A new FOX10 News/Strategy Research poll in Alabama finds Roy Moore (R) leading Sen. Luther Strange (R-AL) in the Republican U.S. Senate primary runoff, 54% to 46%.
Daily Archives
September 22, 2017
35 posts · Friday
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“No one is more opposed to Obamacare than I am, and I’ve voted multiple times for repeal. The current bill isn’t repeal… Calling a bill that keeps most of Obamacare ‘repeal’ doesn’t make it true. That’s what the swamp does. I won’t be bribed or bullied.”
— Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), once again stating his opposition to the latest Republican health care bill.
North Korea Has 1,300 Unpaid NYC Parking Tickets
NBC New York: “An I-Team investigation found North Korea’s diplomatic mission to the United Nations has racked up more than 1,300 unpaid New York City parking tickets going back to the 1990s. As of this year, the total debt has climbed to more than $156,000.”
Trump Is Breaking the Republican Party In Two
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Big Majority Want Congress to Stabilize Obamacare
The latest Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll finds that 69% of Americans think it’s important for Congress to pass legislation to help stabilize the Affordable Care Act.
In contrast, just 47% think it’s important to continue efforts to repeal and replace the law.
White House Harbors Doubts About Health Care Bill
Politico: “The public stance is coupled with a sense of doubt inside the White House, though, about the bill and deep concerns about whether it can pass the Senate or House, according to administration officials and congressional sources. These people say the president and his team have little sway with some key members, like GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, John McCain of Arizona and Murkowski, the trio that tanked Republicans’ repeal attempt in July.”
“In fact, many Republicans on Capitol Hill believe that Trump cost them Murkowski’s vote in a private phone call this summer. And the president has refrained from making as many calls this go-round, one person familiar with his whipping said.”
“Several White House officials described the president as determined to sign something — anything, really.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“He was deplorable before being deplorable was cool.”
— Sarah Palin, quoted by the Birmingham News, campaigning for Roy Moore (R) in Alabama’s U.S. Senate race.
Bannon Held Secret Meeting in China
“Steve Bannon flew to Beijing last week for a secret meeting with the second most powerful Chinese Communist party official, less than a month after the former chief White House strategist declared that America was at ‘economic war with China,'” the Financial Times reports.
Trump Tax Plan Gains Momentum
“The White House plan for a massive package of tax cuts is gaining new momentum as Republicans attempt to set aside months of intraparty squabbling and unify behind a key part of President Trump’s agenda,” the Washington Post reports.
“Two developments are accelerating the effort: Key Senate Republicans reached a tentative deal this week to allow for as much as $1.5 trillion in tax reductions over 10 years; and there is a growing willingness within the GOP to embrace controversial, optimistic estimates of how much economic growth their tax plan would create.”
Axios: “Our GOP sources agree that chances are improved, with the most likely outcome being a significant tax cut for corporations, small businesses, and individuals making less than $150,000 a year.”
The Grease is Gone
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Trump Warns GOP Lawmakers to Vote for Senate Bill
President Trump warned Republicans to fall in line behind last-ditch legislation in the Senate to repeal and replace Obamacare, tweeting that any GOP lawmaker who votes against the bill will be remembered as “the Republican who saved Obamacare,” Politico reports.
He specifically singled out Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) who is publicly opposed to the bill.
Quote of the Day
“The Russia hoax continues, now it’s ads on Facebook. What about the totally biased and dishonest media coverage in favor of Crooked Hillary?”
— President Trump, on Twitter.
McConnell Lays It All on the Line
Politico: “He’s been battered by President Trump and had his vaunted legislative acumen called into question. Now, Mitch McConnell has a chance to put his cruel summer behind him. Over the next week, the Senate majority leader will try one last time to rescind the Democratic health care law. At the same time, he’s put his political reputation on the line in Alabama, where his chosen candidate, incumbent Sen. Luther Strange, faces off against anti-establishment Roy Moore in a special Senate election on Tuesday.”
“The typically cautious McConnell is taking huge gambles in both cases, and will emerge as a hero or goat within the GOP depending on how it all turns out. … McConnell will need everything to break his way to come out on top. Moore is leading in the polls and McConnell currently lacks the votes to repeal Obamacare.”
Sean Spicer Is Washington’s First Pariah
Politico: “Washington routinely forgives its philanderers, drug addicts and alcoholics, embezzlers, perjurers, bribers and bribees, liars, burglars and tax evaders, granting them the redemption of another term in office or a job in a lobbying shop or think tank after their scandal passes. It even absolved a drunk who killed a young lady, giving him a prince’s funeral when he died. The writer who said that there are no second acts in American life never lived here.”
“But that iron law hasn’t helped Spicer. Since leaving the White House this summer, he has gained admittance to a circle of one: He has become a Washington pariah. Nobody wants to be anywhere near him, but everyone wants to talk smack about him. He’s not just a punchline. He’s become a national laughing stock ever since his cameo on the Emmy Awards this week, where he attempted a joke about his most famous White House lie.”
Kim Calls Trump a ‘Deranged Dotard’
“Responding directly for the first time to President Trump’s threat at the United Nations to destroy nuclear-armed North Korea, its leader called Mr. Trump a ‘mentally deranged U.S. dotard’ on Friday and vowed the ‘highest level of hard-line countermeasure in history,'” the New York Times reports.
“Although Mr. Kim is often quoted by official North Korean news media, it is highly unusual for him to issue a statement in his name. In North Korea, the supreme leader’s statement carries a weight that surpasses any other formal document.”
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports Trump “announced new financial sanctions targeting North Korea as his administration seeks to build international support for more aggressively confronting the rogue nation.”
Sandoval Blasts Latest GOP Health Care Bill
Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) said that the flexibility fellow Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) promised will be good for Nevada in a health-care bill he’s sponsoring is a “false choice” because the legislation will also slash funding, the Nevada Independent reports.
Sandoval said he would not “pit seniors, children, families, the mentally ill, the critically ill, hospitals, care providers or any other Nevadan against each other” because of the steep cuts to federal funding the state would face if the Heller-sponsored measure were to pass.
Trump Aides Head for the Exits
“A fast-growing number of White House staffers are starting to look for the exits, even though the one-year mark of President Trump’s first term is still months away. Many who joined the administration in January did so with the explicit idea that they’d stay for at least a year, enough to credibly say they’d served,” Politico reports.
“But in the aftermath of a wave of abrupt, high-profile departures over the summer that culminated with former strategist Steve Bannon’s ouster in August, aides up and down the chain are reaching out to headhunters, lobbyists, and GOP operatives for help finding their next job.”
“They’re talking to headhunters about positions as in-house government affairs experts at major companies, or as executives at trade associations, universities, or consulting firms – ironically, jobs that run counter to Trump’s ‘drain the swamp’ mantra.”
