politics

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Pelosi Willing to Deal to Win Back House Dems

They plan more flexible approach, postponed public option

(Newser) - House Democrats got whipped on health care over the August recess, and party leaders now have to win back some of their own shaky members, reports Politico. The push starts at a caucus meeting in the Capitol basement next week as Nancy Pelosi and other top leaders will try to...

Spitzer Eying Return to Politics: Insiders

Others close to ex-guv dispute claim

(Newser) - Eliot Spitzer is tossing around the possibility of a comeback bid, mulling a run for New York state office next year, insiders tell the New York Post. The ex-governor is said to be eying the state comptroller's job or Kirsten Gillibrand’s Senate seat. But it’s all informal at...

Ridge Takes Back Threat Level Claim in His Book

Retreats on earlier suggestion that politics played a role

(Newser) - Former Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge says the Bush administration “never pressured” him to raise the US terror threat level, backing down on a claim made in his book, USA Today reports. In the book, Ridge writes that John Ashcroft and Donald Rumsfeld pushed him to elevate it before...

Daschle: Insurers Can Talk to Rush—Or Me

Says Dems need to 'do better' at selling health care reform

(Newser) - Why is Tom Daschle taking money to advise an insurer that’s against the creation of a public health care option—a measure he supports? Pish-posh, the former Senate majority leader tells Deborah Solomon in the New York Times. Who would doubters on the left “advise these insurance companies...

Wikipedia Labels Obama 'Harvard Puppet'

Days of user stunts like this are numbered

(Newser) - Oops. Wikipedia's new editorial oversight didn't start soon enough to block a statement in President Obama's Wiki profile that he's a "puppet" of Columbia and Harvard Law. Mystery writer "Mrjazzguitar" substituted the word in the kind of prank that Wikipedia hopes to curtail with its new policy to...

Obama's Health Reform Waffling May Be Savvy

Prez perhaps following his predecessors in 'strategic uncertainty'

(Newser) - It may not be timidity that’s keeping Barack Obama from pushing harder for a public health care option. He may instead be employing a time-tested presidential technique: “strategic uncertainty,” writes Jill Lawrence in Politics Daily. Key for Obama is getting strong Senate support for a bill, and...

Palin Resurfaces on Twitter
 Palin Resurfaces on Twitter 
Aug 14, 2009 2:25 PM CDT

Palin Resurfaces on Twitter

(Newser) - Sarah Palin has changed her Twitter handle to the more civilian-sounding "SarahPalinUSA" now that her old username, AKGovSarahPalin, is defunct, CNN reports. The move sparked speculation that the she may yet tweet again. The former Alaska governor has not tweeted since she resigned, preferring Facebook for her communiqués....

Berlusconi: Why the Sex Scandals Don't Hurt Him

(Newser) - Besieged Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is “a national joke,” Michael Wolff writes in Vanity Fair. He’s also immensely popular. In the midst of his most recent sex scandal, he and his party were handily reelected. What’s the deal? To begin with, “he controls his...

Beck: I Want to Poison Pelosi ... Kidding!

Sure, no one likes her, but still...

(Newser) - So a few advertisers abandoned Glenn Beck’s show after his last bout of verbal diarrhea—so what? That didn’t stop him from “joking” that he wanted to poison Nancy Pelosi last night on his show, during a skit about hanging out at her “liberal, elitist wine...

Lighten Up on Presidential Gaffes
Lighten Up on Presidential Gaffes
OPINION
Jul 31, 2009 9:12 AM CDT

Lighten Up on Presidential Gaffes

Media blowing up slips is harming political discourse: Kinsley

(Newser) - Saying the Cambridge police acted "stupidly" wasn't Barack Obama's first or even worst gaffe; as president-elect he mused about Nancy Reagan séances, and he still hasn't lived down his awful joke on Jay Leno. But gaffes are okay, writes Michael Kinsley in the Washington Post—we want a...

When Going Gets Tough, Obama Loses His Cool
When Going Gets Tough, Obama Loses His Cool
ANALYSIS
Jul 19, 2009 3:27 PM CDT

When Going Gets Tough, Obama Loses His Cool

Prez changes tactics, dials up the heat

(Newser) - Here's some change you might not believe: President Obama, he of the unflappable political cool, is starting to sweat. And he's also learning to adjust his strategies, writes Politico. Faced with a stagnating economy, troubled foreign relations, and a bogged-down health care bill, the president has (sometimes literally) rolled...

GOP Web Game Yanked After Anti-Semitic Flap

(Newser) - The Republican National Committee has yanked an online game from one of its websites after complaints that aspects of the game were anti-Semitic and sexually graphic, reports Politico. The "Obama Card Game (Life Costs Nothing)" was intended to demonstrate how much could be purchased with the $3.4 trillion...

'Kumar' Begins White House Outreach Gig

Thespian won't accept acting gigs for a year or two while he focuses on politics

(Newser) - Kal Penn began work at the White House today, the Washington Post reports. The Harold and Kumar star, who later appeared on House, is the new associate director of the White House's Office of Public Engagement. Penn, 31, has committed to the job for a year or two, meaning he...

Ex-Lawmakers Lobby Hard for Health Industry

Medical interests shelling out $1.4M a day to limit reform

(Newser) - The health care industry is making a record-breaking lobbying push to shape and soften health care reform, the Washington Post reports, laying out $1.4 million a day on an army of some 350 former Capitol Hill staffers and members of Congress. Three of every four health care lobbying firms...

Sources: Palin Done With Politics

(Newser) - Sources close to Sarah Palin say the Alaska governor intends to leave politics entirely—and not focus on a 2012 presidential bid—when her resignation becomes official later this month, Andrea Mitchell reported today on MSNBC. The Republican, under fire at home over ethics complaints and from various media outlets...

Politico's Obsessive Focus Is Future of News
Politico's Obsessive Focus Is Future of News
Analysis
Jul 1, 2009 6:27 PM CDT

Politico's Obsessive Focus Is Future of News

It's all politics, all the time, and it works

(Newser) - If you want to see the future of news—and how it will be delivered—look no further than Politico as a reasonable guide, writes Newser founder Michael Wolff in Vanity Fair. Unlike general-interest newspapers, which flail about knowing too little about everything, Politico has an obsessive focus: “It...

McCain Aides Pan Palin as 'Little Shop of Horrors'

(Newser) - Very late in the presidential campaign, staffers for Sen. John McCain came to the painful realization that it would be impossible, ever, to get Sarah Palin up to speed, reports Vanity Fair. They discovered, too late, she was a truth-shifting, self-regarding "little shop of horrors" who knew little about...

Yep, There's a Sex Tape, Says Edwards Aide

Young gave Hunter a place to stay...and then found a steamy video

(Newser) - What's a sex scandal without a sex tape? A source who got a peek at the tell-all book proposal penned by Andrew Young—the Edwards aide who claimed to be the father of Rielle Hunter’s child—tells the New York Daily News that Young found a videotape of Hunter...

'I'm Terribly Sorry, But David Gregory Had a Fit'

Scarborough cancels on Stephanopoulos

(Newser) - The highbrow news shows are seeing a little soap-opera drama—and a good old-fashioned hissy fit: MSNBC's Joe Scarborough had to cancel an appearance on George Stephanopoulos' This Week on ABC, reports the New York Post. "I'm terribly sorry," he told Stephanopoulos, "but David Gregory had a...

Sanford's Wife: His Career, His Problem

(Newser) - Jenny Sanford doesn’t much care what political fate befalls her cheating husband, CNN reports. “His career is not a concern of mine,” South Carolina's first lady told reporters as she left the family’s vacation home. “He’s going to have to worry about that. I’...

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