Sen. Lieberman decries 'tribalism,' hopes for tipping point

Sen. Lieberman criticizes political discourse
Today's political discourse has gotten too heated and extreme Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman (I) said Monday. Lieberman made the remarks during a Conference Call with the Centrist political group No Labels, which seeks to cultivate a coalition of Republicans and Democrats. Lieberman said it's too soon to say whether the extreme Rhetoric to which he referred had anything to do with the Saturday shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), but he warned that it was a problem by itself. "It's...

Florida Climbs to No. 5 on U.S. School Report Card
In 1998, nearly half of Florida's fourth-graders were functionally illiterate. Today, 72 percent of them can read. Buttressing former Gov. Jeb Bush's claims, a new annual report by Education Week gives high marks to Florida's public schools. The "Quality Counts" survey, released Tuesday, ranked Florida No. 5 in the nation on a variety of indicators, ranging from Student achievement to teacher professionalism to school finance. Maryland was rated No. 1 for the third straight year, followed ...

Lieberman reaches out to "No Labels"
Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman urged members of the nonpartisan No Labels group Monday to donate money to Candidates they don't always agree with to act as a counterbalance against partisans who attempt to dominate the political discourse. "You should help raise some money for Candidates who you do not even agree with ... but by and large do what's right," he said toward the end of the group's weekly national Conference Call. Speaking for about 30 minutes, the independent senator lam...

Keith Wagstaff: 6 Ideas That Could Lead to More Bipartisan Politics
We can never know exactly what was going on in the mind of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords' shooter and we at The Utopianist aren't even going to try. The suspect, Jared Lee Loughner, left behind an Internet history full of incoherent political ideologies that make it hard to lay blame on any media or political figure. It is, however, inevitable that talk of inflamed political Rhetoric and hyper-partisanship will figure prominently in the news during the next couple of weeks. Instead of layin...

No labels: 'Line has been crossed'
The group No Labels, which is doing a call with Joe Lieberman today, sides with Sherrif Dupnik and calls for toned-down Rhetoric: The horrific act of violence that occurred Saturday in Arizona has shocked us all to our core and spurred many Americans to ask some hard questions, both about this specific incident and the larger political forces that may have contributed to it. We at No Labels b...

Delgation: Arizona shooting not a cause for beefed-up security
WASHINGTON-There was no extra security at the Milford Senior Center this morning when Rep. Rosa DeLauro spoke to a small crowd about the Republican effort to Repeal health reform. Similarly, Sen. Richard Blumenthal hasn't altered the arrangements for his two-week "listening tour" across Connecticut. And Rep. Chris Murphy hopes to hold one of his usual "Congress on Your Corner" events later this week. In the wake of the Arizona shooting rampage that targeted Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords o...

Twitter roundup
BrendanNyhan Jan 11, 2011 at 2:37pm Matthew Dowd: "If the jobs #s don't improve... the president could locate his HQ on Mars & it wouldn't make a difference" https://j.mp/fpEz8S The Over/Under for 2012 - Matthew Dowd - Politics - The Atlantic Obama will need better numbers to win BrendanNyhan Jan 11, 2011 at 2:21pm Much credit to @ezraklein for retracting his attack on Joe Lieberman's motives https://j.mp/dE7rmx (original post on it: https://j.mp/gp9Qpa) Ezra Klein - A good...

The governor as weatherman
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy gave Connecticut a glimpse of his style as storm-watcher-in-chief today: With a Nor'Easter expected tonight and tomorrow, his stance was less warm and fuzzy and more of the don't-be-stupid school. "Let me say this. We're going to have people stranded, right? Because people are going to do silly things or get surprised by occurrences," Malloy said this afternoon. "Clearly if you could plan to avoid being on our highway system between the hours of 2 a.m. and 2 o'clock tomor...

Leading evangelical halts effort to increase political civility
By Dan Gilgoff, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor At a moment when many Americans are decrying the overheated tone of American politics, an influential Evangelical voice said Tuesday he is folding a project he helped found to increase political civility. Mark DeMoss said he is halting the initiative, called the Civility Project, due to lack of interest. “After only three members of Congress agreed to sign this Civility Pledge last year I’ve decided to shut it down,” DeMoss told CNN by e-mail on

Pete King: We Need to Stop the Fear
Rep. Pete King thinks cops need the power to stop people carrying guns within 1,000 feet of federal officials because Americans are becoming afraid of listening to lawmakers in public. The powerful Long Island Republican who chairs the Homeland Security Committee thinks the Arizona shootings that killed six and left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) with a bullet hole in her head have deeply chilled regular Americans. "I’ve gotten people saying, 'Hey, you’re a good guy -- do...

Security tight as Obama flies into Tucson
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 11 January 2011 20.02 GMT Barack and Michelle Obama observe a moment of silence at the White House for the Victims of the shootings. Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images Security will be tight in Arizona tomorrow when Barack Obama flies in for a memorial service for the Victims of the weekend shooting rampage. Obama's address at the University of Arizona in Tucson comes against a backdrop of a nationwide debate about whether violent political Rhetoric contributed...

How to Protect Members of Congress
On Wednesday, the FBI and the U.S. Capitol Police will brief members of Congress on basic security precautions they can take when they're interacting with constituents. Also on the agenda: an explanation of how Capitol Police Officers conduct threat assessments. What the members are likely to hear may be as simple as surrounding themselves with aides wearing suits or setting up a thin rope line to create a slight barrier between them and possible danger. They will also hear about threats beyond...

GOP Representative Wants To Erect Plexiglas Shield Around Congress
Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) recently announced plans in the wake of the Arizona shooting to reintroduce a piece of Legislation that would provide for the creation of plexiglas-like wall that would enclose the House gallery, preventing visitors from being able to throw explosives onto the floor. "The Architect of the Capitol shall enclose the visitors' galleries of the House of Representatives with a transparent and substantial material, and shall install equipment so that the proceedings on the f...

Sarah Palin: The link. You decide.
The horrific events of last weekend deserve a place in the historical record of this country. Pin it up right next to Jonestown, Waco, the Oklahoma City bombings and any of the multiple massacres we have had to endure. Infamously, the attempted Assassination of a US Congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords, and the Murder of six people will always stand in our national memory. But how will it be remembered? How will we recall the tragedy? Will our thoughts be triggered whenever we see the face of the a...

Today in Comprehensive Solutions
[Long Island Republican] Rep. Peter King said Tuesday he plans to introduce a new gun safety bill in Congress in the wake of the Mass Shooting in Arizona that killed six people and wounded 14 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz. King said his bill would make it illegal to knowingly carry a gun within a thousand feet of "certain high-profile" government officials. Oooookay. I guess that's one option. Hooray for safety! [Long Island Republican] Rep. Peter King said Tuesday he plans ...

Bernie Sanders (D-Socialist) Uses AZ Shootings as Fund Raiser
Ghoul’s Gold. (ABC News) — Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, today sent out a Fundraising email to supporters in which he includes his analysis of the Arizona shootings that ties the tragedy to “right-wing reactionaries.” “This horrendous act of violence is not some kind of strange aberration for this area where, it appears, threats and acts of violence are part of the political climate ,” Sanders said in his letter. “ Nobody can honestly express surprise that ...

Sanders Office Defends Reference To Giffords Shooting In Fundraising Newsletter
WASHINGTON -- A spokesman for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is defending the Senator's decision to reference the shootings in Arizona as part of a newsletter and Fundraising appeal he sent to constituents on Tuesday. The Vermont Independent took some heat on Tuesday for including his reflections on the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in the context of raising money to fight Republicans and other "right-wing reactionaries." In an email to the Huffington Post, Michael Briggs, a spokesman for t...

Sen. Sanders uses Arizona massacre in fundraising pitch
There has been no shortage of individuals and institutions that have sought to capitalize on the shootings in Tucson. Add Vermont senator Bernie Sanders to that list. This afternoon Sanders sent out a Fundraising appeal, seeking to raise money to fight Republicans and other “right-wing reactionaries” responsible for the climate that led to the shooting. Given the recent tragedy in Arizona, as well as the start of the new Congress, I wanted to take this opportunity to share a few word...

A Sneak Peek at the Supreme Court's Opinion on Health Care? (The Atlantic Wire)
WASHINGTON, DC – This week, the Supreme Court refused to review a case about whether Congress can criminalize the possession of a bullet-proof vest by a convicted felon. Only Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia opposed the court's decision, arguing that refusing to hear the case "threatens the proper limits on Congress' commerce power and may allow Congress to exercise police powers that our Constitution reserves to the States." The limits of Congressional power under the Commerc...

Never Let a Real Opportunity Go To Waste
You stay classy, No Labels gang: “It’s a real tragedy, but it’s also a real opportunity,” said Mark Mckinnon, co-founder of No Labels, a nonpartisan group founded last month. The Republican consultant sees potential to change the hyper-partisan political environment, which he has described as “MoveOn.org on the Left and the Tea Party on the Right.” Far better advice on how all parties should respond to the shooting in Tucson can be found here: embedded by Em...

Rahm Emanuel: Actually, its entirely appropriate to let this crisis go to waste
Via the Standard, I’m happy to assume that this is heartfelt, although of course no other answer is possible politically. We’ll see tomorrow how well his former boss does in taking his advice. If you’re expecting the sort of trainwreck that happened at the Wellstone memorial, you’re kidding yourself. Obama and his team are way too smart to descend to that level of grotesque political hackery, especially given how they cherish his “above the fray” image. Here...

Never Waste a Crisis, No Labels!
This might be the best example (by which I do mean worst) of how the Tuscon tragedy has exposed Washington's revolting reflex of politicizing (read: dehumanizing) everything-Washington Post: "Tucson tragedy 'a real opportunity' for nonpartisan groups No Labels, Third Way." From the article: "It's a real tragedy, but it's also a real opportunity," said Mark Mckinnon, co-founder of No Labels, a nonpartisan group founded last month. Jesus Christ. ...

Sick and Tired
No Labels: Hey, This Is Just What We Needed!!! It's not all bad news, of course. As Mark Halperin predicted, Barack Obama could really use a horrific tragedy to re-connect with the American People. And Frum's/MacKinnon's/Blumberg's No Labels group can certainly frisk the dead for loose change and usable shoes. "It's a real tragedy, but it's also a real opportunity," said Mark Mckinnon, co-founder of No Labels, a nonpartisan group founded last month. How wonderful! Maybe, like Mary Jo Kopechne,...

Krugman Flashback
A message to Progressives: By all means, hang Senator Joe Lieberman in effigy. Declare that you’re disappointed in and/or disgusted with President Obama. Demand a change in Senate rules that, combined with the Republican strategy of total obstructionism, are in the process of making America ungovernable. But meanwhile, pass the Health Care bill. Yes, the Filibuster-imposed need to get votes from “Centrist” senators has led to a bill that falls a long way short of ideal. Worse, ...

Schiff probably not running in 2012
Libertarian-minded investor Peter Schiff, who finished third in Connecticut's GOP Senate primary last year, says he wants to run for office again, but that it won't likely be in 2012. "I will probably run again for something in the future. Will I run in 2012? Probably not," Schiff told The Daily Bell. Schiff said he he had no regrets running as a Republican last year, noting that he would have had problems attracting press coverage as a Libertarian. "I just didn't have the mone...