TheDC Morning: The end of nonpartisanship?

Christopher Bedford Former Editor in Chief, The Daily Caller News Foundation
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1.) Stop the presses! Nonpartisan reports probably aren’t nonpartisan at all — Every now and then, folks flip out and decry the end of civility (as if politicians didn’t used to duel), denounce the greatest expansion of government power in history (as if those internment camps were summer camps), promise the “mother of all battles” (America: 2, Saddam: 0), or act like there’s such a thing as a nonpartisan government agency. And then when it’s revealed that the nonpartisan government researcher whose paper backs up the liberal tax agenda has actually donated thousands to Obama and the Democrats, everyone flips out. Well, maybe in a perfect world, at least. Because why on earth would an economic ideology that has ignored a century of failure admit it’s got a few things rigged now? Somebody call Eric Holder — he’ll know what to do.

TheDC’s Matthew Boyle reports:

The author of a new nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) report concluding that tax cuts for upper-income earners in America don’t spur economic growth is a frequent donor to the Democratic Party and President Barack Obama, political donation records show.

Hungerford’s LinkedIn profile shows he has worked at CRS since 2005. In 2008, political donation records published by the Center for Responsive Politics show Hungerford donated $3,500 to Obama’s campaign. He gave the president another $500 in August 2012. Since 2009, Hungerford has also donated $2,450 to Democratic Party organizations such as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

In October 2000, when he worked as an economist for the Social Security Administration, Hungerford donated $500 to Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Al Gore.

2.) As Middle East burns, likely voters not too hot on Obama’s foreign policy — In 2009, the president promised “a new beginning” in relations with the Arab world. Well, turns out convincing millions of individual people scattered across a fractured civilization that has had a collective chip on its shoulder since its armies were repelled from Europe centuries ago is hard work. And to be honest, blaming Bush is getting kind of old. TheDC Morning’s prescription? Blame the Republicans in Congress. TheDC’s Jessica Stanton reports:

A plurality of likely voters — or 45 percent — believe that U.S. relations with the Islamic world are worse under President Barack Obama than they were under President George W. Bush, according to a Rasmussen poll released on Tuesday.

A mere 18 percent believe that U.S.-Muslim relations are better, while 31 percent believe relations have stayed the same since Obama took the White House four years ago.

3.) The White House press pool, however? Not so worried — So while likely voters may smell something burning, in his speech before the UN on Tuesday, the president insisted that this was “a season of progress” in the Arab world, so no worries, gang, let’s just focus on something we can all agree to hate. The terrorists killing Americans? Nope — the NFL’s new refs. TheDC’s Neil Munro reports:

White House press secretary Jay Carney successfully spent about a quarter of Tuesday’s press conference talking about a football game, even as the president’s much-touted outreach to the Arab world is collapsing just six weeks before the 2012 election.

The traveling press corps managed to ask only seven non-football questions, according to the 1,985-word transcript provided by the White House. The gaggle’s first quarter was devoted to the president’s assessment of a disputed call during a Sept. 24 football game between the Green Bay Backers and the Seattle Seahawks.

4.) Maine’s former governor may be independent, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have feelings — Angus King, a former liberal governor running as an independent in Maine’s Senate race, wants his state’s voters to know he’s so tough that even though we all know he’s a liberal, he won’t join the Democratic Party. But turns out he’s thin-skinned and controlling about a few things after all, namely, anyone mentioning his quiz show past, and anyone saying he “could be thin-skinned and controlling.” TheDC’s Alexis Levinson reports:

Former Maine Gov. Angus King redacted a newspaper profile of him before posting it on his senatorial campaign website, the Portland Press Herald reported, removing several sections that contained unflattering views of the independent candidate for U.S. Senate.

For instance, the King campaign removed a paragraph discussing King’s membership on the “championship team in the inaugural season of ‘It’s Academic,’ a television quiz show.”

But the campaign also axed a quote from former Portland Press Herald State House reporter Paul Carrier that King “could be thin-skinned and controlling behind the scenes.”

5.) Poll of the Day: In Ohio, Obama up less than 1 percent in a poll oversampling Democrats by 10.3 points. These results according to a Gravis Marketing/Capitol Correspondent poll. Meanwhile, in November 2010, the GOP won every single Ohio statewide contest. Hmm.

6.) Tweet of Yesterday:Joseph Weisenthal: RT @ForexLive: @thestalwart Seahawks didn’t catch that pass. Someone else made that happen.

VIDEO: Greg Gutfeld has a rule: “If a message features Miley Cyrus as its messenger, its intended recipient is as deep as contact lens.”

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