When Did You Stop Beating Your Wife?

Byron York - Evidence points to left-wing activist as source of Boehner affair rumor
Onlookers were startled last Thursday when a man with a video camera approached House Minority Leader John Boehner after the event in Sterling, Virginia at which GOP lawmakers outlined their "Pledge to America" for this November's elections. The event had been open only to credentialed press, but as Boehner left, he saw a group of Tea Partiers standing across the street and went to speak with them. That's when the man with the camera moved in. "Speaker Boehner [sic], have you been cheating with Lisbeth Lyons, the lobbyist for the American Printing Association?" the man asked. "Have you been sleeping with Lisbeth Lyons?" Boehner walked silently past the man and never acknowledged his presence.


Within 24 hours, there was a story on the Drudge Report headlined PAPER: DEMS PLAN SEX HIT ON BOEHNER? It seemed to come from nowhere, but in fact it came from that brief moment in Sterling, and the man who stepped out of the crowd.


Timothy P. Carney - GE backed regulations that killed GE jobs in U.S.
WINCHESTER, VA.-- On Thursday night -- sometime around 8 o'clock -- 130 years after Thomas Edison commercialized the incandescent light bulb, Dwayne Madigan helped make the last such bulb Edison's company, General Electric, would make in the United States.
Madigan spent the rest of his shift at the Winchester Lamp Plant emptying chemicals out of machines and helping clean up the shop. By Friday, Madigan and all 200 plant employees were out of work. Those who would talk to a reporter on Thursday all had someone to blame.


Byron York - Left-wing groups plan giant rally on Mall; will 're-commit to change'
The march, called "One Nation Working Together," is sponsored by the AFL-CIO, the NAACP, the Service Employees International Union, La Raza, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the American Federation of Teachers, the Rainbow Push Coalition, the Campaign for America's Future, and several other activist groups. The event is also being promoted by Organizing for America, the permanent wing of the Obama presidential campaign, which is sending out email notices to members asking that they travel to Washington to take part.


Michael Barone - GOP battle cry: Repeal Obamacare, cut spending
Can Republicans really repeal Obamacare and roll back spending to 2008 levels? Probably not. But by taking clear stands they raise their chances of getting part way there by 2012. And maybe farther later.


Examiner Special Report - Big Green: Environmentalists aren’t really about clean air and water
More than four decades ago, Americans decided it was time to clean up the air and water, and to have a more realistic balance between economic and environmental needs. Great progress followed, thanks to laws like the Clean Air Act of 1970.
Along the way, environmentalists acquired power in politics and became entrenched in policy-making positions throughout government.
They got comfortable wielding political, regulatory and legislative power. And many found in the movement a very comfortable living. Environmentalism went from cause to business to special interest.
Thus the “Big Green” in the title. In their success, environmentalists have gone too far, destroying the once-healthy balance between economic and environmental needs. Their agenda is now about stifling economic development and ham-stringing American free enterprise and the prosperity it creates.


Mark Tapscott - Local Tea Party group may have uncovered massive vote fraud in Texas
The Examiner’s Mark Tapscott wrote about this story over a week ago, but now Fox News is reporting on Tea Party activists in Texas uncovering vote fraud:

DCExaminer Morning Email

Michael Barone - The Left loses its way by abandoning 'third way'
Now, less than a generation later, both New Democrats and New Labor seem defunct.

Chris Stirewalt - Crist can't count on the white vote to carry him
A racially divided electorate produces racially skewed electoral outcomes.

Byron York - Top 10 dumbest things said about the Arizona immigration law
The last few days have seen an extraordinary outburst of criticism of Arizona’s new immigration law. In the nation’s elite media outlets, its most respected commentators are portraying the law as an act of police-state repression. Many, if not all, of the specific criticisms can be refuted simply by reading the law itself, but others are more generalized criticisms of immigration enforcement. In any event, it’s hard to choose the most over-the-top and wrongheaded commentary on the law, but here are ten choices, in no particular order.

Susan Ferrechio - For Dems, new finance law may be a matter of survival
Democrats are pushing speedy passage of legislation that would impose disclosure requirements on groups that spend money to influence elections. But opponents are calling it a partisan bill written to help shield dozens of vulnerable Democratic incumbents who stand to lose their seats in November.

Obama all but accuses critics of stoking anti-government violence
"What troubles me is when I hear people say that all of government is inherently bad," Obama said after receiving an honorary doctor of laws degree. "When our government is spoken of as some menacing, threatening foreign entity, it ignores the fact that in our democracy, government is us."

DCExaminer Morning Email

Byron York - How Obama could lose Arizona immigration battle
The drafters of the law knew the lawsuit was coming; a lawsuit is always coming when a state tries to enforce the nation's immigration laws. What the drafters didn't expect was Obama's aggressive and personal role in trying to undermine the new measure.
"You can imagine, if you are a Hispanic American in Arizona ..." the president said Tuesday at a campaign-style appearance in Iowa, "suddenly, if you don't have your papers and you took your kid out to get ice cream, you're going to be harassed."

Julie Mason - Bill Clinton has no shortage of time or opinions

In irregular rotation, the former president can be found: below the radar, on international rescue, or prominently off-message. Lately, it's a bit of the latter.
"I am not sure they violated the law," Clinton said earlier this week of Goldman Sachs, the investment bank being sued for fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

J.P. Freire - Obama made $5m in 2009 and tells us we've made enough?
This comes on top of the other millions of dollars Obama received in previous years. The fact that Obama has been in the public spotlight as a politician has undoubtedly had an impact on the royalties of his two books as well. Go ahead and compare Obama’s 2009 income with other presidents here.

Susan Ferrechio - Bitter breakup between Crist and GOP in Fla. Senate race
The move could save his political career. As a Republican, Crist was trailing his more conservative opponent, Marco Rubio, by 20 points in the party's primary but runs much closer in polls with a third-party candidate in November.

Byron York - On AZ immigration, Gerson responds to me; I respond to him
Gerson’s big point is that when people like me “fail to comprehend” that being asked for a driver’s license is more burdensome in some circumstances than in others, it “reveals a fundamental lack of empathy.” But here’s the thing. If you are doing something illegal, then mundane interactions with the police are always a potential problem. Just look at the amazing variety of wrongdoing police discover as a result of routine traffic stops. When cops stop somebody with an expired tag, they aren’t necessarily looking for guns or meth or a guy wanted for skipping out on his debts. But that’s what they sometimes find.

DCExaminer Morrning Email

The louder the liberals holler, the better the law in question. This Arizona immigration law that was just passed must be the best law ever written, judging from the reactions of the leftist intelligentsia.

Byron York - A carefully crafted immigration law in Arizona
The chattering class is aghast at Arizona's new immigration law. "Harkens back to apartheid," says the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Cynthia Tucker. "Shameful," says the Washington Post's E.J. Dionne. "Terrible--an invitation to abuse," says the New York Times' David Brooks.
For his part, President Obama calls the law "misguided" and says it "threaten[s] to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans." Obama has ordered the Justice Department to "closely monitor the situation and examine the civil rights and other implications of this legislation."
Has anyone actually read the law?

Sara Carter - Risk grows that Israel will go alone to take out Iranian nukes
The growing rift between the Obama administration and Israel, coupled with the administration’s failure to rein in Tehran’s nuclear program, has increased the chances that the Israelis will eventually launch an attack on Iran, experts said.

Julie Mason - Obama's election year pitch leaves out white males
President Obama's tricky, midterm election strategy relies on luring back the first-time voters who supported him in 2008 plus re-engaging women, blacks, young voters and Hispanics.

Susan Ferrechio - Another try for bipartisan bank bill after GOP blocks Dems' plan
Senate Republicans, along with one Democrat, voted to block a bill to overhaul the nation's financial system and create new layers of government oversight.
It was a major show of unity for Republicans, who believe the bill imposes overly burdensome regulations and would institutionalize government bailouts.

Morning Reads from the DCExaminer

Byron York - Why Graham balked; can Dems win by losing on climate AND immigration?
Within hours, it became clear that there would be no unveiling, and, at least as far as Graham was concerned, no bill, either. Majority Leader Harry Reid and other Democrats decided to remove the measure, on which Graham and others had worked for months, from the Senate schedule and replace it with some sort of unformed and so-far-unwritten measure on immigration "reform."

Chris Stirewalt - Public unions make a private sector power grab
All week, the unions and their allies in community organizing will be holding mass demonstrations across the country to decry the power of Wall Street and demand passage of the president's plan.
Rallies and marches for a bank bill? What does that have to do with working for the government?

Michael Barone - Hold the VAT -- taxpayers may prefer spending cuts
The Obama Democrats' stealth strategy for increasing the size and scope of the federal government is well under way, despite huge voter backlash. Federal spending has been increased from a 30-year average of 21 percent of gross domestic product to 25 percent, and a bipartisan commission tasked with reducing the deficit may recommend tax increases. Presidential economic adviser Paul Volcker has already called for a value added tax, a form of national sales tax, and presidential press secretary Robert Gibbs has declined to rule it out.

Mark Hemingway - Did an Obama national security adviser make an anti-Semitic joke?
A Taliban militant gets lost and is wandering around the desert looking for water. He finally arrives at a store run by a Jew and asks for water. The Jewish vendor tells him he doesn’t have any water but can gladly sell him a tie. The Taliban, the jokes goes on, begins to curse and yell at the Jewish storeowner---

Susan Ferrechio - GOP says it has the votes to block Dems' bank bill
Senate Republicans say they will likely have the votes to block the start of debate on a major financial reform bill, which would leave the legislation in limbo until a bipartisan deal can be achieved.

Tea Parties and Oklahoma City

Remember where you were on 19 April 1995? I do.

Byron York - How Clinton exploited Oklahoma City for political gain
With the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing Monday, former President Bill Clinton is playing a starring role in the liberal effort to draw what the New York Times calls "parallels between the antigovernment tone that preceded that devastating attack and the political tumult of today." The short version of the narrative is: Today's Tea Partiers are tomorrow's right-wing bombers.


Michael Barone - Tea parties fight Obama's culture of dependence
"Do you realize," CNN's Susan Roesgen asked a man at the April 15, 2009, tea party in Chicago, "that you're eligible for a $400 credit?" When the man refused to drop his "drop socialism" sign, she went on, "Did you know that the state of Lincoln gets fifty billion out of the stimulus?"

Roesgen is no longer with CNN, and CNN has only about half as many viewers as it did last year. But her questions are revealing. They help us understand that the issue on which our politics has become centered -- the Obama Democrats' vast expansion of the size and scope of government -- is really not just about economics. It is really a battle about culture, a battle between the culture of dependence and the culture of independence.

DCExaminer Morrning Email

Byron York - Dems dread Supreme Court fight after elections
Anyone who is 90 years old doesn't need an explanation for retiring. But even though Obama will be in office for three more years, there is one particularly pressing reason Democrats would like to see Stevens go now rather than later. That reason is coming up this November.

Susan Ferrechio - Democrats consider big gamble on global warming plan
On the heels of their improbable passage of a massive health care bill, Democrats are weighing an ambitious global warming bill that few lawmakers were even willing to consider just months ago.
"After seeing health care reform pass, it seems to me they can pass any bill they want if they set their minds to it," said Marc Morano, a global warming skeptic and former top aide to Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla.,

Sara Carter - Somalis with terrorist links feared headed to U.S. border
Somalis with ties to a terrorist organization are believed to be plotting to illegally enter the United States after being mistakenly released from custody in Mexico, a confidential federal law enforcement report said.
The report, obtained by the Washington Examiner, said that 23 Somalis who entered Mexico illegally earlier in the year were caught there, then released in late January.
Only 16 of the 23 people were identified by both Mexican and U.S. law enforcement officials, while the "other 7 are unknown," the report says.

Michael Barone - Tea partiers outpoll Obama
Democrats’ efforts to tar the tea partiers as crackpots and racists don’t seem to be paying off. Pollster Scott Rasmussen reports that 48% of voters say that tea partiers’ views on major issues are closer than those of Barack Obama to their own views, while 44% say Obama’s views are closer to theirs. Among independents, tea partiers’ views are preferred to Obama’s by a 50%-38% margin. The margin for tea partiers is even larger when voters are asked whether their views are closer to those of tea partiers or of average union members. The score: 45% tea partiers, 35% union members.

DCExaminer Morrning Email Blast

Apparently, Henry "Nostrils" Waxman doesn't appreciate someone taking a closer look at this steaming pile of dog excrement. If this doesn't offend your sense of freedom and fairness, you need to move to some other country where politicians are free to bitchslap private companies when they question their government; like Venezuala. If I worked for any of these companies in an executive position, I'd respectfully and firmly advise Nostrils to have winged intercourse with a round mobile pastry.

Byron York - Democrats threaten companies hit hard by health care bill

Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, has summoned some of the nation's top executives to Capitol Hill to defend their assessment that the new national health care reform law will cost their companies hundreds of millions of dollars in health insurance expenses. Waxman is also demanding that the executives give lawmakers internal company documents related to health care finances -- a move one committee Republicans describes as "an attempt to intimidate and silence opponents of the Democrats' flawed health care reform legislation."

On Thursday and Friday, the companies -- so far, they include AT&T, Verizon, Caterpillar, Deere, Valero Energy, AK Steel and 3M -- said a tax provision in the new health care law will make it far more expensive to provide prescription drug coverage to their retired employees.

Now, both retirees and current employees of those companies are wondering whether the new law could mean reduced or canceled benefits for them in the future.

The news is an embarrassment for Democrats. As President Obama and Congressional leaders tout the purported benefits of the new health care law, some of the nation's biggest companies are saying it will mean higher costs and fewer benefits -- not exactly what Democrats want to hear in the days after their historic victory.

So Waxman has ordered the executives to explain themselves at an April 21 hearing before the Energy and Commerce Committee's investigative subcommittee. That subcommittee just happens to be chaired by Rep. Bart Stupak

Waxman's demands for documents are far-reaching. "To assist the Committee with its preparation for the hearing," he wrote to Stephenson, "we request that you provide the following documents from January 1, 2009, through the present:

(1) any analyses related to the projected impact of health care reform on AT&T; and

(2) any documents, including e-mail messages, sent to or prepared or reviewed by senior company officials related to the projected impact of health care reform on AT&T. We also request an explanation of the accounting methods used by AT&T since 2003 to estimate the financial impact on your company of the 28 percent subsidy for retiree drug coverage and its deductibility or nondeductibility, including the accounting methods used in preparing the cost impact statement released by AT&T this week.

Michael Barone - Obama slights our friends, kowtows to our enemies
Barack Obama's decision to postpone his trip to Indonesia and Australia -- to a democracy with the world's largest Muslim population and to the only nation that has fought alongside us in all the wars of the last century -- is of a piece with his foreign policy generally: Attack America's friends and kowtow to our enemies.

Timothy P. Carney - Why pot growers favor pot prohibition
If California legalizes marijuana, they say, it will drive down the price of their crop and damage not just their livelihoods but the entire economy along the state's rugged northern coast

Musings From the DCExaminer

Byron York - How Obamacare hits industry and threatens jobs
The people at Zoll Medical Corporation saw a ray of hope in January when Scott Brown was elected senator from Massachusetts. Located in Chelmsford, 30 miles outside Boston, Zoll is the nation's leading manufacturer of heart defibrillators, which save thousands of heart attack victims each year.

Back in January, as the Senate race was raging, both House and Senate Democrats wanted to impose a crippling new tax on the makers of medical devices, Zoll included, to help pay for Obamacare. The total tax on the industry would be about $2 billion a year, or $20 billion over the next decade.

Susan Ferrechio - Ten inconvenient questions about Obamacare
President Obama is promising a massive campaign to sell the health care plan just approved by Congress -- starting with his signature on the Senate version of the legislation on Tuesday. The sales pitch begins even as the Senate considers a raft of modifications to the plan already approved by the House.

But as the president makes his pitch, critics will be looking to knock down many of the central claims he and other Democratic leaders have made. Here are 10 inconvenient truths that could dog the president:

Mark Hemingway - ACORN shutting down April 1st
On the verge of bankruptcy, with 15 of its 30 state offices closed, ACORN is officially shutting down:
but read this after you finish here.

OMB Issues ACORN-related Memo
OMB spokesman Ken Baer tells Fox that agency Director Peter Orszag sent a memo on March 16, see below, instructing agencies of a ruling from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York barring enforcement of a congressional ban on ACORN funding as called for in the 2010 Continuing Resolution.
The Orszag memo informs agencies of the District Court's declaratory judgment and permanent injunction on the ban on funding for ACORN and that OMB must rescind its earlier order/memo blocking ACORN funding.

Sara Carter - Pakistani commander warns against negotiations with Taliban
PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN — American military and political leaders have said they are willing to join the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai in negotiations with the Taliban. That makes some top military commanders in Pakistan, locked in their own bitter conflict with the Taliban, very anxious.

Julie Mason - After a costly win, Obama pushes for Dem unity
The tone from the White House was quietly triumphal following Democrats' upset win on health care, but the prospects for riding that success to greater future political gains is far from certain.

Morning Emails from DCExaminer

Michael Barone - What's good for House leaders is bad for members
My sense is that the current Democratic leadership is at least 10 votes short of the 216-vote majority. So far none of the 37 November no votes has publicly committed to voting yes, not even Dennis Kucinich, who objects to the legislation because it doesn't go far enough. And some of the yeses, like Bart Stupak, sponsor of the abortion funding ban in the House bill, are committed noes.

Timothy P. Carney - Dems tap drug maker millions for PhRMA-friendly bill
On this bill, Republicans side with insurers, and Democrats mostly side with the richer and more powerful drug makers. The difference: Republicans didn't cut a backroom deal with the insurers. Obama will still play the populist card, even as the drug lobby is his ace in the hole.

Susan Ferrechio - Democrats on the defensive about 'no vote' plan to pass health bill
"Other than the people in this room, do you think any American is going to make a distinction?" House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., asked reporters at his weekly news conference when they questioned him about the political risks of using the procedure.

Michael Barone - President Obama seeks Democratic votes on Fox News
If you didn’t think the Democrats were having trouble passing the Senate health care bill in the House, this should get your attention: Barack Obama has agreed to be interviewed by Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier on the Special Report program Wednesday at 6pm Eastern time.

Byron York - Holder: 'We will be reading Miranda rights to the corpse of Osama bin Laden'
If you are concerned that the Obama administration might grant full American constitutional rights to Osama bin Laden himself, then you are probably more concerned after Holder's testimony.

More Stories
Pelosi, Slaughter went to court with Public Citizen against GOP in 2005 case that exposes Slaughter Solution flaw


House Rules Committee GOPer memo points to more problems with Slaughter Solution

DCExaminer Morrning Email Blast

Byron York - The White House's phony case for its health plan
No matter what the White House says, the public has taken a look at the health care proposal as a whole. They don't like it. It's as simple as that.

Byron York - Pelosi: 'Once we kick through this door,' more reform will follow
If you have any doubt that the Democratic leadership of the House views passing the current health care reform bill as the beginning, not the end, of the process of creating a national government health care system, just note what Speaker Nancy Pelosi told a group of bloggers on Monday. "My biggest fight has been between those who wanted to do something incremental and those who wanted to do something comprehensive," Pelosi said, according to an account by Washington Post reform advocate Ezra Klein. "We won that fight, and once we kick through this door, there'll be more legislation to follow."

Susan Ferrechio - Dems may try to pass Obamacare without holding a vote
Democratic leaders are now devising a legislative tactic that would allow them to take a vote on a bill that makes changes to the Senate plan without ever voting on the Senate bill itself. Republicans are in an uproar of the proposal, which would "deem" the Senate bill passed, even though lawmakers will not actually put their names on the record in favor of it.

Julie Mason - Obama tries to recast health plan as a moderate move
President Obama is touting the latest version of health care reform as a measure that should draw bipartisan support -- and in a way, it does. Both sides hate it.

David Freddoso - Obama: Polls don't say what the people want
"The American people want to know if it’s still possible for Washington to look out for these interests, for their future. So what they’re looking for is some courage. They’re waiting for us to act. They’re waiting for us to lead. They don’t want us putting our finger out to the wind. They don’t want us reading polls. They want us to look and see what is the best thing for America, and then do what’s right."

DCExaminer Morrning Email Blast-Murtha-End of an Error

Chris Stirewalt - The end of the era of Congressional dinosaurs
Even the staunchest earmark foe had to feel a twinge with the passing of John Murtha. Not just because the congressman's family is pained by the sudden loss of an imposing figure, but because it was another paragraph in the final chapter of an era in American politics. The era of the dinosaurs is ending and the new epoch will be one of great upheaval.

Julie Mason - Biden's new role: Cheerleading, not policy
The Obama administration's avuncular No. 2 has evolved -- after a sometimes bumpy first year -- into a classic guy-behind-the-guy. He stays busy but rarely makes news, and he's a trusted presidential confidant -- but not exactly in the inner circle.

Michael Barone - Democrats in worst shape in the last 50 years
The metrics are pretty clear: Barack Obama got the highest percentage of the vote for a Democratic candidate for president since 1964 and now he has plunged his party into its weakest position in the polls since that time.

Byron York - Poll: Republicans gain on Obama, public welcomes GOP power to block
All in all, the poll shows the public growing increasingly confident in the GOP's ability to handle critical issues. The public would not have approved of a Republican check on Obama's power several months ago, when trust in the GOP was at an astonishingly low level. Now, with trust increasing, they want to see the GOP exercise more influence. In that sense, when Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown pledged to be the 41st Republican senator -- that is, to be the lawmaker who could help block some Obama initiatives -- he was speaking for the country as well as his state.

Susan Ferrechio - Once thought extinct, New England Republicans re-emerge
When a poll made the startling claim that Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., "may be facing his most difficult re-election campaign in 16 years," the news came as a shock to residents in the Ocean State, where Kennedy has been easily re-elected since taking office in 1995. The poll, conducted by WPRI-12, found that 31 percent of those interviewed would "consider another candidate" and 28 percent would "vote to replace" Kennedy. Only 35 percent said they would vote to give Kennedy a ninth term.

DCExaminer Morrning Email Blast

Michael Barone - Voters spurn the 'boob bait' of the educated class
Members of "the educated class" are pleased by Obama's decision to close Guantanamo and congressional Democrats' bills addressing supposed global warming. They are puzzled by his reticence to advance gay rights but assume that in his heart he is on their side.
They support more tepidly the Democrats' big government spending, higher taxes and health care bills as necessary to attract the votes of the less enlightened and well-off. For "the educated class," such programs are, in the words of the late Sen. Pat Moynihan, "boob bait for the bubbas."

But the Massachusetts equivalent of the bubbas weren't biting

Chris Stirewalt - Republicans think locally for 2010 and beyond By having Obama run as a shamanistic healer rather than as a politician with a program, Plouffe set up the president for a precipitous fall.
Before Plouffe gets to the White House, one guy he should call is Ed Gillespie.

Byron York - Abdulmutallab interrogated for less than an hour; White House defends handling of terrorist case
The White House is not disputing a report that FBI agents questioned accused Northwest Airlines bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab for just 50 minutes before deciding to grant him the right to remain silent and provide him with a court-appointed lawyer -- a decision that led Abdulmutallab to stop talking and provide no more information.

Susan Ferrechio - Dems look for a way to press ahead on health care
Democrats are weighing two possibilities: Pass a scaled-back version in smaller pieces, or try to move the current Senate health care bill through the House and then make changes to it through a parliamentary maneuver known as reconciliation, which would require just 51 votes for passage.

More Stories
Taxpayer-owned General Motors spent $1.48 million on lobbying in fourth quarter
Want to know what campaign finance reform is really about? Watch this video
Does Red Sox President Larry Lucchino regret his $2,000 to Martha Coakley

DCExaminer Morrning Email Blast

Byron York - Two factors will decide Massachusetts Senate race
After all the speeches, politicking, and attack ads, there are just two issues that will determine the winner of the Massachusetts Senate seat in Tuesday's special election. The first is health care and the second is one-party government. And in Massachusetts, neither issue works exactly as outsiders might think -- and right now both are working in favor of Republican Scott Brown.

The Coakley campaign, struggling against surging Republican Scott Brown, has been touting Clinton's appearance for Martha Coakley, the struggling Democratic Senate candidate in Massachusetts, has had the luxury of two presidents campaigning for her. Bill Clinton was in Boston and Worcester on Friday, and Barack Obama came to Boston today.

Byron York - Will Obama's lackluster speech really help Coakley?
Who was more effective? Having watched Clinton's Boston speech from inside the room Friday, and Obama's speech on television today, it's impossible to escape the conclusion that Clinton just blew Obama's doors off. Obama's speech was halting, wandering, and humorless; the president looked as if he didn't want to be there. There's no doubt the crowd was excited to see Obama, but he seemed so hesitant and out-of-rhythm at the top that it appeared he might have been having teleprompter trouble, and he was also clearly rattled and unable to handle the completely-predictable presence of a heckler.

Chris Stirewalt - Republicans learn to play the technology game
GOP members of Congress have more than twice as many Twitter followers than their Democratic counterparts and tweet five times more often. Minority Leader John Boehner may look like a character from Mad Men, but the Don Draper of the House has a “director of new media” and more than 30,000 Facebook fans – almost four times as many as Nancy Pelosi.

Mark Hemingway - 'Multiple advisers to President Obama' saying Coakley will lose?
Reports CNN's Ed Henry: Multiple advisers to President Obama have privately told party officials that they believe Democrat Martha Coakley is going to lose Tuesday's special election to fill the Massachusetts Senate seat held by the late Ted Kennedy for more than 40 years, several Democratic sources told CNN Sunday.

More Stories
Who's investing in Martha Coakley: AHIP, BIO, and the billion-dollar winner of Obamacare
Democratic 'tolerance' rears its ugly head in Mass. Senate race
Dems' lock on Senate is mixed blessing for Obama

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

Stupid is doing the same thing and expecting different reults. Sending Gitmo prisoners back to Yemen is ess-tee-double oh-pee-eye-dee. Stoopid.

Byron York - White House: No matter what we're sending Gitmo prisoners back to Yemen
The Obama White House insists it will continue to send those Gitmo inmates to Yemen -- a country now recognized as a hotbed of terrorism so dangerous that the U.S. has decided to close its embassy there.

On Fox News Sunday, top White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said the administration "absolutely" intends to keep sending Guantanamo prisoners to Yemen. The administration has sent seven detainees to the country, Brennan said, with six of those sent in December.

Chris Stirewalt - With shoe on other foot, a Democrat cries foul
When Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill was trying to unseat incumbent Jim Talent in 2006, she frequently bashed President George W. Bush for being incompetent on terrorism. As she told NBC's Tim Russert, "This is not an administration that's ready to protect us."

Now Obama is under attack for the way his administration handled the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound jetliner, and McCaskill and other Democrats are crying foul.

Michael Barone - GOP should push education and pro-family tax reform
The point is to advance public policies on education, taxes, immigration and other issues that can encourage, reward and honor constructive personal behavior. That's a daunting challenge for Republicans -- and for America.

Byron York - Key Democrats and Republicans give Napolitano vote of confidence
On a number of Sunday morning appearances, top Obama counterterrorism adviser John Brennan, speaking on behalf of the White House, expressed full confidence in Napolitano. "Janet Napolitano has done a tremendous job," Brennan said on NBC's "Meet the Press." Also on "Meet the Press," former Bush homeland security chief Michael Chertoff, when asked whether he has confidence in Napolitano, said, "I do." Chertoff added that he has known Napolitano for a long time and that "she has a good skill set," "great experience," and that "her heart is in the right place." Chertoff concluded: "I heartily endorse her."

Michael Barone - Trying to shoot the messenger: Scott Rasmussen
Shooting the messenger can be fun, but the lefties attacking Scott Rasmussen might want to consider the possibility that the problem is the message.

More Stories
CIA to Obama: Quit blaming us
The disillusionment of Obama enthusiasts
White House: Justice Dept. made decision to hold Detroit bomber in civilian justice system

DCExaminer Morrning Email Blast

Mark Hemingway - White House takes four days to respond to terror attack, but responds to Cheney criticism in matter of hours?
What I can't wrap my head around is that it took the President four days to acknowledge what he termed a "catastrophic" national security failure, but Cheney criticizes the administration's handling of the war on terror and they have a rapid response on the White House blog in a matter of hours? Priorities!

Chris Stirewalt - Prof. Obama shies away from tackling history
Rahm Emanuel was not the first to suggest that a crisis should not go to waste, but he and the other members of the Obama team applied the concept with more eagerness — and nakedness — than any new administration in American history.

Michael Barone - Should national Republicans contest Ted Kennedy's seat?
Democratic nominee Attorney General Martha Coakley has none of Ted Kennedy's magic and seems to be conducting a perfunctory campaign. Republican nominee state Senator Scott Brown is running TV ads. The current Democratic governor, Deval Patrick, has a dismal job rating. Barack Obama is not particularly popular in the state: he lost the Democratic primary (despite the endorsement of Ted Kennedy) to Hillary Clinton by a 56%-41% margin and carried only one of the 10 congressional districts (the one that includes Cambridge, natch).

If you look at the town by town returns, Clinton ran very well in ethnic and working class areas. In the general election Obama actually ran behind the percentage of Bay Stater John Kerry. And Obama's denunciation of Sergeant James Crowley undoubtedly did not play well in many of the areas where Obama did poorly in the primary; Massachusetts is still more town than gown.

Byron York - Michelle Obama not most admired woman -- even among Democrats
Gallup has released its annual poll on the most admired man and woman in the United States. In the most admired woman category, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is the winner, named by 16 percent of respondents. Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is a close second, with 15 percent. Talk show host Oprah Winfrey is third, with eight percent, and First Lady Michelle Obama is fourth, named by seven percent.

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There Are No Carbon Emissions In Copenhagen

This is why we affectionately refer to the Press Secretary as Baghdad Bob Gibbs.

Byron York - White House: EPA decision had nothing to do with Copenhagen; Climategate scandal will have no effect

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs is denying suggestions that the timing of the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to regulate carbon dioxide as a dangerous pollutant had anything to do with President Obama's upcoming appearance at the Copenhagen global warming summit. After all, Obama can now tell the summit that his administration will crack down on carbon dioxide emissions even if Congress fails to pass a cap-and-trade bill.

The Chronicle-Mark Alexander

Upright
"The full transcript of President Obama's long-delayed speech on Afghanistan is here. You can watch it in full here. Bush-bashing? Check. Noxious complaining about the cost of fighting a necessary war? Check. Disingenuous denial that he dithered? Check. 'Let me be clear's = 9. Self-congratulations for sticking to Gitmo closure policy = 1. Self-referential 'As your Commander-in-Chief's = 2. References to global jihad = 0." --columnist Michelle Malkin

"[In his speech Tuesday night,] Obama did what he could to mollify those [on the Left] by blaming Bush -- always a safe bet when trying to curry favor from the Left -- and by declaring there would be a time limit on the new deployment and they would be withdrawn starting in July 2011 -- just as the 2012 re-election campaign would be getting underway." --political analyst Rich Galen

"The issue isn't whether a war is popular: either it has to be fought or it doesn't. It is a president's duty to define the war and lead the nation to victory. And if a war is worth one American life, it is -- by definition -- worth however many dollars it takes to win. Domestic spending must be curtailed to fund a war, not the other way around." --columnist Jed Babbin

"[S]trategic success isn't Obama's ultimate concern. He wants political cover and is doing all he can to ensure that he's not on the blame-line, no matter what happens. He wants to appear strong -- but without unleashing our strength. He'll send more troops -- but won't let them do more." --columnist Ralph Peters

"The blunt truth is: The United States needs to win in Afghanistan. Defeating the Taliban and destroying al-Qa'ida is in our vital interests. It is the price of peace in South Asia. It is the only way to prevent another 9/11. By dedicating the resources needed to win and by getting our fiscal house in order, we can keep our nation safe, free and prosperous. Any other talk is just politics." --James Jay Carafano of The Heritage Foundation

"The reason the Democratic leadership and the White House are rushing to pass the [health care] bill is that they know it is killing them and believe doing it quickly will kill fewer of them than doing it slowly. If they pass it by year's end, perhaps voters will move on to other concerns by the November 2010 midterm elections." --columnist Byron York

"How many times has a liberal touted this or that government agenda with the idea that they're doing it 'for the children.' When more Americans begin to understand that the more accurate phrase it 'to the children,' it will be the beginning of the end for these power-hungry thugs. Here's hoping it happens sooner rather than later." --columnist Arnold Ahlert

DCExaminer Morrning Email Blast

DCExaminer Email Blast this morning has news of interest to Virginians:

Chris Stirewalt - Webb could put the hickory to Obama's Afghan plan
Webb's opposition would rally the Left, which believes Obama is now in the thrall of the military-industrial complex, and give courage to a number of conservatives who think Obama's strategy is doomed but are afraid to give the impression that they're not supporting the troops.

Byron York - Obama's Brilliant First Year' -- Nationalize health care, expand government, undermine Reagan
The Democratic National Committee is sending around links to a new article, "Obama's Brilliant First Year," by Jacob Weisberg, of Slate and Newsweek. Weisberg argues that if Barack Obama manages to pass a national health care bill by January 20, 2010, the first anniversary of his inauguration, he will have "accomplished more than any other postwar American president at a comparable point in his presidency."

Michael Barone - Palin running even with Obama?
It's not too early, apparently, to test opinion on the 2012 presidential race. Pollster Scott Rasmussen has asked likely voters to decide between Barack Obama and three reasonably well-known Republicans, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin. He also asked about their preferences in three-way pairings between those candidates and recently-resigned CNN commentator Lou Dobbs. There are three interesting findings.

Number one. Obama is essentially tied with all three Republicans, leading Huckabee 45%-41% and Palin 46%-43% and even with Romney at 44%-44%. In other words, Obama is running at his job approval ratinRg level, which Rasmussen has at 46%-54%. This is reminiscent of the 2004 general election, in which George W. Bush's 51% of the vote mirrored his job approval numbers.

This Is "Pelosi"**

In a move that makes Stalin look like a capitalist pig, the person who allowed a bunch of fudge packers and pickle puffers to run a prostitution ring out of his condo, is now going to tell you how much money you are allowed to make and how big the bonuses will be. This is another un-Constitutional power grab by the folks who gave Iraqi oil contracts to the ChiComs.

Beyond AIG: A bill to let Big Government set your salary
From the DC Examiner:
by Byron York

It was nearly two weeks ago that the House of Representatives, acting in a near-frenzy after the disclosure of bonuses paid to executives of AIG, passed a bill that would impose a 90 percent retroactive tax on those bonuses. Despite the overwhelming 328-93 vote, support for the measure began to collapse almost immediately. Within days, the Obama White House backed away from it, as did the Senate Democratic leadership. The bill stalled, and the populist storm that spawned it seemed to pass.

But now, in a little-noticed move, the House Financial Services Committee, led by chairman Barney Frank, has approved a measure that would, in some key ways, go beyond the most draconian features of the original AIG bill. The new legislation, the "Pay for Performance Act of 2009," would impose government controls on the pay of all employees -- not just top executives -- of companies that have received a capital investment from the U.S. government. It would, like the tax measure, be retroactive, changing the terms of compensation agreements already in place. And it would give Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner extraordinary power to determine the pay of thousands of employees of American companies.

The purpose of the legislation is to "prohibit unreasonable and excessive compensation and compensation not based on performance standards," according to the bill's language. That includes regular pay, bonuses -- everything -- paid to employees of companies in whom the government has a capital stake, including those that have received funds through the Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP, as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Welllll, isn't that special? America, if normal, reasonable people don't begin to speak out about this blatant attempt to undermine the basic economic and Constitutionally gauranteed freedoms we enjoy, you're gonna wake up one morning and discover that bonus you worked your ass off for will not be forthcoming.

**In order to maintain a family friendly website, we have adopted new verbiage for the old standbys. From now on, anything we deem to be the standard Bravo Sierra, will be referred to as simply "Pelosi".