“It looks like he’s running for president. He said he wasn’t going to raise taxes, and then he did, which probably helps you in a Democratic primary by saying, ‘See? I can lie to voters, vote for me!’ But I don’t know that it helps nationally.”
— Grover Norquist, quoted by the Albany Times Union, on New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D).
A Smart Politics review of the more than 150 Fox News broadcasts in which Sarah Palin appeared as a paid commentator from 2010 through 2012 finds that she spoke 189,221 words on air during this span, for an average pay rate of $15.85 per word.
The Wrap: Sarah Palin and Fox News split.
Politico: “Twenty-one years ago, Nadeam Elshami got his first job on Capitol Hill, working in the Senate mailroom Today,
he’s the chief of staff to House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of
California after serving as her communications director for the past
several years.”
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Politico reports tea party activists “looking to oust Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in a GOP primary may get some help from an unlikely source: Democrats.”
“Big Democratic donors, local liberal activists and a left-leaning super PAC in Kentucky are telling tea partiers that they are poised to throw financial and organizational support behind a right-wing candidate should one try to defeat the powerful GOP leader in a 2014 primary fight.”
The Wall Street Journal blasts President Obama’s pick of Jack Lew to be the next Treasury secretary, noting his “only business credential is a stint at the most troubled too-big-to-fail bank.”
“The greatest irony is that given Mr. Lew’s crisis-era resumé, he bears a remarkable resemblance to the bankers who President Obama says created the financial crisis and deserve federal investigation. But apparently there’s an exception as long as your liberal intentions are noble and you’re a loyal Democrat. Then you can get rich at one of Wall Street’s biggest failures and end up running the entire financial system.”
“A bipartisan group of senators has agreed on a set of principles for a sweeping overhaul of the immigration system, including a pathway to American citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants that would hinge on progress in securing the borders and ensuring that foreigners leave the country when their visas expire,” the New York Times reports.
“The senators were able to reach a deal by incorporating the Democrats’ insistence on a single comprehensive bill that would not deny eventual citizenship to illegal immigrants, with Republican demands that strong border and interior enforcement had to be clearly in place before Congress could consider legal status for illegal immigrants.”
Politico: “The group is expected to unveil the basics of its proposal at a
Monday news conference on Capitol Hill, essentially laying down a marker
on the issue one day before President Barack Obama heads to Las Vegas
to unveil more details about his own immigration proposal.”
Bob Woodward: “The two share similar views and philosophies as the Obama administration attempts to define the role of the United States in the transition to a post-superpower world. This worldview is part hawk and part dove. It amounts, in part, to a challenge to the wars of President George W. Bush. It holds that the Afghanistan war has been mismanaged and the Iraq war unnecessary. War is an option, but very much a last resort.”
“So, this thinking goes, the U.S. role in the world must be carefully scaled back — this is not a matter of choice but of facing reality; the military needs to be treated with deep skepticism; lots of strategic military and foreign policy thinking is out of date; and quagmires like Afghanistan should be avoided.”
After lying low for several months, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) “is reasserting his presence in the Capitol, even as Speaker John A. Boehner continues his struggles to maintain Republican unity. In the coming weeks, the majority leader plans to lay out a second, softer track for his party beyond the constant cycle of budget showdowns and deficit talks,” the New York Times reports.
“Notably, that track will include a new push for private-school vouchers for underprivileged children, health care options beyond the old fight over the president’s health care law, new work force training initiatives and a renewed push for science, technology and engineering visas for would-be immigrants.”
President Obama’s presidential campaign “has turned over its most valuable asset — a massive computer database containing personal data on millions of American voters — to a new advocacy group created to advance the White House agenda on issues ranging from gun control to immigration reform,” NBC News reports.
“Dubbed the ‘nuclear codes’ by campaign aides, the Obama campaign database is widely described as one of the most powerful tools ever developed in American politics. According to published reports, it contains the names of at least 4 million Obama donors – as well as millions of others (the campaign has consistently refused to say how many) compiled from voter registration rolls and other public databases. In addition, the campaign used sophisticated computer programs — with code names like ‘Narwhal’ — to collect information through social media: Anybody who contacted the campaign through Facebook had their friends and ‘likes’ downloaded. If they contacted the campaign website through mobile apps, cellphone numbers and address books were downloaded. Computer “cookies” captured Web browsing and online spending habits.”
“You know, Steve, I gotta tell you, the — you guys in the press are incorrigible. I was literally inaugurated four days ago. And you’re talking about elections four years from now.”
— President Obama, in an interview with 60 Minutes, responding to a question about the “date of expiration” of his endorsement of Hillary Clinton’s job as secretary of state.
“It’s not the platform of the party that’s the issue. In many cases, it’s how we communicate about it.”
— RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, quoted by Politico.
The Cloakroom: Democrats will be playing defense in 2014.
“A brand new conservative group calling itself Americans for a Strong Defense and financed by anonymous donors is running advertisements urging Democratic senators in five states to vote against Chuck Hagel, President Obama’s nominee to be secretary of defense,” the New York Times reports.
“Another freshly minted and anonymously backed organization, Use Your Mandate, which presents itself as a liberal gay rights group but purchases its television time through a prominent Republican firm, is attacking Mr. Hagel as ‘anti-Gay,’ ‘anti-woman’ and ‘anti-Israel’ in ads and mailers.”
“Those groups are joining at least five others that are organizing to stop Mr. Hagel’s confirmation, a goal even they acknowledge appears to be increasingly challenging. But the effort comes with a built-in consolation prize should it fail: depleting some of Mr. Obama’s political capital as he embarks on a new term with fresh momentum.”
As Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner leaves office, the Chicago Tribune notes “he was clear about one thing he won’t be doing in the future — running the Federal Reserve.”
Said Geithner: “Not a chance. I have great respect for the institution, but that will be someone else’s privilege.”
Financial Times: Geithner leaves with reputation enhanced.
Matt Taibbi isn’t pleased with President Obama’s pick of former U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White to head the SEC.
“I thought to myself: Couldn’t they have found someone who wasn’t a key figure in one of the most notorious scandals to hit the SEC in the past two decades? And couldn’t they have found someone who isn’t a perfect symbol of the revolving-door culture under which regulators go soft on suspected Wall Street criminals, knowing they have million-dollar jobs waiting for them at hotshot defense firms as long as they play nice with the banks while still in office?”
Rex Nutting: “Of all the falsehoods told about President Barack Obama, the biggest whopper is the one about his reckless spending spree… Almost everyone believes that Obama has presided over a massive increase in federal spending, an ‘inferno’ of spending that threatens our jobs, our businesses and our children’s future. Even Democrats seem to think it’s true.”
“But it didn’t happen. Although there was a big stimulus bill under Obama, federal spending is rising at the slowest pace since Dwight Eisenhower brought the Korean War to an end in the 1950s.”
This looks really good: Junius and Albert’s Adventures in the Confederacy: A Civil War Odyssey by Peter Carlson.
“Albert Richardson and Junius Browne, two correspondents for the New York Tribune, were captured at the Battle of Vicksburg and spent twenty months in horrific prisons before escaping and making their way to Union territory.”
Although Sarah Palin just lost her platform at Fox News, she tells Breitbart News that she’s been able to “free up opportunities” to “share more broadly” her message.
Said Palin: “I was raised to never retreat and to pick battles wisely, and all in due season. When it comes to defending our republic, we haven’t begun to fight! But we delight in those who underestimate us.”
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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