Joe Arpaio

Defying Feds, Arpaio Says He'll Step Up Immigration Enforcement

Zachary Roth | February 10, 2010, 11:01AM

Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Sheriff Joe Arpaio is doubling down on his defiance of the Feds.

In November, the Department of Homeland Security stripped 100 Maricopa County deputies of their ability to make immigration arrests, amid a slew of complaints that the controversial sheriff was using racial profiling techniques to round up suspected illegal immigrants.

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Dan Choi

As DADT Repeal Talk Gains Steam, A Gay Guardsman Is Back With His Unit

Zachary Roth and Rachel Slajda | February 9, 2010, 6:45PM

Lt. Dan Choi

A National Guardsman who became a cause celebre among gay-rights groups last year, after announcing on The Rachel Maddow Show that he is gay and being recommended for discharge, has returned to training with his unit.

The move doesn't appear to be evidence of an explicit policy change on Don't Ask Don't Tell, but it does count as more potential evidence of a shift in attitude in military circles.

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Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Cheney, Ridge Pioneered Miranda Attack On Obama

Justin Elliott | February 9, 2010, 3:43PM

Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and Former Vice President Dick Cheney

It turns out that the criticism surrounding the decision to read Miranda rights to the attempted Christmas bombing suspect didn't originally come from any office-holding Republican.

Rather, it was pioneered by Tom Ridge and Dick Cheney in the days after Christmas, and only later picked up by members of Congress like Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) and Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO).

With the heated Obama-GOP back-and-forth this week over the Mirandizing of Umar Abdulmutallab, we decided to look back at the facts of what happened, and when critics pounced on the issue.

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Bob Perry

Mystery Solved! Swift-Boat Backer Wrote Check To AL GOP, Says Pawlenty

Zachary Roth | February 9, 2010, 2:27PM

Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) with Bob Perry and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ad.

Well, that didn't take long.

We just told you about a $100,000 check, from an anonymous donor, delivered last week by Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty to the Alabama GOP. Who was that mystery funder, we asked.

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Tim Pawlenty

Pawlenty Brings $100K Check To Alabama GOP. Who's The Mystery Donor?

Zachary Roth | February 9, 2010, 12:06PM

Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN)

On Friday, Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota gave a speech to Republican Party activists in Montgomery, Alabama. But Pawlenty, who's seen as a top GOP presidential contender for 2012, brought something with him besides his notes, reports Minnesota Public Radio: a $100,000 check for the Alabama Republican Party, from an anonymous donor.

The existence of the check -- said to be earmarked to help Alabama GOPers win control of the state legislature -- was announced, before Pawlenty's speech, by Alabama Republican chair Mike Hubbard. (You can listen to the audio of Hubbard's announcement here)

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Ron Nehring

Allegations Against Leader Cause Turmoil In CA GOP

Zachary Roth | February 9, 2010, 10:31AM

Ron Nehring, chairman of the California Republican Party

The California Republican Party is being roiled by a controversy stemming from allegations about the private life of chairman Ron Nehring.

Last night, the San Diego GOP voted by 44-1 to boot one of its members from the county's central committee, citing "inappropriate behavior." The member, Michael Crimmins, who was the party's nominee in 2008 against incumbent Democratic congresswoman Susan Davis, had sent an email to state party leaders, raising concerns about the behavior of Nehring and San Diego County chair Tony Krvaric.

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John Brennan

Obama Admin On Al Qaeda: Don't Panic!

Justin Elliott | February 9, 2010, 9:17AM

Deputy National Security Adviseor John Brennan

Ramping up the push-back against GOP criticism of the handling of the attempted Christmas bombing suspect, a top Obama aide argues in a new op-ed that America's "system of justice" is fully capable of dealing with terrorists.

Writing in USA Today, Deputy National Security Advisor John Brennan calls, essentially, for the United States to calm down.

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Lobbyists

Business Lobby Shifting Back To GOP

Zachary Roth | February 8, 2010, 4:04PM

Grover Norquist

Some of the business interests that had abandoned their traditional conservatism to flirt with the Obama agenda may now be shifting back towards the GOP -- another sign that the president's standing is badly weakened a year after taking office.

During 2008 and much of 2009, Obama enjoyed an unusual amount of support for a Democrat from the business community, much of which had grown disillusioned with President Bush and hoped for a return to the steady growth of the Clinton years. But after a string of political setbacks, high-lighted by Scott Brown's win last month in the Massachusetts Senate race, some key business groups and sectors appear to be shifting back to the GOP column.

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Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Top Republicans Don't Dispute They Were Told Xmas Bomber Was Held By FBI

Justin Elliott | February 8, 2010, 4:02PM

National Security Adviser John Brennan with (clockwise from top left) Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

There's a key point in danger of being lost in all the he-said-he-said froth over what Congressional Republicans were told in the hours after the failed Christmas attack: none of the GOP leaders disputes that an Obama aide informed them that suspect Umar Abdulmutallab was being held in FBI custody.

The real dispute is over what flows from that fact. John Brennan, Obama's national security adviser, said on Meet The Press Sunday that he called four Republicans -- Sens. Mitch McConnell and Kit Bond and Reps. John Boehner and Pete Hoekstra -- the night of the attempted Christmas attack.

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Endangered Species Act

Alaska Legislature Plans $1.5 Million Astroturf Fight Against Endangered Species Act

Justin Elliott | February 8, 2010, 12:07PM

Seeking to protect the oil industry, the Alaska state legislature has appropriated $1.5 million to fund an astroturf campaign to weaken the Endangered Species Act and put on a conference questioning the listing of polar bears as a threatened species.

Over the objections of some members who warned of "PR damage" to the state, a group of lawmakers late last week decided to move ahead with reviewing bids from public relations firms for the polar bear contract, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

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Tea Parties

Return Of the Repressed? Birtherism, Homophobia, Racial Paranoia Rise To Surface At Tea Party Confab

Zachary Roth | February 8, 2010, 11:38AM

Tea party in Hartford, Connecticut in 2009

The National Tea Party Convention, which wrapped up Saturday night with a televised speech by Sarah Palin, offered an outlet for some of the fouler strands of modern conservatism that had long been bubbling beneath the surface of the Tea Party movement.

Tea Party leaders had worked hard to keep the public face of the movement focused tightly on a small government, anti-tax message, largely steering clear of social issues, and appeals based explicitly on race. But this weekend, from the podium at Nashville's Gaylord Opryland Hotel, convention speakers espoused birtherism, anti-immigrant nativism, homophobia, Christian fundamentalism, and an apparent nostalgia for racially discriminatory barriers to voting.

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American Action Network

American Action Network: Who's Putting Up The Money?

Justin Elliott | February 8, 2010, 9:04AM

Norm Coleman and Douglas Holtz-Eakin

With some of the country's top Republicans at the fore of the effort to create a new conservative think tank in Washington, the American Action Network is almost sure to become a political force when it launches later this month.

The public roll-out is scheduled for Feb. 22, so it's a good time to look at a few of the people who are reportedly helping to fund the American Action Network.

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