and get on with writing policy -- and that includes people in her own Democratic caucus.
Pelosi was asked about Rep. Alan Grayson, a Florida Democrat who is refusing to apologize for accusing Republicans in a floor speech of believing sick Americans should "die quickly."
Pelosi noted the reprimand voted recently against Republican Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina, and the California Democrat said she believes the same goes for Grayson. Pelosi said that if anybody is going to apologize, everybody should, and heated rhetoric
shouldn't get in the way of the complex job of overhauling the health care system.
Expanding on comments he made on Sunday's edition of All Things Considered a key Senate Democrat said today he thinks there are enough "aye" votes in the Senate to include make the so-called public option as part of any health care overhaul legislation.
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said on radio's The Bill Press Show that he thinks there are the 60 votes to avoid a Senate filibuster on the legislation and that he has "polled senators and the vast majority of Democrats, maybe approaching 50, are for a public option. Why shouldn't we have a public option? We have the votes." (Audio of Harkin's interview with Press is posted here.)
The "public option" is a government-backed health care plan that would serve as an alternative to private plans. President Barack Obama and many fellow Democrats believe such an option would promote competition. Some Democrats and most Republican lawmakers say the option could have an unfair advantage over private plans and have raised the specter of "government-run" health care.
Update at 2:57 p.m. ET: Harkin had already discounted the likelihood that the Senate Finance Committee's version of a health care overhaul would not include the public option -- and that committee did indeed just vote 15-8 NOT to include the public option in its legislation.
For much more on the health care debate, and other health-related issues, check the NPR Health Blog.
Here's the interview Harkin did with ATC's Guy Raz:
Coming to a bookstore near you. (Eric Engman/Getty Images)
By Mark Memmott
Fans -- and critics -- of the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee can now circle Nov. 17 on their calendars.
Sarah Palin's publisher says it's pushing up the publication date of her memoir from next spring to the week before Thanksgiving. It's looking to grab some holiday sales for the book, titled Going Rogue: An American Life.
According to the AP, after Palin resigned as governor of Alaska in July she "spent weeks in San Diego ... and worked on the manuscript with collaborator Lynn Vincent."
Vincent is features editor at World magazine, which says it wants its readers to "enjoy the world God has made, full as it is of nooks and crannies and weirdness."
In other Palin-related news, Politico says its reporting shows she "remains extremely popular with the GOP grass roots, and most Republican Party leaders would jump at the chance to have her headline one of their events."
As for one of her potential rivals for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, the Minneapolis Star Tribune says its latest polling shows that "a majority of Minnesotans don't want to see Gov. Tim Pawlenty run for president in 2012, but nearly as many say they would give him a look if he were nominated."
Saying that "their agenda seems to be wanting him to fail," former president Bill Clinton weighed in yesterday on the question of whether the "vast right-wing conspiracy" that he thinks once focused on his administration is now determined to damage President Barack Obama's.
But, Clinton added on Sunday's edition of Meet the Press, "there's no way they (conservatives) can make it (as) bad" as they did for him:
Kirk, with the state's senior senator, John Kerry. (Darren McCollester / Getty Images)
By Mark Memmott
A judge in Massachusetts has rejected the state Republican Party's challenge of Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick's appointment of Paul Kirk to fill the seat left vacant by the August death of Edward Kennedy, the Associated Press reports.
The GOP argued that Patrick exceeded his authority. By law, the governor had to declare that an emergency exists before naming an interim senator. Republicans said there is no emergency.
Kirk, a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, will hold the seat until after a Jan. 19 special election. He is not a candidate in that race.
The Massachusetts legislature's vote this week to give Patrick the authority to appoint an interim senator reversed a law passed in 2004. At that time, Democratic Sen. John Kerry was running for the White House and state Democrats didn't want then-governor Mitt Romney, a Republican, to be able to name a successor if Kerry was elected president.
WBUR in Boston says Kirk is due to be sworn in later this afternoon. By the way, the station has collected its coverage of the Kennedy succession and the campaign for his seat here.
Update at 1:07 p.m. ET. According to the AP, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Thomas Connolly ruled that:
"The (Republican) Party has not shown that it has a chance to succeed on the merits and, therefore, any risk of harm to the party will not outweigh the risk of harm to the governor and the commonwealth."
A few too may "f-bombs" (granted, they are bleeped) mean we can't put the video right into this post, but we can offer you this link to former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich's appearance last night on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
The indicted Democrat insists he's innocent of charges that he tried to "sell" the Senate seat that President Barack Obama vacated last year. And, he says, the infamous wiretap recordings of his conversations will prove his innocence.
"Let's hear the tapes. Release the tapes!" That's his plea to prosecutors.
The truth, Blagojevich says at one point, has been turned "upside down."
Paul Kirk, the senator-designate will fill on an interim basis the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's seat representing Massachusetts. He's accompanied by Sen. John Kerry and Gov. Deval Patrick.(Elise Amendola / AP Photo)
By Mark Memmott
Given all the stories in recent days that said this would likely happen, it's not too much of a surprise:
The Associated Press and the Boston Globe are reporting they've been told by people who know what's been decided that Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick will announce later this morning that he's naming former Democratic National Committee chairman Paul Kirk to succeed the late senator Edward Kennedy on an interim basis.
Kennedy, 77, died on Aug. 25.
The plan is for the interim senator -- who would not seek to remain in the seat -- to serve until after the state has a special election on Jan. 19. The move allows Democrats and their allies to retain control of 60 seats in the U.S. Senate -- the number needed to overcome filibusters -- while the debate about overhauling the nation's health care system continues.
Update at 11:08 a.m. ET: As the Globe's live webcast shows, Patrick is now making the announcement -- with Kirk and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., standing behind him.
As NPR's Debbie Elliott reported on Morning Edition, "the sometimes bitter public discourse over overhauling health care has raised the question of whether race is a factor in the demeanor of the debate."
The race, that is, of the nation's first African-American president -- Barack Obama.
We first posted this online poll on Sept. 14. As of 8 a.m. ET today, 1,665 people had voted -- 14% had said race has played no role in the criticism aimed at Obama; 35% said it has played "some" role; and 51% had said it has played a major role.
For the first time ever, a U.S. president will chair a meeting of the U.N. Security Council when President Barack Obama assumes that role this morning in New York. The session is scheduled to begin at 9:15 a.m. ET. We're planning to live-blog the highlights, so check back as the time draws near.
On Morning Edition, NPR's Don Gonyea talked with host Steve Inskeep about the Security Council meeting and about what Obama has been saying this week as he meets with leaders at the U.N. (and prepares for the opening later today of the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh). As Steve says, Obama's message so far has basically been "we're changing, now it's your turn":
For more on the Security Council session and Obama's agenda, there's The Washington Post account of how the president "will use the forum of the U.N. Security Council ... to press his efforts to slow the spread of nuclear weapons and reduce global stockpiles."
A draft nuclear-safeguards resolution, expected to be adopted unanimously Thursday by the United Nations Security Council, would begin to lay the legal framework for military and diplomatic action against nations that use civilian nuclear technology for military purposes.
Last night at the U.N., Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- speaking to a mostly empty chamber -- renewed his verbal attacks on Israel and claimed his country has one of the most democratic governments in the world. NPR's Michele Kelemen filed this report for Morning Edition:
Ahmadinejad, in an interview yesterday with reporters and editors from The Washington Post and Newsweek, said Iran "is willing to have its nuclear experts meet with scientists from the United States and other world powers as a confidence-building measure aimed at resolving concerns about Tehran's nuclear program," the Post writes.
Among the other stories making headlines this morning:
-- Reuters -- "U.N. Agencies Say AIDS Vaccine Results Are Promising": "Two U.N. agencies said on Thursday promising results with an experimental AIDS vaccine in Thailand gave 'new hope' in the fight against the disease, but more work was needed to see if it could be used elsewhere."
Related video report from ITN News:
-- Morning Edition -- "FBI Not Showing Cards" As Terror-Plot Suspects Prepare For Court. "Three men arrested in connection with a possible terrorist plot are scheduled to be back in court for detention hearings Thursday in Denver and New York." NPR's Dina Temple-Raston reports on the case investigators are building:
-- Dow Jones Newswires -- "TARP Watchdog Questions Whether Taxpayers Will Be Repaid $700B": "The U.S. government's $700 billion financial rescue program has improved market stability but has fallen short on broad goals, highlighted by the likelihood that U.S. taxpayers won't get 100% of their investment back, a watchdog will tell lawmakers Thursday. Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, said in prepared testimony for a Senate Banking Committee hearing that Treasury has frequently ignored suggestions to increase the transparency of the program and has never solved the difficult issue of what to do with the toxic assets that still remain on banks' balance sheets."
-- Los Angeles Times -- Rallies, Walkouts And Teach-Ins Across UC System Today: "Rallies, walkouts and teach-ins are scheduled today across the University of California system, with professors, students and staff expected to protest state cutbacks in higher education funding and UC's handling of the crisis. The extent of the protests was hard to predict; many faculty and students said they were reluctant to skip classes today, the first day of fall classes for the seven undergraduate UC campuses on the quarter calendar."
-- Boston Globe -- New Mass. Senator To Be Announced This Morning; Signs Point To Kirk: "Governor Deval Patrick huddled with a small group of trusted advisers last night to finalize his choice for an interim US senator, with indications pointing to former Democratic National Committee chairman Paul G. Kirk Jr., who has the strong backing of the immediate family of the late Edward M. Kennedy, as the overwhelming favorite. ... The governor will announce the appointment at an 11 a.m. press conference today at the State House."
-- Morning Edition -- Biden Decries "Hokum" About Health Care Overhaul And "Death Panels".NPR's Julie Rovner reports:
Contributing: Chinita Anderson of Morning Edition.
The Internal Revenue Service, like the Census Bureau before it, is parting ways with ACORN, the community organizing group, following damning undercover videos by a conservative filmmaker showing now ex-ACORN workers sharing ways to break the law with a faux pimp and his equally faux prostitute.
Actually, it's unclear who fired whom. ACORN is saying it broke off offering tax services while the IRS is saying it was the initiating party.
According to the Associated Press:
The Internal Revenue Service said it would no longer include ACORN in its volunteer tax assistance program. The program offered free tax advice to about 3 million low- and moderate-income tax filers this spring. ACORN provided help on about 25,000 returns,
the IRS said.
ACORN, meanwhile, said it had already suspended its tax program, raising questions about who broke up with whom.
"We had already made that decision to not deliver those services," ACORN chief executive Bertha Lewis said. ACORN officials provided reporters with a letter to the IRS, dated Monday, saying the group was suspending all tax services for 2009.
IRS spokesman Terry Lemons had a different take: "We announced last week we were conducting a thorough review and today we terminated the relationship. We stand by our statement that we terminated the relationship."
Mass. Senate Minority Leader Richard Tisei, left, is followed by Sen. Scott Brown as the Republicans leave the Senate Chambers at the Statehouse in Boston after the Massachusetts Senate approved a bill allowing the governor to name an interim replacement for the late Sen. Edward Kennedy on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009. The legislature gave final approval Wednesday. (Charles Krupa / AP Photo)
By Frank James
The Massachusetts legislature has passed legislation to allow Gov. Deval Patrick to name an interim successor to the late Sen. Edward Kennedy.
The legislation, which Patrick requested, means the governor could name a replacement to Kennedy as soon as Thursday.
As we wrote earlier, the late senator's sons, Edward Kennedy Jr. and Patrick Kennedy have expressed their preference for Kennedy's old staffer, Boston lawyer Paul Kirk.
But others, including the Boston Globe, have suggested that former Gov. Mike Dukakis, the Democrats' 1988 presidential nominee, would be the best choice, especially since he has a strong knowledge of the health-care issue. Whoever Patrick decides to send to the Senate will land there amid the debate on overhauling health care.
Multiple news outlets, including the Associated Press, the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald are reporting they've been told by people in the know that the late senator Edward Kennedy's sons are urging Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick to name former Democratic National Committee chairman Paul Kirk as the interim successor to their father.
The last step in changing Massachusetts law so that Patrick can name an interim senator is expected to happen today, and the Globe says the Democratic governor could announce his choice tomorrow. Kirk was a long-time friend of the senator's. Among others said to be in consideration: Former Massachusetts governor and 1988 Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis.
Senator Kennedy, 77, died on Aug. 25.
For much more on the day's political news, see Political Junkie.
Comedian Will Ferrell and MoveOn.org Political action, the liberal group, produced a video featuring Ferrell, Mad Men's Jon Hamm and others from TV taking sarcastic pokes at the large health insurance companies by providing tongue-in-cheek defenses of them.
"Something terrible is happening... health insurance companies are getting a bad rap," Ferrell says.
Linda Cardellini of ER says:
These great businessmen are American heroes.
Then Ferrell picks up with:
So why is Obama trying to reform health care when insurance companies are doing just fine making billions of dollars of profit?
It looks like there will indeed be an interim replacement for the late Edward Kennedy in the U.S. Senate.
The state Senate in Massachusetts has approved a bill giving Gov. Deval Patrick -- a Democrat, as was Kennedy -- the power to name a successor who would hold the seat through a special election on Jan. 19.
The Massachusetts House approved the measure last week. Both chambers now need to vote on it one more time before it goes to Patrick's desk. The governor has said he will sign the legislation. It's understood that the person who accepts the job won't run in that special election.
In 2004, when Republican Mitt Romney was the governor, the state legislature passed a law blocking him from making such an appointment in the event that Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee, won the White House. Many Massachusetts legislators have flip-flopped on the issue since then.
As our Political Junkie pal Ken Rudin reports, one leading candidate for the interim slot is former Massachusetts governor and 1988 Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis.
At the age of 75, by the way, Dukakis would not be the oldest "freshman" senator in U.S. history. Ken says that honor still belongs to 87-year-old Rebecca Felton from Georgia, who was briefil a senator in 1922.
Kennedy, 77, died on Aug. 25 after a year-long battle with brain cancer.
Because he's been in declining health for several years, there's always attention paid when Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W. Va., has any type of medical incident.
The latest update in that story: Byrd "apparently stood up too fast this morning in his home and fell down," said Jesse Jacobs, a spokesman for the senator. "To err on the side of caution his caregiver called an ambulance. He was taken to the hospital where he is currently being checked out. At this point in time there is no indication that he will be admitted."
Byrd is 91, was first elected to the Senate in 1958, and is the longest-serving senator in U.S. history.
Update at 3:20 p.m. ET. Byrd's office now says the senator has been admitted to a Washington-area hospital. Here's a statement from his press office:
Senator Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., has been admitted to the hospital and is expected to remain there for a few days. Byrd was taken to the hospital this morning as a precautionary measure following a fall at his home which was likely caused by standing up too quickly. While having no broken bones or bruises, upon examination, doctors found an elevated white-blood cell count which can be an early sign of an infection. Therefore, his doctors have determined that Byrd should remain in the hospital for antibiotic treatment and observation. Senator Byrd is in good spirits and expressed his disappointment that he was unable to join all his Senate colleagues this afternoon for the biennial Senate photo.
The governor's hoping his poll numbers will do just that. (Rick Gershon / Getty Images for AETN)
By Mark Memmott
As Comedy Central's Jon Stewart would say -- "Awkward!":
"New York's latest political drama will be center stage in Troy today," the Albany Times Union writes, "as President Barack Obama and Gov. David Paterson come together less than 36 hours after news broke of the White House's efforts to dissuade the governor from seeking a full term in 2010."
Paterson has said he won't bow to pressure from the White House and national Democratic Party leaders that he step out of the Empire State's gubernatorial race. As the Associated Press notes:
Last week, the Marist College poll found 20% of New York voters approved of Paterson's performance as governor, compared with 21% in June. Only 24% of Democrats felt he was doing well. Seventy percent of voters said Paterson isn't a viable candidate for 2010, including 65% of Democrats.
The president is due at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy a little before noon ET.
Update at 12:15 p.m. ET. At the community college a few moments ago, Obama called Paterson a "wonderful man." Then he went on to acknowledge another Democrat who may have eyes on the governor's job, state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo -- calling the son of former governor Mario Cuomo "shy and retiring" (that's a joke) and saying that Cuomo "doing great work, enforcing the laws that need to be enforced:"
Update at 11:55 a.m. ET. Aboard Air Force One on the way to Albany this morning, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs was asked whether Obama has sent word to Paterson that he does not want him to stay in the race. Said Gibbs, according to a White House transcript:
"Well, look, I think everybody understands the tough jobs that every elected official has right now in addressing many of the problems that we have, and I think people are aware of the tough situation that the governor of New York is in. And I wouldn't add a lot to what you've read, except this is a decision that he's going to make."
Update at 11:30 a.m. ET. The Associated Press reports from Albany that:
Embattled Gov. David Paterson was the first to greet President Barack Obama as he walked off Air Force One into the epicenter of a dispute over the New York governor's race. The two men shook hands and Obama leaned over to make a brief comment to Paterson.
Irving Kristol, writer, editor, and social philosopher, has died in Washington at the age of 89. His wisdom, wit, good humor, and generosity of spirit made him a friend and mentor to several generations of thinkers and public servants.
Is widely considered to be the founder of American neoconservatism. He was the managing editor of Commentary magazine from 1947 to 1952 and the co-founder of the U.K.-based Encounter. After eight years as the executive vice president of Basic Books, Mr. Kristol became a professor of social thought at the New York University Graduate School of Business. In July 2002, President George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
He wrote, among many other things, Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea.
In 2003, Kristol wrote in The Weekly Standard that neconservatism "is hopeful, not lugubrious; forward-looking, not nostalgic; and its general tone is cheerful, not grim or dyspeptic. Its 20th-century heroes tend to be TR, FDR, and Ronald Reagan."
Kristol's son: William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard and Fox News Channel commentator.
No need to read between the lines. Pollster.com's on-going effort to track President Barack Obama's "approval" and "disapproval" ratings across a variety of polls shows he's settled right around or just above 50% on the "plus" side in recent weeks and just below 45% on the "negative":
The Massachusetts state Senate won't be taking action today on legislation that would let Gov. Deval Patrick name a temporary successor to the late senator Edward Kennedy.
Senate Republicans, the Associated Press reports, "objected to the bill being taken up Friday, without formal notice. Under Senate rules, the objection means the bill can't be debated until the next formal session. The Senate adjourned until Monday."
Yesterday, the Massachusetts House voted 95-58 in favor of giving Patrick the chance to name a successor to Kennedy, a fellow Democrat.
Today, the Boston Globe analyzes that House vote and reports that 58 of the lawmakers "voted the exact opposite way they did on a similar amendment on June 30, 2004." As the Globe adds:
The difference then: Governor Mitt Romney would have been the one doing the appointing, and he is a Republican.
With a governor from their party in corner office, 44 Democrats had a change of heart and switched their nay to a yea. The flip-flopping extended to the other side of the aisle as well -- all 13 Republicans that have remained in the House since 2004 changed course and voted against the proposal now that a Democrat is in charge.
In 2004, the issue in Massachusetts was whether Romney would be allowed to name an interim successor in the event that Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee, had won the White House.
Undercover videos of some ACORN workers offering advice on how to advance the illegal schemes of two young conservatives posing as a pimp and his prostitute girlfriend has led to some serious soul-searching on the group's part.
ACORN's Bertha Lewis is ordering a full-scale review of her organization following embarrassing undercover videos featuring workers who have since been fired. (Matt York / AP Photo)
ACORN, which organizes low-income people, plans to launch an independent review, according to CEO Bertha Lewis.
As a result of the indefensible action of a handful of our employees, I am, in consultation with ACORN's Executive Committee, immediately ordering a halt to any new intakes into ACORN's service programs until completion of an independent review. I have also communicated with ACORN's independent Advisory Council, and they will assist ACORN in naming an independent auditor and investigator to conduct a thorough review of all of the organizations relevant systems and processes. That reviewer, to be named within 48 hours, will make recommendations directly to me and to the full ACORN Board. We enter this process with a commitment that all recommendations will be implemented."
As All Things Considered put it last evening, "the community organizing group ACORN is under attack after hidden-camera videos captured its workers giving advice on falsifying taxes to conservative activists posing as a pimp and a prostitute." (Frank posted about this on Monday.)
Now, Fox News Channel has what is said to be the full version of the latest video from BigGovernment.com, a project of conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart and activists James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles.
ACORN says BigGovernment has been "caught out in an obvious set of lies and manipulations" and that the ACORN organizer shown in the latest video knew the activists weren't serious and "she met their outrageousness with her own personal style of outrageousness. She matched their false scenario with her own false scenarios."
A run for the White House in 2012 is "something that I think I would consider," former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum told reporters today, The Hill reports.
The 51-year-old conservative Republican lost his seat to Democrat Bob Casey in 2006. He served two terms in the Senate and two terms in the House before that.
According to Politico, Santorum said he thinks the Obama administration has been "injurious to America."
President George W. Bush thought his successor wasn't "remotely qualified" to be president, didn't share the initial enthusiasm of many in his party for the choice of Sarah Palin to be the Republican vice presidential nominee and once bawdily described Hillary Clinton sitting at the desk in the Oval Office.
Matt Latimer, former speechwriter for President George W. Bush.. ( Photo from Random House website)
Matt Latimer, who was a White House speechwriter for nearly the last two years of the George W. Bush's presidency, offers those delicious details and more in his new book about what he saw and heard as the wheels came off the nation's economy and his boss' legacy.
The book "Speech-Less: Tales of a White House Survivor" is excerpted in the October issue of GQ magazine and I predict if the rest of the book is as good as the excerpted bits, Latimer's book should do pretty well. It's one of the best views from inside the Bush administration yet.
Latimer describes Bush opining on Hillary Clinton and Obama:
The president, like me, didn't seem to be in love with any of the available options. He always believed Hillary Clinton would be the Democratic nominee. "Wait till her fat keister is sitting at this desk," he once said (except he didn't say "keister"). He didn't think much of Barack Obama.After one of Obama's blistering speeches against the administration, the president had a very human reaction: He was ticked off. He came in one day to rehearse a speech, fuming. "This is a dangerous world," he said for no apparent reason, "and this cat isn't remotely qualified to handle it. This guy has no clue, I promise you." He wound himself up even more. "You think I wasn't qualified?" he said to no one in particular. "I was qualified."
Wilson's shout was certainly heard, but isn't part of the record. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
By Mark Memmott
While we wait to see if Democrats in the House of Representatives do indeed bring a "resolution of disapproval" up for a vote today in a bid to formally express their feelings about Republican Rep. Joe Wilson's shout of "you lie!" during President Barack Obama's address to Congress, here's some interesting reading from CQ.com:
Wilson's case is unique, and addressing it has been more complicated than might be expected. The steps available to the House when a member violates the rules of debate and decorum may not apply in this case.
Wilson was not officially recognized when he shouted, and his outburst was not made part of the Congressional Record. His words, consequently, cannot be "taken down," and he cannot be barred from speaking on the floor for a day, the traditional penalty when the House disciplines a member's speech.
It's not even clear if Wilson will have to stand in the well of the House, or even be in the chamber, if the House adopts the resolution disapproving his words and has a clerk read the resolution aloud. If taken to the maximum, a member can be censured or even expelled for conduct.
This "ACORN versus conservatives" contest of wills is beginning to look like some new version of the Cold War with either side claiming the other is evil and vowing to never give in until it prevails.
The latest salvo came Monday when the Senate voted 83 to 7 in favor of a bill to stop the Housing and Development Department from awarding grants to the ACORN. The bill, sponsored by Nebraska Republican senator Mike Johanns would prevent ACORN from getting grant money to counsel low income people on qualifying for mortgage loans, among other things.
ACORN has drawn renewed conservative scrutiny following a right-of-center film maker's undercover sting stunt in which he and a beautiful female conservative dressed as a pimp and prostitute, respectively, walked into ACORN offices in Baltimore, Washington and New York and received advice from workers there on a number of ways to advance illegal schemes. ACORN says it has fired the workers.
Last year, ACORN came under conservative fire for allegations that it was not only behind voter-registration fraud but also the recession, with conservatives charging that the organization forced banks to give the subprime mortgage loans to unqualified low-income borrowers. That, in turn, led to the housing crisis and the credit crunch that triggered the economy's decline, the argument went.
That Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke doesn't count ACORN among his causes for the present economic difficulties didn't seem to matter.
ACORN has rhetorically struck back at its tormentors by saying it was being scapegoated and used by conservatives last year to tarnish a presidential candidate who was a former community activist.
Earlier this year, some conservatives accused the Obama Administration and other Democrats of attempting to funnel $5.2 billion to ACORN and other community groups. (As the Baltimore Sun reports, one of Congress' top conservatives, Rep. John Boehner was only able to find the group getting $53.6 million in federal money from 1994 to 2008.)
Eight months into Barack Obama's presidency, as criticism of his administration seems to reach new levels of volume and intensity each week, the whispers among some of his allies are growing louder: That those who loathe the nation's first African--American president, and especially those who would deny his citizenship, are driven at least in part by racism.
From the conservative side of things, Brandon Martin writes this at Daily Uprising:
It's demeaning and non-responsive to reply to arguments from conservatives by pointing out your belief that the only reason why they made the argument is that they suffer from some psychological or moral flaw. You still need to respond to strength or weakness of the argument in question.
Rep. Joe "you lie!" Wilson, R-S.C., concedes he was wrong to shout at President Barack Obama during the president's address to Congress Wednesday night. But in a new video appeal to supporters, the congressman says he will not keep quiet about what he says is the president's "risky" health care plan -- and he asks for money:
One thing that's likely on Wilson's mind: In about 24 hours after the outburst, his Democratic opponent in 2010 raised more than $450,000.
It's worth keeping in mind that, as the NPR Health Blog wrote yesterday, analysts say Wilson is wrong when he charges that the health care overhaul proposals favored by "liberals" would "give health care to illegals."
Unparliamentary language breaks the rules of politeness in the House of Commons Chamber. Part of the Speaker's role is to ensure that MPs do not use insulting or rude language and do not accuse each other of lying, being drunk or misrepresenting each other's words. Words to which objection has been taken by the Speaker over the years include blackguard, coward, git, guttersnipe, hooligan, rat, swine, stoolpigeon and traitor. The Speaker will direct an MP who has used unparliamentary language to withdraw it. Refusal to withdraw a comment might lead to an MP being disciplined. MPs sometimes use considerable ingenuity to get around the rules; for example Winston Churchill famously used the phrase "terminological inexactitude" to mean "lie".
Though it's unlikely this will be the last time we'll write about Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., and his shout of "you lie!" during President Barack Obama's address to Congress last night, we should pass along a link to this post by our NPR Health Blog colleague Scott Hensley just in case the story's 15 minutes of fame is about over:
We talked with some analysts at the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan outfit that's been on top of the issue for a while, to sort through the fact and fiction. The bottom line, they told us, is the legislation proposed to date makes clear that undocumented residents of the U.S. wouldn't be eligible for federally subsidized benefits under an overhaul.
That's the same conclusion reached by the AP's Calvin Woodward -- though he found some other things about the president's address that raise questions of accuracy:
He accepts the apology. (Olivier Douliery/Pool/Getty Images)
By Mark Memmott
Here's what President Barack Obama just told reporters about Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., and the congressman's now infamous shout of "you lie!" during the address Obama gave to Congress last night:
"I'm a big believer that we all make mistakes. He apologized quickly and without equivocation and I'm appreciative of that.
"I do think that, as I said last night, we have to get to the point where we can have a conversation about big, important issues that matter to the American people, without vitriol, without name-calling, without the assumption of the worst in other people's motives. We are all Americans, we all want to do best for our country.
"We've got different ideas, but for the most part we have the same aims -- which is to make sure that people who work hard in this country and who act responsibly are able to get good jobs, good wages, raise their families, make sure those kids have a good education. That they are protected from misfortune or accident by having health care and retirement security in place.
"We want to keep people safe. That's why our national security team is so important. Our goals are generally the same, whether we're Democrats or Republicans -- and in fact most Americans don't even think about those labels all that much. They are turned off when they see people using wild accusations, false claims, name-calling, sharply ideological approaches to solving problems. They want pragmatism. They want people to stay focused on the job and I hope that some of the fever breaks a little bit.
"The media can always be helpful by not giving all the attention to the loudest or shrillest voices and try to stay a little bit more focused on the issues at hand."
It sounded from the audio like Obama was also asked if he would be willing to speak with Wilson. "I talk to everybody," Obama answered.
The Hill notes that Wilson's Twitter page has picked up a lot of followers since last night. But Wilson's potential Democratic opponent in 2010 may have been the biggest beneficiary. The Hill says Rob Miller has raised $200,000 since Wilson's famous shout.
President Obama, by the way, was just asked about Wilson. "We all mistakes," Obama told reporters at the White House. "He apologized quickly ... and I'm appreciateive of that."
The two words said -- shouted, actually -- in the Capitol last night that are getting much of the attention this morning are "you lie!"
If you haven't heard by now, that's what Republican Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina screamed when President Barack Obama said that none of the health care programs he's proposing would apply to illegal immigrants.
Here's what it sounded and looked like last night when Wilson heckled the president:
Wilson has apologized. "I let my emotions get the best of me," he said in a statement issued shortly after the end of the president's address. "While I disagree with the president's statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the president for this lack of civility."
The Washington Post's Dana Milbank says "the nation's rapidly deteriorating discourse hit yet another low" with Wilson's outburst.
There's a defense of Wilson, of sorts, from Townhall.com's Meredith Jessup -- who says the look on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's face when Wilson shouted was "my favorite part of Obama's speech."
We wonder:
In South Carolina, by the way, The State reports that shortly after the president's speech last night:
The congressman's Web site had crashed, he had taken a beating on his Twitter page and Democrat Rob Miller had raised thousands of unexpected dollars online for a possible rematch with Wilson in next year's midterm elections, according to Lachlan McIntosh, Miller's campaign manager.
Update at 11:50 a.m. ET: Wilson spoke with reporters on Capitol Hill a short time ago, saying that his outburst "was spontaneous" and not pre-meditated. He also repeated that he believes there are provision in some of the health care overhall bills that would benefit illegal immigrants. And, Wilson said he agrees with the White House that the health care debate should be kept "civil."
Update at 11 a.m. ET: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., just told reporters she expects the House will "move on" and not censure Wilson. She said she doesn't want to give the incident any more attention "than it deserves."
Update at 9:55 a.m. ET:
The independent PolitiFact.com says that Wilson's wrong when he says the president's plans apply to illegal immigrants.
Resigned Wednesday amid growing outrage over a videotape that caught him bragging in graphic detail about having sex with a female lobbyist and another woman.
KCAL-TV, which broke the story of Duvall's very naughty descriptions of his very naughty goings-on has posted its edited-for-TV original report here. For what we have to warn you is a much more "mature" report about Duvall's boasting, TPMMuckraker has the story.
The Los Angeles Times says Duvall had this to say in a statement announcing his resignation:
"I am deeply saddened that my inappropriate comments have become a major distraction for my colleagues in the Assembly, who are working hard on the very serious problems facing our state. I have come to the conclusion that it would not be fair to my family, my constituents or to my friends on both sides of the aisle to remain in office. Therefore, I have decided to resign my office, effective immediately, so that the Assembly can get back to work."
Click here to listen as the justices discuss Hillary: The Movie and whether the conservative group Citizens United could buy air time to broadcast the film during the 2008 presidential primaries.
Newly sworn in Justice Sonia Sotomayor wasted no time getting into the discussion, as you'll hear.
The Associated Press starts its story on the discussion this way:
The Supreme Court wrestled on Wednesday with whether to allow corporations and labor unions to pay for political campaigns and end a century of legislative efforts to curb such spending.
In a case that began with a movie attacking Hillary Rodham Clinton, newly seated Justice Sonia Sotomayor jumped right into the questioning. She appeared skeptical about taking the far-reaching step of lifting the ban, a move urged on the court by a lawyer for a group that made the 90-minute movie that sought to undermine Clinton's presidential ambitions.
Most members of a powerful House subcommittee have ties to lobbyists who won special spending earmarks from that panel, a computer analysis done by the independent Center for Public Integrity suggests.
It tracked 12 of the panel's members and found that 16 of those members' staffers went to work for 10 different lobbying firms -- firms that in turn won more than 50 earmarks, totaling more than $95 million, in that 2008 Pentagon spending package.
Where is Philadelphia's Republican candidate for district attorney?
According to the global positioning satellite ankle bracelet he's wearing, Michael Untermeyer is headed west on Lombard Street in Philly.
At least that's as of this moment. Check for yourself if you wish -- the candidate has promised to wear the device for 30 days to, as the Philadelphia Daily News wrote, "publicize his call for more nonviolent criminals to be removed from city jails and put into home detention, using the monitoring devices to make sure that they stay put."
The newspaper also wonders, "does GPS stand for 'goofy political stunt'?" Untermeyer's Democratic opponent, Seth Williams, has called it a "gimmick."
Want to keep tabs on Untermeyer?
-- Click here.
-- The login and password are both "untermeyer."
-- At the next webpage, click "client status."
-- Then click "submit."
-- Finally, click "locate." A map showing his location should pop up (and we can see he's turned on to S. 3rd St. since we began writing this post).
The conventional wisdom in recent weeks has been that President Barack Obama's approval rating has been in decline. And compared to his post-inauguration high, it certainly has.
Today, Gallup offers some evidence that Obama's approval number is edging up again.
Obama's approval rating in Gallup's daily tracking poll has now gone up four straight days, and this afternoon stands at 55%.
Meanwhile, the percentage of those polled who don't approve of the job Obama is doing has gone down three straight days and stands at 38%.
The gap between the two numbers -- 17 percentage points -- is the widest it's been since mid-August.
Katie Connolly at Newsweek's The Gaggle, though, writes that "if a speech by the president of the United States isn't a legitimate pedagogical device, then I'm not sure what is."
The White House says there's nothing political about Obama's planned address.
"I think it's really unfortunate that politics has been brought into this," White House deputy policy director Heather Higginbottom said in an interview with The Associated Press. "It's simply a plea to students to really take their learning seriously. Find out what they're good at. Set goals. And take the school year seriously."
We'll know more about who's getting in. (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)
By Mark Memmott
USA TODAY had the scoop earlier, and the White House just released a statement from President Barack Obama confirming the news. It reads, in part:
The president announced today that for the first time in history, records of White House visitors will be released. Each month, records of visitors from the previous 90-120 days will be made available online.
"For the first time in history, records of White House visitors will be made available to the public on an ongoing basis," said President Obama. "We will achieve our goal of making this administration the most open and transparent administration in history not only by opening the doors of the White House to more Americans, but by shining a light on the business conducted inside. Americans have a right to know whose voices are being heard in the policymaking process."
Aside from a small group of appointments that cannot be disclosed because of national security imperatives or their necessarily confidential nature (such as a visit by a possible Supreme Court nominee), the record of every visitor who comes to the White House for an appointment, a tour, or to conduct business will be released.
As USA TODAY noted:
The policy change would resolve four lawsuits filed by a watchdog group, Citizens for responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), against the Obama and Bush administrations seeking details on White House meetings.
The White House statement quotes CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan as saying that the administration "has proven its pledge to usher in a new era of government transparency was more than just a campaign promise."
(Full disclosure: This blogger used to work for USA TODAY.)
Politico leads its website this morning with the news that some top Republicans think Gen. David Petraeus or former congressman/MSNBC morning host Joe Scarborough would make good presidential candidates for their party in 2012. And the story says those Republicans are optimistic about the GOP's chances of winning back the White House.
Now, because it's never too early to speculate about politics, let's run through the names of those mentioned by Politico and other news outlets as possible 2012 GOP presidential contenders. Which would you favor as the 2012 Republican presidential nominee?
"Morning Joe" Scarborough by the way, says he isn't considering a run for the White House in 2012:
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has made it official: She plans to run in her state's Jan. 19 special election which will choose the successor of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy who was buried last week after succumbing to cancer at age 77.
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley wants to be the state's new junior senator (Chitose Suzuki / AP Photo)
The 56-year old becomes the first major Massachusetts politician to say she's in it to win it.
As Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennechio points out, other would-be contenders have been waiting a decent interval to see if a Kennedy, namely former congressman Joseph P. Kennedy III, would run. But Coakley is known to be very ambitious.
A Vennochio excerpt:
Martha Coakley wants to run for Ted Kennedy's Senate seat. So, she's running for it. Unlike other would-be candidates, she isn't waiting for another Kennedy to decide whether to try to keep it in the family...
In a now-posthumous memoir, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy says he panicked when the car he was driving went off a bridge on Massachusetts' Chappaquiddick Island in the summer of 1969. Mary Jo Kopechne, a former aide to his late brother Robert, drowned.
According to The New York Times, which obtained a copy of Kennedy's soon-to-be-released book True Compass:
Mr. Kennedy said he was dazed, afraid and panicked in the minutes and hours after he drove off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island with Ms. Kopechne as his passenger.
The senator, who left the scene and did not report the accident to the police until after her body was found the next day, admitted in the memoir that he had "made terrible decisions" at Chappaquiddick. He also said that he had hardly known Ms. Kopechne, a young woman who had been an aide to his late brother Robert, and that he had had no romantic relationship with her.
Kennedy, 77, died on Aug. 25 after a year-long battle with brain cancer.
The Times says the book "does not shy from the accident, or from some other less savory aspects of the senator's life, including a notorious 1991 drinking episode in Palm Beach, Fla., or the years of heavy drinking and women-chasing that followed his 1982 divorce from his first wife, Joan." It also, according to the Times "offers rich detail on his relationships with his father, siblings and children that round out a portrait of a man who lived the most public of lives and yet remained something of a mystery."
A year ago at the convention, things were different. (Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images)
By Mark Memmott
That bombshell of a story in the new Vanity Fair from former future son-in-law Levi Johnston about former Alaska governor Sarah Palin has the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee's supporters coming to her defense by pointing out inconsistencies in Levi's statements over the past year.
Palin supporters on Wednesday seized on Johnston's new claim (that Palin) doesn't cook, noting Palin got rid of the state-paid chef at the governor's mansion in Juneau and that an Esquire article described Palin showing Johnston how to marinate a roast.
They also attacked his claim about Palin pushing an adoption scheme, citing his statements in April to CNN's Larry King that adoption and abortion were never considered.
The head-turning claims from Levi, the father of Palin's grandson Tripp, include his assertion that Palin wanted to adopt the child to cover up 17-year-old Bristol Palin's pregnancy.
The Daily News adds that Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapleton "had no comment on Johnston's claims."
There's also no comment yet at Palin's Facebook page, where the former governor has been sharing her thoughts quite frequently in recent weeks.
Update at 3:20 p.m. ET. Coming up later today on All Things Considered, host Robert Siegel talks with reporter Brendan Joel Kelley of the Anchorage Press. Kelley says many people in Alaska are very tired of the Palin-Johnston stories. Here's a clip from their conversation:
Click here to find an NPR station that broadcasts ATC.
Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling is expressing interest, kind of, in the Senate seat representing Massachusetts left vacant by the death of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.
Ex Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling says he has "some interest" in succeeding the late Sen. Edward Kennedy in the Senate. (Josh Reynolds / AP Photo)
On his blog, 38 Pitches, Schilling, age 42, writes that his family and video-game company, 38 Studios, are priorities but that the words "Sen. Schilling" do hold some appeal for him.
He writes:
While my family is obviously the priority, and 38 Studios is a priority, I do have some interest in the possibility. That being said, to get to there from where I am today, many many things would have to align themselves for that to truly happen. I am not going to comment further on the matter since at this point it would be speculation on top of speculation.
My hope is that whatever happens, and whomever it happens to, this state makes the decision and chooses the best person, regardless of sex, race, religion or political affiliation, to help get this state back to the place it deserves to be.
As the Tea Party Express bus tour rolls across the nation, firing up those opposed to President Barack Obama, its soundtrack is being provided by Lloyd Marcus, a pony-tailed, earring-sporting conservative who's also quite the ham.
Marcus is crisscrossing the country as part of the Tea Party Express bus tour, performing his song several times a day at rallies. He begins every gig with the same phrase.
"I am not an African-American. I'm Lloyd Marcus -- American!" Marcus recently told a cheering crowd of several hundred in Elko, Nev.
Marcus says he has known he is a conservative since he was 10 years old, after his family moved into a new apartment in the Baltimore projects. He watched as the buildings became havens for crime and drug use.
The Obama team's campaign-style effort to respond to critics of its health care plans continues today with this appeal from Vice President Joe Biden. He wants supporters of the administration's ideas make short videos and upload them to WhiteHouse.gov's "Reality Check" webpage. Presumably, those the White House likes the best will be posted online.
And Biden says he wants to debunk the "myth" that the American health care system is fine:
"As we approach September 4, 2009, the 200th day since the stimulus package was signed into law, the Research Department of the Republican National Committee (RNC) has identified and reviewed 200 of the claims made by the Obama Administration and Congressional Democrats who supported this massive economic experiment.
"The RNC's research focuses on promises made to the American people on job creation, waste, prevention, targeted spending, transparency, and how the stimulus would bring about an economic recovery. The resulting report, 200 Days, 200 Claims, holds Democrats accountable for their claims that the stimulus was an absolute necessity to 'jolt' the economy. They used this and other claims to quickly force through one of the largest spending bills in American history. Now Americans will see how valid those claims are 200 days later."
Liberals should hope conservatism gets better, says Tanenhaus. (Earl Wilson / The New York Times)
By Mark Memmott
February's provocative piece in The New Republic -- "Conservatism is Dead" -- is now a book.
Author Sam Tanenhaus' latest is The Death of Conservatism and it hits bookstores this week.
What argument does Tanenhaus make to support his case?
As he wrote in February, it's that:
After George W. Bush's two terms, conservatives must reckon with the consequences of a presidency that failed, in large part, because of its fervent commitment to movement ideology: the aggressively unilateralist foreign policy; the blind faith in a deregulated, Wall Street-centric market; the harshly punitive "culture war" waged against liberal "elites." That these precepts should have found their final, hapless defender in John McCain, who had resisted them for most of his long career, only confirms that movement doctrine retains an inflexible and suffocating grip on the GOP.
But that doesn't mean Tanenhaus a frequent contributor to the liberal side of the news media, thinks it's good that conservatism, as he puts it, has died.
He tells All Things Considered co-host Robert Siegel that the nation is better off when liberals are challenged by "true" conservatives (the first voice you'll hear is Robert's):
Much more from Robert's conversation with Tanenhaus is scheduled to air on today's edition of ATC. Click here to find an NPR station near you.
Though Tanenhaus may think the conservative movement has withered, that doesn't necessarily mean liberals and Democrats will prosper in upcoming elections.
After an August recess marked by raucous town halls, troubling polling data and widespread anecdotal evidence of a volatile electorate, the small universe of political analysts who closely follow House races is predicting moderate to heavy Democratic losses in 2010.
NPR's Julie Rovner reported on Morning Edition about the long use of fear tactics to thwart health care initiatives dating all the way back to before the U.S.'s entry into World War I, with opponents saying a proposal for national health care was the German kaiser's sneaky attempt to take over America.
Well, she can add another one to the list. The Republican National Committee has mailed fundraising flyers warning party members that if Democrats have their way with the health-care overhaul, they might deny Republicans health care. Though this sounds like a bad joke, it apparently isn't.
The Associated Press reports:
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Republican national party has mailed a fundraising appeal suggesting Democrats might use an overhaul of the health care system to deny medical treatment to Republicans.
A questionnaire accompanying the appeal says the government could check voting registration records, "prompting fears that GOP voters might be discriminated against for medical treatment in a Democrat-imposed health care rationing system."
President Obama had hoped for a quiet, restful vacation this week. He and his family, who rented the Blue Heron Farm in Chilmark, Mass., hadn't planned any public events. They looked forward to golf, tennis, swimming, and dinner with friends and family. The president and his staff didn't want to make news, a deputy press secretary said.
Between Obama's announcement that he would reappoint Ben Bernanke to another term as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, and the death of the president's friend and colleague, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), at whose funeral Obama will deliver a eulogy on Saturday, there hasn't been much respite for the first family.
USA Today reports that "Obama will take a few more days off once he returns to Washington next week: Obama will be headed home by Sunday but plans to head up to the presidential retreat, Camp David, in the middle of the week."
"He's looking to get a break from his vacation," Burton said this morning, in a scheduled press briefing on Martha's Vineyard. "Obviously, some things have come up over the course of the week."
Earlier today, Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-LA) said he plans to run for senate. (You can see Melancon's video announcement, which he emailed to his supporters this morning, after the jump.)
"I'm announcing my candidacy for the U.S. Senate to replace David Vitter because Louisiana deserves better," Melancon said. "Lousiana needs a different approach. More bi-partisan. More disciplined. More honest and with a whole lot more common sense."
In 2007, Vitter's name was found on the phone list of the infamous "D.C. Madam."
The Times-Picayune says Melancon, the former president of the American Sugar Cane League, describes himself as a "pro-life, pro-gun Southern Democrat."
According to the newspaper, "family ties are likely be an emphasis for Melancon because of Vitter's 2007 admission that his phone number had appeared on the list of a Washington, D.C., escort service years earlier and that he had committed a "'very serious sin.'"
Earlier today, the AP reported that New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson will not face federal charges in a pay-to-play case. A few months ago, he withdrew his nomination to head the Commerce Department.
Carrie Johnson, a reporter for The Washington Post, reminds us what happened:
The FBI and a grand jury in Albuquerque had been investigating the award of a state contract to CDR Financial Products, a Beverly Hills-based company that had contributed nearly $100,000 to the governor's political action committees. CDR earned $1.48 million by advising the New Mexico Finance Authority on investment decisions in 2004.
Investigators had been examining whether Richardson or his deputies pressed the authority to hire CDR after receiving financial contributions from the company and its president to help register minority voters and pay for expenses at the Democratic National Convention.
Kate Phillips, on The Caucus, says the federal inquiry "focused attention on the state's extremely loose campaign finance laws and contributions to the governor's campaigns."
For weeks, the Alaska Family Council, "an Alaska-based pro-family, public policy organization formed to provide a voice on social and cultural issues impacting Alaskan families," has advertised an event at ChangePoint Church in Anchorage, featuring Sarah Palin, the state's former governor, at which the group will collect signatures for a new petition, "aimed at making it illegal for teens to get an abortion without telling their parents."
Turns out, Palin won't be there. According to her spokeswoman, the former governor never agreed to appear. "This is the first we have ever heard of a speech," Stapleton says.
According to the Anchorage Daily News, "It would be at least the fourth time in recent months that an anticipated Palin speech has fallen through after Palin and her camp disputed they had ever confirmed it. That includes the brouhaha over whether she'd speak at the annual congressional Republican fundraising dinner in Washington, D.C., this summer."
Responding to calls for his resignation, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford reiterated his determination to finish the remainder of his term. He stood across the street from the law offices of David L. Thomas, a South Carolina state senator, who says Sanford, broke the law when he flew business class to Austria, China, Germany, Japan and Poland.
Sanford said that many of his predecessors have flown business class. According to him, one former South Carolina governor used state funds to fly on the Concorde, the now-retired supersonic passenger plane, and a private jet.
"It seems to me that, when you begin to look at what we're looking at here, it fits more in the notion of an investigation in search of agenda than simply the truth," Sanford told reporters in Greenville, S.C.
"There is something wrong with selective outrage," Sanford said. "To pass over 25 years of history. There's something wrong with that."
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has scheduled a news conference for 11:00 a.m. ET., which we'll monitor.
Sixteen months remain in Sanford's term, which he has said -- as recently as yesterday -- he plans to finish. The state's lieutenant governor, Andre Bauer, has called for Sanford to resign. If Sanford were to leave office early, Bauer said, Bauer promised he would not run for governor.
You can read the letter Bauer wrote to Sanford here. And you can read Sanford's reply here . (Both documents are courtesy of The State newspaper, which has been covering this story doggedly.)
This weekend, Republicans in the South Carolina House of Representatives say they will meet to discuss impeachment of Sanford. According to the AP, "the House will likely launch impeachment proceedings when lawmakers return for their regular session in January, though they could also hold a special session before then. Any House member can file a bill to impeach and Republican members were expected to discuss the possibility this weekend."
Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) says he isn't considering a run for the senate seat held by Edward M. Kennedy. (Darren McCollester / Getty Images)
By David Gura
Asked by Bob Oakes -- of WBUR, NPR's member station in Boston -- if he plans to run for senate, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) said that he "will absolutely not be a candidate for that seat."
No. I didn't want to respond to that earlier, because with Sen. Kennedy as ill as he was, it would have been inappropriate to talk about that. In 2004, had John Kerry been elected president, I would have run for the Senate. I was then a member of the Democratic minority in the House, we didn't have much influence -- although the Republicans have since decided to blame us for everything they did or didn't do when they were in the majority.
But now that I'm chairman of this financial service committee, and fairly deeply engaged in trying to get the financial system changed to prevent the kind of crisis we had before, it would be irresponsible for me to abandon that for a political campaign during the next few months when it's critical for us to act. So I will absolutely not be a candidate for that seat.
According to Michael O'Brien, a reporter for The Hill newspaper, Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) thinks that the health care reform bill should be named for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA):
In his honor and as a tribute to his commitment to his ideals, let us stop the shouting and name calling and have a civilized debate on health care reform which I hope, when legislation has been signed into law, will bear his name for his commitment to insuring the health of every American.
It "seems like a no-brainer," Steve Benen, who blogs for The Washington Monthly, writes. "I don't imagine changing the name of the bill to honor Kennedy will necessarily change the equation, but it would be a gracious gesture."
Jennifer Duffy, a senior editor at the Cook Political Report, said the news will strengthen Democrats' resolve to get a bill passed. But it's unclear whether they will work harder to get a bipartisan bill that can pass the Senate or decide to go it alone.
"Maybe, at least within the Senate, it takes on a more civilized and bit more somber tone," Duffy said.
South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford isn't going anywhere, it seems. (Davis Turner / Getty Images)
By David Gura
This afternoon, Mark Sanford, South Carolina's governor, responded to Andre Bauer, the state's lieutenant governor, who called for Sanford to resign from office.
According to the AP, "Sanford says he appreciates the lieutenant governor's offer to take over, but he plans to stay in office."
Sanford said Wednesday that Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer's call for him to resign hours earlier was almost like "heaven on earth." Sanford's June admission to an affair with an Argentine woman has led to questions about the legality of his travel on state and commercial planes.
But he says the people of South Carolina want to move past the scandals. He says he will not be railroaded out of office and thinks he can still do important things for South Carolina in the last 16 months of his term.
The staff of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) just released a schedule of events surrounding his funeral, which will take place on Saturday.
Tomorrow, a motorcade will move Kennedy and his family members from Hyannis Port, Mass., to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Dorchester, Mass., where Kennedy will lie in repose.
On Friday, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET, the library will be open to the public. From 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. ET, there will be a private memorial service there.
On Saturday, a mass for Kennedy will take place at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica in Boston. Then, at 5:00 p.m. ET, he will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. The ceremony will be closed to the public and press:
Senator Kennedy will be laid to rest next to President Kennedy and Senator Robert Kennedy at Arlington National Cemetery. The nation's resting place for its heroes, Senator Kennedy spent more days than most at Arlington visiting the graves of his beloved brothers and paying tribute to the fallen men and women of Massachusetts who gave their lives for our country.
Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) in 2006, at the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. (Jim Watson / AFP/Getty Images)
By David Gura
A few moments ago, NPR's Melissa Block spoke with Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), a close friend and ally of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA). Although they were of different political parties, the two senators worked together on many pieces of major legislation.
"It couldn't have been done if he didn't have an open mind, if he hadn't been able to work with me, and if I hadn't been able to work with him," Hatch said. "We found a lot of common ground in the health care area, among others, and we passed, I think, most of the health care legislation that really works in this country."
Hatch said that, even when their debates were especially heated, or floor arguments pitted them against each other, they remained good friends:
There were many times when we got really irritated with each other, and we really got to the point of yelling at each other, and yet, at the end, he always came off that high horse, and I had to come off my high horse, and we'd always get together and start laughing about how stupid we were.
Hatch told Block that he and Kennedy met more than 30 years ago, when they sat on the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee. At the time, Hatch chaired the committee. Frustrated by the ideological imbalance of its membership, he approached Kennedy for help.
In the last few years, Hatch -- who is known as a hobbyist songwriter -- penned two songs for Kennedy: "Souls Along The Way," about Kennedy's relationship with his widow, Vicki Kennedy; and "Headed Home," which Tony Middleton performed:
Block asked Hatch if he had the chance to say "goodbye" to Kennedy. Hatch said he saw him a few months back, and although both of them knew that Kennedy was nearing the end of his life, neither of them spoke about death:
"All I can say is that I walked out of there very emotional," Hatch said. "I'm very emotional right now. The man was a great man."
His family, they've given so much to this country. I love Ted Kennedy. I love Vicki Kennedy. And I love that whole family, and I just want everybody to know that they need to be revered. That's a family that's given a great deal to this country, and they deserve a lot of credit.
The rest of Block's interview will air on All Things Considered tonight.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Bill Clinton issued separate statements this morning, remembering their friendships with, and the legacy of, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA).
President Clinton called Kennedy (D-MA) "one of the most influential leaders of our time, and one of the greatest senators in American history. His big heart, sharp mind, and boundless energy were gifts he gave to make our democracy a more perfect union."
As President, I was thankful for his fierce advocacy for universal health care and his leadership in providing health coverage to millions of children. His tireless efforts have brought us to the threshold of real health care reform. I was also grateful for his efforts, often in partnership with Republicans as well as Democrats, to advance civil rights, promote religious freedom, make college more affordable, and give young Americans the opportunity to serve at home in Americorp. I am glad the bill President Obama signed to expand Americorp and other youth service opportunities is named the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. Through it, his commitment to public service will live on in millions of young people across our nation.
Hillary and I will always be grateful for the many gestures of kindness and generosity he extend to us, for the concern he showed for all the children and grandchildren of the Kennedy clan, and for his devotion to all those in need whose lives were better because he stood up for them. Our thoughts and prayers are with Vicki, his children and grandchildren, and the people of Massachusetts he served so well.
As we learned during her recent trip to Africa, the secretary of state and her husband don't [necessarily like to] speak with one voice. Earlier today, she said Kennedy was "one of our nation's finest statesmen and a dear friend.
For five decades, Senator Kennedy was at the heart of our greatest debates, serving on the front lines of democracy. With optimism and courage, he helped us meet the challenges and seize the opportunities of our times. He was a champion for women and families, for health care, education, civil rights and the environment. He inspired generation after generation of young Americans to enter public service, to stand up for justice and to fight for progress. And he was a legislator without peer, who understood both when to stand his ground and when to seek out the common ground on which compromise and progress is built.
When I was First Lady, we worked together to provide health insurance for America's children. When I arrived in the Senate, he was a generous mentor and a thoughtful colleague. We worked together to raise the minimum wage, improve education, and champion the cause we shared so deeply: ensuring that all Americans have access to quality, affordable health care. And as Secretary of State, I valued his counsel on how to make America a force for peace and progress around the world.
I will always treasure the memory of his friendship and the time we spent together, from the Massachusetts waters he loved so much, to the floor of the Senate that will feel empty without his booming voice and broad smile.
We have lost Ted, but his life's work will shape our nation for years to come. His legacy will live on in the hearts and minds of millions of Americans who are freer, healthier, and more prosperous because of his efforts. As he said, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.
According to The State newspaper, this afternoon, South Carolina's lieutenant governor, Andre Bauer, will call on South Carolina's governor, Mark Sanford, to resign:
Bauer will also renew his pledge to bow out of the 2010 gubernatorial race should Sanford resign within a month or so. By early October Bauer will formally announce his intentions to seek the GOP nomination for governor in 2010.
Today's announcement, according to a source close to Bauer, is intended to send a message to State House leadership that Sanford needs to step down and Bauer won't stand in the way. Some lawmakers have been hesitant to push for Sanford's resignation because it would give Bauer an unfair advantage in the 2010 race, as he would be running for governor as an incumbent.
Bauer plans to send a letter to Sanford today to ask him to resign. The House Republican Caucus will discuss whether to impeach Sanford this weekend at its Myrtle Beach retreat.
Deval Patrick, the Democratic governor of Massachusetts, told WBUR, our member station in Boston, that he "supports a change in state law that would allow him to appoint an interim successor to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy."
I believe that the senator's request to permit the governor to appoint someone to serve for that five months until a special election was entirely reasonable. I think particularly now when you think about the momentous change legislation that is pending in the Congress today, Massachusetts needs two voices.
"When the governor was pushed to say whether that meant he would urge the Legislature to pass a bill allowing him to appoint a successor, Patrick said yes, and that he would sign the bill," WBUR's Bob Oakes said.
On his blog this morning, Ken Rudin, NPR's "Political Junkie," explained what the laws in the Bay State prescribe:
Massachusetts state law calls for a special election to be held no sooner than 145 days after a Senate vacancy. It does not allow the governor to appoint a successor. That power was taken away by the Democratic state legislature in 2004, when Sen. John Kerry (D) was running for president and a Republican, Mitt Romney, was in the governorship. In recent days Kennedy tried to change the law, so that Gov. Deval Patrick (D) could make an interim appointment. Including two independents and Kennedy, Democrats held 60 votes -- just enough to beat back any Republican filibuster. With health-care heading to an uncertain future, the Democrats may desperately need that 60th vote.
In a story called "Who, now, will bear the torch?," Don Aucoin, a reporter for The Boston Globe, wonders what will happen to the Kennedy family, now that the dynasty has lost the "compass and standard-bearer for its political tradition."
"Some observers predict a quiet transformation in the family's identity now that its charismatic leader is gone," he writes. One of them, Philip W. Johnson, the chairman of the board of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights, told Aucoin that he thinks "many of them are going to opt for making contributions in fields other than politics. They believe that there are many ways to make a contribution, and one doesn't need to be in elective office to make a difference in the world.''
In another article, Aucoin's colleague, Frank Phillips, focuses on the inevitable political transition -- and perhaps transformation -- that will occur in Massachusetts, Kennedy's home state. "Kennedy's death sets the stage for a furious succession battle, the first such opening of a highly prized seat since the state's junior senator, John Kerry, won election in 1984," he writes.
The shape of the race -- and the Kennedy political legacy -- will hinge on whether another Kennedy seeks to keep it in the family, and whether voters are looking to extend the dynasty.
So, who's in the running? According to Phillips, Vicki Kennedy, the senator's widow; Joe Kennedy II, the head of Citizens Energy Corporation; Martha Coakley, the attorney general of Massachusetts; Rep. Michael Capuano (D-MA); Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA); Marty Meehan, a former congressman, now the chancellor of UMass-Lowell; Scott Brown, a Republican state senator; and Michael Sullivan, a Republican, formerly a U.S. Attorney.
Remembering Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), his friend and colleague, Vice President Joe Biden holds back tears. (Tim Sloan / AFP/Getty Images)
By David Gura
This morning, Joe Biden was supposed to speak about the Energy Bill. Instead, he remembered his colleague and friend, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA).
"Today we lost a truly remarkable man," he said, fighting back tears. "And to paraphrase Shakespeare, I don't think we shall ever see his like again. But I think the legacy he left is not just in the landmark legislation he passed, but in how he helped people look at themselves and look at one another."
Biden, who became a senator at the age of 29, befriended Kennedy early in his career. When Biden was running for senate, Kennedy campaigned for him in Delaware. They sat next to each other on the senate floor, on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and in caucuses.
"For 36 years, I had the privilege of going to work every day and literally, not figuratively, sitting next to him and being a witness to history every single day the senate was in session," Biden said. "And every important event in my adult life -- every single one -- he was there. He was there to encourage, to counsel, to be empathetic, to lift up."
The vice president said he will miss Kennedy's optimism, which he called "infectious."
You could ust see it in the nature of the debate. In his embrace. In the nature of how, every single day, he attacked these problems. And you know, he was never defeatist. He was never petty. He was never small. And in the process of his doing, he made everyone he worked with bigger. Both his adversaries and his allies.
There was, Biden said, a selflessness to Kennedy: "The unique thing about Teddy was it was never about him. It was always about you. It was never about him."
President Obama spoke to pool reporters in Chilmark, Mass., about the death of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA).(Neal Hamberg / Getty Images)
By David Gura
Moments ago, at the Blue Heron Farm in Chilmark, Mass., President Obama delivered some brief remarks about the death of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), his colleague, friend and political champion, whom he called "one of the greatest senators of our time" and "one of the most accomplished Americans to serve our democracy."
Obama said that Kennedy could "passionately battle others -- and do so peerlessly -- for the causes he held dear," and that he could "think of no one who engendered greater respect or affection from members of both sides of the aisle."
"For his family, he was a guardian," Obama said. "For America, he was a defender of a dream.
Within the hour, President Obama is expected to address members of the media in Chilmark, Mass., where he is vacationing with his family. The White House will stream audio of his comments live. You can listen to them, as he speaks -- after the jump.
Although no one would call Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) -- the Senate's "Liberal Lion" -- a centrist, he was known for his willingness to work across the aisle, to be collegial and friendly -- friends, even -- with his Republican colleagues.
This morning, Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) said "the people of Massachusetts and the United States Congress have lost a tireless public servant."
Ted Kennedy was my friend. While there were few political issues on which he and I agreed, our relationship was never disagreeable, and was always marked by good humor, hard work, and a desire to find common ground.
Ted Kennedy was also a friend to inner-city children and teachers. For the better part of the last decade, Ted and I worked together to support struggling Catholic grade schools in inner-city Washington. By helping these schools keep their doors open and helping them retain their committed teachers and faculty, this joint effort made a positive difference in the lives of thousands of inner-city children, who otherwise would have been denied the opportunity for a quality education. It wouldn't have been possible without Senator Kennedy and his genuine desire to give something back to help inner-city students in the city in which he'd served for so many years. I'm proud to have worked with Senator Kennedy on this project, and I will dearly miss his friendship and his partnership in this cause.
Debbie and I extend our thoughts and prayers to Vicki and the entire Kennedy family at this difficult time.
At the Capitol this morning, flags are flying at half-mast.(Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
By David Gura
Through his press secretary, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) -- formerly the junior, now the senior senator from Massachusetts -- released a statement about the death of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), his colleague and friend, just a few minutes ago:
We have known for some time that this day was coming, but nothing makes it easier. We have lost a great light in our lives and our politics, and it will never be the same again. Ted Kennedy was such an extraordinary force, yes for the issues he cared about, but more importantly for the humanity and caring in our politics that is at the center of faith and true public service.
No words can ever do justice to this irrepressible, larger than life presence who was simply the best -- the best Senator, the best advocate you could ever hope for, the best colleague, and the best person to stand by your side in the toughest of times. He faced the last challenge of his life with the same grace, courage, and determination with which he fought for the causes and principles he held so dear. He taught us how to fight, how to laugh, how to treat each other, and how to turn idealism into action, and in these last fourteen months he taught us much more about how to live life, sailing into the wind one last time. For almost 25 years, I was privileged to serve as his colleague and share his friendship for which I will always be grateful.
Teresa and I send all our love to Vicki, Teddy Jr., Patrick, Kara and their family, and to the entire Kennedy family for whom Teddy was always a rock at times like this. Massachusetts and our entire nation shares their loss and grieves with them.
On All Things Considered, NPR's Audie Cornish will profile Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), a member of the so-called "Gang of Six."
Snowe and her colleagues -- Sens. Max Baucus (D-MT), Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) -- are still at the table, trying to come up with a deal on health care reform.
In her piece, Cornish notes that Maine, Snowe's home state, has tried out universal health care, and it hasn't been a resounding success:
It has not been able to compete with private insurers, and it has not kept costs down or premiums low. Its supporters argue that concessions to the insurance industry made the program too weak to compete. Opponents say that the state's sickest patients packed into the program, driving up premiums.
Because of The Pine Tree State's experience with health care reform, Snowe says she is more interested in an option based on regional cooperatives. She told Cornish that, despite criticism from constituents who oppose an overhaul of the health care system, she is still committed to putting together a compromise package, something Snowe likens to "a thousand-piece puzzle."
In an article in The New York Times today, Danny Hakim, a political reporter for the newspaper, suggests that Rudolph Giuliani may have his eye on the governor's mansion in New York:
Nineteen months after ending his disastrous run for the presidency, Rudolph W. Giuliani is clearing a path for a possible race for governor in 2010, believing public anger at an ineffectual Albany and unease over the economy could create ideal conditions for a Republican to reclaim the governor's mansion.
According to Hakim, Giuliani has told associates that he'll make a decision in the next two months. It is unclear how he might fare in a state-wide race.
In an interview with NPR's Steve Inskeep, RNC Chairman Michael Steele said the government should focus on reforming Medicare.(Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
By David Gura
This morning, NPR's Steve Inskeep spoke with Michael Steele, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, about an opinion piece Steele wrote for The Washington Post, called "Protecting Our Seniors: GOP Principles for Health Care." The interview will air tomorrow, on Morning Edition.
In The Post, Steele called the Democratic Party's plan "the wrong prescription." He said it "will hurt American families, small businesses and health-care providers by raising care costs, increasing the deficit, and not allowing patients to keep a doctor or insurance plan of their choice." Steele said that the government should narrow its scope, to focus on improving Medicare:
Medicare is what it is. It's not going anywhere, so let's focus on fixing it.
Inskeep asked Steele if he was contradicting himself, supporting the continuation and reform of Medicare, which is a government-run health care program.
The government has a role to play. No one has ever said it didn't. What we're concerned about is the role it wants to play and how big a role it's playing.
Critics have said that Steele and and other Republicans have stood in the way of health care reform, that the Republican Party has used spread misinformation. In his interview with Inskeep, Steele rejected that appraisal:
I'm just trying to create a marketplace of ideas so we can have an honest discussion. I want to have an open debate. I want to put ideas out there. I want the people to understand what this is going to look like when it's all said and done.
Deputy White House Press Secretary Bill Burton wipes his brow on Aug. 24, 2009, as he briefs media in a makeshift, un-airconditioned filing center, a school gym in Oak Bluffs, Mass. on Martha's Vineyard where President Barack Obama is vacationing. (Stephan Savoia / AP Photo)
By David Gura
On Air Force One yesterday, en route to Cape Cod, Bill Burton, a deputy White House press secretary, told reporters that he had "specific instructions from the President for the press corps" during the first family's week-long trip to Martha's Vineyard, Mass.:
He wants you to relax and have a good time. Take some walks on the beaches. Nobody is looking to make any news, so he's hoping that you guys can enjoy Martha's Vineyard while we're there.
Easier said than done, in light of reports that the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility has recommended criminal investigations into CIA conduct and allegations of torture against terror suspects.
Burton is expected to address the Department's recommendations at a press briefing later this morning.
Updated: You can read the text from Burton's briefing here.
He's sorry, but says at least he didn't break the law. (Isaac Brekken / AP)
By Mark Memmott
Two months after admitting he'd had an affair with a friend's wife, Sen. John Ensign of Nevada told the Associated Press that at least he didn't lie to the American people about it -- as he says Bill Clinton did when the president was being impeached.
The senator added that he's done nothing "legally wrong."
Here's how Ensign put it to the AP. We've taken two short audio clips and put them in one player. There's a short pause between them:
Our question:
As the Reno Gazette-Journal puts it, Ensign is beginning "the difficult task of re-establishing himself with voters in his home state."
Just one percentage point now separates President Barack Obama's "approval rating" from the 50% mark, Gallup just reported.
Gallup's daily "tracking" poll on Obama's approval/disapproval numbers has 51% of those surveyed saying they like the job the president is doing and 41% saying they disapprove.
Before today, Obama's approval number had twice touched 52%, but not gone below that level since he took office on Jan. 20.
In recent weeks, all the attention paid to efforts at health care reform has weighed on the president's popularity.
His approval ratings in the Gallup surveys have consistently been well above those given to members of Congress, though.
Interested in presidential approval ratings throughout recent history? Gallup has data on them here.
One explosion was near the Foreign Ministry (in background). (Khalid Mohammed / AP)
By Mark Memmott
Good morning.
There have been a series of explosions in Baghdad today. Dozens are reported dead and more than 300 are said to have been wounded. Carl Kasell introduces this report from NPR's Deborah Amos, who is in the Iraqi capital:
Violence also continues to flare in Afghanistan, where the presidential election is scheduled for tomorrow. On Morning Edition, co-host Renee Montagne spoke with NPR's Jackie -- who is in Kabul. Then Renee, who just returned from Afghanistan, talked with co-host Steve Inskeep about what's happening there as the time to vote draws near:
For those who like to mix some history with their news, Morning Edition also aired a conversation between Steve and Amin Tarzi, director of Middle East studies at the Marine Corps University, about the events of 1979 in Afghanistan (when the Soviet Union invaded):
As for other stories making headlines, they include:
-- The New York Times -- "Democrats Seem Set To Go It Alone On A Health Bill": "Given hardening Republican opposition to Congressional health care proposals, Democrats now say they see little chance of the minority's cooperation in approving any overhaul, and are increasingly focused on drawing support for a final plan from within their own ranks."
Related story by The Washington Post -- "Debate's Path Caught Obama By Surprise": "President Obama's advisers acknowledged Tuesday that they were unprepared for the intraparty rift that occurred over the fate of a proposed public health insurance program, a firestorm that has left the White House searching for a way to reclaim the initiative on the president's top legislative priority."
-- Morning Edition -- "Health Co-Ops Touted As Alternative To Public Plan": "The Obama administration appears to be backing away from the idea that a health care overhaul has to include the option of a government-run insurance program. If this public plan is removed from the bills currently under construction in Congress, it could be replaced by nonprofit health insurance plans run on the co-op model, where people who buy the insurance are the ones who own the insurance company." NPR's Joanne Silberner reports:
-- From a related story by the Associated Press -- "Forecasters say the dangerous hurricane could get even stronger. ... The most significant threat could be to Bermuda, which the storm could pass in three or four days."
-- Morning Edition -- Sanctions On Myanmar Are 'Huge Strategic Error,' Sen. Webb Says: In a conversation with NPR's Steve Inskeep, Democratic Sen. James Webb of Virginia talked about the trip he just made to Myanmar, his meetings with its reclusive leader and democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi and why he thinks it no longer makes sense to have economic sanctions aimed at that country:
-- The Wall Street Journal -- "Reluctant Shoppers Hold Back Recovery": "Major retailers reported that American consumers are continuing to hunker down, casting a cloud over the durability of the U.S. recovery and underscoring the importance of overseas demand in restoring the world economy to health."
-- USA TODAY -- "Climate Plan Calls For Forest Expansion": " New forests would spread across the American landscape, replacing both pasture and farm fields, under a congressional plan to confront climate change, an Environmental Protection Agency analysis shows. About 18 million acres of new trees -- roughly the size of West Virginia -- would be planted by 2020, according to an EPA analysis of a climate bill passed by the House of Representatives in June."
The original artist doesn't think "socialism" should have been added. (Robyn Beck / AFP/Getty Images)
By Mark Memmott
The artist behind the so-called Obama Joker image that has gained notoriety in recent weeks has been revealed.
According to the Los Angeles Times' Top of the Ticket blog, it's Firas Alkhateeb, a senior at the University of Illinois who's from Chicago and says he does not think there's much "substance" to President Barack Obama.
Alkhateeb tells Top of the Ticket that he thinks Obama is "definitely doing better than Bush was," but that "in terms of domestic policy, I don't think he's really doing much good for the country right now. ... We don't have to 'hero worship' the guy."
It wasn't Alkhateeb, by the way, who added the word "socialism" to the image and turned it into posters that started showing up several weeks ago around Los Angeles. That was the work of someone who found his original image -- a takeoff on a Time cover -- and expanded on it.
Alkhateeb, Top of the Ticket reports, says that "really doesn't make any sense to me at all. ... To accuse him of being a socialist is really ... immature. First of all, who said being a socialist is evil?"
It's going to take more than one or two Republican votes to get health care legislation through the Senate, one of the chamber's top Democrats told All Things Considered co-host Robert Siegel just a few moments ago:
That's a sign he doesn't think Democrats -- though they and their allies control 60 seats -- have the votes to block any and all filibuster attempts. It takes 60 votes to do that.
And, says Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota, it's important that any legislation have a broad base of support -- which means more than just a few GOP votes:
There will be more from Robert's interview with the senator on today's ATC. Click here to find an NPR station near you.
For much more about the health care overhaul and other health-related topics, check the NPR Health Blog.
It looks like the Obama administration has found a way to both oppose and defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court.
The Associated Press just reported this:
The Obama administration has filed court papers claiming a federal marriage law discriminates against gays, even as it continues to defend the law.
Justice Department lawyers filed new papers Monday seeking to dismiss a California suit brought by a gay couple challenging the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act.
In the newly-filed papers, the administration urges the repeal of the law but says in the meantime that it will continue to defend it as a law on the books.
At FindLaw, Cornell University Law School professor Michael Dorf recently explained why the administration could take such a position in this case. He wrote that:
One can think that a law such as DOMA should be repealed by Congress, but also think that it is constitutionally valid so long as it remains on the books. Moreover, the executive branch arguably has a duty to defend the constitutionality of duly-enacted statutes.
Update at 12:15 p.m. ET: Statements from Obama and the Justice Department.
The White House just released this official statement from President Barack Obama:
Today, the Department of Justice has filed a response to a legal challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act, as it traditionally does when acts of Congress are challenged. This brief makes clear, however, that my administration believes that the act is discriminatory and should be repealed by Congress.
I have long held that DOMA prevents LGBT couples from being granted equal rights and benefits. While we work with Congress to repeal DOMA, my administration will continue to examine and implement measures that will help extend rights and benefits to LGBT couples under existing law.
And Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler sent out this statement:
The government's filing makes clear that the administration believes the Defense of Marriage Act is discriminatory and should be repealed. The president has said he wants to see a legislative repeal of DOMA because it prevents LGBT couples from being granted equal rights and benefits.
The department's filing in this case upholds the rule of law in keeping with our obligation to defend federal statutes when they are challenged in court. The Justice Department cannot pick and choose which federal laws it will defend based on any one administration's policy preferences.
Maybe if reporters went to more of the town halls being held around the country by members of Congress they would see that not every one ends with "pushing, shoving and yelling" over health care reform, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said today.
It was the second day in a row that things got a bit testy during Gibbs' daily briefing on the subject of the town halls and whether the news media are presenting a complete picture of what's happening at them -- Gibbs thinks not.
As you can hear, the exchange ends with Gibbs advising New York Times reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg to "attend a couple" town halls next week -- to which she responds that her plans next week are to be traveling with the president:
Two familiar subjects -- the economy and health care -- are atop the news again today. And so are some familiar names -- Sarah Palin and Dick Cheney.
Let's get right to it.
-- Eurostat -- German & French Economies Post Small Gains: The European Union's statistics agency said today that the German and French economies each grew 0.3% in the second quarter. Across the 16-nation "Euro area," gross domestic product edged down just 0.1%. The Associated Press says the data provide "the clearest evidence so far" that in the two biggest economies in Europe, at least, "the worst of the recession is over." NPR's Eric Westervelt says the data raise hopes that the recession may be easing in the rest of Europe as well:
Related story on Morning Edition -- Is U.S. Recession Over? Many Economists Think So. NPR's Chris Arnold reports:
Related story from NPR News -- But Foreclosure Crisis Continues In The U.S.:
More news about how the U.S. economy is doing is due at 8:30 a.m. ET, when the Commerce Department releases figures on July retail sales.
-- Sarah Palin on Facebook -- Obama Is Being Misleading About "Death Panels": "With all due respect," the former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee writes, "it's misleading" for President Barack Obama to say that provisions in one of the health care overhaul bills simply increase the information offered to Medicare recipients about end-of-life issues. "The issue is the context in which that information is provided and the coercive effect these consultations will have in that context. ... Is it any wonder that senior citizens might view such consultations as attempts to convince them to help reduce health care costs by accepting minimal end-of-life care?"
Related story on Morning Edition -- "Sen. Cardin Feels Heat On Health Care". NPR's Pam Fessler reports from a town hall meeting held yesterday by Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md.:
-- The Washington Post -- "Cheney Uncloaks His Frustration With Bush": "In his first few months after leaving office, former vice president Richard B. Cheney threw himself into public combat against the 'far left' agenda of the new commander in chief. More private reflections, as his memoir takes shape in slashing longhand on legal pads, have opened a second front against Cheney's White House partner of eight years, George W. Bush."
-- The Courier-Journal -- "Pitino Apologizes For Affair": "University of Louisville men's basketball coach Rick Pitino apologized Wednesday to his family, the university, his players and fans for what he called his 'indiscretion' six years ago, when he had sex with a woman in a Louisville restaurant. But speaking during a late-afternoon news conference, Pitino said he had no plans to resign, and UofL President James Ramsey and Athletic Director Tom Jurich said in prepared statements afterward that they support him."
Policymakers at the Federal Reserve finish up two days of meetings this afternoon and many eyes will be on the statement they make afterward. It's widely expected they will leave short-term interest rates alone, but investors will parse the Fed's words for clues to how its policymakers think the economy's doing.
And The Washington Post looks at the signs that we're having an economic recovery "only a statistician can love."
Over at the White House, President Barack Obama this morning will host a reception for the newest Supreme Court justice, Sonia Sotomayor. In the afternoon, he will hand out 16 Medals of Freedom. The honorees include Bishop Desmond Tutu, Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy and tennis legend Billie Jean King.
As for stories making headlines, they include:
-- Morning Edition -- Marines Move Into Taliban-Held Town In Southern Afganistan. From Helmand province, where she is embedded with U.S. Marines, NPR's Soroya Sarhaddi Nelson tells host Steve Inskeep that the U.S. forces she's with were met with a lot of resistance that lasted for several hours today, but that all is now quiet in the village:
The U.S. operation is part of an effort to push the Taliban out of towns and villages in Helmand prior to Afghanistan's Aug. 20 presidential election. NPR's Renee Montagne, who's also in Afghanistan, reported on Morning Edition about a much different effort to boost voter participation -- a "rock the vote" style concert featuring one of the country's most popular singers:
One more Afghanistan-related story to pass along. Morning Edition's Inskeep talked with defense analyst Anthony Cordesman, who makes the case that even more troops are needed to fight corruption and build that country:
-- The Wall Street Journal -- Democrats Say E-Mails Show Improprieties By Rove In Firing Of U.S. Attorneys: "House Democrats turned over to federal prosecutors thousands of investigative documents Tuesday, alleging they are evidence of impropriety by Karl Rove and other Bush White House officials in the controversial 2006 firing of nine U.S. attorneys. It remains far from certain whether the 5,400 pages of emails and other documents released Tuesday contain information that would help prosecutors bring criminal charges against Mr. Rove, who served as former President George W. Bush's political adviser, or against any other former Bush officials."
-- The New York Times -- "Shiites In Iraq Show Restraint As Sunnis Keep Attacking": "Shiite clerics and politicians have been successfully urging their followers not to retaliate against a fierce campaign of sectarian bombings, in which Shiites have accounted for most of the 566 Iraqis killed since American troops pulled out of Iraq's cities on June 30."
-- Morning Edition -- Debunking The "Kill Grandma Scare Tactic". NPR's Julie Rovner adds to the reporting that shows "no, the health care overhaul bill now working its way through Congress would not require seniors to learn how to die prematurely":
-- The Associated Press -- More Found Alive In Taiwan Towns Hit By Mudslides: "Rescuers have found nearly 1,000 people alive in the area around three remote villages devastated by Typhoon Morakot, which pummeled the island over the weekend, Taiwan's military said Wednesday."
Related report by NPR News' Giles Snyder -- Many Still Missing:
Selling the plan. (Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images)
By Mark Memmott
President Barack Obama held a town hall meeting on the emotional subject of health care this afternoon in Portsmouth, N.H.
As NPR's Don Gonyea found outside the high school where the event is being held, crowds from both sides of the issue (who oppose and support the president's proposals) were out in force well before the scheduled 1 p.m. ET start of the town hall meeting. Here's what it sounded like from Don's perspective:
We followed the town hall as it happened. Click the "play" button below and our live updates about the event should flow in automatically. We also published many insightful comments from Two-Way readers as the event was going on:
Even as the cable news networks were broadcasting some tense moments this morning at a town hall meeting held in Lebanon, Pa., by Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter, there was some seemingly contradictory news from the pollsters at the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.
According to Pew's latest surveys, the federal government's "favorable rating"has gone up in the past year -- though at 42% it's still well below the 50% line.
Now, 50% of those surveyed have an "unfavorable" view of the federal government, down from 58% who said that in April 2008. The "favorable" figure is up from 37% in early 2008.
But with so much anger being shown at town hall meetings such as Specter's, how could the federal government's favorable rating be higher?
Pew's breakdown of the results according to party line explains a lot.
Last year, when Republican George W. Bush was in the White House, 53% of Republicans were happy with the federal government. Now, with Democrat Barack Obama as president, just 24% of Republicans give the federal government a favorable rating.
But the larger block of voters -- Democrats -- have had an even bigger shift. Now, 61% of Democrats have a favorable view of the federal government, vs. just 29% in April 2008.
Update at 11:40 a.m. ET. The outburst at Specter's town hall meeting. Courtesy of MSNBC, here's a video clip of an emotional moment at the senator's event this morning:
Just hours after the Obama administration launched a website today to battle what it has called "wild rumors" about its health care initiative, a coalition of progressive religious leaders entered the increasingly bitter national argument over the overhaul being debated in Washington.
The White House says it will call out misinformation. The coalition -- which includes at least two members of Obama's faith-based council -- says it will argue morality.
Or, more specifically, what members characterize as the moral and religious imperative of providing "inclusive, accessible" health care coverage and the need for a civil discourse about the issue, says Jim Wallis of the progressive Christian group Sojourners, one of the coalition sponsors.
Members of the group, during a conference call with reporters earlier today, unveiled an advertisement, People of Faith for Health Reform, which will air on national cable networks:
Stick with the 4-minute report, though, and by the end it's all about "life after the U.S. Senate."
Burris announced last month that he wouldn't seek election to the seat he was appointed to -- amid much controversy -- by then-governor Rod Blagojevich.
Wyoming, which elected Republican Dick Cheney to Congress, holds true to its conservative credentials in Gallup's latest state-by-state surveys of Democratic President Barack Obama's popularity.
Gallup says today that 46% of Cowboy State voters it surveyed approve of the job Obama's doing. That's the lowest approval rating among the states and District of Columbia (where Obama gets his highest score -- a 92% approval rating).
Gallup adds that
Since June, Obama's (national) approval rating has descended into the 50s, sinking as low as 52% in late July before recovering somewhat and settling back in the mid- to upper 50s in recent days. An analysis of Gallup Poll Daily data collected in July and August suggests that Obama's approval rating has declined in most states compared with the January-June averages.
As the day gets going here in the U.S., there's word from Iraq of bombings near Mosul and in Baghdad. More than 40 people were killed and more than 200 wounded, Iraqi officials tell the Associated Press. From Baghdad, NPR's Deborah Amos reports that the attack near Mosul may have been aimed at a small minority group. The attacks in Baghdad, she says, were in a Shiite neighborhood:
Also atop the news this morning: The cleanup in Taiwan and mainland China from Typhoon Morakot, which forced the evacuation over the weekend of nearly 1 million people. Hundreds of people on Taiwan are missing.
Flooded. In southern Taiwan, water is everywhere -- but clean water is scarce. (Sam Yeh / AFP/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama wraps up a two-day summit with the leaders of Mexico and Canada. NPR's Scott Horsley, reporting from Guadalajara, Mexico, says there are three things on the agenda:
Obama and the other leaders are expected to hold a news conference this afternoon.
Other stories making headlines include:
-- USA TODAY op-ed -- Pelosi And Hoyer Say "Disruptions" At Town Halls Are "Un-American": The Democratic leaders in the House write that "these disruptions are occurring because opponents are afraid not just of differing views -- but of the facts themselves. Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American. Drowning out the facts is how we failed at this task (health care reform) for decades."
Related story on Morning Edition: Is The Canadian Health Care System Really That Bad? From KQED, Sarah Varney reports:
-- Times of London -- "More Troops, Fewer Caveats," U.S. Adviser Says About Afghanistan: The Taliban "have been winning the war for control of Afghanistan's territory," U.S. security expert Anthony Cordesman, an adviser to U.S. commanders, writes. "Afghan security forces were not given serious priority until 2007 -- more than five years into the war," Cordesman adds, "and many Nato/ISAF planners feel that numbers need to be doubled and training time cut by one third to get more Afghan forces on the ground."
Related story in The Wall Street Journal: "Taliban Now Winning: U.S. Commander In Afghanistan Warns Of Rising Casualties."
Related story on Morning Edition: "With Scars Of War, Swat Town's Residents Return". Across the border from Afghanistan, NPR's Philip Reeves reports on the people of Pakistan's Swat Valley, who are returning home after intense fighting there drove Taliban fighters from "the Switzerland of Asia":
-- The Washington Post -- New Wave Of Swine Flu Expected In U.S.: "As the first influenza pandemic in 41 years has spread during the Southern Hemisphere's winter over the past few months, the United States and other northern countries have been racing to prepare for a second wave of swine flu virus. At the same time, international health authorities have become increasingly alarmed about the new virus's arrival in the poorest, least-prepared parts of the world."
-- New York Daily News -- Helicopter Pilot's Colleague Says Crash Was "Inevitable": "He was a witness to horror and he's seen it coming for years. A close colleague of the pilot of the doomed tourist helicopter says it can be dicey in the skies over the Hudson River -- and Saturday's disaster that killed nine was 'inevitable.' 'We were borderline surprised that it took so long for a crash like this to happen,' saidBen Lane, 34, who frantically radioed his pilot pal Jeremy Clarke that a plane was bearing down on him."
But each Democratic senator has also been admonished.
"The Committee does believe that you should have exercised more vigilance in your dealings with Countrywide in order to avoid the appearance that you were receiving preferential treatment," the letters tell both lawmakers.
What are the committee's reasons? The letters say:
"Your mortgages were made in a commercially-reasonable manner based on terms and conditions available to borrowers with similar loan profiles."
"Your loans met all applicable underwriting standards."
"There is no credible evidence that you sought or knowingly received any financial benefits not available to other borrowers with similar loan profiles."
"There is no credible evidence that you used your official position for personal gain."
Update at 2:04 p.m. ET. The Hartford Courantwrites that:
For more than a year, Dodd has been hobbled by allegations that he benefited from improper VIP treatment when now defunct mortgage giant Countrywide Financial gave him and his wife $781,000 in loans on homes in Washington and East Haddam. Dodd repeatedly denied that he received favorable treatment.
"I'm pleased and gratified that the Democrats and Republicans on the ethics committee have dismissed this complaint and found that the underlying accusations simply were not credible,'' Dodd said in a statement. "I've said all along that I welcomed a close examination of my mortgages, and I've also said all along that Jackie and I received the same mortgages that anyone else could have received."
Martinez had already said he wouldn't run for re-election next year. If he does step down, Gov. Charlie Crist -- a fellow Republican who is already running for Martinez' seat -- could appoint a replacement.
Update at 3:10 p.m. ET: Martinez has made it official.
At Orlando International Airport a short time ago, the senator told reporters that he does not want to "simply warm a seat" and wants to spend more time in Florida and with his family.
Update at 1:10 p.m. ET. NPR's Greg Allen says:
Update at 12:20 p.m. ET. A statement from Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.:
"Mel has been a good Senate colleague of mine, as well as a personal friend. He also has been a dedicated public servant for Florida. I look forward to our continued friendship -- and to having the same bipartisan working relationship with his successor.
Update at 12:15 p.m. ET:
The AP reports that Crist says he will not appoint himself to fill Martinez' seat. According to the wire service, the governor "made the comment as he boarded a plane to Tampa."
NPR's Greg Allen says that Crist "has a commanding edge both in polls and fundraising over his conservative opponent in the Republican primary, former state house speaker Marco Rubio. The leading Democrat running for Martinez' seat is Florida congressman Kendrick Meek."
Update at 11:55 a.m. ET. The Heraldhas now posted what it says is the complete letter that Martinez is sending to "friends and supporters."
It starts by saying that:
"Because you're a friend, I wanted you to know first about the decision I will announce today to step down from public office. Twelve years ago I offered myself as a candidate for public office in Florida out of a deep sense of appreciation for what America and the people of Florida did for me as a young immigrant to this country."
There's more from the letter just below in the 11:27 a.m. update.
Update at 11:27 a.m. ET. The AP now adds that:
In a letter to friends and supporters obtained by The Associated Press, Martinez says he's stepping down early for personal reasons.
"My priorities have always been my faith, my family and my country, and at this stage in my life, and after nearly 12 years of public service in Florida and Washington, it's time I return to Florida and my family," Martinez wrote.
The note says his resignation will be "effective on a successor taking office to fill out the remainder of my term."
There were some ugly scenes last night outside a town hall meeting in St. Louis held by Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-Mo.
The Post-Dispatch reports that six people, including one of its photographers, were taken into custody:
Two people were arrested on suspicion of assault, one of resisting arrest and three on suspicion of committing a peace disturbance by way of interference -- all misdemeanors, said St. Louis County Police spokesman Rick Eckhard.
Gateway Pundit has some raw video, which we can't post because of the obscenities being shouted. It shows an angry confrontation between some people wearing union t-shirts and others who were there to raise objections to the health care policies being proposed by President Barack Obama and other Democrats.
The Post-Dispatch says that:
Kenneth Gladney, 38, a conservative activist from St. Louis, said he was attacked by some of those arrested as he handed out yellow flags with "Don't tread on me" printed on them. He spoke to the Post-Dispatch from the emergency room at St. John's Mercy Medical Center, where he said he was awaiting treatment for injuries to his knee, back, elbow, shoulder and face. Gladney, who is black, said one of his attackers, also a black man, used a racial slur against him before the attack.
Senators are now delivering their final statements about the pros and cons of confirming federal Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.
C-SPAN.org is webcasting from inside the Senate chamber.
The voting is scheduled to get going around 3 p.m. ET.
As has been said many times in recent days:
-- Sotomayor's confirmation is about as close to certain as you can get. Democrats and their allies control 60 of the Senate's 100 seats. And at least eight Republicans have said they will support Democratic President Barack Obama's nominee.
-- If she's confirmed, Sotomayor will be the first Hispanic justice and only the third woman to be on the High Court.
NPR's Audie Cornish notes that it's been more than a decade since a Democratic president had the chance to nominate a Supreme Court justice.
Bond, R-Mo., will vote "aye." (Kelley McCall / AP)
By Mark Memmott
Add Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond of Missouri to the small list of Republicans who say they'll vote to confirm Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor.
The senator announced his decision on the floor of the Senate a short while ago. The Kansas City Star's Prime Buzz blog says the senator, who's retiring next year, thinks Sotomayor is qualified and that last year's election -- which put Democrat Barack Obama in the White House -- should matter. "Elections do have consequences," he said.
The Senate is due to vote on Sotomayor tomorrow. Her confirmation is almost certain -- Democrats and their allies control 60 seats and all are expected to support Obama's choice. Also, so far about a half dozen Republicans have made it known they will support her confirmation.
Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., "has been diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer," the Hartford Courant reports.
Dodd's office has announced he'll hold a 2 p.m. ET news conference about a "personal health issue."
According to the Courant, Dodd, 65, said today that he will have surgery during the Senate's August recess and expects to be back at work after a "brief recuperation." He also plans to run for re-election in 2010, the senator said.
-- The president's overall job approval number fell from 61% in mid-June to 54% currently.
-- Obama's comments on the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. appear to have played some role in his ratings decline. News about the arrest of the prominent African American Harvard professor at his Cambridge home was widely followed by the public and 79% are aware of Obama's comments on the incident. Analysis of the poll data found that the president's approval ratings fell among non-Hispanic whites over the course of the interviewing period as the focus of the Gates story shifted from details about the incident to Obama's remarks about the incident.
On July 16, the professor was charged with disorderly conduct after an incident at his home. That charge was later dropped. The story, though, caught attention because of the potential racial overtones -- Sgt. James Crowley, who arrested Gates, is white. And Gates raised the issue of whether he might have been "profiled."
Obama, asked about the incident at a news conference the following week, said he thought police "acted stupidly." The president has since said he should have "calibrated" his remark, and that he was not accusing Crowley of being stupid.
And this evening, Obama, Gates and Crowley are due to sit down and talk -- over beers -- at the White House.
As we noted earlier, there have been several polls about the president and how he's doing -- including one from NPR.
Here he comes again. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
President Obama's remarks on health care.
By Laura Conaway
Maybe it's not "all Obama, all the time," but it's at least "more Obama, more of the time," as the president continues to press Congress for an overhaul of health care.
When the president addressed reporters at the White House today, he avoided any mention of his original deadline for Congress to pass an overhaul before the scheduled Aug. 8 recess. "We are closer than ever before to the reform that the American people need, and we're going to get the job done," he said, not mentioning when he predicts that will happen.
In his fourth public talk about health care in the past two days, Obama listed the items on which lawmakers, the White House and health industry players agree. Those points include extending insurance coverage to more Americans, preserving coverage for those who leave jobs or get sick, and allow consumers continued choice in policies.
"If you like your plan, you'll be able to keep it," he said.
After the jump, Obama's appearance this morning on NBC's Today show.
With Congress considering a major overhaul of health care, the American Medical Association led health-related groups in spending for lobbying lawmakers last quarter. The AMA cranked out $4 million across the months of April, May and June, AP reports.
Several lobbying groups filed their disclosure forms today, with more expected in coming days. Eli Lilly, a pharmaceutical maker, ranked second at $3.6 million. All told, 15 health-related associations and companies reported spending at least $1 million apiece on lobbying during the quarter. This time last year, 28 health care concerns reported spending at least $1 million lobbying.
The Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks political spending, says the health sector burned through $127 million last quarter -- more than any other sector. After the jump, a list of other major medical spenders.
Advisers to President Obama promised that he was about to campaign here, there and everywhere for his plan to overhaul health care. And sure enough, the president sat down for his second public conversation about it this afternoon, with Jim Lehrer of the PBS show NewsHour that's to air tonight.
Among the noteworthy moments: Obama backed off, ever so slightly, on his demand that Congress pass legislation before the August recess. With three of the five Congressional committees involved having passed bills already, Senators have asked for more time. President Obama:
"Here, I think, is a fair assessment, Jim. I want this done now. Now, if there are no deadlines, nothing gets done in this town. ... If somebody comes to me and says it's basically done, it's going to spill over by a few days or a week, you know, that's different."
Obama told Lehrer that he's open to various plans for funding the overhaul, which is expected to cost $1 trillion over 10 years and cover 97 percent of citizens by 2015, except for taxing employees on the value of the health insurance they get along with their salaries.
Lehrer asked Obama whether Americans should now be optimistic about the economy. The president stopped short of advising people to adopt a rosy view. "I think that we have stepped back from the abyss," he said. Obama said people are justified in resenting banks that are now reporting profits after the government bailouts but that have shown much remorse for having almost dragged the entire economy into a depression."
President Obama pledged that any health care bill he signed would lower overall costs. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
By Laura Conaway
Continuing his wall-to-wall campaign for overhauling health care, President Obama made his case today from Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
Obama spoke directly to the American people, sounding a populist call for Congress to pass legislation remaking health insurance:
"For the average American, it will mean lower costs, more options, and coverage you can count on. It will save you and your family money if we have a more efficient health care system. You won't have to worry about being priced out of the market. You won't have to worry about one illness leading your family into financial ruin. You won't have to worry that you won't be able to afford treatment who gets sick."
The president spoke after days of back-and-forth with lawmakers, budget analysts and political players. The Congressional Budget Office director last week told Congress that the legislation now before legislators would add to the federal deficit over the next several years. The GOP has been criticizing the proposed changes as a dangerous "grand experiment."
Obama again declared the current system of health care -- with spending on medical expenses taking up 17 percent of U.S. gross domestic product -- as a threat to the economy. He warned that if lawmakers do nothing, "businesses will shutter" and Americans will bring less money home in their paychecks.
Obama also struck back at a comment from Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), saying:
"Just the other day, one Republican senator said -- and I'm quoting him now -- 'If we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him.' Think about that. This isn't about me. This isn't about politics. This is about a health care system that is breaking America's families, breaking America's businesses and breaking America's economy."
President Obama is expected to speak about health care in just a few minutes. Michael Steele, chair of the Republican National Committee, is giving him plenty to talk about.
Steele went after the president's agenda for overhauling the insurance system, telling a crowd today at the National Press Club:
"Candidate Obama promised change. President Obama is conducting an experiment. He's conducting a dangerous experiment with our health care. He's conducting a reckless experiment with our economy."
The Washington Post reports that Steele's use of the term "experiment" comes straight from the advice GOP consultant Alex Castellanos gave party leaders. The GOP just launched The Obama Experiment, a website where you can find the welcoming message from Steele above, and loads of opposition to the administration throughout.
Still running: President Obama, seen here with Vice President Joe Biden in June, is about to "take the baton" on health care. Alexis C. Glenn/Getty Images
By Laura Conaway
President Obama went into the weekend swinging hard, with a direct call for Congress to pass an overhaul of health care before the August recession. Now the president is planning the next rounds, including a prime-time press conference on Wednesday at 8 p.m. Eastern. Obama is expected to address several issues, but the early money is on health care, health care and more health care.
As varying committees in the House and Senate struggle to meet the president's deadline, Obama's agenda on health care has grown less popular. A Washington-Post ABC News poll finds him dipping below 50 percent approval on the issue. Meanwhile, state governors weighing in from the National Governors Association meeting in Biloxi, Miss., say they're worried the overhaul will amount to an unfunded mandate in the form of new Medicaid obligations.
"We can't have the Congress impose requirements that we are forced to absorb beyond our capacity to do so," Gov. Jim Douglas of Vermont, a Republican, tells the New York Times.
Obama's hasty press conference Friday and his more planned remarks on Wednesday mark a turning point in White House strategy. Ever mindful of the failure of President Clinton's health care agenda in 1993, the current administration asked Congress to change the system, but avoided telling lawmakers exactly how to do that.
"Had we put a plan out, the entire debate would have been changes to the plan," White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel tells the Washington Post. "It would have been how the president is failing or succeeding."
Now, as the president acknowledged on Friday, he's got to get his agenda across the finish line. To do that, Obama will step out there and fight for it himself. "I don't know whether he will Twitter or tweet," senior adviser David Axelrod told the WP. "But he's going to be very, very visible.
President Obama expressed absolute confidence that Congress will pass a health care overhaul. Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
By Laura Conaway
President Obama directly addressed criticism this afternoon of his plan for overhauling health care, which took a couple of hits Thursday over how much it will cost and how the nation should pay for it.
In the hastily called speech at the White House, Obama spoke sternly and took no questions as he described a process of forging an "unprecedented consensus" among interests ranging from insurance companies to the American Medical Association.
"We are going to get this done," the president said. "We will reform health care. It will happen this year."
Hey, says Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton -- those reports about her having to fight for her turf (New York Times) or having to "share the spotlight" on foreign policy (Los Angeles Times) don't bother her and aren't true.
After all, Clinton told reporters at the State Department today after being asked about those stories, she may have a broken wing but she can still raise her voice:
The former first lady suffered her injury in a fall last month at the State Department.
Because it's never too early (at least for political junkies) to look ahead to the next presidential election:
"About one in four Republicans and Republican-leaning independents make Mitt Romney their top choice for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination," Gallup reports, "giving him a slight edge over Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee."
Gallup also says that its July 10-12 national poll of 455 Republicans and "Republican-leaning independents" shows that "Palin's strong showing suggests she remains a contender for GOP front-runner status even after her surprising decision to resign as governor of Alaska, which she announced July 3."
Romney is a former governor of Massachusetts. Huckabee is a former governor of Arkansas. Newt Gingrich, of Georgia, was speaker of the House. Tim Pawlenty is governor of Minnesota. Haley Barbour is governor of Mississippi.
The always candid Meghan McCain not only calls Samuel "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher a "dumb ass," but also tells Out magazine that there's no way she would vote for former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee if he's the GOP presidential nominee in 2012.
"If my party nominates someone like Mike Huckabee ... I can't support someone who thinks what he believes about the gay community," she says in the video Out has posted with its story
In 1992, Huckabee wrote that homosexuality is "an aberrant, unnatural and sinful lifestyle" and urged that gays with AIDS be isolated.
During the 2008 presidential primaries, he had this to say about whether he would accept the support of the Log Cabin Republicans at a CNN-sponsored debate in St. Petersburg, Fla.:
President Obama's effort to reform the American health care system moved forward again today. AP reports the Senate Health Committee passed its version of overhaul legislation in a party-line of 13-10. Along with pushing for savings in the industry, the $600 billion bill would:
seek to expand coverage to many of the 46 million uninsured Americans, add a government-run health care program, require most Americans to obtain health insurance, and mandate most employers to provide it to their workers.
Meanwhile, Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah told reporters a House Democratic plan for taxing the rich to help fund health care is a "dead issue" in the Senate. Hatch said he doubts a full bill will emerge in the next two weeks.
This one's shaping up to be quite the partisan battle. Drudge is going with the big red letters and "Rahm It Through: Nationalized Health Care in Weeks!" for his lead item (and his is in all caps, too). The link's to a Bloomberg story reporting that Obama is open to a partisan vote. It quotes White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel:
"At the end of the day, the test isn't whether they voted for it," he said, referring to Republicans. "The test is whether the final product represented some of their ideas. And I think it will."
House Democrats are forging ahead with a plan to reform the health care system. At the core of the evolving plan is a move to extend medical insurance to more Americans through a combination of taxing the wealthy and requiring people to buy coverage.
Those proposals come with high stakes for the politicians involved. President Obama has made overhauling health care a central priority, with a goal of covering another 50 million people. He's pressing for a bill to be ready by week's end. One Democratic lawmaker warned about the risk of stirring up a hornet's nest of opposition without winning concrete results. From AP:
"If we do fail, we've moved far enough down the line that you'll have angry people on all sides," said Rep. Jason Altmire, D-Pa.
Don't count Sen. John McCain among all the public doubters of Gov. Sarah Palin's presidential abilities. On "Meet The Press" today, he told host David Gregory she is qualified to be president.
In fact, he was so spring-loaded to make the point about his former running mate on the Republican presidential ticket, he didn't even allow Gregory to finish his question:
MR. GREGORY: You think she's qualified --
SEN. MCCAIN: -- I know she's --
MR. GREGORY: -- to seek the highest office in the land?
SEN. MCCAIN: I know she's qualified.
MR. GREGORY: She is qualified?
SEN. MCCAIN: Sure, absolutely.
MR. GREGORY: No doubt about it?
SEN. MCCAIN: No doubt about it. She has all the right instincts, all the right principles. She was a mayor, she's a governor, she understands the challenges that families face, she has a great background, and I am confident that she will continue to play -- as I said -- a major role.
MR. GREGORY: If she seeks the presidency in 2012, you would endorse her?
SEN. MCCAIN: Look, I think it's way too early for that kind of thing because she obviously has not made that decision yet. Tradtionally, those of us who were the nominees have waited at least a period -- a long period of time before we got into that. We've got a lot of good strong, young, attractive, articulate spokespersons for our party and our principles.
MR. GREGORY: But can you understand how people would think it's a little bit strange? You vouched for her in front of the country; said she was qualified for the highest position in the land.
SEN. MCCAIN: Absolutely.
MR. GREGORY: And yet you're not prepared to endorse her now?
SEN. MCCAIN: Well, I mean, George Bush -- Ronald Reagan didn't endorsed George Herbert Walker Bush, his own vice president, until the year of the election. I mean, it's just way too early. I am confident she would make a fine president. The question is, is what's the whole political scenario?
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