Showing posts with label Newspapers Washington Examiner. Show all posts

Friday, July 01, 2011

Washington Examiner Political Digest: Nothing funny about government limits on political speech

Nothing funny about government limits on political speech

According to liberal dogma, last year's Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. FEC was the worst thing to happen to American democracy since Watergate. Hoping to prove that the ruling would allow "unlimited corporate money" to influence elections, Comedy Central star Stephen Colbert announced in March that he would form ColbertPAC, a political action committee. Yesterday, almost three months later, the Federal Election Commission narrowly granted him permission to do so. But that was far from the first obstacle on Colbert's march to undo the evils of the moneyed class in politics.

Examiner Local Editorial: Fairfax's posh subsidized housing features pools, spas

Fairfax County taxpayers are being forced to subsidize so-called "affordable housing" that includes luxurious amenities many of them cannot afford to provide their own families. That's the conclusion of an eye-opening new study by the Springfield-based Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy, a nonpartisan research and education organization.

What the Times didn't tell you about Ian Urbina

By: Diana Furchtgott-Roth

You're Ian Urbina, a senior New York Times reporter. In February and March, you write that hydraulic fracturing, a method of natural gas extraction, is contaminating Pennsylvania drinking water. Your accusations are disproved by government tests.

A huge political storm is stirring over farm dust

By: Ron Arnold

What is the doom of America? To borrow a mystical metaphor from an old Bob Dylan song, "The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind." And what might that mighty answer be? Farm dust, everyday rural American farm dust.

Obama's stimulus road to nowhere

By: Steve Chapman

Mired in excruciating negotiations over the budget and the debt ceiling, President Obama might reflect that things didn't have to turn out this way. The impasse grows mainly out of one major decision he made early on: pushing through a giant stimulus.

Madison on the Thames

By: Michelle Malkin

LONDON -- Big Labor looks the same wherever you go: petulant, irrational and wholly aggrieved beyond its means. I'm here on vacation with family as some 750,000 public-sector employees strike in protest over modest pension reform proposals. It's a taste of Wisconsin on the Thames. U.K. government teachers are just as shameless and entitlement-mongering as their American counterparts. More than half of England's schools shut down on Thursday as union members took to the streets.

President Richard M. Obama

By: Mona Charen

How many times have we heard awestruck references to Barack Obama's history as a law professor? Many came from the man himself, as when he told a crowd at a 2007 fundraiser, "I was a constitutional law professor, which means unlike the current president, I actually respect the Constitution."

What if President Obama had said this instead?

By: David Limbaugh

What if -- instead of blaming Republicans, big oil, the "wealthy" and corporate jets -- President Obama had used his recent news conference to say the following?

Washington Examiner Political Digest: Nothing funny about government limits on political speech

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Sunday, June 26, 2011

Washington Examiner Politics Sat. EXTRA

Examiner Politics Saturday EXTRA: Weekend breaking news & comment from The Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blogger
Michael Barone - Young voters sour on Obama

Karl Rove spotlights a Polling Co. poll that shows Barack Obama’s approval among young (age 18 to 29) Americans at 53%. Perhaps more important, on the economy only 31% of young voters approve and 44% disapprove. Read More

Philip Klein - How many new pro-union rules will the NLRB ram through in coming months?

Earlier this week, I wrote about the real world problems with the National Labor Relations Board's new proposed rules to speed up union elections, which would punish small businesses in an attempt to expand union membership. Read More

Charlie Spiering - GOP presidential candidates silent in wake of same-sex marriage vote in New York
Same-sex marriage passed in New York late last night, marking a huge victory for the gay rights movement as supporters celebrated in the streets and celebrities praised the decision on Twitter. Read More

Philip Klein - How badly can Pawlenty afford to perform in the Ames Straw poll?

Over at Slate, Dave Weigel asks, "Can Ron Paul Win the Ames Straw Poll?" to which I'd answer: yes. As Weigel notes, Paul is actually trying to win it this time, and bought the most expensive booth available this year, the same space occupied by 2007 straw poll winner Mitt Romney. Read More

David Freddoso - Ron Paul: That Libya 'defunding' resolution would have actually authorized the war
Moments ago, Rep. Ron Paul released his floor statement on the Libya defunding resolution, which he and other anti-war Republicans voted against.Read More

Philip Klein - Fair Tax group has less money than in 2007, but plans "huge" grassroots presence at Ames straw poll
Back in 2007, the large presence of “Fair Tax” supporters at the Ames Straw poll played a big role in Mike Huckabee’s surprisingly strong second place finish, which in turn helped propel him to victory in the actual caucuses months later. This year, the group Fair Tax.org will be working with less money, according to a representative of the group, but still plans to have a “huge presence” at the straw poll by leveraging its network of grassroots supporters. Read More

David Freddoso - Libya defunding vote underestimates anti-war sentiment in the House
A grand total of eight House Republicans voted to approve U.S. involvement in the Libyan War. Read More

Susan Ferrechio - Boehner calls on Obama to offer debt limit plan
Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has issued a statement calling on President Obama to get involved in the debt limit talks that have come to a stalemate. Boehner also said in the statement that the deal cannot include tax increases because such a proposal could not pass in the House. Read More

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Monday, June 20, 2011

Washington Examiner: Don't make ATF director a scapegoat for 'gunwalker' scandal

Don't make Melson a Fast and Furious scapegoat

Credible media reports have it that Kenneth Melson, acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, will get his walking papers this week as a result of his approval of Operation Fast and Furious, aka "Gunwalker." That's the program in which ATF purposely allowed as many as 2,000 lethal weapons, including assault rifles such as the infamous AK-47, to be sold to representatives of Mexican drug cartels.

Memo to media: Palin isn't Kardashian

By: Bill O'Reilly

Because I am a simple man, allow me to pose a simple question: What the deuce were 30 reporters doing in Juneau last week sifting through 24,000 pages of emails written by then-Gov. Sarah Palin? Why did a bunch of news agencies spend money to send their people north to Alaska after the state government released the correspondence?

START exposes Obama's half-truth national security talk

By: James Carafano

"I never let my right hand know what my left hand is doing." - President Franklin Delano Roosevelt In the run-up to World War II, FDR's penchant for playing fast and loose with the truth in pursuit of political ends spawned a climate of distrust in Washington.

NATO is America's obsolete European alliance

By: Steve Chapman

Defense Secretary Robert Gates went to Europe recently to announce that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization may have a "dismal future" and that before long, American leaders "may not consider the return on America's investment in NATO worth the cost." Why does he make that sound like a bad thing? "Watch out! We may have to stop spending so much money protecting countries that can protect themselves!"

Time for government attorneys to stand up to Obama

By: Hugh Hewitt

President Nixon ordered Archibald Cox fired from the job of "special prosecutor" on Oct. 20, 1973.

Weiner is gone but issues remain the same

By: Gregory Kane

Before conservatives and Republicans engage in too much schadenfreude about Rep. Anthony Weiner's resignation from Congress, a word of caution might be in order. Let's not get too happy over Weiner's departure, and by all means let's not jump to the conclusion that his conduct is an indicator that all Democrats are like him.

Conn Carroll: How a no-tax-hike pledge makes K Street even richer

By: Conn Carroll

Thirty-three Republicans voted last week to end the federal tax credit for ethanol production. From a conservative perspective, the vote should have been a no-brainer: the federal government has no business picking winners and losers in the energy sector, and the tax credit was a direct subsidy to ethanol producers.

*****

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Washington Examiner Politics Sat. EXTRA

Examiner Politics Saturday EXTRA: Weekend breaking news & comment from The Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blogger

David Freddoso - No Choice '08: McCain and Obama were both going to get us into more wars
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., spoke yesterday from the Senate floor in support of the unauthorized military action in Libya. McCain argued that, for the sake of national unity, the Congress should pass a resolution approving the use of force, even though President Obama, in clear contravention of the War Powers Act and the Constitution, insists that Congress has no role in approving wars. Read More

Timothy P. Carney - Highway spending is a subsidy for driving
President Obama says he wants to decrease oil imports and stop oil subsidies, yet at the same time, he's subsidizing oil consumption -- by spurring new highway spending. When I tell the story of the oil executive who told me that his biggest subsidy is highway spending, people sometimes tell me this is wrong -- that gas taxes cover the cost of highways. But they don't. Read More

Philip Klein - AARP still playing it both ways on Social SecurityI had been meaning to write a blog post arguing that today's Wall Street Journal report likely overstated its claim that AARP was making a major shift toward more openness on cutting Social Security benefits, but the group's CEO has beat me to it. Read More

Michael Barone - Gangster Government at Treasury?

If this article by professors at Harvard Law School and Indiana University Business School is correct (hat tip to Paul Caron’s taxprof blog and Glenn Reynolds's Instapundit), the Treasury acted contrary to law when it ruled that post-bankruptcy General Motors could utilize $45 billion in pre-bankruptcy net operating losses to reduce any corporate income taxes it may owe. Read More

Mark Tapscott - Judicial Watch: Tax dollars for La Raza skyrocket after Obama appoints one of its leaders to White House post
Should anybody care when a radical left-wing special interest group gets a big boost in federally funded grants and contracts after one of its most visible leaders is appointed to a key White House job? That's exactly what happened after President Obama appointed Cecilla Munoz, the National Council of La Raza's (NCLR) senior vice president, as his director of inter-governmental affairs, according to an investigation by Judicial Watch. Read More

Conn Carroll - Pawlenty’s Obamacare problem
Why did T-Paw back off his Obamneycare line at Monday’s debate? Could it be because his own health care proposals are too close to Obamacare for comfort? Earlier this month I noted a striking similarity between the way Obamacare plans to cut Medicare and Pawlenty’s Medicare proposal. Read More

Philip Klein - ATM industry not happy about Obama comments

The Automated Teller Machine industry is not happy about President Obama's comments that the development of ATMs has cost jobs. Here's a sampling of some of the feedback I've been getting. Mike Lee, CEO of the ATM Industry Association, emailed me the following response: Read More
David Freddoso - Redistricting update: New map in Michigan

What you see here is Detroit, the next locus of the redistricting wars. The new congressional map proposed by the Republican-majority state legislature in Michigan achieves the Republicans’ goals – eliminate one Democrat, and shore up all the Republicans. Read More

Operation Fast and Furious should end Holder tenure

By: Examiner Editorial

Watergate cliches though they are, two questions beg to be asked about the exploding Fast and Furious scandal at the U.S. Department of Justice: What did Attorney General Eric Holder know and when did he know it concerning the underlying concept, operational protocols and legal status of Operation Fast and Furious?

Weiner's woes: No skillz to pay the billz

By: Michelle Malkin

"There is life after Congress for Anthony Weiner," New York Democratic Rep. Nita Lowey grimly assured reporters on Thursday before his resignation announcement. But Weiner's life has been nothing but Congress. Nothing but government. Nothing but taxpayer-subsidized self-perpetuation. In other words: the life of a pathetic public leech.

A new paradigm for the Left?

By: David Limbaugh

If you compare the Carter malaise with the Obama debt doomsday machine, any GOP 2012 presidential candidate should sail to victory with greater facility than Ronald Reagan did in 1980. But will she or he? I am optimistic but also believe that in making his economic case, the Republican candidate will have different challenges because of the ongoing growth of our welfare state and the attitudes it has ushered in, along with heightened class warfare.

NLRB assault on Boeing will cost countless jobs

By: Diana Furchtgott-Roth

SEATTLE -- It's a cloudy day in Seattle. On the road leaving the airport, one of Boeing's plants stretches out next to the highway, just before the cranes of the port. I am in Seattle to speak to Women of Washington, a nonprofit women's group focusing on public policy issues, on why America isn't creating jobs and what to do about it.

In praise of the pulchritudinous Michele Bachmann

By: Emmett Tyrrell

So there are two. Two pulchritudinous ones, that is. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin are very beautiful, and the feminists tell us, "So what?" Well, they never say "So what?" when an attractive male, usually a Democrat, comes onstage. They call him charismatic.

Examiner Local Editorial: Bad old days of D.C. government corruption are back

By: Examiner Editorial

Hard as it is to believe, major scandals involving Mayor Vincent Gray's campaign and transition team are being eclipsed by almost daily revelations of venality and highly questionable judgment by members of the D.C. Council. With six of 13 council members, including the chairman, currently or previously under ethics clouds, D.C.'s hard-won reputation as a professionally managed, modern city has quickly eroded.

Obama is packing the government with Big Green ideologues

By: Ron Arnold

President Obama has packed his Cabinet agencies with left-wing ideologues, just like President Roosevelt tried with his 1937 "Supreme Court packing bill." Roosevelt failed, but Obama is still at it.

States can still push back on Medicaid

By: David Freddoso

States need not stand by and be trampled by Obamacare, when they can use it to their advantage.

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Friday, May 20, 2011

Washington Examiner: Byron York - Eye-for-an-eye filibuster stops Democratic nominee

Byron York - Eye-for-an-eye filibuster stops Democratic nominee

Byron York - Eye-for-an-eye filibuster stops Democratic nominee

If there's one place where what goes around comes around, it's the United States Senate. Goodwin Liu, the Berkeley law professor nominated by President Obama to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, is the latest to learn that lesson. Read More

Susan Ferrechio - Senate GOP blocks vote on Obama judicial nominee

The Senate on Thursday blocked President Obama's pick for the federal appellate bench, using the first filibuster of a judicial nominee in six years to prevent the chamber from voting on University of California at Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu. Senators voted 52-43, eight votes short of the 60 needed to hold a vote on Liu's nomination to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. It was the first defeat of one of Obama's judicial nominees. Read More

Hayley Peterson - Obama: Israel must abandon occupied land

President Obama personally intervened into Arab-Israeli peace talks for the first time Thursday, bluntly calling for Israel, a longtime U.S. ally, to relinquish key territories -- including the Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem -- to a newly established Palestinian state. Read More

Philip Klein - Daniels endorsed a form of an individual mandate in 2003, according to local newspaper report

During his 2003 run for governor, an Indiana newspaper reported that Mitch Daniels supported a form of an individual health insurance mandate. An item in the South Bend Tribune from October, 23, 2003, on a campaign stop Daniels made to a health clinic, reported: The candidate said he favors a universal health care system that would move away from employee-based health policies and make it mandatory for all Americans to have health insurance. Read More

Timothy P. Carney - The media's double standard on the revolving door

I'll be on NPR's "On the Media" this weekend discussing the revolving-door cashout of Meredith Baker. In the interview, which we've already taped I point out what I think is a blind spot for media coverage of the revolving door. Read More

Philip Klein - President Obama's pointless Middle East speech

President Obama's just concluded his long, blathering, Middle East speech in which he tried hard not to offend anybody. But by the end, he sounded a lot like President George W. Bush, talking about the need for the U.S. to stand up for democracy and self-determination abroad. Read More

Conn Carroll - The Draft Perry movement begins---in California

Some have speculated that if Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels declines to enter the 2012 race, conservatives would then form a Draft Texas Gov. Rick Perry campaign. California Assemblyman Dan Logue isn’t waiting that long. He announces on FlashReport: Read More

Conn Carroll - Jon Huntsman’s secret life as a progressive

We already detailed most of this in our “Who will be the John McCain of 2012?” post, but ThinkProgress has added some helpful links in their post today: Jon Huntsman’s Secret Life As A Progressive: Read More

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Saturday, May 14, 2011

Examiner Politics Sat. EXTRA - Unions demand HuffPo's 'riches,' but get nowhere dealing with liberal hypocrites

Examiner Politics Saturday EXTRA: Weekend Commentary from the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidentialbloggers

Michael Barone - Are Democrats exiting the sinking ship? Part 3: Senator Herb Kohl

There will be plenty of political conflict in Wisconsin in the coming months—something for which Herb Kohl has shown little taste. Maybe this helps explain why he decided to step aside. Read More

Barbara Hollingsworth - Unions demand HuffPo's 'riches,' but get nowhere dealing with liberal hypocrites

“The Huffington Post has been under strike for weeks, and nobody seems to notice,” points out NewsReal blogger Walter Hudson.Read More

David Freddoso - Letter to a birther
Dear Michael:

I appreciate your kind and respectful note, but I must disagree with its premise... Read More

Philip Klein - Administration grants another 200 ObamaCare waivers

The Hill reports: The Obama administration approved 204 new waivers to Democrats' healthcare reform law over the past month, bringing the total to 1,372. Read More

James Jay Carafano - Wikileaks standard: Do as we say, not as we do

A remarkable WikiLeaks document has been, well leaked. The audacity of these claims is breathtaking. Read More

Charlie Spiering - George W. Bush on bin Laden: 'The guy is dead. That is good'

ABC News reports that former President George W. Bush revealed some of his thoughts about the death of Osama bin Laden today at a Las Vegas conference. When he got the call from President Obama about the news, Bush remembers telling him, "Good call."Read More

Mark Tapscott - Inhofe's Energy 101 seminar: Dems have no plan to bring down gas prices because they want higher prices

Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., sat down in front of a camera yesterday and patiently walked through the major myths about energy being propagated by President Obama, congressional Democrats and the liberal mainstream media. The result is a concise, easy-to-grasp summary of energy facts: For example, what about all those "subsidies" the federal government is giving Big Oil that Obama and the Democrats want to terminate? Here's Inhofe with the facts. Read More

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Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Byron York - In Hawaii, a dispiriting glimpse of one-party rule

Byron York - In Hawaii, a dispiriting glimpse of one-party rule
HONOLULU - In Hawaii, there are 25 members of the state Senate. Twenty-four are Democrats. And then there is Sam Slom.
Slom, the lone Senate Republican in the state of President Obama's birth, has represented East Honolulu since 1996. He hasn't always been the only GOP senator; in the last session, there were two. But Republicans fared poorly at the polls in November, and Slom was left alone.
Which means that Democratic bills to increase state spending, to impose new regulations and mandates and to create new government departments are often passed on votes of 24-1. "I represent a point of view that would not be represented," the conservative Slom says, "even if it's just one voice."
Read more at the Washington Examiner

Sara A. Carter - U.S. officials fear other revolutions won't be bloodless
Inspired by the regime collapses in Egypt and Tunisia, opposition groups in Yemen, Iran, Bahrain, Libya and Algeria are trying to seize what may be a fleeting moment of freedom. But in some of those countries the chances of relatively bloodless revolutions are small, U.S. officials fear. That was evident Monday as groups clashed with security forces attempting to clamp down on protests in several Islamic cities. Four days of protests against longtime Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh have led to violent confrontations, including the death of a protestor over the weekend. Protesters marched for the first time to the presidential palace Sunday. On Monday, the anti-government groups fought with pro-government protesters outside Sanaa University.
The United States would like to buttress the government in Yemen, an ally in the Gulf and a bulwark against a virulent al Qaeda cell that would flourish in the chaos of a government collapse. But even a new counterterrorism program announced by Pentagon officials Monday to train Yemeni forces against al Qaeda may prove too little too late, a Yemeni diplomat told The Washington Examiner.
Read more at the Washington Examiner

Susan Ferrechio - 2012? 2011 still needs budget

As Congress and President Obama clash over the 2012 budget, they do so without having ever signed into law a spending plan for the current fiscal year. Seven months remain in fiscal 2011, and so far the government has been funded by a series of stopgap measures that maintain spending mostly at 2010 levels. In fact, government operations for the rest of the year could be funded by similar temporary measures if Democrats and Republicans can't agree on a budget. Read More

Brian Hughes - Obama proposes $3.7 trillion budget for 2012

President Obama on Monday sent Congress a $3.7 trillion budget reliant on a host of cuts to programs championed by his liberal base, a shift in funding that would be used to pay off historically high government investments in education, public transportation and energy. However, the president's professed "down payment" on the towering national debt did little to appease deficit hawks, who said Obama was sidestepping his obligation to tackle soaring entitlement costs. Read More

Susan Ferrechio - GOP: Obama not serious about cutting deficit

President Obama's $3.7 trillion spending proposal for 2012 was for the most part embraced by Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill Monday despite a five-year spending freeze and $30 billion in reductions. Read More

Mark Tapscott - Ethanol industry buys a top seed and three key politicians
Food prices here in America and around the world are rising quickly in great part due to the growing demands for corn to make ethanol in order to satisfy government mandates for its use.
Besides higher food prices, however, this form of government bureaucrats picking winners and losers in the energy market is having another unexpected consequence - boosting genetically modified food. Syngenta, a Swiss-based firm, recently got the go-ahead for sales of its genetically modified corn seeds.
Ethanol companies are cheered by the news because the genetically modified seeds are far better suited for growing corn destined to be refined into fuel instead of food. Critics worry that the two radically different strands of corn will inevitably get mixed up on the food chain, with unpredictable health and nutritional results.
Read more at the Washington Examiner

Philip Suderman - Fun with math: 2012 proposed budget edition
The New York Times has an interactive graph up of the $3.17 trillion proposed governmental budget up on their website. Some of the more interesting numbers:
* $808.04 billion in mandatory spending for the Social Security Administration (which the CBO has stated, barring any reforms, is permanently set to give out more money than it is taking in).
* $474.15 billion for interest on Public Debt -- not the principal, just the interest.
* $11.57 billion for the Federal Communications Commission, which is best known for making sure that people don't curse on television.
* $6.95 billion for the Railroad Retirement Board, a Social Security-style program for railroad workers.
* $1.31 billion for Agricultural Marketing Services. Not only does the government subsidize agriculture, they pay for advertisements telling telling you how good those subsidized veggies are for you.
Feel free to find your own interesting ways the government is spending money.
BONUS: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of the United States is 309,050,816, which means that if the $3.7 trillion dollar passes as stands, on average, each individual is responsible for $11,972 for this years budget.
Read more at the Washington Examiner

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Thursday, November 04, 2010

Washington Examiner: K-Street readies for Tea Party candidates, House GOP claims mandate

Timothy P. Carney - GOP's K Street wing ready for insurgent challenge

The insurgent conservative Republicans and Tea Party candidates elected Tuesday are obviously a pugnacious and determined bunch, but they're not the only ones fixing for a battle over the direction of the party. The Republican Beltway establishment and the K Street wing of the GOP are ready to fight any effort to end pork-barrel spending and kill corporate welfare.The first fight will come mid-November, when the newly elected senators join returning senators to set party rules for the next two years.

Susan Ferrechio - House GOP claims voter mandate to limit government, taxes

Topping Republicans' to-do list is the repeal of President Obama's landmark health care reforms, which proved unpopular with the public and which Republicans portrayed as an unwarranted and expensive expansion of government.
Appearing at a Capitol news conference still flush from his party's historic election gains, House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, now the House speaker designate, told reporters the GOP would begin to lay the groundwork "to repeal this monstrosity and replace it with common sense reforms that will bring down the cost of health insurance in America."

Hayley Peterson - Obama says 'shellacking' in election not a rejection of his agenda

The president accepted some of the blame for Democrats' historic losses at the polls, when Republicans took control of the House and increased the size of their Senate minority. He said he is "doing a whole lot of reflecting" on what the election meant for him, Democrats and their shared agenda.But Obama rejected Republican claims that the election proved the public opposes the president's initiatives, including health care reform.

Mark Hemingway - You know who was a big loser in this election? George Soros

While Democrats went out of their way to portray the Koch brothers as evil billionaires puppeteering this election, I’d venture they feel pretty good about the outcome. However, after last night I’d venture that that George Soros is one unhappy Hungarian.

Timothy P. Carney - Republicans made almost no incursions into Democratic turf

The pickups made by Republicans were mostly “snap-backs” (winning back seats the GOP had lost in 2006 or 2008), or continuations of the ongoing realignment in the countryside and the South (winning seats that McCain and Bush both won). A full list of the turnover seats follows.

Friday, August 06, 2010

Byron York - Obama's zealous civil rights enforcer gets busy

"I love this job," said Thomas Perez, the hard-charging head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, in a speech last December to the liberal legal group American Constitution Society. "We have a very broad, a very ambitious vision. It's a very exciting vision, and I wake up every morning with a hop in my step."

There's no doubt Tom Perez is hopping a lot these days. Of all the transformations that have taken place in the Obama administration, perhaps none is so radical as that within the Civil Rights Division. Under Perez, it is bigger, richer and more aggressive than ever, with a far more expansive view of its authority than at any time in recent history.

Susan Ferrechio - Parties do battle over Bush tax cuts

The Senate on Thursday voted down a proposal to permanently extend the Bush income tax cuts set to expire Jan. 1, in a vote forced by Republicans on an issue that promises to be politically explosive.

The vote was on an amendment attached to the federal aid bill, and was typical of a tactic by the GOP to keep the issue alive by forcing lawmakers to take a position on the tax cuts before Congress takes up the issue in earnest in the fall.

Mark Tapscott - Market optimistic despite more bad jobs news; Is media ignoring impact of possible GOP gains in November?

"A more profoundly GOP Congress could extend the Bush tax cuts, that's the really big one," Varney said. "Obama might swallow a one-year deal. If you're an investor, that's a possibility."

Varney is not alone in thinking the prospect of big GOP gains in November could be giving investors reason for optimism as they try to factor in the possibility in their outlooks.

Diana Furchtgott-Roth, former chief economist at the Department of Labor and now director of the Hudson Institute's Center for Employment Policy, thinks "there’s certainly a link between recent stock market gains and improvement of Republicans at the polls."

Julie Mason - Gay marriage ruling creates political trap for Obama

A California judge's ruling that effectively legalized gay marriage in the state creates a new campaign issue for the fall with no easy fallback for President Obama.