Daily Political Wire

George Wenschhof

Obama Confuses Supporters By Dropping Anti-Smog Legislation - last Friday, president Obama announced he will not pursue cleaner air legislation proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency using the Republican Party justification of harsh regulatory burdens on businesses at a time when the economy is weak. A NY Times editorial says it was a bad call by Obama - you can read it here.

Eugene Robinson follows up with a good editorial today which points out how Republicans are wrong to attack the EPA as costing jobs. You can read his column here.

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U.S. Hopes To Stall Statehood Bid By Palestine - In a strange twist, the Obama administration which supports statehood for Palestine, wants to restart the peace process with Israel first.

Palestine intends to file for statehood status with the U.N. and the U.S. is saying it will veto this request. The Obama administration is hoping Palestine will instead file will the U.N. for acceptance as a nonvoting observer state status which would allow Palestine to be represented on numerous positions. Reuters.com has more here.

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Cantor Offers Alternative to Obama Infrastructure Proposal - the House Majority Leader wants instead to remove a requirement currently in place which restricts infrastructure spending by states.

Currently, states are required to set aside 10% of federal surface transportation funds for museums, education and preservation. Cantor believes freeing that money would allow states to spend the money on high priority projects without adding to the national deficit. TheHill.com has more here.

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"Polls Are For Strippers" - was the line used by Sarah Palin when questioned about her intent to run for president. She was responding to the recent poll which showed 71% of Republicans do not want her to enter the race for president. Palin added "polls are good for cross country skiers".

In spite of the rain, Palin entertained the audience yesterday with attacks on Obama and even taking some shots at Texas Governor Rick Perry. CNN.com has more here.

You can watch hers speech here.

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Debt Reduction Committee Set To Begin - the twelve member bipartisan committee will begin meeting this week and have until Thanksgiving to recommend 1.5 trillion in cuts. Paul Weinstein of Real Clear Politics writes why he believes they will succeed in a column today. You can read it here.

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