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Obama Approval on the Rise

December 23, 2014 at 6:15 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 111 Comments

A new CNN/ORC poll finds President Obama’s approval rating has jumped to a 20-month high at 48%.

“The approval jump follows a late-quarter jolt in Obama’s governing agenda, which gained momentum after unilateral actions on immigration and relations with Cuba. Separate surveys have showed those moves popular among the American people. It all amounts to some welcome good news for Obama, whose unpopularity — despite consistently improving economic conditions — led to widespread losses for his party in November’s midterm elections.”

McDonnell Will Ask Judge for Community Service

December 23, 2014 at 6:10 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 23 Comments

Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R), “convicted in September on 11 federal corruption charges, will ask the court to consider several options for his sentencing other than prison time,” the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports.

One proposal would have him working two years in Haiti at a home for disabled children, handling clean water and disease prevention programs and operating a fish farm.

McDonnell’s sentencing is scheduled for January 6, 2015.

New PAC Worries Romney Supporters

December 23, 2014 at 5:12 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 8 Comments

“The new group has drawn consternation from longtime Romney advisers, who worry it could be a scam, designed to rip off vulnerable supporters of the 2012 Republican presidential nominee… Launched late last week, Ready for Romney appears to be, at best, political amateur hour,” the Daily Beast reports.

Said Romney fundraiser Spencer Zwick: “It would seem to me we would know something or at least one of the names connected to a legitimate organization. In this case, I don’t know any of the individuals. Nor do they appear to have been big Romney supporters. I likewise don’t know any Romney donors or former campaign leadership at all connected to this group.”

Grimm Won’t Step Down Despite Guilty Plea

December 23, 2014 at 5:01 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 18 Comments

Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) said he “won’t step down, despite pleading guilty Tuesday to one of the 20 felony tax fraud charges he’s been battling since April — immediately raising questions about whether the New York Republican will be forced to resign his seat in Congress,” Roll Call reports.

Said Grimm: “Absolutely not. It happened before I was in Congress, and for the past four years I’ve been a strong, effective member of Congress. As long as I am able to serve, I’m going to serve, and that’s exactly what I plan on doing.”

House IRS Inquiry Shows No White House Ties

December 23, 2014 at 4:55 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 26 Comments

“An 18-month congressional investigation into the Internal Revenue Service’s mistreatment of conservative political groups seeking tax exemptions has failed to show coordination between agency officials and political operatives in the White House,” the New York Times reports.

U.S. Won’t Confirm Internet Attack in North Korea

December 23, 2014 at 12:31 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 7 Comments

The U.S. State Department declined to “speculate” about a reported Internet outage in North Korea after the U.S. promised a “proportionate response” to a hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment linked to the isolated nation, NBC News reports.

Said spokeswoman Marie Harf: “I don’t have anything new to share with you today about North Korea. The president has spoken to what our potential responses – separate and apart from what we’ve seen over the past 24 hours – might be. And I’d leave it to North Korea to talk about if their internet was up or if it wasn’t, and why.”

How Comcast Lobbies the Politically Influential

December 23, 2014 at 12:04 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 19 Comments

The Washingtonian has a story about how David Gregory lost his job as host of “Meet the Press” which contains this interesting tidbit:

“Comcast also had an even more personal way of sucking up to Washington. Its government-affairs team carried around ‘We’ll make it right’ cards stamped with ‘priority assistance’ codes for fast-tracking help and handed them out to congressional staffers, journalists, and other influential Washingtonians who complained about their service.”

Grimm May Not Get Jail Time

December 23, 2014 at 9:21 am EST By Taegan Goddard 14 Comments

Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) “may not spend a day behind bars even if he pleads guilty Tuesday to a federal tax-evasion charge as expected,” the Staten Island Advance reports.

“Grimm’s lack of criminal history, his military service and years of service as an FBI agent should weigh in his favor, said experts.”

Meanwhile, The Hill reports that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is “turning the heat up” on Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), urging him to call for Grimm’s resignation.

Republicans Set to Oust CBO Chief

December 23, 2014 at 9:14 am EST By Taegan Goddard 30 Comments

“Incoming Republican leaders in Congress won’t reappoint Doug Elmendorf to another term as head of the Congressional Budget Office,” Bloomberg reports.

“The move comes after a campaign from conservative lawmakers who want to change the way the CBO calculates the costs of government… The office provides nonpartisan budget analysis for members of Congress that includes estimates of the cost of legislation.”

Economy Grew at 5% Last Quarter

December 23, 2014 at 8:38 am EST By Taegan Goddard 30 Comments

“The U.S. economy posted its strongest growth in more than a decade during the third quarter, supported by robust consumer spending and business investment,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of goods and services produced across the economy, grew at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.0% in the third quarter… That was up from the second quarter’s growth rate of 4.6% and the strongest pace since the third quarter of 2003.”

Quote of the Day

December 23, 2014 at 8:23 am EST By Taegan Goddard 28 Comments

“The Senate basically didn’t do squat for years. I don’t think most members of the Senate wanted it run that way.”

— Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), quoted by Politico.

Mook Emerges as Likely Clinton Campaign Chief

December 23, 2014 at 8:21 am EST By Taegan Goddard 13 Comments

Robby Mook “has emerged as a clear front-runner to manage Clinton’s expected presidential campaign after Guy Cecil, the political director for her 2008 bid, acknowledged Sunday he won’t have an official role this time around,” Bloomberg reports.

“Mook already is working on special projects for Clinton, according to two longtime Democratic strategists. One said Mook was influential in shaping her role helping Democrats during the 2014 midterm elections.”

Christie Studying Foreign Policy Issues

December 23, 2014 at 8:18 am EST By Taegan Goddard 10 Comments

Associated Press: “It’s after 9 p.m. on a Sunday night in late November and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is deep into a conference call talking about nuclear weapons and Iran. One voice is advocating a hard line, arguing against allowing Iran any capability to enrich uranium. Another summarizes the status of current negotiations and argues that forcing Iran to give up enrichment entirely isn’t realistic.”

“This is how Christie has spent many of his nights during a year in which he raised record-setting amounts of campaign cash for his fellow Republican governors and methodically tried to recover from a political scandal involving traffic jams near a New York City bridge. Late at night, away from the spotlight of the midterm elections and 2016 speculation, he’s been on the phone with some of the brightest foreign policy minds in the Republican Party, getting ready to run for president.”

De Blasio Loses the Police

December 23, 2014 at 8:06 am EST By Taegan Goddard 72 Comments

“Bill de Blasio, like his progressive political idol Barack Obama, is finding out that you can’t do the New Politics if you don’t pay attention to the old politics,” Politico reports.

“In Obama’s case, it was a failure to recognize the threat posed to him by Republicans who didn’t buy into his calls for a post-partisan partnership with Congress. For New York’s ambitious liberal mayor, it was an inability to keep long-simmering tensions with the city’s traditionally powerful police department from boiling over in the last few days.”

“You can’t be big-city mayor and alienate the cops – and that’s just as true now as it was under three-term New York City Mayor Ed Koch, or even a century ago.”

McConnell Will Try to Get Senators to Yes

December 23, 2014 at 8:00 am EST By Taegan Goddard 8 Comments

“As he prepares to guide Republicans out of the wilderness of the Senate minority, Senator Mitch McConnell, the incoming majority leader, knows his real problem is not corralling mavericks in his party like Senator Ted Cruz. It is persuading other Senate Republicans conditioned to voting no that it is time to vote yes,” the New York Times reports.

Said McConnell: “One of my challenges is to try to convince some of my members that passing an appropriations bill is a good thing, not a bad thing.”

North Korea Internet Collapses in Apparent Attack

December 22, 2014 at 3:10 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 34 Comments

“North Korea’s already tenuous links to the Internet went completely dark on Monday after days of instability, in what Internet monitors described as one of the worst North Korean network failures in years,” the New York Times reports.

“The loss of service came just days after President Obama pledged that the United States would launch a ‘proportional response’ to the recent attacks on Sony Pictures, which government officials have linked to North Korea. While an attack on North Korea’s networks was suspected, there was no definitive evidence of it.”

“The loss of service is not likely to affect the vast majority of North Koreans, who have no access to the Internet. The biggest impact would be felt by the country’s elite, state-run media channels and its propagandists, as well as its cadre of cyberwarriors.”

The AP reports the White House declined to comment.

[speech_bubble type=”std” subtype=”a” icon=”pwdome.jpg” name=””]Of course, the most effective U.S. retaliation would be to open up the Internet to the North Korean people. [/speech_bubble]

Grimm Will Plead Guilty to Felony

December 22, 2014 at 2:41 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 6 Comments

Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) will plead guilty to a felony charge of cheating on his taxes before entering Congress, the New York Daily News has learned.

“Grimm said during the campaign that he would step down from his seat if he was ‘unable to serve.’ But he is expected to maintain he can continue to serve despite pleading guilty to one tax evasion count… If would then be up to House Republican leaders to decide whether to force him to resign.”

Assessing the GOP Presidential Field

December 22, 2014 at 2:31 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 7 Comments

Al Hunt: “To oversimplify, there are two distinct candidate types: the mainstream conservatives and the movement conservatives. There really are no moderates.”

“Establishment conservatives are the favorites of Wall Street, big business and traditional Republicans. Movement candidates are embraced by the Tea Party, social and cultural conservatives, and the populist right.”