Republicans
Former President George W. Bush will deliver a keynote address at SMU on Nov. 12 outlining his vision for his policy institute, which will be part of the George W. Bush Presidential Center, his office said yesterday.
Dana Milbank on yesterday's Tea Party protestors: "Many of the demonstrators chanted 'Weasel Queen,' their pet name for the speaker of the House. Others wore masks of Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.); they were covered in fake blood and carrying dolls representing aborted fetuses, as the Grim Reaper led them in chains to hell. In the front of the protest, a sign showed President Obama in white coat, his face painted to look like the Joker. The sign, visible to the lawmakers as they looked into the cameras, carried a plea to 'Stop Obamunism.' A few steps farther was the guy holding a sign announcing 'Obama takes his orders from the Rothchilds' [sic], accusing Obama of being part of a Jewish plot to introduce the antichrist."
Salon’s Mike Madden writes that a small mob of protestors had gathered in the Cannon Office Building “for what anti-choice kook Randall Terry billed as a sit-in to protest abortion-related provisions in the House healthcare reform legislation. They wound up mixing with some of the people who streamed in after Bachmann's ‘House Call’ rally ended to tell members of Congress how vehemently they oppose providing universal access to healthcare. Someone tore up all 1,990 pages of the reform bill and scattered them on the floor; a few of Terry's pals got arrested; the crowd started chanting, ‘Kill the bill! Kill the bill!’ and just like that, the police were clearing the hallway. ‘This is the people's House, and we're being kicked out?’ one woman muttered as she walked away. ‘Nancy Pelosi can kiss my fat ass.’”
Mike Huckabee is out front again of another poll measuring GOP 2012 front runners 71% of Republicans say they’d seriously consider voting for Huckabee; 65% said so of Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin; 60% of Newt Gingrich; 32% of Tim Pawlenty; 26% of Haley Barbour.
Sarah Palin will skip New York City on her book tour this month, but here comes the consolation prize: Almost-son-in-law Levi Johnston will be here next week to pocket roughly $100,000 for a nude photo shoot, the New York Daily News writes. “Palin, the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee and former Alaska governor, is skipping the customary book-tour stops - in bigger cities - and spending time in smaller burgs to plug her campaign memoir Going Rogue. Palin kicks off the book tour in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Nov. 18."
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Doug Hoffman -- who eventually lost to the Democrat -- is back at it.
It is pushing for Marco Rubio over Charlie Crist in the Florida GOP primary. And now it created the below video, hitting Crist on his support for the stimulus back in February in an appearance with President Obama . The video is appearing online for now, but a spokesman says it will be going on air with it "soon."
The ad was created as a response to Crist's appearance on CNN , in which he tried to parse his own support for the stimulus.
"I didn't endorse it," Crist said. "I didn't even have a vote on the darned thing. But I understood that it was going to pass and I wanted to be able to utilize it for the benefit of my fellow Floridians."
"Didn't endorse it?" What do you call, as the ad points out, Crist saying the following? "We know that it's important that we pass the stimulus package."
By the way, the club goes all Lieberman -Bush kiss with its final shot in the ad, a slow-motion hug between Crist and Obama. It's the first tactic of its kind. And we're going to see LOTS more of this, particularly with the White House essentially saying bring it on -- make 2010 about Obama.
Get ready.
Stimulus. Health care. They are going to be -- and already are -- key 2010 issues in GOP primaries, in particular. Moderates face the challenge of surviving their stance on them in a primary and then trying to tack to the center in a general -- if the economy gets better. (There won't be a real measure of health reform for a while if it passes, since it won't go into effect for years.)
From NBC's Mark Murray In an interview today with ABC , Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele appeared to fire off this warning shot to Republican moderates who supported the economic stimulus (like Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and Maine Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins ) or who might support health-care reform (like Snowe):
"We'll come after you."
Crist, of course, is competing in a Senate primary against the conservative Marco Rubio.
Here's the passage:
"People aren't buying that. So candidates who live in moderate to slightly liberal districts have got to walk a little bit carefully here, because you do not want to put yourself in a position where you're crossing that line on conservative principles, fiscal principles, because we'll come after you."
Earlier this year, Steele suggested in a FOX interview that the three Senate Republicans who voted for the stimulus -- Snowe, Collins, and Arlen Specter (who later switched parties) -- might face primary challenges and might not receive funds from the RNC.
*** UPDATE ***
From NBC's Mark Murray Mark Kirk -Sarah Palin story.
A quick recap: First, the Washington Post's Cillizza got his hands on Kirk's letter to Palin friend Fred Malek, inquiring if Palin might endorse the Illinois congressman in his Senate primary. Then, as we reported earlier today , one of Kirk's conservative primary opponents blasted this appeal to Palin, noting Kirk's vote for the cap-and-trade bill.
Dear Governor Palin,
Yesterday, following the purge of a moderate Republican in upstate New York and the devastating special election in NY-23, it was revealed that Congressman Mark Kirk is actively seeking your endorsement of his candidacy in the U.S. Senate race in Illinois. However, Mark Kirk has not had kind words to say about you in the past. Faced with a difficult re-election race in 2008, Kirk told reporters he “would have picked someone else” for Vice-President and that frankly he “didn’t know whether you are qualified to be President.” Now that Kirk is facing a tough primary challenge from the anti-Washington, anti-establishment candidate Patrick Hughes, he is suddenly racing to embrace you. I’m not sure how familiar you are with Mark Kirk but he is a politician who has a history of putting politics above principals, something you surely look down upon. Whether the issue is cap and trade, extending unemployment benefits, or health care reform, Kirk has either flip-flopped, been AWOL, or motivated purely by politics. On the other hand, Patrick Hughes is comfortable in his own skin as an extreme right-winger. Unlike the pro-abortion Kirk, Hughes is firmly pro-life, anti-gay marriage, and pro-gun…sounds like your type of Republican. I know you are in Milwaukee tomorrow and will be in our great state of Illinois later this month, both would be a perfect setting to give your blessing to one of these two candidates. With so much at stake in the next election, everyone wants to know -- who will you endorse in our Senate race?
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Patrick Hughes , a conservative running for Obama's U.S. Senate seat next year, is out with a statement after the news came out of his primary opponent Mark Kirk 's appeal to Sarah Palin for her endorsement.
"I believe Mark Kirk, who has consistently supported President Obama's legislative agenda, including cap and trade legislation, is quickly realizing that Republican Primary voters do not share his extreme views," Hughes said in a statement released by his campaign. "In a desperate attempt to prove otherwise, he is seeking the endorsement of Sarah Palin, a true Reagan conservative, to help disguise his liberal voting record."
Hughes, an attorney and Chicago-area developer, is also the chairman of the recently created PAC Sensible Taxpayers Opposed to Increased Taxes, or STOP-IT . It was created, according to the STOP-IT Web site, "in the aftermath of Taxpayer 'Tea Party' protests ... to oppose Governor Patrick Quinn ’s proposals to increase corporate and individual tax rates by 50%."
*** UPDATE ***
"We have been in contact with Sarah PAC and many other conservative PACs," said Laura Grock, spokeswoman for Hughes. None has offered help YET, "but would graciously accept the support of a true Reagan Conservative like Sarah Palin," Grock said.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Eric Cantor has a Web video -- with big, orchestral Americana string music -- touting how much smaller the GOP-proposed House health-reform bill is than the Democrats' almost-2,000-page bill:
So is smaller better? Discuss.
*** UPDATE *** Ezra Klein at the Washington Post , the left-leaning, but highly respected reporter who's been all over health policy, writes of the GOP bill:
According to CBO, the GOP's alternative will shave $68 billion off the deficit in the next 10 years. The Democrats, CBO says, will slice $104 billion off the deficit.
The Democratic bill, in other words, covers 12 times as many people and saves $36 billion more than the Republican plan. And amazingly, the Democratic bill has already been through three committees and a merger process. It's already been shown to interest groups and advocacy organizations and industry stakeholders. It's already made its compromises with reality. It's already been through the legislative sausage grinder. And yet it saves more money and covers more people than the blank-slate alternative proposed by John Boehner and the House Republicans. The Democrats, constrained by reality, produced a far better plan than Boehner, who was constrained solely by his political imagination and legislative skill.
From NBC’s Madeline Rullo President Obama 's healthcare speech before a joint session of Congress in September, Rep. Joe Wilson is speaking out again.
It's still about healthcare, but this time he's speaking in turn. Wilson is introducing an amendment for the Democratic healthcare bill, requiring all members of Congress to enroll in the public option.
Wilson says he has been bombarded with questions from American citizens, "If this public option is so good, then why don't the congressmen take the plan? After about eight times of bringing this up, I said, ‘Enough already.’ I said, ‘I would introduce that when I come back to Washington.’”
And he has.
"People have spoken up and they're making a difference,” Wilson said, holding up the House bill that will be brought to the floor later this week.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray Chris Christie (R) the winner in New Jersey's gubernatorial contest.
Republicans sweep the two gubernatorial races.
From NBC's Shawna Thomas Just a few minutes ago, New Jersey state Sen. Joe Kyrillos,
Chris Christie's campaign chairman, took to the stage amid chants of "Red State! Red State." He warned the crowd that it could be a long night and rallied them with the information that the independent vote seems to be trending Christie. NBC's exit polling shows independents casting their ballots for Christie by an almost a 2-to-1 margin.
From NBC's Shawna Thomas Christie headquarters with the B Street Band, who bill themselves as the original Bruce Springsteen cover band, warming up the crowd of journalists.
Outside the ballroom, the Christie campaign has surrogates hitting the main theme of the campaign. New Jersey State Sen. Tom Kean Jr . repeated that Christie has a plan to lower taxes and Corzine and Daggett do not. He also predicted a three-point win for the former U.S. Attorney.
