Greg Sargent: “Senate Democrats believe that they have several new votes in favor of a bill that would expand background checks for gun buyers, after weeks in which those who opposed the legislation faced strong political backlash at home. One of these votes currently in play may be Senator Johnny Isakson, who sponsored a background check bill on the state level in Georgia. A gun control advocate who met with Senator Isakson today tells me that he said he is open to voting for Manchin-Toomey if and when it comes up again — and that he is in active talks with Senator Joe Manchin about the measure.
To be sure, this is very little grounds, by itself, for hoping for future passage of Manchin-Toomey. After all, Dems need to flip five senators to break the GOP filibuster. But it is clear that Dem leaders really do want to hold another vote, that conversations are continuing, and that a few senators may be open to changing their stance. This will only encourage the gun reform forces to keep up the pressure, which is key.
Dylan Matthews: Robert Rector and Jason Richwine of the Heritage Foundation have made a splash by releasing a paper claiming that the immigration reform bill being weighed in the U.S. Senate will cost the government $5.3 trillion. Or, more precisely, that undocumented immigrants under current law will cost the government $1 trillion, and legalizing those immigrants will increase that to $6.3 trillion. Subtract one from the other and you get the $5.3 trillion total cost estimate.
So does the Heritage estimate hold up? Not really. They make a lot of curious methodological choices that cumulatively throw the study into question. It’s likely that immigrants would pay a lot more in taxes, and need a lot less in benefits, than Heritage assumes, and that other benefits would outweigh what costs remain. the best study we have on the fiscal effects of immigration reform, from the CBO, finds the impact to be minimal or positive. But the Heritage numbers simply are not credible.
Charles Pierce: Just as Darrell Issa and his merry men are ready to engage in another round of Outrage Kabuki on the subject of Benghazi, BENGHAZI!, BENGHAZI!!, some of the air is going out of the balloon already, and the high-pitched whistling seems to have reached a frequency that can be heard at the dog’s breakfast known as Fox And Friends.
And when you’ve lost a human tack-hammer like Brian Kilmeade, it’s going to be tough to sell anyone smarter, which is, you know, like, everybody.
Jonathan Bernstein: If you’re not inside the conservative information feedback loop, you might not be aware that within that loop the Benghazi “scandal” is still going at 100 percent strength. Months after the actual incident, which was back in September. Even though no one has ever made clear exactly what terrible secret was the subject of the supposed cover-up; even though a succession of “revelations” have all turned out to be nonsense (here’s one from just last week). Doesn’t matter; discredited accusations are just forgotten and new ones are substituted.
Dan Rather: “All of these things we’ve said about what the president could do, should do, might have, could have, but the central thing to keep in mind is his opponents — you talk about taking them out to dinner, making nice with them — these people, politically, want to cut his heart out and throw his liver to the dogs.”
****
Heritage vs. Heritage: Major immigration report released today directly contradicts its 2006 study thkpr.gs/107cMgE
Mitt Romney first introducing the Individual Mandate at Heritage in Jan. 2006
Great comment on YouTube:
“So essentially a conservative idea coming from a right-wing think tank, The Heritage Foundation, is an innovative free-market solution to health care. But if a Democrat introduces the idea, it’s a “socialist government power grab”, haha. Man, I can’t wait until the debates with Obama and Romney on healthcare!”
President Barack Obama participates in the annual hurricane preparedness briefing in the Situation Room of the White House, May 30, 2012. Seated clockwise from the President are: Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano; John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism; Daniel Poneman, Department of Energy Deputy Secretary; Eric Silagy, FP&L President; Bryan Koon, Florida Director of Emergency Management; Major General Emmett Titshaw, Florida Adjutant General; Chief of Staff Jack Lew; and Craig Fugate, Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
****
****
ABC: The Obama campaign is opening a new front in its war against GOP rival Mitt Romney, ABC News has learned, with planned attacks to begin this week on Romney’s record as governor of Massachusetts and the campaign promises Democrats say he left unfulfilled.
Team Obama will point to Romney’s rhetoric on job creation, size of government, education, deficits and taxes during the 2002 gubernatorial campaign and draw parallels with his presidential stump speeches of 2012. The goal is to illustrate that Romney has made the same promises before with unimpressive results, officials say.
….Massachusetts was 47th out of 50 states in job creation under Romney. In manufacturing jobs, Romney presided over a net loss of 40,000 jobs, a drop of 12 percent according to Labor Department data.
…. “He sold the same hooey in MA ten years ago, and then turned in one of the worst performances of any gov in the USA. 47th in job creation,” senior Obama strategist David Axelrod tweeted last week, hinting at the direction of the attacks to come.
…. Obama campaign officials say the latest line of attack will be a major focus from now through the election. It dovetails with a major $25 million positive TV ad campaign touting the president’s first-term record. A 14-page research document compiled by the campaign and obtained by ABC News reveals the breadth of material Democrats plan to deploy, listing dozens of examples of Romney rhetoric and corresponding video clips from 2002, 2012, and the comparative “results in Massachusetts”.
First lady Michelle Obama departs the White House to attend an event at Sidwell Friends School on May 30
****
****
Thursday:
12:10: PBO and Michelle Obama meet for lunch with George W. Bush, Laura Bush, George H.W. Bush, Barbara Bush and family members.
1:25: PBO and Michelle Obama welcome George W. Bush and Laura Bush for the official unveiling of their portraits; VP Biden, George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush will also attend.
President Obama shakes hands with U.S. Army Sgt. First Class Leroy Arthur Petry of Santa Fe, N.M., after being introduced by Petry, who received the Medal of Honor, before speaking at the White House Forum on American Latino Heritage
The Obama Diary 
You must be logged in to post a comment.