Now available for pre-order: If Kennedy Lived: The First and Second Terms of President John F. Kennedy: An Alternate History by Jeff Greenfield.
Is Gun Control Primed for a Big Comeback?
The Week: “The NRA won round one, but proponents of tougher gun laws haven’t lost hope yet.”
O’Connor Questions Decision to Take Bush v. Gore
Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor told the Chicago Tribune she isn’t sure the high court should have taken the Bush v. Gore case that decided the 2000 presidential election.
Said O’Connor: “It took the case and decided it at a time when it was still a big election issue. Maybe the court should have said, ‘We’re not going to take it, goodbye.'”
The case “stirred up the public” and “gave the court a less-than-perfect reputation.”
She added: “Obviously the court did reach a decision and thought it had to reach a decision. It turned out the election authorities in Florida hadn’t done a real good job there and kind of messed it up. And probably the Supreme Court added to the problem at the end of the day.”
Quote of the Day
“She was the one who set the stage for Adolf Hitler. She didn’t copy him, he copied her. Planned Parenthood — it’s unbelievable how evil they were in the early days.”
— Pat Robertson, on The 700 Club, saying Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger was a model for Hitler.
Luntz Pulls Plug on Scholarship After Comments Were Taped
After his comments critical of Rush Limbaugh were secretly taped by a University of Pennsylvania student, GOP strategist Frank Luntz told the Daily Pennsylvanian that “he would never return to speak after this incident, and would discourage others from speaking here.”
Said Luntz: “I can’t imagine a speaker coming to Penn and being so open. I can’t imagine a speaker coming to Penn and being so candid. Frankly, I think it’ll have a chilling effect on whether speakers do or don’t come. I wish it didn’t.”
He also added that he would not renew a scholarship in his father’s name for students to travel to Washington, D.C.
GOP Struggles With Candidate Recruitment
“Republicans are struggling to recruit strong Senate candidates in states that present the party’s best opportunities to reclaim the majority, a sign that the GOP’s post-2012 soul-searching may end up creeping into the midterm congressional elections,” the AP reports.
Akin Talks Comeback
Former Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) told KSDK-TV he would not rule out making a political comeback despite sinking his U.S. Senate campaign last year after he uttered the now famous words, “legitimate rape.”
Said Akin: “I’m not going to try to get even with anybody. If you start to blame everyone else for something that happened you didn’t like, it will destroy you. It will eat you alive.”
He added: “Really what it goes back to is whether the Republican Party is going to be run by the insiders, or run by the grassroots organization. That’s a question still to be determined.”
Rubio Hit Hard After Inviting Comments on Immigration Bill
Byron York notes Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) invited people to help improve the bipartisan immigration bill he introduced by making comments on his website.
“Rubio’s staff is reviewing each one — a wise move, given the emotions that the immigration issue can involve and the tendency of some people to say nasty things on the Internet. But even after screening for foul language and general content, the suggestions Rubio has so far received are remarkably negative. Actually, they are overwhelmingly, crushingly negative, criticizing a wide spectrum of issues included in the Gang of Eight bill. The commenters Rubio has invited to speak really, really, really don’t like what he has done.”
Wonk Wire: The real immigration debate is just getting started.
Musharraf Under House Arrest
A Pakistani court has ordered a three-day house arrest on former military ruler Pervez Musharraf over the murder of ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto more than five years ago, Al Jazeera reports.
Tennessee Lawmaker Refers to “Tape and Rape” Methods
Tennessee state Rep. Andy Holt (R), who is sponsoring a bill that would ban long-term investigations of animal cruelty, compared Humane Society investigations to human trafficking of 17-year-old women and called the group’s methods “tape and rape” in an email, the Tennessean reports.
Cuccinelli Failed to Disclose Gift Vacations
Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli (R) received more gifts from dietary supplement company Star Scientific than he had previously reported, the Fredricksburg News reports.
“Cuccinelli revealed three trips and two vacations, spread over the past five years, that he says he forgot to list on his annual financial disclosure statements.”
On the Same Team
Gawker: “Tomorrow evening, the cream of our nation’s mainstream media celebrities, political celebrities, and celebrity celebrities will put on tuxedos and evening gowns and gather in a ballroom in Washington, DC to mutually give one another handjobs, in a mostly metaphorical sense. This is because the most powerful elements of our nation’s DC press corps are all ‘on the same team’ as the people they cover (politicians) and the people they idolize (celebrities). This is called the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, and it is the single most revolting annual gathering of pseudojournalistic cocksuckery in all the land.”
Act of Congress
Out next month: Act of Congress: How America’s Essential Institution Works, and How It Doesn’t by Robert G. Kaiser.
“An eye-opening account of how Congress today really works — and doesn’t — that follows the dramatic journey of the sweeping financial reform bill enacted in response to the Great Crash of 2008.”
Obama Group Seeks to Shame Climate Skeptics
Organizing for Action, the advocacy group formed to support President Obama’s political agenda after the election, has launched an initiative — and released a new video — to shame members of Congress who deny the science behind climate change, the Guardian reports.
The group said “it was time to call out members of Congress who deny the existence of climate change, saying they had blocked efforts to avoid its most catastrophic consequences.”
What if they Were the Boston Shooters Instead?
John Cassidy: “Here’s a little mental experiment. Imagine, for a moment, that the Tsarnaev brothers, instead of packing a couple of pressure cookers loaded with nails and explosives into their backpacks a week ago Monday, had stuffed inside their coats two assault rifles–Bushmaster AR-15s, say, of the type that Adam Lanza used in Newtown. What would have been different?”
“Well, for one thing, the brothers would probably have killed a lot more than three people at the marathon… The second thing that would have been different is the initial public reaction. Most Americans associate bomb attacks with terrorists. When they hear of mass shootings, they tend to think of sociopaths and unbalanced post-adolescents.”
“Third, had the attack been carried out with assault rifles rather than explosives and nails, the gun-control bills that perished on Capitol Hill just two days after the Boston bombings may have met a different fate.”
The Invisible Lobbyists
Wonk Wire: What most people would call lobbying now falls outside of its legal definition.
Bonus Quote of the Day
“This administration has so many Muslim brotherhood members that have influence that they just are making wrong decisions for America.”
— Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), in an interview with WND Radio, explaining what he sees as President Obama’s downplaying of the threat of radical Islam.
Ambassador Pick Bails Over Poker Ring
Marc Lasry, the New York billionaire President Obama wanted to appoint ambassador to France, turned down the prestigious position over ties to an alleged Russian mob-run poker ring, the New York Post reports.
Last month, Bill Clinton, a close friend of Lasry, said at a fund-raiser that Lasry was Obama’s pick for the ambassadorship.
An unnamed source close to Clinton isn’t pleased: “I can’t believe that Obama admits in a book that he snorted cocaine and yet Marc Lasry can’t be named ambassador to France because he played cards.”
