Videos- David Axelrod on The Tonight Show

Video- David Axelrod on recess appointments

VIDEO- Axelrod: When You Go Into The Details, People Support The Healthcare Bill

By GottaLaff

Earlier today, I made the following point:

When voters are polled about what is actually in the bill, they overwhelmingly approve. When they are polled after being bombarded by smears and lies, they raise their eyebrows a little.

They should be raising their eyebrows at the party who is misleading them, not the effort to improve their health and save their lives.

Now Crooks and Liars has a clip from David Axelrod that drives it home... to Jake Tapper, who can't seem to extricate himself from right wing talking points:

TAPPER: But according to polls, the American people do not agree with what you think--

AXELROD: The polls are split, Jake. I mean, one of the interesting things that has happened in the last four or five weeks is that if you look at -- if you average together the public polls, what you find is that the American people are split on the top line, do you support the plan? But again, when you go underneath, they support the elements of the plan. When you ask them, does the health care system need reform, three quarters of them say yes. When you ask them, do you want Congress to move forward and deal with this issue, three quarters of them say yes. So we're not going to walk away from this issue.

Ding! Right answer.

Obama Aides Already Planning Re-Election Campaign

As if we thought they weren't? Via Taegan-

President Obama's top advisers are "quietly laying the groundwork for the 2012 reelection campaign," Politico reports, "which is likely to be run out of Chicago and managed by White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina."

"The planning for now consists entirely of private conversations, with Obama aides at all levels indulging occasionally in closed-door 2012 discussions while focusing ferociously on the midterm elections and health-care reform... But the sources said Obama has given every sign of planning to run again, and wants the next campaign to resemble the highly successful 2008 effort."

Franken Rips Into Axelrod

By GottaLaff

Agree with him or not, I appreciate Al Franken's direct approach:

Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) "ripped into" White House adviser David Axelrod "during a tense, closed-door session with Senate Democrats," according to Politico.

Multiple sources say Franken "criticized Axelrod for the administration's failure to provide clarity or direction on health care and the other big bills it wants Congress to enact."

"Democratic senators are frustrated that the White House hasn't done more to win over the public on health care reform and other aspects of its ambitious agenda -- and angry that, in the wake of Scott Brown's win in the Massachusetts Senate race, the White House hasn't done more to chart a course for getting a health care bill to the president's desk."

The recent aggressive push by Obama has been a welcome one. Clarity is a good thing.

And I sure would love to have been a fly on that wall.

Cloture voting 1947-2008: The Chart-- The White House starts to fight back

By GottaLaff

(click on image to enlarge)

That noise you hear is the increasing rumblings of the White House and Congress members gearing up to fight back against the GOP's abuse of the filibuster.

About time. Louder please.

Here's a video of Rachel Maddow discussing the subject.

And David Axelrod threw in his two cents:

In an interview today with TV One’s Roland Martin, White House senior adviser David Axelrod waded into the controversy:

“The Republican strategy in the Senate is to turn 50 into 60, in other words no longer do you need a majority to carry the day in the Senate. You need 60 votes for everything because the Republicans are filibustering every single bill,” he said. “We need to call that out, and they need to explain to the American people whether throwing a wrench into everything at a time of national emergency is the appropriate policy. They want to win an election and take us back to the policies that got us into this mess in the first place.”

Here's a montage of Sunday rumbles and grumbles about the ongoing obstructionism:

Axelrod Predicts Coakley Victory

By GottaLaff

Let's hope he's prescient:

White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod on Friday confidently predicted victory for embattled Massachusetts Democratic Senatorial candidate Martha Coakley, asserting voters in the end will make their choice on issues that have traditionally favored Democratic candidates in the state.

Axelrod blasts Rove

By GottaLaff

David Axelrod blasted Karl Rove, who bellowed that Democrats in Congress "will run up more debt by October than Bush did in eight years."

Them's fightin' words:

"During eight years in office, the Bush administration passed two major tax cuts skewed to the wealthiest Americans, enacted a costly Medicare prescription-drug benefit and waged two wars, without paying for any of it.... To put the breathtaking scope of this irresponsibility in perspective, the Bush administration's swing from surpluses to deficits added more debt in its eight years than all the previous administrations in the history of our republic combined. And its spending spree is the unwelcome gift that keeps on giving: Going forward, these unpaid-for policies will continue to add trillions to our deficit."

"There's an old saying that everyone is entitled to his own opinions, but not his own facts. The next time Karl Rove would like to offer us some advice, I'd urge him to take that to heart."

Short version: Hey KKKarl, you guys f'ed up in an unprecedented way, you're a colossal liar, so shut your pig snouty pie hole.

David Axelrod says he has a 2010 strategy

By GottaLaff

David Axelrod always has a strategy. Let's hope his latest works as well as some of his others:

In an interview with National Journal, White House political adviser David Axelrod outlined "several keys to strengthening the Democratic position in an election that all signs suggest is shaping up as extremely difficult for his party."

Yes. Yes it is. I strategically knew that. So what oh what shall we do about it? I smell a strategy coming. How strategelicious:

[I]mprovement in the economy, some (but not vastly more) legislative action and, most pointedly, an effort to draw sharper contrasts with Republican positions. His comments may foreshadow a much more pugnacious Democratic message as the election approaches." [...]

Said Axelrod: "In certain ways we are at the mercy of forces that are larger than things we can control. If we see steady months of jobs growth between now and next November, I think the picture will be different than if we don't."

Color me impatient, but I want more strategizing than that.

VIDEOS- Meet the Press: Howard Dean, David Axelrod

By GottaLaff

Here you go, David Axelrod, then Howard Dean:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

David Axelrod v. Howard Dean On Meet The Press

By GottaLaff

The Big Democratic Health Care Kerfuffle goes to MTP:

(click to enlarge)

An NBC spokesperson confirms that Axelrod will be on first, followed by Dean.

I wish the Dems could show a little more brotherly love. The squabbling isn't helping our cause. However...

My DVR will be set, I'll be in front of the Tee Vee Machine, blogging, tweeting, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

Except that it will be 8 a.m. Yawn.

Except that I'll hear about it from all the east coasters before I ever get to watch.

But other than that...

H/t: The Plum Line

Videos- "Spirited" HCR Debate On Morning Joe 12/17/09: David Axelrod, Ed Schultz, Howard Dean

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

VIDEO: David Axelrod Reacts To Right's Slams On Obama

By GottaLaff



Understatement-o'-the-day:

"It's a surreal day when you're getting lectures on humility from Rush Limbaugh."

VIDEO: Rahm Emanuel, David Axelrod on White House view of Fox News

By GottaLaff



This is not a hard concept to grasp: ClusterFox is biased, okay? Oh wait, CNN, "the most trusted name in news", often has some difficulty with getting the facts out there, too. I wonder how the White House feels about them:

"While it's clear what the White House and what Anita said... It's not a news organization, that it has a perspective... The concentration of the White House isn't about what Fox is doing, it's about what does it take to make sure the economy is moving...That's what's occupying the decisions and the time in the White House."

David Axelrod's Coffee Tawk With Fox's Roger Ailes

By GottaLaff

We do get to know that they had coffee. We don't get to know what they discussed:

On a recent visit to New York, White House adviser David Axelrod met over coffee with Roger Ailes, the president of the Fox News Network, which President Obama has described as a "television station that is entirely devoted to attacking my administration."

According to accounts from both the White House and Fox News, the meeting was cordial. "I've known Roger for a long time," Axelrod told TIME in an email on Monday. "We chatted from time to time during the campaign. I was going to be in NY, so we got together for a cup of coffee."

That little tete-a-tete must have smoothed things over though, right?

Suffice it to say, the meeting did not cool tensions between the Obama camp and Fox, which has been enjoying a large increase in ratings this year as it has positioned itself as a major source of criticism of Obama and his policies.

OkaynevermindIwaswrong.

[A]ttitude towards Fox at the White House has been souring for months. On a recent Sunday, President Obama pointedly declined to appear on Fox News Sunday, prompting host Chris Wallace to call Obama aides, "the biggest bunch of cry babies."

Though White House aides are hesitant to criticize the network on the record, their disdain for the programming--including Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck--is clearly evident. "They are the paid political programming for a party, and occasionally a couple of news stories break out in the midst of 23 hours and 45 minutes of political rantings and opinion," said one senior administration official. "Everything about it is one-sided political opinion directed at a base. Period."

Ahh, that's better. For a split second there, I was worried. But only for a split second.

By the way, that last paragraph was more accurate than anything that ClusterFox has ever presented as "fair and balanced".

If Public Option Isn't Dead, Why Is Axelrod Referring to Its "Spirit"?

By GottaLaff

I wasn't prepared for overwhelming feelings of anger and disgust this early in the day:

The Obama administration is sending out its strongest signs yet that it's willing to scrap a public option in order to move a health care bill forward. White House adviser David Axelrod tells ABC News that what remains of Obama's desire for a public option is largely theoretical. "The spirit that led him to support a public option is still very much at play here and so you know he wants competition. He wants choice."

Oh, we'll get choice, alright. We can choose between the poor house, untreated/undetected illness, and Canada.

If the administration has concluded that a public option won't fly (or has at least decided not to fight for it) it will be implicitly siding with the Senate in the congressional fight over the direction health care reform should take.

A critical number of House progressives have vowed not to support a health care bill without a public option, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi has affirmed that she can't pass legislation without one.

But if the White House and Senate are unified behind the idea that the public option is itself optional, it will dramatically shift the weight of the fight against including one.

All of this is assuming that Democrats don't try to pass a bill on their own, through the so-called budget reconciliation process.

What does the White House think they're getting out of this weak, wobbly cave-in to the right?

What possible rewards are they getting from letting down so many people (per Keith Olbermann's airing of all the relevant polls, 55%-77% of Americans-- Independents and Republicans included-- want a public option)?

I need a major talking down, but my feeling is, at this point, that's not a public option.

Axelrod: Obama Believes Public Option Would Be Boon to Consumers

By GottaLaff

How to say nothing about something:

"The President embraced the public option because he believes" it would be a boon to consumers, Axelrod told CNN's Ed Henry.

However, he would not say one way or another whether that means Obama will rally for it when he addresses a joint session of Congress next week. "I'm not going to deal with the details of the President's speech," Axelrod said. "Otherwise there wouldn't be any point in giving it."

My takeaway: Prez O sure wishes he had the stomach to blow off the Rushpublics and not pull the public option from his health care plan.

Doonesbury: Axelrod's Birth Certificate Advice edition

By GottaLaff

Our Trudeau fix:

(click on image to enlarge)

Axelrod Advises Democrats on Recess Strategy

By GottaLaff

Summer advice:

Senate Democrats attended a closed-door strategy sessions with White House adviser David Axelrod and acknowledged "they have their work cut out for them on health care during the August recess," Roll Call reports.

Senators said that Axelrod focused on a message built around "health insurance reform," as opposed to "health care reform." Advice was also given on how to deal with protesters expected to pack town-hall meetings across the country over the next month.

Politico notes that "conservative and business groups, some funded in part by insurers, are mobilizing members and supporters to participate in health care forums that lawmakers are holding in their states and districts this month."

Axelrod to Hold Private Messaging Session With House Dems On Selling Reform

By GottaLaff

Do this right, do this right, do this right...

In another sign that the White House will play a very hands-on role during the looming Congressional health care wars of August, senior Obama adviser David Axelrod is set to hold a private messaging session with House Dems tomorrow on the Hill, I’m told.

With a House Dem bill closer to reality, the battle will shift to a new phase: Selling it. [...]

“This meeting is MEMBERS-ONLY,” the email reads, meaning no press and no staff. [...]

As Nancy Pelosi put it today, “insurance companies are out there in full force carpet bombing” in a “shock and awe” campaign.

“We have a month where 256 members will be in their districts with a bill to sell,” a senior Dem aide tells me. “Axelrod is going to talk to them about getting out there and selling it. House Dems are going on the offensive in August.”

Don't blow it, don't blow it, don't blow it....

Keep it simple. Appeal to emotions. Repeat, repeat, repeat. In other words, do everything we begged you to do during the 2008 elections.