Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) told CNN there was a “written policy” floating around the agency that said IRS officials were “targeting people who were opposed to the president.”
Said Paul: “And when that comes forward, we need to know who wrote the policy and who approved the policy.”
When pressed for details about the memo he was referring to, Paul said he hasn’t seen such a policy statement but has heard about it.
“I’m running a Colin Powell military operation, which is assemble an
overwhelming force, focus on a single target and have the stomach to see
it all the way through to the end.”
— Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), quoted by Politico, on how he’s avoided having a primary challenge so far.
White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer said the question of whether any laws were broken in the IRS scandal is “irrelevant” because the agency’s actions were wrong and unjustifiable, the Washington Post reports.
Said Pfeiffer: “I can’t speak to the law here. The law is irrelevant. The activity was outrageous and inexcusable, and it was stopped and it needs to be fixed to ensure it never happens again.”
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“Obama clearly has Muslim sensibilities. He sees the world and Israel from a Muslim perspective.”
— Virginina Lt. Gov. nominee E.W. Jackson (R), quoted by BuzzFeed, writing in 2010.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) predicted that President Obama’s health care law will be the biggest issue of the 2014 midterm elections, the Washington Post reports.
Said McConnell: “I don’t know what the issues will be next year. If I were predicting what’s likely to be the biggest issue in the 2014 election, I think it would be Obamacare. I think it’s coming back big-time.”
Former New Jersey Gov. Brendan Byrne (D) told the Newark Star Ledger that Barbara Buono (D) should consider dropping her challenge to Gov. Chris Christie (R).
Said Byrne: “Buono is way behind. I was way behind in 1977 and I was thinking, if it gets worse, I’m going to withdraw. It didn’t get worse. As a matter fact, it got better. But at one point I thought of dropping out in favor of a better-positioned candidate. I don’t know whether that consideration would appeal to Buono, but I would advise she make that evaluation.”
“What we’ve seen in the last seven or eight days have really shaken me. History teaches us that when government is too large and too powerful, no matter who’s in charge, it will lead to abuses.”
— Sen. Marco Rubio (R-VA), quoted by the Tampa Bay Times.
A new CNN/ORC poll finds President Obama comes out of what was arguably the worst week of his presidency with his approval rating holding steady at 53% to 45%.
Said pollster Keating Holland: “An approval rating that has not dropped and remains over 50% will probably be taken as good news by Democrats after the events of the last week.”
The latest Gallup poll finds Obama’s approval at 51% to 42%.
“Six months is a lifetime in politics. But an awful lot of what’s happening in Washington with the current regime should help us.”
— Former Virginia U.S. Senate candidate Oliver North (R), quoted by Politico, on the wave of conservative enthusiasm that swept the state GOP convention yesterday.
Washington Post: “President Obama’s professed ignorance of the targeting of conservatives by one government agency and his support of tracking journalists’ sources by another highlight one of the great paradoxes of his presidency: Sometimes he uses his office as aggressively as anyone who’s held it; other times he seems unacquainted with the work of his own administration.”
“The president’s inconsistency is so befuddling that not even his critics can get it straight. They simultaneously charge that he is ‘leading from behind’ and that he is displaying, in the words of House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-OH), ‘the arrogance of power.'”
“Rejuvenated by a Democratic scandal in Washington and a tea party conservative atop their ticket, Virginia Republicans Saturday nominated a trio of statewide candidates whose fate will be closely watched as an indicator of the health of the national GOP,” Politico reports.
GOP gubernatorial nominee Ken Cuccinelli (R) “was one of three conservatives chosen Saturday for the GOP’s 2013 ticket — a reaction, many here at the state party convention said, to last year’s failed presidential bid by Mitt Romney, a Republican they thought was too moderate and waffling,” the Washington Post reports.
“E.W. Jackson, a minister from Chesapeake, won the nomination for lieutenant governor with a full-throated appeal for limited government, traditional families and gun rights… For attorney general, the party nominated state Sen. Mark D. Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg), who this year successfully pushed tougher voter ID rules.”
The Washington Post looks at politicians who bucked the National Rifle Association and were punished harshly despite years of past support.
“For longtime NRA members, the Senate vote was not surprising. The group has turned the debate over gun control into a clarion call for constitutional rights. Any perceived assault on the Second Amendment is met with a withering counterattack. Even conservative lawmakers who cross the NRA are labeled as traitors. The NRA has been so effective over the years that gun-control groups are now trying to adopt some of the same tactics.”
“Well-organized NRA members and affiliated groups of gun owners hold rallies and pour resources into political campaigns. They flood local and national legislative offices with e-mails and phone calls. They make unannounced visits to the offices of lawmakers. The NRA’s lobbying arm posts myriad ‘Alerts,’ calling on millions of members across to the country to rise up at a moment’s notice.”
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford “turned down three chances on Friday to address the specifics of media reports about a video in which he appears to smoke crack cocaine and utter an anti-gay slur,” the Toronto Star reports.
The mayor later told reporters that the allegations were “absolutely not true” and “ridiculous.” At city hall later, he emerged from his office to offer only a brief statement.
Said Ford: “Anyways, like I said this morning, these allegations are ridiculous, another story with respect to the Toronto Star going after me, and that’s all I have to say.”
A new GaPundit poll in Georgia finds an extremely tight race for the GOP Senate nomination with Rep. Jack Kingston (R) at 18%, Rep. Phil Gingrey (R) at 16%, Karen Handel (R) at 16%, Rep. Paul Broun (R) at 14% and David Perdue (R) at 6%.
Annabel Monaghan: “The fact that they came to this event at all is truly extraordinary. As the day unfolded, we learned that many of the mothers had struggled with whether they were comfortable being so far away from their children for the day. For some, it was the first time since December. One mother told me that she keeps the private cell phone number of the school security guard with her so that she can check in during the day if she feels anxious. After all they have faced, it was truly a leap of faith to come spend the day with strangers.”
“I’m not a fan of the president, in case you didn’t know that.”
— Mitt Romney, on the Tonight Show.
Newt Gingrich told NPR his GOP colleagues should worry “about the risk of appearing to be too eager as they dig into the scandals now dogging the Obama administration.”
Said Gingrich: “I think we overreached in ’98 — how’s that for a quote you can use?”
He added: “They need to be calm and factual. For example, a [House] subcommittee … should invite every single tea party, conservative, patriot group that was messed over by the IRS — every single one of them — to come in and testify, so that they build this deadening record of how many different people were having their rights abused by this administration.”
“Some parents hope their children follow in their footsteps. One mayoral candidate in Michigan, however, is seeking to follow the path once walked by his own teenage son,” the Huffington Post reports.
“Scott Sessions is city councilman and a candidate for mayor of Hillsdale, Mich. He’s running for an office his son, Michael, won in 2005 as an 18-year-old high school senior, catapulting him, and the city of 8,000, to international attention.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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