People everywhere congratulated the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the birth of their son, while Republicans vowed to rescue the child from Britain's socialist health care system. The media's coverage was a bit breathless, but thankfully the New York Post didn't report the baby's name as "Dick Gephardt." And Mitch McConnell greeted his likely primary challenger by calling him "an East Coast con man" but stopped short of demanding he take his stagecoach full of elixirs back home. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Monday, July 22nd, 2013:
GOP ESTABLISHMENT RALLYING AROUND ENZI - Beleaguered folk hero Mike Enzi is getting some help from the little guy: Koch Industries. Politico: "Sen. Mike Enzi's fundraising efforts have gotten off to a sluggish start this year, but he's received support from Republican establishment and heavyweight political action committees ahead of his primary fight against Liz Cheney. The Wyoming Republican received $7,500 from Koch Industries PAC, the committee affiliated with the company owned by megadonors Charles and David Koch, according to a POLITICO review of Enzi's second quarter campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. Other PACs affiliated with major politically active companies and trade associations who gave to Enzi between April and June include: Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Time Warner Cable, Pfizer and National Retail Federation. The three-term incumbent also received support from the leadership PACs of establishment Republicans such as Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Sens. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina." [Politico]
CELEBS PROMOTING OBAMACARE - Oprah's boldly going where the NFL wouldn't dare. Sarah Kliff: "What do Oprah, Funny or Die and the Grammys have in common? All three, it turns out, have volunteered to promote Obamacare. Senior advisor Valerie Jarrett hosted a meeting Monday with a star-studded group of actors, musicians, writers and producers who have 'expressed a personal interest in educating young people about the Affordable Care Act,' according to a White House official." [WashPost]
DUCHESS OF CAMBRIDGE GIVES BIRTH, MEDIA REPORTS IN MOST UNDERSTATED WAY POSSIBLE - If it's a legitimate girl, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. TPM: "After Monday's much-anticipated arrival of an heir to the British throne, CNN's Royal Contributor opined that Prince William's wife, Kate Middleton, made for a "brilliant" royal because she was able to deliver a boy on the 'first time.'..'My first thought, I have to say, this is how brilliant a royal Kate is. There are women throughout British royal family history that have panicked over not being able to deliver a boy, and here we are, Kate did it first time,' she added. 'So it does mean of course a change in the next succession conversation is over for another 30 years or so, but we're celebrating and thrilled that Kate has had a healthy bouncing baby boy.'" [TPM]
Statement from the Obamas: "Michelle and I are so pleased to congratulate The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the joyous occasion of the birth of their first child. We wish them all the happiness and blessings parenthood brings. The child enters the world at a time of promise and opportunity for our two nations. Given the special relationship between us, the American people are pleased to join with the people of the United Kingdom as they celebrate the birth of the young prince."
@katherinemiller: Chris Matthews: "Is there ever going to be an average looking queen again?"
@SteveKingIA: #Royal baby boy 4 William & Kate! Every baby a joyous miracle. Name suggestion to royal couple, "Steve". Just seems to fit a future king:-)
Scott Brown looks forward to one day holding daily meetings with the future king.
DAILY DELANEY DOWNER - Tatia Pritchett's 2002 Hyundai Sonata blew a tire early on a Friday morning in June when she was on her way to work. "I was driving and all of a sudden, KAPOW," she said. She pulled over and started trying to change the tire, but after removing the first lug nut she couldn't budge the rest. Her mobile phone getting no reception, morning dissolved into afternoon as she waited for help and wondered. "I had to really think, is this worth it?" Pritchett said. "I'm spending $150 a week in gas because it takes half a tank of gas to get to work and home every day. I'm paying $85 a month in parking." Pritchett's job is in Baltimore, more than 60 miles from her house, and the trip can take two hours in the D.C. area's awful rush hour traffic. The job pays $14.44 an hour. Subtract the cost of commuting, she's left with near-poverty wages. [HuffPost]
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DONORS ABANDONING CUCINELLI OVER ABORTION - That or they're too embarrassed to speak out about that proposed oral sex ban. Bloomberg: "Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli has less than half as much cash as Democratic opponent Terry McAuliffe, with a prominent list of Republican donors sitting out this year's most competitive U.S. political contest -- and in some cases switching sides. The financial disadvantage four months before the election illustrates the difficulties confronting an attorney general who is campaigning on an economic growth plan yet is best known for his opposition to gay marriage and abortion...Of McDonnell's top 25 individual donors, only 10 so far have contributed to Cuccinelli -- leaving three-fifths either on the sidelines or actively working against Cuccinelli, financial disclosures posted by the Virginia Public Access Project show." [Bloomberg]
MIKE LEE THREATENS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN OVER OBAMACARE - During an appearance on "Fox & Friends" this morning, the Utah lawmaker renewed his defense of your right to die outside a hospital. "Congress of course has to pass a law to continue funding government -- lately we've been doing that through a funding mechanism called a continuing resolution," Lee said. "If Republicans in both houses simply refuse to vote for any continuing resolution that contains further funding for further enforcement of Obamacare, we can stop it. We can stop the individual mandate from going into effect." Lee added that his threat to bring the federal government to a grinding halt was supported by "13 or 14" of his colleagues. Happy hunting, senator! [HuffPost's Nick Wing]
STEVE COHEN DECIDES HOLE ISN'T DEEP ENOUGH, RESUMES DIGGING - Last week, the Tennessee congressman told a reporter, "You're very attractive, but I'm not talking about it," in regards to a paternity test showing that he was not related to a women he had believed was his daughter. Now he's tweeting about race. It's like the dude got frustrated with his shovel and traded it in for the drill that bored the chunnel. Politico: "Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) on Monday defended a controversial racial tweet over the weekend, saying it was a funny joke and emblematic of his support among African-Americans." Cohen was speaking with MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' about last week's news that a woman he thought was his daughter turned out to not be, a controversy that started with a tweet. Host Mika Brzezinski brought up a tweet Cohen sent over the weekend. 'Told AfricanAmerican towdriver my week -father -DNA test not father reporter/ attractive fallout.he(not aware of TN9)says,You're BLack! Yo'... [Said King,] 'It was fun. It was funny. I had a tough night. Here's what happened: I drive an '86 Caddy. A lot of African-Americans drive old cars -- a stereotype -- a lot of African-Americans drive old cars,' Cohen said, telling the story of his car breaking down and the tow truck driver responding." [Politico]
RAND PAUL AIDE RESIGNS AMIDST NEO-CONFEDERATE CONTROVERSY - Jack Hunter will rise again... undoubtedly as a producer for TheBlaze. Daily Caller: "The man who for years called himself the 'Southern Avenger' says he now seeks to avenge his own honor. Jack Hunter, the aide to Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul who has been under fire for comments critical of Abraham Lincoln and sympathetic to the Confederacy, has left the senator's office to resume his career as a political pundit. Hunter told The Daily Caller News Foundation that he wanted to avoid being a distraction for Paul and to clear his own name, which he argues is now unfairly associated with racism. A senior Paul aide confirmed Hunter's departure. 'I've long been a conservative, and years ago, a much more politically incorrect (and campy) one,' Hunter said in an email. 'But there's a significant difference between being politically incorrect and racist. I've also become far more libertarian over the years, a philosophy that encourages a more tolerant worldview, through the lens of which I now look back on some of my older comments with embarrassment.'" [Daily Caller]
Mitch McConnell likely has a primary challenger. Good luck with that, likely primary challenger. Luke Johnson: "Matthew Bevin, a Louisville businessman, is planning to announce his intentions for the 2014 United States Senate race Wednesday followed by a three-day, eight-stop tour of the state, according to a media advisory released Monday. The advisory signals a Senate run for Bevin, who has been mulling a primary challenge against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for months. In February, he met with Kentucky tea party activists about a potential run. Politico reported that he had booked airtime for this week. McConnell's campaign attacked Bevin on Friday in a statement. 'Matthew Griswold Bevin is not a Kentucky conservative, he is merely an East Coast con man,' said campaign manager Jesse Benton." [HuffPost]
MAYORS AGAINST ILLEGAL GUNS LOSING MEMBERS - Mike Bloomberg's gun control advocacy group is the Destiny's Child of political organization, with one superstar mayor and a rotating cast of constantly fired lesser mayors. BuzzFeed: "New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's gun control group Mayors Against Illegal Guns is finding it hard to keep its membership up, thanks to dozens of resignations and lost elections over the last few months. Worse for Bloomberg, who has become one of the faces of the gun control movement: the people replacing his lost comrades aren't particularly eager to sign up with the organization, a rare group battling in the trenches against the well-organized and deep-pocketed National Rifle Association. Some appear not quite to have signed on for that level of political heat. 'The original focus, I thought, was going to be on focusing on better on enforcement of our existing laws, and if anything, we have talked about not getting involved with things like banning assault weapons and banning magazine clips,' said Rockford, Il. Mayor Lawrence Morrissey... According to an old version of its member list, saved on a blog dated back to late February, more than 50 mayors who were then listed on MAIG's website are no longer there." [BuzzFeed]
Bloomberg is hosting a fundraiser for Joe Manchin tonight at his Upper East Side mansion. That will help Manchin's reelection. A lot.
PENTAGON KINDLY REVIVING HOUSING MARKET - And not just by constructing replicas of homes and neighborhoods it intends to blow up. LA Times: "Marine Gen. John F. Kelly works in a fortress-like headquarters near the Miami airport. Starting this fall, he will live in Casa Sur, an elegant home with a pool and gardens on one of the area's swankiest streets. The five-bedroom residence, across the street from the famed Biltmore Golf Course, is provided rent-free to Kelly as head of U.S. Southern Command, which oversees military operations in the Caribbean Latin America. The cost to taxpayers? $160,000 a year, plus $402,000 for renovations and security improvements now underway. Casa Sur is one of hundreds of high-end homes, villas and mansions where senior generals and admirals are billeted, according to a Pentagon report prepared for Congress last month but not publicly released...The perks for top military brass, a Pentagon tradition, are under increasing scrutiny in Congress at a time when budget reductions and the mandatory spending cuts known as the sequester have forced the Pentagon to cut services, close facilities, cancel training and missions, and furlough 680,000 civilian workers." [LA Times]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here is a dog teaching a puppy how to go for a walk.
COMFORT FOOD
- This map allows you to simulate the nuclear bombing of any city you so choose. [http://bit.ly/12QNWPC]
- A super precious time-lapse video of a woman's pregnancy. [http://bit.ly/1aDiMSg]
- An Oscars-style "In Memoriam" for all of those "Game of Thrones" characters we have lost. [http://bit.ly/18yqnnS]
- Rude (and adorable!) little girl covers her little brother in diaper cream. [http://bit.ly/12Zrxjh]
- The D.C. Botanical Garden's corpse flower -- a giant, smelly flower indigenous to Indonesia -- has blossomed in all its funky glory. Here is a livestream of said stinky flower. [http://nym.ag/15YMIEX]
- The ten-most expensive photographs ever sold. [http://bit.ly/141MkJ8]
- One of Schindler's lists -- yes, Schindler's list -- is up for auction on eBay. [http://bit.ly/16T3zs5]
TWITTERAMA
@JohnCornyn: Happy anniversary of her 29th birthday to Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison!
@CuffyMeh: You guys, this royal baby is Rep. Steve Cohen's.
ON TAP
TONIGHT
6:30 pm: HuffPost's Radley Balko will be at HR-57 to celebrate the release of his new book, "Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces." Nashville blues rock band the Cold Stares will be performing. [HR-57, 1007 H Street NE]
6:30 pm: Joe Manchin, a man who once shot a cap-and-trade bill with a gun, heads to Manhattan for a fundraiser at Michael Bloomberg's Upper East Side row house. [New York, NY]
TOMORROW
Chris Christie heads to San Francisco, which is basically the Secaucus of the west coast, for a fundraiser. Gotta nail down those Silicon Valley donors while you can. [San Francisco, CA]
6:30 pm: Koethi Zan's new book "The Never List" is feted with a D.C. book party. [3806 Alton Place NW]
6:30 pm: HuffPost's Radley Balko continues his D.C. promotional tour of his new book, "Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces" at Busboys & Poets. Radley will give a short talk and sign copies of his new book. [Busboys and Poets, 1025 5th Street NW]
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