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Friday's Mini-Report
Fri May 18, 2012 5:30 PM EDT
Today's edition of quick hits: * It's a busy weekend for international diplomacy, with a G8 meeting at Camp David, followed by a NATO gathering in Chicago on Monday.
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It's all about the metrics
Fri May 18, 2012 4:25 PM EDT
Back in 2004, Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), then chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, was a little worried about President George W. Bush's re-election. The number of jobs created over Bush's first three years -- after two massive tax breaks -- was negati …
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Chronicling Mitt's Mendacity, Vol. XVIII
Fri May 18, 2012 2:52 PM EDT
Back in February, Paul Krugman argued that Mitt Romney is "running a campaign of almost pathological dishonesty." Was this an intemperate analysis? Perhaps. Three months later, does it seem fair? Put it this way: take a look at the 18th installment of my weekly series, chronicli …
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Undermining the 'competence' theme
Fri May 18, 2012 2:02 PM EDT
Mitt Romney's campaign, eager to attack the Recovery Act that pulled the economy back from the brink of collapse, thought it had come up with a brilliant idea. The former governor would go to New Hampshire and mock the 19th century Sawyer Bridge, which was restored with public f …
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What's the matter with Arizona?
Fri May 18, 2012 12:38 PM EDT
Just when it seemed Arizona Republicans couldn't go much further, Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett (R) is now questioning President Obama's citizenship and isn't sure whether to allow the president onto the 2012 ballot.
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Friday's campaign round-up
Fri May 18, 2012 12:00 PM EDT
Today's installment of campaign-related news items that won't necessarily generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers: * The Democratic National Committee shows no signs of letting up on Mitt Romney's controversial private-sector background, releas …
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Boehner on health care: everything must go
Fri May 18, 2012 11:28 AM EDT
For about three years now, congressional Republicans have sworn up and down that they're hard at work on a health care reform package of their own. It's going to be awesome, they said, and will meet Obamacare's goals without all that unpopular stuff. Sensible people gave up on a …
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Romney allies not helping jobs message
Fri May 18, 2012 10:38 AM EDT
About three weeks ago, Mitt Romney appeared at a campaign event in Ohio, one of the nation's most important battlegrounds, alongside Gov. John Kasich (R). Some Otterbein University students, getting ready to graduate, reflected on the difficult job market, and the governor was qu …
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'If we don't pass this, women will die'
Fri May 18, 2012 9:58 AM EDT
Let's take a stroll down memory lane. Just 10 years ago, the Bush/Cheney administration requested $34 million for the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), and for good reason. Since its inception in 1969, the Fund has won widespread recognition for its work in …
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Romney's plan for 'Day One'
Fri May 18, 2012 9:18 AM EDT
Mitt Romney's campaign unveiled this morning its first television ad of the general election, a generally positive spot describing what the Republican would do on "day one" if elected.
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Eduardo Saverin's ideological allies
Fri May 18, 2012 8:40 AM EDT
I suspect most have heard about Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin's decision to renounce his American citizenship, a move that will save Saverin from having to pay federal capital gains taxes just as Facebook's IPO reaps a windfall. Though he denies the move is related to tax …
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Rationalizing bigotry is tougher than expected
Fri May 18, 2012 8:00 AM EDT
We've been keeping an eye on the controversy surrounding Tracy Thorne-Begland's judicial nomination in Virginia, and it took an interesting turn yesterday. To briefly recap, Thorne-Begland, who enjoyed bipartisan backing, is a state prosecutor, a father, and a former Top Gun figh …
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Thursday's Mini-Report
Thu May 17, 2012 5:31 PM EDT
Today's edition of quick hits: * Progress begets progress: "The Obama administration announced on Thursday that it would ease the ban on investments in Myanmar, rewarding the country's political and economic opening over the last year." * I suspect that'll be a lively hearing: "J …
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Finally, a full house at the Fed
Thu May 17, 2012 5:15 PM EDT
The Federal Reserve Board of Governors has been burdened by vacancies for the last six years. Last year, Fed obstructionism reached farcical levels when Senate Republicans killed Peter Diamond's nomination to fill a Fed vacancy because he's only the recipient a Nobel Prize in eco …
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Quote of the Day
Thu May 17, 2012 3:58 PM EDT
"The Ricketts Plan" to use Jeremiah Wright to smear President Obama has come and gone rather quickly, but the story isn't quite over for Mitt Romney. To the campaign's credit, the presumptive Republican nominee repudiated the line of attack fairly quickly this morning, suggesting …
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Mike Coffman didn't 'misspeak'
Thu May 17, 2012 2:43 PM EDT
Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) delivered some pretty stunning remarks at a fundraiser over the weekend, and unfortunately for him, the NBC affiliate in Denver obtained a copy of his speech. Around the 3:20 mark, Coffman, the two-term Republican congressman, says of the president:
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'The Ricketts Plan' goes back to the drawing board
Thu May 17, 2012 1:18 PM EDT
It seemed like quite an idea. Joe Ricketts, the wealthy AmeriTrade founder whose family owns the Chicago Cubs, would spend $10 million on an ad campaign attacking President Obama over his former pastor. "The Ricketts Plan" would rely on hire an "extremely literate conservative A …
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Over before it starts in Massachusetts
Thu May 17, 2012 12:38 PM EDT
Major-party presidential candidates tend to win their home state, even if they're losing the election, but in 2012, the race for Mitt Romney's home state is apparently over before it starts.
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Thursday's campaign round-up
Thu May 17, 2012 12:00 PM EDT
Today's installment of campaign-related news items that won't necessarily generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers: * A new Fox News poll shows President Obama leading Mitt Romney at the national level, 46% to 39%. Obama reportedly benefited in …
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Lies, damn lies, and Scott Walker's statistics
Thu May 17, 2012 11:31 AM EDT
Yesterday morning, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's (R) Department of Workforce Development would put out new job numbers, and a few hours later, his campaign operation used those new numbers as the basis for a new campaign ad.
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Race and Wright and Ricketts ... oh my
Thu May 17, 2012 10:40 AM EDT
Up until very recently, Joe Ricketts was not widely recognized as a major political player. That changed a bit when the wealthy AmeriTrade founder whose family owns the Chicago Cubs, invested heavily in Republican Deb Fischer's Senate campaign in Nebraska, giving her an unexpect …
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Boehner redefines 'threat'
Thu May 17, 2012 10:02 AM EDT
In recent weeks, we've seen high-profile Republicans struggle with the meaning of some basic words. Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) doesn't know what "compromise" means; Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) doesn't know what "hypocrisy" means; Indiana's Richard Mourdock doesn't know what "bipartisa …
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'Fuzzy Jobs Math'
Thu May 17, 2012 9:28 AM EDT
Mitt Romney's campaign team told reporters earlier yesterday there would be no questions for the candidate at any point during the day. As it turns out, that wasn't quite true -- the presumptive Republican nominee was willing to answer plenty of questions from conservative blogge …
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Jobless claims level off after roller-coaster ride
Thu May 17, 2012 8:39 AM EDT
Watching the initial unemployment claims lately has not been for the faint of heart. February and March were very encouraging; April was a disheartening mess; and as we saw in today's report from the Department of Labor, the totals appear to be leveling off in May. Last week's fi …
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Senate GOP backs radical Ryan plan
Thu May 17, 2012 7:59 AM EDT
It was "budget bonanza" day in the U.S. Senate yesterday, with the chamber taking up several budget bills with the express purpose of defeating all of them. It was, at a certain level, inane political theater, which Capitol Hill reporters were inclined to ignore. I'm not unsympa …
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