Israeli Foreign Minister Backtracks On Commitment To Force Jewish Settlers Out Of The West Bank
Israeli Foreign Minister Backtracks On Commitment To Force Jewish Settlers Out Of The West Bank
President Obama has said that an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal is going to be a top priority for his administration. During an interview with Al-Arabiya last week, Obama said the Israel-Palestine issue is “interrelated” with “what’s happening” throughout the region. He also offered support for the so-called two-state solution. “I think it is possible for us to see a Palestinian state,” Obama said, adding, “But it is not going to be easy.”
No it will not be easy. As CBS reporter Bob Simon noted on 60 Minutes last week, “hundreds of thousands” of Jewish settlers would have to withdraw from the West Bank for it, along with the Gaza Strip, to be part of a Palestinian state. But also during Simon’s report, this two-state solution may have received a small boost. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who is in the running to become the country’s next prime minister, told Simon — bluntly — that in order to achieve peace and advance a Palestinian state, the Israeli government would force the settlers to leave the West Bank:
SIMON: Can you really imagine evacuating the tens of thousands of settlers who say they will not leave?
LIVNI: It’s not going to be easy, but this is the only solution.
SIMON: But you know that there are settlers who say, “We will fight. We will not leave. We will fight.”
LIVNI: So this is the responsibility of the government, of the police to stop them, as simple as that. Israel is a state of law and order.
Watch it:
However, it appears that Livni’s promise may have been short-lived. Conservative Likud Party Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu, who is also in the running for Israeli prime minster, said this week that he would not be bound by the current government’s “commitments to withdraw” from the West Bank. “I won’t evacuate settlements. Those understandings are invalid and unimportant,” Netanyahu said. As such, Livni changed her tune:
After Netanyahu and senior Likud officials blasted Olmert and Livni’s “promises” and accused Livni of agreeing to divide Jerusalem, she was forced to disassociate herself from the understandings.
“I will advance only an agreement that represents our interests. Maintaining maximum settlers and places that we hold dear such as Jerusalem — not a single refugee will enter,” Livni said.
The Wonk Room’s Matt Duss notes, “When leaders of competing Palestinian factions make maximalist claims to appeal to hardline constituencies, it’s extremism. But when Israeli leaders do it, it’s politics. If the goal of the U.S. and Israel is to strengthen Palestinian moderates like Abu Mazen against Hamas — and people keep telling me that’s the goal — it’s hard to see how this helps.”
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The Arizona Cardinal who won’t be on the field tomorrow.
The Arizona Cardinal who won’t be on the field tomorrow.
Marcy Wheeler reminds us that “the most famous [Arizona] Cardinal” won’t be playing in the Super Bowl tomorrow, when his team takes on the Pittsburgh Steelers:
I speak, of course, of Corporal Pat Tillman, who left the NFL after 9/11 to serve in the Army Rangers. Tillman was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004. For months after his death, he was used as a propaganda tool to glorify Bush’s failed wars. The exposure of the truth behind Tillman’s death has since turned him into a symbol of the duplicity of the Bush Administration, the fight for the truth, and the futility of the war itself.
The New York Times writes that Tillman will not be forgotten this weekend. Soldiers will watch the game “from a U.S.O. center in Afghanistan that bears Tillman’s name and was built with money donated by the N.F.L. in his memory.” Tillman’s jersey, emblazoned with his number 40, is the best selling item on the team’s website. “It’s great,” said former Arizona quarterback Jake Plummer, who was Tillman’s college and Cardinals teammate and a close friend. “But in the grand scheme of things, it all kind of stinks because he’s not around.”
Obama abandons ‘war on terror’ catchphrase.
Obama abandons ‘war on terror’ catchphrase.
The AP notes that only once since taking office on Jan. 20 has President Obama used the phrase “war on terror,” which was always on the lips of President Bush. Obama has instead more broadly referenced the “enduring struggle against terrorism and extremism.” CSIS national security analyst Anthony Cordesman notes that Bush’s phrase “became associated in the minds of many people outside the Unites States and particularly in places where the countries are largely Islamic and Arab, as being anti-Islam and anti-Arab.” Indeed, a Pentagon-funded study last year recommended that the U.S. do away with the terminology as the strategy behind it was “not successful in undermining al Qai’da’s capabilities.”
Card: Obama has brought a ‘locker room experience’ to the WH with his informal dress code.
Card: Obama has brought a ‘locker room experience’ to the WH with his informal dress code.
On Thursday, the New York Times’ Sheryl Gay Stolberg wrote about how President Obama had brought “a more informal culture” to the White House, noting that he had already abandoned “an ironclad rule of the George W. Bush administration” that required a “coat and tie in the Oval Office at all times.” Later that day, former Bush White House chief of staff Andrew Card told conservative talker Michael Medved that he felt the new dress code showed a lack of “respect” for the Office of the Presidency:
CARD: I found that Ronald Reagan and both President Bushes treated the Oval Office with tremendous respect. They treated the Office of the Presidency with tremendous respect. And some of that respect was reflected in how they expected people to behave, how they expected them to dress when they walked into the symbol of freedom for the world, the Oval Office. And yes, I’m disappointed to see the casual, laissez faire, short sleeves, no shirt and tie, no jacket, kind of locker room experience that seems to be taking place in this White House and the Oval Office.
Listen here:
Transcript: More »
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400 richest Americans’ incomes doubled under Bush.
400 richest Americans’ incomes doubled under Bush.
Bloomberg reports that, according to recently released IRS data, “the average tax rate paid by the richest 400 Americans fell by a third to 17.2 percent through the first six years of the Bush administration and their average income doubled to $263.3 million.” Much of their income came from capital gains resulting from the Bush tax cuts:
The drop from 2001’s tax rate of 22.9 percent was due largely to ex-President George W. Bush’s push to cut tax rates on most capital gains to 15 percent in 2003.
Capital gains made up 63 percent of the richest 400 Americans’ adjusted gross income in 2006, or a combined $66.1 billion, according to the data. In all, the 400 wealthiest Americans reported a combined $105.3 billion of adjusted gross income in 2006, the most recent year for which the IRS has data.
The Wonk Room has noted how “the conservative approach of putting big corporations and the very wealthy ahead of the middle class has failed to create prosperity that can be shared by all Americans.”
Senate Republicans Gearing Up To Filibuster Recovery Package Despite Promises To The Contrary
Senate Republicans Gearing Up To Filibuster Recovery Package Despite Promises To The Contrary
Last night on NPR’s All Things Considered, host Robert Siegel asked Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) about the prospects of a Republican filibuster of the Senate’s version of the economic recovery package. Grassley responded that Republicans would indeed filibuster the package, requiring the bill to garner a 60-vote majority for passage:
SIEGEL: By the way, Senator, we always just assume that anything in the Senate requires 60 votes because there will be a filibuster threat. Is that right? Does this bill need 60 votes to pass?
GRASSLEY: Yes.
SIEGAL: It does?
GRASSLEY: Yes.
Listen here:
Grassley’s promise of a filibuster is surprising given the fact that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) reportedly said that Republicans “would not filibuster against the stimulus package.” He remarked earlier this month, “I don’t think this measure’s going to have any problem getting over 60 votes.”
But now, as Grassley indicated last night, McConnell may not be able to keep his word as conservative opposition to the package grows.
Despite the fact that the Senate version of the recovery package is already loaded up with a significant number of provisions sought by conservative Republicans and the pro-business lobby, a number of senators are working with Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ) to coordinate opposition to the package, and as CNS News reports today, “a filibuster is a possible part of that plan“:
“I think its going to take 60 votes to pass the bill,” Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) told CNSNews.com, indicating the likelihood of a filibuster.
“Whatever we can do, whether offering amendments, whether voting against the bill because it could not be amended, or whatever parliamentary possibilities are in front of us we will explore because this isn’t about playing the game,” Sen. Kyl told CNSNews.com when asked whether he would filibuster the bill or encourage his colleagues to do so. [...]
“I would be a part of it,” Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) said when CNSNews.com asked him if he personally would participate in a filibuster.
Wallace: It’s ‘pretty funny’ that ‘feminists are very angry’ about Armey’s sexist comments.
Wallace: It’s ‘pretty funny’ that ‘feminists are very angry’ about Armey’s sexist comments.
Earlier this week, former Republican House majority leader Dick Armey set off a firestorm when he responded to an argument by Salon.com editor Joan Walsh with the sexist comment, “I’m so damn glad that you can never be my wife.” Appearing on Mike Gallagher’s radio show today, Fox News host Chris Wallace said that it’s “pretty funny” that “feminists” are now “very angry” over what Armey said. “It’s hysterical,” replied Gallagher:
GALLAGHER: Now, now, feminists are very angry that he said, “I’m glad you couldn’t be my wife.” I mean…
WALLACE: It’s pretty funny actually.
GALLAGHER: It’s hysterical. Do you know how many times a week I say, “thank God I don’t have to wake up next to her.” I mean some of these callers, these shrews that call.
Listen here:
African-American Michael Steele Takes Over Fractured GOP: Will He Join In As A Limbaugh Foot Soldier?
African-American Michael Steele Takes Over Fractured GOP: Will He Join In As A Limbaugh Foot Soldier?
Today, Republican National Committee (RNC) delegates chose former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele as their new chairman. Steele is the first African-American to lead the party, which continues to struggle with diversity problems.
The choice of Steele represents a considerable failure for the social conservatives who dominated during the era of Tom DeLay and George W. Bush. These far right wingers — including Phyllis Schlafly, Tony Perkins, Richard Viguerie, and Ed Meese — all backed Kenneth Blackwell, who had one of the poorest showings in the election. The results after six rounds of ballots:
Similarly, on Twitter, Ana Marie Cox observed, “Strong showing for Steele –widely considered a ‘moderate’ — in #rncchair suggests that Rs at least considering abandoning Palinism,” which she defined as, “[a]ggressive know-nothingism, pride in ignorance.” “It’s a diverse party. We’re tired of being labeled as white supremacists,” said a committee member from Rhode Island.
Other losers in this race were Katon Dawson — who had been a member of a South Carolina whites-only country club — and Chip Saltsman — who proudly promoted the “Barack the Magic Negro” song.
It’s unclear, however, how much influence Steele will actually have in influencing Republican lawmakers who are proud to be Rush Limbaugh’s ditto heads. Last month, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney told CNN that “the most powerful voices of the party are going to be elected officials in the Senate, in the House, and in governors’ offices.” Those powerful voices are still embracing the hate radio host — who has called Obama a “little black man-child” — as a spokesman for their movement.
If Steele — who once called Bush his “homeboy” — is serious about reaching out to people of color, will he condemn Limbaugh? Or will he join the ranks of his fellow ditto heads?
Sen. Conrad: ‘I’d have a very hard time voting’ for recovery package as it stands.
Sen. Conrad: ‘I’d have a very hard time voting’ for recovery package as it stands.
Earlier today, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) said he is “undecided” on whether to support President Obama’s recovery plan. Another “undecided” Democratic senator is Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND). “I’d have a very hard time voting for what came over from the House,” he said today on Fox News, echoing conservative talking points:
CONRAD: [T]here are other areas of the package that are really very questionable in terms of whether they’d stimulate the economy. Some of the programs that are given money only have ten percent spend-out in the next two years. … There’s very little done in this package to help housing. Very little done to help the financial sector.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who is helping lead the GOP opposition to the stimulus plan, embraced Conrad in a subsequent interview. “I do agree with much of what Sen. Conrad said,” he said. Watch it:
As ThinkProgress noted, the recovery package is not intended to fix the troubled housing sector (which should be done with TARP funds), but instead is focused on energy, science and technology, health care, education, infrastructure, and targeted tax cuts for struggling families.
Unlike Cheney’s energy task force, Biden’s middle-class task force will be transparent.
Unlike Cheney’s energy task force, Biden’s middle-class task force will be transparent.
Since taking office, Vice President Joe Biden has taken several concrete steps to restore transparency to an office that was shrouded in secrecy by Dick Cheney. In the latest move, Biden’s new middle-class task force will provide the public with details of whom he meets with:
Mr. Biden’s team is positioning the vice president to play up his differences with Mr. Cheney. For example, Mr. Biden’s new task force on middle-class families will have a Web site complete with details of all meetings, attendees and policies, in contrast to Mr. Cheney’s energy task force, which he fought to keep secret in court.
In 2001, Cheney refused to disclose his contacts with energy industry executives and lobbyists, taking his case all the way to the Supreme Court. In 2007, the Washington Post reported that Cheney had “held at least 40 meetings with interest groups, most of them from energy-producing industries.”
McCain To Obama: Leave Limbaugh Alone!
McCain To Obama: Leave Limbaugh Alone!
Over the past week, the fealty of GOP lawmakers to hate radio host Rush Limbaugh has become increasingly clear. They have been reluctant to criticize his comment that he hopes Obama fails, and those who have spoken out have been forced to retract their statements and beg forgiveness from the hate radio host.
Today on Fox and Friends, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) further circled the wagons, saying that Obama shouldn’t have made critical remarks about Limbaugh (which were made in a private meeting with Republicans and then leaked to the press):
McCAIN: I don’t know why he would do that. Mr. Limbaugh is a voice of a significant portion of our conservative movement in America. He has a very wide viewing audience. He is entitled to his views, and he has a lot of people who listen very carefully to him. I don’t know why that the President would take him on. He’s part of the political landscape, and he plays a role.
Watch it:
In September 2007, Limbaugh controversially claimed that U.S. service members who support withdrawal from Iraq are actually “phony soldiers.” At the time, McCain spoke out against the remarks and called on Limbaugh to apologize:
Any American who risks his or her life to defend us has earned the respect and gratitude of every American citizen, irrespective of their views on this war. If Mr. Limbaugh made the remark he is reported to have made, it reflects very poorly on him and not the objects of his offensive comment. I expect most Americans, whatever their political views, will have the same reaction. He would be well advised to retract it and apologize.
So before the election, when McCain was trying to establish himself as a maverick, calling on Rush to criticize for his offensive remarks was fine. After the election, McCain appears more than happy to join his caucus as a ditto head.
Transcript: More »
Only five black RNC members — including the two running for chairman.
Only five black RNC members — including the two running for chairman.
After their party’s defeat in November, Republicans have spoken at length about reaching out to minority voters. Yet as the Republican National Committee meets in Washington today to vote on a new chairman, Politico reports that there are only five black committee members, including the two — Michael Steele and Ken Blackwell — who are running for chairman:
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.
There are no black Republican members of Congress; the three Cuban-Americans, one Vietnamese-American, and one Hispanic represent the caucus’ entire minority membership. No wonder Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) warned yesterday that the GOP was becoming “a regional party.“
Obama plans to reintroduce family planning funding stripped from economic recovery package.
Obama plans to reintroduce family planning funding stripped from economic recovery package.
Earlier this week, under pressure from conservatives, President Obama agreed to remove a provision expanding access to comprehensive family planning services for low-income women from the economic recovery package. But TPMDC reports that at yesterday’s Lilly Ledbetter Act signing ceremony, Obama assured attendees “that the family planning aid would be done soon — perhaps as soon as next week, when the House is set to take up a spending bill that would keep the government funded until October.” As ThinkProgress reported earlier, the CBO estimates that this provision would save the government around $700 million over 10 years.
Nelson ‘Undecided’ On Recovery Plan: ‘I Don’t Even Know How Many Democrats Will Vote For It As It Stands’
Nelson ‘Undecided’ On Recovery Plan: ‘I Don’t Even Know How Many Democrats Will Vote For It As It Stands’
On Wednesday, when the House voted 244 – 188 to approve the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, 11 Democrats joined with the entire Republican caucus in voting against the bill. Now, as the stimulus debate moves to the Senate, it appears that some Democratic senators are challenging the Obama administration’s stimulus plans as well.
The Washington Post reported this morning that Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) “remains undecided about the bill“:
Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), who remains undecided about the bill, said he opposes money going to research projects at the National Institutes of Health and about $13 billion for Pell grants that help students pay for college. Nelson says the measures are worthy but do not belong in legislation designed to stimulate the economy.
Despite what Nelson says, both increased NIH funding and money for Pell grants are actually a wise use of stimulus dollars.
According to Fox News, Nelson convened a meeting in his Senate office today with Senate Republicans and some Democrats who are seeking “common ground on how they can improve the $819 billion economic stimulus bill.” Nelson’s meeting included Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA).
In an interview with Fox News after the meeting, Nelson said he didn’t know how many Democrats, let alone Republicans, would vote for the stimulus plan “as it stands today”:
HEMMER: No Republicans voted for this measure in the House. Do you know of any Republicans on the Senate side that will vote yes as it stands today?
NELSON: I don’t know, I don’t even know how many Democrats will vote for it as it stands today because a lot of my colleagues are not decided. They’re undecided on the bill as it is right now. Fortunately, we don’t have to take the vote on it right now. We have an opportunity to make some improvements.
Watch it:
Nelson emphasized to Hemmer that he’s not “as concerned” about the size of the bill, but that some of “the actual ingredients within the program” were only “marginally stimulative.” He added that it was “a good sign” that “additional infrastructure pieces to the program” were being considered.
Rachel Maddow interviews Matt Yglesias.
Rachel Maddow interviews Matt Yglesias.
Yesterday, our own Matt Yglesias appeared MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show to discuss recent conservative obstructionism of the stimulus package:
YGLESIAS: There’s a lot of business tax cuts in there, which were put in with the idea of making it more palatable to Republicans, that I think most Democrats and most progressives don’t think are the best possible policy. And if Republicans aren’t going support it no matter what you do, then it makes a lot of sense to look at putting more infrastructure projects in, look at more tax cuts weighted at working people.
Watch it:
Obama’s “first instinct has been to try and reach out, but of course, if that hand just gets slapped away, then you need to fight back,” Yglesias noted.
Giuliani Defends Wall Street Bonuses While Slamming Tax Cuts For The Poor
Giuliani Defends Wall Street Bonuses While Slamming Tax Cuts For The Poor
Yesterday, reacting to a New York State Comptroller report showing that Wall Street banks doled out $18.4 billion in bonuses in 2008, President Obama denounced the practice as “shameful.” “That is the height of irresponsibility. It is shameful, and part of what we’re going to need is for folks on Wall Street who are asking for help to show some restraint and show some discipline and show some sense of responsibility,” Obama said emphatically. The same day, the Congressional panel overseeing the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) recommended that financial regulators revoke bonuses for executives of firms seeking government help.
Appearing this morning on CNN, however, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani stridently defended the practice of enormous bonuses untethered to actual performance, warning that ending the tradition “really will create unemployment”:
GIULIANI: I remember when I was mayor, one of the ways in which you determined New York City’s budget, tax revenues, was Wall Street bonuses. Wall Street had a billion, two billion in bonuses, city had a deficit. Wall Street had 15 to 20 billion, New York City had a 2, 3 billion surplus. And it’s because that money gets spent. … It does have a reverse effect on the economy, if you somehow take that bonus out of the economy. It really will create unemployment. It means less spending in restaurants, less spending in department stores. So everything has an impact.
Watch it:
Even as he was pushing for more billions to be handed out to failing businessmen, Giuliani railed against President Obama’s tax cuts for the poor: “That’s not stimulating the economy, that’s solving some kind of social agenda.” He was more explicit last week, condemning the tax cuts as “welfare” with Fox News’ Sean Hannity:
GIULIANI: Yes, if — somebody is not paying taxes is going to get a check from the government, then that is welfare. You haven’t earned it, that’s a welfare payment. I think he’s going to have to abandon that in light of the economic situation.
HANNITY: Are you thinking that he’s really — he’s going to abandon all these things?
GIULIANI: I think so.
Conservatives raised the “welfare” scarecrow throughout the presidential campaign, even though the claim is bogus. As Factcheck.org pointed out, “a worker can be a ‘taxpayer’ whether or not they owe any income tax.” Nearly every worker pays Social Security and Medicare taxes — “totaling 7.65 percent on every dollar of earnings” — and Americans pay federal taxes every time they buy gasoline or pay a phone bill, for example. Congressional Budget Office figures show that even the lowest-earning households pay about 4.3 percent of their income to federal taxes.
At the end of the CNN segment, Giuliani pushed for more bailout funds for investment banks. In other words, Giuliani is all for Wall Street welfare that fuels a skyrocketing cost of living, but virulently opposed to tax cuts for the poor that help fuel an economic recovery.
Iraqis construct shoe sculpture to honor Bush shoe-throwing incident.
Iraqis construct shoe sculpture to honor Bush shoe-throwing incident.
A large sculpture of one of the shoes thrown at President Bush last December by an Iraqi journalist was unveiled this week just outside an orphanage in Tikrit, Iraq — Saddam Hussein’s hometown. The orphans at the complex helped sculptor Laith al-Amiri build the shoe monument. “Those orphans who helped the sculptor in building this monument were the victims of Bush’s war,” said Faten Abdulqader al-Naseri, the orphanage director, adding that it “is a gift to the next generation to remember the heroic action by the journalist.” Al-Amiri praised the journalist, Muntadhar al-Zeidi, calling him a “source of pride for all Iraqis.” The sculpture also includes an ode to al-Zeidi and mentions the virtues of being “able to tell the truth out loud.”
John Podesta v. Stephen Colbert.
John Podesta v. Stephen Colbert.
Last night, Center for American Progress President and CEO John Podesta appeared as the guest on The Colbert Report. Podesta and host Stephen Colbert discussed “what is the hardest thing transitioning from one president to another” and why John “didn’t pick himself” for a White House job. At the end of the interview, Colbert stumps Podesta with a question. Watch to find out what it was:
ThinkFast: January 30, 2009
ThinkFast: January 30, 2009
President Obama chastised Wall Street executives yesterday for distributing over $18 billion in bonuses in 2008. “That is the height of irresponsibility. … There will be time for them to make profits, and there will be time for them to make bonuses. Now is not that time,” Obama said.
In a USA Today op-ed, Vice President Biden announced that he will “lead a task force on the middle class” that will make sure that the benefits of economic growth “reach the people responsible for it.” Working with the Education, Commerce, Labor and HHS secretaries, Biden’s task force will examine ways “to raise the living standards of middle-class families.”
Today, Exxon Mobil “reported a profit of $45.2 billion for 2008, breaking its own record for a U.S. company, even as its fourth-quarter earnings fell 33 percent from a year ago.” Exxon’s previous record was $40.6 billion in 2007.
President Obama has approached Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) about becoming commerce secretary, “a step that could open the way to significant shift in the balance of power in Congress” as New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch, a Democrat, would most likely to pick a Democrat to replace Gregg. Though Gregg refused to comment on the discussions, his office confirmed that he had been approached.
In a 66-32 vote yesterday, the Senate voted to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program by $32.8 billion over the next 4 1/2 years. As the AP notes, “Nine Republicans joined 57 Democrats in voting for the bill. No Democrat voted against it.” The bill now heads to the House.
Obama: Blagojevich ouster is the end of a ‘painful episode for Illinois.’
Obama: Blagojevich ouster is the end of a ‘painful episode for Illinois.’
The Illinois Senate voted 59-0 to convict Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) “on an article of impeachment Thursday that charged him with a pattern of abusing power, prompting the governor’s immediate ouster.” Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn assumed power after the vote. President Obama issued this statement:
Today ends a painful episode for Illinois. For months, the state had been crippled by a crisis of leadership. Now that cloud has lifted. I wish Governor Quinn the best and pledge my full cooperation as he undertakes his new responsibilities.
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