Posted by AzBlueMeanie: When you need to know what really happened at the U.S. Supreme Court, you need to turn to the expert, Lyle Denniston at Scotusblog.com. Here is Mr. Denniston's take on Chamber of Commerce v. Whiting, the challenge to Arizona's Employer Sanctions Law. Opinion recap: Shared role on aliens’ jobs : SCOTUSblog: Advertisement … Read more

Posted by AzBlueMeanmie: Hours after Sarah Palin announced a bus tour of the east coast that could presage a presidential campaign, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) told reporters here that she was likely to announce a White House campaign next month in Waterloo, Iowa. Michele Bachmann likely to announce in Iowa – POLITICO.com: Bachmann, who spent … Read more

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

There is something that has been bugging me about this Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) for some time now. There is something vaguely familiar about him, like I know him from somewhere. You know what I mean. You meet someone and their face looks familiar, and you have to ask "haven't we met?" or "don't I know you from somewhere?" Every time I see this guy on TV I am thinking "where do I know this guy from?" Well, it finally came to me — this guy looks like Eddie Munster all grown up! It is the widow's peak that is the dead giveaway. Am I right?!

Anyway, the thin-skinned self-proclaimed boy genius of the GOP spoke earlier this week at the 2011 Fiscal Summit held by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation — an organization dedicated to the elimination of social security and Medicare. Swell guys. Rep. Ryan's counterpart was Gene B. Sperling, Director of the National Economic Council and Assistant to the President for Economic Policy.

The Wall Street Journal reported Rep. Ryan, Gene Sperling Trade Broadsides on Budget:

Anyone who thought the White House and House Republicans were close to a deficit-reduction deal only needed to sit through five minutes of the 2011 Fiscal Summit held by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation in Washington.

Those would be the five minutes when House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) wrapped up his wide-ranging remarks and when White House National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling began his talk.

Mr. Ryan concluded by saying, ”The White House is not producing a plan that comes anywhere close to fixing this problem” and “You can’t have a neogitation with just yourself.”

* * *

Mr. Ryan exited the stage, and Mr. Sperling, a top White House budget negotiator, took the seat. In the first breath, he fired back, taking aim at Mr. Ryan’s refusal to raise revenue through new taxes.

“I want to point out how isolated the House Republicans are,” he said. “Serious people doing serious discussions do not take an absolutists position that you cannot have a penny of revenue.”

He said Mr. Ryan has “put himself in a box” with his unwillingness to raise tax revenue. He said this forced Republicans to call for “very severe cuts” that if “explored” by Americans “they would not be proud of.”

Mr. Sperling attacked the House Republican proposals to overhaul Medicare and Medicaid, saying that the $770 billion in savings Republicans wanted from changing Medicaid would be unneccessary if Republicans would agree to roll back certain tax cuts.

“You can’t say to anybody who would be affected by that, that we have to do that, that we have no choice,” he said. “The fact is that all of those savings would be unnecessary if you were not funding the high income tax cuts.”

He also said that Mr. Ryan was wrong when he said that raising taxes as part of a broader package would hurt economic growth.

“Everything he said I heard nine million times in 1993,” said Mr. Sperling, who was NEC deputy director in the Clinton administration and later became Mr. Clinton’s national economic adviser.

That would be during the longest sustained period of economic expansion in U.S. history, followed by the "Lost Decade" of the Bush years.

Daniel Dayen (D-day) at Firedog Lake has more on the speech that the WSJ did not report, NEC Director Sperling Savages Ryan Medicaid Cuts:

Sperling apparently also said “From a values perspective, we should be very deeply troubled by the Medicaid cuts in the House Republican plan.”

This is excellent. If the White House fights for Medicaid rather than wanting to gain “credibility” through a deal, it cuts off that avenue of escape for Republicans. Safety-net programs could then get untouched and deferred until after the 2012 elections. This would be the best-case scenario at this point.

D-day posted the full transcript of Sperling's remarks, which is reproduced below the fold.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi struck down legislation repealing most collective bargaining for public employees, but the measure could still gain new life from the state Supreme Court or a fresh vote by lawmakers. Dane County judge strikes down collective bargaining law – JSOnline: In a 33-page decision (.pdf), Dane County Circuit … Read more

Posted by Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings With the latest scandal to hit Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Maricopa County Sheriff's Office this week, the arrest of three MCSO employees for involvement with drug and human-trafficking cartels, it seems as if the scandals could form their own baseball team.  Here's the lineup: Leading off and playing … Read more