January 30, 2014

UPDATED: Jon Meacham Says Lincoln, FDR Never Tried To 'Rebuild America On An Executive Order'

TOM KLUDT – JANUARY 30, 2014, 8:54 AM EST

The crew on "Morning Joe" once again turned to Jon Meacham on Thursday to provide an historical context for the show's steady drumbeat of conventional wisdom, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning author sounded pretty skeptical of President Obama's pledge to take more executive actions.

"We make fun of the executive orders and that is in fact something that — you know, you never really heard Lincoln and FDR say, 'I'm going to rebuild America on an executive order," Meacham said. "You know, it's not something that resonates off the tongue."

Meacham's take was somewhat baffling. Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued more executive orders than any president, including some that helped usher in New Deal programs. And wasn't the Emancipation Proclamation an executive order?

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/jon-meacham-executive-order-fdr-lincoln-obama

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More commentary about Meacham the Historian:



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UPDATE

Jon Meacham Says He Was 'Just Plain Wrong' With His Comment On Executive Orders

TOM KLUDT – JANUARY 30, 2014, 1:30 PM EST

Jon Meacham left quite a few people confused on Thursday morning when he suggested that neither Franklin D. Roosevelt nor Abraham Lincoln ever said they were "going to rebuild America on an executive order." It turns out that he was pretty baffled by what he said, too.

"I was at best imprecise and at worst just plain wrong today," Meacham said in a statement provided to TPM. "I did not say what I meant to say: that great presidential leadership requires not only executive action but public persuasion and legislative action."

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author said that he's written about plenty of presidents who used executive orders "often boldly and to the great consternation of their critics" to because that was the only way to implement their policies.

During an appearance on "Morning Joe," Meacham expressed skepticism toward President Obama's pledge to use more executive orders in his second term.

more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/jon-meacham-executive-orders-fdr-lincoln-obama-apology

January 30, 2014

Hillary Clinton a has commanding lead over Democrats for 2016, poll finds

Hillary Rodham Clinton holds a commanding 6 to 1 lead over other Democrats heading into the 2016 presidential campaign, while the Republican field is deeply divided with no clear front-runner, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Clinton trounces her potential primary rivals with 73 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, reinforcing a narrative of inevitability around her nomination if she runs. Vice President Biden is second with 12 percent, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) is third with 8 percent.

Although Clinton’s favorability rating has fallen since she stepped down as secretary of state a year ago, she has broad Democratic support across ideological, gender, ethnic and class lines. Her lead is the largest recorded in an early primary matchup in at least 30 years of Post-ABC polling.


Read more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/for-2016-hillary-clinton-has-commanding-lead-over-democrats-gop-race-wide-open/2014/01/29/188bb3f4-8904-11e3-833c-33098f9e5267_story.html

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TOM KLUDT – JANUARY 30, 2014, 9:55 AM EST

Chris Christie has been billed as the GOP's best hope against Hillary Clinton in 2016, but a poll out Thursday showed the former secretary of state with a comfortable (and very early) lead over the New Jersey governor.

The latest ABC News/Washington Post survey showed Clinton polling at 53 percent among registered voters nationwide in the hypothetical matchup against Christie, who garnered 41 percent support.

The poll also showed that 46 percent of voters believe the politically motivated lane closures on the George Washington Bridge are a sign of larger problems with Christie's leadership, compared with 43 percent who said it was just an isolated incident.

An NBC/Marist poll earlier this month showed Clinton with a 13-point lead over Christie after a survey in December showed the two neck-and-neck.

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/hillary-clinton-chris-christie-poll-2016

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January 30, 2014

Tax credit proposal has a bipartisan chance

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) — In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama gave a shout out to House Speaker John Boehner, hailing him as the successful son of a saloon keeper. It brought the house down. Less noticed, but perhaps more significant, was his hat tip to Sen. Marco Rubio, singling out the Florida Republican’s support for expanding tax benefits for low-income workers.

Seeking bipartisan achievement in a divided Congress, Obama may find common ground with his proposal to expand the earned-income tax credit to childless workers, broadening benefits that now mainly go to low-income working parents. The program has support across a broad spectrum of policy analysts, prompting both liberal and conservative economists to embrace it.

Provided as a tax refund, the credit is intended to be an incentive to find work and to help offset Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes. Though childless workers are eligible, the largest part of the credit benefits families.

The idea of expanding the program was the only new legislative proposal in Obama’s State of the Union.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.salon.com/2014/01/29/tax_credit_proposal_has_a_bipartisan_chance/

January 30, 2014

Death penalty decision looms for Boston bomb suspect

Source: Reuters

BY RICHARD VALDMANIS
BOSTON Wed Jan 29, 2014 5:16pm EST

(Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department will decide this week whether to seek the death penalty for suspected Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, accused of setting off two pressure-cooker bombs at the finish line of the world-renowned race.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that he would announce his decision before a Friday deadline set by a U.S. District Court Judge in Boston.

Tsarnaev, a 20-year-old ethnic Chechen, is accused of detonating the home-made bombs along with his older brother, Tamerlan, who was killed during a shootout with police several days after the April 15 attack.

Three people, including an 8-year-old boy, were killed in the blasts, which marked the worst attack on U.S. soil since September 11, 2001. Another 264 people were injured by shrapnel, many of them losing limbs.

-snip-



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/29/us-usa-explosions-boston-idUSBREA0S24720140129

January 29, 2014

Fox Host Says There Is No Gender Gap: 'Many Women Make Exactly What They're Worth'

CAITLIN MACNEAL – JANUARY 29, 2014, 2:42 PM EST

snip

MacCallum, Daily Caller editor-in-chief Tucker Carlson and liberal radio host Alan Colmes discussed President Obama's call for pay equality for women in his State of the Union address on Tuesday. Obama called the pay gap an "embarrassment."

When Colmes asked MacCallum whether women are worth the same amount as men, MacCallum said that "they're worth a heck of a lot." MacCallum said she doesn't see gender inequality in the workplace.

"The numbers, when you look at them, do not bear out that there is a war on women in the workplace," she said, as quoted by Raw Story. "And I think it's a question of how liberals and conservative view what needs to be done for women."

Carlson agreed that there is no pay gap -- if you factor in maternity leave. "Women make more than men if you adjust for the time they take off for child-bearing," he said. "That's a fact."

more:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/maccallum-fox-women-make-exactly-worth

January 29, 2014

Kentucky Dem: Bevin Would Be Tougher Opponent Than McConnell

DANIEL STRAUSS – JANUARY 29, 2014, 5:42 PM EST

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-KY) tea party challenger would be a tougher opponent in the Senate general election than McConnell himself, Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) argued.

"You can make a case that Mitch is easier to beat than Bevin," Yarmuth said in an interview with The Plum Line's Greg Sargent. "People are tired of him. They see him as the embodiment of government dysfunction. He probably will survive the primary. But he’s going to alienate a number of voters in the primary — it’s going to be nasty — who then will not come out."

Bevin, unlike some other conservative primary challengers, has proven enough of a nuisance to McConnell that the top Senate Republican has had to watch his right flank. Still, McConnell, even by Bevin's own admission, is likely to win the primary and face Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes (D) in the general election. A new Public Policy Polling survey released Wednesday found McConnell with a slim one-point lead over Grimes.

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/kentucky-dem-bevin-would-be-tougher-opponent-than-mcconnell

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January 29, 2014

CREW Requests Ethics Investigation Into Michael Grimm Threatening Reporter

CATHERINE THOMPSON – JANUARY 29, 2014, 2:20 PM EST

A watchdog group is requesting an investigation into whether Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) violated house rules when he threatened to throw a reporter off a balcony Tuesday night for asking about a federal probe into his campaign finances.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a request for investigation Wednesday with the Office of Congressional Ethics, arguing Grimm went "well beyond the bounds of reasonableness" when he physically threatened NY1 reporter Michael Scotto after the State of the Union address.

The watchdog group's complaint to OCE alleged Grimm's conduct violated House Rule 23, which requires members of the House conduct themselves "at all times in a manner that reflects creditably on the House." CREW also argued Grimm abused his position in threatening a reporter who was exercising his First Amendment rights and did not provoke him.

"Rep. Grimm's behavior last night was completely unacceptable and reflects discreditably on the House of Representatives," CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan said in a statement. "Unfortunately, his total meltdown is in keeping with the congressman’s refusal to come clean about the allegations surrounding his shady fundraising practices. Perhaps the pressure of the ongoing federal investigation is finally starting to get to him."

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/crew_ethics_investigation_request_grimm
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Dem Opponent: Rep. Grimm Is An 'Embarrassment' To District

DANIEL STRAUSS – JANUARY 29, 2014, 2:22 PM EST

Rep. Michael Grimm's (R-NY) Democratic challenger is looking to capitalize on his outburst against a reporter he threatened to "break in half" and throw over a balcony railing at the Capitol Rotunda on Tuesday night.

In a fundraising email Domenic Recchia, the Democrat seeking to defeat Grimm in the 2014 elections, writes that Grimm's behavior was "unbefitting of a United States Congressman."

"It’s time for Michael Grimm to go," Recchia continued in the fundraising pitch. "He continues to be an embarrassment to his district and to his constituents.

A day after Grimm made the physical threats against the NY1 reporter, he apologized. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said Grimm's apology was "appropriate." Top Democrats, meanwhile, continued to criticize the New York congressman.

more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/dem-opponent-rep-grimm-continues-to-be-embarrassment-to-district

January 29, 2014

Bachmann: Obama 'Not A King' So We'll Sue Him For Executive Actions

DYLAN SCOTT – JANUARY 29, 2014, 2:41 PM EST

Rep. Michele Bachmann chastised President Obama for his monarchical ambitions after his State of the Union address Tuesday night and warned that House conservatives were preparing to sue the president if he went too far in exercising his executive power.

“He’s the president of the United States. He’s not a king,” Bachmann said following Obama's speech, the Daily Caller reported. “He may think he’s a king, he may declare himself king, but that’s not what he is under our Constitution.”

Bachmann foreshadowed pending litigation if Obama proceeded with the numerous executive actions that he announced during the address.

"If he wants to move forward with this unilateral activity, he better be prepared for the lawsuit that the United States Congress will bring to him," she said, and the National Journal reported that other GOP lawmakers, including Rep. Steve King (R-IA) also voiced support for legal action.

-more:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/bachman-obam-sotu-lawsuit

January 29, 2014

Former Nev. Lt. Gov. Says She's Leaving 'Tea-Party Orientated' GOP

CAITLIN MACNEAL – JANUARY 29, 2014, 4:14 PM EST

Former Nevada Lt. Gov. Sue Wagner said Tuesday that she recently left the Republican party.

"It's grown so conservative and tea-party orientated and I just can't buy into that," Wagner told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "I've left the Republican Party and it's left me, at the same time."

Wagner reflected on a party that has changed over the past few years.

"I did it as a symbol, I guess, that I do not like the Republican Party and what they stand for today," Wagner said. "I've been a Republican all my life. My dad was active (in the GOP) in the state of Maine where I was born. It was more of a moderate, liberal Republican Party."

more
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/lt-gov-wagner-leaving-gop-tea-party

January 29, 2014

January's Epidemic: 11 School Shootings in 19 Days

ABBY OHLHEISER

January 2014 is threatening to become the month when gun violence became a matter of routine in America's schools. Since the start of the month, there have been at least 11 active shooting incidents on a high school or college campus, one for every two weekdays of the month (including New Year's Day.) Those shootings — all on or near school grounds while students were present, and most perpetrated by students themselves — have claimed at least two lives and injured at least 11 students.

But in addition to the actual shootings, the number of shooting scares and threats are on the rise as well. Reports of "active shooters" and precautionary lockdowns have become a part of every school's standard procedures. If it feels like there's "another one" every day now, that's because that's very nearly true. In fact, the latest school shooting (the wounding of a 17-year-old in Hawaii) happened while this very post was being edited.

For comparison, there were as many as 28 school shootings during the entire year of 2013, the 12 months after Adam Lanza shot and killed 20 first-graders and 6 teachers in Newtown, Connecticut. In other words, the year our nation had supposedly had enough and was finally going to do something about gun violence.

Here's what the month in school shootings and scares looks like (so far) on a calendar. Orange is a shooting, red means more than one shootings, and yellow is a scare or lockdown, prompted by a report to police. (The two incidents on the 15th and 16th were actually a continuation of one incident, as the same student brought a gun to class on both days.)

more
http://www.thewire.com/national/2014/01/januarys-school-shootings/357448/