Obama Picks Insider, Political Hack Without Any Medical Credentials To Be His Ebola Czar. Can It Get Any More Clear That This Is A Crisis That The Administration Is Milking?

Obama taps Ron Klain as Ebola czar

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share on Google Plus

Share via Email

More Options

Resize Text

 

Print Article

 

Comments 1331

By Juliet Eilperin and David Nakamura October 17 at 12:05 PM   

Ron Klain, shown in 2011, has been tapped by President Obama to become the administration's Ebola response coordinator. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

President Obama has asked Ron Klain, who served as chief of staff to both Vice President Biden and former vice president Al Gore, as his Ebola response coordinator, according to a White House official.

"He will report directly to the president’s homeland security adviser, Lisa Monaco, and the president's national security adviser, Susan Rice, as he ensures that efforts to protect the American people by detecting, isolating and treating Ebola patients in this country are properly integrated but don’t distract from the aggressive commitment to stopping Ebola at the source in West Africa," a White House official wrote in an e-mail.

Klain, a longtime Democratic operative, served as Biden's chief of staff from 2009 to 2011 and as Gore's from 1995 to 1999. He helped oversee the Democratic side in the 2000 presidential election recount as its lead lawyer, a role that Kevin Spacey portrayed in the HBO film "Recount."

CNN first reported the news Friday morning.

Obama has been under pressure from Republicans for weeks to appoint an "Ebola czar" to oversee the federal government's overall effort to contain the disease. Thursday night, the president told reporters: "It may make sense for us to have one person, in part just so that after this initial surge of activity, we can have a more regular process, just to make sure that we're crossing all the t's and dotting all the i's going forward. "

"Klain’s role is consistent with the view the president articulated in the Oval Office last night that Monaco, Rice and others have done outstanding work in confronting this challenge so far — but given their management of other national and homeland security priorities, additional bandwidth will further enhance the government’s Ebola response," the White House official added in the e-mailed statement.

The move did not satisfy conservatives such as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), who said the staff change fell short of what is needed to contain the spread of the lethal virus on U.S. soil.

“We don't need another so-called 'czar'; we need presidential leadership. This is a public health crisis, and the answer isn't another White House political operative," Cruz said in a statement. "The answer is a commander in chief who stands up and leads, banning flights from Ebola-afflicted nations and acting decisively to secure our southern border."

But Klain's Democratic colleagues said he was well-suited for the assignment. Robert Bauer, who served as White House counsel under Obama and also worked on the 2008 recount, said Klain has developed a reputation of having "taken on highly-charged assignments where there were significant complexities, and managed them very well."

Klain is not known for his health-care expertise, though he would get briefings on those policies in his capacity as a campaign strategist for Gore and the Democrats' 2004 presidential candidate, John Kerry.

"I wouldn't call him a policy wonk by any means, but he was someone who got [that] you couldn’t formulate good strategy without understanding the policy," said Chris Jennings, who served as a top White House health policy adviser under Presidents Clinton and Obama.

Klain navigated the legal and political worlds with ease, Jennings added. "He wasn’t just an analyst. He was a strategist."

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.) questioned Klain's lack of medical credentials, saying in a statement, “Given the mounting failings in the Obama administration’s response to the Ebola outbreak, it is right that the President has sought to task a single individual to coordinate its response. But I have to ask why the President didn’t pick an individual with a noteworthy infectious disease or public health background?

Known for a mordant sense of humor, Klain is also an enthusiastic Facebook user who frequently posts about his family. He is married toMonica Medina, who served as a top National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration official during Obama's first term and is now the National Geographic Society's senior director for international ocean policy.

Klain became close with Biden while serving as a staffer for the Senate Judiciary Committee when Biden served as chairman. He helped advise Biden during the 2008 campaign, and his bona fides inside the West Wing date back to shortly after Obama won that historic election.

During the transition, the newly elected president wanted to find a role for Klain in the West Wing, and his name was mentioned as a potential White House communications director, according to a person familiar with the internal deliberations. But Biden also wanted him and convinced Klain to join the vice president’s office as chief of staff, a role he had also served for Vice President Gore in the late 1990s.

Mark Gitenstein, a former Obama administration ambassador to Romania, said Klain developed a strong relationship with Obama while helping prepare the then-senator from Illinois for the presidential debates against Republican nominee John McCain in 2008. Klain had served in a similar role for John Kerry’s 2004 campaign.

“Debate prep requires getting in someone’s face and saying, ‘No, you're not doing this right,’ ” said Gitenstein, who had personally recommended that Klain replace him as general counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1989, when Klain was 28 and then serving as a clerk on the Supreme Court.

Gitenstein said Klain’s management of the economic stimulus push in the first year of the Obama administration helped him prepare for the challenges that he'll face managing the Ebola response. “It was a very difficult job – a management problem and a problem of getting the money to the right places, which required coordination with other Cabinet secretaries. … Ron really got his arms around the problem as fast as anyone I’ve seen.”

Former senator Ted Kaufman (D-Del.), who was a longtime political adviser to Biden, called Klain well-suited for the role based on his varied experience dealing with Congress, the White House and the media.

“He’s like your renaissance man, the more difficult the problem the better he is,” Kaufman said.

Jon Wolfsthal, who served on Biden’s national security staff, said Klain managed both Biden’s domestic operations and the national security division.

“I would not say he’s a light touch. You know he’s in the room,” Wolfsthal said. “But he’s not trying to push anybody around or boss them around. He’s very serious and he makes sure the work gets done. … Even though he doesn’t have a background in disease, it doesn’t matter – he will master anything.”

Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) immediately praised the news.

"I've known Ron Klain for over twenty years," Schumer said in a statement. "He is smart, aggressive, and levelheaded; exactly the qualities we need in a czar to steer our response to Ebola. He is an excellent choice."

Klain left the White House in 2011 to become president of Case Holdings, the holding company for the business and philanthropic interests of former AOL chairman Steve Case.

Ed O'Keefe contributed to this report.

Alinsky Tactics Alive And Well In Michigan Governor Race. Will The Dems (demons) Ever Realize That Hate, Lies And Distortions Are Election Killers?

From: West Michigan Politics Blog

Michigan Dems Horror Story: Racist Anti-Snyder Mailer Is Absolutely Disgusting

A mailer recently sent to voters by the Michigan Democratic Party (via the StateCentral Committee) is as disgusting as it is racist.

With Mark Schauer running scared from the media after a horrible debate, his lies exposed by the Free Press and other outlets, and trailing in the polls for almost the entire race, it's no surprise Michigan Dems are resorting to Alinskyesque tactics, desperately attempting to fire up their coalitions to avoid a humiliating defeat in November.

The race-baiting mailer features a black child seemingly hiding from Governor Snyder, claiming that "Rick Snyder doesn't stand for us...Rick Snyder has the wrong priorities for African Americans in Michigan."

Among other claims, the flyer also says that Snyder "took away our right to democracy," and "his political appointees took over African American communities all over Michigan." Like Granholm taking over Benton Harbor and Detroit Schools, among others? Interesting...

I don't even know where to begin describing this deplorable piece of trash.

 I first saw it on Facebook thanks to a post by Associated Builders and Contractors of Michigan's Jimmy Greene. Greene posted a letter from his friend Eric Brown, both of whom happen to be black Michiganders:

"My Fraternity Brother just sent this email to the Editors of the Detroit News & Detroit Free Press. Thanks Eric Brown...I agree with you 100%

Good Afternoon:

I received this ad via a friend and I find it to be the most pathetic and embarrassing ad that one could even think about putting together. Of there are any black people out their that believes this mess, then we truly are not living in a post racial society.

What's worse; whoever put this together has no respect whatsoever for black people. I say that because not only is this rhetoric playing on the worst fears and assumptions of black people, but it also plays on the perception of many that we don't have a freaking clue. 

If the Democratic Party leadership, pseudo leader of black folk in this state or even the nominees at the top of the ticket does not denounce this nonsense, then that will tell me a lot about the people in this state.

I am also asking that the media condemn this ad and put their investigators to work to try to find out who is behind this vile and pathetic rhetoric.

This is as appalling as it can get with just a few weeks to Election Day. The I truthfulness of this piece of garbage just goes to show that some will stop at nothing to discredit another human being who has done more for black people in this state than some people that are black and were elected by blacks.

This ad crosses way over the line and an apology should be coming forth from the Democratic Party challenger on the race for governor in this state. This ad is a very low blow and should not be accepted by anyone with any resemblance of decency.

Regards,

Eric"

Well said, Eric.

Amazingly, the media has been completely silent about this. Not a word from the Michigan media about this desperate, disgusting, racist mailer.

 If Bobby Schostak and co. had sent something like it, you better believe an apology would have already been called for from everyone on the left. Demas, Progress Michigan, Eclectablog, Schauer, et al-they would have been calling for Snyder's head until he denounced it, and for an apology from the Michigan Republican Party.

When one has to stoop to race-baiting to attack an opponent, you know the situation is bleak. Maybe Adolph Mongo's recent column hit a little too close to home for Lon Johnson and co.

Mongo wrote that:

"And there is Mark Schauer’s Detroit problem, one that could derail the ticket in November. His party’s most loyal base is falling apart...Many party loyalists have told me that they see no point in going to the polls...Many disgusted black voters say they are unwilling to blindly follow the dictates of a political party that routinely ignores them until election time. Schauer will need a huge Detroit voter turnout. And he is not going to get it. It is obvious he has taken a play out of the Democratic Party book on black voters.

It doesn’t matter that the governor might get only six percent or less of Detroit’s vote. Schauer might only manage a six percent turnout in Detroit."

In a humorous response to the flyer, columnist Ken Braun created a mock-flyer that is quite hilarious. :)

Calling someone a racist in a cheap attempt to procure votes isn't funny at the end of the day, though-obviously.

Using the sensitive issue of race to drum up votes for a failing gubernatorial candidate is beyond the pale.

Snyder will get the last laugh on Election night when many black Michiganders stay home, uninspired by a candidate and a political party that increasingly doesn't care about them until Election Day.

Of note: this wasn't the only horrendous mailer from the MDP.

In a State House race in Muskegon, they sent a mailer claiming missing gas station clerk Jessica Heeringa was dead.

"A local lawmaker is furious with her own party over an inaccurate statement about Jessica Heeringa.

The Michigan Democratic Party mailed out a brochure stating Heeringa was murdered. The young mother has been missing since April 2013, but investigators have never classified her disappearance as a murder.

The party sent out the mailer in the name of state Rep. Colleen Lamonte...

Wednesday, Lamonte issued a statement that says, in part, "I was unaware that the Michigan Democrats were mailing this to local residents, and I never saw the mailer until this morning. I am as shocked and dismayed as anyone in our community to see the inaccurate claims on the brochure."

Late last year, Lamonte introduced Jessica's Law, a bill that protects overnight gas station employees. Heeringa was last seen at the Norton Shores gas station where she was working on the night of her disappearance.

Wednesday evening, the Michigan Democratic Party gave the following statement to WZZM 13:

"We are deeply sorry for any additional stress caused to Jessica's family by the release of a piece of paid mail which inaccurately asserted Jessica Heeringa was murdered. Out of respect for Jessica's family we will immediately cease distribution of this mailer, and join the community in hoping for her safe return."

That's not the only flyer they should stop distributing... They don't care about Jessica's return, they don't care if they assassinate someone's character, they don't care about facts-they don't care about anything except electing Democrats by any means necessary. Bottom line.

Freedom Of Religion And Freedom Of Speech Come Under Attack In Houston. Have We Lost Our Moorings? Are We So Far Away From Reality That Politicians Can Propose This Type Of Draconian Measures?

SERMON FIGHT IN U.S. CITY: 'SEND THE WITCH A BIBLE'

Tensions mount over lesbian mayor's attack on religious freedom

Published: 22 hours ago

 BOB UNRUH About | Email | Archive

 Subscribe to feed

• 
• Text smaller
• Text bigger

     642

The fight over the subpoenas from the Houston mayor’s office for sermons by five area pastors in a fight over promoting transgenderism has reached new levels, with one commenter on a website that’s promoting citizen action on the issue stating, ” Just send the witch a Bible. That would cover the outline of the sermons and maybe lead to the salvation of the lost.”

That comment was from John Hays on the website for the Alliance Defending Freedom, which has taken up the pastors’ cause and is asking a court to quash the demands for the sermons.

Website Social Content Editor Emily Conley wrote about the dispute – that the city passed a law that “would allow members of the opposite sex to use each other’s restrooms, in the name of ‘prohibiting discrimination,” known as HERO (Houston Equal Rights Ordinance). Voters weren’t so thrilled, and respond[ed] by petitioning to repeal the ordinance or at least, put it up for a vote. They got over 50,000 signatures, more than three times the required number The city secretary … certified them as sufficient. But the mayor and city attorney defied the law, claimed less than the required number of signatures was valid – and threw out the petition.”

A lawsuit over that apparent defiance of the law followed, and the city responded with a legal demand to obtain copies of sermons of pastors who were not even part of the lawsuit.

It was on that blog where members of the public were encouraged to participate in social media efforts to “let the city of Houston know that this is a problem.”

City officials at first doubled down on their efforts, with lesbian Mayor Annise Parker, who has said the issue is all about her own lifestyle choice, stating, “If the 5 pastors used pulpits for politics, their sermons are fair game.”

But the Washington Times reported city officials then issued a statement they would try to “narrow the scope” of their demands, a move that Joe La Rue, ADF legal counsel, said was “wholly inadequate.”

“These sermons, emails and texts have nothing to do with whether the coalition gathered enough signatures to qualify for the ballot,” he told the newspaper.

Christiana Holcom, ADF litigation counsel, pooh-poohed the idea that the city had in any way backed off the demands.

“The shame that the city of Houston has brought upon itself is real, but the claim that it has changed course is not. The city has so far taken no concrete action to withdraw the subpoenas. Furthermore, the subpoenas themselves are the problem – not just their request for pastors’ sermons,” she said.

“The city is not off the hook from its illegitimate request for emails, text messages, and other communications in which these pastors, who are not even party to this lawsuit, may have disagreed with the mayor. The way to fix this is to withdraw the subpoenas entirely. Otherwise, the city’s and the mayor’s overtures are simply more window-dressing intended to shield them from public scrutiny.”

The comments ranged from the purely spiritual, “Satan we rebuke you in the name of Jesus were (sic) not scared by your devilish attach (sic) on the BODY OF CHRIST!” from Tonya, to the logical, as Phil Hsueh wrote, “It’s about free speech and the 1st Amendment right to practice it. A sermon, like pretty much any other speech, is considered protected speech and the mayor has no more right to subpoena them than she does a speech[es] given at the local Rotary club.”

Holcomb said, “The city council and its attorneys are engaging in an inquisition designed to stifle any critique of its actions.”

Fox News commentator Todd Starnes, wrote, “We can no longer remain silent. We must stand together – because one day – the government might come for your pastor.”

Other commentators agreed.

“Furious with local pastors for leading the pushback [to the bathroom bill], Parker decided to get her revenge by ordering a Soviet-style crackdown on area churches,” an online statement said.

“In a story that’s spreading like wildfire, the mayor had the nerve to subpoena pastors for their sermons, text messages, photographs, electronic files, calendars, and emails – ‘all communications with members of your congregation’ on topics like homosexuality and gender identity.

“If she thought her religious ‘inquisition’ would scare pastors, she’s got another thin[k] coming. Local Christians are more outraged than ever, igniting a firestorm that could awaken a sleeping giant in churches from coast to coast,” the statement said.

Sen. Rand Paul joined in, “No minister, anywhere, should ever have to submit a sermon to a government censor.”

At the Sons of Liberty, it was reported, “What’s even more interesting is that apparently Mayor Parker pulled a Barack Obama when it came to the subpoena of the pastor’s communications and sermons. According to Attorney [David] Feldman, Parker had nothing to do with the subpoenas and that she was never informed. However, when Starnes pressed him on when she became informed, Feldman said, ‘When you guys broke the story.’ Doesn’t that sound just like Barack Obama’s statement, ‘I learned about it in the news’?”

As WND reported first on Monday, the subpoenas came in the city’s legal defense of a “non-discrimination” measure that allows “gender-confused” people to use public restrooms designated for the opposite sex.

“Religious liberty is the very first protection in the Bill of Rights, the foundation of all our liberties,” said Sen. Ted Cruz said. “The city of Houston’s subpoenas demanding that pastors provide the government with copies of their sermons is both shocking and shameful.”

The subpoenas were issued to five pastors after opponents of the ordinance filed a lawsuit. The pastors were part of a coalition of Houston-area churches that opposed the law, but they were not part of the lawsuit.

Representing the pastors, the Alliance Defending Freedom filed a motion to quash the city’s demands to see the sermons, arguing the pastors are not party to the suit.

Enabling sexual predators

The lawsuit challenging Houston’s Equal Rights Ordinance alleges the city violated its own charter in its adoption of the law, which in May designated homosexuals and transgender persons as a protected class.

Critics say the measure effectively enables sexual predators who dress as women to enter female public bathrooms, locker rooms and shower facilities. A coalition of activists that includes area pastors filed suit Aug. 6 against the city and Parker after officials announced a voter petition to repeal the measure didn’t have enough signatures to qualify for the election ballot.

According to a deposition from Houston city Secretary Anna Russell, her office had counted 19,177 signatures in the petition to repeal the measure and then stopped, because the qualifying number of 17,269 signatures already had been reached, with a margin.

The pastors’ coalition explained, “Her position is that it would be a waste of resources to continue to count when we clearly and easily had met the city charter standard.”

However, the deposition revealed that the mayor and the city attorney, David Feldman, then simply overturned the result.

Russell said she was told to add the following statement to her count: “According to the city attorney’s office and reviewed by the city secretary the analysis of the city attorney’s office, 2,750 pages containing 16,010 signatures do not contain sufficient acknowledgment as required by the charter. Therefore, according to the city attorney’s office only 2,449 pages containing 15,249 signatures can lawfully be considered toward the signatures required.”

The lawsuit was filed shortly later.

‘Big Brother overlords’

The city’s subpoena of the pastors, ADF contends, doesn’t meet the requirements of state law that requires such efforts “be reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence, not be overly broad, seek only information that is not privileged and relevant to the subject matter of the litigation, and not cause undue burden or harassment.”

ADF said city officials are upset about the voter lawsuit and is “illegitimately demanding that the pastors, who are not party to the lawsuit, turn over their constitutionally protected sermons and other communications simply so the city can see if the pastors have ever opposed or criticized the city.”

“City council members are supposed to be public servants, not ‘Big Brother’ overlords who will tolerate no dissent or challenge,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley. “In this case, they have embarked upon a witch hunt, and we are asking the court to put a stop to it.”

ADF Litigation Counsel Christiana Holcomb said the city’s subpoena of sermons and other pastoral communications is needless and unprecedented.

“The city council and its attorneys are engaging in an inquisition designed to stifle any critique of its actions. Political and social commentary is not a crime; it is protected by the First Amendment,” she said.

‘Don’t get her one letter of the alphabet’

Among the many comments on the ADF site:

From Seabird, “This mayor is pure evil. To take a powerful stand by reading straight from the Bible of God’s laws and on sin … that is not political hate speech.”

From Ron, “I used to live and let live. But not any more. Not after the attacks on Chick Fil-A, Mozilla, Duck Dynasty, bakeries, photographers and even the pastors in our very own churches.”

From Mal, “Pastors, don’t get her one letter of the alphabet from your sermons.”

From Millie, “Who does she think she is? Who died and made her queen? … If she thinks she can silence God from speaking to His people, she is gravely mistaken. … We love the homosexual but hate the act.”

From John: “Enough is enough. How long will we sit back and take this kind of abuse and attacks against o[u]r faith and Christianity.”

And from CLCopeland, ” Houston … Have you lost your absolute minds. Y’all definitely have a problem.”

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/10/just-send-the-witch-a-bible/#cqZzYwjFbE5XZwZ8.99