evening all

President Obama at the Associated Press Luncheon in Washington, D.C., April 3

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Steve Benen: This was, as advertised, an aggressive, unapologetic condemnation of the Paul Ryan/Mitt Romney budget agenda, and the ideology that led to its creation. Indeed, Obama practically mocked Republicans for having tested their trickle-down philosophy, failing spectacularly, and then becoming even more right wing as a consequence.

….. Of particular interest, though, was Obama’s take, not only on the GOP’s right-wing budget plan, but also on the GOP’s right-wing trajectory in general….the Republican Party in 2012 bears no resemblance to the Republican Party of years past.

… Republican leaders issued some press releases this afternoon, complaining that the president’s remarks were “tired” and “partisan.” None, however, could point to anything Obama got wrong in this speech.

More here

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James Downie (Washington Post): “This is not conjecture. I am not exaggerating,” President Obama declared in a speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors Tuesday afternoon. “These are facts.”

Those lines sum up what was best about a strong speech …. The president peppered it with facts…. Compare Obama’s words with Paul Ryan’s budget speech two weeks ago. The moment nonpartisan groups looked at the numbers Ryan and the Heritage Foundation had cooked up, Ryan’s claims collapsed ….the nonpartisan vetting exposed Ryan’s program, to put it in the president’s terms, as “laughable.”

More here

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President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden talk as they walk up a staircase in the West Wing of the White House, April 3. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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Joe Klein (Time): …. here’s what Mitt Romney had to say about immigration on Monday:

“This has always been a priority for the president he chooses to do nothing about,” Romney said. “Let the immigrant community not forget that while he uses this as a political weapon, he has not taken responsibility for fixing the problems we have.”

This is hilarious on several grounds….

More here

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Washington Post: A survey from the Public Religion Research Institute finds that most Jewish voters are sticking with President Obama despite concerted efforts from Republicans to woo this voting bloc. Sixty-two percent of Jewish voters would like to see Obama reelected, about the same as at this point in the 2008 campaign. Only 7 percent of those who backed him in 2008 would like to see a Republican win.

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LA Times: President Obama will introduce a new restoration of the 1962 courtroom drama “To Kill a Mockingbird” on April 7 on the USA Network.

…. “I’m deeply honored that President Obama will be celebrating the 50th Anniversary of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by introducing it to a national audience,” Harper Lee said in a statement. “I believe it remains the best translation of a book to film ever made, and I’m proud to know that Gregory Peck’s portrayal of Atticus Finch lives on – in a world that needs him now more than ever.”

USA is broadcasting “To Kill a Mockingbird” as part of its “Characters Unite” public-service campaign, a bid to combat discrimination through on-air programming, digital content and events….

Thanks Jovie

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Andrew Cohen (The Atlantic): ….. Who wins? It all depends upon Justice Kennedy’s conscience, Chief Justice Roberts’ sense of history, and whatever powers of persuasion the Court’s liberal wing has upon those two conservatives. Me? If I were explaining it to my son, I would say, “The Constitution is what the justices say it is, nothing more and nothing less. But this law is clearly within Congress’ power. And if the Court strikes it down, it will mean that five unelected judges will have blocked a good faith effort by elected officials to fix a problem that everyone acknowledges exists in this country.” If the Roberts Court strikes down this law, in other words, it ought to end any reasonable political debate about the source of “judicial activism” in America.

More here

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Liberal Librarian: But Both Parties Are The Same

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The Week

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Flickr

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Wednesday

9:30 AM: PBO hosts an Easter Prayer Breakfast; VP Biden also delivers remarks.

11:30 AM: Michelle Obama holds a conference call with reporters in the week leading up to the one-year anniversary of Joining Forces.

11:55 AM: PBO signs the STOCK Act; VP Biden also attends.

1:30 PM: Jay Carney briefs the press.

2:00 PM: Michelle Obama will visit the Fisher House located at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

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Cagle

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Thank you 4morefor44 😉

“marvelous”

Text of President’s remarks here

Video at C-Span

“I can’t remember a time when the choice between two competing visions of our future has been so unambiguously clear ….. In the months ahead I will be fighting as hard as I know how for this truer vision of what the USA is all about.”

President Obama speaks during the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) Convention on April 3

heads up: pbo speaks at the associated press luncheon

White House live

C-Span

CNN live streaming

 

rise and shine

CBS Sports

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12:30: White House llive and CNN Live streaming

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TPM: Today the presidential gloves really come off.

In a Tuesday speech hosted by the Associated Press in Washington, D.C., President Obama will deliver a broadside to the House-passed Republican budget, which calls for upending Medicare and making deep cuts to domestic social programs. Obama will describe it as a dark vision for America and draw a clear contrast with his campaign themes of reducing inequality and asking the wealthy to help pay down the nation’s debt.

“This congressional Republican budget, however, is something different altogether. It’s a Trojan Horse,” Obama plans to say, according to excerpts provided by the White House. “Disguised as deficit-reduction plan, it’s really an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country. It’s nothing but thinly veiled Social Darwinism. It’s antithetical to our entire history as a land of opportunity and upward mobility for everyone who’s willing to work for it — a place where prosperity doesn’t trickle down from the top, but grows outward from the heart of the middle class. And by gutting the very things we need to grow an economy that’s built to last — education and training; research and development — it’s a prescription for decline.”

More here

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Business Insider: Over the next eight hours, twenty automakers will report March auto sales in the U.S. Already, it appears the seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales will top all industry estimates, new data out of Business Insider shows.

First out the gate this month is Chrysler, with a better-than-expected sales gain of 34.2 percent, moving 163,381 units in March.

At that healthy gain, Business Insider estimates total U.S. SAAR will run between 15.2 million and 16.1 million. This is well above current estimates of 14.6 million units, per Bloomberg.

The last time auto sales topped an annualized pace of 15.2 million was four years ago, in February 2008.

More here

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Detroit News: Chrysler Group LLC sold 163,381 cars and trucks last month, translating into a 34 percent year-over-year increase and making March another stellar month for the Auburn Hills automaker.

Meanwhile, Ford Motor Co. said Tuesday that its auto sales were up 5 percent in March — the company’s best March in five years. And Hyundai Motor Co. said it set a new all-time record for U.S. auto sales in March, up 13 percent to 69,728 on strong sales of its fuel-efficient models.

More here

Thanks VC

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NYT: For several weeks, Mitt Romney has seized on the rising cost of gasoline to attack President Obama and his environmental aides for what Mr. Romney calls their misguided desire to see higher energy prices.

…. But Mr. Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, has in the past appeared much more open to the notion that rising energy costs could be good for the American economy. In his 2010 book, “No Apology,” Mr. Romney described a gradual increase in the cost of energy as the kind of market-based incentive that conservatives could embrace.

…. Charles Ebinger, the director of the energy security initiative at the Brookings Institution, said Mr. Romney’s openness to the benefits of higher energy prices was similar to the approach that Mr. Obama’s advisers had espoused for years.

More here

Steve Benen: ….. The main problem, as the New York Times reported today, is that Romney has already argued for the same policies he’s now against.

…. As governor, Romney also raised gas taxes — by 400% — and hired an energy advisor who opposes reduction in oil prices. Romney even pushed for more energy-efficient light bulbs, though he now opposes the idea.

Clearly, the former governor is aware of public concerns and wants to incorporate energy policy into the 2012 race, but between Romney’s Big Oil ties and his previous personas, it’s not going to be easy for him to stay coherent on the subject.

More here

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TPM: A new report by an independent government auditor concludes that implementing President Obama’s health care law as intended will make a significant dent in the long-term debt forecast.

…. it concludes that if key cost-control measures in the law, and other automatic cuts to Medicare spending baked into current law, are ignored, or overridden by Congress, the implications for the national debt are vast.

If “Obamacare” is implemented as intended, and other measures, such as automatic payment cuts to Medicare physicians, take effect, “spending on Medicare and Medicaid grows from 5 percent of GDP in 2010 to over 7 percent by 2030.”

By contrast, if Congress overrides those provisions, “spending on health care grows much more rapidly ….”

More here

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Morning everyone 😉