The Week in Review ~ 4.23.2012
Hey, moms are busy people! And in the midst of all the chaos, who’s got time to keep up with the ever-evolving (yet important) world of politics? At MomStop, we keep track of the 5 biggest political stories each week so you don’t have to. These are the stories that the ‘people-in-the-know’ are talking about! So grab some coffee (the Bailey’s is optional) and pull up a chair, because here we go…
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Democrat Senator ‘Unsure’ Whether He’ll Vote for Obama - Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) made news last week when he told reporters that he hadn’t made up his mind yet as to whether he would be voting for President Obama or GOP challenger, Mitt Romney, in November. Manchin, who was first elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in a 2010 special election, faces a re-election bid this November in red West Virginia – a state that went for John McCain over Barack Obama by a 56-43 margin in 2008. So… with Obama’s approval ratings in the tank, it comes as no major surprise that Manchin would seek to distance himself from the President as much as he possibly can at this point. Don’t be surprised to see a whole lot more of these Democrat defectors following Manchin’s lead as November approaches – of the 33 seats up in the Senate this year, 23 belong to Democrats, and according to RealClearPolitics.com, 16 of those are quite vulnerable…
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Secret Service Scandal Deepens - At least 6 U.S. Secret Service agents were ‘let go’ or forced to resign last week following revelations that they had hired hookers while on a detail in Cartagena, Colombia, in advance of President Obama’s visit there earlier this month. Now, we’ve learned that the Secret Service agents who brought prostitutes back to their hotel rooms actually had copies of President Obama’s schedule in those rooms - which, obviously raises some fairly serious security concerns. While the agency is conducting its own ‘internal investigation,’ word also came out last week that Congressional hearings into the incident (and whether there have been similar incidents in the past) are just beginning to ramp up. More firings are expected in the coming weeks, and maybe not just within the Secret Service – the U.S. military also confirmed that at least 11 of its members are being investigated in relation to the incident as well.
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Obama Ate a Dog - Well, to be fair, it’s not like he ate the dog last week… But, he did, in fact eat a dog… Jim Treacher at The Daily Caller set off a firestorm last week writing about Barack Obama recalling his childhood days in Indonesia when he ate things like snake meat, roasted grasshopper and, yes, dog. As Treacher points out, the story is probably of little relevance to voters today, but the blogosphere and twitterverse picked up on the meme in comparison to the Left’s treatment of Mitt Romney for allegedly making his dog ride on top of the station wagon during a family vacation some thirty years ago. As Treacher stated, “Hey, whatever you have to tell yourself, libs. Say what you want about Romney, but at least he only put a dog on the roof of his car, not the roof of his mouth. And whenever you bring up the one, we’re going to bring up the other.” Hilarity ensued, with Twitter ‘hashtag games’ such as #ObamaDogRecipes and #ObamaAteADog. Here are some of our favorites, courtesy of Twitchy.com.
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Senate Democrats Punt Budget (Again) - It now has been 3 full years since the Democrat-controlled Senate has met its basic and most fundamental requirement of passing an annual federal budget. The latest failure came last week when Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) bowed to pressure from fellow Democrats and postponed a committee vote on a 2013 budget resolution, most likely until after the November elections. With several ‘vulnerable’ Democrats up for re-election this year, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has repeatedly shown himself to be unwilling to expose his colleagues to votes on the toxic issues of government spending and ballooning, out-of-control deficits leading up to November. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) responded by saying that, with the ongoing failure, the Senate Democrats “have proven themselves unable to meet the defining challenge of our time.” The only budget vote that has even taken place in the Senate occurred last May, when Republicans forced a vote on President Obama’s proposed 2012 budget. It was defeated 97-0 - perhaps yet another reason why Democrats don’t want to vote on this year’s budget.
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Socialism Reigns Supreme in France - On Sunday, Nicolas Sarkozy became the first sitting president in the 54-year history of France’s present electoral system to have been beaten back into second place in the first round of voting. The shocking rebuke sets up a ‘runoff’ election between the more conservative Sarkozy and Socialist Party favorite, Francois Hollande, on May 6, 2012. Hollande, who squeaked out a victory over Sarkozy in the first round of presidential voting, is the ‘odds-on’ favorite to win the May 6th runoff, according to recent polling data. The Socialist Hollande has promised to institute serious and onerous financial regulation reform, as well as a 75% income tax rate on those earning in excess of $1 million euros per year… Sound familiar? For his part, Sarkozy – rather than reaching out to ‘the center’ – struck a defiant tone after the first round of voting, taking a hard right turn and challenging Hollande to three televised debates, rather than the customary one. One thing is certain – it’s going to be an interesting two weeks in La République Française. Stay tuned and stay engaged…
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