Politicklish™

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Asked about whether he would agree to debate Paladino, Cuomo raised the possibility of requiring that Lazio, who may still run

in November on the minor party line, be part of the debate. Cuomo wouldn’t respond when told that tactic is usually done to dilute the opposition’s message and air time.

When pressed, Cuomo wouldn’t say if he will debate.

“As soon as the question was asked, I said I was open to debate and the campaigns would talk about it. That was just last week,” Cuomo said, with six weeks left in the campaign. “Open to debating’ means I’m open to debating, just what the words suggest… that really isn’t a legitimate issue.”

Paladino spokesman Michael Caputo said Cuomo’s campaign was not negotiating. “They are ducking me,” Paladino said.

via Bloomberg Endorses Cuomo for Governor | NBC New York.

Stunning new developments in the New Black Panther Party (NBPP) voter-intimidation scandal indicate that high-level Justice Department officials have been misleading the public and Congress. Indeed, they may also have committed perjury before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Judicial Watch recently filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit requesting documents related to the case, and today it released a log produced by the Justice Department of e-mail communications and other documents that Justice is withholding from disclosure on purported privilege grounds.

The log details numerous discussions and legal deliberations between the Civil Rights Division and political appointees in the highest reaches of the Justice Department, including former deputy attorney general David Ogden and Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli (the number-two and number-three officials under Eric Holder). Other documents show that Eric Holder was also briefed on how to respond to Hill inquiries.

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via New Black Panther Party Case Update: E-mails Call into Question the DOJ’s Story | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News..

The White House said Tuesday that Lawrence H. Summers, the chief architect of President Obama’s economic policy, would leave at the end of the year, continuing an exodus of top-level advisers at a time when voters are expressing deep dissatisfaction with the president’s stewardship of the economy.

The White House says the departure has been long-planned; Mr. Summers, 55, said in a brief interview that he must return to his professorship at Harvard by January to keep his tenure. His departure gives Mr. Obama a chance to reshape his economics team after the midterm elections, when Republicans are expected to gain strength and possibly reclaim the majority in Congress.

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via Obama Adviser, Summers, Will Return to Harvard – NYTimes.com.

Senators say DHS allows backdoor amnesty – Washington Times.

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Obama, like many of his presidential predecessors, is not a regular church-goer. Some, like Bill Clinton, used his sporadic church attendance as a political prop: Who can forget his great photo-op, when at the height of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, he got himself photographed coming out of church carrying a bible—a book he was never seen with before or after that occasion. Others, like the two Presidents Bush, made it a point to request that the press refrain from reporting or photographing their church attendance.

Barry’s trip to St. John’s Church Episcopal (where “G*d d*mn America!” is never heard from the pulpit) was perhaps merely coincidental to his gaff last Wednesday, when he quickly skipped over God in his speech to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. In the closing remarks of his speech, Obama recited part of the Declaration of Independence, and left out “by their Creator.” He recited “endowed with certain inalienable rights….” The Declaration of Independence gives credit to God as the Creator who has “endowed” all men with “certain inalienable rights…..”

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Read it here… Obama forgets to credit Creator for our endowed rights – Louisville Public Policy | Examiner.com.

Ally Financial Inc.’s GMAC Mortgage unit told brokers and agents to halt foreclosures on homeowners in 23 states including Florida, Connecticut and New York.

GMAC Mortgage may “need to take corrective action in connection with some foreclosures” in the affected states, according to a two-page memo dated Sept. 17 and obtained by Bloomberg News. Ally Financial spokesman James Olecki confirmed the contents of the memo. Brokers were told to stop evictions, cash-for-key transactions and lockouts, regardless of occupant type, with immediate effect, according to the document, addressed to GMAC preferred agents.

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via Ally’s GMAC Mortgage Halts Home Foreclosures in 23 States – Bloomberg.

More than a few Democrats have said they are wavering on supporting Pelosi as their leader next year. At least four House Democrats are running ads stating their opposition to the speaker’s agenda, and one Democrat running in Tennessee called for her resignation.

Edwards, rated by independent political analysts as one of the 10 Democrats whose seat is most endangered, goes further than most of his colleagues. He openly critiques his party’s entire agenda, saying its leaders “overreached” after the 2008 elections.

Now that the Democratic majority hangs in the balance, so, too, does Pelosi’s hold on power. No Democrat is challenging Pelosi for speaker – or minority leader, should the party lose power – and there is no plan underway for a leadership succession if she were to resign after an electoral rout.

Publicly and privately, Pelosi rejects any talk of losing the majority. Instead, she is focusing on a furious fundraising effort this fall to ensure that the very lawmakers openly running away from her have enough campaign cash to win reelection.

“We are going to win in November, so I don’t even accept your first question or premise and all the rest of that,” she said at her weekly news conference, when asked about potentially giving up power.

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via More House Democrats stressing independence from Pelosi, Obama.

“He’s a slum landlord. He’s always been a slum landlord. He’s someone who takes money out of a piece of property and never puts money back in,” Mayor Brian Stack said.

On Tuesday the Union City mayor showed Hickey the lawsuit the city filed against Sage Development, a company owned by the imam.

Rauf is accused of ignoring complaints by tenants and orders by the city on issues from moldy bathrooms to fire hazards.

The imam owns an apartment building on Central Avenue and another one around the corner… on 22nd Street. The second building has been padlocked since a fire two years ago.

The mayor has stationed a police car in front of the Central Avenue building since Friday when tenants complained the fire alarms in the hallways were broken.

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via N.J. Mayor: Ground Zero Mosque Imam Is A Slumlord « CBS New York- News, Sports, Weather, Traffic and the Best of NY.

“I need everybody here to go back to your neighborhoods, and your workplaces, to your churches, and barbershops, and beauty shops. Tell them we have more work to do. Tell them we can’t wait to organize. Tell them that the time for action is now,” he told the Congressional Black [i.e. Race-exclusive, sorta like a country club, or a mob] Caucus.

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Obama urges blacks to vote and “guard the change” – Yahoo! News.

Assemblyman Vito Lopez bullied and cajoled eight little old ladies during an arm-twisting session aimed at getting them to back his candidate in a Brooklyn judicial race, a shocking audiotape obtained by The Post reveals.

“I’m not a fool or stupid, all right?” the Democrat railed at the elderly community leaders. “I can’t always give and get smacked, give and get smacked . . . I am the political leader.”

The May 2005 conversation, captured on a hidden recorder, not only exposes the 69-year-old Lopez’s heavy-handed tactics in dealing with his core elderly supporters but also offers a rare glimpse into the backrooms of bare-knuckle Brooklyn politics where Lopez reigns.

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via Assemblyman Vito Lopez caught strong-arming elderly ladies over backing candidate – NYPOST.com.