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via Michael Cooper, The New York Times How well the new health care law succeeds in covering millions of the poorest Americans will depend largely on undecided governors of both parties, who gathered here this weekend and spoke of the challenges of weighing the law’s costs and benefits in a highly charged political atmosphere and … Continue reading
via Laura Bassett, The Huffington Post For years, Democrats and progressive women’s groups have characterized Republican attempts to limit access to abortion — such as mandatory ultrasounds and mandatory waiting periods before abortions — as the ultimate government intrusion into a woman’s personal medical decisions. On Thursday, conservatives usurped the very same pro-choice rhetoric to … Continue reading
via Pam Belluck, The New York Times Leticia Parra, a mother of five scraping by on income from her husband’s sporadic construction jobs, relied on the Planned Parenthood clinic in San Carlos, an impoverished town in South Texas, for breast cancer screenings, free birth control pills and pap smears for cervical cancer. But the clinic … Continue reading
via Jeff Zeleny and Michael D. Shear, The New York Times Gov. Rick Perry of Texas dropped out of the Republican presidential race here on Thursday and announced his endorsement for the candidacy of Newt Gingrich, a man he called a “conservative visionary.” “I’ve never believed that the cause of conservatism is embodied by one … Continue reading
via Steve Kornacki, Salon Mitt Romney has gotten to be pretty good at playing dumb, and he showed it Sunday morning. The setting was the fifteenth Republican presidential debate, the final such event before Tuesday’s Republican presidential primary. One of the most baffling features of the previous debates — including the one held just ten hours before … Continue reading
via Maggie Haberman, Politico If it’s Sunday, it’s meet the candidates. In a debate moderated by “Meet the Press” host David Gregory, the six remaining major GOP presidential hopefuls took the stage for the second time in 12 hours — and this one was a far livelier and entertaining debate than the forum the night … Continue reading
via Sarah Wheaton, The New York Times On the morning before Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses, Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota said she was counting on a “miracle” to resurrect her faltering campaign. On the morning after, she acknowledged that it was beyond saving. Mrs. Bachmann said on Wednesday morning that she would not continue her campaign … Continue reading
via Laura Bassett, The Huffington Post In the competition for the toughest anti-abortion stance in Iowa, GOP candidates this week have adopted more extreme positions on abortion than they have previously ever held. But their shift toward extremity for the sake of Iowa’s evangelical base could come back to haunt the eventual nominee in the … Continue reading
via E.D. Kain, Forbes In 2008, during the aftershocks of the housing market and financial collapse and the fall of Lehman Brothers, and amidst the increasingly frightening din of anti-Obama sentiment that was coming to define the presidential campaign between him and rival John McCain, it was nevertheless difficult to not feel a swell of … Continue reading
via Sam Stein, The Huffington Post Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s newest television ad criticizing the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was created over the objections of at least one top staff member, sources in the Perry campaign tell The Huffington Post. The spot, which began airing in Iowa on Wednesday, features the governor questioning … Continue reading
via Margaret Talev and Nicole Gaouette, Bloomberg The Obama administration will weigh how countries treat gays and lesbians in making decisions about foreign aid, according to a presidential memorandum released by the White House. Laws prohibit same-sex sexual activity in many nations in the Middle East and Africa, and in two of the largest recipients … Continue reading
via Debra Rosenberg, NPR He added 9-9-9 to the national lexicon and slipped lyrics from a Pokemon movie into his stump speeches. Now that Herman Cain has suspended his presidential campaign, we look back at just a few of its most memorable — and excruciating — moments: 1. His brain freeze on Libya. His editorial … Continue reading
via Amanda Terkel, The Huffington Post In 2008, the owners of a Sacramento ice cream parlor donated thousands of dollars to support Proposition 8, which would ban marriage equality in California. Gay rights activists, unhappy with the owners’ actions, posted negative reviews of the company online. Protesters also stood outside the shop and handed out free rainbow … Continue reading
via Todd Graham, CNN One is the loneliest number. Two can be as bad as one. And three, well … um … what was three again? Three is hard. I’ll start by quoting the silence heard around the political world during Wednesday night’s CNBC Republican presidential debate. Here were Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s words in … Continue reading
via Steve Sadin, Northbrook Patch Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) easily won the Illinois Straw Poll Saturday as the state’s Republicans showed their preference for their party’s presidential nomination to oppose President Barack Obama. The Illinois Straw Poll was originally the idea of Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Highland Park). Kirk announced the plan Feb. 6 in an effort … Continue reading
via Philip Elliott, AP, Deseret News A day after he refused to endorse an Ohio ballot measure that limits public employee union rights, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney said Wednesday that he is “110 percent” behind the effort. While he was in Ohio on Tuesday, Romney seemed to distance himself from anti-union measures that have … Continue reading
via Mail Online Michele Bachmann has admitted that two of our staff members have quit, but still denies that her entire team in New Hampshire has resigned en masse. The Minnesota congresswoman yesterday denied that any of her staff had left because of dissatisfaction with her focus on Iowa. But today admitted that at least two have … Continue reading
via Rachel Weiner, The Washington Post A fight appears to be brewing between Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney over tax policy. On Wednesday, Perry declared that he would be coming out with a flat-tax plan next week. In Iowa Thursday morning, Romney said the flat tax has “positive features” but … Continue reading
via Amy Gardner, The Washington Post Herman Cain has succeeded in introducing himself to voters. He has moved from the bottom of the pack all the way to the top. His “9-9-9” tax plan is the most talked-about proposal of the fight for the Republican nomination. But as the battle moves beyond televised debates and into a phase … Continue reading
via Trip Gabriel, The New York Times Today, Republican candidates are competing over who can talk the toughest about illegal immigration — who will erect the most impenetrable border defense; who will turn off “magnets” like college tuition benefits. But after such pointed proposals heated up yet another Republican debate, on Tuesday night, some party officials see … Continue reading
via Asjylyn Loder and David Evans, Bloomberg In May 2008, a unit of Koch Industries Inc., one of the world’s largest privately held companies, sent Ludmila Egorova-Farines, its newly hired compliance officer and ethics manager, to investigate the management of a subsidiary in Arles in southern France. In less than a week, she discovered that the company … Continue reading
via Michael D. Shear, The New York Times Jon M. Huntsman Jr. won’t be at the next debate, in Las Vegas. But it’s not a sleight by the organizers. Mr. Huntsman is boycotting the event on Tuesday to protest the state’s decision to hold its caucus on Jan. 14. That decision has complicated the voting … Continue reading
via Same Stein, The Huffington Post Tuesday was Mitt Romney’s night. The former Massachusetts governor entered the ninth GOP debate riding a long, fortuitous wave of positive news. His nearest competitors for the nomination had crumbled amid missteps or mismanagement. Prospective candidates had declined to launch bids of their own. One of them, New Jersey … Continue reading
via CNN A pastor of a mega church in Dallas said Friday that Republicans shouldn’t vote for White House hopeful Mitt Romney because he’s a Mormon and described the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a “cult.” “I think Mitt Romney’s a good, moral man, but those of us who are born again … Continue reading
via Jason Cherkis, The Huffington Post When Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) took friends, fellow legislators or campaign donors to his hunting camp, they passed the word “Niggerhead” painted on a rock. As the Washington Post reported Saturday, “Niggerhead” stood for the long-ago name of the Perry family’s hunting camp. Perry told the Post that … Continue reading
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