links for 2010-04-19

Three possibilities: The blogger, Kavon Nikrad, made the whole thing up; Nikrad told the truth and Team Mitt is lying its butt off to do damage control; or Nikrad misunderstood that when Romney answered “no,” he was responding to the part of the question about pre-existing exclusions, not the mandate. That would make sense politically — the exemption for pre-existing conditions is the most popular part of ObamaCare and the mandate, arguably, is the least popular — but, per Philip Klein, the two really are a package deal.
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Flip Flopper Mitt Romney had better qualify his remarks directly and quickly.

After leaving the California Democratic Party convention here Sunday, gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown stopped by the city's oldest African American church. Coincidentally, the message the pastor preached at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church: "Yesterday's victory does not guarantee victory today."

The symbolism is apt for Democrats and the 72-year-old Brown as he seeks to return to the governor's office he occupied from 1975 to 1983. A little more than a year and a half since the excitement generated by President Obama's presidential victory, Democrats in the nation's most populous state spent the past three days searching for something to stir enthusiasm for their 2010 campaigns.
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Voters are tired of Jerry Brown and the unions that control the Democrat Party

Convention Report: This weekend was the state Democratic Party convention–the one where they wouldn't let me speak. I went anyway. I wrote the most provocative leaflet I could (I'll post it soon) but people persisted in being nice, and many seemed to read it. Even a few guys in union jackets. I had some heated arguments. About a dozen people dramatically handed the leaflet back. Only a couple of people walked away saying they were disgusted. All good. Several conventiongoers said what Democrats of child-rearing age often say–roughly, "I disagree with everything in here except the part about the teachers' unions. They're awful." You have to wonder if these unions' leaders know just how despised they are.
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Mickey Kaus is challenging Sen Barbara Boxer in the Democrat Primary election for US Senate

A massive volcanic plume covering most of Europe forced President Obama to cancel a Sunday trip to Poland to attend the funeral of the nation's president. But the last-minute change left an opening in his schedule, so the president headed to the links for a round of golf instead.

On a cool but sun-drenched Sunday, the president and three golfing companions went to Andrews Air Force Base to play 18 holes. It is the 32nd time Mr. Obama has played golf since taking office Jan. 20, 2009, according to CBS Radio's Mark Knoller.
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More than Bush in 8 years

Nearly a year later, Mr. Obama has yet to set foot in an American mosque. And he still has not met with Muslim and Arab-American leaders. But less publicly, his administration has reached out to this politically isolated constituency in a sustained and widening effort that has left even skeptics surprised.

Muslim and Arab-American advocates have participated in policy discussions and received briefings from top White House aides and other officials on health care legislation, foreign policy, the economy, immigration and national security. They have met privately with a senior White House adviser, Valerie Jarrett, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to discuss civil liberties concerns and counterterrorism strategy.