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Jon Huntsman Praises Obama's New Pick For Ambassador To China

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The Republican who used to hold the job hopes Max Baucus will make Congress care about China issues again. “There’s a very sporadic level of interest in China,” Huntsman tells BuzzFeed.

AP Photo/David Goldman

Jon Huntsman praised the selection of Max Baucus to become the new United States ambassador to China, telling BuzzFeed Wednesday that the six-term Democratic senator would be able to leverage his status as a powerful Washington insider to gain influence in the country.

"I think it's a very strong choice," said Huntsman, who served as ambassador to China from 2009 to 2011, before returning home to run for president. "He hits the mark in a lot of critical areas. You've got to look at a few things that will resonate with the Chinese, and the first one is, does this person have stature? And of course, Sen. Baucus does."

He noted Baucus' work on the Senate Finance Committee, and said his experience would give him credibility while representing U.S. interests on trade issues, among other things.

Huntsman also said he hoped Baucus would be able to use his ties to get Washington interested in China-related issues again.

"This is something that Max can do exceedingly well. He can reintroduce members of Congress to the most important relationship of the 21st century, ratcheting up interest in the whole subject area of China," he said.

Huntsman, who served as governor of Utah before heading to Beijing, acknowledged this wasn't his strong suit while he held post. Instead, Huntsman focused on building bridges between China and U.S. governors and members of the business community.

In Congress, Huntsman said, "There's a very sporadic level of interest in China. It generally heats up when there's tension. But what we lack is a consistent interest — people who have a deep level of knowledge on these issues. This is something that Sen. Baucus will be able to bring some clarity to."


Bill Kristol: "Don't Pretend U.S. Sochi Delegation Is A Great Moment For Gay Rights"

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On CNN’s Crossfire , the conservative pundit dismissed the importance of plans to send LGBT athletes to Russia as a part of President Obama’s Olympic delegation.

A somewhat rare cable news moment happened Wednesday night when Crossfire co-hosts S.E. Cupp and Van Jones found themselves agreeing that it was a good thing that the White House decided to send a group of out LGBT athletes, including Billie Jean King, to the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, as part of its delegation to the games.

Their conservative guest, Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol, did not.

Wow, that was really bold. He is really showing Putin who is boss. I'm sure Putin is thinking, Boy, I've just been humiliated by the president. He sends a couple of gay athletes over to the Olympics. That's going to cause me problems. Meanwhile, we're capitulating to him on everything important. The reset has been a total failure. This is typical of Obama and of liberalism more broadly. Don't confront the serious issues, then you feel good about yourself — Hey, I really showed him with Billy Jean King. .. I just don't think we should pretend that this is a great moment Obama, for America, or for Gay Rights. A lot of other people have been treated badly in Russia. Maybe send a journalist in honor of the people who've been killed.

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Newark's Paid Sick Days Bill Delayed Until Next Year

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Eleventh-hour changes push the final vote into January.

WASHINGTON — Newark won't have a final vote on its paid sick days legislation until next year, sources close to the discussion confirmed to BuzzFeed.

Late additions negotiated by elected officials and activists were approved unanimously by the city council late Wednesday night. A final vote is now scheduled for Jan. 8.

The additions expand the definition of family to include siblings, allow employees to enforce their rights under the law in court, and give the Department of Child and Family Well-Being the power to enforce the law.

"By broadening the definition of family and adding key enforcement mechanisms, the Newark City Council has strengthened a law that was already set to be one of the best in the nation," Analilia Mejia, state political director of SEIU 32BJ said. "We thank the Council and look forward to the law's passage at the first council meeting of the new year."

The legislation calls for mandatory paid sick time for all full- and part-time employees. It will allow employees to earn up to one hour of paid sick time for ever 30 hours worked, up to 40 total hours for businesses with more than 10 employees.

Businesses with nine or fewer employees will only have to offer 24 hours of sick pay per year.

If Newark had passed the bill tonight, it would have been the fourth city this year to pass such an ordinance, joining New York City, Portland, and Jersey City.

Connecticut, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., also have paid sick day legislation. D.C. voted to strengthen its paid sick days law earlier this month.

With New Poll, Ohio Group Continues Push For 2014 Marriage Equality Amendment

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“[W]here voters have the amendment language and the ‘right to refuse’ language,” regarding the right of religious entities not to marry same-sex couples, “support for the amendment grows to 56%, while opposition drops to 34%,” two pollsters write. A fight over when to go to the voters in Ohio continues.

WASHINGTON — Only about one-third of Ohioans would oppose an amendment allowing same-sex couples to marry in the state if informed about what the amendment means, polling conducted for a group pushing for marriage equality in the Buckeye State shows.

Freedom to Marry Ohio — not affiliated with the national group, Freedom to Marry — is unveiling the polling showing a majority of voters support a marriage equality amendment at a news conference Thursday aimed at buttressing support for its effort to reverse the state's 2004 ban on marriage equality next year.

National groups, including Freedom to Marry and the Human Rights Campaign, as well as the statewide organization, Equality Ohio, have launched a more modest education campaign — Why Marriage Matters Ohio — that is looking toward going to voters in 2016 or later.

Less than 10 years ago, Ohio voters overwhelmingly amended their constitution to ban same-sex couples from marrying or obtaining similar protections, as in civil unions.

Ian James, through his organization, Freedom to Marry Ohio, is releasing polling today that shows the 62-38 passage of the amendment banning same-sex couples from marrying has nearly reversed in the past nine years.

The survey, conducted by Public Policy Polling of 1,011 Ohio voters from Dec. 6-8, 2013, concluded that 52% of voters would vote in favor of an amendment that "would allow two consenting adults to be married, so long as they are not nearer of kin than second cousins, are not currently married to someone, and no religious institutions will be required to perform or recognize a marriage." Thirty-eight percent would oppose the amendment, and nine percent were undecided.

Of the 38% who would vote against the amendment, however, PPP asked a follow-up question: "This constitutional amendment protects religious liberties by allowing any house of worship, such as a church or synagogue, to refuse to marry a same-sex couple. Knowing this, if the election were held today, would you vote in favor of this amendment to the Ohio Constitution to allow same-sex couples to marry, or would you vote against it?"

More than 10% of those initially against the amendment said that information would change their vote to supporting the amendment, which brought the total support up to 56%. Five percent of those initially against the amendment moved into the undecided camp, bringing the total undecided to 10%. Eighty-four percent of those opposed did not change their position with that information, bringing the total opposition down to 34%.

"In this latter scenario where voters have the amendment language and the 'right to refuse' language, support for the amendment grows to 56%, while opposition drops to 34%. The amendment language and 'Right to Refuse' moves voters across all demographic groups to support, and demonstrates the importance of specificity in amendment language versus concept," Jim Kitchens and Bob Carpenter, pollsters who conducted a "peer review" of the PPP poll, wrote in a memorandum to James.

From Freedom to Marry Ohio:

From Freedom to Marry Ohio:


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The Most Important Throwback Thursday Instagrams From Politicians In 2013

Senator Asks Colleagues To Adjourn So He Can Go Home And See His Family

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Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe said Wednesday he would like to go home to celebrate his 54th wedding anniversary on Thursday with his wife and grandkids. Inhofe’s son was killed in a plane crash last month.

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Marriage Equality Is The Law In New Mexico, State Supreme Court Rules

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“We hold that the state of New Mexico is constitutionally required to allow same-gender couples to marry,” the justices unanimously concluded. The state becomes the 17th in the U.S. to approve marriage equality.

Gail Stockman, 60, left and Beth Black, 58, of Albuquerque, N.M., are shown with other same-sex couples preparing to marry at a massive wedding in Albuquerque Civic Plaza on Tuesday Aug. 27, 2013.

AP Photo/Russell Contreras

WASHINGTON — The New Mexico Supreme Court unanimously decided Thursday that same-sex couples are allowed to marry, a requirement of the state's constitution.

First, looking at the state's statutes, which contain neither an explicit grant of nor a ban on same-sex couples marrying, Justices Edward Chávez wrote:

We conclude that although none of New Mexico's marriage statutes specifically prohibit same-gender marriages, when read as a whole, the statutes have the effect of precluding same-gender couples from marrying and benefitting from the rights, protections, and responsibilities that flow from a civil marriage.

However, they then concluded:

[B}arring individuals from marrying and depriving them of the rights, protections, and responsibilities of civil marriage solely because of their sexual orientation violates the Equal Protection Clause under Article II, Section 18 of the New Mexico Constitution. We hold that the State of New Mexico is constitutionally required to allow same-gender couples to marry and must extend to them the rights, protections, and responsibilities that derive from civil marriage under New Mexico law.

New Mexico is the 17th state to allow same-sex couples to marry.

Due to the unique status of New Mexico's laws, several counties already had been allowing same-sex couples there to marry.

Read the opinion:

"Pajama Boy's" Blog Featured Post Criticizing President Obama

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“Pajama Boy” as he has been dubbed, was revealed as Ethan Krupp, an Organizing for Action employee by The Washington Examiner Thursday. On his now-defunct blog, which was linked from an account Krupp appears to have made on BuzzFeed and Yatedo.com , Krupp criticized President Obama’s speech at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where Krupp attended school.

Here is the blog post:

Here is the blog post:

Via webcache.googleusercontent.com


The 2013 Year In Politics As Explained Through "Toy Story" GIFs

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“You are a child’s play thing!”

2013 started out really well for President Barack Obama.

2013 started out really well for President Barack Obama.

He had a mandate to continue his first-term agenda coming off a massive electoral victory.

Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Pictures / Via midnightmoon15.tumblr.com

Republicans, maintaining control of the House, returned to Washington with this attitude:

Republicans, maintaining control of the House, returned to Washington with this attitude:

Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Pictures / Via mamahub.tumblr.com

And the clashes between Obama and the Republicans began almost immediately.

And the clashes between Obama and the Republicans began almost immediately.

Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Pictures

First, Obama and the Democrats pushed really hard for background checks on gun purchases.

First, Obama and the Democrats pushed really hard for background checks on gun purchases.

Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Pictures / Via youtube.com


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Trey Radel: We Should Drug Test Members Of Congress

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The embattled Florida congressman said all members of Congress should be tested for drugs, when asked why he voted for a proposal included measures to drug test food-stamp recipients considering his own drug use. Radel, who was charged last month with cocaine possession, said Thursday he would not be resigning from Congress following his nearly month-long stint in rehab.

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Sources: Top Clinton Aide Was Instrumental In @NatSecWonk Unmasking

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The Clinton legacy project.

AP Photo/ Evan Vucci

WASHINGTON — Top Hillary Clinton adviser Philippe Reines played a key role in the investigation into and eventual unveiling of an anonymous Twitter account that was run by a White House official, according to sources close to the investigation.

One source familiar with the investigation into @NatSecWonk, who was eventually revealed to be top White House nonproliferation official Jofi Joseph, said that Reines was a "central player" in the feed's unmasking and in spreading the story to the media.

"It was the NSC press shop and the State Department press shop (current and former staffers in both operations)" that conducted the hunt, the source said, "and at some point, perhaps from the very beginning, this search was fused together."

Reines, sources say, was enraged by the often caustic @NatSecWonk's comments about him and his patron, Hillary Clinton. A common theme of Joseph's feed was to accuse Clinton of having not accomplished much as Secretary of State — a criticism that the Clinton apparatus is said to be especially sensitive to — a subject perhaps second only to attacks on Chelsea Clinton as a source of ire.

A sample Joseph tweet on the Clintons: "Loved, LOVED the @NYTimesDowd column eviscerating the Clintons today. @ChelseaClinton seems to be assuming all of her parents' vices ..."

The story of how Joseph was caught as the author of the feed has been detailed in the Washington Post; a coterie of administration staffers set up a sting operation, planting false information with Joseph and others and then confirming Joseph as @NatSecWonk when the feed tweeted out the information.

But Reines' role has flown under the radar.

Joseph was fired on October 17th. On October 22nd, Foreign Policy's Gordon Lubold wrote a story noting that @NatSecWonk had disappeared from Twitter. That evening, the Daily Beast's Josh Rogin broke the news that @NatSecWonk was Jofi Joseph and that he had been fired from his job at the White House.

According to a source close to the investigation, the Daily Beast was not the only outlet that received word of @NatSecWonk's identity; three different news organizations received the tip.

Reines did not respond to numerous requests for comment about his role in the search for @NatSecWonk.

Joseph himself has largely withdrawn from the public eye since his unmasking, though he has begun to occasionally write blog posts for the Atlantic Council. His Twitter feed was a frequent source of exasperation and speculation in Washington foreign policy and national security circles, as he made everyone a target — from President Obama himself, to colleagues in the White House, to the reporters that sought to reveal his identity.

He apologized for the feed, telling Politico, "What started out as an intended parody account of DC culture developed over time into a series of inappropriate and mean-spirited comments. I bear complete responsibility for this affair and I sincerely apologize to everyone I insulted."

A spokesperson for the White House declined to comment.

Paul Ryan Finds God

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How a backstage prayer in Cleveland and a new leader in the Vatican set the budget-slashing congressman on a mission to help the poor. “My bet is that he’s on Pope Francis’ team.”

On Oct. 24, 2012, Paul Ryan slipped into a high-ceilinged backstage room at the Waetjen Auditorium on the campus of Cleveland State University with a small gaggle of advisers and secret service agents. No reporters.

Ryan was there for a meeting that the Romney campaign brain trust had seemed, for months, intent on stopping. Since joining the presidential ticket in August, the Wisconsin congressman had been lobbying to spend more time campaigning in diverse, low-income neighborhoods. Ryan, a protégé of the late, big-tent GOP visionary Jack Kemp, argued the visits would show the country that Republicans cared about the poor. The number-crunchers in Boston countered that every hour spent on inner-city photo ops was a lost opportunity to rally middle-class suburbanites who might actually vote for them. Eventually, they reached a compromise: Ryan could give one big speech about poverty in Ohio and hold an off-the-record roundtable with community leaders who work with the poor — but the campaign would have to vet them all.

To help organize the event, Ryan enlisted the help of Bob Woodson, a 75-year-old civil rights leader and conservative community organizer. Woodson went to work compiling a list of black ministers, homeless shelter volunteers, and halfway house managers he thought Ryan should meet. Most of them, Woodson later acknowledged with some pride, were "ex-something: ex-drug addicts, ex-alcoholics, ex-convicts."

When the list was turned over to the Romney campaign for approval, "it was like the machines exploded," a Ryan aide recalled. "There were so many red flags — guys that had multiple felonies in their background. And they kept coming back and picking out names, saying, 'Absolutely not, we cannot have this person.'" At one point, Woodson grew frustrated with Team Romney's meddling. "Do you guys know anything about poverty?" he demanded of an operative. "This is where these guys come from! They are working with the poor because they had hit rock bottom."

By the time Ryan arrived backstage at the Waetjen Auditorium less than two weeks before the election, about a dozen advocates for the poor were waiting for him. They took turns telling stories from the front lines of the losing war on poverty. They spoke of their own experiences with addiction and homelessness. They testified of redemption. And then, as Ryan prepared to leave to deliver his speech, a tattooed minister who had arrived at the meeting via motorcycle asked the congressman if he could lay hands on him to pray.

Ryan looked momentarily panicked, according to some who were in the room, but then he shrugged and smiled. "I'm Catholic, but I'm cool with that," he responded.

Secret Service agents tensed up as the group surrounded him and the man placed his hands on Ryan's shoulders — inches away from his neck, a nervous aide noted later. The candidate made the sign of the cross, and the minister called on the power of God to give Ryan strength, and help him fulfill his divine mission. Several people present, including Ryan, became emotional.

Ryan left the meeting, gave his speech, lost the election, and returned home to Wisconsin. But several weeks later, he couldn't stop thinking about that prayer. Speaking with a close aide, he said it was the most powerful experience he'd had during the campaign — and that he felt strongly he needed to act on it.

"This is my next 'Roadmap,'" Ryan told the aide, referring to the name of the audacious conservative budget that had made him a star in Washington. "I want to figure out a way for conservatives to come up with solutions to poverty. I have to do this."

***

Until recently, Paul Ryan would have seemed like an improbable pick to lead the restoration of compassionate conservatism with a heartfelt mission to the poor. Of all the caricatures he has inspired — from heroic budget warrior to black-hearted Scrooge — "champion of the poor" has never been among them. And yet, Ryan has spent the past year quietly touring impoverished communities across the country with Woodson, while his staff digs through center-right think tank papers in search of conservative policy proposals aimed at aiding the poor. Next spring, Ryan plans to introduce a new battle plan for the war on poverty — one he hopes will launch a renewed national debate on the issue.

Skeptics will say the founding myth behind Ryan's new outreach sounds a little too pat, that "seeing the light" was really just a savvy move in a self-interested rebranding effort. And more substantively, many on the left scoff at the notion that a small-government crusader who has made his name calling for deep cuts to the traditional social safety net can really help the poor. When the Washington Post ran a favorable profile last month outlining Ryan's new focus, the liberal writer Alex Pareene snarked, "Wow, is it 'Paul Ryan is a serious, brilliant, policy-focused wonk with a dynamic and inclusive vision for the future of the Republican Party' season again already? It comes earlier every year."

But those closest to him say Ryan's new mission is the result of a genuine spiritual epiphany — sparked, in part, by the prayer in Cleveland, and sustained by the emergence of a new pope who has lit the world on fire with bold indictments of the "culture of prosperity" and a challenge to reach out the weak and disadvantaged.

"What I love about the pope is he is triggering the exact kind of dialogue we ought to be having," Ryan told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel this week, adding, "People need to get involved in their communities to make a difference, to fix problems soul to soul."

Ryan isn't the only Republican taking lessons from the leader of the Roman Catholic Church. Even as Pope Francis' pronouncements have drawn the ire of the Rush Limbaugh crowd, many in the GOP have watched in awe as the pontiff has taken an aging institution drowning in dogma and at risk of irrelevancy, and revitalized its image by lowering his voice and carrying out a few well-chosen symbolic gestures. Republicans are looking for their own Pope Francis — and many believe Ryan should be the one to take on that mantle.

***

This is still the same congressman who said in 2005 that the thinker who most inspired him to enter public service was the libertarian intellectual Ayn Rand — a comment liberals have seized on for years to cast him as an Atlas Shrugged cultist.

But Peter Flaherty, a devout Catholic and former Romney adviser who became close with the congressman during the campaign, said Ryan's worldview has always been firmly rooted in Catholic teachings about the poor.

"Paul is someone who is very cognizant of the social magisterium of the Catholic Church... which encompasses everything from how we care for our neighbors to the idea that there's hope and purpose and goodness in every human life," said Flaherty, who recalled slipping away from the Republican convention in 2012 to attend mass with Ryan. "It also includes the ongoing duty of the strong to protect the weak — which I know drives Paul and his effort to help lift people out of poverty."

Like many conservative Catholics, Ryan uses the doctrine of subsidiarity — which favors individual freedom and local governance over the power of large, central authorities — to reconcile his concern for the poor with his general suspicion of federal welfare programs. In this, Ryan has found inspiration in the teachings of Pope Francis, who said in 2009, "We cannot respond with truth to the challenge of eradicating exclusion and poverty if the poor continue to be objects, targets of the action of the state and other organizations in a paternalistic and aid-based sense, instead of subjects, where the state and society create social conditions that promote and safeguard their rights and allow them to be builders of their own destiny."

Ryan echoed the sentiment in a commencement speech in May, putting the message in more distinctly Republican terms. "Concern for the poor doesn't demand faith in big government," Ryan told the graduates of Benedictine College. "It demands something more from all of us. If we continue to believe that the war on poverty is primarily a government responsibility, then we will continue to weaken our communities. We will drift further apart as people."

Ryan, whose father died when he was 16, envisions the kind of civil society his family leaned on in the years after his passing — local networks of churches, charities, and concerned neighbors looking out for each other, with the state playing only a supporting role. It's a vision he finds support for in Francis' teachings.

Of course, the pope's withdrawal from the culture wars and rejection of trickle-down economics have rankled many on the right — and Ryan was quick to argue in a local newspaper interview this week that the pope's economic views had likely been colored by Argentina's corrupt form of "crony capitalism." Beyond that mild dispute, though, he has declined to indulge the right-wing radio circuit's war on Pope Francis, even as Limbaugh riles up conservatives by musing that he is a "Marxist."

As Flaherty put it, "My bet is that he's on Pope Francis' team."

***

While Ryan has seized on the pope's doctrinal teachings as he shapes his anti-poverty agenda, many Republicans who know him say he appears to have been just as influenced by Francis's fairly radical examples of public compassion.

"I think he's probably inspired by a lot of what [Francis] does," said Peter Wehner, a former George W. Bush adviser who has known Ryan for years. "Politicians in general can learn a lot from Pope Francis in terms of how much tone and countenance matter in public perception. He has a huge appeal from the symbols he sends — from washing the feet of Muslim women, to kissing the heads of people with deformities."

"The clothes he wears, the shoes he wears, where he lives," Wehner continued. "This stuff is not unimportant in life, it's not unimportant in faith, and it's not unimportant in politics."

Ryan has deliberately left the cameras behind during his excursions to poor neighborhoods this year in places like Indiana and New Jersey, but the stories of his interactions with the poor somehow find a way of leaking into public view. In one anecdote related by Woodson, for example, Ryan mailed neckties to an entire classroom of teenagers after they admired the one he was wearing during his visit. It would be easy to dismiss such modest acts of kindness as fodder for a future memoir — or stump speech — but Woodson insists Ryan is sincere. "The criminal lifestyle makes you very discerning, and everywhere I've taken Paul, these very discerning people have given me a thumbs up," he said. "You can't lip synch authenticity around people like that."

To Republicans like Flaherty — as well as a growing contingent of conservative opinion-makers who are calling for a more authentically populist Republicanism — Ryan's embrace of the Francis model is heartening.

"What Pope Francis is doing is, instead of changing Catholicism, he's changing the way the world views Catholicism… And I think Paul has the opportunity to do something similar for conservatism," Flaherty said.

But if Ryan is going to reshape popular opinion about the GOP and the poor, he may need to start doing something he almost never does: talk openly about his faith. With the exception of a few laboriously prepared speeches and choreographed campaign moments, Ryan has kept his religious life private. (He declined to be interviewed for this story.)

Jimmy Kemp, the son of Ryan's longtime mentor who was present at the Cleveland meeting last year, said he could tell the congressman was still trying to find his footing as he opened that part of his life up to the world.

"He's not at all uncomfortable with his faith, but it's a new subject for him. He calls himself a policy wonk, and I think that's the stuff he's naturally attracted to. But there's no doubt when he was given this opportunity to open up, he took it," Kemp said.

That may be because Ryan, who made headlines last week for successfully negotiating a bipartisan budget agreement, is beginning to see his priorities shift. Over the course of their year together, Woodson has noticed a change in the congressman who rose to stardom as a budget geek with a passion for spreadsheets. Lately, he said, Ryan seems as though he's relishing the Capitol Hill battles less than he used to.

"He wants to spend less time with budgets, less time arguing in Congress, and he's desperate to spend more time with us," Woodson said. "I think he's tired of it, I think it finds it a little tedious. It's just not how Paul defines who Paul Ryan is anymore."

No, Conservative Groups Aren't Going Anywhere

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Speaker John Boehner’s frustrations with outside groups spilled into public last week, but that doesn’t mean anything is going to change.

Jonathan Ernst / Reuters / Reuters

WASHINGTON — Reports of the death of outside groups have been greatly exaggerated.

Tensions between the Republican conference and conservative groups like Heritage Action and Club for Growth boiled over last week, after Speaker John Boehner publicly scolded outside groups for coming out against a budget deal before anyone had even seen it.

"Are you kidding me?" the speaker asked, incredulously.

That rebuke, and the overwhelming bipartisan vote for the budget deal, led many on Capitol Hill and in the media to believe that 2014 would usher in a new era — one in which the influence of the outside groups would be diminished.

Nancy Pelosi was "encouraged" by the speaker's remarks, if skeptical. "That could present a real sea change over there," Sen. John McCain told reporters. "I don't think there's any doubt that Speaker Boehner at times was driven by those many members of his conference and I think he made it clear in those remarks he made that's not going to be the way he operates in the future." The groups have "lost whatever credibility they had left after their defund strategy shutdown the government and blew up in everyone's face," a senior GOP aide told BuzzFeed, citing the 169 Republicans who voted for the Ryan-Murray budget deal.

But the vote for the Ryan-Murray budget deal was likely an anomaly, more the result of crisis fatigue and a strong desire to avoid another shutdown.

One conservative member, who did not vote for the budget, told BuzzFeed that it was unlikely Boehner's comments and the vote would make any kind of difference in the way that the conservative wing of the party voted.

"I'm doubtful that leadership is going to put anything really controversial on the floor next year, especially during the campaign season," the member said. "So there won't be a huge divide but only because there won't be much to be divided about."

Outside groups use two primary ways to shore up support among members of Congress: "key voting" certain issues and contributing financially to candidates or supporting primary challengers. They've often been a thorn in the side of leadership, as have their conservative supporters on the Hill, often blowing up plans and forcing Boehner and his deputies to pursue different tactics.

Sen. Pat Toomey, the former president of Club for Growth, defended to BuzzFeed the impact outside groups could have on members.

"I think the roles vary from group to group. Some are very different than others but the grassroots conservative movement remains a very important source of energy for the Republicans in Congress," he said.

Even Ryan — the Republican architect of the budget deal — would not trash talk the groups.

"I think these are very important elements of our conservative family," Ryan said last weekend on "Meet the Press."

Boehner's frustrations, now out in the open, didn't faze folks at the Club or at Heritage Action, who promise that absolutely nothing is going to change. If anything, it only further emboldened them.

"Some of this is a decision the speaker is going to have to make," said Dan Holler, Heritage Action's communications director. "Whether he wants to operate the House with the goal of getting the most conservative legislation that passes with 218 votes or whether he wants to say to the conservatives in his conference, and by extension conservative voters that you are not part of our governing coalition and we're just going to pass things with Democrats."

Holler blamed the unusually high Republican support for the budget deal on the holidays — "everyone is getting tired."

"It's been a long 12 months for a lot of these guys going back to the fiscal cliff last year," he said. "There's going to be a recognition that this kind of deal-making isn't in their best interest and I mean that in a policy way but also from a political standpoint."

The Club for Growth isn't going anywhere, either.

"We just focus on doing what we do, which is advocating for pro-economic growth policy and I think people understand we do this in 2 ways: by calling balls and strikes with our scorecard and trying to elect more good guys through our PAC and we're going to continue to do that," said spokesman Barney Keller.

Republican strategist Rick Wilson said that he noticed the lobbying from outside groups and their supporters on the budget was significantly less "energized" than the defund Obamacare movement that led to the shutdown in October—an indication that the two sides could come together.

"There will not be a major backlash," Wilson said. "I think the GOP civil war is going to at least become a cold war and may become like entente cordial between Britain and France in the pre World War I era. They didn't love each other, but they recognized that the German threat was greater than that."

Proof That Governor Chris Christie Is Actually The Biggest Bro In Politics

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You mad? BuzzFeed has obtained the most bro photo of Chris Christie ever.

Chris Christie might be one of the biggest bros in all of politics.

Chris Christie might be one of the biggest bros in all of politics.

Eduardo Munoz / Reuters

Via awesomegifs.com

Christie was raised as a bro.

instagram.com

Which means he had a bro haircut and a sweater-vest at a young age.

instagram.com


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Schumer: "We'll See What Happens" With Iran Sanctions Bill After White House Veto Threat

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The New York Democrat has discussed his bipartisan sanctions bill with top White House officials, including Denis McDonough, following administration promise to veto it.

Yuri Gripas / Reuters

WASHINGTON — Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said Friday he's going ahead with a bill to add new sanctions against Iran despite a Thursday veto threat from the White House. But he declined to weigh in on the bill's prospects for passage following the rebuke from the Obama administration.

"Right now we've just introduced it," he told BuzzFeed in an interview. "We'll see what happens."

The Iran sanctions bill is co-sponsored by New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez and Illinois Republican Sen. Mark Kirk, along with Schumer, who represents New York. Though the Obama administration has called for a halt to the discussion of new sanctions while diplomats from the United States and Iran attempt to hammer out a nuclear arms deal, the Senate bill would set a trigger for new sanctions that would begin immediately after the six-month negotiations window between the two countries ends if no final agreement is reached, or if Iran breaches the interim deal.

On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters the bill would not make it past the president's desk if sent his way by Congress.

"We don't think this action is necessary. We don't think it will be enacted," Carney said. "If it were enacted the president would veto it."

Schumer said he hasn't spoken to President Obama since the veto threat was issued, but said he discussed the sanctions issue with White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough Thursday. He downplayed any rift between the White House and him, saying he supports the idea of negotiating an interim agreement with Iran, "but I don't think the reduction of sanctions made much sense."

"Basically, it's a judgement call. We have a disagreement with them," Schumer said. "Many of us believe that by ratcheting up sanctions, not by reducing sanctions, is the best way to produce peace and get Iran to forego a nuclear weapon."


A GOP Candidate Called Phil Robertson From "Duck Dynasty" The Rosa Parks Of Our Generation

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“What Parks did was courageous. What Mr. Robertson did was courageous too.”

Ian Bayne, a candidate for the 11th congressional district in Illinois sent out this email to his supporters Friday:

Ian Bayne, a candidate for the 11th congressional district in Illinois sent out this email to his supporters Friday:

Today, Ian Bayne called Phil Robertson, star of the A&E series "Duck Dynasty," the 'Rosa Parks' of our generation.

"In December 1955, Rosa Parks took a stand against an unjust societal persecution of black people, and in December 2013, Robertson took a stand against persecution of Christians," said Bayne.

Parks, famous for refusing to give up her seat on a bus for a white person, as was the rule of her day, provided inspiration for a movement of equality of black people and white people in America.

"What Parks did was courageous," said Bayne. "What Mr. Robertson did was courageous too."

Bayne believes that the Duck Dynasty star knew that going on GQ would result in the current controversy going on surrounding his suspension, as well as his suspension.

Bayne added that this exposure of Robertson's situation is an eye opener for many who may have been previously in disbelief that the bible is fast becoming considered "hate speech" by the media and society.


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Sean Hannity Has Had A Change Of Heart On Television Suspensions

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Martin Bashir should have been suspended. But not “Duck Dynasty’s” Phil Robertson!

Here's Sean Hannity in late November questioning why MSNBC host Martin Bashir wasn't "suspended, or even fired" for suggesting someone should defecate in Sarah Palin's mouth.

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Fox News / Via foxnewsinsider.com

Bashir's comments, in which he also called Palin a "world class idiot," were met with nearly-universal condemnation. After an apologizing and a subsequent several weeks of "vacation," Bashir decided to resign from MSNBC.

On Thursday night, Hannity took a different opinion on free speech, saying several times that suspended Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson's anti-gay comments were protected under the First Amendment.

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Fox News

President Obama Talks About His Daughters' Dating Lives

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“I’ve got men with guns following them around … this is the main reason I ran for reelection,” President Obama joked with talk show host Steve Harvey during an interview that aired Friday. He later said he expects their suitors to behave the way he treats Michelle.

Here's Obama joking about using the Secret Service to watch his daughters while they're on dates.

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The president also told Steve Harvey what qualities he would expect in a man who dates his daughter.

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President Obama: U.S. Delegation To Winter Olympics "Speaks For Itself"

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The president specifically mentioned two LGBT members of the delegation.

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President Obama said Friday the U.S. delegation to the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, "speaks for itself." The president applauded the character of LGBT members of the delegation Billie Jean King and Brian Boitano, describing them as "world-class athletes."

The president is not attending the games. Former Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano will instead lead the U.S. delegation, along with LGBT athletes King, Boitano, and Caitlin Cahow.

"I think the delegation speaks for itself," the president said. "You've got outstanding Americans, outstanding athletes, people who will represent us extraordinarily well. The fact that we've got Billie Jean King or Brian Boitano, who themselves have been world-class athletes that everyone acknowledges for their excellence but also for their character who also happen to be members of the LGBT community, you know, you should take that for what it's worth."

"When it comes to the Olympics and athletic performance, we don't make distinctions on the basis of sexual orientation," he added. "We judge people on how they perform both on the court and off the court, on the field and off the field. That's a value that I think is at the heart of not just America, but American sports."

Federal Judge Rules Utah Ban On Same-Sex Couples Marrying Is Unconstitutional

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“The State’s current laws deny its gay and lesbian citizens their fundamental right to marry and, in so doing, demean the dignity of these same-sex couples for no rational reason.” Update: Same-sex couples are marrying Friday night in Salt Lake City, but “[t]he state is requesting an emergency stay pending the filing of an appeal,” according to a statement from the office of the acting attorney general.

Members of the Mormons Building Bridges march during the Utah Gay Pride Parade Sunday, June 2, 2013, in Salt Lake City.

AP Photo/Rick Bowmer

WASHINGTON — Utah's amendment banning same-sex couples from marrying is unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled Friday afternoon.

"The court hereby declares that Amendment 3 is unconstitutional because it denies the Plaintiffs their rights to due process and equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution."

The ruling came a day after the Supreme Court of New Mexico interpreted its own state constitution as requiring that same-sex couples there be able to marry.

Although officials will be appealing the ruling, the Friday decision would make Utah the 18th state in the U.S. that allows same-sex couples to marry if it stands. An appeal would be heard by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

"The federal district court's ruling that same-sex marriage is a fundamental right has never been established in any previous case in the 10th Circuit. The state is requesting an emergency stay pending the filing of an appeal," an official statement from the office of Acting Utah Attorney General Brian Tarbet noted. "The Attorney General's Office will continue reviewing the ruling in detail until an appeal is filed to support the constitutional amendment passed by the citizens of Utah."

A notice of appeal was filed by Utah officials with the trial court, prompting the court to transmit the trial court record to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Earlier, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert said in a statement, "I am very disappointed an activist federal judge is attempting to override the will of the people of Utah. I am working with my legal counsel and the acting Attorney General to determine the best course to defend traditional marriage within the borders of Utah."

With no stay issued immediately to keep the ruling from going into effect, however, the court's judgment in the case went into effect immediately when issued by the clerk at 4:28 p.m. local time. [Update at 3:40 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 21: State lawyers have now filed a request that the 10th Circuit immediately put same-sex couples' marriages on hold.]

And, couples in Salt Lake City did get married on Friday.

According to KSL-TV, "District Attorney Sim Gill said that he has advised clerks to proceed with the marriages, saying 'As of right now, if somebody gets in line and applies, there is no prohibition against it as a matter of law.'"

The first gay couple to be married in Utah — Michael Ferguson, second from right, and his husband Seth Anderson, right — kiss as Blake Ferguson, left, and his girlfriend Danielle Morgan watch after the pair married at the Salt Lake County Clerk's office in Salt Lake City, Utah, December 20, 2013.

Jim Urquhart / Reuters

In deciding the case, Judge Robert J. Shelby noted that "any regulation adopted by a state, whether related to marriage or any other interest, must comply with the Constitution of the United States."

Shelby was appointed to the bench in 2011 by President Obama. He was confirmed by the Senate in September 2012.

In summary, he found:

Applying the law as it is required to do, the court holds that Utah's prohibition on same- sex marriage conflicts with the United States Constitution's guarantees of equal protection and due process under the law. The State's current laws deny its gay and lesbian citizens their fundamental right to marry and, in so doing, demean the dignity of these same-sex couples for no rational reason. Accordingly, the court finds that these laws are unconstitutional.

Shelby discussed in detail the state's view that the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Windsor, striking down the federal ban on recognizing same-sex couples' marriages, was based on federalism concerns that defining and regulating marriage is a state issue. Shelby also discussed the same-sex couples' arguments that the decision was instead based in concerns over "an individual's right to liberty."

Looking to the Supreme Court for guidance, Shelby relied upon the court's decision in Loving v. Virginia, which struck down bans on interracial marriage, writing, "the Court has held that the Fourteenth Amendment requires that individual rights take precedence over states' rights where these two interests are in conflict."

In looking to the interests that Utah has argued justify its ban, Shelby found, "[H]owever persuasive the ability to procreate might be in the context of a particular religious perspective, it is not a defining characteristic of conjugal relationships from a legal and constitutional point of view."

Additionally, the court found, "[T]he Plaintiffs here do not seek a new right to same-sex marriage, but instead ask the court to hold that the State cannot prohibit them from exercising their existing right to marry on account of the sex of their chosen partner." Finally, Shelby found that changes regarding "the knowledge of what it means to be gay or lesbian" mean that "[t]he court, and the State, must adapt to this changed understanding."

Summing up the court's ruling, Shelby wrote, "[T]here is no legitimate reason that the rights of gay and lesbian individuals are any different from those of other people. All citizens, regardless of their sexual identity, have a fundamental right to liberty, and this right protects an individual's ability to marry and the intimate choices a person makes about marriage and family."

In addition to the liberty-based argument for striking down the law under due process, Shelby also found that "the State's interest in preserving its traditional definition of marriage is not sufficient to survive rational basis review" under the Equal Protection Clause.

KSL-TV also received a statement from a spokesperson for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Cody Craynor, who said:

"The Church has been consistent in its support of traditional marriage while teaching that all people should be treated with respect. This ruling by a district court will work its way through the judicial process. We continue to believe that voters in Utah did the right thing by providing clear direction in the state constitution that marriage should be between a man and a woman and we are hopeful that this view will be validated by a higher court."

Additional reporting by Hunter Schwarz.

[This article was updated as additional information became available, with the final update at 8:15 p.m.

Correction: A statement from the attorney general's office initially was incorrectly identified as being attributed to the acting attorney general.]


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