June 2012
Jun 29, 2012
Health-care ruling motivates Romney supporters
By Karen Tumulty and Nia-Malika Henderson, The Washington PostIf conservatives needed any more motivation to unseat President Obama, they got it Thursday from the Supreme Court, which provided fresh political opportunities for Mitt Romney even as it handed the president a legal victory.
Read moreObama's Big Political Win Sets Stage for More Battles
By Naftali Bendavid and Carol E. Lee, The Wall Street JournalPresident Barack Obama won a monumental legal victory Thursday when the Supreme Court upheld the vast majority of his health-care law, but the fight for public opinion—and votes in November—showed signs of growing more heated. President Barack Obama won a monumental legal victory Thursday when the Supreme Court upheld the vast majority of his health-care law, but the fight for public opinion—and votes in November—showed signs of growing more heated.
Read moreHealth Care Ruling
With Pete Williams, NBC NewsThe blockbuster decision was one of the court’s most important rulings in decades. Opponents of the law had said Congress’ power to regulate commerce didn’t extend to people who choose not to buy something, something that the court’s conservatives agreed with. Justice John Roberts did decide, however, that the law was a legitimate use of the congressional power to tax.
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view at msnbc.comAnalysis: Why Roberts saved Obama's healthcare law
By Joan Biskupic, ReutersIn the end, it all came down to Chief Justice John Roberts, the sphinx in the center chair, who in a stunning decision wove together competing rationales to uphold President Barack Obama's healthcare plan. Roberts' action instantly upended the conventional wisdom that he would vote with his four fellow conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court and undercut the agenda of a Democratic president, who as a senator in 2005 had opposed Roberts' appointment to the bench.
Read moreDid Obama Just Get His Mojo Back?
by John Dickerson, SlatePresident Obama's campaign team can come up from the root cellar. The summer health care tornado did not land. The Supreme Court ruled the Affordable Care Act is constitutional, protecting the president's signature legislative achievement. The decision was authored by conservative darling Chief Justice John Roberts, suggesting that, politically at least, this seal of approval was affixed by Betty Crocker herself. If the law had been struck down in whole or in large parts, it would have endorsed Mitt Romney's claim that President Obama committed a double sin: He wasted the precious start of his presidency on a wrong-headed scheme while ignoring a weak economy. But what now? Just because the Supreme Court upheld the law doesn't mean the legislation is popular. The president avoided a big defeat, but Mitt Romney's conservative base is energized. The net result is that it was a good day politically for the president, but it's a small net.
Read moreJun 27, 2012
Obama Campaign Banks on High-Tech Ground Game to Reach Voters
By Jackie Calmes, The New York TimesA cheer erupted at about 8 on a June evening as a woman scrawled with red marker on paper taped to the wall: the small group in a storefront Obama campaign office in this Mayberry-like southern Ohio town had exceeded the night’s goal of calling 700 voters with an hour to go, despite time out for a pep talk from a surprise visitor, former Gov. Ted Strickland.
Read moreEvasive Maneuvers: Mitt Romney doesn’t want to say anything, specifically.
by John Dickerson, SlateMitt Romney has a problem with specifics. Since Scott Walker’s victory in Wisconsin, a growing number of Republicans have been calling for something more from him. His recent responses on questions from tax reform to immigration have been thin or nonexistent. When reporters tried to get an answer about the candidate’s reaction to the Supreme Court’s ruling on Arizona’s immigration law, his spokesperson was so evasive, my colleagues might want to plant a mulberry bush in the press section to make the next round of the game more lively. Usually you have to win the White House before you can be that skilled at ducking and weaving.
The immigration ruling: a hint on healthcare?
By Joan Biskupic, ReutersThe Supreme Court's decision in the Arizona immigration case on Monday showed a conciliatory streak within a divided court that could emerge again when the justices issue their climactic healthcare decision on Thursday. What the Arizona compromise will augur for the most closely watched case of the term is anyone's guess. Yet the justices' evident search for common ground in the immigration ruling and a few other cases this term could portend a healthcare decision that does not predictably cleave along political lines.
Read moreMitt Romney says he would lead on immigration, he just won’t say how
By Dan Balz, The Washington PostMitt Romney has had a lot to say about immigration over the past few days, but what he has said adds up to a giant question mark. Rarely has a presidential candidate had as many opportunities to clarify or recalibrate his position on a vital issue, and rarely has a candidate passed up those opportunities as consistently as the former governor.
Read moreSenate Leaders Reach Student-Loan Deal
By Naftali Bendavid and Corey Boles, The Wall Street JournalSenate leaders said Tuesday they had reached a tentative deal to keep most student-loan interest rates at 3.4% for another year, preventing the rates from doubling on Sunday and potentially resolving a contentious election-year issue.
Read moreJun 26, 2012
Issa Letter Hammers Obama on Operation 'Fast and Furious'
By Major Garrett, National JournalThe chairman of the House oversight committee investigating White House involvement in the botched “gun-walking” program that led to the 2010 death of U.S. Border Patrol agent accused President Obama on Monday of downplaying his involvement in the program or intentionally obstructing the Congress' inquiry.
Read moreAnalysis: Court hampers Romney's plea to Hispanics
By Charles Babington, Associated PressMitt Romney wants to improve his troubled standing among Hispanic voters while saying as little as possible about immigration. Events keep working against him. The Supreme Court's ruling Monday on Arizona's immigration law, coming 10 days after President Barack Obama's announcement that allows some illegal immigrants to stay in the country, is the latest instance. Romney's cautious comments on the court decision underscored his discomfort with a topic that squeezes him between conflicting goals.
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