Oops, Obama touts his jobs plan today at an Ohio bridge that won't qualify

You know all those rusting bridges that President Obama wants to spend billions more dollars repairing to allegedly stimulate the economy?

He's headed out to one today which he's described as a "bridge that needs repair between Ohio and Kentucky that's on one of the busiest trucking routes in North America." It is on a busy trucking route, spanning the Ohio River between Covington, Ky., and Cincinnati.

It's the Brent Spence Bridge. It doesn't really need repairs. It's got decades of good life left in its steel spans. It's just overloaded. The bridge was built to handle 85,000 cars and trucks a day, which seemed like a lot back during construction in the Nixon era.

Today, the bridge sort of handles more than 150,000 vehicles a day with frequent jam-ups.

So, plans are not to repair or replace the Brent Spence Bridge. But to build another bridge nearby to ease the loads.

But here's the problem, as John Merline graphically notes here, that could screw up all those envisioned photo op shots of the Democrat and the traffic:

The president's jobs bill is designed for "immediate" highway spending.

And the new $2.3 billion Cincy bridge is not scheduled to even start construction for probably four years, long after Republicans have scheduled the Obama presidency for completion.

And without delays, it wouldn't be finished until 2022, when no one will be counting Obama's rounds of golf.

Politicians hate these kinds of messy distractions when they pick a place to make a symbolic statement. But Brent Spence was so tempting linking, as it does, the home states of GOP House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

But there is some possible good news for President Obama: The $447-billion jobs bill that he wanted passed "right now" back in early September is stuck in a legislative traffic jam in the Senate.

Fellow Democrat Harry Reid, the majority leader who can run that place like a school principal whenever he wants, is aware of opposition to the measure among some of his own caucus members.

And, well, darn it, wouldn't you know, Reid just can't seem to find a place for Obama's jobs bill in the chamber's overloaded schedule. As a result, as of right now Obama's "right now" jobs bill won't come up until later in the fall, possibly much later.

In a way the scheduling doesn't matter. Since the Democrat in the White House would rather have Republican opposition to it than any of its job-creating provisions, so he can have obstructionist charges for next year's campaign.

But if Congress works the way it usually does, maybe the bridge-repair money will be delayed a few years until the president's photo op Brent Spence Bridge enhancement bridge project is actually shovel-ready.

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961 days in, Obama sick and tired of his own delays on new jobs

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Al Behrman / Associated Press (Brent Spence Bridge across the Ohio River at Covington and Cincinnati); Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press (Obama during a recent speech).

Rand Paul says people who support universal healthcare 'believe in slavery'

Rand Paul, the freshman senator from Kentucky, was speaking recently about healthcare, specifically the new healthcare law some refer to as "Obamacare."  Like many Republicans, Paul, the son of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), doesn't like it. Unlike many conservatives, the "tea party" darling doesn't like the law  because it reminds him of slavery.

"With regard to the idea of whether you have a right to healthcare, you have to realize what that implies. It’s not an abstraction. I’m a physician. That means you have a right to come to my house and conscript me," Paul said recently in a Senate subcommittee hearing.

"It means you believe in slavery. It means that you’re going to enslave not only me, but the janitor at my hospital, the person who cleans my office, the assistants who work in my office, the nurses," Paul said, adding that there is "an implied use of force."

"If I’m a physician in your community and you say you have a right to healthcare, you have a right to beat down my door with the police, escort me away and force me to take care of you? That’s ultimately what the right to free healthcare would be," Paul said.

Alex Pardee of Salon wonders whether Paul would also agree that lawyers have been slaves for over 200 years since the Constitution clearly states that people shall "enjoy the right" to have "the assistance of counsel" in criminal prosecutions.

Think Progress' Alex Seitz-Wald writes "by Paul’s logic, the pope supports slavery," because in November, Pope Benedict XVI and other Catholic Church leaders proclaimed that governments should consider healthcare a priority since it is one of the "inalienable rights" of man.

RELATED:

Rand Paul doesn't shake hands with opponent after 'Aqua Buddha' debate

Rand Paul mocks Newt Gingrich's marriages and Fox News' stance on Libya

Toilets join light bulbs on Rand Paul's list of necessities burdened by 'busybody' rules

-- Tony Pierce
twitter.com/busblog

Photo: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) talks with reporters on Capitol Hill. Credit: Chip Somodevilla /Getty Images

President Obama asks Congress to eliminate tax breaks for the oil industry

President Obama wrote a letter Tuesday to leaders on both sides of the aisle to start solving the pressing issue of rising energy costs.

In a letter to House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)  and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), Obama followed up on a statement Boehner made Monday when the speaker agreed that ending billions of dollars of tax breaks for hugely profitable oil companies is "certainly something we should be looking at".

"We're in a time when the federal government's short on revenues," Boehner told ABC News. "They ought to be paying their fair share. Everybody wants to go after the oil companies and frankly, they've got some part of this to blame."

Obama began his letter by saying that he wants the leaders to "take immediate action to eliminate unwarranted tax breaks for the oil and gas industry, and to use those dollars to invest in clean energy to reduce our dependence on foreign oil."

The president blamed the spike in gasoline prices on increased demand and Middle East unrest. He added that old laws that benefit companies earning billions a year in profits aren't helping the average citizen or the recovery.

Sunday shows: Mitch Daniels, Mitch McConnell, Mary Landrieu, Jon Kyl

ABC's "This Week with Christiane Amanpour": She reports from Japan.

Bloomberg's "Political Capital with Al Hunt": Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala).

CBS' "Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer": Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Mary Landrieu (D-La.).

CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS": Rashid Khalidi, Ashraf Khalil, Rami Khouri, Ahmed Rashid, Abderrahim Foukara and Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed of Somalia.

CNN's "State of the Union with Candy Crowley": Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield).

"Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace": Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.), with Bill Kristol, Dana Perino and Kirsten Powers.

NBC's "Meet the Press with David Gregory": Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-Ind.) and Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), with Ed Gillespie, Anita Dunn, Dan Balz and Michele Norris.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels. Credit: Jose Luis Magana / Associated Press

Veterans Day traditions evolve on Twitter

 

At Arlington National Cemetery, rocks are placed on headstones to symbolize a visit.

As families across America remembered the fallen, politicians paid tribute to veterans in person and also by using Twitter to send messages to their followers on Veterans Day. 

Traditions may be evolving but the messages of....

Jack Conway hopes to profit from Kentucky Stomp in new anti-Rand Paul TV ad

Rand Paul probably thought the whole Aqua Buddha controversy was the biggest hurdle his campaign would have to contend with in his quest to become the next senator from Kentucky. The GOP nominee was repeatedly grilled by his rival, Democrat Jack Conway, in a debate this month about a GQ article that claimed that Paul, while in college, kidnapped a fellow student and forced her to pray to "The Aqua Buddha". Conway's persistence flustered the Republican such that Paul refused to shake his opponent's hand at the conclusion of the meeting, and Talking Points Memo dubbed it "The Nastiest Debate of 2010."

Before the follow-up debate on Monday, Paul's Bourbon County coordinator Tim Profitt overreacted to a 23-year-old MoveOn.org employee who was attempting to take a photo with the candidate. After the woman, Lauren Valle, was pushed to the ground by some Paul supporters, Profitt appeared to keep her down by stomping on her shoulders and head.

The violent video went viral. Profitt, who has since been dismissed from his volunteer position, was slapped with an assault charge; Valle received a headache; and Paul's campaign was seriously bruised. And now the Kentucky Democratic Party has a low-cost commercial ominously tying together Paul's campaign promises with his former coordinator's infamous stomp.

Tim Profitt blames police and his bad back for his Kentucky stomp and wants victim to apologize to him [Updated]

Tim Profitt, the admitted Kentucky head-stomper and Rand Paul volunteer, wants his victim to apologize to him.

"I don’t think it’s that big of a deal,” Profitt told WKYT television Tuesday in Lexington, Ky. regarding the controversy surrounding his violent reaction to Lauren Valle attempting to pose with a sign next to the Republican nominee for Senate. "I would like for her to apologize to me, to be honest with you."

Before the incident, Profitt was the Bourbon County coordinator for Paul. On Tuesday, the campaign distanced itself from Profitt and relieved him of his duties. Quite a turnaround considering that, the day before, Profitt's name was included on a full-page newspaper ad that included Paul supporters.

Rand Paul coordinator Tim Profitt admits to stepping on woman from MoveOn.org before Kentucky debate

In shocking video that exemplifies how ugly some of the races have gotten in 2010, a woman in Kentucky is shown being pushed to the ground while a man puts his foot on her and then stomps her.

The victim, Lauren Valle of MoveOn.org, approached Republican nominee for Senate Rand Paul in an attempt to pose for a photo with him holding up a faux award when she was thrown down to the ground by one Paul supporter and then stomped by another.

The violence happened in Lexington before Paul debated his Democrat rival, Jack Conway, Monday night.

One of the men in the video, Tim Profitt, admitted to the Associated Press on Tuesday that he stepped on Valle's head. Profitt was the Bourbon County coordinator for Paul.

Lexington police said this afternoon that that Profitt was indeed their man. "Detectives identified the suspect involved in the assault as Tim Profitt. Mr. Profitt is currently being served with a criminal summons ordering him to appear before a Fayette County District Court judge," police said in a statement.

Earlier the Paul people distanced themselves from the violence and the volunteer. "Whatever the perceived provocation, any level of aggression or violence is deplorable, and will not be tolerated by our campaign," Paul campaign manager Jesse Benton said through a statement released Tuesday afternoon. "The Paul campaign has disassociated itself from the volunteer who took part in this incident."

Ticket photo of the week: A Secretariat spinoff

OK, smile for the camera.

No, c'mon now, get serious. Please.

Stop horsing around.

Give us a smile. Please. No, not that kind of smile!

Oh, he's such a goofball.

This is My Man Puff, who's feeling his oats these days, even at age 13.

His grandfather was Secretariat. Yes, that one in the new movie. The Triple Crown winner from 1973, possibly the greatest thoroughbred race horse of all time. That year, for the first time since 1948, one horse won the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and, on June 9, 1973, the Belmont Stakes -- by 31 lengths, no less. The last Triple Crown winner was Affirmed in 1978.

According to the legendary horse's winning jockey, Ron Turcotte, now wheelchair-bound from a racing accident, Secretariat was always a quick learner, gentle and smart. "You could show him something one day," Turcotte recalls, "and the next day he'd do the same thing. And he loved candy."

My Man Puff and his grandfather were never close in many ways. The offspring of Shelly's Charmer, My Man had a brief racing career but never finished well enough to continue competition. He's passed through a series of owners, has a personality referred to as feisty and doesn't waste much time paying attention to one thing too long.

He's now ended up in comfortable retirement in Florida with plenty of tail-swishing room on 10 acres of land owned by octogenarian Rosa Durando. She pampers the fellow, who knows he's special. She told Sun-Sentinel reporter Wayne Roustan that My Man Puff still loves to gallop and fool around. (See photo above.)

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo credit: Mark Randall / Sun-Sentinel

Rand Paul doesn't shake hands with opponent after 'Aqua Buddha' debate; the two may not meet again

Add Rand Paul's name to the list of politicians who have made good on a campaign promise.

At the conclusion of what Talking Points Memo declared was "The Nastiest Debate of 2010", Kentucky Senate hopeful Rand Paul, a Republican, said he wouldn't shake hands with his opponent, Democrat Jack Conway, after their debate Sunday, and sure enough, Paul promptly rebuffed him, as promised.

A good night's sleep didn't ease Paul's mind. Monday morning, Paul said at a news conference that he might not even square off against Conway for their last debate, scheduled for Oct. 25.

At the heart of Paul's anger is Conway's dogged insistence in bringing up a weird incident from Paul's collegiate past. According to an unnamed woman in a GQ article, while he was at Baylor University in Texas, a stoned Paul and another man blindfolded the woman, kidnapped her, attempted to make her smoke marijuana and then ...