As rebels seem close to controlling supply routes, and a senior minister leaves the country, opposition forces are optimistic Muammar Gaddafi’s regime has shown fresh signs of buckling as rebels have come close to cutting off supply routes and the Libyan interior minister arrived in Egypt in what appeared to be the highest-ranking defection for many months. The Libyan leader broadcast a defiant appeal to his supporters to rid the country of “traitors”, telling them: “The blood of martyrs is fuel for the battle.” But the call was issued over a poor telephone line to state television, and most was inaudible – the result of what officials said was a technical breakdown. Gaddafi’s rallying call came as rebel fighters moved into Zawiyah, 30 miles west of Tripoli, straddling a critical road supply route from the Tunisian border. Rebel forces claimed to have near total control of the town, but government troops still held its oil refinery, the regime’s last homegrown supply of fuel. Reuters reported that pro-government snipers in Zawiyah were firing on any civilians who ventured out of doors. The anti-Gaddafi National Transitional Council (NTC) also claimed to have taken the city of Surman and said it was close to gaining control of Sabratha, along the same coastal road. A rebel spokesman said that talks were under way with government forces over their surrender. There were clashes near the Ras Ajdir border crossing with Tunisia, and opposition forces were reported to be pushing towards Tripoli from the south having taken the strategic crossroads of Garyan over the weekend. Control of Garyan, in the Nafusah highlands, cuts off Tripoli from the Gaddafi stronghold of Sabha in the south. The multi-pronged offensive was an attempt by rebel commanders to cut off Tripoli’s supply lines and regain the initiative after the killing of their military leader, General Abdul Fattah Younes. With the pressure now on Gaddafi’s forces, rebels in the formerly besieged stronghold of Misrata were able to relax for the first time in months. “We feel good, things are moving,” said Mohammed Elfeturi, 35, of the Faisal (Sword) brigade, alternately sipping his first coffee of the day and puffing his first cigarette. “We paid for it in blood.” Traffic was heavy on the intersection outside the makeshift coffee bar, no more than a small shop with some plastic tables and chairs arranged on the concrete outside. A few months ago, the area was a free-fire zone where rebels fought for their lives against government troops. Gaddafi’s Grad rockets no longer fall on Misrata, and the talk everywhere is of impending victory as news comes of advances in the west at Zawiyah, and in the east at Brega. Rebels pushed east from Misrata at the weekend, meeting light resistance, and say all that holds them back is fear of being hit by mistake by Nato jets. Fighting continues on the other side of the pocket, where rebels say government units, said to be commanded by Gaddafi’s son Khamis, hold the town of Zlitan on the highway to Tripoli. But the fighters say the fight has gone out of their adversary. “I think Nato did its job,” said 20-year-old Farouk Mohammed, a veteran of five months’ fighting. “They bombed his [Gaddafi's] weapons day after day.” British defence officials have also claimed that four months of relentless air strikes had fatally damaged the ability Gaddafi’s forces to mount operations. They indicated that the rebel seizure of Zawiyah signalled the beginning of the end in Libya. More than 7,000 Nato air strike sorties, some 700 of them British, had finally destroyed Libya’s military machine, with Gaddafi’s troops having to resort to pickup trucks, officials added. In another blow to the regime’s morale, the interior minister and a longstanding Gaddafi security aide, Nasser al-Mabrouk Abdullah, arrived in Cairo via Tunisia in a private plane with nine family members. The minister reportedly told officials he was on holiday, and the Egyptian government said the minister had entered on a tourist visa. According to the Associated Press, there were no Libyan diplomats at the airport to greet Abdullah and the embassy in Cairo had not been informed of his visit. A Whitehall source said: “He has a reputation as a hardline Gaddafi loyalist with a long history in the security and intelligence agencies. If he is confirmed to have abandoned Gaddafi now, it is significant.” The UN special envoy for Libya, Abdel-Elah al-Khatib, was in Tunis on Monday where a Tunisian government spokesman said he would meet “all the Libyan parties”. But both Tripoli and the rebel council denied reports that their delegations were talking to each other in the Tunisian coastal town of Djerba. “Why would we be talking to Gaddafi?” said Guma al-Gamaty, an NTC spokesman in London. “Right now, we have reached a tipping point, and he will probably fall in the next couple of weeks.” He said NTC forces would be careful to minimise the impact of their near siege of Tripoli on the citizen population, but he added: “The people know that whatever suffering there is in the short term will be worth it if it squeezes Gaddafi out.” A NTC statement issued on Monday called on people in Gaddafi-controlled area to organise themselves into “local committees to maintain security on the eve of the regime’s downfall, and to raise awareness about the need for safeguarding public property, including universities, schools, hospitals, petrol stations, facilities and buildings, as they are the people’s property, built with our own effort, sweat, money and sacrifice.” Libya Middle East Africa Muammar Gaddafi Nato Julian Borger Chris Stephen Richard Norton-Taylor guardian.co.uk
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Cases which usually would be dealt with by magistrates courts could now be referred to crown court for tougher sentences Magistrates are being advised by the courts service to disregard normal sentencing guidelines when dealing with those convicted of offences committed in the context of last week’s riots. The advice, given in open court by justices’ clerks, will result in cases that would usually be disposed of in magistrates courts being referred to the crown court for more severe punishment. It may explain why some of those convicted have received punitive sentences for offences that might normally attract a far shorter term. In Manchester, a mother of two, Ursula Nevin, was jailed for five months for receiving a pair of shorts given to her after they had been looted from a city centre store. In Brixton, south London, a 23-year-old student was jailed for six months for stealing £3.50 worth of water bottles from a supermarket. The Crown Prosecution Service also issued guidance to prosecutors on Monday, effectively calling for juveniles found guilty of riot-related crimes to be named and shamed. Those dealt with in youth courts are normally not identified. The youngest suspects bought before the courts last week in connection with the riots were an 11-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy. The sentencing advice from Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service came to light after the chair of Camberwell Green magistrates court, Novello Noades, claimed that the court had been given a government “directive” that anyone involved in the rioting be given a custodial sentence. She later retracted her statement and said she was mortified to have used the term “directive”. Clarifying what had occurred, HMCTS explained that a senior clerk had circulated instructions to court clerks that they should advise magistrates to consider disregarding normal sentencing guidelines. “Sentencing is a matter for the independent judiciary,” it said. “Under the Criminal Procedure Rules justices’ clerks and legal advisers in magistrates courts have a responsibility to give advice to magistrates on sentencing guidelines. “All advice is given in open court and the parties are entitled to comment. Accordingly magistrates in London are being advised by their legal advisers to consider whether their powers of punishment are sufficient in dealing with some cases arising from the recent disorder. “Magistrates are independent and not subject to direction from their legal advisers.” The advice was issued last week in the aftermath of the riots. It was given, it is said, to ensure consistency of sentencing across the country. Courts can therefore consider the riots as an aggravating factor in any offence, making stealing from looted shops more serious than conventional shoplifting. Last week, David Cameron told the recalled House of Commons that anyone involved in violent disorder should expect to go to prison. The Ministry of Justice denied that it had asked the HMCTS to issue the advice. The Judicial Communications Office, which issues statements on behalf of judges, also dismissed suggestions it had been involved. “The senior judiciary has given no directive in relation to sentencing for offences committed during the recent widespread public disorder,” it said. “When passing sentences judges consider many factors, including the punishment of offenders, the reduction of crime by deterrence, and the need to protect the public.” Magistrates can only sentence offenders to up to six months in prison for a single offence. The chairman of the Magistrates’ Association, John Thornhill, has been pressing the government to raise the maximum sentencing power of magistrates to 12 months. “Many of these cases would have been dealt with more expeditiously and cheaper if we had the 12 month sentencing powers,” Thornhill said. “They would not have needed to be sent to the crown courts.” In its advice on identifying youths, the CPS said: “We have issued guidance to prosecutors that states they should ask the court to lift the anonymity of a youth defendant when they believe it is required in the public interest that the youth be identified. Legislation permits the court to do so after conviction. These representations will be made on a case-by-case basis.” Among the criteria the court should consider when identifying any juvenile is whether the move is “necessary, proportionate and there must be a pressing social need for it”. Among those appearing before City of Westminster magistrates court on Monday was Wilson Unses Garcia, 42, of Walworth, south London. He was jailed for six months for receiving stolen property: two tennis racquets worth £340 looted from a sports shop in south London. When police searched his property, they found the racquets still in wrapping and with price labels on them. Garcia said he had had the racquets for some time. Police said he later told them: “I knew it was not right the minute they put them into my hand.” His solicitor told the court that Garcia, who pleaded guilty, had not participated in looting, did not agree with the rioting and had accepted the racquets from a man he knew only from his first name as payment of a £20 debt.A pregnant woman accused of hoarding £10,000 of electronic equipment looted during the London riots has been remanded in custody ahead of her trial. Alicia Wilkinson, 22, was discovered with a vast amount of stolen guitars, televisions and hair braiding equipment when police raided her home in Outram Road, Croydon, at the weekend. The Gatwick airport worker, who is due to give birth in four months, was denied bail after pleading not guilty to handling stolen goods at Croydon magistrates court. Robert Simpson, prosecuting, told the court the flat was “noticeably packed” with the equipment, much of which had been looted from Croydon electronics store Richer Sounds at the peak of the chaos on 8 August. Wilkinson claims she returned from housesitting for her mother to find the flat she shares with boyfriend Nick Cuffy and his brother Neil was full of the haul, the court heard. Her defence solicitor told district judge Robert Hunter she was a “highly unlikely defendant”, adding it had “played on her mind ever since then about the right course of action to take”. UK riots UK criminal justice Owen Bowcott Stephen Bates guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …And Then There Were Three Republican Candidates — And Two Of Them Are Dominionists
August 15, 2011 No CommentI’ve been reading about the Dominionists (in this case, Seven Mountains Dominionists and Christian Reconstruction) for more than ten years, and the more I learn, the scarier it gets. The most important thing you should learn is that they believe in lying and cheating their way into power because it’s to do “God’s will.” The second is that there is no room for non-believers in their vision of America: With Tim Pawlenty out of the presidential race, it is now fairly clear that the GOP candidate will either be Mitt Romney or someone who makes George W. Bush look like Tom Paine. Of the three most plausible candidates for the Republican nomination, two are deeply associated with a theocratic strain of Christian fundamentalism known as Dominionism . If you want to understand Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry, understanding Dominionism isn’t optional. Put simply, Dominionism means that Christians have a God-given right to rule all earthly institutions. Originating among some of America’s most radical theocrats, it’s long had an influence on religious-right education and political organizing. But because it seems so outré, getting ordinary people to take it seriously can be difficult. Most writers, myself included, who explore it have been called paranoid . In a contemptuous 2006 First Things review of several books, including Kevin Phillips’ American Theocracy, and my own Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, conservative columnist Ross Douthat wrote, “the fear of theocracy has become a defining panic of the Bush era.” Now, however, we have the most theocratic Republican field in American history, and suddenly, the concept of Dominionism is reaching mainstream audiences. Writing about Bachmann in The New Yorker this month, Ryan Lizza spent several paragraphs explaining how the premise fit into the Minnesota congresswoman’s intellectual and theological development. And a recent Texas Observer cover story on Rick Perry examined his relationship with the New Apostolic Reformation, a Dominionist variant of Pentecostalism that coalesced about a decade ago. “[W]hat makes the New Apostolic Reformation movement so potent is its growing fascination with infiltrating politics and government,” wrote Forrest Wilder. Its members “believe Christians—certain Christians—are destined to not just take ‘dominion’ over government, but stealthily climb to the commanding heights of what they term the ‘Seven Mountains’ of society, including the media and the arts and entertainment world.” In many ways, Dominionism is more a political phenomenon than a theological one. It cuts across Christian denominations, from stern, austere sects to the signs-and-wonders culture of modern megachurches. Think of it like political Islamism, which shapes the activism of a number of antagonistic fundamentalist movements, from Sunni Wahabis in the Arab world to Shiite fundamentalists in Iran. Yep, and what they have in mind is the Christian fundamentalist version of sharia law. It’s important that we learn about this, but even more important that members of the media educate themselves.
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€10,000 reward offered for Yvonne’s safe return as Zangberg mayor revels in animal’s wanderlust A €10,000 reward is being offered in Germany for the safe return of a cow called Yvonne who went on the run in May after apparently sensing she was about to be sent to the slaughterhouse. Yvonne, a six-year-old dairy cow, has, in the words of one newspaper, become “a kind of freedom fighter for the animal loving German republic” since she escaped from her field in the village of Zangberg, 50 miles north-east of Munich, on 24 May. Having been fattened up, she was due to be dispatched when she managed to breach the electric fence surrounding her farm. For several months she led a quiet life grazing among the fir trees of nearby forests, until she nearly came a cropper crossing a road into the path of a passing police car. As word spread of this invincible cow, animal protection activists got involved, incensed that local hunters had been given permission to shoot Yvonne on sight. Gut Aiderbichl, an animal sanctuary over the Austrian border in Salzburg, agreed to buy Yvonne from the farm for €600 and has offered her a paddock with grass to graze on for the rest of her days. Now a fight is on as the bovine protectionists are pitted against the trigger-happy Bavarians, who shot and killed Bruno , the first bear to be seen on German soil for 170 years, in June 2006. Gut Aiderbichl are pulling out all the stops to catch Yvonne alive. Last week they enlisted the help of a bull called Ernst to try to lure her back home. Ernst has “a deep baritone moo that will appeal to Yvonne”, as well as a particularly manly musk, said the sanctuary’s founder Michael Aufhauser. “He is the George Clooney of bulls.” Sex is not on the agenda, however, as Ernst is castrated. Aufhauser also called on an animal psychic to communicate with Yvonne from afar. Franziska Matti, an animal communication expert from Berne in Switzerland, said she had managed to contact Yvonne using telepathy. “I spoke to her yesterday and she said that she was fine but didn’t feel ready to come out of hiding,” said Matti. “She said she knew that Ernst had been waiting for her but that she was scared. She said she thought that humans would lock her up and she would no longer be free.” After the German tabloid Bild offered a €10,000 reward for Yvonne’s safe capture on Saturday, the race to find her has heated up. In Monday’s Bild an 11-year-old boy called Sepp claimed to have discovered a fresh hoof print from Yvonne in the woods near his home. The boy had been tipped off by his grandmother, he said, who had spotted a cow while out collecting mushrooms two days previously. “I know that I will find her. My dad has 18 cows. I often have to help him feed them and take them out to pasture. I know what I’m doing,” he told Bild. On Monday Aufhauser said he had leased a helicopter to track down Yvonne. If that didn’t work, he had a secret weapon: Yvonne’s two-year-old son, Friesi, who was previously believed dead but turned up alive at a local farm. Friesi was offered by his owner to Aufhauser, and was on Monday undergoing “intensive training” to learn how best to call to his mother. “We know that the bond between mother cows and their sons is very strong. She will not be able to ignore him,” said Aufhauser. Franz Märkl, mayor of Zangberg, said he was delighted Yvonne had decided to go missing during the traditional summer news lull known in Britain as “silly season” and in Germany as “Sauregurkenzeit” – literally “sour cucumber time”, a reference to the days when good vegetables are scarce. “We trained the cow well for the summer [news] vacuum,” Märkl told the Süddeutsche Zeitung. “Now everyone in Germany has heard of our lovely village.” Germany Agriculture Switzerland Animal behaviour Animal welfare Food & drink industry Helen Pidd guardian.co.uk
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Palestinians accuse Ehud Barak of contempt for peace talks by giving approval for building of 277 homes in Ariel The Israeli government has authorised the construction of 277 homes in the West Bank settlement of Ariel, a move that will diminish the prospects for a resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians. An announcement from the defence ministry said approval for the scheme was given last week. The government also backed the building of 1,600 homes in the East Jerusalem settlement of Ramat Shlomo. Further announcements are expected in the coming days. Ariel, home to almost 20,000 Israelis, extends 12 miles (20km) inside the West Bank. Its future under any agreement on borders with the Palestinians is uncertain. Israel is determined to annex such a large settlement, but the Palestinians and many in the international community argue that it would cut the West Bank nearly in two, making a contiguous Palestinian state almost impossible. The housing units had been in the planning process for several years before being approved by the defence minister, Ehud Barak. One hundred homes will be reserved for settlers evacuated from Gaza in 2005; the remainder will be sold on the open market. The Palestinian Authority said the approval “makes clear to the world Israel’s contempt for a negotiated two-state solution”. Israel, it said in a statement, was “racing against time to make the two-state solution harder and harder by building on the land that is supposed to be the Palestinian state. The international community must ask Israel how it can pretend to be ready to negotiate while expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank?” Hagit Ofran of the Israeli organisation Peace Now, which monitors settlement activity, described the approval as a cynical move amid the current Israel-wide tent protests about the cost of renting and buying homes. “The government is taking advantage of the housing crisis in Israel to expand its settlement policy,” she said. “Most Israelis are not settlers and don’t want to be settlers, and construction in Ariel is not relevant to them.” A spokesman for the US embassy said unilateral actions by either side were “not helpful to the process to try to get both parties back to the table”. Israel appears to be stepping up approval of settlement construction before the Palestinians’ bid for recognition of their state at the UN next month. The government is opposed to the Palestinians making a unilateral move, saying that only negotiations can bring about a Palestinian state within agreed borders. Attempts by the US and EU to persuade the parties to resume talks have not been successful. The US wants the pre-1967 border between Israel and the West Bank to be the basis of negotiations, with agreed land swaps to compensate for Jewish settlements Israel would retain. The Palestinians have identified continued settlement expansion as the main obstacle to resuming direct talks, which broke down last September after Israel refused to extend a temporary freeze on settlement construction. It emerged this week that Israel’s president, Shimon Peres, held a series of secret meetings with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, in recent weeks. The talks were brought to an abrupt end when Peres was forced to cancel a meeting at short notice reportedly after the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, refused to allow him room to negotiate. Approximately 300,000 Israeli Jews live in settlements in the West Bank, which are illegal under international law. Another 200,000 live in settlements in East Jerusalem, which was captured by Israel in 1967 and later annexed in a move not recognised by the international community. Israel Palestinian territories Middle East Harriet Sherwood guardian.co.uk
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Zawiya, 30 miles west of Tripoli, is seen as supply lynchpin in Gaddafi’s war machine – but taking capital is another matter Thirty-miles west of Tripoli, the one major asset that Muammar Gaddafi cannot afford to lose is starting to slip from his grasp for the second time. The oil refinery in the town of Zawiya has been a holy grail for Libya’s rebels since the start of the civil war. They took control of the town once in March, but were violently driven out by Gaddafi’s army, which knew that losing it meant probably defeat in the long run. Now, with what seems to be a sizable rebel force again inside Zawiya, a decisive battle in the western-backed Libyan campaign looms. Gaddafi on Monday acknowledged as much, urging his followers to liberate the country “inch by inch”, as what remains of his military makes its way towards the town. The oil from the Zawiya refinery, along with resupplies by road from Tunisia , have kept Gaddafi’s forces moving over the past five months. Few others, including the rebels, have had the same luxury – an oil shortage has kept most of the country at a near standstill since May. With petrol in their tanks, the vital re-supply route to Tunisia cut, and Nato jets overhead presumably able to pick off Gaddafi’s men as they attempt to retake Zawiya, the run east to the capital should theoretically be straightforward. But the winding streets of Tripoli are where the resolve of Gaddafi and his loyalists will truly be tested. And by most assessments he remains popular and in control of much of the capital that he has run like a fiefdom for more than four decades. Regular pleas from the African Union, as well as Russia and Belarus, have failed to shift the autocrat, who has given every indication that he is digging in for a last stand. And so too, apparently, are many thousands of loyalists, convinced by Gaddafi’s angry retorts against months of Nato bombings and an economic siege that is being widely perceived as an unjust collective punishment. Gaddafi’s defiance has resonated on a personal level with many in the capital, who view the continued bombing and rebel assault, in the face of repeated calls for a negotiated ceasefire, as a slight to their dignity – a serious affront in the Arab world, and one which very much drove the early days of the anti-American uprising in Iraq. Those who may be motivated to put right a perceived wrong will also have the means to do so. Since the start of the war any family demonstrating loyalty to the regime has been issued at least one Kalashnikov rifle and ammunition from government armouries in Tripoli. Tens of thousands of the firearm have been handed out, according to locals who have said they would use them to defend both their homes and their dignity. Short of a dramatic backdown by Gaddafi, Tripoli will not be taken without a fight. Strategically there is very little left for Nato to bomb there, so any fighting will probably be street to street – a scenario that raises the prospect of a protracted guerrilla campaign. After months of tentative advances followed by rapid retreats and confusion, the rebels would be unlikely to welcome this. With Zawiya again in play, along with Ghariyan to its immediate south, and finally some movement near the dead-locked eastern oil town of Brega, the situation has grown more delicate for Gaddafi. However, he has been underestimated throughout the campaign, emboldened by withstanding the cream of Europe’s air forces and buoyed by supporters in the capital. It may not be the end game just yet. Libya Middle East Africa Muammar Gaddafi Arab and Middle East unrest Nato Martin Chulov guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …It Doesn’t Bleed, But Will It Lead?: Richmond Newspaper Finds Drop in Gun Crimes After Va. Allowed Guns in Bars
August 15, 2011 No CommentHere's a story I don't expect the media to trumpet, partly because it cuts against the MSM's preferred narrative on gun laws. “Virginia's bars and restaurants did not turn into shooting galleries as some had feared during the first year of a new state law that allows patrons with permits to carry concealed guns into alcohol-serving businesses,” Mark Bowes of the Richmond Times-Dispatch noted in an August 14 story :
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Ed Miliband joins those criticising historian’s claim that ‘whites have become black’, saying it is ‘disgusting and outrageous’ The BBC has received more than 700 complaints about the controversial claim by historian and broadcaster David Starkey that “whites have become black” in a discussion about last week’s riots on Newsnight. Of those contacting the BBC, 696 were protesting about Starkey’s comments, with 21 supporting him, complaining the debate was chaired poorly and he was treated “unfairly” as a result. Media regulator Ofcom has also had complaints while an online campaign by an organisation called gopetition.co.uk demanding the BBC should issue a public apology for “unacceptable comments” had attracted more than 3,600 signatures by mid-afternoon on Monday. The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, on Monday described Starkey’s comments on race as “disgusting and outrageous”. Speaking at Haverstock School, his former school in Chalk Farm in London, Miliband said it was “absolutely outrageous that someone in the 21st century could be making that sort of comment”. He added: “There should be condemnation from every politician, from every political party of those sorts of comments.” Starkey’s remarks, made during a debate about the riots on Friday’s Newsnight, provoked an immediate storm of controversy, with BBC business editor Robert Peston tweeting: “David Starkey’s nasty ignorance is best ignored, not worthy of comment or debate – though I fear there will be a media feeding frenzy”. CNN presenter Piers Morgan described him on Twitter as “a racist idiot” and said he had committed career suicide. The majority of complainants said the BBC was wrong to allow him to express such a view and should not have had him on as a guest, or at the very least should have challenged him more robustly. Starkey was in the middle of a heated discussion with Owen Jones, author of Chavs: the Demonisation of the Working Classes, when he made his remarks during a debate hosted by Emily Maitlis. “What has happened is that the substantial section of the chavs that you wrote about have become black. The whites have become black. A particular sort of violent, destructive, nihilistic gangster culture has become the fashion,” he said. “Black and white, boy and girl operate in this language together. This language, which is wholly false, which is this Jamaican patois that has intruded in England. This is why so many of us have this sense of literally a foreign country.” Starkey then referred to Labour MP for Tottenham David Lammy, who he described as “an archetypal successful black man”. He said he sounded white. “If you turn the screen off, so you were listening to him on radio, you would think he was white.” Lammy has since denounced Starkey’s remarks as “dangerous and divisive”. The BBC said while it acknowledged that some people will have found Starkey’s comments “offensive”, “he was robustly challenged by presenter Emily Maitlis and the other contributors who took issue with his comments”. Jones highlighted the potential offence Starkey may have given and Maitlis provided further context by pointing out that David Cameron had already said the riots were not a race issue, the corporation added. •
Continue reading …Laura Ingraham Repeats Right-Wing Distortion that the President No Longer Gets Daily Briefing on the Economy
August 15, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Who needs Fox News when we’ve got right-wing flame thrower Laura Ingraham as one of the panelists on ABC’s This Week ? Media Matters already debunked this recent attack on President Obama last month, but Ingraham claims she just heard about this in the LA Times the day before. Right-Wing Media Deceptively Attack Obama For Not Receiving Daily In-Person Economic Updates : Right-wing media have attacked President Obama for his decision to stop receiving daily in-person economic briefings. In fact, Obama still receives a daily economic briefing on paper and regularly meets with members of his economic team as well as outside economists and experts. Read on… Transcript via ABC News : INGRAHAM: We learned in the LA Times yesterday that the president no longer gets a daily briefing on the economy. I had to read it two or three times. This must be a satire. Someone’s written this. The president is not getting a daily briefing on the economy? What does that — message does that send to the markets? I think what — Matthew’s right. There is not a sense that this president is actively engaged on the most serious problem facing our country now, which is, we’re on the brink of economic stagnation as far as the eye can see. He needs to look engaged. He has to be able to come out and say, you know, I said it a couple of months ago, and I’m going to say it again: The buck stops here. I’m bringing in a new economic team. Thanks, Tim Geithner, but we are retooling our shop, and we are going to be coming out with a series of ideas that are going to surprise people. They’re not ideological. They’re about creating jobs in this country. It has to be bold. And I would agree. We have to change the momentum right now. He seems like the absentee president. I’m no more of a fan of Tim Geithner than Ingraham apparently is. I’m also fairly sure that President Obama would have a lot of trouble getting anyone past a Republican filibuster in the Senate to replace Geithner that I’d be happy with as much as I’d love to see him gone myself. All anyone has to do is look at the way they treated Elizabeth Warren for proof of that. I’m curious if Ingraham were asked who she thought should replace him, what names she’d toss out there. I suspect they would not be as ridiculous as Mike Huckabee’s recommendation the other day, but probably choices that are equally as bad or worse than Geithner. I guess we’ll never know since Jake Tapper didn’t ask her, and he didn’t correct her distortion either.
Continue reading …Matt Dowd: Rick Perry Could Have Trouble in a General Election Because He Sounds a Lot Like George Bush
August 15, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media What do you know? Matt Dowd actually said something I agree with on one of these Sunday bobblehead shows. While discussing Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s recent entry into the Republican presidential primary race, Dowd said two things I agree with about Rick Perry: One, I think it would be unwise for anyone to underestimate him. And two, he’s going to have trouble in the general election because he sounds too much like George W. Bush. I think he’s going to have trouble if he gets the nomination for other reasons that Dowd did not mention here as well. Sounding too much like Bush might be the least of his problems. The Texas Democratic Party has a host of other reasons he may not fair too well in the general election here — Meet Rick Perry . Lots of good stuff there on Perry’s record as Governor of Texas, so go check it out, but here’s a taste. Transcript of Dowd’s remarks from ABC News : TAPPER: You — you followed his career in Texas for a long — probably longer than you want to admit. DOWD: Twenty-five years. Twenty-five years. I took his filing when he was a Democrat, ran as a Democrat at the Texas Democratic Party. This guy is an incredible campaigner. And for me, having watched George Bush and having worked for George Bush and having known Rick Perry, he is actually a better campaigner at this point than George Bush was. Now, part of his problem is, he sounds a lot like George Bush. He looks like a president, though, if you look at the picture, but he sounds and has similar mannerisms to George Bush. I don’t think that’s as much of a problem in the Republican primary; it could be a problem in the general election. But don’t underestimate this guy. This guy took apart an incumbent Republican U.S. senator who had an 85 percent approval rating and beat her by 20 points in the primary by being tea party before tea party became cool. And on a final note to Matt Dowd, being part of that astroturf “tea party” ain’t exactly looking so “cool” right now. Their disapproval numbers are climbing after this debt ceiling debacle and I suspect they’re going to go higher as they continue to prove themselves to anyone who is paying attention as not having the interests of working Americans at heart. And as Karoli already noted here , it seems they’re having a bit of a problem with attendance at some of their rallies as well.
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