HARTFORD COURANT: Chris Dodd’s approval sinks. “Dodd got his worst approval rating ever in the Quinnipiac poll: 41 percent approve and 48 percent disapprove of his performance and 51 percent say they are likely to vote against him next year. . . . ‘The mortgage controversy has taken a toll on his approval rating. Most voters are not satisfied with Dodd’s explanation and say they are less likely to vote for him next year because of it.'”
Archive for 2009
February 10, 2009
JOHN FUND: Why Obama Wants Control of the Census.
A GERALD FORD MOMENT. Only, when you’re not Gerald Ford, it’s just a moment. Every time.
CHRIS DODD’S mortgage nirvana.
INTERESTED IN CONTACTING YOUR SENATORS ABOUT THE STIMULUS? The main number is (202) 224-3121. And here’s a page of contact information with direct numbers, etc. (Bumped).
IN POPULAR MECHANICS, I ask: Can Obama Ban Space Weapons Successfully?
BILL ROGGIO ON Al Qaeda’s shadow army in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
STIMULUS: A history of folly.
AMAZON ANNOUNCES the new Kindle 2.
UPDATE: Looking at this more closely, I think I may actually buy one. What do you folks think?
LIVEBLOGGING THE ISRAELI ELECTIONS, at Israellycool.
FROM BARRY MCAFFREY, an update on national security.
MORE ON THAT Murtha-related FBI raid. “The firm specializes in helping its clients obtain multimillion dollar earmarks, the pet items inserted by a single lawmaker into major spending bills that have played a role in several recent Washington scandals. While the firm lobbies other congressmen, it is best known for its ties to Representative John Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who for decades has dominated the House defense spending subcommittee. The firm’s founder, Paul Magliochetti, previously worked for Mr. Murtha, and PMA’s executives and clients are one of Mr. Murtha’s biggest sources of campaign contributions.”
DISAPPOINTMENT AT DAILYKOS: Meet the new boss, yada yada.
WILLIAM NISKANEN: Slow Down the Political Response to a Perceived Crisis. “This is the fifth time in my adult life that the president has asked for or asserted unprecedented authority on an expedited basis with little or no congressional review. Each of the prior occasions turned out to be a disaster.”
DO YOU THINK? AP FACT CHECK: Obama has it both ways on pork.
HIDDEN HEALTHCARE MISCHIEF in the “Stimulus” plan? I suspect there’s a lot of hidden mischief on many fronts. Hence the desire to get it passed before people have a chance to read it . . . .
GOP House leader John Boehner has issued an “alert” saying the stimulus bill “undermines the 1996 welfare reforms by promoting bigger welfare rolls and expecting less work and less training on the part of government welfare recipients.” Boehner cites not only the bill’s fiscal reward for state caseload expansion, but also some “complicated” funny business involving “‘caseload reduction credits.”
Kaus is promising more info soon.
A SAD INDICTMENT OF CONTEMPORARY CULTURE: “Compared to most of the talk shows these days, the old Donahue show was the School of Athens.”
ABC NEWS: CONGRESSIONAL ETHICS PANELS YIELD LITTLE PUNISHMENT. You don’t say. Excerpt:
It may have seemed brash when Rep. Charlie Rangel called for the House ethics committee to investigate questions about his apartment deals, taxes and an alleged quid-pro-quo donation for earmark scheme late last year. But if history is any guide, there’s little reason for Rangel to worry. Why? Because congressional ethics committees rarely discipline members of Congress.
“The ethics committees never do anything,” said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Ethics in Washington. “When is there anyone’s conduct that they actually think is a problem?”
This reality contrasts with the rhetoric of congressional Democrats like Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, who pledged to “drain the swamp” of corruption when she took over the leadership more than two years ago.
Indeed.
STIMULUS COMPROMISE trims green efforts.
MORE ON CHRIS DODD, FROM ED MORRISSEY:
Dodd got rates well below the market without paying points. No lender offers that to any borrower, no matter how strong their credit ratings might be. Are we to believe that the chair of the Senate Banking Committee doesn’t understand how lending works? Of course Dodd knew he got preferential treatment. He can read the mortgage lending rates in the newspaper, and part of his job entails keeping up with that data on a daily basis.
And as a matter of fact, Dodd still hasn’t been responsive. He promised to release his documents to public view, not to flash them momentarily to a select group of reporters barred from taking notes or making copies. Even the Times doesn’t buy that as “release”.
The Times wants to sell Dodd as a victim of the “moneyed Washington subculture where powerful incumbents are invited to get something wholesale,” but that’s poppycock. The man who accepts a bribe is no more of a victim than the man who offers it.
Usually less so . . . .