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New York Senator Chuck Schumer was reportedly waiting to take off on a flight from D.C. to New York Sunday when a flight attendant told him to turn his phone off. According to the Republican aide who was apparently sitting nearby and told the story to Politico, both Schumer and his seatmate – fellow New York Democratic senator Kirsten Gillibrand – kept talking on their phones regardless. Then the flight attendant came by again and told Schumer that everyone on the flight was waiting for him to turn off his phone. He asked to finish his conversation but was told...

Here is video of GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch and Democrat Sen. Charles Schumer duking it out over ObamaCare today on Meet the Press. Schumer flatly said that "We will have a Public Option." It is clearly a non-nogiatible to him and many of the Democrats. Orrin Hatch said it makes no sense to destroy the Health Care system working for 85% of Americans to cover the 15% who may not currently have coverage. Hatch maintains there are other ways to cover those who don't have Health Care by using subsidies for them, but leaving the current system in place. Hatch...

Itching to unload on Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand at a town hall meeting on health care reform? You're out of luck. Aides to the New York Democrats told the Daily News they won't be sponsoring any town hall meetings on health care. Instead, they will be touring the state and soliciting opinions in more informal settings. "During recess, as he does every year, Sen. Schumer will be in over 20 counties across New York City and state talking with thousands of constituents, discussing the issues that are important to them," Schumer spokesman Josh Vlasto said. Glen Caplin, a...

Itching to unload on Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand at a town hall meeting on health care reform? You're out of luck. Aides to the New York Democrats told the Daily News they won't be sponsoring any town hall meetings on health care. Instead, they will be touring the state and soliciting opinions in more informal settings. "During recess, as he does every year, Sen. Schumer will be in over 20 counties across New York City and state talking with

If there’s one thing likely to rally Republicans around Sarah Palin, even those who might harbor qualms about her, it’s to see her literally laughed at and mocked by the likes of Charles Schumer and Bob Shrum. On Today’s Meet The Press, the senior senator from New York and the former Dem campaign adviser did just that. Schumer went first, literally laughing out loud [see screencap] when host David Gregory asked him if Sarah Palin is the future of the Republican party. Then it was Shrum’s turn. View video here.

What happens when you're Charles Schumer and you say something you shouldn't on THIS WEEK? ABCNEWS changes the transcript on their website to something that sounds a little better....

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Sen. Charles Schumer on Sunday unveiled a proposal aimed at giving fans a better chance to buy hot concert tickets at face value before ticket resellers scoop them up and raise the prices...

Here is video today from Meet the Press where David Gregory talked with Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and Democrat Sen. Charles Schumer about the state of the U.S. Economy and the direction President Obama is taking the country. Both are members of the Senate Banking Committee. This is the full video of the Meet the Press program for today, March 8, 2009. . . . . . (Watch Video)

As Caroline Kennedy (AKA “The Princess of Camelot”) unhappily found out, that most congenial spot for happily-ever-aftering is not located in NY. ... During the press conference in which he announced his choice, Patterson said Kirsten Gillibrand is “dynamic, she’s articulate, she is perceptive, she’s courageous, she is outspoken.” In other words, she is everything Kennedy is not. Note: The Stiletto writes about politics and other stuff at The Stiletto Blog, chosen an Official Honoree in the Political Blogs category by the judges of the 12th Annual Webby Awards (the Oscars of the online universe) along with CNN Political Ticker

Feds Cite Schumer In Collapse Of IndyMac An important angle in the IndyMac failure that may get lost in ominous headlines tonight and tomorrow: federal regulators pointedly cited U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., in explaining the bank's failure. In simple language, federal regulators blamed Schumer for a run on the bank.

Thousands of Icelanders took to the street in violent protests in Rekjavik, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Geir Haarde and central bank governor David Oddsson in the wake of the country's complete financial collapse. REYKJAVIK - Thousands of Icelanders demonstrated in Reykjavik on Saturday demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Geir Haarde and Central Bank Governor David Oddsson for failing to stop a financial meltdown in the country. It was the latest in a series of protests in the capital since the financial meltdown that crippled the island's economy. Hordur Torfason, a well-known troubadour in Iceland and the main...

There is a story floating around the Internet about a teacher who decided to hold a mock election for president in her 5th grade classroom. The gist of the story is that she instructed the class to pick several possible candidates for president on each side, as a kind of primary election. Then the class voted for one candidate out of each of the two groups of candidates. The names of the two finalists were Johnny and Mary. The teacher then told Johnny and Mary to give a speech about what they would do as president. Johnny got to go...

Congress: Some of the most partisan liberal Democrats have a brilliant idea on how to roll the Republicans in the Obama era: enlist John McCain as their go-between. For principled Republicans, that's a bridge to nowhere.Charles Schumer, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, has apparently fallen short of the filibuster-proof supermajority for Senate Democrats he aimed for, though several races remain in limbo awaiting recount or runoff. But he's talking up another way of ramming a radical agenda through Congress and onto soon-to-be President Obama's desk. "There's a need for the old John McCain, a leader who worked in...

Liberal Attack Dogs: Rep. Rahm Emanuel and Sen. Charles Schumer July 6, 2006 – The Los Angeles Times’ July 5, 2006 edition featured an article about the tactics used by two powerful Democrats to attack the Bush Administration to regain control of the House or Senate in November. The article describes the behind the scenes work of Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), head of the House Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. According to the Times, both men “have deployed tactics reminiscent of the smoke-filled room of yore. They have hand-picked...

Rahm Emanuel: The House Rahm Built FROM THE ARCHIVES: Rahm Emanuel was seething. He was hurtling down an asphalt road in upstate New York on the 47th trip of his ferocious campaign to win back the House. A lecture, even from his friend James Carville, was the last thing he needed. Carville and pollster Stan Greenberg telling him he had to make each of his handpicked candidates shift from attack mode and strike a conciliatory note in their final campaign ads. "James. No James, YOU LISTEN," Emanuel barked into a cell phone, about to release a string of profane invectives...

It’s hard to imagine a more warped and callous statement about the Iraq War than this one made by Senator Charles Schumer, when asked whether he would support a troop surge in Afghanistan: Yes. The bottom line is I think Obama’s trip was brilliant. Not in the short term, but in the long term, because it’s changed the whole debate. And the whole debate now is focused on Afghanistan more than on Iraq. So: It’s not the U.S. troops who gave everything so that Iraq has a chance at a stable, viable future.

Don't blame Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., member of two influential banking committees - the Senate Finance Committee and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - for IndyMac's collapse, says CNBC's Erin Burnett. Burnett, host of CNBC "Street Signs," disagreed with a claim by MSNBC "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough that a letter to regulators from Schumer caused a run on the beleaguered bank IndyMac, which eventually led to its failure and takeover by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. "I don't think Chuck Schumer caused a run on the bank," Burnett said on MSNBC's July 24 "Morning Joe." "This...

The $32 billion failure of U.S. mortgage lender IndyMac demonstrates just how differently the United States is governed than Canada. This from today’s Wall Street Journal: The director of the Office of Thrift Supervision, John Reich, blamed IndyMac’s failure on comments made in late June by Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.), who sent a letter to the regulator raising concerns about the bank’s solvency. In the following 11 days, spooked depositors withdrew a total of $1.3 billion. Mr. Reich said Sen. Schumer gave the bank a “heart attack.” “Would the institution have failed without the deposit run?” Mr. Reich asked...

A group of Democratic senators led by Charles E. Schumer of New York is appealing to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to block a set of contentious no-bid oil contracts that Iraq has decided to award to the Western oil giants Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP. And if that appeal, which Mr. Schumer’s office said it faxed in the form of a letter to the State Department on Monday afternoon, is not heeded, the senators will try to cut off financing for as-yet-unspecified programs in Iraq that are not directly in support of American troops, Mr. Schumer said in...

There are three reasons. First, Russia has a longstanding, close relationship with Iran and regards itself as Iran's protector. Second, the Russian economy benefits from its relationship with Iran by several billion dollars a year. Third and most important is leverage. Mr. Putin is an old-fashioned nationalist who seeks to regain the power and greatness Russia had before the fall of the Soviet Union. Russia's relationship with Iran is a key point of leverage over the West that he will not relinquish easily. To bring Putin's Russia on board we must make it an offer it cannot refuse. The offer...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   Renewed Attack on Privacy of Gun Buyers   Friday, May 02, 2008   This week, anti-gun U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) registration legislation that would invade the privacy rights of law-abiding gun owners.Cosponsored by like-minded Sens. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Carl Levin (D-MI), Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI), and Charles Schumer (D-NY), S. 2935 would, among other things, require the FBI to retain records of cleared firearm transactions for at least 180 days.  Current law requires...

Richard Reinwald sees the rising price of wheat and flour in the global economy - but his loyal customers at Reinwald's Bakery in Huntington only see the extra 80 cents they now have to pay for a loaf of rye bread... He had to raise the price to keep up with higher costs - such as the 100-pound sack of flour for which he pays three times more than just a year ago... New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer, who convened the hearing... "They don't have extra income for higher food prices and have to stretch their dollars, or even...

March 31, 2008 Group Tied to Pakistani Terrorist to Parade in Binghamton, NY Instead of those plastic toy swords sold at normal parades, they will be selling replicas of the one used by Mohammed to behead infidels.... The city of Binghamton, New York granted a group with ties to Islamic terrorist Sheikh Mubarek Ali Gilani a permit to publicly celebrate Milad-un-Nabi, or Muhammed’s birthday, in the streets of Binghamton this Saturday. The Muslims of the Americas (MOA), the name used by Jamaat ul Fuqra, or “Community of the Impoverished,” was issued a permit for a public celebration that includes a...

Following a spate of campus attacks and threats, including the fatal shootings at Northern Illinois University and a chilling message scrawled in a boys' bathroom at a Levittown high school, federal lawmakers are renewing a push to beef up gun-control laws, fund safety procedures and study the link between college shootings and mental illness. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), at a news conference yesterday in Manhattan, said he and congressional colleagues plan to step up efforts to close loopholes in gun-control measures and create a federal task force to come up with national school safety guidelines. They also plan to push...

I must say that I sympathize with the bind that Democratic leaders are in somewhat. Defeatism is forced upon them by their base. That's why they have no choice but but to insist that Iraq is going disastrously badly, that it was all a mistake, and that we should get out now. Where they have no choice but to acknowledge that progress has been made, they must insist at all costs that President Bush's policies have had nothing to do with it. It is a matter of political reality. Their base will throw them back into the minority if they...

Bloggers have caught a politician saying one thing in a speech, while carrying a very different rendering of a critical passage at a supposed "transcript" of that speech. The difference is significant. The transcript whitewashes a slander on the performance of US troops in Iraq delivered by a United States senator. Specifically, New York's Charles Schumer gave a made a speech on the floor of the Senate last week ascribing the turnaround in the Anbar province in Iraq to the locals, and discrediting the notion that American troops could have had anything to do with it.

Schumer: “[L]et Me Be Clear. The Violence In Anbar Has Gone Down Despite The Surge, Not Because Of The Surge. The Inability Of American Soldiers To Protect These Tribes From Al-Qaida Said To These Tribes: We Have To Fight Al-Qaida Ourselves.” (Sen. Charles Schumer, Congressional Record, 9/5/07, p. S 11090)

Chuck Schumer, senior Senator from New York and self-described member of the Democratic leadership team in the Senate, really knows how to make friends and influence people. This morning, in a speech on the Senate floor, he explicitly told the U. S. Marines in Anbar province that they've failed and are a part of the problem, not part of the solution. Let me be clear. The violence in Anbar has gone down despite the surge, not because of the surge. The inability of American soldiers to protect these tribes from al-Qaeda said to these tribes, "We have to fight al-Qaeda...

Sen. Charles Schumer is a legendary pursuer of television cameras. But look at the way the national media are covering Schumer's heavy-breathing pursuit to make Attorney General Alberto Gonzales cry uncle and resign. It makes you wonder just how hard Schumer has to work to get press attention. The media appear Schumer-owned and operated. One interview really captures how the press acts more like a Democratic goon squad than nonpartisan observers of the national scene. On ABC's "Good Morning America," news anchor Christopher Cuomo, son of Mario Cuomo, asked this pushy question on July 27: "Is Alberto Gonzales out of...

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) declared that his decision not to lead a successful filibuster in January 2006 of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito's nomination was one of his "greatest failings" as a senator. In an address to liberal legal scholars of the American Constitution Society, Schumer said that after watching the work of the newly constructed "Roberts court" the past 18 months, he would block any future Supreme Court nominee of President Bush's should a vacancy arise between now and January 2009. Schumer's address covered his views on the confirmation processes for Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts. Conservatives have...

WASHINGTON -- Senator Charles Schumer says the federal government should scuttle its Department of Homeland Security. The New York Democrat is particularly incensed by the agency's plan to require passports to drive across the Canadian border. He says he's trying to convince his fellow Democrats in the Senate to dissolve the Homeland Security department into smaller agencies. But Schumer says he's not sure if there are enough votes to dismantle the agency formed in response to the September Eleventh terrorist attacks. Speaking to a group of New York business leaders in Washington, the senator called the department a conglomerate that's...

President Bush, urging Congress to craft a war spending bill quickly, offered no clues Saturday about whether he'll compromise over linking U.S. support to stability in Iraq. Bush and Congress have been talking about how to agree on a bill to finance combat operations through September. The president demands the money without strings attached, but Democrats say Bush eventually must accept some conditions on the U.S. commitment to the war. Earlier this week, Bush vetoed a $124 billion bill that would have provided money for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan while requiring troops to begin returning home by Oct. 1....

Radio host Don Imus on Friday took an obviously flustered Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., to task for never bothering up to visit wounded soldiers at the military's Walter Reed Hospital. While Schumer was quick to blast the Bush administration for failing to maintain facilities for wounded military personnel at Walter Reed, he was apparently surprised when Imus began questioning him about his own dealings with Walter

U. S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., embraces Iyanna Brown, 5, in front of an apartment building in Starrett City, in this Feb. 12, 2007, file photo in the Brooklyn borough of New York. President Bush's Housing and Urban Development Secretary, Alphonso Jackson, visited the nation's biggest government-subsidized rental complex Friday, Feb. 16, 2006, warning that a real estate mogul's $1.3 billion bid to buy Brooklyn's Starrett City could threaten the working-class housing market, saying: 'I will aggressively review this sale and give it close scrutiny.'

December 14, 1999 WASHINGTON A prominent commodities trader who acknowledges a business history with a reputed Soviet Bloc crime figure and a notorious arms dealer has been one of New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's top campaign supporters. Commodities trader Semyon (Sam) Kislin and his family also lavished thousands of dollars in contributions to Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer, to the Clinton-Gore re-election campaign, to former Republican Sen. Alfonse D'Amato and to a number of state and city politicians. Kislin sits on the New York City Economic Development Board. Kislin is not alone among emigres from the former Soviet Union who have...

While Democratic Sens. Charles E. Schumer (right) of New York and Richard J. Durbin (center) of Illinois voted to move ahead with the war resolution yesterday, Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, voted no in a parliamentary maneuver.

Politicians are forever trying to protect voters from themselves. Hence the relentless onslaught of campaign-finance regulations. They assume that the average citizen is not sophisticated enough to verify the truth or falsehood of political advertising. So laws are needed to punish anyone - primarily those with deep pockets - who would "mislead" or "deceive" the public. Or to prevent big-time donors from "corrupting" the political process. America's founders were loath to let the government draw the line between deception and hyperbole (or even embellishment), especially in the political arena. That's one reason the language of the First Amendment is so...

President Bush yesterday said there is a growing "income inequality" gap between rich and poor Americans, and told companies they should rethink the giant compensation packages they offer top executives. The markedly populist message, a divergence from the past, in which Mr. Bush has accused critics of practicing class warfare, was all the more noteworthy given his venue -- a speech at Federal Hall in New York, in the middle of Wall Street, the capital of capitalism. But the president called for conservative market-based answers, including demanding that Congress renew trade-promotion authority, which allows him to negotiate trade agreements then...

"But we support the troops!" Has there been any phrase that has been so used and abused by the Democrats as they seek to give themselves cover? But in one fell 'slip', Chuck Schumer gave away the game this morning: the claim to support the troops is a sham. It is merely something to be figured out later, after Democrats, with some Republican support, rush through a resolution telling our troops that the mission for which they are putting their lives on the line is not just meaningless but absolutely antithetical to our nation's interests. David Gregory interviewed Sen. Schumer...

An attorney for former ambassador Joseph Wilson, whose wife, Valerie Plame, is at the center of the Plamegate scandal in Washington, was raked over the coals by a judge Thursday for remarks she made the day before on MSNBC's Hardball. During an interview on the program, Melanie Sloan said that former administration official Scooter Libby could still be convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice even though he may not have been the first person to reveal that Plame was a CIA agent. In a stinging rebuke from the bench, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton said that he "would not...

The city is losing its competitive edge and could give up its place as the financial capital of the world in as little as 10 years, a report commissioned by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Sen. Charles Schumer has found. On Monday at City Hall, the New York leaders were expected to discuss the report from consulting group McKinsey & Co. Bloomberg and Schumer have been concerned about what they say is a growing threat to New York's position as a global leader.

In a revealing new book on politics, Sen. Charles Schumer comes out with guns blazing - not at President Bush, but at his own Democratic Party. Schumer, one of the most powerful figures in Washington, rips his party for being in the clutches of special-interest groups for too long and for losing touch with the middle class. -snip His manifesto puts forth 11 meat-and-potatoes issues that he insists Democrats must press. He says the secret recipe to winning over the Baileys and other middle-class voters is a "50 percent solution." That means Democrats should aim to boost math and reading...

"U.S. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. along with Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. greet Buffalo residents staying at the Edward Saunders Community Center in Buffalo, N.Y. on Saturday, Oct. 14, 2006." "Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., listen to the concerns of an elderly Buffalo resident staying at the Edward Saunders Community Center in Buffalo, N.Y. Saturday, Oct. 14, 2006. A rare early October snowstorm dumped a record 8 inches Thursday, downing tree limbs and toppling power lines, leaving more than 155,000 customers without electricity. Clinton canceled a trip to Nevada so she could visit the area."

HOUSE PASSES ATF REFORM BILL . . . With a 277-131 vote, the U.S. House of Representatives last week passed HR 5092, the "Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) Modernization and Reform Act of 2006." The legislation, which represents a major advance in protecting the rights of firearms retailers, now heads to the Senate. Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) have threatened to stall Senate consideration. The bill will bring consistency to ATF enforcement actions and provide ATF with additional compliance tools short of license revocation.

Associated Press WASHINGTON — President Bush blamed Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid today for the potentially fatal blow dealt to compromise immigration legislation. The landmark bill, which would offer eventual citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants, fell victim Friday to internal disputes in both parties. But Bush — echoing earlier complaints from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. — sought to place all the blame on Reid, D-Nev., who refused to permit votes on more than three Republican-backed amendments. "I call on the Senate minority leader to end his blocking tactics and allow the Senate to do its work and...

It reads like a novel on the New York Times best selling list. A little over a year before a U.S. Senatorial campaign, two politcal operatives who work for an influential and clearly partisan U.S. Senator, illegally obtain the personal credit report of an African-American U.S. Senatorial candidate, who's trying to make history by being the first black U.S.Senator to represent the state of Maryland. At first glance, it looks like a slam dunk for any news media individual or company trying to garner attention and sell papers or increase their ratings. The story involves "illegal political spying" which seems...

    As the Dubai ports fiasco unravels, it's worth examining the performance of key players in the last few weeks' debate. The senior senator from New York, Charles Schumer, has played a central role. He is the exploiter-in-chief of the Dubai acrimony and merits the first look.     Mr. Schumer has barely missed an opportunity to promote himself. On Wednesday, he hoodwinked fellow senator and Democrat Ron Wyden of Oregon into making Mr. Wyden's unrelated amendment a carry-on for Mr. Schumer's Dubai ports grandstanding. Now, we're with Mr. Schumer on the substance -- there are serious problems with the Dubai deal --...

This weekend I've added the Saturday night/Sunday morning Fox/WSJ "Journal Editorial Report" to the mix.  It looks to be a very interesting addition (on "our side," maybe?).Last weekend I clearly missed the MSM spin on the "White House is being too secretive" meme (though I was on  the right track with the "they're being mean" idea).  When I post a meme it is simply my best guess and I'm desperately reaching out for others to correct or augment anything I post.  That's the purpose of my thread.  Not to declare "this is what is" but to ask "is this close"...

The Washington Timeswww.washingtontimes.com Whose mainstream is it?By Herbert LondonPublished October 7, 2005 Sen. Hillary Clinton, New York Democrat, addressing supporters at a recent fund-raiser in Quogue, said: "I deplore the radical left and the extremists on the religious right. I am in the 'mainstream.' " This is indeed a curious comment from a woman who reflexively defended every position on the left throughout her political peregrination.     Surely there is a method to this ploy. Americans don't like extremists, so the senator has veered to the center. But this is not a true center, "a vital center" as Arthur Schlesinger...

After two days of intense legal questioning, Supreme Court nominee John Roberts finally addressed a subject most Americans could relate to: His favorite movies are "Doctor Zhivago" and "North by Northwest." Frustrated by Roberts' answers, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., suggested on Wednesday that if he dared to ask the nominee his favorite films, he would get a discussion of cinematography and why "Casablanca" is considered one of the greatest. Instead, Roberts answered flat out, bringing laughter from the audience and senators alike. "North by Northwest," Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 classic, starred Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason and Martin Landau,...