“It’s brazen. He’s acting like a petulant child who is upset with the American people because they disagree with the worthiness of his public policies. He doesn’t want the American people in future elections determining the outcome of those elections. Rather, he wants to import millions of foreigners who he hopes will tip the balance of future election in the Democratic Party’s favor.”
— Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), quoted by the Huntsville Times, on President Obama’s immigration measures.
Betsy Woodruff: “I spent the past few days asking Republican senators what they meant when they referred to amnesty in terms of immigration policy. The answers I got were intriguing. That’s because while Republican congressional leaders are always eager to discuss their opposition to this vague, amorphous concept, many of them are downright befuddled when asked to explain what that concept looks like in real life. Their responses ranged from straightforward to nonsensical.”
[speech_bubble type=”std” subtype=”a” icon=”pwdome.jpg” name=””]Amnesty wasn’t always such a loaded word. Ronald Reagan repeatedly stated that he favored amnesty for some undocumented immigrants.[/speech_bubble]
Former Sen Scott Brown (R), who lost his bid to unseat Sen. Jean Shaheen (D-NH), is rejoining Fox News as a contributor, the Boston Herald reports.
“Brown’s decision to rejoin the cable news station is no surprise. The former senator left his Fox News gig and his job with the Boston law firm Nixon Peabody to campaign in New Hampshire, so he does need a job… The gig also keeps him in the public eye and on the radar should he decide that his political career isn’t over.”
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“When, President Obama, do you mean to cease abusing our patience? How long is that madness of yours still to mock us? When is there to be an end to that unbridled audacity of yours, swaggering about as it does now?”
— Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), quoted by The Hill, comparing President Obama to a figure who sought to violently overthrow the Roman republic.
[speech_bubble type=”std” subtype=”a” icon=”pwdome.jpg” name=””]Cruz takes the lead in the contest for most dramatic way to call President Obama a tyrannical dictator. [/speech_bubble]
Rick Klein: “He’s daring Republicans to offer their sharpest reactions. Everything from government shutdowns to lawsuits to, yes, impeachment will be in the mix, with the driving consensus that the party needs to do something to register its extreme disapproval.”
“He’s daring them to offer and pass a different set of policies. The fact that the substance of the executive order won’t take effect for six months gives the new GOP majority in Congress another half year to do what Congress hasn’t been able to do over the decade immigration reform has been on the agenda.”
Bloomberg: “The complicated political machine known as Clintonland is revving its engine, as outside groups, top donors, and prospective aides begin preparing for an anticipated formal announcement of her presidential candidacy early next year. In the coming week alone there will be a half-dozen fundraisers aimed at greasing the path toward her 2016 debut. Some events are aimed at scooping up checks for existing pro-Clinton groups, while others will pocket financial “commitments” for a future campaign account.”
“While people close to Clinton caution that no final decisions have been made, they say the former secretary of state has shifted her focus from public events and paid speeches to private conversations about the guts of a campaign–messaging, staff, money. Her goal, they say, is to launch with a fully formed political operation.”
President Obama “chose confrontation over conciliation on Thursday as he asserted the powers of the Oval Office to reshape the nation’s immigration system and dared members of next year’s Republican-controlled Congress to reverse his actions on behalf of millions of immigrants,” the New York Times reports.
Said Obama: “To those members of Congress who question my authority to make our immigration system work better, or question the wisdom of me acting where Congress has failed, I have one answer: Pass a bill.”
Politico: “Obama directly challenged congressional opponents, declaring his intentions to fight back against any challenges to his authority.”
Wall Street Journal: “This much is clear: President Obama sets off an explosion with his plan to act on his own to change the nation’s immigration practices. What’s less clear is what happens next.”
[speech_bubble type=”std” subtype=”a” icon=”pwdome.jpg” name=””]Obama is betting that GOP infighting and bickering will undermine efforts to show they can govern. It’s a pretty good bet.[/speech_bubble]
“All but drowned out by Republicans’ clamorous opposition to President Obama’s executive action on immigration are some leaders who worry that their party could alienate the fastest-growing group of voters, for 2016 and beyond, if its hottest heads become its face,” the New York Times reports.
“Most emboldened by Republican victories in this month’s midterm elections were its hard-line conservatives, who say the results vindicated their defiant actions, including last year’s government shutdown. Their numbers in Congress will grow in January with newly elected conservatives, significantly increasing the ranks of House Republicans who have publicly said they would consider impeaching Mr. Obama.”
Republicans “vowed a swift and forceful response to the executive action on immigration that President Obama is to announce in a prime-time address, accusing the president of exceeding the power of his office and promising a legislative fight when they take full control of Congress next year,” the New York Times reports.
“Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who will become majority leader in January, said in a speech on the Senate floor Thursday morning that Mr. Obama would regret choosing to ignore the wishes of the American people… Mr. McConnell did not say what options Republicans were considering, but the party is sharply divided about how far to go in trying to thwart Mr. Obama’s action.”
Washington Post: “For the GOP, the debate over immigration is not only a fight with the White House, but a test of whether it can contain unhelpful passions in the party.”
[speech_bubble type=”std” subtype=”a” icon=”pwdome.jpg” name=””]This will be an ugly, but fascinating fight. [/speech_bubble]
Republicans may have used secret Twitter accounts to coordinate with outside groups and skirt campaign finance laws, but Democrats did it first, the Huffington Post reports.
“In 2012, the Democratic Party shared information about advertising buys through a seemingly unconnected Twitter account called AdBuyDetails. This account, which posted tweets from Aug. 31 until Oct. 23, 2012, sent out data on ad buys made by Democratic House candidates in tight races across the country. The purpose of the account, according to a source with knowledge of its creation, was to make that information public and thereby get around restrictions on information access built into an internal app used by top Democratic Party officials to share crucial campaign data.”
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) told Slate that with his forthcoming executive actions on immigration President Obama may break a federal statute “making it a felony to aid, abet, or entice a foreigner to illegally enter the U.S.”
Said Brooks: “At some point, you have to evaluate whether the president’s conduct aids or abets, encourages, or entices foreigners to unlawfully cross into the United States of America. That has a five-year in-jail penalty associated with it.”
But Obama might not be impeached: “If the president is simply not obeying a statute that is noncriminal in nature, that does not necessarily rise to a high crime or a misdemeanor. I don’t know what he’s going to do yet. Until we see what he’s going to do, it is difficult to say whether he is violating a civil statute or violating a criminal statute.”
[speech_bubble type=”std” subtype=”a” icon=”pwdome.jpg” name=””]Five years seems on the light side for a dictator king.[/speech_bubble]
Nate Cohn: “The Republicans have a path to the White House without Hispanic voters. It’s just a harder one.”
“This idea may seem jarring, given that Mitt Romney took just 27 percent of the Hispanic vote in his 2012 loss to Mr. Obama, according to the exit polls, while George W. Bush won about 40 percent in his 2004 victory. But in 2016 Hispanics will represent just 12 percent of eligible voters, and between 9 and 10 percent of actual voters. That’s a lot, but it’s not large enough to grant or deny Republicans the presidency.”
[speech_bubble type=”std” subtype=”a” icon=”pwdome.jpg” name=””]True, but they would be taking a big risk in Florida which they need to win. [/speech_bubble]
Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) told NBC News he “pitched his idea of a new water barrier at the White House to the head of the Secret Service during a closed door meeting on Wednesday. But he never meant to advocate for an actual moat, even though he brought up the idea during a House Judiciary Committee hearing earlier that day.”
“Cohen says he later looked up the definition of moat and realized that it is defined as a water barrier that completely surrounds a protected structure. His idea… would be different. Cohen says he proposed a deep pool or trough that could be installed behind the Pennsylvania Avenue fence line and perhaps a fountain could be added to make it more attractive to the general public.”
[speech_bubble type=”std” subtype=”a” icon=”pwdome.jpg” name=””]So he would rather have us believe he doesn’t know what a moat is?[/speech_bubble]
“It would be impossible to defund President Obama’s executive actions on immigration through a government spending bill,” The Hill reports.
In a statement released by House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers’s (R-KY) office, “the committee said the primary agency responsible for implementing Obama’s actions is funded entirely by user fees. As a result, the committee said the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) agency would be able to continue to collect fees and carry out its operations even if the government shut down.”
[speech_bubble type=”std” subtype=”a” icon=”pwdome.jpg” name=””]Well, I guess we’re back to impeachment.[/speech_bubble]
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) told Yahoo News that hopes of a Republican president will be almost entirely determined by the next legislative session.
Said McCain: “I think that the 2016 election will largely be decided by whether Republicans in the majority know how to govern or not. If we are just obstructionists and viewed that way by the American people then I don’t think we will succeed.”
A new Rassmussen survey in Louisiana finds Bill Cassidy (R) leads Sen. Mary Landriue (D) by 15 points in their U.S. Senate runoff, 56% to 41%.
[speech_bubble type=”std” subtype=”a” icon=”pwdome.jpg” name=””]It’s increasingly hard to see how the passage of the Keystone XL pipeline bill was ever going to save Landrieu.[/speech_bubble]
“My gosh, the president of the United States calls you and you’re going to say ‘No,’? The president of the United States calls and asks for your time, I think generally you should find a way to do it.”
— Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D), quoted by the Wall Street Journal, criticizing defeated Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO).
The Reno News and Review dug up the past writings of Nevada Assembly speaker-designate Ira Hansen (R) which would make him “one of the most controversial speakers in Nevada history.”
“While members of the GOP caucus talked about a united front, they selected as speaker a legislator who is one of the most contentious public officials in the state. Hansen doesn’t like blacks, gays, Israel, many Republicans, and most Nevadans—he once wrote that newcomers to the state, who constitute four of every five Nevadans, should accept Nevada as it is or leave.”
Here are a couple choice quotes:
On race: “The relationship of Negroes and Democrats is truly a master-slave relationship, with the benevolent master knowing what’s best for his simple minded darkies. For American blacks, being denied choice and forced to attend the failing and inferior government school system is a form of involuntary servitude. Let’s call it what it truly is—educational slavery.”
On women: “Today, when Army men look at women in the ranks with ’longing in their eyes’ it very well may constitute ’sexual harassment.’ The truth is, women do not belong in the Army or Navy or Marine Corps, except in certain limited fields.”
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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