2015 - Page 81 of 102

Clinton Portrait Artist Included Reference to Lewinsky

March 2, 2015 Buck Banks

If you look at the left-hand side of it there’s a mantle in the Oval Office and I put a shadow coming into the painting and it does two things. It actually literally represents a shadow from a blue dress that I had on a mannequin, that I had there while I was painting it, but not when he was there. It is also a bit of a metaphor in that it represents a shadow on the office he held, or on him. And so the Clintons hate the portrait. They want it removed from the National Portrait Gallery. They’re putting a lot of pressure on them.

— Pennsylvania artist Nelson Shanks, telling the Philadelphia Daily News that he included a reference to Monica Lewinsky in his portrait of Bill Clinton.

Hatch Explains Why Senators Aren’t Good Presidential Candidates

March 2, 2015March 3, 2015 Buck Banks

I don’t think that senators have much chance of running for president. The reason is, if they’re doing their job, they can’t run. If they don’t do their job, then that’ll be used against them.

— Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), quoted by the New York Times.

Boehner Calls Failed Budget Vote ‘Messy’

March 2, 2015 Buck Banks

It was just messy and I’m not into messy. But listen, I enjoy being in a legislative body. I enjoy all the personalities, and I’ve got a lot of them.

— Speaker John Boehner, in an interview with CBS News, admitting that averting a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security on Friday night “wasn’t a whole lot of fun.”

Nearly Hald Say Netanyahu Should Not Have Been Invited

March 2, 2015 Buck Banks

48%

Of American voters think that Republican lawmakers should not have invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak to a joint session of Congress without first notifying President Barack Obama, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News survey.

O’Malley Criticizes Clinton’s ‘Triangulation’

March 2, 2015 Buck Banks

The most fundamental power of our party and our country is the power of our moral principles. Triangulation is not a strategy that will move America forward. History celebrates profiles in courage, not profiles in convenience.

— Martin O’Malley (D), taking “a veiled shot” at Hillary Clinton in a speech in South Carolina, “criticizing the politics of triangulation that have historically been associated with the Clintons,” the New York Times reports.

Three-Time Winner

March 2, 2015 Buck Banks

Rand Paul might seem to be on the fast track,
With his loony libertarian act.
But in the 2016 campaign,
It’s becoming more plain
The only election he’ll win is the straw poll at CPAC.

Boehner’s Only Security Concern Is Over His Gavel

March 2, 2015 Buck Banks

John Boehner’s view of security is the security of his gavel and tonight it’s less secure.

— Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY), quoted by Politico, suggesting last night humiliating defeat for Speaker John Boehner “could dislodge the GOP leadership team.”

GOP Can’t Govern … or Count

March 2, 2015 Buck Banks

Not only can they not govern, but we’ve learned that they can’t even count.

— Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY), quoted by CQ Now, on the House GOP’s failure pass a three-week Homeland Security funding bill.

GOP Angling Toward Irrelevance on Immigration

March 2, 2015 Buck Banks

Rather than cursing the darkness, reflexively screaming ‘amnesty,’ and calling for deportation of a population the size of Ohio, they need to light a candle and show the way forward on this complex issue. And they must do this in a way that solves the problem and does not doom the Republican Party to political irrelevance in the future.

— GOP pollster Whit Ayres, quoted by the Washington Post.

Perry Contradicts Walker’s Equating Unions with ISIS

February 27, 2015 Buck Banks

These are Americans. You are talking about, in the case of ISIS, people who are beheading individuals and committing heinous crimes, who are the face of evil. To try to make the relationship between them and the unions is inappropriate.

— Pennsylvania artist Nelson Shanks, telling the Philadelphia Daily News that he included a reference to Monica Lewinsky in his portrait of Bill Clinton.

I don’t think that senators have much chance of running for president. The reason is, if they’re doing their job, they can’t run. If they don’t do their job, then that’ll be used against them.

— Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), quoted by the New York Times.

It was just messy and I’m not into messy. But listen, I enjoy being in a legislative body. I enjoy all the personalities, and I’ve got a lot of them.

— Speaker John Boehner, in an interview with CBS News, admitting that averting a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security on Friday night “wasn’t a whole lot of fun.”

48%

Of American voters think that Republican lawmakers should not have invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak to a joint session of Congress without first notifying President Barack Obama, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News survey.

The most fundamental power of our party and our country is the power of our moral principles. Triangulation is not a strategy that will move America forward. History celebrates profiles in courage, not profiles in convenience.

— Martin O’Malley (D), taking “a veiled shot” at Hillary Clinton in a speech in South Carolina, “criticizing the politics of triangulation that have historically been associated with the Clintons,” the New York Times reports.

John Boehner’s view of security is the security of his gavel and tonight it’s less secure.

— Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY), quoted by Politico, suggesting last night humiliating defeat for Speaker John Boehner “could dislodge the GOP leadership team.”

Not only can they not govern, but we’ve learned that they can’t even count.

— Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY), quoted by CQ Now, on the House GOP’s failure pass a three-week Homeland Security funding bill.

— GOP pollster Whit Ayres, quoted by the Washington Post.

These are Americans. You are talking about, in the case of ISIS, people who are beheading individuals and committing heinous crimes, who are the face of evil. To try to make the relationship between them and the unions is inappropriate.

— Rick Perry, in an interview with NBC News, criticizing Scott Walker’s comparison of union protests with the Islamic State.

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.