1
POPSBob Barr Plans To Enter Presidential Contest As Libertarian and says federal authorities have seized powers not granted by the constitution, and believes US forces should be brought home from Iraq. The Libertarian Party stands for non-interference by the US government in the personal and business lives of Americans, and advocates lower taxes, a smaller government and more individual freedom. The 59-year-old said he was not concerned about the prospect of damaging McCain, possibly among conservative voters whom the Republican candidate has had trouble courting. Independent and third parties have faced a tough task in modern US election history of breaking the dominance of the Democratic and Republican parties, though several candidates have played a spoiler role. Many Democrats still blame consumer advocate Ralph Nader, who has already announced a 2008 run, for depressing former vice president Al Gore's vote in 2000, and helping George W. Bush to capture the presidency.
5
POPSThe Illusion That Is Barack Obama
For all his Camelot-like rhetoric, Obama is a product, in significant measure, of the political culture that Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass described as "The Chicago Way" At no point did Obama, the would-be saviour of US politics, challenge this corruption, except for face-saving gestures as a legislator. Emil Jones, the machine-made president of the Senate, allowed him to sponsor a minor ethics bill. In return, Obama made sure to send plenty of pork to Jones's district. When asked about pork-barrel spending, Jones famously replied: "Some call it pork; I call it steak." Obama repaid the generosity. When he had a chance to back clean Democratic candidates for president of the Cook County board of supervisors and Illinois governor, he stayed with the allies of the Outfit. In the Illinois Senate, he made a specialty of voting present. Obama is such a down-the-line partisan that, in the past two years he has voted with the Democrats more often than did the party's majority lea
5
POPSBarack Obama Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? I guess Barack Obama will ease up on the old-geezer remarks about John McCain. If John McCain, 71, got the different militia groups in Iraq confused during a trip earlier this year, you can blame it on his advancing years, as the Democrats are so quick to point out. But what’s Obama’s excuse at age 46? Who doesn’t know we have 50 states? And there’s a difference between 100,000 and 100,000,000. Early signs of senility? Or is it more evidence that Obama is not a stickler for details. It might be time for Obama to stop calling McCain an old man. texasfred.net
1
POPSA Conservative Crisis Of Followership: David Frum So, 2008 is not 1988. The problems are different and so must the solutions be. The Reagan themes do not carry the power they once did. The conservative voting majority is not a majority any more. To compete and win this year Republicans have to adapt and change, not revert and revive. The country has changed since 1988. Polls capture a shift to the left on economic issues. The once decisive tax issue has faded altogether, and no wonder: 80 per cent of Americans now pay more in payroll taxes than in federal income taxes. Americans care less about taxes than healthcare and fuel prices, issues where Republicans offer few solutions and speak with something less than passionate urgency. Americans are expressing a new pessimism about upward mobility and their children’s chances of leading a better life – an understandable reaction to the stagnation of median wages since 2000. Even on the signature issue of the war on terror, Americans are turning away from Republican ideas.
1
POPS The Politics Of Freedom: David Boaz (continued) heading early Wednesday for a new round of speeches, rallies and town meetings in West Virginia, which holds its primary on May 13," The New York Times reports. "Highlighting the financial woes of her campaign, Mrs. Clinton has lent her campaign more than $6 million over the last month, according to campaign officials." "Republicans have been trying to drive libertarian voters out of their party. But so far Democrats aren't jumping on that opportunity."
2
POPSGOP Plans to Unveil Tough New Immigration Bills Democrats also have begun embracing a tougher stance on immigration as well. Democrats have focused on offering opportunity to immigrants, but the study by two think tanks urged them to begin speaking in terms of "requiring" illegal immigrants to become legal and about what's best for the United States. Many House Democrats have gone a step further, endorsing an enforcement-only bill by freshman Democratic Rep. Heath Shuler of North Carolina that would bolster border security and require employers to verify their workers' legal status with an electronic verification system. The SAVE Act has drawn 140 co-sponsors, 48 of whom are Democrats, many of them vulnerable freshman who won seats from Republicans. The Democratic leadership dislikes Shuler's bill. Republican leaders are considering collecting signatures for a special petition that requires House leaders to bring a bill up for debate if 218 members sign.
2
POPSMcCain-Jindal? Another McCain staffer called my attention to this finding in the latest Fox News poll: McCain led Obama in the straight match-up, 46 to 43. Voters were then asked to choose between two tickets, McCain-Romney vs. Obama-Clinton. Obama-Clinton won 47 to 41. That reversal of a three-point McCain lead to a six-point deficit for the McCain ticket suggests what might happen (a) when the Democrats unite, and (b) if McCain were to choose a conventional running mate, who, as it were, reinforced the Republican brand for the ticket. As the McCain aide put it, this is what will happen if we run a traditional campaign; our numbers will gradually regress toward the (losing) generic Republican number.
4
POPSDNC Chairman Joe Andrew Is Urging Clinton Supporters To Switch May 1, 20 Dear Friends: I have been inspired. Today I am announcing my support for Senator Barack Obama for President of the United States of America. I am changing my support from Senator Clinton to Senator Obama, and calling for my fellow Democrats across my home State of Indiana, and my fellow super delegates across the nation, to heal the rift in our Party and unite behind Barack Obama. The hardest decisions in life are not between good and bad or right and wrong, but between two goods or two rights. That is the decision Democrats face today. We have an embarrassment of riches, but as much as we may love our candidates and revel in the political process that has brought Presidential politics to places that have not seen it in a generation, we cannot let our family affair hurt America by helping John McCain.
7
POPSIt's Barack, Like It Or Not If the candidate were the screaming Howard Dean, the superdelegates could dump him with much greater ease. But with Obama, the race issue necessarily comes into play. It's hard to imagine a scenario now in which Obama doesn't capture the nomination, even if he continues to tank. If Hillary's resurgence continues, she'll have strong arguments in favor of her nomination, but they'll have to fall on deaf ears. If the pooh-bahs decide to throw Obama overboard after he has come so close to capturing the nomination, it is inconceivable to me that a large number of African-Americans -- not to mention the far left of the party -- won't believe he was robbed, in no small part because of his race. The nation can ill afford to endure such racial bitterness, but the Democratic Party may not survive with it. We all know the party depends on a statistically monolithic constituency in the African-American community, without which it couldn't even be competitive in national elections.
3
POPSAnalysis of Lieberman-Warner Reveals Massive Economic Pain EIA also found Lieberman-Warner would result in up to a 9.5% drop in manufacturing output by 2030. “Despite this gloomy EIA analysis, proponents of Lieberman-Warner are still claiming the bill will not impose economic harm to America. Only in Washington could higher energy prices be characterized as not negatively impacting the U.S. economy. If Democrats have their way, Americans will pay significantly more at the pump, in their homes, and in many cases, with their jobs, all to accomplish an undetectable impact on the climate. “The question now is which U.S. Senator will dare to stand on the Senate Floor a month from now to vote in favor of significantly increasing the price of gas at the pump?” Both government and private sector analysis have shown the cost of the Lieberman-Warner bill to be extremely painful.
4
POPSThe Axis of Evil: An Idiot's Guide: David Frum Joseph Cirincione, the man most widely identified as Obama's top nuclear-affairs adviser, last September pooh-poohed as "far-right" "nonsense" the early rumors that the Syrian nuclear facility was indeed a nuclear facility. Cirincione wrote on the Foreign Policy blog: "This appears to be the work of a small group of officials leaking cherry-picked, unvetted 'intelligence' to key reporters in order to promote a pre-existing political agenda. If this sounds like the run-up to the war in Iraq, it should. This time it appears aimed at derailing the U.S.-North Korean agreement that administration hardliners think is appeasement. Some Israelis want to thwart any dialogue between the U.S. and Syria." Cirincione seems to have been so determined to avert what he regarded as the threat of U.S. over-reaction--so eager to promote dialogue with Syria--that he blinded himself to the reality of a nuclear threat.
3
POPSRezko, Wright, And Ayers If you are looking for the audio and transcripts of Pastor Wright's two sermons, they are here. In an effort to provide "context" I will try and obtain and play the entire audio of his NAACP speech from yesterday on today's program. (Michelle Malkin has a round-up on this astonishing speech.) If time permits, I'll replay the sermons as well, even though I played all the audio out there from both on Friday's program. They are the "primary documents" of the controversy, and deserve a wide audience. I suspect the pastor will make more news at the National Press Club, and I'll play that audio as well.
4
POPSThe Democrats And Gun Control Mr. Obama's campaign Web site touts his belief in the Second Amendment rights to have guns "for the purposes of hunting and target shooting." Conspicuously absent is the right to have firearms to defend one's self, home and family. A presidential candidate could of course swear devotion to the First Amendment, while declaring that the amendment's purpose is to protect sports reporting and book collecting. And that candidate could still support government lawsuits against publishers, local bans on newspapers, and draconian restrictions on political commentary. Civil libertarians who supported such a candidate because of his alleged love for the First Amendment would be foolish. Civil libertarians who support Mr. Obama or Mrs. Clinton because of their purported fealty to the Second Amendment may be bitterly disappointed.
1
POPSPelosi To President Bush On Gas Prices Your support is the more critical as your Administration has failed to persuade OPEC to increase their oil production, despite your influence with OPEC nations. The New Direction Congress is providing forward-looking leadership that will fuel America’s energy future, save Americans’ money, create good jobs, improve our national security, and preserve our planet for our children. This critical issue needs Presidential leadership and I urge you to please join us to address the skyrocketing price at the pump. best regards, NANCY PELOSI House GOP challenges Pelosi for gas price plan House Republican leaders on Tuesday challenged Nancy Pelosi to release a plan to lower gas prices that they say Democrats touted when they were in the minority. (Press release dated April 24, 2006, Pelosi said, “Democrats have a commonsense plan to help bring down skyrocketing gas prices.....) http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/house-gop-challenges-pelosi-for-gas-price-plan-2008-04-22.html
2
POPSDemocratic Candidates Long To Renegotiate NAFTA U.S. manufacturing is not in decline. Quite the opposite is true. Output, revenues and profits in the sector all achieved records in 2006, and preliminary government data indicates that new records were set in 2007. American factories remain the world's most prolific, producing 2.5 times the value of Chinese output. ... Between 2000 and 2003 there was a pronounced manufacturing recession, during which 2.8 million jobs in the sector were eliminated. The two candidates extrapolate from that statistic to assert that 3 million manufacturing jobs have been lost since 2000 on account of bad trade deals, like NAFTA, as though the trend were continuing. That's wrong. ... If trade had something to do with the loss of those 2.8 million jobs between 2000 and 2003, imports weren't the culprit. Manufactured imports did not increase at all during those three years. U.S. exports, however, dropped off by 11 percent during that precise period.
2
POPSTrigger Happy The gun-owning happiness gap exists on both sides of the political aisle. Gun-owning Republicans are more likely than nonowning Republicans to be very happy (46% to 37%). In 1996, gun owners spent about 15% less of their time than nonowners feeling "outraged at something somebody had done." It's easy enough in certain precincts to caricature armed Americans as an angry and miserable fringe group. But it just isn't true. The data say that the people in the approximately 40 million American households with guns are generally happier than those people in households that don't have guns. Democrats with guns are slightly likelier than Democrats without guns to be very happy as well (32% to 29%). Similarly, holding income constant, one still finds that gun owners are happiest.
4
POPSThe ‘Useful Idiots’ Of Militant Islam Saudi-funded publications admonish Muslims in America “to dissociate from infidels, hate them for their religion, never to rely on them for support, and always oppose them in every way according to Islamic law.” The question: how was it that among the estimated five million Muslim Americans with hugely varied institutions, the president’s advisors picked a Saudi Islamofascist ghetto as a venue? A major New York Times Magazine article argued fervently on behalf of “Islamic democrats” singing the praises of a reborn Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. An essay in Foreign Affairs, a weighty establishment publication titled “The Moderate Muslim Brotherhood.” Mild Islamism is an oxymoron. Sharia law, which sanctions beating of wives and stoning for adultery, is irreconcilable with human rights. The Muslim Brotherhood founded Hamas, calls suicide bombings a good thing, and is the 21st-century version of the organized fascism of Hitler and Mussolini in the last century.
3
POPSMark Steyn: Guns And God? Hell, Yes Europeans did "vote for their own best interests" – i.e., cradle-to-grave welfare, 35-hour workweeks, six weeks of paid vacation, etc. – and as a result they now face a perfect storm of unsustainable entitlements, economic stagnation and declining human capital that's left them so demographically beholden to unassimilable levels of immigration that they're being remorselessly Islamized with every passing day. We should thank God (forgive the expression) that America's loser gun nuts don't share the same sophisticated rational calculation of "their best interests" as do Thomas Frank, Obama, too many Democrats and the European political establishment. God and guns. Maybe one day a viable society will find a magic cure-all that can do without both, but Big Government isn't it. Complacent liberal Democrats ought to be able to look across the ocean and see that. Obama did give the speech in San Francisco, a city demographically declining at a rate that qualifies it for EU membership
5
POPSCongress Is Full Of Bold-Faced Liars What’s the only thing worse than Republicans on a spending spree? Democrats on a spending spree. Or maybe Republicans on a spending spree when they know the Democrats are going to take the heat. Either way, your representatives in Washington D.C. are a bunch of dirty filthy liars. Take the time today, right now, to write to your representatives and let them know how you feel about what they are doing. They still need our votes to get elected, so what you say really does matter to them. How can the people who are supposed to be running the country on our behalf do such a crappy job and lie about it when the facts are so obvious. In 2004 the Democrats took control of congress promising to fix the earmark problem. Instead of fixing it, they are doing their best to outdo the spending of the Republican controlled congress before them. This isn’t a partisan problem, it’s a problem all Americans need to be aware of, and take action to fix.
2
POPSObama's Oil Spill Obama$$$money from oil companies? Two oil industry executives are bundling money for Obama – drumming up contributions from individuals and turning them over to the campaign. George Kaiser, the chairman of Oklahoma-based Kaiser-Francis Oil Co., ranks 68th on the Forbes list of world billionaires. He's listed on Obama's Web site as raising between $50,000 and $100,000 for the candidate. Robert Cavnar is president and CEO of Milagro Exploration LLC, an oil exploration and production company. He's named as a bundler in the same category as Kaiser. We're not making any judgments about whether Obama is influenced by campaign contributions. In fact, we'd note that he singles out ExxonMobil in this ad, even though he's received more than $30,850 from individuals who work for the company. But we do think that in theory, contributions that come in volume from oil industry executives, or are bundled by them, can be every bit as influential as PAC contributions, if not more so.
2
POPSSAVE Act Discharge Petition Filed, Gaining Momentum The Senate attached an immigration enforcement measure sponsored by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) to its Fiscal Year 2009 Budget Resolution before passage on March 13. The amendment would create a deficit-neutral reserve fund that fully covers completion of the 700-mile border fence and at least 6,000 National Guard troops at the border. The fund also would cover: implementing the exit data portion of the U.S. VISIT entry/exit system at airports, seaports, and land ports of entry; training/ reimbursement for state and local immigration law enforcement under the Section 287(g) program; and expanding the zero tolerance illegal entry prosecution policy to all 20 border sectors. The principle mission of the caucus, which includes Republican Senators David Vitter (La.), James DeMint (S.C.), Jeff Sessions (Ala.), James Inhofe (Okla.), Elizabeth Dole (N.C.), Saxby Chambliss (Ga.), Johnny Isakson (Ga.), Richard Burr (N.C.), and Roger Wicker (Miss.), "promote a true, achievable alternative
4
POPSBREAKING - Feds Indict Former CAIR Chief/Current Muslim Charity Exec as Saddam Spy U.S. Attorney Murphy Allows Charity to Remain Open, Main Financier to Walk Free By Debbie Schlussel The indictment says that Saddam Hussein's government gave Al-Hanooti two million barrels of oil in exchange for his work on behalf of the Iraqi intelligence service in America, one wonders how much of a cut of that his partner Alomari and his close buddy and champion, Imad Hamad, got. A good take, I'm sure. And I bet the feds know about this but are looking the other way. Mark my word. So, while it is mildly good news that Muthanna Al-Hanooti may face justice, that news is far too belated and far too little. When Mohammed Alomari is indicted, LIFE For Relief and Development is shut down and its assets frozen, and Imad Hamad--who worked for Al-Hanooti and LIFE to get USAID status and federal government protection through Senator Carl Levin--is also stopped cold, then I will be happy.
3
POPSLamar Alexander R-Tenn Sees Chance To Nix Real ID Act “Congress created Real ID, and they can do away with Real ID,” said Jim Harper, director of information policy studies at the Cato Institute and the author of a book on identification laws and technology. “Not a single state is going to be in compliance with the law by May, and the program has been failing from the start.” Citing the law’s unfunded costs and big-government approach, Alexander told Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff at a March 4 subcommittee meeting about his plans for the amendment. Like many critics, one of Alexander’s biggest concerns is cost. He points out that while some estimates of the implementation of Real ID come to $4 billion, federal officials have appropriated only $60 million and distributed only $6 million. At least 19 states have passed measures stating their opposition. “If you pass a bill without hearings, you’re going to miss stuff. And the authors of Real ID missed a lot,” Harper, of the Cato Institute said.
2
POPSStop Congress From Raising Gas Taxes! ALERT: With gasoline now hitting over $3.00 per gallon, what do you think Congress will do about this powerful punch to American wallets and pocketbooks? If you guessed, "They'll raise taxes, of course" -- you're right! We're not kidding. According to recent news reports, Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) "wants to put a 50-cent tax on every gallon of gasoline to try to cut back on Americans' consumption."
4
POPSThe Audacity Of Rhetoric The irony is that Obama's sudden rise politically to the level of being the leading contender for his party's presidential nomination has required him to project an entirely different persona, that of a post-racial leader who can heal divisiveness and bring us all together. The ease with which he has accomplished this chameleon-like change, and entranced both white and black Democrats, is a tribute to the man's talent and a warning about his reliability. There is no evidence that Obama ever sought to educate himself on the views of people on the other end of the political spectrum, much less reach out to them. He reached out from the left to the far left. That's bringing us all together? Is "divisiveness" defined as disagreeing with the agenda of the left? Who on the left was ever called divisive by Obama before that became politically necessary in order to respond to revelations about Jeremiah Wright?
2
POPSMark Steyn: Obama's Pastor Disaster All Sen. Obama will say is that "I don't think my church is actually particularly controversial." And in that he may be correct. There are many preachers who would be happy to tell their congregations "God damn America." But Barack Obama is not supposed to be the candidate of the America-damners. Obama is meant to be the man who transcends the divisions of race, the candidate who doesn't damn America but "heals" it – if you believe, as many Democrats do, that America needs healing. Yet since his early twenties he's sat week after week, listening to the ravings of just another cookie-cutter race-huckster. He's a symbol of redemption and renewal, and a lot of other airy-fairy abstractions that don't boil down to much except making upscale white liberals feel good about themselves and get even more of a frisson out of white liberal guilt than they usually do.
3
POPSPlaying By Obama's Rules To observe Democrats this week, savaging one of their heroines, is to understand why the party is unready to rule. This week, after being subjected for 48 hours to accusations of divisiveness by Barack Obama, and racism by his agents and auxiliaries in the media, Ferraro resigned from Clinton's campaign. What had she said to send the Obamaites into paroxysms of rage? Obama's agents suggest that Ferraro deliberately injected race into the campaign. But this, too, is ridiculous. Her quote came in an interview with the Daily Breeze of Torrance, Calif., not "Meet the Press." The attack on Ferraro comes out of a conscious strategy of the Obama campaign -- to seek immunity from attack by smearing any and all attackers as having racist motives. When Bill Clinton dismissed Obama's claim to have been consistently antiwar as a "fairy tale," and twinned Obama's victory in South Carolina with Jesse Jackson's, his statements were described as tinged with racism.
1
POPSDances With Mitt>>>How Long Will McCain Play Coy? On the other hand, the Pennsylvania primary in on April 22nd, and it seems likely that Hillary will make up some ground there, keeping the competition alive. Having a Romney underticket, with its implications for party unity would be an excellent contrast with the shambles apparent among the Democrats. Aside from the perceptual issues, fund-raising gets that much easier as well. My guess? Two to three more weeks before McCain announces Mitt as running mate.
0
POPSCould Earmark Moratorium Really Be On The Way? The GOP may be falling behind the Democrats, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi moving toward a moratorium. In the Senate, courageous freshman Democrat Claire McCaskill of Missouri supports the DeMint amendment. She could be joined by her choice for president, Barack Obama. These developments encouraged Flake to say: "If Democrats actually move ahead with an earmark moratorium before Republicans, the Democrats will get the credit for eliminating earmarks, and, frankly, they'll deserve it."
2
POPSDownside Of Obama Strategy And Hillary's Advantage Even some Obama advisers see a real problem. "Ultimately, all that matters is how the nominee stacks up against John McCain," said one adviser "Right now, Barack is not connecting with the children of the Reagan Democrats. That's a real concern." Obama rejects the charge that he has failed to reach important segments of the party, noting that he has shown he can crack Clinton's coalition of working-class voters, women and Latinos with his wins in the bellwether state of Missouri, the swing state of Virginia and the Rust Belt redoubt of Wisconsin. He also showed that he can expand the battleground into the coveted Mountain West, with his convincing win in Colorado. "I don't buy into this demographic argument," Obama said. "Missouri, Wisconsin, Virginia -- in many of these states we've won the white vote and the blue-collar vote. "A lot of the states he's winning are states that we're not going to win in November. It's not a strategy that bodes well",said a Clinton supporter.
0
POPSClinton's One Plausible Path To The Nomination Barack Obama won 11 out of 11 primaries and caucuses from Super Tuesday to Feb. 19. Hillary Clinton won three out of four contests on March 4. Suddenly, the look and feel of the Democratic presidential race were different. Yet the delegate count has changed hardly at all. Three victories in four states with 370 delegates netted Clinton only about a 20-delegate edge, leaving her still about 100 delegates behind. On the night that John McCain officially clinched the Republican nomination, the course of the Democratic race seemed less clear and more fraught with peril than ever. All of this is a windfall, surely, for McCain -- unless he forgets that his party is in trouble and that he needs to make an affirmative case for himself and his policies. And loudly enough to overcome the din as Clinton and Obama pummel each other.
0
POPSRescuing The Rust Belt.................. by Thomas Sowell Japanese auto makers like Toyota and Honda are hiring thousands of American workers. But they are not hiring them in the rust belts. They are avoiding the rust belts, just as domestic businesses are avoiding the high costs that have been piled on over the years by both unions and governments in the rust belt regions. Where does NAFTA come into the picture? International trade is just one of the many ways in which the competition of lower cost producers can cause higher cost producers to lose customers and jobs. Jobs are always disappearing. The big question is why they are not being replaced by new jobs. Rust belt policies that drove out old jobs also keep out new jobs. NAFTA makes it easier for politicians to blame the problem on foreigners. In fact, foreigners make ideal scapegoats for politicians. After all, people in Japan or India can't vote in American elections.
1
POPS Alive! Karl Rove Neither Mr. Obama nor Mrs. Clinton can win with delegates elected in primaries and caucuses. In a real irony, the Democratic Party will settle its nominee battle with the aristocratic device of superdelegates -- party apparatchiks, interest group leaders and elected officials, many of whom gained their post years ago. What happens if a bloc of superdelegates remains uncommitted until the convention? And what will happen to Florida and Michigan, which presently have no delegates? In three recent polls, (Fox, LA Times/Bloomberg and Gallup), almost twice as many Democrats support Mr. McCain as Republicans support Mr. Obama. Three times as many Democrats support Mr. McCain as Republicans back Mrs. Clinton. So what must Mr. McCain and Mrs. Clinton do, especially in the seven weeks before Pennsylvania? Mr. Obama has no real record of voting and working across party lines on high profile issues like judges, immigration, intelligence reform, troop funding and energy.
1
POPSWe Are Making Our Selves, OUR NATION, POORER - And Other Nations RICHER. If we drill in these places then we will lower the cost of energy WORLDWIDE and that will help the world's economy. IT'S A WIN-WIN-WIN-WIN-WIN: We make more money; we send less overseas to unsavory nations; we lower our costs and the energy costs of the whole world - and it doesn't harm the environment one iddy-biddy bit. SO WHY DON'T WE DO THIS!? Where's the leadership from Bush!? WHY HASN'T MCCAIN SPOKEN OUT ABOUT THIS!? Where's the freakin' Congressional GOP!? Useless.
2
POPSObama's Answers To Ties To Indicted Rezko Don't Pass The Smell Test What's on trial is the Illinois Combine. We pay for this bipartisan cooperation in higher taxes, "the Chicago Way". With Rezko's jury being selected, you might think Republicans would feel some excitement running down their legs, the way liberal pundits tingle with Obamamania, or the way teenage girls respond to photographs of Justin Timberlake. Instead the Republicans are subdued. As I've warned before, the Rezko trial isn't about Obama. It is about Rezko and some Democrats, like Gov. Rod "The Unreformer" Blagojevich. But it also involves Rezko and powerful Illinois Republicans with national reach.
0
POPSObama Confronted On Rezko In Texas (Remains Elusive) Obama refused to say how many fundraisers Rezko held for him or who attended. "These requests, I think, can just go on forever," he said. "What we've just tried to do is respond to what's pertinent." Then, Obama provided a brief synopsis of his 2005 real estate transaction with Rezko. "That was a mistake because at that point there was already a cloud over Tony Rezko," he said. "I've been very open about what I have called a bone-headed move. On the other hand, there have been no allegations that I did anything wrong. There have been no allegations that I in any way betrayed the public trust. There have been no allegations that I did him favors…That is the extent of the story."
1
POPSBipartisan Crimes Against The Constitution But it was not treated as a treaty in the U.S. Clinton submitted NAFTA as an agreement, requiring only a majority of votes in both Houses of Congress for passage, and not a treaty, requiring a two-thirds vote in favor in the Senate. NAFTA passed by votes of 234-200 in the House and 61-38 in the Senate. Clinton did it this way because he didn't have the votes to pass NAFTA as a treaty (requiring 67 votes) in the Senate. But how did he pull off such a blatantly illegal and unconstitutional move? Although the strict text of the U.S. Constitution includes the treaty clause as the only means by which the U.S. can enter into such international agreements, there's a growing body of mostly liberal-left "legal opinion" that holds that "congressional-executive agreements" like NAFTA can serve as substitutes for treaties.
Newest Clips
see Newest Clips
2
Latest Pops
Latest Comments
Most Pops
Tags
Print
Save
Turn on live update