Free Republic

With the Kanjorski Meme still spreading (see Ben Smith, Andrew Leonard, Moldbug, and more), I think I'm finally able to squash it with some hard figures: there never was a $500 billion outflow from any asset class in the space of a couple of hours or even weeks, and the Fed never shut down or froze any money-market accounts. This is not the first time that Kanjorski has made these allegations. But first, it's worth going through the timeline. On September 15, Lehman Brothers failed. The Reserve fund -- which was $64 billion that morning, and which had a substantial...

Federal limits on debit card processing fees will force banks to charge customers more for services, making accounts too expensive for as many as 5 percent of customers, JPMorgan Chase & Co's chief executive said on Friday. The rules, proposed as part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, would cap the fees that merchants pay banks for processing debit card transactions at 12 cents each. That is almost 75 percent less than the average 44 cents per transaction that banks get now. U.S. banks could lose about $13 billion of their annual industry debit processing revenues because of the rules,...

Ex-Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., pens an op-ed in the New York Times today about the proper political response to this weekend's tragedy. I wholeheartedly support the former Congressman (Kanjorski lost his seat in November) when he argues that, following this weekend's shooting, Congressman need to remain open and accessible to the public. However, Kanjorski is rather hypocritical when he climbs up on his soapbox: We all lose an element of freedom when security considerations distance public officials from the people. Therefore, it is incumbent on all Americans to create an atmosphere of civility and respect in which political discourse can...

NANTICOKE - In his first and only major post-election interview, U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski contended his tenure was better than one of the region's legendary congressmen, partially credited himself with two decades of improvement in the local economy, defended his role in his nephews' failed technology company and said he "deserved to lose." "The fact of the matter is, I probably did more public works in this congressional district than any other member of Congress," Kanjorski said while seated in the living room of his home during an almost two-hour interview just before his 13th and final term officially...

Despite President Obama’s suggestion that he’s willing to compromise with Republicans to extend all the Bush tax cuts at least temporarily, not all Democrats are willing to follow him down that path. Amid a liberal backlash against the president, Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., told us on ABC’s “Top Line” today that there isn’t “any way in the world” he would agree to extending the tax cuts for upper-income American – even if it’s only done so temporarily. “I would suspect most Democrats agreed with the president when he campaigned against allowing tax reductions for millionaires and billionaires -- took that...

Two men and a woman who identified themselves as members of the Democratic National Committee were asked to leave an election poll in the City of Hazleton on Tuesday. Eileen Whitaker, the election judge in Ward 8, which has its polling place in Hazleton City Hall, said the men, one of whom identified himself as Edmund F. Brown, were escorted out when they told poll workers they didn't reside or vote in Hazleton. Whitaker said Brown appeared at the poll as it opened at 7 a.m., but became a nuisance. "He was obnoxious, but a nice obnoxious," Whitaker said. "He...

With Rep. Paul Kanjorski vanquished, the congressional horse-trading will begin to determine the leadership structure of the House Financial Services Committee. Kanjorski (D-Pa.) is Finance Chairman Barney Frank’s top deputy on the committee, but that will all change in January when the Republican majority takes over. After surviving two previous challenges, Kanjorski succumbed Tuesday to challenger Louis Barletta, a mayor in the 13-term congressman’s district in the northeast part of the state. With Kanjorski out of the way and the Democrats headed into the minority, all eyes will turn to whether the party leadership passes the baton to ultra-left California...

Oh, they sure got their gears ground after hearing that Lou Barletta (of the famed HAZELTON, PA) got elected to Congress from Pennsylvania and beat the open borders lib Dem!Opening paragraph of the story.Link to original Spanish version now out.

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — These could be the final days of Democratic Rep. Paul Kanjorski’s political career. But the longtime Pennsylvania incumbent is hardly running toward the finish line with a blitz of retail campaigning. Facing Republican Lou Barletta for the third time in eight years, Kanjorski has in many ways run the classic incumbent-style campaign: Hype your accomplishments with franked mail, blanket the airwaves with TV ads, bring federal dollars home to the district and avoid unscripted situations. It's also the type of campaign that's proved difficult to pull off this year, one laced with populist unrest and anti-incumbent rage....

NANTICOKE - Former President Bill Clinton argued for re-electing U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski on Tuesday, contending the congressman helped reverse a Republican tide of red ink when he was president and delivered a flood control project that avoided major damage in the Wyoming Valley. "I'm crazy about Paul Kanjorski," Clinton told more than 600 people gathered in the gymnasium at Greater Nanticoke Area High School in the congressman's hometown. In a 38-minute speech, Clinton said Democrats have the nation on the path to recovery, but need more than 21 months to fix an economy that eight years of Republican...

U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski sometimes talks now as if he's free to say anything. The Nanticoke Democrat has finally achieved a certain stature as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee's capital markets subcommittee, having written key parts of the Wall Street reform bill. He apparently chats fairly regularly with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden or their staffs. He's good friends with former President Bill Clinton, who will campaign locally for him again Tuesday. Mr. Kanjorski is either confident or comfortable - confident voters will understand the power of his seniority or what he really means...

Did Obamacare kill the Catholic hospital Joe Biden was born in? That’s been a matter of battling press releases, news reports, and even a radio ad in Pennsylvania in recent days, as the vice president went back to Scranton — home of Mercy Hospital, where he was delivered — to campaign for Rep. Chris Carney. The controversy got fired up when Kevin Cook, the CEO of Mercy Partners — a health-care system run by the Sisters of Mercy, with three hospitals in Pennsylvania — commented about those three locations’ being put up for sale: “Health-care reform is absolutely playing a...

Mercy Health Partners in Scranton are selling their hospitals, in part due to Obamacare. (One of the hospitals, Mercy Hospital, is the hospital Joe Biden was born at). This is the ad targeting the 2 Catholic Dems (Kanjorski and Carney) who voted FOR Obamacare.

A mushrooming political battle over ObamaCare involving the White House, two incumbent Pennsylvania congressmen, three Catholic hospitals and a nun has just exploded in, of all places, Scranton, Pennsylvania. Charges from the Scranton medical community of intimidation by the Obama White House and its allies are filling the air. All of this just as Vice President Joe Biden arrives in Scranton today to raise money for one of the participants.

Dear Congressman Kanjorski: I am so disappointed with you. The country is beset by record unemployment and a deep economic downturn. People — your people — are truly suffering. Pocono voters will choose their leaders in November. Your constituents. In your 11th Congressional District. Yet you refuse to appear before them. You've scheduled only one debate with your opponent, Hazelton Mayor Lou Barletta, to take place less than a week before Election Day. And that's it. The Pocono Record asked you to meet with its editorial board. To sit across the table from your challenger, to stake your positions on...

In dueling press releases from the Barletta and Kanjorski campaigns, each tout their support and endorsements from Second Amendment groups. Each of their press releases are posted below in their entirety and without comment in the order received by the Examiner. Lou Barletta receives highest rating from NRA, endorsements by Gun Owners of America, Firearms Owners Against Crime Congressional candidate Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta received the highest rating possible from the National Rifle Association and the endorsements of two other leading national pro-Second Amendment groups. Firearms Owners Against Crime and Gun Owners of America both strongly endorsed Mayor Barletta in...

From this morning's Squawk Box on CNBC. See link.

Poll results that show Lou Barletta with a decisive lead in the 11th Congressional District race did not come as a surprise to one local political analyst. The second Times Leader 2010 Election poll, conducted by Critical Insights of Portland, Maine, shows that 43 percent of the 221 people polled favor Barletta, the Republican mayor of Hazleton, compared to 32 percent for 13-term Democratic incumbent Paul Kanjorski and 25 percent undecided. At the 95 percent confidence level, the margin of error for the 11th District was plus/minus 6.58 percent. Jeff Brauer, 39, political science associate professor at Keystone College in...

The third time may well be the proverbial charm for Lou Barletta and his quixotic bid to unseat veteran Democratic Rep. Paul Kanjorski. Kanjorski, the influential senior Financial Services Committee member and frequent “Squawk Box” guest on CNBC, is fighting nothing less than a legacy-challenging battle to keep his seat. Kanjorski was instrumental in putting together this year’s financial reform legislation, particularly the areas that addressed the too-big-to-fail institutions that triggered the credit crisis. So his seat is a biggie in terms of the Washington governmental structure. As a 13-term incumbent representing northeastern Pennsylvania, Kanjorski had been breezing through election...

President Barack Obama is throwing his support to vulnerable Pennsylvania Rep. Paul Kanjorski – not that Kanjorski’s letting anyone know about it. On Thursday, Obama released an e-mail to supporters blaring: “I need you to support Paul Kanjorski for Congress” and urging them to go “door to door” drumming up support for Kanjorski. “You can make calls to voters in your area, and make sure they get to the polls. And you can spread the word about the importance of voting for Paul Kanjorski to your family, friends, and neighbors,” the e-mail read. But Kanjorski’s campaign never sent out a...