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January 31, 2009
Michael Turk finds TurboTax making good use of webads.
Among (of the many) reason the optics of the Daschle tax situation are so much worse than Geithner's: Lots of Americans have babysitters and informal daycare arrangements. Fewer have rich friends providing them cars and drivers. Plus, the resonance with Obama's crusade against Wall Street perks.
The White House, I'm told, is still trying to get a gaurantee from Governor Lynch that he'll replace Senator Gregg with a Democrat.
Obama's half-brother was arrested on pot charges.
Pajamas Media seems to be abandoning its effort to make blogging profitable, to Ace's dismay.
ProgressIllinois wins an important copyright fight with Fox.
Posted by Ben Smith 09:12 PM
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January 31, 2009
Obama appears tonight at the Alfalfa Dinner, a gathering of Washington's elite with Confederate roots, a fact on which the president remarked, according to excerpts from his prepared remarks:
I am seriously glad to be here tonight at the annual Alfalfa dinner. I know that many you are aware that this dinner began almost one hundred years ago as a way to celebrate the birthday of General Robert E. Lee. If he were here with us tonight, the General would be 202 years old. And very confused.
» Continue reading Robert E. Lee, confused
Posted by Ben Smith 08:38 PM
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January 30, 2009
Conservative media critic Brent Bozell and some bloggers have been making hay with this week's Politico story on the running, rolling conversation between Rahm Emanuel, James Carville, Paul Begala, and George Stephanopoulos.
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“Will Stephanopoulos be critical of the White House’s plans when he spends every morning helping to craft them? Not likely. He must from this point forward recuse himself from any reporting involving the Obama Administration," Bozell said in a press release, and conservatives have been deluging ABC with emails and calls on the topic.
I don't think they have the story quite right, nor does its author, John Harris, who emails:
The calls are certainly a fascinating Washington ritual, but by no means do I think George Stephanopoulos is participating in strategy sessions. To my mind, he established his journalistic bona fides more than a decade ago, even as the Clinton administration was still underway, when he showed his willingness to report aggressively on Democrats as well as Republicans.
I also asked ABC spokesman Jeffrey Schneider about the complaints directed at the network.
"George speaks to Rahm, but he speaks to plenty of conservatives and Republicans every single day -- that’s part of his job. The idea that there is some daily conference call that he hops on is just nonsense and not true," said Schneider, who added that he didn't think the Politico piece implied otherwise.
Posted by Ben Smith 06:07 PM
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January 30, 2009
Noam says Geithner is holding his own against Summers.
Claire McCaskill is mad, and not coordinating with Obama.
Zephyr Teachout predicts Organizing for America is going to fail, and welcomes it.
Slate digs up Cheney's daughter's college thesis, and reads a whole lot into it.
An Irishman claims Obama as kin and sings about it.
More knockoffs of "Yes We Can" appear.
Jewcy analyzes Avigdor Lieberman's rise from the vantage point of liberal American Jews.
And Warner enters Congress as its wealthiest freshman member.
Posted by Ben Smith 05:17 PM
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January 30, 2009
A Democratic source sends over the Maryland Democratic Party's opposition research book from Michael Steele's 2006 race for Senate, which he lost.
You can read the full, 86-page document here.
The book's thrust: He's very conservative, indeed, a "pawn of the right wing" -- which is what he just spent several months assuring the constituents of the RNC.
"Michael Steele is unfit for the Senate, his unfulfilled promises have hurt African-Americans and his
values are not Maryland’s values," it says.
Steele certainly doesn' t present the kind of easy target that Katon Dawson did, and party chairmen tend not to be the objects of concerted attack.
Still, here's the favored bullet point:
While speaking to the Baltimore Jewish Council, Michael Steele compared doctors conducting stem cell research to Nazis performing human experiments during the Holocaust: "You of all folks know what happens when people decide to experiment on human beings, when they want to take your life and use it as a tool." [Associated Press, 2/10/06]
Posted by Ben Smith 04:08 PM
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January 30, 2009
Michael Steele makes history as the first black chairman of the Republican National Committee, and as a rare winner -- at least in part -- of an outside game in what is usually an insider's contest. He won with 91 votes, 6 more than he needed, over South Carolina GOP Chairman Katon Dawson.
Steele's victory also marks a decision by some GOP leaders that to elect a man associated with an all-white country club -- when America just elected a black president, and the GOP itself runs a risk of being branded an all-white club -- was too big a risk to run.
Steele ran in large part on his ability to rebrand the party and to do battle on cable news. Though he is, in fact, quite conservative for the spectrum of American politics, he wasn't the conservative choice, and his win marks a real defeat for elements of the party's conservative wing. For younger Republicans and those seeking a dramatic break from the past, he was the choice, and his win suggests that the party is emerging from the phase of denying that, in the wake of its 2008 rout, it has a problem.
Posted by Ben Smith 04:05 PM
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January 30, 2009
Michael Steele is now very close, as the voting for the Chairman of the RNC goes into a record sixth round -- and Michigan GOP Chairman Saul Anuzis has withdrawn without publicly endorsing either of his rivals.
The tally:
Steele 79
Dawson 69
Anuzis 20
Posted by Ben Smith 03:27 PM
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January 30, 2009
Conservative Ken Blackwell, trailing in the RNC race, withdrew and placed his support behind Michael Steele -- a significant boost to Steele's candidacy.
"We must unleash a new birth of freedom," said Blackwell, citing Lincoln, and saying Steele would "inspire hope, ... be smart enough to work with the policy leaders of our party to create opportunity, and... have the leadership ability and vision to first pull us together and then pull Americans together."
That's a boost from the right -- Blackwell had a loyal conservative bloc -- for a candidate who had drawn support from the party's moderate wing.
On the other hand: Blackwell's a polarizing figure inside the RNC, and there's no gaurantee his bloc comes along.
Posted by Ben Smith 03:07 PM
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January 30, 2009
It's a two man race for chairman of the RNC, and one whose public resonance (paging Frank Rich!) will be easy to read.
The fourth ballot results have Katon Dawson gaining most from Mike Duncan's withdrawal:
Dawson 62
Steele 60
Anuzis 31
Blackwell 15
Posted by Ben Smith 02:41 PM
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January 30, 2009
Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan ended his bid for re-election after fading in two rounds of voting.
"Obviously the winds of change are blowing at the RNC," Duncan said, adding that he trusts the "vision" of his fellow members. "I understand what's going on."
"At this time, I wish to withdraw my name from nomination as chairman as the RNC," he said, to a standing ovation.
The low profile Duncan served through the Republican collapse of the late Bush term, and received little blame for GOP defeats, but had little record of success to point to.
"I know that we're going to do better," he said.
The question: Who gets his votes.
Posted by Ben Smith 02:17 PM
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January 30, 2009
I've been hunting around for polling data to explain why Democrats are so eager to make Rush Limbaugh the face of the Republican Party, and lo, Mark Blumenthal finds some.
The numbers are pretty clear. When this poll was taken last fall, Rush Limbaugh was the second-most toxic figure among likely voters, trailing only George W. Bush in that regard. He was also pretty well-known: Only a quarter of voters have no opinion on him.
Now George W. Bush is out of the picture, and the numbers explain why Limbaugh has emerged as the Democrats favorite bogeyman.
This isn't to understate Limbaugh's power. That 23% who are fond of him compose quite an amazing base for a radio host, and a start for a political party. But I don't think he's done anything in particular to improve his numbers with moderates in the last few months, and Democrats have focused attention on his hope that Obama fails, possibly driving his negatives even higher. In particular, Blumenthal suggests, Limbaugh is seen as an intensely partisan figure at a moment when the hunger is for bipartisanship.
"My guess is that some Democratic sponsored focus group conducted this week confirmed that voters in the middle perceive Rush Limbaugh as the antithesis to the Obama 'bipartisanship brand,' and as such, are not unhappy to see Limbaugh's profile in this right rise," he writes.
Posted by Ben Smith 01:52 PM
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January 30, 2009
And we have a race on our hands here. On the third ballot, Mike Duncan continues to fade, and is now at risk of seeing his support scatter; the conservative Ken Blackwell also faded.
The main beneficiary: South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Katon Dawson, who now has a plausible case that he, not Duncan, is the candidate of the right and of the South.
Michael Steele, too, continued to gain, as it begins to look like a two-man race between two candidates who have largely defined the contest: A relatively moderate African-American who stressed the public relations aspect of the job, and a modernizing insider with racial baggage that will inevitably be the story if he wins.
Burns's question: Does Duncan try to come back, or does he try to annoint a successor.
The third ballot:
Steele 51
Duncan 44
Dawson 34
Anuzis 24
Blackwell 15
Posted by Ben Smith 01:37 PM
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January 30, 2009
RNC Chairman Mike Duncan faded and three of his rivals gained at his expense on a second ballot at the RNC, leaving Duncan and Michael Steele tied for the lead and well both well short of the 85 votes needed to become chairman.
The second ballot result, below, should set up a scramble of dealmaking, and of picking at Duncan's base, though it's worth noting that both Katon Dawson and Saul Anuzis gained, and that an alliance of the two southern candidates, Duncan and Dawson, puts you pretty close to the magic number.
Duncan's spin, Alex Burns reports meanwhile, is that it's a two-man race, that he's the conservative, and that he'll inherit Blackwell's conservative bloc.
Duncan 48
Steele 48
Dawson 29
Anuzis 24
Blackwell 19
Posted by Ben Smith 12:55 PM
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January 30, 2009
...but clearly not the last at the RNC chairman's vote.
The results:
Duncan - 52
Steele - 46
Dawson - 28
Anuzis - 22
Blackwell - 20
That's a relatively weak showing for Duncan, a strong one for Steele, and a pretty strong one for Blackwell.
(with Alex Burns)
Posted by Ben Smith 12:13 PM
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January 30, 2009
There aren't many African-Americans in, or aspiring to, the leadership of the Republican Party, but they're almost all on stage at the RNC meeting today, Alex Burns reports. Two are candidates for chairman, and out of five nominating speeches given in the chairman's election, two were given by African Americans.
Glenn McCall, the committeeman for South Carolina, nominated his home-state chairman, Katon Dawson. And Keith Butler, the committeeman for Michigan, nominated Michigander Saul Anuzis.
There is only one other black RNC member: Ada Fisher, the North Carolina committeewoman who supports Dawson.
Posted by Ben Smith 11:29 AM
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January 30, 2009
Organizing for America, the Obama campaign apparatus housed at the DNC, is making its first move in support of the stimulus plan today, a Democratic source says.
The group will be blasting out an e-mail to everyone who has hosted a house party in the past encouraging them to host "Economic Recovery Meetings" in their communities "to invite friends and neighbors over to discuss the president’s plan."
It's low-key, traditional organizing, building grass-roots support for the White House's program.
UPDATE: Here's the email:
Friend --
Last year, America lost 2.6 million jobs. This week, some of our biggest companies announced plans to cut tens of thousands more.
The economic crisis is deepening, but President Obama and members of Congress have proposed a recovery plan that will put more than 3 million Americans back to work.
You can learn more about how the plan will help your community by organizing an Economic Recovery House Meeting.
Join thousands of people across the country who are coming together to watch a special video about the recovery plan. Invite your friends and neighbors to watch the video with you and have a conversation about your community's economic situation.
The economic crisis can seem overwhelming and complex, but you can help the people you know connect the recovery plan to their lives and learn more about why it's so important.
Sign up to host an Economic Recovery House Meeting the weekend of Friday, February 6th.
The President's plan passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday. But if it's going to move forward, we need to avoid the usual partisan games.
That's why supporters are opening their homes to talk with neighbors and friends about how the plan will work -- and what it means for their community.
The video will outline the basics of the plan and how it will impact working families. It will also include answers to questions from folks across the country. Invite your friends and family to watch the video, discuss the plan, and help build support for it.
Don't worry if you've never hosted a house meeting before -- we'll make sure you have everything you need to make it a success.
Take the first step right now by signing up to host an Economic Recovery House Meeting:
http://my.barackobama.com/recoveryhost <http://my.barackobama.com/recoveryhost>
Time and again, you've demonstrated your commitment to change. Now you can help America move in an important new direction.
Please forward this email to your friends and family, and encourage them to get involved as well.
Thank you for your hard work,
Mitch
Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America
Time and again, you've demonstrated your commitment to change. Now you can help America move in an important new direction.
Please forward this email to your friends and family, and encourage them to get involved as well.
Posted by Ben Smith 11:22 AM
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January 30, 2009
A reader notes that Geithner has already done his bit for one segment of the economy: The online nanny tax prep industry.
The online tax site 4NannyTaxes.com has added a prominent new banner to its site:
Posted by Ben Smith 09:46 AM
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January 30, 2009
Alex Burns, who can name the members of the RNC in alphabetical order as a party trick, has a great preview of today's vote — and no prediction:
GOP insiders say Friday’s contest to elect the next chairman of the Republican National Committee will be a long and drawn-out affair, with multiple ballots necessary to determine the winner.
In part, it’s a reflection of a party that, even after a nearly three month-long chairman’s race, remains deeply uncertain of which candidate can best lead the GOP back to power.
Linda Ackerman, the Republican committeewoman for California, said Wednesday that she was waiting to see the candidates interact with each other at the RNC meeting at Washington Capital Hilton hotel before making up her mind.
“They’re all saying pretty much the same thing. They’re all saying what we want to do for the party. They all have a little different twist, but they all know what we want,” Ackerman said. “Other than that, I just want to get a sense, a personal sense, of who would be the best one to lead.”
Posted by Ben Smith 09:38 AM
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January 30, 2009
In quietly hiring Samantha Power at the NSC, Barack Obama has brought back from an exile yet another adviser known for speaking her mind.
Power's exile was a matter of political convenience: She wasn't some political operative who had played a dirty trick, but an academic who tripped up at a particularly angry moment of the campaign and let an insult go on record, when people on both sides were saying that and worse off record, and Obama was trying to reel in the impression that he was attacking Clinton.
But though "monster" is what officially precipitated her fall, reporters had also begun asking about a BBC interview in which she — committing the grave error of speaking the truth — said that Obama's timetable for withdrawal from Iraq was just a "best case scenario."
It occurs to me that Obama's broader national security apparatus now includes quite a few people who say the lesson they learned from the Bush and Clinton years is precisely not to be silent. From Power and Susan Rice, who were shaped by the failure to intervene in Rwanda, to the lawyers at OLC who have written that their job is to resign in some circumstances if their advice is ignored, Obama has chosen to hire a number of people explicitly committed to not being good team players on politically tricky questions of human rights and intervention in particular.
Obama's early policy decisions have been consistent with those hires, and pleased human rights advocates. If that changes, these aides seem unlikely to remain quiet.
Posted by Ben Smith 09:19 AM
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January 30, 2009
With RNC members hours out from choosing their new chairman in a contest of which race was an unusually big part, my colleague Daniel Libit sends over his interview with the writer whose op-ed coining the "Magic Negro" meme made its way to Rush Limbaugh and Chip Saltsman.
David Ehrenstein penned the March 2007 column for the Los Angeles Times, “Obama the Magic Negro,” which inspired the controversial parody song by Paul Shanklin. He said he saw poetic justice in the news Thursday that Saltsman had bowed out of the RNC chair race, Libit reports.
“Can we say smartass?” Ehrenstein said of Saltsman. “He thought he was being real cute, and it backfired.”
Saltsman, former campaign manager to Republican presidential contender Mike Huckabee, had been dogged by controversy after sending out CDs to RNC members over Christmas that included the song, “Barack the Magic Negro,” which first debuted on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show.
Some conservatives had since complained about the mainstream media’s treatment of the song and the original column, saying a double standard was being applied.
When asked, Ehrenstein, who is black, said he felt his column had been “hijacked” by the right.
“It is generally weird,” he continued. “The real story has to do with the Republican party and the quandary it faces being the minority party, excessively in the minority to the extent they will probably be meeting in a VFW hall in Wasilla soon.”
Posted by Ben Smith 09:15 AM
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