2014 - Page 15 of 98

Walker: You Have to Be Crazy to Want to Be President

November 18, 2014 Buck Banks

I say this only half-jokingly, that you have to be crazy to want to be president. Anyone who’s seen the pictures of this president or any of the former presidents can see the before and after, no matter how fit, no matter how young they are, they age pretty rapidly when you look at their hair and everything else involved with it.

— Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), quoted by Fox6 Now, who wants to be president.

Slight Majority Want Obama to Wait on Immigration Executive Action

November 18, 2014 Buck Banks

46%

Of Americans think President Obama should hold off and allow the new Republican majorities in the House and Senate to act on immigration reform while 42% say Obama should act now, a new USA Today poll finds.

Obama’s Email List is Worth More Than $1 Million

November 18, 2014 Buck Banks

$1.2 million

Amount the nonprofit group Organizing for Action pays a year to rent the Obama campaign’s email list — widely believed to be the largest political email list ever created, according to the Wall Street Journal.

November 17, 2014 Buck Banks

71%

Of “those who bought new health insurance policies through the government exchanges earlier this year rate the quality of their healthcare and their healthcare coverage as ‘excellent’ or ‘good,’ a new Gallup poll finds. ‘These positive evaluations are generally similar to the reviews that all insured Americans give to their health insurance.”

Cory Booker is the Darling of Wall Street Donors

November 17, 2014 Buck Banks

$1.87 million

Amount Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) received from the securities and investment industry, “making him the top recipient of Wall Street money this election cycle,” NPR reports. “Booker also received more money from real estate groups than any other member, as well as more from the entertainment and tech industries, accountants, and groups considered to be pro-Israel.”

Romney Warns Democrats on Post-Midterm Aggression

November 17, 2014 Buck Banks

This idea of poking Republicans with a stick in the eye is not a good idea.

— Mitt Romney, in a CBS News interview, on President Obama challenging Republicans after the midterm elections.

Bill Clinton’s Take on the Midterms

November 17, 2014 Buck Banks

There was a collapse of the youth vote. The African-American vote held fairly steady and was remarkable… we had a little bit of a loss of the Hispanic vote perhaps because the president didn’t sign an order on executive action on immigration reform.

— Bill Clinton, quoted by Politico, on the results of the 2014 midterm elections.

Who Knew ‘Progressive’ Meant ‘Dumb-Ass Liberals’

November 17, 2014 Buck Banks

I get a big kick out of them using the word ‘progressive.’ My gosh, they’re just straight old dumb-ass liberals anyway.

— Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), quoted by Huffington Post.

Impeachable? Here Are 18 Immigration Executive Orders Issued by Recent Republican Presidents

November 17, 2014March 26, 2015 Jon Ponder

pensito-infograph--gop-executive-amnesties

Republicans claim that that Pres. Obama’s plan to establish temporary legal status for undocumented immigrants by executive order is illegal.

Read the full report from the American Immigration Council: Executive Grants of Temporary Immigration Relief, 1956-Present

They have issued a series of threats against the president if he signs the order to stand up the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, including blocking the nomination of attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch, shutting down the government again and/or impeaching him.

According to a detailed report from the American Immigration Council, however, presidents have routinely altered immigration policies by executive order, including 18 such changes by five recent Republican presidents — Eisenhower, Ford, Reagan, Bush I and Bush II. None of these presidents was threatened with political reprisal for signing the orders, of course.

Here is an overview based on the AIC report:

[…]

Support for Keystone Pipeline Declining

November 14, 2014 Buck Banks

59%

Of respondents to a new Pew survey say they support construction of the Keystone XL, which would bring crude from Canadian oil sands to Gulf Coast refineries — a drop from Pew’s survey in March of 2013, when 66 percent of Americans said they favored it. Just 43 percent of Democrats currently favor construction, compared with a 54 percent majority in 2013. Among Republicans, 83 percent now support Keystone XL, a poll result that is nearly identical to the 2013 survey.

— Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), quoted by Fox6 Now, who wants to be president.

46%

Of Americans think President Obama should hold off and allow the new Republican majorities in the House and Senate to act on immigration reform while 42% say Obama should act now, a new USA Today poll finds.

$1.2 million

Amount the nonprofit group Organizing for Action pays a year to rent the Obama campaign’s email list — widely believed to be the largest political email list ever created, according to the Wall Street Journal.

71%

$1.87 million

This idea of poking Republicans with a stick in the eye is not a good idea.

— Mitt Romney, in a CBS News interview, on President Obama challenging Republicans after the midterm elections.

There was a collapse of the youth vote. The African-American vote held fairly steady and was remarkable… we had a little bit of a loss of the Hispanic vote perhaps because the president didn’t sign an order on executive action on immigration reform.

— Bill Clinton, quoted by Politico, on the results of the 2014 midterm elections.

I get a big kick out of them using the word ‘progressive.’ My gosh, they’re just straight old dumb-ass liberals anyway.

— Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), quoted by Huffington Post.

59%

Poetic Justice

Verbatim

“The man is afraid of the voice of the people and that the people understand and know what he’s doing. He’s trying to stifle the ability of journalists to let the people of America know what’s really going on with their government.”

— “Kamala Harris called President Donald Trump’s ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House ‘absolutely abhorrent,’” The Wrap reports.

“Not one of them is trained in technical skills. Not one research PhD, as opposed to China, where half the cabinet is science and technology PhDs. We’re led by grifters and fools.”

— Columbia professor Jeffrey Sachs, on X, on President Trump’s 35-person cabinet.

“Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far… The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.”

— Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), breaking with President Trump in a direct-to-camera video.

Numerati

1,000

10%

“The unprecedented spate of mid-decade redistricting for the U.S. House has changed the congressional districts for one-tenth of Americans and significantly altered the makeup of at least one-fifth of districts, according to a new study,” the Associated Press reports.

71%

$9.5 billion

“The Trump administration last year spent $9.5 billion on paid administrative leave for federal workers as part of its plan to shrink the government and save taxpayers money, according to a new estimate by a congressional watchdog,” CNN reports.

470

Reuters has documented at least 470 targets of retribution under Trump’s leadership – from federal employees and prosecutors to universities and media outlets. The list illuminates the sweeping effort by the president and his administration to punish dissent and reshape the government.