Former Mayor Kevin H. White, who led the city for 16 years including racially turbulent times in the 1970s and was credited with putting it on a path to prosperity, died Friday, a family spokesman said.
Former GOP presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee “would love for” Newt Gingrich to pull a political campaign ad that features a comment he made during the 2008 campaign that appears to slam Mitt Romney for being “dishonest.” “I know Newt Gingrich at the end of the ad says I approved this message, well let me just say, I didn’t approve that … (more)
President Obama and Vice President Biden on Friday worked to rally congressional Democrats preparing to do battle with Republicans leading into the 2012 election.
Mitt Romney is taking a hard line on illegal immigration. He plans on securing the border with a 2,600-mile fence and deploying enough agents to patrol it, as well as working to deport the 11 million illegal immigrants currently in the country, reports Jan Crawford.
Topix Staff Feature
The Washington Post have found a former staffer who says that Paul gave the green light to racist content in newsletters published under his name:
“It was his newsletter, and it was under his name, so he always got to see the final product. … He would proof it,” said Renae Hathway, a former secretary in Paul’s company and a supporter of the Texas congressman.
Paul has denied writing the racist parts of the newsletter, and recently said that he didn’t even know about the racist passages until years afterwards.
Weigh in: Do you think Paul knew about the racist content? Does it matter?
Topix Staff Story
In his rebuttal of Obama’s State of the Union speech, Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels joked that
The late Steve Jobs – what a fitting name he had – created more [jobs] than all those stimulus dollars the president borrowed and blew.
Daniels’ joke suggests that the most successful entrepreneurs – like Jobs – create way more jobs than government spending.
But Daniels is wrong, writes Paul Krugman in his popular New York Times column – the vast majority of Apple employees are Chinese, not American. And Obama’s auto bailout created more American jobs than Jobs ever did.
Daniels’ mistake, says Krugman, stems from a fundamental error. The Republican vision of a “job creator” is the lone genius entrepreneur, like Steve Jobs. But you can’t rely on lone entrepreneurs for job creation, Krugman writes. Jobs emerge from “business ecologies” – clusters of businesses who buy from or supply one another, like the auto industry. That makes it worthwhile bailing out a few businesses to save an entire “business ecology.”
Do you agree - can government bailouts create jobs?
President Ronald Reagan rides his horse at his Rancho del Cielo, “Ranch in the Sky,” located outside Santa Barbara, Ca., in April 1985.
Fighting sanctions with sanctions in a trial of strength with the West over its nuclear ambitions, Iran warned on Friday it may halt oil exports to Europe next week in a move calculated to hurt ailing European economies.
Bob Schieffer announces Sunday’s line-up: DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, RNC Chair Reince Priebus, Donald Trump, Reps.
Topix Staff Feature
Newt definitely isn’t interested in rational problem-solving, writes The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf, and his fascination with moon colonization reveals why.
Friedersdorf hones in on a revealing moment in which Gingrich defends his “large” visions:
“The reason you have to have a bold and large vision is you don’t arouse the American nation with trivial, bureaucratic, rational objectives.”
“That is telling,” says Friedersdorf. “Problem-solving isn’t [Gingrich's] object. He aims, as he tells us, to arouse the American people.”
Friedersdorf riffs on this to create a “bold” slogan for Gingrich’s campaign:
“Newt Gingrich — he’s like Viagra for the national psyche.” (Side effects may include nausea, bigger deficits, self-aggrandizing speeches, foreign wars, demagoguery against Muslims, ethics scandals, and shameless demonstrations of moral hypocrisy. Not to be combined with actual executive power.)
Weigh in: Is Gingrich right – should the president excite Americans with bold visions, or focus on the nuts and bolts of problem-solving?
Topix Staff Article:
Gingrich last night promised Americans the moon (yes, really) when he reiterated a campaign promise made last Friday:
“By the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon and it will be American.”
Under Gingrich’s lunar-tic plan, moon colonists could form a U.S. state.
Romney responded to Newt’s vision like the pragmatist that he is:
If I had a business executive come to me and say they wanted to spend a few hundred billion dollars to put a colony on the moon, I’d say, “You’re fired.”
(It seems to be true, Romney really does like firing people.)
As always, Ron Paul refused to pander to local interests, in this case Florida’s concern with NASA:
I don’t think we should go to moon. I think we maybe should send some politicians up there.
Paul then made the more serious point that moon colonization isn’t really a priority when people are without jobs and healthcare.
Your take: Is there something to be said for a lunar program? Or is Gingrich a space cadet?
After a raid by U.S. Nacy SEALS rescued American aid worker from pirates in Somalia, Jessica Buchanan was recovering in Italy, before heading home.
The US economy accelerated sharply in the fourth quarter of 2011, expanding at an annual rate of 2.8%, just as growth in Europe was grinding to a halt.
Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States. A former community activist and law professor, his rapid rise through the political world was one of the unlikeliest in American history.
ROMULUS, Mich. – President Barack Obama has put colleges and universities on notice to control tuition costs or face losing federal dollars.
Hillary Clinton has been first lady, senator, aspiring presidential candidate and the US secretary of state.
Topix Staff Article:
Commentators are already calling the Florida primary for Romney, after he turned in his most aggressive performance of the 19 debates.
Gingrich looked rather wilted under Romney’s scorching blasts, which began when Gingrich repeated his claim that Romney is the most anti-immigrant candidate. Romney came back blazing in a very un-Romney-like way:
That’s simply inexcusable. …The ad was inexcusable and inflammatory and inappropriate. … The idea that I’m anti-immigrant is repulsive. … I think you should apologize for it.
Gingrich then tried and failed to make Romney look bad by revisiting the idea of deporting grandmothers. Gingrich said, sentimentally,
All I want to do is allow the grandmother to be here legally so that he or she can finish their life legally, within the law.
Romney responded with an uncharacteristic one-liner:
Our problem is not 11 million grandmothers.
This line got a big laugh and applause.
Your take - Did Romney hammer Gingrich? Is he back for good?
Republicans believe they have a 6-and-a-half-foot shield to fend off attacks that they want to end Medicare.
Rick Santorum may be running an anemic third in Republican presidential primary polls in Florida, but his influence in Tuesday’s crucial Sunshine State contest – and perhaps beyond – continues to outpace his survey numbers.
President Barack Obama got a warm reception when he spoke to workers at a United Parcel Service Inc.
The Obama administration is urging Egypt to “immediately” lift travel restrictions on several U.S. citizens, after the son of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and other Americans were prevented from leaving the country.
In this Jan. 7 file photo, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., son of Republican presidential candidate, Rep.
Newt Gingrich beat out Mitt Romney in South Carolina among evangelicals, women and people voting on who could manage the economy best.
It’s the rare Jay Leno joke that results in ruffled feathers in the United States.
Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, announced his retirement in November, citing redistricting as a reason he would not seek another term.
As President Barack Obama prepares to deliver his annual address to Congress, many goals he outlined in previous State of the Union speeches remain unfulfilled.
U.S. drone aircraft fired missiles in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal region on Monday, killing at least four militants, intelligence officials and tribesmen said, the latest strikes in a resumption of the air campaign.
It isn’t every day an 11-branch bank in Iowa gets a financial leg up on J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co.
It seems South Carolinans may have a “hunger” for comedian Stephen Colbert’s presidential bid.
President Obama Sings Soul in Harlem At a fundraiser at the Apollo Theater, Obama sings Rev.
A neighbor walks her dog in front of a traditional, spanish-style mansion in the wealthy neighborhood of Davis Island in Tampa, Florida on January 22, 2012.
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords ‘ decision to step down from her congressional seat sets up a wide-open race to fill her spot in a conservative-leaning Arizona district that has a history of electing moderates from both parties.
ROD LAMKEY JR. / THE WASHINGTON TIMES “The assertion of the Fifth Amendment by a senior Justice official is a significant indictment of the departmentA s integrity,” Rep.
ORMOND BEACH, Fla. Mitt Romney landed here Sunday with a simple message: Newt Gingrich is a failure and a fraud.
President Obama is scheduled to address Congress in his annual State of the Union address, and then will hit the road to promote his policies with voters.
Why did the Obama courtship of Iran go unrequited? One theory casts blame everywhere but Tehran and the White House.
The massive online protest last Wednesday, in which Wikipedia and thousands of other websites closed down or otherwise protested and helped to kill controversial online piracy legislation, was widely heralded as an unprecedented case of a grassroots uprising overcoming backroom lobbying.
Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords , who suffered a head wound in the Tuscon shooting, smiles after reciting the Pledge of Allegiance at a memorial service marking the anniversary of the shooting, at the University of Arizona campus January 8, 2012.
Cast your vote early. Click here to find out where to cast your ballot http://t.co/zzP1q2aU #Sayfie #Mitt2012 @ RickSantorum : Three contests – three winners.
U.S. House Speaker John Boehner speaks during the GOP news conference about the Keystone XL pipeline decision on Capitol Hill in Washington January 18, 2012.
Postage rates jumped Sunday for the first time in two-and-a-half years as the U.S. Postal Service hopes to generate more revenue amid historic losses.
Colonia Juarez is an orderly, prosperous town with a population of approximately 1,000 people, located at the foot of the western Sierra Madres in Mexico.
Trinity United Church of Christ hasn’t changed its priorities. But four years after the Protestant church on Chicago’s South Side came under siege during the 2008 presidential campaign, it faces fewer distractions.
Newt Gingrich’s third wife, Callista, tugs the Republican presidential candidate’s ears before a speaking engagement in Florence, S.C., last week.
Political mudslinging would have seemed to hit its nadir back in ’92, when Bill Clinton was running for president and the rumor surfaced – suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere – that he’d fathered an illegitimate child with a black prostitute.
Charleston is known for many events, he said. “Firing the first shot on Fort Sumter.
Earlier this month, a relatively obscure White House official, whom few Americans know, gave a speech that even fewer of them actually heard.
Breaking News
Politico reports:
Newt Gingrich has defeated Mitt Romney in the South Carolina primary, handing the former House speaker a comeback victory that his supporters hope will reset the Republican presidential race nationwide.
CNN, Fox News, ABC, NBC, and the Associated Press have all called the race for Gingrich.
U.S. Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia has a simple solution for people who don’t like all the political advertisements unleashed by the court’s decision two years ago that ended limits on corporate contributions in political campaigns – change the channel or turn off the TV.
Rick Santorum said he would be pleased with a third-place finish in South Carolina Saturday but vowed to stay in the presidential race through the Florida primary no matter what.
The political debate about Mitt Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital and its impact on jobs has been largely anecdotal: tales of successful turnarounds offered up by the candidate and his campaign, rebutted by examples of layoffs and bankruptcies provided by his rivals in the Republican presidential race.
Jan. 18, 2012: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie answers a question in Voorhees, N.J., during a town hall meeting.
President Obama delivers remarks at a fundraising dinner of the kind that is generating millions of dollars for his campaign.
The Cuban government is hitting back at Washington for critical statements about the death of a jailed dissident who has been described as a prisoner of conscience on hunger strike.
Now that Newt Gingrich has a chance of winning the South Carolina GOP primary in his quest for the Republican nomination, one of his daughters is coming to his defense.
President Barack Obama offered a glimpse into his State of the Union speech in his weekly address released Saturday, making clear that as expected his focus will be on the economy.
Michael McFaul, the architect of the reset of relations with Russia, is now the U.S. ambassador to Moscow as the countries work through a series of difficult issues.
After a full-on counterattack by the tech industry, the entertainment industry must conduct PR damage control and convince tech-savvy Americans that it isn’t the bad guy.
Television comedian Stephen Colbert took his political shtick down south on Friday, staging a mock campaign rally in South Carolina, the site of the next Republican presidential primary.
So, ‘open marriage’ – is that a new one in presidential politics? What will Marianne Gingrich’s allegation that Newt sought an open marriage mean for his campaign? In June, we tried to figure out why some politicians survive sex scandals and others are undone by them.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel speaks Friday at a U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Washington, where he outlined a plan to have most of the City Colleges of Chicago adopt a specialized vocational curriculum.
Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, visited Camp Pendleton on Friday — watching how Marines train for Afghanistan and how combat-wounded Marines are cared for when they return.
The Congress has the constitutional right to legislate permits for cross-border oil pipelines like TransCanada’s Keystone XL, according to a new legal analysis released late on Friday.
News outlets’ attempts to mine campaign data from Facebook and Twitter point to social media’s growing influence, but some caution the science is too new to be reliable.
Members of Congress are calling for an investigation into the 1-800-GET-THIN weight-loss surgery marketing campaign and the safety and effectiveness of the Lap-Band device.
Very flattered. http://t.co/wjfN1P0K @ ktumulty : RT @ washingtonweek : “Iowa is the new Florida” @ KTumulty jokes, referring to the missing votes which led to Santorum being declared the r … @ 2chambers : RT @ ericaelliott : Gov.
The Obama administration on Friday ruled that religiously affiliated nonprofit organizations, including hospitals and universities, will have to offer birth-control coverage to women employees but gave the organizations an extra year to comply.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was among a group of 80 mayors in Washington on Friday who pledged their support for gay marriage and announced an initiative aimed at expanding marriage rights for same-sex couples.
Breaking News
Politico reports:
House and Senate leaders abandoned plans to move on SOPA and PIPA on Friday – the surest sign yet that a wave of online protests have killed the controversial anti-piracy legislation for now and maybe forever.
On Tuesday, Wikipedia and many other sites staged day-long blackouts to protest the bill.
Your take: Was Wikipedia right to strike? Was Congress right to cave to online protests?
Most Viral
Most people pay less in taxes than they think, claims one of this week’s most-commented stories in the New York Times. David Leonhardt writes that a lot of people see themselves as flailing under a huge tax burden. But actually, most people pay less than they think:
A large majority of American households – about two out of three – pays less than 15 percent of income to the federal government.
And taxes have actually gone down in recent decades.
Why do so many people think they pay above the odds in taxes? Leonhardt says that a lot of people are confused because the tax code is so complicated. Tax breaks aren’t distributed evenly, so a lot of people get convinced that they’re missing out on huge tax breaks that others are enjoying.
Weigh in: Do you agree – are most Americans deluded about the taxes they pay? Is this a problem?
With the crucial Republican presidential primary in South Carolina just hours away, front-runner Mitt Romney on Friday lowered expectations for how well he will do and acknowledged he is in a neck-and-neck race with Newt Gingrich.
A federal prosecutor in Arizona plans to assert his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination as part of a congressional inquiry into a botched federal gun investigation known as “Operation Fast and Furious,” USA TODAY’s Kevin Johnson reports.
GOP Debate Highlight
Romney had a pretty bad night at the Jan. 19 S.C. debate. A low point: he was booed for saying he doesn’t know how many years of his tax records he’ll release. And he looked distinctly uncomfortable as the other candidates discussed their taxes.
Watch the exchange here.
Weigh in: Is Romney losing the battle against negative perceptions of his wealth?
GOP Debate Highlight
All the candidates denounced the now-very-unpopular online piracy law, SOPA. But Santorum added that he “won’t agree with everyone up here,” because, he said,
“The internet is not a free zone where everyone can trample the rights of other people.”
“The idea that anything goes on the internet, where does that come from?”
Perhaps Santorum was wishing the internet had been a bit less free when it came to his name.
Weigh in: Does Santorum have a point?
Must Read
After Santorum called Gingrich “grandiose” during the Jan. 19 debate, Romney’s campaign shot out an email to supporters listing all of Gingrich’s “grandiose thoughts.” Over the years, Newt has compared himself to Woodrow Wilson, Margaret Thatcher, Charles de Gaulle, the Duke of Wellington, and Moses.
In the debate, Gingrich embraced his grandiosity: “I think grandiose thoughts,” he noted.
Weigh in: Can you take Newt’s grandiosity seriously?
GOP Debate Highlight
The South Carolina audience booed CNN debate moderator John King for ignoring Ron Paul, and heckled him when he tried to move on from an abortion question without asking for Paul’s input. Watch the debate moment here.
Weigh in: Was Paul unfairly ignored during the debate?
GOP Debate Highlight
Gingrich more-or-less aced the debate, but Santorum also had some great moments, especially when attacking Gingrich.
Santorum responded to Newt’s call for him to get out of the race by pivoting into a humorous onslaught on Gingrich’s mental stability:
For him to suggest that someone who tied first place in Iowa and finished ahead of him in New Hampshire should get out of the race…
These are not cogent thoughts,
Santorum said, to audience laughter.
Let’s just be honest. Newt’s a friend, you know I love him, but at times, there’s sort of, that worrisome moment that something’s going to pop.
Santorum added,
I served with him, I know what the problems were – there was an idea a minute, no discipline.
You can watch the exchange here.
Weigh in: Does Santorum have it right – is Gingrich too erratic for a president?
GOP Debate Highlight
Santorum tore strips off Romney and Gingrich for “playing footsie with the left” on healthcare:
Romney tells a very nice story now, but as Governor of Massachusetts he introduced a plan that was the basis of Obamacare. And he’s stood by it. … 50% of MA doctors aren’t seeing new patients… It’s been an abject disaster.”
Then he moved on to skewer Gingrich:
“Gingrich has been for an individual mandate, not just in 90s but in 2008.
Santorum pointed out that he, Santorum, was the author of the Health Savings Account bill – a private, non-government solution to healthcare – all the way back in 1991-2:
I’ve been fighting for private sector health reform for 20 years, while these two guys were playing footsie with the left.
Romney gave a weak response. He said that Massachusetts had the highest insurance costs of any state before his plan, and it still had the highest afterwards, but the rate of cost increases slowed. This doesn’t sound impressive.
After a lot more back and forth between Santorum, Romney, and Gingrich, moderator John King finally turned to Ron Paul, who said “phew” and got the night’s biggest cheers.
“I thought maybe you were prejudiced against doctors who practice medicine,” he said.
Weigh in: Who won the healthcare round of the debate?
GOP Debate Highlight
John King opened tonight’s South Carolina debate by asking Gingrich if he wanted to respond to his ex-wife’s claim that he asked he for an open marriage. Gingrich said,
No. But I will. I think the destructive, vicious negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country.
Gingrich added, to loud applause,
I am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that.
The story is false.
The Daily Beast‘s Andrew O’Sullivan comments that
“I think [Newt] may have won the primary tonight with that response.”
Your take: Did Gingrich dodge the issue, or close it down? Was he right to call the question “despicable”?
Breaking News
Newt is surging ahead of Mitt in S.C., according to a new poll from The American Research Group.
Their survey has Gingrich at 33% and Romney at 32%.
Ron Paul is third with 19% and Rick Santorum is fourth with 9%.
How did Newt get ahead of Romney, who enjoyed a 7-point lead in last week’s polls? The left-leaning Nation explains Gingrich’s momentum as follows: “Gingrich Rides Racially Coded Rhetoric to Surge in South Carolina.”
Gingrich has probably also received a boost Romney’s dodgy tax records. And he’ll get even more support following on from Perry’s withdrawal and endorsement (which the Jan 17-18 poll doesn’t reflect).
Your take: Do you think Newt’s SC surge will last through to Saturday’s primary? Can it survive open-marriage-gate?
Politics Staff Feature
Business Insider reports that increased sales are the number one reason why businesses hire more workers – not lower taxes or less red tape or “some vague notion of confidence.”
Do you agree? Or do you think lower taxes matter more?
Politics Staff Story
Romney’s been busy on the campaign trail this week cementing voters’ impressions that he’s an out-of-touch multi-millionaire.
On Monday Romney revealed he only pays 15% in taxes, which means he “pays the same tax rate as a family making $50,000,” as The Atlantic points out.
On Tuesday, he told voters that his $360,000 income from speaking fees is “not very much” money.
Today, ABC News reports that
Mitt Romney has millions of dollars of his personal wealth in investment funds set up in the Cayman Islands, a notorious Caribbean tax haven.
Note that nothing Romney has done with his taxes is illegal. But his low tax rate on an income of millions illustrates the loopholes in U.S. tax law.
Your take: Do you trust Romney to be a good president for Americans who aren’t wealthy?
Politics Staff Feature
The New York Times reports that Obama’s health care law will force drug firms to reveal the payments they make to doctors.
Large numbers of doctors receive payments from drug and device companies every year – sometimes into the hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars – in exchange for providing advice and giving lectures.
These payments may sound legitimate, but they actually influence doctors’ treatment decisions, studies have shown.
Government officials hope that if the payments are made public, doctors will be less likely to be swayed by the payments, and more likely to make decisions in the best interests of patients.
Your take: Should drug firms have to reveal their payments to doctors? Should they be allowed to pay doctors in the first place?
Politics Staff Feature
It’s not a huge surprise that free-speech champion Ron Paul has denounced SOPA, the anti-piracy legislation proposed by Congress. So far Paul is the only GOP candidate who’s come out against the bill.
Paul took his anti-SOPA stand in a Facebook status update, the Daily Caller reports:
“My campaign, and the entire freedom movement, would not be as strong as they are today without a free Internet, and that’s just one of the reasons why the establishment hopes to censor it with SOPA and PIPA. I’m proud to see so many taking a stand today. Contact your representative and senators and tell them to oppose these disastrous bills.”
Paul also made statements defending the internet companies who’ve blacked out their sites in protest. His son, Rand Paul, has promised to filibuster the legislation in the Senate.
Weigh in: Does Ron Paul have it right? Should the other GOP candidates speak out against the bill?
Politics Staff Feature
Romney’s low tax rate of 15% was all over the news yesterday, but what about his tax plans for the rest of us? If he’s elected, will his tax policies help millionaires or the middle class?
Liberal blog Think Progress reports that Romney’s economic plan will hand a huge tax cut to the rich and sting middle-class families with a tax increase:
As it turns out, Romney’s tax cuts for the rich would dwarf even those put in place by George W. Bush in 2001 and 2003, as Center for American Progress Director of Tax and Budget Policy Michael Linden noted:
Romney’s plan … layers on a heaping batch of new tax cuts for the rich, including a full repeal of the estate tax-which is currently paid by only the richest 0.14 percent of estates – and a massive corporate tax cut.
Weigh in: Are Romney’s tax plans fair? Will they help create jobs?
More Posts
January 20, 2012