Democrats Excited About Bain Should Remember Jeremiah Wright (The Atlantic Wire)

It's odd David Axelrod is so excited to see the attacks on Mitt Romney's business career in the Republican primary, considering that four years ago, the early airing of another emotional issue in the primaries was expected to stop Axelrod's own candidate, Barack Obama. Axelrod told old The New York Times' Jackie Calmes Thursday that Romney won't get valuable practice in responding to his rivals' "vulture capitalism" attacks. "Rather than immunizing him, this will likely just open the floodgates," he said. "I guess the only downside is that Mitt Romney might not be the nominee." It seems like Axelrod is forgetting fairly recent history. In the long 2008 primary, Obama had to deal with the inflammatory comments of his former preacher, Jeremiah Wright, who said a lot of things white folks found provocative ("Goddamn America," and so on.) Not only did Obama go on to win the general election, he won North Carolina --  a state with such charged racial politics that it had a eugenics program of forced sterilization until 1974.

Related: The Likeness of Being Romney and Obama

In the spring of 2008, the conventional wisdom held that video of Wright's speeches meant Obama was doomed. "Liberal apologists who grasp the devastating impact the Rev. Jeremiah Wright has on Barack Obama's chances of being elected president of the United States this year join the candidate in explanation and excuses. Sorry. No cigar," the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Cynthia Tucker wrote. The New York Times' Bob Herbert warned, "the apparent helplessness of the Obama campaign in the face of the Wright onslaught contributes to the growing perception of the candidate as weak, as someone who is unwilling or unable to fight aggressively on his own behalf." And yet, Obama gave a celebrated speech on race, and this fall the first black president is up for reelection.

Related: Obama Slips in Battleground States; Gingrich Slips in Iowa

Related: Gingrich Admits Negative Campaigning Is Great

Democrats are oddly unified in claiming the early Bain attacks are awesome. "We were shocked that his rivals went there but nonetheless pleased because now the charges about his status as a corporate raider enjoy the luster of bipartisan ship," a senior Democratic strategist emailed Politico's James Hohman. This senior Democratic strategist was so sure of this analysis that he or she emailed the exact same thing to Talking Points Memo, including the misspelling of bipartisanship. The senior Democratic strategist is one of the few who wouldn't lend his or her name to the analysis. “It’s a total win-win, ” pollster Geoff Garin, of the pro-Obama superPAC Priorities USA, told Calmes.

Related: Mitt Romney's Secret Weapon: Mormonism

Soon we'll have a chance to see Romney's practice in action. Politico's Reid J. Epstein reports that Romney's campaign is working on a response "tailored to rebut Republican and Democratic attacks separately." Here are two problems identified by conservatives that Romney can work on responding to now:

Related: Gingrich Is the Most Polarizing Candidate But Also Most Admired

Not everyone buys the "y'all are just haters" defense. In his New Hampshire victory speech, Romney said his rivals were echoing Obama's "bitter politics of envy." The Times points out that the National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru warned, “Careful, Mitt. Don't want to insinuate that people only oppose you because they resent your success.”Romney supported TARP. RedState's Erick Erickson summarized Romney's argument Wednesday, saying, "Bain participated in capitalism, revitalized defunct companies, spun off as needed, and from the ashes of creative destruction of capital made a profit, saved or created companies, and saved or created jobs therefore let’s not attack Romney for his time there." Okay then, Erickson says, "If Mitt Romney saw, knew, profited from and participated in the creative destructive of capital, why did he advocate the government passing the troubled asset relief program (“TARP”)? Why not let the creative destruction of capital solve the problem and potentially make a profit off it?"And it looks like Romney might get the chance to practice and get his competitors off his back. Wednesday, Newt Gingrich indicated he might back off Romney a little bit, because, "Obama just makes it impossible to talk rationally in that area because he is so deeply into class warfare that automatically you get an echo effect." Democrats might be officially let down by this retreat, but it's hard to imagine they feel the same way privately.

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Senate Passes Its First Portion of Obama's Jobs Plan (The Atlantic Wire)

A bill giving businesses tax credits for hiring military veterans became the first part of President Barack Obama's sweeping American Jobs Act to pass the Senate on Thursday. It's also the first bit of jobs-bill cooperation for the Senate in a while, Politico notes. After Republicans blocked the American Jobs Act as a whole back in October, Democrats tried to introduce it piece by piece, but the two bills they've brought to the Senate floor have both failed. Earlier on Thursday, Democrats scored some retribution on the Republicans by defeating its alternative jobs plan. But later, in an especially rare bit of bipartisanship, the vote to approve the veteran-hiring bill (on the eve of Veterans' Day, no less) was 94-to-1, with only Sen. Jim DeMint, a South Carolina Republican, saying the government shouldn't "privilege one American over another when it comes to work." DeMint's counterpart, Lindsey Graham, had the quote of the day, however, with this pep talk: "There is more potential [for bipartisanship] than people realize. You just got to want it."

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House Democrats Want Republicans to Stop Saying 'Obamacare' (The Atlantic Wire)

Arguing that Obamacare is at this point a derogatory term, House Democrats want to ban the term from mailers sent from Congressional offices, reports Roll Call's Jonathan Strong. Democrats on the House Committee that oversees their franking privileges -- that is, the right to send campaign mailers to constituents thinly disguised as official correspondence for free -- say Obamacare violates the rules against sending mailers for "personal, partisan, or political reasons." For example, Republicans got Democrats to stop sending mailers that claimed Rep. Paul Ryan would "end" Medicare.

Related: Brooks and Olbermann Kill the Bill

Obama tried to reappropriate Obamacare back in August, pulling some reverse discourse action: "I have no problem with folks saying 'Obamacares' ... I do care," Obama said. Back then, ABC News's Jake Tapper wondered if the president made it okay to use the term again. But House Republicans really know what's up. "You know, if it was popular they’d be all about calling it Obamacare," a Republican source told Strong.

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Democratic Plan to Cut $3 Trillion Doesn't Mention Defense (The Atlantic Wire)

Earlier today, Democrats leaked a $3 trillion deficit-reduction package to the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Dow Jones and Reuters but in each case, one major government expense was not mentioned: defense spending. The outline of the plan, independently reported by each outlet, calls for savings though "cuts to federal entitlement programs and Medicare coupled with at least $1 trillion in new taxes." It's not clear why the Pentagon, which is on the hook for a $600 billion haircut if a deal between Democrats and Republicans isn't reached, is left out of the Democratic proposal. (Thus far, reports say the bulk of the savings will come from about $400 billion in Medicare savings and revenues from tax increases.) What is clear, however, is the aggressiveness in which military contractors are lobbying members of the Super Committee. Last week, K Street firms filed lobbying reports for the third quarter requiring them to list details such as who they represent and if they're specifically lobbying the Super Committee or "Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction," as it's officially called. The filing doesn't breakdown lobbyists by industry but we found a number of corporations that have significant defense contracts among the list of registered lobbyist clients:

Related: Debt Deal Could Slash Hundreds of Billions From Pentagon Budget

Northrop Grumman Corporation: $50,000General Dynamics: $50,000ITT Corporation: $480,000Honeywell International: $10,000Associated General Contractors of America: $130,000Accenture: $40,000IBM: $1,090,000INTELSAT: $10,000Now, it's highly unlikely that the Democrats would propose a deficit plan without any defense cuts. (The conventional wisdom in Washington is that defense cuts will be around $100 billion if a deal can be brokered.) But central to any rumored outlines has been at least a rough number of where defense cuts will come from. Today's plan gives us none. Liberals such as The Nation's George Zornick are already complaining that the Democrats' deal is a "major capitulation" that cuts too much from Medicare. But if defense cuts aren't a major factor in this $3 trillion grand bargain, that would likely produce leftward angst as well.

Related: Obama Administration Message on 9/11: It's 'Not Just About Us'

*Did we miss any defense contractors in our buletted list? View the entire list of registered third quarter lobbyists below, courtesy the Sunlight Foundation:

Related: Pentagon Looking Safe from the Super Committee's Cuts

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Both Romney and Obama Want to Make 2012 a Sequel to 2004 (The Atlantic Wire)

Mitt Romney wants to be the John Kerry of this year's Iowa caucuses, while President Obama wants to be the George W. Bush of the general election. Like Romney, Kerry was an early frontrunner later overshadowed by flashier candidates; his case that he was the more electable candidate led to back-to-back wins in Iowa and New Hampshire, essentially endeding the Democratic primary in 2004. But while Romney surely hopes the 2004 similarities end there, Obama hopes that's where they begin. The New York Times' Richard W. Stevenson reports that Obama's reelection team has studied how to do what George W. Bush did to Kerry in 2004 -- take bad news (then Iraq; this time, the economy) and turn it to his advantage, while portraying his opponent as a flip-flopper with no convictions.

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Tea Party Endorsements Have Lost Their Luster (The Atlantic Wire)

If you're looking for an early indicator of how Tea Party brand will influence next year's elections, look no further than Gallup's first heat check of the 2012 congressional cycle. The organization asked voters how a Tea Party endorsement of a particular candidate would affect their vote. Short answer: its a turn off. "The effect is nearly 2-to-1 negative, with 42% saying they would be less likely to vote for such a candidate versus 23% saying they would be more likely. About a third say it would make no difference or are unsure," Gallup found. Even Republicans aren't enthralled with a Tea endorsement: 44 percent said it would be help and 42 percent said it wouldn't matter. As far as Democrats, only 8 percent said they'd like a Tea Party-minted candidate.

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Democrats Hold Their Ground In Wisconsin Recall Votes (The Atlantic Wire)

Wisconsin Democrats, at least, didn't lose any more ground last night in the state's recall elections. Sens. Jim Holperin and Robert Wirch (pictured) held on to their seats and kept the the Republican majority in the Senate to a 17-16 margin, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. The recall elections--which lost their drama when GOP won four of six elections last week--were seen in part as a referendum on labor organizing efforts in response to the controversial anti-union legislation that Gov. Scott Walker signed amidst large protests earlier this year.

Related: Wisconsin Republicans Keep the State Senate in Recall Vote

But even though Democrats failed to take the Senate, the Sentinel notes, "the narrower [GOP] majority would make it tougher to win approval of controversial legislation, such as stricter abortion restrictions or tougher penalties for illegal immigrants." Which led the Democratic party chairman, Mike Tate, to spin the result into a moral victory (Via National Journal): "[The recall elections] forced Walker and the GOP to pay public lip service to moderation and bipartisanship for the first time since they took power in January. All of these facts show that voters gave Democrats the overall victory in this summer's historic senate recall elections."

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Ames Has Gotten Rather Mean Lately (The Atlantic Wire)

Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz was booed at the Iowa State Fair Friday when she tried to defend President Obama's record on the economy. The jeers at Wasserman Schultz come a day after Republican candidate Mitt Romney was booed for saying tax hikes on corporations hurt people because "corporations are people." With the likes of Rush Limbaugh complaining about the tone of the campaign season -- he thought the GOP candidates beat each other up too much in Thursday's debate -- it's shaping up to be an excitingly nasty campaign show.

"I thought the country was about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for everyone, no exceptions," the questioner asked. "Tim Pawlenty, I want to know: When will you stand up for me?" ...The questioner did not back down, and asked Pawlenty why government gets involved in gay marriage at all, and whether he would see a gay American as a "second-class citizen."

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Medicare Cuts Go on the Table in Debt Talks (The Atlantic Wire)

The White House is putting tens of billions of dollars in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid on the table as it negotiates with Republicans on cutting the federal deficit as part of a vote to raise the debt ceiling, The New York Times' Robert Pear reports. Democrats hope that Republicans will accept the entitlement cuts in exchange for increasing revenue. Before debt limit talks led by Vice President Joe Biden broke down almost two weeks ago, both sides had "reached substantial agreement" on cutting the programs.

Lobbyists are furiously pushing back against the proposals, Pear reports. They include eventually stopping reimbursement of hospitals when patients don't pay their share of their bills; shrinking payments to teaching hospitals for training doctors, taking care of the sickest patients, and providing specialized care; and cutting the portion of the cost of treating low-income people and kids that the federal government pays, putting a larger burden on the states.

Related: Moving Closer to a Debt Deal by Delaying a Medicare Debate

Think Progress' Igor Volsky says the latter proposal "is possibly the most troubling of the three provisions" as it shifts the costs to states and patients. "As for the first two: the hospitals have launched a massive ad buy to forestall the cuts, but it’s difficult to feel much sympathy for providers who will see an increase of revenue as a result of the coverage provisions in the Affordable Care Act."

Change in Tone Do the concessions on entitlements mean a deal on the debt ceiling could be closer? Business Insider's Zeke Miller notes that on the Sunday talk shows over the weekend, Republican Sens. John McCain and John Cornyn indicated they would support some methods to increase government revenue, like eliminating tax subsidies.

Related: Kyl and Boehner Are Officially Not So Stressed About the Debt Limit

Who Has the Upper Hand? NBC News' First Read observes that swing voters want a deal done, which helps the White House, but they don't want taxes raised, which helps Republicans. "Bottom line: Republicans believe that on the SUBSTANCE, the middle is with them (if they sell it properly), even if on PROCESS, the middle might be more on the side of the president." Republicans, First Read says, don't want to give Obama a victory, but they "can already be granted a measure of victory for dictating the terms of the debate--all about spending cuts."

Related: Boehner Wants a Debt Ceiling Deal Sooner Rather Than Later

Is a Deal Possible? The Washington Post's Ezra Klein says cutting "tax expenditures" gives Republicans "an out" so they can tell their base they're streamlining the tax code instead of raising taxes. "But there's little evidence, at least as of yet, that Republicans are going to take the deal--or even that they can take the deal. That raises the question of whether they've gotten here by being savvy, tough negotiators, or whether the reason they keep saying 'no' is that they've lost the ability to say 'yes.'"

Related: The Many Images From Obama's Testy Press Conference

No Choice But to Compromise But The New York Times' David Brooks argues that Republicans have to strike some kind of deal, otherwise "independents voters will see that Democrats were willing to compromise but Republicans were not. If responsible Republicans don’t take control, independents will conclude that Republican fanaticism caused this default. They will conclude that Republicans are not fit to govern."

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Democrats Are All Cuomosexuals Now: Gay Marriage Puts Cuomo on 2016 Map (The Atlantic Wire)

The race for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination "just began" with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's successful shepherding of a law to legalize gay marriage through the New York state legislature this weekend, Politico's Edward-Isaac Dovere and Maggie Haberman report. Cuomo's support for marriage equality puts him at the sweet spot in the arc of history, Democratic strategist Jim Jordan told Politico. His work on gay marriage could be as crucial to his political future as opposing the Iraq war was to then-state Sen. Barack Obama. Cuomo is the first national figure  enthusiastically to push same-sex marriage at the exact moment a majority of Americans began to support the issue.

Related: New York GOP Ready to Delay Gay Marriage Vote for Days

New York's LGBT Pride parade on Sunday took on the trappings of a Cuomo campaign rally--or at least a victory lap for the governor. He marched behind a massive banner with his name, while crowds waved "Thank You Governor Cuomo" signs. The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza writes that sure, 2016 is far, far away, but "political strategists are forever looking toward the future and the next big thing--and Cuomo made a claim to that title by finessing passage of the gay marriage bill through the Republican-controlled state Senate." Cillizza spoke to Democratic consultant Jason Ralston, who said that with this huge civil rights victory and his famous liberal name, Cuomo now leads the 2016 pack.

Related: New York Senate Punts Gay Marriage to Next Week

Cuomo even earned praise from combative Republican Gov. Chris Christie of neighboring New Jersey. Christie said on MSNBC Monday morning that Cuomo is "doing great....He gets in the room, he gets his hands dirty and he gets it done...He sets the debate, he defines the debate and then he compromises on the things he needs to compromise on. He's done a great job." The Philadelphia Inquirer's Matt Katz says these will be words to remember if we get a Cuomo-Christie race in 2016.

The New York Times' Michael Powell says everyone should calm down. "First, 2016 is the political equivalent of a millennium off. Second, Andrew Cuomo knows well how quickly approval curdles, particularly if the national economy remains semi-comatose." Sure, he corralled various political factions and "harnessed great poll numbers and notable legislative successes to pursuit of an issue of high principle. ... But in politics, it remains a long way from here to there."

Related: A Fundraiser's Timing Puts Scrutiny on Obama's Gay Marriage Stance

Manhattan financier and social gadfly Euan Rellie tweets, "We're all Cuomosexuals today." Cuomosexuals? Yes, Rellie says: Chris Cuomo--brother of Andrew and an ABC News reporter--"quietly used the term" at a dinner at novelist Jay McInerney's house on Friday ahead of the vote. Rellie says he is "aggressivley promoting/publicising it." Perhaps we'll hear more of it, if not this presidential campaign, then the next one.

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Obama and Congress Are Not Getting Along Right Now (The Atlantic Wire)

The tension between Congressional Republicans and the White House is manifesting itself on multiple fronts on Friday. House Republicans will vote on a resolution to limit what the American military can do in the Libyan intervention--and many Democrats are likely to join them, despite a last-minute appeal from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Thursday, Politico's Jonathan Allen reports. "The president has not developed strong relationships with members of Congress that would allow members to even look at the politics of this," Rep. Maxine Waters told Allen.

Related: GOP Intensifies Demands for Votes to Raise the Debt Ceiling

Meanwhile, negotiations over raising the debt ceiling--which many experts say absolutely has to be done--are falling apart, as Minority Leader Eric Cantor quit talks led by Vice President Joe Biden Thursday. Sen. Jim DeMint said raising the debt limit would be "the most toxic vote" for Republicans, one that would "set [the party] back many years."

Starting at 12:30 p.m., the House will begin voting on two resolutions--one, modeled on a Senate proposal put forward by John Kerry and John McCain, would prohibit ground troops in Libya but otherwise authorize the war. That one will likely fail, Allen reports. The second would bar American bomb strikes, whether by drones or piloted aircraft. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid "has no intention of letting the bill become law," Allen writes, but "the White House is worried about the political fallout of losing a vote on the House floor." An anonymous Democratic aide explained, "They don't want to be embarrassed." But that's exactly what Republicans are predicting.

As for the stalled debt limit talks, The Hill's Molly K. Hooper reports that Republicans had planned for Cantor to bail for weeks. The Republican Study Committee, a conservative group of lawmakers, "wants Obama to publicly float a solution to the current debt-ceiling quandary," Hooper writes. "That way Republicans will know Democrats cannot back out at the last minute by saying the final deal was not acceptable to Obama," according to the RSC's budget chair, Rep. Scott Garrett.

Related: Debt and Taxes: Eric Cantor's Hot Potato Game With Boehner

But DeMint doesn't want to see a deal at all. "I can tell you if you look at the polls, Democrats, Republicans, Independents, they do not think we should increase the debt limit," he said. As ABC News' Jonathan Karl and Sunlen Miller report, "DeMint is not just talking political analysis here. He has a significant fundraising base and has shown a willingness to use his campaign money to support or oppose fellow Republicans."

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White House Swaps Applause for Laughter at Obama's Job Boast (The Atlantic Wire)

Attention conservative blogosphere: the White House would like to set the record straight about a little parenthetical in a recent transcript. Late yesterday, you see, the White House posted Obama's recent remarks to the Democratic National Committee, which included this line: "Over the last 15 months we've created over 2.1 million private sector jobs. (Laughter.)."

Related: New Poll Puts Obama's Job Approval Up 11 Points, But Will It Last?

Related: President Obama Magically Silences a Crying Baby

Conservative bloggers, of course, had a field day. The Drudge Report has been running the excerpt as an above-the-fold headline for much of the day. Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit chose the headline, "Wow. Even DNC Donors Break Out in Laughter When Obama Claims He Created Jobs," adding, "For the record… The country has lost 2.5 million jobs since he moved into the White House. Maybe that's why they were laughing?" Kerry Pickett at The Washington Times was a bit more forgiving, hypothesizing that "those watching the closed captioned text of the speech on television sets saw a laugh cue instead of an applause cue." To be sure, Pickett added, "the president isn't laughing, but Republicans and other critics of his private sector job creation claims sure are."

Related: The Behind-the-Scenes Moments of the Bin Laden Raid

Mistake or not, the White House moved to correct the record. A little after 4 PM EST, it sent out a "corrected" version of the transcript to the White House press list, striking out "laughter" and replacing it with "applause." Will the bloggers buy it?

Related: Obama Decides Against Releasing Bin Laden Photos

Related: What the Navy SEAL Helmet Cams Saw During the Bin Laden Raid

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The Obamas Give First Stump Speeches of the 2012 Campaign (The Atlantic Wire)

The Obamas delivered 2012 stump speeches at Democratic National Committee fundraisers in Miami and and Los Angeles Monday, reminding supporters that "We are not done," as the first lady said. President Obama is working to win back the Democratic donors who've soured on him since 2008, reminding them that "Big changes don't happen overnight.... The reason we're here today is because our work is not done."

Barack Obama's first stop was at a $10,000-a-plate dinner at the home of Samsonite's former CEO Steven Green, who also served as Clinton's ambassador to Singapore. Then he hit the "Obama Victory Fund 2012 Kick-Off Reception," which cost between $250 and $2,500 a ticket. Then he moved on to a dinner event at the home of J.P. and Maggie Austin, which cost attendees $35,800 per person, CBS4 reports. Meanwhile, Michelle Obama went on her first fundraising trip without the president, speaking at two fundraisers, filming a guest spot on the Nickelodeon show iCarly, and sitting on a panel with Second Lady Jill Biden and J.J. Abrams and urged Hollywood to portray the military in a more positive light.

Related: Is Nancy Pelosi Getting Sidelined by Steny Hoyer?

Both Obamas' addresses sounded like stump speeches. They ticked off the president's accomplishments on health care and financial regulatory reform. "Oh, and along the way," Barack Obama reminded donors, "we did a few other things" like repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell and appoint two women to the Supreme Court. Some liberals are pretty frustrated with the president, and both Obamas insisted the president had faced an uphill battle. "It’s going to be long," the first lady said. "It is going to be hard. I joke, did you ever think Barack Obama was going to be easy? Was there ever anybody here who just thought he’d just trounce in and fix everything, Barack Obama?"

Related: Dems Form Group to Rake in Secret Donations

The Obamas have some work to do in reassuring donors, The Wall Street Journal's Carol E. Lee and Jonathan Weisman report. Hillary Clinton supporters, especially, are reluctant to bundle contributions from friends, and even reelection adviser David Axelrod acknowledges donors have been neglected. "I don't think we have been particularly attentive to the so-called care and feeding of donors," Axelrod told The Journal. "I think it was largely a function of the fact that the president and everybody around him was absorbed in dealing with some fairly significant challenges."

Related: Here Comes the Government Shutdown

But rekindling donor romance has not always been easy, The Journal says. Take this incident, for example:

At a recent gathering of major donors here, former National Economic Council Director Larry Summers, who headlined a breakout session on the economy, got into an exchange with a donor that resulted in the man walking out of the session, according to people at the event.

The donor told Mr. Summers that he'd had trouble getting approved for a loan, according to people present. After the man repeatedly returned to his personal troubles, Mr. Summers said that no one at the conference--where attendees were asked to raise $350,000--was experiencing the kinds of financial difficulties faced by ordinary Americans. The man got frustrated and left the room, people at the event said.

Tuesday Obama will be in Puerto Rico for another fundraiser. Puerto Ricans gave $4 million in federal campaign donations in 2008, $354,000 of them to Obama, ABC News' Devin Dwyer reports. Obama is the first president to honor the island with an official visit since John F. Kennedy went in 1961. Dwyer writes,

The symbolism of the trip might hold the greatest significance for Obama and Democrats, however, generating goodwill with the booming Puerto Rican population living inside the United States, particularly Florida, where they can cast presidential ballots next fall.

Fewer grumpy donors there, perhaps.

Related: Obama: I Don't Have Horns

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Pelosi Calls on Anthony Weiner to Resign (The Atlantic Wire)

The top Democratic leaders, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, have called on Rep. Anthony Weiner to resign in the midst of his sex scandal. Pelosi and the chairs of the Democratic National Committee, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Steve Israel, released statements within minutes of each other Saturday, Politico reports.

Related: Pelosi Calls for Weinergate Investigation

“Congressman Weiner has the love of his family, the confidence of his constituents, and the recognition that he needs help,” Pelosi said. “I urge Congressman Weiner to seek that help without the pressures of being a Member of Congress.” Israel said, “Anthony’s inappropriate behavior has become an insurmountable distraction to the House and our work for the American people. With a heavy heart, I call on Anthony to resign.” Finally, Wasserman Schultz, surrogate for President Obama in her role as DNC chairman, said “the behavior he has exhibited is indefensible and Representative Weiner’s continued service in Congress is untenable.”

Related: Will Weiner Resign? Half of New Yorkers Hope So

Meanwhile, Rep. Weiner has admitted to sending direct twitter messages to a 17-year-old girl, but denied that anything was inappropriate. According to the New York Post, he said, "Nothing explicit. Nothing indecent. Absolutely nothing inappropriate." The direct messages in question have yet to be released. This is what we know so far.

The girl's mother, whose name is being withheld, told The Post Wednesday that Weiner sent nothing obscene — and sent only two brief messages to her daughter about seeing him during an April school trip to the Capitol.

The mom did say her daughter wrote in one message, "I'm in love with you," but explained it away with, "She's 17."

However, Politico reports that in one message, Weiner described himself as being like Superman, saying, “I came back strong. Large. Tights and cape. …” It was not clear what the reference was about. Nonetheless, this new investigation, and the possibility of more, may have been the final straw for the leading Democrats. According to Politico, their joint statement adds "tremendous pressure to the New York Democrat to abandon his position that he will remain in office."

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Democrats, Donors, Clintons: Everyone's Mad at Weiner (The Atlantic Wire)

After Rep. Anthony Weiner apologized for his digital indiscretions, she demanded, "How can you explain that somebody can be so smart but so stupid?" The outraged woman on the phone call was not Weiner's wife, but Rep. Nydia Velázquez, a fellow New York Democrat. Her reaction reflected the shock and anger many of Weiner's Democratic colleagues felt as the congressman spent the day after his humiliating press conference apologizing to them, The New York Times' Michael Barbaro and David W. Chen report. Some House Democrats worry that more embarrassing revelations are still to come. If Weiner stays in his seat, he will do it without many allies, as his donors, colleagues, and even the Clintons are mad at him.

While Republicans have called on Weiner to quit, so far most Democrats have not done so explicitly. But they're not defending him either: When asked whether Weiner should resign, Velázquez responded by saying, "The most important thing in this business is credibility." Likewise, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, "I wish there was some way I can defend him, but I can't." Bill Clinton, who is close to Weiner's wife, an aide to Hillary Clinton, is "deeply unhappy" with Weiner's behavior, the Times reports. The Hill's Mike Lillis reports that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is especially annoyed, having promised in 2006 to "drain the swamp" following several embarrassing scandals, including Mark Foley's dirty instant messages to congressional pages. And Weiner doesn't have many allies to talk down angry colleagues: A former aide to House Democratic leaders told Lillis, "There was no Anthony Weiner base."

More worrisome for Weiner: some Democrats have talked to former city councilman Eric Gioia to see if he'd be interested in launching a primary campaign against Weiner. Gioia is open to the idea. Though the 2012 election is a ways off, the House ethics investigation into Weiner's conduct could last several months, keeping the memory of the scandal fresh for any opponent to capitalize on.

Weiner's campaign donors are furious because Weiner assured them that the underwear Twitter photo that started it all was the product of a "vast right-wing conspiracy." He assured them "Everything is going to be fine." One donor said, "I'm just hoping this doesn't get worse."

Still, Weiner hasn't budged. When surprised by reporters Tuesday night, Weiner again insisted he's not going to quit.

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Key Democrat Calls on Weiner to Quit (The Atlantic Wire)

Democratic Rep. Allyson Schwartz called on Anthony Weiner to quit Congress Wednesday, saying "having the respect of your constituents is fundamental for a member of Congress. In light of Anthony Weiner's offensive behavior online, he should resign." Schwartz has an important recruitment position with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, so her statement "is widely regarded as a sign that the party leadership has decided it's time for Weiner to leave the House," The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza writes. Two other Democratic lawmakers, Sen. Mark Pryor and Rep. Mike Michaud, have said Weiner should go, as has former Democratic National Committee chair Tim Kaine. Weiner says he's staying put because he hasn't broken any laws.

Democrats want the story to go away, but it will be difficult to get rid of him with out a full House vote to expel him. Yet even as Weiner is refusing to walk away from his seat, some of his staffers are looking for other jobs, Politico's Jonathan Allen reports. Some liberal websites are coming to the New Yorker's defense, like ActBlue, which says it's seen an increase in $40 donations for Weiner. But one pro-Weiner page on the site, titled "Breitbart Has Won NOTHING: Donations for Weiner," has pulled in a single $25 contribution.

One more reason Weiner is struggling is that he hasn't made many allies. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg told the New York Post's Cindy Adams, "Notice, nobody's defended Anthony. Like Spitzer, he had no friends."

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Bill Kristol: A Timeline of Faulty Predictions (The Atlantic Wire)

Just after coffee hour on Wednesday afternoon, Bill Kristol said flatly, "Rudy's Running." According to two of Kristol's "reliable sources" the former New York City mayor, ever the wild card in the 2012 GOP primary poker game, will soon announce a run for president. Supplementary predictions included: Giuliani's plan to go all in in New Hampshire, Giuliani's ability to handle America in 2012 like he handled New York City in 1993 and Giuliani actually winning the nomination: "It seems implausible that Rudy Giuliani could win the nomination. But it's an implausible year." As Dan Amira points out on Daily Intel, the general odds of Kristol being right on his predictions is actually fairly slim because Kristol has put together a track record of being terrible at making predictions. Here's an abbreviated timeline:

December 17, 2006 - Bill Kristol predicted that Hillary Clinton would prevail in the Democratic primaries and Barack Obama didn't have a chance. As he said on Fox News:

If [Hillary Clinton] gets a race against John Edwards and Barack Obama, she’s going to be the nominee. Gore is the only threat to her, then. … Barack Obama is not going to beat Hillary Clinton in a single Democratic primary. I’ll predict that right now.

July 15, 2007 - Kristol penned an op-ed for the Washington Post with the risky headline, "Why Bush Will Be a Winner." There are a number of bad predictions therein, but his skewed vision of the Bush tax cuts and the future of the American economy resonate today:

Bush pushed through the tax cuts of 2001 and especially 2003 by arguing that they would produce growth. His opponents predicted dire consequences. But the president was overwhelmingly right. Even the budget deficit, the most universally criticized consequence of the tax cuts, is coming down and is lower than it was when the 2003 supply-side tax cuts were passed.

Today, there's ample evidence that the tax cuts sent the deficit sky-rocketing. Ezra Klein points to a graph that shows how the cuts will add an amount of debt equal to the entire GDP by 2050 if the cuts go untouched. Another iffy nugget from the column: "The war in Afghanistan has gone reasonably well."

July 15, 2007 - This was a big day for bad Bill Kristol predictions, this time on the situation in Iraq. And a weird twist on Bill Kristol being wrong: he had started off with something that was correct, but then said that he was totally wrong, and now evidence says he was wrong about it being wrong. Kristol told Charlie Rose in 2006, "It is true that we are at risk of a sectarian civil war there, and I’m extremely worried about that. I don’t quarrel about that." But then in 2007, Kristol said on Fox News:

We’re not in a civil war. This is just not true. American troops are attacking al Qaeda. They’re attacking some elements of the Shi’a militias. They’re doing other things, helping with reconciliation. They are not in the middle of a civil war. It’s not true.

November 18, 2008 - Mark Begich defeated Ted Stevens in Alaska's Senate Race. Bill Kirston never thought it could happen. He said on election night:

Ted Stevens, the 40-year incumbent in Alaska, recently convicted of seven counts of something-or-other, hangs on in Alaska. The voters of Alaska are loyal to their man. They don’t believe some D.C. grand jury. (Laughter.) Stevens hangs on, which helps Republicans keep the Democratic margin in the Senate reasonable.

May 26, 2009 - The day that Barack Obama named Judge Sonia Sotomayor as his Supreme Court nominee, Bill Kristol lost another bet. This is what he said a week prior about Obama's decision-making process on Fox News:

I think he has made up his mind, and I think it’s going to be Jennifer Granholm, the governor of Michigan… I think [Obama] wants to say, I’m putting on someone who went to Harvard Law School, clerked at an appellate level, was attorney general of Michigan, has good quotes from Republicans and Democrats about their conduct of that legal office, but who really understands the effect on real-world decisions.

But back to Giuliani. Kristol is not the only one who's speculated that Giuliani will run and certainly won't be the last. Giuliani himself has said that he would be "more likely" to run if Sarah Palin does. He might also be more likely to run if his poll numbers continue to rise. A May 27 poll from CNN put Giuliani ahead of Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin and actually the entire GOP field. Time seems like it's running out, but Giuliani doesn't seem to be in any hurry. “I don’t have a timeline. When somebody tells me this is the last day to decide, that will be the timeline,” Giuliani told The Daily Beast. “If the first primary is in February, I know I have to do it by the end of the year. That I know. Will I decide before that? Maybe, maybe. I don’t know yet, really.”

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Key Democrat Calls on Weiner to Quit (The Atlantic Wire)

Democratic Rep. Allyson Schwartz called on Anthony Weiner to quit Congress Wednesday, saying "having the respect of your constituents is fundamental for a member of Congress. In light of Anthony Weiner's offensive behavior online, he should resign." Schwartz has an important recruitment position with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, so her statement "is widely regarded as a sign that the party leadership has decided it's time for Weiner to leave the House," The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza writes. Two other Democratic lawmakers, Sen. Mark Pryor and Rep. Mike Michaud, have said Weiner should go, as has former Democratic National Committee chair Tim Kaine. Weiner says he's staying put because he hasn't broken any laws.

Democrats want the story to go away, but it will be difficult to get rid of him with out a full House vote to expel him. Yet even as Weiner is refusing to walk away from his seat, some of his staffers are looking for other jobs, Politico's Jonathan Allen reports. Some liberal websites are coming to the New Yorker's defense, like ActBlue, which says it's seen an increase in $40 donations for Weiner. But one pro-Weiner page on the site, titled "Breitbart Has Won NOTHING: Donations for Weiner," has pulled in a single $25 contribution.

One more reason Weiner is struggling is that he hasn't made many allies. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg told the New York Post's Cindy Adams, "Notice, nobody's defended Anthony. Like Spitzer, he had no friends."

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Democrats, Donors, Clintons: Everyone's Mad at Weiner (The Atlantic Wire)

After Rep. Anthony Weiner apologized for his digital indiscretions, she demanded, "How can you explain that somebody can be so smart but so stupid?" The outraged woman on the phone call was not Weiner's wife, but Rep. Nydia Velázquez, a fellow New York Democrat. Her reaction reflected the shock and anger many of Weiner's Democratic colleagues felt as the congressman spent the day after his humiliating press conference apologizing to them, The New York Times' Michael Barbaro and David W. Chen report. Some House Democrats worry that more embarrassing revelations are still to come. If Weiner stays in his seat, he will do it without many allies, as his donors, colleagues, and even the Clintons are mad at him.

While Republicans have called on Weiner to quit, so far most Democrats have not done so explicitly. But they're not defending him either: When asked whether Weiner should resign, Velázquez responded by saying, "The most important thing in this business is credibility." Likewise, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, "I wish there was some way I can defend him, but I can't." Bill Clinton, who is close to Weiner's wife, an aide to Hillary Clinton, is "deeply unhappy" with Weiner's behavior, the Times reports. The Hill's Mike Lillis reports that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is especially annoyed, having promised in 2006 to "drain the swamp" following several embarrassing scandals, including Mark Foley's dirty instant messages to congressional pages. And Weiner doesn't have many allies to talk down angry colleagues: A former aide to House Democratic leaders told Lillis, "There was no Anthony Weiner base."

More worrisome for Weiner: some Democrats have talked to former city councilman Eric Gioia to see if he'd be interested in launching a primary campaign against Weiner. Gioia is open to the idea. Though the 2012 election is a ways off, the House ethics investigation into Weiner's conduct could last several months, keeping the memory of the scandal fresh for any opponent to capitalize on.

Weiner's campaign donors are furious because Weiner assured them that the underwear Twitter photo that started it all was the product of a "vast right-wing conspiracy." He assured them "Everything is going to be fine." One donor said, "I'm just hoping this doesn't get worse."

Still, Weiner hasn't budged. When surprised by reporters Tuesday night, Weiner again insisted he's not going to quit.

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