Lets Hear it for Gibss. Good Job

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs threatened to pull President Obama from a meeting with India’s prime minister on Monday when security attempted to restrict the number of U.S. reporters

allowed into the event.

The meeting between Obama and Prime Minister Manmoham Singh proceeded as planned after Indian officials relented.

It was arranged beforehand that eight reporters from the White House press pool would be admitted to the meeting at Hyderabad House in New Delhi, but Indian officials tried to cut the number from eight to five just before the photo-op.

Several U.S. officials pushed to have all eight pool members let in, but it wasn’t until Gibbs said that he was serious about pulling Obama from the event that the whole group was admitted.

“That whole group is going in because they’re going in with me,” Gibbs insisted. - FOX News Story

It is not often that I back anything that Robert Gibbs does, but this was a good job. Pat on the back for Gibbs.

Democrats Blame White House for Losses

The bodies aren’t even cold yet in the House, but the Democratic Party has already opened up a bitter debate over who’s to blame.

The party’s bloodied moderates Wednesday released two years of pent-up anger at a party leadership they viewed as blind to their needs and deaf to the messages of voters who never asked for President Barack Obama’s ambitious first-term agenda.

Liberals pushed back hard: The problem, they say, was those undisciplined moderates, who won delays, unsightly compromises and a muddled message from a too-accommodating administration.

Yet a third group of Democratic politicians and operatives blamed not policy but a failed sales job for the party’s woes.

One thing all sides agree on: The White House blew it. - Politico Story

Calls for White House Shake up Increase

Some of the calls for a White House shake-up are now coming from inside the building.

Frustrated current and former West Wing staffers, speaking on condition of anonymity, told POLITICO they hoped Tuesday night’s humbling losses would persuade President Barack Obama to pursue a much more sweeping fix than just the “natural” post-election churn of personnel his administration has insisted will take place.

Many of those changes are already being seriously considered, among them replacing Political Director Patrick Gaspard with a former top aide to Rahm Emanuel; replacing Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina, who is expected to move to Obama’s 2012 campaign, with Legislative Affairs Director Phil Schiliro; and possibly giving White House energy czar Carol Browner expanded policy responsibilities. - Politico Story

GOP to Control Redistricting Map

A bad night for Democrats Tuesday got even worse at the local level: Republicans were on the verge of winning nearly all 17 of the state legislative chambers they had originally set out for on Tuesday, some for the first time in decades, a shift that puts the GOP in the driver’s seat when the congressional redistricting process begins early next year.

The GOP gains were most significant in the Midwest, where the party picked up state House majorities in the Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania, and were within striking distance of capturing legislatures in the highly-prized electoral battlegrounds of Michigan and Wisconsin. But Republicans also gained control of both chambers of the New Hampshire and North Carolina legislature, and took the Alabama legislature for the first time since Reconstruction. - Politico Story

The Fall of Nancy Pelosi

In the final days before the election that ended her hold on power, Speaker Nancy Pelosi insisted Democrats would keep the House and proclaimed no regrets.

“I didn’t come here to keep a job. I’m here to do a job,” she told an adoring crowd in San Francisco.

The statement was vintage Pelosi, reflecting the unbowed and uncompromising attitude that won her the speaker's gavel and the defiant stubbornness that helped her lose it. - Politico Story

Voters Restore Balance to Washington

Voters Tuesday tore apart the complex map of America President Barack Obama proudly displayed after his 2008 victory, driving Democrats from office in rural areas, the suburbs and virtually the entire South — and unseating a generation of powerful Democratic centrists. - Politico Story

Black Panthers at it Again?

PHILADELPHIA - Fox 29 News spotted Tuesday a member of the New Black Panther Party standing outside of a local polling place where voter intimidation was reported two years ago.

The man was seen outside the polling place in North Philadelphia was wearing a pin that indicated his party affiliation, along with a black hat, sunglasses and leather coat. - MyFoxPhilly

Democrats Blame Money on Losses - Really?

To hear top Democrats tell it, the party is being wildly outgunned this year in the fight for campaign cash as Republicans rely on outside groups to funnel money to GOP contenders.

But the numbers tell a different story.

It’s true that conservative third-party groups are outspending their Democratic rivals. But the Democrats still have a sizable cash advantage in their party committees – making this year’s elections a lot more of a fair fight than Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi let on.

So far, the latest figures show that the Democratic Party machinery has outraised its Republican counterpart in this campaign cycle by almost $270 million.

And even when outside spending on television advertising and direct mail is added to the mix, Republicans still haven’t closed the gap.

The money race totals come to $856 million for the Democratic committees and their aligned outside groups, compared to $677 for their Republican adversaries, based on figures compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. - Politico Story

Pelosi's Private Jet - We Pay for it

No, Nancy Pelosi doesn't routinely fly around in an Air Force One-sized jet.

Yes, she extends the Speaker Shuttle perk to her family and colleagues.

The next speaker will control the House of Representatives, and with it one of the biggest perks in politics: free flights on luxury jets that are the military versions of a Gulfstream V. Well, they're free to the speaker, but paid for by your tax dollars.

How much? House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office says it doesn't receive "comprehensive cost estimates." Military documents indicate a one-way flight for the current speaker (between Washington D.C. and California) costs, on average, $28,210.

Figuring out the details about the so-called "Speaker Shuttle" service and how it's been used isn't easy. The information is undeniably public in nature, but it's not readily-available. Our attempts to contact the office of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert went unanswered. Pelosi's office provided some information, but a spokesman told us the office simply don't keep track of what types of planes Pelosi flies where and who's aboard.

The military does track all of that, but getting the answers requires filing a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request. It can take months for a FOIA response to be answered, and then the material provided is jumbled chronologically and often incomplete. - CBS News Story

Obama - "punishing our enemies"

Laura Ingraham said Obama’s comments about "punishing our enemies" was not something the man occupying the Oval Office should say and called it un-presidential on "GMA" this morning.

“He is the president, George. He is the president of all the people,” she told me.

President Obama told Univision recently,“If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, 'We're going to punish our enemies and we're going to reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us,' if they don't see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it's going to be harder."

“I know that everyone is rough and tumble in this campaign. But he is still the president,” Ingraham said. “And the fact of the matter is there is a national revolt going on against many of the policies that he and Nancy Pelosi pushed through against the will of the people, number one health care reform. That is not an enemy of the country those are the people of the country.” - ABC News Story