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Democrats Had a Secret Twitter Account Too

November 20, 2014 at 6:27 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 2 Comments

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.”

GOP Lawmaker Sees Possible Jail Time for Obama

November 20, 2014 at 3:30 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 111 Comments

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]

GOP Doesn’t Need Hispanic Votes to Win White House

November 20, 2014 at 3:16 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 105 Comments

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]

Lawmaker Denies He Wants Moat Around White House

November 20, 2014 at 1:48 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 17 Comments

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]

Defunding Obama’s Immigration Order Not Possible

November 20, 2014 at 12:48 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 21 Comments

“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]

The Issue to Decide the Presidential Election

November 20, 2014 at 12:45 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 39 Comments

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.”

Cassidy Way Ahead in Louisiana Runoff

November 20, 2014 at 12:32 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 24 Comments

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]

Extra Bonus Quote of the Day

November 20, 2014 at 12:15 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 7 Comments

“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).

Incoming Nevada Speaker Left a Paper Trail

November 20, 2014 at 11:29 am EST By Taegan Goddard 18 Comments

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.”

South Seeks More Leverage with Regional Primary

November 20, 2014 at 11:15 am EST By Taegan Goddard 17 Comments

National Journal: “In past presidential elections, states have fought to move their primaries earlier and earlier, hoping to have a greater influence on the nomination process. But with new scheduling rules on the GOP side ahead of a wide-open race in 2016, some Southern states are trying a different strategy: joining forces.”

“Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp is moving forward with a plan to coordinate the state’s 2016 presidential primary with five other states—Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee—in an effort to give national Republicans’ bedrock region more say in whom their party (and Democrats, too) nominates to run for the White House.”

[speech_bubble type=”std” subtype=”a” icon=”pwdome.jpg” name=””]Maybe they could call it Super Tuesday?[/speech_bubble]

Hickenlooper Won’t Run for President

November 20, 2014 at 10:45 am EST By Taegan Goddard 10 Comments

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) told the Wall Street Journal there’s no chance he’d run for president.

Said Hickenlooper: “No, my God. What a dogfight. You’d have to convince me, and I don’t think there’s a way, a human way to convince me. At least the way I look at my life it would be the last major undertaking I get in my adult life. And I’d have to believe that I was changing, somehow doing something incredibly important for the country and changing it, and I don’t see that as remotely feasible in the present world.”

Second Time as Freshmen

November 20, 2014 at 10:15 am EST By Taegan Goddard 5 Comments

National Journal: “Like other newly elected members of Congress, Reps. Frank Guinta of New Hampshire and Robert Dold of Illinois have come to Washington early this month for orientation. But the litany of instructions for setting up a new congressional office may be less dizzying for the pair of Republicans—they’re freshmen for the second time.”

“Both Guinta and Dold first came to Washington after the 2010 elections as part of the Republican class that took back the House of Representatives that year. But they lost their reelection attempts in 2012 before launching successful comebacks in 2014, effectively riding two Republican waves into office.”

[speech_bubble type=”std” subtype=”a” icon=”pwdome.jpg” name=””]And there’s a good chance they could lose again in 2016.[/speech_bubble]

Kasich Runs to the Middle

November 20, 2014 at 9:45 am EST By Taegan Goddard 22 Comments

If Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) “wants to run for president, he has to distinguish himself from colleagues who also have eyes on the White House,” the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.

“He accomplished that Wednesday, about an hour after landing here for a Republican Governors Association meeting seen as an early audition for donors… On three policy issues important to the party’s conservative base Kasich tracked more moderate than his potential rivals for the GOP nomination. And while many were happy to bash President Barack Obama, particularly as he plans an executive action around immigration reform, Kasich called for ‘cooler heads.'”

[speech_bubble type=”std” subtype=”a” icon=”pwdome.jpg” name=””]Kasich’s tone is so different from most Republicans that he really stands out.[/speech_bubble]

Bonus Quote of the Day

November 20, 2014 at 9:00 am EST By Taegan Goddard 61 Comments

“History will treat him unkindly on this if he thinks he can become king.”

— Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), in a Fox News interview, about President Obama’s use of executive authority.

GOP Leaders Warn About Talking Impeachment

November 20, 2014 at 8:52 am EST By Taegan Goddard 22 Comments

Politico: “Senior House and Senate Republicans don’t want their rank and file to even raise the specter of impeaching Obama, fearing it would give Democrats a message to rally around as the president’s party is split over the hugely controversial move. Ahead of the upcoming announcement, top congressional Republicans are trying to find the right balance between expressing outrage and overreaching, hoping that the battle doesn’t lead to either a government shutdown in December or calls among conservatives to impeach the president.”

[speech_bubble type=”std” subtype=”a” icon=”pwdome.jpg” name=””]No issue divides Republicans more than immigration.[/speech_bubble]

Why Networks Won’t Cover Immigration Speech

November 20, 2014 at 8:49 am EST By Taegan Goddard 42 Comments

A network insider tells Mike Allen: “There was agreement among the broadcast networks that this was overtly political. The White House has tried to make a comparison to a time that all the networks carried President Bush in prime time, also related to immigration [2006]. But that was a bipartisan announcement, and this is an overtly political move by the White House.”

Most Americans Think System Is Unfair

November 20, 2014 at 8:02 am EST By Taegan Goddard 16 Comments

A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds that 56% of Americans think the country’s economic and political systems are stacked against them.

“Most striking is how widely shared this sense of alienation now is. Among those saying the system is stacked against them are 58% of Democrats; 51% of Republicans; 55% of whites; 60% of blacks; 53% of Hispanics; as well as decent majorities of every age and professional cluster, including blue-collar workers, white-collar workers and retirees.”

[speech_bubble type=”std” subtype=”a” icon=”pwdome.jpg” name=””]This alienation has been building steadily since 2002. It’s not a coincidence we swing from one wave election to the next.[/speech_bubble]

Quote of the Day

November 20, 2014 at 8:00 am EST By Taegan Goddard 7 Comments

“We are all friends but let’s be fair, if a group of us decided to run for president we’ll compete with each other. I don’t think any of us have spent any time here trying to come up with some secret handshake or, you know, blood oath to each other about what we’ll do or we won’t do.”

— New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), quoted by Bloomberg, on his fellow Republican governors.