President Obama unveils firearms reform package

Washington Post:

President Obama on Wednesday formally proposed the most expansive gun-control policies in generations and initiated 23 separate executive actions aimed at curbing the nation’s gun violence.

Obama signed executive orders and paperwork initiating immediate administrative actions, including steps to strengthen the existing background-check system to keep guns out of the hands of potentially dangerous people as well as to improve mental health and school safety programs.

The president also called on Congress to swiftly pass legislation to ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines for civilian use and to require universal background checks for all gun buyers. Obama’s proposals include mental health and school safety measures, as well as a tough new crackdown on gun trafficking.

Speaking before Obama, Vice President Biden said “we have a moral obligation” to diminish the prospect that tragedies such as last month’s massacre in an elementary school in Connecticut could happen again.

“I have no illusions about what we’re up against,” Biden said. But he added: “The world has changed, and it’s demanding action.”

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Biden says wide array of non-legislative options being considered for dealing with gun violence

Politico:

The White House has identified 19 executive actions for President Barack Obama to move unilaterally on gun control, Vice President Joe Biden told a group of House Democrats on Monday, the administration’s first definitive statements about its response to last month’s mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Later this week, Obama will formally announce his proposals to reduce gun violence, which are expected to include renewal of the assault weapons ban, universal background checks and prohibition of high-capacity magazine clips. But Biden, who has been leading Obama’s task force on the response, spent two hours briefing a small group of sympathetic House Democrats on the road ahead in the latest White House outreach to invested groups.

The focus on executive orders is the result of the White House and other Democrats acknowledging the political difficulty of enacting any new gun legislation, a topic Biden did not address in Monday’s meeting.

The executive actions could include giving the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention authority to conduct national research on guns, more aggressive enforcement of existing gun laws and pushing for wider sharing of existing gun databases among federal and state agencies, members of Congress in the meeting said.

“It was all focusing on enforcing existing law, administering things like improving the background database, things like that that do not involve a change in the law but enforcing and making sure that the present law is administered as well as possible,” said Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.).

The White House declined to comment on the details of what Obama will propose.

Previously, the right had been saying that we need to enforce existing laws. OK, here they go — existing gun laws being strengthened and enforced. And now they’re saying this is the worst thing ever.

The lesson I’m taking away from all this? That you can’t possible satisfy the gun crazies, so your response to them should now and forever be, “fuck off, whiner.”

White House to use executive orders to stem gun violence

Talking Points Memo:

Prior to meeting with gun victims and safety groups on Wednesday, Vice President Joe Biden said that a White House commission on gun violence was weighing all available means to reform laws in the wake of the Newtown, Conn. mass shooting — including executive orders the President may issue in addition to legislative remedies already sought.

“The president is going to act,” Biden said. “Executive order, executive action that can be taken, we haven’t decided what that is yet. But we’re compiling it all with the help of the attorney general and all the rest of the cabinet members as well as legislative action, we believe, is required.”

Biden is scheduled to meet with gun owners and representatives of the National Rifle Association, the country’s powerful gun lobby, on Thursday.

That ought to go well, huh? We’ve seen how serious the blood lobby is about reducing gun violence — i.e., they aren’t. They’re a trade association, they want to sell bullets and guns — as many as possible — and they don’t really give a damn who’s buying. If you think people couldn’t possibly be that evil, I refer you to the tobacco industry and their “smoking doesn’t cause cancer” campaign — a campaign they launched while sitting on research that showed the opposite. If corporate America can make a buck killing people, corporate America will make a buck killing people. We know that because they’ve done it many times before. Don’t expect a lot of help from that front.

But the news that the president will use — excuse the metaphor — a double-barreled approach of legislation and executive orders is good news. Short of a lawsuit, there’s very little Republicans can do about executive orders and those would hinge on the constitutionality of the order — if it’s constitutional, there ain’t jack they can do. The bad news would be that a future president could rescind the orders.

Still, the White House will get a lot more done with executive orders than it will talking to the NRA. You have to believe that such talks are merely window-dressing. Nothing can possibly come of them.

Joe Biden scares the crap out of gun freaks

Talking Points Memo:

Over the weekend, the Washington Post reported the gun violence task force led by Vice President Biden is considering gun legislation “far broader and more comprehensive…than simply reinstating an expired ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition.”

News that the White House is considering significant gun control legislation in the wake of the Newtown, Conn. elementary school shooting is music to the ears of gun control advocates, who have waited decades for a serious conversation about guns. But it’s also being welcomed by gun rights groups, who say leaks from the Biden task force are just the thing to push their flock back into the fight.

“[The article] was a Molotov cocktail right into the middle of this thing,” Dave Workman, a former board member at the National Rifle Association, told TPM Monday. “That lit the fuse, it really did.”

Biden has “galvanized the gun community,” Workman said. Though no longer on the NRA board, Workman still spends most of his time advocating for expanded gun rights. He’s an official with the Second Amendment Foundation, communications director for Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, and a prolific writer on the gun rights. Both groups Workman serves on are sponsors of Gun Appreciation Day, a nationwide effort to highlight gun ownership scheduled for the weekend of President Obama’s second inauguration.

“They’re talking about banning millions of firearms,” Workman told TPM. “The writing was on the wall when Joe Biden was put on that thing because he’s a gun grabber.”

While it’s good to see the gun nuts worried, it pays to point out that these are people who seem to lack any sense of perspective when it comes to danger. You don’t argue that you need to be able to take any kind of gun with you anywhere you want if you’ve got a sense of what threats might realistically exist out there. Gun nuts are gun nuts because their initial reaction to pretty much anything seems to be blind, animal panic.

So it may be that Biden’s not as much of a threat to their cause as they might think. Wait until the final package is out before you get your hopes — or terrors — up.

Joe Biden, Now With Pie

Joe Biden takes a trip to Costco.

Posted because pie.

[via No More Texas Governors for President]

Stories to Watch: 6/26/12

Five days smoke-free.


Rand Paul is a jackass. Likewise, Jon Kyl.


The EPA has a big win in federal court -- which gives the Supreme Court another chance to steal political power from the voters.


Joe Biden gives Mitt Romney the credit he deserves for creating jobs.


How to write headlines like a Fox News editor.


Mitt Romney is a child. A very flippity-floppity child.


Claire McCaskill will skip the Democratic convention to concentrate on her own race.


Finally, first they won the "right" to give unlimited amounts of money to candidates and buy elections. Now oligarchs -- and their bought and paid for GOP pets -- are fighting to keep you from even knowing who they are.

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Stories to Watch: 12/23/11

Happy Holidays, everyone. Now here's the news...


New Republic has a collection of crazy-assed writings from Ron Paul's newsletters. Paul says he didn't write them, but so what? It's like we're supposed to believe that people snuck in stuff without his knowing about it.


Why does anyone take Charles Krauthammer seriously?


When it comes to the bullshit Mitt Romney's been spreading lately, the media's doing what the media always does about rightwing lies -- pretty much nothing. Joe Biden, on the other hand, isn't as willing to let lies slide.


The Justice Department takes on South Carolina's voter ID law. How about some help over here in Wisconsin, while you guys are at it?


Not even Erick-Erick likes SOPA. He's normally a real big fan of really bad ideas.


Looking at a brown Christmas (like me)? Blame global warming.


Donald Trump's headline-trolling continues.


Finally, Mittens is a Welfare Queen.

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Stories to Watch: 10/29/11

Finally got my loaf of sourdough done. Stretch and fold is definitely the way to go if you're lazy -- like me. It turned out a little too moist, but I think I probably overhydrated it a bit. Next time I'll go a little drier and see how that works. I'm hoping to have a dough I can use for dinner rolls by Thanksgiving or, if that's too soon, Christmas. Dialing it in. Now here's the news...


The rightwing fantasy of an Occupy movement orchestrated by the Obama White House dies, as polling shows that "about three-quarters [of Occupy Wall Street protesters] now disapprove of Mr. Obama’s performance as president."


John Boehner attempts to overdose on hypocrisy.


Public Policy Polling finds that President Obama's "struggling" to win Wisconsin's electoral votes. 44% approve, while 51% disapprove. Still, he beats everyone in the field, with Romney coming the closest at 3 points down. And now seems like a good time to whip out my old saw -- people vote against things, not for things. Obama's approvals don't matter as much as his eventual opponent's disapprovals.


Mitt Romney throws "American Exceptionalism" under the bus by arguing that, when it comes to foreign policy, we really ought to let Israel boss us around.


Speaking of Mittens, it turns out that Rick Santorum's not the only candidate with a Google problem.


Joe Biden sums up the GOP's newly-found deficit hawkishness nicely.


Finally, lowering the voting age to 17? Hell, I'd go with 16. They're driving, they're working -- they've got a stake.

News Roundup for 5/9/11

A couple of commie treehuggers

-Headline of the day-
"Lawsuit against Koch Industries press release parody dismissed."

The Koch brothers are just two secretive billionaires who are trying to use wealth to dominate the American political landscape and produce Koch-friendly legislation -- is that so wrong?

Apparently, a group of anonymous environmentalists think so. Mostly because they hate America. These radical leftists sent out a hoax press release in the name of Koch Industries to major news outlets and this is just the worst thing ever.

"This lawsuit was filed because the integrity of our computer systems and our valuable intellectual property was compromised and used without permission, in violation of the terms of service and federal law," the company said.

So, what libelous, awful, insulting lie were the treehuggers spreading? According to the report, the suit was "against a group of anonymous environmentalists who created a satirical press release claiming that Koch Industries would help fight climate change."

Koch Industries giving a fuck about the environment? That's a filthy lie and you take it back, you hippies! (Raw Story)


-And the "situation room meme photo manip" prize goes to...-
...this:


Click for larger image

It's mostly Joe Biden as the Flash that does it for me.(Rezinnaise)


-Bonus HotD-
"Trump's TV Ratings Way Down."

Man, this publicity stunt isn't working out at all th way he'd planned... (Political Wire)

VP Biden is Very Unhappy with Smokey Joe Barton

Hey idiot pundits, you want more emotion from the White House in regards to the oil gusher? Here ya go:

A passionate declaration of Democratic Party principles and the role of government in public life. You can shut up now.

Griper Blade: Not Even a Bump in the Road

I had to go to Fox News to find the headline, but I knew someone out there must've written one. I ran "Palin won debate" through Google News and came up with "Sarah Palin, McCain’s Secret Weapon, Wins the Debate," from Andrea Tantaros -- billed as a "Republican Political Commentator."

There, we learn that Sarah Palin is a "Lazarus in lipstick," who "won the debate because she exceeded expectations and connected with the American people on a personal level."

"Governor Palin breathed life into the McCain campaign and rectified public opinion about her competency, which was crucial," Tantaros writes. "Republicans, heave a sigh of relief." In other words, all she had to do was avoid drowning in a glass of water and the right would declare it a triumph of statesmanship. Low expectations do that for a candidate. But isn't this a confused metaphor? If Sarah Palin "breathed life into the McCain campaign," then she's Jesus -- McCain is Lazarus. You've got to be careful with those biblical references.

After watching the debate, I scored it to Biden. I wasn't alone. Early polling from CBS gave it to Biden, as well -- 46%-33% among undecided voters. In fact, that polling showed Biden nearly twice as successful as Palin at recruiting converts to the cause; while 10% said Palin convinced them to back McCain, 18% said that Biden brought them over to Obama. Still, 71% didn't commit either way...

[CLICK TO READ FULL POST]

Early Polling Gives VP Debate to Biden

clipped from www.cbsnews.com Forty-six percent of the uncommitted voters surveyed say Democrat Joe Biden won the debate, compared to 21 percent for Republican Sarah Palin. Thirty-three percent said it was a tie. Eighteen percent of previously uncommitted percent say they are now committed to the Obama-Biden ticket. Ten percent say they are now committed to McCain-Palin. Seventy-one percent are still uncommitted. Both candidates improved their overall image tonight. Fifty-three percent of those surveyed say they now have a better impression of Biden. Five percent say they have a worse opinion of the Delaware senator, while 42 percent say they debate did not change their opinion. Fifty-five percent say they now have a better opinion of Palin. Fourteen percent say they have a worse opinion, while 30 percent say their opinion hasn't changed.

I was surprised to see the rate of conversion from undecided to decided. If 18% were persuaded by Biden and only 10% were by Palin, then Biden did almost twice as good a job as Palin.

On the other hand, Palin seemed contrived and stuck on "perky," like a morning news weather reporter. We'll see how later polling goes.

Poll: Obama Leads Wisconsin

clipped from strategicvision.biz Below are the results of a three-day poll of likely voters in the state of Wisconsin. Results are based on telephone interviews with 800 likely voters in Wisconsin, aged 18+, and conducted September 26-28, 2008 by telephone. The margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points. 1. If the election for President were held today would you support the Democratic ticket of Barack Obama and Joseph Biden or the Republican ticket of John McCain and Sarah Palin? Obama/Biden 49% McCain/Palin 40% Other 2% Undecided 9% 6. Which presidential candidate do you believe would be best able to handle the economy, Barack Obama or John McCain? Barack Obama 56% John McCain 37% Undecided 7%

This one's a little personal. If I see one more electoral map that shows the Badger state as a toss-up, I'm going to hurt someone. Wisconsin isn't going McCain, it hasn't gone GOP since the Reagan landslide.

Other fun results; Bush is really unpopular here -- only a 15% job approval rating. More evidence that McCain's done here.

He's still spending money here, though. You can't watch TV for an hour without seeing a McCain ad.

Glad to see him blowing that cash on a lost cause.

Griper Blade: Setting the Bar Low

In the grand scheme of things, it seems like a futile effort. Raw Story runs the headline, "Dems, press raising expectations for Palin ahead of debate." For Democrats, the danger is clear -- everyone thinks Sarah Palin is mentally helpless. If she shows up the debate tomorrow and displays more intelligence than a styrofoam cup, all the pundits will probably say she did much, much better than expected. Low expectations have their benefits in a debate; ask George W. Bush.

For the press, it may be that they're worried that expectations for Palin are so low that no one will care. Everyone thinks they know how it'll go, so it's kind of like a movie where someone's given away the ending. The media doesn't want to cover a debate no one cares about or one that everyone has already scored to Team Obama.

RS helpfully points us to other headlines:

"Palin Proved to Be Formidable Foe in Alaska Debates," the Wall Street Journal declared.

"Underestimate Palin at your own risk," the Los Angeles Times warned.

"On small stage, Palin scored big debate wins," concluded Politico.

We're also told, "Democratic aides, perhaps wary of Palin's ability to exceed the rock-bottom expectations that she's facing, helpfully forwarded those articles to reporters Wednesday morning."...

[CLICK TO READ FULL POST]

Griper Blade: McCain Loses Debate!

Remember how McCain was going to win the first debate? Remember how he was so confident that he declared victory before the debate had even taken place? Remember that?

It was, after all, McCain's bailiwick -- foreign policy and national defense. But in any debate, the person who's seen as most expert is the person who has the most to lose. Being seen as the most knowledgeable puts you in the position of defending that perception -- referring to Iranian President Achmedinajad as Akmadoodleberg or whatever the hell it was he said wasn't extremely helpful.

Still that wasn't how McCain lost the debate. It's the nature of the presidential debates, which come so late in the campaign, that voters who are still undecided react to the way candidates behave. Think about it; at this point, there isn't a lot left that we don't know about the candidates' positions. So, if you're still undecided, you're left to make your decision based on other factors -- in this case, that looks to have been how crazy or sane the candidates seemed to be...

[CLICK TO READ FULL POST]

As Wall St. Melts Down, McCain Says 'The Fundamentals of Our Economy are Strong'

clipped from latimesblogs.latimes.com With tremors continuing to shake Wall Street, John McCain began his campaign day standing by his guns, saying this to a crowd in Jacksonville, Fla.: "Our economy, I think, still, the fundamentals of our economy are strong." McCain's initial reprise of a line he uttered earlier this summer (see below) obviously gave Democrats a chance to focus the presidential campaign away from the low-bore squabbles of last week (lipstick on pigs, anyone?) and back onto what they see as a stark divide between the two presidential candidates. Barack Obama's running mate, Joe Biden, wasted no time seeking to do that. Campaigning in crucial Michigan, he told his audience: "I could walk from here to Lansing and I wouldn't run into a single person who thought the economy was doing well. Unless I ran into John McCain."

Is McCain really this tone deaf on the issue of the economy? This is really the last thing he needs -- a debate on the issues. He's desperately been trying to avoid that by running a campaign of PC victimhood and personal attacks. I guess we now see why that is.

The report tells us:

Obama just took his expected whack at McCain during a rally in Grand Junction, Colo. Rhetorically, he asked his audience why "today, of all days" McCain would make his comment about the economy's fundamentals. "Sen. McCain, what economy are you talking about?" he said.

I wonder how Baghdad Johnny's going to try to weasel out of this debate? Time to talk issues, John. You've avoided it for too long.

Griper Blade: Grampy McCain's Bouncy Ride

I try to stay away from posts about poll numbers. Polling data is great to make a point -- I used them just yesterday -- but they aren't really a story all on their own, despite the way the media treats them. Current polling shows John McCain slightly ahead of or tied with Barack Obama. But this is not election day. We're constantly being told that it's only X days until the elections, but the truth is that it's two months. There hasn't been a single debate yet, Sarah Palin has yet to give even an interview, let alone a press conference, and people seem to have the idea that Sarah Palin is running for president. For the record, she's not.

Where the media narrative had previously been that Obama "wasn't winning good enough," don't expect anyone to accuse the McCain camp of that. The new media narrative is that Sarah Palin is running for president. I don't have any numbers to back me up, but I think if you broke any media source down story by story, Palin would get more press than McCain. Which, of course, is the way McCain likes it -- being an old Washington insider running against the Washington establishment makes him a ridiculous candidate. He couldn't reinvent himself at this point, he's too well known, so he invented someone else.

I said I don't like to do posts about poll numbers, but they seem to be the big media story. Horse race reporting strikes me as lazy and not especially informative. Who's winning at the moment is a poor substitute for reporting on the issues. This isn't a football game we're talking about here, this is serious business -- the direction of the nation for the next four years. So it pays to set the horse race reporting straight when it's off the mark...

[CLICK TO READ FULL POST]

Griper Blade: Marketing Sarah Palin

New polling shows that John McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, is pretty popular. With a favorable rating of 58%, she beats both of the frontrunners. On the one hand, this is good news for Team McCain, who are now enjoying a post-convention bounce in the polls. The bad news is that political common wisdom holds true -- people don't vote for things, they vote against things, so high favorables don't mean a lot. Add to this that people don't tend to be very influenced by the second slot -- 55% say it won't influence their decision -- and she's pretty much a wash. In fact, polls show that if there's any effect, it's a negative one. Support for the ticket has gone down among women, thanks mostly to Palin's extremist views on abortion.

But popular is popular. The reason for that popularity is easy to explain; the only thing most people know about her is what the McCain camp is telling them. Sarah Palin isn't a candidate, she's a projection cast by the Republican propaganda machine. The words she spoke at the RNC weren't hers, but those of former Bush speechwriter Matthew Scully. All Palin really did was read it well from a teleprompter -- not much of a challenge for a former TV sportscaster. We have yet to see Sarah Palin as Sarah Palin, Governor of a state with a population the size of Baltimore...

[CLICK TO READ FULL POST]

Poll: Half Say Palin Unqualified

clipped from www.bloomberg.com Half of U.S. voters said first-term Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, doesn't have the experience needed to be an effective president, according to an ABC News poll. The survey found that 50 percent of adults polled on Sept. 4, the last day of the Republican National Convention, said Palin lacks the right experience to be president if she succeeded to the office. Forty-two percent of the voters said she has the necessary experience, the poll said. The poll found that 66 percent of voters said Delaware Senator Joseph Biden, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, has the right experience to be an effective president. Twenty-one percent believed Biden, presidential candidate Barack Obama's running mate, lacks the right experience to be president.

Also of interest:

The poll found that Obama benefited more from his selection of Biden than McCain did by picking Palin. While 25 percent said they were more likely to vote for McCain because he picked Palin, 19 percent said they were less likely to support his candidacy. A majority, 55 percent, said the choice won't affect their vote.

By contrast, 22 percent of voters said Biden's selection for the Democratic ticket made them more likely to vote for Obama, while just 10 percent said they were less likely to support the Illinois senator's presidential candidacy. Again, a majority -- 67 percent -- said the choice won't matter in their vote.

More evidence that Palin was a base shoring choice. She's not winning converts, just energizing those already on the right.

Obama Team Reacts to Palin Pick

clipped from www.politico.com Echoing the McCain camp's pattern yesterday -- a gracious candidate while the staff whacks away -- Barack Obama and Joe Biden congratulate Palin: We send our congratulations to Governor Sarah Palin and her family on her designation as the republican nominee for Vice President. It is yet another encouraging sign that old barriers are falling in our politics. While we obviously have differences over how best to lead this country forward Governor Palin is an admirable person and will add a compelling new voice to this campaign.

And then there's the whacking away.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton:

Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency. Governor Palin shares John McCain's commitment to overturning Roe v. Wade, the agenda of Big Oil and continuing George Bush's failed economic policies -- that's not the change we need, it's just more of the same.

Sen. Chuck Schumer:

After the great success of the Democratic convention, the choice of Sarah Palin is surely a Hail Mary pass. It is a real roll of the dice and shows how John McCain, Karl Rove et al realize what a strong position the Obama-Biden team and Democrats in general are in in this election. Certainly the choice of Palin puts to rest any argument about inexperience on the Democratic team and while Palin is a fine person, her lack of experience makes the thought of her assuming the presidency troubling. I particularly look forward to the Biden-Palin debate in Missouri.

Whack away, my friends...