Yahoo! News: Politics News

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• Why is the jobless rate staying so high, and what can be done about it? (Exclusive to Yahoo! News)
• Giffords says first words since shooting (Politico)
• The Fast Fix: One popular (first) lady (The Newsroom)
• Republicans grill Bernanke over inflation threat (AP)
• Patriot Act extension fails in House (The Ticket)
• Donald Rumsfeld on What Went Right (The Daily Beast)
• President has stopped smoking, but will it last? (AP)
• The Right Invades Washington (The Daily Beast)
• Former aide disses Bachmann (Politico)
• Barbour peace plan: Stop pushing for Israeli concessions (Politico)
• Conservatives' clout flummoxes House GOP leaders (AP)
• Global warming heats up Republican attacks on EPA (AP)
• Sarkozy to ministers: Take vacations in France (AP)
• Obama health law foes want Supreme Court action (AFP)
• What We've Learned From Bush Administration Memoirs (The Atlantic Wire)
• House GOP leadership fails to pass second bill in two days under suspension rules (Daily Caller)
• Valentine’s Day gifts from Hell [SLIDESHOW] (Daily Caller)
• Nev. tea party favorite Sharron Angle heads to SC (AP)
• Rick Santorum criticizes Sarah Palin for skipping CPAC (The Ticket)

Why is the jobless rate staying so high, and what can be done about it? (Exclusive to Yahoo! News) Posted: 09 Feb 2011 08:30 AM PST Exclusive to Yahoo! News - By Chris Farrell The job numbers are bleak. Some 13.9 million workers remain unemployed 21 months after the end of the recession, according to the latest estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.   Of those, 6.2 million people have been …

Giffords says first words since shooting (Politico) Posted: 09 Feb 2011 01:36 AM PST Politico - TUCSON, Ariz. — On Monday, when Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’s breakfast was delivered to her Houston hospital room, she asked for something else: toast.

The Fast Fix: One popular (first) lady (The Newsroom) Posted: 09 Feb 2011 04:48 AM PST The Newsroom - Michelle Obama is becoming more popular as she promotes her anti-obesity campaign. How will her popularity help the president in 2012? Get The Fix in your e-mail inbox! Click here to sign-up for the Morning Fix newsletter. Click here for …

Republicans grill Bernanke over inflation threat (AP) Posted: 09 Feb 2011 02:58 PM PST AP - Members of Congress sharply questioned Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke Wednesday over whether the Fed's policies are raising the risk of higher inflation in the months ahead.

Patriot Act extension fails in House (The Ticket) Posted: 09 Feb 2011 06:42 AM PST The Ticket - The House last night failed to pass an extension of the Patriot Act--the Bush-era law expanding federal powers of counterterrorism surveillance--despite strong support from the GOP. The measure required two-thirds support to advance, but came up seven votes short: 277 to 148. A total of 210 Republicans voted for the extension, but 26 Republicans  joined [...]

Donald Rumsfeld on What Went Right (The Daily Beast) Posted: 08 Feb 2011 07:50 PM PST The Daily Beast - With his new memoir hitting bookstores, the former Defense secretary talked with John Barry about how great Gitmo is, his "parade of horribles" memo on Iraq, and the myths about Cheney.

President has stopped smoking, but will it last? (AP) Posted: 09 Feb 2011 05:17 AM PST AP - A large majority of smokers who try to kick the habit are back puffing away within six months, so President Barack Obama is ahead of the game.

The Right Invades Washington (The Daily Beast) Posted: 08 Feb 2011 07:37 PM PST The Daily Beast - Fighting off a boycott and scrambling for a headliner, the biggest annual conservative gathering takes place this week. Eight things to watch at CPAC.

Former aide disses Bachmann (Politico) Posted: 09 Feb 2011 11:18 AM PST Politico - A former top adviser to Michele Bachmann says she’s got no chance of winning the White House and, if she did win, she wouldn’t be “ready” to do the job.

Barbour peace plan: Stop pushing for Israeli concessions (Politico) Posted: 09 Feb 2011 09:45 AM PST Politico - Washington politicians who push Israel to give in to Palestinian demands are forcing the Jewish state to make "dangerous strategic concessions" that only result in more terror attacks, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour told an Israel audience Tuesday.

Conservatives' clout flummoxes House GOP leaders (AP) Posted: 09 Feb 2011 02:44 PM PST AP - The clout of tea party advocates and other hard-line conservatives in Congress has caught top Republicans by surprise, raising questions about whether GOP leaders can impose enough discipline in their House majority to pass tough measures, such as raising the debt ceiling.

Global warming heats up Republican attacks on EPA (AP) Posted: 09 Feb 2011 12:58 PM PST AP - Vowing to curb the authority and the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency, congressional Republicans are attacking the agency to a degree not seen since President Richard Nixon created it 40 years ago.

Sarkozy to ministers: Take vacations in France (AP) Posted: 09 Feb 2011 09:38 AM PST AP - President Nicolas Sarkozy is awkwardly trying to stamp out a controversy over his ministers taking sun-and-sea holidays paid for by the Egyptian government and a Tunisian businessman.

Obama health law foes want Supreme Court action (AFP) Posted: 09 Feb 2011 03:00 PM PST AFP - A group of 28 Republican governors urged President Barack Obama Tuesday to support an expedited US Supreme Court ruling over the constitutionality of his signature health care overhaul.

What We've Learned From Bush Administration Memoirs (The Atlantic Wire) Posted: 09 Feb 2011 01:13 PM PST The Atlantic Wire - The Bush administration left a lot of people disappointed and angry. That said, give senior administration officials credit for trying their hand at searching, non-mailed-in political memoirs since leaving the White House two years ago. Taken together, they make a flawed presidency seem no less flawed, but certainly more interesting. Furthermore, the administration's star memoirists certainly seem to be doing a decent job repairing their public images. Well, all except one. (Have a look at the most recent addition to the corpus and you'll see what we mean.) Here's the list:John BoltonJob: United Nations ambassadorNotable achievement: Leonine moustacheMemoir: Surrender Is Not An Option (2007)What they said about him then: "Damaged goods." - Barack Obama, 2005What they say about him now: "Someone needs to say it now. John Bolton was right...No American Ambassador has produced more Security Council Resolutions on the issue of Iran than John Bolton. Bolton was able to produce three UN Security Council resolutions on Iran, two with the increasing pressure of sanctions. The deadlines in the resolutions that Bolton insisted upon were kept mainly because he held his counterparts to their word"- Richard Grenell, CBS (2009) Scott McClellanJob: Press SecretaryNotable achievement: Not liking the Iraq war anymoreMemoir: What Happened (2008)What they said about him then: "When briefings get tense, McClellan's voice can become robotic, as if he's a hostage reading a statement. His body language can betray unease: He starts blinking rapidly and he clenches his shoulders as an interrogator unfurls a question." - Mark Leibovitch, The Washington Post (2005)What they say about him now: "I do feel a certain compassion for McClellan after reading a book that is full of regret, soul-searching, and shame. McClellan certainly isn't presenting himself as a hero for finally coming out against policies he once advocated. If he'd left in the middle of the CIA leak scandal, he would have given an enormous gift to the president's political opponents." - John Dickerson, Slate (2008)Tom RidgeJob: Secretary of Homeland Security Notable achievement: Color-coded terror alertsMemoir: Test of Our Times (2009)What they said about him then: "Nobody in America makes me feel more insecure than Tom Ridge.The man who is supposed to restore my confidence in the prospect of my safety gives me the uneasy sense that the door's unlocked, the alarm's off and there's a ladder leaning up against the house." - Maureen Dowd, The New York Times (2003)What they say about him now: "The basic issue is this: Tom Ridge, he of the color-coded terror alerts, has now confirmed what many of us suspected all along: that declarations of a higher threat level were called for political purposes, so as to step on Democratic messages or divert attention from Republican scandals...By 2004 the Bush administration already had an extensive record in many areas where fact-checking was easy, from budget policy to environmental policy. And it was clear from any serious analysis of that record that the Bush people consistently relied on lies and misinformation to sell their policies, consistently abused power for political gain." - Paul Krugman, The New York Times (2009)John YooJob: Deputy Assistant Attorney GeneralNotable achievement: WaterboardingMemoir: Crisis and Command (2010)What they said about him then: "The fact that John Yoo is a Professor of Law at Berkeley and is treated as a respectable, serious expert by our media institutions, reflects the complete destruction over the last eight years of whatever moral authority the United States possessed." - Glenn Greenwald, Salon (2008)What they say about him now: "[Crisis and Command] reveals how the Bush war on terror, far from overstepping constitutional bounds, was rooted in a tradition that reaches back to George Washington himself. Mr. Yoo does not set out to vindicate himself personally, but it is hard not to read his analysis without feeling that much of the anti-Bush rhetoric of recent yearsâ€"not to mention its anti-Yoo varietyâ€"has been grounded in ignorance as much as outrage." - Arthur Herman, The Wall Street Journal (2010). It's worth noting, of course, that Glenn Greenwald's opinion probably hasn't changed that much.George W. BushJob: President of the United StatesNotable achievement: Not privatizing social securityMemoir: Decision Points (2010)What they said about him then: "I think [Bush] is a bully, and, like all bullies, he’s a coward when confronted with a force that he’s fearful of. His reaction to the extravagant and unbelievably selfish wish list of the wealthy interest groups that put him in the White House is obsequious. The degree of obsequiousness that is involved in saying ‘yes, yes, yes, yes, yes’ to whatever these people want, no matter the damage and harm done to the nation as a wholeâ€"that can come only from genuine moral cowardice." - Al Gore (2004)What they say about him now: "As I read on, trapped in the sketchy carelessness of this presidency, I was surprised by how angry I didn't become. For me, at least, weariness has replaced anger. Bush's was an exhausting presidency that will, I suspect, be remembered more for its waste â€" of time, lives, money, moral standing and economic strength â€" than for anything else." - Joe Klein, Time (2010)Donald RumsfeldJob: Secretary of DefenseNotable achievement: Iraq, before the surgeMemoir: Known and Unknown (2011)What they said about him then: "I think that Donald Rumsfeld will go down in history as one of the worst secretaries of defense in history." - John McCain (2007)What they say about him now: "There's little to be said for this book, which stands to mark Rumsfeld as not only the most destructive secretary of defense in American history (a title already bestowed by many) but also the most mendacious political memoirist." - Fred Kaplan, Slate (2011)

House GOP leadership fails to pass second bill in two days under suspension rules (Daily Caller) Posted: 09 Feb 2011 12:29 PM PST Daily Caller - For the second time in as many days, the House has rejected a measure brought to the floor, a sign that the new Republican leadership is still learning the ropes when it comes to counting — and keeping — vote counts on the floor.

Valentine’s Day gifts from Hell [SLIDESHOW] (Daily Caller) Posted: 09 Feb 2011 11:40 AM PST Daily Caller - Let's not kid ourselves: Valentine's Day is torture. I'm not referring just to petulant "woe is me" single folk. Even happy couples consider Cupid's holiday a nuisance.

Nev. tea party favorite Sharron Angle heads to SC (AP) Posted: 09 Feb 2011 11:11 AM PST AP - Former U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle is slated to headline a Christian movie premiere in South Carolina in her latest whistle stop as a tea party-backed Republican weighing a future campaign.

Rick Santorum criticizes Sarah Palin for skipping CPAC (The Ticket) Posted: 09 Feb 2011 10:30 AM PST The Ticket - Rick Santorum is downplaying remarks he made Tuesday suggesting Sarah Palin is skipping this week's Conservative Political Action Conference because she wouldn't be paid for her speech. In an interview with conservative writer S.E. Cupp, the former Pennsylvania senator criticized Palin, suggesting his potential 2012 presidential rival had other "business opportunities to attend to." "I [...]

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