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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) predicted that automatic spending cuts will take effect on March 1 as scheduled, Reuters reports.
Said McConnell: “It’s pretty clear to me that the sequester’s going to go into effect. I have seen no evidence that the House plans to act on this matter before the end of the month.”
He added: “Read my lips: I’m not interested in an 11th-hour negotiation.”
President Obama will announce a bipartisan presidential voting commission to focus on improving the Election Day experience, the Huffington Post has learned.
“The commission is one of a number of efforts the Obama administration is making to address the problems that plagued voting on Election Day 2012. The commission, which will focus specifically on Election Day issues and not broader voting reform, will likely be co-chaired by one Republican and one Democratic lawyer, according to one of the sources.”
The Senate Armed Services Committee endorsed Chuck Hagel for secretary of Defense on a party line vote, amid GOP promises to filibuster the nomination and insist on a 60-vote majority during floor consideration, Roll Call reports.
The approval came “after a fractious markup, with senators getting into heated exchanges over Hagel’s disclosure of certain financial records.”
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The New York Times notes that due to redistricting, seven states had a “severe imbalance” between their popular vote and the party makeup of their House delegations: Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
All but Arizona were tilted in favor of the Republicans.
“Slow down. Slow down. How about a little foreplay?”
— House Speaker John Boehner, quoted by ABC News, joking that with bipartisan conversations on immigration reform taking place it’s too early to talk about specific legislation.
The Sparrow Project received a message from a “decentralized hacker collective” that details a planned effort by the groups’s affiliates online to disrupt the online streaming and syndication of the President Obama’s State of the Union Address, scheduled for 9pm EST.
After a quick review, Daniel Drezner was able to find at least two major misleading statements in every State of the Union address in the past decade.
The Guardian uses the Flesch-Kincaid readability test to track the reading level of every State of the Union address.
Jonathan Chait: “What makes Joe Scarborough such an enjoyable figure is his combination of affability, good intentions, high self-regard, low self-awareness, and total lack of analytical reasoning skills. He is not remotely dislikable. He is Ron Burgundy come to life.”
“The nerd is the natural enemy of Joe Scarborough, as nerds defy everything Scarborough has come to believe about the expected order of things.”
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds 52% of Americans have a favorable opinion of the policies President Obama wants to pursue in his second term.
In contract, 55% hold a negative view of the policies they expect the Republicans in Congress to offer in the next four years.
Failed 2010 New York gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino (R) visited the state Capitol and passed by “the glass-walled office of Fred Dicker, the state editor of the New York Post who was in the middle of his daily, live, radio show,” the Albany Times Union reports.
“‘Hey Fred!’ Paladino shouted. The two men had a physical tiff during the 2010 campaign, where Dicker forcefully questioned Paladino about his unsubstantiated suggestion that Cuomo had been a womanizer, and Paladino yelled at Dicker for the actions of a Post reporter who staked out his Buffalo home.”
“Dicker looked up. Paladino raised his middle finger, smiled, and walked away.”
Coming soon: Payback: The Case for Revenge by Thane Rosenbaum.
“In the supporting documents he turned over to Senate investigators as part of his confirmation process, Defense Secretary-designate Chuck Hagel did not disclose at least two recent speeches on the subject of the Arab-Israeli conflict,” Fox News reports.
“Obama administration sources and lawmakers said Hagel was required to declare to the Senate Armed Services Committee any ‘formal speeches’ he had given since the start of January 2008. That Hagel appears not to have declared the two speeches from 2008 could further jeopardize his nomination with Senate Republicans, who have already threatened to block the nomination because they believe Hagel has not turned over enough financial data.”
A new Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press Poll in New Jersey finds Gov. Chris Christie (R) with an approval rate at 70% and just 17% disapproving.
Christie even has a 58% job approval rating from Democrats and 60% from public employees.
“An earlier version of this post incorrectly reported that Sarah Palin planned to contribute to the Al Jazeera America news network.”
Roll Call:
“If President Barack Obama has soured on pointless haggling with
congressional Republicans, the feeling is mutual. So after Tuesday
evening’s post-State of the Union platitudes about working together have
been dispensed with, expect House and Senate Republicans to go their
own way, ignoring Obama and his demands as much as possible.”
New York Times: “Inside the White House and out, advisers and associates have noted subtle but palpable changes in Mr. Obama since his re-election… He is relaxed, more voluble and even more confident than usual, these people say, freer to drop profanities or dismiss others’ ideas — enough that even some supporters fear the potential for hubris.”
Greg Sargent: “If Obama makes good on the threat to
be aggressive, there will be a great deal of gnashing of teeth among
Republicans — and even neutral commentators — about his lack of ‘bipartisan outreach.'”
First Read: “Here’s a reality about a second-term presidency: You have a narrow window — at the beginning of the term — to persuade Congress to do something big. For Ronald Reagan, it was tax reform (which he achieved); for Bill Clinton, it was education reform (which failed); and for George W. Bush, it was Social Security reform (which crashed and burned). And this is perhaps the best way to view President Obama’s State of the Union address at 9:00 pm ET tonight. It is essentially his last chance to lay the groundwork for domestic achievements. In his speech tonight, Obama is expected to push for second term agenda: comprehensive immigration reform, ways to curb gun violence, and his preferences to grow the economy and reduce the deficit. And it’s the issue of the economy where the president will spend a lion’s share of his time.”
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.
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