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Corn on Hardball: CPAC Welcomes Romney

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This weekend, the stars of the GOP will be at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the notorious meet-up in Washington DC. DC bureau chief David Corn discusses the first day of CPAC, including Mitt Romney’s oddly warm welcome from his fellow Republicans, with The Washington Post‘s Eugene Robinson and Chris Matthews on MSNBC‘s Hardball:

David Corn is Mother Jones’ Washington bureau chief. For more of his stories, click here. He’s also on Twitter.

Read our dispatches from this year’s CPAC here, here, here, and here.

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Corn on Hardball: CPAC Welcomes Romney

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The President Breaks the Ice With Republicans

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The presidential charm offensive is in full swing:

Obama invited 12 GOP senators to dinner Wednesday at the Jefferson Hotel in downtown Washington, where they dined for two hours. Obama picked up the tab personally, and two of his guests, Sens. John McCain (Ariz.) and Tom Coburn (Okla.), emerged flashing a thumbs-up.

“I think what he is really trying to do is just start a discussion and break the ice, and that was appreciated,” Mike Johanns (Neb.) told reporters as he left the dinner. “His goal is ours — we want to stop careening from crisis to crisis and solving every problem by meeting a crisis deadline.”

Obama picked up the tab personally! I don’t quite get that, but whatever.

This will be an interesting experiment. It certainly can’t do any harm, and in any case, it’s obviously something Obama should have been doing all along. Just part of the job, you know. At the same time, I doubt very much that it will accomplish anything. LBJ’s legendary schmoozing, the touchstone for this kind of thing, has always been overhyped, but even at the height of his powers he would have had little luck with the kind of Congress Obama has to deal with. It’s true that there have long been a few Republican senators willing to break ranks on taxes, but there’s little reason to think the rest of them will be swayed by any kind of sweet talk or detailed white papers. And that goes double for the House. It’s just not in the cards. This stuff is driven by policy and ideology, not by personalities.

But we’ll see. If this works, I’ll be gobsmacked, and all the pundits who kept demanding that Obama “lead” will be proven right. Anybody want to take bets?

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The President Breaks the Ice With Republicans

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England’s War on Terror Is a War on Women

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This story first appeared on the TomDispatch website.

Once, as a reporter, I covered wars, conflicts, civil wars, and even a genocide in places like Vietnam, Angola, Eritrea, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, keeping away from official briefings and listening to the people who were living the war. In the years since the Bush administration launched its Global War on Terror, I’ve done the same thing without ever leaving home.

In the last decade, I didn’t travel to distant refugee camps in Pakistan or destroyed villages in Afghanistan, nor did I spend time in besieged cities like Iraq’s Fallujah or Libya’s Misrata. I stayed in Great Britain. There, my government, in close conjunction with Washington, was pursuing its own version of what, whether anyone cared to say it or not, was essentially a war against Islam. Somehow, by a series of chance events, I found myself inside it, spending time with families transformed into enemies.

I hadn’t planned to write about the war on terror, but driven by curiosity about lives most of us never see and a few lucky coincidences, I stumbled into a world of Muslim women in London, Manchester, and Birmingham. Some of them were British, others from Arab and African countries, but their husbands or sons had been swept up in Washington’s war. Some were in Guantanamo, some were among the dozen Muslim foreigners who did not know each other, and who were surprised to find themselves imprisoned together in Britain on suspicion of links to al-Qaeda. Later, some of these families would find themselves under house arrest.

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England’s War on Terror Is a War on Women

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Green Divas Radio Show (Podcast): Mariel Hemingway

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Green Divas Radio Show (Podcast): Mariel Hemingway

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GOP Caves, Stops Blocking Violence Against Women Act

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On Thursday, following a heated debate on the House floor, lawmakers passed the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. Republicans had held up the law for more than a year over provisions designed to protect undocumented immigrants, Native Americans and members of the LGBT community. In a separate, earlier vote, the House rejected an alternative, stripped-down VAWA pushed by House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor, instead embracing the bipartisan version of the bill the Senate passed last week.

The Senate version of the bill, however, was itself a modified version of Democrats’ original bill, passed after Democrats acquiesced to Republican objections and removed a section that would have made more visas available to undocumented victims of domestic violence who help law enforcement prosecute their abusers. But the Senate’s compromise bill wasn’t good enough for the House Republican leadership, who introduced an alternate version that removed protections for members of the LGBT community and made it harder for tribal courts to prosecute non-Indian abusers.

Rights groups panned the House GOP leadership’s version of the bill and pushed the House to approve the Senate version. For reasons that are still unclear, the House Republican leadership went ahead and allowed lawmakers to vote on both the Republican alternative and the bipartisan Senate version of the bill. The Associated Press reported that a letter from several Republican lawmakers to the House GOP leadership may have convinced the leadership they didn’t have the votes to block the VAWA reauthorization again. The letter urged the Republican leadership to pass an inclusive version of VAWA that would “reach all victims and perpetrators of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking in every community in the country.”

Terry O’Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, argues that Republicans came back from the November elections knowing they would have to move on VAWA. “Elections matter,” O’Neill says. “What happened between the 112th and the 113th Congress is that everybody in the country became sharply aware that the Republican Party has a problem with the issue of rape.”

Thursday’s vote was much closer than 2005, the last time the Violence Against Women Act was reauthorized. This year, the bill passed 286-138, with just 87 Republicans joining all 199 Democrats (one Democrat did not vote). In 2005, there were only four “no” votes.

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GOP Caves, Stops Blocking Violence Against Women Act

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10 Natural & Handmade Eyeshadow Shades

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10 Natural & Handmade Eyeshadow Shades

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The GOP’s three-step plan for being loved

The GOP’s three-step plan for being loved

Congressional Republicans, like middle-school English teachers, are mad that people don’t think they’re cool. In quiet moments in institutional restrooms, they look into mirrors for a bit longer than normal, hands under the faucet, leaning in. “What is it?” they wonder, eyes scanning their faces. That’s when someone else walks in. “Hey.” “Oh, hey,” the Republicans reply, eyes dropping, hands washing each other vigorously.

Like many of those unsteady educators, the GOP has decided to do something about its popularity problem. Middle-school teachers buy sports cars and new jeans. Republicans try to develop new messaging. Politico outlines the GOP’s three new rules. Let us assess them.

Rule one: Stop talking like the world is going to end. Budgetary politics is important to the GOP, but voters are going to stop voting for a party that talks about gloom and doom around the clock.

“I think that we need to make being fiscally conservative cool,” said Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.), chairwoman of the Administration Committee and a close ally of Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

Yes. Stop talking like the world is going to end! You know how the Republicans are always like, “Oh, man, this climate change thing could really be apocalyptic and we’re not doing anything about it,” etc., etc. Stop doing that, Republicans!

And Rep. Miller has a great idea. A great idea. Make fiscal conservatism cool! Why didn’t you guys think of that before? I mean, I know that in 2005, someone presented Cheney with “Operation: Shades” which would have put that plan into motion and he didn’t jump on it, but why didn’t you do it once he and the other guy got out of office? Honestly, if you started now, you could have fiscal conservatism lookin’ cool by April. It’s like Hawaiian shirt day at Initech. Mix it up, and you’ll get the kids’ respect.

elsie

The new-look GOP

Rule two: Stop repealing regulations no one has heard of. It’s nice to be the party of cutting red tape, Republicans say, but no one has heard of boiler MACT or utility MACT. So spending time throwing these bills on the floor is absolutely useless. Package regulation cutting together, and explain that people’s energy will be cheaper, Republicans say.

“Does anyone have any idea how this fits their family? No. No one has any idea what that is,” said Rep. James Lankford (R-Okla.), a member of leadership who is leading the agenda-crafting effort. “Just an individual bill that deals with one regulation that people can’t connect to? No more of that.”

No one knows what that is. How are people supposed to hate “boiler MACT” if they don’t know what it is, guys? You’re not going to look “cool” eradicating some Johnny Lame-o like “utility MACT.” The key is to lie about about what you want to do! Make it sound horrible and then people will be super-grateful you stabbed it to death in subcommittee.

Like boiler MACT. So this is a totally stupid proposal from the EPA to establish new limits on pollution from industrial boilers. It is hella dumb because it would only prevent 8,100 deaths a year while making super-cool big factories have to upgrade their steam-production systems.

Let’s compare these two statements. Which one is “cool”? Which one is “square”?

We are pushing to stop the EPA’s boiler MACT rule because our allies in big business don’t want to incur one-time costs simply for the greater health of the public; rather, they’d prefer to continue to externalize the costs of that pollution into children’s lungs.
Yo, the big government has this new law that will make all your stuff way more expensive and does no one any good except China. That is wack; visit GOP.com/stoptheantibusinessagenda for the D/L. (That means “details.”)

The second one is the “cool” one. That, people can “connect to.”

Rule three: Sand down the party’s rough edges. Pass education bills and immigration legislation. Stop screaming about red ink and spending too much. This one is going to be tough, since House Republicans haven’t been able to pass a bill called the Violence Against Woman Act for more than a year.

By “sand down the party’s rough edges,” Politico really means “stop being racist and sexist.” Racism and sexism are not cool.

These are all super-good ideas, even if they’re just the summaries Politico wrote based on what it heard about the GOP gathering. Imagine how great the things Republicans actually said must have been!

I would like to offer a note of caution, though, which may dampen optimism about this plan just a little bit.

Even a middle-school teacher dressed in the coolest clothes, listening to the hottest music, playing the latest video games is not going to be seen as very cool and will not be very popular if he spends his entire class period screaming at his students, trying to show each of them how stupid they are, marginalizing nearly half of them, and suggesting that a few be sent to detention indefinitely.

Oh, sorry. Fixing those sorts of things fell under “sand down the rough edges.” You’re all covered then.

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

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The GOP’s three-step plan for being loved

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World Leaders React to North Korea Nuclear Test

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North Korea conducted a third nuclear test on Tuesday, the first since the country’s leader Kim Jong-un took power in December 2011. Though it is still unclear whether the test was successful, experts say it could bring the country closer to its goal of building nuclear-tipped missiles designed to strike the US. Official state media characterized the test as a response to US hostility, and warned of “second and third measures of greater intensity” in the future if Washington doesn’t back down. (The UN imposed sanctions on the country after a December 2012 rocket launch that the UN and Washington said was a cover for a banned missile test.)

The United Nations Security Council called the test, which is in defiance of existing UN resolutions, “a clear threat to international peace and security,” and said it would “begin work immediately” on further punitive measures against Pyongyang.

The test also prompted an outcry from leaders around the world: Here are some of them, via CNN:

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World Leaders React to North Korea Nuclear Test

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Global wind capacity up 20 percent in 2012 — thanks in part to the U.S.’ monster December

Global wind capacity up 20 percent in 2012 — thanks in part to the U.S.’ monster December

Michael Lemmon

The tally is in: Wind had a hell of a 2012. From the Guardian:

Wind power expanded by almost 20% in 2012 around the world to reach a new peak of 282 gigawatts (GW) of total installed capacity. Of the 45GW of new wind turbines that arrived in 2012, China and the US led the way with 13GW each, while Germany, India and the UK were next with about 2GW apiece. …

The UK now ranks sixth in the world for installed wind power, with 8.5GW. In Europe, only Germany (31GW) and Spain (23GW) have more. China leads the world with 77GW installed and the US is second with 60GW.

The amount of installed capacity has been growing nearly exponentially over the past two decades.

Interestingly, last year’s surge is thanks in part to American politics. More than five of the U.S.’ 13 added gigawatts came in December, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Approximately 40% of the total 2012 wind capacity additions (12,620 MW) came online in December, just before the scheduled expiration of the wind production tax credit (PTC). During December 2012, 59 new wind projects totaling 5,253 MW began commercial operation, the largest-ever single-month capacity increase for U.S. wind energy. About 50% of the total December wind capacity additions were installed in three states: Texas (1,120MW), Oklahoma (794 MW), and California (730 MW).

You may remember the kerfuffle over the wind production tax credit. (If you don’t, good news: It’s due to return soon.) Worried that Congress would kill a key incentive to use of wind energy in electricity production, manufacturers rushed to complete projects by the end of the year. Apparently, it worked. Half of the country’s new generating capacity last year was renewable, mostly due to wind.

EIA

And now the downside. First, one reason China tied the U.S. for new wind capacity was that China slowed down developing its wind production. And, second, the country is expected to add 240 gigawatts of new coal power by 2016. The total amount of wind capacity in the world after 2012? About 280 gigawatts.

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

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Global wind capacity up 20 percent in 2012 — thanks in part to the U.S.’ monster December

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Marco Rubio Agrees to Take One For the Team

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Jonathan Bernstein asks the question of the day:

Marco Rubio is going to give the Republican response to Barack Obamaâ&#128;&#153;s State of the Union Address this year. My only question: Why? Why would he want to do that?

The SOTU response is, basically, a no-win proposition. Itâ&#128;&#153;s very difficult to give it well. After all, the president of the United States has such a huge advantage, speaking in the House chamber with a cheering audience, usually for an extended time. Out parties have tried a variety of formats, but none of them comes close to matching the democratic pageant of the SOTU â&#128;&#148; and by the time the response is given, no one really wants to sit still for another speech, anyway.

If I were a rising political star, I would run, not walk, if party leaders asked me to give the SOTU response. My kid has a piano recital that night. It’s my anniversary. Anything. I think you’d have to be nuts to agree to do this.

That said, I’m curious to see what Rubio comes up with. As near as I can tell, he’s lately decided that his niche is to be a smart, non-crazy brand of Republican. During the Benghazi hearings, he asked actual substantive questions, rather than joining the conspiracy theory fever swamp with the rest of the panel. On immigration, he’s making the rounds of talk shows trying to build support for a compromise with Democrats. He seems to believeâ&#128;&#148;rightly or wrongly, I’m not sureâ&#128;&#148;that he’s enough of a conservative darling that he can get away with this.

The SOTU response would be an ideal forum to push ahead with this program. It’ll be a little hard to tell if he takes advantage of it, since SOTU responses tend not to be too fire-breathing in the first place, but there should be hints. Does he judiciously agree with a few of Obama’s proposals? Does he go out of his way to propose compromises? Does he offer any hints of heterodoxy on a national stage? Reading the tea leaves on this should be interesting.

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Marco Rubio Agrees to Take One For the Team

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