Week in Review 04/10/10

Obama takes on talkers

Barack Obama’s tongue-lashing of conservative talk-show titans Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck this week could prove a winner for both sides.

The president gets a boost with his base and may win over some independents by tying his political opponents to two of the nation’s most polarizing figures.

But the conservative talkers get presidential confirmation that they’re at the center of the political debate — together with a collection of sound bytes that will fuel their shows for days to come. Read more.

Republicans dispute course of financial overhaul

WASHINGTON (AP) – End the public lifeline for large financial institutions, Republicans are demanding as they push back against Democratic efforts to set new rules for the financial industry.

The GOP is trying to fight many of the changes that President Barack Obama and majority Democrats want. Legislation would give the government authority to split up big financial companies and force the industry to pay for its most massive failures.

Republicans have offered alternative legislation that calls for new bankruptcy proceedings to dismantle failing institutions. Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, said that creating more federal agencies and putting taxpayers on the hook for more bailouts will not help revive the economy. Read more.

Hundreds show president their anger, frustration

Charlotte — President Barack Obama’s motorcade, headed to Charlotte’s airport Friday, passed through an American political divide that seemed as wide as six-lane Carowinds Boulevard.

On the corner anchored by the Tilted Kilt pub, a couple of hundred tea party protesters lined the street. “Throw them out! Throw them out!” they chanted, and stabbed thumbs down as the president passed. A hand-lettered sign, one of dozens, waved: “Somewhere in Kenya a village is missing its idiot.”

Across the boulevard, a largely black crowd sprinkled with the red, white and blue of a few Obama detractors squinted into the midday sun and shouted back: “Obama! Obama! Obama!” Read more.

Senate challenges signal deep unrest

How deep does the anti-Washington sentiment run? The number of senators in both parties facing serious primary challenges this year — a figure that has grown in the past six weeks — offers a clue.

Five senators, three Democrats and two Republicans, face the real prospect of being denied their party’s nomination this year: Sens. Bob Bennett (R-Utah), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.).

In most cases, the incumbents are still the front-runners. But the mere fact that their challengers are within striking distance is notable, given the rarity of senators being denied renomination by their party. Read more.

White House Denies Charges of Caving to China on Currency

A prominent Democratic senator on Sunday suggested that the Obama administration was letting China slide on possible currency manipulation in exchange for help on Iran sanctions — something the White House flatly denied.

Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter, reacting to news that the White House was delaying its report to Congress on whether China is manipulating its currency, told “Fox News Sunday” he’s concerned the administration could be missing a chance to help U.S. workers get on a level playing field.

The report was originally scheduled for release by April 15, around the time Chinese President Hu Jintao is visiting Washington for nuclear talks. Read more.

US unveiling new, more restrictive nuclear policy

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Obama administration is unveiling a new nuclear weapons policy that seeks to narrow the circumstances under which the United States would use such weapons while preserving long-standing assurances of nuclear protection for allies, U.S. officials said.

It is a delicate balance that the administration will describe in a policy document, called a nuclear posture review, to be released Tuesday following a full year of deliberation led by the Pentagon in consultation with allied governments.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and Joint Chiefs chairman Adm. Mike Mullen planned to unveil the new policy at a noon Pentagon briefing. Read more.

Berger’s Proposal

On Monday, Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger proposed a bill meant to expose patronage and misconduct in state government.

The state’s personnel law is among the most secretive in the country regarding disciplinary actions, hiring information and employment histories of public employees. North Carolina, for example, appears to be the only state that bars the public from learning pay raises and prior positions, a recent News & Observer series, Keeping Secrets, found.

The problems with the personnel law’s secrecy were exposed by investigations into the administration of former Gov. Mike Easley. N.C. State University officials, for example, cited the personnel law in not disclosing the governor’s efforts to create a job for his wife at N.C. State. The law also initially hid an improper pay deal given to NCSU Provost Larry Nielsen. Nielsen stepped down after controversy surrounded his hiring of Mary Easley. Read more.

North Carolina Candidates Gear Up in Swing Districts

RALEIGH — The North Carolina General Assembly could look much different in 2011. At least, that’s what Republicans hope.

For the first time in over a century, the minority party has a shot at wresting control of the legislature from Democrats, and it’s banking on a string of competitive races to do it.

Retirements, resignations, and shifting political dynamics make 10 seats in the Senate and 20 in the House vulnerable to GOP challenges this year. Political experts say a sluggish economy, anger over health care reform in Congress, and corruption could propel Republican candidates into office. Read more.

Republicans Slam Obama Judicial Nominee Over 117 Omissions From Record

Senate Republicans on Tuesday slammed one of the Obama administration’s most controversial judicial nominees for failing to initially disclose more than 100 of his speeches, publications and other background materials — an omission the Republicans called unprecedented and a possible attempt to “hide his most controversial work.”

They said Goodwin Liu’s nomination to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is in “jeopardy” in light of the problem.

The complaint came after Liu, a Berkeley law professor, gave the Senate Judiciary Committee a bundle of supplemental material that contained 117 things he left out after his February nomination. Read more.

Obama Clash With Karzai Raises Concerns Ahead of Kandahar Offensive

WakeUpAmerica.com asks why President Obama is agitating and bullying the President of a country that has 30,000 US troops inside its country. Wake Up Obama. Your recent foreign policy actions have put Americans at a heightened state of risk – Israel, Russia, Iran, China, and now Afghanistan “ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS.”

Here is the story reported by Fox News.

Timing is everything. And for the out-in-the-open feud between President Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the timing is very, very bad. Read more.

Iran’s president attacks Obama on nuclear “threat”

(Reuters) – Iran’s president issued a scathing personal attack on U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday, calling him an “inexperienced amateur” who was quick to threaten to use nuclear weapons against U.S. enemies.

Commenting on new U.S. policy restrictions on the use of atomic weapons which sent a stern message to nuclear-defiant Iran that it remained a potential target, hard-line Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Obama that Iran would not yield to threats.

“Obama made these latest remarks because he is inexperienced and an amateur politician,” Ahmadinejad said on Iranian television. “American politicians are like cowboys. Whenever they have legal shortcomings, their hands go to their guns.”

Obama made a diplomatic overture to Tehran soon after taking office in 2009, urging it to “unclench its fist.” Read more.

Volcker on the VAT

Kudos for candor to Paul Volcker, the former Federal Reserve Chairman and current White House economic adviser, for admitting what other Democrats also know but don’t want to admit until after the November election: The political class is preparing to pass a European-style value-added tax. Read more.

Week in Review 3/6/10

You Can Call Him Al … But Al Won’t Call You Back

Al Gore won a Nobel Prize and an Oscar for his film, An Inconvenient Truth. But in the last three months, as global warming has gone from a scientific near-certitude to the subject of satire, Gore — the public face of global warming — has been silent on the topic.

The former vice president apparently finds it inconvenient even to answer calls to testify before the U.S. Senate. You can call him Al . . . but he won’t call back.

On Tuesday, Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe — a prominent skeptic of global warming theory and the Republican leader of the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee — issued a request for Gore to come testify on global warming. In an interview with FoxNews.com, Inhofe said he wants Gore to appear because “it will be interesting to ask him on what science he based his movie,” a film the senator considers “science fiction.” Read more.

GOP touts throng of candidates

RALEIGH — North Carolina Republicans have entered races for congressional and legislative seats in big numbers, apparently spurred by recent GOP successes and the grass-roots activism of the Tea Party movement.

When the three-week period for candidates filing for 2010 ended at noon Friday, Republicans were boasting of having set modern records for fielding candidates against nearly every Democratic lawmaker in Raleigh or Washington.

Republican candidates will run in all 50 state Senate districts in North Carolina. “I think that is the first time that has ever happened,” said Senate Republican leader Phil Berger of Eden. “People sense an opportunity.” Read more.

Pelosi Not Prepared to Strip Rangel of Chairmanship After Ethics Violation

Rep. Charlie Rangel’s admonishment by the House ethics panel does not disqualify him from leading the chamber’s influential tax-writing committee, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday, even as she acknowledged the conflict doesn’t pass the smell test.

“No, it doesn’t. No, it doesn’t,” Pelosi said. “The fact is, is that what Mr. Rangel has been admonished for is not good. It was a violation of the rules of the House. It was not something that jeopardized our country in any way.”

The House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, better known as the ethics committee, admonished Rangel last week for taking corporate-sponsored trips to the Caribbean, which are a violation of House rules. Read more.

Supreme Court scrutinizes state, local gun control

WASHINGTON (AP) — Gun control advocates think, if not pray, they can win by losing when the Supreme Court decides whether the constitutional right to possess guns serves as a check on state and local regulation of firearms.

The justices will be deciding whether the Second Amendment — like much of the rest of the Bill of Rights — applies to states as well as the federal government. It’s widely believed they will say it does.

But even if the court strikes down handgun bans in Chicago and its suburb of Oak Park, Ill., that are at issue in the argument to be heard Tuesday, it could signal that less severe rules or limits on guns are permissible. Read more.

Why Obama is Good for America

You read that right. Now here is why:

He destroyed the Clinton Political Machine – Driving a stake thru the heart of Hillary’s Presidential aspirations – something no Republican was ever able to do.

He killed off the Kennedy Dynasty – The Kennedy’s say no to Obama rule. Read more.

Rangel stepping down from tax-writing chairmanship

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Charles Rangel announced Wednesday he will temporarily step down as chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, saying he didn’t want his ethics controversy to jeopardize election prospects for fellow Democrats.

The 20-term Harlem congressman held a news conference on short notice, telling reporters, “My chairmanship is bringing so much attention to the press, and in order to avoid my colleagues having to defend me during their elections, I have this morning sent a letter” asking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “to grant me a leave of absence until such time as the ethics committee completes its work.”

The 79-year-old Rangel’s decision was another jarring setback for President Barack Obama and majority Democrats in Congress, coming at a time when the party is scrambling to save sweeping health care overhaul legislation that has been pending on Capitol Hill for well over a year and still assessing a surging anti-incumbent fervor among the voters. Read more.

Iran, Democracy, and Trade Keys to Successful Clinton Visit to Latin America

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is embarking on a tour of Latin America with the intention of shoring up flagging ties with U.S. partners in the region. During her five-day, six-nation trip, the Secretary should enlist key players–notably Brazil–in a campaign to convince Iran’s leaders to abandon their nuclear weapons ambitions.

Clinton should also deliver a strong message regarding the Obama Administration’s commitment to representative democracy and its readiness to put free trade back on its agenda. Finally, she should make it clear to the region’s leaders know that excluding the U.S. from regional organizations or polarizing the Organization of American States (OAS) will have a negative impact on inter-American cooperation. Read more.

Hot Flashes, Dead Bugs, and Cocaine for Monkeys: The 10 Worst Federal Stimulus Projects in North Carolina

Prior to signing his federal “stimulus” bill in early 2009, President Obama warned, “If we do not move swiftly to sign (the act) into law, an economy that is already in crisis will be faced with catastrophe.”

Here in North Carolina, Governor Perdue similarly declared that we were “facing the consequences of the national economic crisis,” and that failure to pass the stimulus bill would “jeopardize the education of our children and the health care of our citizens.” She further noted that the stimulus will help “create jobs, stimulate the economy, and provide relief to North Carolina’s families.”

One year later, the debate over the stimulus bill’s effectiveness rages on. A close inspection of stimulus grants and contracts awarded to North Carolina reveals a rather questionable strategy for the disbursement of stimulus funds. Many projects seem completely unrelated to avoiding an economic “catastrophe,” but rather an ad hoc satisfaction of countless dubious wish lists.
The Civitas Institute poured through the federal website charged with tracking stimulus spending, and created the following list – The 10 Worst Federal Stimulus Projects in North Carolina. Read more.

Obama backs plan to give health care overhaul fast track in Congress

WASHINGTON — Even after President Barack Obama gave them his blessing Wednesday to push ahead hard and fast on health care, congressional Democrats remained uncertain and divided over whether they can finally pass the legislation.

Liberals and moderates both expressed concern about “reconciliation,” the fast-track procedure Obama endorsed. It strips the Senate minority of the ability to filibuster, or conduct extended debate, which usually can be limited only after 60 of 100 senators agree.

“I don’t like the reconciliation idea,” said Rep. Baron Hill, D-Ind., one of the moderates. “It does give the appearance of trying to ram something through.” Read more.

McHenry’s initiative: Put Reagan on $50 bill

U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry wants to put former President Ronald Reagan on the $50 bill.

McHenry, a Cherryville Republican, has introduced a bill that would replace Ulysses S. Grant with Reagan.

“Every generation needs its own heroes,” McHenry said. “One decade into the 21st century, it’s time to honor the last great president of the 20th and give President Reagan a place beside Presidents Roosevelt and Kennedy.” Read more.

Freshman Congressman Won’t Run for Re-election, Denies Harassment Reports

The House Ethics Committee is reviewing allegations that New York Rep. Eric Massa sexually harassed a male member of his staff, Fox News has learned

Massa, after announcing Wednesday that he would not seek re-election because of a cancer recurrence, beat back reports on blogs and in other media outlets suggesting that charges of sexually harassing a male staffer were behind his decision.

“The allegations are totally false. I am a salty old sailor,” Massa, a Democratic freshman congressman, said at a news conference. “These are blogs that are saying that I am leaving because of charges of harassing my staff. Do and have I used salty language? Yes, and I have tried to do better.” Read more.

GOP takes it to Hackney

PITTSBORO — State Republican leaders and legislative candidates, looking to prove they can overcome 100 years of Democratic domination in the legislature, held a rally Thursday in the home district of Democratic House Speaker Joe Hackney.

Since the candidate filing period closed last week, Republicans have touted both the number and quality of candidates they recruited to run for state House and Senate seats. By appearing in Hackney’s district with the Republican candidate challenging him, GOP leaders made a show of their confidence and enthusiasm.

Republicans sought to underline that message by pointing out that they expect to ride a wave of national voter dissatisfaction. N.C. Republican Party Chairman Tom Fetzer said the party plans to wage a campaign focused on statewide and national politics, not local issues. Read more.

State polls show gathering storm

Congress, it turns out, isn’t the only institution held in low esteem by voters this year.

According to a POLITICO review of publicly available polling data, numerous state legislatures are also bottoming out, showing off-the-charts disapproval ratings accompanied by stunning levels of voter cynicism.

It all adds up to a toxic election-year brew for legislators inside and outside Washington.

The freshest example comes from Pennsylvania, where a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday surveyed the attitudes of residents and reported that just 29 percent of Pennsylvania voters said they approved of the job the state legislature is doing in Harrisburg, a slippage of 13 points since last May. Read more.

President to meet with key senators on immigration

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama plans to focus attention on immigration next week by meeting at the White House with two senators crafting a bill on the issue.

White House spokesman Nicholas Shapiro said Obama will meet with Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina on Monday.

The president is “looking forward to hearing more about their efforts toward producing a bipartisan bill,” Shapiro said Friday. Read more.

week in Review 02/20/10

Family feud: Nancy Pelosi at odds with President Obama

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s increasingly public disagreements with President Barack Obama are a reflection of something deeper: the seething resentment some Democrats feel over what they see as cavalier treatment from a wounded White House.

For months, the California lawmaker has been pushing Obama hard in private while praising him in public. But now she’s being more open in her criticism, in part because she feels the White House was wrong — in the wake of the Democrats’ loss in Massachusetts — to push the Senate health care bill on the House when she knew there was no way it would pass. Read more.

Obama Poised to Use Executive Power to Muscle Through Domestic Agenda

Faced with a resurgent GOP and a largely stalled legislative agenda, President Obama is planning to use his executive powers to forge ahead with his domestic initiatives, including on energy, the environment and the economy, The New York Times reported.

“We are reviewing a list of presidential executive orders and directives to get the job done across a front of issues,” White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told the newspaper.

But aides told the newspaper that Obama is still hopeful that progress can be made on Capitol Hill, citing the bipartisan summit on health care scheduled later this month. Yet the GOP’s stunning capture last month of the Senate seat previously held by Ted Kennedy has prompted the White House to prepare to go solo to break any partisan gridlock heading into the midterm elections. Read more.

Democrat Evan Bayh of Ind. to retire from Senate

WASHINGTON (AP) – Sen. Evan Bayh, a centrist Democrat from Indiana, announced Monday that he won’t seek a third term in Congress, giving Republicans a chance to pick up a Senate seat.

“To put it in words I think most people can understand: I love working for the people of Indiana, I love helping our citizens make the most of their lives, but I do not love Congress,” Bayh said at a news conference Indianapolis, where he was joined by his wife and two sons.

The departure of Bayh, who was on Barack Obama’s short list of vice presidential candidate prospects in 2008, continues a recent exodus from Congress among both Democrats and Republicans, including veteran Democrats Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island. Read more.

N.C. is home of hot races

North Carolina begins a new election season as one of the four most politically competitive states in the country.

During the first decade of the 21st Century, only three states had closer elections than North Carolina. They were Missouri, Florida (the state of the hanging chads) and Minnesota, where it took months before former comedian Al Franken was declared senator after the 2008 election.

The way I measure competitiveness is to look at the margin of victories in the three most high profile races – for president, governor and U.S. Senate. Read more.

Republicans mine coal-country anxieties

Republicans believe there are three words so powerful that they might reshape the political order in an economically beleaguered corner of the country: War on coal.

With Democrats holding total control of the federal government and a cap-and-trade bill still looming, the GOP is fanning widespread coal country fears that the national Democratic Party is hostile to the coal mining industry, if not outright committed to its demise.

Those efforts are putting a group of coal state Democrats at risk as Republicans leverage the tremendous economic anxieties surrounding the future of an industry that is a vital part of their states’ economies. Read more.

Hillary Clinton: Iran is becoming a military dictatorship

Iran is becoming a military dictatorship, Hillary Clinton declared today as the US prepared fresh sanctions against the Islamic Republic that would specifically target the Revolutionary Guard.

“We see that the government in Iran, the Supreme Leader, the president, the parliament is being supplanted and that Iran is moving towards a military dictatorship,” the US Secretary of State told students in Qatar during a tour of the Middle East designed to increase pressure on the Islamic Republic to end its nuclear program.

“The civilian leadership is either preoccupied with its internal domestic political situation or ceding ground to the Revolutionary Guard and that’s a deeply concerning development.” Read more.

World May Not Be Warming, Say Scientists

The United Nations climate panel faces a new challenge with scientists casting doubt on its claim that global temperatures are rising inexorably because of human pollution.

In its last assessment, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said the evidence that the world was warming was “unequivocal.” It warned that greenhouse gases had already heated the world by 0.7C and that there could be 5C-6C more warming by 2100, with devastating impacts on humanity and wildlife.

New research casts doubt on such claims, however. Some even suggest the world may not be warming much at all. Read more.

NBC17: Analysts Predict Tough Year For State Democrats

Clint Maynard: Obama is a mediocre, one-term president

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Back during the ‘08 presidential campaign, I drove around with a sign on my van: “Remember Jimmy Carter.” Oh, what a prophet I was, and how clueless the young voters were who drank the hope and change Kool-Aid.

Older Americans who supported “my party” and voted for Obama were just as bad. How’s the unemployment going for you (17.5 percent when you count the people who have given up)? And how about those looming taxes? How’s that looking to you now? The problem is that John McCain was almost as bad.

We didn’t have a good choice last election. They’re all bad. Why? Because no one cares about our freedom and liberties, and the Constitution has been ripped to shreds by both parties over the past 100 years. Right now, liberal progressive socialists are controlling the White House and congressional leadership. I am more scared of that than any terrorist attack, short of a nuclear explosion. Why? Because our very republic is at stake! Read more.

Climate Threat: Elevated?

Forget saving the polar bears; if Congress doesn’t pass comprehensive climate change legislation, our national security could be in jeopardy.

With action in Congress stalled, that’s the line coming from climate bill supporters — increasingly so in the last six months. The administration has recently taken substantial steps connecting climate change to national security, while advocacy groups pushing for comprehensive climate legislation are beginning to view the security angle as a more effective argument than the “save the planet for our grandkids” motto. Read more.

The President without a Country

“We’re no longer a Christian nation.” – President Barack Obama, June 2007

” America has been arrogant.” – President Barack Obama

“After 9/11, America didn’t always live up to her ideals.”- President Barack Obama

“You might say that America is a Muslim nation.”- President Barack Obama, Egypt 2009

Thinking about these and other statements made by the man who wears the title of president. I keep wondering what country he believes he’s president of. Read more.

Elections board investigating Perdue

The State Board of Elections has opened an investigation of Gov. Bev Perdue’s campaign finances in response to complaints from the N.C. Republican Party.

Last year, party Chairman Tom Fetzer filed complaints over undisclosed campaign flights. Perdue’s campaign has since disclosed 31 flights and said the omissions were mistakes.

Fetzer received a letter today from Kim Strach, a deputy director at the elections board who is responsible for investigations. In her letter, which Fetzer released to the news media Wednesday, Strach wrote that the board is investigating Perdue. Read more.

On anniversary, Obama defends economic stimulus

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama vigorously defended his $787 billion stimulus on Wednesday, insisting it rescued Americans from the worst of the economic calamity and ripping Republican critics who called it a waste.

Obama and Vice President Joe Biden launched a sweeping effort to convince skeptical Americans that the stimulus has been beneficial on the one-year anniversary of a plan that was pushed through the U.S. Congress by Democratic majorities.

Obama, in a White House speech, said he believed the stimulus will save or create 1.5 million jobs in 2010 after saving or creating as many as 2 million jobs thus far. Read more.

Fall of the Republic HQ full length version

20 Changes For 2010: Health Care in NC

Recommendations 3 and 4 from the Civitas Institute Agenda “20 Changes for 2010: A Primer for State Reform,” focus on how North Carolina can make health care more affordable and protect state residents from predatory federal mandates.

Health Care:

The Problem: Rapidly Rising Health Care Costs and Overreaching Federal Mandate

Proposals

This year health care reform emerged as a forefront national issue. Our nation’s health care spending continues to rise and is projected to reach $3.1 trillion in 2010, amounting to 17.7 percent of GDP. Congress is considering legislation that would effectively overhaul our nation’s health care system at a staggering cost to states already struggling in the midst of a prolonged economic recession. Read more.

Obama Writing Health Bill to Skirt GOP Filibuster

President Obama is working on health care legislation intended to reconcile differences between House and Senate Democrats that could be attached to a budget bill and avoid a Republican filibuster, according to a published report.

The president’s proposal, which is still being written, will be posted on the Internet by Monday morning, senior administration officials and Congressional aides told the New York Times.

By piggybacking the legislation onto a budget bill, Democrats would be able to advance the bill with a simple majority of just 51 votes, averting a Republican filibuster in the Senate. Read more.

Week in Review 02/13/10

Palin says ‘absurd’ not to ponder presidential bid

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sarah Palin says it would be “absurd” for her not to consider running for president in 2012.The former Alaska governor and the Republican vice presidential nominee in 2008 says she will run for president if she believes it’s right for the country and right for her family. Palin was asked on “Fox News Sunday” if she knows more today about domestic and foreign affairs than she did two years ago. Her response: “Well, I would hope so.”She says her focus has widened since she was governor of Alaska. Palin says she gets daily briefings by e-mail on domestic and foreign policy issues from advisers in Washington.

Obama: I’m Not Giving Up on Health Reform

Washington – (AP) President Obama on Saturday sought to assure despondent Democrats he would not abandon his commitment to overhauling health care and would work to counter GOP challenges to their congressional dominance.

At its winter meeting, a defiant Democratic Party worked to project a message of strength even as loyalists acknowledged the prospect of several defeats in November. The party that controls the White House typically loses seats during midterm elections at an average rate of 28 net seats. President Bill Clinton, the last Democratic commander in chief, lost control of Congress in his first term and Democrats privately are predicting it could happen again. Read more.

Palin Urges Obama to Take a ‘Do-Over’ on Emanuel, Holder

Sarah Palin said President Obama needs to take a “do-over” on his choice for White House chief of staff, pressing Saturday for Rahm Emanuel’s firing after he used the word “retarded” to lambast a group of Democrats in a strategy session last year.

Emanuel is known for his coarse tongue, but the remarks touched a nerve among disability advocate groups, as well as Palin, when it was reported last week. Emanuel swiftly apologized to Special Olympics head Tim Shriver and then convened a meeting with him and other disability groups at the White House.

But Palin, who has a baby with Down syndrome, told FoxNews.com that Emanuel should still be gone — something she first called for on her Facebook page last week. Read more.

Obama hasn’t ruled out NY trial for 9/11 planner

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said Sunday he has not ruled out a New York federal court trial for Sept. 11 planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, but he was taking into account the objections of the city’s mayor and police commissioner.

The Obama administration has come under withering attack, mainly from Republicans, for a decision by his Justice Department to try the terrorist mastermind in a U.S. court near Ground Zero, site of the attack that destroyed New York’s World Trade Center.

Obama said using the traditional judicial method was a “virtue of our system” in which Americans should take pride. Read more.

State Lawmaker Calls for Offshore Drilling, End to Global Warming Commission

RALEIGH — A Davie County Republican is urging fellow state lawmakers to stop wasting time and money on the state’s climate change commission and support energy policy he says will have a tangible impact on the state. Sen. Andrew Brock says the legislature should move to tap the massive natural gas reserve experts believe is sitting off the North Carolina coast.

“This whole thing was based on a false set of principles and false data,” says Brock, referencing e-mails leaked last year from the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit. Climate-change activists have relied on East Anglia data to justify massive government intervention, including caps on greenhouse gas emissions and limits on fossil fuel consumption. “There’s no credible evidence that supports that all the production by mankind is affecting the global climate.” Read more.

N.C. Democrats dealing with an election year mass exodus

At the Grammys, Oscars and other annual award shows, there’s always a clip showing which big industry stars have departed over the previous year. Forgive voters, especially Democrats, if they feel like they need to watch one of those “dearly departed” clips when they go to the polls in May and November. Because the story this year might not be who is running for elected office, but who isn’t.

As candidate filing season starts on Monday, seven Democratic state senators have already left or announced that this will be their last year in office – and the list includes some important movers and shakers from eastern North Carolina. Read more.

Russian military calls US missile defense a threat

Gen. Nikolai Makarov said that a revised U.S. plan to place missiles in Europe undermines Russia’s national defense, rejecting Obama administration promises that the plan is not directed at his country.

“We view it very negatively, because it could weaken our missile forces,” Makarov, the chief of the Russian military’s General Staff, said in televised remarks.

Makarov’s comments are the strongest yet on the revamped U.S. missile effort and signal potential new obstacles to an agreement on a new nuclear arms reduction treaty to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that expired Dec. 5. Read more.

Winners will get to draw the map

RALEIGH – The 2010 political season formally opened Monday, with the next nine months potentially having an outsized influence on Tar Heel politics for the next decade. Of all the elections that will be held – from the marquee U.S. Senate race to courthouse contests – none will be more closely watched than the 170 seats of the state legislature.

That is because the legislature, as required by the U.S. Constitution, will draw new district maps for the legislature and for Congress in 2011 based on the census that will be conducted this year. Whether those maps are drawn by Democrats or Republicans – or jointly by both parties – could go a long way in deciding who holds power in Raleigh and who goes to Washington. Read more.

NY governor says he’ll step aside only ‘in a box’

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – New York Gov. David Paterson, defying calls from even fellow Democrats to drop out of the race for a full term, said Tuesday that he would leave only if the voters turned him out through the ballot box, or he’s carried out “in a box.” Paterson spoke to reporters after several days of rumors sweeping the state Capitol about carousing in the governor’s mansion, all of which Paterson strongly denied.

A few months after Paterson took over from his predecessor, who resigned in a prostitution scandal, his popularity plummeted and many Democrats voiced their preference that Attorney General Andrew Cuomo run for governor when Paterson’s term is up. Read more.

Alabama poll: Mike Huckabee is 2012 front-runner

In a reminder of his strength with social conservatives, Mike Huckabee leads his nearest GOP competitor by 10 percentage points, according to a new poll of Alabama Republicans.

Thirty-three percent of Alabama Republicans polled support the former Arkansas governor for the 2012 presidential nomination, while 23 percent said they would back Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential nominee. The next closest Republican to Huckabee and Palin is former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who takes 12 percent of the vote. Read more.

Only 8 percent say incumbents should be reelected

A stunning 8 percent of Americans believe members of Congress should be reelected, a staggering indictment of the legislative branch as Democrats prepare to defend their majority in the midterm elections. Eighty-one percent of people surveyed in a New York Times poll believe “it’s time to give new people a chance” to serve in Congress, the worst assessment of Congress since the newspaper began polling on this question in 1992.

But the 8 percent figure is staggering. Republicans see it as a reason to throw Democrats out of Congress, while Democrats want to blame Republican obstruction for the overwhelmingly negative feelings reflected in the poll. Read more.

Obama, Republicans spar over starting point for health care summit

Washington (CNN) — President Obama said Tuesday his televised health care summit with Republican leaders on February 25 should involve true give-and-take negotiations instead of mere “political theater.” In a rare appearance at the daily White House media briefing, Obama said he wants the meeting — which also will include health care experts — to “establish some common facts” on the health care issue and reach agreement on the most pressing health care problems facing the country.

To signal his willingness to compromise, Obama said he would consider a Republican push to include limits on medical malpractice lawsuits in a health care bill if the proposal can be shown to truly reduce overall health care costs. The president acknowledged the issue could “make my party uncomfortable,” an apparent nod to traditional Democratic support among trial lawyers who oppose such limits. Read more.

Kennedy won’t seek re-election, marking end of era

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Patrick Kennedy’s decision not to seek re-election will leave Washington without a Kennedy in political office for the first time in more than 60 years. The Rhode Island Democrat’s term ends early next year but he says in a television message viewed by The Associated Press on Thursday that his life is “taking a new direction” and he will not seek a ninth term. The video was provided to the AP by Kennedy’s congressional office.

The 42-year-old son of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy does not give a reason for the decision but says it has been a difficult few years for many people and he mentions the death in August of his father. Read more.

Obama Poll Results 2/12/10

• In your opinion, is President Obama governing only to please the far left, or is he governing for the betterment of all Americans?


• just to please the left (58%, 262 Votes)


• neither (29%, 129 Votes)


• to better all Americans’ lives (12%, 52 Votes)


• both (1%, 9 Votes)


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• Total Voters: 452 WakeUpAmerica.com Online Poll

Family feud: Nancy Pelosi at odds with President Obama

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s increasingly public disagreements with President Barack Obama are a reflection of something deeper: the seething resentment some Democrats feel over what they see as cavalier treatment from a wounded White House.

For months, the California lawmaker has been pushing Obama hard in private while praising him in public. But now she’s being more open in her criticism, in part because she feels the White House was wrong — in the wake of the Democrats’ loss in Massachusetts — to push the Senate health care bill on the House when she knew there was no way it would pass.

Earlier this month, Pelosi criticized the president’s State of the Union call to exempt defense spending from a budget freeze. And in a White House meeting with leaders of both parties this week, she questioned the effectiveness of his plan to give small businesses tax breaks to hire workers. Read more.