Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg gave a $100 million grant to the public school system in 2010. Now, according to CBS News, officials are considering using some of that cash on buyouts to get rid of poorly performing teachers. Read More
Senior Obama campaign advisor David Axelrod told our colleagues over at PolitickerNJ that he has made his peace with Cory Booker in the wake of the controversy that dominated the news cycle this week following Mr. Booker’s comments he finds the Obama campaign’s attacks on Mitt Romney’s career at Bain Capital “nauseating.”
“We disagree, but to the extent that he clarified his remarks, I think it’s fine,” Mr. Axelrod said. Read More
Former Mayor Ed Koch has had a bit of an independent streak in politics (he endorsed George W. Bush for reelection in 2004, for example), but he’s not joining the ranks of moderate Democrats expressing skepticism of President Barack Obama’s attacks on Bain Capital and Mitt Romney’s record with the company. Read More
Author, spiritual guru to the stars and Republican congressional candidate Shmuley Boteach doesn’t want anyone using his friend Cory Booker’s recent campaign controversy for political gain–except for him.
In the aftermath of the flap over Mr. Booker’s comments about the Obama campaign’s attacks on Mitt Romney’s time at Bain Capital, Mr. Boteach wrote an op-ed in the Jewish newspaper Algemeiner criticizing anyone who would try to score points off the Bain brouhaha. He also included a shot against his probably opponents in New Jersey’s 9th congressional district.
Mr. Boteach began his column on an apolitical note.
“For a moment, let me remove my hat as a Republican candidate for public office and speak only wearing my yarmulke, as a Rabbi who has known Cory for twenty years and has had the blessing throughout that time of an intimate, brotherly friendship,” he wrote. ”Cory is my brother. We are on different sides of the political spectrum. He is a proud and staunch Democrat. But few people have taught me more about being a good person than Cory.” Read More
Newark Mayor and Obama campaign surrogate Cory Booker went on the Rachel Maddow Show tonight. It was his first interview since the appearance on Meet The Press this weekend where he caused an uproar by saying he found negative campaigning on “both sides” to be “nauseating,” including the Obama campaign’s attacks on Mitt Romney’s career with Bain Capital.
Mr. Booker said he was outraged by attempts by the Republican Party and the Romney campaign to raise funds and score political points off the controversy.
“I was doing no interviews and it wasn’t until the GOP went across that line that I said, ‘Forget it, I’ve had all I can stand and I can’t stand no more,” Mr. Booker said. Read More
Today, political types were focused on Cory Booker’s Bain brouhaha, President Obama’s throwing arm and the New Republic‘s new editor. Here’s our roundup of the day’s best Tweets from the campaign trail. Read More
The Republican Party and Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign are making the most of Newark Mayor and Obama campaign surrogate Cory Booker’s comment that the attacks on Mr. Romney’s career at Bain Capital being made by the Obama campaign are “nauseating.” A new web video released this afternoon highlights the statements Mr. Booker made on Sunday’s episode of Meet The Press and the RNC is circulating an “I Stand With Cory” petition calling attention to the flap.
“Have You Had Enough Of President Obama’s Attacks On Free Enterprise?” a narrator asks in Mr. Romney’s new video, which is entitled “Big Bain Backfire.” “His Own Key Supporters Have” Read More
Obama campaign senior strategist David Axelrod defended the campaign’s continued attacks on Mitt Romney’s work with Bain Capital in an appearance on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports this afternoon. Mr. Axelrod said Bain is a legitimate campaign issue because Mr. Romney regularly touts his business career and because some of the episodes at the company are “disturbing.”
“Governor Romney offers his business experience as his principal and really his chief credential for running for office, he never talks about his years as Massachusetts governor and I think for good reason because they weren’t stellar years. This is his argument: ‘I was a businessman. I can lead the economy.’ So it behooves us to ask exactly ‘what did you do?’” Mr. Axelrod said. “Some of these cases are disturbing and deserve to be looked at. … He can’t walk away from this.” Read More
After calling the Obama campaign’s repeated attacks on Mitt Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital “nauseating” during an interview Sunday, Newark mayor and Obama campaign surrogate Cory Booker released a video where he clarified his stance while reiterating his distaste with negative campaigning on both sides.
Obama campaign press secretary Ben LaBolt subsequently distributed two heavily edited versions of the video that only included Mr. Booker saying “it is reasonable and, in fact, I encourage it, for the Obama campaign to examine” Mr. Romney’s business record because he has made it “a centerpiece of his campaign” and criticizing Mr. Romney as “not being completely honest” about his career. This morning, The Politicker sent Mr. LaBolt an email asking why he edited the video and what his response was to Mr. Booker’s call for both sides to stop the negative campaigning.
“Mayor Booker released the full video which was widely distributed – we highlighted the portion of the video in which he addressed whether or not a discussion of Mitt Romney’s private sector record was appropriate,” Mr. LaBolt wrote. “He made clear that it is – that it’s the central premise of Romney’s candidacy and that Romney had not accurately represented that record.” Read More
Former Tennessee Congressman and Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr. said Newark Mayor Cory Booker should have stuck by his comments that the Obama campaign’s attacks on Mitt Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital are “nauseating” in an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe this morning.
“I would not have backed off the comments if I were Mayor Booker. The substance of his comments on Meet the Press, I agree with the core of it,” Mr. Ford said. “I would not have backed them out … private equity’s not a bad thing. As a matter of fact, private equity is a good thing in many, many instances.” Read More
