May 14 (Photo: Pete Souza)
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Today:
11:0: The President delivers remarks at the National Peace Officers Memorial Service (White House live)
12:30: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney (White House live)
1:0 Attorney General Eric Holder appears before the House Judiciary Committee (C-Span 3)
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FUN FACT: A Democratic president has never cut a Republican’s deficit in half without being impeached.
— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) May 15, 2013
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Steve Benen: Yesterday’s news from the Congressional Budget Office on the shrinking deficit came as something of a shock to those who pay attention to such things. We knew the budget deficit was getting smaller, but we didn’t realize just how quickly the perceived problem was vanishing — we’re now looking at over $400 billion in deficit reduction in just one year, and about $800 billion in deficit reduction since President Obama took office.
There are several important angles to this, but perhaps the most politically salient one is the way in which the shrinking deficit leaves Republican talking points in tatters. GOP arguments about President Obama’s fiscal recklessness now look absurd….
More here
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Please return your washed and folded deficit crisis jerseys to the RNC and you will be given new scandal jerseys.
— pourmecoffee (@pourmecoffee) May 15, 2013
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Washington Post: The budget deals of the past two years and a recovering economy are rapidly mopping up the tide of red ink that swept over Washington after the 2007 recession.
After four years of budget deficits in excess of $1 trillion, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office forecast Tuesday that this year’s deficit will plummet to $642 billion….
That’s $200 billion lower than the CBO forecast in February. Analysts attributed the sunnier outlook to higher-than-expected tax revenue and about $95 billion in higher payments from mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are profiting from a recovering housing market.
The forecast puts the nation on track for its smallest deficit since 2008, before the recession hit in full force.
More here
But….
NYT: …. many economists are cautioning that the deficit is coming down too fast, too soon. “It’s good news for the budget deficit and bad news for the jobs deficit,” said Jared Bernstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-of-center research group in Washington. “I’m more worried about the latter.”
More here
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Current @politico home page should be preserved for posterity. A dozen stories on #IRS, plus many on Benghazi & AP. Zero on deficit.
— Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis) May 15, 2013
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Steve Benen: …. As Josh Marshall explained, “…. Karl’s follow on piece is entitled ‘More Details on Benghazi Talking Points Emerge’ but the substance is, ‘How the Story Changes When I Realize the Notes I Was Using Weren’t Reliable.’ The answer here is that Karl pretty clearly got burned by his source. But he at least seriously singed himself by making it really, really look like he was looking at the emails themselves when he wasn’t.”
Right. ABC’s Karl originally told his audience that he’d “obtained” White House materials, when in fact he’d seen summaries, apparently provided by a Republican staffer on Capitol Hill, which we now know were misleading. Karl received unreliable information, and seems to have been incomplete in how he characterized his direct knowledge of the information…..
Full post here
Steve Benen must be the politest man on planet earth: “Karl received unreliable information, and seems to have been incomplete in how he characterized his direct knowledge of the information”. In other words, he lied!
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Nothing makes media lazier than “scandal.” Then they lean on adjectives instead of facts. #readthelaw
— Lawrence O’Donnell (@Lawrence) May 15, 2013
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USA Today: The Benghazi hearings are drawing intense interest in Washington.
In the rest of the country, not so much.
A new poll by the Pew Research Center says only 44% of Americans are paying attention to congressional hearings on administration actions surrounding the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi, Libya.
That number is “virtually unchanged from late January when Hillary Clinton testified,” Pew reported. “Last October, 61% said they were following the early stages of the investigation at least fairly closely.”
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Imagine if 4,094 Americans were killed in #Benghazi. That’s the number killed by guns since Newtown. Only conspiracy is between GOP and NRA
— The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) May 15, 2013
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NYT: The 37th time won’t be the charm. But House Republicans are charging forward anyway this week on a vote to repeal President Obama’s signature health care overhaul, which will put the number of times they have tried to eliminate, defund or curtail the law past the three-dozen mark.
…. Three dozen is a lot for a bill that currently has no prayer of becoming law. But the figure 37 actually understates the amount of time Republicans have devoted to litigating and trying to dismantle the president’s biggest legislative accomplishment.
The repeal vote, which is likely to occur Thursday, will be at least the 43rd day since Republicans took over the House that they have devoted time to voting on the issue.
To put that in perspective, they have held votes on only 281 days since taking power in January 2011…
That means that since 2011, Republicans have spent no less than 15 percent of their time on the House floor on repeal in some way.
More here
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Yahoo: House Democrats will begin making robocalls to voters in 10 congressional districts Wednesday that target Republican lawmakers who support a new effort to repeal the 2010 federal health care law.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is paying for the calls, which according to a script obtained by Yahoo News, will warn voters that Republicans support putting “insurance companies back in charge of your health care.”
“The Republican Congress is scheduled to vote tomorrow to put insurance companies back in charge of your health care and repeal vital consumer protections and benefits that you’ve earned,” the voice on the call will say. “And your Congressman might be part of the problem. Tell [your congressman] to stand up for middle class families here in California—and don’t help the Republican Congress give insurance companies more control over your life.”
More here
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Odd that DC politicos and journalists keep whining that Obama doesn’t like schmoozing and kissing ass. I mean, it’s year five. Take a hint.
— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) May 15, 2013
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Funny, we’re not hearing much about this…..
Bloomberg: The Internal Revenue Service, under pressure after admitting it targeted anti-tax Tea Party groups for scrutiny in recent years, also had its eye on at least three Democratic-leaning organizations seeking nonprofit status.
One of those groups, Emerge America, saw its tax-exempt status denied, forcing it to disclose its donors and pay some taxes. None of the Republican groups have said their applications were rejected.
Progress Texas, another of the organizations, faced the same lines of questioning as the Tea Party groups from the same IRS office that issued letters to the Republican-friendly applicants. A third group, Clean Elections Texas, which supports public funding of campaigns, also received IRS inquiries.
More here
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The Obama Diary 
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