Politics As Usual

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June 2009
- Obama Offers Gays Too Little, Too Late
  
  Politico | Jun 17, 09 11:42 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - President Obama’s memorandum giving gay federal workers some of the benefits straight ones enjoy has gone over like a lead balloon in the gay community, Politico reports. Advocates say it’s a weak gesture because the Defense of Marriage Act—which the administration recently defended—prevents it from including health or retirement benefits. “Are they kidding us?” asked one activist. “It is like rubbing salt in the wound.” More »
- Obama Clashes With Rural Democrats
  
  Politico | Jun 17, 09 11:15 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Democrats from rural areas aren’t pleased with President Obama, and they’re threatening to show it by revolting against key parts of his domestic agenda, Politico reports. The tension boiled to the surface last week when rural and moderate Democrats decried plans to close 3,400 General Motors and Chrysler dealerships, but many are also angry about new regulations from Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency. More »
- Judge to NY Lawmakers: Settle This Mess Yourselves
  
  New York Daily News | Jun 16, 09 5:13 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Judges' decisions sometimes clarify things in the real world, but not so much in the New York state legislature. A state judge today dismissed a case from Democrats, who say that Republicans illegally took control of the state Senate last week, reports the Daily News . The judge told the two parties they'd have to work it out themselves, leaving the question of just who's in charge in limbo. More »
- As With Bush, Obama Won't Release WH Visitors List
  
  MSNBC | Jun 16, 09 10:27 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Despite President Obama’s promise of transparency, the administration is blocking requests for the White House visitors list, MSNBC reports, defying two federal court rulings that the lists are public record. In addition to denying MSNBC’s request for a list of all visitors since Jan. 20, the Secret Service turned down a nonpartisan watchdog group’s request for records of visits by coal executives. More »
- Bush 41: Lay Off Sotomayor
  
  CNN | Jun 12, 09 2:56 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Calling Sonia Sotomayor racist for her now-infamous “wise Latina” remark “doesn't help the process,” former president George H.W. Bush tells CNN. "I don't know her that well but I think she's had a distinguished record on the bench and she should be entitled to fair hearings,” he says. Bush 41 nominated Sotomayor to serve as a federal district court judge in 1991. More »
- Spitzer: I Love New York Senate Mayhem
  
  Slate | Jun 11, 09 9:25 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Madness has descended on Albany, NY. When two Democrats switched sides at the last minute, the Democrats literally locked the Republicans out of the state senate, followed by name calling, court action, and threats to hold a session in an empty field. And that’s actually an improvement, writes Eliot Spitzer for Slate: "This chaos will be good for the state, its government, and democracy." More »
- Republicans See Rising Debt as Obama's Soft Spot
  
  Politico | Jun 10, 09 11:38 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Republicans think they’ve found one chink in President Obama’s armor: public fear over rising national debt. Some 51% of Americans disapprove of Obama’s efforts to control federal spending, according to a recent poll. In every other area, Obama enjoys positive ratings. “The president is still popular, but his policies are catching up with him,” Sen. Lamar Alexander told Politico. “When that happens, it helps us make our points.” More »
- Corruption Trial of Ex-Louisiana Rep Kicks Off
  
  New Orleans Times-Picayune | Jun 9, 09 1:59 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Jury selection began today in the trial of former Louisiana Rep. William Jefferson, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. The Democrat is charged with taking bribes and using his office to set up business deals in Africa. “It is good to have my family with me,” he said as he arrived at the courthouse in Virginia. In 2005, federal investigators traced $90,000 from an informant to Jefferson’s freezer. More »
- Newt Backs Off 'Racist' Comment
  
  Boston Globe | Jun 3, 09 11:02 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Newt Gingrich today backed off his remark that Sonia Sotomayor is a “Latina woman racist,” the Boston Glob e reports. When he heard the Supreme Court nominee’s now-infamous “wise Latina” soundbite, “my initial reaction was strong and direct,” he wrote in his blog today on Human Events. “Perhaps too strong and direct. The sentiment struck me as racist and I said so.” More »
- Pawlenty Won't Run Again in Minn.; Prez Push Possible
  
  Minneapolis Star Tribune | Jun 2, 09 4:36 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Tim Pawlenty will not seek a third term as Minnesota governor, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports. Pawlenty is seen as a probable Republican candidate for 2012, but he was mum on the subject. “I don’t have any plans beyond serving out my term,” he said today. “I’m not ruling anything in or out.” He said he was leaving office to open up the field to others. More »
- Sotomayor Visits Senators, Explains 'Wise Latina' Remark
  
  Politico | Jun 2, 09 12:42 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Sonia Sotomayor made her first trip to Capitol Hill today, and had heart-to-hearts with Harry Reid and assorted members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, explaining the “wise Latina” remark that has drawn so much attention to chairman Patrick Leahy, Politico reports. Though everyone has a different background, the Supreme Court nominee told Leahy “there is only one law,” and she would follow it “ultimately and completely.” More »
- Sotomayor Will Likely Get Some GOP Votes
  
  New York Times | Jun 1, 09 10:55 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Despite loud opposition from the likes of Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh, many Republican senators may vote for Sonia Sotomayor, the New York Times reports. Strategists on both sides suspect that at least a third of the upper house’s 40 Republicans will back the Supreme Court nominee, including the seven who voted to confirm her to the federal appeals court. More »
May 2009
- Like Father, Like Son: Dodd Fights for Future
  
  Newsweek | May 31, 09 4:32 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - For the second time in recent memory, a Senator Dodd from Connecticut is accused of corruption and faces a rocky political future, Newsweek reports. The current senator, Chris Dodd, is a 28-year veteran and former presidential candidate, but after devising an AIG loophole and appearing to make shady housing deals, he faces 54% of voters who say they don’t find him “honest or trustworthy.” More »
- US Taxpayers, Too, Billed for Lawmakers' Cars, Cameras
  
  Wall Street Journal | May 30, 09 8:34 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - No moat-cleaning, but there were cameras, TVs, and fancy cars among the expenses members of Congress have charged to taxpayers recently, a Wall Street Journal investigation inspired by the British expenses scandal finds. House members are given up to $1.9 million a year and senators get up to $4.5 million to spend on job-related expenses, but, the Journal reports, the accounting is often opaque. More »
- Ambassadors: Rich People in Useless Jobs
  
  Foreign Policy | May 29, 09 2:11 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Barack Obama opted for politics as usual in his ambassador appointments yesterday, writes David Rothkopf for ForeignPolicy. Like recent predecessors, Obama turned to deep-pocketed campaign donors; hence Japan, the world’s second-largest economy, will deal with a tech lawyer whose sole qualification seems to have been his ability to raise $500,000, while France gets a guy who used to run the Muppets. Which raises the question: Do we even need ambassadors? More »
- Boehner's No. 1 in Obama's Online Suggestion Box
  
  Politico | May 29, 09 10:13 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - House Minority Leader John Boehner didn’t like how the House Democrats were operating, so where did he appeal? The White House, of course. More specifically, reports Politico, Boehner used the White House online suggestion box to ask the president to back a 72-hour review period before any spending bill is passed. And Boehner's suggestion has gotten more votes than any other of the online ideas, though not all are exactly models of seriousness. More »
- Specter Finds His Inner Democrat
  
  Politico | May 21, 09 10:45 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Arlen Specter’s first days as a Democrat may not have gone well, but since then he’s settled in and sided with his new party on nearly every vote, Politico reports. He’s gone from staunch opponent of the Employee Free Choice act to a key negotiator for it, come to Nancy Pelosi’s defense against the CIA, and said he’s now open to a public option on health care. More »
- Gingrich Slams Pelosi on Daily Show
  
  Gawker | May 20, 09 8:24 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Newt Gingrich “essentially” called for Nancy Pelosi’s resignation as House speaker last night in a chat with Jon Stewart, Gawker reports. "She either should prove her allegation” that the CIA regularly misleads Congress, or “I think she's done a huge disservice,” the former speaker said on The Daily Show. “To have a person who would lie about everybody in the intelligence community” as speaker is “utterly irrational,” Gingrich said. More »
- UK Expenses Scandal Claims House Speaker
  
  Guardian (UK) | May 19, 09 6:55 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The ongoing controversy surrounding British MPs' lavish expenses has claimed its biggest victim: the speaker of the House of Commons. Michael Martin, who presides over the country's main legislative body, will announce his resignation today after losing the support of party leaders, including Gordon Brown—not for cheating on his expenses, but for fighting the release of the expense records that revealed MPs charging taxpayers for everything from bogus mortgages to pornography, reports the Guardian . More »
- The White House May Be Trying to Purge Pelosi
  
  Washington Post | May 18, 09 12:13 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - After Nancy Pelosi suggested the CIA had misled Congress, the agency’s director fired back with a letter denying the claim. But the idea that Leon Panetta would send a letter “humiliating a House speaker of his own party” entirely of his own accord seems “almost inconceivable,” writes William Kristol in the Washington Post . Perhaps he “ran it by” Rahm Emanuel—begging the question: “Does Emanuel (and, presumably, President Obama) want a chastened Pelosi to remain speaker?” More »