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Gohmert Says Islamic Terrorists Trained to Act Hispanic

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Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) claimed that Islamic terrorists were training to pretend to be Latino in order to infiltrate the United States, the Huffington Post reports.

Said Gohmert: “We know Al Qaeda has camps over with the drug cartels on the other side of the Mexican border. We know that people that are now being trained to come in and act like Hispanic when they are radical Islamists. We know these things are happening. It is just insane not to protect ourselves, to make sure that people come in as most people do.”

Bush Remains Very Unpopular

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As George W. Bush prepares for a public appearance — along with the other living presidents, past and present — at the dedication of his presidential library in Dallas next week, a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds he remains unpopular with the American public.

Just 35% of Americans view Bush favorably, versus 44% who view him negatively.

Bachmann Investigation Widens

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Congressional ethics investigators are examining whether top staffers in Rep. Michele Bachmann’s presidential campaign played an improper role in the 2011 tour to promote her personal memoir, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.

“The new questions about the promotion of Bachmann’s autobiography, Core of Conviction, suggest that the ethics review has widened beyond initial allegations that Bachmann improperly mixed funds between her campaign and her independent political organization, MichelePAC. The investigation also could extend Bachmann’s legal troubles, which began with a lawsuit alleging that one of her top Iowa staffers illegally appropriated an e-mail list of Iowa home school families.”

Why Background Checks Is Unlikely to Pass

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First Read explains why the expanded gun background check compromise is unlikely to pass in the Senate later today even though polls show 90% of Americans support the measure.

“But senators are realists, and some of those fence-sitters probably were swayed NOT to take what they believed would be a risky vote because the House was unlikely to pass it. The thinking being: Why cast a vote that will create a potential political problem when the bill’s chances of ACTUALLY becoming law are so remote?”

Texas Official Says Obama is Greater Threat Than North Korea

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Texas Attorney General Greg 
Abbott (R) said President Obama administration and his “political machine” is a bigger threat to Texans than North Korea, the Waco Tribune reports.

Said Abbott: “One thing that requires ongoing vigilance is the reality that the state of Texas is coming under a new 
assault, an assault far more dangerous than what the leader of North Korea threatened when he said he was going to add Austin, Texas, as one of the recipients of his nuclear weapons. The threat that we’re getting is the threat from the Obama administration and his political machine.”

Lawmaker Uses Vagina as Synonym for Woman

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New Hampshire State Rep. Peter Hansen (R) told the Concord Monitor that he was just trying to emphasize a point when he used “vagina” as a synonym for “woman” in an email to the full House earlier this month.

Hansen wrote an email to his colleagues arguing that “children and vagina’s” were missing from a fellow representative’s anecdotes during the debate over whether to repeal New Hampshire’s 2011 “stand your ground” law.

Obama Moves Out Front in Wake of Bombings

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Howard Kurtz says President Obama’s “low-key handling of earlier terror incidents” — such as when a Nigerian man tried to blow up a jetliner on Christmas in 2009 — “may have been a reaction to the intense, color-coded, high-alert ethos of the Bush era.”

Said David Axelrod: “No doubt, we gave him bad advice. This was over a holiday weekend, facts were still evolving and Napolitano was going out on Sunday shows and could brief the nation.”  Still, he says, “that advice neglected the important, ministerial role the president plays in times of crisis. Even though he was in constant contact with his team, people needed go see and hear from him. We all learned that lesson.”

The Washington Post notes Obama will travel to Boston on Thursday “to attend an interfaith service for those who were killed and gravely injured in the attack on the Boston Marathon.”

Senate Sets Series of Gun Control Votes

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The Senate will vote this afternoon “on a series of gun measures that may determine the shape of legislation inspired by the shootings in Newtown, Conn,” the New York Times reports.

Three amendments “are largely Democratic: a provision expanding background checks to firearms bought at gun shows or on the Internet, a reinstatement of an assault weapons ban, and a ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines.”

“Others are Republican: a mandate that any state permit for carrying a concealed weapon be honored by virtually every other state, a broad alternative gun measure aimed at mental health care and school safety, and another helping veterans clear their names to obtain firearms.”

“Two other measures are bipartisan, one to crack down on gun trafficking and another to bolster mental health treatment.”

Politico: “Both Democrats and Republicans want to see how Wednesday’s showdown over one of President Obama’s top legislative priorities plays out before making any decisions on whether they will let the underlying gun package move forward.”

Weiner Trails Quinn in New York City Primary

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A new Marist Poll in New York City finds Christine Quinn (D) leading the Democratic primary for mayor with 26%, followed by Anthony Weiner (D) at 15%, John Liu (D) at 12%, Bill de Blasio (D) at 11% and Bill Thompson (D) at 11%.

Another 22% of likely voters are still undecided.

First Read says there are two ways to read this poll: “The first, as most news outlets have played it, is that former Rep.
Anthony Weiner (D-NY) would immediately start out in second place if he
runs, trailing presumed front-runner Christine Quinn, 26% to 15%. But
there’s a second way to read it: Weiner, with nearly perfect name ID, is
getting just 15%.”

Ex-Wife Says Sanford Trespassed at Her Home

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Court documents say former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) “trespassed at his ex-wife’s home and he has been ordered to appear in court two days after his special congressional election,” the AP reports.

“Jenny Sanford confronted her ex-husband leaving her South Carolina home on Feb. 3. Her attorney filed a complaint the next day and she confirms the documents are authentic.”

Boehner Likely to Break Immigration Bill in Pieces

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House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) “looks likely to try to move immigration reform through the House in a few separate bills, rather than in one comprehensive piece of legislation,” two sources have told the Huffington Post.

“As fragile as the immigration effort is in the Senate, it faces an even more difficult path in the Republican-controlled House, home to many lawmakers who are either uncomfortable with or opposed to anything that smacks of ‘amnesty’ for undocumented immigrants.”

Roll Call: Eight potholes for the immigration bill.

About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan 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.

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