Violent clashes erupted today in East Jerusalem over the Israeli policy of increased settlements there.
** QUICK HITS. The Israeli-Palestinian peace process went from bad to worse today, as you can see in the video footage above. The controversy over expanded settlements in the disputed West Bank is leading to an impasse of sorts between the U.S. and Israel. … Since I am not a subscriber to the Field Poll (I am a subscriber to the Public Policy Institute of California poll), I can reveal that tomorrow’s Field Poll will show that billionaire Meg Whitman’s massive unanswered advertising campaign has moved her into a slight lead over Jerry Brown in the California governor’s race. Whitman also has a huge lead over her Republican rival, super-rich state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner. …
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … THE MITT & MEG SHOW: “TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS”
** SCHWARZENEGGER PUSHES BACK HARD ON ANTI-AB 32 MOVES. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger toured the Green California Expo this morning. Having been in the middle of it, I can tell you that it was a tumultuous slow walk with a large entourage, festooned with cameras, interrupted by countless well-wishers.
Schwarzenegger stopped at many displays of what looks like a vibrant emerging green technology sector in California.
He also pushed back hard against the forces that want to roll back California’s landmark climate change program, AB 32.
Two Texas oil companies are funding an initiative drive seeking to place a proposition on the November ballot to roll back AB 32. The weekend’s California Republican Party convention, which Schwarzenegger did not attend, was awash in anti-AB 32 sentiment. Both candidates who are trying to succeed Schwarzenegger, billionaire Meg Whitman and super-rich state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, want to suspend AB 32. Whitman also vowed to call a halt to all new regulation in California, claiming in her Friday night banquet speech with her mentor, conservative Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, that it has cost four million jobs.
This morning, Schwarzenegger was having none of that.
“It’s an amazing experience to come through here, and see the technology moving so quickly. All the innovation, and we see because of our policies that we have put in place, people are saying this is where we want to do business, no matter where they come from around the world. Because they know that we stay with the policy moving forward.
“I think that the Californian people are very much for protecting our environment. And for supporting AB 32. I think Californian people are outraged that Texas oil companies are coming to California to try to change the law and affect policies in California.
“I mean, it’s outrageous. And so this is why I think all of us, environmentalists and ordinary citizens, we all will be out there defending AB 32, this historic, landmark policy that rolls back greenhouse gases and protects the environment.”
Why the push for the anti-AB 32 initiative?
“It’s just greed. They just want to go and make decisions for another state,” he said, referring to the two Texas oil companies bankrolling the drive. “We make the decisions for this state.”
Schwarzenegger noted California’s long history as a leader, especially on energy.
“This has been what we do here. Energy conservation. The state has been number one, 40% more energy efficient than the rest of the United States, for a long time. And the great thing about AB32 is job creation, look around here. Every one of the businesses that I visited want to expand. The only place that is creating jobs now is the green sector. So why would I want to go and undo that? Why would we want to go back to the Stone Age?”
** THE BIG NATIONAL HEALTH CARE SPLIT. OR IS IT A WASH? A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll is coming out late this afternoon on the national health care reform bill. But part of it has been released in advance. And that part shows that, while the vote is certainly a tough one for members of Congress, it may also be something of a wash.
Asked if their representative were to vote with Republicans to ditch the current health care overhaul bill, 31% said they would be more likely to vote for him or her in November while 34% said they’d be less likely and 34% said it wouldn’t matter. The poll, which comes out later today, also asked voters how they would feel if their representative voted with Democrats to pass the bill, and 28% said they’d be more likely to vote for him or her. On the other hand, 36% said they’d be less likely, and 34% said there would be no difference.
That sounds to me like President Barack Obama has the opportunity to recast the bill once passed.
** CALIFORNIA 2010: THE GREAT DEBATE! THAT WASN’T! Billionaire Meg Whitman and her Republican rival, super-rich state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, faced off in their first debate last night before a private fundraising group in Orange County. Frankly, the event was something of a farce.
The debate should have taken place, as Poizner wanted, at the California Republican Party convention just before in Santa Clara. But Whitman would have none of that.
Far more people would have seen the event, which was not televised. There were also far more press in attendance in Santa Clara.
I watched the debate on a live webcast, the only way it could be seen outside the hall in Costa Mesa. Actually, I should say that I tried watching it.
For a big money group, the New Majority — joined by the California Chamber of Commerce and California Association of Realtors as the co-sponsors — did a remarkably inept job of operating a webcast. It cut out entirely about 20 minutes in, then played intermittently after that.
I would say that the shockingly bad transmission kept viewership down. However, there were only about 1700 people viewing when the transmission was first lost. From what I could tell, viewership topped out around 2000 at the debate’s height.
As for the debate itself, there were no knockout blows landed.
Whitman nearly knocked herself out, however. First when she didn’t know how to use her microphone. Again when she nearly knocked the water over. Her expected case of nerves led to some serious clumsiness on the Republican frontrunner’s part.
In contrast, Poizner was much more relaxed.
He zinged her as a liberal masquerading as a conservative. She zinged him as a liberal masquerading as a conservative.
I think you see where this is going.
Both sides claimed victory. The press onhand proclaimed it a draw. I say, let’s see a real debate in front of a real audience, on television, not the world’s most inept webcast viewed by 1500 political junkies.
The two debate again in May.
President Barack Obama continued his renewed push for a national health care reform bill yesterday in Ohio.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have received the daily intelligence briefing and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
At 9 AM Pacific, Obama and Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine have lunch in the Private Dining Room.
At 1:30 PM Pacific, Obama meet with Secretary of Defense Bob Gates in the Oval Office.
In other action, Biden hosted a breakfast meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the Naval Observatory. Biden also meets with senior officials to assess progress in Iraq in the wake of the national parliamentary elections.
Clinton is off to Moscow tomorrow to work on closing the new nuclear arms treaty with Russia and to meet with other members of the Quartet powers on the Middle East (U.S., Russia, European Union, and United Nations).
Clinton will meet with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, President Dmitri Medvedev, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov on nuclear weapons and other security-related matters.
Clinton and U.S. special envoy to Middle East George Mitchell will meet on the stalled Israeli/Palestinian peace process with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon, EU foreign secretary Catherine Ashton, and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Quartet special envoy.
With the national health care reform bill reaching its final stages, Obama also finds himself this week managing a crisis with Israel. It comes just before the AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) meeting in Washington, which is drawing Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu to town.
In the wake of last week’s snub of visiting Vice President Joe Biden in the form of the announcement of 1600 new housing units for the hotly disputed West Bank, Obama rescinded the scheduled trip to the region this week of Middle East envoy George Mitchell. Meanwhile, Palestinians are protesting the proposed increased Israeli settlement presence in East Jerusalem. Israel captured the area from Jordan in the Six Day War of 1967.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles and Sacramento today.
Schwarzenegger tours the Green California Expo this morning at the Sacramento Convention Center.
He then holds a press conference at 10:30 AM.
The event will be webcast live on www.gov.ca.gov.
** MEG WHITMAN’S NEW! IMPROVED! POST-JOURNALISM! POLITICS. Something new and more than a little bizarre is busy being born in California. Call it post-journalism politics.
Billionaire Meg Whitman has been spending feverishly for months on an advertising blitz, trying first to purchase the Republican nomination for governor and, ultimately, the governorship itself. After a number of terrible performances in press conferences and interviews with knowledgeable reporters, the former national co-chair of the McCain/Palin campaign and her high-priced handlers have decided to drop the pretense of normal campaign engagement, dispensing entirely with press conferences. …
In very stark contrast to Whitman and her bloated, big budget would-be blockbuster of a campaign, Jerry Brown is pursuing what might be described as a cinema verite campaign. … From my March 12th column.
** IS MEG WHITMAN LIKE ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER? YES (IN THE WRONG WAYS) Is billionaire Meg Whitman, the former McCain/Palin campaign co-chair who seeks to replace action movie superstar Arnold Schwarzenegger as the governor of California, like Schwarzenegger?
It’s a question that her ultra-megabucks campaign clearly doesn’t like. The heavily programmed career corporate marketing executive goes out of her way to distinguish herself from the multiple times Mr. Universe. She was a CEO, of a company you may have heard of, eBay. And in case you hadn’t heard that and you live in California, she’s spent many millions of dollars for months on ads telling you about it. After all, it is her sole claim to fame. Whereas, in her view, Schwarzeneggger was merely a jock turned entertainer. (Not that she mentions her not so excellent eBay era adventures with, say, Skype, Craigslist, and Goldman Sachs. So I won’t, either.)
Whitman hates the comparison with Schwarzenegger, a comparison which is nonetheless obvious as both she and Schwarzenegger are Republicans, both are super-rich, and neither had any experience in elected office before deciding to run for governor of California. Why does she hate it? Well, Schwarzenegger, while still personally popular, has seen his once record job approval rating plummet with the global recession and the state’s gridlocked budget process. And he’s turned out to be too liberal for the increasingly right-leaning party whose nomination she is trying to win.
As someone who knew Schwarzenegger and talked with him extensively before he ran for governor in the 2003 California recall election — and who began scouting Whitman, putting together several hours of film of her, when she suddenly emerged as national co-chair of the Republican presidential campaign in early 2008 — it occurs to me that Whitman is like Schwarzenegger.
But in the wrong ways. (Keep in mind that I’m referring to the Schwarzenegger who suddenly jumped from promoting Terminator 3 into running for governor in 2003.) … From my March 9th column.
The Pentagon is investigating reports in the New York Times and elsewhere that one of its officials illegally hired contractors in Afghanistan and Pakistan to track down and kill insurgents.
** IS OBAMA’S AFPAK STRATEGY ACTUALLY WORKING? … From my March 5th column.
** THE CALIFORNIA AS FIRST “FAILED STATE” DEBATE: SCHWARZENEGGER, DAVIS, WHITMAN, AND JERRY BROWN. With Democrat Jerry Brown finally declaring his candidacy for California governor today and billionaire Meg Whitman’s super-rich Republican rival Steve Poizner starting his own TV ad campaign against her, this seems a good time to talk about a big new negative theme about the rather tarnished Golden State. Is California America’s first “failed state?” That’s what a lot of people are saying. So I talked about that with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger; the governor he replaced, Gray Davis; and a famous former governor favored to be the next governor, Jerry Brown. … From my March 2nd column.
** SO WHO IS THE REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL FRONTRUNNER ANYWAY? PALIN, ROMNEY, PAUL (!) … … From my February 23rd column.
** MAD MEN: THE STREAK CONTINUES. … From my February 22nd column.
** THE BIGGEST SPENDING RACE IN AMERICA IS UNDERWAY! (WELL, SORT OF.) … From my February 19th column.
** TONY BLAIR’S GHOST (WRITER). … From my February 16th column.
** HOW JERRY BROWN CLEARED THE DEMOCRATIC FIELD FOR GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA. … From my December 9th column.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.
** HELP FOR HAITI.
You can donate to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, www.clintonbushhaitifund.org, by clicking here.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is trading around $81 per barrel.
This is up about $47 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
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