Newslinks for Monday December 19, 2011
Posted on 12/19/2011House set to reject Senate's short-term payroll tax fix... and Senate unlike to return from vacation to find deal - Politico | Roll Call
"In an interview on “Meet The Press” on NBC, Speaker John A. Boehner said his members broadly opposed the two-month extension that passed the Senate 89 to 10, believing that it would be “just kicking the can down the road.” “It’s time to just stop, do our work, resolve the differences and extend this for one year,” Mr. Boehner said. “How can you have tax policy for two months?”" - New York Times
John Boehner says he's not abandoned efforts to cut bipartisan deals with President Obama
""I never give up, and I'll never give up on this president and this process to try to help do what the American people sent us here to do ," Boehner declared on NBC's "Meet the Press." Boehner was responding to Obama's assertion that Republicans will oppose anything that he supports in order to see a Republican win the White House." - Politico
- "A spokeswoman for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said the House would vote Monday to either request formal bargaining with the Senate or to make the legislation "responsible and in line with the needs of hard-working taxpayers and middle-class families."" - TIME
With Iowa voting just weeks away, a look at how the candidates are scrambling for support
- "Newt Gingrich heads back on Monday and Tuesday to Iowa, where his campaign is scrambling to assemble an infrastructure that can deliver"
- "Mitt Romney will spend most of the week in New Hampshire, where he once held a commanding lead but has now slipped somewhat in recent polls"
- "Ron Paul is splitting his time between New Hampshire and Iowa, states where he believes his campaign... can exceed expectations"
- "Rick Perry continues his bus tour through Iowa, betting that he can recover momentum by campaigning nearly nonstop, with only a few days off for the holidays."
- "Michele Bachmann is racing across Iowa to fulfill her pledge to visit all 99 of its counties in 10 days, with just a couple of days off for a quick trip back to Minnesota for the holiday."
- "Jon M. Huntsman Jr. has bet his struggling campaign on New Hampshire, and that is where he will be on Monday and Tuesday, holding town-hall-style meetings"
- "Rick Santorum also hopes to beat expectations, and will spend most of the week in Iowa."
More at the New York Times
Newt Gingrich’s assault on ‘activist judges’ draws criticism, even from right - Washington Post
"Newt Gingrich is giving fair warning to judges and courts across the country: If he becomes president, the judiciary won’t reign supreme. The former House Speaker and current Republican presidential front-runner convened a conference call with reporters on Saturday to expand on his call for Congress to subpoena judges or even abolish courts altogether if they make wrong-headed decisions. Those arguments from Gingrich at Thursday's debate in Iowa drew scrutiny and criticism from his rivals. - Fox
Andrew McCarthy questions National Review's critique of Gingrich - NRO
- "The prospect of Newt Gingrich as the Republican presidential nominee has some people wondering whether we’re in store for another long and ferocious argument about the wisdom–or extreme idiocy–of impeaching the President over his affair with a White House intern." - TIME
- "Gingrich has now seen a big drop in his Iowa standing two weeks in a row. His share of the vote has gone from 27% to 22% to 14%. And there's been a large drop in his personal favorability numbers as well from +31 (62/31) to +12 (52/40) to now -1 (46/47)." - Public Policy Polling
After avoiding Sunday morning interview shows for nearly two years, Mitt Romney makes tame return, sticking to talking points - Politico
...but the Wall Street Journal notices a more personal Romney: "Mitt Romney, described by some as too stiff and passionless to win the presidency, opened up a bit Sunday, recounting how he and his wife, Ann, learned years ago that she had multiple sclerosis."
Romney: Obama is 'Great Divider,' doesn't get how economy works - Fox
Des Moines Register endorses Romney: "Sobriety, wisdom and judgment. Those are qualities Mitt Romney said he looks for in a leader. Those are qualities Romney himself has demonstrated in his career in business, public service and government. Those qualities help the former Massachusetts governor stand out as the most qualified Republican candidate competing in the Iowa caucuses."
- Former Sen. Bob Dole endorses Romney - The Hill
- Sen. Mark Kirk endorses Romney - Chicago Tribune
Seeking Iowa rebound, Bachmann hits Gingrich on Freddie Mac - LA Times
Bachmann: Obama spending 'like a banana republic' - USA Today
- Redistricting could turn Michele Bachmann's seat vulnerable - Roll Call
Huntsman: Everyone gets 15 minutes of fame... except for me - CNN
There are going to be a lot of institutional GOP folks doing a spit-take over this... Ron Paul is leading in Iowa - Weekly Standard
- Paul's simple libertarianism makes us yearn for the good old days when government and big banks didn't seem to screw everything up... says Rich Galen for the Daily Beast
Rick Santorum in extended interview with... The Daily Caller
Independent groups supporting Republican presidential candidates have sprung to life, funding a flurry of new commercials in recent days to influence the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses and other early primary contests - USA Today
Evangelicals divided on whom to support in GOP presidential race - Washington Post
Four economic scenarios for 2012 - National Journal
Mark Steyn: Tweedlemitt and tweedlenewt are micromanagers when America needs radicalism
"This next term is critical for America, not just because (if the IMF is correct) it may mark the end of America’s long run as the world’s leading economy but because, if Obamacare is not repealed in the next four years, it will never be repealed. As I’ve said for years, government health care fundamentally (as Newt would say) redefines the relationship between the citizen and the state into one closer to junkie and pusher. Once the Obamacare goodies kick in, getting back across the Rubicon will be a tough job." - Mark Steyn for NRO
Jeb Bush: In freedom lies the risk of failure. But in statism lies the certainty of stagnation
"Congressman Paul Ryan recently coined a smart phrase to describe the core concept of economic freedom: "The right to rise." Think about it. We talk about the right to free speech, the right to bear arms, the right to assembly. The right to rise doesn't seem like something we should have to protect. But we do. We have to make it easier for people to do the things that allow them to rise. We have to let them compete. We need to let people fight for business. We need to let people take risks. We need to let people fail. We need to let people suffer the consequences of bad decisions. And we need to let people enjoy the fruits of good decisions, even good luck." - Jeb Bush in the Wall Street Journal
Marriage versus cohabitation - Ruth Marcus in the Washington Post
Little talk of triumph as Iraq war ends - The Hill
"On balance, it has been an extremely painful and costly decade. But it does seem possible to conclude, with cautious optimism, that America is somewhat safer. And we are certainly closer than ever to ending our current round of overseas wars." - New York Times
Blame Canada! The Right-Wing Menace To Our North
"Harper, a churchgoing evangelical... has perhaps the most doggedly right-wing temperament of any twentieth-century Canadian prime minister. A veteran of the conservative movement, Harper has been president of a prominent Canadian libertarian lobbying group and helped get the insurgent, Western Canada-based Reform Party off the ground in the late eighties by arguing for the deregulation of oil prices and lowered taxes, and against gay marriage and abortion. He’s an admirer of Friedrich Hayek and William F. Buckley. And he has devoted his life to pushing Canadian politics to the right." - TNR
Václav Havel: A man for all seasons on behalf of liberty - Wall Street Journal editorial
North Korea's Kim Jong Il reportedly dead - The Hill
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