Sarah, Inc. is staying open for business.
A day after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said for the last time he is not running for President, Sarah Palin finally ended her would-be candidate charade as well, saying after self-reflection she will not seek the Republican nomination.
"This has been prayerfully considered," the Fox News commentator said today on a popular right radio-wing radio program.
Duh.
Like Christie, Palin used her pretend run for President to help raise money. Through June, Palin's PAC had raised $1.65 million from 24,000 individuals, the Center for Responsive Politics reported.
Why would Palin leave her cash-happy life as Queen of the Tea Party for a low-paying job like President of the United States?
Steadily falling in the polls, it became clear Palin would not run for President when she abruptly quit her job as governor of Alaska in 2009. Being a quitter was considered not to be a good sign of leadership.
More recently, she showed her hand when as she threatened to sue author Joe McGinniss over his best-selling book, "The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin." Serious Presidential candidates do not sue authors, they push back.
Palin ended her Barnumesque ruse today when she told conservative radio host Mark Levin
that she will not be seeking the Republican nomination for President. Levin read a statement from Palin on the air.
"I believe that at this time I can be more effective in a decisive role to help elect other true public servants to office -- from the nation's governors to congressional seats and the presidency," Palin wrote.
"I will continue driving the discussion for freedom and free markets, including in the race for president where our candidates must embrace immediate action toward energy independence through domestic resource developments of conventional energy sources, along with renewables," she said.
"We must reduce tax burdens and onerous regulations that kill American industry, and our candidates must always push to minimize government to strengthen and allow the private sector to create jobs," Palin added.
The move sets the table for center-right candidate and frontrunner Mitt Romney to have a clear path to the GOP nomination, barring a Lazarus-like resurrection from Texas Gov. Rick Perry, whose support for illegal immigrants and mush-mouth debate performances have him in a death spiral in the polls.
It is probably not good news for the Obama campaign, which would have loved to play against one of the Tea Party darlings in the White House sweepstakes next year. Romney is a different cup of tea, topping President Obama in the current head-to-head polls.
Showing posts with label Tea Party. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tea Party. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Limbaugh Slams GOP Establishment for Backing Christie & Not A Conservative
Right-wing talk radio king Rush Limbaugh blasted the Republican establishment today for pushing center-right GOP Gov. Chris Christie to run for President instead of a Tea Party-style conservative, like Sen. Marco Rubio.
"I don't want to just get rid of (President) Obama, I want to take advantage of the opportunity we have to finally get a genuine, full-fledged, unapologetic conservative because this is going to be a major task. It's going to take more than one election, and it's going to take somebody fearless. And we're not going to roll this stuff back having compromise and bipartisanship as our primary objectives," he added on radio program.
"I think as far as the establishment's concerned, there are two things. They don't want a conservative to win for that reason, plus they do want to win. And I think they probably think Christie has a better chance than anybody else up there of beating Obama. That's my guess," Limbaugh adder for his massive listening audience.
Many GOP high-rollers have not embraced Mitt Romney and are wincing at the melting flavor-of-the-month, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, keeping their hefty checkbooks on the sideline as they wait for their Republican messiah. They have made a big push to get Christie to reconsider a run, but the New Jersey governor still says it is not going to happen.
Limbaugh held up Rubio (R-Fla.) as a viable alternative to Christie, but charged that the predominantly New York City-based Republican bankrollers have not learned their lesson from Rubio's 2010 victory over former GOP Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.
"Rubio was the conservative candidate, the candidate supported by conservative talk radio. Rubio was the outsider. But look what's happened. Now that Rubio has won, oh, yeah, everybody was involved in the campaign! Everybody had a role in electing Rubio!" Limbaugh said.
"Rubio would win in a walkover. He's conservative. He's articulate. He's great-looking. He's Hispanic and sounds very smart. How can he possibly lose? If this were the Democrat Party, the party father would probably tell Obama to step aside and let Rubio run, if Rubio were a Democrat," Limbaugh insisted.
"I don't want to just get rid of (President) Obama, I want to take advantage of the opportunity we have to finally get a genuine, full-fledged, unapologetic conservative because this is going to be a major task. It's going to take more than one election, and it's going to take somebody fearless. And we're not going to roll this stuff back having compromise and bipartisanship as our primary objectives," he added on radio program.
"I think as far as the establishment's concerned, there are two things. They don't want a conservative to win for that reason, plus they do want to win. And I think they probably think Christie has a better chance than anybody else up there of beating Obama. That's my guess," Limbaugh adder for his massive listening audience.
Many GOP high-rollers have not embraced Mitt Romney and are wincing at the melting flavor-of-the-month, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, keeping their hefty checkbooks on the sideline as they wait for their Republican messiah. They have made a big push to get Christie to reconsider a run, but the New Jersey governor still says it is not going to happen.
Limbaugh held up Rubio (R-Fla.) as a viable alternative to Christie, but charged that the predominantly New York City-based Republican bankrollers have not learned their lesson from Rubio's 2010 victory over former GOP Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.
"Rubio was the conservative candidate, the candidate supported by conservative talk radio. Rubio was the outsider. But look what's happened. Now that Rubio has won, oh, yeah, everybody was involved in the campaign! Everybody had a role in electing Rubio!" Limbaugh said.
"Rubio would win in a walkover. He's conservative. He's articulate. He's great-looking. He's Hispanic and sounds very smart. How can he possibly lose? If this were the Democrat Party, the party father would probably tell Obama to step aside and let Rubio run, if Rubio were a Democrat," Limbaugh insisted.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Paul Asked About Uninsured Facing Death & Debate Crowd Yells Let Him Die
Updated at 7:45 p.m. edt
At least one Tea Party official is condemning the hate-filled shouts from a handful of its rank and file who want the uninsured to die rather than to receive lifesaving medical treatment.
"It was terrible... Because two people made a stupid statement does not mean that the entire Tea Party agrees with that, we absolutely do not," said Billie Tucker, spokeswoman for the Tea Party Alliance of Florida.
"We wish they weren't in the room," Tucker told CNN today.
At least three different voices could be heard shouting "yes" or "yeah" when Wolf Bitzer asked Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.). There were also cheers and applause when Paul said it is people's choice to live or die.
end update
---[
Forget all the candidate box scores and prognostication, the real newsmaker at last night's CNN/Tea Party GOP presidential debate was the audience, in which some in the crowd shouted "Yes" when Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) was asked by Wolf Blitzer if America should let an uninsured man die facing a catastrophic health condition. Here is the video, courtesy of ThinkProgress:
At least one Tea Party official is condemning the hate-filled shouts from a handful of its rank and file who want the uninsured to die rather than to receive lifesaving medical treatment.
"It was terrible... Because two people made a stupid statement does not mean that the entire Tea Party agrees with that, we absolutely do not," said Billie Tucker, spokeswoman for the Tea Party Alliance of Florida.
"We wish they weren't in the room," Tucker told CNN today.
At least three different voices could be heard shouting "yes" or "yeah" when Wolf Bitzer asked Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.). There were also cheers and applause when Paul said it is people's choice to live or die.
end update
---[
Forget all the candidate box scores and prognostication, the real newsmaker at last night's CNN/Tea Party GOP presidential debate was the audience, in which some in the crowd shouted "Yes" when Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) was asked by Wolf Blitzer if America should let an uninsured man die facing a catastrophic health condition. Here is the video, courtesy of ThinkProgress:
UPDATE: The pro-health care reform organization Protect Your Care called on the GOP candidates, the Tea Party Express and other Tea Party affiliates to condemn the behavior of the people in the audience who shouted "Yes" when Blitzer asked if Paul thought the uninsured should be left to die. Protect Your Care Communications Director Eddie Vale released the following statement:
"Last night we got a disturbing view into the Tea Party’s extreme right-wing position on health care when members of the audience clapped and cheered the idea of letting someone without health insurance die. Even worse, none of the Republican candidates on stage expressed a word of disapproval as the Tea Party audience literally clapped for blood. This was a spectacle one would have expected back in the gladiatorial combat of ancient Rome, not at a presidential debate.
"This moment is a test of whether those who aspire to the office of the President of the United States have the leadership abilities to stand up to the extreme Tea Party elements that we saw on sickening display last night. The Republican candidates should condemn the extreme and un-American value of letting people die, as should the Tea Party Express and other Tea Party organizations."
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Unions Don't Trust Kasich and Neither Does the Tea Party
Ohio GOP Gov. John Kasich's shameless plea this week to strike a bargain with public unions in order to save his own job managed to irk members of the anti-union Tea Party and insult workers who do not trust his bad-faith negotiating style.
After all his chest-thumping when he signed his anti-worker law, Kasich is sweating out a Nov. 8 ballot question that aims to overturn the GOP union-busting law that stripped public employees of many of their collective bargaining rights.
Kasich's appeal this week to unions to give him a break apparently looked like old-fashioned, tail-tucking cowardice to Tea Party types.
"The stunt by the governor is not helping our cause. I can't see what he gains out of this, he looks foolish," the anti-union Mason Tea Party boss Ray Warrick told ONN-TV.
For the unions, Kasich's ploy was seen as a ruse. The pro-worker We Are Ohio campaign rejected Kasich's call for a meeting yesterday to see if he could talk the leaders of the union group into selling-out their members and take a deal on a promise to water down the
The unions do not trust Kasich and his GOP sidekicks in the state legislature, a pair of national union organizers explained today. So with the majority of Ohioans on the side of the workers, Kasich's popularity melting like a scoop of vanilla ice cream on a hot August day and $7 million on hand to spend in the repeal vote campaign.
"A complete repeal would go a long way toward creating an environment for compromise, restoring trust in government by the electorate and setting the table for meaningful negotiations about creating jobs, rebuilding Ohio's economy and moving the state forward," We are Ohio director A.J. Stokes wrote to Kasich.
The deadline to remove a repeal question from the Nov. 8 ballot is Aug. 30. If yesterday's decision by the unions to ignore a request for a meeting with Kasick, GOP Senate President Tom Niehaus and House Speaker William Batchelder is any indication, the repeal vote will go forward.
Kasich tried to spin it like he was being magnanimous.
"Woody Allen says that 90 percent of life is just showing up. And they’ve obviously flunked that test today," Kasich whined.
After all his chest-thumping when he signed his anti-worker law, Kasich is sweating out a Nov. 8 ballot question that aims to overturn the GOP union-busting law that stripped public employees of many of their collective bargaining rights.
Kasich's appeal this week to unions to give him a break apparently looked like old-fashioned, tail-tucking cowardice to Tea Party types.
"The stunt by the governor is not helping our cause. I can't see what he gains out of this, he looks foolish," the anti-union Mason Tea Party boss Ray Warrick told ONN-TV.
For the unions, Kasich's ploy was seen as a ruse. The pro-worker We Are Ohio campaign rejected Kasich's call for a meeting yesterday to see if he could talk the leaders of the union group into selling-out their members and take a deal on a promise to water down the
The unions do not trust Kasich and his GOP sidekicks in the state legislature, a pair of national union organizers explained today. So with the majority of Ohioans on the side of the workers, Kasich's popularity melting like a scoop of vanilla ice cream on a hot August day and $7 million on hand to spend in the repeal vote campaign.
"A complete repeal would go a long way toward creating an environment for compromise, restoring trust in government by the electorate and setting the table for meaningful negotiations about creating jobs, rebuilding Ohio's economy and moving the state forward," We are Ohio director A.J. Stokes wrote to Kasich.
The deadline to remove a repeal question from the Nov. 8 ballot is Aug. 30. If yesterday's decision by the unions to ignore a request for a meeting with Kasick, GOP Senate President Tom Niehaus and House Speaker William Batchelder is any indication, the repeal vote will go forward.
Kasich tried to spin it like he was being magnanimous.
"Woody Allen says that 90 percent of life is just showing up. And they’ve obviously flunked that test today," Kasich whined.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Obama Urges Congress to Embrace a New Recovery Plan
President Obama promises he will offer up a new recovery plan next month and he has a message to Republicans in Congress who obstruct efforts to jump start the economy: Get on board or face the voters next year.
"Moving forward, my basic attitude is we know what to do. I'll be putting forward, when they come back in September, a very specific plan to boost the economy, to create jobs, and to control our deficit. And my attitude is, get it done," Obama said during a surprise announcement at a stop in Decorah, Iowa
After a weekend of playing the punching bag, President Obama is hitting back with a three-day bus trip through the heartland that includes five town halls, three states and a lot of bruising shots at what he casts as a do-nothing GOP-led Congress.
"And if they don’t get it done, then we’ll be running against a Congress that’s not doing anything for the American people, and the choice will be very stark and will be very clear," Obama said in a veiled threat to campaign in districts where members of Congress oppose a new stimulus plan.
Now on Day Two of the listening tour, Obama is hosting a White House Rural Economic Forum in Peosta, Iowa, where he is announcing a new rural jobs initiative that includes committing $350 million in Small Business Administration funds over the next five years. White Housae officials say it is only a small taste of the recovery plan the President plans to roll out next month.
"SBA is pleased to announce that we will be doubling the capital going to rural businesses through the Small Business Investment Company program, with no cost to taxpayers,” said SBA Administrator Karen Mills. "Small businesses of all kinds are thriving in rural areas where they are creating jobs of the future and helping ensure the economic stability of the middle class."
Predictably, the GOP and some members of the mainstream media are slamming Obama for what they call a campaign-style trip paid for with taxpayer money. It is a charge that Presidents have long faced from the opposition party in election cycles.
Obama is riding in his Midwest motorcade this week in a brand new, giant black bullet-proof bus purchased by Secret Service for $1.1 million. The Secret Service made the decision about a year ago to buy two of the secure buses to use to protect the President, other government officials and visiting foreign dignitaries, a spokesman said.
"Moving forward, my basic attitude is we know what to do. I'll be putting forward, when they come back in September, a very specific plan to boost the economy, to create jobs, and to control our deficit. And my attitude is, get it done," Obama said during a surprise announcement at a stop in Decorah, Iowa
After a weekend of playing the punching bag, President Obama is hitting back with a three-day bus trip through the heartland that includes five town halls, three states and a lot of bruising shots at what he casts as a do-nothing GOP-led Congress.
"And if they don’t get it done, then we’ll be running against a Congress that’s not doing anything for the American people, and the choice will be very stark and will be very clear," Obama said in a veiled threat to campaign in districts where members of Congress oppose a new stimulus plan.
Now on Day Two of the listening tour, Obama is hosting a White House Rural Economic Forum in Peosta, Iowa, where he is announcing a new rural jobs initiative that includes committing $350 million in Small Business Administration funds over the next five years. White Housae officials say it is only a small taste of the recovery plan the President plans to roll out next month.
"SBA is pleased to announce that we will be doubling the capital going to rural businesses through the Small Business Investment Company program, with no cost to taxpayers,” said SBA Administrator Karen Mills. "Small businesses of all kinds are thriving in rural areas where they are creating jobs of the future and helping ensure the economic stability of the middle class."
Predictably, the GOP and some members of the mainstream media are slamming Obama for what they call a campaign-style trip paid for with taxpayer money. It is a charge that Presidents have long faced from the opposition party in election cycles.
Obama is riding in his Midwest motorcade this week in a brand new, giant black bullet-proof bus purchased by Secret Service for $1.1 million. The Secret Service made the decision about a year ago to buy two of the secure buses to use to protect the President, other government officials and visiting foreign dignitaries, a spokesman said.
Monday, August 15, 2011
President Bill Clinton Takes On 'Good Looking Rascal' Rick Perry
Former President Bill Clinton used an appearance at the International Association of Fire Fighters conference in Manhattan today to mock GOP presidential candidate and Texas Gov. Rick Perry as a "good-looking rascal" who is a bit of a hypocrite for bashing the federal government that he wants to join.
"He's saying, 'Oh, I'm going to Washington to make sure that the federal government stays as far away from you as possible -- while I ride on Air Force One and that Marine One helicopter and go to Camp David and travel around the world and have a good time.' I mean, this is crazy," Clinton said.
Here is a clip from Clinton's speech posted by our friends at Gotham's high-minded tabloid, The New York Observer.
"He's saying, 'Oh, I'm going to Washington to make sure that the federal government stays as far away from you as possible -- while I ride on Air Force One and that Marine One helicopter and go to Camp David and travel around the world and have a good time.' I mean, this is crazy," Clinton said.
Here is a clip from Clinton's speech posted by our friends at Gotham's high-minded tabloid, The New York Observer.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
The Tea Party is the Big Winner at the Ames Straw Poll
Whether you take your tea sweet or unsugared, there was plenty served up at the Ames Straw poll, where, with so many variables in play, the biggest winner in the unscientific tally was really the Tea Party.
Rep. Michele Bachmann is taking her victory lap today after edging out Rep. Ron Paul to finish first in the Ames Straw Poll, but for Tim Pawlenty the race is over.
The conservative anti-government voters who form the core of the Tea Party essentially delivered a win yesterday for not one, but two candidates: Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Paul (R-Tex.), the latter with a close second-place finish. Bachmann and Paul made a strong connection with Tea Party voters, while Pawlenty did not.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry also is believed to have picked up some Tea Party backing in a write-in campaign that gave him more votes than former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, whose name was on the ballot, though he did not formally participate in the straw poll.
"Rick Perry won the straw poll at an event I was at. He has a lot more Tea Party support than many believe," Tweeted Tea Party Nation Chairman Judson Phillips.
Those results for Bachmann, Paul and Perry are a pretty strong indication the Tea Party is highly energized and easy to organize, even as polls show it is increasingly unpopular with most Americans. The Tea Party vote turns out, and the loosely held organization will be a deciding factor -- perhaps the deciding factor -- in the GOP nomination process.
It is not worth arguing one way or the other about Pawlenty's distant third-place finish. The former Minnesota Gov. was without a message (especially within the super-charged Tea Party and evangelical voters) and remained where he was going into the straw poll -- atop a second tier of candidates, at best. It was enough of a sign for him to quit the race.
Bachmann received twice as many votes as Pawlenty, and overnight he went from spinning his third-place finish as a fresh start for his campaign to admitting he had as much traction as a bald tire in a blizzard.
Pawlenty's problem was not simply a weak finish in a straw vote that is bought by the candidates with a $30 ticket, food and drink and lots of live (mostly country) music. He already had been overtaken by the new kid on the block, the governor of Texas, who has early momentum and is an instant darling of the main stream media and another option for the Tea Party voters.
Perry brings a plain-talking, slash-first-and-ask-questions-later approach that almost sounds like a common-sense way to solve the nation's problems. He drew on an angry optimism to attack President Obama and reach out to Tea Party and evangelical voters with his presidential campaign announcement speech yesterday half a country away in Charleston, S.C.
"The fact is for nearly three years, President Obama has been downgrading American jobs, he's been downgrading our standing in the world, he's been downgrading our financial stability, he's been downgrading our confidence, and downgrading the hope for a better future for our children," Perry declared.
The takeway for the Obama campaign may be Republican field is telegraphing the election's biting partisan lines of attack, barring a spectacular unforeseen event or the economy getting even worse for President Obama. The jabs will be loaded with Tea Party rhetoric.
Not all the titans of the Tea Party emerged unscathed. One Tea Party darling may be steeped in a downward spiral: Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's pre-game boom was a post-game bust.
Palin stole some of the limelight by showing up in Iowa this weekend, but Mama Grizzly failed to make a blip in the straw poll (She was not on the ballot, but there were some expectations that she would make a showing as a write-in candidate). The base Republicans have decided she is not running.
The wild card Tea Party player will continue to be Paul, the man that the mainstream media cannot seem to mention without adding, "... but conventional wisdom is that he cannot win the nomination." Now the conventional wisdom is Bachmann is a time bomb because she cannot win over independent voters.
The problem with conventional wisdom is that this is not a conventional primary season. This is the Tea Party's first run in a presidential election and its members are prone to the unconventional.
It seems almost counterintuitive in this climate to hear pundits arguing that the only reason Paul had a strong finish in Ames was because his followers are so loyal and well-organized. This 2012 GOP primary landscape is new ground, and the Tea Party is set to stake its claim to some of its available acreage.
Rep. Michele Bachmann is taking her victory lap today after edging out Rep. Ron Paul to finish first in the Ames Straw Poll, but for Tim Pawlenty the race is over.
The conservative anti-government voters who form the core of the Tea Party essentially delivered a win yesterday for not one, but two candidates: Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Paul (R-Tex.), the latter with a close second-place finish. Bachmann and Paul made a strong connection with Tea Party voters, while Pawlenty did not.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry also is believed to have picked up some Tea Party backing in a write-in campaign that gave him more votes than former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, whose name was on the ballot, though he did not formally participate in the straw poll.
"Rick Perry won the straw poll at an event I was at. He has a lot more Tea Party support than many believe," Tweeted Tea Party Nation Chairman Judson Phillips.
Those results for Bachmann, Paul and Perry are a pretty strong indication the Tea Party is highly energized and easy to organize, even as polls show it is increasingly unpopular with most Americans. The Tea Party vote turns out, and the loosely held organization will be a deciding factor -- perhaps the deciding factor -- in the GOP nomination process.
It is not worth arguing one way or the other about Pawlenty's distant third-place finish. The former Minnesota Gov. was without a message (especially within the super-charged Tea Party and evangelical voters) and remained where he was going into the straw poll -- atop a second tier of candidates, at best. It was enough of a sign for him to quit the race.
Bachmann received twice as many votes as Pawlenty, and overnight he went from spinning his third-place finish as a fresh start for his campaign to admitting he had as much traction as a bald tire in a blizzard.
Pawlenty's problem was not simply a weak finish in a straw vote that is bought by the candidates with a $30 ticket, food and drink and lots of live (mostly country) music. He already had been overtaken by the new kid on the block, the governor of Texas, who has early momentum and is an instant darling of the main stream media and another option for the Tea Party voters.
Perry brings a plain-talking, slash-first-and-ask-questions-later approach that almost sounds like a common-sense way to solve the nation's problems. He drew on an angry optimism to attack President Obama and reach out to Tea Party and evangelical voters with his presidential campaign announcement speech yesterday half a country away in Charleston, S.C.
"The fact is for nearly three years, President Obama has been downgrading American jobs, he's been downgrading our standing in the world, he's been downgrading our financial stability, he's been downgrading our confidence, and downgrading the hope for a better future for our children," Perry declared.
The takeway for the Obama campaign may be Republican field is telegraphing the election's biting partisan lines of attack, barring a spectacular unforeseen event or the economy getting even worse for President Obama. The jabs will be loaded with Tea Party rhetoric.
Not all the titans of the Tea Party emerged unscathed. One Tea Party darling may be steeped in a downward spiral: Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's pre-game boom was a post-game bust.
Palin stole some of the limelight by showing up in Iowa this weekend, but Mama Grizzly failed to make a blip in the straw poll (She was not on the ballot, but there were some expectations that she would make a showing as a write-in candidate). The base Republicans have decided she is not running.
The wild card Tea Party player will continue to be Paul, the man that the mainstream media cannot seem to mention without adding, "... but conventional wisdom is that he cannot win the nomination." Now the conventional wisdom is Bachmann is a time bomb because she cannot win over independent voters.
The problem with conventional wisdom is that this is not a conventional primary season. This is the Tea Party's first run in a presidential election and its members are prone to the unconventional.
It seems almost counterintuitive in this climate to hear pundits arguing that the only reason Paul had a strong finish in Ames was because his followers are so loyal and well-organized. This 2012 GOP primary landscape is new ground, and the Tea Party is set to stake its claim to some of its available acreage.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Dems Pick Up Two Seats in Wisconsin Recalls, But Fall One Short of Goal
The pro-worker campaign in Wisconsin to put a halt to Gov. Scott Walker's union-busting programs fell just one race short overnight when the recall election bid came down to late-night vote-counting by the most notorious county clerk in America.
Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus arguably may be the most incompetent ballot tally-taker in America, but state Democrats indicated at this point they will not go after the woman who twice this year saw key elections come down to her suspect skills.
"We will not pursue questions of irregularities," said state Democratic Chairman Mike Tate, who in an earlier in a heated moment during the final, delayed vote-counting in six recall races accused her of "tampering with the results of a consequential election."
"The race to determine control of the Wisconsin Senate has fallen in the hands of the Waukesha County clerk, who has already distinguished herself as incompetent, if not worse," Tate said in a prepared statement.
In April, Nickolaus reversed the outcome of the Wisconsin Supreme Court race to favor incumbent Republican Justice David Prosser, when she announced a late-night vote-counting mistake in which omitted the results of the town of Brookfield.
In 2005, Nickolaus passed out sample ballot in a special election that included a mark showing a vote for the Republican candidate.
In 2002, as a staffer in the state Republican Caucus Nickolaus was at the center of a scheme in which officials from both major parties convicted of illegally using state equipment in elections. She escaped jail time when she flipped on her colleagues and was given immunity in exchange for fingering others in the scandal.
Nickolaus raised eyes last year when it became known she keeps vote tallies on her personal computer instead of county equipment.
When the dust cleared in the controversial suburban Milwaukee race, GOP state Sen. Alberta Darling defeated Democratic state Rep. Sandy Pasch, and Republicans won the fourth out of six races yesterday to maintain control of the state Senate.
Despite the setback, Democrats picked up two seats, but must defend two others in recall elections next week.
The next focal point will be the Tea Party- and big-money backed GOP governor. Recall organizers say they still will go ahead later this year with plans to collect the more than 500,000 signatures needed in order to trigger a recall election to remove the Walker
“I think the recall efforts will go forward. Maybe not with as much momentum as they would have had, had they regained control (of the Senate), but it was enough of a victory for the Democrats that they, I think, will still go ahead,” University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist David Canon told public radio.
Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus arguably may be the most incompetent ballot tally-taker in America, but state Democrats indicated at this point they will not go after the woman who twice this year saw key elections come down to her suspect skills.
"We will not pursue questions of irregularities," said state Democratic Chairman Mike Tate, who in an earlier in a heated moment during the final, delayed vote-counting in six recall races accused her of "tampering with the results of a consequential election."
"The race to determine control of the Wisconsin Senate has fallen in the hands of the Waukesha County clerk, who has already distinguished herself as incompetent, if not worse," Tate said in a prepared statement.
In April, Nickolaus reversed the outcome of the Wisconsin Supreme Court race to favor incumbent Republican Justice David Prosser, when she announced a late-night vote-counting mistake in which omitted the results of the town of Brookfield.
In 2005, Nickolaus passed out sample ballot in a special election that included a mark showing a vote for the Republican candidate.
In 2002, as a staffer in the state Republican Caucus Nickolaus was at the center of a scheme in which officials from both major parties convicted of illegally using state equipment in elections. She escaped jail time when she flipped on her colleagues and was given immunity in exchange for fingering others in the scandal.
Nickolaus raised eyes last year when it became known she keeps vote tallies on her personal computer instead of county equipment.
When the dust cleared in the controversial suburban Milwaukee race, GOP state Sen. Alberta Darling defeated Democratic state Rep. Sandy Pasch, and Republicans won the fourth out of six races yesterday to maintain control of the state Senate.
Despite the setback, Democrats picked up two seats, but must defend two others in recall elections next week.
The next focal point will be the Tea Party- and big-money backed GOP governor. Recall organizers say they still will go ahead later this year with plans to collect the more than 500,000 signatures needed in order to trigger a recall election to remove the Walker
“I think the recall efforts will go forward. Maybe not with as much momentum as they would have had, had they regained control (of the Senate), but it was enough of a victory for the Democrats that they, I think, will still go ahead,” University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist David Canon told public radio.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Walker Blowback: Six Wisconsin Recall Elections On Tap Today
A half-dozen recall elections today in Wisconsin will be the first real political test for Republican lawmakers who support the Tea Party's anti-public worker agenda.
Tens of millions of dollars from around the country have flowed into Wisconsin, where six GOP state senators are facing recall elections in reaction to GOP Gov. Scott Walkers' politically charged decision to strip collective bargain rights away from from public employees and cut their retirement and health care benefits.
Two Democratic state senators face recalls next week. A third Democrat survived a recall challenge last month. Republicans have a 19-14 advantage in the Wisconsin state Senate, so Democrats need to win five of the remaining eight elections to gain control of the chamber and put a lid on Walker's anti-worker agenda.
In a clear example of just how much of a national event this has become, President Obama's re-election operation, Organizing for America, and the GOP-backed Tea Party Express have had people on the ground in Wisconsin running get out the vote efforts. The Repuiblican National Committee is also lending its support.
Spending may reach $40 million, tripling the total cost of all 115 Wisconsin state legislative races in 2010, according to the nonpartisan Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
A major backer of the Tea Party, the Washington-based Club for Growth, a right-wing group with a reputation for challenging mainstream Republicans, along with the anti-union organization Americans for Prosperity, another Tea Party sugar daddy funded by oil barons David and Charles Koch, are throwing the most money into the races on behalf of the Republicans.
Americans for Prosperity has directly supported and counseled Walker on his anti-worker agenda.
On the Democratic side, unions, from around the country led by the AFL-CIO, and the local progressive pro-worker organization Greater Wisconsin Committee, have pumped millions of dollars to their candidates. The Greater Wisconsin Committee gets money from around the country from unions and left-leaning fat-cat funders.
It is considered extraordinary to hold nine state legislative recall elections within a month, since only 20 have been conducted nationwide since the early 20th century, political historians have noted.
Tens of millions of dollars from around the country have flowed into Wisconsin, where six GOP state senators are facing recall elections in reaction to GOP Gov. Scott Walkers' politically charged decision to strip collective bargain rights away from from public employees and cut their retirement and health care benefits.
Two Democratic state senators face recalls next week. A third Democrat survived a recall challenge last month. Republicans have a 19-14 advantage in the Wisconsin state Senate, so Democrats need to win five of the remaining eight elections to gain control of the chamber and put a lid on Walker's anti-worker agenda.
In a clear example of just how much of a national event this has become, President Obama's re-election operation, Organizing for America, and the GOP-backed Tea Party Express have had people on the ground in Wisconsin running get out the vote efforts. The Repuiblican National Committee is also lending its support.
Spending may reach $40 million, tripling the total cost of all 115 Wisconsin state legislative races in 2010, according to the nonpartisan Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
A major backer of the Tea Party, the Washington-based Club for Growth, a right-wing group with a reputation for challenging mainstream Republicans, along with the anti-union organization Americans for Prosperity, another Tea Party sugar daddy funded by oil barons David and Charles Koch, are throwing the most money into the races on behalf of the Republicans.
Americans for Prosperity has directly supported and counseled Walker on his anti-worker agenda.
On the Democratic side, unions, from around the country led by the AFL-CIO, and the local progressive pro-worker organization Greater Wisconsin Committee, have pumped millions of dollars to their candidates. The Greater Wisconsin Committee gets money from around the country from unions and left-leaning fat-cat funders.
It is considered extraordinary to hold nine state legislative recall elections within a month, since only 20 have been conducted nationwide since the early 20th century, political historians have noted.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Asian Markets Tank: Europe and US Expected to Follow
Updated on 4:15 p.m. edt
Stock markets tanked around the world today. Welcome back 2008.
President Obama's declaration this afternoon that the nation's man-made economic crisis is "imminently solvable" failed to turn around the stock market's estimated $1 trillion one-day loss triggered by Standard & Poor's contentious decision to downgrade the U.S. credit rating.
The Dow dipped 633 points, closing at 10,811 and the S&P 500 finished down 79 or 6.7%, at 1,119.46. The Nasdaq fell 174.72 points, or 6.9%, at 2,357.69. It is the first time the Dow declined below 11,000 since November.
"No matter what some agency may say, we've always been and always will be a triple-A country," Obama said.
Depending on who you listen to, the blame goes to Standard & Poor's, the Tea Party, Obama, Speaker John Boehner or old-fashioned Wall Street greed. The most likely scenario is that all of the above cost investors a collective fortune today.
End update
---[
Updated at 8 a.m. EDT
If the Dow Futures and the European and Asian markets are any indication -- and they are -- Wall Street is bracing for a really lousy opening this morning.
The European Central Bank intervened overnight to buy bonds from the wobbly governments in Italy and Spain, but the maneuver only managed to prove what smart money analysts had predicted all weekend: Investors' biggest concern is Standard & Poor's decision to downgrade the U.S. debt rating.
The global stock market rout continued in Europe where nearly midway through trading the aggregate Europe 600 index was down nearly 2%. The big three -- London's FTSE, Frankfurt's DAX and Paris's CAC-40 -- were also down significantly.
Even after the ECB's bond buying spree, Italy's FTSE MIB and Portugal's PSI were down, though Spain's IBEX saw a slight rebound.
The Dow Futures were down more that 200 points.
The European markets tanked after the stock exchanges in Asia lost about 4% of their value and trading in the Tel Aviv market was automatically suspended yesterday after it sank.
Even the decision by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner -- the last-man standing from President Obama's original economic team -- did little to concern overseas about the U.S. economy. Geithner spared Obama a nearly impossible task of getting a replacement past partisan Republicans in a Senate confirmation process.
Since Friday, S&P Managing Director John Chambers continued to do damage control for his embattled credit rating service amid criticism from many circles, liberal and conservative, who charge the decision to lower the U.S. debt-rating was something between political chicanery and hypocrisy from an outfit with a lousy track record.
S&P cited the GOP for embracing the agenda pressed by its Tea Party wing for failing to reach a grand bargain that included tax revenues.
End update
---[
And the hits just keep on coming.
The Asian markets followed the Middle Eastern stock exchanges overnight, taking a tailspin after Standard & Poor's controversial decision to lower the U.S. credit rating.
Leading the way in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng, South Korea's Kospi and Japan's Nikkei were all down significantly midway through trading amid fears that the global economy was headed for a serious nose dive.
European and U.S. investors braced for more of the same once their markets open.
Some analysts blamed the world's economy for the market declines in an attempt to take the heat off of S&P, which angered the Obama administration by lowering the U.S. debt rating even after the Treasury Department discovered a $2 trillion error by the credit rating service. S&P blamed Washington's debt shenanigans for its contentious decision, but specifically cited the GOP's Tea Party agenda for failing to allow a broader deal with tax revenues.
Stock markets tanked around the world today. Welcome back 2008.
President Obama's declaration this afternoon that the nation's man-made economic crisis is "imminently solvable" failed to turn around the stock market's estimated $1 trillion one-day loss triggered by Standard & Poor's contentious decision to downgrade the U.S. credit rating.
The Dow dipped 633 points, closing at 10,811 and the S&P 500 finished down 79 or 6.7%, at 1,119.46. The Nasdaq fell 174.72 points, or 6.9%, at 2,357.69. It is the first time the Dow declined below 11,000 since November.
"No matter what some agency may say, we've always been and always will be a triple-A country," Obama said.
Depending on who you listen to, the blame goes to Standard & Poor's, the Tea Party, Obama, Speaker John Boehner or old-fashioned Wall Street greed. The most likely scenario is that all of the above cost investors a collective fortune today.
End update
---[
Updated at 8 a.m. EDT
If the Dow Futures and the European and Asian markets are any indication -- and they are -- Wall Street is bracing for a really lousy opening this morning.
The European Central Bank intervened overnight to buy bonds from the wobbly governments in Italy and Spain, but the maneuver only managed to prove what smart money analysts had predicted all weekend: Investors' biggest concern is Standard & Poor's decision to downgrade the U.S. debt rating.
The global stock market rout continued in Europe where nearly midway through trading the aggregate Europe 600 index was down nearly 2%. The big three -- London's FTSE, Frankfurt's DAX and Paris's CAC-40 -- were also down significantly.
Even after the ECB's bond buying spree, Italy's FTSE MIB and Portugal's PSI were down, though Spain's IBEX saw a slight rebound.
The Dow Futures were down more that 200 points.
The European markets tanked after the stock exchanges in Asia lost about 4% of their value and trading in the Tel Aviv market was automatically suspended yesterday after it sank.
Even the decision by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner -- the last-man standing from President Obama's original economic team -- did little to concern overseas about the U.S. economy. Geithner spared Obama a nearly impossible task of getting a replacement past partisan Republicans in a Senate confirmation process.
Since Friday, S&P Managing Director John Chambers continued to do damage control for his embattled credit rating service amid criticism from many circles, liberal and conservative, who charge the decision to lower the U.S. debt-rating was something between political chicanery and hypocrisy from an outfit with a lousy track record.
S&P cited the GOP for embracing the agenda pressed by its Tea Party wing for failing to reach a grand bargain that included tax revenues.
End update
---[
And the hits just keep on coming.
The Asian markets followed the Middle Eastern stock exchanges overnight, taking a tailspin after Standard & Poor's controversial decision to lower the U.S. credit rating.
Leading the way in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng, South Korea's Kospi and Japan's Nikkei were all down significantly midway through trading amid fears that the global economy was headed for a serious nose dive.
European and U.S. investors braced for more of the same once their markets open.
Some analysts blamed the world's economy for the market declines in an attempt to take the heat off of S&P, which angered the Obama administration by lowering the U.S. debt rating even after the Treasury Department discovered a $2 trillion error by the credit rating service. S&P blamed Washington's debt shenanigans for its contentious decision, but specifically cited the GOP's Tea Party agenda for failing to allow a broader deal with tax revenues.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
As Markets Tank Israeli Protesters Resemble Arab Spring Not Tea Party
The Tel Aviv stock marked crashed and trading was halted today in reaction to the contentious politically driven decision by Standard & Poor's to lower the U.S. debt rating, but the protesters on the streets were not an Israeli-style Tea Party.
In a social justice movement that began as a tiny tent city meant to show the out-of-control cost of housing, more than 300,000 Israelis filled the streets of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and elsewhere to protest growing economic disparity between the wealthy and middle class citizens of the Jewish state.
The protesters turned their scorn on right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the Tel Aviv stock market plummeted by more than 6% overnight on news the S&P had downgraded the U.S. debt rating. The Israeli market closed automatically when stocks tanked.
The stock market in Dubai also crashed, while the Saudi Arabian trading barely rebounded after a severe decline yesterday. Analysts blamed it all on the S&P action.
Investors are now bracing for declines overnight tonight in the Asian and
European markets and many fear even more gloom and doom when the U.S. markets open tomorrow morning.
The middle-class uprising in Israel appears to have more in common with the Middle Eastern pro-democracy movement known as the Arab Spring rather than the right-wing Tea Party hysteria that S&P blames for lowering the U.S. credit rating from AAA to AA+.
The Guardian of London described it this way: "Despite Israel's relatively healthy economic growth and low unemployment, wage disparities are big, wealth and corporate power are highly concentrated, food prices have increased almost 13% since 2005 and many people spend 50% of their incomes on rent or mortgages."
A sign carried by one protester yesterday written in Hebrew and Arabic said, "Egypt is here."
It should come as no shock that a social justice movement would take root in Israel, since the Jewish state was founded as a European-style socialist market democracy.
The founding father of Israel, the intellectual revolutionary David Ben-Gurion, was expelled from Palestine by the British colonial overlords in 1915 for his socialist activities. He later tempered his personal politics, but never lost touch with his socialist roots.
"Without Hebrew labor there is no way to absorb the Jewish masses. Without Hebrew labor, there will be no Jewish economy; without Hebrew labor, there will be no [Jewish] homeland. And anyone who does anything counter to the principle of Hebrew labor harms the most precious asset we have for fulfilling Zionism," Ben-Gurion said circa 1920, according to journalist and author Tom Segev in his book, "One Palestine Complete."
The Israeli demonstrators promise a million-person march next month, if not sooner given the economic conditions.
In a social justice movement that began as a tiny tent city meant to show the out-of-control cost of housing, more than 300,000 Israelis filled the streets of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and elsewhere to protest growing economic disparity between the wealthy and middle class citizens of the Jewish state.
The protesters turned their scorn on right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the Tel Aviv stock market plummeted by more than 6% overnight on news the S&P had downgraded the U.S. debt rating. The Israeli market closed automatically when stocks tanked.
The stock market in Dubai also crashed, while the Saudi Arabian trading barely rebounded after a severe decline yesterday. Analysts blamed it all on the S&P action.
Investors are now bracing for declines overnight tonight in the Asian and
European markets and many fear even more gloom and doom when the U.S. markets open tomorrow morning.
The middle-class uprising in Israel appears to have more in common with the Middle Eastern pro-democracy movement known as the Arab Spring rather than the right-wing Tea Party hysteria that S&P blames for lowering the U.S. credit rating from AAA to AA+.
The Guardian of London described it this way: "Despite Israel's relatively healthy economic growth and low unemployment, wage disparities are big, wealth and corporate power are highly concentrated, food prices have increased almost 13% since 2005 and many people spend 50% of their incomes on rent or mortgages."
A sign carried by one protester yesterday written in Hebrew and Arabic said, "Egypt is here."
It should come as no shock that a social justice movement would take root in Israel, since the Jewish state was founded as a European-style socialist market democracy.
The founding father of Israel, the intellectual revolutionary David Ben-Gurion, was expelled from Palestine by the British colonial overlords in 1915 for his socialist activities. He later tempered his personal politics, but never lost touch with his socialist roots.
"Without Hebrew labor there is no way to absorb the Jewish masses. Without Hebrew labor, there will be no Jewish economy; without Hebrew labor, there will be no [Jewish] homeland. And anyone who does anything counter to the principle of Hebrew labor harms the most precious asset we have for fulfilling Zionism," Ben-Gurion said circa 1920, according to journalist and author Tom Segev in his book, "One Palestine Complete."
The Israeli demonstrators promise a million-person march next month, if not sooner given the economic conditions.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Did Standard & Poor's Have It Out for the Tea Party?
The Tea Party spent months carrying Wall Street's water, but when push came to shove Big Money's top credit rating service, Standard & Poors, put the blame for lowering the U.S. debt rating from AAA to AA+ directly on the loosely held GOP group.
"Compared with previous projections, our revised base case scenario now assumes that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, due to expire by the end of 2012, remain in place. We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues, a position we believe Congress reinforced by passing the act," S&P wrote in its credit ruling.
Even when the Obama administration's Treasury Department successfully proved that S&P had made a $2 trillion math error, the rating service ignored it and decided the right-wing fringe group's agenda just isn't its cup of tea.
Now is that any way to treat the loyal foot soldiers of the super rich and corporate America?
Read the S&P credit assessment in its entirety right here.
"Compared with previous projections, our revised base case scenario now assumes that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, due to expire by the end of 2012, remain in place. We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues, a position we believe Congress reinforced by passing the act," S&P wrote in its credit ruling.
Even when the Obama administration's Treasury Department successfully proved that S&P had made a $2 trillion math error, the rating service ignored it and decided the right-wing fringe group's agenda just isn't its cup of tea.
Now is that any way to treat the loyal foot soldiers of the super rich and corporate America?
Read the S&P credit assessment in its entirety right here.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Alan Simpson Goes Off on Grover Norquist
Remember when the left thought former Sen. Alan Simpson was the bogeyman?
Well, liberals were shown last night on "Last Word" on MSNBC that the Wyoming Republican is really just a mainstream conservative with no love for at least one Washington insider who has been accused of hijacking the Tea Party movement to pursue his own interests.
Simpson called anti-tax Americans for Tax Reform boss Grover Norquist a liar and accused him of blackmailing Republicans into opposing revenue streams as part of a formula to help save the increasingly doomed American economy.
He told host Lawrence O'Donnell people should look into Norquist's background to see who is funding his enterprise. Our friends at the website Mediaite wrote up the segment and has a link to the interview with Simpson.
Along with Erskine Bowles, chief of staff in the Clinton White House, Simpson, chaired a special commission on deficit reduction. Ultimately, the commission's recommendations were rejected by leaders in both parties, giving way to the ugly debt celling fight that many analysts contend will do little to save The American Rome.
The Simpson-Norquist feud is the latest example of the deepening division in the Republican Party since the emergence of the Tea Party.
Well, liberals were shown last night on "Last Word" on MSNBC that the Wyoming Republican is really just a mainstream conservative with no love for at least one Washington insider who has been accused of hijacking the Tea Party movement to pursue his own interests.
Simpson called anti-tax Americans for Tax Reform boss Grover Norquist a liar and accused him of blackmailing Republicans into opposing revenue streams as part of a formula to help save the increasingly doomed American economy.
He told host Lawrence O'Donnell people should look into Norquist's background to see who is funding his enterprise. Our friends at the website Mediaite wrote up the segment and has a link to the interview with Simpson.
Along with Erskine Bowles, chief of staff in the Clinton White House, Simpson, chaired a special commission on deficit reduction. Ultimately, the commission's recommendations were rejected by leaders in both parties, giving way to the ugly debt celling fight that many analysts contend will do little to save The American Rome.
The Simpson-Norquist feud is the latest example of the deepening division in the Republican Party since the emergence of the Tea Party.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Markets Still Tanking? Debt Debacle a Yawn on Wall Street
Updated at 11:15 p.m. edt
China's largest credit-rating agency, Global Credit Rating Co., lowered its rating on U.S debt from A+ to A tonight, calling the American economy a "debt time bomb."
Stateside, Moody's credit rating service said while it has a "negative outlook" on the U.S., for now, at least, it will not lower its AAA credit rating.
Earlier Fitch, the No. 3 rating service, also said it will not lower the U.S. rating from AAA, but put Washington on notice that it's score remains under review.
end update
---[
Updated at 4 p.m. edt
President Obama signed the new budget-cutting measure into law this afternoon as Wall Street saw its eighth straight day of losses and a new poll showed Americans are disgusted with the bratty behavior in the debt-ceiling fight.
The Dow fell 265 points to finish at 11,866.84. The NASDAQ closed at 2669,24 plunging 75 points, while the S&P 500 fell 33 points, ending at 1,254.05.
The next nightmare for American markets may be the loss of the AAA credit rating the U.S. has enjoyed for the better part of a century.
"While the agreement is clearly a step in the right direction, the United States, as in much of Europe, must also confront tough choices on tax and spending against a weak economic back drop if the budget deficit and government debt is to be cut to safer levels over the medium term," the credit-rating service Fitch said in a statement.
Standard & Poors and Moody's have already put the U.S. on notice that its pristine rating is at risk.
There are also fears the U.S. could slip into a double-digit recession, especially if it turns out the Tea Party-driven debt law ends up costing more Americans their jobs, as some analysts predict.
The image of elected federal officials continued to slide in the eyes of Americans fed up over the handling of the debt debate, according to a CNN/ORC International poll taken yesterday.
The poll showed 52% of respondents are opposed to the debt ceiling deal while 44% favor it --- and 77% of Americans scoffed at the behavior of lawmakers during the debate.
"When three-quarters say that elected officials are behaving like spoiled children, it's probably safe to say that there are no winners," said CNN polling director Keating Holland.
end update
---[
The new budget-slashing law did little to immediately boost Wall Street and the global markets as the house-of-cards financial system sways amid tanking economies around the world, including the U.S.
The Dow Jones industrial average dipped below 12,000 shortly after the Senate voted 74-26 to pass the complicated, two-tiered measure that for more than a month gridlocked Washington, ravaged the financial markets and angered Americans already fed up with the shenanigans of their elected officials.
"Our economy didn’t need Washington to come along with a manufactured crisis to make things worse," President Obama said after the vote. "It’s pretty likely that the uncertainty surrounding the raising of the debt ceiling, for both businesses and consumers, has been unsettling, and just one more impediment to the full recovery that we need."
He added, "And it was something that we could have avoided entirely."
Elements of the Tea Party, seen by some observers as having been duped into carrying the water for Wall Street and corporate interests, has argued that the economy would turn around by dialing down the $14.3 trillion federal debt.
The European banking crisis, stagnant U.S. employment (with more layoffs coming as a result of the new budget-slashing debt law) and unrest in the Middle East oil patch neighborhood are among the factors behind the problems for the markets, analysts believe.
China's largest credit-rating agency, Global Credit Rating Co., lowered its rating on U.S debt from A+ to A tonight, calling the American economy a "debt time bomb."
Stateside, Moody's credit rating service said while it has a "negative outlook" on the U.S., for now, at least, it will not lower its AAA credit rating.
Earlier Fitch, the No. 3 rating service, also said it will not lower the U.S. rating from AAA, but put Washington on notice that it's score remains under review.
end update
---[
Updated at 4 p.m. edt
President Obama signed the new budget-cutting measure into law this afternoon as Wall Street saw its eighth straight day of losses and a new poll showed Americans are disgusted with the bratty behavior in the debt-ceiling fight.
The Dow fell 265 points to finish at 11,866.84. The NASDAQ closed at 2669,24 plunging 75 points, while the S&P 500 fell 33 points, ending at 1,254.05.
The next nightmare for American markets may be the loss of the AAA credit rating the U.S. has enjoyed for the better part of a century.
"While the agreement is clearly a step in the right direction, the United States, as in much of Europe, must also confront tough choices on tax and spending against a weak economic back drop if the budget deficit and government debt is to be cut to safer levels over the medium term," the credit-rating service Fitch said in a statement.
Standard & Poors and Moody's have already put the U.S. on notice that its pristine rating is at risk.
There are also fears the U.S. could slip into a double-digit recession, especially if it turns out the Tea Party-driven debt law ends up costing more Americans their jobs, as some analysts predict.
The image of elected federal officials continued to slide in the eyes of Americans fed up over the handling of the debt debate, according to a CNN/ORC International poll taken yesterday.
The poll showed 52% of respondents are opposed to the debt ceiling deal while 44% favor it --- and 77% of Americans scoffed at the behavior of lawmakers during the debate.
"When three-quarters say that elected officials are behaving like spoiled children, it's probably safe to say that there are no winners," said CNN polling director Keating Holland.
end update
---[
The new budget-slashing law did little to immediately boost Wall Street and the global markets as the house-of-cards financial system sways amid tanking economies around the world, including the U.S.
The Dow Jones industrial average dipped below 12,000 shortly after the Senate voted 74-26 to pass the complicated, two-tiered measure that for more than a month gridlocked Washington, ravaged the financial markets and angered Americans already fed up with the shenanigans of their elected officials.
"Our economy didn’t need Washington to come along with a manufactured crisis to make things worse," President Obama said after the vote. "It’s pretty likely that the uncertainty surrounding the raising of the debt ceiling, for both businesses and consumers, has been unsettling, and just one more impediment to the full recovery that we need."
He added, "And it was something that we could have avoided entirely."
Elements of the Tea Party, seen by some observers as having been duped into carrying the water for Wall Street and corporate interests, has argued that the economy would turn around by dialing down the $14.3 trillion federal debt.
The European banking crisis, stagnant U.S. employment (with more layoffs coming as a result of the new budget-slashing debt law) and unrest in the Middle East oil patch neighborhood are among the factors behind the problems for the markets, analysts believe.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
House Debt Vote a High Stakes Tally for Boehner
Updated at 11:45 p.m. edt
Speaker John Boehner failed to whip up enough votes tonight to pass his debt-reduction legislation, forcing the GOP boss to postpone a vote rather than see his measure go down in flames.
It was a blow to the lawmaker's reign over a House divided between mainstream Republicans and the slash and burn Tea Party faction that arguably controls the direction of the GOP at this point.
Boehner will assemble every GOP House member tomorrow morning to try to get the debt ceiling legislation back on track.
Word of a delay first came at 5:30 p.m. Washington time, some 45 minutes ahead of the scheduled House vote. A few hours later any hopes of a vote fell apart when Boehner's arm-twisting tactics behind closed doors failed to woo enough support for his measure.
Boehner was tweaking the measure late this evening, hoping that by slashing millions in Pell Grants that help poor and middle class Americans pay for college they could buy off the Tea Party.
The White House called the GOP "dysfunctional" because they refuse to compromise, labeling the delay in the vote "a pointless partisan exercise" because the bill will die in the Senate.
end update
---[
Speaker John Boehner implored Tea Party Republicans today to back his debt-reduction legislation, ignoring Democrats' promise to put a stake in the heart of the measure if it makes it out of the House.
"After today, the House will have sent to the Senate not one, but two different bills that will rein in spending, increase the debt ceiling and bring an end to this crisis," Boehner said early this afternoon. "When the House takes action today, the United States Senate will have no more excuses for inaction."
The Speaker is applying pressure while he is under pressure. Throughout the debt wrangling, the Ohio lawmaker has had to negotiate with his own party's members as much, if not more, as he has had to parlay with Democrats. This vote is emerging as one of the biggest tests of Boehner's ability to hold his caucus together and pass legislation.
"Listen, for the sake of jobs, for the sake of our country, I'm asking the representatives in the House in a bipartisan way and asking my colleagues in the Senate, let's pass this bill and end this crisis," Boehner pleaded.
Boehner's debt legislation needs 216 votes to pass in the House.
Going down to the wire, the Speaker got a boost overnight from the Congressional Budget Office, which determined the Speaker's retooled legislation would reduce spending by $917 billion over 10 years, crossing the $900 billion needed to lift debt ceiling. CBO a day earlier said Boehner's plan would not cover the governments debt payments (CBO also said Senate Democratic plan fell short).
Wall Street, late to the fight, but now fully engaged, also stepped up its lobbying for a deal. More than a dozen leading American financiers also wrote to President Obama and the Congress, begging them to settle the debt deal ahead of Tuesday's deadline. They fear a defeault -- the first-ever in U.S. history -- would be a catastrophe for Wall Street and Main Street.
"A default on our nation’s obligations, or a downgrade of America’s credit rating, would be a tremendous blow to business and investor confidence -- raising interest rates for everyone who borrows, undermining the value of the dollar, and roiling stock and bond markets -- and, therefore, dramatically worsening our nation’s already difficult economic circumstances," the bankers wrote.
Boehner knows his bill is doomed no matter what happens with his House vote this evening. The Senate Democrats are going to kill it and Obama promised to veto it. Obama is adamant that the debt resolution not be a short-term incremental fix. The Boehner measure would force another debt showdown over the holidays at the end of this year.
"Republicans cannot get the short-term Band-Aid they will vote on in the House today," said Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada. "It will not get one Democratic vote in the Senate. All 53 members of the Senate Democratic Caucus wrote to the Speaker last night to tell him they will not vote for it."
Ultimately, in the hours immediately after tonight's vote lawmakers from the House and Senate will have to decide what they can pass, and they will be forced to make a deal, or potentially send the U.S. economy into an unknown abyss.
Speaker John Boehner failed to whip up enough votes tonight to pass his debt-reduction legislation, forcing the GOP boss to postpone a vote rather than see his measure go down in flames.
It was a blow to the lawmaker's reign over a House divided between mainstream Republicans and the slash and burn Tea Party faction that arguably controls the direction of the GOP at this point.
Boehner will assemble every GOP House member tomorrow morning to try to get the debt ceiling legislation back on track.
Word of a delay first came at 5:30 p.m. Washington time, some 45 minutes ahead of the scheduled House vote. A few hours later any hopes of a vote fell apart when Boehner's arm-twisting tactics behind closed doors failed to woo enough support for his measure.
Boehner was tweaking the measure late this evening, hoping that by slashing millions in Pell Grants that help poor and middle class Americans pay for college they could buy off the Tea Party.
The White House called the GOP "dysfunctional" because they refuse to compromise, labeling the delay in the vote "a pointless partisan exercise" because the bill will die in the Senate.
end update
---[
Speaker John Boehner implored Tea Party Republicans today to back his debt-reduction legislation, ignoring Democrats' promise to put a stake in the heart of the measure if it makes it out of the House.
"After today, the House will have sent to the Senate not one, but two different bills that will rein in spending, increase the debt ceiling and bring an end to this crisis," Boehner said early this afternoon. "When the House takes action today, the United States Senate will have no more excuses for inaction."
The Speaker is applying pressure while he is under pressure. Throughout the debt wrangling, the Ohio lawmaker has had to negotiate with his own party's members as much, if not more, as he has had to parlay with Democrats. This vote is emerging as one of the biggest tests of Boehner's ability to hold his caucus together and pass legislation.
"Listen, for the sake of jobs, for the sake of our country, I'm asking the representatives in the House in a bipartisan way and asking my colleagues in the Senate, let's pass this bill and end this crisis," Boehner pleaded.
Boehner's debt legislation needs 216 votes to pass in the House.
Going down to the wire, the Speaker got a boost overnight from the Congressional Budget Office, which determined the Speaker's retooled legislation would reduce spending by $917 billion over 10 years, crossing the $900 billion needed to lift debt ceiling. CBO a day earlier said Boehner's plan would not cover the governments debt payments (CBO also said Senate Democratic plan fell short).
Wall Street, late to the fight, but now fully engaged, also stepped up its lobbying for a deal. More than a dozen leading American financiers also wrote to President Obama and the Congress, begging them to settle the debt deal ahead of Tuesday's deadline. They fear a defeault -- the first-ever in U.S. history -- would be a catastrophe for Wall Street and Main Street.
"A default on our nation’s obligations, or a downgrade of America’s credit rating, would be a tremendous blow to business and investor confidence -- raising interest rates for everyone who borrows, undermining the value of the dollar, and roiling stock and bond markets -- and, therefore, dramatically worsening our nation’s already difficult economic circumstances," the bankers wrote.
Boehner knows his bill is doomed no matter what happens with his House vote this evening. The Senate Democrats are going to kill it and Obama promised to veto it. Obama is adamant that the debt resolution not be a short-term incremental fix. The Boehner measure would force another debt showdown over the holidays at the end of this year.
"Republicans cannot get the short-term Band-Aid they will vote on in the House today," said Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada. "It will not get one Democratic vote in the Senate. All 53 members of the Senate Democratic Caucus wrote to the Speaker last night to tell him they will not vote for it."
Ultimately, in the hours immediately after tonight's vote lawmakers from the House and Senate will have to decide what they can pass, and they will be forced to make a deal, or potentially send the U.S. economy into an unknown abyss.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Tea Party Resolute, but Wall Street Finally Freaks Over Debt Debacle
Wall Street and global financiers finally ended a schizophrenic stand on the debt shenanigans in Washington, soundly signaling with a nearly 200-point drop in the Dow Jones industrials today that a default will likely rip apart a weary American economy.
"Right now I'm pretty worried," said Howard Ward, a chief investment officer at asset manager GAMCO, quoted by the Associated Press.
Wall Street, like much of Washington, has been slow to catch up with the will of Americans, who for weeks have indicated in poll after poll that they want a debt compromise. They even would be willing to see revenues increase along with the slash and gut budget savings to get it done, surveys repeatedly show.
Others, like the Tea Party ideologues refuse to give an inch, and that is creating the unfathomable possibility that the U.S. might just default.
"As hours pass and the uncertainty builds, I think the market is starting to price in the potential that we might not have a solution by August 2," Channing Smith, managing director of Capital Advisors Inc., told Forbes. "Confidence in our political system is beginning to fade."
While investors worldwide finally awoke to the dangerous reality that stubborn political gamesmanship and entrenched ideological warfare truly has brought the U.S. to the brink of default, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office piled on with more bad news.
CBO ruled debt-reduction plans by GOP House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid both fall short of their projected savings.
Boehner's debt ceiling plan would cut the deficit by about $850 billion in 10 years, less than the $1.2 trillion claimed, while Reid’s plan would slash $2.2 trillion over 10 years, short of its promised $2.7 trillion in savings, CBO said.
It forced Boehner to retool his legislation, while Reid said his Senate measure could be repaired with a tweak (Reid and the Senate Democrats are unified in the defeat of the incremental Boehner plan, and Obama has promised to veto it. They do not want to revisit this again at Christmas time, as the plan calls for).
The pitiful partisan parlay seems to trigger a battle-a-moment, especially for Boehner, whose shadowboxing with President Obama has exposed a much more unwieldy circular firing squad -- one that pits the Speaker against the House Tea Party faction, at times including his deputy, House GOP leader Eric Cantor, and the mainstream Senate Republicans.
Perhaps fighting for more than just his debt legislation, Boehner decided go to the stick and take on the stonewall Tea Party faction.
"Get your ass in line," he told House Republicans today at a closed-door meeting, where he demanded his caucus vote tomorrow in favor of a retooled two-step debt reduction plan.
"I can't do this job unless you're behind me," Boehner pleaded.
(There are side fights, too: Tea Party scrapper Joe Walsh has decided to take on GOP Sen. John McCain, who has blasted the Tea Party for stonewalling and touting a minority position on lifting the debt ceiling. Walsh blamed McCain for the debt crisis).
As the impasse took a turn for the dramatic away from the public eye, it played out loud and clear on Wall Street. The escapades and impotence of America's elected officials may already have cost the nation its AAA credit rating, even if the problem is rectified, ratings experts have warned.
All the markets appeared to be jolted by the desperate debt dealings:
-Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 27.05 points, 2.03%, to 1,304.89.
-Dow Jones average declined 198.75 points, 1.595%, to 12,302.55.
-Nasdaq composite dropped 75.17 points, or 2.65%, to 2,764.79.
-10-year Treasury note fell 7/32, to 101 7/32; yield up 2.98% from 2.96%
The standoff in Washington also was a contributing factor to the European markets, though the state of the local economies was big blame for a third straight day of losses.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index sank 1.1% to end at 267.05. Markets from the FTSE to the Dax -- and everything else in-between -- took a hit.
Asian markets tonight (Washington time) are bracing for more of the same, expected to follow where the U.S. financial markets left off -- in the hopper.
Congress is tasked with raising the country's $14.3 trillion borrowing limit by Aug. 2 to avoid a debt default.
"Given that it is so clearly within the capacity of Congress to find the compromise that could clear both houses and be signed into law to solve this problem, I still believe that because the stakes are so high and because the American public so clearly wants this done in the right way, that in the end, it will get done," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.
"Right now I'm pretty worried," said Howard Ward, a chief investment officer at asset manager GAMCO, quoted by the Associated Press.
Wall Street, like much of Washington, has been slow to catch up with the will of Americans, who for weeks have indicated in poll after poll that they want a debt compromise. They even would be willing to see revenues increase along with the slash and gut budget savings to get it done, surveys repeatedly show.
Others, like the Tea Party ideologues refuse to give an inch, and that is creating the unfathomable possibility that the U.S. might just default.
"As hours pass and the uncertainty builds, I think the market is starting to price in the potential that we might not have a solution by August 2," Channing Smith, managing director of Capital Advisors Inc., told Forbes. "Confidence in our political system is beginning to fade."
While investors worldwide finally awoke to the dangerous reality that stubborn political gamesmanship and entrenched ideological warfare truly has brought the U.S. to the brink of default, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office piled on with more bad news.
CBO ruled debt-reduction plans by GOP House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid both fall short of their projected savings.
Boehner's debt ceiling plan would cut the deficit by about $850 billion in 10 years, less than the $1.2 trillion claimed, while Reid’s plan would slash $2.2 trillion over 10 years, short of its promised $2.7 trillion in savings, CBO said.
It forced Boehner to retool his legislation, while Reid said his Senate measure could be repaired with a tweak (Reid and the Senate Democrats are unified in the defeat of the incremental Boehner plan, and Obama has promised to veto it. They do not want to revisit this again at Christmas time, as the plan calls for).
The pitiful partisan parlay seems to trigger a battle-a-moment, especially for Boehner, whose shadowboxing with President Obama has exposed a much more unwieldy circular firing squad -- one that pits the Speaker against the House Tea Party faction, at times including his deputy, House GOP leader Eric Cantor, and the mainstream Senate Republicans.
Perhaps fighting for more than just his debt legislation, Boehner decided go to the stick and take on the stonewall Tea Party faction.
"Get your ass in line," he told House Republicans today at a closed-door meeting, where he demanded his caucus vote tomorrow in favor of a retooled two-step debt reduction plan.
"I can't do this job unless you're behind me," Boehner pleaded.
(There are side fights, too: Tea Party scrapper Joe Walsh has decided to take on GOP Sen. John McCain, who has blasted the Tea Party for stonewalling and touting a minority position on lifting the debt ceiling. Walsh blamed McCain for the debt crisis).
As the impasse took a turn for the dramatic away from the public eye, it played out loud and clear on Wall Street. The escapades and impotence of America's elected officials may already have cost the nation its AAA credit rating, even if the problem is rectified, ratings experts have warned.
All the markets appeared to be jolted by the desperate debt dealings:
-Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 27.05 points, 2.03%, to 1,304.89.
-Dow Jones average declined 198.75 points, 1.595%, to 12,302.55.
-Nasdaq composite dropped 75.17 points, or 2.65%, to 2,764.79.
-10-year Treasury note fell 7/32, to 101 7/32; yield up 2.98% from 2.96%
The standoff in Washington also was a contributing factor to the European markets, though the state of the local economies was big blame for a third straight day of losses.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index sank 1.1% to end at 267.05. Markets from the FTSE to the Dax -- and everything else in-between -- took a hit.
Asian markets tonight (Washington time) are bracing for more of the same, expected to follow where the U.S. financial markets left off -- in the hopper.
Congress is tasked with raising the country's $14.3 trillion borrowing limit by Aug. 2 to avoid a debt default.
"Given that it is so clearly within the capacity of Congress to find the compromise that could clear both houses and be signed into law to solve this problem, I still believe that because the stakes are so high and because the American public so clearly wants this done in the right way, that in the end, it will get done," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Obama likes Gang of Six Proposal; House GOP Moves on Draconian Plan
Updated 9 p.m.
The House passed the Tea Party-backed "Cut, Cap and Balance" plan 234-190 this evening as expected, but the measure will now die a certain death in the Senate, with President Obama's promised veto a final backstop to kill the measure.
"I think everyone's estimation is, is that that is not an approach that could pass both chambers, it's not an approach that I would sign and it's not balanced, but I understand the need for them to test that proposition," Obama said ahead of the vote.
Meanwhile, the latest polls show the GOP hardline approach is turning off a lot of Americans and is bolstering Obama's approach. An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll shows more Americans would blame the GOP if the U.S. does not raise the debt ceiling and defaults on its bills.
The same poll shows an overwhelming majority of Americans want the Democrats and Republicans to compromise -- something the House GOP, led by House Republican leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, has refused to do.
end update
---[
The House GOP is set to approve today its dead-on-arrival "Cut, Cap and Balance" plan to raise the debt ceiling, but the more mainstream Republicans in the newly reformed bipartisan Senate Gang of Six are proposing a popular $4 trillion in cuts over the next decade.
President Obama called the Gang of Six plan "a very significant step" because it appears to take a balanced approach to making significant cuts while increasing the revenue stream by eliminating some corporate tax loopholes, as well.
"We now have a bipartisan group of senators who agree with that balanced approach," Obama said at an afternoon appearance today in the White House briefing room.
"We are now in the same playing field," Obama added, noting there is still a long way to go before a final agreement is reached.
The Gang of Six, which is calling in its plan for $500 billion in immediate cuts as a down payment, re-convened after Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla,) succeeded in getting the group to agree to some cuts in health care programs. Coburn had left the group in May over disputes in how to cut into the $14.3 trillion debt.
Some Senate Republicans and Democrats have signaled they like so far what they see form the Gang of Six. Other senators from both parties say they want to hear more before endorsing the newly emerging plan.
The Gang of Six -- Coburn, Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) -- presented an outline of the plan top 49 senators this morning.
"I cannot suggest they all signed up," Durbin told the Senate. "I would never expect that to happen, but it is significant that at this moment in our history so many felt positive towards what we are doing."
The Senate was prompted to take the lead in the debt-ceiling debate after House Republicans, led by GOP leader Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), gridlocked the negotiations with a refusal to allow any new revenue streams to be created as part of a deal.
The two leaders of the Senate, Sens. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), are still working on emergency contingency legislation that would only ensure the Aug. 2 debt limit deadline is not crossed. The Reid-McConnell measure would not cut the deficit.
House Republicans, committed to appeasing Tea Party supporters, put forward a controversial plan that would cut spending by $111 billion in 2012 and cap future spending at 19.9% of the nation's gross domestic output. The proposal requires that Congress pass a balanced-budget constitutional amendment and send it to the states for the lengthy ratification process.
That "Cut, Cap and Balance" plan does not have enough support to pass in the Senate, but even if it did, Obama has said he will veto it.
The House passed the Tea Party-backed "Cut, Cap and Balance" plan 234-190 this evening as expected, but the measure will now die a certain death in the Senate, with President Obama's promised veto a final backstop to kill the measure.
"I think everyone's estimation is, is that that is not an approach that could pass both chambers, it's not an approach that I would sign and it's not balanced, but I understand the need for them to test that proposition," Obama said ahead of the vote.
Meanwhile, the latest polls show the GOP hardline approach is turning off a lot of Americans and is bolstering Obama's approach. An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll shows more Americans would blame the GOP if the U.S. does not raise the debt ceiling and defaults on its bills.
The same poll shows an overwhelming majority of Americans want the Democrats and Republicans to compromise -- something the House GOP, led by House Republican leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, has refused to do.
end update
---[
The House GOP is set to approve today its dead-on-arrival "Cut, Cap and Balance" plan to raise the debt ceiling, but the more mainstream Republicans in the newly reformed bipartisan Senate Gang of Six are proposing a popular $4 trillion in cuts over the next decade.
President Obama called the Gang of Six plan "a very significant step" because it appears to take a balanced approach to making significant cuts while increasing the revenue stream by eliminating some corporate tax loopholes, as well.
"We now have a bipartisan group of senators who agree with that balanced approach," Obama said at an afternoon appearance today in the White House briefing room.
"We are now in the same playing field," Obama added, noting there is still a long way to go before a final agreement is reached.
The Gang of Six, which is calling in its plan for $500 billion in immediate cuts as a down payment, re-convened after Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla,) succeeded in getting the group to agree to some cuts in health care programs. Coburn had left the group in May over disputes in how to cut into the $14.3 trillion debt.
Some Senate Republicans and Democrats have signaled they like so far what they see form the Gang of Six. Other senators from both parties say they want to hear more before endorsing the newly emerging plan.
The Gang of Six -- Coburn, Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) -- presented an outline of the plan top 49 senators this morning.
"I cannot suggest they all signed up," Durbin told the Senate. "I would never expect that to happen, but it is significant that at this moment in our history so many felt positive towards what we are doing."
The Senate was prompted to take the lead in the debt-ceiling debate after House Republicans, led by GOP leader Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), gridlocked the negotiations with a refusal to allow any new revenue streams to be created as part of a deal.
The two leaders of the Senate, Sens. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), are still working on emergency contingency legislation that would only ensure the Aug. 2 debt limit deadline is not crossed. The Reid-McConnell measure would not cut the deficit.
House Republicans, committed to appeasing Tea Party supporters, put forward a controversial plan that would cut spending by $111 billion in 2012 and cap future spending at 19.9% of the nation's gross domestic output. The proposal requires that Congress pass a balanced-budget constitutional amendment and send it to the states for the lengthy ratification process.
That "Cut, Cap and Balance" plan does not have enough support to pass in the Senate, but even if it did, Obama has said he will veto it.
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