HUFFPOST HILL - Bernie Sanders Unites Hanes, Hanes-Nots
Bernie Sanders said he has an "ample supply" of underwear, but the reason he's running for president is that the vast majority of undergarments have accrued to the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans. Jim Webb said he's considering an independent run for president, because that's what we get for not letting him talk more at the debate. And speculation about whether Joe Biden will run for president reached a fever pitch today, like three months after "Biden his time" and every other Biden joke stopped being funny. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Monday, October 19th, 2015:
BOEHNER'S OBAMACARE LAWSUIT INCHES FORWARD - House v. Burwell has the potential to be a medium-sized deal. Jonathan Alter: "The U.S. House of Representatives lawsuit challenging the Obama administration’s disbursement of subsidy payments to insurance companies that the House claims were never appropriated will proceed to the merits in federal district court. Earlier today, Judge Rosemary Collyer denied the administration’s motion seeking interlocutory review of her decision that the House had standing to pursue some of its claims in federal court. As she explained in her order, she concluded that an immediate appeal of the standing question would not “materially advance the ultimate termination of the litigation,” as she is likely to rule on the merits before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit would have ruled on standing." [WashPost]
@lbarronlopez: House GOP having members-only meeting Tuesday at 7 p.m. on "October agenda."
GUNS UNPOPULAR FOR A MINUTE - Art Swift: "Fifty-five percent of Americans say they want laws covering the sale of firearms to be stricter than they are now, a distinct rise of eight percentage points from 2014. Fewer Americans than last year want the laws to be less strict, and the proportion who want the laws to stay the same has also declined slightly." [Gallup]
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Marco Rubio successfully used a football video to make himself seem human, so Jeb decided to try one, too. Not sure it worked.
TODAY'S IDLE BIDEN GOSSIP - Leigh Ann Caldwell and Kristen Welker: "Vice President Joe Biden is nearing a decision on if he will enter the presidential race, which could come within 48 hours, two sources tell NBC News." [NBC News]
@RepBrendanBoyle: I have a very good source close to Joe that tells me VP Biden will run for Prez
CARSON, TRUMP TO GET SWEET CODENAMES - Ed Henry: "The Secret Service is moving forward on activating 24-hour protection for Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ben Carson, Fox News has learned. The agency sent letters Monday to key leaders in Congress who have to sign off on the proposal, which Fox News is told would involve a rotation of 260 Secret Service agents. Congress traditionally approves such requests." [Fox News]
WOW JAY CARNEY - In an effort a counter an August New York Times story that said Amazon was a bad place to work, Jay Carney would like you to know that all the Times' sources were bad people and liars. He also shares some internal Amazon documents to slime them further. "No matter how toxic America’s corporations may be, never doubt the supreme toxicity of their PR staffs," Gawker's Sam Biddle summed up. Yikes!
MARCO RUBIO'S IMMIGRATION POSITION A MYSTERY - Sabrina Siddiqui: "Marco Rubio insists he supports immigration reform and a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, even as he has shifted from once backing a comprehensive overhaul of the system to now advocating a piecemeal approach. But during time spent with Rubio on the presidential campaign trail, attempting to get underneath the rhetoric and into the specifics of his immigration plan proves challenging. [The Guardian]
DELANEY DOWNER - Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) thinks it might be a good idea to drug test public housing residents -- and he's crediting school children for inspiring him. "Our moms and daddies don’t use that money for us," Manchin said a group of middle school students told him, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported Monday. Manchin said he told the students their idea made sense, but where would the children go if their parents tested positive for drugs? He got a sad answer. "Foster care is the only thing that can save me. My mom is still a drug addict from Beckley,'" Manchin said one child told him. Manchin's office declined to elaborate on the idea. A spokesman declined to clarify when the conversation happened, but said the senator speaks to a lot of kids in southwestern West Virginia, where drug abuse is rampant. [HuffPost]
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FREEDOM CAUCUS UNITED IN QUEST FOR POWER - Jennifer Steinhauer, along with Nicholas Fandos, David M. Herszenhorn, Fernanda Santos and Emmarie Huetteman: "Once unified almost solely around the goal of reducing government spending, the group has expanded its targets to an array of Obama administration policies, most notably immigration this year. At first libertarian -- the group early on torpedoed a routine vote on the Patriot Act -- it has become more interventionist. While Planned Parenthood has long been in the cross hairs of conservatives, its funding has become a central point of conflict. But it is increasingly clear that what the Freedom Caucus wants more than specific legislation is power. Its members want a greater voice in how legislation comes together and how the House functions, areas traditionally directed by a leadership team of seasoned lawmakers. ... The fury with which they have challenged their own leaders has largely been embraced by their constituents. ... 'The activists, the hard-core folks who come to everything, that represent that small percentage of the base -- they are just very excited,' said Representative Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, an original leader of the new right." [NYT]
Somebody hire Steven Dennis and David Eldridge.
MO BROOKS: CLINTON TO BE SWORN IN, IMPEACHED IMMEDIATELY - Amanda Terkel: "Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) recently spoke with talk radio host Matt Murphy and said the real issue with Clinton's use of a private email server as secretary of state is 'how many lives she put at risk by violating all rules of law that are designed to protect America's top-secret and classified information from falling into the hands of our geopolitical foes who then might use that information to result in the deaths of Americans.' Brooks added Republicans are going to make sure this issue follows Clinton into office, should she be elected president in 2016. 'And in my judgement, with respect to Hillary Clinton, she will be a unique president if she is elected by the public next November, because the day she's sworn in is the day that she's subject to impeachment because she has committed high crimes and misdemeanors,' he said." [HuffPost]
@samsteinhp: Jim Webb To Consider Independent Run -- via Webb’s campaign
:-( - You guys are making Trey Gowdy sad. Rachael Bade: "House Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, a former federal prosecutor, used to get death threats in his previous line of work. But watching his Benghazi investigation get slammed by accusations that it’s a partisan assault on Hillary Clinton is actually much worse, he says. 'I would say in some ways these have been among the worst weeks of my life,' Gowdy said this weekend during a lengthy interview with POLITICO. 'Attacks on your character, attacks on your motives, are 1,000-times worse than anything you can do to anybody physically -- at least it is for me.' ... In the early months of Gowdy’s investigation, fellow panel Republican Peter Roskam of Illinois offered kudos for the attempt at conducting an apolitical investigation. But he also gave him a warning: That effort won’t be rewarded, and it will eventually turn ugly. 'It was like the older brother saying, ‘You keep believing in the tooth fairy,'' Gowdy recounted. 'I knew it would get worse, but I didn’t know how bad.'" [Politico]
Gowdy's Benghazi committee and the State Department accidentally outed a CIA person. Oops!
DONALD TRUMP HAS A SUPER PAC - Of course. Matea Gold, Tom Hamburger and Jenna Johnson: "As he brags that he is turning down millions of dollars for his presidential campaign, Donald Trump has leveled a steady line of attack against his rivals: that they are too cozy with big-money super PACs and may be breaking the law by coordinating with them. 'You know the nice part about me?” he told reporters in Iowa in August. 'I don’t need anybody’s money.' What Trump doesn’t say is that he and his top campaign aide have connections to a super PAC collecting large checks to support his candidacy -- a group viewed by people familiar with his campaign as the sanctioned outlet for wealthy donors." [WashPost]
ESCAPE THE HOUSE - John Boehner is stuck in one of those horror movies where every exit closes itself and the ghost of speakers past come out to terrorize him. Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan: "Many -- including Boehner and his leadership team -- believe the 45-year-old Ways and Means Committee chairman [Paul Ryan] is the only viable candidate to be the next speaker. Yet if Ryan doesn't run, GOP lawmakers and senior aides doubt the election will be wrapped up by Oct. 30, when Boehner planned to leave Congress. ... Boehner, who has a condominium in Florida and enjoys his golf, is itching to get out of the Capitol and wrap up his congressional career, allies say. But he has raised $300 million for House Republicans since 2009, spending hundreds of days a year on the road, and he isn't going to leave the party in the lurch. Boehner is willing to stay for some of November but does not expect to be in Congress come Thanksgiving, according to multiple aides with knowledge of his plans." [Politico]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Vermonters do impressions of Bernie Sanders.
PEOPLE INTERESTED IN BERNIE'S UNDERWEAR - First Ellen asks Bernie Sanders "boxers or briefs," now this. Samantha-Jo Roth: "Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Sunday joked about Larry David’s portrayal of him on 'Saturday Night Live,' telling reporters during a campaign stop that he recently bought a second pair of underwear. 'This is a serious question,' Sanders said with a laugh following a house party in Iowa City, after a reporter asked him if he only owned one pair of underpants. 'Yes, last week I bought my second pair of underwear,' Sanders said, making it clear he was joking and that he has an 'ample supply.'" [HuffPost]
COMFORT FOOD
- Enjoy the dumbest play of the NFL season.
- Check out these horrifying Donald Trump masks.
- Crazy drum solo.
- NASA is posting new photos of the earth from every angle every day.
TWITTERAMA
@AdamSerwer: hopefully the vice president will decide whether he's running soon? Next week? Maybe he will have decided Biden
@morninggloria: the scariest thing a ghost can say is 'boooo' but the scariest thing an email subject line can say is 'hey.'
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
