Blast From the Blast: John McCain Goes Off

John McCain goes nuclear when asked by New York Times reporter Elisabeth Bumiller about his conversations about being John Kerry's 2004 Democratic presidential running mate. I can't imagine why McCain wouldn't want to answer this question when he was running as a Republican in the 2008 presidential election? Perhaps it could be McCain's own party would realize his less than 100 percent loyalty. Remember that McCain also toyed with the idea of caucusing with the Democrats.

Binders Full of Women

People have been making fun of Mitt Romney's sexist-sounding "binders full of women" comment on Twitter. There is now a Binders Full of Women parody blog on Tumbler.

Update: The internet is having photoshop fun with Romney's "binders" comment.

Update: John Kerry is mocking Mitt Romney on Twitter.

Lifestyles of the Rich in Congress

Meet the 50 richest members of Congress. I am so glad that these people have taxpaid government health care.

Top 10

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas)

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-California)

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.)

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.)

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.)

Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.)

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.)

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.)

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California)

Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.)

Compassionate Conservatism: Obama Cutting Off Heating to Poor People

I like to hear Benjamin Kirby, Joy-Ann Reid or other progressive Obama supporters defend this insane proposal. President Barack Obama is proposing to cut the current Low Income Heating and Energy Assistance Program budget to $2.5 billion the previous budget of $5.1 billion. The program is used to provide heating to the homes of poor people during the winter. You will not be surprised to learn that Obama got the idea to allow people to freeze from Republicans.

Sen. John Kerry has voiced his disapproval.

"I've always supported serious efforts to restore fiscal sanity, but in the middle of a brutal, even historic, New England winter, home heating assistance is more critical than ever to the health and welfare of million of Americans, especially senior citizens," Kerry wrote.

Rep. Ed Markey joined the chorus against Obama's uncompassionate proposal.

"Cutting off funding for this program now would mean that millions of familes could have their heating cut off this winter," he said at a press conference yesterday.

Add Sen. Jeanne Shaheen to the list of Democrats opposing the proposal.

"The President's reported proposal to drastically slash LIHEAP funds by more than half would have a severe impact on many of New Hampshire's most vulnerable citizens and I strongly oppose it."

Marc Ambinder speculates that Northeastern Republicans Scott Brown, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe would join Democrats in opposition.

Obama often says that he was too busy legislating to do politics in 2009 and 2010. The truth is Obama has always placed his political goals above policy. Obama remained silent as Democrats were getting chewed up by tea party activists at townhall meetings. Obama allowed insurance and pharmaceutical lobbyists to help craft health care legislation. Obama dished the public option for the mandate because insurers wanted more customers. Billy Tauzin convinced Obama to not allow Medicare to negotiate with the pharmaceutical industry. Both deals resulted in less cost savings.

The Obama administration waiting over a year to appoint many low level civil servants. The reason is the White House never got around to making the appointments.

Bernie Sanders has repeatedly told the media that he has been fighting with Obama on Social Security. Sanders has urged Obama not to cut Social Security benefits.

"What I'm hearing does not reassure me - that we have a president who is not prepared to defend the heart and soul of what the Democratic Party has been about since Franklin Delano Roosevelt," said Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist.

Obama will go to the Chamber of Commerce and offer to cut corporate taxes. This will only add to the federal deficit. Yet Obama will cut off heating to poor people under the false pretense of fiscal conservatism. Obama made both proposals to prove how centrist he is. This is a man unserious about governing.

Progressives, tell me how this is part of Obama's brilliant master plan.

Swiftboating Sotomayor

The Committee for Justice released an ad outrageously claiming Sonia Sotomayor aids terrorists. The ad was created by Chris LaCivita, one of the people involved in the Swift Boat Vets for Truth ad campaign against John Kerry.

A female narrator ominously recites bogus claims in the ad.

Remember Barack Obama’s buddy Bill Ayers, the unrepentant terrorist who bombed American buildings in the 70’s? Turns out President Obama’s done it again – picked someone for the Supreme Court – Judge Sonia Sotomayor – who led a group supporting violent Puerto Rican terrorists. Is this radical judge the type of person America needs sitting on our highest court? What was he thinking? What was she thinking? Call your senators. Tell them to stop Sonia Sotomayor. Paid for by the Committee for Justice.

Senator Orrin Hatch has raised $50,000 for CFJ. Hatch is wisely distancing himself from the ad.

The Utah Republican called a spot run by the group Committee for Justice "pretty harsh" and "not the type of ad I would run," in a statement provided by his spokesperson to the Huffington Post.

I could ask if Chris LaCivita has any shame but it would be a rhetorical question.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Oversight

The House version of the American Recvery and Reinvestment Act fall under the restrictions of PAYGO. Congressional Republicans ended the PAYGO practice Democrats brought it back. John Kerry brought up PAYGO in the 2004 presidential debates.

KERRY: I'll tell you exactly how I can do it: by reinstating what President Bush took away, which is called pay as you go.

During the 1990s, we had pay-as-you-go rules. If you were going to pass something in the Congress, you had to show where you are going to pay for it and how.

President Bush has taken -- he's the only president in history to do this.

The catch is the stimulus package is labeled emergency spending. PAYGO will not apply. After years of George W. Bush, I was shocked to see PAYGO mentioned in a bill.

The House bill will appoint special Inspector Generals to oversee how stimulus money is spent. The Congressional Budget Office and cabinet Inspector Generals have been given revenue to oversee stimulus program funding.

No money will be used for "any casino or other gambling establishment, aquarium, zoo, golf course, or swimming pool." Only U.S. steel and iron will be used for infrastructure projects. These projects are "airports, bridges, canals, dams, dikes, pipelines, railroads, multiline mass transit systems, roads, tunnels, harbors, and piers."

The House bill's language is clear on how oversight will work.

SEC. 1201. TRANSPARENCY REQUIREMENTS.

(a) REQUIREMENTS FOR FEDERAL AGENCIES.—
Each Federal agency shall publish on the website Recovery.gov (as established under section 1226 of this subtitle)—

(1) a plan for using funds made available in this Act to the agency; and
(2) all announcements for grant competitions, allocations of formula grants, and awards of competitive grants using those funds.

(b) REQUIREMENTS FOR FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES.—

(1) INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT FUNDING.— With respect to funds made available undermthis Act for infrastructure investments to Federal, State, or local government agencies, the following requirements apply:

(A) Each such agency shall notify the public of funds obligated to particular infrastructure investments by posting the notification on the website Recovery.gov.

(B) The notification required by subparagraph
(A) shall include the following:
(i) A description of the infrastructure,investment funded.
(ii) The purpose of the infrastructure investment.
(iii) The total cost of the infrastructure investment.
(iv) The rationale of the agency for funding the infrastructure investment with funds made available under this Act.
(v) The name of the person to contact at the agency if there are concerns with the infrastructure investment and, with respect to Federal agencies, an email address for the Federal official in the agency whom the public can contact.
(vi) In the case of State or local agencies, a certification from the Governor, mayor, or other chief executive, as appropriate, that the infrastructure investment has received the full review and vetting required by law and that the chief executive accepts responsibility that the infrastructure investment is an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars. A State or local agency may not receive infrastructure investment funding from funds made available in this Act unless this certification is made.

(2) OPERATIONAL FUNDING.—With respect to funds made available under this Act in the form of grants for operational purposes to State or local government agencies or other organizations, the agency or organization shall publish on the website Recovery.gov a description of the intended use of the funds, including the number of jobs sustained or created.

(c) AVAILABILITY ON INTERNET OF CONTRACTS AND GRANTS.—Each contract awarded or grant issued using funds made available in this Act shall be posted on the Internet and linked to the website Recovery.gov. Proprietary data that is required to be kept confidential under applicable Federal or State law or regulation shall be re25
dacted before posting.

SEC. 1202. INSPECTOR GENERAL REVIEWS.

(a) REVIEWS.—Any inspector general of a Federal department or executive agency shall review, as appropriate, any concerns raised by the public about specific investments using funds made available in this Act. Any findings of an inspector general resulting from such a review shall be relayed immediately to the head of each department and agency. In addition, the findings of such reviews, along with any audits conducted by any inspector general of funds made available in this Act, shall be posted on the Internet and linked to the website Recovery.gov.

(b) EXAMINATION OF RECORDS.—The Inspector General of the agency concerned may examine any records related to obligations of funds made available in this Act.

I have never seen a bill with this level of oversight. Democrats have written many safeguards into the bill's language. The Treasury Department, Council of Economic Advisers, and Office of Budget and Management will submit quarterly reports to Congress. I could challenge Republicans for a GOP sponsored bill with this level of oversight. I know the bill doesn't exist.

There will be a transparency board. They will submit quarterly reports to President Obama and Congress.

SEC. 1222. COMPOSITION OF BOARD.

(a) MEMBERSHIP.—The Board shall be composed of seven members as follows:
(1) The Chief Performance Officer of the President, who shall chair the Board.
(2) Six members designated by the President from the inspectors general and deputy secretaries of the Departments of Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Transportation, and other Federal departments and agencies to which funds are made available in this Act.

(b) TERMS.—Each member of the Board shall serve for a term to be determined by the President.

Congress will receive reports from the transparency board, Treasury Department, Council of Economic Advisers, and Office of Budget and Management. This is the way government should run.

John Kerry On Fox News Sunday

John Kerry sums up the disaster that was John McCain's past week.

Barack Obama was in constant touch with Secretary Paulson almost every single day, sometimes several times a day for the last two weeks. Barack Obama was the first person to speak and lay out at that meeting at the White House for about seven or eight minutes the entire parameters of what we had resolved. John McCain, when offered the opportunity to speak, passed, didn’t speak until the very end, and when he spoke, did not offer a solution and did not say what he would support. The fact is that on a Monday of about a week ago, John McCain said the fundamentals of our economy are strong. Within a few days, John McCain was suspending his campaign because of the greatest crisis since World War II. He suspended his campaign and it took him 22 hours to get from New York to Washington, a one-hour flight, had time to go do Katie Couric in an interview, had time to give a speech to the Clinton millennium, and when he got here, he wound up — I mean, he said he was going to interrupt his campaign to come down and save the negotiations. Most people believe what he did was interrupt the negotiations to come down and save his campaign.

John Kerry's Convention Speech

John Kerry gave the speech of his life last night. If you haven't seen it, you should watch it. Word is Kerry wrote the speech. A rarity these days in politics.

The Merits of John Edwards vs Barack Obama

Tampa Bay Blue endorses John Edwards. I have stated repeatly that I like Edwards because of his wonkishness.

John Cole touched upon the same nagging feeling I have about Barack Obama. The majority of America wants change from George W. Bush's failed policies. Obama has failed on the stump to explain what kind of change he wants. Obama's web site has (some very bad) policies proposals. Obama the candidate has to provide concrete details besides repeating the word change. Bill Clinton never had difficulty discussing policy proposals. With Obama, I am increasingly getting the felling there is no there there.

Edwards has detailed his health care propsal to death. He isn't afraid to call Blackwater contractors mercenaries. Edwards repeatly talked about abolishing corporate tax loopholes. Edwards has made it quite clear where he stands.

Senator John Kerry endorsed Barack Obama. I don't think a Kerry endorsement means much. A political consultant emailed Andrew Sullivan about what a Kerry endorsement means to Obama.

Maybe Kerry himself isn't that helpful, but I know one thing the Obama people are thrilled with today: the voter file. Obama now has access to the largest, most recent presidential campaign voter file. The millions of email addresses, phone numbers, addresses and invaluable as Obama starts to go national. I imagine the information Kerry has from 2004 could easily double the size of Obama's voter file in states like South Carolina and Nevada and maybe even triple the size in states like California and New York. Also, Obama now has access to activists and supports of Clinton who - in all likelihood - where in Kerry's general election voter file. So while the man himself probably won't give him that big of a boost, the fact that Kerry just pinned his email list is pretty significant in terms of data and list building.

I remember how candidate Kerry desperately wanted Howard Dean's email list. Dean's list was important because no candidate had ever generated that kind of internet support. Dean practically invented the netroots.

Obama is the most telegenic candidate since Clinton. Edwards has similar attributes. In 2004, the knock on Edwards was he was too flashy. Now Edwards is too wonkish and angry. Obama's sunny message during two wars, civil liberties in shamble, and a tanking economy reminds me of Kevin Bacon, in Animal House, telling everyone to remain calm.

UF Taser Incident Update

University of Florida journalism student Adrew Meyer has been offered a job by Greg Palast. Meyer was tasered by police officers after he refused to yield the microphone at a John Kerry speaking engagement. Meyer was already pinned by several officers when he was tasered. Palast has not been able to make the offer to Meyer personally.

"His attorneys seem to be keeping him on ice," Palast told us, when we asked if he'd been able to officially offer the gig to Meyer.

In related news: two UF police officers have been put on paid leave.

What bugs me is that Meyer had a cameraman present to film the incident.

He then turned to a woman and said "Are you taping this? Do you have this? You ready?" the report said.

Meyer has a personal website where he brags about taunting professional athletes.

Now, you have to know this about me: I am huge Marlins fan, and a born heckler. My purpose in life is to badger, jeer, and cajole professional athletes. I have angered two other All-Star baseball players, Bobby Abreu and Odalis Perez, on separate occasions. I have booed singers that mess up the national anthem. Heck, I’ll even heckle other hecklers if I don’t care for their stuff. What happened during this particular game was destined to be, the paths of Griffey and I on a collision course.

My view is the use of force was questionable and this guy is a crackpot. Free speech is a right we all have. I'm willing to defend Meyer's. Even though is wasn't willing to let Kerry answer his questions or let others speak at the microphone. If Palast hires Meyer, he will regret it.

University of Florida Taser Incident

Student Andrew Meyer was tasered when he was arrested for speaking too long at a John Kerry Q and A. Officers told Meyer he was arrested for inciting a riot. The student was annoying, but inciting a riot is pushing it. There were hardly any people at the Kerry event.

John Kerry was overwhelmed by the situation. He stammered a few words. It was obvious he had no control over the events. Kerry released this statement.

"In 37 years of public appearances, through wars, protests and highly emotional events, I have never had a dialogue end this way," Kerry said in a statement. "I believe I could have handled the situation without interruption, but I do not know what warnings or other exchanges transpired between the young man and the police prior to his barging to the front of the line and their intervention. I asked the police to allow me to answer the question and was in the process of responding when he was taken into custody."

University of Florida Police Chief Linda Stump will conduct an investigation into the arrest.

To students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends:

I have received a great deal of communication and input last night and this morning regarding the incident that occurred Monday at the conclusion of a town hall forum being held by Sen. John Kerry. The incident resulted in a student being tasered.
We are interested in learning what happened and are taking the following immediate steps to ensure the university utilizes best practice protocols:

• University of Florida Police Chief Linda Stump has requested the Florida Department of Law Enforcement conduct a formal investigation into the arrest of UF student Andrew Meyer. An independent review such as this will make sure the results are objective and impartial. Chief Stump’s priority is to ensure that the public remains confident in the department’s ability to keep the campus safe.

• Two officers involved in the incident have been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

• We plan to assemble a panel of faculty and students to review our police protocols, our management practices and the FDLE report to come up with a series of recommendations for the university.

• Administrators and police officials plan to analyze the incident and conduct an internal review and will consider changing protocols in response to this incident, if necessary.

• Finally, as is standard procedure, the State Attorney’s Office will review the charges brought against Mr. Meyer. We have communicated with the State Attorney and understand he plans to expedite his review.

I will talk about the incident and answer questions at a news conference scheduled for 2 p.m. in Emerson Alumni Hall.

J. Bernard Machen

I personally hate the use of tasers. I am certain that if several law enforcement officers are telling me to shut the fuck up or I will be tased: I'm going to shut up. This whole situation is a mess that could have been avoided. Kerry showed no leadership, Meyer ilustrated bad judgement and several law enforcement officers openly used a taser in the Youtube era.

McCain's People Approached Kerry

It just gets worse for John McCain. Jonathan Singer interviewed John Kerry about McCain flirting with the idea of leaving the GOP. Kerry doesn't know all the details about Tom Daschle's attempts to court Republicans Senators. Kerry is very aware of McCain's people asking him if he would consider the Maverick for the Vice-President slot.

Jonathan Singer: There's a story in The Hill, I think on Tuesday, by Bob Cusack on the front page of the paper talking about how John McCain's people -- John Weaver -- had approached Tom Daschle and a New York Congressman, I don't remember his name, about switching parties. And I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about what your discussions were with him in 2004, how far it went, who approached whom... if there was any "there" there.

John Kerry: I don't know all the details of it. I know that Tom, from a conversation with him, was in conversation with a number of Republicans back then. It doesn't surprise me completely because his people similarly approached me to engage in a discussion about his potentially being on the ticket as Vice President. So his people were active -- let's put it that way.

Singer: Okay. And just to confirm, you said it, but this is something they approached you rather than...

Kerry: Absolutely correct. John Weaver of his shop... [JK aswers phone]

Listen to the interview.