• “Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science.”
  As Obama called for the country to respond to the threat of climate change, he issued a stark reminder that many Republicans seem to reject basic scientific findings.
   
• “Enduring security and lasting peace do not require perpetual war.”
  Obama rose to national prominence by opposing wars started by George W. Bush, and he rarely misses a chance to remind Americans that Republican foreign policy led to open-ended wars with no exit strategy.

5 unmistakable shots at Republicans in Obama’s inaugural address

(Source: theweek.com)

“The most dysfunctional ever…” 
“The most worthless, incompetent, do-nothing gathering of lawmakers in the nation’s history…”
“The most unproductive session since the 1940s…”

10 insulting labels for the outgoing 112th Congress

(Source: theweek.com)

Cartoon of the day: Preparing for backlash
DAYLE CAGLE © 2012 Cagle Cartoons

More cartoons

(Source: theweek.com)

The fiscal-cliff fix: Winners and losers

WINNERS 

• Joe Biden — Biden certainly “emerges with enhanced stature from the budget mess,” says The Daily Beast’s Kurtz. He was “called off the bench” on Sunday, then “showed a deft hand — and the experience of growing up in [the Senate] — in quickly hammering out a deal with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.” If the 70-year-old vice president “decides to run for Obama’s job in 2016, such performances could more than offset his reputation for shooting from the lip.” Of course if Democrats end up hating the deal, this could actually “bite Biden down the line,” says Chris Cillizza at The Washington Post. But he clearly ranks among the winners for negotiating the deal and persuading Democrats to support it. The vice president is often underestimated by the political press, but “the ‘Biden as major White House asset’ storyline writes itself” now.
   
• The rich and elderly — Obama’s decision to raise the threshold for higher taxes from $250,000 to $450,000 makes for “a big tax cut for all kinds of rich people, not just those with adjusted gross incomes between the two figures,” says Matthew Yglesias at Slate. Because our tax rates are marginal, meaning that only income above $450,000 is taxed at the higher rate, “if you make $600,000 or even $1 million a year you still have a very large share of your income that’s taxed at a lower rate thanks to this deal.” The deal also didn’t have any of the expected cuts to Social Security and other federal retirement security programs, so at least for now, “old people are the winners,” too.

LOSERS

• John Boehner — “The fiscal cliff talks were cast as a moment for [John] Boehner to cement his legacy as speaker,” negotiating a grand bargain that would “set the country on the right financial course through the Republican-controlled House,” says Cillizza at The Washington Post. “The exact opposite happened.” The Ohio Republican dropped negotiations with Obama to pass his own “Plan B” — raising taxes on only people earning $1 million a year — but that plan failed to even get a vote, raising questions about “how much — if any — control he had over his fellow House Republicans.” That idea was reinforced when Boehner couldn’t get more than half of his caucus, or even his top lieutenants, to back the final compromise, says Daniel Newhauser at Roll Call. Boehner “now slumps into the 113th Congress with gavel firmly in hand but with scant ability to wield its power.”
   
• Hurricane Sandy victims — After the messy fight over the fiscal cliff bill, House GOP leaders canceled a scheduled vote on a supplemental spending bill for areas ravaged by Hurricane Sandy, mostly in New York and New Jersey. The House Appropriations Committee had even teed up a $60 billion package, matching the Sandy relief bill that passed the Senate last week. “Absent a change of heart, the upshot now is that the Senate bill will die with this Congress on Thursday at noon,” says David Rogers at Politico. “I assume there is as tactical consideration here, that the Republican leadership didn’t want to be anywhere near a big spending bill after the fiasco of their handling the tax debate,”says Rep. Rob Andrews (D.N.J.). “I understand the tactics but there is a real human need here that is being ignored.”

More winners and losers

(Source: theweek.com)

“My friend Bill O’Reilly is completely full of shit,” began Jon Stewart during his opening statements at the “Rumble in the Air-Conditioned Auditorium,” a 90-minute debate in front of a crowd of 1,500 at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. between him and The O’Reilly Factor’s Bill O’Reilly. 

If you missed it, watch the whole debate here. 

(Source: theweek.com)

Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Publicly, Mitt Romney and his allies are cautiously optimistic that the Republican challenger will beat President Obama in November; privately, Team Romney is apparently complaining to Politico about why they think their candidate is losing.

“Only a fool would declare the race over at this point,” says Will Bunch at the Philadelphia Daily News, but Politico has served up a pretty “devastating perspective on a presidential campaign in total disarray.”

Here, five highlights from Politico’s ‘devastating’ Romney campaign exposé

(Source: theweek.com)

Think outside the box: Swedish wine company Vernissage Wines sells this wine-filled purse for $20 for 1.5 liters, and $40 for 3 liters. Photo: vernissagewine.com

GOOD DAY FOR: 

Banking on bacon
A man embarks on an ambitious cross-country road trip in which he will barter with bacon in exchange for food, fuel, and shelter — all as part of an Oscar Mayer publicity stunt. [The New York Times]

Going behind the music
Nicki Minaj — who recently rapped that she’s a “Republican, voting for Mitt Romney” — thanks President Obama for understanding her “creative humor and sarcasm” after he suggests that she’s not really a conservative. [Death & Taxes]

Fashionable winos
A Swedish company classes up its boxed wine by designing the box in the shape of a handbag that includes a strap for easy carrying. [The Frisky]

BAD DAY FOR:

The Buckeye State
A full 15 percent of Republicans in Ohio say Mitt Romney is more responsible than President Obama for the death of Osama bin Laden. Another 47 percent aren’t sure who deserves more credit. [Salon]

Seller’s remorse
A Virginia woman pays $7 at a flea market for a box of old toys, which unexpectedly includes a Renoir painting that had been missing since 1926, and could sell for more than $75,000 at auction. [Discovery News]

The reality of reality TV
A crew member helping to clean out a house on TLC’s Hoarders: Buried Alive contracts hantavirus, the same deadly disease that has killed three people at Yosemite National Park. [Consumerist]

(Source: theweek.com)

Cartoon of the day — ‘Eastwooding’ sweeps the DNC
CHRISTOPHER WEYANT © 2012 Cagle Cartoons

More cartoons

(Source: theweek.com)

In many ways, the Democrats’ event in North Carolina will be similar to the GOP’s party in Florida. But there will still be plenty of differences:

1. Many Democrats still adore their candidate
   “Real passion eludes Mitt Romney,” says David Weigel at Slate. “But the Cult of Obama staggers on.” Democratic delegates will “venerate” Obama with enthusiasm that their Republican counterparts just couldn’t muster for Romney. The difference will be impossible to miss all week in Charlotte, from the throngs of black delegates perusing the “for-us-by-us” Obama merchandise to the “Keep the Dream” calendar optimistically showing the president and first lady dancing at an inaugural ball in January 2013. The calendar even has a page declaring that Obama was “heaven sent,” says Mark Hemingway at The Weekly Standard. “To be clear this is not official campaign merchandise, but it pretty clearly speaks to the fact the Obama cult of personality is going strong.” 
    
2. Democrats won’t have to “humanize” their nominee
   Republicans in Tampa faced “a much more complicated mission” than the Democrats do, says Will Bunch at The Philadelphia Daily News. The GOP had to focus its energies on “‘humanizing’ the stiff ex-venture capitalist Mitt Romney” and introducing his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, to America. That left them with “precious little time for talking actual policy — and precious little was put forth.” Democrats will have more freedom to talk about policy because voters already know Obama. But beware: “That may not be a blessing, but a curse. With even less suspense in the air than in tepid Tampa, who on Earth would actually watch this thing?”

3 more key differences between the DNC and the RNC

(Source: theweek.com)

Cartoon of the day — The big takeaway
WALT HANDELSMAN © 2012 Tribune Media Services

More cartoons

(Source: theweek.com)

Cartoon of the day: The new and improved RomBot
SCOTT STANTIS © 2012 Tribune Media Services

More cartoons 

(Source: theweek.com)