:: Rush Limbaugh copies GOP liars, makes false claim that ACORN is mentioned in the stimulus and will receive $4.19 billion. What a sad loser cherub-cheeked Rushie is...... From Media Matters:
Summary: Parroting GOP talking points, Rush Limbaugh falsely claimed $4.19 billion of President Barack Obama's economic recovery package "is going to ACORN." In fact, the bill does not mention ACORN or otherwise single it out for funding.
TAGS: Rush Limbaugh, Conservative Pundits, GOP/Republicans, President Obama, LIES,
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:: Biden attending a caucus lunch today. Shades of Cheney? Nope. He's an invited guest. From The Hill:
After swearing in Senator-designate Kirsten RushGillibrand (D-N.Y.), BIden will speak to former colleagues this afternoon, before heading back to the White House for private meetings.
“He can come by once and a while, but he’s not going to sit in on our lunches,” Reid told the Las Vegas Sun in December. “He’s not a senator. He’s the vice president.”
TAGS: Joe BIden, SENATE,
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:: Palin sets up a political action committee in Virginia. From HUFFPOST:
SarahPAC will officially be based in Arlington, Virginia, (right now, the contact address is a P.O. Box) -- a rather long distance from Palin's current perch. The goal, an official with the organization says, is to bolster the campaigns of fellow Republicans through donations.
According to the official website, the PAC is" "Dedicated to building America's future, supporting fresh ideas and candidates who share our vision for reform and innovation."
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:: Republicans playing freaking games with American economic recovery package --- attempting to play Obama against the Democratic Congress. From HUFFPOST:
House Republicans appear sensitive to criticism that they rejected the stimulus before meeting with Obama. Yet a Democratic aide said he doubted the sincerity of the Republicans' new openness. "Boehner already said he wouldn't vote for it, so why are they bothering to meet with the President if they've already decided they will oppose?" he wondered. "Will they even say what they want now or just constantly moving the goalposts?"
From the Washington Independent:
Indeed, it’s almost as if Republicans are trying to hitch their wagon to the popular president and triangulate against the congressional Democrats.
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:: In a meeting with Republicans this afternoon, President Obama warned that he will not compromise further on tax cuts in the stimulus bill. From POLITICO:
President Obama has told House Republicans he will not compromise any further on tax cuts in the economic stimulus.
Speaking in a closed meeting at the Captiol this afternoon, Obama said "feel free to whack me over the head because I probably will not compromise on that part,” according to two sources in the room.
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:: Seeking a compromise with Republicans, Obama asks Waxman to remove family planning/Medicaid money from the stimulus package. From HUFFPOST:
Several Democrats said Monday night that Obama had spoken personally with Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., about removing the provision. Waxman is chairman of the committee with jurisdiction over Medicaid and a close ally of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
The Democrats who described the likely reversal did so on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to disclose developments not yet made public.
Obama's request to House Democrats underscores the administration's desire to signal a spirit of bipartisanship, a recurring theme for the president in his first week in office
From Marc Ambinder:
TAGS: Congress, GOP/Republicans, Obstructionism, President Obama, Stimulus, Legislation/Bills, Family Planning,Press Secretary Robert Gibbs confirms that President Obama spoke to congressional leaders yesterday about family planning funds.
"While he agrees that greater access to family planning is good policy, the President believes that the funding for it does not belong in the economic recovery and reinvestment plan," Gibbs said.
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:: House Republican leader, John Boehner, in a closed door meeting this morning, told Republicans to vote against the stimulus bill. From POLITICO:
House Republican Leader John A. Boehner and his No. 2, Whip Eric Cantor, oldtold their rank-and-file members Tuesday morning during a closed-door meeting to oppose the bill when it comes to the floor Wednesday, according to an aide familiar with the discussion. Boehner told members that he's voting against the stimulus, and Cantor told the assembled Republicans that there wasn't any reason for them to support the measure, according to another person in the room. Cantor and his whip team are going to urge GOP members to oppose it.
AP photo.
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:: How dumb or partisan is mainstream media? They have cited a bogus/non-existent report 81 times in the past six days. Unbelievable. The CBO report they're all talking about, does NOT EXIST. Talk about dumb and dumber. By the way, in our weekend summary, we told you that the Republicans were using this bogus report to obstruct the stimulus plan. From Think Progress:
Last Tuesday, the AP reported on a leaked Congressional Budget Office (CBO) “analysis” that had concluded that “it will take years before an infrastructure spending program proposed” by President Barack Obama “will boost the economy.” Conservatives, such as House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), quickly pounced on the story, claiming the CBO had proved that “government spending isn’t going to get our economy back on track.”
After the AP first wrote up the “report,” the rest of the media piled on the story. In a new analysis, ThinkProgress has found that since the AP’s report last Tuesday, the CBO report has been cited at least 81 times on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, the Sunday shows and the network newscasts in order raise questions about Obama’s recovery plan. Here are a few examples:
Image courtesy of Think Progress.
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:: Republicans continue to obstruct recovery. Adding more tax cuts for big business is not in our best interests, but it doesn't seem that the GOP tools care about our best interests. From HUFFPOST:
What seems to be the real message being put forward by House Republicans is that government should hand out additional tax cuts to businesses and then sit on the sidelines. It is time for the loyal opposition to recognize their responsibility for the mess in which we now find ourselves and begin to find ways to be part of the solution rather than prolonging the agony in which millions of jobless Americans and at-risk families are now suffering.
Image source Wikimedia Commons.
TAGS: GOP/Republicans, tax cuts, Stimulus,__________________________
:: VIDEO: Pres Obama's first interview on Arab tv; he puts al Qaeda on notice. From HUFFPOST:
In his first formal interview since taking office, the president spoke with the Dubai-based station Al Arabiya on topics pertinent to the Arab and Muslim worlds. Much of the interview was spent defining the new approach that the United States would implement in that region: respectfulness over divisiveness, listening over dictating, engagement over militarism. But the president drew the line when it came to terrorist organizations.
"Their ideas are bankrupt," he told host Hisham Melhem, when asked to respond to recent audio clips from al Qaida leadership calling him various epithets. "There's no actions that they've taken that say a child in the Muslim world is getting a better education because of them, or has better health care because of them."
TAGS: President Obama, interviews, al Qaeda, Middle East
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:: Let them eat cake! Citigroup, a recipient of $45 million in TARP funds, buys a new, $50 million, corporate luxury jet from France. Could they be any more arrogant, or more like Marie Antoinette? Take 'em down, Geithner! From NYT:
The move could infuriate Congressional representatives who eviscerated auto executives in November for flying down to Washington in their corporate jets to ask for billions of dollars in aid under the government’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program
But financial companies, like Citigroup, which have received the bulk of the $700 billion in bailout money, did not get the same treatment and were allowed to keep their jets.
Citigroup is one of the biggest recipients of TARP funds. It received $25 billion under the original payout late last year and received another $20 billion after its stock started to sink in November. It also got the government to backstop some $306 billion in troubled assets on its books.
UPDATE - 9:20AM: Apparently, after being contacted by a Treasury official today, and told to "fix it", Citigroup is not going to be taking delivery of the jet. I have also heard (on ABC) that Obama himself called Citigroup. Way to go, guys! From ABC News, Jake Tapper:
On Monday an official of the Treasury Department called an official of Citigroup, recipient of $45 billion in TARP funds, and complained about the company's new $50 million dollar,12-seater corporate jet from a French company.
The official "told them to fix it," a source with knowledge about the call tells ABC News.
Citigroup this morning released the following statement: "We have no intent to take delivery of any new aircraft."
UPDATE - 1:20PM: Someone from Obama's office apparently did contact Citigroup, according to ABC News:
The high-flying execs at Citigroup caved under pressure from President Obama and decided today to abandon plans for a luxurious new $50 million corporate jet from France.
JUST PLANE DESPICABLE - New York Post
Daily Kos: UPDATE - Citibank buys a Jet while 68 Thousand lose ...
Citi Jet Purchase: $50 Million, 12-Seat Plane Despite $45 Billion ...
TAGS: BANKS, BAILOUTS, President Obama, Timothy Geithner,
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:: John Conyers subpoenas Karl Rove. The man who was shielded from testifying by President Bush himself, who upheld the "absolute immunity" position cited by Rove in his previous refusal to talk, now must talk. Watch for news of his testimony after Feb. 2. From HUFFPOST:
Rove has previously refused to appear in response to a Judiciary Committee subpoena, claiming that even former presidential advisers cannot be compelled to testify before Congress. That "absolute immunity" position was supported by then-President Bush, but it has been rejected by U.S. District Judge John Bates. President Obama has previously dismissed the claim as "completely misguided."
TAGS: Karl Rove, Bush Administration, Conservative Pundits,
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:: January 27 on Media Matters:
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Goldberg attacks Media Matters without addressing falsehoods in A Slobbering Love Affair
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Tracy Flick returns: Gillibrand is latest female politician to be compared to film character
- Numerous media figures equate Pelosi's defense of family planning provision in recovery package to China's "one-child policy," eugenics, Nazism
- Parroting GOP, Dittohead Limbaugh dutifully launches false ACORN attack
- Hannity repeats false calculation of job creation cost
- SF Chronicle reported false claim that $4.19 billion of recovery plan "would go to" ACORN
- Boehlert: Right on cue, the White House press awakens from its slumber
- Drudge déjà vu: Winter Storm + Cancelled Hearings = Global Warming??
- Juan Williams again baselessly attacked Michelle Obama, claiming "her instinct is to start with this 'blame America' ... stuff"
