TheDC Morning

TheDC Morning: From phony scandals to phony economic problems

Jamie Weinstein Senior Writer
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1.) From phony scandals to phony economic problems — President Obama has called his administration’s alleged scandals “phony.” It seems like the nonprofit group that is promoting his agenda thinks America’s economic problems are phony too — or at least not worth mentioning. TheDC’s Patrick Howley reports:

“Organizing for Action, the nonprofit organization assembled from the remnants of President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, is pushing for the president’s second-term agenda during a month-long ‘Action August’ of advocacy and fundraising — but don’t expect to hear about the economy. Beginning on Obama’s birthday, August 4, OFA will spend the month promoting the administration’s top issues ahead of the 2014 midterm elections: the benefits of enrolling early in Obamacare (August 4), immigration reform (August 5), climate change (August 13), gun control (August 21), and immigration reform again (August 31).”

It can’t be overstated how close Organizing for Action is to the Obama administration. Is President Obama’s plan for the economy to give a few interminable speeches and then forget about it?

2.) Romney-approved — If Jeb Bush runs in 2016, it looks like he has a decent chance of securing at least one endorsement (other than a certain brother of his). TheDC’s Jamie Weinstein reports:

“Had someone like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush entered the 2012 Republican primary, Mitt Romney says he might not have entered the presidential race. In an interview with Dan Balz for the Washington Post reporter’s soon-to-be released ‘Collision 2012: Obama vs. Romney and the Future of Elections in America,’ Romney said that he would have seriously considered staying out of the presidential race if someone of Bush’s caliber declared his candidacy. … ‘And I thought, for instance, if someone like  Jeb Bush were to have run, that he might well be able to do what was necessary to get the country on track. I got into this out of a sense of obligation to the things I believed in and love for the country, but not because it was something I desperately wanted so that I could feel better about myself.'”

3.) Terrorists for peace? — We’ve seen Land for Peace attempted and that didn’t turn out that well. Terrorists for Peace doesn’t have a successful history either — but it’s being tried again. TheDC’s Jamie Weinstein opines:

“In 1988, Mahmoud Salam Saliman Abu Harabish and Adam Ibrahim Juma’a-Juma’a decided to firebomb a bus of Israeli civilians. The result was gruesome. A 26-year old school teacher, Rachel Weiss, was incinerated, along with her three young children, who ranged from three years old to 9-months. An Israeli soldier who came to their rescue also died as result of the attack. Thanks to Secretary of State John Kerry’s nimble negotiating skills, Harabish and Juma’a-Juma’a will reportedly be among the 104 violent Palestinian terrorists released from Israeli prisons in stages as a goodwill gesture by the Jewish state in advance of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks that are set to begin Monday in Washington, D.C.”

TheDC Morning is starting to suspect that making John Kerry Secretary of State was a political ploy to make Hillary Clinton look competent by comparison.

4.) Diagnosing Detroit — George Will thinks he knows the root of Detroit’s woes. TheDC’s Jeff Poor reports:

“On Sunday’s ‘This Week with George Stephanopoulos’ on ABC, Washington Post columnist George Will took on proponents of federal assistance for Detroit, which declared bankruptcy earlier this month. According to Will, the city isn’t undergoing a fiscal crisis, but is facing a much more serious cultural one, which is the source of its woes. ‘Can’t solve the problems because the problems are cultural,’ Will said. ‘You have a city, 139 square miles. You can graze cattle in vast portions of it. Dangerous herds of feral dogs roam in there. You have 3 percent of fourth graders reading at the national math standards. Forty-seven percent of Detroit residents are functionally illiterate. Seventy-nine percent of Detroit children are born to unmarried mothers. They don’t have a fiscal problem, Steve. They have a cultural collapse.'”

5.) Tweet of Yesterday — John S. Wilson‏: If political journalists did the equivalent of what tech journalists do, we’d hear of how they’re vote for X candidate changed everything.

6.) Today in North Korean News — BREAKING: “Kim Il Sung’s Feats in War Praised by Kyrgyzstan Figure”

VIDEO: David Axelrod calls Anthony Weiner’s New York City mayoral bid “absurd” 

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Jamie Weinstein