Interests: Politics, Government, Media, Transportation, Space, Social Media, Civic Engagement, Washington, DC Following: The Obama Presidency, Decision 2012, The 112th Congress Work: myImpact.org- a non-profit working at the intersection of social media & citizen engagement
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
The Evening Report for Thursday December 08
26 DAYS UNTIL IOWA
TOP STORY: Shooting at Virginia Tech- A VT campus police officer on a routine traffic stop was shot dead today by a gunmen, who police believe later shot himself on the campus of the Blacksburg, Virginia university that is the site of the worst school shooting in American history, on April 16, 2007.
JUST IN: Police have identifed the slain police officer as 39-year old Deriek Crouse. He is survived by his wife and five children.
From The Washington Post:
“A routine traffic stop at Virginia Tech turned violent Thursday, leaving a police officer and his assailant dead and the campus on lockdown, a scenario reminiscent of the 2007 massacre that claimed 33 lives and redefined how universities respond to emergencies.
The mayhem began about 12:15 p.m., when a Virginia Tech patrol officer stopped a driver at the university’s coliseum parking lot. Someone — not the person who was pulled over — walked up to the officer and shot him. The shooter then ran.
The officer’s body was found in a sprawling parking lot near the Virginia Tech stadium. The gunman’s body, along with a weapon, were found in another parking lot nearby, law enforcement and government officials said. Authorities say they think he killed himself as police closed in. They would not say whether he was a student.”
TONIGHT normal operations have resumed on the Virginia Tech with the most recent message from the University reading:
“Virginia Tech Police, in conjunction with other law enforcement agencies, have determined that there is no longer an active threat or a need to secure in place. Resume normal activities.”
SENATE BLOCKS CORDRAY NOMINATION: Voting 53-47 and failing to reach the 60 votes necessary to overcome a Republican-led filibuster, the Senate today refused to move forward with the nomination of Richard Cordray to be the first commissioner of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The vote, while expected, was used as leverage by the President, who went into the Press Briefing Room of The White House at 11:30am- minutes after the vote- to lambast Senate Republicans. Many expect that the President may move to nominate Cordray via recess appointment over the holidays, if the Senate adjourns.
FROM THE PRESIDENTS REMARKS:
“This morning, Senate Republicans blocked his nomination, refusing to let the Senate even go forward with an up or down vote on Mr. Cordray. This makes absolutely no sense.
There is no reason why Mr. Cordray should not be nominated, and should not be confirmed by the Senate, and should not be doing his job right away in order to carry out his mandate and his mission.
So I just want to send a message to the Senate: We are not giving up on this. We’re going to keep on going at it. We are not going to allow politics as usual on Capitol Hill to stand in the way of American consumers being protected by unscrupulous financial operators. And we’re going to keep on pushing on this issue.”
ON TAX CUTS
The President also continued his pitch for Congress to pass an extension of the payroll tax cut, an issue that many political analysts say he has a leading position on.
“And I just want to make clear: This is not about me. They shouldn’t extend the payroll tax cut for me. They shouldn’t extend unemployment insurance for me. This is for 160 million people who, in 23 days, are going to see their taxes go up if Congress doesn’t act. This is for 5 million individuals who are out there looking for a job and can’t find a job right now in a tough economy who could end up not being able to pay their bills or keep their house if Congress doesn’t act.
So rather than trying to figure out what can they extract politically from me in order to get this thing done, what they need to do is be focused on what’s good for the economy, what’s good for jobs and what’s good for the American people.
And I made very clear I do not expect Congress to go home unless the payroll tax cut is extended and unless unemployment insurance is extended. It would be wrong for families, but it would also be wrong for the economy as a whole”
ON KEEPING CONGRESS IN SESSION THROUGH CHRISTMAS
“With respect to my vacation, I would not ask anybody to do something I’m not willing to do myself. So I know some of you might have been looking forward to a little sun and sand — but the bottom line is, is that we are going to stay here as long as it takes to make sure that the American people’s taxes don’t go up on January 1st, and to make sure that folks who desperately need unemployment insurance get that help. And there’s absolutely no excuse for us not getting it done.”
ON PLAN B
In his press conference, the President also affirmed support for Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and her decision yesterday to overrule a FDA recommendation and restrict access to the Morning After Pill, also known as “Plan B”
THE OSAMA CARD
But this morning’s press conference might be remembered most because the President responded to his Republican rivals who have questioned his foreign policy credentials by referencing his Administration’s successful killing of Osama bin Laden. The President has only referenced the killing a few times, and never so explicitly in this political context.
“Ask Osama bin Laden, and the 22 out of 30 top Al Qaeda leaders who have been taken off the field whether I engage in appeasement — or whoever is left out there, ask them about that.”
WALL STREET:
- DOW down 198
- NASDAQ down 53
- S&P 500 down 27
CAMPAIGN 2012:
SANTORUM NABS BIG ENDORSEMENT- Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz is set to endorse Santorum on Friday
RICK PERRY is beginning a bus tour on Saturday across the state of Iowa, leading up to the January 3rd caucuses
As MITT ROMNEY sharpens his attack against frontrunner NEWT GINGRICH, Gingrich is trying to stay above the fray, telling reporters in South Carolina today, “We’re gonna stay positive. All I’m gonna say is, we’re gonna stay positive. We’re gonna stay solution-oriented and talk about what America needs to do. And the only opponent I have is Barack Obama.”
THE NEXT DEBATE is Saturday, 9pm ET, nationally televised on ABC News and sponsored by the Iowa Republican Party.
In next week’s edition, TIME Magazine goes behind the scenes of the Obama Campaign’s war room, including this passage:
“Obama’s guerrilla war on Republicans is being waged on three fronts. At the White House, senior aides including David Plouffe oversee a master strategy and communicate most often with the President, while the growing Chicago operation focuses on rapid responses to candidate attacks on Obama.
The Dems’ attacks come from the second floor of the DNC headquarters, a few blocks south of the Capitol, where communications director Brad Woodhouse oversees a daily flood of biting e-mails, ads and Web videos.
A sign of his instincts: his glass-walled office is plastered with a half-dozen images of kittens in fields, kittens purring for the camera, kittens pawing each other. Look closely and one of the images stands out: a Photoshopped picture of George W. Bush biting into a kitten like a cob of corn, a clear sign that this is not the workplace for the faint of heart. It is an oft repeated maxim of Obamaland’s that the country is closely divided and the final count next November is likely to be so too. “
FINALLY...HOW TO GET FIRED, QUICKLY…From the Hill’s Justin Sink
“Three staffers for Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) were fired Thursday after a series of tweets in which they insulted the congressman, complained about their work and described drinking on the job.
“We became aware of the issue through a tweet referencing an article about the incident. Congressman Larsen immediately decided to fire the three staff members involved in the incident,” Larsen spokesman Bryan Thomas said in a statement.
“Congressman Larsen is disappointed by their actions and takes this very seriously. He has made it clear that he will not tolerate this kind of behavior.”
The tweets — which belonged to legislative assistants Seth Burroughs and Elizabeth Robbee and legislative correspondent Ben Byers — repeatedly referenced “December to Remember,” a campaign devised by the staffers to spend the final month of the legislative session in what the Daily Marker called “a state of perpetual debauchery.”
According to the tweets, the “December to Remember” began with a round of shots on the steps of the Cannon House Office building. From there, staffers sneaked drinks throughout the workday, watched music videos on YouTube, and lobbed insults at their bosses.
Burroughs, in tweets that spanned multiple months, referred to Larsen as an “idiot” and a “selfish a———.” He also described sneaking shots of Jack Daniels in his coffee and destroying his work Blackberry.”
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The Evening Report for Monday October 24
WELCOME to a new look and feel for THE EVENING REPORT. Let me know what you think HAPPENING NOW: Game Five of the World Series. After four innings. its CARDINALS 2, RANGERS 1 TOP STORY: In Nevada late this afternoon, Pres. Obama announced a new plan for homeowners facing foreclosure or living in homes that are “under water,” easing federal regulations to make it easier for homeowners to refinance their mortgages As the Washington Post’s ZACHARY GOLDFARB (who had a piece in today’s paper highly critical of the Administration’s housing policy to date) reports tonight, “Housing regulators say that 1 million borrowers might be eligible, but that is only one-tenth of the number of homeowners who need help. And while estimates cited by the administration suggest the average homeowner might save $2,500 per year, other projections from housing regulators were in the range of $312 per year, depending on upfront fees the borrower pays, which may include several thousand dollars in closing costs.” The housing policy announcement was the first in the Administration’s new “We Can’t Wait” campaign- the new rhetorical theme- replacing the “Pass The Bill” mantra the President has used since the mid-September introduction of the American Jobs Act in a primetime Address to Congress TOMORROW’S TOP TALKER..TONIGHT.. “Republicans Embrace Twitter for ‘12” by the New York Times’ JENNIFER STEINHAUER: “It’s a bit of a table turn on Mr. Obama, whose 2008 campaign capitalized on social media in a way that left Republicans bruised and scrambling. Now, after a post-election order from Speaker John A. Boehner that year, House Republicans have embraced Twitter as their karaoke microphone to push their message against the White House bullhorn. The insta-Tweet has revolutionized rapid response operations that just two years ago relied heavily on cable television, e-mails and news conferences to spread the word of the opposition, which often took a day or two to gain momentum. That time lag could delay the message from taking hold, a result Republicans were eager to undo.” Republican House members have more than twice as many followers as their Democratic counterparts — about 1.3 million versus roughly 600,000 — and are far more active on Twitter with more than 157,000 individual Twitter messages, versus roughly 62,000 for Democrats. “The Republicans in Congress are using new media technology to compete for the attention of Beltway reporters,” said Josh Earnest, the White House deputy press secretary. “We use it to compete for the attention of the American people,” he said, pointing to interactive forums that the White House conducts. “These are two different goals.” At a daily meeting in Mr. Boehner’s office, the communications staff decides what they should be Twittering and blogging about, said Don Seymour, the speaker’s digital communications director. He sits at a desk with one computer for his e-mail and another monitor for his Tweet Deck, his iPad on his lap and a Coke in one hand. A half-dozen televisions show various stations and the House and Senate floors above, where someone might say something that begs for instant reaction.” THE FULL ARTICLE is a Must-Read WALL STREET today: All eyes on BRUSSELS two days before 17 European nations meet to reach a decision on a Eurozone bailout, bank restructuring and a solution to the debt crisis in Greece TUNISIA yesterday held its first elections since the revolution at the end of last year that sparked the Arab Awakening. The widely-watched elections were the first in the region since interim governments took control following the deposition of longtime dictators. Official election results in Tunisia are expected tomorrow- but early returns show that the moderate Islamist party Ennahdha is on track to be declared the victor. This government will draft the country’s new constitution JOHN PODESTA announced today that he was stepping aside as the President of the liberal think tank Center for American Progress. President Bill Clinton’s former Chief of Staff will remain the Chairman of CAP and also volunteer one-day a week as an advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, POLITICO reports. Podesta chaired the Obama/Biden transition effort in 2008 and 2009. In 1998, John and his brother Tony Podesta co-founded the powerhouse DC lobbying firm The Podesta Group. CAP’s Chief Operating Officer Neera Tanden will become the next President MEET THE PRESS Executive Producer BETSY FISCHER and POLITICO reporter JONATHAN MARTIN are engaged, the couple announced on Saturday. Fischer posted to her Facebook page yesterday, “Excited to change my FB status to engaged - can’t wait to marry my best friend Jonathan Martin. Makes me happy every day. A surprise propsal Friday night at the Inn at Perry Cabin on MD Eastern Shore = smiling all weekend.” ABC POLITICAL REPORTER RICK KLEIN and his wife, Laine Kaplowitz, welcomed their third child, Max Rubin Klein, into the world on Saturday. Klein is co-host of ABC’s midday “Topline” broadcast and a frequent staple of the ABC News Washington bureau (and the Twitterspehere,@RickKlein) OBAMA Campaign Manager Jim Messina today announced that BRODERICK JOHNSON will be joining the 2012 campaign as a senior advisor and national surrogate. Johnson served as an informal advisor in 2008 but did not join the Administration upon President Obama’s election, instead choosing to go to K Street as a lobbyist. Johnson is married to NPR’s MICHELE NORRIS, co-host of All Things Considered. Norris announced today that she will take a leave of absence while her husband works on the campaign, saying in a statement , “Given the nature of Broderick’s position with the campaign and the impact that it will most certainly have on our family life, I will temporarily step away from my hosting duties until after the 2012 elections.I will be leaving the host chair at the end of this week, but I’m not going far. I will be wearing a different hat for a while, producing signature segments and features and working on new reporting projects. While I will of course recuse myself from all election coverage, there’s still an awful lot of ground that I can till in this interim role.” RICK PERRY may be preparing for a campaign re-launch. TIME’s MARK HALPERIN reported this morning that Perry was adding new staff to his campaign- including George W. Bush’s 2000 campaign manager JOE ALLBAUGH (who later went on to serve as Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency). Also, the campaign’s first television ads in Iowa are expected to air as early as Wednesday of this week- which will make Perry the first candidate to go up on the air with paid advertisements in the 2012 cycle FINALLY.. Netflix announced today that it has lost more than 800,000 subscribers over the past three months- after the company initially announced it was splitting its DVD-by-mail and online streaming businesses into two, with a price hike, and then rescinded that decision after public criticism several weeks later BUT as the New York Times reports in a story tomorrow co-written by media correspondent BRIAN STELTER, the company actually reported good results for the third quarter, “Despite the decline in subscribers, the company did well financially in the quarter. It reported net income of $62.5 million, or $1.16, a share, compared with $38 million, or 70 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue rose 49 percent to $822 million. Both revenue and income topped analysts’ expectations,’ they write. The company also announced today a planned expansion into the United Kingdom and Ireland in 2012. The story chronicles Netflix’s dramatic rise and fall- all in the course of the last two years, and Stelter describes it as a “cautionary tale for other companies that try to transform to new media from old.”
Twitter 101: How To Get People To Follow You
Part four of my monthlong series for CampusSplash, Twitter 101. Check it out.
Twitter 101: Three Ways To Tweet
Part two of my month-long series for Campus Splash Networks on getting started with Twitter.
I had the opportunity to attend President Obama’s first Twitter Town Hall on Wednesday at The White House. The President answered questions from Twitter users posed to him by the co-founder of Twitter, @Jack Dorsey.
