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“We love Weiner and you can quote me on that!” shouted 25-year-old
Justin Curtis after Anthony Weiner passed in New York City’s gay pride parade, Politicker reports.
Responded Weiner: “You guys know that’s my name right? We’re not just saying that.”
Chris Cillizza: “Politics is a team sport. Except the way House Republicans have played it for the past few years.”
“At the root of the problems that afflict the majority party in the House is that there are simply too few members willing to occasionally set aside personal interests and ambitions for the broader interests of the party. They just won’t take one for the team… Examples of this go-it-alone approach are everywhere.”
Gay-marriage opponents “lost a last-ditch bid to reinstate California’s Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage, when a Supreme Court justice denied a motion to suspend the wedding ceremonies, which resumed in the state last week,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Wonk Wire has the key takeaways from the Supreme Court’s just-completed term.
“The much-criticized 112th Congress – from 2011 to 2012 – was the least productive and least popular Congress on record, according to the available statistics,” First Read reports.
“Now six months in – highlighted by a string of legislative stalemates – the 113th Congress (2013-2014) is on track to match or even surpass those dubious distinctions.”
“GOP, if you abandon us, we have nowhere else to go except to become more independent and not enlisted in a one or the other private majority parties that rule in our nation, either a Democrat or a Republican.”
— Sarah Palin, quoted by the Daily Caller, suggesting she is open to the idea of leaving the Republicans party if it “continues to abandon its conservative principles.”
New York Times: “The 2016 election may be far off, but one theme is becoming clear: Republican strategists and presidential hopefuls, in ways subtle and overt, are eager to focus a spotlight on Mrs. Clinton’s age. The former secretary of state will be 69 by the next presidential election, a generation removed from most of the possible Republican candidates.”
“Despite her enduring popularity, a formidable fund-raising network and near unanimous support from her party, Mrs. Clinton, Republican leaders believe, is vulnerable to appearing a has-been.”
“When someone crosses John A. Boehner, he or she can expect a couple of reactions from the House speaker. Sometimes it’s a thwack on the back and a disapproving shake of his head, quickly followed by a begrudging smile to indicate that all is forgiven. Sometimes it’s a fake yell and then a shrug. One recalcitrant even got rewarded,” the Washington Post reports.
“Never — ever — is there a sense of real anger from the Ohio Republican. His leadership style does not involve rapping knuckles, breaking arms or even threatening to rap knuckles or break arms. He has sworn off intimidation and punishment, in a House that has rarely been run on anything else.”
“As a result, Boehner has allowed rank-and-file Republicans more freedom to vote their will, with him or against him, than any speaker in modern times.”
“We will not win another presidential election as Republicans unless we do something to fix the broken immigration system.”
— Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood (R), quoted by the Washington Post.
While Edward Snowden “has remained mysteriously hidden from sight during his visit to Russia this week, Russian television has been making him a hero,” the New York Times reports.
“On programs that were hastily arranged and broadcast on the two largest federal channels, he was compared to the dissident Andrei Sakharov, to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, and to Max Otto von Stirlitz, a dashing fictional double agent from Soviet television… The chance that Russia will turn him in has all but vanished, as evidenced by Thursday’s television programs, which were almost certainly produced under Kremlin orders and have a powerful effect on public opinion.”
“Disagreements over policy are important and they’re healthy, but when he crosses the line into the personal, then he damages himself and he damages the Republican Party.”
— Texas House Speaker Joe Straus (R), quoted by the Texas Tribune, saying that Gov. Rick Perry’s (R) controversial remarks about state Sen. Wendy Davis (D) were inappropriate.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis (D) “was equipped with a catheter, but nixed an offer of a continuous IV drip” to help her make it through an 11+ hour filibuster earlier this week.
“Senate Republican leaders have sent letters warning six professional sports leagues not to provide the Obama administration any assistance in promoting Obamacare,” TPM reports.
“The letters, dated June 27, warn the chiefs of the National Football League, Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association, National Hockey League, Professional Golf Association and NASCAR that partnering with the administration to publicize the benefits of the health care law would damage their reputations.”
National Republicans “launched a series of programs aimed at recruiting more female candidates and getting conservative women involved in politics,” the Washington Post reports.
“The efforts come as Republicans continue to trail Democrats when it comes to electing women and also as the female vote continues to tilt toward Democrats. Democrats have four times as many women serving in the Senate and three times as many women in the House, and President Obama won the female vote 55 percent to 44 percent last year — just one point off his 2008 showing.”
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) veered to the right this morning, twice touting himself as a “conservative Republican” and taking a shot at President Obama within the first 10 minutes of a town hall meeting, the Newark Star Ledger reports.
Said Christie: “I know when you look at Washington right now, you shake your head at a president who can’t figure out how to lead, at a Congress that only 11 percent of the people in the last poll I saw approve of the job they’re doing.”
Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner (D) has proposed a bill forcing men to “see a sex therapist, receive a cardiac stress test and get a notarized affidavit signed by a sexual partner affirming impotency” before allowing them to get a prescription for Viagra or other erectile dysfunction drugs, the Dayton Daily News reports.
“Turner said if state policymakers want to legislate women’s health choices… they should also be able to legislate men’s reproductive health.”
“Federal prosecutors asked a judge today to let the government seize the homes of former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and his wife, Sandi, in Washington and Chicago, plus an IRA he has worth almost $80,000,” the Chicago Tribune reports.
Harry Enten looks at the New York City Democratic mayoral race and finds that Christine Quinn, William Thompson or Anthony Weiner could advance to a runoff.
“I went through the polling that I could find since 1989, and I can’t find a single poll this late in the mayoral primary campaign when the leading candidate had less than 26% and certainly not less than 20%. There simply is no precedence for this in the past thirty years…. When the candidates are polling so poorly and close to each other anything can happen.”
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.
“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”
— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”
“Concise. Relevant. To the point. Political Wire is the first site I check when I’m looking for the latest political nugget. That pretty much says it all.”
— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report
“Political Wire is one of only four or five sites that I check every day and sometimes several times a day, for the latest political news and developments.”
— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report
“The big news, delicious tidbits, pearls of wisdom — nicely packaged, constantly updated… What political junkie could ask for more?”
— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia
“Political Wire is a great, great site.”
— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”
“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”
— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post
“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”
— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit
“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”
— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.