TPMDC Mike McIntyre
Spending
Thirteen House Dems Vote With GOP To Defund Obama 'Czars'
President Barack Obama
Thirteen Democrats bolstered the GOP's frame that several of President Obama's unconfirmed advisers are "czars" by voting for an amendment to the House spending bill that would defund their offices.
They are Reps. Dan Boren (D-OK), Ben Chandler (D-KY), Jerry Costello (D-IL), Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Pete DeFazio (D-OR), Gene Green (D-TX), Larry Kissell (D-NC), Jim Matheson (D-UT), Mike McIntyre (D-NC), Ed Pastor (D-AZ), Nick Rahall (D-WV), Mike Ross (D-AR), and Heath Shuler (D-NC).
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Ben Chandler, Heath Shuler, Henry Cuellar, Jim Matheson, Larry Kissell, Mike McIntyre, Mike Ross, Nick Rahall, Peter DeFazio, Spending, Steve Scalise
Nancy Pelosi
The Next Gingrich? How Democrats Could Win, And Pelosi Still Lose
Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner
A small but growing number of Democrats have abandoned House Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- the GOP's second-favorite bogeyman in contested districts. Depending on how you count, about five have even said they oppose her continued Speakership if the Democrats retain the House.
That may sound like no big deal -- who cares if some of the most conservative Democrats in the House won't vote for Pelosi, so long as a majority of her caucus still supports her, right? Wrong.
The Speaker is a unique office-holder on Capitol Hill, elected by a plurality of the full House of Representatives. Even if Democrats can retain the House, their margin will likely be slimmer than it is now. And that could touch off a scenario in which there's a majority of Democrats in Congress, but a minority of members of Congress willing to vote for Pelosi as Speaker.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 2010 elections, Bobby Bright, Chris Van Hollen, Democrats, Gene Taylor, House '10, Jason Altmire, Jim Marshall, John Boehner, Mike McIntyre, Nancy Pelosi, Newt Gingrich, Peter DeFazio, Speaker of the House
Nancy Pelosi
Top Five Examples Of Dems Running Scared From Nancy Pelosi (VIDEO)
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
It's too early to predict the outcome of the 2010 elections, but one thing we know for sure: If Democrats lose their majority in the House, Nancy Pelosi will not be Speaker anymore. That's certainly one of the reasons that she doesn't bat an eye (publicly, at least) when vulnerable and conservative Democrats run from her on the campaign trail.
"Sometimes Washington gets used to a rubber-stamp Congress which was the very homogeneous Congress of the Republicans," Pelosi said on PBS last night. "We are very diverse in opinion, gender, generation, geography, philosophy and the rest -- the House Democratic Caucus -- and some members did not vote for some the bills and that's their record and that's what they go out and say. I just want them to win."
But these candidates are not just running against their records. They're singling out Pelosi as the agent in Washington with whom they disagree with the most. Below, a list of the five most blatant examples of Democrats running scared from Pelosi.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 2010 elections, Barack Obama, Bobby Bright, Cap-and-Trade, Chet Edwards, Climate Change, Democrats, Health Care, Jason Altmire, Joe Donnelly, John Boehner, Mike McIntyre, Nancy Pelosi, Republicans, Stimulus
Ilario Pantano
NC GOPer Clips Murder Allegation Out Of NBC Video Used In His TV Ad (VIDEO)
Ilario Pantano campaign ad, "Warzone"
Let's say you're running for Congress as a war hero. And let's say you want to run a TV ad showing some interviews you did with national news outlets talking about your heroism. There's only one problem -- the interviews also mention the heinous double murder you were accused of committing while wearing a Marine Corps uniform in Iraq.
What do you do? If you said "cut out all the murder stuff and just go with the parts that make me look good," you might be Ilario Pantano, the Republican nominee for Congress in North Carolina's 7th District.
As Daily Beaster Benjy Sarlin pointed out in this opus earlier this year, Pantano is actually running on the fact that he was once brought up on murder charges for while serving in Iraq. Here's what went down, as Sarlin told it:
In April 2004, Pantano killed two unarmed Iraqi detainees, twice unloading his gun into their bodies and firing between 50 and 60 shots in total. Afterward, he placed a sign over the corpses featuring the Marines' slogan "No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy" as a message to the local population.
Pantano admits the killings and turned the story into a huge net positive, writing a book about the tale that earned him rabid support from conservatives and even, as Sarlin writes, "sympathetic treatment from Jon Stewart on The Daily Show." Pantano contends the shooting was in self defense and the military dropped its murder charges against him after a witness' testimony could not be corroborated.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 2010 elections, Benjy Sarlin, Daily Beast, Ilario Pantano, Iraq, Mike McIntyre, NC-07
Family Research Council
Religious Right Including Members Of Congress Pray For God To Stop The Health Care Bill
Men praying outside the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.
The Family Research Council Action PAC held an extraordinary "prayercast" event last night, praying for the intercession of God to change Senators' minds and stop the health care bill.
(The full streaming video is available here.)
The event was an excellent display of the theocratic right -- that is, for the literal institution of religious doctrines in public policy, and appeals to the Deity for active direction and intervention in politics.
As I reported last night, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins began the evening with a false statement, confidently saying that history records the Founding Fathers praying for God's intervention at the Constitutional Convention. (They did not pray, mainly due to the financial inability to get a chaplain, as well as the political pitfall that even seeking a chaplain would alert the public to their internal dissensions.)
Co-host Lou Engle focused the event as a protest against abortion, alleging that the bill would result in government funding and promoting it, and likening their prayers to Biblical figures who worked to stop the genocide of the Jews. "But the Bible's very clear that prayer affects government," said Engle. "Esther's three-day fast changed public policy; Daniel's fast changed public policy; and it's the same, yesterday, today and forever, and that's why we're here."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (1)Topics: Family Research Council, Health Care, James Dobson, Jim DeMint, Lou Engle, Michele Bachmann, Mike McIntyre, Todd Akin
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