Political Wire

Mayor Admits He Sexually Harassed Women

July 11, 2013 at 8:31 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

San Diego Mayor Bob Filner (D) admitted to allegations from political allies that he has sexually harassed numerous women, the San Diego Union Tribune reports.

Said Filner: “I begin today by apologizing to you. I have diminished the office to which you elected me. The charges made at today’s news conference are serious. When a friend like Donna Frye is compelled to call for my resignation, I’m clearly doing something wrong. I have reached into my heart and soul and realized I must and will change my behavior.”

“As someone who has spent a lifetime fighting for equality for all people, I am embarrassed to admit that I have failed to fully respect the women who work for me and with me, and that at times I have intimidated them.”

Extra Bonus Quote of the Day

July 11, 2013 at 5:20 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“So this is really a sad, sad day for the United States Senate. And if we don’t pull back from the brink here, my friend, the majority leader, is going to be remembered as the worst leader of the Senate ever.”

— Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), quoted by Mediaite, in regards to pushing filibuster reform.

Robertson Insists He’s Not Anti-Gay

July 11, 2013 at 3:38 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Pat Robertson said on the 700 Club that’s he’s not “ant-gay” and said “we have many, many, many homosexuals watching this program and many of them are looking for love and acceptance and help.”

Said Robertson: “A lot of people are into this homosexual thing because they’ve been abused by a parent, abused by a coach, abused by a sibling, abused by a friend, they’re little boys and little girls and they don’t know any better and then they somehow think, ‘well I must be gay,’ they aren’t they are heterosexual and they just need to come out of that.”

He added that some gay people “maybe got some chromosomal damage that’s different from heterosexuals.”

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Clinton Racks Up Speaking Fees

July 11, 2013 at 2:20 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

The Washington Post reports Hillary Clinton has given or has scheduled at last 14 speeches, for which she charges $200,000 per appearance.

“As a former secretary of state and U.S. senator, Clinton is following a path well-worn by retired politicians such as her husband — who has racked up tens of millions of dollars in speaking fees since leaving office — and by State Department predecessors such as Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell and Madeleine Albright. But the extent of Clinton’s speaking schedule, and the size of her standard fee, is more unusual for someone considering a run for president.”

Boys with Sisters More Likely to be Republicans

July 11, 2013 at 1:47 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new study in the Journal of Politics by Andrew Healy and Neil Malhotra finds that young men who were raised with sisters are more likely to express socially conservative views on attitudes about gender roles.

“Having sisters makes males more politically conservative in terms of their gender role attitudes and their partisanship. Particularly for gender role attitudes, we find that these political socialization effects persist until respondents are well into adulthood.”

[Read more…]

Republicans Have Little Leverage to Block Nuclear Option

July 11, 2013 at 1:22 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Ezra Klein: “What’s so odd and interesting about Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s threats to eliminate the filibuster on executive-branch nominees is that the… majority is considering rules changes precisely because there’s nothing more the minority can obstruct that they really, really care about.”

“These aren’t usual times in the Senate. So far as Reid is concerned, Republicans have already killed pretty much everything else the Democrats might want to do. When he’s been confronted with the argument that Republicans might bring everything to a stop if Democrats change the rules, I’m told Reid’s reply is sharp: ‘And that would be different how?'”

Roll Call: Reid defends his threat to go nuclear on filibusters.

The Black Party

July 11, 2013 at 12:18 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Thomas Edsall: “In private discussions, Republicans in the South talk explicitly about their goal of turning the Democratic Party into a black party, and in many Southern states they have succeeded. African-American legislators make up the majority of state House and Senate Democratic caucuses in most of the Southern states.”

Snowden Has No Escape Route by Air

July 11, 2013 at 11:59 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Beginning a third week holed up in a Moscow airport’s transit zone, Edward Snowden finds himself far enough away to evade U.S. authorities, but also too far from any of the sympathetic nations willing to shelter him,” McClatchy reports.

“Aviation experts say that even if Snowden accepts the tentative offers of Venezuela, Nicaragua or Bolivia to give him shelter, it’s virtually impossible to chart a flight plan to those nations that doesn’t include traveling over or refueling in a U.S.-friendly country that could demand inspection of the plane – and detain him.”

CNN looks are the available flight routes.

Senate Nears Showdown Over Filibuster

July 11, 2013 at 11:50 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“A confrontation in the Senate between Republicans and Democrats over the confirmation of President Obama’s cabinet nominees edged closer on Thursday toward a showdown over changing the rules on filibusters,” the New York Times reports.

“After a tense exchange on the floor with his Republican counterpart,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) “planned to recommend to his fellow Democrats at a private lunch meeting that they should vote to take the exceptional step of barring the minority party from filibustering presidential appointees.”

Greg Sargent has a good road map of how he expects thing to unfold if Democrats use the nuclear option.

What Would Spitzer Do If Elected?

July 11, 2013 at 11:15 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new poll shows Eliot Spitzer leading in the race for New York City Comptroller.

Wonk Wire looks at what he might do if he wins.

Lessons from the Comeback Kid

July 11, 2013 at 10:52 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Daily Beast: “B.C., or before Clinton, politicians caught with a prostitute, sharing crotch shots with anonymous strangers or disappearing to hike the trail — would be drummed out of office, never to return. But that was before the 42nd president wrote the modern playbook on how to come back from a sex scandal.”

What’s Next for Immigration Reform?

July 11, 2013 at 10:30 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

First Read: “After yesterday, seasoned observers believe the House will act first on an intense border security bill. Then they’ll most likely pass some variation of the DREAM Act that would only be triggered into effect once the goals in the border security bill were met. This allows them to say they tried to secure the border and that they’re not totally heartless people. Either way, it’s unlikely Democrats will play ball on either bill. And if anything this will most likely be pushed into the fall, when debating the debt ceiling becomes the real story. And after Christmas it’s 2014 primary season, and many House GOP members won’t touch immigration with a 20-foot pole during that election year.”

Greg Sargent: “But here’s what we still don’t know: Whether there are any conditions, ever, that could induce House Republicans to embrace citizenship at any point in this process.”

The Fix follows three possible paths in the House for the legislation.

Republicans Are Now Against All Legislation

July 11, 2013 at 10:15 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Jonathan Chait: “One of the novel developments in conservative thought during the Obama years is a burgeoning hatred not merely for government but for lawmaking. Before the Obama era, the ends of crafting laws divided the parties, but the means did not. The process of corralling votes, placating hold-outs, and hammering out compromises was not something either side especially loved — you’ve heard the classic line about watching the sausage get made — but also not something that one side disliked more than the other. But a hatred for lawmaking has emerged in the Obama years, first as a Republican tactic, and then as an apparently genuine belief system.”

Majority of Virginians Now Favor Gay Marriage

July 11, 2013 at 9:52 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Human Rights Campaign poll in Virginia finds that 55% of voters favor same-sex marriage in their state while 41% oppose it.

The survey shows how views “have shifted in its favor seven years after voters easily passed an amendment to the state constitution that defines marriage as between one man and one woman.”

Obama Hits a Brick Wall

July 11, 2013 at 9:46 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

First Read: “No one ever said American politics was easy, particularly during a time of divided government, but President Obama has seemed to hit a brick wall six months into his second term. The Senate filibustered the crux of his gun-control efforts; the aftermath of the Arab Spring has been difficult to manage; and the prospects for passing immigration reform now look worse than they’ve been all year, especially after House Republicans emerged from their meeting yesterday.”

“Meanwhile, it’s been about four months since the Republican National Committee released its recommendations to move the party forward after its two-straight presidential defeats. Those recommendations included reaching out to Latinos and African Americans, passing immigration reform, and focusing less on divisive social issues. The progress so far? Congressional Republicans are now opposing comprehensive immigration reform, especially one that gives undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship; conservatives on the Supreme Court gutted the 1965 Civil Rights Act; and GOP lawmakers across the country are pursuing restrictions on abortion — after Mitt Romney lost female voters by 11 points in 2012.”

“Both Obama and Republicans thought they’d have a fresh start in 2013, but so far the year has turned out to be more of the same, if not even more dysfunctional. In other words, little to nothing has changed.”

Election Spending Spikes

July 11, 2013 at 9:16 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Reid Wilson: “A decade after Sens. John McCain and Russ Feingold spearheaded sweeping campaign finance reform legislation, a series of judicial and legislative setbacks have derailed any hopes its original sponsors had of curbing the influence and amount of money spent on politics.”

“Instead, the incredible explosion of money in federal elections demonstrates McCain-Feingold was a speed bump, at best, on the way to a dramatic growth curve that suggests next year’s federal elections will cost nearly $3.5 billion.”

Bonus Quote of the Day

July 11, 2013 at 9:15 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“I can identify with them.”

— Former Washington, D.C. mayor Marion Barry (D), quoted by CNN, on the political comeback attempts by Anthony Weiner (D) and Eliot Spitzer (D).

Pennsylvania Won’t Defend Gay Marriage Ban

July 11, 2013 at 7:46 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane (D) is expected to announce that her office won’t defend the state in a federal lawsuit that challenges Pennsylvania’s ban on gay marriage, the Philadelphia Daily News reports.

“Pennsylvania is the sole state in the Northeast without same-sex marriage or a civil-union statute.”

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