the story of a lame duck Congress that it was not

This is the story of a lame duck Congress that it was not.

Shaken by a historic election in which voters angry cancels the House Democratic control, lawmakers from both parties and President Barack Obama tried something new: They consulted each other. They cooperated. And finally, they pledged.

From tax cuts for a nuclear arms treaty and repeal the ban on openly serving gay troops, Congress and Obama White House closed its respective shops and headed out for the holidays with a little bag Common full of achievements.

The bipartisanship was one of them.

"This progress is ... a reflection of the message voters sent in November, a message that says it's time to find common ground on the challenges facing our country," Obama told reporters before joining his family in Hawaii. "It's a message that I take seriously in the new year, and I hope my Democrat and Republican friends do the same."

That's less likely that come January, when Republicans took control of the House, gain seats in the Senate and is guided in part by an astute leader of the Republican Party has declared that his priority is to deny the president a second term 2012.

But even he - Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky - have taken away a place for the first time at the negotiating table with the Obama administration. Technically, he negotiated with Vice President Joe Biden, friend of McConnell in the Senate for years, in a huge package of tax cuts, plus the extension of benefits for millions of unemployed workers.

Both parties hoped that the commitment would earn points for pragmatism with centrist and independent voters will be key in the 2012 elections.

In truth, the voters struggling a gift of 858 billion U.S. dollars of Christmas was a politician without complications. But the commitment to an agreement and produced a visual that would have been unimaginable just a few weeks earlier.

Read more »

Joe Miller plans to decide Monday whether to continue its legal challenge or a step back

Joe Miller Republican plans to decide Monday whether to continue its legal challenge to U.S. Alaska Senate race or a step back and let his Republican rival, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, will take over.

This follows the decision by the state Supreme Court on Wednesday to defend the election results for Murkowski.

Miller said Anchorage KTVA-TV on Wednesday it expected to decide the next day if you keep fighting. However, with the weekend approaching, he told Fox News on Thursday that he had consulted with supporters and his legal team and announce a decision Monday.

Monday is the deadline facing any case to federal court.

Miller said that all options being weighed. These include constitutional claims which the federal courts and granted. He has not said publicly if you lean a certain way.

"Obviously we are rational," said Miller KTVA. "We will make a decision based on whether we think we can continue to do good."

Miller has advocated a strict interpretation of the law calling to write on the ballot for the oval of the completed ballot and whether the candidate's name or the name as it appears in the written declaration of candidacy. The State, based on jurisprudence, which is used discretion in determining voter intent, which the ballots with misspellings that have to count Murkowski.

The high court called the voter's intent "paramount."

Unofficial results showed Murkowski leading by 10,328 votes, or votes 2169, when ballots challenged by Miller observers are excluded. He ran a write in campaign after losing his primary to Miller.

Murkowski today reiterated his call to Miller to accept, saying that the only people who will benefit from an ongoing struggle are the lawyers.

Miller was not immediately available for an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday. A statement issued by his campaign Wednesday ended with "PS" asking for donations of $ 25, $ 50, $ 75 or $ 100 to help "ensure a fair vote count in Alaska."

The state plans to ask a federal judge to lift a stay and allow Murkowski is certified the winner.

Members are scheduled to be sworn in for the new term of Congress, January 5.

Read more »

Sarah Palin: Obama administration needs to "harden" to Iran on the basis of information leaked diplomatic cable

Sarah Palin sought to establish his foreign policy credentials Tuesday with a new opinion piece arguing that the Obama administration needs to "harden" to Iran on the basis of information leaked diplomatic cable that she had reported earlier.

The former governor of Alaska in the U.S. write Today:

Iran continues to defy the international community in its efforts to acquire nuclear weapons. Arab leaders in the region rightly fear a nuclear armed Iran. We suspected this before, but now we know for sure because of leaked diplomatic cable. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia "often urged the U.S. to attack Iran to end its nuclear weapons program," according to these communications. Jordanian officials said the Iranian nuclear program must be stopped by any means necessary. Officials from the UAE and Egypt, the country was evil, an "existential threat" and a sponsor of terrorism. If Iran does not stop at obtaining nuclear weapons, could spark a nuclear arms race in which these countries seek their own nuclear weapons to protect themselves.

The "leaked diplomatic cable" that Palin talks about, of course, offices dump published as part of Wikileaks' most recent document, a move considered "traitors", later wondering why the group's founder, Julian Assange, not continued with the same urgency to pursue al Qaeda and Taliban leaders. "

The overall goal of op-ed on Palin is that the potential danger of Iran - nuclear or not nuclear - it is enough to justify an escalation of the current economic sanctions the United Nations:

Much more can be done, such as the prohibition of insurance for shipments to Iran, a ban on all military sales to Iran, putting an end to all commercial loans, the prohibition of all financial transactions with Iranian banks, limiting Iran's access to international capital markets and banking, the closure of airspace and waters of Iran's national air and shipping lines, and, above all, an end to Iran's ability to import refined petroleum.

Palin made another foray into foreign policy during the summer, when he attacked his manifesto on Facebook. In that statement, which called for a sacred defense budget, a reaffirmation of ties with Israel without conditions, and the elimination of a timetable for the withdrawal of troops in Afghanistan.

Read more »

The White House is preparing a major base push to pass the DREAM Act next year

WASHINGTON - The White House is preparing a major base push to pass the DREAM Act next year, the president said on Wednesday was one of his top priorities after the legislation failed in the recent lame-duck session. Recognizing the next Congress will be much more resistant to the President's agenda, the White House also supports changing the rules of the Senate, although not involved in specific proposals.

In a conference call with reporters Wednesday, the White House, Dan Pfeiffer, communications director said the President is willing to "undertake a very public campaign" to promote the DREAM Act, which would give undocumented students who were brought to United States as children by their parents a path to citizenship through higher education or military service. He said grassroots activism, will be essential for success.

"The President always said during the campaign that change comes from the bottom up, and issues such as the DREAM Act, you have to, because there is real reluctance in Washington - especially on the other side, but some of us - - and I think we need to get people active, and I think you'll find a lot of that in the coming months and years, "Pfeiffer said in response to a question from The Huffington Post.

During a news conference Wednesday, Obama said he will contact the Republicans, who may believe "in his heart of hearts" that the passage of the DREAM Act is what to do, but I think the policy is difficult .

"Well, that may mean we have to change policy," Obama said. "And I have to spend some time talking to the American people, and others have to spend some time talking to the American people, because I think if the American people knew any of these children - you probably do, just can not know their status - it seems that, of course, want that is what we are That's the better angels of our nature "...

Pfeiffer said the White House also was frustrated by the slowness of the confirmation of judicial nominees and staff of the President. In the past, Obama has adopted to change the Senate rules, saying that "I will say that as an observer of our political process, which if not managed how to use the veto in the Senate, then it will be very difficult for us in the long term to compete in a fast-moving global environment. "

Pfeiffer, however, said the White House would not support any specific proposal, because it is an issue that the Senate has to work for herself. "I'm not sure that a president involved in a case such as the legislative power is considered constructive by the other branch," he said.

As The Huffington Post has reported, the principal senators filibuster reform effort have said bipartisan support is building around three proposals: 1) no longer allowing senators to block the movement to proceed and allow instead a fixed amount of time for discussion, 2) ending secrecy is maintained, and 3) to stop filibustering senators hide behind calls for a quorum and force them to talk if they block a bill. Senator Tom Harkin (D-Illinois) said he hoped that "fireworks", the January 5, 2011, the day that the Senate may, according to him, to reform its rules, by simple majority.

Read more »

the White House could soon be looking to fill staff vacancies with candidates

Senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett, said on Thursday that the White House could soon be looking to fill staff vacancies with candidates from outside the administration.

In an interview with MSNBC's "Morning Joe" Jarrett said people could expect to see some "new faces" to "outside voices" in the White House next year, possibly including the chief of staff position, now is temporarily in the hands of Peter Rouse, who replaced Rahm Emanuel, Emanuel left as mayor of Chicago.

"I think it definitely is looking for some new faces. Larry Summers left, Rahm left, will probably be some new faces, " said Jarrett. "I think that, as in any administration, after a couple of years for a variety of reasons, people go by and there is an opportunity to bring new people in. And I think the president is interested in doing that."

A number of other high-profile departures have shaken the White House over the past two months, with the Budget Director Peter Orszag - now employed by Citigroup - and the head of the Council of Economic Advisers Christina Romer both resigned during the summer . Senior Obama adviser David Axelrod, also announced that the administration would be leaving sometime next year to return to Chicago. Former Obama campaign manager, David Plouffe, is expected to return next president to replace Axelrod.

Read more »

"most successful tea Partier" & "Senator Junior DeMint"

With all the hoopla surrounding Sharron Angle and Christine Miller and Joe O'Donnell during the exams, it was easy to lose track of some conservative candidates equally, but less extravagant. And it seems safe to say that most successful tea Partier, while attracting national attention under Mike Lee. While running for the Senate, 39 years old, a Utah Republican to dismantle the Department of Education and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He wants to repeal both the federal income tax and the provision of the Fourteenth Amendment that makes children born in the United States citizens automatically. However, he sailed to victory with a margin of near-30 point in a Senate race that was overlooked in large part by national media.

In the future, Lee is likely to attract a little more attention. In fact, it could be the Platonic ideal of the new Constitution-obsessed Republican Party, Tea Party, infusion: a lawyer who knows how to raise constitutional arguments to justify the extreme ideas and a surprisingly cordial, the rational disposition. If in the future, the movement of the Tea Party wants a national leader who does not scream nuts, Mike Lee, is likely to be the guy.



Among its strengths, Lee has inside knowledge of the contents of near garage, Harry Reid, 1982. In the 80's, when Reid and the Lees moved to Washington, Harry Reid, to serve as a representative of Nevada, and Rex Lee, Mike's father, to serve as Attorney General in the Reagan administration, the two families, although far away politically, made friends through the Mormon Church. Harry's son, Josh, relates that his father, a practical joker, once closed preteen Mike Lee in the garage until he cried uncle.

Lee spent most of his childhood hopscotching from Utah, where his father was the founding dean of Brigham Young University Law School and McLean, Virginia. He attended Brigham Young University law school and then just leaving Utah to attend a two-year mission in Texas in 1990. After graduating from law school in 1997, he worked for several judges, including the then Court of Appeals Justice Samuel Alito, and returned to Utah to serve as Assistant U.S. Attorney Salt Lake City. In 2005 he moved to the policy of the legal department of Governor Jon Huntsman, again before clerking for Alito on the Supreme Court. He then spent two years in private practice back in Utah.

In mid-2009 as a tea party protests escalated, Utah Senator Bob Bennett, who had voted in favor of bank bailouts and has shown some willingness to work with Democrats on a bill of health, fell Focus on the right. Lee began to speak in front of small crowds in schools and libraries in cities such as Provo and the Alps. Brandishing a pocket Constitution and suggesting the removal of several federal agencies, Lee could have found as another crackpot, but one key difference: He knew his case.

Lee made few concessions to non-specialist audience. He radically complex arguments and legal, convinced that people are noticing. "In a keynote speech a few, I found the basic story of Wickard v. Filburn for them ... and people do. They got it," Lee said earlier this year. Not only did he, were excited. Lee understands constitutional law, and soon, given the mood-Constitution right mind, meant more than that.

Momentum behind it, but the GOP elders maintained their loyalty to Bennett. It was the extreme right in South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint and the Senate Conservatives Fund effectively anointed Lee. "DeMint let us know what was happening," says Russ Walker, FreedomWorks national political director at the time. Walker and others in FreedomWorks Lee underwent a stress test candidates to interview him and see how it handles compared to councils in Utah. Lee passed with flying colors.

DeMint enthusiasm resulted in about $ 200,000 in independent expenditures in the Senate Conservatives Fund during Lee's campaign. FreedomWorks, meanwhile, provided the ground game, organizing volunteer supporters to go door to door and the hiring of Texas and California to make phone calls. On the eve of the primary, a Lee victory stunned and turned to Brendan Steinhauser, director of federal and state campaigns FreedomWorks, and said: "I looked around and saw all the signs and all I could think of was that God FreedomWorks bless you and God bless America. "After having sailed through the general election, Lee now looks likely to become a loyal foot soldier of the small but growing faction DeMint in the Senate. "Around here," Utah Representative Jason Chaffetz said, "people are already calling the Junior Senator DeMint."



But more than anything else, Lee's legal expert who has excited conservatives. Leonard Leo, executive vice president of the Federalist Society, he predicts, "It will be one of the most ardent and articulate defenders of limited constitutional government in the Senate." And the fluidity Lee on legal issues is undeniable attraction. To listen to a speech to the Federalist Society in November, in which he talked about a number of constitutional issues to a room full of conservative lawyers worship, even I was carried away by his rhetoric, nodding his head as the names listed cases. He was affable and funny, making fun of the president without rash boiling rage that comes to mind when most think of the liberal movement Tea Party. Only when I came to a conclusion a step back and realize that just raised the unconstitutionality of the bill the Democrats back health care, and a number of federal agencies to initiate, through a clever and discussion convincing the Commerce Clause. It seemed, at least at the time, reasonable enough to me.

Of course, Lee can not always hide their extremism in eloquence. But even more dramatic proposals have failed to attract the kind of anger directed toward right-wing candidates whose views were ultimately part of his downfall. In October, when Lee said that the Republican Congress should pass a law that does not strike the defense, non-discretionary federal spending by 40 percent, the camp was quick to walk again, the statements seem to realize the impossibility of such a proposal. "It was just a talking point," said his spokesman, Boyd Matheson. But it would be more cautious in the future? "No, not really, because Mike will be up," said Matheson. "He was sorry he was cast? No, because it created a lot of dialogue. Some people even began to make calculations on it."

Lee, it seems clear, has a disarming ability to suggest to the extreme in terms acceptable to pull the rope to places that might have seemed unthinkable a few years ago. And, as has one of the safest seats in the Senate at the tender age of 39, likely will have the opportunity to do this for long. Harry Reid could find himself wishing they could still block Mike Lee in a garage.

Read more »