Daily Archives

November 15, 2017

32 posts · Wednesday

Why Bill Clinton Should Have Resigned

November 15, 2017 at 12:27 pm ET By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Matthew Yglesias: “But looking back through today’s lens, this whole argument was miscast. The wrongdoing at issue was never just a private matter for the Clinton family; it was a high-profile exemplar of a widespread social problem: men’s abuse of workplace power for sexual gain. It was and is a striking example of a genre of misconduct that society has a strong interest in stamping out. That alone should have been enough to have pressured Clinton out of office.”

“Had Clinton resigned in disgrace under pressure from his own party, that would have sent a strong, and useful, chilling signal to powerful men throughout the country.”

“Instead, the ultimate disposition of the case — impunity for the man who did something wrong, embarrassment and disgrace for the woman who didn’t — only served to confirm women’s worst fears about coming forward.”

How Republicans Are Gaming Budget Rules

November 15, 2017 at 12:25 pm ET By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Jonathan Chait: “The genius of the Republican plan, if they pull it off, is that they are using hostage-taking in a novel fashion. They are using a 50-vote bill to pass the things Republicans care about, and setting up other, 60-vote bills to fix them. The partisan bill adds up on paper because it doesn’t include the cost of the bailout, which they can assume will be bipartisan.”

“Democrats can complain about this abuse of the rules, but the more productive course is to think of ways of imitating it. For instance: Suppose Democrats win control of Congress and the presidency, but cannot clear a filibuster (and also lack the votes to eliminate it). For instance: What if they decide to pay for an expanded Medicaid or Medicare buy-in plan by imposing a really gigantic tax hike on the rich — higher than even Democrats would like to see? Like a 90 percent top tax rate? Then they can invite Republicans to join them in a follow-up bill to cut that rate back down to a reasonable level.”

“If the rule is that majority-only bills have to add up, but bipartisan bills can increase the deficit all they want, then you can offload the costs of your bills by creating incentives for the other party to join in. In the short run, Republicans may have figured out a way around budget rules. In the long run, Democrats can do the same thing.”

Individual Tax Cuts Would Only Be Temporary

November 15, 2017 at 9:15 am ET By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Los Angeles Times: “Even as Senate leaders seek to enhance their tax package to make it more attractive to middle-class Americans, they are proposing making the new individual benefits expire at the end of 2025 in an effort to avoid adding to the long-term federal deficit.”

“Proposed cuts to corporate taxes would be permanent, under the revised Senate plan.”

Republicans Trade a Math Problem for a Political One

November 15, 2017 at 9:09 am ET By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

First Read: “But even if the legislation does pass (and it seems like Senate Republicans are doing whatever it takes to pass it) they won’t have an easy time selling it to the American public. Higher premiums, fewer who are insured, tax cuts for corporations, estate-tax repeal for the wealthiest of Americans – the TV ad attacks in 2018 are easy to envision.”

“And pairing repeal of the individual mandate makes it all but impossible to get some Senate Democrats (West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, North Dakota’s Heidi Heitkamp, Indiana’s Joe Donnelly) to support the GOP’s tax plan. And we’ve seen how partisan legislation plays with the American public at the ballot box.”

“Bottom line: Senate Republicans may have solved their math problem by repealing the individual mandate, but they’ve now added other problems to their tax plan – a week after health care was the most important issue in Virginia’s gubernatorial election, per the exit poll, and after Maine easily passed Medicaid expansion. What’s more, only 27 percent of Americans approve of President Trump’s handling of health care, according to last month’s NBC/WSJ poll.”

Anchor Debunks His Network’s Favorite Clinton ‘Scandal’

November 15, 2017 at 8:26 am ET By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Fox News anchor Shepard Smith debunked what his own network has called the Hillary Clinton uranium “scandal,” infuriating Fox viewers, some of whom suggested that he ought to work for CNN or MSNBC,” the Washington Post reports.

“Smith’s critique, which called President Trump’s accusations against Clinton ‘inaccurate,’ was triggered by renewed calls from Republicans on Capitol Hill for a special counsel to investigate Clinton.”

Warren and Baker Are Up Big Over Challengers

November 15, 2017 at 8:23 am ET By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new WBUR poll in Massachusetts finds that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Gov. Charlie Baker (R) both retain wide leads over challengers who are struggling to gain broad public attention.

Key finding: “All of Elizabeth Warren and Baker’s current challengers suffer from a lack of name recognition; for each of the seven, most voters polled had never heard of them.”

North Korea Says Trump Should Die

November 15, 2017 at 8:13 am ET By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“North Korea gave its version of a diplomatic verdict Wednesday on President Trump’s recent trip to Asia: He’s a coward who deserves to die,” USA Today reports.

“Pyongyang’s state media slammed Trump for insulting North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un while on a five country tour of Asia. It said the American president, who Kim has feuded with for months, deserves the death penalty.”

Inside Scott Walker’s Comeback Strategy

November 15, 2017 at 8:06 am ET By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

After two years of mending fences after a failed presidential bid, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) “has clawed his way back. His numbers have inched up each of the past four quarters, and his approval rating is now back in the mid-to-high 40s,” according to James Hohmann.

“As the GOP primaries continued without him from New Hampshire to South Carolina and beyond, Walker convened the first of more than 100 ‘listening sessions’ in all 72 of Wisconsin’s counties. His advance team would set up two whiteboards in the front of every room. The governor would spend the first 20 minutes asking attendees to say something positive about the state, which he’d write down. Then he’d spend the next hour asking how Wisconsin could be better, filling up the second whiteboard. He tried to talk as little as possible.”

“The governor offered several concrete proposals in his budget around the themes that came up again and again, such as opioid abuse and broadband access, but he said the most important result of the sessions was conveying to Wisconsinites that he had not ‘moved on.'”

Democrats Win Back Albuquerque In a Blowout

November 15, 2017 at 8:03 am ET By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Democrats wrested control of New Mexico’s largest city from the GOP on Tuesday as New Mexico State Auditor Tim Keller (D) easily won a race to become Albuquerque’s next mayor,” CBS News reports.

Keller beat Albuquerque City Councilor Dan Lewis (R) with 62% to 38% “in a race that centered on the city’s raising crime rates and its struggling economy.”

The Mooch Shops New Book

November 15, 2017 at 7:20 am ET By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Sources tell Page Six exclusively that the shortest-ever-tenured White House communications director has been meeting with publishers about a planned tome that’s being repped by Trident Media Group… While the Mooch has previously penned finance books, a source tells us of the new project: ‘It’s about his time at the White House — all 10 days of it!’”

Hannity Gives Roy Moore 24 Hours

November 15, 2017 at 7:14 am ET By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Fox News host Sean Hannity walked back his original remarks insinuating that the five women accusing Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore (R) of sexual assault when they were teenagers might be lying, Politico reports.

Said Hannity: “For me, the judge has 24 hours. You must immediately and fully come up with a satisfactory explanation for your inconsistencies that I just showed.”

Biden Leads Trump In Possible 2020 Race

November 15, 2017 at 7:11 am ET By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

In a prospective 2020 match up, a new Politico/Morning Consult poll finds former Vice President Joe Biden leads President Trump in a possible presidential race, 46% to 35%.

“Biden’s 11-point margin is actually smaller than the poll’s previous question, in which voters are asked whether they will vote to reelect Trump, or for a generic Democrat. The generic Democrat leads Trump, 48 percent to 34 percent, the poll shows.”

Skinny Repeal Lives

November 15, 2017 at 7:03 am ET By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sam Baker: “Senate Republicans’ latest tax proposal includes a provision to repeal the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate. It’s a risky maneuver, but one that GOP leaders waded into with at least an outward projection of confidence, saying they believed they had 50 votes for the overall tax package.”

“Remember ‘skinny repeal’? The repeal bill that all but three Senate Republicans voted for on the express condition that it not become law? Because, as Sen. Lindsey Graham put it, ‘the skinny bill as policy is a disaster’? The policy is basically the same this time around.”

“That said, none of the three senators who killed skinny repeal — Susan Collins, John McCain or Lisa Murkowski — has said repealing the individual mandate would be a deal-breaker for their tax votes.”

Most Think Trump Will Benefit More from Tax Plan

November 15, 2017 at 7:00 am ET By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Politico/Morning Consult poll finds 56% of voters think President Trump and the company he built will benefit from proposed changes to the tax code, but fewer than three in 10 expect those changes to help them.