“I refuse to play the game of ‘assault weapon.’ That’s any weapon. It’s a hammer. It’s the machetes in Rwanda that killed 800,000 people, an article that came out this week, the massive number that are killed with hammers.”
— Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX), on the Dennis Miller Show, arguing that banning assault weapons won’t work.
Josh Green: “Every few days, some Businessweek editor suggests that I write a post about why John Boehner would possibly want the job of House Speaker, to which he was reelected on Thursday. I always decline, because I don’t have the foggiest idea why anyone would want the job. But I do know why he keeps it. He keeps it because the misfit band of Tea Partiers who tried, and failed, to dislodge him are utterly hapless. Not mildly or endearingly hapless like Betty White on Golden Girls, but Three Stooges hapless.”
President Obama is expected to name former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) as his choice for defense secretary as early as Monday, The Cable reports, “as critics of the former Nebraska senator prepare to go to war to fight his expected nomination.”
Meanwhile, Hagel’s detractors “are moving forward with their campaign against the nomination.”
NBC News confirms Hagel is likely to be the pick though White House officials deny a final decision has been made.
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A new petition on the White House website:
“Vice President Joe Biden has a demonstrated ability to bring people together, whether at the negotiating table or at the neighborhood diner. We, therefore, urge the Obama Administration to authorize the production of a recurring C-SPAN television program featuring the daily activities and interactions of the Vice President with elected officials, foreign dignitaries and everyday American families.”
The Week has a great compilation of Biden’s wackiest one-liners from yesterday’s swearing-in ceremony.
Philip Diehl, head of the U.S. Mint from 1994-2000, tells Capital New York that the minting of a trillion dollar coin to circumvent a fight over the debt ceiling is perfectly legal.
Diehl was head of the Mint when the law giving authorization for such a move was passed and says, “My understanding of how this all works suggests that this is a viable alternative.”
He added: “One of the ironies in this story is that a GOP Congress passed the legislation over the objections of a Democratic Treasury, and now, today, Treasury may well be in a position to use the law as leverage to neutralize the GOP’s threat to hold the debt limit hostage.”
The Daily Beast has more on the possible tactic.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) suggests in a Houston Chronicle op-ed that it “may be necessary to partially shut down the government in order to secure the long-term fiscal well being of our country” in the next round of budget negotiations “rather than plod along the path of Greece, Italy and Spain.”
A guest post from Brad Phillips, author of The Media Training Bible.
You’ve made a mistake. Fair enough. It happens.
But far too many politicians and public officials are reluctant to issue a full and unequivocal apology after making a mistake. That’s not because they’re bad or uncaring people. More commonly, it’s a human reaction from a defensive person who feels that his or her well-intentioned motives were misunderstood.
As a result, the spokesperson usually issues a hedged “half apology” that goes something like this:
“If you were offended by what I said, then I am sorry.”
Sen. Michael Crapo (R-ID) pleaded guilty to drunk driving following his arrest last month and issued a sweeping apology after a judge accepted his plea, the Washington Post reports.
Crapo “was sentenced to 180 days in jail, all of which was suspended. His license was suspended for a year, but he’s eligible for a restricted license. Crapo must also pay a $250 fine and complete an alcohol program over the next year.”
Crapo, a Mormon, said that he had been using alcohol for several months to “relieve stress,” a decision that was “at odds with who I am” and against Mormon practices.
The Cloakroom: Three reasons the next round of budget talks might be easier.
Cory Booker may be “America’s favorite mayor,” but Ruby Cramer finds that “in New Jersey, his fast rise and transparent ambition has rankled many establishment Democrats, who suggest he’s putting himself above his state party.”
“The Newark Mayor’s December announcement that he’d ‘consider’ a Senate bid in 2014 — a decision that followed a long, public deliberation played out on Sunday shows and cable news — may have served to raise his national profile. But Democratic insiders complain that it upended the state’s political landscape, making Republican Governor Chris Christie, without Booker challenging him, a virtual lock to win re-election, and setting in motion an intra-party war that has the state choosing sides between Booker and the 88-year-old incumbent Senator Frank Lautenberg.”
“It’s a little bit like being the head caretaker of the cemetery. There are a lot of people under you, but nobody listens.”
— Rep. Hal Rodgers (R-KY), quoted by the New York Times, describing House Speaker John Boehner’s grip on power.
Mother Jones obtained internal documents used at a recent board meeting of Freedom Works that sheds light on how the powerful Tea Party group finances its operations.
Politico:
“Chastened by the debacle over Hurricane Sandy aid, House Republicans
are moving quickly to win approval this week of a $9.7 billion increase
in financing to pay flood insurance claims arising from the October
storm… The Senate approved the same flood insurance increase last week
as part of a larger $60.4 billion disaster aid package backed by the
White House.”
“Friday’s vote is a first step to try to begin to
reconstruct it now in the 113th Congress. And Boehner has promised
Northeast lawmakers a second series of votes on Jan. 15 on additional
aid, but more immediate action was needed on the flood insurance
request.”
In an interview set to air this weekend, Tom Foley (R) tells Dennis House that he is planning to seek a rematch against Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy (D) in 2014.
U.S. job growth dropped slightly in December, “showing that the economy muddled along as Congress fought over tax increases and spending cuts,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased by a seasonally adjusted 155,000 jobs last month… The unemployment rate, obtained by a separate survey of U.S. households, was 7.8%, the same as the prior month, after an upward revision to the November figure.”
Wonk Wire has reaction to the jobs report.
Former Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) told Morning Joe that he wants to be named interim senator if Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) is confirmed as the next Secretary of State.
Said Frank: “A month ago, or a few weeks ago, I said I wasn’t interested. It was kind of like you’re about to graduate, and they said: ‘You gotta go to summer school.’ But (the fiscal cliff deal) now means that February, March and April are going to be among the most important months in American financial history.”
John Judis notes “there is a regional division in
the party between the deep South, which contains many of the diehard
House Republicans, and the Republicans from the Northeast, industrial
Midwest, and the Far West. In the House vote on the fiscal cliff, Republican House members from
the deep South opposed it by 83 to 10, while Republicans from the
Northeast favored it by 24 to one, and those from the Far West by 17 to
eight.”
“As India awaits sentencing of the men who gang-raped a young woman in Delhi, a politician was arrested on rape charges in the northeastern state of Assam, then stripped and beaten by a crowd,” 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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