Gov. Chris Christie calls for Republican Party rebranding

Gov. Chris Christie calls for Republican Party rebranding
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday in an interview with Politico outlined a path for the GOP to rebrand as the party keeping “our eye on the cash register," while also praising some Democrats for taking the right approach to tackling major issues like education. Christie, a darling of Conservatives after staring down Democrats over the Budget and Tax Cuts, demonstrated his own distinct brand of Conservatism over a breakfast interview. Without naming names, the seven-year former...

Chris Christie Calls for Republican Rebranding
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday in an interview with Politico outlined a path for the GOP to rebrand as the party keeping "our eye on the cash register,” while also praising some Democrats for taking the right approach to tackling major issues like education.   Christie, a darling of Conservatives after staring down Democrats over the Budget and Tax Cuts, demonstrated his own distinct brand of Conservatism over a breakfast interview. Without naming names, the seven-year...

Chris Christie vs. the demagogues
I'm a big fan of New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie, who I think is doing an incredibly good and thankless job at working to balance the state's Budget while also cleaning up the public schools in the face of bitter Union opposition. Politico has an interesting interview with the Governor, in which Christie warns the GOP against demagoguery and insists that Republicans and Democrats can work together on a number of issues: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday in an interview with...

Chris Christie Calls for Republican Rebranding
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday in an interview with Politico outlined a path for the GOP to rebrand as the party keeping "our eye on the cash register,” while also praising some Democrats for taking the right approach to tackling major issues like education.   Christie, a darling of Conservatives after staring down Democrats over the Budget and Tax Cuts, demonstrated his own distinct brand of Conservatism over a breakfast interview. Without naming names, the seven-year...

POLITICAL HOT TOPICS: Thursday, July 1, 2010
From CNN's Leslie Bentz The CNN Washington Bureau's morning speed read of the top stories making news from around the country and the world. Washington/POLITICAL For the latest political news: www.CNNPolitics.com CNNMoney: House OKs Wall Street Reform Bill The House voted 237-192 Wednesday to pass a sweeping package of Reforms to the Financial regulatory system, moving the Bill a step closer to the finish line. But the Senate isn't likely to take up the measure until the week of July...

Wonkbook: House passes FinReg; unemployment insurance fails; CBO makes the case for stimulus
The House passed the revised conference report for FinReg, but with the Senate delaying its vote until after the Fourth of July, final passage remains uncertain. The Senate, meanwhile, did not pass the standalone Unemployment Insurance extension, meaning checks will cease for millions of Americans. Testimony from CBO director Doug Elmendorf suggests that short-term Stimulus may make budgetary sense, and can play nice with long-term Deficit reduction. A Senate proposal to eliminate the cap on...

Charlie Crist Sued
By Larry Thornberry on 7.1.10 @ 6:08AM TAMPA -- Florida's former RINO Governor Charlie Crist, who shed his Republican disguise in April to seek a U.S. Senate seat as an independent, has shaken both sides of the money tree to great effect. But it's not clear now if he'll get away with it. A Florida Republican legislator and attorney in Naples is suing Crist in an attempt to get Crist to, as we phrase it in the South, do right. When Crist filed for the Senate seat in the spring of 2009 as a...

"It's Bush's Fault" by Colonel Bob Pappas, USMC, Retired
It's Bush's Fault by Colonel Bob Pappas, USMC, Retired Before beginning, in the last essay, titled "Useful Idiots, Freedom's Enemy" I made a comparison between Alex Haley's "Roots" to the larger context of U.S. Americans having a need to know and understand this Nation's roots. A number of readers reminded me that Haley's book, although portrayed as an authentic investigation was a work of fiction mixed with its own version of reality. They are Right and I was wrong for not...

For Senate Advocates of Unemployment Insurance Extension, a Battle to Nowhere
Senate Republicans, led by Mitch McConnell (Ky.), have repeatedly blocked attempts to extend Unemployment Insurance over Deficit concerns. (epa/ZUMApress.com) On Wednesday night, a bare-bones measure to keep federally funded Unemployment Insurance checks headed to the long-term unemployed failed in the Senate. Moderate Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine had signed on to vote for cloture on the $34 Billion bill. But without Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), who passed away...

Christie: GOP Should Avoid Demagoguery
In a wide ranging interview with Politico , New Jersey Governor Chris Christie warns the Republican party against demagoguery, and points out areas where Conservatives could work with the White House, such as education: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday in an interview with Politico outlined a path for the GOP to rebrand as the party keeping “our eye on the cash register," while also praising some Democrats for taking the right approach to tackling major issues like...

In speech, Obama to argue for immigration overhaul
Washington— President Barack Obama hopes to rally new momentum behind the push for an Immigration overhaul by explaining why he thinks a comprehensive approach is the only way to fix what he and others say is a system badly in need of repair. Obama was laying out his rationale in a Speech Thursday, his first as president on the issue. Obama wasn't expected to announce any new proposals or policy changes. But feeling pressure from a range of supporters, he was aiming to jump-start the...

In speech, Obama to argue for immigration overhaul
Washington — President Barack Obama hopes to rally new momentum behind the push for an Immigration overhaul by explaining why he thinks a comprehensive approach is the only way to fix what he and others say is a system badly in need of repair. Obama was laying out his rationale in a Speech Thursday, his first as president on the issue. Obama wasn't expected to announce any new proposals or policy changes. But feeling pressure from a range of supporters, he was aiming to jump-start the...

U.S. Deficit-Reduction Panel Gives Priority to Spending Cuts
By JOHN D. MCKINNON Democrats on a blue-ribbon Deficit-reduction panel suggested Spending Cuts would likely have to outweigh Tax Increases if the nation is to seriously tackle its ballooning financial obligations. The discussions came as Congressional Budget analysts projected that federal Debt would rise to 62% of gross domestic product by the end of 2010, the highest level since the aftermath of World War II. That's up from 40% at the end of 2008. Erskine Bowles, the Democratic co-chairman...

Filibuster Filigree
By Quin Hillyer on 7.1.10 @ 6:09AM The Senate Judiciary Committee hearings have highlighted so many concerns about Solicitor General Elena Kagan's record that senators should not vote to confirm her to the Supreme Court before giving their constituents a thorough opportunity to weigh in. It would be entirely consistent with past Republican positions, and not just defensible but highly advisable, for Republicans and moderate Democrats to announce a specifically time-limited Filibuster of Ms....

Filibuster Filigree
By Quin Hillyer on 7.1.10 @ 6:09AM The Senate Judiciary Committee hearings have highlighted so many concerns about Solicitor General Elena Kagan's record that senators should not vote to confirm her to the Supreme Court before giving their constituents a thorough opportunity to weigh in. It would be entirely consistent with past Republican positions, and not just defensible but highly advisable, for Republicans and moderate Democrats to announce a specifically time-limited Filibuster of Ms....

Democrats Demagogue Jobless Benefits
From an outraged (at Republicans) Associated Press : 1.3 million unemployed won’t get Benefits restored By Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press Writer July 1, 2010 Washington " More than 1.3 million Laid-off workers won’t get their Unemployment Benefits reinstated before Congress goes on a weeklong vacation for Independence Day . An additional 200,000 people who have been without a job for at least six months stand to lose their Benefits each week, unless Congress acts. ...

Democrats USE Oil Spill To Control House Republicans
Oil Spill visits get partisan Politico Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) wanted to fly 10 lawmakers down to the Gulf of Mexico to see the damage caused by BP's gigantic Oil Spill first hand. House Democrats said no. Republicans want to be able to take trips using their office spending allowance. But Democrats have heard from the Department of Homeland Security, which has asked that Congress organize trips through committees of jurisdiction, to avoid having to cater to a ton of individual...

Chris Christie: The GOP Needs To Rebrand Itself As The Credible Party of Fiscal Conservatism... And Support A Clear Path To Citizenship For Illegals
Eh, not sure if this is disqualifying per se , as most politicians, including Border-enforcement types, talk up this possibility at some point. He is down on the Arizona Law, though. On the hot-button topic of Immigration Reform, he said he has long declined to "demagogue" the issue as a former U.S. Attorney, because "I come from Law Enforcement and it's not an easy issue." But he did intimate that he thinks stringent state-by-state Laws

Obama exchanges election haymakers with Boehner
President Barack Obama tells the audience, "Don't tell Michelle (Obama)" that he wants a bratwurst and Wisconsin cheese curds, at his Town hall-style Meeting at Memorial Hall, Wednesday June 30, 2010 in Racine, Wis. (AP Photo/Journal Times, Mark Hertzberg) President Barack Obama took direct aim at the House Republican Leader on Wednesday, mocking him for comparing the 2008 Financial implosion to an ant. Obama's criticism of Minority Leader John Boehner comes four months before the Midterm...

SPIN METER: What happened to the Kagan standard?
Washington— Elena Kagan declined to discuss her passions, demurred when asked anything that might tip her hand on the Supreme Court and invoked her right to remain inscrutable even on cases buried in the past. In short, Kagan did her best to ensure her High Court nomination Hearing was just the kind of benign event she criticized years ago for lacking "seriousness and substance." Her dodges over two days of questioning prompted chuckles in the Senate Judiciary Committee as members, keenly...

Chris Christie Refuses To Endorse Hard-Line Approach On Immigration
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has been the darling of the conservative wing of the GOP for his no-nonsense approach to fiscal policy, but they’re not likely to be happy with his stand on Immigration: On the hot-button topic of Immigration Reform, he said he has long declined to "demagogue" the issue as a former U.S. Attorney, because "I come from Law Enforcement and it's not an easy issue." But he did intimate that he thinks stringent state-by-state Laws " such as in...

Arizona Governor Brewer says majority of illegals are drug mules
Arizona Republican Gov. Jan Brewer created a frenzy in April 2010 when she signed a law that makes being an Illegal Immigrant a state crime and requires legal Immigrants to carry papers that confirm their status. Then in late June, she linked Illegal Immigrants and Drug smuggling. The string of Controversial comments began June 15, 2010, during a debate with three other Candidates running for the Republican nomination for Governor. Republican Candidate Matt Jette said that most people who cross...

In Actual Chris Christie News
The New Jersey Governor yesterday, via Politico : On the Union front, he said, “I think what you see now is that our Teachers Union is growingly unpopular because they’re inflexible and they believe that they’re entitled to be shielded completely from the Recession.” (The Union, meanwhile, argues that he’s unfairly targeting some of the lowest-paid workers around and singling them out for budgetary pain). But he also suggested he’s seeing a...

Chris Christie on immigration: We need a path to citizenship
Some righties, Ace among them, are shrugging this off, which I kind of understand. For one thing, conservative rock star though he be, Christie’s still a Republican leading a deep-blue state. We may want to believe he’s Reagan reincarnated but there’s probably a little of Rudy Giuliani in that political DNA. For another thing, he’s wisely chosen not to be too specific about this issue so the quotes end up being ambiguous. What kind of path to Citizenship,...

Barton leads GOP ball team to defeat at bats of congressional Democrats
Barton leads GOP ball team to defeat at bats of congressional Democrats 12:00 AM CDT on Thursday, July 1, 2010 By MELANIE MASON / The Dallas Morning News [email protected] Washington - Rep. Joe Barton may have to answer to his House GOP colleagues for another failed performance on a Big stage. This one came at Nationals Park, where Democrats beat the Republican team that Barton coaches, 13-5, on Tuesday night. Barton earlier had to fend off calls that he step down from a House...