Rise and Shine

Three years ago today – Pete Souza: “Another snowstorm blanketed Washington for the second time in a few days. Because it was a Saturday, I hung around the White House thinking that the President might venture out in the snow with his daughters. Here they are playing in the Rose Garden in the midst of the storm.” Feb. 6, 2010

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Today:

9:50: President Obama departs the White House

10:10: Arrives in Annapolis, Md.

10:30: Attends the Senate Democratic Issues Conference

11:30: Jay Carney briefs the press

12:25: President Obama departs Annapolis

12:45: Arrives at the White House

2:0 Will announce nomination of Sally Jewell to head the Interior Department

4:0: Secretary of State John Kerry is ceremonially sworn in by Vice President Biden in Washington

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Washington Post: President Obama on Wednesday will nominate Recreational Equipment (REI) chief executive Sally Jewell to head the Interior Department….

The choice of Jewell, who began her career as an engineer for Mobil Oil and worked as a commercial banker before heading a nearly $2 billion outdoors equipment company, represents an unconventional choice for a post usually reserved for career politicians from the West.

But while she boasts less public policy experience than other candidates who had been under consideration, Jewell, who will have to be confirmed by the Senate, has earned national recognition for her management skills and support for outdoor recreation and habitat conservation.

More here

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OFA

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ThinkProgress: Endorsements from the National Rifle Association might be doing political candidates more harm than good, according to a new poll from Public Policy Polling.

In a national survey, 39 percent of voters said that they are less likely to vote for a politician whose candidacy has garnered NRA backing. Only 26 percent believe they’re more likely to support such a candidate.

But more importantly, the number of independent voters are far less likely to see the NRA nod as a good thing: 41 percent say they’re inclined not to support a candidate who’s backed by the NRA…..

More here

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USA Today: President Obama will visit Israel this spring, though specific dates haven’t been nailed down.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama discussed the visit in a Jan. 28 phone call with newly re-elected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

As part of the trip, Obama will also travel to the West Bank and Jordan.

More here

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Reuters: Home Depot Inc said it will hire 10,000 additional seasonal workers for its key spring selling season as it sees higher sales growth during the period.

The home-improvement retailer said it will hire 80,000 seasonal workers this year, 14 percent more than it hired last year.

More here

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Steve Benen – see here

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NYT: The flaws in the American election system are deep and widespread, extending beyond isolated voting issues in a few locations and flaring up in states rich and poor, according to a major new study from the Pew Charitable Trusts.

The group ranked all 50 states based on more than 15 criteria, including wait times, lost votes and problems with absentee and provisional ballots, and the order often confounds the conventional wisdom.

In 2010, for instance, Mississippi ranked last over all. But it was preceded by two surprises: New York and California.

More here

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ThinkProgress: During the November 2012 election, Black and Hispanic voters waited nearly twice as long to vote as whites, according to a Massachusetts Institute of Technology analysis. New York Times graphs summarizing the analysis show that white voters waited an average of 12.7 minutes, while Black and Hispanic voters waited an average of 20.2 minutes

More here

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TPM: When President Obama won in November the electorate also rendered a verdict on the priorities of the two major political parties. Democrats, most voters believe, are more concerned with the plight of the middle class than Republicans, who ran on a platform of actually lowering income taxes on wealthy Americans.

In the intervening months, Republican operatives have become practitioners of a new kind of alchemy, attempting with little success to convince voters that the right’s long-standing agenda is actually an array of policies that coincidentally meets the needs of the middle class.

Enter House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who’s hit upon a new plan. If you can’t turn lead into gold, go out and buy some gold paint.

More here

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Thank you LovelyPlains!

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NYT: Essie Mae Washington-Williams, who lived for decades with a stunning secret — that she was the interracial daughter of Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, a former segregationist who never acknowledged her publicly as his child — died Monday in a nursing home near Columbia, S.C. She was 87.

Strom Thurmond never publicly acknowledged that he was Ms. Washington-Williams’s father.

Six months after her father died at age 100 as the longest-serving senator in history, Ms. Washington-Williams broke her silence.

“My father’s name was James Strom Thurmond,” she said at a news conference in a hotel ballroom in Columbia on Dec. 17, 2003

More here

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I hooted, in a loud snorty kind of way:

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And now that Dick Morris is leaving Fox, it’s a good time to recall what a brilliant political-predicting-pundit he was:

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MooOOOOooOOOOooorning!

Make Some Calls – Like This Fella

Columbus, Nov 5

OFA

Visiting a campaign office in Chicago today

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Tumblr

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Rise and Shine

OFA

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10:50: President Obama departs the White House

12:25: Arrives Nashua, New Hampshire

2:15: Delivers remarks at a campaign rally at Elm Street Middle School, Nashua

4:30: Vice President Biden, Jill and Beau Biden campaign in Lynchburg, Virginia (live on C-Span)

5:05: President Obama departs Nashua

6:45: Arrives White House

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On Wednesday, the President will travel to Cincinnati, Ohio and Akron, Ohio for campaign events. In the evening, the President and the First Lady will welcome local children and children of military families to trick-or-treat at the North Portico of the White House.

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Col. Lawrence Wilkerson:

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Paul Krugman: For a few days there the Romney campaign was boasting a lot about having Big Mo — and the press corps actually fell for it, briefly. At this point, however, the reality seems to be sinking in: if Romney has Big Mo, it looks like this:

Despite the Denver Debacle and its aftermath, state polls are showing a clear Obama lead in the electoral college, which if anything is getting a bit stronger….

Why? Jonathan Cohn singles out the auto bailout, and rightly so. I’d add, however, that the killing of Osama bin Laden mattered too …. what the auto rescue and the bin Laden strike have in common is that they were both very courageous decisions — decisions that could easily have gone wrong, that faced lots of second-guessing. You can criticize Obama for many things (and I have, and will in future), but he showed true grit when it mattered, and now seems likely to reap the reward.

Full post here

Thank you Criquet

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Truly, Steve Benen is heroic trying to keep track of all these lies

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In case you missed it:

Link

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If you can bear to see Trump’s face, make sure you look at the clip of him on Letterman (at the very start of the video)

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Thank you Meta

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Charles Blow: The saying goes: A man is known by the company he keeps. If that is true, what does the company Mitt Romney keeps say about him?

….. Sununu has apologized, somewhat, for his racial attack on Powell’s motives. But what should we make of all this?

We have a very racially divided electorate …. I worry that Sununu’s statements intentionally go beyond recognizing racial disparities and seek to exploit them.

What does that say about Romney, and what does it say about his campaign’s tactics?

Remember: A man is known by the company he keeps.

Full article here

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Maddow Blog: ‘Susan B. Anthony would be appalled’

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Mediaite: Bill Maher used his final New Rule of the night to warn voters unhappy with President Obama of the political and social consequences of the other guy winning. Maher argued that Mitt Romney winning the presidency would not just be a victory for him, but for every Republican extremist Romney has ever supported in his recent political career. Maher said Romney “may seem like a nice fella,” but he’s “a compulsive liar whose whole life is secret” and would bring too much unwanted baggage into a relationship with America.

…. Maher also warned about the “fresh can of nuts” in Congress with wildly anti-scientific beliefs that would have more free reign under a Republican administration. Maher said that a Republican in the White House would mean the return of “Bible-thumping bullshit” in government.

More here (video at the link)

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Las Vegas, Oct 26 – report and more photos at the Las Vegas Sun. C-Span will have the video of the speech some time today – see here

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😎

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Cagle

McClatchy

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Moooooooorning everyone! Will catch up with emails today, I’m waaaaaaay behind.

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PS:

Rise and Shine

‏@NoShock

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Today:

EDT

11:0: The President departs the White House

PDT

1:20: Arrives Los Angeles

2:0: Attends a campaign event at a private residence (closed press)

6:05: Delivers remarks at the Nokia Theater, Los Angeles (pooled for television)

9:15: Delivers remarks at the Ritz-Carlton, LA (print pool coverage)

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A woman in the audience holds a handwritten sign reading “Still Voting for Obama, See No Reason to Change” at a campaign rally with Mitt Romney in Apopka, Florida, October 6 (Reuters)

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@JeffersonObama / @Jeremy10036

Yes, you read right: They have Mitt Romney winning the African American vote in Colorado 58-40. 😆

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Tumblr: “Steven wanted to let the world know he supports President Obama — so he painted a 20-foot logo on his roof that you can see from the planes taking off from the San Francisco airport.”

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OFA

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The Road to November

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All set?

Thanks Dudette 😉

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Link – thanks BWD

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@GeorgeTakei

Thanks again Dudette!

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Thank you Yardarm

wrap-up

Read about the winners here – The President will present the Citizens Medals at the White House tomorrow (Thursday)

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GOPolitico: President Obama returns to DC weary, depressed and decidedly downcast after bus tour

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GOPolitico: Tension in Obama marriage?

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So, I started this Drive for Five (Thousand) this evening…

….. thinking it would take a week or three to get even close. But a couple of hours later….

You people are amazing. Thank you so much.

(Just to make absolutely clear, this money goes direct to Obama/Biden 2012 at barackobama.com, not to The Obama Diary!)

See you tomorrow 😉

mobs?

Steve Benen: …. At this point two years ago, Republicans quickly became outraged if Democrats dared to criticize so-called “Tea Party” activists. After all, how could Dems have the audacity to disparage law-abiding Americans speaking out against abuses that offend them? How could Democrats have the gall to condemn sincere patriots who want to have their voices heard?

Two years later, Cantor is entirely comfortable chastising Americans who disagree with his failed, regressive economic vision as a “mob.” How tolerant of him.

…. Is it “pitting Americans against Americans” when Cantor and his cohorts to go after Planned Parenthood, its employees, its patients …. unions, school teachers, trial lawyers, scientists, economists, journalists, community organizers, and advocates for the poor?….

Or does the dimwitted Majority Leader believe “pitting Americans against Americans” is fine just so long as the Republican Party doesn’t like the Americans on the receiving end of the criticism?

Full post here

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November 2009:

‘obama calls the gop’s bluff’

Eugene Robinson (Washington Post): Here’s how to negotiate, GOP-style: Begin by making outrageous demands. Bully your opponents into giving you almost all of what you want. Rather than accept the deal, add a host of radical new demands. Observe casually that you wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to the hostage you’ve taken – the nation’s well-being. To the extent possible, look and sound like Jack Nicholson in The Shining.

This strategy has worked so well for Republicans that it’s no surprise they’re using it again, this time in the unnecessary fight over what should be a routine increase in the debt ceiling. This time, however, something different is happening: President Obama seems to be channeling Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver. At a news conference last Wednesday, Obama’s response to the GOP was, essentially, “You talkin’ to me?”

Obama’s in-your-face attitude seems to have thrown Republicans off their stride….

….The stakes are perilously high, but Obama does have a doomsday option: If all else fails, he can assert that a section of the 14th Amendment – “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law . . . shall not be questioned” – makes the debt limit unconstitutional and instructs him to take any measures necessary to avoid default.

Maybe that’s why, in this stare-down, the president doesn’t seem inclined to blink.

Full article here

more of this, please

RollCall: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has launched a round of robocalls targeting 13 Republicans. The calls, according to a sample script released by the DCCC, hammer away at Democrats’ message of criticizing the GOP’s budget plan to dramatically overhaul Medicare.

The calls hit Members for voting in favor of Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget blueprint, noting the GOP’s “plan to end Medicare actually increases the debt by almost $2 trillion because of more tax breaks for millionaires and corporations.”

Democrats believe their Medicare messaging was a key component of their win in New York’s 26th Congressional district, where now-Rep. Kathy Hochul beat Republican Jane Corwin.

The calls target Republican Reps. Ben Quayle (Ariz.), Daniel Webster (Fla.), Steve King (Iowa), Bobby Schilling (Ill.), Charles Bass (N.H.), Jon Runyan (N.J.), Joe Heck (Nev.), Nan Hayworth (N.Y.), Ann Marie Buerkle (N.Y.), Steve Chabot (Ohio), Lou Barletta (Pa.), Kristi Noem (S.D.) and Scott Rigell (Va.).