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New Site Reaches Out to the Tea Party
Tweet Share on Facebook June 15, 2010 Comment (3)By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
One of Washington’s power couples, GOP activist Ginni Thomas and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is getting more political muscle. Ginni Thomas has just started a new website, LibertyCentral.org, which is reaching out to the Tea Party movement and others to promote Reaganesque principles and help angry Americans change the city’s political balance. “I’m inspired by the Tea Party movement,” she says. “I’m happy to be called a Tea Party person, but I think what I’m doing is bigger,” she adds, noting that her site also focuses on issues like national security that the Tea Partyers don’t. She plans to get involved in the midterm and presidential elections. “We need all hands on deck for the next five months and then the next two years after that for the next election,” she says. But Thomas is also trying to stay out of her hubby’s way and avoids court matters at LibertyCentral.org: “I’ve always been careful to watch for conflict issues.”
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Chamber of Commerce Aims to Boost Trade With China
Tweet Share on Facebook June 14, 2010 Comment (1)By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
It seems fitting that Avis, the “We Try Harder” car rental firm, advertises on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce website, including on the page that features bios of top execs. Because nobody tries harder to promote the cause of America’s companies than the chamber’s President Thomas Donohue. “I love what I do,” says the white-haired 71-year-old. “I am more consumed than I have ever been because there’s so much going on.”
If Donohue seems winded lately, it might be because of the chamber’s tussling with the Obama administration. Several times they’ve nearly come to blows, as when the chamber said small businesses would choke on the costs of healthcare reform. Says Donohue, “I think there is an absence of people in the White House who understand business compared to previous administrations of both parties.” Add to that his group’s bid to push policy changes that could create 20 million new jobs, and it’s enough to tire any lobbyist.
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Zogby: BP’s Work On Oil Spill Disaster Weighs On Obama’s Presidency
Tweet Share on Facebook June 11, 2010 Comment (5)Pollster John Zogby updates our weekly Obama Report Card with a grade on the president’s performance. Zogby uses his polling, expert analysis and interaction with major players to come up with a grade and some comments that capture how he see’s the president’s week ending.
John Zogby on Week 73:
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LeMieux on Obama, BP Spill: Roosevelt Didn’t Pledge 'To Kick Hitler’s Ass'
Tweet Share on Facebook June 11, 2010 Comment (5)By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
The stink raised by President Obama’s get-tough pledge to find some “ass to kick” for the Gulf oil disaster simply isn’t blowing away. Joining CNBC Squawk Box co-host Becky Quick in expressing dismay at Obama’s language is Florida Republican Sen. George LeMieux, who called the administration’s response to the spill “pathetic.”
In a politically-charged address to the Republican Ripon Society this week, he hit the administration for studying and talking more about the spill instead of providing leadership and action. But he was especially critical of Obama’s Today Show interview this week where he said he wanted to find some “ass to kick” for the crisis.
Said LeMieux to the society that takes its name from the Wisconsin town the GOP started in: “I don’t think it’s an appropriate comment for the president of the United States to make. I don’t remember Roosevelt saying we were going to kick Hitler’s ass. He hasn’t even talked to Tony Hayward, who’s the CEO of BP, so I’m not sure whose ass he’s going to kick. We’ve seen the lack of an emotive gene in this president.”
His comment can be viewed at 7:54 in this YouTube clip.
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Weekly Standard Profile Building Mitch Daniels 2012 Buzz
Tweet Share on Facebook June 10, 2010 Comment (7)By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
There’s no question that Mitch Daniels fever is starting to grow in Washington as Republicans look for a proven manager with corporate experience to run against President Obama in 2012. While saying he’s not interested in running, the two-term Indiana governor and former Reagan and George W. Bush aide who was also an Eli Lilly & Company exec has been taking the standard steps toward testing the presidential waters.
Among the moves was his interview with and subsequent long profile in the current Weekly Standard. Smartly written by senior editor Andrew Ferguson, the 8,700-word piece was a walk through Daniels’ life and political style, much of which is known.
But it’s the two paragraphs of “opposition research” near the end revealing his “happy endings” marriage that has many of those supporting him in Washington buzzing. The reason: They didn’t know that he and his wife had divorced then fairly quickly remarried. Daniels calls it the perfect love story in the excerpt below, though his supporters don’t know what to make of it other than to say congratulations for keeping the family together.
Here’s what Ferguson wrote:
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Could FDA Panel Conflict of Interest Endanger Menthol Cigarettes?
Tweet Share on Facebook June 9, 2010 Comment (8)By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
At least four groups are now questioning the credibility of a federal advisory panel created to study tobacco product safety, challenging two members with financial ties to drug firms that make smoking cessation products. At issue: Will the duo push to ban menthol ciggys and favor smokeless products?
The issue hit this week when the Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, filed a complaint against the FDA's tobacco advisory panel for conflicts of interest since they have voting members who consult for pharmaceutical companies that work on nicotine delivery products to quit smoking.
The concern is that two members, Jack Henningfield and Neal Benowitz, have an incentive to favor smoking cessation products because they've advised drug firms on those products.
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Supreme Court Justices Follow the Precedents of Tradition
Tweet Share on Facebook June 9, 2010 CommentBy Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
Its personality may change when judges retire, but the Supreme Court's traditions live on. One is the simple, friendly handshake that justices participate in at the start of pre-court conferences on days when oral arguments are heard. The handshake started more than 100 years ago, and Chief Justice John Roberts says "it's to reaffirm that we're a collegial court." In the new C-SPAN book The Supreme Court, Roberts reveals that the justices also speak around the conference table in order of seniority. Nobody speaks twice before all have been heard. Then, after they hear the oral arguments, the justices typically lunch together. But, as in the Godfather, business talk is taboo. "Somebody will talk about a good movie they've seen or a good book they've read," he says, "the kind of things everybody would talk about at lunch."
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One Last Issue From Hurricane Katrina: Helping Illegal Immigrants
Tweet Share on Facebook June 9, 2010 CommentBy Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
On the eve of the 2010 hurricane season, Congress is pushing new laws to deal with issues that blew in during 2005's Hurricane Katrina. One so far ignored is how to handle illegal immigrants. A new Congressional Research Service report warns that they face "particular problems" because, while they are eligible for disaster relief assistance, they are still deportation targets. They often hide during evacuations, the report states, "potentially placing these individuals at risk during catastrophic incidents."
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Washington Blade Returns Just in Time for Gay Pride Month
Tweet Share on Facebook June 8, 2010 Comment (1)By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
Left for dead in a bankruptcy last November, the Washington Blade has come roaring back just in time for Gay Pride Month in June. "Things are going very well," says Editor Kevin Naff. "We've never had more readers." The paper and website, now locally owned, haven't changed since getting suspended. The Blade still covers national and local gay issues, like the "don't ask, don't tell" law. "We celebrated our 40th anniversary last year and are most certainly here to stay," says Naff. Another troubled D.C. paper is also on the rebound. Insiders say the conservative Washington Times is reconsidering plans to sell after stabilizing its balance sheet.
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Celebrities, Comedians Fill Democratic Coffers
Tweet Share on Facebook June 8, 2010 CommentBy Danielle Kurtzleben, Washington Whispers
They've been showing signs of frustration with President Obama's approach to the wars and Gulf oil spill crisis, but that hasn't stopped Hollywood celebrities from donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Democratic National Committee. In fact, in a Washington Whispers review of DNC's successful fundraising for the 2010 election cycle, over a dozen well-known stars from the movie, TV, fashion, and book worlds have given the maximum amount of $30,400 since Obama took office. [See a slide show of notable figures who gave the maximum to the DNC for 2010.]
