Adviser Watch: Sarah Palin's Brain Trust to Nowhere

By GottaLaff

TPM has a very informative post up about who's pulling MoldMe McNeedsHelp's marionette strings:

As Sarah Palin relaunches her image for the next stage of her political career, there's a small set of advisers who are shaping the former governor's policy positions and public persona.

The group, a brain trust of sorts, includes Randy Scheunemann, the lobbyist who advised McCain on foreign policy and was one of the architects of the Iraq War, and Kim Daniels, a little-known conservative attorney who specializes in "rights of conscience" health care issues.

And she complains about President Obama's "ties to lobbyists"? Really?

Oh, and let's not forget the former Jew-counting Nixonite, Fred Malek:

Fred Malek: An extremely successful private equity investor who served as an aide to President Nixon (and famously played a central role in the Nixon Jew-counting episode in the early 1970s), Malek describes himself as a friend of Palin. The Times reports that he has been advising Palin on "political matters."

More of her merry band-o'-weenies: Robert Barnett, who advised George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Benazir Bhutto, and Bob Woodward; and the ubiquitous Mary Matalin.

Much more info about her inner circle, aka her Brainless Trust, can be found here.

Dep't. of Bad Timing: Obama Advisers Think Coakley Will Lose

By GottaLaff

UPDATE #2 from Kos diarist:

Update: I am removing the word lie from the title because now that I have an actual transcript of what he said this morning vs. the twitter updates he is really walking-back an exaggeration not a lie.

Here is the transcript:

HENRY: In terms of that fear, I was told very reliably that a couple of the president's top advisers have told senior Democrats they think Coakley's going to lose.

Now, there may be some hyperbole in that. It may be about scaring the base, you know, turnout, if she's going down. But the way I'm hearing it is that there is real genuine fear inside the White House that she is going to lose. That's going to have dramatic implications, not just on health care but beyond.

In my opinion, the 2nd bolded section makes it sound like he heard those rumors directly, but the 1st bolded section is more along the lines of the twitter clarification.

So, I am apologizing to Ed for accusing him of lying. I think he is peddling unreliable rumors to help the GOP, but I have no proof he is lying.

And I apologize to the community for not being more accurate in my original diary. I am very embarrassed.

Please go here for more.

UPDATE (H/t: SeattleDan):

Ed Henryis now "clarifying" his lies on twitter:

@BLESSEDROSS to be clear, obama advisers themselves did NOT tell me Coakley will lose. CNN is reporting the obama advisers told other Dems

Ed is getting hammered for reporting unsourced rumors.

UPDATE: A fellow tweeter said this was misinformation given out by CNN's Ed Henry. Anyone have more?

The post below could help to explain this:

White House looks at bypassing another Senate health care vote if Democrats lose Massachusetts seat.

Just as President Obama gives a rousing speech, and just as there are rumbles of Brown's momentum leveling off, and just as there is an uptick in Coakley support, we get this:

Multiple advisers to President Obama "have privately told party officials that they believe" Martha Coakley (D) is going to lose Tuesday's special election to fill the Massachusetts U.S. Senate seat, several sources told CNN.

"The sources added that the advisers are still hopeful that Obama's visit to Massachusetts on Sunday -- coupled with a late push by Democratic activists -- could help Coakley pull out a narrow victory in an increasingly tight race against Scott Brown (R). However, the presidential advisers have grown increasingly pessimistic in the last three days about Coakley's chances after a series of missteps by the candidate, sources said."

And they let that leak out? Not exactly helpful to their candidate.

Obama senior adviser re: Joe the Mouther-- “I think this is a pimple on the ass of progress”

By GottaLaff

Joe the Pimple?

In fact, the White House is more than ready to brush aside the most infamous protestor of all: Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina, who yelled at the President during his televised address. “I think this is a pimple on the ass of progress,” said the senior adviser.

See? That is one more example of how the Obama White House is more honest than BushCo was. See, all it takes is being a little pro-active.

Clearly, the White House is feeling confident in the aftermath of last Wednesday’s big speech. And they got some good news in the immediate aftermath. They had seen some slippage among seniors and independents over the summer. But on Thursday, the AARP released a poll which offered some comfort. The poll, conducted immediately after the speech, showed 72 per cent of independents over the age of 45 saying that some of their concerns were addressed by the speech, with 63 per cent saying they were “more supportive” of his proposals. Those findings were broadly in line with a CNN poll after the speech showing a 14-point rise in support for Obama’s plans among those who watched the address, with 67 per cent of all voters backing the president’s plans. Such instapolls don’t necessarily portend a longer-term rise in Obama’s ratings, but they sure beat the alternative.

How ironic that a popular pimple eradicator is called the Proactiv solution.

VIDEO: 60 Minutes talks to President-elect Obama's inner circle

By GottaLaff

Steve Kroft goes behind the scenes on election night to speak to the brains whose strategy propelled Barack Obama into the White House.

Obama's political advisers making the rounds

By GottaLaff

Paddy will post the morning shows, but suffice it to say, Obama's team will be on a slew of them. Meantime, watch for them to pop up on 60 Minutes tomorrow night. Tick, tick, tick, tick...

CBS’s “60 Minutes” has interviews at 9 p.m. with several of Mr. Obama’s top political advisers: David Axelrod, Anita Dunn, David Plouffe and Robert Gibbs.

The aides said in the interviews that the campaign did not spend much time fretting about race. “Honestly, you had to take a leap of faith in the beginning that the people will get by race,” said Mr. Plouffe, the campaign manager, according to excerpts provided by CBS. “And I think the number of meetings we had about race was zero.”

“If there had been a discussion” about whether Mr. Obama should deliver his race speech in the wake of the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright’s comments, Ms. Dunn said, “we’ve often joked, probably most of the people in the campaign would have advised against it.”

BFPE.

President-Elect Obama's economic transition advisers

By GottaLaff

Obama is about to tackle Issue Number One:

Obama's press conference -- which will take place tomorrow at 1:30 P.M. -- is likely to be a media zoo, both because it will offer clues to Obama's first moves on the economy and because it's his first presser as President-Elect.

David Bonior (Member House of Representatives 1977-2003)

· Warren Buffett (Chairman and CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)-will participate via speakerphone

· Roel Campos (former SEC Commissioner)

· William Daley (Chairman of the Midwest, JP Morgan Chase; Former Secretary, U.S. Dept of Commerce, 1997-2000)

· William Donaldson (Former Chairman of the SEC 2003-2005)

· Roger Ferguson (President and CEO, TIAA-CREF and former Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve)

· Jennifer Granholm (Governor, State of Michigan)

· Anne Mulcahy (Chairman and CEO, Xerox)

· Richard Parsons (Chairman of the Board, Time Warner)

· Penny Pritzker (CEO, Classic Residence by Hyatt)

· Robert Reich (University of California, Berkeley; Former Secretary, U.S. Dept of Labor, 1993-1997)

· Robert Rubin (Chairman and Director of the Executive Committee, Citigroup; Former Secretary, U.S. Dept of Treasury, 1995-1999)

· Eric Schmidt (Chairman and CEO, Google)

· Lawrence Summers (Harvard University; Managing Director, D.E. Shaw; Former Secretary, U.S. Dept of Treasury, 1999-2001)

· Laura Tyson (Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley; Former Chairman, National Economic Council, 1995-1996; Former Chairman, President's Council of Economic Advisors, 1993-1995)

· Antonio Villaraigosa (Mayor, City of Los Angeles)

· Paul Volcker (Former Chairman, U.S. Federal Reserve 1979-1987)

Handle her? I hardly know her! IWRC* Palin May Cut Off Handlers

By GottaLaff

That IWRC*! She's so gosh darned mavericky that she's now ignoring her own advisors.

And-- now tell me if you've heard this old chestnut before-- Randy Scheunemann called bulls*** on this very thing just yesterday. Coincidence? I. Don't. Think. So:

Four Republicans close to Gov. Sarah Palin tell Politico she "has decided increasingly to disregard the advice of the former Bush aides tasked to handle her, creating occasionally tense situations as she travels the country with them."

Said one: "She's lost confidence in most of the people on the plane. I think she'd like to go more rogue."

"Rogue" as in countries that harbor terrorists? Why, that would mean that she's just like them!

"Anger among Republicans who see Palin as a star and as a potential future leader has boiled over because, they say, they see other senior McCain aides preparing to blame her in the event he is defeated."

Everybody now! Join me in singing The Blame Game. "Palin! Palin, Palin, Mo Malin, Banana Fanna Fo Failin'.... "

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"

Former Gramm-pa McCain advisor: "He blinked and Obama did not."

By GottaLaff

The rats are leaving a sinking ship:

After days of saying that John McCain would not attend Friday's presidential debate unless an agreement on a bailout package for the markets was "locked-down," the McCain campaign has gone back on its word. [...]

The whole episode left even conservatives admitting that the McCain campaign looked erratic and a bit foolish with no apparent direction or guiding principle.

"It just proves his campaign is governed by tactics and not ideology," said Republican consultant Craig Shirley, who advised McCain earlier in this cycle. "In the end, he blinked and Obama did not. The 'steady hand in a storm' argument looks now to more favor Obama, not McCain."

Shirley added, "My guess is that plasma units are rushing to the McCain campaign as we speak to replace the blood flowing there from the fights among the staff."

Glub, glub.

Former Nixon Commerce Secretary disagrees with McCain economic advisor

By GottaLaff

Peterson should have listened to McCain advisor Donald Luskin. Shrug it off, it's all in his head:

"My goodness. I've been in the business 35 years, and these are the most extraordinary events I've ever seen."

-- Former Nixon Commerce Secretary Peter G. Peterson, quoted by the New York Times, on the crisis in the financial markets.

Pshhyeah, right! It's nothing! "Things today just aren't that bad."

McCain economic advisor: Turn that frown upside down! The economy is hunky-dory!

By GottaLaff

Double-U... Tee... Ef?

That diagnosis has been applied twice to the housing "slump" and once to the housing "crisis," to the "severe" decline in home prices, to the "spike" in mortgage foreclosures, to the "change" in the mortgage market and the "turmoil" in debt markets, and to the "crisis" or "meltdown" in financial markets.

It's a virus -- and it's spreading. Do a Google News search for "since the Great Depression," and you come up with more than 4,500 examples of the phrase's use in just the past month.

But that doesn't make any of it true. Things today just aren't that bad. Sure, there are trouble spots in the economy, as the government takeover of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and jitters about Wall Street firm Lehman Brothers, amply demonstrate. And unemployment figures are up a bit, too. None of this, however, is cause for depression -- or exaggerated Depression comparisons.

I'm sure J Sid and his 9 houses are feeling so chipper that they're out there right in public doing the Macarena. In fact, I hope they keep on dancing, because that will open the door wide open for Obama to walk right through. That is, if he doesn't get blamed for the meltdown first:

As it would be for any challenger, it's in his interest to portray the incumbent party's economic performance in the grimmest possible terms. Barack Obama has frequently used the Depression exaggeration, including during a campaign speech in June, when he said that the "percentage of homes in foreclosure and late mortgage payments is the highest since the Great Depression." At best, this statement is a good guess.

I guess Mr. Luskin didn't see this. And if blaming Obama doesn't work, guess who else the Republicans, this one in particular, will stick it to? Yep:

So much for Obama's hyperbole about our terrible economy. But what about the media's?

A housing "slump," a housing "crisis"? A "severe" price decline?

Oh, and in case you missed it, Phil Gramm was right:

McCain campaign adviser and former U.S. senator Phil Gramm was right in July when he said that our current state "is a mental recession." Maybe he was out of line when he added that the United States has become "a nation of whiners." But when it comes to the economy, we have surely become a nation of exaggerators.

The best part, the gift that will keep on giving... 9 beautiful words:

Full disclosure: I'm an adviser to John McCain's campaign...

Thank you.

Video: Trying to get answers about Sarah Palin's flip flops on special needs kids

By GottaLaff

Soledad O'Brien backs this McCain advisor up against a wall:

Soledad O'Brien tries to get to the truth about Palin's record on special needs children -- since Palin cut the special needs state budget by 62% for those kids. She doesn't get answers.

H/t: Clancy

Former Bush officials advise Obama

By GottaLaff

Via Politico:

Tapper reports:

Bush administration veterans former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and former Securities and Exchange Commissioner William Donaldson will join former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, and more traditionally Democratic economic advisers such as former Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, billionaire liberal Warren Buffett, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, and SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger.

Tapper goes on:

Donaldson's tenure at the SEC was notable for his attempts to work with the Democratic Commissioners, for angering the US Chamber of Commerce and Republican legislators, and for abandoning an effort for shareholder proxy access.

O'Neill, the former CEO of Alcoa, had a stormy tenure as Bush's Treasury Secretary, and revealed his frustrations with the Bush administration -- especially over the war in Iraq, economic policy, and the President's leadership style -- in a book written with Ron Suskind, The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill.

Disassociating from Bush is becoming a cottage industry.

H/t: Bucky the WonderCommenter