RandySF
RandySF's JournalHow many days does Boehner have left?
He put a bill on the floor that passed with only 84 Republicans. His own caucus did not want it. He sought and got Nancy Pelosi's help. He's dead in the water as Speaker. How many days before he steps aside?
Why Republicans should be glad they did not win in NJ.
If tea bagger Steve Lonegan had somehow won over Cory Booker in a freak result (from say, a very low Dem turnout), the nutcases in Congress and around the country would have been emboldened to the point losing the House and everything else. Establishment Republicans should be breathing a sign of relief.
Signs Indicate That Obama’s Debt Ceiling Gamble May Be Paying Off
WASHINGTON — More than two years ago, President Obama was still in the thick of his previous showdown with Republican House leaders over the nation’s debt limit when he called five senior advisers into his office. He did not ask their advice, one said. Rather, he told them, in a way that brooked no discussion: From now on, no more negotiating over legislation so basic and essential to the economy, and the country.
“I’m not going through this again. It’s bad for democracy. It’s bad for the presidency,” Mr. Obama said, according to the adviser, who declined to be identified describing internal discussions. The president then told the group — his Treasury secretary, chief Congressional lobbyist, chief economic adviser and both his and the vice president’s chiefs of staff — to spread that word, “even in your body language.”
Since then, so has Mr. Obama. To make his message on the debt ceiling stick, he had to deliver it, repeatedly, not only to Republicans convinced that he would “cave,” as many often have said, but also to business groups, the broader public and even to Democrats in Congress. Failure could shake not only the economy, but also Mr. Obama’s presidency, given his reputation, fair or not, for drawing red lines and then watching foes cross them.
The current fight is hardly over, yet the steady retreat of House Republicans since late last week, when they first proposed a short-term increase in the debt limit without policy strings, suggests that Mr. Obama’s big gamble could be paying off. It is a stand that was, and still is, fraught with risks if neither side backs down.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/16/us/signs-indicate-that-obamas-debt-ceiling-gamble-may-be-paying-off.html?ref=politics&_r=1&
Cheap shot, Hillary.
Hillary just reminded me one reason I did not support her in the 2008 primary. Vice President Biden gave his honest, forthright advice base on the information they we presented which, IIRC, reported only a 40% likelihood that Bin Laden was in the compound. And I admire Biden for his honesty as much as I admire the president for having the cuts to make the call.
"Former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton was in town today. A few Secret Squirrels, and some not so secret, agreed to be our sources, given that her speech to the National Association of Convenience Stores was encapsulated by a cone of silence. Convention officials banned all video and sound recording, social media, and naturally, journalists.
No ears reported any mention of whatever 2016 ambitions Clinton might have. But state Rep. Tom Taylor, R-Dunwoody, said the former first lady dropped a huge hint. "I know she’s running for president now, because toward the end, she was asked about the Osama bin Laden raid. She took 25 minutes to answer," Taylor said. "Without turning the knife too deeply, she put it to [Vice President Joe] Biden."
Time and time again, Taylor said, Clinton mentioned the vice president's opposition to the raid, while characterizing herself and Leon Panetta, then director of the Central Intelligence Agency, as the action's most fierce advocates.
About 3,000 to 4,000 convention-goers packed the Thomas Murphy Ballroom in the Georgia World Congress Center to hear Clinton. The bin Laden query was the last of a Q-and-A session with the audience. "She took the rest of the time and went over, answering that question. She was ready to speak on that," Taylor said."
http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/political-insider/2013/oct/15/hearsay-hillary-clinton-theres-more-life-slim-jims/
Michigan clerks preparing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
LANSING, MI -- Clerks in at least ten of Michigan's 83 counties are prepared to issue marriage licenses this week if a federal judge strikes down the state's voter-approved ban.
U.S. District Court Judge Bernard Friedman is scheduled to hear testimony Wednesday afternoon in Detroit as part of a lawsuit filed by two Hazel Park nurses, who originally sued to win joint custody of their adopted children and later expanded the case to involve the same-sex marriage ban.
Friedman may issue a ruling the same day. If he lifts the ban and declines to issue a stay pending appeal from Attorney General Bill Schuette, same-sex marriage would be legal in Michigan until a higher court says otherwise, which could be only a matter of hours or days.
Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum, a Democrat who previously served in the state House, is among a handful of elected officials preparing for that possibility. She has plans to personally perform a same-sex marriage this week if the ban is lifted.....
Clerks in Bay, Clare, Delta, Ingham, Isabella, Lapeer, Midland, Oakland, Tuscola and Washtenaw counties told Equality Michigan that they are ready to begin issuing licenses immediately after a ruling. Many county clerks have not yet responded, and others said they would wait for a directive from the state.
http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/10/gay_marriage_in_michigan_count.html
Florida Dem picks up State House seat in special election.
Democrat Amanda Murphy won a special election to the Florida House on Tuesday, claiming the west Pasco seat vacated by popular Republican Mike Fasano who broke with his party's leaders to endorse her.
Unofficial returns showed Murphy capturing 50.8 percent of the vote to defeat Republican Bill Gunter.
"Tonight the big battle starts. I have big shoes to fill and this district expects someone that's going to take care of them," Murphy said from a victory party at the Boulevard Beef & Ale in New Port Richey.
Murphy, 43, is a financial adviser for Raymond James making her first run for office.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/legislature/special-election-under-way-for-house-district-36-seat-in-pasco/2147303
Fearing a lost governor’s race, Virginia Republicans confront party divide
With just three weeks remaining before the election, Republican leaders in Virginia fear that their nominee, Ken Cuccinelli II, is on his way to losing the governor’s race and that the party will squander command of a state that is key to their quest to dominate next year’s midterm elections and the 2016 presidential race.
Distressed over a flurry of recent polls showing Democrat Terry McAuliffe with a solid lead, Virginia Republicans are talking about rebuilding their organization, which is suffering from deep internal rifts similar to those roiling the national party.
“It’s a party that is disunited, in flux, in transition and defeated,” said Thomas M. Davis, the former Republican congressman. “We have nominated a ticket that Virginians don’t want to buy.”
While some Republicans say enough time remains for Cuccinelli to recover, Davis said that a defeat would require the party to confront like never before the division between the tea party activists who spurred Cuccinelli’s nomination and the moderates, independents and business leaders turned off by his conservative views on social issues.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/fearing-a-lost-governors-race-va-republicans-confront-party-divide/2013/10/13/713edfbe-31d2-11e3-8627-c5d7de0a046b_story.html?hpid=z3
Gohmert: McCain Supports Al Qaeda
Louie Gohmert is angry with John McCain for making the factual statement that Republican lawmakers caused the government shutdown. He’s so angry, in fact, that he told Values Voter Summit attendees today that McCain “supported Al Qaeda.”
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/gohmert-mccain-supports-al-qaeda#sthash.2glUJwbP.dpuf
Jim Bob Duggar Compares US To Nazi Germany During The Holocaust
Reality TV star Jim Bob Duggar spent most of his speech at the Values Voter Summit imploring attendees to run for office, just like he did, in order to advance social conservative causes like an “army.”
Duggar ended the address by retelling a story about a time when Mike Huckabee and his daughter visited a concentration camp, which he used to compare the current state of the US to Nazi Germany.
“As they were walking out of that concentration camp, he said little Sarah looked up at him and she said, ‘Daddy why didn’t somebody do something?’ You know what, that’s where we are at in our nation,” Duggar said. “Do we want our children, when we’re going to tell them about how great America was, they’re going to look at you and say, ‘Why didn’t somebody do something?’”
Duggar’s son Josh is the executive director of Family Research Council Action, which will be sponsoring a Duggar family tour of Virginia to campaign on behalf of Ken Cuccinelli and E.W. Jackson, and one of the summit’s emcees.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/jim-bob-duggar-compares-us-nazi-germany-during-holocaust#sthash.c29NgMn6.dpuf
Talk Host Sany Rios: Matthew Shepard Murder A 'Complete Fraud'
Not only did American Family Association talk show host Sand Rios plug the ex-gay movement and warn that gay people are trapped in “a powerful web of deceit” during her Values Voter Summit speech yesterday, but she also cited Stephen Jimenez’s shoddy reporting on the Matthew Shepard case to call his murder a “complete fraud.” She lamented that schools host the play The Laramie Project to teach tolerance to students and said that Shepard’s murder was a result of a “drug deal gone bad.”
Today, we should note, marks the anniversary of Shepard’s death.
She also a read a letter from civil rights groups, including the Southern Poverty Law Center and People For the American Way, which urged Republican officials to skip the Values Voter Summit. Rios maintained that the letter proves that “it is a dangerous time to be a Christian conservative” in America.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/rios-matthew-shepard-murder-complete-fraud#sthash.BUZ7vldS.dpuf
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Gender: MaleHometown: Detroit Area, MI
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