How smart is Ted Cruz?

Smarts don’t always equate to common sense. In the case of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), there is an inverse relationship between the two. I’m told by smart lawyers that he has a sharp legal mind, can think on his feet and has remarkable recall for facts, cases and even page numbers of the briefs. But his political judgment has become distorted by ambition.

Sen. Ted Cruz (Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA)

On CNN’s “State of the Union,” Cruz had the following exchange with Candy Crowley:

CROWLEY:  Do you agree with the fact that if someone actually does not support defunding Obamacare, if they are Republican that they ought to be replaced?

CRUZ:  What I agree with is I think now is the single best time to stop Obamacare, because there’s bipartisan agreement that it’s not working.  The wheels are coming off.  And because defunding it, if it doesn’t happen now, it’s likely never to happen.

Interestingly, he no longer is touting the line that Republicans unwilling to join the suicide squad ”own” Obamacare. Perhaps someone told him that among the obnoxious and untrue things he has said, this ranks at the top and will put him crosswise with a majority of those GOP senatorial candidates running in 2014.

They don’t call it “blind ambition” for nothing. The interview continued:

CROWLEY:  The president is never going to sign a bill that defunds Obamacare.

CRUZ:  You know, you may be convinced to that.

CROWLEY:  You’re not convinced to that?

CRUZ:  I am not at all.

Via: Washington Post

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Jesse Jackson: ‘Tea Party Is Resurrection of the Confederacy’

Jesse Jackson has no doubt that on the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, Republican opposition to President Obama’s policies is motivated by racial animus reminiscent of the Civil War-era South. “The tea party is the resurrection of the Confederacy, it’s the Fort Sumter tea party,” Jackson toldPolitico’s Glenn Thrush.

Jackson, who Thrush describes as the man “who more than anyone occupies the no man’s land between his mentor King and Obama,” is “absolutely” convinced that attempts to thwart the president’s agenda are motivated by his race.

The question “To what degree is the partisan gridlock that is frustrating his attempts to govern racially driven?” is one that President Obama himself is “begging to ask,” according Taylor Branch, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of a triology on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The president can’t publicly broach the topic, Branch said, because “the slightest mention of race could alienate the millions of white Americans who voted for him.”

The half-dozen aides Thrush interviewed for the article disagree with this assessment, saying that they have never heard Obama suggest that race is a factor in the opposition he faces from the GOP. “Bill Clinton was a white guy from the country, and they were just as vituperative,” said one. “But I don’t know what the president thinks about it.”

Via: National Review Online

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Salon, Daily Kos Accuse Laura Ingraham of Sound-effect 'Assassination' of Rep. John Lewis (Ingraham Rebuts)

Daily listeners to the Laura Ingraham show (like me) know that she likes to interrupt silly soundbites with an explosion sound effect. Somehow on the Left, this is now being characterized as an audio assassination. The Daily Kos carried the headline “Laura Ingraham Uses a Shotgun to Imagine Assassinating Rep. John Lewis During his MLK Speech.”

On Monday, Ingraham exploded the Lewis soundbite as he demanded “comprehensive immigration reform,” just before he used the ridiculous metaphor of illegal aliens hiding “in the shadows" -- she noted they were brought as guests to Obama's State of the Union address. Ingraham explained their sound effect to NewsBusters:

My producers and I have used this blow up effect to interrupt windbags for 10 years of political and cultural persuasions.  The cannon or "blow up" sound is meant to convey the gaseous thoughts of a speaker combusting, but of course the bilious Joan Walsh of Salon.com knows that. (My producers have even blown me up when we play long clips from TV appearances!)  

Par for the course--people with an ideological axe to grind are attempting to read malicious intent where none exists.  Their goal is not to debate, but to stifle speech. 

The Kos crowd and other leftist blogs didn’t think it was an assassination when Ingraham interrupted snippets of George W. Bush or John McCain or Lindsey Graham with the same sound effect. “TeamSarah4Choice” – abortion advocates should avoid loose talk about the politics of murder – can only imagine the very worst: 

Clearly, Laura Ingraham intended to give the illusion to her listeners that Rep. Lewis was assassinated in the middle of his speech.  Yeah, that's the mind-set of these rightwingers.  They spread lies, hate and now, Laura Ingraham takes her their listeners to wallow in her repugnant mind where she images using a shotgun to assassinate black Congressional leaders.

Who will Laura Ingraham envision using her shotgun to assassinate next?

Joan Walsh at Salon somehow heard a “crackling gunshot” from the “ignorant and vicious” conservative host:

I have to wonder why she chose to silence Lewis, symbolically at least, with a gunshot. It’s no coincidence she’s also an NRA mouthpiece whipping up fear that the government is coming for our guns. All of the white-grievance mongers are getting angrier, and their brew of pro-gun paranoia and white racial resentment is toxic. Ingraham should be ashamed of herself, but she’s just another rodeo clown, and she has no shame.

Ingraham told me: "This is absurd and venomous and the predictably pathetic work of people who mean to crush free speech as they advance a failing, progressive agenda.  If Joan Walsh or other left-wing loons give voice to their moronic, dishonest analysis, they might self-combust on my show, too.  Boom."

She also said "I referred to John Lewis as a 'trailblazing civil rights figure.' They're absurd."

Via: Newsbusters

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Labor Dept. freaks over MLK 'Jobs March,' advises day off, even without pay

The Labor Department, arguably the main focus of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech 50 years ago, is in a frenzy over the traffic Wednesday's 50th anniversary "March for Jobs and Justice" will cause, warning workers to telework or take the day off -- even if it's unpaid.

In an internal email that some see as richly ironic, employees at the Frances Perkins Building at the bottom of Capitol Hill are advised to skip town due to the congestion that the symbolic jobs march by Labor's HQ will cause. Elsewhere around the federal government, workers are being urged to telework to avoid traffic tie ups around town.

Below is the memo from Labor:

Sent: Monday, August 26, 2013

Subject: March on Washington / Workplace Flexibilities - Wednesday, August 28, 2013

This message is intended for all DOL employees in the Washington, D.C. area.

As many of you know, Wednesday, August 28, marks the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. While most of the commemorative events have taken place near the Lincoln Memorial, the "March for Jobs and Justice" planned for Wednesday morning will include a brief stop outside the Frances Perkins Building sometime after 9 am.

While the precise timing of the events are always fluid, according to the Office of Personnel Management employees who work in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area should expect delays and travel disruptions during the morning and evening commutes. The Federal Government in the Washington, DC, area will remain "Open" on August 28.

To help alleviate traffic congestion, there are several human resources flexibilities that will allow employees to continue to work, rearrange their work schedule, or take leave. These include:

Telework - Employees with a signed telework agreement may request supervisory approval to perform unscheduled telework if it's not their regular scheduled telework day.

Compressed Work Schedule - Employees on a compressed work schedule may request supervisory approval to use their day off.

Leave - Employees may request supervisory approval to take annual leave, leave without pay, and/or previously earned compensatory time off, earned credit hours or time off award.

If you have any questions please contact your servicing human resources office.

Via: Washington Examiner

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GOP senators plan to prevent special treatment for Congress under Obamacare

Two Republican senators have joined the fight against the Obamacare “fix” for Congress.

GOP lawmakers in the House are already planning to introduce legislation that would prevent members of Congress from receiving health care subsidies under Obamacare. That legislation comes on the heels of an Office of Personnel Management decision that would allow members and Congressional staff to keep their generous government contributions to healthcare costs after the Obamacare exchanges are in place.

On Tuesday, Louisiana Sen. David Vitter and Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi announced that they will also introduce legislation in September to prevent the Office of Personnel Management’s decision from taking effect

“If Obamacare is good enough for the American people, it should be good enough for Congress, the President and Vice President, and other policy makers in Washington,” Enzi said in a statement.

The pair’s legislation would require all members of Congress, the president, vice president, and political appointees to purchase health insurance on the exchanges without the taxpayer-funded government contributions.

Additionally, congressional staff would not be able to get a government contribution that is greater than what they would receive if they worked elsewhere.

“These recent maneuverings inside the beltway are precisely why the American people rightly despise Congress,” Vitter added. “Our legislation gets right to the core of the OPM ‘fix’ for Washington.”

Some worried that talented staffers would leave Congress unless they continued to receive healthcare subsidies under Obamacare.

Via: Daily Caller

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Individual Mandate Increasing Tax Paperwork Burden by 7.5 Million Hours

The IRS released its final regulation for the individual mandate tax on Tuesday, and Americans for Tax Reform celebrated the occasion by highlighting the effects of the individual mandate on taxpayers.

“Taxpayers will be forced to spend a total of 7.5 million hours each year complying with the new tax,” the group noted.

Each American will have to spend up to an additional 30 minutes each year filling out paperwork to comply with the mandate, the group added.

Americans for Tax Reform also noted that the latest regulation does not refer to the mandate as a tax, as it was ruled to be by the Supreme Court, but instead as a “Shared Responsibility Payment.”

The group then substituted the “Orwellian” phrase into several famous quips about taxes.

“There is no such thing as a good Shared Responsibility Payment,” said an amended Winston Churchill.

It is unclear if the Obama administration will use the new phrase when discussing higher taxes instead of the “fair share” euphemism they used during the election.

VIA: WFB

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California: Bullet Train Backers Defiant in the Face of the Law

Promoters of the California bullet train are behaving like a salesman who gets his foot in the door and won’t take “no” for an answer.

It was 2008 when voters approved $10 billion in bonds to kick start a high speed rail (HSR) building program. But they were promised a system whose total cost would be $45 billion, that additional money would be secured from sources including private investment and that the system would meet environmental concerns.

An expert study sponsored by the Reason Foundation and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Foundation showed the actual cost for this extravagant plan would approach $100 billion or more. “There are no genuine financial projections that indicate there will be sufficient funds,” the authors wrote.

However, the campaign for passage sponsored by special interest backers — including unions and contractors — focused on the promise that passengers could be whisked from Los Angeles to San Francisco in a little over two hours making the project look like a Ferrari at the cost of a used Ford Pinto.

Once the voters had given their approval and the actual costs of about $95 billion were revealed, with no private investment in sight, the voters started to catch on that they had been bilked. But Gov. Brown, who has taken ownership of the bullet train project with almost a boyish glee, responded to the public’s anger by pushing the High Speed Rail Authority to adjust the plan downward to one costing a more modest $65 billion. This reduction would be accomplished by using a “blended” approach, meaning that only part of the system would be high speed, while the rest would rely on conventional “low speed” rail facilities. As now envisioned, the plan is starting to look like a used Pinto at the cost of a Ferrari.

Needless to say, the failure to meet so many of the commitments contained within the ballot measure has generated numerous lawsuits. After Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny deliberated on the merits of one such suit, he determined that the High Speed Rail authority “abused its discretion by approving a funding plan that did not comply with the requirements of the law.” Gov. Brown remained defiant. “It’s not a setback,” he told reporters, adding, that the ruling “didn’t stop our spending, so we’re continuing. As we speak we’re spending money, we’re moving ahead.”

Via: California Political Review

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Al Jazeera America’s First Week of Ratings Are Here…

With distribution in less than half the households that its cable news competitors enjoy, Al Jazeera America has a long way to go in the television ratings game. That fact was apparent during the new channel’s first week on the air, in which itsmajor programs appeared to hover in the 30-40,000 range, with only one show topping 50,000 viewers.

That honor went to former CNN host Ali Velshi, whose Thursday evening broadcast of Real Money with Ali Velshi drew the week’s best number with 54,000 total viewers. Other relative high points included the 2pm Saturday edition of News Live with 48,000 viewers and the Thursday 12:30pmInside Story with 41,000.

The debut of the channel’s prime time centerpiece America Tonight with host Joie Chen brought in just 34,000 viewers. And the 3pm launch hour Tuesday, which mainly served as an explanatory promo for the network, had only 22,000 viewers, below Nielsen’s minimum accuracy threshold.

Considering all of the channel’s obstacles, these numbers could certainly be worse, but they are of course dwarfed by the ratings from CNN, MSNBC and especially Fox News. Looking at Tuesday through Friday last week, in terms of prime time total viewers, Fox averaged 1.574 million viewers, MSNBC average 509,000 and CNN averaged 450,000.

Watch the first 5 minutes of Al Jazeera America’s launch below, in case you weren’t one of the 22,000 people watching it live:

Via: Mediaite.com

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[FLASHBACK 2007] Biden: Impeachment if Bush bombs Iran

PORTSMOUTH — Presidential hopeful Delaware Sen. Joe Biden stated unequivocally that he will move to impeach President Bush if he bombs Iran without first gaining congressional approval.

Biden spoke in front of a crowd of approximately 100 at a candidate forum held Thursday at Seacoast Media Group. The forum focused on the Iraq war and foreign policy. When an audience member expressed fear of a war with Iran, Biden said he does not typically engage in threats, but had no qualms about issuing a direct warning to the Oval Office.

"The president has no authority to unilaterally attack Iran, and if he does, as Foreign Relations Committee chairman, I will move to impeach," said Biden, whose words were followed by a raucous applause from the local audience.

Biden said he is in the process of meeting with constitutional law experts to prepare a legal memorandum saying as much and intends to send it to the president.

When local resident Joel Carp asked Biden why not impeach now, given what has already been done, Biden said it was a valid point, but might not be constitutionally valid and potentially counterproductive. A case for impeachment must have clear evidence, Biden said, and blame should be directed at the right parties.

"If you're going to impeach George Bush, you better impeach (Vice President Dick) Cheney first," said Biden, again drawing applause.

Biden said the best deterrent to prevent pre-emptive military action in Iran is to make it clear, even if it is at the end of his final term, action will be taken against Bush to ensure "his legacy will be marred for all time."

Biden took shots at the Bush administration's idea to centralize government in Baghdad and called his decentralized plan the only way to political settlement. The recent decline in violence in Iraq, which some have credited to the surge, is the result of the military doing its job.

Via: Seacoastline

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