Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg blasted Colorado’s decision to legalize marijuana as stupid, the Aspen Times reports.
Said Bloomberg: “What are we going to say in 10 years when we see all these kids whose IQs are 5 and 10 points lower than they would have been? I couldn’t feel more strongly about it, and my girlfriend says it’s no different than alcohol. It is different than alcohol. This is one of the stupider things that’s happening across our country.”
Former Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-NC) “decided to leave the House of Representatives last year after 18 years in office, but before he left he got a special retirement gift from a lobbyist: a nearly $50,000 trip to Australia for McIntyre and his wife Dee,” AllGov reports.
“The Defence Teaming Centre of Australia, a group representing that country’s defense contractors, paid $49,635.06 for the McIntyres to go Down Under last February for eight days, a month after McIntyre decided to retire.”
Morning Line: “President Obama’s meeting today with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Washington is fraught with all kinds of geopolitical consequences. The president has been reluctant to intervene militarily in the fighting between Ukraine and pro-Russian separatist rebels. He thought sanctions that appeared to be weakening Russia’s economy would lead to a de-escalation of violence, but fighting has been taken to new heights in recent weeks in the Eastern part of the country and Obama is facing new pressure to arm Ukraine. Chancellor Merkel is opposed to arming the rebels, as she tries to broker a peace deal and tries to balance her economic relationship with Russia and Putin.”
Bloomberg: “Obama’s delay in making his move until after Merkel’s visit reflects not only the gravity of the situation and the dueling arguments, but his emphasis on international alliances, his own deliberative nature and the degree to which he’s concentrated power on foreign policy in the White House. … A U.S. official who is also close to the debate declined to predict what Obama will decide after meeting with Merkel.”
First Read: “What we can tell you is that the Obama White House favors it; indeed, this is the rare issue where Republican hawks and the White House are actually united. The dissenter is Merkel, and she is meeting with Obama today.”
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Jeffrey Toobin interviewed Andrew Cuomo (D), “the notoriously press-averse governor of New York, about a range of subjects, including his political rise, his father’s legacy, and corruption in Albany.”
“For better and for worse, Cuomo views his work as a series of transactions. He disdains rhetoric; he prizes results.”
Said Cuomo: “My job is to get to yes. If I don’t make a deal, I get nothing done. If I get nothing done, I am a failure. If the objective is to make a nice speech, it means nothing.”
“Alabama became the latest state to allow same-sex marriage Monday, as many probate judges defied an order by the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court and began issuing licenses and performing weddings,” the New York Times reports.
“Earlier, the United States Supreme Court quashed a final effort to delay the marriages as same-sex couples lined up at courthouses across the state.”
Rick Hasen: “What struck me about today’s dissent was Justice Thomas’s recognition that these stay orders signal what is likely coming on the merits: a constitutional right to same sex marriage. (I think at this point the only question is the vote: I can see 5-4, 6-3 (with Roberts joining Kennedy and the liberals) or perhaps, though least likely 7-2 (with Alito coming too).) The tone was one of resignation of what is coming and a lament about the loss of the power of the states.”
Wall Street Journal: “Republicans, in full control of Congress for the first time since 2006, roundly panned President Obama ’s $4 trillion budget proposal last week for going heavy on tax increases and light on efforts to trim the deficit. But while Republicans’ top budget-writers have committed to eliminating the annual federal budget deficit over 10 years, doing so is expected to require deep cuts in entitlement programs, particularly if tax increases are off the table.”
“That means the GOP will face a challenge negotiating a budget conservative enough to pass the House without proposing politically unpopular cuts that could cause heartburn for Senate Republicans, whose states often represent a broader political spectrum. Democrats in either chamber are unlikely to provide many, if any, votes for a budget used to map out GOP goals.”
Politico: “Today, it is nearly inconceivable that serious politicians can run multiple times for the presidency, especially after losing a general election. Every four years, the Mike Huckabees and Rick Santorums reemerge, but their campaigns are usually about something other than winning the presidency—building a personal brand, perhaps, or sending a message. The real contenders—those with a plausible path to the White House—don’t get a permanent free pass. This relatively new, unforgiving rule is partly a reflection of the presidency’s growing power since the 1930s, but it is also a product of how the nominating process has evolved.”
“Until 50 years ago, a small number of big-state political bosses tightly controlled the selection of presidential nominees. In the late 1970s, all of that changed. The rising influence of television increasingly made politics resemble entertainment, while the fallout of the Vietnam War and civil rights movement shattered the authority of political bosses and elite political institutions. Out of this disruption came the system we know (and love, and loathe) today—the four-year presidential horse race, the campaign reality show, Iowa and New Hampshire, Super Tuesday, a nauseating array of debates and candidate forums.”
“I think she has to approach this campaign like a challenger, not like a front-runner — like an insurgent.”
— David Axelrod, quoted by USA Today, saying Hillary Clinton can’t rely on the Clinton name to win the presidency.
“In a dramatic show of defiance toward the federal judiciary, Chief Justice Roy S. Moore of the Alabama Supreme Court on Sunday night ordered the state’s probate judges not to issue marriage licenses to gay couples on Monday, the day same-sex marriages were expected to begin here,” the New York Times reports.
“It was not immediately clear how the state’s 68 probate judges, who, like Chief Justice Moore, are popularly elected, would respond to the order.”
Charles Dean: Where have we seen this before?
“A new batch of emails released Friday show Cylvia Hayes directed state employees how to implement a new policy while she was being paid $25,000 by an advocacy group to promote it,” the Oregonian reports.
“The emails appear to erase any doubt that, as first lady, Hayes was taking money in her private role and pushing the same policy in her public one. The governor’s office has conceded only that Hayes’ roles as first lady and policy adviser to Gov. John Kitzhaber and as a private consultant put her in a gray area.”
Politico: “Beyond the face value of the twice-weekly talks, Rubio’s political-science classes at Florida International University double as a focus group for the campaign themes and rhetorical flourishes he might use in a 2016 White House campaign. In the fluorescent-lit classrooms of this sprawling suburban commuter school, Rubio frets about what demographic shifts mean for his party and explains how conservatives need to address the struggles of average workers.”
“At the same time, the classroom is a cocoon from the partisan warfare of Washington. There’s no sniping at rivals, Democratic or Republican, and Rubio is as likely to discuss Bill Clinton’s accomplishments as those of Ronald Reagan, whom the senator grew up idolizing.”
“Spencer Zwick may be the most sought after man in Republican politics,” the AP reports.
“A Boston-based venture capitalist who led the operation that raised almost half a billion dollars for Mitt Romney’s last presidential campaign, Zwick has spoken with five Republican presidential prospects — in person or by phone — in the week since Romney announced he would not make a third run for the White House.”
“Deeply disappointed by Romney’s decision, Zwick says he’s not in a rush to join another campaign. But he will, and soon, along with a small group of former Romney aides who are the subject of an intense chase among the crowded 2016 Republican field for some of the nation’s top political talent.”
Bloomberg: “In less than two years in office, he’s nudged the conversation away from abusive priests and used the image makeover to wade into conflicts from helping to restore Cuban-U.S. ties to lobbying for a global climate accord. In September, he will become the first religious leader who serves as a head of state to address a joint session of Congress.”
“By sidestepping the debate on abortion, gay marriage and sex, Francis has positioned himself for a role in world affairs.”
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), “under scrutiny because of a 2013 traffic controversy, is not the target of a new inquiry into possible corruption,” ABC News reports.
“The probe, however, is examining the conduct of other current and former members of Christie’s gubernatorial administration, sources familiar with the investigation said.”
Politico: “Welcome to 2016’s ‘Why not me?’ primary: a low-stakes, little-covered tussle among below-the-radar Republicans who say they could be president. After seeing other presumed has-beens like Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich become real factors in 2012, they see little downside in taking a shot.”
“But for the GOP, which is already wrestling with a large group of would-be contenders, the presence of these former governors and senators and prominent officials presents an extra complication. They’re trying to avoid the circus-like atmosphere, fueled by candidates desperate for attention, that tainted many of the 2012 primary debates.”
Gallup: “Throughout President Obama’s sixth full year in office, an average of 79% of Democrats, compared with 9% of Republicans, approved of the job he was doing. That 70-percentage-point party gap in approval ratings ties for the fifth-most-polarized year for a president in Gallup records dating back to 1953.”
“Each of Obama’s six years in office rank among the 10 most polarized in the last 60 years, with George W. Bush holding the other four spots.”
Leaders of New York’s Working Families Party urged Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to seek the Democratic nomination for president next year, the New York Times reports.
“By voting to encourage a Warren candidacy, the Working Families Party became the latest liberal group to support her as a potential primary challenger to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton… Several organizations on the left, led by MoveOn.org and Democracy for America, have already organized a campaign designed to lure Ms. Warren, with her brand of economic populism, into making a bid for the presidency.”
Embattled NBC News anchor Brian Williams is backing out of scheduled appearance on David Letterman’s “Late Show” on Thursday, the AP reports.
“That news from NBC came Sunday, a day after Williams said he was stepping away from NBC’s ‘Nightly News’ as the network looks into the anchor’s admission that he had told a false story about being on helicopter hit by a grenade while reporting on the Iraq war.”
Mr. Media Training: Advice for NBC News
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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