Barry As President: When Your Ego Is So Large That You Can't Admit Defeat (The Misreading Of The Midterm 2010 Elections)

NEW YORK (CBS) — After suffering a “shellacking” in the midterm elections, President Obama acknowledges what many have seen as his chief weakness – failing to sell the importance of several legislative milestones to the American people.

“I think that’s a fair argument. I think that, over the course of two years we were so busy and so focused on getting a bunch of stuff done that, we stopped paying attention to the fact that leadership isn’t just legislation. That it’s a matter of persuading people. And giving them confidence and bringing them together. And setting a tone,” Mr. Obama told 60 Minutes’ Steve Kroft in an exclusive interview set to air Sunday.

“Making an argument that people can understand,” Mr. Obama continued, “I think that we haven’t always been successful at that. And I take personal responsibility for that. And it’s something that I’ve got to examine carefully … as I go forward.”

Republicans enjoyed significant victories Tuesday, wresting control of the House of Representatives from the Democrats and picking up six seats in the Senate, as frustration over the economy drove voter sentiment.

A humbled Mr. Obama, who termed the defeat a “shellacking” during a postelection press conference Wednesday, must now grapple with an emboldened and empowered political enemy with its sights set on undoing much of what he accomplished in the last two years – including an effort to repeal his signature achievement, health care reform, reports CBS News White House correspondent Bill Plante. (source)

Keith Olbermann Shills For Dems On MSNBC No More

(CNN) - Keith Olbermann, MSNBC's primetime firebrand host, has been suspended indefinitely for violating the ethics policies of his employer earlier this year when he donated to three Democrats seeking federal office, MSNBC announced Friday.

"I became aware of Keith's political contributions late last night. Mindful of NBC News policy and standards, I have suspended him indefinitely without pay," MSNBC President Phil Griffin said in a statement.

First reported by Politico and confirmed by Federal Election Commission filings, the primetime television host gave $2,400 – the maximum individual amount allowed – to each of the campaigns of Kentucky Senate candidate Jack Conway, and Arizona Reps. Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords. (View PDF's of FEC filings for Conway, Grijalva, and Giffords)

Conway lost his bid to Republican Rand Paul while Grijalva eked out a win over Tea Party-backed candidate Ruth McClung for a fifth term. Grijalva found himself in an increasingly competitive race after he announced his support of a boycott of Arizona businesses in response to the state's controversial new immigration law and often appeared on Olbermann's show where he found a sympathetic audience. CNN, meanwhile, has yet to declare a winner in Giffords' race, but the Democrat currently holds about a 3,000-vote lead with all precincts reporting.

The contributions may have violated an NBC policy that requires employers of the news organization to obtain permission ahead of any political donations or activities that could be deemed as a conflict of interest. CNN institutes a similar policy.

In a statement to Politico before the suspension was announced, Olbermann defended the contributions:

"One week ago, on the night of Thursday October 28 2010, after a discussion with a friend about the state of politics in Arizona, I donated $2,400 each to the re-election campaigns of Democratic Representatives Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords," he said in the statement. "I also donated the same amount to the campaign of Democratic Senatorial candidate Jack Conway in Kentucky."

Olbermann, as well as MSNBC executives, was a vocal critic of the $1 million donation by Fox News' parent News Corp. to the Republican Governor's Association earlier this year, saying at the time, "We now have another million reasons Fox News is the Republican news channel."

In a subsequent show, Olbermann also pressed House Majority Whip James Clyburn if there was a "legislative response" to a networks that "starts to shill for partisan causes."

A News Corp. spokesman defended the donation when it was first reported in August.

"News Corporation believes in the power of free markets, and the RGA's pro-business agenda supports our priorities at this most critical time for our economy," the spokesman said.

– CNN's Alexander Mooney and David DeSola contributed to this report (source)

Boehner Vows To Repeal Obama Healthcare Reforms

(Reuters) - Representative John Boehner, expected to be named the next speaker of the House of Representatives, vowed on Wednesday to repeal health care reforms pushed into law by the Obama administration.

"I believe that the healthcare bill that was enacted by the current Congress will kill jobs in America, ruin the best healthcare system in the world, and bankrupt our country," Boehner, an Ohio Republican, told a news conference. "That means we have to do everything we can to try to repeal this bill and replace it with common sense reforms to bring down the cost of health care. (source)

Barry As President: Allowing GM Execs To Fly In Jets Again

General Motors executives have been cleared for takeoff again.

The automaker has been given the go-ahead by the federal government to use chartered aircraft as early as Thursday to ferry managers on a "road show" promoting G.M.'s public stock offering, according to government and company officials who declined to be identified.

It is believed to be the first time that G.M. will use private jets for business-related purposes since the government demanded that it sell its fleet of corporate aircraft in 2008. As a condition for accepting emergency federal assistance, G.M. has required its executives to travel on commercial airlines. (source)

Barry As President: Forgiving GM From Paying 45 Billion Dollars In Taxes (Is That Patriotic According To Biden?)

General Motors Co. will drive away from its U.S.-government-financed restructuring with a final gift in its trunk: a tax break that could be worth as much as $45 billion.

GM, which plans to begin promoting its relisting on the stock exchange to investors this week, wiped out billions of dollars in debt, laid off thousands of employees and jettisoned money-losing brands during its U.S.-funded reorganization last year.

Now it turns out, according to documents filed with federal regulators, the revamping left the car maker with another boost as it prepares to return to the stock market. It won't have to pay $45.4 billion in taxes on future profits.

The tax benefit stems from so-called tax-loss carry-forwards and other provisions, which allow companies to use losses in prior years and costs related to pensions and other expenses to shield profits from U.S. taxes for up to 20 years. In GM's case, the losses stem from years prior to when GM entered bankruptcy.

Usually, companies that undergo a significant change in ownership risk having major restrictions put on their tax benefits. The U.S. bailout of GM, in which the Treasury took a 61% stake in the company, ordinarily would have resulted in GM having such limits put on its tax benefits, according to tax experts.

But the government, in a little-noticed ruling last year, decided companies that received bailout money under the Troubled Asset Relief Program won't fall under that rule.

"The Internal Revenue Service has decided that the government's involvement with these companies, both its acquisitions plus its disposals of their stock, means they should be exempt" from the rule, said Robert Willens, a New York tax consultant who advises investment banks and hedge funds.

The government's rationale, said people familiar with the situation, is that the profit-shielding tax credit makes the bailed-out companies more attractive to investors, and that the value of the benefit is greater than the lost tax payments, especially since the tax payments would not exist if the companies fail.

GM declined to comment.

The $45.4 billion in future tax savings consist of $18.9 billion in carry-forwards based on past losses, according to GM's pre-IPO public disclosure. The other tax savings are related to costs such as pensions and other post-retirement benefits, and property, plants and equipment.

The losses were incurred by "Old GM," the company that remained in bankruptcy after the current "New GM" resulted from the reorganization last June.

Investors typically view tax-loss carry-forwards losses as important assets in bolstering a company's balance sheet.

GM's chief domestic rival, Ford Motor Co., last year adopted a plan to preserve deferred "tax assets" which stood at $17 billion at the end of 2009. Ford declined to comment on the GM tax ruling.

2010 Election Night Viewership Tells The Story: FOX News Dominates Again

Unsurprisingly FNC easily won in primetime as well as the 5p-7pm period. CNN pulled ahead of MSNBC but not nearly by the margins separating FNC and CNN.

8-11p ET______MSNBC________CNN__________FNC

P2+_________1,945,000_____2,423,000_____6,957,000
25-54________669,000______1,030,000_____2,431,000

5p-7p_________MSNBC________CNN__________FNC

P2+__________869,000_______945,000______3,092,000
25-54________256,000_______283,000______750,000

Michele Bachman Mocks Chris Matthews And His "Tingly Feeling" Over Barry

Black Panther Intimidation Redux: The 2010 Mid-Term Elections

New Black Panther Seen At Polling Place

No Voter Intimidation Reported Tuesday At Poll

PHILADELPHIA - Fox 29 News spotted Tuesday a member of the New Black Panther Party standing outside of a local polling place where voter intimidation was reported two years ago.

The man was seen outside the polling place in North Philadelphia was wearing a pin that indicated his party affiliation, along with a black hat, sunglasses and leather coat.

In footage obtained by Fox News back in 2008, two members of the New Black Panther Party stood outside the same polling place shaking a Billy club and allegedly intimidating voters.

The case was ultimately dropped by the Department of Justice after President Obama's administration came into power, although controversy surrounding the incident's handling has persisted.

Just last month Attorney General Eric Holder was defending the Justice Department's performance on the matter, saying the top career person in the civil rights division made the decision to seek an injunction against one person.

The man seen at the same polling place Tuesday would not answer questions posed by Fox 29 News but was apparently working at the polls as a volunteer and greeting voters.

A check with Philadelphia election officials revealed no voter intimidation reports at the polling location this time. (source)

Barry As President: Keepin' It Real To Only Urban Audiences On Election Day

WASHINGTON (AP) - Even with voting already under way, President Barack Obama furiously worked the phones to urban-format radio stations Tuesday, arguing that his agenda would be "all at risk" if Republicans trampled Democrats.
"We need to keep moving forward, that's why I need folks to vote today," Obama told listeners to KPWR in Los Angeles.

Interrupting the music and chat of the station's morning show, Obama phoned in from the Oval Office to acknowledge voter frustration with the recession-bound economy - and say that even though he's not on the ballot, his agenda is.

"Are we taking the steps now to move us in the right direction, or are going to go back to the policies that got us into that mess in the first place?" he said.

Other calls went to radio stations in Las Vegas, Chicago and Jacksonville, Fla., with large African-American listenership. On Monday, Obama phoned a series of nationally syndicated radio programs.

With polls forecasting major GOP gains - possibly including a controlling majority in the House - Obama also scheduled a postelection news conference for 1 p.m. Wednesday in the White House East Room.

He strove to energize a key Democratic constituency hours after polls opened in the East and Midwest.

On the line to radio station KVEG in Las Vegas, Obama said, "I know things are still tough out there, but we finally have job growth again ... It is all at risk if people don't turn out and vote today."

That call to the state with the nation's highest jobless rate aimed to boost turnout for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, locked in a tight contest with Republican tea party-backed candidate Sharron Angle.

"Harry Reid has been my partner," Obama said. "Every poll shows the race between Harry Reid and his opponent neck and neck. We know that if people who voted in 2008 turn out to vote in 2010, Harry will win. if they don't turn out, he will lose."

Obama said losing lawmakers like Reid would make it hard for him to "keep making improvements in the economy."

"Across the board, thing have gotten better over the last two years," Obama said on KPWR. "The question is, can we keep that up? But we can only keep it up if I've got some friends and allies in Congress and in the state houses."

The host and others on the "Radio Big Boy" program were vocal in their support, and told the station's listeners how "cool" is is to have Obama as president.

Toward the end, Obama joked, "I know that everybody's thinking we need to get back to some music," then turned serious.

"The future is yours to shape," he said. "But if you don't get involved, then somebody else is going to shape it for you." (source)

Barry As President: Having To Take Back His Words Again (When Calling All Of Us "Enemies" Backfires)

Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Monday he should not have used the word "enemies" to describe his political opponents as Republicans sought to make an issue of the comment a day before congressional elections.

Obama, in an interview with talk radio host Michael Baisden, said, "I probably should have used the word 'opponents' instead of enemies."

He was backtracking from a comment he made a week ago in an interview with Univision radio in which he sought to persuade Hispanics to vote for Democratic candidates instead of Republicans.

"If Latinos sit out the election instead of, 'we're going to punish our enemies and we're going to reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us' -- if they don't see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it's going to be harder," Obama had said.

Republicans in hot pursuit of control of the House of Representatives in Tuesday voting were drawing attention to Obama's "enemies" comment in hopes of encouraging more turnout by Republican voters.

Hammering home the issue was John Boehner, the Republican who would oust Democrat Nancy Pelosi as House speaker if Republicans win control of the House on Tuesday as most pollsters believe will happen.

"Today, sadly, we have president who uses the word 'enemy' for fellow Americans ... fellow citizens. He uses it for people who disagree with his agenda of bigger government ... people speaking out for a smaller, more accountable government that respects freedom and allows small businesses to create jobs," Boehner planned to say in Cincinnati.

"Mr. President, there's a word for people who have the audacity to speak up in defense of freedom, the Constitution, and the values of limited government that made our country great. We don't call them 'enemies.' We call them 'patriots,'" he planned to say.

Obama told Baisden that he was talking about opponents of a comprehensive overhaul of the U.S. immigration system. Hispanics have been disappointed that Obama has not pushed ahead on immigration legislation, which Republicans oppose. (source)