Daily Archives: February 26, 2017

Feb. 25, 2017 at 4:27 PM

Former Labor Secretary Tom Perez was elected Democratic National Committee chair Saturday.

The race for chair of the Democratic National Committee came to an end today in Atlanta when former Labor Secretary Tom Perez was elected to the position, beating out Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison in a race that had come to be framed as a battle between the partys Obama-era establishment and the burgeoning progressive wing of Sen. Bernie Sanders. Conceding the race, Ellison, who was backed by Sanders, pleaded with his supporters to give everything youve got to support Chairman Perez. Some Ellison backers in the room, wearing the candidates green T-shirts and upset by the vote, chanted in protest.

The former labor secretary had appeared to be ahead, if only by a slim margin, in the final days before the election, which gave the party time to fret about potentially angry reactions from Sanders voters. Perhaps inevitably, given the power vacuum in the Democratic Party following the presidential election, the race became freighted with deeper meaning and led Sanders to condemn a failed status-quo approach embodied by Perez, who served under Obama. Well aware of the raw feelings lingering from a hotly contested presidential primary season, the two front-runners have been publicly adulating of one another and were spotted out to dinner in Washington the week before the election. Saturdays messages of unity were almost certainly planned ones.

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But Perezs win deals an undeniable morale blow to the Sanders-supporting wing of the Democratic Party, which feels that the partys loss in November was something of a referendum on the status quo. Nina Turner, a prominent Sanders-turned-Ellison surrogate, told The Washington Posts Dave Weigel that if Ellison lost, the future of the Democratic Party will walk away.

The argument from the partys Sanders wing was that Ellison was the best choice to put forth a message of progressivism that would reinvigorate the partys base, implying that Perez was something of an establishment centrist. But Perez and Ellison laid out essentially identical visions for the party during the DNC race. Both called for a more decentralized organization that placed greater emphasis on the particular political climates and needs of each state, better candidate recruitment, and well-honed messages of economic populism that would speak to the partys traditional base and beyond.

And both Perez and Ellison are well to the left of center on the spectrum of beliefs within the Democratic Party, though Ellisons views are more deeply left. In fact, hes more liberal than 90 percent of House Democrats, according to FiveThirtyEight ideological ratings that look at congressional voting records, donors and public statements. Ellison scores a -57 in our ratings (-100 is most liberal; +100 is most conservative). The average Democratic member of the House in the 114th Congress (2015-16) had a congressional record voting score of -40. Perez never served in Congress, but he did make an abbreviated run for attorney general of Maryland and has made public statements on political issues. Using these, we estimated his average score at -45, which is not as liberal as Ellisons but indicates that he may be further to the left than the average Democratic member of the House.

Taking the podium in the afternoon after hours of balloting and his win, Perez motioned for Ellison to be appointed deputy chair. The party, it seems, is looking to move past the drama.

Harry Enten provided analysis.

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Tom Perez Isn't As Liberal As Keith Ellison, But He's Still Pretty Progressive - FiveThirtyEight

News Corp reports a band of Liberal MPs were actively colluding to pressure Malcolm Turnbull in the media.

Liberal MPs have been plotting to get Tony Abbott back in Cabinet. Picture: Kym Smith

MALCOLM Turnbull has blasted Tony Abbott as reports emerged that a group of Liberal MPs calling themselves the deplorables has been plotting to undermine the Government and get the former PM back onto the frontbench.

The group of more than a dozen conservative members of the party held phone hook-ups and meetings at Parliament House to discuss the strategy.

The Australian reports the former Prime Minister and Senator Eric Abetz co-ordinated the meetings via calendar invites and group texts.

In a double-blow for Mr Turnbull, the report comes as a new poll released today showed the his governments popularity has plunged to a record low.

Speaking in Canberra this morning, Mr Turnbull accused Mr Abbott of deliberately attempting to skew the poll results by criticising the Government in an outburst last Thursday.

A poll is a snapshot of opinion at one particular time, the election is two years away and what we saw was an outburst on Thursday and it had its desired impact on the Newspoll it was exactly as predicted and calculated, Mr Turnbull said.

The Prime Minister then hit out at the media for being too focused on personalities and conflict.

It wasnt a Donald Trump-level attack, with the Prime Minister beginning with great respect to all of you in the media, but his frustration was clear.

Youre much more entertained by conflict and personalities than you are by jobs, he said.

Now, you can focus on the personalities if you wish, thats up to you, but Im focused on jobs, Im focused on economic growth, Im focused on ensuring that as hardworking Australian families can get ahead.

ACT senator Zed Seselja appeared beside the Prime Minister in his press conference this morning after being named as one of the Liberal MPs agitating to undermine Mr Turnbull.

Liberal MPs have been plotting to undermine Malcolm Turnbull. Picture: AAP Image/Mick TsikasSource:AAP

The group also reportedly included Kevin Andrews, Michael Sukker, Rick Wilson, Andrew Hastie, Ian Goodenough, Cory Bernardi, Nicolle Flint, Jonathon Duniam, Craig Kelly, Scott Buchholz and Tony Pasin.

Junior MPs were reportedly given directives to use the media to put pressure on the Turnbull Government on issues such as Safe Schools, same sex marriage and freedom of speech.

A number have now distanced themselves as the group began to feel they were being used to get Mr Abbott back into Cabinet.

Others were silenced as they were moved to the frontbench.

Some junior members had initially thought the meetings were purely to discuss strategies on how to push conservative policy positions before realising the other motives at play.

Mr Abbott reportedly wanted to keep his hands clean so other Liberal MPs were directed to push the government on conservative issues. Picture: AAP Image/Mick TsikasSource:AAP

One MP told The Australian Mr Abbott wanted clean hands so the group were co-opted into the attacks.

Mr Abbott had publicly declared there would be no sniping the day after he was ousted as Prime Minister.

But members of the group have opened up about the plotting after yet another public stoush between Mr Abbott and Mr Turnbull last week.

The outbursts youre now seeing from Tony have happened because the hook-ups didnt produce the results he was looking for, one MP told The Australian.

Most of us quickly came to realise this was about personalities, not policy.

Liberal Tasmanian senator and former cabinet minister Eric Abetz was a reportedly a co-ordinator of the efforts to undermine the Government. Picture: AAP Image/Mick TsikasSource:AAP

Others described the continued invitations to take part as spam requests, while one said Mr Abbott was becoming increasingly frustrated about the groups failure to follow through with the plan.

Its all about Tony, thats what most of us have come to realise, one said.

WA MP Andrew Hastie had reportedly suggested the term the deplorables to describe the group, a reference to Hillary Clintons comments about Donald Trump supporters in the lead up to the US presidential election.

NSW MP Craig Kelly reportedly informed the group he wasnt interested in taking part, while Senator Bernardis departure from the Liberal Party earlier this month was said to be partly due to the realisation some MPs were trying to rumble Mr Turnbull.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said today he had not heard of the groups meetings but did not think it was there agenda to undermine the government.

Minister for Finance Mathias Cormann hit out at Mr Abbott for behaviour he said was deliberately disruptive and completely unhelpful. Picture: AAP/Mick TsikasSource:AAP

Mr Cormann, who was a loyal Abbott supporter during the leadership challenge but last week hit out at the former Prime Minister for being deliberately disruptive and completely unhelpful, said the people mentioned cited as members of the group were all good people and valued friends and colleagues.

Theres nothing wrong with discussing policy matters internally and theres nothing wrong with discussing policy matters internally with a view of participating in the overall policy debates within the Liberal Party, he told ABCs radio national program.

Meanwhile, Education Minister Simon Birmingham told Sky News: Anything that creates the perception that a Government might not be focused on issues that matter to people is bad for that Government.

I can only reassure your viewers that Malcolm Turnbull and every senior member of the Government is far from distracted from these issues that might be generating a lot of newspaper headlines and a lot of chatter, Senator Birmingham said.

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Liberal MPs 'the Deplorables' plot to oust Turnbull, get Abbott back - NEWS.com.au

Elections have consequences.

Boom!

Thats the collective sound of liberals heads exploding during and after the presidents speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Their heads were exploding because he started right out with an example of the medias fake news. When he said fake media is the enemy of the people, most of the liberal medias headlines claimed Trump said the media are the enemy of the people. When they report fake news, they are the enemy of the people.

The push by the administration to enforce the immigration laws on the books, in order to minimize the number of illegal criminals in this country, is being reported by the liberal media as anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim. Thats a totally false representation for the purpose of promoting their preferred narratives.

The liberal media are fixated on any little mole hill out of which they can make a mountain against the Trump Administration.

The liberals heads were exploding as he listed what his priorities are, especially because they are the same as what he promised while campaigning. To make matters worse for liberals, hes already made progress, or already delivered, on some of those promises.

Jobs are coming back to this country because of the presidents positive tone from the top. More businesses are now planning to build or expand in the U.S.

The stock market is already responding to this positive tone, as well as the anticipated tax code changes by this administration and Congress.

The president is determined to repeal and replace the Unaffordable Care Act. He and Congress are on the same page, despite the Democrats fighting it every step of the way, and the liberal media saying it wont happen.

President Trump is going to authorize significant funding to rebuild our military. We have great men and women serving our country, but our military readiness is not what it should be because of inadequate funding and poor strategic leadership.

The newly confirmed Secretary of Veterans Affairs is saying all the right things about changes we need to make in order to take care of our veterans, a commitment by President Trump from the beginning of his run for the presidency.

President Trumps biggest conservative move was the nomination of an indisputably conservative judge, Neil Gorsuch, to the Supreme Court. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said Gorsuch will be confirmed one way or the other, despite Democrat stall tactics.

Instead of the liberal media pitching a hissy fit about how they are being treated by President Trump (treatment they richly deserve), they could be reporting on the amazing fact that the national debt has gone down by $12 billion in the first month of the Trump Administration.

This is a direct result of two executive orders by President Trump. One EO put a freeze on federal hiring except for the military, while the other EO which said if you want him to approve a new regulation, you need to show him two that will be eliminated.

In contrast, the national debt went up by $200 billion during the first month of the 44th presidents administration.

The overarching take away from the presidents CPAC speech was consistency. His priorities, agenda and purpose as well as his role as a voice for the people have not changed since he started running for president.

That consistency makes it harder to find a mole hill from which to create a convincing mountain in the eyes of the people who are paying attention. And yes! More people are paying attention.

Get used to it, liberal media! Hes just getting started.

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Liberal heads explode as Trump CPAC speech confirms he means what he says - Canada Free Press

WASHINGTON Speaking before a crowd of liberal American Jews, Arab Joint List leader MK Ayman Odeh denounced the Israeli Labor Party in biting terms Sunday, accusing it of betraying its principles and failing to stand up to the countrys right-wing coalition government.

He called on the American Jewish left to form a coalition with his own political union of Arab-majority and non-Zionist parties.

You showed up today because we know we cannot rely on the opposition we have, the one that is ready to sell out our values in exchange for power, he told a crowd gathered for J Streets 2017 National Conference in the Washington Convention Center Sunday evening.

He began his half-hour speech at the left-wing advocacy groups annual gathering by recounting the deadly clash last month between residents of the Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran and Israel Police officers carrying out court-ordered home demolitions in the village. A resident of the village, Yacoub Mousa Abu Al-Qiaan, was shot by police and then drove his vehicle, possibly unintentionally, into a group of officers, killing 1st Sgt. Erez Levi, 34.

Police officials and politicians, including Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, insisted Abu Al-Qiaan had intentionally rammed the officers in a terror attack, but video footage released by the police seemed to show another officer shooting Abu Al-Qiaan moments before his car accelerated and hit Levi.

Odeh was at Umm al-Hiran that day, January 18, and was lightly injured when he was apparently hit by rubber bullets fired by police.

The Labor party did nothing to stop the order to destroy Umm al-Hiran and leave its residents homeless, he said. It has abandoned the human rights organizations and civil society groups that the right-wing parties attack. And it has failed to provide any real leadership toward ending the occupation and resisting the extremist agenda of the right-wing government.

He went on: They have called themselves the Zionist camp. The right-wing calls itself the national camp. We, Arabs and Jews together, are building a new camp, a democratic camp, that has already begun to show the world what real, principled, and strong opposition looked like.

This is the time for a real opposition, principled, fearless, he said. An opposition led by a Labor party that is a shadow of the right is no opposition at all.

Odeh, who leads the Hadash party within the Joint List faction, also sought to link Netanyahu with US President Donald Trump both of whom are intensely unpopular with his audience.

In Israel, around the world, and here in the United States, those who sit in the halls of power care only about their own power, he accused.

Trump and Netanyahu have cemented their power in the same way regimes have throughout history: with the language of fear and a slow-burning hate, by turning us against one another instead of reminding-us of our shared values and our mutual interests.

J Streets sixth national conference, which runs from February 26-28, will host a number of prominent Democrats on Monday, including numerous members of Congress like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine and California Rep. Nancy Pelosi.

Vice President Mike Pence, Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson were invited but did not respond, the group said.

Then-secretary of state John Kerry and then-vice president Joe Biden spoke at last years conference.

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Odeh tells liberal American Jews that Israel's Labor abandoned its principles - The Times of Israel