cbs

A majority of people are against the handling of the debt crisis on the part of every party, but the vast majority disapprove of the way the Republicans are handling the issue than anyone else a CBS News poll finds.

This really comes as no surprise given the melodramatic way GOP leaders like Eric Cantor have acted during the talks. On top of that, the GOP has constantly changed their goal posts. It's becoming more and more obvious that the right is playing politics with this issue while ignoring the financial security of our nation.

So what will happen if the negotiations fail and we don't raise the debt limit? My guess is that the GOP will way dearly for it and the best way to make sure of that is for the Democrats to pounce on it. They don't need to spin or stretch the truth. Just remind the American people of some simple facts:

CBS News hired an outside expert group to estimate the size of the crowd at yesterday’s ‘Rally to Restore Sanity And/Or Fear’. Using aerial photos, the company has estimated the crowd at around 215,000.

CBS also used the same company to estimate the size of Beck’s rally in August. Using the same techniques, the company estimated the size of that crowd at 87,000.

So the answer to the question; How many Beck Rallies can you fit in a Sanity Rally? Almost 2.5.

CBS is reporting that David Axelrod will leave the White House in the Spring to take up his old mantle of campaign manager for the President’s 2012 run. The news doesn’t stop there though:

The dominoes don't stop there. Rahm Emanuel, the president's Chief of Staff, may leave the White House as soon as next month.

Emanuel has told colleagues that he's very likely to run for mayor of Chicago, and that could see him depart the White House in October.

A shuffle in the White House is a really good thing. We need better ideas and new advice hitting the President’s ear. Hopefully we will see that in the coming months.

'Drill Baby Drill' may no longer be a good rallying cry for the GOP, as Americans are now turning on offshore drilling according to a new CBS poll:

Isn't it ironic that the warnings all of us "tree-hugging liberals" have been yelling for years about offshore drilling are coming to fruition? And now that Americans are turning on offshore drilling, could we please start a moon landing style project on alternative energies? America needs to become the country of "yes we can" again, not "nah - we'll wait".

Here is an article appearing on CBS right now:

Faisal Shahzad on Homeland Security List Since 1999

That is one amazing feat, since DHS wasn’t formed until November of 2002. So how was Shahzad on a list of a department three years prior to that department being formed?

(h/t GottaLaff)

Yesterday morning Joe Scarborough was providing us with his infinite wisdom by declaring that Americans are mad because their taxes have gone up so much under Obama. Imagine how shocked I am to find out Scarborough is wrong about the tax issue:

According to a recent CBS News/New York Times poll, the vast majority of Americans do not perceive that they have received a tax cut from President Obama. Asked if the President “has already raised taxes this past year,” 53 percent of those polled said that the President has “kept taxes the same,” and 24 percent think that the President has “raised taxes.” A mere 12 percent believe that the President has cut their taxes.

This is an astonishing level of misunderstanding. The truth is that the major tax cuts enacted in the 2009 economic stimulus bill actually reduced federal income taxes for tax year 2009 for 98 percent of all working families and individuals. These tax cuts saved working families and individuals an average of $1,158 on the tax returns they will file by April 15. (The median tax cut was approximately $600.) [emphasis in original]

First off only 24% of Americans actually thought their taxes went up. Kind of hard to declare that as all Americans – isn’t it Joe? But more importantly is the fact that 98% of Americans have seen their tax burden reduced. So does that mean that Joe Scarborough only considers the top 2% all Americans, or is he just simply trying to repeat failed GOP/Tea Party lies? Let me know what you think.

CBS is seeing the signs that Justice Stevens term in the Supreme Court could be coming to an end:

Justice John Paul Stevens has left some clues he’s planning to retire this year, shortly after he turns 90 years old. He’s only hired one law clerk for next term, for example, and not the four that sitting justices typically hire every year.

But Stevens is unpredictable, and he’s seemed as sharp as ever from the bench, so I thought maybe, just maybe, he would pull something out of his sleeve at the last minute and stick around for awhile.
Until today.

Stevens spent a good 20 minutes this morning reading a summary of his scathing dissent in the campaign finance case. And he showed his age.

CBS had posted this update earlier today:

Update 1:59pm E.T.: A Justice Department official familiar with this subpoena just told me that the attorney general's office never saw it and that it had not been submitted to the department's headquarters in Washington, D.C. for review. If that's correct, it suggests that U.S. Attorney Tim Morrison and Assistant U.S. Attorney Doris Pryor did not follow department regulations requiring the "express authorization of the attorney general" for media subpoenas -- and it means that neither Attorney General Eric Holder nor Acting Attorney General Mark Filip were involved. I wouldn't be surprised to see an internal investigation by the Office of Professional Responsibility; my source would not confirm or deny that.

So is it still Obama’s fault? Ummm – NO! Now the big question lingers – did AG Mukasey see this subpoena? Going by all known dates and times it very well could have fallen under his watch. Maybe the OPR will find out for us.