Sat, 19 May 2012 09:42:40 -0500 05/19/2012/00/00/00 Dana Milbank, Washington Post
John Boehner thinks it’s kind of funny. “It struck me as somewhat comical,” he told reporters Thursday morning, “that, you know, people are looking to me like I’m the guy carrying a sword around town, I’m going to bludgeon someone.”Well, Mr. Speaker, maybe that’s because your rapier keeps setting off the metal detectors.The bludgeon Boehner wields is his threat to revive the default standoff of last summer, a showdown that shattered consumer confidence and helped stall the economic recovery.http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/05/19/john_boehner039s_debt_sword--at_the_ready_280306.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/boehners-debt-sword--at-the-ready/2012/05/18/gIQAVTUhYU_story.html 100280306 AM Update Dana Milbank, Washington Post 138438 Sat, 19 May 2012 09:43:36 -0500 05/19/2012/00/00/00 Stephen Hayes, Weekly Standard
Geeta Jensen had some exciting news: Governor Scott Walker was visiting Jensen Metal Products to announce the addition of 39 new jobs, part of a company-wide expansion accelerated by tax credits his administration had offered to encourage hiring.“It is an honor to have the governor of the state of Wisconsin visit us in this, our 90th anniversary year,” she said in introducing Walker, her slight Indian accent marking her words. “When Jungbert Jensen immigrated to Wisconsin from Copenhagen, Denmark, around 1911, and started making rain gutters and milk pails out of...http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/05/19/scott_walker_hangs_tough_in_wisconsin_280294.htmlhttp://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/high-noon-wisconsin_645176.html 100280294 AM Update Stephen Hayes, Weekly Standard 138439 Sat, 19 May 2012 09:44:20 -0500 05/19/2012/00/00/00 Mort Zuckerman, US News
The political season has begun in earnest, with each side putting forth facts and figures hoping that the persuasive power of statistics will bolster the weaker argument. It was Mark Twain who popularized the comment attributed to Disraeli, to wit, that there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. So don't be impressed by the fact that the most popular unemployment rate being bandied about dropped to 8.1 percent in April from 8.2 percent in March.Progress? Not so. Paradoxically, the reason for the drop is negative, not positive. It is due solely to the fact that...http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/05/19/obama039s_economy_less_work_less_reward_280302.htmlhttp://www.usnews.com/opinion/mzuckerman/articles/2012/05/17/obamas-less-economy-americans-facing-less-work-less-rewardhttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.usnews.com/opinion/mzuckerman/articles/2012/05/17/obamas-less-economy-americans-facing-less-work-less-reward 100280302 AM Update Mort Zuckerman, US News 138376 Sat, 19 May 2012 09:45:34 -0500 05/19/2012/00/00/00 Colbert King, Washington Post
After a third reading of Mitt Romney’s Liberty University commencement speech, I still fail to see how my Post colleague Michael Gerson could have described it as “more than good.”Romney’s address struck me as standard fare for a college graduation. He hit all the familiar notes: gratitude to school and a nod to parents for sacrifices made; celebration of the virtues of hard work, devotion to principles, individualism, service, family. There was even a little shameless politicking, with Romney telling the audience “what the next four years...http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/05/19/mitt_romney_fails_to_see_america_280305.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mitt-romney-fails-to-see-america/2012/05/18/gIQAwJLWZU_story.html 100280305 AM Update Colbert King, Washington Post 138440 Sat, 19 May 2012 09:46:35 -0500 05/19/2012/00/00/00 Mark Steyn, OC Register
"Barack Obama, the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review, was born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii."So the lunatic theory that Barack Obama doesn't meet the minimum eligibility requirements to be president of the United States was first advanced by Barack Obama's official representative. Where did she get that wacky idea from? "This was nothing more than a fact-checking error by me," says Obama's literary agent, Miriam Goderich, a "fact" that went so un-"checked" that it stayed up on her agency's...http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/05/19/eternally_shifting_sands_of_obama039s_biography_280293.htmlhttp://www.ocregister.com/opinion/obama-354827-ever-white.htmlhttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/obama-354827-ever-white.html 100280293 AM Update Mark Steyn, OC Register 138441 Sat, 19 May 2012 09:47:24 -0500 05/19/2012/00/00/00 Ana Marie Cox, The Guardian
Nebraska has already supplied the right with a billionaire boogeyman: Warren Buffet, hero of the secretarial pool and worldly philanthropist.Now, the left has a Husker to hate: Joe Ricketts, the man for whom a group of Republican troublemakers dreamed up the perhaps-intentionally hilarious, to-be-sure-intentionally shocking "Plan to Defeat Barack Hussein Obama". The document's deadpan staccato phrasing has the punctuation-agnostic urgency and livid prose of a "Mission: Impossible" assignment memo (or an Austin Powers trailer). "The Plan. An Overview," reads...http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/05/19/obama039s_pastor_amp_the_ricketts_smear_280310.htmlhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/may/18/wright-stuff-obama-pastor-ricketts-smearhttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/may/18/wright-stuff-obama-pastor-ricketts-smear 100280310 AM Update Ana Marie Cox, The Guardian 138442 Sat, 19 May 2012 10:29:43 -0500 05/19/2012/00/00/00 Jim Treacher, The Daily Caller
Unless you’re a credulous rube, it sure does look like Obama told his literary agency that he was born in Kenya for some reason. And the false information wasn’t corrected until April 2007, a couple of months after he launched his presidential campaign. “But wait,” you protest. “How do you know Obama wrote that? How do you know he ever even saw it? Shut up!” Well, we all know that Obama is the exception to every rule, so maybe he’s the exception to this one too. Author and television producer Steve Boman writes at...http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/05/19/was_obama039s_bio_a_quotfact-checkingquot_error_280320.htmlhttp://dailycaller.com/2012/05/18/why-was-obama-a-birther-until-he-decided-to-run-for-president/http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://dailycaller.com/2012/05/18/why-was-obama-a-birther-until-he-decided-to-run-for-president/ 100280320 AM Update Jim Treacher, The Daily Caller 138458 Sat, 19 May 2012 09:57:53 -0500 05/19/2012/00/00/00 Charles Blow, New York Times
The New York Times reported on Thursday that a Republican “super PAC” was mulling over a plan to resurrect President Obama’s former pastor and spiritual adviser, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., as a weapon against the president.The proposal said that it would do what John McCain, whom it labels “a crusty old politician” (Ouch!), would not do in 2008.It called for using Wright to “increase the unease” and “inflame the questions” among independents using the episode “that’s never been...http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/05/19/quotmetrosexual_black_abe_lincolnquot_280300.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/19/opinion/blow-metrosexual-black-abe-lincoln.htmlhttp://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/05/19/opinion/blow-metrosexual-black-abe-lincoln.xml 100280300 AM Update Charles Blow, New York Times 138449 Sat, 19 May 2012 09:58:46 -0500 05/19/2012/00/00/00 Alan Greenblatt, NPR
President Obama's performance in next Tuesday's Arkansas primary won't be as embarrassing as what happened in West Virginia two weeks ago, when he gave up 41 percent of the vote to someone who happened to be sitting in a federal prison in Texas for embezzlement.But it may well do more lasting damage to his party.Obama lost Arkansas by 20 points in 2008 and has virtually no chance of carrying the state this year in the November general election. Even many Democrats, it seems, have never warmed to him. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/05/19/could_obama_cost_arkansas_dems_the_legislature_280263.htmlhttp://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/05/18/152995033/obama-won-t-carry-arkansas-but-could-he-cost-democrats-the-legislaturehttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/05/18/152995033/obama-won-t-carry-arkansas-but-could-he-cost-democrats-the-legislature 100280263 AM Update Alan Greenblatt, NPR 138450 Sat, 19 May 2012 09:59:39 -0500 05/19/2012/00/00/00 Steve Forbes, Forbes
Can the U.S. lead the world back to prosperity? The global economy is lurching toward the cliff. Twice before over the last 75 years Washington took the necessary action, and after November, with a new President and Congress, there will be the opportunity--and imperative--to do so again.The 1970s were a decade of economic turmoil and stagnation. The 1930s were far worse. And now the world is headed to the brink again. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/05/19/japan_amp_europe_are_choking_on_excess_spending_280303.htmlhttp://www.forbes.com/forbes/2012/0504/fact-comment-economic-recovery-japan-europe-steve-forbes.html 100280303 AM Update Steve Forbes, Forbes 138451 Sat, 19 May 2012 10:00:46 -0500 05/19/2012/00/00/00 Jamelle Bouie, American Prospect
The defining feature of the Republican presidential primaries was the constant Sturm und Drang over Mitt Romney’s ability to win Republican voters. Pundits claimed that Romney had a “ceiling” with conservatives in the party, and opponents like former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum routinely assailed the front-runner as a candidate whose commitment to conservatism was short-lived and inauthentic—a human “Etch A Sketch,” in the words of Romney’s own campaign spokesperson. But when Romney locked up the nomination...http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/05/19/mitt_romney_servant_of_the_right_280271.htmlhttp://prospect.org/article/mitt-romney-servant-righthttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://prospect.org/article/mitt-romney-servant-right 100280271 AM Update Jamelle Bouie, American Prospect 138452 Sat, 19 May 2012 10:01:45 -0500 05/19/2012/00/00/00 Noam Scheiber, The New Republic
The Wall Street Journal has an intriguing story today about the anxiety in the White House over $2 billion-and-counting loss that JP Morgan announced last week. At first blush, the reason for the angst isn't entirely clear. After all, the loss would seem to strengthen the case for financial reform, which, as it happens, the president signed into law two years ago, and which Mitt Romney opposes. To the extent that JP Morgan revives the debate over financial reform, it would seem to benefit Barack Obama.  http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/05/19/why_obama_is_sweating_jp_morgan_280257.htmlhttp://www.tnr.com/blog/the-stump/103407/why-the-white-house-sweating-jp-morganhttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-stump/103407/why-the-white-house-sweating-jp-morgan 100280257 AM Update Noam Scheiber, The New Republic 138453 Sat, 19 May 2012 10:02:45 -0500 05/19/2012/00/00/00 Bill Kristol, Weekly Standard
For our part, we’d like to see a decisive triumph for Romney and his running mate over two formidable representatives of contemporary liberalism, rather than a discounted victory over a flawed ticket with only one strong candidate. So we sincerely suggest to President Obama: Dump Joe Biden. We’re sure the thought has occurred to the president. He knows his undisciplined vice president did him no service by popping off about same-sex marriage on Meet the Press, thereby forcing Obama to engage the issue prematurely. Instead of making his announcement of his...http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/05/19/is_obama_paving_the_way_to_dump_biden_280296.htmlhttp://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/why-not-best_645186.html 100280296 AM Update Bill Kristol, Weekly Standard 138455 Sat, 19 May 2012 10:03:42 -0500 05/19/2012/00/00/00 Cate Plys, Northwestern Magazine
No wonder you can date pictures of Rahm Emanuel by the darkening circles around his eyes, the way botanists count tree rings. Most people settle for half-circles under their eyes. The famously competitive Emanuel goes the full 360 degrees. Chicago’s new mayor never stops, and sleep is seemingly optional.A look at Emanuel’s daily schedule, courtesy of a Chicago Reader investigation, shows why the mayor is in a hurry. The down-to-the-minute itineraries typically track him from breakfast meetings through dinner receptions. In three months the phrase “lunch with a...http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/05/19/rahm_emanuel_in_your_face_280262.htmlhttp://www.northwestern.edu/magazine/spring2012/feature/in-your-face.htmlhttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.northwestern.edu/magazine/spring2012/feature/in-your-face.html 100280262 AM Update Cate Plys, Northwestern Magazine 138456 Sat, 19 May 2012 09:57:09 -0500 05/19/2012/00/00/00 Robert Reich, Huffington Post
First, you're going to have a hell of a hard time finding a job. The job market you're heading into is still bad. Fewer than half of the graduates from last year's class have as yet found full-time jobs. Most are still looking.http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/05/19/members_of_the_class_of_03912_you039re_screwed_280311.htmlhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/student-loans-graduation_b_1528320.htmlhttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/student-loans-graduation_b_1528320.html 100280311 AM Update Robert Reich, Huffington Post 138448 Sat, 19 May 2012 10:01:59 -0500 05/19/2012/00/00/00 Thomas Sowell, Investor's Business Daily
Now that census data show -- for the first time in American history -- the number of white babies born exceeded by the number of babies born to non-white minorities the question is: What does this mean for the future of American society?Politically, it means that minorities who traditionally vote overwhelmingly for Democrats can ensure that the country veers ever further to the left over the years, making America more like the welfare states of Europe, whose unsustainable spending led ultimately to finical crises and widespread riots.http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/05/19/a_racial_revolution_114209.htmlhttp://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/05/19/a_racial_revolution_114209.htmlhttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/05/19/a_racial_revolution_114209.html 200280297 AM Update Thomas Sowell, Investor's Business Daily 138454 Sat, 19 May 2012 05:12:57 -0500 05/19/2012/00/00/00 Sen. Jim Webb, The Daily Beast
The most important constitutional challenge regarding the balance of power between the president and Congress in modern times comes down to a simple question: When should the president have the unilateral authority to decide to use military force, and what is the place of the Congress in that process?http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/05/18/congress_must_ok_military_intervention_280255.htmlhttp://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/05/18/sen-jim-webb-congress-must-ok-military-intervention.htmlhttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/05/18/sen-jim-webb-congress-must-ok-military-intervention.html 100280255 AM Update Sen. Jim Webb, The Daily Beast 39546 http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/05/19/export-import_bank_corporate_welfare_280313.html http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/rtd-opinion/2012/may/17/tdopin01-corporate-welfare-ar-1919674/ http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/rtd-opinion/2012/may/17/tdopin01-corporate-welfare-ar-1919674/ 100280313 Editorials Sat, 19 May 2012 09:54:53 -0500 Richmond Times-Dispatch 132040 http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/05/19/obama_and_the_arc_of_the_rainbow_280312.html http://www.thenation.com/article/167933/obama-and-arc-rainbow http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.thenation.com/article/167933/obama-and-arc-rainbow 100280312 Editorials Sat, 19 May 2012 09:53:33 -0500 The Nation 138443 http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/05/19/obama039s_electoral_lock_is_about_to_be_picked_280309.html http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/may/18/obamas-electoral-lock/ http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/may/18/obamas-electoral-lock/ 100280309 Editorials Sat, 19 May 2012 09:54:40 -0500 Washington Times 134749 http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/05/19/get_tougher_with_vladimir_putin_280308.html http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2012/05/18/get-tougher-with-vladimir-putin/uOD3PfX1wy1hW0WqYAyqgM/story.html http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2012/05/18/get-tougher-with-vladimir-putin/uOD3PfX1wy1hW0WqYAyqgM/story.html 100280308 Editorials Sat, 19 May 2012 09:55:15 -0500 Boston Globe 138445