Today’s events reminded me of this passage from a note from a TPM Reader who vividly remembered David Wildstein’s brief tenure as Mayor of Livingston, New Jersey …
Everyone I talk to agrees that closing lanes to get back at a mayor is right out of the Wildstein playbook. But since Wildstein is capable of anything, a lot of people also believe that he would have no problem saying Christie ordered him to close the lanes, whether it’s true or not. That explains the odd, erratic behavior from the Governor….he’s caught between a rock and a hard place.
David Wildstein, the Christie appointee at the center of the BridgeGate scandal, says Christie knew and there’s proof.
You’ve really got to see this. Each party has its blind spots created by culture, ideology and demography. But this is incredibly rich and riveting for what may seem to some of us – or rather I would assume, just about everyone – as something extremely, extremely obvious. The Republican House leadership has discovered that not everyone runs a small business and not everyone is hyper-focused on cutting regulations. And they have a new message for Republican members of Congress: Most people have (or try to have) jobs and work for others!
It turns out hotheaded Congressman Michael Grimm (R-NY) caught a pretty big break. Capitol Police were investigated his threat against that NY1 reporter as a potential crime but they appear to have dropped the investigation when reporter Michael Scotto declined to lodge a complaint.
“Imperial” President Obama has fewest executive orders in a hundred years. Chart.
Daniel Strauss highlights this amazing rant from a Georgia Senate candidate’s campaign aide about why anyone who complains about Gov. Deal’s handling of the city’s snowfall is a giant sissy.
When we first reported on the Senate GOP’s new Obamacare alternative earlier this week, one expert pointed out that it contained “the biggest tax increase on the middle class” in decades. Since then, the senators have quietly released new language that seems to significantly alter that provision of the plan. Dylan Scott reports.
When I wrote about Pete Seeger earlier this week I ended on the rendition of This Land is You Land he performed with Bruce Springsteen and his grandson Tao at President Obama’s first inaugural in 2009. As I wrote, “There are many currents of what America is. For a certain one, perhaps for many, that was a transcendent moment of connection.”
Now the Times has collected together a number of musicians’ remembrances of Seeger and one of the best is from Springsteen where he recalls just this event. He also notes the role of John Hammond, a name you may never have heard but a producer, musician, activist, talent scout among many other things who is undoubtedly one of the most significant figures in 20th century American music.
We found someone who Sarah Palin can beat in 2016: Rob Ford! But not by much!
Yep, released exclusively to TPM, PPP put Sarah Palin against foreign crack addict, Mayor Rob Ford of Toronto. And here are the details here.