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James O’Keefe Arrested, Undercutting ACORN Allegations
Tweet Share on Facebook January 26, 2010 Comment (41)By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
James O'Keefe, who became a conservative media star last year for his videos skewering ACORN, was among four people arrested for trying to tap the phones in Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu's office in New Orleans. The story is borderline comical. According to an affidavit from FBI Special Agent Steven Rayes, O'Keefe was loitering around Landrieu's office when his two alleged accomplices, "each dressed in blue denim pants, a blue work shirt, a light fluorescent green vest, a tool belt, and carrying white, construction-style hard hat," came in, claimed they were from the phone company, and asked for access to the phones. O'Keefe used his mobile phone to film them.
It sounds like something out of the tritest kind of television script. And, if the charges are true, that's actually not terribly surprising. Judging by the ACORN caper, O'Keefe's style isn't simply to prove corruption but stupidity. It's ironic, then, that the rank lack of sense in his latest alleged stunt calls into question his ACORN charges.
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The Obama Spending Freeze is Simply Not Credible
Tweet Share on Facebook January 26, 2010 Comment (12)By Peter Roff, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Following a string of embarrassing electoral and political defeats, the president has signaled major changes are coming. He is no longer going to be "Your Mama's Obama"--the cool, smooth, rational, post-partisan candidate for president the country was introduced to in 2008. That's out the window in favor of Obama 2.0, the populist firebrand, "fighter for you" who wants to lead a charge rather than simply effect change.
It's a bold effort to redefine what any number of polls, including the Gallup presidential tracking poll, indicate is a failing but not yet unredeemable presidency. Most all the administration's key legislative initiatives have hit the wall in Congress, with members of the president's party increasingly looking for the exits rather than for another term. Obama's response to this has been to change the rhetoric rather than the reality, starting with his new proposal to freeze non-defense, non-security related federal discretionary spending for the next three years.
The image of Obama as a reborn budget cutter as the concluding act of an almost year-long spending binge that would have made Bacchus blush is simply not credible, as Congressional Republicans were quick to point out.
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Populists Were Not Always a Fringe Group
Tweet Share on Facebook January 26, 2010 Comment (2)By John A. Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
The op-ed pages are replete with talk about Populism these days, both pro (E.J. Dionne in Monday's Washington Post) and con (David Brooks in today's New York Times.)
As I happen to have spent a considerable amount of time studying the Populist revolt of the 1890s, in the course of digging up details about Clarence Darrow's little-known role as a Populist firebrand, I thought I might offer a taste of the flavor of the era, and side with E. J. in defending the movement.
The Populists were angry folks, and though some pushed for an alliance of black and white farmers in the South, others were racist and anti-Semitic. In the years after World War II, such mass movements were viewed by influential American historians--most notably Columbia University's Richard Hofstadter--as uncomfortably akin to the rise of fascism. Subsequent generations of college students, schooled on Hofstadter's The Age of Reform, came away quite leery of the Populists. It is only in recent years that historians like Charles Postel and Michael Kazin have helped repair the Populists' reputation.
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Obama Can’t Tap Voter Anger Because It's Directed at Him
Tweet Share on Facebook January 25, 2010 Comment (19)By Peter Roff, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Now that the voters in Massachusetts have put him on the ropes, President Barack Obama is spoiling for a fight. Speaking last week in Elyria, Ohio, the president, the New York Times reported, used some version of the word "fight" more than 20 times as he railed against the big banks, Wall Street, joblessness, and the economic downturn that has hit the nation hard.
As a newly-minted populist, Obama is hoping to win back the support of the independents and the "Reagan Democrats" who, over his first year in the White House, have become steadily less enthusiastic about his performance in office. The president, as the numbers reflect, has been losing the support of the center. On Monday, the Gallup organization released a new survey that shows the nation's first postpartisan president is an extremely polarizing figure despite an average job approval rating of 57 percent for his first year in office. Underneath that, however, is a lot of bad news.
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Why the Filibuster is a Problem
Tweet Share on Facebook January 25, 2010 Comment (8)By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
I devoted my column this week to tracing how the filibuster has changed over the last 50 years and why our perception of it doesn't quite synch up with reality. In brief, the filibuster is used in a radically different way now than it was as recently as the 1950s and 1960s. The filibuster has always been an important tool to help protect the rights of the minority in the U.S. Senate (and it remains one of the things that distinguishes the Senate from the House). But historically it was a big gun that was rarely used. A couple of things changed in the '60s and '70s, however, which made it easier to both manage a filibuster and also to break one. First Senate procedures were changed so that a filibuster would stall a single bill, but not bring the chamber to a halt; second the number of votes required to break a filibuster was lowered from 67 to 60. Starting around 20 years ago, the number of filibusters--which had been drifting up anyway--dramatically increased.
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President Obama Should Not Skip Out on Jury Duty
Tweet Share on Facebook January 25, 2010 Comment (39)By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Politics Daily is reporting that President Obama was summoned for jury duty this week in Chicago and told the Cook County circuit court that he would not be able to make it because of the State of the Union address. I can certainly understand having a conflict because of a major address to the American people, but he should have rescheduled the jury duty. The president had an opportunity to signal that jury duty is important and a duty of citizenship, rather than just simply saying he "would not be able to serve." Let's face it, not many people like having to go on jury duty, and would love to say that they're just "not able to serve." I don't think it's right that the president--who is a lawyer himself--can just say this doesn't work for him. Think of all the people who are paid by the hour, the stay-at-home moms, and small-business owners who have to report for jury duty, no matter how inconvenient (and costly) it is for them.
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More Bad News for House, Senate Democrats
Tweet Share on Facebook January 25, 2010 Comment (4)By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
It's proving to be another tough day for congressional Democrats, with three more drips into a growing pool of bad political news for the party. Today brought two more announcements of Dems opting to not run this year; and a well-known political tip-sheet sees more signs of a playing field that is increasingly tipping in favor of the Republican Party.
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How McDonnell Should Respond to Obama’s State of the Union
Tweet Share on Facebook January 25, 2010 Comment (8)By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
A number of pundits are making suggestions for Gov. Bob McDonnell's Republican response to the State of the Union address, and I have an idea too. Rather than standing in front of any empty desk in the U.S. Capitol and speaking into a lone camera, he should address the nation from the floor of the Virginia legislature in front of a live audience, and say something like this:
I'm speaking to you tonight from the Capitol of the great Commonwealth of Virginia, in the building designed by our former governor, Thomas Jefferson, located on Shockoe Hill here in Richmond. Not far from where I stand tonight, on the hill next to this one, Church Hill, sits the old St. John's Church. In 1775, just hours after the British marched on Concord, Mass., Virginia's first governor, Patrick Henry, stood before citizens of the largest colony and said, "Give me liberty or give me death!" And Virginia joined the revolution.
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Scott Brown Won With Big Money, Naked Double Standard
Tweet Share on Facebook January 25, 2010 Comment (26)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Let me join in the Thomas Jefferson Street fray (a bit belatedly, I must add) over last week's GOP senatorial pickup in Massachusetts by relative political unknown Scott Brown. Not here, but elsewhere on the Web, I blamed the Democratic loss largely on frustration with universal healthcare in the state (it's not working) and Massachusetts's increasing number and percentage of independent voters.
I would also like to laud editor Robert Schlesinger's post on money inequality in the Massachusetts Senate race, especially late in the game.
I received a phone call from a political insider over the weekend who confirmed that and more to me. Not only did GOP groups come in big with late money for Brown, but I'm also told Democratic coffers dried up for Coakley early in the race because she started out 30 points ahead. Her supporters figured she just didn't need their largesse in this race and the national party funds dried up as well.
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Specter’s Sexism Vs. Bachmann Was Feckless, Not Stunning
Tweet Share on Facebook January 22, 2010 Comment (16)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
It's great to see the Republican National Committee sticking up for women. According to Politico, Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter was on a talk show with the outspoken Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann this week, and lobbed a gender-based snub at her:
The two were on a Philadelphia radio show Wednesday when the Pennsylvania Democrat grew frustrated with Bachmann. "I'm going to treat you like a lady," Specter said to Bachmann. "Now act like one." Appearing on conservative host Sean Hannity's Fox News show Thursday night, Bachmann said she was "stunned" by Specter's outburst.
Then Jan Larimer, the female cochair of the RNC, swung right back at Specter with this little ditty on the RNC's website:
"Senator Specter's rude and arrogant comments yesterday were not only disrespectful to Congresswoman Bachmann, but demeaning to all women. Senator Specter should immediately apologize to the Congresswoman and to all of his constituents for such disgraceful behavior. Women should never be treated as second class citizens. It's clear Senator Specter has spent too much time in Washington, and this November I am confident Pennsylvanians will choose a new direction."
