January 31, 2015

MUST STOP JEB: Romney Prepares To Make PEACE With Christie

Ooooo, its going to be a scratchy 'I will-get-even-with-you' bitter tomcat fight..................




After announcing that he would not, after all, be mounting a third campaign for the US presidency, Mitt Romney signalled on Friday that he may forge a reconciliation with Chris Christie to stop Jeb Bush’s bid for the Republican nomination next year. Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee, had been facing a probable three-way fight for the support – and chequebooks – of the party’s so-called establishment wing against Christie, the governor of New Jersey, and Bush, former governor of Florida. Bush and Christie this week secured the services of respected party operatives in Iowa who were previously loyal to Romney – David Kochel for Bush and Phil Valenziano for Christie – a development that may have helped the former Massachusetts governor come to his senses. Romney’s departure sets up a possible head-to-head contest on the centre-right. “It makes room for other candidates like Governor Christie, who might have been squeezed out, to be more competitive,” said John Weaver, a senior adviser to Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign. “But it also makes Jeb more of a frontrunner than he was.”


In a call to allies to announce he was stepping aside, Romney appeared to lean toward endorsing a candidate more like Christie, a boisterous 52-year-old free from historic baggage, who appears determined to soon make the leap from Trenton to the national stage. “I believe that one of the next generation of our Republican leaders, one who may not be as well known as I am today, one who has not yet taken their message across the country, one who’s just getting started, may well emerge as being better able to defeat the Democratic nominee,” said Romney, who is 67. “In fact, I expect and hope that to be the case.” Bush – the son and brother of two presidents, who turns 62 next month and has not run for office in more than 12 years – does not fit that bill. And immediately after Romney’s call to supporters, the New York Times reported that he would be having dinner with Christie on Friday evening . Romney is said to personally dislike Bush. Sitting on a fortune of at least $250m, the Bain Capital founder apparently considers Bush’s business record to be small-fry. Bush’s cautious and half-hearted support in 2012 also rankled in Romneyworld. “Christie endorsed Romney very early, before New Hampshire, and Bush only came on basically after it was a fait accompli that Romney was going to be the nominee,” said one senior Republican strategist, a veteran of the 2012 contest. “Sometimes people keep score of that kind of stuff.”



A mantra reportedly popular in Romney’s circle that apparently fuelled his flirtation with a 2016 campaign held that Jeb would flounder against the presumed Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton. “A Bush can’t beat a Clinton,” it went. But a PPP poll released earlier on Friday indicated that Jeb may well get the chance to try. While Romney led the party pack with 21%, some 74% of Republican primary voters said they would prefer someone else to be the nominee. With Bush snapping at Romney’s heels on 17% – a margin easily closed as the advantage derived from Romney’s name recognition as “the last guy” faded – Christie, a distant seventh on just 7%, is in need of some help. The lukewarm reception that Christie received at last weekend’s Freedom Summit in Des Moines, Iowa, reflected the fact that conservatives remain intensely distrustful of him. He is perceived by some as a moderate northerner whose adoption of opposition to abortion rights and gun control earlier in his career show that he is not one of them. Some Republicans fear that Christie’s vaunted retail political skills could be overshadowed by his abrasive manner when he is confronted by voters who disagree with him. “I could be wrong, but I have a hard time seeing that go over well in coffee shops and diners and American Legions in Iowa and New Hampshire,” said Weaver. The supposed warmth between Romney and Christie implied by the prompt disclosure of Friday’s dinner date contrasted with a boilerplate statement of thanks issued via Facebook by Bush. “Mitt is a patriot and I join many in hoping his days of serving our nation and our party are not over,” he said.



Christie raised money for Romney in 2012 and joined him several times on the campaign trail, delivering a memorable endorsement on a frigid and rainy morning in West Des Moines in the final days before the Iowa caucuses. And while Christie owes his career to former president George W Bush, who rewarded his prolific fundraising in 2000 with the job of US attorney for New Jersey, he has shown no sign of respectfully getting in line behind George’s younger brother in 2016. Yet an alliance between Romney and Christie would also require a rapprochement. Relations between the two had chilled badly even before Romney’s crushing defeat by Barack Obama in November 2012. The New Jersey governor dumbfounded the Romney campaign by saying that he should release his tax returns “sooner rather than later” at the height of a Democratic-led campaign to force Romney to disclose them. Christie thanked them for giving him the keynote slot at the Republican National Convention – effectively a coronation ceremony for the presidential nominee – by shamelessly delivering a speech all about his own brilliance rather than Romney’s. Then, on the eve of the general election, and to the astonishment of many Republicans, he stood alongside Obama and praised the president’s surefooted response to hurricane Sandy. On top of all that, Christie exasperated Romney aides with what has been described as chronic tardiness on the campaign trail. Team Romney, however, had their revenge. In a move that took the breath away from even hardened campaign veterans, they explained in great detail to the authors of Double Down – the sequel to the blockbuster 2008 campaign chronicle Game Change – that the vetting of Christie by Romney’s vice-presidential search team had turned up a horror show. “The vetters were stunned by the garish controversies lurking in the shadows of his record,” wrote Mark Halperin and John Heilemann . As Ted Newton, one of the senior Romney aides running the process, apparently put it: “When you look below the surface, it’s not pretty.” The authors also disclosed that Romney was disdainful of Christie’s obesity.






cont'


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/01/must-stop-jeb-romney-prepares-to-make-peace-with-christie/

January 30, 2015

Is Netanyahu BACKPEDALING On Congressional Visit?

Since Speaker John Boehner announced that he invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak to Congress on Iran, it has become a smoldering story about how Republicans broke protocol by bypassing the administration and the State Department to invite a foreign leader to try to shape U.S. foreign policy - while we're in negotiations with Iran. Robert Kagan, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution writes in the WaPo five reasons why Bibi should decline the invite.

Bibi is also facing a backlash at home for his choice:



The NY Times reported that Netanyahu started speaking to Dems to try and soften them up, but Senator Harry Reid told him that if he comes "it will hurt him" and Nancy Pelosi said it “could send the wrong message in terms of giving diplomacy a chance.” In a good interview with Israel's Ambassador Ron Dermer conducted by Jeffrey Goldberg, Dermer said that Benjamin Netanyahu meant no disrespect to President Obama.




I don't think anyone believes that for a second. They know the protocol. Every American who pays attention understands the tension between Israel and Iran and knows exactly how Netanyahu stands on the matter, so the obvious point of his visit is to undermine the administration's negotiations with Iran. This was all instigated by Speaker John Boehner and Republicans in Congress. As usual, they look like fools doing it.



I rarely write about Israeli politics for many reasons, but this is not about Israel. The GOP is trying to undermine America's foreign policy by using a foreign leader to speak against their own country, and that is flat out wrong.



http://crooksandliars.com/2015/01/netanyahu-backpedaling-congressional-visit

January 29, 2015

NINE DEMOCRATS JOIN 53 Republicans In APPROVING KEYSTONE XL. President Obama's VETO Certain

attribution: inhabitat.com


There were no real surprises in the Senate vote to force construction of the 1,179-mile northern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline Thursday. Sixty votes were needed and the tally of senators in favor was 62, with 36 opposed. That included all the Republicans who were present and nine Democrats, all of whom had backed the pipeline in previous votes.

The nine:

Michael Bennet of Colorado,
Tom Carper of Delaware,
Bob Casey of Pennsylvania,
Joe Donnelly of Indiana,
Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota,
Joe Manchin of West Virginia,
Claire McCaskill of Missouri,
Jon Tester of Montana and
Mark Warner of Virginia.


Before the bill hits the president's desk, probably next week, the Senate version must be approved by the House or meshed with the already-passed House version. House leaders haven't decided whether to pass the Senate bill without amendment or reconcile the two bills, which would mean changes in both that would require a vote in both houses. This isn't the first time that Congress has tried to force President Obama to approve the pipeline. He overruled an attempt in 2012. The White House has indicated from the minute that the current bill was proposed last year by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that Obama would veto it because it overrides presidential authority over approving international pipelines. That process has been governed by executive orders dating back to 1968 and most recently updated in 2004 by President Bush. Presidents have made decisions on pipelines, bridges and tunnels that cross international boundaries since the Grant administration. The evaluation process is delegated to the State Department. It includes an 11-volume environmental impact statement, review of more than two million public comments and reviews by eight federal agencies and departments. Those agency reviews are due to be delivered to the State Department on Monday. Evaluating them and writing a recommendation for a decision on the pipeline could take several weeks, meaning a decision might not be made until March.

Coral Davenport reports:






http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/29/1361002/-Nine-Democrats-join-53-Republicans-in-approving-Keystone-XL-President-Obama-s-veto-certain

January 29, 2015

Sanders: Hillary 'PROBABLY NOT' Bold Enough For 2016

I'm guessing he wasn't real pleased at reading with his morning coffee that Hillary Clinton sees no real competition in the Democratic primary:





http://crooksandliars.com/2015/01/sanders-hillary-probably-not-bold-enough

January 29, 2015

BIBI SPEECH May Cost Him Election – Opposition Building Against ‘REPUBLICAN SENATOR FROM ISRAEL’

Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned speech before the US Congress may cost him his position as Prime Minister, it turns out. For the opposition Labor-Hatnuah alliance, called the “Zionist Camp,” the speech could not have been better timed. The coalition, running in opposition to Netanyahu’s Lukid Party, has jumped on the plan as another example of the embattled Israeli leader being, as some now call him, “the Republican Senator from the great State of Israel.” In the latest polls, we find Netanyahu’s Lukid party coming in solidly behind Zionist Camp, with the other parties all gathering small pieces of the seats left over for Israel’s parliament, the Knesset. Of note, the Yisrael Beiteinu party, Lukid’s current partner in the ruling coalition, has lost so many seats in polling that it only barely qualified to even run a ticket, meaning that even if Lukid holds on to each seat it currently has, it still will lose power in the next Knesset. It is a major uphill battle for Netanyahu at this point.


But, despite this obvious position of strength, the Zionist Camp seems unable to fully capitalize on the situation. Instead of pushing, they seem to be holding back. They could be angling for an alliance, or waiting to pounce on Netanyahu closer to election time. In an attempt to pander to voters, Lukid added two women to their ticket in the hopes of getting more female voters to turn out. Even the usual tactic of starting a conflict with its neighbors is now backfiring, as Israeli citizens now find Lukid more likely to cause conflict than to defend themselves. Instead he is now being viewed as causing strife with Israel’s international partners. As Eytan Gilboa, a professor at Bar Ilan University who specializes in political communication and Israeli-American relations puts it:

"..It’s a huge miscalculation. People are now questioning his judgment. If the opposition would not just focus on economic and social issues, but also argue against his claims on security and foreign policy, I think this exercise might backfire...”

The perception that the Prime Minister would cause diplomatic tensions in order to pander to a base in politics is not bolstering his position as hoped. Instead, Netanyahu is finding support waning, and he is now under strong pressure to postpone, or even cancel his speech entirely. But at this point, the damage may have already become impossible for him to repair. Add to this situation, Mr. Netanyahu parading himself before a foreign government in order to incite another war? The Israeli people have simply had enough, according to the polls. A Zionist Camp coalition with the Arab List, Meretz, Kulanu and Yesh Atid, based on current polling, would be incredibly close to controlling the Knesset. The next few weeks are critical now, to see if they can indeed remove Prime Minister Netanyahu from office.





cont'


http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/01/29/netanyahu-campaign/

January 28, 2015

Obama OUTFLANKS Boehner, Netanyahu

Back to the drawing board boys..........






When even Sen. Menendez is backing the POTUS' approach, you know Boehner and Netanyahu's attempt to diminish the office of our chief executive has backfired! The Dems giving Obama breathing room appears to be the combination of Obama's successful SOTU and Boehner and Bibi's cheap stunt. What's more, with the Dems committing to a deadline, Bibi's speech to bring on the sanctions is already DOA.





http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/27/1360508/-Breaking-Obama-outflanks-Boehner-Netanyahu

January 26, 2015

Only 12 Of The 64 DEMOCRATS Who VOTED FOR The Stupak Amendment Are STILL In The House

A lot has changed in the five-plus years since then- Rep. Bart Stupak forced a vote on an anti-choice amendment that nearly derailed the passage of the Affordable Care Act. If you weren't following the ins-and-outs of the health care reform debate back in 2009, Stupak, a Democrat, wanted language added to the ACA that would prohibit the use of federal funds from paying for abortions—even though the notorious Hyde Amendment had already done so for decades. Democrats held a wide majority in Congress at the time, but Stupak's retrograde amendment passed the House because 64 Democrats joined with all 176 Republicans to vote in favor of it. However, the amendment ultimately did not become law because there was insufficient support for it in the Senate—though President Obama did sign an executive order that purported to restrict abortion funding in order to placate Stupak's junta. The amendment also didn't save many Democratic hides the next year. As Ron Elving at NPR recounts, 2010's gigantic GOP tsunami, fueled by deep economic unease, swept out most of the Blue Doggish Democrats who had represented more conservative turf and had sided with Stupak. Those same trends have continued in the years since then, leaving just 12 Democrats in the House today who voted for the Stupak amendment. Below is the complete list, along with the percentage of the vote Obama took in each district in 2012:






In addition, Joe Donnelly now represents Indiana in the Senate. Back in 2009, most of the Stupak faction came from red districts. But except for Donnelly and Peterson, everyone above now holds a blue seat, and many are ardent Catholics who represent pro-labor Rust Belt turf. This is a phenomenon that mirrors the changes in the Democratic Party as a whole. As recently as 2010, Democrats sat in dozens of districts that historically had given their presidential vote to Republican candidates. Now, as the party's caucus has shrunk, only five members currently serve districts won by Mitt Romney. The country is simply more polarized than it once was, and the partisan realignment that began under Nixon is now all but complete. So if there's a silver lining to the Democrats' electoral woes in recent years, it's that our congressional caucus is much more progressive than it ever was. Indeed, last week, as Elving points out, just three Democrats—Cuellar, Lipinski, and Peterson—voted with the GOP on another anti-abortion measure. We have a long and difficult road back to the majority, particularly given Republican gerrymandering and our own terrible turnout in midterm elections. But when the Democrats do retake the House, it won't happen because of those old Blue Dog districts—our future lies in moderate suburban districts and areas with heavy minority growth. And when that day comes, it'll also mean that rebellions like Stupak's will be a thing of the past.









http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/26/1360314/-Only-12-of-the-64-Democrats-who-voted-for-the-Stupak-Amendment-are-still-in-the-House

January 26, 2015

HOW Will Obama PUNISH Netanyahu?

How far does Bibi Netanyahu think he can push Barack Obama before the president says “enough”? Think back to 2010, when Israel announced plans to build new settlements while Joe Biden was visiting the country. Even Hillary Clinton called that one “insulting.” There were other little digs, but then the WTF moment came when Netanyahu basically endorsed Mitt Romney in 2012, you will recall, inviting Romney and Sheldon Adelson over to Israel that summer. After Obama won, both sides assured their publics that all was still smelling of roses. We all knew those assurances were false, but at least they bothered to make them. But now, in the wake of the prime minister’s scandalous acceptance of Speaker John Boehner’s scandalous invitation to speak before Congress without even giving the White House notification, the false assurances are fewer and even more half-hearted. And into the mix we’re getting background statements like this one, from an Obama official last Friday: “We thought we’ve seen everything. But Bibi managed to surprise even us. There are things you simply don’t do. He spat in our face publicly and that’s no way to behave. Netanyahu ought to remember that President Obama has a year and a half left to his presidency, and that there will be a price.” The administration isn’t the only party here that’s steamed. As Josh Marshall noted Sunday, no less a figure than Michael Oren—the former Israeli ambassador to the United States, who was appointed by Netanyahu—thinks the speech should be canceled. Dianne Feinstein, one of the AIPAC-iest senators in Washington for many long years, says the speech—about Iran’s nuclear ambitions—is actually having the effect of making congressional Democrats lean against a new, tougher Iran-sanctions bill. Obama has said he’d veto it. Most Democrats, like most Republicans but to a lesser degree, side with Israel over Obama. But maybe not now.




Yes, yes, it’s not as if Obama is totally blameless here—right after he was first elected, he tried to pressure Netanyahu hard on settlements, and he quickly learned that on the issue of Israel, he wasn’t going to be bringing much change to Washington at all. But that’s now six years ago. Bibi has been kicking sand in the administration’s face ever since. So maybe change is finally coming to Washington on this issue—but it’s Netanyahu who is forcing the change, through his obnoxious behavior. But the question remains: What price can the administration make Netanyahu pay? That’s less clear, alas. It does, however, have some options. First, as pertains to the upcoming Israeli election: Obviously, Obama wants Netanyahu to lose. But equally obviously, he and his administration can’t do or say anything that appears to “meddle” directly in the election. A) that would be as bad as what Netanyahu did in 2012, and B) it would almost surely invite a pro-Bibi backlash among swing voters in Israel and help him coast to reelection. But if this controversy builds, as it’s sure to, and if Netanyahu stands pat and delivers the address, as he vowed Sunday he would, maybe the main thing the administration has to do is stay out of the way. A few more rebukes from a few more Feinstein types will certainly send the message to voters in Israel that their sitting prime minister has placed in grave jeopardy the one global relationship that keeps their country alive. Administration officials can, of course, privately prod such types to criticize Bibi, provided news of their efforts doesn’t leak.




If the winds are blowing in an anti-Bibi direction as the March 17 vote approaches (the polls right now are close and somewhat contradictory), then it will be up to administration spokesman Josh Earnest to let himself be asked about the election and to choose his words very carefully as he somehow conveys the message that if Israeli voters will be doing their country a big favor if they dump Netanyahu. There are ways. Hillary Clinton could play a pivotal role here if she chooses to. To my knowledge she hasn’t spoken publicly thus far on the Bibi speech. If she were to go public and say something, anything, even one of those understated-isn’t-the-word-for-it adjectives of which she’s so fond, she would be reminding Israelis: Oh yeah, she’s likely to be the next president, so it’s not just Obama’s remaining two years we need to worry about, but maybe the next ten, and if she’s had it with Bibi, maybe we really should switch gears. It’s worth remembering here that her husband helped knock Netanyahu out in 1999, when Clintonista James Carville advised Ehud Barak’s winning campaign. There are other pressure points beyond the election. Europe is stiffening sanctions against Israel, as Ha’aretz reported last November. The normal role of the United States here would be to talk quietly to its European allies and say, “go easy here and there.” Maybe we’d be less inclined to do that now. Down the road, there’s the question—never discussed here in the States, but mentioned several times to me when I was in Israel last fall—of the UN veto. Forty-plus times since 1972, the United States has blocked UN measures that would have either sanctioned Israel or expressed support for the Palestinian statehood cause. For the United States to stop that practice would be, as a well-informed friend of mine put it, “the nuclear button.” I wouldn’t look for that anytime soon, but if Netanyahu is reelected and the obstreperous behavior continues, some kind of change in our Middle East posture at the UN seems hardly out of the question.







cont'


http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/26/how-will-obama-punish-netanyahu.html

January 25, 2015

Ex-Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren: Netanyahu Should CANCEL SPEECH

A former Israeli ambassador to the United States said Saturday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should cancel his upcoming March address to Congress on Iran at the invitation of House Speaker John Boehner's request.





The White House has called Netanyahu address at Boehner's request, done without consultation with the Obama administration, a breach of diplomatic protocol. President Barack Obama will not meet with Netanyahu when he visits, with the White House citing the March 17 Israeli elections. Oren was tabbed late last year to run for a seat in the Israeli legislature with the centrist Kulanu Party in the March elections. He had been appointed as ambassador to the United States by Netanyahu, who leads the right-wing Likud Party, in 2009. He served in the post until 2013.




http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/israeli-ambassador-oren-netanyahu-congress

January 24, 2015

IF BIBI Netanyahu Speaks To Congress, It Should Be (a) At A Better Time & (b) By Presidential Invite

Until proper banners can be printed up for display in both houses of Congress, I think the leadership in each should arrange with artisic members of their caucus to provide a supply of bedsheets to be hung in their chambers emblazoned with the increasingly well-earned call to arms:



While the nutters bask in the glow of attention rarely paid to the criminally insane, it would be easy just to take each new manifestation of their psychosis and scumbaggery in stride. But I don't think we can automatically let go of the concept of "going too far," and there's a case to be made that the invitation by House Speaker "Sunny John" Boehner to Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress is a case in point. Of course the GOP congressional scumnuts are thrilled with the opportunity to simultaneously bash the president while glorifying their own stinking selves, throw a monkey wrench into our foreign-policy-making apparatus, make our difficult relations with Iran even more difficult, and exalt -- and help reelect -- a despicable homocidal thug. However, while these may all be beautiful outcomes for the scumnuts, there may be other, more important considerations. J Street is kinder than I would be to the idea of a thug like Bibi addressing Congress.



The man is a disgrace -- a disgrace to Israel, to Jews everywhere, a disgrace to the human genome. Of course I don't suppose the J Street folks can say that. What they do say, though, is that "the timing here couldn't be worse." Per J Street founder-president Jeremy Ben-Ami's letter:



"This is not the time," the J Streeters sum up, "for this politically motivated speech." So J Street has gotten up a petition for us to sign and send to our Democratic members of Congress.







cont'


http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com