“What the hell are we paying you for?”
— New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), quoted by Politico, calling President Obama “a bystander in the Oval Office” for not getting involved in supercommittee debt talks.
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The Politics of Economics
Bill Keller:
“There really is a textbook way to fix our current mess. Short-term
stimulus works to help an economy recover from a recession. Some kinds
of stimulus pay off more quickly than others. Once the economic heart is
pumping again, we need to get our deficits under control… So what’s
the problem? Why is our system so fundamentally stuck? Partly it’s a
colossal, bipartisan lack of the political courage required to tell
people what they sort of know but don’t want to hear… But also, I’ve
come to think something is rotten in the state of economics. The dismal
science, as Thomas Carlyle called it, has been ravaged by the same virus
that has corrupted the rest of our national discourse.”
“Economists
don’t live in caves, so there is no reason they should be immune to the
centrifugal politics of this noisy world. Thus serious scholars are
tempted to sign onto ideas that stretch their own credulity, and lesser
economists are thrust forward for their moment of fame as witnesses on
behalf of dubious claims. Economists cluster in ideological think tanks
that promote political conformity rather than intellectual rigor.
Politicians, with no generally accepted consensus to challenge them, can
get away with plucking data out of context to bolster assertions that
are based more on faith than on reality.”
Walker Recall Effort Has More Than Half of Signatures
Organizers seeking to oust Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) say they “already have gathered more than half of the signatures they would need to force the new Republican governor into a recall election,” the Green Bay Gazette reports.
More than than 300,000 signatures “have been gathered during the first 12 days of the recall effort, which was officially launched on Nov. 15. Organizers would need to gather 540,208 valid signatures by Jan. 17 to get the recall on the ballot next year.”
Cain Faces Another Allegation
Herman Cain told CNN that another woman will come forward to accuse him of having an extramarital affair over 13 years.
Said Cain: “I wanted to get out in front of it. I have nothing to hide, I have done nothing wrong.”
However, Cain’s lawyer issued a statement to Fox 5 Atlanta that was less-than-helpful:
“This is not an accusation of harassment in the workplace — this is not an accusation of an assault — which are subject matters of legitimate inquiry to a political candidate. Rather, this appears to be an accusation of private, alleged consensual conduct between adults — a subject matter which is not a proper subject of inquiry by the media or the public. No individual, whether a private citizen, a candidate for public office or a public official, should be questioned about his or her private sexual life.”
White House Visitor Logs Dumped
The White House released its latest batch of visitor logs last week, possibly hoping a Friday news dump would attract little attention.
If you find anything interesting, let us know in the comments.
Update: The White House emails to say they always release these records on the last Friday of every month.
Casey Still Leads His GOP Rivals in Pennsylvania
A new Public Policy Polling survey in Pennsylvania find Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) leading all of his possible GOP rivals by double-digits, though he doesn’t match his 17 point margin of victory against Rick Santorum in 2006.
Sam Rohrer (R) comes closest but still trails Casey by 11 points, 47% to 36%.
Bruning Tops Nelson in Nebraska
A new Magellan Strategies poll in Nebraska finds Attorney General Jon Bruning (R) leading Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) by six points, 45% to 39%.
In other possible match ups, Don Stenberg (R) edges Nelson, 41% to 40%, while Nelson tops Deb Fischer, 41% to 35%.
Flashback of the Day
“Madam, trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table. I have no interest in doing it.”
— Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), at a town hall meeting on health care reform in August 2009.
Is Karl Rove an Evil Genius?
Walter Shapiro: “There is no doubt, certainly, that Rove is influential. But, as I spent time speaking to insiders from both parties about him, I initially struggled to pin down the exact nature of his resurgent influence. The classic line on Rove has always been that his political instincts are unrivaled by any Republican since the heyday of his mentor, Lee Atwater. Yet, while Crossroads undoubtedly played an important role in the 2010 campaign by flooding the airwaves with ads for Republican Senate candidates, the only thing memorable about these ads was their omnipresence.”
Said GOP strategist Matthew Dowd: “The whole Rove brand as an evil genius is wrong. Karl is neither.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“I wouldn’t lie to the American people. I wouldn’t switch my positions for political reasons.”
— Newt Gingrich, quoted by the New York Times, in a not-so-veiled reference to GOP primary rival Mitt Romney.
Rubio Keeps Eye on 2016
Howard Kurtz says Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) insists he’s not interested in a vice presidential bid in 2012, noting that his party can’t solve its Hispanic problem just by drafting “a person whose name ends in a vowel.”
However, while his aides welcome the veep chatter “because it gives him a larger megaphone,” they want “to preserve his option of running for president in 2016 — which Rubio would forfeit if his ticket beat President Obama this time around.”
Americans Would Pick Obama Over Bush
A new 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll finds President Obama would beat former President George W. Bush in a hypothetical election match up, 40% to 31%, with 27% picking neither.
Placing Blame for Supercommittee Failure
With the supercommittee’s inability to agree on a debt reduction package last week, John Avlon crunches the numbers and explains why Republicans deserve the most flak.
Political Ad of the Day
A bizarre web video from Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate Steve Welch (R) explores the possibility that Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) and President Obama were “separated at birth.”
The spot’s highlights include a dramatic soundtrack, telegenic host, and fake experts in behavioral science, statistics, and body language.
Clinton Will Play “Major Role” Once Leaving Office
Bill Clinton told Newsmax about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s future career plans.
Said Clinton: “I think she wants — and she has said publicly — to continue a lot of the work that she’s done, she did as a private citizen, as first lady, as senator and as secretary of state. Around the world, she’s done an enormous amount of good in, you now, the so-called soft power areas, empowering women and girls, helping them, giving them access to capital, helping them make a living, promoting better healthcare practices.”
He added: “I think she will have a major role to play in the nongovernmental world. That’s what she plans to do, and I think she’ll do it well.”
Gingrich Holds Lead Nationally
A new Majority Opinion Research poll finds Newt Gingrich leading Mitt Romney, 32% to 23%, followed by Herman Cain at 14%, Ron Paul at 6%, Rick Perry 5%, Michele Bachmann 4%, Jon Huntsman 3%, “someone else” at 4%, and no opinion at 11%.
Frank Will Not Run Again
Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) will not run for re-election for a 17th term. He’ll hold a press conference at 1 pm ET to discuss his decision.
A close adviser tells the Boston Globe that “the new district in which Frank would have had to run next year was a major factor in his decision. While it retained his Newton stronghold, it was revised to encompass more conservative towns while Frank also lost New Bedford, a blue-collar city where had invested a lot of time and become a leading figure in the region’s fisheries debate.”
Roll Call: “Some possible candidates for his newly redrawn seat include City Year
co-founder Alan Khazei, who recently dropped his Senate primary bid, and
former Chairwoman of the Brookline Board of Selectman Deborah Goldberg.”
Why the Gingrich Surge is Different
Charles Franklin notes that Newt Gingrich’s rise in the polls is quite different than the surges experienced by Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Herman Cain.
“His recognition levels have remained at the top of the field, along with Romney’s, at 80-90% with only the slightest of upward trends. This means none of the Gingrich favorability trend is due to new-found visibility, as it is for all the rest save Romney and (to a lesser degree) Paul. Rather Gingrich’s trends show that even as a well known figure public affect for him is uniquely variable.”
“While others rose and fell, since his nadir in early July Gingrich has slowly but steadily rebuilt his support among Republican voters. From his low of +10 Gingrich has now risen to just a shade under +40, a whisker ahead of Romney for best net favorability among the field. And for the mercurial Gingrich it is notable that this success was achieved through steady progress rather than a sudden bounce.”
