“It was an extraordinary experience — I mean, one that I wouldn’t trade. And looking back on it… I would do it again.”
— Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), quoted by NBC Dallas-Fort Worth, on running for president.
Greece Slides Into Depression
“The spread of economic hardship is fraying Greece’s social fabric and straining its political cohesion as the country enters the harshest winter of its three-year-old debt crisis,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Many families are sliding down the economic ladder that their parents and grandparents climbed, often making them reliant on those same retirees’ shrinking pensions. Already-poor families are slipping off the ladder, into the arms of overburdened charities. In a country of 11 million, only 3.7 million people have jobs, down from 4.6 million four years ago. Economic activity has shrunk by over 20% in that time.”
“The pressure on society is testing the country’s political stability. Crumbling establishment parties cling to office. Radical-left populists wait in the wings, promising to restore state largess. Violent neo-Nazis are boosting their political profiles by exploiting fear of immigrants, crime and social breakdown. Many Greeks worry that the current government coalition could collapse in 2013, leading to renewed political turmoil that could revive the specter of national bankruptcy and exit from the euro.”
Closer to a Fiscal Cliff Deal
President Obama delivered to House Speaker John Boehner a new offer on to resolve the pending fiscal crisis, “a deal that would raise revenues by $1.2 trillion over the next decade but keep in place the Bush-era tax rates for any household with earnings below $400,000,” the New York Times reports.
“The offer is close to a plan proposed by the speaker on Friday, and both sides expressed confidence that they were closing in on a major deficit-reduction plan that could be passed well before January… The two sides are now dickering over price, not philosophical differences, and the numbers are very close.”
Wall Street Journal: “After weeks of public sniping, negotiations have intensified in recent days, with both sides making significant concessions. Obstacles still remain, especially the reaction of lawmakers on both extremes, but the movement suggests negotiators could reach a compromise and pass by the end of the year a deal to avert a series of spending cuts and tax increases set to take effect in January.”
Politico: “The president’s proposal is not a final offer, but the White House views it as something that should get the two sides close to a deal because they have met Republicans more than halfway on spending and halfway on revenues.”
Fox News Producers Told Not to Talk Gun Control
Gabriel Sherman: “According to sources, David Clark, the executive producer in
charge of Fox’s weekend coverage, gave producers instructions not to
talk about gun-control policy on air… The directive created a rift inside the
network… During the weekend, one frustrated producer went around
Clark to lobby Michael Clemente, Fox’s executive vice-president for
news editorial, but Clemente upheld the mandate.”
Quote of the Day
“I am going to do what I think is appropriate and try to impact the dialogue and shame on me if I don’t.”
— New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, quoted by NY1, calling on lawmakers to strengthen gun laws.
What Inouye’s Death Means for the Senate
The Washington Post notes that less than two hours after Sen. Daniel Inouye died, the Senate passed a resolution naming Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) as the new president pro tempore.
Inouye’s death “also marks a significant generational shift in Senate history: Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) will be the only — and likely the final — veteran of World War II serving in the Senate next year.”
“The death of Hawaii’s senior senator also creates a vacancy atop the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. Here too Leahy is next in line, giving him the right of first refusal to the chairman’s gavel.”
Inouye Dies
Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI) died today of a respiratory ailment, “ending a life of remarkable service for his country and Hawaii that included sacrificing his right arm in World War II combat and spending 50 years as a U.S. senator,” the Honolulu Star Advertiser reports. He was 88 years old.
According to his office, Inouye’s last word was “Aloha.”
Roll Call: “He was seen using oxygen around the Capitol before being admitted to George Washington University hospital. It was explained at the time that because of a misdiagnosis of lung cancer several decades ago, Inouye had part of one of his lungs removed, causing the need for the oxygen treatment. Other news outlets have reported that Inouye may also have suffered from emphysema.”
Why Does Obama Keep Raiding the Senate?
The Week: Not since FDR has a president transformed so many senators into Cabinet secretaries.
The Case for Politicizing Tragedy
Jeff Greenfield: “A shocking event is exactly the right time to start, or restart, an argument about public policy. A story like the Newtown killings rivets our attention, forces it to the front of our consciousness, insists that we sweep aside the thousand and one distractions that compete for our brain space, and demands that we ask: Is this how we want things to be, and, if not, what do we do about it?”
NRA Takes Down Facebook Page
Ad Week: “The National Rifle Association shut down a key Twitter account last summer in the aftermath of the Aurora, Colo. theater shootings. On Saturday, one day after the unthinkable shootings at a Newtown, Conn. elementary school, the NRA took a more drastic measure by deactivating its Facebook page after celebrating getting to 1.7 million fans on the social site earlier in the week.”
“While the group has not commented since Friday’s tragedy, it appears to have staked out a strategy to take its brand out of the social media picture in the wake of a mass-shooting news event. Given its guns-rights cause, the social media buzz after such events seems to be an unenviable conversation for the org to partake in.”
Warner Wants Action on Assault Weapons
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) says he’s taking a new perspective on gun control since Friday’s mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, the Washington Post reports.
Said Warner: “I’ve been a strong supporter of Second Amendment rights. I’ve got an A rating from the NRA. But the status quo isn’t acceptable. I’ve got three daughters. They asked me on Friday evening, ‘Dad, what are you gonna do about this?’ There’s got to be a way to put reasonable restrictions, particularly as we look at assault weapons, as we look at these fast clips of ammunition.”
Sen. Joe Machin (D-WV) took a similar position earlier today.
First Read: “But no Republican leader – so far – has joined this Democratic chorus in
calling for stricter control of guns in the aftermath of the Newtown
massacre.”
The Official Presidential Election
“Tradition trumped suspense Monday as members of the Electoral College cast the official, final votes in an exhausting 2012 presidential election, a constitutional formality on President Barack Obama’s march to a second term,” the AP reports.
“The rite playing in state capitols involved party luminaries and tireless activists carrying out the will of each state’s voters. The popular vote from state-to-state dictates whether Democratic or Republican electors get the honor, but the outcome is not in doubt.”
Fiscal Cliff Talks Center on $2 Trillion Proposal
President Obama and House Speaker Boehner “are discussing a $2 trillion framework on a deal to avert the fiscal cliff, that would include roughly a trillion in tax increases and roughly a trillion in savings from entitlement programs,” CNN reports.
“Boehner and the president met in person on Monday, but sources familiar with the talks indicate that the framework under discussion is what Republicans are pushing to get to agreement, but it’s unclear whether the make up of the $2 trillion framework could get support from Democrats.”
Wall Street Journal: “While the White House objected to major parts of the proposal, senior Democrats described it as a tipping point that moves talks away from deadlock. Instead, it cleared the way for both sides to engage in nitty-gritty haggling over exactly where the new income threshold might be set and what should comprise the spending cuts.”
Meanwhile, a new USA Today/Gallup Poll finds 66% said both sides should compromise “on their principles and beliefs on tax increases and spending cuts.”
Media Tip: Beware the Seven-Second Stray
A guest post from Brad Phillips, author of The Media Training Bible.
In the late 1990s, I was a producer for CNN’s Sunday public-affairs program, Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer. Because Late Edition aired after all of the other Sunday public-affairs shows, one of my tasks each week was to watch the earlier programs to monitor what politicians were saying. If a politician said something interesting, I’d edit a video clip out of the quote so that Wolf could air it on the show.
I was always on the lookout for a politician saying something off message. Why? Because anything unscripted and off-the-cuff was inherently more interesting than the canned responses we always heard. And in a newsroom, a less scripted response will almost always be deemed more newsworthy.
Years later, I developed a name to describe that phenomenon: “the seven-second stray.” I call it that because if a spokesperson is on message for 59 minutes 53 seconds of an hour-long interview but says something off message for just seven seconds, I can virtually guarantee that the reporter will select that seven-second answer to play over and over again.
Support for Gun Control Hits New High
A new ABC News/Washington Post poll finds that 54% of Americans now favor stricter gun control laws, numerically a five-year high, and 59% support a ban specifically on high-capacity ammunition clips.
In addition, more than half of Americans “say the school shootings in Newtown,
Connecticut, reflect broader problems in society rather than an isolated
act of a troubled person – more than after other recent shooting
incidents, suggesting the possibility of a new national dialogue on
violent crime.”
The Week: Is the Connecticut massacre a game changer for gun control?
Filibuster Reform Has Majority Support
Supporters of the “talking filibuster” are closing in on the majority needed to reform the rules, according to a whip count compiled by the Huffington Post.
“Nailing down at least 50 votes, however, doesn’t guarantee success. Advocates worry that Reid may use the prospect of victory on the most ambitious reform to persuade Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to cave and agree to a milder set of reforms. Those would likely include provisions that would speed up the pace of action in the Senate without altering the fundamental nature of minority rights.”
The Best Book of 2012
The top book on Michiko Kakutani‘s list of her 10 favorite books of 2012: The Passage of Power by Robert Caro.
“In the latest installment of his magisterial, multivolume biography, Mr. Caro uses his wondrous narrative gifts to tell the dramatic story of how Johnson was catapulted to the White House in the wake of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and how he used his potent political skills to push his predecessor’s civil rights legislation through Congress and lay the groundwork for his own revolutionary war on poverty.”
Haley Picks Scott for Senate
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) has chosen Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC) to replace Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) in the United States Senate, the New York Times reports.
“The move will make Mr. Scott the first black senator from the South since the late 19th century.”
Washington Post: “His selection is little surprise, as his name quickly rose to the top of most people’s lists mere hours after DeMint announced he was going to resign. There are plenty of ambitious Republican politicians in South Carolina, but Scott made sense for the appointment for a whole host of reasons, including his close relationships with Haley and DeMint and his ties to both the conservative base and the party establishment.”
