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What's the hottest ticket in the nation's capital? An engraved invitation to Tuesday's White House state dinner, the first hosted by President Obama. He and the first lady will honor India's prime minister. But in a departure from the traditional venue -- the elegant State Dining Room -- the Obamas will gather with a few hundred VIPs in a huge, heated tent on the South Lawn. The guest list for the black-tie gala remains a closely guarded secret. Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, will certainly be there. Several notables are good bets, such as Oprah Winfrey and...

Trying to counter perceptions that the trip failed to bring about solid results, advisor David Axelrod says, 'Things don't change overnight.' Reporting from Seoul - Even before President Obama boarded his home-bound flight for Washington, capping a grueling weeklong Asian tour, the White House was scrambling to combat perceptions that the trip failed to produce concrete results. Compared to Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, the U.S. is putting its alliances "on a firmer footing" and has "reasserted our leadership in the region," the White House said in a statement released to reporters hours before the president's flight home.

Psalms 109:8, Anti-Obama Web Cry: 'Let His Days Be Few; and Let Another Take His Office' A nice sentiment? Maybe not. The psalm reads, "Let his days be few; and let another take his office." Presidential criticism through witty slogans is nothing new. Bumper stickers, t-shirts and hats with "1/20/09" commemorated President Bush's last day in office. But the verse immediately following the psalm referenced is a bit more ominous: "Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow." The slogan comes at a time of heightened concern about antigovernment anger. Earlier this year, the president's senior adviser, David...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats and Republicans in Congress are working together to craft an immigration reform bill that could become law as early as next year, a senior White House adviser said on Sunday. That legislation could create a path to citizenship for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already in the United States, David Axelrod, senior advisory to President Barak Obama, told CNN's State of the Union with John King. "I think some good work is being done on both sides of the aisle to achieve that," Axelrod said, referring to the partisan divide on Capitol Hill.

As bright sunlight now pushes the mighty midget craft to DC, I continue my counseling of the PJ’d Prez. Somewhere along the trip, I have an epiphany. I decide the situation was hopeless. It’s time to accept the facts as they were and deal with their hideous reality. I no longer hold any hope that Barack Hussein Obama is capable of change. The evidence of his hatred for the USA is overwhelming. Weinbaum: “Mr. President, I know this may come as a shock, but most of America , including many former backers and several who are twittering, think you hate...

Obama's senior advisor said today that a plan to grant citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants in the U.S. is in the works and could be made law as early as next year. On CNN's "State of the Union" with John King, the White House's David Axelrod dodged a question asking him to commit to pushing immigration reform regardless of the political climate, but nonetheless confirmed earlier hints by Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano that Democrats and Republicans are working behind the scenes to pass major new legislation. "I think some good work is being done on both sides...

In another sign of detente between Fox and the White House, Major Garrett has landed an interview with President Obama, according to the Drudge Report. It will take place next week in China. -snip- UPDATE: A White House official tells POLITICO that the report is "not accurate." "We've not committed to doing any presidential interviews during the trip to Asia with any outlets at this point," the official said.

My phone rang at 3:00 AM., Wednesday. Groggily answering, I heard Hillary’s scratchy voice. She said they were sending AF1 to pick me up at a local airport to take me back to DC for an urgent visit with President Obama. I was sworn to secrecy. After guaranteeing her that I didn’t know where Bill was, I dressed. A limo awaited me. Man her campaign ads about those 3:00 AM phone calls were true. When I arrived at the airport, searching for that huge 747, passing one super jet after another, the government driver pulled up to a Cessna single...

Garrett: Why should millions of votes in New Jersey and Virginia matter less than a larger political atmosphere than the relatively smaller number of votes in New York-23? Axelrod: Well, i think you have to look at what those races were. The New York-23 race was the one race that was really a microcosm of the national debate. The other races in New Jersey and in Virginia were really state races very much focused on state issues and Jersey was very much focused on Governor Corzine. But in New York-23 the issues that we're discussing every day in Washington were...

"We'll always have Paris. We didn't have, we'd lost it until you came to Casablanca. We got it back last night." So famously said Humphrey Bogart to Ingrid Bergman in the marvelous conclusion of one of the greatest films of all time, "Casablanca." On Wednesday, MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell shamelessly used a version of this line on White House advisor David Axelrod. During her interview about yesterday's election results, including Bill Owens' victory in New York's 23rd Congressional district, Mitchell asked Axelrod about the Obama campaign documentary aired on HBO Tuesday. ...more (w/video)...

Here is video of CNN's Wolf Blitzer interviewing Robert Gibbs, David Axelrod, and Anita Dunn. Blitzer asked if there was anything they wish they had done "a little different." Axelrod answered "by in large things have gone as we intended." Axelrod said that Obama "does about two hours of homework every night and then he reads books and magazines after he's done with that." (Video)

Rush Limbaugh's tough criticisms of President Barack Obama on Fox News Sunday “broke” the White House's truce with Fox News, Bob Schieffer suggested during an interview with Obama's Senior Adviser, David Axelrod, on Face the Nation. After playing a clip of Limbaugh dismissing as “a photo-op” Obama's trip to Dover Air Force Base to witness returning casualties from Afghanistan and quoting Limbaugh's characterizations of Obama as “narcissistic,” “immature, inexperienced” and “in over his head,” Schieffer, seemingly referring to Limbaugh's remarks -- or, at least the decision by Fox News to feature Limbaugh on its Sunday interview show -- forwarded: Last...

President Obama is within weeks of making a decision on sending additional troops to Afghanistan, Chief White House Advisor David Axelrod said on "Face the Nation" Sunday.

David Axelrod responds to Rush Limbaugh's interview on Foxnews Sunday talking about the Dover Photo-op of the President,...Rush is obviously on their minds.. (Video)

Axelrod rebuffs Limbaugh for criticism By Tony Romm - 11/01/09 12:12 PM ET White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod on Sunday fired back at conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, who said earlier this morning the president was "a child" with an "out-of-this-world ego" that does not suit his "a five-minute career." "Well, I think it's a surreal day when you're getting lectures on humility from Rush Limbaugh," Axelrod told CBS' "Face the Nation." "The fact is that he is an entertainer. The president has to run the country," the adviser added. "He's the commander-in-chief. He has huge responsibilities. I think...

Obama fans are in a tight spot. As the White House turns ever harsher and more divisive, supporters are scrambling to explain why President Obama sounds so very different from Campaigner Obama. There are two possible explanations, neither of which is flattering. The first is that Obama was insincere on the campaign trail. The second is that his advisors – David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel -- are in control. The latter view is bound to take hold and it will not boost the president’s flagging popularity ratings. Many who voted for President Obama feel deceived. When he said in Florida...

U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue says a campaign by the White House and its allies to undermine his $200-million-a-year association has largely failed — and actually has helped raise even more money for its pro-business efforts. In a 75-minute interview with POLITICO, Donohue dismissed recent defections by Apple and at least four other companies, which quit over the Chamber’s opposition to Democratic climate change legislation — as essentially meaningless. “Members come and go all the damn time,” he said.

Rahm Emanuel once sent a dead fish to a live pollster. Now he's put a horse's head in Roger Ailes' bed. Not very subtle. And not very smart. Ailes doesn't scare easily. The White House has declared war on Fox News. White House communications director Anita Dunn said that Fox is "opinion journalism masquerading as news." Patting rival networks on the head for their authenticity (read: docility), senior adviser David Axelrod declared Fox "not really a news station." And chief of staff Emanuel told (warned?) the other networks not to "be led (by) and following Fox." Meaning? If Fox runs...

"His father was a great friend of my father." The reference to William Ayers' father was how Mayor Richard M. Daley began his defense of Barack Obama for his association with the unrepentant Weather Underground terrorist. Daley's father, of course, was Richard M. Daley, mayor of Chicago from 1955 until his death in 1976. Ayers' father was head of Commonwealth Edison, the Chicago-based utility, from 1964 to 1980. You bet they were great friends. That's governance, Chicago style. The head of government is friends with the heads of every big business, lobby and union, and together they make decisions on...

They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way. –Jim Malone, "The Untouchables" When Barack Obama promised to deliver "a new kind of politics" to Washington, most folk didn't picture Rahm Emanuel with a baseball bat. These days, the capital would make David Mamet, who wrote Malone's memorable movie dialogue, proud. A White House set on kneecapping its opponents isn't, of course, entirely new. (See: Nixon) What is a little novel is the public and bare-knuckle way in which the Obama...

The Obama administration likely erred in giving Congress summer deadlines to move on U.S. healthcare reform legislation, a top White House official said on Wednesday. "I might rethink that if we were to start over again," David Axelrod, a senior adviser to President Barack Obama, said at a talk at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. The White House had hoped to have key congressional committee pass healthcare bills by the summer, efforts that only lately have started to gain momentum. "I think it was important to do that (set deadlines) to move the Congress. But that gave opponents of...

Obama team member David Axelrod spoke on George Stephanopoulos’ This Week and went so far as to claim that FOXNews is “really not news,” but rather was opinionated entertainment dressed as news. Obviously, like all Americans, Axelrod and his Nobel Peace Prize-winning employer are entitled to their opinions about FOX, but what makes the episode even more comical is the fact that the “legitimate” news agencies fell for a hoax the day after Axelrod lambasted Rupert Murdoch’s network. As reported in the Los Angeles Times, a group of activists posing as U.S. Chamber of Commerce officials sent out a press...

Buried in the administration's multiple inflammatory statements on Fox News may be their strategy in all of this. In fact, Anita Dunn, David Axelrod, and Rahm Emanuel made hints at it in their statements. Here's the pertinent portion from Axelrod. The bigger thing is that other news organizations like yours ought not to treat them that way, and we’re not going to treat them that way. We’re going to appear on their shows. We’re going to participate, but understanding that they represent a point of view.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs singled out specific shows on the Fox News network for criticism ... ... Tuesday morning, continuing a public feud between the White House and the cable network that gained new momentum over the weekend. Meeting with reporters in his office for an off-camera question-and-answer session, Gibbs parried questions about the White House's harsh criticism of the cable news network, leveled on several Sunday shows by officials including White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and senior adviser David Axelrod. Asked if it was fair for the White House to label Fox an illegitimate news...

Here is video of Tucker Carlson on with Greta Van Susteren last night, where he called the White House War on Fox News "monumentally stupid." Greta said the whole thing strikes her as "silly." Carlson said he finds it "outrageous" that the White House is calling Fox News "illegitimate" when he personally saw another network (MSNBC) weep with joy on the air when Obama was elected. "I was there," Carlson said. Carlson said many Obama-voting journalists have admitted to him that "they went way too far" in their on-air support of Obama. Carlson also said "can you imagine David Axelrod...

Here is video of Karl Rove reacting to accusations by Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who claimed virtually nothing has been done in Afghanistan in eight years of U.S. presence there. Emanuel claimed they were having to start from scratch in Afghanistan. Rove pointed out in a picture of Obama's "War Council," that David Axelrod and Robert Gibbs are present at the meeting. Rove said that is "highly unusual." In his years in the Bush White House, he said he never attended a war cabinet meeting. He also said it is unwise to put your press secretary in a...

If it's Sunday, it's beat up on Fox News. Earlier today, my NewsBusters colleague Noel Sheppard posted the disparaging words White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel had for the Fox News Channel. That was a sentiment that Obama Senior Advisor David Axelrod echoed on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." Stephanopoulos pointed out comments from Mao Tse Tung admirer White House Communications Director Anita Dunn, which she criticized Fox News. ...more (w/video)...

At the end of a long interview that covered everything from health care to the economy to the deficit, George Stephanopoulos interviewed President advisor David Axelrod. At the end of the interview, Stephanopoulos asked Axelrod about the previous weekend's statements by Anita Dunn about Fox News. Here's how Alexrod responded. The only argument that Anita was making is that they are not really a news organization, if you watch even its not even their commentators, but a lot of their news program. It’s really not news, it’s pushing a point of view and the bigger thing is that other news...

WASHINGTON — White House advisers pledged on Sunday to book administration officials on Fox News despite claims by the president's inner circle that the cable network is a GOP mouthpiece whose programming “is geared toward making money.” Last week, White House communications director Anita Dunn said Fox News operates “almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party.” On Sunday, Rahm Emanuel, President Barack Obama's chief of staff, said, “It is not a news organization so much as it has a perspective.” In response to the criticism, Fox News executive Michael Clemente on Sunday accused...

White House senior adviser David Axelrod said Sunday that the Fox News Channel is "not really a news station" and that much of the programming is "not really news." "I’m not concerned," Axelrod said on ABC's "This Week" when George Stephanopoulos asked about the back-and-forth between the White House and Fox News.

I think he wants their ratings to go even higher.

David Axelrod, then Barack Obama’s chief campaign strategist, put it best when he told his boss: “You care far too much what is written and said about you.” That was in 2006 but, three years on, some things don’t change. Obama is President of the United States. His party controls both houses of Congress. And, yes, he just won the Nobel Peace Prize. But Obama still can’t shake off his fixation with the chief voice of the opposition – Fox News. It was the White House’s Anita Dunn who was wheeled out to declare that Fox was “a wing of...

At a time of tension between their organizations, White House senior adviser David Axelrod met with Fox News chairman and chief executive officer Roger Ailes two weeks ago, sources tell POLITICO. The two met privately in Manhattan during the president’s visit to the United Nations. The two discussed news coverage and the relationship between the organizations. Ailes is the founder of Fox News. A key part of Axelrod’s portfolio is the president’s image and broad message. POLITICO has asked Fox for comment, and will update with reaction. White House officials have expressed pique with what they consider heavy coverage of...

Roger Ailes, the chairman of Fox News, met with the White House adviser David Axelrod last month. And it is a testament to Fox’s influence that that the meeting is newsworthy at all. Politico broke the news Tuesday afternoon, prompting speculation about the nature of the conversation. A Fox press representative confirmed that the two men met over a cup of coffee last month during Mr. Obama’s visit to the United Nations. The representative called it a “cordial conversation.” Details of the conversation have not dribbled out yet. “I’ve known Roger for a long time,” Mr. Axelrod told Time magazine...

The Man Behind the Curtain and his Drones. ...."In a November 2008 in and interview with Spiegel, Soros made some comments that accurately outlined precisely the course that President Obama's administration would eventually pursue in 2009: "I think we need a large stimulus package which will provide funds for state and local government to maintain their budgets -- because they are not allowed by the constitution to run a deficit. For such a program to be successful, the federal government would need to provide hundreds of billions of dollars. In addition, another infrastructure program is necessary. In total, the cost...

Top White House adviser David Axelrod says "politics" played a key role in the International Olympic Committee's decision to reject President Obama's appeal in support of Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Olympics. In an interview moments ago on CNN, Axelrod said, "I don't view this as a repudiation of the president or the first lady. I think that there are politics everywhere, and there were politics inside that room." Axelrod said that a former head of the IOC was leading Madrid's effort for the games, and others involved in other Olympic bids also had connections with the IOC. "As...

Speaking on the semiofficial Obama news channel MSNBC, David Axelrod manifests the unbearable hubris and arrogance of the White House team. "I am proud of this president for going to make the case for this country," he said on MSNBC. "Anytime you're going to make the case for the United States of America, you're doing the right thing." [...] "I think it was well worth the investment of time and I have no regrets about that and I know [Obama] doesn't." Later on CNN: "It's the world's loss." It's the world's loss? Recall, Obama believes that no nation is superior...

Immediate reaction from Axelrod on MSNBC, says Obama will go anywhere to promote this country (ha), then say stuff about inside politics from the IOC...

The president's approval rating has fallen to an astonishingly low 4 percent in the Holy Land. As his envoy jumpstarts peace talks, Richard Wolffe reports on Obama's plans to win the ally back. Is Obama surrounded by self-hating Jews? That was one of the most ridiculous—and yet perversely telling—stories to emerge from the last several weeks of Israeli media coverage. Not because the president is surrounded by Jewish aides who want to sabotage their own identity. Far from it. David Axelrod openly reveres the old Jewish deli in Chicago known as Manny’s. He has a sign in his West Wing...

David Axelrod, senior adviser to President Barack Obama, will appear at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 7, at the University of Delaware's Mitchell Hall. The presentation, in which Axelrod will speak briefly and then engage in a conversation with Ralph Begleiter, UD's Edward and Elizabeth Goodman Rosenberg Professor of Communication and Distinguished Journalist in Residence, is part of the fall public affairs lecture series, “Assessing Obama's First Year.”

George Soros is one of the big sugar daddies of the Democratic Party. He also is the ruler of an archipelago of so-called 527 groups that pose as non-partisan activists groups, but in fact are often hyper-partisan (such as MoveOn.Org), and are often employed by Democrats to influence elections. Soros, for years, has been the top funder of such groups. His influence among Democrats is widespread and enduring (and was well-documented by David Horowitz and Richard Poe in their book, The Shadow Party: How George Soros, Hillary Clinton and Sixties Radicals Seized Control of the Democratic Party). His pet think-tank,...

Watch as White House Senior Advisor David Axelrod bumbles his way through an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. During some incoherent rambling, Axelrod attempts to explain why President Obama favors more consumer "choice" BY OPPOSING GREATER CHOICE available through increased health insurance competition across state lines:

Adapted from the upcoming book "The Battle for America 2008: The Story of an Extraordinary Election" Here's an excerpt of the adaptation - more at the link: "Axelrod also warned that Obama's confessions of youthful drug use, described in his memoir, "Dreams From My Father," would be used against him. "This is more than an unpleasant inconvenience," he wrote. "It goes to your willingness and ability to put up with something you have never experienced on a sustained basis: criticism. At the risk of triggering the very reaction that concerns me, I don't know if you are Muhammad Ali or...

A top White House aide said Sunday that the thousands of conservative "tea party" demonstrators who marched in Washington on Saturday were "wrong" because they represent only a fringe section of society. "I don't think it's indicative of the nation's mood," David Axelrod, the president's top adviser, said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "My message to them is, they're wrong." ((snip)) Mr. Axelrod vowed that the administration would not be "distracted" by those railing against its health care reform proposal.

White House senior adviser David Axelrod says that the demonstrations in Washington, D.C., Saturday do not represent the views of the broader public when it comes to health care reform.

Schieffer calls Rep. Joe Wilson a "back-bencher" "March in Washington capped off an angry summer." Schieffer: "On the floor of the congress, where a back-bencher Congressman called the President a liar" ...Hey Bob, did you call our President a back-bencher Senator when he was a candidate since he had only 143 days in the Senate?

President Barack Obama's senior adviser, David Axelrod, said Sunday conservative protests in Washington are not indicative of the country's mood. Conservatives have the right to protest, Axelrod said on CBS's "Face the Nation, but "they don’t represent a mainstream view." In early CBS excerpts from a taped "60 Minutes" interview to air Sunday night, Obama says on the 24-hour news cycle, "the loudest shrillest voices get the most attention." "One of the things I’m trying to figure out is how can we make sure civility is interesting," Obama said.

Hard to believe the arrogance of this Adm., Millions of people protesting everything Obama including Health Care,....... David Axelrod on Deface the Nation says "They're Wrong" (Video)

The White House has a message to the tens of thousands of protesters who railed against big government during a rally in Washington Saturday: You're wrong. White House senior adviser David Axelrod said Sunday that the protesters, part of the "tea party" movement, do not represent the views of the broader public when it comes to health care reform. "I don't think it's indicative of the nation's mood," Axelrod said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "You know, I don't think we ought to be distracted by that. My message to them is, they're wrong." Axelrod said that President Obama has...

<p>The White House has a message to the tens of thousands of protesters who railed against big government during a rally in Washington Saturday: You're wrong.</p> <p>White House senior adviser David Axelrod said Sunday that the protesters, part of the "tea party" movement, do not represent the views of the broader public when it comes to health care reform.</p>