Daily Political Wire

George Wenschhof

U.S. Condemns Killing of Egypt Protesters, Turkey Calls for U.N. Action - The United States on Wednesday condemned a bloody government crackdown on protesters in Egypt that killed at least 149 people and Turkey urged the U.N. Security Council and Arab League to act quickly to stop a "massacre".
 
Iran warned of the risk of civil war after Egyptian security forces moved in on protesters seeking the reinstatement of toppled Islamist President Mohamed Mursi.

European leaders criticized the assault on a camp of pro-Mursi protesters in Cairo, calling for restraint and a return to meaningful dialogue to defuse Egypt's political stand-off.  Reuters.com has more here.
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Jesse Jackson Jr. Sentenced To 30 Months in Jail - As a packed D.C. courtroom cleared Wednesday, the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, the legendary civil rights leader, held his namesake son in a long embrace. The extended Jackson family had shown up, sisters and brothers and other relatives, taking over the first three rows of the marble federal courtroom.
 
Moments earlier, Jesse L. Jackson Jr., a once-promising Illinois congressman, had been sentenced to prison for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign money to fund an extravagant lifestyle.

Jackson, 48, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years and his wife, Sandra Stevens Jackson, 49, to a term of 12 months. The couple pleaded guilty in February to using about $750,000 in campaign funds to pay for items from the pedestrian to the luxurious: car repairs and trips to Costco, in addition to fur wraps and a gold-plated Rolex watch. The Washington Post has more here.

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Organizing for Action Touts Health Care Law Benefits - The new ad from Organizing for Action (OFA), titled “Every Day” features a North Carolina family discussing the insurance rebate they received under the healthcare law. The parents Rebecca and Russell worried about how to pay for their son’s medical care in the face of rising premiums.
“When the Affordable Care Act was passed we ended up getting a $350 rebate from our insurance company and then his premiums were going to go down by $60 a month,” says Rebecca in the ad.

“ObamaCare is helping everyday families every day,” reads onscreen text. “It’s nice to see somebody looking out for the little guy,” says the father Russell.

“The law works,” Rebecca adds.  TheHill.com has more here.

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Obama's Economic Approval Slips To 35% - Despite President Barack Obama's renewed focus on the nation's economy this summer, crisscrossing the country to talk about job creation, he scores worse with Americans on the economy than he did in June. His approval rating on the issue, now 35%, is down seven percentage points, and his ratings on taxes and the federal budget deficit are each down five points. During the same period, his overall approval rating is down three points. 

In fact, out of seven issues for which Obama's job performance was rated in the new poll and in June, only the three economy-related ones fell significantly. These are also his lowest issue approval ratings of the nine total issues measured this month. Notably, these declines somewhat parallel the slide Gallup has seen in Americans' economic confidence over the same period, although confidence picked up slightly this past week.

Obama's approval ratings on race relations, terrorism, and education remain positive on balance, with each changing little since Gallup last measured them. His approval ratings on foreign affairs, immigration, and healthcare policy are all moderately negative but little changed. Gallup.com has more here. ---

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