New Hampshire State Rep. Peter Hansen (R) told the Concord Monitor that he was just trying to emphasize a point when he used “vagina” as a synonym for “woman” in an email to the full House earlier this month.
Hansen wrote an email to his colleagues arguing that “children and vagina’s” were missing from a fellow representative’s anecdotes during the debate over whether to repeal New Hampshire’s 2011 “stand your ground” law.
Howard Kurtz says President Obama’s “low-key handling of earlier terror incidents” — such as when a Nigerian man tried to blow up a jetliner on Christmas in 2009 — “may have been a reaction to the intense, color-coded, high-alert ethos of the Bush era.”
Said David Axelrod: “No doubt, we gave him bad advice. This was over a holiday weekend, facts were still evolving and Napolitano was going out on Sunday shows and could brief the nation.” Still, he says, “that advice neglected the important, ministerial role the president plays in times of crisis. Even though he was in constant contact with his team, people needed go see and hear from him. We all learned that lesson.”
The Washington Post notes Obama will travel to Boston on Thursday “to attend an interfaith service for those who were killed and gravely injured in the attack on the Boston Marathon.”
The Senate will vote this afternoon “on a series of gun measures that may determine the shape of legislation inspired by the shootings in Newtown, Conn,” the New York Times reports.
Three amendments “are largely Democratic: a provision expanding background checks to firearms bought at gun shows or on the Internet, a reinstatement of an assault weapons ban, and a ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines.”
“Others are Republican: a mandate that any state permit for carrying a concealed weapon be honored by virtually every other state, a broad alternative gun measure aimed at mental health care and school safety, and another helping veterans clear their names to obtain firearms.”
“Two other measures are bipartisan, one to crack down on gun trafficking and another to bolster mental health treatment.”
Politico: “Both Democrats and Republicans want to see how Wednesday’s showdown over one of President Obama’s top legislative priorities plays out before making any decisions on whether they will let the underlying gun package move forward.”
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A new Marist Poll in New York City finds Christine Quinn (D) leading the Democratic primary for mayor with 26%, followed by Anthony Weiner (D) at 15%, John Liu (D) at 12%, Bill de Blasio (D) at 11% and Bill Thompson (D) at 11%.
Another 22% of likely voters are still undecided.
First Read says there are two ways to read this poll: “The first, as most news outlets have played it, is that former Rep.
Anthony Weiner (D-NY) would immediately start out in second place if he
runs, trailing presumed front-runner Christine Quinn, 26% to 15%. But
there’s a second way to read it: Weiner, with nearly perfect name ID, is
getting just 15%.”
Court documents say former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) “trespassed at his ex-wife’s home and he has been ordered to appear in court two days after his special congressional election,” the AP reports.
“Jenny Sanford confronted her ex-husband leaving her South Carolina home on Feb. 3. Her attorney filed a complaint the next day and she confirms the documents are authentic.”
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) “looks likely to try to move immigration reform through the House in a few separate bills, rather than in one comprehensive piece of legislation,” two sources have told the Huffington Post.
“As fragile as the immigration effort is in the Senate, it faces an even more difficult path in the Republican-controlled House, home to many lawmakers who are either uncomfortable with or opposed to anything that smacks of ‘amnesty’ for undocumented immigrants.”
Roll Call: Eight potholes for the immigration bill.
“Please refrain from laughing and clapping, but here in Arizona, if you do have your Colt 45, feel free to shoot it in the air.”
— Arizona State Rep. Bob Thorpe (R), at a committee hearing.
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) has been sent an envelope containing a substance testing positive for Ricin, Roll Call reports.
“Several senators and outside reports indicate the letter was intercepted in the screening process at the Capitol mail facility and the letter never made it to the Capitol.”
President Obama “will continue a charm offensive with lawmakers this week, planning dinner on Wednesday with a dozen Democratic senators at a hotel near the White House,” Reuters reports.
“Obama has dined twice recently with small groups of Republican senators to try to build what he calls a ‘caucus of common sense’ on fiscal issues, immigration reforms and gun control measures.”
Republicans and Democrats are in an intense battle over the contents of a Senate resolution to honor former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who died last week, The Hill reports.
“The fight has prompted Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to stop working together on a resolution, at least for now… The fight marks a departure from how such resolutions are normally written and approved, and as of Tuesday left open the question of whether the Senate would be able to approve language from Menendez, McConnell, or some other alternative.”
Roll Call sifts through the winners and losers of the first quarter campaign finance reports.
Greg Sargent digs into the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll and notes that just 23% of Americans believe the Republican Party is “in touch with the concerns of most people in the United States today,” while 70% believe that it is “out of touch.” Among independents, those numbers are 23% to 70%. Among moderates they’re 20% to 75%.
By contrast, Americans say by 51% to 46% that Obama is in touch. Among moderates that’s 56% to 42% (he fares worse among independents, 44% to 53%, though far better than Republicans).
The bipartisan plan to expand the national gun background checks still lacks the votes needed to proceed and pass the Senate, the Washington Post reports.
“Sixty votes will be needed for the amendment to survive Senate procedural hurdles and be added to the underlying bill under consideration. Based on an analysis by The Washington Post, the amendment had the support of 52 senators as of midday Tuesday, with eight senators still undecided.”
“Is anyone else sick of this shit?”
— Craig Ferguson, visibly shaken about the Boston bombings in his monologue last night.
Rep. Steve King (R-IA) told National Review that Congress “should be cautious about rushing immigration reform, especially after Monday’s bombing in Boston, where three people were killed.”
Said King: “Some of the speculation that has come out is that yes, it was a foreign national and, speculating here, that it was potentially a person on a student visa. If that’s the case, then we need to take a look at the big picture.”
He added: “We need to take a look at the visa-waiver program and wonder what we’re doing. If we can’t background check people that are coming from Saudi Arabia, how do we think we are going to background check the 11 to 20 million people that are here from who knows where.”
“I’ve updated leaders of Congress in both parties, and we reaffirmed that on days like this there are no Republicans or Democrats — we are Americans, united in concern for our fellow citizens.”
— President Obama, speaking on the Boston bombings.
Former Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH) had just finished the Boston Marathon when she heard an explosion and turned around to see several people “without limbs,” the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.
Said Schmidt: “I’ve never been so close to death or witnessed it.”
An independent review of interrogation and detention
programs in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks
concludes that “it is indisputable that the United States engaged in the
practice of torture” and that the nation’s highest officials bore
ultimate responsibility for it, the New York Times reports.
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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