The Lead Up

Here's a chronology of events leading up to Tom Schweich's suicide.

Biden Statement on GOP Senators Letter to Iranian Regime

Vice President Biden released a blistering statement attacking Republican Senators decision to send a letter advising the Islamic Republic of Iranian to ignore US Presidential diplomacy. Text after the jump ...

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No Trail

Lindsey Graham has a revealing answer as to why he's never used email: "I've tried not to have a system where I can just say the first dumb thing that comes to my mind. I've always been concerned."

Fascinating Angle

The 5 GOP governor/presidential hopefuls who stand to lose the most if SCOTUS axes Obamacare in red states.

Israeli Election Update

I wanted to give you a brief update on the Israeli election, which is coming up on March 17th. The poll of polls maintained by Haaretz now shows Likud and Zionist Camp/Labor tied at 23 seats. Their count tends to run behind a day or so, but there's been a flurry of new polls. I don't have enough of a sense of the comparative merits of the difference in pollsters to be able to sift beneath that topline number.

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ISIS and the Emperor's Clothes

I want to touch on something I've been thinking a lot about and have alluded to a few times. Just as we're hearing more and more about ISIS and the threat it poses, we're actually seeing more and more evidence that it is losing ground on its own turf. Let me start with two pieces in The Washington Post in the last couple days.

First, "In campaign against terrorism, U.S. enters period of pessimism and gloom."

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Still Today

"A fraternity shut down its chapter at the University of Oklahoma after a video surfaced Sunday night that allegedly showed frat members chanting a racial slur and making a reference to lynching."

The Never-Ending Jersey Corruption Beat

We've got a new featured pol on the TPM Jersey Corruption Beat today: Bob Menendez. Brian Murphy's got the story.

Shocking, Tragic

A Republican aide was on the phone with late Missouri State Auditor Tom Schweich just before he killed himself. He told her about his outrage over a whispering campaign about his religion, threatened to kill himself and then handed the phone to his wife. Seconds later, Schweich's wife Kathy said, "He shot himself!"

Third Israeli Poll: No Help For Bibi

I mentioned yesterday that the first two post-Speech polls out of Israel showed a modest bump for Prime Minister Netanyahu — neither the no-effect Zionist Camp/Labor was hoping for or the big bump Likud wanted. Now we have a third poll and it shows no effect at all.

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Welp

"Despite a small minority of Democrats and Israeli reporters seeking to curry favor with Obama, Netanyahu's speech to Congress elicited overwhelming support."

Israel Hayom (Israel Today) is the money-losing free news daily which Sheldon Adelson set up in 2007 mainly to support Benjamin Netanyahu. In Israel it is often mocked "Bibiton" (The Bibi News, roughly). But through a mix of being free and popular it rocketed to being the most-read news daily. Netanyahu's opponents — not unreasonably — complain that the entire thing is a massive campaign/propaganda contribution to Netanyahu. In any case, I was looking at its English language version today and here's the 'deck' for their lead article on the site ...

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Things Getting Weird

Budget crises affect people in weird ways. A top Brownback aide who is now a key lobbyist/advisor on the outside and apparently being investigated by the FBI went off on a Topeka Model UN coordinator for purportedly disrespecting the governor in her model UN speech.

Backstory

Netanyahu said Iran would develop its first atomic bomb by 1999 in 1991.

Guess What? Chris Christie Has Launched a Whole New Scandal

Feeling Bridgegate was out of the news, Chris Christie has cued up what looks to be another mega scandal.

Split Decision ... So Far

I mentioned earlier this week that the 'Zionist Camp'/Labor party had again opened up a very thin lead over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party in the fast-approaching Israeli election. Now we're two days post-Apocalypse Speech. So how has it played so far in Israel?

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