Cliqz.com - US - U.S. Politics - Liberals

Baucus's Retirement Could Help Democrats

cdn2.cliqz.com

By Albert R. Hunt Apr 23, 2013 11:08 AM ET Max Baucus of Montana may be giving some good news to Senate Democratic leaders and the White House. According to reports, the Senate Finance Committee chairman has decided not to seek a seventh term in 2014. Baucus hasn't always been a reliable vote ... (from: www.democraticunderground.com)

12 articles and 3 pictures on this topic

Gun control supporters ponder path forward after Senate defeat

cdn2.cliqz.com

Although Washington’s battle over gun control ground to a sudden halt earlier this month, proponents of overhaul legislation say the fight is far from over. But while the political ground may have shifted, there is no denying the massive sway of the National Rifle Association and the perception that the window of opportunity to strengthen gun laws in the wake of the Newtown shootings has closed.Fo... (from: feeds.nbcnews.com)

19 articles and 5 pictures on this topic

Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest: Elizabeth Colbert Busch widens lead over Mark Sanford

cdn2.cliqz.com

Want the scoop on hot races around the country? Get the digest emailed to you each weekday morning. Sign up here . Leading Off : • SC-01 : Following last week's utter Mark Sanford lunacy, Public Policy Polling went back into South Carolina's 1st Congressional District and finds that things really do not look good for the former governor in the upcoming May 7 special election. Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch's narrow lead last month has expanded considerably: Elizabeth Colbert Busch (D): 50 (47) Mark Sanford (R): 41 (45) Eugene Platt (G): 3 (--) Undecided: 5 (8) What's amazing, though, is that Sanford's approval rating hasn't dropped, though it's certainly not good: He's at 38-56, which is actually an improvement from his 34-58 mark in March. Colbert Busch, though, has also seen her numbers move up, to a remarkably strong 56-31, from 45-31 last time. So what accounts for the change in the toplines? Well, it seems like Democratic enthusiasm is way up, and Republican enthusiasm is way down. This district voted for Mitt Romney by a 58-40 margin in 2012, and in PPP's first poll, respondents said they had supported Romney by a figure very close to that spread, 56-40. Now that gap is down to a remarkable 50-45, which either means PPP wound up with a too-blue sample or, simply, that Democrats are now pumped for this race and Republicans are less eager to answer their phones when a pollster calls. If anyone could inspire that kind of phenomenon, it's Mark Sanford. (from: www.dailykos.com)

16 articles and 3 pictures on this topic

Bush Back in the Spotlight

cdn2.cliqz.com

George W. Bush "will return to the spotlight this week for the dedication of his presidential library, an event likely to trigger fresh public debate about his eight fateful years in office. But he reemerges with a better public image than when he left Washington more than four years ago," the Washington Post reports. "Since then, Bush has absented himself from both policy disputes and political battles. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll suggests that the passage of time and Bush's relative invisibility have been beneficial to a chief executive who left office surrounded by controversy." "Days before his second term ended in 2009, Bush's approval rating among all adults was 33 percent positive and 66 percent negative. The new poll found 47 percent saying they approve and 50 percent saying they disapprove." (from: politicalwire.com)

11 articles and 1 pictures on this topic

Napolitano vows Obama administration will apply Boston bombing lessons

cdn2.cliqz.com

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday that her department will help find out why last week’s Boston Marathon bombings occurred and “what more we can do to prevent attacks like this in the future…. We will learn lessons from this attack, just as we have from past instances of terrorism and violent extremism. We will apply those; we will emerge even... (from: feeds.nbcnews.com)

10 articles and 1 pictures on this topic

Internet Sales Taxes and Lost Utopias

cdn2.cliqz.com

I felt a bit nostalgic on reading that the U.S. Senate was moving on a bill to enable states to collect sales taxes on online commercial transactions. Back in the 1990s, you see, this was a really big deal to people who believed a New Economy was about to transform everything. Those of us on the center-left thought maintaining the ability of states to tax online transactions was crucial to the future of the public sector, while many cyber-libertarians were on fire with the idea of a tax-free online paradise in which the entire economy would eventually be centered. (from: www.washingtonmonthly.com)

19 articles and 3 pictures on this topic

Senate Vote May Signal Problems For The Gun Lobby

cdn2.cliqz.com

The outcome of Wednesday’s dramatic Senate vote on expanding background checks simultaneously demonstrated the difficult geography confronting gun-control advocates in the Senate and the potentially... (from: www.huffingtonpost.com)

15 articles and 2 pictures on this topic

Abbreviated pundit roundup: The Constitution applies to us all

cdn2.cliqz.com

The Obama administration will be trying Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in civilian court and in accordance with the Constitution . Contrary to freak-outs from the right, this was the right thing to do, and in op-eds and editorials from coast to coast, analysts agree with the president's decision. Legal scholar Erwin Chemerinsky pens a forceful op-ed in The Los Angeles Times reminding folks that "the Constitution applies to us all, including the Boston bombings suspect": The Constitution provides protections to all those accused of crime, including the privilege against self-incrimination, the right to counsel, the right to a speedy trial in front of a jury, and the right to have guilt proved beyond a reasonable doubt. There is no exception in the Constitution, or ever recognized by the Supreme Court, for especially horrible crimes or for ones that can be labeled terrorism. [...] Throughout American history, whenever there has been a serious threat, people have proposed abridging civil liberties. When that has happened, it has never been shown to have made the country safer. These mistakes should not be repeated. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev should be investigated, prosecuted and tried in accord with the U.S. Constitution. Over at The New York Times , Andrew Rosenthal points out the hypocrisy of those who call for treating American citizens as enemy combatants: The federal government managed to hunt down, arrest, charge, try, convict and execute Timothy McVeigh without junking due process. When Jared Lee Loughner attempted to assassinate Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, and shot dead a federal judge and a 9-year-old, grandstanding lawmakers did not demand that he be taken into military custody. Nor did they make that demand when James Holmes was arrested for killing 12 people and wounding 70 others at an Aurora, Colo., movie theater. But now Senator Lindsey Graham is calling for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to be classified as an enemy combatant and “held and questioned under the law of war,” without a lawyer. What’s the difference? The Boston Marathon bombings are closer to the colloquial and legal definitions of terrorism than the Aurora shooting, but not the Oklahoma bombing, or the Arizona attack. The real difference is that Mr. Tsarnaev is a Muslim, and the United States has since the 9/11 terrorist attacks constructed a separate and profoundly unequal system of detention and punishment that essentially applies only to Muslims. Head below the fold for more analysis on the day's top stories. (from: www.dailykos.com)

13 articles and 2 pictures on this topic

How Immigration Opponents Are Trying To Use The Boston Bombings to Delay Reform

cdn2.cliqz.com

The specter of the Boston Marathon bombings – and the fact that they were allegedly carried out by two immigrants to the United States – continues to hang over the immigration reform efforts underway in the Senate. (from: news.yahoo.com)

36 articles and 5 pictures on this topic

FBI wants more answers from surviving, mute bombing suspect

cdn2.cliqz.com

The 19-year-old charged with the Boston Marathon bombing, his throat injured by a gunshot wound, wrote down answers to the questions of investigators about his motives and connections to any terror networks. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s answers led them to believe he and his brother were motivated by a radical brand of Islam without major terror connections, [...] (from: www.capitolhillblue.com)

44 articles and 3 pictures on this topic

PM Note: Politics of Boston Compared to Politics of Newtown, Weiner Back on Twitter

cdn2.cliqz.com

Anthony Weiner, Back on Twitter -. (Michael Falcone) Marco Rubio is Satirized in Sombrero - Fusion’s Jordan Fabian draws our attention to the anti-reform pins that feature Marco Rubio in a sombrero – FIRST ON ABC: Diane Sawyer to Speak with George W.... (from: abcnews.go.com)

9 articles and 1 pictures on this topic

FBI wants more answers from surviving, mute bombing suspect

cdn2.cliqz.com

FBI wants more answers from surviving, mute bombing suspect

cdn2.cliqz.com

FBI wants more answers from surviving, mute bombing suspect

cdn2.cliqz.com

FBI wants more answers from surviving, mute bombing suspect

Sequester Politics is Back

cdn2.cliqz.com

"Flights were delayed by up to two hours across the country on Monday, the first weekday that the nation's air traffic control system operated with 10 percent fewer controllers. Pilots, gate agents and others were quick to blame furloughs caused by mandatory across-the-board budget cuts, but the Federal Aviation Administration said it was too soon to tell," the New York Times reports. First Read : "For what it's worth, this is what many in the Obama administration warned about, but because it didn't happen in the immediate days after sequester kicked in, it was seen as hype. Now we're seeing a PR battle between congressional Republicans (who want to claim Obama is not actively trying to avoid sequester fallout with the FAA) and the Obama administration (which is saying it's limited in what it can do and need all of sequester rolled back to right this ship)." (from: politicalwire.com)

18 articles and 3 pictures on this topic

FBI wants more answers from surviving, mute bombing suspect

cdn2.cliqz.com

Flake Said He Supported Background Checks Then Voted No

cdn2.cliqz.com

Think Progress : "Shortly before the a crucial Senate vote to expand background checks in gun transactions, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) sent a letter to the mother of a shooting victim claiming that he was "truly sorry" for her son's death and that "strengthening background checks is something we agree on." A few days later, he voted to kill the background checks bill." (from: politicalwire.com)

9 articles and 1 pictures on this topic

The Caucus: Obama to Attend Memorial Service for Victims of Texas Blast

cdn2.cliqz.com

President Obama will attend a memorial service this week for victims of the fertilizer plant explosion in Texas in what will be his latest foray as the country’s comforter in chief. (from: thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com)

18 articles and 5 pictures on this topic

Lawmakers vow bombing investigations

Speaker Boehner promised an exhaustive House inquiry into whether the FBI should have more rigorously investigated terror suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Read more... (from: thehill.com)

12 articles and 0 pictures on this topic