“The wild winter weather this week has been called historic and unprecedented, and John Kerry, U.S. special presidential envoy for climate, wants to stop it from becoming typical,” CBS News reports.
Said Kerry: “Well, the scientists told us three years ago we had 12 years to avert the worst consequences of climate crisis. We are now three years gone, so we have nine years left.”
New York Times: “The Republican Party of Virginia has voted four times since December to nominate its candidates for this year’s statewide races at a convention instead of in a primary election. But in a sign of the Trumpian times of denial and dispute in the GOP, nearly half of the party’s top officials are still trying to reverse the results.”
“State Republicans have internalized the lesson that there is no benefit to accepting results they don’t like, and the result is a paralyzed party unable to set the date, location and rules for how and when it will pick its 2021 nominees for statewide office, including the race for governor.”
A great resource for election nerds: Daily Kos has the 2020, 2016, and 2012 presidential election results broken down for all 435 congressional districts.
“America is unreservedly back as the leader of the free world and that is a fantastic thing.”
— U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, quoted by Reuters, refering to an earlier speech by President Joe Biden at the Munich Security Conference.
Greg Sargent has a must-read interview with historian Rick Perlstein and the impact of Rush Limbaugh on the conservative movement.
“With a contested presidential race and impeachment crisis behind it, Congress is turning to a Democratic candidate’s claim that Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks was improperly declared the winner of their match-up last fall. That candidate, Rita Hart, has formally contested her 6-vote loss — one of the closest federal elections in recent history — possibly placing lawmakers in the uncomfortable position of having to determine whether it seated the wrong woman in January,” Politico reports.
“The House Administration Committee will gather virtually Friday afternoon to finalize the process by which it will adjudicate Hart’s claim… The committee has been largely silent since Hart first made her contest in December, but the hearing suggests that it is preparing to review the matter further.”
“I have a very thick skin… I don’t really care what people say about me.”
— New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), quoted by the New York Times.
“U.S. Capitol Police have told lawmakers that the razor wire fencing around the Capitol should remain in place until at least September due to lingering security concerns related to threats against members of Congress,” CNN reports.
Vice News: “The basic outline of the theory is that President Joe Biden allowed China access to the U.S. power grid when he signed the Keystone Pipeline Executive Order, and by doing so somehow allowed China to hack the U.S. power grid and cause the blackouts that Texas has suffered over the last week.”
“Of course, this theory, which has no basis in fact, fails to mention that Texas’ power grid is operated and maintained by Texas, and not part of the two major federally-controlled power grids that service every other state in the country.”
Associated Press: “Yellen rejected arguments being made by Republicans that President Joe Biden’s proposal is too big following the nearly $4 trillion in government support approved last year.”
“She said that even with the support already approved, the country still has 9 million people out of work and another 4 million who have dropped out of the labor force. She noted that the Congressional Budget Office has projected that without the Biden plan, it could take the economy until 2024 to get back to full employment. With the extra support, that goal could be achieved by next year, she said.”
Jonathan Chait: “Democrats have spent the past 11 years beating back Republican efforts to dismantle, repeal, or sabotage the Affordable Care Act. Over time, the issue has transformed from a Democratic political liability to an advantage. And now that the Democrats control the federal government again, they are moving into a new stage of expanding the law.”
“Obamacare has two major flaws that have hampered its ability to cover the uninsured. One was created by Senate Democrats, and the other was created by Chief Justice John Roberts. The coronavirus-relief legislation begins to fix both these flaws. If it is signed into law, millions of Americans will gain access to health insurance and millions more who have insurance will pay less.”
FiveThirtyEight: “Being a parent is hard enough — but being a parent during a pandemic is even harder. With many schools physically closed to prevent the spread of COVID-19, parents are now balancing their omnipresent concerns over their children’s education, development and emotional well-being with their own lives and careers. And the stress of that has bubbled over to the point where reopening schools is now a major political issue.”
“But despite the increased volume of the debate, public opinion on reopening schools is complicated. The issue is not as black-and-white as many are depicting it, and the variations in wording that pollsters use to ask about it can produce different results. Here’s what the polls over the past month do say.”
President Biden pledged that the United States is “fully committed” to NATO after four years of President Donald Trump railing against the alliance, the Washington Post reports.
Biden also warned that “democratic progress is under assault” in many parts of the world, including the United States and Europe.
Florida Politics: “In West Palm Beach Friday, Gov. Ron DeSantis confirmed expectations that he would order flags to half staff for fallen radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, a local.”
Dubuque Telegraph Herald: “The near-identical bills would cut both the periods for in-person and mail-in early voting from 29 to 18 days. It had been 40 days before the Republican-controlled Legislature reduced it four years ago. The bills also would allow voters to request absentee ballots starting 70 days before an election — a 50-day reduction from the current 120 days.”
“The proposals would bar counties from mailing absentee ballot applications to voters, tightly regulate how absentee ballots can be returned and potentially reduce satellite early voting locations.”
Just published: The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee.
Michelle Goldberg: “McGhee’s book is about the many ways racism has defeated efforts to create a more economically just America. Once the civil rights movement expanded America’s conception of ‘the public,’ white America’s support for public goods collapsed. People of color have suffered the most from the resulting austerity, but it’s made life a lot worse for most white people, too.”
Trump Hotel employees opened up to the Washingtonian “what it was really like behind the curtains of ‘America’s Living Room,’ where right-wing operatives were treated like celebrities and political power determined the seating chart.”
“If you weren’t in the business of Making America Great Again, well, sweetheart, you quickly learned to fake it. Working for the Trump hotel meant putting on a performance every night—right down to the gummy bears and popcorn.”
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.
