“Everybody’s definition of a RINO is anybody that doesn’t agree with them 100 percent of the time, and I’ll tell you (the late economist) Friedrich Hayek would tell you right now if you find someone you agree with 100 percent of the time, somebody is not thinking — because rational human beings disagree.”
— GOP strategist Heath Garrett, quoted by the Marietta Daily Journal, saying it’s time to retire the word RINO.
“Over the past few weeks three different senators have put the nominations of three picks by President Obama — the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, Interior Department and Labor Department — in jeopardy,” The Fix reports.
“In none of these instances… did the senators suggest the president’s nominees were unqualified… So the question is, why has it become so common for senators to throw up roadblocks in the confirmation process?”
“The answer: Because Washington has become so dysfunctional, threatening a high-profile nomination has become one of the best ways senators can now achieve their normal policy objectives.”
Roll Call: “The growing clout of Latino donors and voters has quietly boosted the fortunes of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which has gained members, political leverage and fundraising power in the 113th Congress.”
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McClatchy: “After 2 1/2 years of construction — and several years of planning — work on the George W. Bush Presidential Center on the edge of Southern Methodist University is down to the finishing touches.”
“Workers are busy arranging exhibits, beginning the last phase of landscaping and addressing other final details before the center, a tribute to the 43rd president, is unveiled to an invitation-only audience April 25 and to the general public May 1.”
Paul Begala: “The far right howled when the autopsy was released. No shock there. Did you really think people who deny evolution are going to adapt? The report shines a light on what so many Republican politicians refuse to see: a bridge to the past is a bridge to nowhere.”
Sen. Rob Portman’s (R-OH) son, Will, writes for the Yale Daily News about telling his parents that he was gay.
“In February of freshman year, I decided to write a letter to my
parents. I’d tried to come out to them in person over winter break but
hadn’t been able to. So I found a cubicle in Bass Library one day and
went to work. Once I had something I was satisfied with, I overnighted
it to my parents and awaited a response.”
“That comment is indicative of some in Washington who’ve been too quick to surrender on every front. Texans, by our nature, do not quickly surrender. And I think that’s one of the reasons so many Texans are frustrated with politicians in Washington.”
— Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), in an interview with the Dallas Morning News, responding to Sen. Tom Coburn’s (R-OK) advice on the need to selectively pick your fights.
The New York Times reports that Organizing for Action “will jump into the immigration debate this week with an aggressive online effort to highlight the personal stories of immigrants. The group has collected 7,000 stories from supporters, some of whom entered the country illegally or were brought as young children by their parents. Organizers say they will distribute the stories using Twitter, Facebook and blogs beginning this week.”
With California’s Proposition 8’s ban on gay marriage set for a hearing Tuesday before the Supreme Court, “the lawyers and activists who started the case think they may be on the verge of a historic victory,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
A ruling that gays and lesbians have an equal right to marry under the Constitution “would not only strike down the California ban but could make gay marriage legal nationwide.”
“That may go too far for the court’s majority. The conventional wisdom among legal experts is that the court will stop short of declaring that gays and lesbians have a right to marry nationwide. A narrow ruling voiding Proposition 8 would bring gay marriage to California, but it would not force a change in states where strong opposition to the idea remains.”
Washington Post: “A broad constitutional ruling is one possibility, but so is a finding that the cases are not ripe for decision.”
Meanwhile, Politico reports an openly gay cousin of Chief Justice John Roberts who wants to marry
her partner will be in the room during this week’s
hearings.
The Boston Globe says 70-year-old Boston Mayor Thomas Menino “can seem wistful, almost nostalgic about his two decades in office, like a man contemplating what it would be like to say good-bye. The truth, according to staffers, friends, and acquaintances, is that Menino is struggling with the decision about whether to run.”
Politico: “He seems to have fallen entirely off the radar of early state Republicans. Democrats bring up his name with more zeal than do people in his own party. And his footprint at CPAC was so faint that his being an afterthought was itself an afterthought. What the heck has happened to Paul Ryan?”
“After the Senate passed its budget this weekend, Congress is expected to pivot to issues such as immigration and guns before attempting a broader deal on taxes, spending and the national debt later this year,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Capitol Hill fell quiet as lawmakers headed home for a two-week spring recess, the longest pause in the Capitol Hill budget wars in months. Before leaving town, the Senate early Saturday morning and the House last week passed nonbinding budget blueprints that laid out the parties’ competing fiscal priorities.”
President Obama “is expected to release his own fiscal 2014 budget in early April–months late and almost an afterthought now that Senate passed a Democratic budget in sync with White House priorities.”
Mississippi State Rep. Jessica Upshaw (R) was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head, the Clarion-Ledger reports.
It was apparently self-inflicted.
President Obama “is set to sign a government funding measure that leaves in place the across-the-board cuts known as sequestration — a policy that undermines many of the goals he laid out during the 2012 campaign,” the Washington Post reports.
“Obama thinks the cuts are, in his words, ‘dumb,’ and he says they will slow the economy and harm priorities by cutting spending on education, research and development, and many other programs. Yet Obama now finds himself enacting a broad domestic policy that he doesn’t support and that he believes will harm the country.”
The Week: Why Obama’s legacy doesn’t need a grand bargain.
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) announced her support for same-sex marriage over the weekend.
There are now 42 sitting U.S. Senators who back gay marriage. But BuzzFeed notes a handful of moderate Democrats facing tough re-election fights next year either would not state their position or refused to comment on the issue.
Just published: Brothers Emanuel: A Memoir of an American Family by Ezekiel Emanuel.
All about the three powerful brothers: Rahm, Ari and Zeke.
“I think it was after the August debt-limit crisis, and August 2011 where our numbers were, you know, historically low, and then of course after the first debate when everyone was very, very concerned. Even then I believed we would win, both times, but there were definitely some white knuckle moments.”
— Obama campaign manager Jim Messina, talking to ABC News about the 2012 presidential race.
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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