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Michael Tomasky: The Republicans’ Moment of Truth ….. Will McConnell and Boehner allow votes on any last-minute deal? A more emphatic way of phrasing it is, will they finally put the country ahead of their party for a change, and ahead of their party’s unaltered view that any posture toward Obama other than belligerence equals capitulation to an enemy? …. We’re going to learn a lot about the post-election Republican Party this weekend.
….. The only thing the Republicans are ready to play, as usual, is roulette, with the cocked gun against the country’s temple, unfortunately, and not their own …. Never have the priorities for survival and success of a major party’s Washington politicians been so utterly at odds with the priorities required for the country’s survival and success. These Washington Republicans represent the one-third of the country that hates government, despises Obama, and considers obstruction victory.
The rational two-thirds wants compromise, good-faith bargaining, higher taxes on the wealthy, a reasonably strong safety net, and lower defense spending. But the obstructionist one-third wants the opposite. McConnell and Boehner aren’t ideologically committed to that one-third in the way that Jim DeMint and Paul Ryan are, but so far, they have never once stood up to it for the country’s sake. We’ll find out this weekend who they really are.
Full post here
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NBC: This Sunday, David Gregory sits down exclusively with President Barack Obama. This will be Mr. Obama’s 11th appearance on Meet the Press, his second time as the commander in chief …. His most recent appearance was on Sept. 20, 2009 in the Roosevelt Room of the White House.
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President Barack Obama talks on the phone in the Oval Office, Dec. 28 (Photo by Chuck Kennedy)
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Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) speaks to a gathering outside the US Capitol to protest inaction by Congress to pass legislation to avoid the fiscal cliff, December 28
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NYT: Republicans haven’t made it easy for the Northeast to get the $60.4 billion in aid it needs to recover from Hurricane Sandy. They have objected to the amount and tried to slash it. They have demanded that $3.4 billion of the aid for flood control be offset by spending cuts in other programs. And in the Senate, as on virtually all bills, they filibustered the aid package proposed by President Obama.
That filibuster was broken last week, allowing the Senate to pass the bill late on Friday. But it is not clear whether the House will even take up the bill in the remaining days of the session. If it does not, that will push desperately needed aid off until the next session of Congress, wasting weeks of time preparing and voting on a fresh bill…..
Full editorial here
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Business Insider: The Obama campaign’s digital operations proved to be a crucial point of success that led to the re-election of President Barack Obama in November.
Based on a sophisticated effort and larger emphasis on digital and new media, the Obama campaign engaged supporters and raised an unprecedented amount of money through its digital efforts.
How did the Obama campaign become so effective in the digital realm? Engage, an interactive digital political agency in Washington, D.C., recently published a report entitled “Inside the Cave.” It features a 93-page, step-by-step in-depth look at the secrets to the Obama digital team’s success.
We’ve collected 15 of the report’s key topics and published them here.
See here
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MoooOOoooOOOooorning everyone.
