Spurning a Too-Sterling Sperling

Whites growing rejection of Democrats
Image via Wikipedia Ronald Brownstein: By any standard, white voters’ rejection of Democrats in November’s Elections was daunting and even historic. Fully 60 percent of whites nationwide backed Republican Candidates for the House of Representatives; only 37 percent supported Democrats, according to the National Election Poll Exit Poll conducted by Edison Research. Not even in Republicans’ 1994 congressional landslide did they win that high a percentage of the white vote. More...

100 Billion Dollar Backlash
Promoted from the diaries by Dan Spencer. “We will roll back Government Spending to pre-stimulus, pre-bailout levels, saving us at least $100 billion in the first year alone ,” plainly reads a section now under much scrutiny in the House Republican’s ‘A Pledge to America.’ It was a section that was written by the now Majority Whip, Rep. Kevin Mccarthy of California’s 22nd district. Unfortunately an “aide” is credited with telling the media the figure will li

Obama to GOP: Stop the symbolic battles in Congress
Stumble This! WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama urged newly empowered Republicans on Saturday not to wage "symbolic battles" against him but to instead work together to help spur job growth and economic recovery. Obama issued his appeal in his weekly radio address after Republicans took power in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, setting up potentially fierce fights with the president and his Democrats on spending, Debt and healthcare. "Our fundamental mission must be to accelerate hi...

Politifact: Score one promise kept by GOP House
If charity begins at home, then perhaps Austerity begins in the House.  When Republicans campaigned in the midterms, they promised to set an example for the rest of the Federal Government with significant cuts to operating expenses in Congress.  And according to Politifact, they delivered: In their Pledge to America, House Republican leaders promised to “make Congress do more with less by significantly reducing its Budget.” On Jan. 6, 2011, they took action. By an overwhelming&#

Obama Turns To Old Clinton Hands
(NewsCore) - President Barack Obama's revamped economic team is made up mostly of Veterans of President Bill Clinton's administration, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday. The line-up could help the White House navigate a politically divided Washington as it tries to speed up Economic Growth. Veteran policy maker Gene Sperling will direct the White House's National Economic Council (NEC), moving from his post as a senior adviser to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Sperling led the coun...

The surplus guy
Matt Miller did a piece on Gene Sperling, Larry Summers' replacement as director of the National Economic Council, back in 1999 when Sperling was working for Bill Clinton.  It's been recommended as still the most "highly accurate and most persuasive portrait of Sperling" available.  Some excerpts and a link: Known to colleagues, as former White House Press Secretary Michael McCurry puts it, as the embodiment of "the pure, idealistic, best side of Bill Clinton...

Too Many Crooks Unchecked
Robert Gibbs, White House Press Secretary, is on his way out—either being pushed out or jumping ship—as noted by Toby Harnden, writing for The Daily Telegraph. Citing The Child Emperor’s own words, it was “not an entirely voluntary departure”. According to Harnden, CNN’s John King is reporting that “Fibbs” had aspirations of becoming a presidential counselor. Not so fast. William Daley, the newly appointed Chief of Staff, slammed on the brakes for ...

William Daley: Obama's Bridge to GOP, Business, Democrat base
WASHINGTON -- When former Commerce Secretary William Daley takes over as fellow Chicagoan President Obama's Chief of Staff in a few weeks, he brings a resume unique in American politics and government to an administration trying to regain its footing and launch Obama's 2012 re-election campaign. Daley, 62, the son and brother of Chicago mayors, is taking on an assignment that may well cap his career giving him an opportunity to help Obama repair relations with the business community while at t...

Weekly addresses focus on deficit, jobs
(CNN) - Democrats and Republicans often spout plans to address the Budget and long-term Deficit, but in their weekly web and radio speeches charted different courses to achieve the goals. New House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor targeted Health Care as the first order of business for the new Congress, saying in Saturday's address that repealing the Legislation would not only tackle care, but also decrease Government Spending and help businesses. "At a time when we need to do everything in our ...

Getting off the ropes
GETTING OFF THE ROPES.... Being in the House minority is necessarily awful, but it's not all bad -- the status makes winning harder, but it makes attacking easier. It's probably just the nature of the process. Having a majority means having to defend an agenda; being stuck in a minority means getting to say, "Look how badly the majority is screwing up." This week, the House of Representatives officially changed hands, and the new GOP leadership got right to work tackling of its top priorities:...

Kyl sees room to agree on spending cuts and tax reform
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) is optimistic the administration and congressional Republicans can work together to bring down spending and revamp the tax code, according to a recent interview. "If we're going to get anything done, we'll have to work together," he said in an interview on Bloomberg Television's "Political Capital with Al Hunt" airing this weekend. The Senate Minority Whip said he believes there is a general agreement that Government Spending needs to come down and that the overcomplicat...

6 Reasons It Was a Good Week in Washington
“Hope and Change” are finally coming to Washington, two years after President Obama promised them. The tone in our fair city changed this week, not just at the White House or in the Congress, but seemingly everywhere. Here's why: The departure of Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. The White House's “attack dog” announced his Resignation this week in order to go on the speaker's circuit and become an outside adviser to the administration. While his replacement hasn't been ann...

Obama: a $172,000 income is modest [Reader Post]
Nearly all Democrats insist that anyone making $250,000 a year is wealthy. They have incited anger and even violence over the issue. Venture Capitalist Garrett Gruener says “I’m rich, tax me more.” Warren Buffett, one of the wealthiest men on the planet, say the rich should pay more in taxes. Never mind that the top 1% of earners pays 41% of federal taxes. Never mind that about 50% of the country pays no federal taxes at all. (For a nice breakdown on this, visit here) Wealthy ...

Obama goes pragmatic in casting a new team on the economy
Gene Sperling and William Daley worked with President Clinton in fights over taxes, trade and the Budget with a Republican Congress. President Obama has gone pragmatic in recasting his economic team with several Clinton Administration officials who survived the fiscal battles of the 1990s. Both Gene Sperling and William Daley, named by Obama this week as director of the National Economic Council and White House Chief of Staff, respectively, worked with President Clinton in fights over taxes, t...

Obama: Positive 'Trend is Clear' For Economy On the Upswing
In upbeat remarks, President Obama said Saturday that the drop in joblessness and a batch of tax benefits extending into the new year show that "the trend is clear" for an economy on the upswing. He urged Congress not to "re-fight the battles of the past two years" that took time away from the struggle to get The Economy back on track. The president used his weekly address to talk up the tax relief enacted by Congress in a Bipartisan Compromise last month and to put a positive light on the Dece...

Timothy Karr: AT&T;'s Man in the White House
When President Obama said he was going to "bring change to Washington," no one expected William Daley to be his choice to get the job done. Obama's incoming Chief of Staff is about as corporate friendly as any Democratic insider can be, which is saying a lot. For supporters of an open Internet, Daley's appointment raises the prospect that the president will break all promises to defend Net Neutrality at the urging of a Chief of Staff determined to cozy up with industry and protect the status...

Robert Gibbs' Successor: How About a Woman as White House Press Secretary?
The White House is looking for a successor to departing Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, and the top prospects -- as usual -- are men. But Politico's Mike Allen says new Chief of Staff Bill Daley would like a woman in the job. A woman as the face of this administration -- why, that would be something new and different. The most important qualities in a Press Secretary include access to the president, clarity of expression, ease on camera, and good relations with reporters. The names in the mix so f...

Media Advisory: Soledad OBrien and Scott Sisters Tonight
CNN anchor and special correspondent Soledad O’Brien will have the exclusive sit down interview with Mississippi sisters Gladys Scott and Jamie Scott on Friday, Jan. 7 to discuss Gov. Haley Barbour’s suspension of their life sentences after 16 years in Prison, on the condition that one donate a kidney to the other. According to Court Records, the Scott sisters were charged with armed Robbery, netting between $11 and $200 in 1993. Tune in to The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer from 5...

Roseanne Barr: Sarah Palin Is "Kind of a Traitor"..."Her Followers Are the Dumbest People on Earth"
Oh yes, the lovely Roseanne Barr on CNN Anderson Cooper is asked about Sarah Palin I feel the exact same about her as I did the day I watched her on tv sing the National Anthem in 1990 at Jack Murphy stadium ...

This week in science
Crazy Doc McElroy pens an op-ed and the Bad Astronomer takes a whack at it so I don't have to. Who is McElroy you ask? The former head of the Texas Board of Education: Mind you, this is the one and the same Texas BoE that has been fighting teaching kids about evolution tooth and nail, which downplayed the Big Bang Theory, which took Thomas Jefferson out of the standards, which praised Joseph McCarthy, which screwed up the state standards so massively California issued a warning that it would b...

Kirk Cameron: Dead birds aren't the end of the world
After thousands of birds mysteriously fell out of the sky in Arkansas on New Year's Eve, it was only natural that Anderson Cooper turned to an expert for an explanation. Enter Kirk Cameron. The former "Growing Pains" star — a born-again Christian who has appeared in movies based on the end-of-days-themed "Left Behind" books — appeared on "Anderson Cooper 360" to discuss whether he thought the dead birds were a sign of the apocalypse. "Well, I first t...

Ted Nugent Is Livid At The Rotten, Soulless Parents Of Blubbery Kids
It seems that Anderson Cooper can’t get enough of hunter/rocker Ted Nugent on his special edition of 360º, and, as an opening act, Nugent sure is giving Piers Morgan a run for his money. After mocking CNN for hiring Eliot Spitzer earlier this week, Nugent went all out against a less risky target on a topic near and dear to his heart: Obesity. Nugent, who has advertised his love of fitness and is a well-known advocate of keeping healthy, took a detour from criticizing last year’s hea...

Gov. Sarah Palin: President Obama is Hell-Bent on Weakening America Audio 1/7/11
Here is audio of Laura Ingraham talking to Gov. Sarah Palin yesterday, where Palin said President Barack Obama appears to be “hell bent on weakening America.” Palin said she “does not trust what is coming out of the White House.” Palin also said Republicans should not be focused on “capitulating” or “compromising” on their principles in the name of working together with Obama. Instead, she said the GOP must “draw some lines in the sand̶...

ObamaCares Reality Deficit
ObamaCare’s Reality DeficitSaturday, January 8th, 2011 Lots of good quotes in this Wall Street Journal Review & Outlook column, although none better than this sub-headline some pithy editor slapped in: If you believe that a new entitlement saves money, you’ll believe anything. Like Dilbert’s pointy-haired boss once said, “When we saw you would willingly spend your entire days in cubicles smaller than a Prison cell, we realized anything was possible.” I’...

Can William Daley Improve Obama's Business Reputation?
When President Barack Obama named William Daley the White House Chief of Staff, the business community cheered. The implication, at least, was that business leaders had perceived Obama as anti-business. "I think there was a pretty widely held belief among top level business leaders that they were having trouble getting their voices heard in the White House," says Matt Bennett, a former Clinton Administration official who co-founded a liberal Think Tank called the Third Way, which counts Daley ...