Senate Leaders to Work on Agreement

At LAT, "Obama 'modestly optimistic' that 'fiscal cliff' can be avoided":

WASHINGTON – President Obama said he was “modestly optimistic” that Senate leaders could reach an agreement to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff, but he said that if the effort fails, he’ll demand a vote on his basic proposal to protect middle-class taxpayers from seeing their taxes rise.

Speaking to reporters in the White House on Friday evening, a stern Obama tried to ramp up the pressure on lawmakers as they cobble together a deal before a potentially growth-crippling combination of tax increases and spending cuts take effect in the new year.

“The hour for immediate action is here. It is now,” Obama said.

Obama spoke shortly after meeting with top congressional leaders at the White House, during which Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) agreed try to come up with a proposal before the Dec. 31 deadline.

The president called the meeting “good and constructive” and suggested there was still time to reach a compromise. But if lawmakers failed to find common ground, Obama said, he has asked Reid to bring up a vote on a scaled-back version of his original proposal.

“If members of House or the Senate want to vote no, they can,” Obama said. “But we should let everybody vote. That’s the way this is supposed to work.”

Lots more at Memeorandum.

Progressives Lose the Gun Control Narrative

From Kurt Schlichter, at Townhall, "Liberals Panic As They Lose the Gun Narrative":

When you argue for a living, you can tell how an argument is going for you. The evidence and my gut both tell me that the liberals have lost control of the gun control narrative.

Not for lack of trying – it was almost as if they were poised to leap into action across the political, media and cultural spectrum the second the next semi-human creep shot up another “gun free zone.” This was their big opening to shift the debate and now it’s closing. They’ve lost, and they are going nuts.

The evidence is all around that this is not going to be the moment where America begins a slide into disarmed submission through an endless series of ever-harsher “reasonable restrictions” on our fundamental rights. You just have to look past the shrieking media harpies to see what’s really happening.

Let’s start with the most obvious omen that this tsunami has peaked...

Continue reading.

Democrats might get something on semi-automatic weapons and large capacity clips. Beyond that, bupkes.

Still, take a look at this piece at The Economist for an idea of how dramatic the impact of Newtown has been on the gun control narrative, "Newtown’s horror."

Fiscal Cliff Dive Would Impose Steadily Increasing Pain and Hardship

At the New York Times, "Fiscal Cutoff Gradually Morphs Into Horizon":

Negotiations are set to resume in the coming days, following a break for Christmas, although hopes for a so-called grand bargain have faded. Instead, President Obama is pushing for a scaled-back plan that would extend the Bush-era tax cuts on incomes below $250,000, while suspending the automatic spending cuts and extending unemployment benefits.

Michelle Meyer, senior United States economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said there is a 40 percent chance of what she calls a “bungee-jump over the fiscal cliff,” with Congress failing to act until after Jan. 1 but eventually averting the full package of tax increases and spending cuts by mid-January. If that were to happen, she predicts a steep sell-off on Wall Street, which would quickly force political leaders to compromise.

Over all, Ms. Meyer estimates that the economy will grow by just 1 percent in the first quarter of 2013, well below the 3.1 percent pace recorded in the third quarter of 2012.

What’s worrisome, she added, is that consumer anxiety about the fiscal impasse has begun to mount, catching up with business leaders who have been warning of economic danger since summer. “What’s been missing in this recovery has been confidence,” she said. “We’d see a healthy recovery if it weren’t for this uncertainty and the potential shock from Washington.”

Indeed, the economy has been showing signs of life recently. Unemployment in November sank to 7.7 percent, a four-year low. Consumer spending has been picking up, and the housing market has continued to recover in many parts of the country. Overseas worries like slowing growth in China and recession in Europe have also faded.

Those trends have encouraged some observers, like Steve Blitz, chief economist at ITG Investment Research. He estimates that the economy will grow by nearly 2.5 percent in the first quarter if Washington comes up with even a modest compromise. In the absence of a deal, the pace of growth would be more like 1 percent, he said.

“I don’t think that not having a deal going into the new year is all that critical,” Mr. Blitz said. “It doesn’t mean you will immediately go into a recession.”

RTWT at the link.

And that's Maria Bartiromo at the clip, mercilessly hammering the befuddled Democrat Senator Ben Cardin, via Eliana Johnson at National Review, "Maria Bartiromo Lays the Smackdown on Ben Cardin, Trading Floor Erupts in Cheers."

And see Jonathan Tobin, at Commentary, "Democrats Can’t Avoid Fiscal Cliff Blame."

Dianne Feinstein's Concealed Carry Permit

Senator Feinstein's leading the left's gun control chorus on Capital Hill, but she's no stranger to the right to bear arms, and has availed herself of that right many times. See MRC, "Feinstein in 1995 on her concealed carry permit: 'I know the urge to arm yourself because that's what I did'."

And at Instapundit, "REMINDER: Sen. Dianne Feinstein Has Concealed Carry Permit."

Well, sure, because her life is important. Not like yours.

Also, "DID WE EVER GET AN ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION? Does Piers Morgan’s Bodyguard Carry a Gun?" I love the illustration at the post:

ADDED: This is something else, at Legal Insurrection, "Did David Gregory just violate D.C. gun law by possessing a high-capacity gun clip?"

Adam Lanza's Downward Spiral

Still not quite there as far as explaining why this guy went off, but a great piece nevertheless, at WSJ, "School Gunman's Downward Spiral."

Also at Advice Goddess, "Where Was Dad In All Of This? The Question Not Being Asked In Newtown Mass Murder."

Countdown to the Fiscal Cliff

I had John Hawkins' excellent post at the sidebar blog item finder, but I keep thinking about his comments as the fiscal cliff debate continues. This should be up on the front page: "5 Ways The GOP’s Poor Political Decision Making Helped Create This Fiscal Cliff Mess + Why I Would Have Voted For Boehner’s Plan B."

Bottom line for me: the GOP's all messed up and it's going to take some structural reforms at the organizational level to start turning things around. John's right: the Democrats won the public relations battle on higher taxes for the wealthy. Obama sees raising taxes as his mandate. And he correctly perceives the weakness of the Republican position and the obvious fractures within the GOP conference on the Hill.

More from Karen Tumulty, at the Washington Post, "Tax fight sends GOP into chaos."

And at the New York Times, "News Analysis: Still Bitter About Election, Republican Opposition Unwilling to Compromise with President" (via Memeorandum).

Gun Nut! NRA's Wayne LaPierre Misses Opportunity After Newtown Massacre

High drama at the New York Post, "NRA aims at foes, but shoots itself in the foot with LaPierre's statements."

LaPierre's been with the NRA as long as I've been a political junkie. I don't know. Facts are truly on the side of gun rights activists, but this guy's rant was lacking all the appropriate optics. My earlier comments, with video are here, "NRA Calls for Armed Officers in Schools."

NRA Calls for Armed Officers in Schools

It's the news of the day, and folks on Twitter couldn't resist hammering away at how bizarre this press conference was. I tuned in late, but watching the video, I thought somebody hacked this clip when that first Code Pink protester put up his banner. And then you get the obligatory Medea Benjamin scream-fest. It's unreal. LaPierre just stands there dumbstruck. It was a metaphor for the NRA's response to the outrage. I'm personally disgusted by the left's despicable demonization and rank opportunism, but I doubt the press conference changed many minds. Jonathan Tobin has more on that: "The NRA Should Have Stayed Silent."

And here's this, from the Wall Street Journal:

WASHINGTON—The nation's most powerful gun-rights lobby called Friday for armed security guards in schools, saying that children had been left vulnerable in their classrooms.

Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, said that "the monsters and the predators of the world" have exploited the fact that schools are gun-free zones. Other important institutions—from banks to airports to sports stadiums—are protected with armed security, he said, but this country has left students defenseless.

"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," Mr. LaPierre said at a news conference Friday morning.

The comments were the most extensive statements the NRA has made since the Dec. 14 killings at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., that left 20 children and six adults dead. The gunman also killed his mother and himself. The organization issued a statement earlier this week expressing shock and sadness over the shootings.

In the aftermath of the attack at Sandy Hook Elementary School, much of the national conversation has focused on gun-control measures. But on Friday, Mr. LaPierre said that time should not be wasted on legislation that won't work.

Mr. LaPierre said that the media rewards monsters who would shoot school children by giving them the attention that they crave, and he suggested that some other deranged individual already is planning the next attack.

"The truth is that our society is populated by an unknown number of genuine monsters, people that are so deranged, so evil, so possessed by voices and driven by demons that no sane person can ever possibly comprehend them," Mr. LaPierre said.

The shootings have led to calls for a variety of new gun laws, including the reinstatement of an assault-weapons ban similar to one that was in effect from 1994 to 2004. The White House also has urged Congress to pass a ban on high-capacity magazines and to require background checks for all gun purchases.

Continue reading.

My immediate impression was doubtful that a nationalized armed schoolhouse security regime would be effective. On Twitter Melissa Clouthier made a number of stinging critiques, but she was especially acute on the need for local school districts, with parents, deciding what's best for their own children and their own circumstances:

BTW, the @nra asking for Department of Education version of the TSA is absurd. JUST NO. Let districts decide, i.e. parents.
— Melissa Clouthier (@MelissaTweets) December 21, 2012

And from Joshua Treviño:

Still, what LaPierre proposes is a TSA-style solution. Far better to let school districts simply adopt their own policies as they see fit.
— Joshua Treviño (@jstrevino) December 21, 2012

I'll have more later, as always...

Obama Expected to Name Sen. John Kerry as Secretary of State Nominee

On television, CNN has all kinds of reporting, loaded with shameless plaudits.

But see the Los Angeles Times, "Obama to nominate Kerry to be next secretary of State."

A traitor at Secretary of State. Perfect.
— Melissa Clouthier (@MelissaTweets) December 21, 2012

Also at Memeorandum.

I'll have more on this...

Boehner's Budget 'Plan B' Collapses

Here's the key bit from the Wall Street Journal's editorial, "Teetering on the Cliff":

The Speaker's miscalculation was that, just as in 2011, he thought he could get into a room with the President and negotiate a grand bargain. His intentions were good but he misjudged the all-or-nothing ideological nature of this Presidency. After the debacle of 2011, Mr. Obama could have treated the negotiations as the art of the bipartisan deal that could set the stage for immigration reform and other second-term achievements. Flush with victory, he could have at least made a gesture on entitlements.

Instead, he has treated the talks as an extension of the election campaign, traveling around the country at rally-style events at which he berates Republicans for not accepting his terms of surrender. Grant gave Lee more at Appomattox.

Plan B was Mr. Boehner's attempt to salvage some political dignity and a policy victory or two in return for conceding on tax rates. The bill wasn't even technically a vote to raise taxes because the rates are set to rise automatically on January 1 if Congress does nothing. The bill also kept the estate tax at 35%, rather than going up to 55% as now scheduled, and it made the tax cuts on lower incomes permanent.

With a narrow deal on taxes, Mr. Boehner figured he could live to fight another day on spending

More at that top link. And a CBS News report, "House votes on Boehner's 'Plan B'."

And at the Los Angeles Times, "Boehner cancels House vote as 'Plan B' falls short of GOP support."

Power Grab!

O'Reilly's talking points memo:

Lots more at Memeorandum.

Greg Gutfeld Calls Out Professor Adolph Reed, Jr.

Professor Reed's essay is indeed a caricature of the worst of leftist political correctness. It's that bad: "The Puzzle of Black Republicans."

I read Professor Reed's book back in the day, "Stirrings In The Jug: Black Politics In The Post-Segregation Era." And I'm sure he gained tenure long ago, so a little correction to Gutfeld's snark. He sure does love that "Adolph" comparison, though. Heh.

More at Legal Insurrection, "I would never be so insulting as to accuse the NY Times of tokenism."

Bill O'Reilly Slams Bob Beckel on Marine Jailed in Mexico

This is interesting:

And at Fox News, "Reps call for national travel boycott of Mexico over jailed Marine."

Do You Believe the NRA's 'Grip on Congress' is Threatened?

I got a pretty good laugh out of this front-page story at yesterday's Los Angeles Times, "Gun lobby's grip on Congress threatened":

WASHINGTON — The gun-control debate sharpened Tuesday as President Obama backed an effort to revive the assault weapons ban spearheaded by California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who is poised to have a powerful new role as the head of the Senate committee overseeing gun laws.

Calls for federal gun restrictions were mounting following last week's shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. — even from lawmakers who had rejected them in the past. The National Rifle Assn. and its allies have successfully kept such efforts at bay for years, but the slayings of 20 children have roiled the politics of gun control and now challenge the gun lobby's hold on Capitol Hill.

I doubt it. The president's task-force on firearms is supposedly designed to freeze the politics of gun control. But even if it doesn't I don't think there's much support for gun control beyond a couple of token measures to make the left's extremists happy. We'll see. A good indicator going forward will be the direction the NRA takes in its press conference on Friday. The group exists to protect the rights of gun owners. It's not going to take all these pathetic attacks lying down. Word has it that the group's going to hammer mental health failures and the pop culture's glorification of violence. This oughta be good.

ObamaCare Medical Device Tax Will Deal Crushing Blow to Orange County Businesses

My previous report is here, "Democrats Seek Delay of ObamaCare Medical Device Tax."

And here's this at the Orange County Register, "A prescription that kills innovation":

No state will be more adversely effected than California by the 2.3 percent tax increase on medical devices, which the Obama administration expects to raise nearly $3 billion over the next decade.

Indeed, while the United States is the world leader in medical devices and diagnostics, the Golden State is by far the nation's leader, accounting for a fifth of total U.S. sales and employment.

The threat of the federal tax hike on medical devices will be especially damaging to Orange County, which is the hub of California's medical device and diagnostics sector. The sector accounts for more than $11 billion in economic activity within the county, according to life-science association BIOCOM Southern California. The average O.C. salary for those employed in the sector is $108,799.

The Medical Device Manufacturing Association points out that the Obamacare tax hike will be levied on a company's total revenues, regardless of whether it makes a profit.

That means that many companies will owe more in taxes than they generate from their operations.

As MDMA President and CEO Mark Leahy recently told lawmakers in the Nation's Capital, "We are already seeing the negative impact this onerous policy is having on jobs and innovation, and America's med-tech innovators can't afford to find out what implementation of the device tax would bring."

That's why we urge senators Feinstein and Boxer to add their voices to those of their fellow Democratic senators to delay, if not repeal altogether, the scheduled implementation of the innovation-killing tax hike on life-saving medical devices.

Clueless freakin' progs.

President Obama's Speech at Newtown, Connecticut

The Washington Post has both the video and transcript, "President Obama’s speech at prayer vigil for Newtown shooting victims (Full transcript)." (Via Memeorandum.)

I have to agree with Dana Loesch. Obama turned this into a gun control rally, and he's not ashamed to do it. Clear as a bell.

He just politicized a prayer service.
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) December 17, 2012

If you want death threats from the peace and love "no guns" crowd, just say that you thought the president inserted politics into tonight.
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) December 17, 2012

And here's this from Twitchy, "Dana Loesch says Obama’s speech at vigil was political; Libs unleash torrent of hate."

I seriously cannot keep up with all the "c*nts," "burn in hells," "all your fault" Tweets from progressives.
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) December 17, 2012

That's a torrent of hate alright. Progressives are unleashing it all over the place following the shooting.

More from Twitchy, "Post-Newtown witch hunt: NRA president and members bombarded with death threats." And from Weasel Zippers, "Liberals Call For Murder of NRA President and Its Members…"

Well, I mentioned already that the left's gun control agenda is just the prelude to silencing the conservative opposition, the opening program toward stacking conservative corpses in the left's gulag archipelago. The progressive mouthpieces on MSNBC don't even try to hide this agenda. They just put it right out there, so folks shouldn't be surprised at what's coming down the pike, from Weasel Zippers, "MSNBC Knuckle-Dragger Ed Schultz Advocates “Confiscating” Guns From Law-Abiding Americans…"

MSNBC's Alex Wagner: Hopefully Connecticut Massacre Will Create 'Political Capital' for Gun Control

These inhuman MSNBC progressives have no shame.

Video at RealClear Politics, "MSNBC Host: CT Shooting May Bring 'Political Capital' For Gun Control."

Tougher Gun Control Laws Unlikely After Elementary School Massacre

Listen to Piers Morgan get all angry and "furious," in his own words, all while completely ignoring the facts, and even distorting them. He points to the Bushmaster rifle in outrage even though that gun was not used in the massacre, and he rants about how all these guns were bought legally. They were, although the suspect stole them from his mother, whom he murdered, and then killed 20 children and 6 adults. Morgan was spouting the same nonsense after the Aurora shooting. We'll have more stupid gun control outrage after the next shooting, God forbid. But no matter what happens, fortunately, we're not likely to see a wave of repressive gun control laws that will only strip the civil liberties from law-abiding citizens and do nothing to stop gun violence.

More at the Los Angeles Times, "Tougher gun laws seem unlikely even after school shooting":

WASHINGTON — Another mass shooting, another drive for gun control. But will the latest shooting — this time at an elementary school — change the political calculus in Washington and generate more support for tougher gun laws?

"I think the impact of this is going to be inescapable," said Kristen Rand, legislative director of the Violence Policy Center.

The massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., is among the worst shootings in the nation's history and comes after a spate of other high-profile episodes of violence, including mass shootings this year at a Colorado movie theater, a Wisconsin temple and an Oregon shopping mall. The rampage in Connecticut left 27 dead, 20 of them children ages 5 to 10. The shooter then killed himself.

But although the tender age of the victims brought tears to President Obama's eyes and an assertion from him that "We're going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics," political observers from both parties were doubtful that anything major would be done.

"You think Social Security is the third rail of politics, try guns," said a Republican strategist, who spoke on the condition that he not be named because of the sensitivity of the subject.

Congress, far from being inclined to tighten gun laws, allowed an assault weapons ban to lapse in 2004.

"You have Republicans getting a lot of push-back from the base on a number of issues, such as agreeing to tax increases and compromising on immigration. Throwing the 2nd Amendment and gun rights into the mix would be devastating to the party," said a congressional Republican staffer, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the issue.

Opposition comes not just from Republicans. A number of Democrats have been skittish about the issue, contending that Al Gore's support for gun control cost him votes in rural states in the 2000 presidential election.

White House spokesman Jay Carney steered clear of the issue when asked about it Friday, saying it was a day for mourning, not policy debates. That stance immediately drew criticism from the left, and gun control advocates moved swiftly to ratchet up the pressure on Obama.

"If now is not the time to have a serious discussion about gun control ... I don't know when is," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.).

"President Obama rightly sent his heartfelt condolences to the families in Newtown. But the country needs him to send a bill to Congress," New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said.

About 200 protesters calling for immediate action appeared outside the White House, some carrying placards that read, "Today: Sandy Hook. Tomorrow?"

"Condolences don't work," said Pastor Michael McBridge of Oakland. What will work is "action now," he said.

"We've had enough," added Ladd Everitt of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), a leading gun control advocate who sponsored the now-lapsed federal ban on assault weapons, has said she plans to make a new effort to revive the measure.

Still more at the link.

And after that head over to read Jeffrey Goldberg, at the Atlantic, "What Can We Do to Stop Massacres?" (At Memeorandum.)

CBS News This Morning Broadcast From the House Ways and Means Committee Chamber

When I turned on CBS, I thought they were at the Supreme Court talking about the homosexual agenda. But upon closer look it didn't look like the Supreme Court at all. But then, near the end of the show, Norah O'Donnell came back on with this segment, "Ways and Means Committee: A look back in time."

The discussion of Wilbur Mills reminded me of my Congress seminar in graduate school. They used to call the powerful committee chairmen the "Old Bulls" of Congress, and none were more powerful than Mills. Folklore had it that even President Johnson and to grovel before the Ways and Means Chairman in order to get anything passed on Capitol Hill, including Medicare.

Democrats Seek Delay of ObamaCare Medical Device Tax

Hey, suck it up idiot progs.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Senate Democrats Seek Delay in Medical-Device Tax":

A group of 17 Democratic U.S. senators and senators-elect have signed a letter urging for a delay in implementing a tax on the medical-device industry that is scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1, said two people familiar with the matter.

The letter, a copy of which was obtained by Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, was addressed to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and said the “the medical device industry has received little guidance about how to comply with the tax–causing significant uncertainty and confusion for businesses.” It requested a delay be included in the bill Congress is negotiating to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff.

The Democrats’ support could give new momentum to the industry’s intense lobbying campaign to repeal or delay the 2.3% tax on device sales, which companies say will hurt profits and lead to U.S. job losses. However, they face a battle because other Democrats, as well as the White House, oppose any postponement.

And see Geoffrey Norman, at the Weekly Standard, "Special Treatment."