Social Security advocates fear payroll tax cut (AP)

AP: Partisan Split Over Rangel, Waters Ethics Trials
The House Ethics Committee has a partisan split over setting trial dates for two prominent Democrats, Charles Rangel of New York and Maxine Waters of California. The five Republicans on the 10-member Committee want a trial in October, weeks before the Midterm Elections. They said in a statement Tuesday that the chairman of the Ethics Committee, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat, has been stalling. By holding a trial after the Elections, Democrats would avoid headlines that could make the...

Rangel: Bring on the Trial
The Hill reports: Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) expressed frustration Wednesday with the House Ethics Committee and indicated that he would welcome a public trial on charges that he violated 13 House Ethics rules before the November Midterm Elections. “I want to get the goddamn thing over with,” Rangel said late Wednesday. Earlier in the day, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) joined the five Republican members of the House Ethics Committee in calling for public ...

Rep. Rangel welcomes pre-election ethics trial
Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) expressed frustration Wednesday with the House Ethics Committee and indicated that he would welcome a public trial on charges that he violated 13 House Ethics rules before the November Midterm Elections. "I want to get the goddamn thing over with," Rangel said late Wednesday. Earlier in the day, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) joined the five Republican members of the House Ethics Committee in calling for public Ethics trials to be held for Rangel and...

Statement from Ranking Member of House Ethics Committee
It is in the best interest of transparency and fairness to the American People, Representatives Charlie Rangel and Maxine Waters, and other Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, that the House Ethics Committee stop stalling the resolution of the Rangel and Waters matters and complete these public trials prior to the November election. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer - this past weekend - inaccurately stated that the scheduling of the trials is up to Jo Bonner, the Republican, and

'It Ain't Over Until It's Over,' but . . .
Third Base Politics lets us know that Democrats in Ohio ought to be quoting Yogi Berra: “It gets late early out there.” They’re voting already. And the Absentee-ballot requests are already pointing in one direction : A higher percentage of Republicans than Democrats in Ohio’s three largest counties have asked for Absentee Ballots this year  — an ominous sign for the party hoping to repel GOP forces on Election Day. Roughly three out of 10...

NASA authorization success
Wednesday 9/29/10 - S.3729 has just passed the House under Suspension of the Rules. Our heartfelt thanks to everyone who has worked so hard in recent months to support this ongoing effort to reform NASA. We'll have more to say about the next round of this struggle as we learn more, but listening to the speeches on the House floor this evening made one thing unmistakably clear: These large differences over the future of NASA will continue to be contested in the Congress, with the FY 2011 NASA...

Sen. Saxby Chambliss Just Called Me To Offer His "Sincerest Apologies"
I just got off the phone with Sen. Saxby Chambliss, who said he was calling to personally apologize for the "All faggots must die" comment left here on JMG last Tuesday. I'll paraphrase what Chambliss said to me, but reporters, please don't excerpt any of this as his exact words. Chambliss: "Joe, I don't know if you're Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, but none of that should matter. Because what was said on your blog by someone from my office is just not acceptable, no matter...

Latest New Hampshire poll (09/30/10) is good news for Republicans
According to this poll , Republican Senate Candidate Kelly Ayotteis ahead of Democrat Paul Hodesby 15% at 50-35. This is great News indeed! When Paul Hodeswas in the House he was nothing but a rubber stamp for Nancy Pelosi-voting with her over 94% of the time. But now that he is running for the seat being vacated by the retiring Judd Gregg he has been tryingto claim that he was an independent vote for New Hampshire and a Fiscal conservative even though he voted for all of...

Republicans Press for Rangel, Waters Trials Before November Elections
House Republicans on the Committee on Standards and Official Conduct are demanding the panel move forward with open hearings on ethics charges against two Democratic lawmakers, Charlie Rangel of New York and California's Maxine Waters. The panel's five Republicans sent a letter to the committee's chair, Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California, today . From the letter: Members of the Committee have repeatedly expressed their willingness and desire to move forward with public trials of these matters...

Rangel, Waters: Republicans Want Ethics Trials Now
As expected by many observers watching the ethics storm brewing for Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Republicans on the House Ethics Committee this week commenced an aggressive effort to schedule immediate trials for the two embattled Democrats just before the Congressional midterms. Experts argue that this push is a clear political attempt by the House GOP to embarrass Democrats into November as the scandals surrounding two longtime, senior Democratic and African...

GOP pushes for Charlie Rangel, Maxine Waters trials
In an extraordinary public statement, all five Republican members of the House Ethics Committee are calling on Democrats to schedule Ethics trials for Reps. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) before the November Elections. Rep. Jo Bonner (R-Ala.), ranking member of the Committee, was joined by his four Republican colleagues on the Bipartisan Committee in slamming Ethics Committee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) for not scheduling the trials even as the House prepares to...

Campaign Watchdog: Tax claims about Ben Chandler 'mostly false'
The facts: Americans for Tax Reform, a Washington Non-profit led by former corporate Lobbyist and Republican Party Activist Grover Norquist , has booked more than $170,000 worth of air time to attack Chandler, who stands for re-election Nov. 2 against Republican lawyer Andy Barr of Lexington. In its current ad, the group tells Central Kentuckians that Chandler voted over and over again to raise your taxes. It cites five House votes from 2007 and 2008 as evidence. Voting to raise taxes...

Obama rallies youth vote that boosted his 2008 run with fiery speech at hip hop concert/rally
Washington — Grasping for the electric energy that propelled him to the White House, President Barack Obama whipped up young supporters at a rally Thursday night, where the boisterous crowd tried to shout down any talk of an "enthusiasm gap" among Democrats. "I'm back here today just in case you've forgotten what it feels like to change the country," Obama called out to a sold-out crowd of 3,000 at a Democratic National Committee Fundraiser at DAR Constitution Hall. "It was always going...

Presidential Remarks at Gen44 Summit
President Obama spoke at the first National Gen44 Summit. In his remarks he urged citizens to participate in the 2010 Midterm Elections. He also used the pep rally-style gathering to criticize Republicans, who he said wanted to bring back failed Bush-era economic policies if they regained control of .. Read More President Obama spoke at the first National Gen44 Summit. In his remarks he urged citizens to participate in the 2010 Midterm Elections. He also used the pep rally-style gathering...

The "Enthusiasm Gap" Reflects a Spiritual Reality
See how often the Democrats' whole approach is governed by fear. Consider the timidity with which they have dealt with this Tax Cut issue, and how they've dealt with the Republicans all along. It is not how St. Peter dealt with the Romans, nor how Samuel dealt with Saul, nor how St. George dealt with the dragon. Unlike the prophets and the martyrs, those who wield power for the cause of Liberalism allow themselves to be bullied. Strength comes from connection with the spirit. It was a...

As If You Needed More Evidence Fox Is Not News
Fox continues its formal transition to officially becoming the broadcast wing of the Republican Party : News Corp., the parent company of Fox News, contributed $1 million this summer to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the business lobby that has been running an aggressive campaign in support of the Republican effort to retake Congress, a source close to the company told Politico. It was the second $1 million contribution the company has made this election cycle to a GOP-aligned group . In late...

Just when they thought it was safe
Just when the Democrats thought it was safe to go back into the election waters, the thing they feared most has awakened, and it isn’t happy. Yes, Candidate Obama told us he was going to “fundamentally transform” America. He knew what he meant by that phrase, but Americans didn’t. What he didn’t know, however, was that his attempts to transform America would trigger an awakening throughout the nation. Once Americans began to understand what Obama’s...

Child nutrition bill stalls in House
To no avail. Democrats declined to take up the bill before the November Elections, citing many of their members' concerns about the Food Stamp dollars. Many Republicans opposed the bill as well, saying it was too expensive. Supporters had hoped to pass the bill before Thursday, when many of the child nutrition programs in the bill are scheduled to expire. An extension of those programs was included in a stopgap bill that will keep the government operating for the next two months, and supporters...

House Passes 9/11 Survivors Bill
The New York Times reports: The House approved Legislation on Wednesday that would provide Billions of dollars for medical treatment to Rescue Workers and residents of New York City who suffered illnesses from breathing in toxic fumes, dust and smoke from Ground Zero. The vote was 268 to 160 , with 17 Republicans joining Democrats in support of the bill. Opposing the measure were 157 Republicans and 3 Democrats. Republicans raised concerns about the $7.4 Billion cost of the...

SurveyUSA: Boucher 53%-Griffith 38%
Fri Oct 01, 2010 at 06:37:03 AM EDT I'm not sure what to make of SurveyUSA polls this cycle, as some of them have seemed wacky (e.g., in Virginia's 5th CD). With that caveat, check out these new results : In an election for US House of Representatives in Virginia's 9th Congressional District today, 09/30/10, Incumbent Democrat Rick Boucher defeats Republican State House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith 53% to 38%, according to this latest exclusive WDBJ-TV poll conducted by SurveyUSA. ...

Those of us who are about to die salute you
Nancy Pelosi saying goodbye to colleagues who are about to be slaughtered in the mid-term Elections - including Virginia's own Tom Perriello. Pelosi smiled her usual grin — immobile and broad — and wished fellow Democrats the best. Some stopped to chat, but many just rushed past, uninterested in small talk. Rep. Tom Perriello, a vulnerable freshman Democrat from Virginia, was one who skipped by, but Pelosi called him back, inviting him to join her circle of allies by the elevator....

Barack Obama and His Enemies
It is inexcusable for any Democrat or progressive right now to stand on the sidelines in this Midterm electionThe idea that we’ve got a lack of enthusiasm in the Democratic Base, that people are sitting on their hands complaining, is just irresponsible. … People need to shake off this lethargy, people need to buck up. No doubt Obama sees himself akin to a coach at halftime when the team is down in the score, talking tough to the players to motivate them. But he is not a coach;...

#rsrh The iconic image of the 2010 election.
Picture a freshman Virginia Democrat ; one with the stink of DOOM about him. This Member of Congress has just watched his last, remaining (and faint) hope for electoral salvation slip away , thanks to his own party… and his own ideological faction, at that. It is after midnight in the halls of Congress. The next time that he walks those halls, it will be as a defeated man whose name nobody will remember to spell correctly. He just wants to go home, in the rain and the dark,...

Scott's wallet, Sink's legions and the parties' efforts
| Digg it Since the August 24 primary Democrat Alex Sink has received donations of people, companies and organizations whileRepublican Rick Scott has received donations from hundreds. Yet Scott has raised more money, especially if you include his unofficial Campaign committee Let’s Get To Work, because he has received so many large checks, including another $1.1 million of his own money. But none of that may matter much if the Republican Party of Florida and the Florida Democratic...

Valesky v Russo, latest TV ad by the Republicans
The Valesky / Russo Senate battle is raging away in Syracuse. Here’s the latest GOP blast against Incumbent Democrat David Valesky.