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Grover Norquist and Jane Hamsher are not often on the same side of anything, beyond both usually being in the Western Hemisphere. Norquist is a leading voice of fiscal conservatism as head of the anti-tax group Americans for Tax Reform; Hamsher is a leading voice of the digital left, whose blog Firedoglake has taken on influence in speaking up for progressives during the health care debate and in pressuring lawmakers through its activist arm, FDL Action. But the two have united to level serious allegations at White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and demand his resignation.

Dear Attorney General Holder: We write to demand an immediate investigation into the activities of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. We believe there is an abundant public record which establishes that the actions of the White House have blocked any investigation into his activities while on the board of Freddie Mac from 2000-2001, and facilitated the cover up of potential malfeasance until the 10-year statute of limitations has run out. The purpose of this letter is to connect the dots to establish both the conduct of Mr. Emanuel and those working with him to thwart inquiry, and to...

Today, Grover Norquist and I are calling for an investigation into Rahm Emanuel’s activities at Freddie Mac, and the White House’s blocking of an Inspector General who would look into it. The letter follows: December 23, 2009 Attorney General of the United States of America U.S. Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20530-0001 Dear Attorney General Holder: We write to demand an immediate investigation into the activities of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. We believe there is an abundant public record which establishes that the actions of the White House have blocked any investigation into...

  'Twill be the night before Christmas when the Senate delivers the top item on White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's wish list: a health-care bill. But like the beautifully wrapped gift that looks so wonderful under the tree, this health-care legislation might start to look more like the ghastly sweater from your Aunt Tilly once it comes out of the box. Give Majority Leader Harry Reid his due. Notwithstanding the grumblings about the way he did it, getting the 60 senators he needed to avoid a Republican filibuster was an achievement. Assuming the House and Senate work...

What politicians say to get elected can come back to haunt them and vilifying the lobbyist profession to score campaign points is going to do that to President Barack Obama, according to MSNBC "Morning Joe" co-anchor Joe Scarborough. Scarborough appeared on BBC Radio 4's Dec. 20 broadcast of "Americana" with host Matt Frei and explained how Obama's 2007 pledge to not hire lobbyists isn't necessarily a good policy. "Listen, the Obama administration is in trouble right now," Scarborough said. "We got a lot of friends in the Obama administration right now and they're in trouble because Barack Obama made promises...

A quick search of the Interwebs for the term “political suicide” will return a significant number of stories on the pending Democrat-pushed healthcare “reform” legislation and their seemingly inexplicable political death spiral. Virtually every poll says that the public rejects the bills in the Senate and House, Barack Obama’s popularity is tanking, and virtually no one on the Right OR the Left is happy with them. So the natural question is: Why are the Democrats pushing this? The characterization of the Democrats’ actions as “political suicide” is somewhat inaccurate. It would be more apt to call it “political hari-kari”, as...

President Barack Hussein Obama is proceeding to destroy America and has opened up a six-front war to do so: 1. He has a Democratic controlled Congress that is willing to rubber-stamp his wildest schemes, without even reading them…as we’ve already seen. The Democratic Party is now aiding and abetting the demeaning and destruction of America and has become the voice of leftist extremism. The moderates have disappeared or been transformed, issuing only occasional squeaking and whining before following the liberal party line drawn by Mr. Obama. Where have all the Democratic moderates gone? 2. Mr. Obama has immense executive authority,...

"I disagree with many policies of the Obama administration, but I know that President Barack Obama and [White House Chief of Staff] Rahm Emanuel believe that what they are doing is good for Israel," says Rabbi Asher Lopatin, who for the past 15 years has been the spiritual leader of one of Chicago's most active Jewish communities, the Anshe Shalom Bnai Israel congregation. "Rahm is a tough guy - and I'm not sure he's the best diplomat," he adds, "but I think that ultimately they think what they are doing is good for Israel." Emanuel had to leave the community...

Rod Blagojevich's lawyers want the FBI to give up details of interviews conducted last year of President Obama, his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, White House adviser Valerie Jarrett and others as part of the investigation into the former governor.

Seventy-one percent (71%) of voters nationwide say they’re at least somewhat angry about the current policies of the federal government. That figure includes 46% who are Very Angry. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that only 27% are not angry about the government's policies, including 10% who are Not at All Angry........ The data suggests that the level of anger is growing. The 71% who are angry at federal government policies today is up five percentage points since September. Even more stunning, the 46% who are Very Angry is up 10 percentage points from September.

The Democratic Party needs an intervention and then it needs to be sent to rehab. The lunacy behind the thinking of many traditional Democrats that any Democrat in Congress is better than no Democrat at all needs to be exposed and treated for the infectious disease that it is. The absence of democracy in a congress whose votes are bought, sold, and traded like pork bellies by big corporations in exchange for highly profitable votes and amendments on bills is a bi-partisan infection. The fact that 20 to 25 percent of Americans support policies and politicians that are bat s@@t...

Heh. No doubt the RNC response was to insist that they were merely local races signifying nothing about the national mood. But Rahm was right that time, wasn’t he? [L]ooking back at First Read’s coverage the day after the 2005 New Jersey and Virginia contests, we had forgotten that Rahm Emanuel — then chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and now White House chief of staff — had called us to argue the very point Republicans are now making: that the two gubernatorial contests say something about the upcoming midterms. Here’s what we wrote then: Democratic House campaign committee...

Just as many of us predicted the Democrat leadership is frantically spinning yesterdays election saying that Virginia and New Jersey are no big deal while NY-23 should....get this....actually reassure bluedog Dem's: Centrist, Blue Dog Democrats should be reassured on their healthcare vote by last night's election, White House senior advisor David Axelrod said Wednesday. Axelrod said that Democrats' victory in New York's 23rd congressional district should reassure Democrats who are concerned about the political ramifications of any vote for the House's health reform bill. Which is hilarity in the extreme. Owens is, as KOS described him in less then glowing...

Obama fans are in a tight spot. As the White House turns ever harsher and more divisive, supporters are scrambling to explain why President Obama sounds so very different from Campaigner Obama. There are two possible explanations, neither of which is flattering. The first is that Obama was insincere on the campaign trail. The second is that his advisors – David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel -- are in control. The latter view is bound to take hold and it will not boost the president’s flagging popularity ratings. Many who voted for President Obama feel deceived. When he said in Florida...

As I walked home recently from a weekend trip to the grocery store, I passed a total of 13 vacant offices with signs saying "for lease" or "for sale." These spaces ranged from approximately 500 to 5,000 square feet according to their signs, and they are stretched along a main, commercial street in the center of Tucson, AZ. There is also an eight-screen movie theater that sits empty as well. These empty commercial spaces ... are empty now, and have been for quite some time. I found it intriguing that both in the central portion of Tucson and also in...

Chuck Schumer and Rahm Emanuel, the architects of the Democrats’ historic take-back of Congress in 2006, talk to each other nearly every day in abrupt, Morse code bursts stripped of hellos, goodbyes and thank-yous. On the surface, everything seems normal. But Schumer and Emanuel — whose relationship hovers somewhere between a business partnership and a sibling rivalry — are now finding themselves on opposite sides of an internal Democratic argument on health care reform.  Schumer, a New York Democratic senator, is pushing a proposal that allows states to opt out of a public option. Emanuel, who left the House to...

So much for the most open and ethical government everFinally, it is clear what President Obama meant when he said this would be the most "transparent administration in history." -SNIP-After The Times' report revealed the administration's "donor maintenance" program, reporters from other news organizations followed up at the daily White House press briefing, where White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs tried to dodge questions by referring reporters to the Democratic National Committee. But who controls every aspect of what happens at the DNC? The White House. And when the DNC sells access to government officials, who employs those officials?...

Obama declares swine flu emergency 9 mins ago WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama has declared swine flu a "national emergency," the White House said Saturday, as the United States reels from millions of cases of infection and over 1,000 deaths.

WASHINGTON -- Rahm Emanuel once sent a dead fish to a live pollster. Now he's put a horse's head in Roger Ailes' bed. Not very subtle. And not very smart. Ailes doesn't scare easily. The White House has declared war on Fox News. White House communications director Anita Dunn said that Fox is "opinion journalism masquerading as news." Patting rival networks on the head for their authenticity (read: docility), senior adviser David Axelrod declared Fox "not really a news station." And Chief of Staff Emanuel told (warned?) the other networks not to "be led (by) and following Fox." Meaning? If...

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel are never far from each other’s side, according to detailed daily schedules obtained by The Wall Street Journal Thursday through a Freedom of Information Act request. From January to July, Geithner and Emanuel met in person, spoke on the phone, or left messages for each other at least 108 times—interactions that don’t include broader meetings with White House officials or informal contacts such as hallway chats. Contact between the two senior administration officials picked up after Feb. 10, the day Geithner delivered a widely panned speech outlining his...

And he answers the "blame Bush" theme still so prevalent in the Obama Administration!On CNN's State of the Union program on Sunday (transcript), White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was questioned about the Obama Administration's indeciviseness in Afghanistan. Attempting to change the subject, Rahm fell back on the standard "blame Bush" defense suggesting that Afghanistan was just another mess that they had to clean up. You have literally got into a situation, is there another way you can do this? And the president is asking the questions that have never been asked on the civilian side, the political side,...

White House Communications Director Anita Dunn says that her comment about Chairman Mao as one of her "favorite political philosophers" has been badly distorted. Perhaps she meant to say that Mao is one of her favorite media strategists. It is telling what Dunn regards as a reassuring defense: that she was only extolling Mao's can-do attitude and that her admiration for it came from Lee Atwater. "The Mao quote is one I picked up from the late Republican strategist," she said. So now the reviled creator of the Willie Horton ad is someone Democrats feel they can safely hide behind?...

Here is video of Karl Rove reacting to accusations by Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who claimed virtually nothing has been done in Afghanistan in eight years of U.S. presence there. Emanuel claimed they were having to start from scratch in Afghanistan. Rove pointed out in a picture of Obama's "War Council," that David Axelrod and Robert Gibbs are present at the meeting. Rove said that is "highly unusual." In his years in the Bush White House, he said he never attended a war cabinet meeting. He also said it is unwise to put your press secretary in a...

I just wanted to share some of what I see as hypocrisy from the Obama White House concerning their treatment of Fox News as compared to their standards for Supreme Court Justices: Rahm Emanuel said of Fox News, "It's not a news organization so much as it has a perspective." Well, I'd like to point out that Justice Sonya Sotomayor was openly celebrated by the White House for bringing a "latina" perspective to the bench. They considered her biased approach as an asset on the bench of the Court. So even if we take the White House assumption as truth...

Appearing on CNN's State of the Union, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel raised the question of whether the U.S. has a credible Afghan partner it can work with in Afghanistan. "Do you have a credible Afghan partner for this process that can provide the security and the type of services that the Afghan people need?" Emanuel said the Obama White House is asking as it conducts a strategy review before answering Gen. Stanley McChrystal's request for more troops. Washington faces "a much more complex decision" than just troop level, Emanuel told CNN's John King. "It's clear that basically...

The White House is now signaling that no troop decision will be made until after the Afghanistan election is resolved. It would be irresponsible to send more troops to Afghanistan until a legitimate and credible government is in place, the White House and top Democrats said Sunday. White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said the most critical issue facing U.S. strategy is whether the Afghans can be an effective partner in destroying Al Qaeda safe havens and bringing stability to the region. "It would be reckless to make a decision on U.S. troop levels if in fact you haven't...

Here is video of Karl Rove on "Fox News Sunday" talking about the White House's attacks on Fox News. Karl Rove said "I think this White House is dominated by Chicago style politics." Rove said the "President of the United States should not be picking out enemies in the media like that, and personalizing it, and allowing his people to personalize it as well." . . . (VIDEO)

The Talk Shows Sunday, October 18th, 2009 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Sens. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., Arlen Specter, D-Pa., and John Thune, R-S.D.; Terry McAuliffe, former Democratic National Committee chairman.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett; Sens. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.; California first lady Maria Shriver; John Podesta, head of the Center for American Progress.FACE THE NATION (CBS): White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel; Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and John Cornyn, R-Texas.THIS WEEK (ABC): David Axelrod, White House senior adviser.STATE OF THE UNION...

White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel Sunday made one of the most absurd comments to date about the Administration's fight with the Fox News Channel. In his "State of the Union" interview with CNN's John King, Emanuel said, "It's not a news organization so much as it has a perspective.

One of President Obama's top advisers said Sunday the Bush administration failed to ask critical questions about the war in Afghanistan, leaving the Obama administration starting from scratch -- and leaving the war "adrift." "The president is asking the questions that have never been asked on the civilian side, the political side, the military side and the strategic side," White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told CNN's "State of the Union."

Wall Street bids adieu to famed Lazard dealmaker: Bruce Wasserstein died at age 61 after being hospitalized with an irregular heartbeat....the exact cause could not be determined. A Brooklyn native, Wasserstein amassed a fortune of about $2.3B doling out merger advice to players Carl Icahn and Ron Perelman. According to former Lazard banker, William Cohan, author of "The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Freres," Wasserstein made more money from investment banking than anyone else on Wall Street. "While everyone else was fighting the Vietnam War, he was studying English takeover law at Cambridge." Lazard Deputy Chairman Jeffrey Rosen...

NEW YORK – Bruce Wasserstein, the CEO of Lazard Ltd., has died, according to a Wall Street Journal report Wednesday, which cited sources familiar with the matter

October 9, 2009 Young Hamlet’s Agony Will he listen to Emanuel and Biden or Petraeus and McChrystal? Charles Krauthammer. The genius of democracy is the rotation of power, which forces the opposition to be serious — particularly about things like war, about which until January 20 of this year Democrats were decidedly unserious. When the Iraq War (which a majority of Senate Democrats voted for) ran into trouble and casualties began to mount, Democrats followed the shifting winds of public opinion and turned decidedly anti-war. But needing political cover because of their post-Vietnam reputation for weakness on national defense, they...

Some of these I haven't yet seen, and I've seen a lot of these clips. Words from: Russ Feingold Kathleen Sebelius Paul Krugman Barney Frank Ezra Klein Rahm Emanuel and Jan Schakowsky

Republicans have been ready with criticism for President Barack Obama's overnight journey to Copenhagen, where the president today pressed Chicago's case for the 2016 Olympic Summer Games -- playing booster, as the Republican National Committee put it this morning, for Obama's "Chicago Fat Cat Friends.'' RNC Chairman Michael Steele, Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri and then House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio all have questioned the president's priorities. And even as the president and First Lady Michelle Obama were leaving Copenhagen this morning following their appeal to the International Olympic Committee, the Republican National Committee was circulating an email...

Republicans have been ready with criticism for President Barack Obama's overnight journey to Copenhagen, where the president today pressed Chicago's case for the 2016 Olympic Summer Games -- playing booster, as the Republican National Committee put it this morning, for Obama's "Chicago Fat Cat Friends.'' RNC Chairman Michael Steele, Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri and then House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio all have questioned the president's priorities.

Republicans have been ready with criticism for President Barack Obama's overnight journey to Copenhagen, where the president today pressed Chicago's case for the 2016 Olympic Summer Games -- playing booster, as the Republican National Committee put it this morning, for Obama's "Chicago Fat Cat Friends.'' RNC Chairman Michael Steele, Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri and then House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio all have questioned the president's priorities. And even as the president and First Lady Michelle Obama were leaving Copenhagen this morning following their appeal to the International Olympic Committee, the Republican National Committee was circulating an email...

Sometimes gifts come in odd packages and are not easily recognized for what they are. What just happened in Copenhagen has thrown a new light on a previously unrecognized gift to conservatives everywhere. Having been in politics at the neighborhood level I can tell you the average Joe will sit around sucking beer while his hot tub is slowly turned up and he finally dies. You can even tell him it's happening. But until something dramatic happens, he'll take no action. The temperature has to go up fast enough that he can't deny he's in danger. Then, and only then,...

Congress will pass a healthcare reform bill "before the members go home for Thanksgiving," says White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel. Emanuel, who made the comments during an interview on the Charlie Rose show Wednesday, hedged on whether the bill will contain a public option, which many Democrats support but many Republicans oppose. “That should be what the conference (committee) has to negotiate," he said. "Can it pass with a public option feature?" Rose asked in response. "I think the Senate's been clear about what — the prospects there," Emanuel said, meaning no in the Senate. But, "That doesn't...

t has long been claimed that Rahm Emanuel wanted to find someone to keep his congressional seat warm while he served as President Obama's chief of staff. Now, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned that Emanuel wanted then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich to appoint Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool to his 5th Congressional District seat. Claypool would serve one or two terms and then be considered for a place in Obama's Cabinet, according to sources familiar with Emanuel's proposal. That would give Emanuel the option of returning to Congress, where he could vie to become House speaker.

I'm a little sick today, so I'm not going to write a lot about this bill, other than to say this whole "everything is a crisis" style of governing ain't going to make it for him the next 4 years. Here's the bill (front first): For the whole series of Zero dollar bills, go here: "Flickr Archive of Zero Bills"

Obama sets stage for using budget maneuver to pass health reform By Sam Youngman - 09/10/09 05:19 PM ET President Barack Obama this week has been laying the foundation for Senate Democrats to use a controversial budget maneuver to pass healthcare reform. By offering Republicans olive branches during his address to Congress on Wednesday, Obama has set up a win-win situation. If GOP lawmakers embrace compromise, a healthcare bill would pass Congress easily. But the more likely scenario is that Republicans will continue to oppose Obama’s plan, and the president later this fall will be able to note he tried...

The White House hits the road for health care reform, and speaks out—proclaiming the town halls didn’t matter. Brand the Wilson flap as “a pimple on the ass of progress” ___ “If you look at the polling, we didn’t lose ground in August,” a senior Obama adviser said. “We lost it in July and June, when Congress was in town.” the AARP released a poll which offered some comfort. The poll, conducted immediately after the speech, showed 72 per cent of independents over the age of 45 saying that some of their concerns were addressed by the speech, with 63...

Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, brother of Rahm Emanuel and Obama’s Health Policy Adviser, announced a new “Complete Lives System” for selecting which sections of the population should be killed, in his article “Principles for Allocation of Scarce Medical Interventions.”. His writings were published Jan. 31, 2009 in the British medical journal Lancet…11 days after President Obama’s inauguration. On March 19, Emanuel was appointed to the Federal Coordinating Council on Comparative Effectiveness Research, to begin the design of a Federal system for withdrawing care from those chosen for death. Dr. Emanuel provides a preview of how such a system will get started…...

~ EXCERPT ~ Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) apologized Wednesday night to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel for shouting “You lie!” during President Obama’s healthcare speech before a joint session of Congress. Emanuel accepted Wilson’s apology on behalf of the president, according to a Democratic source familiar with the call. In addition to his phone call to Emanuel, Wilson also issued a statement separately, calling his comments “inappropriate and regrettable.”

WASHINGTON (CNN) — CNN's Deirdre Walsh reports that Republican Rep. Joe Wilson called the White House Wednesday night to apologize for his outburst during President Obama's speech, and spoke with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

Rep. Joe Wilson called the White House after the speech to apologize to chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel for yelling "You lie!" at President Obama, POLITICO's Jonathan Martin reports. The personal apology comes in tandem with an abject statement that Wilson "let my emotions get the best of me" and that his "comments were inappropriate and regrettable." He said that he continues to believe illegal immigrants will be covered by health care legislation, though a House bill explicitly excludes them. Republicans Lindsey Graham and John McCain, as well as a host of Democrats, sharply criticized Wilson's outburst.

PBS's Bill Moyers issued a tough critique of the Democratic Party on Friday night on HBO's "Real Time With Bill Maher." Moyers said that "too many Democrats have had their spines surgically removed." "The problem is the Democratic Party," said Moyers. "This is a party that has told its progressives — who are the most outspoken champions of health care reform — to sit down and shut up. Moyers said that, over the years, the Democratic Party "has become like the Republican party — deeply influenced by corporate money." "I think Rahm Emanuel understands that the money for Obama's reelection...