Weren't Republicans saying the same thing about George W. Bush in his sixth year?
"Democrats fear Obama hurting their prospects; Brown’s interest in N.H. seat fuels party’s concerns" by Jonathan Martin and Ashley Parker | New York Times March 16, 2014
WASHINGTON — Democrats are becoming increasingly alarmed about their midterm election fortunes amid President Obama’s sinking approval ratings, a loss in a special House election in Florida last week, and millions of dollars spent by Republican-aligned groups attacking the new health law.
Related: Jolly Sinks Democrats' House Hopes
The combination has led to uncharacteristic criticism of Obama and bitter complaints that his vaunted political organization has done little to help the party’s vulnerable congressional candidates.
What do they want him to do? Stay away!
The latest in a cascade of bad news came Friday when Scott Brown, a former senator from Massachusetts now living in New Hampshire, announced an exploratory committee to challenge the incumbent Democrat, Jeanne Shaheen, and when the Republican-aligned “super PAC” American Crossroads said it would spend $600,000 to help his effort.
Related: N.H. residents want to know more about Scott Brown
Did I call it or what!?
You should have stayed in Massachusetts, Scott. It would have been an easier race.
Earlier, another top-tier Republican recruit, Representative Cory Gardner, decided to challenge Senator Mark Udall of Colorado; the two races create unanticipated opportunities improving Republicans’ chances to take control of the Senate. No prominent Democrats predict that their party will win back the House.
No, the House is lost.
Interviews with more than two dozen Democratic members of Congress, state party officials, and strategists revealed a new urgency about the need to address the party’s prospects. One Democratic lawmaker, who asked not to be identified, said Obama was becoming “poisonous” to the party’s candidates. At the same time, Democrats are pressing senior aides to Obama for help from the political network....
Looks like the Congre$$ is going to be controlled by Republicans next year.
The gap is yawning. Outside Republican groups have spent about $40 million in this election cycle, compared with $17 million by Democrats.
When two senior White House officials — Jennifer Palmieri, the communications director, and Phil Schiliro, the health care adviser — went to the Capitol late last month to address Senate Democrats about the Affordable Care Act, they were met with angry questions about why Obama’s well-funded advocacy group, Organizing for Action, was not airing commercials offering them cover on the health law.
Those commercials are not going to work, not after the complete flop and disaster that is his legacy.
Among those raising concerns was Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, who also has a low-key style and warm relationship with Obama.
“They did not want to hear about health care enrollment,” one source familiar with the meeting said, describing “a high level of anxiety.”
After the loss in Florida’s 13th Congressional District, which Obama carried in 2012, Representative Steve Israel of New York, the chairman of the House Democratic campaign arm, asked the White House political director, David Simas, for additional help during a Wednesday meeting at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee....
How appropriate.
Obama’s approval rating of 41 percent in a Wall Street Journal/NBC Poll last week matched that of a New York Times/CBS News survey in February and represents one of the clearest reasons for Democratic malaise. Since the post-World War II era, that measurement has been one of the most accurate predictors of midterm results, and any number below 50 means trouble for the party that holds the White House.
And he's lost the youth, too!
“The state of Democrats is very much tied to the state of the president, and in that regard, these are far from the best of times,” said Geoff Garin, a Democratic pollster.
Most Democrats up for reelection are trying to put some distance between themselves and the president, choosing surrogates such as Bill Clinton to campaign for them, particularly in the South and parts of the West.
You think griming up the campaign will help?
Asked whether Obama is a liability, Representative Ami Bera, Democrat of California, demurred.
“We haven’t really focused much on the president,” he said. “We’re focused on Sacramento County and the folks that are there.”
Other Democrats are openly critical of the health care law in their advertisements. In one ad promoting Representative Ann Kirkpatrick, Democrat of Arizona, the narrator says she “blew the whistle on the disastrous health care website....
Democrats also face a contradiction: As woeful as they are about their prospects in 2014, they are buoyant about their chances for winning the White House in 2016. Polls show that Hillary Clinton has clear leads over possible Republican challengers.
That is three years away!
To stem losses, the Democratic National Committee is focusing on technology and data to give their candidates, as well as the state parties, the latest tools they will need to turn out the vote more effectively and efficiently. And Senate Democrats will try to make races about local issues rather than a referendum on Obama.
I thought that was were they had the Republicans beat!
If that is true the Democraps are REALLY in TROUBLE!
Obama’s aides say he is not idly watching congressional Democrats drown in a Republican wave.
He will come November.
By the end of June, Obama will have attended 14 events for Democratic groups.
But on Capitol Hill, Democrats are furious that the same major contributors who enabled Obama and allied outside groups to raise more than $1 billion for his reelection in 2012 are not rallying to ensure the president does not face a Congress controlled entirely by Republicans for his final two years.
That is becau$e they are backing the other side, duh!
Democrats say the party needs more donors with the means of the California billionaire Thomas F. Steyer, who is helping candidates who support addressing climate change, to protect candidates who backed the health law.
“I’m not in the super PAC business, but we need somebody like a Steyer to get in the fight on the Affordable Care Act,” said Representative John Yarmuth of Kentucky.
WOW!
They need a Power $urge Plu$!
--more--"
And he is hiding the antidote!
"US censoring more files, analysis finds" by Ted Bridis | Associated Press March 17, 2014
WASHINGTON — More often than ever, the Obama administration censored government files or denied access to them last year under the Freedom of Information Act, according to an analysis of federal data by the Associated Press.
The administration cited more legal exceptions that it said justified withholding materials. It also refused a record number of times to turn over files quickly that might be especially newsworthy. Most agencies also took longer to answer records requests, the analysis found.
The government’s own figures from 99 federal agencies covering six years show that half way through its second term, the administration has made few meaningful improvements in the way it releases records despite promises from Day 1 to be the most transparent administration in history.
What, another inaccurate promise? Add it to the lengthy list.
In category after category — except for reducing numbers of old requests and a slight increase in how often it waived copying fees — the government’s efforts to be more open about its activities last year were their worst since President Obama took office....
Oh, he is getting worse when it comes to the stinking corruption and crimes of this government, 'eh? One might even call it a COVER UP were on "conspiratorially inclined."
The White House said the government’s figures demonstrate ‘‘that agencies are responding to the president’s call for greater transparency.’’
The brazenness and boldness of the bald-faced lie is astonishing.
**************
Sunday was the start of Sunshine Week, when news organizations promote open government and freedom of information....
How ironic!
The government said the average time it took to answer a records request ranged from less than one day to nearly two years. AP’s analysis showed most agencies took longer to answer requests than the previous year, although the White House said the government responded more quickly.
Well, we can certainly SEE THROUGH the LIES anyway!
The government’s responsiveness under the FOIA is widely viewed as a barometer of its transparency.
Once again, this government fails on all fronts.
--more--"
Sorry, but I'm finding nothing funny about that clown.
And he is hiding the antidote!
"US censoring more files, analysis finds" by Ted Bridis | Associated Press March 17, 2014
WASHINGTON — More often than ever, the Obama administration censored government files or denied access to them last year under the Freedom of Information Act, according to an analysis of federal data by the Associated Press.
The administration cited more legal exceptions that it said justified withholding materials. It also refused a record number of times to turn over files quickly that might be especially newsworthy. Most agencies also took longer to answer records requests, the analysis found.
The government’s own figures from 99 federal agencies covering six years show that half way through its second term, the administration has made few meaningful improvements in the way it releases records despite promises from Day 1 to be the most transparent administration in history.
What, another inaccurate promise? Add it to the lengthy list.
In category after category — except for reducing numbers of old requests and a slight increase in how often it waived copying fees — the government’s efforts to be more open about its activities last year were their worst since President Obama took office....
Oh, he is getting worse when it comes to the stinking corruption and crimes of this government, 'eh? One might even call it a COVER UP were on "conspiratorially inclined."
The White House said the government’s figures demonstrate ‘‘that agencies are responding to the president’s call for greater transparency.’’
The brazenness and boldness of the bald-faced lie is astonishing.
**************
Sunday was the start of Sunshine Week, when news organizations promote open government and freedom of information....
How ironic!
The government said the average time it took to answer a records request ranged from less than one day to nearly two years. AP’s analysis showed most agencies took longer to answer requests than the previous year, although the White House said the government responded more quickly.
Well, we can certainly SEE THROUGH the LIES anyway!
The government’s responsiveness under the FOIA is widely viewed as a barometer of its transparency.
Once again, this government fails on all fronts.
--more--"
Sorry, but I'm finding nothing funny about that clown.
