Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 189
Navigating the Nonsense
Sarah Palin is writing a her next book about Christmas, the AP reports.
The former Alaska governor has a deal with HarperCollins for A Happy Holiday IS a Merry Christmas and will criticize the “over-commercialism” and “homogenization” of the holiday and call for a renewed emphasis on the religious importance.
Andrew Sullivan: “Well, if anyone’s an expert on miraculous births…”
In an interview with ABC News, President Obama “rejected calls to balance the federal budget in the next ten years and instead argued that his primary economic concern was not balancing the budget, but rather growing the economy.”
Said Obama: “My goal is not to chase a balanced budget just for the sake of balance. My goal is how do we grow the economy, put people back to work, and if we do that we are going to be bringing in more revenue.”
Wonk Wire: Why we don’t need to balance the budget.
George Prescott Bush filed the official paperwork to run for Texas land commissioner next year — and put out a campaign video — “hoping to use a little-known but powerful post to continue his family’s political dynasty in one of the country’s most-conservative states,” the Dallas Morning News reports.
Michael Sullivan (R) claims he’s a “tested and trusted” leader with experience that makes him the best GOP candidate in the Republican U.S. Senate primary in Massachusetts.
But the Boston Globe finds that Sullivan’s newly launched website borrows heavily from the dormant site of Richard Tisei (R), the Republican who lost in his congressional bid last year.
Karl Rove is apparently still upset that Fox News called the presidential election too soon, the Washington Post reports.
“When asked about the papal conclave’s quest to rack up enough votes behind a successor to Pope Benedict XVI, Rove — inexplicably, un-self-awaredly — steered the discussion into the vicinity of the moment when he balked at calling the state of Ohio — and the whole presidential election — for Barack Obama back in November.”
Said Rove: “They do it the right way. They get to the final vote and the decision and then they let the smoke get it… Maybe there’s a message there for American media Maybe we better wait, rather than try to call it, let the election go to its final conclusion and let the results speak for themselves.”
“Every candidate was different. Each one of them there were obvious examples of candidates that I think frightened some women but they were the exception rather than the norm in the party. And you know all of those social issues are very, very heart felt by people. I understand that there are differences; there will just be. And I’m glad that in our party there we have room for all of them. I think that’s important too.”
— Laura Bush, quoted by CNN, on Republican candidates who ran in the 2012 elections.
“Senators negotiating a bill mandating background checks for all gun buyers are privately expecting the National Rifle Association not to fight the measure — provided the legislation does not require private gun sellers to maintain records of the checks,” NBC News has learned.
“If that requirement is met and key Republican negotiator Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma signs on, the powerful gun lobby has signaled to lawmakers that they would not actively oppose the bill — and not count votes in favor of it as part of its highly influential NRA lawmaker ratings — according to Senate aides familiar with the stalled negotiations.”
Ahead of a same-sex marriage debate to resume in Minnesota, state Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen (R), a staunch opponent, got a headstart with an awkward use of a “point of personal privilege.”
Said Gruenhagen: “I have a close friend here — the last couple years — his name is Kevin Petersen. Kevin, why don’t you stand up and say hi? The interesting thing about Kevin is he was active in the gay lifestyle for about 10 years, and then he left it, got married, and he now has three children. Thank you.”
Virginia Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling announced that he will not run for governor of Virginia as an independent, the Washington Post reports.
Steve Kornacki: “There are remarkably few recent examples of Senate incumbents losing in states where their party enjoys the kind of edge Republicans now have in Kentucky. And Judd figures to be a particularly ripe target for the GOP, given the very liberal views she’s already staked out. It would probably take a huge Democratic tide or an indictment of McConnell (or maybe both?) to propel her to victory in ’14. And that’s a lot to hope for.”
Stuart Rothenberg: “If Democrats are going to have any chance of netting 17 seats during the
2014 midterms — and taking back control of the House — they are going
to have to do a much better job in a handful of districts where their
recruiting fell far short in 2012.”
“The sequester is here until President Obama accepts the need for spending cuts and reforms that help put us on a path to balance the budget. That’s it.”
Speaker John Boehner, quoted by Roll Call.
Jeffrey Toobin: “Judicial appointments represent one of the great missed opportunities of the Obama Presidency. In his first term, especially in the first two years, Obama himself bore much of the blame for this. When Democrats controlled sixty Senate seats, Obama was slow to nominate lower-court judges, and his moment of greatest leverage passed. But, since the 2010 midterm elections, Republicans have been at fault, almost entirely. Most nominees are not formally stopped, as Halligan was, but rather are delayed and delayed. Bush’s nominees got votes within weeks; Obama’s take months, even for uncontroversial selections”
The Week: “To become a United States senator, you must be at least 30 years old, have nine or more years of citizenship to your name, and live in the state you wish to represent. You also need, on average, $10.5 million.”
“In general, House races were far cheaper than Senate contests, with
victorious candidates raising an average of about $1.7 million.”
“It’s complicated.”
— Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, quoted by the New York Times, when asked about his trip to Afghanistan to meet with Afghan leaders.
If President Obama names Thomas Perez as his next secretary of Labor, Senate Republicans “will have a lengthy and contentious Washington track record to examine as they decide whether, or how strongly, to object to his nomination,” Roll Call reports.
“His three-and-a-half-year tenure at the Justice Department is likely to be the subject of much scrutiny if he is nominated to lead the Labor Department — a job that itself could prove contentious as ongoing debates over the National Labor Relations Board, the federal minimum wage, immigration and other workplace-related issues begin to heat up.”
President Obama will formally kick off Organizing for Action, his newly-formed independent advocacy group, with a big speech Wednesday night.
ABC News reports it will be Obama’s “first in-person with the group’s core team of advisers, donors and grassroots organizers since its formation following the 2012 election. It comes as Obama seeks to re-energize his expansive grassroots campaign infrastructure around top second-term priorities — from new gun-control measures to comprehensive immigration reform and a plan to replace sequester — and cement the foundation for his presidential legacy.”
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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