TPMDC Morning Roundup
Report: Military Tribunals To Return, With More Detainee Rights
The Obama Administration will reportedly announce a restart of some military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay, under revamped conditions with new legal protections for terror suspects. Detainees will have greater leeway to choose their own attorneys, evidence obtained through torture will be banned, and hearsay evidence will be restricted.
Obama's Day Ahead
President Obama will welcome the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team to the White House at 12:20 p.m. ET, at the South Portico. At 1:05 p.m. ET, he will meet with Sec. of State Hillary Clinton in the Oval Office.
Biden's Day Ahead
Vice President Biden is in Los Angeles today, promoting the Recovery Act. At 2 p.m. ET, he will tour the Esperanza Community Housing Corporation in South Central Los Angeles, accompanied by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Rep. Xavier Becerra and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Deputy Secretary Ron Simms. At 2:30 p.m. ET, he will discuss how the stimulus program is supporting programs to eliminate lead-based paints from low-income homes. In the evening, he will return to Wilmington, Delaware.
House Passes $96.7 Billion In War Funding
The House of Representatives voted last night by a 368-60 margin for the Obama Administration's requested $96.7 billion in war funding for Afghanistan and Iraq. There were 51 Democrats who voted against it, exemplified by this quote from Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA): "As the mission has grown bigger, the policy has grown even more vague."
Axelrod: "We're Better Than" Rove Comparisons
In an interview on National Public Radio, White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod dismissed any comparisons between himself and Karl Rove's role in the Bush Administration. "I always reject that," said Axelrod. "I would like to think we're better than that."
Corporate World Worried By Obama's Barbed Words
The Associated Press reports that businesses are worried by President Obama's rhetoric, such as his criticism of the credit card industry or Chrysler bondholders. "It is traditional class-warfare rhetoric," said Jade West, a lobbyist for the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors. "It's a little bit frightening."
Torsella Drops Out In Pennsylvania Senate Race
Joe Torsella, the former head of the National Constitution Center who had been running for the Democratic nomination for Senate from Pennsylvania, has now dropped out in the wake of Sen. Arlen Specter's switch to the Dems:
The big question now is whether Rep. Joe Sestak will mount a Democratic primary challenge to Specter, or if Specter will instead have an essentially clear field.


















Class warfare!? I wonder if they realize about 1 percent of Americans are part of their..........class. What a joke these guys are, time for the middle class to get back up and excell.
May 15, 2009 9:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
With the public so outraged, I hope they keep it up. I think many of us would be happy to sign up for "class warfare" agaisnt these mofos.
May 15, 2009 9:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
Don't you find it just a wee bit ironic that the person talking about class warfare is named "Jade"? I'm surprised he/she didn't say "let them eat cake."
May 15, 2009 9:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
News Flash: Rich pompous corporate scumbags just don't "get it".
Shocker.
They think they are going to convince the newly impoverished public by sticking their thumb in our eye!
May 15, 2009 10:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
The Right has always been happy to conduct class warfare and to complain bitterly when called on it.
May 15, 2009 10:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
Not when called on it, but when the class they declared war on actually tries to fight back.
May 15, 2009 11:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
Shock poll of the day. New Gallup poll shows that more people are "pro-life=51%" than "pro-choice=42%". This is the first time the Gallup poll has shown this since it started this question in 1995.
I hope this doesn't bring back the culture wars.
May 15, 2009 9:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
If true, this is bad news for women and children. There are good times and bad times to bring a child into the world to give the child the best chance and valuing an embryo over the future of a child leads to bad results.
May 15, 2009 10:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
New Info courtesy of 538:
But it's important to understand that this isn't just a matter of priorities for millions of American Catholics: they are actually no more likely to hold anti-abortion views than the rest of the U.S. population. According to a new Quinnipiac poll, 13 percent of Catholics think abortion should be legal in all cases, while 37 percent think it should be legal in most cases; voters as a whole break down at 15% and 37%. Only 16% of Catholics (as compared with 14% of Americans as a whole) think abortion should be illegal in all cases. http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/
50 percent of Catholic believe that abortion should be legal in most or all cases.
May 15, 2009 3:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
It would depend on how the question is posed. I bet there is a lot of folks who are pro-choice who personally would never choose to have an abortion. Would that make them pro-life or pro-choice?
Also was this a blind poll? Or done in person? What was the male vs female breakdown? Political breakdown? Age breakdown?
May 15, 2009 11:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
From the Pew results:
They didn't simply ask are you pro-choice or pro-life. I have a problem with grouping the legal (always/most) together and the illegal (always/most) together and comparing the two. The "Mostly illegal" stance still infers that those people believe it should be legal in *some* cases.
Which means 74% believe it should be legal in at least some cases (18% all + 28% most + 28% some).
I don't think you can take the wording of these questions and make them about pro-choice or pro-life at all. If you want to survey that you should just ask "Do you consider yourself pro-choice or pro-life?"
But bottom-line: only 16% believe abortion should be outlawed with no exceptions.
May 15, 2009 11:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
Does pro-life necessarily mean someone is willing to prevent a women from having the choice or was it a personal opinion?
May 15, 2009 11:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
I don't believe for a second that a majority wants a woman's uterus to be a government controlled organ. That's really the bottom line.
May 15, 2009 11:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
No, the trend is essentially flat over time. Don't get sucked into one poll and the subsequent hype from the MSM who *love* to hug the right-winger talking points (e.g. see "tea baggers"). See http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/05/is-public-opinion-changing-on-abortion.html
People are still pro-choice. To consider that or any poll alone is quite out of context. The majority are still pro-choice over "pro-life".
May 15, 2009 11:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
I just realized Maritza was referring to a different poll. Looking at the Gallup trend at Pollster which does specifically ask the pro-choice/life question, I am a little skeptical when the pro-choice opinion has an 8% drop in one year when it's been essentially flat for the past 10.
May 15, 2009 11:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
The credit card industry have been given the right under color of law to charge usurious interest rates. They have no basis to make any complaints.
May 15, 2009 10:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
Not many postings today.
I'll post some other funny stuff then. Anyone catch this funny post about Palin's new book at the mudflats. They are a pretty funny site if you think Palin is funny.
Here, you can vote on Palin's new book!
Another interesting article they had up yesterday was about Palin being rejected to speak at her daughters high school graduation.
May 15, 2009 11:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hmmm, liberl outrage regarding President Obama's decsions on the tribunals and Dan Choi in 5,4,3...
May 15, 2009 12:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Suppressing pictures because they depict the actions of a few bad actors. Military tribunals. This really isn't what I voted for.
May 15, 2009 12:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah but they will enentually be released by the courts when this case is heard so I have no qualms about this for now.
May 15, 2009 12:59 PM | Reply | Permalink