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Sarah Palin wows US conservatives Conservative darling Sarah Palin has wowed a new grassroots Republican right wing movement and laid down the gauntlet to US President Barack Obama.
On Saturday she warned the mainstream Republican party to ignore the so-called "Tea Party" movement at its peril, saying she was "speaking on behalf of millions and millions and millions of Americans who want to encourage this movement."
As Republicans delight in a new found political energy after being routed in the 2008 presidential elections, Palin said the tide was turning in favour of conservative politics ahead of November mid-term congressional elections.
She pointed to the victory in Massachusetts last month when Republican Scott Brown won a senate seat held for more than four decades by Democrat Ted Kennedy as a sign that Republicans were on their way back up.
"This is the movement and America is ready for another revolution and you are a part of this," she said in her usual folksy style, bringing the crowd in a posh Nashville hotel to its feet.
Initially mocked, the Tea Party movement has been steadily gaining ground since being launched in the wake of the Republican Party's 2008 drubbing.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain and Palin, his vice-presidential pick, lost heavily to Obama and his Democrats, leaving the Grand Old Party floundering and leaderless.
Amid speculation Palin might make a bid for presidency in 2012, she brushed aside her own political ambitions saying everyone had a role to play.
"You don't need a proclaimed leader as if we are all a bunch of sheep and looking for a leader to progress this movement," she said.
The Tea Partyists have been calling for Republicans to move more to the right and embrace conservative values including small government, and smaller taxes.
But so far the Republican party leadership has been wary of bringing into the fold a movement styled on the famed 1773 Boston Tea Party revolt against British colonial taxes. Agencies/AFP/ Feb. 07, 2010
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Obama proposes measures to shore up small businesses President Barack Obama called for new steps to support America's small businesses, saying they are key to rebuilding the economy on a new, stronger foundation and creating jobs.
"These companies represent the essence of the American spirit - the promise that anyone can succeed in this country if you have a good idea and the determination to see it through," Obama said in his weekly radio address.
The president said last year, his administration had taken measures that supported over 47,000 loans to small businesses and delivered billions of US dollars in tax relief to small business owners. But he argued that more must be done.
Obama said he had proposed taking 30 billion US dollars from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) fund originally used for bailing out Wall Street investment banks and create a new Small Business Lending Fund that will provide capital for community banks on Main Street.
"These are the small, local banks that will be able to give our small business owners more of the credit they need to stay afloat," the president noted.
He said the government should also continue to waive fees, increase guarantees, and expand the size of loans for small businesses.
Obama said he had also proposed a new tax credit for more than one million small businesses that hire new workers or raise wages "to give these companies greater incentives to grow and create jobs"
The president also called for "targeted support" for small businesses with the greatest potential to export new goods and products.
Obama urged members of Congress, who will start debating many of these proposals next week, not to create obstacles to their passage.
"The proposals I've outlined are not Democratic or Republican; liberal or conservative," he argued. "They are pro-business, they are pro-growth, and they are pro-job." Agencies/AFP/ Feb. 07, 2010
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Palin and McConnell wage proxy battle in Kentucky Republican Senate primary
The Senate Republican primary in Kentucky has emerged as a proxy battle between two leaders of the factionalized Republican Party, Sarah Palin and Mitch McConnell.
At stake is the direction of the Republican Party, which Republican leaders in Washington fear could turn off middle-of-the road voters if it lurches too far to the right.
Since being tapped as the GOP’s vice-presidential nominee in 2008, Palin has emerged a leader of independent and social conservatives.
McConnell (Ky.), the Senate Republican leader, has cemented his leadership of the party establishment in Washington over the past year by unifying Senate Republicans against President Barack Obama’s agenda.
But McConnell and other veteran Republican lawmakers have a delicate relationship with many conservatives now lining up behind Palin and the Tea Party because of how federal spending swelled under GOP rule.
The growing activism of conservatives around the country, including many longtime members of the Republican grassroots, has helped energize the Republican Party, such as in Massachusetts. But the indifference or opposition of Tea Party activists to candidates favored by Republican leaders threatens to upset the GOP’s carefully crafted political strategy.
Sarah Palin, who gave her handlers headaches during the 2008 presidential campaign, isn’t making things any easier.
She has thrown her support behind Rand Paul, a favorite of anti-establishment conservatives such as RedState.com and Gun Owners of America, who is running for Senate in Kentucky.
Palin waded into the race despite it being widely known among political insiders that McConnell backs Rand’s opponent, Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson.
GOP strategists in Washington believe Grayson has a much better chance of winning the general election but Palin has channeled conservatives' frustration over “go-along-to-get-along” Republicans in Washington.
Palin’s not-so-subtle challenge to McConnell’s political authority shows the overall difficulty GOP leaders have in taming the resurgent conservative base, which has made Palin and the Tea Party newly powerful political forces.
McConnell has not endorsed Grayson formally but he has worked for the candidate behind the scenes. He contributed $10,000 to Grayson through a leadership PAC and hosted a fundraiser for the candidate in New York.
The Hill/ Feb. 06, 2010
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Van Jones will appear alongside Sen. Gillibrand
Van Jones, the controversial former Obama administration official, will speak on the same panel as Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) at a New York City forum next month, according to media reports this week.
Jones, who served as green jobs czar, resigned his advisory position last year after it was revealed he signed a petition that suggested the Bush administration deliberately allowed the 9/11 terrorist attacks to happen as a pretext for war.
Conservative lawmakers and activists had put pressure on Jones for weeks leading up to the revelation, arguing that his past remarks and political leanings made him unfit for office.
Jones and Gillibrand will speak on a panel sponsored by the Advocacy Project at the Harvard Club in New York. Jones is scheduled to speak about the Obama administration's jobs agenda.
Gillibrand, who has suffered from low approval ratings, is running for reelection this year and could face a primary challenge from New York transplant and former Rep. Harold Ford (D-Tenn.) Republicans have yet to find a strong challenger to face the junior senator. The Hill/ Feb. 6, 2010 PA. Dems back Specter over Sestak
The Pennsylvania Democratic Party on Saturday endorsed Sen. Arlen Specter's reelection bid over primary challenger Rep. Joe Sestak.
The incumbent senator, who switched parties last year in part to win reelection, tweeted Saturday:
Thank you to the Pennsylvania Democratic party for your endorsement and support.
Looking forward to working with you to achieve Democratic victory in 2010.
Specter holds wide leads over Sestak in the polls, but Republican nominee former Rep. Pat Toomey (R) leads both in the polls. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the race as a toss-up.
Sestak had attempted to outflank Specter on the left, but Specter has repeatedly gone after Sestak's missed votes in the House and has used his experience and name recognition to open a wide lead in the primary. The Hill/ Feb, 06, 2010
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Adm. Mullen: Repealing 'Don't ask, don't tell' is the 'right thing to do'..
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, the nation’s top military officer, on Tuesday said that they fully support President Barack Obama’s decision to end the law that prevents openly gay people from serving in the military.
Mullen is the first sitting chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to support repealing the controversial law known as “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”
“It is my personal belief that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do,” Mullen said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
“We have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens. For me, personally, it comes down to integrity — theirs as individuals and ours as institutions,” Mullen added.
Gates acknowledged the issue is controversial and stressed that he wanted to keep politics out of the Pentagon’s efforts to review repealing he 1993 law.
Separately, Vice President Joe Biden vowed that "Don’t ask, don’t tell" would be gone by the end of the year.
“By this year's end, we will have eliminated the policy,” Biden told MSNBC during an interview.
But repealing the law faces strong opposition from Republicans.
Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member and Republican candidate for president in 2008, said he was “deeply disappointed” in Gates’s statements.
“You are embarking on not whether the military should make a change, but how best the military should prepare for it,” he said.
“In my view, and I know that a lot of people don’t agree with that, the policy has been working and I think it’s been working well,” he added.
Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the panel’s chairman, supports repeal, but expressed concern that it would take the Pentagon a long time to implement it. He indicated that the 2011 defense authorization bill could be a good vehicle to carry a moratorium of the current law until it is repealed.
Both Gates and Mullen pleaded with lawmakers for time to implement the repeal, but also stressed that a final decision rests with Congress. They said the law cannot be repealed through executive action.
Should Congress approve new legislation repealing the law, Gates on Tuesday urged lawmakers to give the military at least a year to implement any new law.
Gates and Mullen said that they needed more time to review how to carry out the change in policy, and Gates announced a working group will be created to deal with the issue.
He said it would be led by Jeh Johnson, the Pentagon’s legal counsel, and Gen. Carter Ham, the commander of the U.S. Army in Europe.
“The mandate of this working group is to thoroughly, objectively and methodically examine all aspects of this question and produce its finding and recommendations in the form of an implementation plan by the end of this calendar year,” Gates told the Senate panel.
“A guiding principle of our efforts will be to minimize disruption and polarization within the ranks, with special attention paid to those serving on the front lines. I am confident that this can be achieved.”
Gates is also directing the Department to quickly review the regulations used to implement the current "Don't ask, don't tell" law and, within 45 days, to present him with recommended changes to those regulations that, within existing law, “will enforce this policy in a more humane and fair manner.”
Agencies/ January 03, 2010
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HOH’s One-Minute Recess: Brown in Good Spirits..
He might be a real-deal Senator now, but Scott Brown hasn't gone all Washington on us. The Massachusetts Republican stayed true to his truck-driving, everydude persona by doing a shot of Irish whiskey and swilling a Bud Light draft at the Dubliner pub this evening to celebrate his swearing-in. McDermott: All Bets Are Not Off on Super Bowl Sunday ..
Celebrating the Super Bowl is one of the most anticipated American traditions, where activities include spending time with family and friends, eating food, and for many fans, placing a wager on the game. Unfortunately, while millions of Americans bet on the game, unless they are doing it from a casino in Las Vegas, they are engaged in an activity that Congress has decided is criminal. In fact, it’s projected that 99 percent of wagers on the Super Bowl will be placed illegally online or through a bookmaker, where consumers have no legal protections and are left vulnerable to exploitation. Roll Call/ Feb 04, 2010 * * * * * *
* POLITICS OF HOLLYWOOD * Entertainment, Politics and More...
The Note is ready.. * Quincy Jones: 'It's Oprah Money!..' * Cuban Musicians in the USA.. See All Reports (Click) http://www.PoliticsofHollywood.com * * * * * *
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