Puerto Rico To Be Or Not To Become A State? Again

Puerto Rican Lawmakers Split On Statehood Vote



A vote on the future of Puerto Rico has created a rift in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, with two of the most prominent Hispanic members of Congress lining up against a House bill while the Puerto Rico delegate backs the legislation.

Rep. Nydia Velazquez, a New York Democrat and one of the most prominent Puerto Ricans in Congress, along with Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), have been outspoken in their opposition to the legislation, which would mandate a vote on the island on whether residents want to change their governing status as a commonwealth.

Yet Democrat Pedro Pierluisi, the Puerto Rican Delegate to Congress, campaigned on giving the island’s residents this vote on their future relationship with the United States.

He has Bi-partisan support in Congress for the Puerto Rican Democracy Act, and his Republican governor is on board. He got more than 1 million votes in his election in 2008. Opponents, he said, are just “rehashing” an election he already won.

His message to Velazquez and Gutierrez?

“Elections have consequences,” he told POLITICO on Monday.

The Puerto Rico bill is an arcane piece of legislation in a year of drastic overhaul in Washington, and it is flying under the radar while financial regulatory reform consumes most of the attention span of Congress. Democrats lost an initial vote on financial reform on Monday.

But even though it’s not exactly driving the national conversation, the Puerto Rico issue is not without its own dose of drama.

For Pierluisi, a supporter of Puerto Rican statehood, it’s about letting people have a vote on their future, he said. Never mind that Puerto Rican statehood is a serious long shot — he’s got a campaign pledge to keep.

“I promised I would do this,” he said.

The bill calls for a two-step vote in Puerto Rico: The citizens of the island would vote on whether they should keep their political status or change it.

Should citizens vote to change it, they would then have to choose among statehood, independence or a third option, which would set up sovereignty between the U.S. and Puerto Rico — similar to America’s relationship to the Marshall Islands and Micronesia. The vote is not binding, and should the nation choose to alter its relationship with the U.S., it would still be subject to further congressional legislation.

Velazquez and Gutierrez, along with outside opposition, think the legislation would create a vote in which the cards were stacked in favor of statehood. The Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico, which supports sovereignty, also opposes it. The PDP lost the 2008 elections for governor and delegate to Congress quite handily.

With the first round limited to a “yes” or “no” vote on the current status, opponents believe the statehood and independence factions will band together under the “no” option. Then, in the second round, Puerto Ricans will not be able to maintain their commonwealth status, which does have support.

Further, Gutierrez, a supporter of independence for the island, is upset with his leadership for the “nature of how the bill is moving through Congress,” an aide said. Gutierrez was surprised Democratic leaders put the bill on the floor and said the process “is not making him terribly happy,” the aide added.

Despite the opposition, with 181 co-sponsors — including a slew of Republicans — the bill is quite likely to pass when it comes to the floor this week. A recent whip count showed overwhelming support. Pierluisi said supporters will negotiate how the Senate will handle the bill should it pass the House.

Unlike previous pieces of legislation dealing with Puerto Rican political status, Pierluisi, the second-ranking official, introduced the bill.

GOP Gov. Luis Fortuno — also a former House delegate — supports it, and the governor is whipping Republican members of the House to vote for the bill. He has placed calls to GOP lawmakers, has allies ginning up support and is even jetting to D.C. for the vote. Pierluisi is briefing Hill aides Wednesday on the bill to drum up additional support.

Opponents plan to offer amendments calling for a constitutional convention — something Pierluisi is not in favor of and thinks could drown out the voice of the Puerto Rican people.

There’s also the concern that if the legislation passes both the Senate and the House and statehood is chosen by citizens and then rejected by Congress, Puerto Rican elected officials will institute what is called the Tennessee plan: They’ll “self-declare” statehood by sending shadow senators, along with six House members, to Washington without congressional approval. That’s a long shot but still a concern among some opponents of the legislation.


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Sources: Huffington Post, Politico, Wikipedia, Youtube, Google Maps

Morning Joe Show Hosts "Controlled" By White House Staff??

Ed Schultz Claims White House E-mails "Morning Joe" During Show


MSNBC's Ed Schultz claimed Friday that the White House communicates with Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski during their "Morning Joe" program.

Schultz said he observed this when he was on last Thursday's program:

So Mika starts looking at her Blackberry and so does Scarborough and obviously the White House is texting them or emailing them or whatever and they didn't like the show. Because Arianna had been on there, I'm on there, Howard Dean had been on there and they wanted some balance.

Now think about that - here's the White House getting in contact with 'Morning Joe' because they're afraid there's too many lefties on the air! Now if that's not sensitivity at its highest level, I don't know what is! I told ya a few days ago they had rabbit ears! They don't like anything that's being said right now, they're getting beat up!

In reality, this isn't as shocking as it might seem.

NewsBuster Mark Finkelstein reported in October that the White House e-mailed NBC's Savannah Guthrie while she was on the "MJ" set.

According to Guthrie, a senior White House advisor wanted her to tell Scarborough to "stop being an a**hole."

Honestly, you can't make this stuff up.

*****Update:

Ed Driscoll has an October video of Mika receiving an e-mail from the White House.






White House: Scarborough "A-Hole" For Mocking Obama's Nobel Prize


What a morning at Morning Joe! First, a "senior White House official" sent an email calling Joe Scarborough an "a-----e" for mocking Pres. Obama's Nobel Peace Prize. A bit later, responding to Rush Limbaugh's depiction of Scarborough as a "neutered, chickified moderate," Scarborough repeatedly claimed that Pres. George W. Bush had Rush's "testicles in a blind trust."

Scarborough and Time's Mark Halperin—whom no one would accuse of being a right-wing hack—had some good-natured fun with the Nobel news. A laughing-out-loud Scarborough suggested among other things that Marisa Tomei was more deserving of her Academy Award. But the Messiah will not be mocked, and it wasn't long before NBC's Savannah Guthrie, on the set, announced that she had received an email from "a senior White House official" telling Joe to "stop being an a------e" [spelled out in the original, according to Savannah]. Mika Brzezinski tried to soft-pedal the insult, claiming the White House was "joking." Real side-splitter! Is this the new standard of civility from Dems so offended by "you lie"?

No Peace Prize is likely to be awarded to Scarborough or Rush Limbaugh anytime soon. War has broken out between the two. Scarborough initiated hostilities by criticizing Rush for reveling in PBO's Olympic failure. Rush returned fire yesterday, calling Scarborough a "neutered, chickified moderate." This morning, Scarborough repeatedly claimed that W had Rush's "testicles in a blind trust" for eight years. Joe asserted that he had early and often warned Republicans against profligate spending during the Bush years, while others stood by in support of the president.

Will Rush riposte? Tune in at 12!

Note: who was that "senior White House official" who sent the 'a-----e' email? My guess is Robert Gibbs, a frequent Morning Joe guest. We know Gibbs has been on the Nobel beat since early today, Morning Joe mentioning it was he who woke PBO at 6 AM with the news.

UPDATE:

Another top Democratic official has thrown his hat in the ring and derided conservatives for mocking Obama's Nobel prize, this time likening the Republican party to "the terrorists" (via Ben Smith at POLITICO).

"The Republican Party has thrown in its lot with the terrorists - the Taliban and Hamas this morning - in criticizing the President for receiving the Nobel Peace prize," DNC communications director Brad Woodhouse told POLITICO. "Republicans cheered when America failed to land the Olympics and now they are criticizing the President of the United States for receiving the Nobel Peace prize - an award he did not seek but that is nonetheless an honor in which every American can take great pride - unless of course you are the Republican Party.

"The 2009 version of the Republican Party has no boundaries, has no shame and has proved that they will put politics above patriotism at every turn. It's no wonder only 20 percent of Americans admit to being Republicans anymore - it's an embarrassing label to claim," Woodhouse said.



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Sources: Newsbusters, Ed Schultz Show, Morning Joe, MSNBC, Radio Equalizer, Pajamas Media, Youtube, Google Maps