Any Pause In Harsh Rhetoric May Be Short-Lived

House Republicans Plan Next Moves At Retreat
The shooting attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords cast a pall over Capitol Hill this week. House Republicans postponed their vote to Repeal the Health Care law and there were calls for a less rancorous tone in congressional politics. Next week, Republicans will return to their legislative agenda. And in Baltimore on Friday at their annual retreat, they talked about how they will do it. Still, there were plenty of reminders of the past week's events at the retreat, starting with the large numbers of...

Washington Week
This past week, the House conducted Memorial Services for those murdered and injured in the Arizona shootings last weekend. The House of Representatives also passed resolutions and conducted general speeches concerning this horrific act of violence. On Thursday, many members of Congress traveled to Tucson, Ariz., for the national memorial service where the president and dignitaries addressed the nation. The memorial service was moving, inspiring and especially uplifting when the president announ...

Abbreviated Pundit Round-up
Saturday punditry. WaPo: In the aftermath of the Tucson shootings, which prompted a national outpouring of criticism of the harsh tone of the nation's political discourse, the GOP confronts a political environment that has changed dramatically since the party's big victory in November. Obama, who appeared weakened and on the defensive in the days after the Midterm Elections, has emerged as a stronger and more resilient adversary than Republicans anticipated just 10 weeks ago. FactCheck.org: ...

State of the Union Chinese Fire Drill Seating
Colorado Democrat Sen. Mark Udall might have something in mind like this for seating at the SOTU Speech later this month: WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., said Wednesday the House and Senate should abandon the custom of partisan seating arrangements for the State of the Union address. In a message posted on his Web site, Udall published the text of a letter to his colleagues in which he urged House and Senate leaders to end the longstanding custom of Republicans sitting wit...

State of the Union address likely to usher in new era of bipartisanship
In the wake of the tragedy that happened in Tucson, AZ a week ago on January 8th, Senator Mark Udall from Colorado has sent a letter urging both houses of Congress to not sit divided during the delivery of the State of the Union address on January 25, 2011.  "Beyond custom, there is no rule or reason that on this night we should emphasize divided government, separated by party, instead of being seen united as a country," Udall wrote in his the letter, which is addressed to the Senate and Ho...

Top House Republican backs bipartisan State of the Union seating
House Majority Whip Kevin Mccarthy (R-Calif.) said Friday that he's in favor of a plan that would have Republicans and Democrats sit side-by-side during this month's State of the Union address, becoming the highest-ranking Republican to back the proposal. McCarthy, the third-ranking House Republican, told reporters at a press briefing this morning at the House GOP's annual retreat in Baltimore that he planned to sit next to House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) during President Obama's Jan. 25...

Exit, Stage Right
Dave Weigel at Slate mourns “The End of the Michael Steele Era“: ... Steele gave the political press one of its best, saddest, and funniest enduring stories. This was the problem with him, even if it was a problem Republican National Committee members had sort of asked for. He was a celebrity in his own right, an African-American politician whose 2006 race for U.S. Senate had made the cover of the New York Times Magazine… Magazine reporters wanted to shadow him and profile hi...

Obama: 'We carry on'
WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama said Saturday the nation must carry on following a week of grieving for the Victims of the shooting that left six dead in Tucson. In his weekly radio and Internet address, one week after a gunman killed six and wounded 13 - including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz. - the president said the nation "properly spent much of the week mourning the Victims and remembering their lives." "We also discovered stories that serve to l...

Obama urges Americans to work together after rampage
Legislative work in Washington came to a halt this week while lawmakers and citizens from both parties mourned the Victims of a gunman who went on a rampage in Arizona on January 8, killing six people and wounding 14, including Representative Gabrielle Giffords. Obama gave a well-received Speech at a memorial service for the Victims on Wednesday in Arizona and he revived the theme of national unity in his weekly radio and Internet address. The president lauded lawmakers who came together to pay...

Obama urges Americans to work together after rampage
WASHINGTON | Sat Jan 15, 2011 6:11am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama urged Americans on Saturday to maintain the "spirit of common cause" that arose from grieving over the Arizona shootings and use it to solve the nation's problems. Legislative work in Washington came to a halt this week while lawmakers and citizens from both parties mourned the Victims of a gunman who went on a rampage in Arizona on January 8, killing six people and wounding 14, including Representative Gab...

Obama urges Americans to work together after rampage
WASHINGTON | Sat Jan 15, 2011 6:11am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama urged Americans on Saturday to maintain the "spirit of common cause" that arose from grieving over the Arizona shootings and use it to solve the nation's problems. Legislative work in Washington came to a halt this week while lawmakers and citizens from both parties mourned the Victims of a gunman who went on a rampage in Arizona on January 8, killing six people and wounding 14, including Representative Gab...

Obama: Time to tackle nation's challenges again
President Barack Obama speaks at a memorial service for the Victims of Saturday's shootings at McKale Center on the University of Arizona campus Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2011, in Tucson, Ariz. Citing "great challenges for us to solve," President Barack Obama is pledging to work with Democrats and Republicans in the aftermath of the Arizona shooting that killed six, grievously wounded a member of Congress and brought legislative debate to a virtual standstill. In his weekly radio and Internet address...

Republicans Retreat. To Baltimore.
House Republicans convened their annual retreat an hour north of Washington at the Waterfront Marriott in Baltimore Friday morning. And so did the nonprofit association, EDUCAUSE. And a rookie Capitol Hill reporter seeking out discussions with Republicans on raising the Debt Limit or repealing the Health Care reform law may have instead stumbled into sessions on the use of information technology in Higher Education. EDUCAUSE billed a 9:30 am session in Salon A as "Inventive and Effective IT Solu...

Priebus Wins RNC Chairmanship
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. -- Wisconsin Republican Party chief Reince Priebus will serve as chairman of the Republican National Committee, securing enough votes on Friday to deny Michael Steele a Second Term and holding off three additional challengers. Priebus won 97 of the 168 votes after seven rounds of balloting, eventually besting former Michigan Republican Party chairman Saul Anuzis and former Bush Administration official Maria Cino . Priebus led balloting consistently throughout, growing from 4...

Protect the Constitution
Calls for greater Gun Control in response to the Tucson, Arizona massacre are growing daily on Capitol Hill. This hardly comes as a surprise. For many legislators, the knee-jerk reaction to any criminal shooting is to pass yet another Gun Control law, despite the fact that the criminal already broke many laws in the commission of the crime. The zaniest of the new proposals is one by Representative Peter King (R-NY) to ban guns within 1,000 feet of certain federal officials -- including members ...

Weekly remarks: Both Republican Jeff Flake and Obama take heart in Tucson spirit and heroes
Weekly remarks by Rep. Jeff Flake, as provided by Republican Party leadership Hello, I’m Jeff Flake, and I represent the people of Arizona’s 6th Congressional District. Last week's horrific attack in Tucson is a stark reminder of the senseless brutality of which some are capable; the selfless Bravery with which true heroes respond; and the enduring need for leaders who will uphold their oaths and listen to their constituents. My heart goes out to the family of my friend and colleague,...

Social Security And The Democratic Party
Easily adapted for American use Oldham East-Saddleworth is a Swing District in northwest England. Labour won there, barely, in last year's General Election, beating the LibDem Candidate by 103 votes-- 14,186 to 14,083 (with the Conservatives taking 11,773). Thursday's by-election for the same seat was the first time British voters have been able to express themselves, as voters, since the Conservative-LibDem coalition came to power and started to implement an Austerity program that drastically...

Obama urges Americans to work together after rampage (Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama urged Americans on Saturday to maintain the "spirit of common cause" that arose from grieving over the Arizona shootings and use it to solve the nation's problems. Legislative work in Washington came to a halt this week while lawmakers and citizens from both parties mourned the Victims of a gunman who went on a rampage in Arizona on January 8, killing six people and wounding 14, including Representative Gabrielle Giffords. Obama...

Obama calls for spirit of bipartisanship to continue
A week after the Mass Shooting in Arizona, President Obama called Saturday for members of Congress to bring the same spirit of unity they have shown in mourning to their work under the Capitol dome in the months ahead. In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama recalled that in the days after the shooting, "one of the places we saw that sense of community on display was on the floor of Congress, where Gabby Giffords, who inspires us with her recovery, is deeply missed by her colleagues." "...

A new covenant: Scenes from the Branstad inaugural
DES MOINES — Representatives for Iowa’s Public Employees, School Teachers and universities are feverishly opposed to the cuts to education included within House File 45, presented by Republicans as the “Taxpayers First Act.” Iowa Democrats and Republicans have drawn very different conclusions about what role heated political discourse may have played in the Jan. 8 shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and what changes politicians might make in the way they co...

Obama pledges 'spirit of common cause'
President Obama and a prominent Republican pledged Saturday to promote a new spirit of Bipartisanship, one week after the Arizona shooting that claimed six lives and seriously wounded a member of Congress. "Before we are Democrats or Republicans, we are Americans," Obama said in his weekly radio address. Both Obama and Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., in the GOP radio address, focused on the shooting that included the Attempted Murder of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz. They spoke as Congress prepares...

Arizona Republican: 'Bullets of fanatics' will not deter lawmakers from duties
Rep. Jeff Flake on Saturday stressed that last weekend’s shooting, which left fellow Arizona lawmaker Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D) fighting for her life, would not deter lawmakers from talking and listening to the concerns of their constituents. Giffords was hosting a small event for voters in front of a Grocery Store in her district city of Tuscon when a gunman opened fire on the crowd, killing 6 people including one of her Staffers, a Federal Judge and a 9-year-old girl, and wounding 13 ot...

John Dingell (D-MI) blames Palin, GOP for rhetoric leading to AZ shooting. Flashback: Dingell links tea party to KKK, called rad
Curiously, Dingell said:"I saw the district of Gabrielle Giffords has a crosshairs put on it. As a lifetime rifleman and shooter, I know what crosshairs signify when you put them on somebody and I know what happened.Is he talking about Palin or Daily Kos? The liberal Daily Kos put a bullseye on Giffords in 2008 (via HillBuzz): More from Henry Payne at The Michigan View: Dingell just accused Palin as an accessory to Murder? Yawn.Dingell had previewed his comments Monday when he toured the Detroit...

Tucson attack motivation for Berkley's town hall event
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Party peace
Republican members of the US House of Representatives, dressed casually in jeans and sweaters, have been meeting this weekend in Baltimore for their annual policy retreat. Topics under discussion include the Budget, the Deficit and their plans to Repeal President Obama's Health Care package. But after suspending Congress for a week in the wake of the tragic shootings in Tucson in Arizona, they are also using the opportunity to reflect on the state of politics in Washington. The shooting ...