House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif., left, talks with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger during a luncheon at the State Department in Washington, in this Sept. 30, 2014, photo.
First lady Michelle Obama speaks at a campaign rally in Milwaukee in this Sept. 29, 2014, photo.Mum's The Word
It's standard fare for a journalist covering a political speech to speak to people in the crowd to see what they thought of the speech, but handlers for first lady Michelle Obama and Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke put the kibosh on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writer Meg Kissinger at a recent Burke fundraiser.
Kissinger later learned the crowd was upset over a lack of seating, but she never learned whether that was the reason she was told she couldn't talk to people in the audience.
"To say that I was creeped out is an understatement," she said. "This is what reporters do in America: We speak to people. ... [I've] never seen anything like it in 35 years as a reporter covering dozens of political events."
Even with President Obama's recent slide in the polls, it's hard to imagine what the first lady and Burke had to worry about from what should have been a lapdog crowd.
From One Who Knows
Black Republican Louisiana state Sen. Elbert Guillory put the state's U.S. Senate race -- a race that ultimately could decide the body's balance of power -- in perspective in a recent ad savaging three-term incumbent Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La.
"Mary Landrieu first ran for Senate in 1996 promising to be a champion for the black community," he said in the ad, released by Free At Last PAC. "But 18 years later, little has changed. Our communities are poorer than they were in 1996. Out schools continue to fail little children. And our jails are filled with young black men who should be at home being fathers."
Meanwhile, Guillory said, addressing members of the black community, Landrieu lives in a $2 million mansion, sips champagne at cocktail parties and flies around on private jets funded by taxpayer dollars.
"But Mary Landrieu knows that she doesn't have to do anything for our community, because no matter what she does, 95 percent of us will line up and vote for her. Every single time."
The incumbent and U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-La., are the front-runners in the state's unusual open -- often called jungle -- primary system. On Election Day in November, if no one gets a majority of votes, the top two candidates move on to a runoff in December. By that time, the Louisiana election could determine whether Democrats or Republicans control the Senate or whether there is a flat-footed tie (in so far as Maine independent Angus King and Vermont Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders vote with Democrats).
Speak On My Terms
No matter how you slice it, people in the country illegally are illegal aliens, a term commonly used in law enforcement, particularly by immigration enforcement agencies such as the Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
But, when you're trying to turn illegal aliens into Democratic voters, the phrase doesn't work for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Not for the first time, she took issue with the term at a news conference last week.
Asked by a reporter whether President Obama's planned executive actions should also deal with Iraqis living illegally in the United States, Pelosi was quick to her spin.
"Are you referring to undocumented people who are in the United States?" Pelosi questioned. "Illegal aliens, yes ma'am," the reporter responded.
"Undocumented people, OK," Pelosi said again.
As usual, the minority leader never lets facts get in the way of her politics.
God's Apparently A Democrat
President Obama put on his most aw-shucks demeanor for a recent speech at the annual Congressional Black Caucus dinner, then made it clear what he thinks about the effectiveness of prayer.
"All around the country," he told the fawning crowd, "wherever I see folks, they always say, oh, Barack, we're praying for you -- boy, you're so great; look, you got all gray hair, you look tired."
Then, referring to the prayers -- indeed, the Bible exhorts people to pray for all leaders -- he said they would be ineffective unless they were accompanied with a vote for the Democratic Party.
"We need more than prayer," Obama said. "We need to vote. We need to vote. That will be helpful. It will not relieve me of my gray hair, but it will help me pass some bills."