A new Gallup Poll finds rank-and-file Republicans, independents, and Democrats voice the same primary criticism of the GOP: it is “too inflexible” or “unwilling to compromise.”
When asked to say what they most dislike about the Republican Party, 26% of Republicans, 17% of independents, and 22% of Democrats offer this critique — leading all other mentions.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will deliver her first paid speech since leaving office last month in late April, CNN reports.
“Shortly after leaving her State Department post, Clinton signed on with the Harry Walker Agency as her representative for speaking engagements. She is expected to be a highly sought speaker who could earn in the six-figure range per appearance.”
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) “failed to disclose for nearly a year that he had substantial stock holdings in a company, even though disclosure is required by law and his office was defending the state in a tax lawsuit filed by the company,” the Washington Post reports.
“Cuccinelli, the presumptive Republican nominee for governor, said through a campaign consultant that the attorney general did not disclose his interest in Star Scientific because he didn’t realize that his holdings exceeded $10,000, the threshold for disclosure under state law.”
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A political donor paid for the $15,000 wedding reception for the daughter of Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell (R) and his wife, Maureen, attended by about 200 guests at the governor’s mansion, the Washington Post reports.
The gift from Jonnie R. Williams Sr., the chief executive of a company that has made major contributions to McDonnell’s campaigns and that is the subject of a federal securities investigation, was not disclosed by McDonnell.
It’s “just one element of the McDonnells’ close relationship with Williams and his company, a relationship that has included rides on Williams’s corporate jet, personal gifts to the first family and efforts by the governor and his wife to promote the company.”
“I don’t think you would ever see the Republican Party platform saying we are in favor of same-sex marriage.”
— Former RNC Chair Ed Gillespie, in an interview on Fox News Sunday.
“With President Obama and his family in the pews for Easter Sunday worship, the Rev. Luis Leon at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington’s Lafayette Square took the opportunity to take a shot at political conservatives, arguing from the pulpit that some conservative positions are holding people back,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Leon: “It drives me crazy when the captains of the religious right are always calling us back … for blacks to be back in the back of the bus … for women to be back in the kitchen … for immigrants to be back on their side of the border.”
Coming this summer: Why John Roberts Was Wrong About Healthcare by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT).
Retronaut: President Abraham Lincoln unknowingly carried a secret message in his pocket watch.
John Podhoretz: “Barack Obama is a serious man. Yes, he likes to golf, and yes, he ran a campaign with cutesy Facebook pictures and seemingly inane Flash slideshows like ‘Life of Julia.’ No, he does not seem interested in the mechanics of legislation, nor does he seem adept at negotiation. But the weird condescension his opponents display toward him is ludicrously wrongheaded. They seem eager to believe he is a lightweight, and he is not. Obama is very possibly a world-historical political figure, and until those who oppose him come to grips with this fact, they will get him wrong every time.”
New York Times: “Hillary Clinton left the State Department nearly two months ago, but she still needs a staff to keep up with the considerable business of being Hillary Clinton. A half-dozen people now work for the former secretary of state and Democratic presidential candidate in a tiny corporate space on Connecticut Avenue in Washington, in what is called her ‘transition office.'”
“Transition to what, Mrs. Clinton and her aides have not yet said. But the question hovers over her every move and has frozen in place the very early — but for some potential candidates, very important — presidential maneuvering on the Democratic side.”
David Stockman: “Over the last 13 years, the stock market has twice crashed and touched off a recession: American households lost $5 trillion in the 2000 dot-com bust and more than $7 trillion in the 2007 housing crash. Sooner or later — within a few years, I predict — this latest Wall Street bubble, inflated by an egregious flood of phony money from the Federal Reserve rather than real economic gains, will explode, too.”
This looks interesting: The American Senate: An Insider’s History by Neil MacNeil and Richard A. Baker.
A West Virginia judge caught on video screaming furiously at litigants has been removed from the bench for the duration of his term, National Law Journal reports.
An Indiana woman plead guilty to forgery and fraud in a successful attempt to get Barack Obama on the presidential primary ballot in 2008, WISH-TV reports.
“At the center of this story is Butch Morgan, a longtime Democratic Party leader who lost his post as St. Joseph County chair when the scandal broke. Morgan is accused of telling three people to forge names on a ballot petition including Bev Shelton who pleaded guilty to forgery and fraud. She has agreed to testify against the others.”
“Labor and business groups have agreed on the details of a new guest-worker program, likely removing a major hurdle to an immigration deal in the Senate,” Roll Call reports.
“The framework for a guest-worker program has long vexed an immigration overhaul, as labor feared a flood of low-wage workers undercutting American workers, while the Chamber of Commerce has led the push for a steady supply of workers.”
Politico: “The agreement marks a major breakthrough and significantly improves
the odds of passing a larger immigration bill because it brings two
powerful Washington interests on board on an issue that contributed to
the defeat of past reform efforts.”
Republican lawmakers in North Carolina want to make it harder to get a divorce, the Raleigh News & Observer reports.
The proposed law “would extend to two years the current one-year waiting period in order for a divorce to be finalized. During that time, the couple would have to complete courses on improving their communications skills and conflict resolution. If the couple has children, they would have to take at least a four-hour class on the impact of divorce on children.”
Republican national committeeman Dave Agema “was not backing down or apologizing” as he faced calls for his resignation over an antigay posting on his Facebook page, the Detroit Free Press reports.
Agema said gay people were sexually promiscuous, rife with sexually transmitted diseases and responsible for “half the murders in large cities.”
Out this summer: The Coming Obama Crash by Art Laffer and Stephen Moore.
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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