After such a busy Thursday -- financial reform cleared Congress and BP finally capped the leak -- we were hoping to transition into the weekend with some lighter fare. With a Tea Party Caucus in the works, David Vitter diving into the gender continuum and the likelihood of a Tom Tancredo gubernatorial bid growing, we certainly got our wish. Happy weekend everyone, we'll be spending the next two days compiling our acting reels in hopes of landing the role of "Mill" in the upcoming John Edwards biopic. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Friday, July 16th, 2010:
BREAKING: TEST RESULTS FROM OIL CAP NOT SO HOT - AP: "Pressure readings have been less than ideal from the new cap shutting oil into BP's busted well, but the crude will remain locked in while engineers look for evidence of whether there is an undiscovered leak, the federal pointman for the disaster said Friday. Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said on a conference call that pressure readings from the cap have not reached the level that would show there are no new leaks in the well. Allen said BP's test of the cap, which started 24 hours previously by shutting three valves and stopping the flow of oil into the water, would continue for at least 6 hours. It was scheduled to last up to 48 hours." http://yhoo.it/bvGUp6
NUH-UH! WHITE HOUSE SAYS IT TOTALLY DIGS ELIZABETH WARREN, THOUGH MAYBE NOT FOR CONSUMER PROTECTION - A day after Shahien Nasiripour reported Timothy Geithner opposes naming the top TARP overseer as head of the forthcoming consumer protection bureau, David Axelrod said in a conference call that Warren is still a candidate. Notably, no one at the White House has actually DENIED that Geithner opposes Warren -- though we imagine that denial will eventually come. "Elizabeth Warren is a great, great champion for consumers and middle-class families across the country," Axelrod said, adding, "Elizabeth is certainly a candidate to lead it..." Shahien Nasiripour with more non-denials, including one from Michael Barr, Treasury's assistant secretary for financial institutions, who is widely-believed to be a top choice to lead the bureau, saying she is "extremely well-qualified": http://huff.to/b3Vb88
Carolyn Maloney is circulating a "Dear Colleague" in support of Warren, addressed to President Obama. "Dr. Warren is the architect of the CFPB having described the contours of the agency even before the worst of the financial crisis. In a summer, 2007 article she laid out her vision for the agency, modeling it after the Consumer Product Safety Commission. She noted that consumers can't buy a toaster that has a one in five chance of bursting into flames, but they can enter into a mortgage that has the same one in five chance of putting them out on the street....Dr. Warren is simply the perfect choice for that post. We hope you will act quickly to appoint her as its Director."
MoveOn.org, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Credo Action and the Project On Government Oversight have all jumped in to back Elizabeth Warren. This is becoming a major fight.
BARNEY FRANK: BILL OVERHAULING FANNIE AND FREDDIE COMING THIS FALL - The Massachusetts congressman, in an interview set to air at 7 p.m. tonight on Bloomberg's Political Capital with Al Hunt, says he will begin drafting legislation to overhaul the mortgage backers. "This hybrid, in which you have private-shareholder-owned entities that also have a public mission, doesn't work. I think you have to separate them out. Yes, there's room for a shareholder-owned corporation. To the extent that we want subsidy, I think we have to separate it out. I think I'm more on the side now of trying to separate out this hybrid thing. But, we will start it - I'll tell you, make an announcement now. When we come back in September, we'll have several weeks, not enough time to pass a bill but enough to time to write one. I believe we should go out of here with the version of what's going to replace it. We will now begin with the rhetoric of politics behind us as this bill is passed figure out what set of arrangements replaces the current one."
RICHARD SHELBY: REPEAL FINANCIAL REFORM - Echoing John Boehner's call to undo the sweeping Wall Street reform measure passed by the Senate, Richard Shelby, the banking committee's ranking member, told Good Morning America that "We would like to repeal it," adding ""But I tell you, this is not a jobs bill, it is not good for the economy, it is not real reform." http://bit.ly/9kQA1t
WaPo's infographics explaining the bill are #%@#@$ ridiculous: http://bit.ly/9ybKQ8
"The only person in America not running from the heat this summer is LeBron James." --Ed Markey, citing statistics indicating this has been the hottest year on record, in support of climate legislation. The Hill: http://bit.ly/bgJZDQ
PRO-CHOICERS GET ANOTHER KICK IN THE TEETH FROM OBAMA - Nothing in federal law requires it, but Obama will prohibit high-risk health insurance pools, which are funded by both private and public dollars, from covering abortion. Why do we have elections again? http://huff.to/8XgxCN
TOMORROW'S PAPERS TODAY - Washington Post: Dana Milbank contends that the dawn of the Internet Age gave us Godwin's Law: If an online argument goes on long enough, somebody will eventually invoke Hitler. Conservative leaders and Republican politicians have, in their blind rage against Barack Obama, invited the epithets of the fringe into the mainstream. -- AND -- E.J. Dionne (for Monday) says that one of the president's most important jobs is to persuade the public that he's doing the right thing and to enhance the electoral prospects of the politicians who support him in doing it. Dionne outlines how Barack Obama has fallen down on the job.
@CenkUygur: Prometheus Maximus Uygur, born on 7/12/10 at 5:03AM. Weighing in at 8 lbs, 12 oz. http://yfrog.com/jppfluj
YOUNGEST SENATOR TO REPLACE OLDEST SENATOR - West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin announced today that he will appoint a young, handsome, politically well-connected and talented lawyer to hold Robert Byrd's Senate seat until some more electable can run. Carte Goodwin, a former Manchin aide, will be sworn in this coming Tuesday, just in time for the unemployment benefits extensions vote. Goodwin, who was born in 1974 (Robert Byrd's 15th year in the Senate), was formerly the West Virginia governor's chief council. http://huff.to/a5cTSh
Manchin, of course, has said that it is "highly likely" that he will run for Byrd's seat. http://huff.to/cOzE6I
@stevebruskCNN: Senate's web page notes Eaton of TN was officially too young when sworn in in 1818 (30 was minimum). No one asked his age!
@LisaDCNN: Appointment of Carte Goodwin means Senate back to 59 Dems and back to 43 Senators with last names A-G.
Fed Officials Brief Hill Staffers - Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart and Board Governor Elizabeth Duke briefed Hill staffers today, telling them the Fed had no more policy tools it could employ to reduce unemployment, an aide in the room tells us. Lockhart said that the Fed's job is to encourage the private sector to hire and that keeping down inflation was the best way to do that. Duke is working with Treasury to set up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau until it gets an appointed leader.
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HARRY REID LEADING SHARRON ANGLE - A new poll from the Las Vegas Review-Journal suggests the torrent of media reports and Reid campaign spots highlighting the fact that Sharron Angle bleeds RedState.com may have taken their toll. Reid leads Angle 44% to 37% with 10% of Nevada voters undecided. By the way, Angle trails Reid among women by 16 points. http://bit.ly/bcVY5m
House fundraisers: winners and losers. From Roll Call: http://bit.ly/aWvFB4
Richard Blumenthal, who is running for Senate in Connecticut, has an 18-point lead over his Republican challenger, Linda McMahon. A Quinnipiac survey has the Nutmeg State AG ahead 54 percent to 37 percent. http://bit.ly/bOuFGN
Opposition groups are hammering McMahon for her WWE past. CBS: "The Connecticut Democratic Party has helped organize a group called Mothers Opposing McMahon, which says on its Facebook page its goal is to 'spread the truth about the explicit violence and degradation of women that is the core of McMahon's WWE enterprise.' The group is up with a web video of nearly three minutes of vulgar wrestling footage. Footage from 2001 shows McMahon's husband, Vince McMahon, forcing a female wrestler to get on her knees and bark like a dog. The video also shows footage of male wrestlers attacking female wrestlers in the ring, as well as footage of Linda McMahon slapping her daughter on stage." http://bit.ly/cTHEfa
Video here: http://bit.ly/b1EUC5
Colorado gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis, currently mired in a plagiarism scandal, is tanking in the polls. A poll from the Denver Post finds 64% of GOP voters in the state another candidate. The leading replacement? 29% say Tom Tancredo. Oh boy... http://bit.ly/cYXpEo
SARAH PALIN AND MITT ROMNEY LOCKED IN 'NUMBSKULL' STAFFER SKIRMISH - Nick Wing: "'She's not a serious human being," a Romney adviser said of Palin, according to a Time magazine report by Mark Halperin. 'If she's standing up there in a debate and the answers are more than 15 seconds long, she's in trouble.' When asked by Politico for a response, an anonymous Palin aide responded: 'It shocks me that anyone would try to do that...You'd think we'd all be working together toward a common goal - that being 2010 - and that should be the focus right now. Those who try to claim the mantle of Reagan would be good to follow one of his most sacred tenets.'" http://huff.to/9Ha0jn
@MittRomney: TIME says unnamed advisors disparaged @SarahPalinUSA. Anonymous numbskulls. She's proven her smarts; they've disproven theirs
PALIN RANKS #1 IN 2012 FAVORABILITY AMONG REPUBLICANS - But the rest of the country isn't so sure. Gallup: "Her 76% favorable rating among Republicans is higher than those for Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, and Bobby Jindal....Huckabee and Gingrich have similar 64% to 65% favorable ratings among Republicans, Romney has a lower 54% rating, and Jindal, less well known even to Republicans, has the lowest positive rating [45%] of the five...Palin is the best known of the five to all Americans, but with a decidedly mixed image: 44% rate her favorably and 47% unfavorably." http://bit.ly/aJCHd5
@PElliottAP: TURLOCK, Calif. (AP) - Cash-strapped California public university says it paid Sarah Palin $75,000 to speak.
VAN HOLLEN: BEWARE OF DARREL ISSA'S GAVEL - The DCCC chair, speaking with Sam Stein, suggested that a GOP-controlled House would be disastrous for Democrats due to Darrell Issa's chairmanship of the Oversight Committee. "When it comes to subpoena power, we saw the kind of abuses Republican took with subpoena power during the Clinton years," Van Hollen said. "It is certainly part of the picture America should look at when voting. When Republican were last in charge of Congress, that is what they did." http://huff.to/b57P5v
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Meet the world's meanest ibex. Seriously, this ibex is the worst: http://bit.ly/cRJQ3Q
Move aside, Bike Caucus, there's a new, even more ridiculous informal legislative association coming to D.C. Michele Bachmann has officially submitted the paperwork to create a Congressional Tea Party Caucus. Elyse Siegel: "Bachmann on Thursday filed paperwork to establish the House affinity group, which the conservative congresswoman says will call for 'fiscal responsibility, adherence to the Constitution, and limited government.' 'This caucus will espouse the timeless principles of our founding, principles that all Members of Congress have sworn to uphold,' Bachmann said in a statement. 'The American people are doing their part and making their voices heard and this caucus will prove that there are some here in Washington willing to listen.'" http://huff.to/dkhZGr
David Vitter doesn't think Rachel Maddow "looks like a woman." -- A smart move from the man known nationally for a prostitution scandal and for employing a man convicted of attacking his girlfriend with a knife: After a Louisiana radio host talked about a photo of Maddow "looking like a woman," Vitter quipped: "Must have been a long time ago." The hosts broke out in uproarious laughter. When it died down, one host concluded: "Wow." Greg Sargent with the scoop: http://bit.ly/c9CXNV
The gross audio: http://bit.ly/cydOmC
Vitter apologies. In a letter sent to Maddow: "Dear Rachel, Regarding my remark during a radio conversation today, I apologize. The hosts made their comment and I obviously chimed in. While we do not usually agree on the issues, I do not think you deserved that comment. Sincerely, David." The invaluable Greg Sargent: http://bit.ly/a00Etn
Chris Hayes, her sometime fill-in host, who does not look like a woman but certainly has a sensitive side, argues in a Nation column headlined "Deficits of Mass Destruction" that the deficit hysteria today has the same contours as the debate about nonexistent WMDs during the Bush years : "Remember that the Iraq War might have been prevented had more Congressional Democrats stood up to oppose it. Instead, many of those who privately knew the entire enterprise was a colossal disaster in the making buckled to right-wing pressure and pundit hawks and voted for it. That mistake is being repeated." http://bit.ly/bQzYSY
Jess McIntosh, leaving Al Franken's office for Emily's List, is drinking gin at Eighteenth Street Lounge, starting early.
MICHAEL STEELE NOT EXACTLY MARYLAND'S FAVORITE SON - A PPP poll out this week finds that the GOP chairman -- seen here at the :30 mark rooting for a team that DOESN'T EVEN REPRESENT HIS STATE http://bit.ly/anzYBR -- only has the support of 19% of Marylanders. Baltimore Sun: http://bit.ly/9zCXaQ
DEMOCRACY! - "The Massachusetts Senate has passed a bill that would give the state's Electoral College votes to the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote. The bill approved by the Senate 28-10 late Thursday night is part of a nationwide effort to secure the agreement of enough states so the winner of the national popular vote would be guaranteed to win the presidency." AP: http://bit.ly/b0iKJV
! - "[Utah] has identified and placed on leave two employees from the Department of Workforce Services who accessed state data to compile a list of 1,300 people who were purportedly in the country illegally. At least two more workers are suspected." http://bit.ly/cJNeVR
JOHN EDWARDS MOVIE IN THE WORKS - Aaron Sorkin is on it. CNN: "Now he'll make his feature directorial debut with a movie about former presidential candidate John Edwards and his affair with mistress Rielle Hunter. The writer/producer has acquired the rights to Andrew Young's book, 'The Politician: An Insider's Account of John Edwards's Pursuit of the Presidency and the Scandal That Brought Him Down,' CNN confirmed." http://bit.ly/aueEyr
@evale72: Was just told that Danny Devito will be playing me in the John Edwards movie
JEREMY THE INTERN'S WEATHER REPORT - Tonight: There's a cold front coming from the west pretty slowly. As of Friday morning, it's on the western border of West Virginia. I predict that it will come through overnight and early morning tomorrow. Expect thunderstorms just before last call for drinks. Saturday: Hot and humid. Take lots of water, get shade, and expect afternoon thunderstorms to pop up. Things get much better (though not much cooler). Sunday, as just behind the front is a high pressure system, bringing lots of sun and low heat. High risk of sunburn. Thanks, JB!
Where in the World is JB?: Weather junkies, I have a confession. I am not currently in D.C. I'm in a city north of tornado alley, yet south of a location that's been hit by a tornado earlier this year. The city is known for heavy weather swings depending on the direction of the wind. Because of this, baseball players either love to play here, or hate it (depending on position). The average temperature in July is 84, but it's easily going to hit the 90s. Where am I? Correct answers win a shout out on Monday. But you said you were out sick today, JB!
COMFORT FOOD
- An argument between two Indiana men over a frying pan left both injured. It's exactly what you think it is. http://bit.ly/aRnKBJ
- For the bro trying to raise his brogeny (his broffspring, if you will) correctly, a beer pong practice game for kids. http://bit.ly/aSDn6G
- Like Spongebob in the woods but even weirder. Check out this bizarre Japanese cartoon. http://bit.ly/cEnQre
- Some unfortunate examples of how Internet memes kind of spoil/improve real live. http://huff.to/bX6GyL
- A cat in pajamas. http://bit.ly/cHGdQa
- 20 artistic interpretations of Twitter's Fail Whale. http://bit.ly/cw12tp
- The fleecing of the American college student: the sad truth about Ramen noodles. http://bit.ly/9hJeIh
TWITTERAMA
@patrickRuffini: Jobs Lied Calls Died
@FamousDC: Pic of #DCEarthquake devastation in Gaithersburg http://twitpic.com/25txue
@mikemadden: It's because they have so many of 'em in his native country // RT @cbellantoni: Q: Did you feel the earthquake Mr. President? A: I didn't.
@jackgraycnn: just read there might be a John Edwards movie. I smell an Oscar for Clay Aiken.
THE TUBE
TONIGHT: Steve Scalise discussed the oil spill with Ratigan. Jim Clyburn is on Schultz, weighing in on financial reform. Barney Frank speaks to Al Hunt on Political Capital. TOMORROW: Ed Markey offers his two cents on the oil spill on the Situation Room.
SUNDAY SHOWS
This Week: Joe Biden, Dee Dee Myers, Clarence Page, Nicole Wallace and George Will.
Meet the Press: John Cornyn, Robert Menendez, Pete Sessions and Chris Van Hollen.
Face the Nation: Bill Richardson and J.D. Hayworth.
State of the Union: Mitch McConnell and Steny Hoyer.
ON TAP
TONIGHT
11:45 am: Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) talks meat and potato issues over meat and potatoes [Charlie Palmer Steak,101 Constitution Ave NW].
5:00 pm - 8:30 pm: This week's Jazz in the Garden features "Incendio," a Latino jazz group from Los Angeles [National Sculpture Garden700 Constitution Avenue NW].
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm: The "I Love The 90s" Rosslyn Film Festival continues with "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" [Gateway Park, 1300 Lee Highway].
TOMORROW
8:00 am: Solomon Ortiz (D-Texas) hosts a golf tournament with special guest Nick Bradley, a professional instructor, whose website (http://bit.ly/ctOBno), makes us laugh [Valley Inn & Country Club, 95 Country Club Road, Brownsville].
1:00 pm: The annual Rubber Ducky Race in Meridian Hill Park. Participants are encouraged to modify their duckies. If you don't find this entertaining we don't want to know you [Meridian Hill Park, 1600 W Street. NW].
MONDAY
8:30 pm - 10:30 pm: Ready, set, brie: The second installment of Screen on the Green features "The Goodbye Girl" [National Mall, 700 Independence Avenue SW].
All day: The National Democratic Club puts on the 32nd annual "Tip O'Neil Golf Tournament" [Trump National Golf Club, 20391 Lowes Island Boulevard, Potomac Falls].
5:00 pm: Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) wastes no time getting back into fundraising with a campaign dinner [Capital Grille, 601 Pennsylvania Ave NW].
5:00 pm - 6:30 pm: When we were kids we'd have to bring toppings to ice cream socials. Tom Petri (R-Wisc) would prefer you bring $1,000 [Strategic Healthcare Townhouse, 230 Second Street SE].
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