Weekend Open Thread [3.1.15]
Martin O’Malley (D) must be running for President, as he took a not so veiled shot at Hillary Clinton recently in a speech in South Carolina. From the New York Times:
Said O’Malley: “The most fundamental power of our party and our country is the power of our moral principles. Triangulation is not a strategy that will move America forward. History celebrates profiles in courage, not profiles in convenience.”
“The remarks from Mr. O’Malley, who is viewed as facing an uphill battle, signaled a new phase both of his own efforts, after a year of saying he was not in ‘compare-contrast’ mode with Mrs. Clinton, and of the early 2016 campaign.”
He’s right, of course, and one hopes that Hillary Clinton follows more the example of Barack Obama rather than her husband.
So it would seem that, in order to get Democratic votes to extend funding of the Department of Homeland Security for another week, Speaker John Boehner had to promise that a vote would be held on a clean bill to fund the department for the rest of the year during this coming week. He is denying it now, but the proof is in the pudding, and if a clean vote happens next week, Politico reports many of Boehner’s allies “are concerned […] that his critics inside the Republican Conference may try to oust him as speaker if — as expected — he puts a long-term DHS funding bill on the House floor next week. While Boehner shrugs off such speculation, close friends believe such a move is a real possibility.” Said one GOP lawmaker close to Boehner: “There is a lot of speculation about this. People are watching for this very, very closely.”
Senate Republicans are angry too, but for different reasons. From the The Hill:
Senate Republicans “are fuming over the House GOP’s decision to extend the standoff over the Department of Homeland Security, a move that they say uses up political oxygen and burns precious time on the legislative calendar.”
“GOP senators say it’s time to move on to other issues, such as the budget, trade legislation, and regulatory and tax reform. They must defend 24 seats in the 2016 election and worry that voters could soon start to question their ability to govern unless they can move forward with a more substantive agenda.”
Public Policy Polling: “The extreme polarization in what media outlets people trust continues this year. Fewer than 25% of Republicans trust ABC, CBS, Comedy Central, MSNBC, CNN, and NBC. They’re closely divided on PBS with 37% trusting it and 39% distrusting it. But really they just trust Fox News and nothing else with 66% saying they put their faith in it to just 25% who don’t.”
“It’s almost the opposite story when it comes to Democrats. Majorities of them trust ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, NBC News, and PBS. And more of them than not (44/30) trust Comedy Central as well. The only outlet they don’t trust is Fox News, although 33% who do trust it is still more than the share of Republicans who trust any of the major networks.”
Dan Drezner: “The thing about most foreign policy decision-making is that a lot of it is irrevocable. In some cases it’s literally impossible: The United States can’t un-invade Iraq, for example. In other cases, the cumulative effects of certain choices renders a particular policy essentially locked in. The United States can’t really renegotiate NAFTA or dramatically curtail its economic opening to China, for example…”
“This makes Netanyahu’s decision to deliver this speech all the more confusing. The marginal value-added of addressing Congress (as opposed to just AIPAC, which he was going to do anyway) is not that great… The speech is such an obvious effort by Netanyahu to bolster his domestic position that the head of Israel’s election commission has ruled that the speech will be broadcast on a five-minute delay to excise any blatant campaigning.”
“Benjamin Netanyahu is many things, but stupid is not one of them. Why is he pursuing the course of action he is pursuing despite the fretting of his national security team?”
