TPMDC Morning Roundup
Labor Group Airs Ad Celebrating Stimulus Passage
The labor-backed political group Americans United For Change is already going on the air with this new pro-stimulus ad, seeking to claim the political narrative in the wake of the bill's final passage into law:
The ad is running on national cable and in the D.C. media market -- so it's essentially aimed at the political classes, with the key message that there remains more work to be done.
Obama Delivering Speech Today On Mortgage Relief
President Obama is spending the morning in Phoenix, Arizona, where he will deliver a 12:15 p.m. ET speech on his mortgage relief plan, which would reportedly involve the government setting out to reduce foreclosures by providing subsidies and other incentives to help lower payments costs, and to encourage the renegotiation of loan terms. He will then head back to Washington, with a scheduled 5:45 p.m. ET arrival back at the White House.
Biden Meeting With Middle Class Task Force -- And Ryan Crocker
Vice President Biden is having lunch today with members of the Middle Class Task Force, the White House effort chaired by Biden to study everyday economic conditions and make policy recommendations. Then in the afternoon, he will be meeting with Ryan Crocker, the Bush-appointed U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, for a closed-door meeting to discuss the situation in that country.
WaPo: Palin Caught Between Alaska, National Politics
The Washington Post takes a look at Sarah Palin's political life these days, revealing a pol who is caught between the competing pressures of her state and national political lives, and whose every moved is analyzed with an eye towards 2012. "There's nothing we can do to stop it," said Palin aide Joe Balash. "People wonder why she's doing something or not doing something."
Two Ohio Dems Jump Into 2010 Senate Race
Ohio Democrats now have a primary for the open Senate seat of retiring GOP Senator George Voinovich, with both Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and Lt. Governor Lee Fisher both declaring their candidacies yesterday. Both of them should be considered serious candidates for the primary and general elections, while the Republicans have rallied around former Rep. Rob Portman.
GOP Leaders Talk Up Pro-Life Issues, Ahead of Pelosi's Papal Visit
Roll Call reports that John Boehner and Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) have sent a letter to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops praising Cardinal Justin Rigali for his work on pro-life issues -- and which just so happens to have been sent ahead of Nancy Pelosi's upcoming visit with the Pope. A GOP source told the paper that that the letter "certainly points to the very real difference" between political leaders who side with the church's teachings and those who ignore them.
GOP Candidate On The Air For Gillibrand's House Seat
The Republican National Committee has launched this ad for Jim Tedisco, the GOP candidate for Kirsten Gillibrand's former House seat:
Tedisco has a serious chance of winning the March 31 special election, as he goes into the race with much higher name recognition as the state Assembly minority leader than does Democratic businessman Scott Murphy. If the GOP can pick up the seat, they'll be able to claim a significant boost in their desired narrative of a party staging a comeback.
| TOPICS: Barack Obama, Joe Biden, John Boehner, NY-20, OH-SEN, Senate '10, Stimulus
Josh
Matt
Eric
Brian
IMO, the BIG story of the day besides Obama's mortgage plan is that Alan Greenspan is advocating the nationalization of insolvent banks.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e310cbf6-fd4e-11dd-a103-000077b07658.html
This may be the political cover that Geithner/Summers needs to actually do this thing.
February 18, 2009 9:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
1. They clearly need to nationalize the big banks and have no option. They just have to figure out how to do it without making it sound like nationalization and to avoid freaking people out even more.
2. Greenspan provides as much political cover as a fig leaf at this point. Due to his responsibility associated with the economic meltdown and his testimony before congress, I don't see much political cover at all from him.
February 18, 2009 9:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
As long as they only dilute the shares of existing shareholders enough to take control, rather than cleaning them out in some psuedo-bankruptcy, I suspect they can do it without alienating anyone who's not already alienated.
February 18, 2009 10:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, but the problem is the shares are worthless at this point because the banks are insolvent and they would have to get a ton of shares and dismiss the management, which would cause people to freak out. Also, they have to clean out all the garbage in the big banks like a pseudo-bankruptcy and restructure to get them operating again. At this point, they aren't lending and sitting on the cash because their liabilities far exceed what cash they have on hand. The problem is people pulling their money out of the banks, not so much the shareholders. It's kind of a vicious circle, so they need to cut out those liabilities somehow and restructure.
It really is a huge problem and we have been stuck in this vicious cycle for probably almost a year now. You know that some of the banks knew the sh*t was hitting the fan and they froze lending a long time ago, which probably exacerbated the crisis and caused a bigger explosion in september.
February 18, 2009 11:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
Did you see "Frontline" last night? Little that was new to me, but put together and into perspective.
February 18, 2009 1:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Did you see "Frontline" last night? Little that was new to me, but put together and into perspective.
February 18, 2009 1:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
No, I missed it. I'll have to see when it is on again and maybe tape it.
February 18, 2009 1:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wonder how much of the real story of Lehman's downfall had to do with the animosity between Fuld at Lehman and Paulson the former Goldman Sachs guy at Treasury? I also wonder if politics played any part as I understand Fuld is a Democrat. The Lehman failure wasn't so much the critical turning point but the resulting dominoes that fell. I think the Reserve MM Fund breaking the buck is what scared the hell out of Paulson and Bernanke.
February 18, 2009 1:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
(1) I'm excited for the Fisher-Brunner primary. I like both of them, the winner of the primary should have plenty of time to recover and prepare for the general election, and they would both be strong g-e candidates.
(2) It's incredible how much 2012 buzz there already is. Besides that Palin story, Gov. Huntsman of Utah and Charlie Crist of Florida are both raising eyebrows for their willingness to alienate conservatives even though they're both clearly gunning for a national run at some point soon.
February 18, 2009 9:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
Mystery Solved! Historians Explain Dubya's Higher Ranking than W.H. Harrison
http://satiricalpolitical.com/?p=6249
February 18, 2009 9:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
A GOP source told the paper that that the letter "certainly points to the very real difference" between political leaders who side with the church's teachings and those who ignore them.
And since when does the Catholic Church govern the United States?????
February 18, 2009 9:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ever since John Kennedy and Tony Orlando signed a death-pact with Joan Rivers and Milton Berle making sure that if the Catholics couldn't run the country the Jews would. This was of course checkmated when Whoopie Goldberg and Sammy Davis Jr. penned an opposing contract guaranteeing Obama a victory.
"Ptththth!!!" - Bill the Cat
February 18, 2009 9:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
Although I agree with your point that the church does not (and should not) run this country, I think the appropriate response to the "siding with the church's teachings" smugness (Hmmmm, Pharisee much?) is to point out all the areas where the protestant/fundamentalists explicitly reject (i.e., do not side with) the Catholic Church's teachings.
From the Catholic Church's perspective, less than 100% following is usually the same as not following, so a straight list of fors and againsts is not useful--nonetheless as a group, Catholic Democrats are probably "better" Catholics than other non-Catholic Christians are (Catholics).
February 18, 2009 11:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
Dateline Denver:
Blake the Solar Guy kicks Joe the Plumber's butt.
February 18, 2009 9:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
I heard an interesting take on the iraq team, including crocker, on npr yesterday from marc rich. One of the reasons why obama didn't totally shake up the people running the iraq clusterf*ck, including gates at the pentagon, is that obama's iraq team was put in place right after the 2006 election. Crocker, petraeus, other generals involved and gates all were against the iraq war from the beginning and wanted to get us out. They did not believe in the king's bs about a beacon of a shining democracy in the middle east. In fact, petraus did things in iraq to get the situation under a modicum of control without the king's involvment or authority. Therefore, obama's team was in place when he took office and he just needs them to turn the titanic around and get us otta there.
Interesting take when you think about it.
February 18, 2009 10:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
Palin 2012;)! The last nail in the GOP's coffin, you betcha!
February 18, 2009 11:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
At the rate they are going, and if they keep doing what they are doing, the republican party won't make it to 2012. The state republicans and governors have to be furious at what the dc republicans are doing. They are politicians after all and want to keep their jobs. If the dc republicans keep this up, look out in 2011. It may be all over but the shouting.
February 18, 2009 11:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm kind of imagining the 2012 GOP convention being held in a Holiday Inn ballroom somewhere, next door to a wedding with loud cheesy music.
February 18, 2009 1:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's a funny visual. I'm hoping that they are history by 2012 and we get a legitimate opposition party, which I actually believe is necessary to keep everyones feet to the fire.
February 18, 2009 1:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Beat Portman in Ohio. We don't need this rising-star-well-liked-by-Bush crap any more than we need a hole in the head.
If I get excited about Republicans it's about visionaries like Michael Steele, that clever fellow Mark Sanford of South Carolina, and anti-governance mavens like Virginia's Eric Cantor. If they need a rising star nationally, that's why the Supreme Being blessed them with Klondike Barbie.
Portman needs to be shown a path toward private sector employment.
February 18, 2009 12:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Beat Portman in Ohio. We don't need this rising-star-well-liked-by-Bush crap any more than we need a hole in the head.
If I get excited about Republicans it's about Hooverite visionaries like Michael Steele, that clever fellow Mark Sanford of South Carolina, and anti-governance mavens like Virginia's Eric Cantor. If the party needs a rising star nationally, that's why the Supreme Being blessed them with Klondike Barbie.
Portman needs to be shown a path toward private sector employment.
February 18, 2009 12:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Eric, NY-20 is heavily republican. Of course Tedisco has a serious chance of winning the seat! He should be expected to win it handily.
Fact is, if Murphy even runs competitively in a special election, it will bode poorly for the repubs in the 2010 election. They should not be allowed to frame it as a "comeback" any more than the dems should be considered doing anything exceptional by winning IL-5.
If Murphy wins, it should be considered a smashing victory, even if it is by one vote.
February 18, 2009 2:01 PM | Reply | Permalink