Team Obama - More Trouble With Their Johnson

Tone Deaf 2012 picks a lobbyist for the 1% to advise Obama's re-election effort:

President Barack Obama’s new senior campaign adviser is a longtime Wall Street lobbyist, and has the potential to damage the president’s aspirations to appeal to the protesters currently “occupying” New York City’s Zuccotti Park.

Obama’s new adviser, Broderick Johnson, has an extensive history of lobbying for big banks and corporations, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. In 2007, he lobbied for JP Morgan Chase and in 2008 Johnson lobbied for Bank of America and Fannie Mae. From 2008 through 2010, he lobbied for Comcast and in 2011 he lobbied for Microsoft.

And the final thumb in the eye (or some finger somewhere):

Perhaps most troubling to those who normally would consider themselves Obama’s 2012 base, though, is how Johnson has lobbied on behalf of the Keystone XL pipeline. The Huffington Post previously reported that Johnson is a “former Bryan Cave LLP lobbyist registered on the Keystone XL account” and that Bryan Cave LLP earned approximately $1.08 million lobbying for TransCanada between 2009 and 2011.

Environmentalists are upset about the near-finalized pipeline proposal that would allow TransCanada to build a $7 billion, 1700-mile pipeline through the heart of the United States. If the State Department approves the proposals and the pipeline is built, it would transport crude oil from tar sands in Alberta, Canada to U.S. refineries along the Gulf of Mexico.

The last Johnson picked by Tone Deaf '08 didn't last long:

James A. Johnson, a consummate Washington insider and former Fannie Mae chief executive, resigned yesterday from Sen. Barack Obama's vice presidential search committee, just four days after he was caught up in controversy over low-interest home loans and lucrative business deals.

Is the business of putting together a campaign team really this complicated?

Comments

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Okay, you should get some prize for the title.

[Annoying Old Guy]

It seems to me that what continually stuns Team Obama is the concept that rules can apply to them. Normally intelligent people, after getting hit with that kind of clue by four over and over, would adjust their behavior / expectations. Team Obama is just not that smart.

Obama Ex Officio!

[Ignatz]

--And the final thumb in the eye (or some finger somewhere)--

LOL. That's even funnier than the title.

[Soylent Red]

Is the business of putting together a campaign team really this complicated?

Don't be too smug TM.

How do you identify accomplished and convincing liars and crooks if they have never been caught or exposed? Is there some sort of professional organization or credentialing body for crony capitalist shitbirds who would be dishonest enough to work for the SCOAMF, and convincing enough to help him lie his way to victory?

It wouldn't do to simply scour the prisons and mental institutions for recruits. Besides, if you did that, where would the Democrat Party get their candidates?

[Ignatz]

What's with the green links?

[Jack is Back!]

I thought Obama ran in 08 on his executive experience of running a Presidential campaign.

[narciso]

And this almost slipped passed by the memory hole:

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/no-one-died-radiation-exposure-fukushima-top-us-regulator-says

[BB Key]

Is this the Broderick Johnson who is married to the NPR host....they must have a big time marriage counsler

[Jane]

It seems to me that what continually stuns Team Obama is the concept that rules can apply to them.

That's because they usually don't/

Is this the Broderick Johnson who is married to the NPR host....they must have a big time marriage counsler

Yes. She will no linger host All things considered but will stay on in taxpayer funded jobs (Or some lameass excuse like that.)

[mojo]

Stepped on it again, did they?

[Boatbuilder]

If the OWS folks don't have a problem with Geithner what makes anybody think that they know or care who Johnson is or recognize any diminishment of the wonderfulness of The One?

[Captain Hate]

She will no linger host All things considered but will stay on in taxpayer funded jobs (Or some lameass excuse like that.)

Probably one of Bill Moyers' shell corporations.

[Danube of Thought]

She is stepping aside "temporarily" while her husband works for Obama. Then she'll return and be the same objective, unbiased hostess as always.

[centralcal]

Democrats are a pestilence in our society. Lost an election? Well then . . . sue somebody!

There's nothing quite like a politician scorned.

When voters in Ohio's 1st Congressional District threw Democrat Steve Driehaus out of office after only one term, he did not bow out gracefully. No, he decided to get even. So he did what anyone does in today's culture: he sued somebody.

Charging that its activities contributed to his defeat and thus to his "loss of livelihood," Driehaus is suing the Susan B. Anthony List, a group that supports pro-life candidates for Congress and which has been one of the leading and most effective organizations involved in the fight to cut off federal funding to Planned Parenthood.

[MayBee]

I love how wealthy all the Republicans are the Party of the Wealthy people always turn out to be.

[Jane]

I just read that article someone posted (thank you) about Elizabeth Warren, claiming she started OWS. She also says she was a republican until 1996. She is one weird chick. They are already saying women can't win in MA. I hope they are right.

The OWS coverage has pretty much stopped. Is that true everywhere?

[Captain Hate]

Another firm principled stand from Mittens: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/25/romney-avoids-weighing-in-on-ohio-union-fight/

[Jane]

Centralcal,

It gets worse. The judge (an Obama appointee) who refused to throw out the case used to be the president and director of planned parenthood.

It's a very scary case.

[centralcal]

Jane, she was probably a Republican only in her nightmares.

[Jack is Back!]

narciso,

I see where the Ric Scott team has now joined Perry. Expect him to go big time negative on Romney in 1....2....3....

/worked for Scott - twice!

[matt]

I am more and more convinced that the Republicans are the people who foreswore or dropped drugs and the Democrats are the ones still on them.

Because only a stoner could come up with some of the wacky reasoning we hear from Warren, Barney Frank, Pelosi and Reid or even Sean Penn, Moore, Sarandon or the others.

[Captain Hate]

or even Sean Penn

Spicoli a stoner? The deuce you say!

[jimmyk]

The OWS coverage has pretty much stopped. Is that true everywhere?

Must be because it was pushing down Barry's poll numbers.

[Threadkiller]

I wish Cain had Mittens experience.

[Captain Hate]

I wish I had Mitten's hair.

[Jane]

I think Cain's experience is superior to Mitt's by a lot. He actually knows how it is to make something of yourself starting with nothing. He is the American dream. Since politics in this country is so corrupt, that lack of experience may cost him the job but it doesn't bother me at all. He can hire people for that.

[Rick Ballard]

jimmyk,

If you take a scroll down memory lane, you find that today's 18% strong approval is an apparent (pending Hit's confirmation) new low. I would be surprised if the percentage ever dropped below 13% because that's the President's true commie base level. The establishment of Obamavilles does not appear to have had the impact desired by the President and his brainlesstrust.

I don't believe that this can be placed in the "unexpected" category, at least not by the sentient. Proglodytes may well be shocked and amazed by the result.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vnjagvet]

I wish I had Mitten's money.

[Threadkiller]

Ha!

[Threadkiller]

Double Ha!

[Jane]

New WH Insider

[(Another) Barbara]

I wish Cain had Mittens experience.

I may have missed it, but I don't recall JOMers noting Cain's Sunday interview where he said he would support and "sign" a constitutional amendment outlawing abortion. It's being talked about elsewhere as yet another misstep -- both in terms of his not realizing that presidents don't sign constitutional amendments and in once again seeming to reverse his earlier stance.

Seems to me attention worthy that even his fervent fans (Mark Levin, for one) feel compelled to say we needn't worry because Cain would surround himself as president with knowledgeable staff. That's a bit revealing, don't you think?

[Jane]

Gawd I hope it is true. (The insider not AB's always cogent analysis which often breaks my heart!)

[Jack is Back!]

Now I concede the Insider is nothing more than a self-fulfilling prophecy or introspective channeling but even if it was Clenis himself it is still too contrived for me.

In fact it might just be a huge Axelrod disinformation and psych ops campaign.

[Old Lurker]

Laws? Like Narciso's goggles, they mean nuthin.

[Old Lurker]

Opps here is the LUN for that

[Clarice]

These posts are getting awfully risque for an old genteel lady like myself.

[pagar]

"He actually knows how it is to make something of yourself starting with nothing."

This is totally backwards from the Democrats. The Democrats want to take all of those who start with the opportunity to be anything they want to be (all Americans) and bring them down to having nothing.

[Appalled]

Clarice:

These posts are getting awfully risque for an old genteel lady like myself

They do seem more fitting for a Bill Clinton presidency, don't they?

[Jane]

Did you guys know Daley was leaving? FOr some reason I missed that.

[Melinda Romanoff]

I hope this stuff isn't like Axelrod's PA PUMA carp.

[Danube of Thought]

Fox News is saying that the Raz 18% strong approval is indeed a new low.

[MayBee]

Jane- Daley's leaving?

[DrJ]

I had not heard about Daley leaving either. Best I can tell is that he would not join a new administration, but will see out Obama's current term.

Unless I *really* missed something.

[Melinda Romanoff]

DoT-

Don't know whether this matters to you: TRAFFIC ALERT: Large hazardous chemical spill closes all nb lanes of I-5 at Basilone Rd to Camino Capistrano Rd.

(Just over twitter.)

[Melinda Romanoff]

"End of this term" was the presser comment on Daley.

[Rick Ballard]

Jane,

He's leaving with Obama. Someone of a suspicious nature might wonder what offer he has already accepted. It wouldn't due to have an acceptance revealed prior to Obama's defeat without a good cover in place.

[Danube of Thought]

I believe I am about to abandon all hope:

"Campaigning in Ohio today, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney stopped by a Republican Party phone-bank making calls in support of Gov. John Kasich's government union reform referendum, but refused to endorse the actual referendum. CNN's Peter Hamby called the scene an 'incredible moment in politics.'"

What inspiring profile in courage ol' Mitt is.

He makes my skin crawl.

[Jane]

Well, the-report-no-one-believes says he is leaving short of his one year mark. That would be this year, I believe. So I guess we will see.

Perry is giving a press conference about his flat tax plan. Fox is airing it, if anyone is interested.

[Captain Hate]

Mittens is getting a pineapple suppository @ AoS. A very dry and prickly pineapple.

[Threadkiller]

I would prefer an honest dipshit, who would mistakenly sign an amendment, over a dishonest, but electible, dipshit, who won't sign onto anything.

[Rick Ballard]

"He makes my skin crawl."

That's just a program glitch - Amalgamated Dynamics, Inc. is working with Pixar on the patch.

[Threadkiller]

Perry's first question(I am not joking) on his bold new economic plan comes from CNN:

"Gov Perry, why did you bring up the birth certificate?"

That times perfectly with the first mea culpa to Donofrio's expose:

http://errortheory.blogspot.com/2011/10/justia-did-not-expunge-references-to.html

"UPDATE: Justia DID expunge references to key natural-born case, they did NOT just change citations to modern format.

Well it turns out that Leo really does have screenshot-proof that Justica first put the modern-form citations and hyperlinks in alongside the Court's original old-form name-citations for Minor v. Happersett and only later came back and deleted the old-form name-citations. I don't even have to wait until tomorrow to see these screenshots. Doing some poking around on his blog, I discover that he them last June!

So no, he has not been sitting on this evidence, waiting to spring it on some unsuspecting person like myself. Who knows why he ever said so. I'm just glad to learn that he is actually much more sensible than he presents.

Turns out the guy's solid. He's got the goods. Justia has been deleting politically inconvenient facts from its online Supreme Court record, which as Leo points out is actually a criminal offense: misrepresenting state documents. Leo has just been ill-served by his publicizers (including himself, if his response to me is any indication)."

With a little research, a critic of Donofrio's work becomes a supporter.

Prediction: more birther questions.

[Clarice]

DoT, I', with you on Romney--I think he made his last, but fatal, wuss out.(As I noted on another thread, he also got the true kiss of death--Meghan McCain has endorsed him.)

TK, If Justia messed with the citations..and it appeared for some incomprehensible reason to me that they did, I suppose they've injured their reputation and work product. Period. No court relied on their fake citations.

[Threadkiller]

The JoM court relied on them.

[Old Lurker]

Meghan is probably really for Huntsman so she just playing dirty by endorsing Romney.

[Clarice]

Politico reports that in June S.O.B. Romney supported Kasich's anti-union move.

Kick this bum to the curb already.

[Ignatz]

--Meghan McCain has endorsed him.--

Looks like Mitt and Barry may be going at it hammer and tong over the brainless twit voting bloc.

[Rick Ballard]

I don't see anything that is inconsonant with T1000's complete lack of identifiable principles. He really shouldn't be held to something that isn't even in his program. OTOH - his statement is perfectly consonant with the fact that Ohio is a must win in the general. The polling is not determinative wrt Kasich's position and T1000's program has determined that a straddle position is most appropriate in such instances.

It's just a shame that T1000 must go through the messy primary process prior to employing his formidable general election program (Lawn Gnome v.1) in his march to victory.

[GMAX]

Profile in Courage:

As Bob Costa recently detailed, Ohio’s Senate Bill 5 — which limits unions’ collective bargaining powers and requires state employees to contribute 10 percent to their pension plans and 15 percent of their health-care costs — is under fire and facing possible repeal. Today, Mitt Romney visited Ohio, and declined to give a position on SB 5, according to CNN’s Peter Hamby, who tweeted, “Romney visits OH GOP phone bank to rally troops opposing SB5 repeal, but refuses to take a position on SB5.”

Is this the kind of conservative leader we are striving for?

[GMAX]

Scrolling upthread I see DOT already skewered Mitt on this. Its bears repeating, I dont want mail it in McCain Version 2.0.

[Appalled]

Just for the record, here is what Romney said, per CNN:

I am not speaking about the particular ballot issues," Romney said, only after repeated questions from reporters. "Those are up to the people of Ohio. But I certainly support the efforts of the governor to reign in the scale of government. I am not terribly familiar with the two ballot initiatives. But I am certainly supportive of the Republican Party's efforts here."

I doubt these tepid words of habitual caution are going to appease any of you. But let's just say that the other GOP leaders have been doing a lot of regrettable mispeaking lately. I do wonder how often such no comments have been uttered and went into the memory hole, pre 24 hour news/ youtube. The Perrys and Cains of the world request us those of us with less fervent tendencies to understand when they are joking, or speaking flamboyantly without meaning terribly much. Maybe the more fervent among us might need to have a little tolerance for the mis-speaks of others.

I'll leave the full-throated defense of Romney to Sara. IAnd recognize this is a tough crowd for it.

[RichatUF]

TK-

Send a check to DoT for his best argument (and make sure you include a gratuity-maybe a bottle of Grey Goose?).

As far as the Insider goes...cat nip for Year 3 of the Opocalypse, probably fake, but the Zuckerman piece a few days back (where he interviewed a disappointed Wall Streeter) had similiar themes...I don't know.

So what happened today Mel in the world of finance-is Europe finally catching fire?

[centralcal]

That's just a program glitch - Amalgamated Dynamics, Inc. is working with Pixar on the patch.

ha ha ha ha ha

Romney doesn't make my skin crawl ala Huntsman, but he does frequently trigger my gag reflex.

[GMAX]

Well that is certainly convincing of something Appalled.

Perhaps the tepid response from the one guy I KNOW voted for Zero last time, is damning with faint praise.

[Rick Ballard]

Appalled,

Thanks for posting that. T1000 makes his stance on the issue crystal clear and there is no possible way that his statement might be construed as contravening principles which he has never held.

[Ignatz]

Rich,
This guy at the Weekly Standard makes a strong case the whole world is catching fire.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Just a side note, Romney's in NH today, and all of the campaign's press releases are datelined Boston.

Hmmm.

[Clarice]

Well, Just a minute. Perhaps I let my emotions carry the day. On another thread Deb's been tracing this report back and it appears a lefty blogger may have misrepresented Romney's less appalling position.

[Jane]

I got an email this morning from someone in the Romney campaign named "Magan" something who said she/he was the finance director asking me to meet her/him in NH this weekend to raise money for Romney.

I sent her quite a long and even edited email back explaining how the costs of Romneycare made even a trip to NH prohibited and how I would be working another job this weekend to pay for my medical bills under my gigantic deductible.

It was the least I could do.

[Appalled]

GMax:

Romney gives me the thrill of slightly warm oatmeal in the morning. There is an argument for steady, stable, and reasonable in our current environment. But it is still slightly warmed oatmeal, flavored with somewhat warmed-over ideas from luke-warm advisors.

[centralcal]

Clarice: Here is a write up by a Cincinnati reporter.

He also references the Hamby report, but does add a little more info.

[Clarice]

cc, Sounds a lot like the Little Two Step song from The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas to me.

[Rick Ballard]

"But it is still slightly warmed oatmeal, flavored with somewhat warmed-over ideas from luke-warm advisors."

See - T1000 is a very warm candidate! The program is delivering just as it was designed to do. Marvelous.

[centralcal]

Politico (I think) speculated he didn't want to touch the union issue with a 10 ft. pole, because another of the issues had to do with Obamacare and it was a little too close for comfort (i.e., Jane's aforementioned Romneycare).

[Clarice]

Wel, he can't hide Romneycare and he can't damn explain it away so who does he think he's fooling with this.

Is there a law saying a pol cannot admit a mistake--? Can't he say he envisioned it one way and in following years his successors have made it into something far different and worse and he learned his lesson--once you open to the door to entitlements , there's no end to them.

[Rick Ballard]

Clarice,

Who are the EUtopians trying to fool with their 'fixes' of the Norwegian Blue euro? It's not just Romney flat out sprinting from himself. The piece that Ignatz linked above is too dire only in its aftermath conclusions. Feeding zombies keeps the Night of the Living Dead going. Sunrise comes reasonably quickly once they're dismembered and run through the chipper and onto a compost pile.

[narciso]

'Splunge, but he's not being indecisive'lol.

[Captain Hate]

I'm loving Rick's T1000 comments. I'm wondering if his program doesn't have a fatal flaw in not being able to be perceived as wrong about Romneycare while preparing to do battle with El JEFe once he gets through these preliminary skirmishes with the parvenus; he might have a complete meltdown like the one on StarTrek when Kirk pointed out the logical inconsistencies of a robot that had taken over the Enterprise. I realize that's asking a lot from the jugeared fellow, though.

[RichatUF]

Ignatz-

That was cheerful, thanks.

[rse]

Dr. Karen Mapp is a Lecturer of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) and co-coordinator of the Community Organizing and School Reform Research Project. She is a well know family engagement expert and we are thrilled to have her.

I just knew you guys would be so excited to learn that Harvard Ed School has officially decided to make community organizing part of the curriculum.

I said the other day that national standards is going in ahead of schedule out of fear of a BO loss. I got a panicked email from parents today telling me that teachers were informing them that they were no longer going to be able to teach the material. That the kids would have to learn it on their own. Now of course it is easier to convince people what is coming when they are already but I had no football to spike with. The cool thing and this relates to that low strong approval is that this is an issue that has the potential to truly make BO the first transracial Pres. Really drive the ABO movement. These people are parents first wanting what is best for their kids before hey are Dem or black or Hispanic or worried about abortion rights as the driving issue for women. This really does have the potential to crack that coalition wide open.

[RichatUF]

Your logic is impeccable. We are in grave danger.

[Jack is Back!]

This just in from the Romney camp:

"OWS is a local New York issue.

Iranian nuclear weapons is a Saudi and Iraq issue.

Jobs? Not an issue for a presidential nominee.

Health care is a state issue not a federal issue.

Balance of trade with China is an issue between Walmart and China themselves.

Herman Cain political ads are between him and the Surgeon General.

Ranges versus Cardinals is a Fox issue and not one for anyone outside of Texas and Missouri to be concerned about."

[(Another) Barbara]

I'm cautious about getting vehemently hostile toward Romney's tepid -- albeit supportive of the Ohio Republicans' efforts -- statement when his words and intent are interpreted by a Gannett newspaper and Politico.

Are we already trashing the ABO concept? If Romney should win the nomination, what will be said about him on JOM during the long campaign? That's worrisome to me.

[peter]

So from that WH insider we now know there's going to be a faked assassination attempt from inside zero's circle? Can someone notify Secret Service about this article now? I would not want to be one of the guys taking a bullet for this guy when it is just a ploy to get him reelected. Is this the ultimate narcissist of all time? This is worse than Jesse Jackson spilling chicken blood on himself in Memphis in 1968.

[Janet]

A short Dennis Miller audio clip on the silence of the left with the drone bombings & the taking out of al Awlaki.

[rse]

Now I feel better Mapp is also involved with the Center for American Progress.

LUN

[Jack is Back!]

Do not be surprised that one of the drummers violates the curfew and self-immolates him/herself as the police move in with plasti-cuffs.

[Janet]

I'm just praying no OWS hit folksong comes out...to be played on an endless loop on PBS for all eternity. Ugh!

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Mel: Romney's national campaign office is in Boston. It would be their responsibility to put out the press releases and schedules, etc.

[narciso]

The Oracle of Wings and Studio 60 speaks:

http://m.newsbusters.org/blogs/jack-coleman/2011/10/25/actor-steven-weber-huffpo-demands-nuremberg-scale-trial-conservatives

[centralcal]

(A)B - I have already gone on record that I will vote for "Lawn Gnome" over Obama (a recent AOSHQ poll). So, Romney will get my vote, too. Not enthusiastically and with much internal apprehension, but I will still vote for him.

[Jack is Back!]

Okay, I give up. Maybe ChaCo can explain the psychosis behind US listening to idiots like Steven Weber, Alex Baldwin, Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon?

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

I'll leave the full-throated defense of Romney to Sara. IAnd recognize this is a tough crowd for it.

I'm done defending Romney here. It is useless.

I will say though that to find a new reason to badmouth him and now call him an SOB for saying he supports what Kasich is doing, but doesn't know enough about the specifics of the bill to speak to it doesn't sound to me like it deserves the scorn heaped on Mitt from the regular Mitt haters here. As I've said what seems like 1000 times, disagree with his policy positions all you want, but the character assassination is just unfair, not to mention a petty way to denigrate him when he is a man of integrity.

Right now, Newt is surging, but I guess he is no good either because of something personal that dates back, what 20 or more years. I never really got what it is that has so many here against him. Oh wait, he had his pic taken on a couch with Pelosi.

[centralcal]

(A)Barbara: Now that I thought about what I wrote above, I do have to modify it just a tad. I will ENTHUSIASTICALLY vote for anybody (or thing, as in Lawn Gnome) that sends Barry and Shelly back to Chicago.

[Ignatz]

rse,

Do you have any thoughts on the nexus between government guaranteed loans and the enabling of these idiot curricula?

Seems to me without that river of free cash universities would have a very much harder time supporting all these peripheral inanities.

[Ignatz]

--I never really got what it is that has so many here against him.--

Newt is a hand grenade with the pin pulled but is OK as long as there is a confining grip around him.
As soon as he gets loose, run before the count hits ten and then hit the deck.

[Clarice]

Sara, I did call him an SOB and later, when new information came in indicating his comments had been twisted, I acknowledged my response was too emotional and based on faulty reporting.

I still think he's playing an old fashioned political two step and that will not win him the nomination or the election in this climate.

[Danube of Thought]

"Im not going to claim that I should be elected president. That's up to the voters of America to decide."

TK, I certainly didn't rely on Justia, whoever they are. Nothing in or about the Minor case affects the issue in any way.

[Ignatz]

--As I've said what seems like 1000 times, disagree with his policy positions all you want, but the character assassination is just unfair, not to mention a petty way to denigrate him when he is a man of integrity.--

I think Mitt is getting a bit of a tough ride here on this Kasich issue.
And from what I know of him his personal integrity is above reproach.
But on the hustings he simply will not stay consistent on political issues. That is not character assassination; it seems an undeniable fact.