NBC News: “A union representing 12,000 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officers will publicly oppose the Senate Gang of Eight immigration plan Monday, giving critics of the overhaul effort additional political ammunition as they work to defeat legislation working its way through the Senate Judiciary Committee.”
Justice Department Spied on Fox News Reporter
“When the Justice Department began investigating possible leaks of classified information about North Korea in 2009, investigators did more than obtain telephone records of a working journalist suspected of receiving the secret material,” the Washington Post reports.
“They used security badge access records to track the reporter’s comings and goings from the State Department, according to a newly obtained court affidavit. They traced the timing of his calls with a State Department security adviser suspected of sharing the classified report. They obtained a search warrant for the reporter’s personal e-mails.”
Virginia Nominee Said Planned Parenthood Worse Than KKK
Virginia Lt. Gov. nominee E.W. Jackson once compared Planned Parenthood to the Ku Klux Klan and bemoaned black voters’ “slavish devotion” to the Democratic Party, Politico reports.
Said Jackson in a video posted last year: “The Democrat Party has created an unholy alliance between certain so-called civil rights leaders and Planned Parenthood, which has killed unborn black babies by the tens of millions. Planned Parenthood has been far more lethal to black lives than the KKK ever was.”
Key Clinton Advisers Unlikely to Sign On for 2016
The Washington Post says Hillary Clinton’s top presidential campaign advisers from 2008 will not be signing up again if she runs in 2016.
“As core members of a dysfunctional ‘Team of Rivals,’ these top advisers were seared, scattered and, to different degrees, forged by the 2008 experience. Haunted by the failures in management and messaging, they have worked hard to get over their shattered White House dreams and rejection by a Democratic base enamored with Barack Obama. They express their requisite hope that Clinton will run and win, but also their lack of interest in jumping back in.”
Not Watergate But Nixonian
Veteran journalist Bob Woodward “accused Obama administration officials of invoking the worst instincts of former President Richard Nixon in their response to last year’s deadly attack on two U.S. compounds in Benghazi, Libya,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Said Woodward: “This is not Watergate, but there are some people in the administration who have acted as if they want to be Nixonian, and that’s a very big problem.”
He added: “This is a business where you have to tell the truth — and that did not happen.”
Paul Claims Revealing IRS Memo Exists
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) told CNN there was a “written policy” floating around the agency that said IRS officials were “targeting people who were opposed to the president.”
Said Paul: “And when that comes forward, we need to know who wrote the policy and who approved the policy.”
When pressed for details about the memo he was referring to, Paul said he hasn’t seen such a policy statement but has heard about it.
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“I’m running a Colin Powell military operation, which is assemble an
overwhelming force, focus on a single target and have the stomach to see
it all the way through to the end.”
— Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), quoted by Politico, on how he’s avoided having a primary challenge so far.
Obama Aide Says IRS Actions Unjustified Regardless of Law
White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer said the question of whether any laws were broken in the IRS scandal is “irrelevant” because the agency’s actions were wrong and unjustifiable, the Washington Post reports.
Said Pfeiffer: “I can’t speak to the law here. The law is irrelevant. The activity was outrageous and inexcusable, and it was stopped and it needs to be fixed to ensure it never happens again.”
Flashback of the Day
“Obama clearly has Muslim sensibilities. He sees the world and Israel from a Muslim perspective.”
— Virginina Lt. Gov. nominee E.W. Jackson (R), quoted by BuzzFeed, writing in 2010.
McConnell Says Obamacare Will Dominate Midterms
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) predicted that President Obama’s health care law will be the biggest issue of the 2014 midterm elections, the Washington Post reports.
Said McConnell: “I don’t know what the issues will be next year. If I were predicting what’s likely to be the biggest issue in the 2014 election, I think it would be Obamacare. I think it’s coming back big-time.”
Former Governor Suggests Buono Should Drop Race
Former New Jersey Gov. Brendan Byrne (D) told the Newark Star Ledger that Barbara Buono (D) should consider dropping her challenge to Gov. Chris Christie (R).
Said Byrne: “Buono is way behind. I was way behind in 1977 and I was thinking, if it gets worse, I’m going to withdraw. It didn’t get worse. As a matter fact, it got better. But at one point I thought of dropping out in favor of a better-positioned candidate. I don’t know whether that consideration would appeal to Buono, but I would advise she make that evaluation.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“What we’ve seen in the last seven or eight days have really shaken me. History teaches us that when government is too large and too powerful, no matter who’s in charge, it will lead to abuses.”
— Sen. Marco Rubio (R-VA), quoted by the Tampa Bay Times.
Obama Approval Steady After Rough Week
A new CNN/ORC poll finds President Obama comes out of what was arguably the worst week of his presidency with his approval rating holding steady at 53% to 45%.
Said pollster Keating Holland: “An approval rating that has not dropped and remains over 50% will probably be taken as good news by Democrats after the events of the last week.”
The latest Gallup poll finds Obama’s approval at 51% to 42%.
Quote of the Day
“Six months is a lifetime in politics. But an awful lot of what’s happening in Washington with the current regime should help us.”
— Former Virginia U.S. Senate candidate Oliver North (R), quoted by Politico, on the wave of conservative enthusiasm that swept the state GOP convention yesterday.
The Paradox of Obama’s Style
Washington Post: “President Obama’s professed ignorance of the targeting of conservatives by one government agency and his support of tracking journalists’ sources by another highlight one of the great paradoxes of his presidency: Sometimes he uses his office as aggressively as anyone who’s held it; other times he seems unacquainted with the work of his own administration.”
“The president’s inconsistency is so befuddling that not even his critics can get it straight. They simultaneously charge that he is ‘leading from behind’ and that he is displaying, in the words of House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-OH), ‘the arrogance of power.'”
Virginia GOP Picks Tea Party Slate
“Rejuvenated by a Democratic scandal in Washington and a tea party conservative atop their ticket, Virginia Republicans Saturday nominated a trio of statewide candidates whose fate will be closely watched as an indicator of the health of the national GOP,” Politico reports.
GOP gubernatorial nominee Ken Cuccinelli (R) “was one of three conservatives chosen Saturday for the GOP’s 2013 ticket — a reaction, many here at the state party convention said, to last year’s failed presidential bid by Mitt Romney, a Republican they thought was too moderate and waffling,” the Washington Post reports.
“E.W. Jackson, a minister from Chesapeake, won the nomination for lieutenant governor with a full-throated appeal for limited government, traditional families and gun rights… For attorney general, the party nominated state Sen. Mark D. Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg), who this year successfully pushed tougher voter ID rules.”
Politicians Who Cross NRA Feel the Wrath
The Washington Post looks at politicians who bucked the National Rifle Association and were punished harshly despite years of past support.
“For longtime NRA members, the Senate vote was not surprising. The group has turned the debate over gun control into a clarion call for constitutional rights. Any perceived assault on the Second Amendment is met with a withering counterattack. Even conservative lawmakers who cross the NRA are labeled as traitors. The NRA has been so effective over the years that gun-control groups are now trying to adopt some of the same tactics.”
“Well-organized NRA members and affiliated groups of gun owners hold rallies and pour resources into political campaigns. They flood local and national legislative offices with e-mails and phone calls. They make unannounced visits to the offices of lawmakers. The NRA’s lobbying arm posts myriad ‘Alerts,’ calling on millions of members across to the country to rise up at a moment’s notice.”
Ford Denies Smoking Crack
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford “turned down three chances on Friday to address the specifics of media reports about a video in which he appears to smoke crack cocaine and utter an anti-gay slur,” the Toronto Star reports.
The mayor later told reporters that the allegations were “absolutely not true” and “ridiculous.” At city hall later, he emerged from his office to offer only a brief statement.
Said Ford: “Anyways, like I said this morning, these allegations are ridiculous, another story with respect to the Toronto Star going after me, and that’s all I have to say.”
