CNN’s Jake Tapper has managed to get his hands on the critical White House email suggested as the proof that the White House was more interested in removing references to possible terrorist attacks in the now infamous Benghazi talking points then they were in telling the truth to the American public.
The actual email, written in the days following the Benghazi attack, reveals something else entirely. We now know that whoever leaked the contents of the email to various media outlets last week seriously misquoted the document, choosing to paraphrase the content in a way that made it appear that the White House was focused on protecting the State Department’s back and covering up information.
And the plot thickens…
What’s the thinking behind this? Is the RNC banking on a complete rehabilitation of W’s image, or are they trying to usher in such a rehabilitaiton themselves? Why does the tone of the sticker seem vaguely sarcastic? We’re as stumped as you. source
The National Republican Congressional Committee has had to pull out memes to convince people it’s hip and in the know. Think about that a second. (Sure, Obama does it too, but this just feels … more blatantly pandering?)
EDIT: “The committee spent hours poring over BuzzFeed’s site map and layout, studying how readers arrived at its landing pages and bounced from one article to the next.”
To the national party’s credit, Young’s remarks were roundly denounced by Republican leaders, and Kincannon has basically been disowned by the state GOP. But every story like this reaffirms the exact stereotypes the party is working so hard to combat right now, and until the party can get its members under control, even a superficial rebranding is likely to be unsuccessful. The larger issue, though, is whether the Republicans’ electoral base actually wants it to change. The early evidence isn’t very promising. source
Listen, I don’t think our platform is the issue. I think a lot of times it’s some of these biologically stupid things that people say, you know, that I believe caused a lot of the problems.RNC chairman Reince Priebus • Diagnosing the problems faced by the Republican Party, which ostensibly played a role in their sound defeat at the voting booth last November, in an interview with Radio Iowa a couple days ago. Piebus’ words (a clear reference to damaging remarks by Senate candidates Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock on rape, among others) could be suggestive of the RNC’s strategic thinking on improving their chances going forward — less emphasis on new policies, perhaps, than on using more tactful rhetoric. source
Um, this seems a bit early: Today, a Tea Party group started airing negative ads against Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell in Iowa … like two and a half years before the straw poll and nearly four years before the election. If you want to see rich people turn money into thin air, here you go.
“I’ll look at what’s happening right now, I wish I were there,” Mitt Romney said of the ongoing sequestration battles in Washington. “It kills me not to be there, not to be in the White House doing what needs to be done. The president is the leader of the nation. The president brings people together, does the deals, does the trades, knocks the heads together; the president leads.”
(Photo credit: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images)
Buck up, old fella. You’re sounding a little depressed these days. You know, there’s this thing called thought leadership that you could try. That’s what Rush and Palin try to do.
In case you were wondering what Mitt’s been up to since the election, Fox News did an interview with him. here’s a sample, above. ”We were on a roller coaster, exciting and thrilling, ups and downs. But the ride ends,” he told a captive Chris Wallace. “And then you get off. And it’s not like, oh, can’t we be on a roller coaster the rest of our life? It’s like, no, the ride’s over.” The full interview hits Sunday.
Finally, Congress will reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act: The legislation, dreamed up and championed in 1994 by then-Senator Joe Biden, died in the House last year when the Republican leadership refused to put it to a vote (it had already passed the Senate). The problem, if you want to put it that way, was that Senate Democrats had modified the legislation to add protections for LGBT women, Native Americans and undocumented immigrants. John Boehner and company objected to these additions so strongly that they refused to let the House vote on it, despite indications that it would pass if they did. Today, Boehner relented, and will allow the House to vote on the bill. It’s expected to pass and will likely land on the President’s desk at the end of the week. (Photo: Getty images) source
We have moved a bill in the House twice. We should not have to move a third bill before the Senate gets off their ass and begins to do something.
Watch: PCB gets a visual shout out on GMA’s Yahoo/Tumblr...
Wrote a thing.
Hat tip to this headline writer.
Congrats Tumblr!
Don’t screw this up Yahoo.
In 2007, I was...
I started tumblr when I was at one of the lowest points of...
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) could see a primary challenge from local businessman Matt Bevin, who sources say is reaching out to Tea Party groups in the state to gauge support for a 2014 Senate run.
Sarah Duran, president of the Louisville Tea Party, told The Hill that Bevin had been in touch with her over the phone to discuss his run multiple times over the past few weeks, and that he met with the group two weeks ago to discuss his interest in the race.
While exploring one’s options is far from being the same as declaring candidacy, the emergence of a strong Tea Party alternative like Matt Bevin could hurt McConnell in the long run, particularly if it forces the Senate stalwart to move any farther to the right on hot button issues. With many expecting actress Ashley Judd to challenge McConnell as well, the five-term Senator could have his work cut out for him during the 2014 midterm elections.
A look at some of the claims in his State of the Union speech, a glance at the Republican counterargument and how they fit with the facts:
OBAMA: “After years of grueling recession, our businesses have created over 6 million new jobs.”
THE FACTS: That’s in the ballpark, as far as it goes. But Obama starts his count not when he took office, but from the point in his first term when job losses were the highest. In doing so, he ignores the 5 million or so jobs that were lost on his watch, up to that point.
The wire service also examined Sen. Marco Rubio’s televised response on behalf of the Republican Party, and takes both men to task for some less-than-accurate statements during the State of the Union and GOP response on Tuesday night.
Bring it on, Karl baby. Bring it on, doughboy. Bring on your little whiteboard.Leading conservative Mark Levin on fellow leading conservative Karl Rove. The remark is emblematic of the civil war brewing in the GOP: On the one side are pragmatists like Rove, who believe the Republican Party needs to nominate more moderate candidates in order to win elections; on the other side are idealists like Levin, who would rather see radical right-wingers lose elections than moderate Republicans win ‘em. The Tea Party contingent of the GOP is outraged at Rove’s newly-unveiled Conservative Victory Project, which seeks to intervene in Republican primaries to make sure that would-be Todd Akins don’t wind up with the nomination. source
Look, if we had a [Hillary] Clinton presidency, if we had Erskine Bowles as Chief of Staff of the White House or President of the United States, I think we would have fixed this fiscal mess by now. That’s not the kind of presidency we’re dealing with right now.Rep. Paul Ryan • Offering (on this morning’s Meet the Press) an interesting take on what he thinks of the Obama administration … essentially, Obama is no Hillary Clinton.
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