Day: April 5, 2011

U.S. Politics

Progressive Caucus: The Leadership Americans Deserve

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Progressive Caucus

Republicans campaigned on a promise to create jobs. Now they are turning their back on the middle class with measures that destroy jobs for America’s heroes, while giving more handouts to special interests.

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Government Shutdown

Government Shutdown: GOP Rep. Simpson: For the Right Flank, It’s “$61 Billion or Die”

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The possibility of a government shutdown looms largely in our immediate future…

Mother Jones

With a government shutdown looking increasingly likely, Republicans are blaming Democratic leaders for failing to come to an agreement on government funding for the rest of 2011. If House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and the Democrats fail to strike a deal by Friday, the government will shut down. “There’s no other explanation except that [Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader] wants to have a government shutdown and blame it on Republicans,” Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) told reporters Tuesday afternoon.

But other Republicans have made it clear that there’s major resistance within the GOP itself to any compromise whatsover. Those Republicans have concluded that any deal that falls short of the drastic $61 billion in cuts that the House GOP is demanding would constitute abject failure. Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) explained the position of the House’s right flank to reporters on Tuesday: 

It’s also clear from the number of people who have gone up at the microphone at our conferences that it’s $61 [billion] or die…

Many of our constituents will think we’ve caved if it’s less. Now the reality is if you get to $58 or to $59 or $60 [billion], then say it’s just silly to not take a deal like that. But you never know. There will be some that will say, if it’s less than $61, if it $60.5 [billion]—someone’s going to say it’s not enough.

There was a phrase coined for such posturing during the last government shutdown, when Newt Gingrich was speaker: the Perfectionist Caucus. And if Boehner has too many ideological purists on his hands, he won’t have any choice but to shut down the government—or else risk being stripped of his leadership role by his own caucus members. 

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Uncategorized

Obama On Re-Elect: Lasting Change Doesn’t Come ‘Quickly Or Easily’

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There’s good news and there’s bad news. 

The good news is that President Obama will probably when his re-election.  The bad news is that for various reasons, this election will be missing millions of disappointed and disenfranchised people who campaigned and voted for Obama the first time around.

The President is right, hope doesn ‘t come quickly or easily, especially when you have the GOP blocking everything that the Dems presented on behalf of the POTUs in the first two years.  Now they are stonewalling on the budget and governing on social issues and not jobs.

TPMDC

President Obama launched his reelection campaign in an unusually low-key fashion Monday — with the simple posting of a video featuring level-headed endorsements from a cross-section of Americans, a far-cry from the adulation and soaring rhetoric that catapulted the junior senator from Illinois into the Oval Office three years ago.

Although understated, the video, titled “It Begins With Us,” signals Obama’s formal shift into campaign mode and marks the official beginning of a fundraising blitz Obama and his team hopes will dwarf his staggering record in 2008.

Obama aims to break the $1 billion ceiling and is getting a running start by kicking off his campaign 45 days earlier in the cycle than did then-President George W. Bush. The drive for dollars will pick up later this month with several fundraisers.

If the campaign can rake in a war chest early and spend it wisely, Obama could have an enormous cash advantage in the general over any Republican challenger. The early GOP field is so crowded — at least 15 Republicans have expressed some degree of interest in opposing Obama — that GOP primary opponents will be both forced to compete for dollars and spend it furiously trying to separate themselves from the pack.

Continue reading…

 

 

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GOP Presidential Candidates · Koch Brothers · Koch Industries

REPORT: Everything You Need To Know About The Koch Brothers

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More info on the diabolical Koch brothers…

Think Progress

Today, the Center for American Progress Action Fund released a report shedding light on the vast Koch network and how it operates. The report shows that Charles and David Koch have used the considerable wealth (they are worth a combined $44 billion) to push policies that put their profits ahead of the interests of most Americans.

The report finds:

  • Grassroots organizing for big business. The Koch brothers use their considerable wealth to bankroll the right wing, including the Tea Party. This serves the purpose of furthering not only their right-wing ideology but also their bottom line. Koch Industries has a lot to gain from gutting government oversight and electing candidates who oppose government regulation, especially in the oil-and-gas industry.
  • $85 million to 85 think tanks. Identification of at least $85 million the Koch brothers have given to at least 85 right-wing think tanks and advocacy groups over the past decade and a half.
  • State organizing. The Koch brothers are active at the state level, spending $5.2 million on candidates and ballot measures in 34 states since 2003. They donated directly to 13 governors that won election last year.
  • Over 70% of the GOP Freshman. The Kochs donated directly to 62 of the 87 members of the House GOP freshman class.
  • 2012. The Kochs are not going away. In fact, they have already pledged to raise $88 million for the 2012 election and have started scheduling events for potential Republican presidential candidates.

Read the full report here.

This report is intended to be a guide to help progressives map out the vast network of influence the Koch brothers have built over the last decades. By exposing the Koch brothers’ agenda and shedding light on how they operate, progressives can force a public debate that will show that the Koch brothers are outside the mainstream of most Americans and that they are putting their self-interest and right wing agenda ahead of middle-class families

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Koch Industries · Think Progress

2,000 Protesters March On Koch Industries’ D.C. Office

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Think Progress

Though they don’t want you to know about it, the billionaire Koch brothers are bankrolling a massive campaign to roll back progressive achievements, and today, labor, civil rights, and climate activists turned out at dozens of rallies across the country to demonstrate against the Koch’s secretive influence in American politics and to stand up for labor and civil rights.

In Washington, D.C. today an estimated 2,000 protesters marched on Koch Industries’ Washington D.C. offices and attempted to give Charles and David Koch an invitation to come out and speak with the protesters. Not surprisingly, the building’s doors were locked and no one was allowed inside. However, a representative from the real estate company which managed the building told an handful of organizers who attempted to deliver the invitation, “I’d be here with you guys if I wasn’t working right now.” Noting that he works for the building, not Koch, he said, “I don’t want to be here.”

The events were scheduled for today because it marks the 43rd anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis, TN. King traveled to Memphis to support a strike by the city’s sanitation workers, and was an ardent supporter of workers’ rights. Dr. Earl D. Trent Jr., the senior pastor at the Florida Avenue Baptist Church in Washington, told ThinkProgress that if King “were alive today, he would be right here at the forefront, no doubt.” “And that’s why we have to carry this out.”

Last Thursday, tea party activists rallied on Capitol Hill to pressure Republican lawmakers to cut government spending. Crowd estimates ranged from “dozens” to “fewer than 200,” yet the event attracted dozens of reporters and significant media interest, producing hundreds of stories in local and national press. At today’s rally, which was ten times bigger than the tea party one, ThinkProgress spotted three reporters — none from mainstream publications.

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Jon Stewart · President Barack Obama · President Obama

Jon Stewart Mocks Obama Campaign Video: From ‘Yes We Can’ To ‘You Know, Whatever’

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Mediaite

To no one’s surprise, Barack Obama announced earlier today that he will seek a second term in the 2012 election, complete with promotional video featuring demographically diverse voters just like one and I. Perhaps more surprising was the degree of enjoyment that Daily Show host Jon Stewart took in ruthlessly ridiculing the Obama video, and yes, his failed promises of transparency in his first term.

As we’ve noticed before, when it comes to this White House, Stewart is not necessarily the strict left-of-center ideologue that he’s made out to be by right-of-center commentators; The Daily Show has mined the alleged hypocrisies, gaffes and foibles that have come from this administration for strong comedic material. But the following clip appears to be a tad harsher, perhaps foretelling a critical narrative for the coming election coverage?

See video here…

 

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