October 19, 2013
Former Vice President Dick Cheney told
60 Minutes that in 2007 his cardiologist disabled his defibrillator's wireless function over concern that terrorists could use it to send a fatal shock.
Said Cheney: "I was aware of the danger...that existed...I found it credible. I know from the experience we had and the necessity for adjusting my own device, that it was an accurate portrayal of what was possible."
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The Senate Conservatives Fund, a PAC founded by former Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), "had its best fundraising month of the year by raising $2.1 million during September,"
Political Moneyline reports.
"The largest expenditure of the PAC was $522,934 spent on non-candidate issue ads, and $236,990 on telemarketing. The committee reported paying $224,135 in September to Simon & Shuster for 'Book Purchase.' The author and title were not listed."
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Just published:
The Power of Citizenship: Why John F. Kennedy Matters to a New Generation by Scott D. Reich.
A new
Gonzales Research poll in Maryland finds Anthony Brown (D) leading the Democratic race for governor with 41%, followed by Doug Gansler at 21% and Heather Mizuer at 5%.
Key findings: "Brown, who would be Maryland's first African-American governor, has the support of 56% of black voters, compared to 12% for Gansler. Among white voters, Brown and Gansler are in a virtual dead heat, with Brown receiving 29% and Gansler getting 28%."
Joe Scarborough: "If this sounds all too familiar, it's because Republicans were licking their wounds around this time last year after being blindsided by a presidential election whose outcome they should have seen coming a mile away. But ignorance was bliss as conservative politicians and talkers pushed bogus polls and political fairy tales to angry voters who were once again on the losing side of history. Media outlets that released polls showing President Obama winning were attacked as biased and conservatives who warned of Romney's weaknesses were rhetorically burned at the stake as heretics."
David Frum reviews
Days of Fire noting how complicated a book on George W. Bush's presidency might be: "The Bush administration opened with a second Pearl Harbor, ended with a second Great Crash and contained a second Vietnam in the middle."
"The story of those eight years would seem far too vast to contain inside a single volume. Yet here that volume is."
"Baker's book is informed by remarkable access to its main characters, including Vice President Dick Cheney... Yet
Days of Fire is something more than the reporter's 'first rough draft of history.' Almost every leading figure in the Bush White House, including Bush and Cheney, has now published his or her version of events, and Baker has painstakingly worked through them all. The result is what you might call a polished second draft of history, most likely the most polished draft we'll have until the archives are opened and the academics can get to work.
Reid Wilson: "The latest game of political chicken that drove Washington to a government shutdown and the very edge of the debt ceiling gave new life to the omnipresent complaint of elder statesmen and centrist wise guys: If only Congressional districts weren't so gerrymandered in the decennial redistricting process, moderation and across-the-aisle deal-making wouldn't be so rare."
"But there's another solution to the partisan extremism that seems to dominate Congress today, one that's already in practice in two states: A top-two primary system, one that incentivizes candidates in even the most conservative or liberal districts to appeal to the vast middle that otherwise plays a limited role in picking members of Congress."
John Sides: "I too would like less partisan warfare. But political science suggests that reforming primaries isn't likely to work."
Having lost the battle to defund President Obama's health care law, "conservative activists are pursuing a hardball campaign as they chart an alternative path to undoing Obamacare -- through the states," the
New York Times reports.
"The state-by-state strategy represents a split from the course pursued by Heritage Action for America and its sister organization, Heritage Foundation, which drove the 'defunding Obamacare' movement that led to the recent government shutdown."
Writes Heritage president Jim DeMint in the
Wall Street Journal: "Obamacare will now be the issue for the next few years."
The
Wall Street Journal looks at HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and her role in the rocky Obamacare rollout.
"As the chief advocate for the Affordable Care Act, Secretary Sebelius is scrambling behind the scenes to address the website's technical failures. With anger growing over the inability of consumers across the U.S. to access the new online marketplace, Mrs. Sebelius has become the target of late-night spoofs and calls for her resignation."
Said Sebelius: "It's tough to take these shots. But I will take them until we get this right."
Wonk Wire: At least one health insurance exchange is working
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Rep. C.W. Bill Young (R-FL), the longest-serving Republican in Congress, died Friday evening from complications related to a chronic injury at age 82, the
Tampa Bay Times reports.
"Young served with eight U.S. presidents over parts of five decades. He leaves behind a stunning volume of legislative accomplishment in which he tapped federal funds to improve science and public health, military readiness, the beaches, transportation and access to drinking water."
October 18, 2013
Bloomberg: "A battle for control of the Republican Party has erupted as an emboldened Tea Party moved to oust senators who voted to reopen the government while business groups mobilized to defeat allies of the small-government movement."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said in forthcoming interview that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) did what he did during the government shutdown because he wants to run for president, the
Washington Post reports.
Said Reid: "In an effort to help him run for president, he has done some stuff that's really damaging to our country. He's been attempting to raise money. And who has he hurt? He has hurt average Americans. The government being shutdown for 14 or 15 days, that has been very hurtful to people. Not only the people that work for government, but the people who work around government."
Former Speaker Thomas Foley (D-WA), who spent
30 years in Congress as a kingpin on agriculture, ultimately leading the
chamber as the 'Speaker from Spokane,' has died,
Roll Call reports.
He was 84.
This is kind of amazing:
JFK 50 Year Commemorative Collection.The most important moments of Kennedy's 1,000 days as president as compiled by the National Archives.
The
Associated Press obtained an early copy of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's forthcoming book,
Unintimidated: A Governor's Story and a Nation's Challenge.
The book, due out in November, "provides a detailed account of his 2011 battle against public unions, the campaign he won against their efforts to recall him, and his unhappiness with Romney and other Republicans he says didn't learn the lessons from his political victories."
A new
Pew Research survey finds just 19% of Americans say that they trust the government in Washington to do what is right just about always or most of the time, down seven points since January.
Key findings: "The share of the public saying they are angry at the federal government, which equaled an all-time high in late September (26%), has ticked up to 30%. Another 55% say they are frustrated with the government. Just 12% say they are basically content with the federal government."
Great book just published:
How to Sweet-Talk a Shark: Strategies and Stories from a Master Negotiator by former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.
Richardson talked about his book with Julie Mason on
Sirius XM.
See more...
Sarah Palin suggested she might get involved in Kentucky's Republican Senate race between Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Matt Bevin (R), the
Lexington Herald Leader reports.
"Bevin said a number of national high-profile people had contacted him about helping his campaign, but he declined to say whether Palin was one of them."
Charlie Cook:
"Here's a question for conservatives and Republicans: Going into the
2012 Election Day, or even in the last few days before Election Day, did
you think Mitt Romney was going to win? A couple of months ago, did you
think the strategy of threatening to shut down the government or
prevent raising the debt ceiling, to force the outright repeal or
defunding of Obamacare, would really work?"
"So the question is whether conservatives and
Republicans should begin to worry if their instincts--specifically, their
judgment on matters of politics and policy--are a bit off. Maybe 'spectacularly wrong' would be more accurate."
"It
may be time for the GOP's Non-delusional Caucus to stage an
intervention. Otherwise the party may be headed for some
voter-administered therapy."
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) "has said he is committed to advancing immigration legislation in this Congress but there is virtually no interest among GOP lawmakers to vote for the kind of sweeping bill that Democrats are seeking,"
USA Today reports.
Said Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID): "It's not going to happen this year. After the way the president acted over the last two or three weeks where he would refuse to talk to the speaker of the House... they're not going to get immigration reform. That's done."
Added Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS): "That would really melt down the conference."
"In a city obsessed with baseball and politics, baseball almost always wins -- at least when it comes to voters' attention," the
Boston Globe reports.
"The race to succeed Mayor Thomas M. Menino has already been overshadowed by a run of unrelated events, from the Marathon bombings to the trial of gangster James "Whitey" Bulger. Now, in the final stretch, mayoral finalists John R. Connolly and Martin J. Walsh find themselves fighting for the spotlight. In October, it's tough to compete with the bat of David Ortiz or the glove of Dustin Pedroia."
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-AZ) told
ABC News that he doesn't need "99 new friends" in the Senate.
Rick Klein: "That's just as well, but the problem for Republicans who see Cruz's actions these past few weeks as problematic is that he doesn't need any friends in Washington to do it all over again. Cruz is deriving his power - and the power of his convictions - well outside of Washington. Like Sarah Palin before him, efforts to shun and sideline him figure to only make him stronger, at least in the near future. Cruz's reaction to the series of events he helped trigger speaks to the split inside the Republican Party: He sees victory in the process and defeat in the outcome. Most of his erstwhile friends see a disastrous process and the only hopeful signs in the way it came to an end."
"Republican donors were horrified in November after pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into losing campaigns for president and Congress with nothing to show for it,"
Politico reports.
"A year later they're appalled by how little has changed, angered by the behavior of Republican lawmakers during a string of legislative battles this year capped by the shutdown, and searching for answers."
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