Losing well can be a win

Losing Well Can Be A Win
Mike Konczal at Rortybomb makes an excellent observation in his post responding to Jonathan Bernsteins' query to liberals about what disappointed/surprised them the most about the Obama Administration (which I answered here.) Konczal writes: I expected Obama to be a better loser, specifically to be better at losing. There were a lot of items on the table, a lot of them weren’t going to happen, but it was important for the new future of Liberalism that the Obama team lost them well. And that ...

The New Congresss Task
Republicans in Congress are entitled to a bit of gloating as they settle into their new positions of power and get down to work. They said the voters were unhappy with the way President Obama and his congressional allies were governing, and the voters backed them up. Perhaps it’s true, as Republicans say, that the Democrats overestimated the mandate they were given in 2008. The Democrats’ earlier victory showed the depth of Disenchantment with the Bush Administration. It wasn’t necessari

President Obama Debuts His New (sort of) Slate of Judicial Nominees
Yahoo! Buzz We have followed with interest the fierce volleying between Senate Republicans and the Obama Administration over the Senate’s failure to confirm some of the president’s federal judicial nominees. The WSJ has this report, describing the latest twist in the nomination saga. Suffice it to say: Goodwin Liu, the Berkeley Law Professor whose judicial bid flamed out last session, is back in the hunt, along with a host of other new nominees. Yahoo! Buzz Need help? View our Search...

King unveils birthright bill
Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) isn’t wasting any time with his Immigration agenda, dropping a bill on the first day of Congress that goes after birthright Citizenship. King’s measure would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act, ending automatic citizenship for anyone born in the country. Instead, the measure requires that only the Children of citizens, legal immigrants permanently living in the country or immigrants in the Military, be granted Citizenship. Continue Reading Text Size...

Kyoto Model Didnt Work, State Department Climate Negotiator Says
Jonathan Pershing, State Department deputy Special Envoy for Climate Change and top U.S. negotiator at the Copenhagen (2009) and Cancun (2010) climate conferences, says the Kyoto Protocol “didn’t work,”  Politico reports. Pershing explained: Under Kyoto, which is the old model, emissions between 1990 and 2007, from [Carbon Dioxide], climbed on the order of 40 percent. So, if you think that that was a successful model, then you should think again. It didn’t work

More Hispanic voters in states adding seats
WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- States set to gain congressional representatives have larger Hispanic populations than other states, the Pew Hispanic Center said Wednesday. The center analyzed 2010 Census data. Researchers found the percentage of eligible voters that are Hispanic in states gaining seats is 15.2 percent. Those states that are losing seats or remaining flat average 5.4 percent. Since 2000, almost 6 million Hispanics have become eligible to vote with the total now at 20.1 million. Most...

State lawmakers target children of illegal immigrants
WASHINGTON | Wed Jan 5, 2011 5:25pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - State lawmakers launched a Controversial drive on Wednesday to deny Citizenship to the U.S.-born Children of Illegal Immigrants, a move that angered some Hispanics. Lawmakers from Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Georgia and Arizona unveiled at a Press Conference a legal model they said would be pushed by State Legislators in up to 40 states to deny birthright Citizenship to Children of illegal immigrants -- a right anchore...

Immigrant Rights Petition Roundup
Change.org's Immigrant Rights page is a good source of information and a portal for taking action through targeted online petitions. (Disclosure: I used to blog there.) Petitions are no substitute for other types of offline action, but I have seen their effectiveness in leveraging other forms of support in Deportation defense cases. Targeted petitions can bring visibility to individual cases that otherwise would be swept under the rug by the Obama Administration. I speculate that they might al...

Constitutional cites, NYT and fundamentalism
The New York Times editorial board wasted little time in attempting to attack the new Republican led House in the way smug elitists usually do … by invoking “Fundamentalism”.   In this case the fundamentalism is an apparent attempt by a party to refocus the Legislation it plans on debating and passing on the “fundamental” legal document of the land. That just won’t do: In any case, it is a presumptuous and self-righteous act, suggesting that they alone understan

House passes new rules package
The House wrapped up the first day of the 112th Congress on Wednesday by approving a new rules package that will enact some significant changes to matters ranging from the Debt ceiling to members' Voting Rights. The new rules passed on a party-line vote, with 240 Republicans voting in favor and 191 Democrats opposed. Democrats tried earlier Wednesday to block the package. Earlier Wednesday, the House rejected a resolution by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) that would have directed a committ...

Centrists likely to sway priority issues on Hill
Tea partyers may be getting all the attention, but the Centrist wings of both parties remain the fulcrum in Congress, though which way they swing depends on the issues lawmakers tackle first. Moderates said if spending and fiscal issues dominate, then the centrists are likely to have the upper hand holding their Caucus together and possibly attracting conservative Democrats; while if leaders push Social Issues, Republicans will have a tougher time maintaining unity. "I think on the fiscal issues...

The gavel passes and Boehner weeps but nothing else changes
There's a new sheriff in town and after listening to his opening address to the 112th Congress, it would seem things on Capitol Hill are about to change.  Or will they?  All hail King Boehner.  Please check your spirit of Bipartisanship at the door. Four years ago, Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was given the honor of being elected the first female Speaker of the House.  Today, the gavel, and an unusually large one at that, was passed to Congressman John B...

Reading Between the Battle Lines: An Annotated Guide to the Constitution
The new Republican majority has ordered that the United States Constitution be read on the floor of the House of Representatives on Thursday, the day after new lawmakers are sworn in. Congressional historians say they believe this has been done only twice before. It reflects the influence of the Tea Party movement, which has celebrated the founding document and argues that Congress has blown the lid on federal spending by vastly exceeding the powers granted to it in the Constitution. Tea Party...

Rep. Darrell Issa: CNN Doesnt Understand The Meaning Of The Word Corrupt
Newly-appointed Chairman of the Reform and Oversight Committee Darrell Issa has been causing commotion about using his Subpoena power to investigate Corruption in the White House, calling the Obama Administration “one of the most corrupt administrations in history” and promising a deluge of investigations. Challenged on the use of the word “corruption” by CNN’s John King , the Congressman went after the entire network and, namely, their understanding of the word. Ki...

GOP congressional leaders are acting a lot like their predecessors
By Dana Milbank WashPost Wednesday, January 5, 2011 For incoming Majority Leader Eric Cantor and his House Republicans, something strange happened on the way to Wednesday's "Opening Day" of the new Congress. For two years, Cantor and his colleagues campaigned against high Deficits. Now, in the new majority's first major act, they plan to vote to increase the deficit by $143 billion as part of a Repeal of health-care reform. For two years, Cantor and his colleagues bemoaned the Democrats' abuse...

Someone high-five Sarah Palin for me--Obama administration admits "mix-up", will remove death panels from new Medicare regulatio
A week ago, word came out that the Obama Administration were planning to install these “Death Panels” in Medicare Regulation. After people critized the administration acknowledging Palin was right about these end-of-life planning, The NY Times reports today that the administration made a “mix-up” and these panels will be removed. No, the mix-up is that it was politically stupid to implement this Regulation. The uproar was palpable. In other words, Palin and Conservatives ...

Republicans retake US House, target expenses
A day after retaking the House of Representatives, US Republicans moved Thursday to make good on a campaign vow to slash spending with a mostly symbolic vote to cut lawmakers' office budgets. President Barack Obama's Democrats were expected to join Republicans to pass a bill to slice five percent from House expenses, a 35-million-dollar drop in the roughly 3.6-trillion-dollar bucket of annual US government outlays. Republicans also planned to read aloud from the US Constitution -- but omit secti...

Republicans retake US House, target expenses
A day after retaking the House of Representatives, US Republicans moved Thursday to make good on a campaign vow to slash spending with a mostly symbolic vote to cut lawmakers' office budgets. President Barack Obama's Democrats were expected to join Republicans to pass a bill to slice five percent from House expenses, a 35-million-dollar drop in the roughly 3.6-trillion-dollar bucket of annual US government outlays. Republicans also planned to read aloud from the US Constitution -- but omit sec...

State lawmakers target children of illegal immigrants
Lawmakers from Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Georgia and Arizona unveiled at a Press Conference a legal model they said would be pushed by State Legislators in up to 40 states to deny birthright Citizenship to Children of Illegal Immigrants -- a right anchored in the 14th amendment to the Constitution. The proposed Legislation would require all parents to prove their Citizenship status before they can receive a Birth Certificate for their baby. "I've long considered birthright citizen...

Echoes of 1995 for new Congress
Call it 1995 Lite: a one — rather than two — chamber Republican takeover this time, and no Newt Gingrich, just a lot of little would-be Gingriches running around accusing the White House of Corruption or threatening to push the Treasury into default. Every new Congress is a time for renewal and hope, and Wednesday’s ceremonies brought fresh blood to a stagnant Senate and elevated a working-class bar owner’s son to the speakership of the House. But there is also a sense...

Ed Schultz: Republicans are 'Bastards Wanting to Destroy the American Dream'
MSNBC's Ed Schultz on Wednesday called Republicans bastards that want to destroy the American Dream. ED SCHULTZ: It’s all about taking down President Obama. They don’t want to create jobs. They’re not about that at all. And I’ll guarantee you, if you do see the numbers change, which I believe they will, you won’t hear Boehner or any of these new righties give one ounce of credit to the last Congress for fighting like hell for a Jobs Bill. This is an ideological ...

PROFESSOR JACOBSON: OPERATION DEMORALIZE. The mainstream media will undertake, and already has u
Professor JACOBSON: OPERATION DEMORALIZE. The Mainstream Media will undertake, and already has undertaken, a concerted effort to blame the Republican House for everything that goes wrong, for not living up to promises, for living up to promises, for failing to Compromise, for selling out, etc. Do not fall for it. Holding the Republican House to its commitments is one thing; falling for Operation Demoralize is so...

Pelosi on crack!
Outgoing Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, in a news conference on January 4thsaid about Democrat’s Congressional spending, “Deficit reduction has been a high priority for us.  It has been our mantra, pay as you go.” Is this woman on crack?  She may well be since she and Obama are spending money like a pair of crack whores with a stolen Credit Card!  With the blessing and support of Barack Obama, Democrats have been using the American Economy as their own perso...

The More Things Change
The Wall Street Journal examines the 112th Congress and finds that while the party Makeup has obviously changed a lot, "the demographics haven't changed much." "Though there are some true outsiders, many freshmen have followed the tried and true paths to the Capitol: They worked on City Councils and got elected to State Legislatures." The numbers of black, Hispanic, Asian, female, non-college-educated and attorney lawmakers are essentially unchanged. The new Congress is about one year younger o...

Baghdad Bob: Senator Obama Only Voted Against Raising Debt Ceiling in 2006 Because He Knew It Would Pass Anyway
Bobby’s going out with a bang. (ABC News)- On Sunday, President Obama’s top economic adviser, Council of Economic Advisers chair Austan Goolsbee, cautioned members of Congress not to “play chicken” by voting against raising the $14.3 Trillion Debt ceiling - despite the fact that as a senator in 2006, President Obama voted that way. “I don’t see why anybody’s talking about playing chicken with the Debt ceiling,” Goolsbee told me on ABC Ne...