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U.S. demands ‘actions’ from Iran in nuclear talks

Evans Liberal Politics
March 8, 2012


The Best in Liberal Christian News
and US Politics

U.S. demands ‘actions’ from Iran in nuclear talks

U.S. demands ‘actions’ from Iran in nuclear talks, Agence France-Presse on The Raw Story, March 7, 2012, by AFP, used with permission, excerpt quoted verbatim: Evans Liberal Politics is pleased to partner with The Raw Story to bring you cutting edge news:

WASHINGTON — The United States Wednesday rebuffed an Iranian warning that new nuclear talks would fail if they were used to exert pressure, demanding assurances Tehran was not building an atomic bomb.

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“We will demand that Iran live up to its international obligations — that it provide verifiable assurances it is not pursuing a nuclear weapon,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One.

The warning came after Iranian parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani warned that the talks offered by the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany would fail if they were used to “pressure” Tehran.

Carney said the United States was “clear-eyed” about its approach, given that Tehran declined to discuss its nuclear program in previous rounds of talks.

“We will not relent in our efforts through sanctions and other measures to isolate and pressure Iran,” he said.

“Actions are what matter here, and we will judge Iran by its actions.”

The Daily Show
Hebrew Nationalist

Video from March 6: The Republican candidates love Israel — not like that other guy they are running to replace.

On Tuesday, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who represents the world powers, said she hoped for real progress in the talks at a time and place yet to be announced.

President Barack Obama meanwhile said he expected it would “quickly” become clear if Iran was serious about easing concerns about its nuclear intentions in the talks.

In a February 14 letter to Ashton, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said Tehran was ready to resume the deadlocked negotiations at the “earliest” opportunity as long as the world powers respected its right to peaceful atomic energy. ….

Read the full article here.

See News About Iran, Evans Liberal Politics, ongoing, sources as noted.

Watch Words of Warcraft, The Daily Show, March 6, 2012: “With threats and taunts mounting, can we get a responsible party to break up this Iranian-Israeli schoolyard fight before someone gets hurt?”

Also watch Obama challenges Iran to address nuclear issues in new talks, Los Angeles Times, March 7, 2012, by Paul Richter and Henry Chu, excerpt quoted verbatim:

President Obama, speaking after an agreement to resume talks, says Iran must prove it is not seeking a weapon. He chastises GOP rivals for their war bluster.

See Obama, Netanyahu set to confront divisions over Iran, Evans Liberal Politics, March 2, 2012, by Reuters via The Raw Story.

See Listening Post – Drums of war: The Media on Iran, Syria and in Libya, Evans Liberal Politics, February 25, 2012, Commentary by Paul Evans.

See Obama says new Iran talks should calm “drums of war”, Reuters, March 7, 2012, by Tabassum Zakaria and Justyna Pawlak: “Obama: no choice on action needed within weeks or months.”

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Posted on March 8, 2012 by , Reply

Super Tuesday Was All About Ohio

Evans Liberal Politics
March 7, 2012


The Best in Liberal Christian News
and US Politics

Super Tuesday Was All About Ohio
Updated with Results

An Omnibus of News From Around
the Web About Super Tuesday

Evans Liberal Politics, Updated through March 7, 2012, news sources as noted:

Super Tuesday sets up
long slog to GOP nomination

Super Tuesday sets up long slog to GOP nomination, CBS News, March 7, 2012, by Brian Montopoli:

(CBS News) Growing weary of the battle for the GOP presidential nomination?

Tough luck.

Rick Santorum’s relatively strong night on Super Tuesday – as of this story, he won three states and came within a percentage point of a win in the closely-watched contest in Ohio – means that Mitt Romney has missed a huge chance to start wrapping up the GOP presidential nomination and focusing on President Obama.

Listen to: Super Tuesday’s Split Decision, NPR, March 7, 2012, by several NPR guests.

Of interest: Super Tuesday drew heavy comment on social media, Associated Press on Boston.com, March 7, 2012, by Beth Fouhy of AP.

UPDATE: A Good Day for Romney

Wednesday, March 7, 2012, Taken from Super Tuesday Results, The NY Times, as of 11:55 March 6, 2012, writing by Paul Evans:

With recent building momentum in the state, Romney appears to have won a narrow victory in Ohio. At midnight, Mitt Romney led Rick Santorum by 38.0 percent to 37.0 percent (99 percent reporting), as of 12:37 a.m., with Gingrich picking up 15 percent and Ron Paul getting just 9 percent. The Cuyahoga County figures have been revised upward further in Romney’s favor, and now show him leading there by 14,662 votes.

Elsewhere, Romney appears to have won the Idaho caucus and Massachusetts primary by large margins, getting about 70 percent of the vote. Romney also won convincing victories in Vermont and Wyoming. In Virginia, he picked up 59.5 percent of the vote to Ron Paul’s 40.5 percent, as astonishingly Santorum and Gingrich falied to get on the ballot.

Rick Santorum picked up three convincing victories, in North Dakota, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Newt Gingrich picked up a strong victory in his home state of Georgia, winning 47.5 percent of the vote.

UPDATE: See Super Tuesday primaries: Mitt Romney wins Ohio and 4 more, but Rick Santorum hangs tough, Politico, Updated March 7, 2012, 12:36 a.m., by Alexander Burns.

UPDATE: Super Tuesday: Promising start for Mitt Romney, Los Angeles Times, March 6, 2012, by Mark Baraback:

Reporting from Columbus, Ohio—
Mitt Romney jumped out to Super Tuesday victories in Virginia and Vermont, extending his winning streak as he sought to fasten his grip on the GOP nomination by dominating the single biggest day of balloting in the volatile primary season.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was projected as the winner in Georgia, the state he represented for years in Congress and where he retreated for a last stand to resurrect his sagging campaign.

See Super Tuesday Exit Polls: Ohio Voters Divided Over Most Electable Versus Most Empathetic Candidate, ABC News, March 6, 2012, by Gary Langer.

Super Tuesday 2012: Live Updates

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Super Tuesday 2012: Live Updates, The Huffington Post, March 6, 2012, by HuffPo:

On Super Tuesday, voters in ten states are casting ballots in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Mitt Romney goes into the contests with momentum (poll from March 5th) and leading the field in delegates. How the former Massachusetts governor will perform in the critical Ohio primary and other battlegrounds remains to be seen.

Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum is fighting to make a splash in the Buckeye State, and in contests across the country. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is hoping to score a win in his home state of Georgia. Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul is looking to capture his first victory of the primary election season.

The list of states holding primaries or caucuses on Super Tuesday includes: Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia.

See Ohio Primary 2012: Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum Being Considered By GOP Voters, Associated Press on The Huffington Post, March 5, 2012, by Dan Sewell of AP.

What’s so super about Tuesday?
419 GOP delegates

What’s so super about Tuesday? 419 GOP delegates, Associated Press on The Huffington Post, March 6, 2012, by Connie Cass of AP:

Sure, Super Tuesday could nudge Newt Gingrich out of the race, or lend Ron Paul more credibility. But it won’t be easy for either Mitt Romney or Rick Santorum to score a decisive advantage. A close second in a state can pay off almost as well as first place.

…Delegates for grabs Tuesday: 419.

Delegates already won: 353. Romney, 203; Santorum, 92; Gingrich, 33; Paul, 25.

Delegates needed for the nomination: 1,144.

…It’s all about Ohio.

It’s the race to watch. Political junkies get all misty-eyed over this Rust Belt swing state, and not just because of its 63 delegates.

No Republican nominee has ever become president without winning Ohio in the general election. That makes it a powerful proving ground for the men trying to show they can take on President Barack Obama.

10 things to watch on Super Tuesday

10 things to watch on Super Tuesday, Politico, March 6, 2012, by Maggie Haberman:

1) Who wins Ohio?

With its big delegate pile, Rust Belt character and general election significance, this is the major prize of the night — and it’s coming down to the wire, with four polls heading into today showing the state essentially tied.

In terms of delegates, Mitt Romney won’t be badly hurt by a loss since Rick Santorum is essentially forfeiting as many as 18 delegates in Ohio, thanks to incomplete slates in various congressional districts. But Santorum badly needs a win there to regain the momentum he lost when Romney won Michigan last week.

The momentum trend in most Ohio polls has appeared to be in Romney’s favor, and he has an edge in early voting — though not as huge an edge as he had in states like Florida and Arizona.

Romney has ‘about 5 home states,’
Santorum says

Romney has ‘about 5 home states,’ Santorum says, NBC First Read, March 6, 2012, updated about 10:58 a.m., by Carrie Dann:

TULSA, Okla. — Aiming to snag a key win in Oklahoma’s Super Tuesday contest, Rick Santorum on Sunday barnstormed in the conservative state, painting his chief rival as a moneyed but uninspiring politico whose rarefied air allows him “five home states” and possible tax breaks.

…Andrea Saul, a spokeswoman for the Romney campaign, said in response: “Sen. Santorum’s base is Obama supporters. The last thing the White House wants is to have to face Mitt Romney in a general election, so Sen. Santorum is relying on them to throw the primary in his direction. Mitt Romney has won five contests in a row and won in every corner of the United States with Republican voters. It’s going to take a businessman who is not a creature of Washington to change the status quo.”

See Early exit poll: Richer, more educated Ohio voters, The Washington Post, March 6, 2012, by Chris Cillizza. Ohio Polls close at 7:30 p.m. ~ Paul Evans

See Southwest Ohio: Epicenter for Republican race, CNN Politics, March 6, 2012, by Dana Bash and Deirdre Walsh:

Cincinnati (CNN) — At Andy’s Café, Lynda Meineke says she speaks for a lot of people here — she’s unenthusiastic about the Republican presidential candidates and disgusted with the way they’ve run their campaigns.

“It might just be a flip of a coin,” she said with a bit of a sigh.

Meineke is a typical Republican voter, but her family is anything but typical. Her full name is Linda Boehner Meineke. Her brother is House Speaker John Boehner. ….

See Santorum emphasizes roots in Ohio pitch, MSNBC First Read, March 6, 2012, by Andrew Rafferty.

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Posted on March 7, 2012 by , Reply

Robert Reich — Bye Bye American Pie: The Challenge of the Productivity Revolution

Evans Liberal Politics
March 6, 2012


The Best in Liberal Christian News
and US Politics

Robert Reich — Bye Bye American Pie:
The Challenge of the Productivity Revolution

Bye Bye American Pie: The Challenge of the Productivity Revolution, Robert Reich.org, March 1, 2012, by Robert Reich, used with permission, quoted verbatim:

Here’s the good news. The economic pie is growing again. Growth in the 4th quarter last year hit 3 percent on an annualized rate. That’s respectable – although still way too slow to get us back on track given how far we plunged.


Here’s the bad news. The share of that growth going to American workers is at a record low.

That’s largely because far fewer Americans are working. Although the nation is now producing more goods and services than it did before the slump began in 2007, we’re doing it with six million fewer people.

Why? Credit technology. Computers, software applications, and the Internet are letting us produce more with fewer people.

In theory, this is a huge plus. We can live better and have more time off.

But as Tonto asked the Lone Ranger, “who’s ‘we,’ kemosabe?”

The challenge at the heart of the productivity revolution – and it is a revolution – is how to distribute the gains. So far, we’ve been failing miserably to meet that challenge.

True, some of the gains are widely spread in the form of lower prices and higher value. My 3-year-old granddaughter gets more out of an i-Phone in five minutes than my 98-year-old father ever got out of reading the daily paper (putting to one side their relative capacities to process the information).

But many of the gains are distributed narrowly in the form of profits to owners, and fat compensation packages to the “talent.”

The share of the gains going to everyone else in the form of wages and salaries has been shrinking. It’s now the smallest since the government began keeping track in 1947.

If the trend continues, inequality will become ever more extreme.

We’ll also face chronically insufficient demand for all the goods and services the productivity revolution can generate. That’s because the rich save more of their earnings than everyone else, while middle and lower-income families – with fewer jobs or lower wages – no longer have the purchasing power to keep the economy going at full tilt. (Before 2008 they kept up their buying by sinking deep into debt. This proved to be an unsustainable strategy.)

Insufficient demand – as everyone but regressive supply-siders now recognize – is a big reason why the current recovery has been so anemic and the pie isn’t growing faster.

So while the productivity revolution is indubitably good, the task ahead is to figure out how to distribute more of its gains to more of our people.

One possibility: higher taxes on the rich that go into wage subsidies for lower-income workers, combined with job sharing.

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We also need better schools (from early-childhood through young adulthood, followed by systems of lifelong learning) so everyone has a fair shot at a larger share of the gains.

Finally, the benefits of the productivity revolution should be turned into more abundant public goods – cleaner air and water, better parks and recreation, improved public health, and better public transit.

Regressive right wingers want Americans to believe we’ve been living beyond our means, and can no longer afford it.

The truth is just the reverse. Most Americans’ means haven’t kept up with what the economy could provide – if the fruits of the productivity revolution were more widely shared.

Regressives growl about America’s borrowing and tut-tut about future federal budget deficits. The reality is the world is willing to lend us vast amounts of money because we’re so productive. And the productivity revolution is making us ever more so.

Get it? The pie is growing again but most people aren’t getting much of a slice. That’s bad even for those getting the biggest pieces. They’d do better with smaller slices of a pie that grew much faster.

Robert Reich was the nation’s 22nd Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton and is Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations. In 2008, Time Magazine named him one of the Ten Most Successful Cabinet Members of the century. He has written eleven books, including “The Work of Nations,” which has been translated into 22 languages. His recent book is “Supercapitalism.” For Professor Reich’s book page for Supercaptialism at Amazon, go here. Reich’s newest book, Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future has been released September 21, and is available for ordering at this link (Amazon.com). The above article is from Reich’s new blog, and can be viewed here.

Robert Reich’s commentaries are available for listening to at Publicradio.com. Watch the video Aftershock: The next economy and America’s future (about his new book). Thanks to Professor Reich for permission to publish his articles on an ongoing basis.

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Posted on March 6, 2012 by , Reply

MN GOP lawmaker compares food stamp recipients to wild animals

Evans Liberal Politics
Sunday, March 4, 2012


The Best in Liberal Christian News
and US Politics

MN GOP lawmaker compares
food stamp recipients to wild animals

MN GOP lawmaker compares food stamp recipients to wild animals, The Raw Story, March 3, 2012, by Andrew Jones, photo courtesy of The Raw Story, Commentary by Evans Liberal Politics owner Paul Evans: Evans Liberal Politics is pleased to partner with The Raw Story to bring you cutting edge news:

One Republican lawmaker in Minnesota expressed a peculiar but existing belief in GOP circles Friday afternoon, claiming that food stamps recipients are virtually similar to feeding wild animals.

photo of Minnesota GOP Representative Mary Franson who in a cold and calculating appeal to her base described Food Stamps recipients as like wild animals

State Rep. Mary Franson released a Youtube video describing her hopes of reducing the amount of time residents in Minnesota could stay on food stamps from five years to three.

“And here, it’s kind of ironic, I’ll read you this little funny clip that we got from a friend,” she said. “It says, ‘Isn’t it ironic that the food stamp program, part of the Department of Agriculture, is pleased to be distributing the greatest amount of food stamps ever. Meanwhile, the Park Service, also part of the Department of Agriculture, asks us to please not feed the animals, because the animals may grow dependent and not learn to take care of themselves.”

Franson is not the first Republican to make this comparison. In 2010, then South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer said exactly the same thing.

According to the USDA, Todd County in Franson’s district contains one of Minnesota’s highest poverty rates, with 16.9 precent of residents in 2010.

Republicans and Racist Class Warfare

Commentary by Evans Liberal Politics owner Paul Evans: It would be a mistake to think of political figures such as Franson and South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer (and others), who echo the exact same metaphor, as ignorant. (This is not quite the same thing as uneducated, is it? So for example Ms. Franson’s use of the long “a” in “agriculture” in her pronunciation in the video – twice. Is that the way they say it in Minnesota? The body of the video is actually great Republican PR.). At the level of state political figures, these people are generally very cold and calculating about public positions they take. (Democrats have to be too – it is simply what politicians have to do.)

At the national level, Republicans have, through the long-time use of political “framing” and spin — repeated over and over again — managed to convince their base, who are at least in part ordinary Americans without much political knowledge, that somehow Republicans are more Christian than are Democrats. (In reality, for example, just as many Republican lawmakers as Democrats are caught in public scandals for corruption such as influence peddling or sexual promiscuity or the use of prostitution, etc., at the state and national level. See The Record of Republican Corruption, LiberalsLikeChrist.org, no date.) In a similar process of indoctrination, they have managed to train their base that the poor are on welfare because they are lazy and that they are undeserving of our help and care (and, that most of them are black). Here’s another lie: that tax cuts for the rich help the economy. (See Supply Side Economics, The Bush Tax Cuts & John Boehner Completely Discredited, Evans Liberal Politics, December 31, 2011, by Paul Evans.)

Really, these lawmakers, especially at the national level, are rich Republican players, or tools or puppets of the rich — “wannabe’s,” you might say — and their appeal to the base is in no way ignorant, but cold and calculating. (Even though this comment may be questionable, please note: if you watch the video, you will see where Rep. Franson ends her video with a pitch for a sexual abuse website — what does that have to do with the rest of the subjects of the video, and how calculating an appeal is that?) The overall idea, insofar as I can see, is that if you claim a thing over and over again, and you do so as supposedly lily-white Christian Republican leaders, the ordinary Republican voter can be trained to believe almost anything. In reality, as knowledgeable liberals and progressives have been trying their best to get across, the GOP, and far too many Democratic Party leaders as well, are of, by and for the rich.

They couldn’t care less about ordinary Americans, much less America’s poor.

How Christian is that?

See Why ‘Welfare Queen’ Stories Will Never Die, Yahoo! Contributor Network, January 24, 2012, by Owen Rust:

John Blake at CNN discusses the return of Ronald Reagan’s “Welfare Queen” through the current presidential campaign of the three leading Republicans. Reagan brought up the “Welfare Queen” story in 1976 during his first presidential candidacy, and today critics contend Newt Gingrich, winner of the recent South Carolina GOP primary, is trying to bring back the stereotype through his assertions that Barack Obama is a “food stamp” president and that black people should “want a job” and not a “handout.”

Many people apparently think the unnamed “Welfare Queen” is a racist stereotype of a black woman. Blake discusses the allegation and insists Republicans will have to avoid “racially loaded messages” in the future, especially when nonwhite voters become the majority by the year 2050.

But is the “Welfare Queen” anecdote a racist stereotype that will erode as America becomes more diverse? No. That’s because the staying power of the “Welfare Queen” is not her alleged racial background but rather human nature itself (though many would argue that racism is itself part of human nature) — we rank, judge and place things on a spectrum.

We will always rank certain recipients of government assistance as more worthy than others. There will always be those we deem less worthy of receiving aid in the form of tax dollars. There are many things we all will inevitably use to deem an aid recipient as more of less worthy: Education, job status, number of children, relationship status, health and physical appearance, etc.

See The Food Stamp Fallacy, The Root, January 12, 2012, by Edward Wyckoff Williams: “When will Republicans be honest about who really gets the most out of welfare programs?”

See GOP Race-Baiting Masks Class Warfare, Salon on Alternet, January 29, 2012, by Daniel Denvir:

By demonizing some, the Republicans seek to discredit the safety net for the 99 percent.

It’s commonplace to note that Newt Gingrich’s dog-whistle appellation that Barack Obama is the “food stamp president” is both racist and politically cynical. But the stereotyping of black government dependency also serves the strategic end of discrediting the entire social safety net, which most Americans of all races depend on. Black people are subtly demonized, but whites and blacks alike will suffer.

See Screwing Over Urban America: Why the GOP’s Top Contenders Hate Cities, Salon on AlterNet, January 3, 2012, by Daniel Denvir.

WATCH: Video from Youtube, which was published on March 2, 2012.

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Posted on March 4, 2012 by , Reply

Santorum accuses Romney of rigging Michigan primary

Evans Liberal Politics
March 3, 2012


The Best in Liberal Christian News
and US Politics

Santorum accuses Romney
of rigging Michigan primary

Business Insider logo used as a link to their website

Busineess Insider on The Raw Story, March 2, 2012, by Grace Wyler, used with permission, excerpt quoted verbatim: Evans Liberal Politics is pleased to partner with The Raw Story to bring you cutting edge news.

The Michigan Republican Party awarded Mitt Romney an official delegate victory today, granting him 16 of the state’s 30 delegates just one day after the tally showed Romney and Rick Santorum tied with 15 delegates each.

USA TODAY

The Santorum campaign is now accusing Romney’s team of using “political thuggery” to “rig” the delegate count.

The issue is over the allocation of two “at-large” delegates: Romney and Santorum each won seven of the Michigan’s 14 Congressional districts, splitting those delegates 14-14. The remaining delegates were originally supposed to be awarded proportionally based on the popular vote, which would have given each candidate one more delegate. But on Thursday, Michigan Republican Party officials voted to change the rules and give both at-large delegates to Romney.

The Santorum campaign basically blew a gasket, calling the vote a “backroom deal” brokered by Romney supporters and “people affiliated with the Romney campaign.”

“There’s just no way this is happening,” Santorum communications director Hogan Gidley said in a statement. “We’ve all heard rumors that Mitt Romney was furious that he spent a fortune in his home state, had all the political establishment connections and could only manage a tie Rick Santorum. But we never thought the Romney campaign would try to rig the outcome of an election by changing the rules after the vote. This kind of back room dealing political thuggery just cannot and should not happen in America.”

In a last-minute conference call with reporters tonight, Santorum campaign advisors said they were sending a memo asking the Republican National Committee to “immediately intervene.”

“We’re probably less concerned with the one delegate that happened to move and more concerned that any entity involved in this would go and do something so anti-to the American voter,” Santorum strategist John Brabender said on the call. “To me the desperation is somebody who lost the state, then tried to change the rules…It goes right to heart of character.”

It appears that Santorum’s campaign expected something like this would occur. Campaign officials were quick to announce the delegate tie on Wednesday, before state party officials met to determine the formal tally.

On a conference call with reporters yesterday, Brabender said the campaign was “trying to avoid another Iowa.” ….

Read the full article here.

Gaiam.com, Inc

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Posted on March 3, 2012 by , Reply

Obama, Netanyahu set to confront divisions over Iran

Evans Liberal Politics
March 2, 2012


The Best in Liberal Christian News
and US Politics

Obama, Netanyahu set to confront
divisions over Iran

Reuters on The Raw Story, March 2, 2012, by Reuters, used with permission, excerpt quoted verbatim: Evans Liberal Politics is pleased to partner with The Raw Story to bring you cutting edge news:

WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Just days before what could be the most consequential meeting of U.S. and Israeli leaders in years, aides to President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are scrambling to bridge stark differences over what Washington fears could be an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear sites.

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Further complicating Monday’s White House talks is a trust deficit between the two men that has been magnified by mounting pressures of the U.S. presidential campaign. Obama’s Republican foes are eager to paint him as too tough on Israel and too soft on Iran.

Netanyahu is coming to Washington to press Obama to more forcefully declare “red lines” that Iran must not cross in its nuclear program, Israeli officials say, even as speculation mounts that the Jewish state could act militarily on its own in coming months.

“If you don’t want me to attack now, I want guarantees,” an Israeli official quoted Netanyahu telling top Obama aides who visited Jerusalem last month. “If you’re saying, ‘we’ll take care of you’, you’re not saying that clearly enough.”

The White House has signaled that Obama, who has pledged to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon but has been vague on how far he is prepared to go, will resist pressure for a public policy shift.

Instead, amid growing signs that U.S.-led international sanctions are starting to take a toll on Iran, he will seek to persuade Netanyahu to hold off on any military strike to give those measures and diplomacy time to work, U.S. officials say.

But Israeli officials say they fear that time is running out for an effective Israeli attack as Iran buries its uranium enrichment program deeper underground.

Monday’s meeting was supposed to have been a defining moment for the American and Israeli leaders, a chance to present a united front as international pressure on Iran intensifies.

Underscoring the gap between the two allies, the Israelis also complain that the Obama administration is undercutting the deterrent effect of their threat to use force by publicly questioning the timing and wisdom of airstrikes on Iran, which says its nuclear activities are for generating electricity.

Calls for a tougher approach on Iran are also coming from Republican presidential hopefuls, who see Obama as vulnerable on the issue as he seeks re-election and will seize on any public rift with Netanyahu.

Read the full article here.

See Obama to Iran and Israel: ‘As President of the United States, I Don’t Bluff’, The Atlantic, March 2, 2012, by Jeffrey Goldberg:

Dismissing a strategy of “containment” as unworkable, the president tells me it’s “unacceptable” for the Islamic Republic of Iran to have a nuclear weapon.

At the White House on Monday, President Obama will seek to persuade the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to postpone whatever plans he may have to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months. Obama will argue that under his leadership, the United States “has Israel’s back,” and that he will order the U.S. military to destroy Iran’s nuclear program if economic sanctions fail to compel Tehran to shelve its nuclear ambitions.

See ‘We’ll attack Iran without telling U.S.’: Israel to keep America in dark if it decides to launch strike on nuclear facilities, Daily Mail Online, February 29, 2012, by Daily Mail Reporter.

See Washington expects Tehran to hit at US targets if Israel attacks Iran, The Guardian, March 1, 2012, by Chris McGreal: “US officials calculating that Iran will strike back but not seek to seriously escalate the conflict, expect ‘calibrated’ response.”

See Listening Post – Drums of war: The Media on Iran, Syria and in Libya, Evans Liberal Politics, February 25, 2012, Commentary by Paul Evans.

See MSNBC: US Naval commander in Gulf: We’re ready to confront Iran, MSNBC video on Evans Liberal Politics, February 14, 2012.

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Posted on March 2, 2012 by , 3 comments

Arizona and Michigan: A Guide to the Highly Anticipated Primaries (Updated with Results)

Evans Liberal Politics
February 28, 2012


The Best in Liberal Christian News
and US Politics

Arizona and Michigan: A Guide
to the Highly Anticipated Primaries
(Updated with Results)

Mitt Romney Bests Rick Santorum in Michigan & Arizona

ABC News: The Note Blog, February 28, 2012, by several authors, plus news on the primaries from around the web, compilation summaries quoted verbatim, updated with election results:

Romney wins Michigan and Arizona

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CNN: In Michigan, Romney was ahead with 41% to 37% for Rick Santorum, 12% for Texas Rep. Ron Paul and 7% for Newt Gingrich, with 74% of unofficial returns counted.

The state’s 30 delegates will be allocated on a proportional basis….

…Romney’s victory in Arizona, where exit polls showed him getting 43% to 28% for Santorum, gave Romney all of the state’s 29 delegates in the winner-takes-all primary.

Mitt Romney Wins: Michigan Primary Results 2012

Paul Evans: Most interesting to me in this comprehensive Huffington Post article is the disparity within the vote for Romney based on incomes:

Huffington Post: In Michigan, according the exit polls currently posted by CBS News, Romney runs strongest with Republicans who report incomes of $200,000 or more per year, running 26 percentage points ahead of Rick Santorum (55 percent to 29 percent). He runs ahead but by a much smaller, seven-point margin among those earning $100,000 to $200,000 per year (44 percent to 37 percent) and trails Santorum by four (35 percent to 39 percent) among those earning $100,000 or less.

In Arizona, the pattern is similar: Romney is leading Santorum by a whopping 48 points (63 percent to 15 percent) among those earning $200,000 or better and by smaller margins among those in lower income groups. Santorum only comes close in Arizona among voters earning less than $30,000 per year, trailing Romney by just two percentage points (32 percent to 34 percent).

This pattern has been remarkably consistent, as shown in the following table, based on the seven states for which National Election Pool exit polls are available.

Michigan and Arizona primaries: 5 things to watch

Politico says Romney is expected to pick up 80 percent of the 13 percent of Arizona voters who are Mormon, and most of the Hispanic vote. He is expected to win the state perhaps by double digits. Michigan appears to be a toss-up. A lost in his home state would be devastating for Romney, but a win by less than five percentage points might be a Pyrrhic victory. ~ Paul Evans

Arizona and Michigan: A Guide
to the Highly Anticipated Primaries

ABC News The Note: After more than two weeks of quiet on the primary calendar, although certainly not on the campaign trail, the big day has arrived. Michigan and Arizona will hold their much-anticipated primaries throughout the course of the day, with the polls closing at 9 p.m. ET in both states.

Both states boast a relatively large number of registered voters. There are 3,183,327 registered voters in Arizona. The state counts 1,118,938 registered Republicans, about 35 percent of the registered voter population. Arizona’s Republican primary is only open to registered Republicans. Voters wishing to participate were required to register with the party by Jan. 30.

…Michigan has 7,279,629 registered voters. Voters do not register by party in Michigan, meaning that anyone can participate in the primary regardless of political leanings. Those who wish to participate were required to register by Jan. 30. Almost 21 percent of the registered voting population turned out to vote in the state’s primary in 2008.

Neither state holds a particularly large delegate prize after both of the states lost half of their delegates as a punishment for scheduling their primaries ahead of March 1. Arizona has 29 delegates up for grabs, Michigan has 30. Arizona’s primary will be a winner-take-all contest, while Michigan will dole its delegates out proportionally.

Barnes & Noble

In Michigan, Winner
Can Lose the Delegate Race

ABC News The Note: Imagine this scenario: Polls have closed in Michigan, and Rick Santorum has pulled off a narrow upset–but Mitt Romney has won a majority of the state’s 30 delegates.

Who gives the victory speech?

That result could unfold on Tuesday. Thanks to the Republican Party’s quirky delegate distribution rules, it is possible for one candidate to win the statewide vote in Michigan while another candidate wins more delegates.

That’s because Michigan will award most of its delegates geographically according to the vote in each of its newly drawn 14 congressional districts.

As Arizonans Head to Polls
for GOP Primary, Democrats
Hope for Latino Backlash

ABC News The Note: In black T-shirts with ”Support the DREAM Act” emblazoned on the front, undocumented Latino young people walked the streets of Arizona in recent days, drumming up support for their fight against the Republican presidential hopefuls’ stances on immigration. One youngster said he met people who expressed ”disappointment in what the Republicans are today.” Another said he heard “anger” at the candidates “attacking the Latino community.”

…In a border state where 18 percent of the eligible voters are Latino, where sensitivity runs high a year after the state enacted a strict immigration law, every comment from the potential next occupant of the White House carries a little more weight.

…(This is) no surprise in a primary that has seen the Republican candidates veer further and further to the right. Only weeks ago, Romney touted the endorsement of Kris Kobach, the author of the immigration law. Every candidate, including Romney, has voiced opposition to the Dream Act, the Democrats’ bill to provide a path to citizenship for some children of undocumented immigrants who attend college or serve in the military.

*****

Michigan Polls: Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum
Close On Election Eve (UPDATE)

The Huffington Post: In interviews conducted on Monday, PPP showed Santorum leading Mitt Romney by a five percentage points (39 percent to 34 percent), a margin that represents a net seven point reversal from the pollster’s interviews conducted on Sunday, which gave Mitt Romney a two percentage point advantage (39 percent to 37 percent).

PPP’s full two-night poll shows a near dead-heat, with 38 percent for Santorum, 37 percent for Romney, 14 percent or Ron Paul and 9 percent for Newt Gingrich.

Abbreviated Pundit Roundup:
Michigan tests Mitt

Daily Kos: It’s Republican primary day in Michigan! And as Paul West points out, the class fight between Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney has reached a fever pitch.

…Looking at the Republican versus Democrat dynamic at The Washington Post, AEI’s Marc Thiessen is baffled as to why Republicans are losing the “class warfare” fight:

A recent Gallup poll found that Americans reject the view of this country as divided between “haves” and “have nots” by a 58-41 margin (in 2008, they were evenly divided 49-49).

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Posted on February 28, 2012 by , Reply
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