Besides for blatantly lying about what Romney said or meant with ”Let Detroit Go Bankrupt” (he meant a controlled restructuring with the rules already on the books) and also lying what Obama ultimately did (after bailing them out he pushed them into bankruptcy because the bailout didn’t work), and besides for lying in the video that the Auto firms paid back the bailout, the following 17 minute video is a nice piece of art.
Celeste Katz Reports: On the heels of Assemblyman Rory Lancman’s decision not to run for Congress, the man he would likely have had to primary, Rep. Gary Ackerman, says he’s not seeking re-election because of redistricting. His term ends Jan. 2, 2013. Stand by and we’ll hopefully update with what, if anything, this means for Lancman and everybody else…
Just so we have all this in order, which might possibly help stop my brain from exploding: Bob Turner is elected to NY-9 after Anthony Weiner’s resignation. Redistricting rolls around and NY-9 and Ackerman’s NY-6 get redrawn. Turner announces this week that he’ll go up against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand if he can get the GOP nomination. Lancman then announces he has no desire to run a divisive Democratic primary against Ackerman and says he’ll put his Congressional hopes on hold. Then we all get an email saying Ackerman’s not running again.
Politico: During the third hour of his show Thursday afternoon, the conservative radio host announced that he’s planned to dip his toes into the Twitterverse by officially sending out his first tweet – and minutes later he did.
“Everybody has been asking me what they can do to help in all of this, and I’ve been saying, nah, just do what you’ve been doing just, if you listen, keep listening, that’s fine, but … there’s an army out there that wants to be mobilized, and so, I figured, use Twitter for it. I’m just going to put some things on Twitter that you can help us circulate. It’s that simple you just retweet them,” he said.
Shortly after his show concluded, @limbaugh sent out his very first tweet: “Here’s how the opposition astroturfs advertisers. Smart piece from @LegInsurrection Pls Retweet bit.ly/y6Tnnv @mmfa”
The erstwhile GOP presidential front runner called on establishment darling Chris Christie, the New Jersey Governor who himself is fielding phone calls about joining the race, will rally Romney crowds in Elmhurst, Friday. Romney’s Illinois chair, Dan Rutherford tweeted the news Wednesday night. Romney once looked like a shoo-in to win the Illinois primary. That was back when the Illinois primary didn’t matter all that much. NBC Chicago
Sun Sentinal Reports: The Florida State Legislature recently passed an historic bill recognizing Israel’s right to Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem.
Senate Resolution 1396 and House Resolution 1447, commending Israel as “the greatest friend and ally of the United States in the Middle East,” passed on Feb. 29, and was sponsored by Senator Alan Hays and Representative Scott Plakon, and co-sponsored by a group of 29 other representatives, including 20 Republicans and nine Democrats. The resolution passed 108-0. Read more »
Pew Reports: A majority (54%) of Americans say they are more concerned that the U.S. will take too long to act in dealing with Iran’s nuclear program, while 35% are concerned that it will act too quickly. This is similar to public opinion in 2006 and 2007.
This view also is consistent with the finding of a February survey in which 58% of the public said that preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons is more important even if it means taking military action; 30% said preventing military conflict is more important even if it means Iran develops nuclear weapons. Read more »
Also From Pew: A plurality (46%) of Americans believe the level of U.S. support for Israel is about right, with 22% saying the U.S. is too supportive and 20% that it is not supportive enough. But as in past surveys on Israel, there are wide partisan and ideological differences.
Nearly four-in-ten Republicans (38%) – and 48% of conservative Republicans –say that the United States is not supportive enough of Israel. Among other political groups, no more than about one-in-five say the U.S. is insufficiently supportive. Read more »
Writes the Forward: The problem with this poll is not just the finding, but the fact that the question keeps being asked, because doing so reinforces a pernicious lie that is difficult to scrub from the public imagination.
Clearly the perpetuation of this lie speaks to something in these voters. “Muslim” is synomymous with the “other,” the designated enemy for those who crave a binary formula to make sense of a chaotic world. In our opinion, it also helps explain the fierce affection for Israel among some evangelical Christians, and the politicians who covet their votes. Israel is a Jewish state; but perhaps just as important, it is not a Muslim state nor, more accurately, a state with a Muslim majority.
Rather than dismiss this sentiment for its blatant ignorance, we should meet it with caution. The constant need to single out an “other” can come back to haunt us, too.
Denial Treitman Reports: With only six days to go until their Democratic primary, Illinois Jewish congressional hopefuls Brad Schneider and Ilya Sheyman are engaged in a heated back and forth.
At issue is Brad Schneider’s history of directing some of his political donations to Republicans, a practice he defends as having to do with the recipients’ support for Israel.
Sheyman has been hitting Schneider on the issue (though not mentioning the Israel angle), even launching a website detailing Schneider’s donations to GOPers. In particular, Sheyman has been highlighting some of the recipients’ records of opposition to abortion rights. Sheyman supporter and former Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean has attacked Schneider on the issue as well. Read more »
AP Via VIN Reports: Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Senate and Assembly majorities agreed Wednesday to enact the Legislature’s redistricting proposal as part of a long-term reform effort.
The Senate Republican and Assembly Democratic majorities planned to pass the plan Wednesday night, despite condemnation from some good-government groups that the district lines were gerrymandered to protect the majorities’ political power and perks for the next 10 years. Read more »
Mr. Romney suffered a 1-2 punch of losses Tuesday night, coming in a close third place in the Alabama and Mississippi primaries. But those defeats were brushed off at a pair of fundraisers for Mr.Romney at the Waldorf-Astoria, according to several sources who attended them. “The mood was great,” said John Catsimatidis, the supermarket magnate who hosted the afternoon fundraiser. ”The media doesnt always reflect reality. More delegates were won last night by Romney voters than by any of the rest of them. When the media says its a big win for Santorum, they are not telling the truth.It’s basic math. Do you own homework and add the numbers. The truth is the truth.” – David Freedlander
Community banks have a lot to fear from the Dodd-Frank financial reforms, which could put half of them out of business, former FDIC Chairman Bill Isaac told CNBC. “The bigger banks can absorb it, the smaller banks can’t,” Isaac, who is now chairman of Fifth Third Bancorp, told Larry Kudlow. “I would not be surprised to see half of the community banks in this country go out of business if we don’t give some relief from Dodd-Frank for them.” Earlier, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said most of the provisions in the 2010 law were aimed at the largest financial institutions and not community banks. – CNBC
