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Democrats Not Shaking In Their Boots Over RNC Changes

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As the RNC sets out to expand outreach, Democratic reaction boils down to “we’ll believe it when we see it.”

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus talks with members of the press after speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., after releasing a 97-page report on the future of the Republican Party.

Image by Win McNamee / Getty Images

WASHINGTON — The Republican Party says it's ready to change. But so far, Democrats aren't shaking in their boots.

On Monday, RNC chairman Reince Priebus rolled out his party's Growth and Opportunity Project plan, aimed at identifying the mistakes the GOP made in 2012 and fixing them before 2016.

The big idea is this: the RNC needs to build up the infrastructure and messaging to engage voters beyond the white, old, and male. Democratic campaign professionals, who enjoyed great success among just about all the voting blocs that don't fit that description last year, don't sound too worried.

"The 'we need women and Hispanics to stop thinking we hate them' message belies a core set of policies that are hostile to these demographics and can't be papered over by some rhetorical reboot," said Kelly Steele, a longtime Democratic operative who helped Sen. Harry Reid win another term in 2010. "Look at the fact [Sen.] Marco Rubio didn't utter a single word about immigration at CPAC, and that its audience was openly hostile to any reform."

Mike Lux, a former Clinton administration official and CEO of Progressive Strategies, had a similar take on the new GOP plan.

"I'm not particularly worried. We always have to run good campaigns and have good candidates, but the modern version of the Republican Party is completely unappealing to anyone other than old, white, straight, wealthy people — and given the demographics in this country, most people aren't old and aren't wealthy," he said.

The RNC is actively trying to change, says Preibus. He's putting $10 million behind the effort to expand the party's outreach and messaging to be more appealing to minority and young voters. Priebus has also pledged to overhaul the party's data shop, hiring a Chief Information Officer and building out new digital platforms to close the gap with Republicans.

Jeremy Bird, the field director for Obama's 2012 campaign and the man who helped oversee that campaign's unprecedented use of digital platforms, said high-tech tools won't solve the GOP's deep-seated problems.

"The fact that the Republican Party is just today considering the need to speak more broadly to women, young people, and minority communities speaks volumes about how out of touch they are with America," Bird, now a partner at 270 Strategies, said. "As long as Republicans fail to speak to the values of millions of American voters — insisting instead that 'digital tools' and some tactical adjustments are the answer to their woes — we expect their party will continue to live in the past."

Progressive grassroots leaders aren't impressed with the RNC's promise to catch up with the digital tools on the left.

"It's not a new problem," Anna Galland, executive director of MoveOn.org, said. "If I had a dollar for every time someone on the right said they'd create the conservative version of MoveOn, I'd be rich."

Galland said that as long as the GOP remains largely opposed to ideas like same-sex marriage, it will be hard for the party to reach the new voters it says it desperately wants.

The White House, locked in an economic fight with the GOP, seems to share the view that as long as the party sticks to its guns on taxes and other issues, its new outreach plans shouldn't be much of a concern for Democrats.

"I think it's important to note that the best way to increase support with the public for your party is to embrace policies the public supports. And embracing policies the public does not support or aggressively rejects makes it more difficult to earn the public's support," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said at the briefing Monday.

"And when it comes, again, to matters like how we grow our economy and, as we grow our economy, how we deal with our deficit and debt challenges," Carney said, "the public overwhelmingly supports a balanced approach to that challenge."


Rand Paul Will Support Path To Citizenship

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The 2016 presidential contender warns that Latino exodus from GOP “says more about Republicans than it does Hispanics.”

Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at National Harbor, Maryland, March 14, 2013.

Image by Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

WASHINGTON — On Tuesday Sen. Rand Paul will urge conservatives to abandon their long-standing opposition to a pathway to citizenship for the millions of undocumented workers in the United States, bluntly warning that to not do so, Republicans "will need to resign ourselves to permanent minority status," according to excerpts of a Tuesday speech obtained by BuzzFeed.

In a speech to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Legislative Summit, Paul will lay out his case for a conservative, and Republican, embrace of comprehensive reform.

"The Republican Party has insisted for years that we stand for freedom and family values. I am most proud of my party when it stands for both … Republicans need to give birth to a new attitude toward immigrants, an attitude that sees immigrants as assets, not liabilities," Paul will say, according to excerpts of the speech.

Like many Republicans who back a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, Paul argues Latinos should be a natural wellspring of GOP votes that the party has increasingly abandoned.

"Hispanics should be a natural and sizable part of the Republican base. That they have steadily drifted away from the GOP in each election says more about Republicans than it does Hispanics," Paul will say, arguing, "Defense of the unborn and defense of traditional marriage are Republican issues that should resonate with Latinos but have been obscured by the misperception that Republicans are hostile to immigrants."

Although Paul has long been supportive of comprehensive reform that includes some form of a pathway to citizenship for undocumented workers, Tuesday's speech represents his most detailed comments on the topic.

"Those who work for reform must understand that a real solution must ensure that our borders are secure. It must modernize our immigration controls and databases. It must allow for as much legal immigration as our workforce requires. And it must treat those who are already here with understanding and compassion — without also unduly rewarding them for coming illegally," Paul will say.

"We should be proud that so many want to come to America, that it is still seen as the land of opportunity. Let's make it a land of legal work, not black-market jobs. Let's make it a land of work, not welfare. Our land should be one of assimilation, not hiding in the shadows."

Paul also will take on many of the talking points used by conservative opponents of comprehensive reform. For instance, Paul will outright dismiss claims that undocumented immigrants have become a drain on the nation's welfare system, saying, "I've never met a new immigrant looking for a free lunch."

13 Ways Republicans Can Win The Internet

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The Grand New Party.

Cheer Up Republicans!

Cheer Up Republicans!

Via: gifbin.com

You can win the internet and a whole new generation of conservatives if you made just a few changes in your outreach strategy!

You can win the internet and a whole new generation of conservatives if you made just a few changes in your outreach strategy!

Via: memegenerator.net

The internet likes optimism. Be happy!

The internet likes optimism.  Be happy!

You will never win over new voters if this is the party message:

You will never win over new voters if this is the party message:

Via: gifbin.com


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This Is How Newspapers Covered The Start Of The Iraq War 10 Years Ago

According To Wikipedia, Ezra Klein Is MSNBC's New Weekend Host

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Ezra Klein's Wikipedia page has been updated to indicate that he is the “future host of Up on MSNBC weekend morning's [sic] after Chris Hayes moves to weeknights.” Seems legit.

Washington Post blogger Ezra Klein's Wikipedia page was updated on Sunday to indicate that he will replace Chris Hayes as a MSNBC weekend anchor.

Washington Post blogger Ezra Klein's Wikipedia page was updated on Sunday to indicate that he will replace Chris Hayes as a MSNBC weekend anchor.

Via: en.wikipedia.org

The edit reads: "He is the future host of Up on MSNBC weekend morning's [sic] after Chris Hayes moves to weeknights."

The edit reads: "He is the future host of Up on MSNBC weekend morning's [sic] after Chris Hayes moves to weeknights."

Via: en.wikipedia.org

The dubious source for this information is the website upwithezraklein.com.

The dubious source for this information is the website upwithezraklein.com.

Via: en.wikipedia.org

The site consists of a photoshopped image of Ezra Klein and the caption: "This image is fake. It’s a photoshop rendering of how awesome UP would look on weekend mornings if Ezra Klein becomes the next host."

The site consists of a photoshopped image of Ezra Klein and the caption: "This image is fake.  It’s a photoshop rendering of how awesome UP would look on weekend mornings if Ezra Klein becomes the next host."

Via: upwithezraklein.com


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Rand Paul Brings New Words, And An Old Plan, To Immigration Debate

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A “pathway to citizenship” by any other name.

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 19: Sen. Rand Paul addresses a meeting of the 2013 Annual Legislative Summit of U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Paul spoke on immigration and he announced his endorsement for a pathway for the 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States to become citizens.

Image by Alex Wong / Getty Images

WASHINGTON — The choice of words can mean life or death for legislation in this town, a lesson that anyone watching Sen. Rand Paul's immigration speech at the Capitol Hilton learned this morning — after a furious debate erupted on Twitter and in the hotel hallways over whether the Kentucky Republican backs a "pathway to citizenship."

Paul introduced some new words to the charged immigration debate Tuesday: "assimilation" and "probation." These are the latest in a long line of terms aimed at soothing Americans enraged at the notion of allowing people who overstayed their visas or slipped across the border to become citizens. When pressed by reporters, Paul confirmed that immigrants who pass their probation may become, yes, citizens — but his abandonment of the stock phrase "pathway to citizenship" is only the latest twist in a painful semantic evolution on Capitol Hill.

The "pathway" is associated with the same plan for enhanced security and legalization of millions of immigrants that President Bush and a coalition of Democrats called "comprehensive immigration reform." But that innocuous phrase became seen as code for "amnesty," a word that itself had once been in vogue during the 1980s immigration fights. The pathway appears to the next to go: The Republican Party's Hispanic Leadership Network recently advised legislators to avoid it, in favor of saying that people can "earn" citizenship.

"The solution doesn't have to be amnesty or deportation-a middle ground might be called probation where those who came illegally become legal through a probationary period," Paul said in his speech, adding "Our land should be one of assimilation, not hiding in the shadows."

Paul, who is actively considering a bid for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, did not use the phrase "pathway to citizenship." But, just as Democrats don't talk about "tax increases" but rather "revenue raisers," his calls for a probationary period followed by assimilation for the 11 million undocumented workers made clear he backs legalizing people here illegally and getting them into the citizenship process.

Conservatives and liberals alike balked, insisting that because he didn't use the phrase "pathway to citizenship" he was not, in fact, backing such a plan.

But that seems to have been the point. Paul is a savvy politician and he clearly understands that, like amnesty and "comprehensive immigration reform" before it, the phrase "pathway to citizenship" has become something of a dog whistle for conservatives, who see it as a gussied up version of amnesty.

Of course blanket amnesty isn't what lawmakers are talking about now. Instead, there is growing bipartisan backing for a system under which undocumented workers come out of the shadows, get work visas and are allowed to remain in the United States while they begin the citizenship process.

And, as Paul made clear following the speech, that's exactly what he's supporting. When asked if his plan granting work visas to the 11 million undocumented workers in the country would mean they could, eventually, become citizens, Paul said yes.

"What happens is the same thing as now but you wouldn't have to go home. You get in the same lines where ever you sign up, that's where you go … you don't go to the front of any line," Paul said.

He's right, mostly. Right now, people from other countries come to the United States every day on work visas, many of which provide an avenue — or (choose your own metaphor!) a pathway — towards eventual citizenship.

Paul's plan wouldn't be exactly like current law, since those 11 million people aren't actually eligible to enter that process. But it also wouldn't include any "perks" for undocumented workers and would force them to the back of the line.

The idea isn't particularly new, and any number of Democrats and Republicans like Sen. Marco Rubio already support it. But, using words like "probation" and "assimilation" are new and appear to be a clever rhetorical workaround that helps Paul avoid using "pathway to citizenship."

Paul seemed in on the rhetorical joke of how politicians talk about immigration Tuesday when he told reporters of the front of the line versus back of the line distinction.

"You get in the same lines, you get in the line wherever you sign up, you don't go to the front of any line," Paul said. "I know that sounds silly but front or back of the line seems to be this thing that's really important to people."

Steve Kornacki Is The New Host Of MSNBC's "Up"

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He replaces Chris Hayes, who's moving to a weekday prime-time slot.

Steve Kornacki has been named the new host of MSNBC's "Up" which airs Saturdays and Sundays from 8:00 – 10:00 a.m. ET. Jonathan Larsen will continue to serve as Executive Producer for the program. This announcement was made by Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC.

"I give so much credit to the 'Up' team who created appointment viewing on the weekends for us and some of the smartest conversations on television," said Griffin. "Steve has a great political mind and his ability to connect with viewers made him a natural fit to continue driving that dialogue."

"I want to thank Chris Hayes and his team for creating a totally original and incredibly smart model for political television," said Kornacki. "It's a real honor and a real challenge to take his seat, and I'm excited by the chance to foster the same kind of lively and diverse conversations. Mainly, though, I'm looking forward to spending four hours each weekend with the @UpPastryPlate."

Kornacki was previously a co-host on "The Cycle"' and he is currently a senior political writer for Salon.com. He has also written for the New York Observer and Roll Call and his work has appeared in numerous publications including Wall Street Journal, New York Times, New York Daily News, New York Post, Boston Globe, Daily Beast and Capital New York. He began his career in New Jersey co-hosting a weekly show on News 12 New Jersey.

Kornacki is a native of Groton, Massachusetts and graduate of Boston University.

Israeli Embassy Posts Interesting YouTube Video Previewing President Obama's Visit

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The video, entitled “President Obama Goes to Israel - Official Trailer,” was posted on the official YouTube page of the Embassy of Israel in the USA . (h/t Chuck Todd )


For Iraq, The War Isn't Over

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The war may have ended for the US, but in Iraq, civilian deaths have increased since 2011.

Data via Iraq Body Count.

Tuesday marks the ten-year anniversary of the Iraq War, and while that war officially ended for the United States in December of 2011, life for Iraqi civilians — while better than it was at the bloody height of the insurgency — is still something short of peace. 4,573 Iraqi citizens were killed in 2012, up from 4,147 in 2011.

The organization Iraq Body Count, which counts civilian casualties based on media reports and hospital and morgue records, says the rise in deaths is likely less a reaction to US departure, and more a symptom of an "entrenched conflict" that simply continues to grind on. This has been the status quo for a while — the worst year for Iraqi civilian casualties was 2006, when 29,028 died, and while it hasn't reached those levels again, the death toll has remained in the thousands. Iraq Body Count has already counted 715 deaths so far in 2013.

Alabama Republican Slams Closed-Door Bipartisan Immigration Efforts

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Conservative senator laments the fact that interest groups are “meeting in secret with a small group of senators” to craft bill.

Image by Susan Walsh / AP

WASHINGTON — Sen. Jeff Sessions attacked a bipartisan effort to craft comprehensive immigration reform on Tuesday, charging the group is unfairly excluding conservatives such as himself who do not support a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented workers in the country.

"I don't feel it, I am left out. Everybody is left out," Sessions told reporters when asked if he felt he was being frozen out of the process, which is expected to produce the Senate's legislation later this spring.

"I think we'd be better off doing it in the committee, the judiciary committee, having experts, calling people who can raise the question of whether it effect low-income Americans … we need to talk about all of these things, and they shouldn't be hidden," the Alabama conservative added.

For months, a small group of Senate Republicans and Democrats, including Sens. Charles Schumer and Marco Rubio, have been meeting behind closed doors in an effort to craft a compromise bill that gets enough buy-in from both sides to clear the Senate floor.

Sessions said he and a number of conservatives have a host of questions about the bill, ranging from the total cost to the future flow of immigrants and that the Senate shouldn't simply bring a bill to the floor without exhaustive committee review — something that has been done in the past

"Back in 2007 when the Senate is plopped down on the Senate floor, and it became clear didn't work, that's why it really died … the same interest groups who are meeting in secret with a small group of senators as in 2007," Sessions said.

Of course, even if those issues were dealt with to Sessions' satisfaction, given the fact that it is increasingly likely the bill will include some sort of pathway to citizenship for undocumented workers, it is unlikely to get his support. "My vision is that citizenship should not be a part of any legislation. That's been my view," Sessions acknowledged.

Sessions's comments came on the same day that Sen. Rand Paul, a darling of the conservative movement and a contender for the GOP's 2016 presidential nomination, came out in support of a pathway to citizenship for undocumented workers.

Utah Republican Laments Congressional Tech 'Ignorance,' Lack Of Nerds

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“Don't Be Scared Of Google Glasses,” tech savvy Rep. Jason Chaffetz says.

Via: quickmeme.com

WASHINGTON — One of the House's youngest members has a message for his colleagues — get some more nerds before you start messing around with the internet.

Utah Republican Jason Chaffetz Tuesday blamed congressional "ignorance" for it's handling of internet regulatory policy, particularly when it comes to social media and blamed a lack of tech savvy lawmakers for the defeat of the Stop Online Piracy Act a year ago.

"We helped kill SOPA," Chaffetz said, adding that at the time "The plea that I made was 'You all are performing surgery on the internet and theres not a nerd in the room.'"

Chaffetz went on to say most members do not understand the language of the internet or "how it works."

"That ignorance could lead to a bunch of bad legislation ... they just flat-out don't know" how it works, Chaffetz lamented.

Meanwhile, Chaffetz said Congress and the public need to become more open to new forms of technology — notably the new Google Glasses that have caused a remarkable backlash.

"I tried [Google Glasses] the other day. They are cool," Chaffetz said, brushing aside questions of privacy.

"We should not be afraid of the glass." Chaffetz insisted. "Any piece of technology can be misused. There's worse things to be scared about than a new pair of glasses."

In South Carolina, Republican Congressional Candidates Eye Second Place

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Losing in the wider primary often translates to a runoff win. Whether people actively vote against Sanford will matter.

Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford chats with a diner at a restaurant in Charleston, S.C.

Image by Bruce Smith / AP

WASHINGTON — In the primary vote Tuesday for South Carolina's open congressional seat, Republican candidates aren't gunning to win. They're playing for second place.

Former Gov. Mark Sanford, the clear frontrunner for weeks, is expected to take the largest slice of votes in a 16-person-deep Republican primary field, and he will likely do so by a commanding margin: His share could approach 40 percent, according to the latest internal polls conducted by two competitors.

But with anything less than 50 percent of the vote, Sanford will be thrown into a two-week-long runoff race with the candidate who earned the next-greatest share of votes.

And the second-place primary finisher holds a special place in South Carolina politics lore.

Indeed, Sanford himself started his career in national politics in second place, in the 1994 Republican primary race for the same congressional seat. In the runoff contest two weeks later, Sanford turned around to best the former frontrunner, Van Hipp Jr., by four points.

More recently, in 2012, former South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer bested a deep Republican primary field in the primary for the seventh congressional district, but he didn't take 50 percent of the vote. That left an opening for then-Horry County Council Chairman Tom Rice, who took second place in the first vote, to burnish his standing and win the runoff — and, ultimately, a seat in Congress.

Bauer's flameout was attributed in part to his high unfavorables among voters, who spread out their opposition during the wider primary, but were then able to channel it into support for Rice in the runoff.

Sanford could face a similar problem.

"In this case, there might be some anti-Mark Sanford votes based on what he did, and those votes, they're not going to turn around and go to a runoff poll and vote for Mark Sanford when they voted against him before," said Rep. Jeff Duncan, a South Carolina Republican.

Duncan would know: He posted an unlikely victory in a Republican primary race in 2010, when he turned a second-place finish in the first vote into victory in the subsequent runoff.

"A lot of the times, the person who comes in second ends up winning," Duncan said as he stood on the steps of the Capitol after a House vote Tuesday. "I'm an example of that. And I'm glad to be here."

New Mexico Officials Still Unclear If Same-Sex Couples There Can Marry

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Nothing in New Mexico law specifically prevents same-sex couples from marrying, but county clerks agreed in 2004 not to issue licenses until the law is clarified. Santa Fe's city attorney and mayor tried to push the issue Tuesday.

Via: nmag.gov

WASHINGTON — A week before the U.S. Supreme Court hears two cases about the legal rights of same-sex couples, the ambiguity of New Mexico law on the issue has again come to the fore as Santa Fe officials Tuesday issued an opinion concluding that "[s]ame-sex marriage is legal in New Mexico."

The opinion is unlikely to have any practical effect, however, because the issuance of marriage licenses in New Mexico is handled by county clerks — who receive legal advice from county lawyers. Currently, the state has no law that either allows or bans same-sex couples from marrying.

Geraldine Salazar, the Santa Fe County clerk, told BuzzFeed that she personally supports allowing same-sex couples to marry but does not believe she has the authority to issue such licenses at this time.

"He's the city attorney. I have a county attorney who I seek legal counsel from. In addition to that, the city attorney is not the attorney general. I, as a county clerk, do not have the authority in my eyes and in my interpretation and in my counsel. In my mindful process of this whole thing, I don't have the authority — and why should I do it for a few hours when really we should have solid laws benefiting all citizens of the state of New Mexico?" she noted.

As for New Mexico's attorney general, Gary King, his spokesman said Tuesday that he has not yet announced any public view on the question.

"AG King has not had an opportunity to weigh-in on the specific question of whether same sex marriages are legal under New Mexico law. It is likely, however, that we will soon receive a request for a formal Opinion on the issue," King's communications director, Phil Sisneros, told BuzzFeed Tuesday afternoon. Sisneros added that the city attorney's opinion "does not carry the force of law, although it is obviously what the city's official legal position is on the issue."

This issue is not new to New Mexico. In making her decision not to issue same-sex couples licenses at this time, Salazar said, "I'm relying on the last opinion of the former attorney general because several years ago in Sandoval County, in New Mexico, we had a county clerk who was issuing marriage licenses."

Sandoval County's clerk at the time, Victoria Dunlap, began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on February 20, 2004, but then-Attorney General Patricia Madrid ordered Dunlap to stop before the end of the day. In all, 64 couples — referred to as the "Sandoval 64" — received marriage licenses that day.

Because a lawsuit filed challenging Dunlap's authority to issue the licenses was dropped when Dunlap left office, Salazar said that "to this day it is ambiguous and there's still questions about, 'are they legal or not,' within the state of New Mexico." She added that, as a result, "All the clerks at that time agreed not to issue any marriage licenses" to same-sex couples until there was a change in the law.

As to Tuesday's effort by Santa Fe City Attorney Geno Zamora and Mayor David Coss, Salazar said, "I see it as a great attempt, but for a few hours to benefit a few, when in reality our laws should benefit all citizens in the state of New Mexico. The city is — I don't know what all their reasons are, but I know that they're doing this in the best interests of their constituents."

"I don't think that's in the best interest of the public. I think I would be causing more harm to our citizens if just started issuing licenses that create even more ambiguity. When the law changes, I will be happy to issue marriage licenses," she said.

Asked whether she believed the law should be clarified so that same-sex couples in New Mexico could clearly get married, Salazar said, "My personal view, yes. Marriage is a contract between two people."

Santa Fe City Attorney's Same-Sex Marriage Opinion

The Iraq War Timeline As Told Through Front Pages

What Obama Is Doing In Israel

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Not nothing, but not as much as he once hoped. Where the laws of gravity always apply.

In Jerusalem, workers prepare for Obama's visit this week.

Image by Uriel Sinai / Getty Images

In his memoir of American diplomacy in the Middle East, The Much Too Promised Land, Aaron David Miller recalls a hot day in Hebron in 1997. Miller was then a mid-level American diplomat, assigned to create a "buffer" — but not anything that could be mistaken as a wall — between Israeli and Palestinian residents of the Shuhada Street in Hebron.

Miller soon found himself on all fours in the middle of the street, calculating its width, something he makes a metaphor for the American role in the region.

"Down on my knees that afternoon in Hebron measuring a road, I felt small and ridiculous, certainly as a representative of the world's only superpower," he writes, and quotes the scholar Fouad Ajami on how regional powers treat the U.S.: "They like you big, but they want to send you back small." (The second half of Ajami's line, a bit harder to link to the present moment: "They like you a virgin, but want to send you back a whore.")

Israel has already had that effect on President Obama. He conceded, in an interview with Joe Klein at the end of his first year, that his failed push for Israeli-Palestinian peace had been a signal failure: "I think that we overestimated our ability to persuade them to do so when their politics ran contrary to that," he said.

Obama's overestimation of his personal ability to make change in the Middle East — driven by his domestic and global popularity, and the sense of history that hovered over his first year in office — was one of his first big mistakes, and an iconic one. Much of his first term was about learning that the laws of gravity continue to apply.

Now Obama's trip to Israel and the West Bank this week is perhaps the least ambitious foreign trip of his presidency, as Josh Gerstein wrote today in Politico. Obama is now "a bit more humble" in his approach to the region, said Jeremy Ben Ami, of the liberal Jewish group J Street, who was among the Jewish leaders who met with Obama on the issue four years ago and again last week. His group has pushed the president, largely in vain, to lean harder on Israel to make peace.

This week's trip has no real agenda, which doesn't mean that it doesn't have a point. Its symbolism, including a trip to the grave of the creator of modern Zionism, Theodor Herzl, is clearly focused on reassuring the Israeli public that the president, and the United States, are firmly on their side — something that Republican politicians spent much of 2012 calling into question.

Josh Block, a former AIPAC spokesman who heads The Israel Project, put that message in its bluntest form: "They're the forward operating base of freedom and the West, and now more than ever it's incredibly clear that our relationship with Israel is not just mutually beneficial — it is to our great interest."

That reassurance — and the alliance itself — are of particular importance as the region's old order unravels. Egypt, long America's most important Arab ally and the dominant regional player, is stuck in political crisis. Syria's civil war shows no sign of easing and is driving a growing refugee crisis. Negotiations over Iran's nuclear program have never really gone anywhere.

"These guys are at the nexus of every awful problem in the Middle East right now," said Tommy Vietor, the recently departed former National Security Council spokesman, who said he expected Obama to offer Israelis "personal public reassurance."

He said he expected key meetings to be held on Iran and other security issues.

"These guys don't love talking about the most sensitive issues — military planning, etc. — on the phone," he said.

These are, as Jeffrey Goldberg writes, important conversations; Obama won't be down on his hands and knees in the middle of a Hebron road.

But they are conversations that have gone roughly nowhere, like the peace talks, since Obama began his testy relationship with Netanyahu in 2008. There is ritualistically hopeful talk now of meetings with the new Israeli government — but the prime minister is the same. And on an equally glum front, Obama will also be there to boost the increasingly hapless Palestinian Authority leadership in the West Bank, to reinforce their increasingly tenuous stature as the sole legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people.

But while Obama may have learned how hard these small problems really are, said Ben-Ami, "he hasn't really changed."

"The president to me comes off as far more nuanced and a bit more humble in addressing the issue — but with the same determination and the same worldview," he said.


Obama: If You Like The Irish, You Should Love Comprehensive Immigration Reform

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Story of Irish-Americans “yet another reason why we need to build an immigration system for the 21st century,” says the president.

President Barack Obama and Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny leave a St. Patrick's Day Luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 19, 2013.

Image by Charles Dharapak / AP

WASHINGTON — President Obama renewed his pitch for comprehensive immigration reform Tuesday, using the occasion of an official visit by Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny Tuesday to make his case.

"Looking out on this room it's clear just how much America owes to our brothers and sisters across the Atlantic, and how many of us, myself included, wouldn't be here if it were not for the brave souls who set off for the new world with no earthly idea of what awaited them on the other side," Obama said.

"It's a reminder of just how many trials the people of Ireland have endured. Hunger, Troubles, to the economic challenges of recent years. It's yet another reason why we need to build an immigration system for the 21st century. One that works for families and businesses and the economy," he added.

Obama's comments came on the same day that Sen. Rand Paul laid out his most comprehensive case to date for immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship.

Shortly Obama finished speaking, he engaged in the traditional shamrock ceremony with Kenny, marking the end of a full day of Irish-themed ceremonies at the White House and on Capitol Hill in celebration of St. Patrick's Day.

C-SPAN At 34, Ten Great Moments

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An estimated 47 million people watch C-SPAN at weekly according to the network. Here's ten great C-SPAN moments.

There was this....

There was this....

Via: c-spanvideo.org

Only C-SPAN could give us Chuck Grassley discussing Internet porn in 1995...

Source: youtube.com

Or a Congressman using The Simpsons to explain Republican tax plans...

Source: youtube.com

And a Congresswoman blasting the Defense Department for buying Viagra....

Source: youtube.com


View Entire List ›

Mark Sanford Runoff Challenger Decided By A Hair In South Carolina

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The No. 2 finisher, Curtis Bostic, likely rides a well-executed ground game and church outreach to a runoff. A mandatory recount muddies the outcome.

WASHINGTON — Former Gov. Mark Sanford received support from roughly one-third of Republican voters in South Carolina's first congressional district on Tuesday — but he still faces a battle during the next two weeks leading up to a runoff.

His opponent will likely be Curtis Bostic, whose campaign in the 16-person Republican field was marked by a well-executed operation on the ground and by effective outreach to churches, South Carolina Republican sources said.

State Sen. Larry Grooms, who touted endorsements from Reps. Jeff Duncan and Mick Mulvaney, trailed Bostic by less than one percent with all precincts reporting, which by law means the votes will be counted again. But an aide to Grooms said Tuesday that they do not have the votes to top Bostic, and Grooms plans to step back from the race without issuing an outright concession.

Hogan Gidley, a spokesperson for Grooms, confirmed that the campaign does not "know of any reports of irregularities in voting" that would possibly yield a different result after a recount.

"(Grooms) is not going to stand in the way of the person who has the most votes if by the time the votes are all counted it's not him," Gidley added.

Should Bostic indeed advance to the runoff with Sanford, he will have a powerful ally in Republican Sen. Tim Scott, whose recent appointment to the Senate opened up the seat in South Carolina's first congressional district. Scott has not yet endorsed a candidate — but, like Scott, Bostic has served on the Charleston County Council.

Second place in the first round is also considered a position of power moving into the two-person runoff; indeed, a number of recent South Carolina Republican candidates have ultimately won from such a position.

Update: Grooms officially conceded in a Facebook post early Wednesday morning.

Cory Booker Tries To Show He's A Team Player

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At a campaign event for New Jersey's Democratic candidate for governor, Barbara Buono, Booker plays a role he's not used to. “El Futuro Barack Obama!”

New Jersey Democratic Sen. Barbara Buono, center, campaigns with Newark's Cory Booker, left, during a tour of Newark's Ironbound neighborhood.

Image by Julio Cortez / AP

NEWARK, N.J. — At his first campaign event in support of New Jersey's Democratic candidate for governor, Cory Booker was at pains to demonstrate that it's not always about Cory Booker.

The mayor of Newark, a rising national star and an all but certain candidate for U.S. Senate next year, hosted state Sen. Barbara Buono in his city Tuesday afternoon during what was billed as a "listening tour" up Ferry Street, where the two lawmakers visited with four businesses, posing for photos and stopping for small-talk with patrons along the way.

It was the first event in what Booker — whose long, public deliberation last year over his own possible gubernatorial bid rankled members of the state party establishment — has promised will be an extensive campaign in support of Buono, a political unknown in some corners of the state relative to popular incumbent, Republican Gov. Chris Christie.

"I'm gonna raise money for her, I'm gonna stump across the state for her, I'm gonna write her a personal check," Booker said, standing beside Buono, during a press conference in the small backroom of Andros Diner, the last stop on the tour through Newark's Ironbound neighborhood. "Mark my words," he said, "By October, this is going to be a close race."

Booker's efforts on behalf of the gubernatorial campaign will lend Buono some badly needed name recognition, which her staffers have identified as their biggest hurdle in the race this fall. (A poll out last week shows the state Senator with 22 percent of the vote, and Christie with 58 percent.)

When Booker promised he'd spend the year "crisscrossing the state" for the campaign, Buono added, "But can you get me on Oprah?"

"I'll try to get her on the couch with Oprah as well," Booker said.

But the "listening tour," despite the mayor's best efforts, gave way on occasion to moments focused more on Booker than the actual candidate.

At the press conference, he fielded questions about his chummy relationship with Christie — "my friend," Booker called him — and had to fend off reporters ready with inquiries on topics that had nothing to do with the governor's race.

As the event came to a close, Booker paused in the back of Andros, with Buono still at his side, to take about five questions from members of the press who wanted to know about a murder in Newark the night before, or about Booker's recent gun control pow-wows with New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. ("I don't think there's a time when Mayor Bloomberg I talk where we don't talk about guns — and we talk often," the mayor said.)

Buono looked to the door — wondering, it seemed, whether she should make for the exit or stay beside the mayor as he rattled off answers into outstretched microphones and tape-recorders — but from where he stood, Booker blocked the narrow path to the front of the diner. Buono stayed in place beside her campaign partner for the day.

After a staffer finally pulled them away — "Mayor, mayor, we need to go," said the aide — Booker and Buono posed for one last picture behind the front counter with five Andros staffers who chatted excitedly in Spanish as the candidates got into position.

The cameras snapped away and Booker, with an arm around Buono, shouted, "El Próximo Gobernador!"

But one woman behind the counter, the owner of Andros, followed up Booker's cheer with one of her own, which she shouted even louder to the galley of press and flashing lights in front of her: "El Futuro Barack Obama!"

Religious Right Could Be Left Behind By New Republican Plan

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Abandoned by the Establishment, beset by libertarians, the base is playing defense.

Image by John Gara/Buzzfeed

When the great Republican resurrection comes to pass, will conservative Christians be left behind?

Some leaders of the religious right are openly worried this week after a sprawling 98-page report released by the Republican National Committee on how the party can rebuild after its 2012 implosion made no mention of the GOP's historic alliance with grassroots Christian "value voters."

Specifically, the word "Christian" does not appear once in the party's 50,000-word blueprint for renewed electoral success. Nor does the word "church." Abortion and marriage, the two issues that most animate social conservatives, are nowhere to be found. There is nothing about the need to protect religious liberty, or promote Judeo-Christian values in society. And the few fleeting suggestions that the party coordinate with "faith-based communities" — mostly in the context of minority outreach — receive roughly as much space as the need to become more "inclusive" of gays.

To many religious conservatives, the report was interpreted as a slight against their agenda and the hard work they have done for the party.

"The report didn't mention religion much, if at all," said Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association. "You cannot grow your party by distancing yourself from your base, and this report doesn't reinforce the values that attracted me and many other people into the Republican Party in the first place. It just talks about reaching out to other groups."

Sandy Rios, an Evangelical radio host and Fox News contributor, said the RNC report's proposals amount to a "namby-pamby" abdication of religious values, and warned that the party could soon lose the grassroots engine that has powered its electoral victories for decades.

"They should be deeply concerned they're going to be alienating their base," Rios said, adding, "It seems to me that the leadership of the party is intent on that course. Most Christian conservatives are not going to be party loyalists over principle, and so the GOP has a lot more to lose than Christians."

Sean Spicer, communications director for the RNC, said the party had no intention of distancing itself from its religious base.

"They are a critical part of our party, and moving forward, they have to continue to play that essential role," Spicer said. "The goal of the report was to look at areas where we could do much better, and in areas that needs that substantial improvement [working with conservative Christians] may not be at the top of the list because they've always done a fabulous job."

Spicer also insisted that while the GOP hopes to expand its coalition, "the principles in the party are sound" and would not be abandoned. Asked whether opposition to same-sex marriage was among those principles, he said, "Yes."

Still, the perceived snub is the latest evidence of the extent to which the the increasingly unfashionable politics of the religious right have grown isolated within its party — an embarrassment to a the Republican Establishment and to its "consultant class," focused on winning above all; and the sworn foe of its rising libertarian strain.

Just two years ago, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels was shouted down by his fellow Republicans for proposing a "social truce" on hot-button cultural issues while the nation's leaders focused on reviving the economy. Ambitious Republicans, gearing up for the 2012 Iowa caucuses, distanced themselves from Daniels, and activists protested his invitation to speak at CPAC.

Now, the Republican National Committee itself appears to be calling for that truce.

If Republican officials feel confident that they can soften the party's stance on social issues without any real risk of losing their religious base, it may be because the Christian right hasn't presented a united front in nearly a decade. Not since 2004, when Evangelicals swarmed to the ballot to support a marriage amendment in Ohio, and re-elect George W. Bush, have those voters managed to coalesce around a winning presidential candidate.

In the 2008 Republican primaries, they were split between a culture-warring Mitt Romney and the insurgent Baptist minister Mike Huckabee, and neither won. Then, in 2012, conservative Evangelicals vacillated between a bevy of Republican candidates, allowing the well-financed Mormon guy — who had dropped the social agenda rhetoric and was now just talking math — to navigate his way around them and grab hold of the nomination.

"They have really been in the wilderness since then," said Patrick Millsap, who served as Newt Gingrich's 2012 chief of staff.

That division within the ranks of the religious right is clear even in their response to the RNC's report.

On one hand, Wildmon's American Family Organization, a particularly hard-line conservative Christian organization that owns 200 radio stations nationwide and runs an active grassroots network, has pledged to meet any attempt by the Republican Party to sideline its social agenda with revolt.

"The social conservatives will quit voting," he said. "They'll give up, they'll be despaired. Those are the most loyal people to work for you because they're energized because they believe their cause is something God stands for and that's a pretty good motivator. And you take that away? You diss them? You tell them their issues aren't important anymore? I don't know who you're going to be left with. I think you won't have any troops out there. I don't know how many country club people will go and walk door to door over the taxes issue."

On the other hand, Ralph Reed, director of the Faith and Freedom Coalition and a former campaign adviser to George W. Bush, defended the RNC report, and the establishment leaders who spearheaded it.

"I know most of the members of the committee," he said. "Some of them are personal friends of mine. I know Reince Priebus. He's a deeply committed Christian. He's pro-life, pro-marriage, and pro-family... and the Republican Party is going to stay that way."

And while Reed, who said he was personally consulted when the report was being assembled, disagreed with its proposal to eliminate the use of conventions and caucuses during the Republican primary season, he said he found little else in the RNC review that alarmed him.

As for the AFA's threats of widespread Christian disillusionment, Reed said he wasn't worried.

"I wouldn't interpret too much into that. There are always healthy tensions and pains in growing a party," he said. "A political party is not a church and its function is not to promulgate and support a religious doctrine."

With reporting from CJ Lotz.

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