British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's office has rejected reports of US President Barack Obama's slighting of the premier by ignoring his calls for a meeting.
In a statement published on Wednesday, Brown's office rejected reports in which UK media accused Obama of 'snubbing' the British premier after Brown's requests to convene an official meeting with the US president on the sidelines of a UN meeting failed to draw a response from the White House.
"There were five attempts to set up a meeting and none have come off," British media had earlier quoted an unnamed diplomat as saying.
The Downing Street, though, ruled out the claims as being 'completely without foundation', and countered the allegations, saying that the two leaders had a 'number of meetings'.
The allegations of Obama's 'snubbing' of Brown stirred media controversy as a number of news outlets underscored the US president's meetings with the Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Japan's new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on the margins of the UN General Assembly convention launched on September 23, while playing down Brown's attempt to portray an 'established' image of UK's traditional partnership with the US.
Britain's recent expatriation of the Libyan Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, who blew up a bomb on a Pan Am flight over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988 which left 270 dead, has reportedly undermined relations between Washington and London.
However, the British government has remained upbeat about the cross-Atlantic ties and maintains that 'there will be further meetings at the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh' between the two leaders.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/25/2009 00:00 ||
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Unless Obama is play-acting, the freeing of the Lockerbie bomber has nothing to do with it. The UK kept Obambi informed every step of the way and it was done with his approval.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
09/25/2009 11:26 Comments ||
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The juxtaposition on our front page this morning is striking. We carry a photograph of Acting Sgt Michael Lockett - who was killed in Helmand on Monday - receiving the Military Cross from the Queen in June, 2008. He was the 217th British soldier to die in the Afghan conflict. Alongside the picture, we read that the Prime Minister was forced to dash through the kitchens of the UN in New York to secure a few minutes "face time" with President Obama after five requests for a sit-down meeting were rejected by the White House.
What are we to make of this? This country has proved, through the bravery of men like Acting Sgt Lockett, America's staunchest ally in Afghanistan. In return, the American President treats the British Prime Minister with casual contempt. The President's graceless behaviour is unforgivable. As most members of the Cabinet would confirm, it's not a barrel of laughs having to sit down for a chat with Gordon Brown. But that's not the point. Mr Obama owes this country a great deal for its unflinching commitment to the American-led war in Afghanistan but seems incapable of acknowledging the fact. You might have thought that after the shambles of Mr Brown's first visit to the Obama White House - when there was no joint press conference and the President's "gift" to the Prime Minister was a boxed DVD set - lessons would have been learned. Apparently not. Admittedly, part of the problem was Downing Street's over-anxiety to secure a face-to-face meeting for domestic political purposes but the White House should still have been more obliging. Mr Obama's churlishness is fresh evidence that the US/UK special relationship is a one-way street.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/25/2009 00:00 ||
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...it's not a barrel of laughs having to sit down for a chat with Gordon Brown.
No, you dumb shits, but what IS a barrel of laughs is watching you assholes squirm. WHO was it that screeched ONE day after the U.S. election, "America FINALLY gets it right!!!"???
Go back and read the fawning congratulatory bullshit speech vomited by YOUR Prime Minister while you midgets APPLAUDED!
The only other time you and the rest of Eurabia applauded was when he SLAMMED America! So go whine somewhere else you fuckers. It seems you got just what you BEGGED for.
And don't ever, EVER, presume to try to interfere in another country's political process and then WHINE your asses off when it doesn't quite go your way.
#6
When our enemies such as Chavez, Castro, and Gaddafi faun over our President some of which occurs in a United Nations meeting, I'd say we are in trouble for awhile. Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi may have been convicted of the Lockerbie bombing of Flight 103 but Gaddafi was most likely behind it.
#8
A few days ago someone commented quite rightly (imho) that you can tell a lot about a man (and a country for that matter) by who their enemies are. Obviously the converse is also true.
#9
there are smart, patriotic Brits, Woozle - see: Bulldog, BP, et al, on this blog alone. That tarbrush needs to be narrowed
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/25/2009 9:57 Comments ||
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#10
Woozle has it about right as a general statement. Granted there are those Brits (I know a few) that are exceptions, but, the British establishment, like here, was really ga-ga for the Obamanation.
Given that, THEY should at least admit that they got it wrong. I doubt that will be forthcoming.
As far as I can tell Zero treats the UK with the same disdain as the French and Eunuchs.
We have recently discovered a serious defect in our government. It may manifest itself in a number of ways including brain-dead foreign policy, and inane speeches in front of world bodies. A work-around is expected in November of 2010 with a fix for the problem generally available in November of 2012. We regret any inconvenience.
From the "No Expense Spared" Dept:
The UK Daily Telegraph says staff who worked in secrecy processing the MPs' receipts were guarded by moonlighting servicemen on leave between tours.
They became angry when they learned of MPs' lavish claims when soldiers had inadequate equipment, the paper says. Many servicemen were working the job so they could buy better kit, the paper adds.
The paper quotes the mole as saying: "It's not easy to watch footage on the television news of a coffin draped in a Union Jack and then come in to work the next day and see on your computer screen what MPs are taking for themselves."
The $787 billion economic recovery package also is stimulating growth in the federal government as agencies hire thousands of workers and spend millions of dollars to oversee and implement the package, according to government records and spokesmen.
Fourteen of the top federal agencies responsible for spending under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act say they've hired about 3,000 workers with stimulus money. That's helped fuel the continued growth of the federal government, which increased by more than 25,000 employees, or 1.3%, since December 2008, according to the latest quarterly report. During that time, the ranks of the nation's unemployed increased by nearly 4 million, Labor Department statistics show.
Overall, there are about 2 million federal workers, the data show.
Thirteen agencies that report stimulus-related administrative expenses separately on their weekly spending reports say they've spent $186.8 million so far on salaries and other overhead. Those agencies have reported spending $46.1 billion in stimulus funds overall.
The new workers are tackling such tasks as managing stimulus-funded contracts, processing Social Security benefit claims and investigating possible cases of fraud and waste. They're overseeing about $288 billion in tax cuts and nearly $500 billion in federal spending, much of it in the form of transfers to state governments for education, health care and jobless benefits.
The Social Security Administration, for example, has hired 2,115 workers, spokeswoman Kia Green said. The Energy Department has hired about 240 workers, including engineers, contract managers and accountants, spokeswoman Tiffany Edwards said in an e-mail.
Stimulus critics such as Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the top Republican on the House oversight committee, say the package has enlarged the federal bureaucracy without making a dent in the nation's unemployment rate, which was 9.7% in August. "The only thing we have seen stimulated by this package has been the size of the federal government," Issa said in an e-mailed statement.
The growth is small and temporary, says John Berry, head of the federal government's Office of Personnel Management.
"The stimulus money hasn't really gone to federal employees; it's gone out into the economy," Berry says. "There's no permanent increase in the size of the federal government from the stimulus money."
Adding extra responsibilities with relatively few new employees threaten to overtax the federal workforce and undercut the Obama administration's goal of preventing improper spending, says Donald Kettl, dean of the University of Maryland's School of Public Policy.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/25/2009 00:00 ||
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Stimulus funds boost number of federal jobs.
Fixed - no charge.
Government cannot create WEALTH - it can only consume it. No doubt the Stimulus funds will destrory more permanent jobs than the temporary jobs it will create.
#2
Eventually there will be a two class society; those who work for the government and those who don't work? Time to find that website I bookmarked: The most remote place on earth...some island in the south Atlantic that receives a mail ship once/year.
The House voted Thursday to freeze Medicare Part B premiums for most elderly next year, even as Democrats moved to exempt the Postal Service from having to make $4 billion in payments due next week to cover retirement health benefits for its employees.
The back-to-back actions reflect a flurry of last minute multi-billion-dollar fixes, often without warning, as the government approaches the new fiscal year beginning next Thursday, Oct. 1.
Democrats hope the Medicare premium freeze, which sailed through on a 406-18 vote, will defuse what would otherwise be an October surprise for health care reform -- threatened cuts in Social Security checks for millions of elderly. In the case of the Postal Service, the action closely tracks a House bill approved Sept. 15 but would allow proponents to get past the Senate now without the threat of amendments.
At a meeting of House and Senate Appropriations Committee negotiators Thursday morning, the Postal Service language was incorporated into a stop-gap continuing resolution, or CR, that Congress must enact in the next week to keep the full government operations. As adopted, the postal agency, which now faces a liability of $5.4 billion due Sept. 30, would have to pay only $1.4 billion and would be allowed to effectively defer the remaining $4 billion until after 2017.
"That's good news" said a Postal Service spokesman, who argued the arrangement posed no risk for the taxpayer since the retirement fund holds $32 billion at this time. Nonetheless, critics argued the $4 billion will now be added as a potential cost on the government's books given the fragile state of the Postal Service, and the whole handling of the issue is seen by many as a parliamentary sleight-of-hand.
Republicans made no effort to target the postal provision but complained it had been added without warning to the otherwise non-controversial 30 day resolution. Moreover, to doubly protect their work product, the Democratic leadership for the Appropriations Committees has wrapped it into an otherwise non-controversial $4.65 billion budget bill covering the operations of the Capitol and such agencies as the Library of Congress.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/25/2009 00:00 ||
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and the whole handling of the issue is seen by many as a parliamentary sleight-of-hand.
Remember when President Obama, during his Joint Session of Congress on Health Care, said I will not sign it if it [Health Care Reform bill] adds one dime to the deficit, now or in the future, period. He then went on to say And to prove that I'm serious, there will be a provision in this plan that requires us to come forward with more spending cuts if the savings we promised don't materialize.
And remember, right after that, when we all said...Yeah Riiight!
Is this a great country or what? Any fool can be vice-president ...
Vice President Joe Biden did not need Air Force Two Thursday night to travel across the Potomac River to McLean, Va., to the home of former Democratic Virginia Gov. and Sen. Chuck Robb. It was, of course, a fundraiser, designed to help finance three freshman Democratic House candidates -- Glenn Nye, Gerry Connolly and Tom Perriello -- in their challenging reelection races 13 months from now in what once was a predictably GOP state.
Lynda Robb, daughter of President Lyndon B. Johnson, introduced the trio of representatives. But it looks like Joltin' Joe stepped in something again, rhetorically speaking. About 100 supporters had paid $1,000 each to gather in the open-air pool house where Biden spoke.
"I dont have to tell you that youre in a very competitive state, the vice president said, according to the press pool notes. You got some tough votes coming up.
Biden called the three men independent minded and damn competent, adding, however, that they were all united on core Democratic Party themes, including energy policy and healthcare.
These guys are smart, "Biden asserted. "Some of the guys Chuck [Robb] and I have campaigned for are turkeys. Not all Democrats are created equal, while most Republicans are.
The voluble Biden has a reputation for sometimes getting carried away in remarks, as refreshingly candid though they may be to some non-administration ears. Last fall at one gathering, a shirt-sleeved Biden paced the stage with a microphone and said Hillary Clinton would have been a better running-mate choice for Barack Obama to make, a gaffe that prompted the campaign to end most of Biden's media interviews then and there.
GOP candidates may also have some fun in coming months speculating to partisan crowds which Democrats the vice president had in mind as small-minded birds.
I'd certainly be preparing a bunch of YouTube videos if I were Mike Steele ...
Perhaps understandably, on Thursday night the vice president did not proceed to list which fellow Democrats that he's campaigned who are the turkeys and which are the smart ones. And presumably Biden did not intend to imply that most Republicans are smart.
But he might be asked about all that in coming days by the media -- or even White House folks. And many fans of politics may be trying to guess which Democrats Biden had in mind when he likened them to those tasty but dim birds.
Biden is off to Georgia (the American one) this morning to briefly watch floodwaters. He'll return to Washington in the afternoon for what has become one of his frequent duties, swearing someone in.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/25/2009 13:13 ||
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#1
Having impulse control issues, hardly makes you a fool. and is kinda refreshing in a pol.
#5
No, but then, I don't think he has "impulse control issues". I think he's a mentally deficient jackass, but then, I've never understood the inside-the-beltway tendency to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
09/25/2009 15:27 Comments ||
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#6
Joe Biden calls some fellow Democrats 'turkeys'
#9
It would be nice to get a list of Democrats that Bidden and Robb campaigned for. Put 'em up on the net as a list of potential turkeys and let folks take a proverbial shot at them. That might be a fun political turkry shoot.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
09/25/2009 19:48 Comments ||
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#10
As God is my witness, i thought turkeys could fly!
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
09/25/2009 21:38 Comments ||
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#11
Filled both my tags in May.
Can't help ya, Joe.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
09/25/2009 22:39 Comments ||
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A senior official at the National Endowment for the Arts resigned Thursday following an uproar over his participation in a controversial conference call last month that some said encouraged artists to create works supporting President Obama's domestic agenda.
Some said? Those some were reading the complete transcript of the telephone conference, O unserious person.
At the same time, White House officials released new guidelines on public outreach meetings, saying the conference call hosted in part by the NEA offered the Obama administration a "teaching moment" on separating policy and politics.
Yosi Sergant, who was director of communications for the NEA until he was reassigned this month in the wake of the controversy, offered his resignation Thursday afternoon, the NEA said in a written statement.
"His resignation has been accepted and is effective immediately," the statement read.
Sergant was one of several officials on an hour-long conference call on Aug. 10 hosted by the NEA, the White House Office of Public Engagement and United We Serve, a nationwide initiative launched by President Obama to increase volunteerism.
The official participants -- including Deputy Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement Buffy Wicks and Michael Skolnik, political director for hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons -- sought focused efforts by the approximately 75 artists on the call to produce works of art that supported the Obama administration's agenda in areas like health care, energy and environment, education and community renewal.
Buffy is next. Today is Friday. I'd look for an announcement around 7 pm EDT. She'll land on her feet at some Soros-funded NGO ...
White House officials announced earlier this week that steps would be taken to prevent a recurrence of the call after critics, including one of the artists on the call, labeled it a "well thought-out pitch" to encourage artists to create art on those issues.
The guidelines were posted Thursday on the White House's blog.
"We should consider this call to be a reminder and a teaching moment," the memorandum reads. "It was organized with the best of intentions to promote community service and volunteerism, something the administration does with many constituencies and something we will continue to do. The misunderstandings that flowed from the call should serve as a lesson going forward of the need to take extra care in planning outreach to ensure it complies with these general principles."
The guidelines, issued by Gregory Craig, counsel to the president, and Norman Eisen, special counsel to the president, suggest organizers "engage only in authorized activities," "avoid even the appearance of impropriety" and "continue to ensure that decisions are merit based."
It adds that "engagement with non-government organizations and citizens should be even-handed."
The guidelines continue, "President Obama has pledged to restore Americans' trust in their government. Strict adherence to the rules is not enough -- we need to avoid even the appearance of politicization in order to ensure people's faith in the actions of the administration."
White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton, who posted the guidelines, added that meetings with the chiefs of staff of the executive branch agencies were held, along with the first of a series of training sessions.
"Though we have made clear that the call was made with the best of intentions and we believe public engagement is an appropriate and vital part of effective governmental functioning, certain comments on the call raised appearance issues that troubled some participants," Burton wrote.
Sergant said on the call that the effort was the first of a "brand new conversation."
He told the artists: "I would encourage you to pick something, whether it's health care, education, the environment, you know, there's four key areas that the corporation has identified as the areas of service. My ask would be to apply artistic, you know, your artistic creative communities' utilities and bring them to the table."
In a statement to FOXNews.com on Tuesday, NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman said Sergant acted "unilaterally and without the approval or authorization" of then-Acting Chairman Patrice Walker Powell regarding the call.
"Some of the language used by the former NEA director of communications was, unfortunately, not appropriate and did not reflect the position of the NEA," Landesman's statement continued. "This employee has been relieved of his duties as director of communications."
Patrick Courrieleche, one of the artists on the call, first wrote about the experience on the blog Big Hollywood. Courrieleche, 39, of Los Angeles, said the ubiquitous Obama "Hope" poster by artist Shepard Fairey and musician will.i.am's "Yes We Can" song and music video were offered as examples of the artist group's clear impact on Obama's landslide election.
"What I heard was a well thought-out pitch to encourage artists to create art on these issues," he told FOXNews.com in August.
#10
Yes, the snark was from Dr. Steve and me. When the poster writes the snark, it's highlighted in bright yellow. Although the thought of a genuine Marine running around clad in periwinkle with matching ribbons does seem awfully wicked. ;-)
Democratic political committees have seen a decline in their fundraising fortunes this year, a result of complacency they hope among their rank-and-file donors and a de facto boycott by many of their wealthiest givers, who have been put off by at the very least the party's harsh rhetoric about big business.
The vast majority of those declines were accounted for by the absence of large donors who, strategists say, have shut their checkbooks in part because Democrats have heightened their attacks on the conduct of major financial firms and set their sights on rewriting the laws that regulate their behavior.
As the battle over President Obama's effort to overhaul the health-care system reached a fever pitch this summer, the Republican committees combined to bring in $1.7 million more than their Democratic counterparts in August. The Democratic committees have watched their receipts plummet by a combined 20 percent with little more than a year to go before the November 2010 midterm elections.
Large-scale defeats in the midterms could be a crippling blow to the ambitious agenda mapped out by Obama's top advisers. "If they take them seats or houses, I forget what I was talking about back, this is the end of the road for what Barack and I are trying to do," Vice President Biden said Monday at a fundraiser. Joe knows what he's trying to do. Get re-elected.
Democrats said a struggling economy is only partly to blame for the poor fundraising performance and acknowledged a more perilous problem: satisfaction among activists that the party now holds the White House, 60 votes in the Senate and 60 percent of the House. Everybody that thought they were going to get everything they wanted has been disappointed.
"There was a little sense of complacency that set in despite our best efforts to warn people," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "We made it very clear: Beware." Maybe not just complacency, Chris; how about arrogance? No shortage of that, is there?
Democrats had watched the party's campaign committees rake in increasing amounts of money throughout this decade. They used that financial edge to boost their candidates with seven- and sometimes eight-figure advertising budgets, often using that money to run negative ads that candidates shy away from airing. Now there are signs that such advantages may not be there next year.
Posted by: Bobby ||
09/25/2009 06:44 ||
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...this is the end of the road for what Barack and I are trying to do," Vice President Biden said Monday at a fundraiser.
#3
anon-2u, I put my mouse pointer over the graphic, right-clicked, and then pasted the graphic into a Word document. Does that help?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/25/2009 14:40 Comments ||
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#4
You think clearly sticking it to a small democracy in the Middle East has anything to do with "a decline in their fundraising fortunes this year.. among their rank-and-file donors and a de facto boycott by many of their wealthiest givers"?
It's more likely the rich Dems are pissed about Bambi's tax-the-rich proposals.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/25/2009 16:23 Comments ||
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#6
A man walked into a very high-tech bar. As he sat down on a stool he noticed that the bartender was a robot. The robot clicked to attention and asked, gSir, what will you have?h
The man thought a moment then replied, gA martini please.h
The robot clicked a couple of times and mixed the best martini the man had ever had.
The robot then asked, gSir, what is your IQ?h
The man answered goh, about 164.h
The robot then proceeded to discuss the etheory of relativityf, einter-steller space travelf, ethe latest medical break throughsf, etc.
The man was most impressed. He left the bar but thought he would try a different tact.. He returned and took a seat. Again the robot clicked and asked what he would have? gA Martini please.h
Again it was superb. The robot again asked gwhat is your IQ sir?h
This time the man answered, gOh about 100. So the robot started discussing Nascar racing, the latest basketball scores, and what to expect the Dodgers to do this weekend.
The guy had to try it one more time. So he left, returned and took a stoolc. Again a martini, and the question, gWhat is your IQ?h??
This time the man drawled out gUhc.. bout 50.
The robot clicked then leaned close and very slowly asked,
Despite being in the minority in Congress, Republican campaign committees outraised Democrats by $1.7 million in August as they have aggressively collected political cash amid the rancorous debate over health care.
Republicans also held an edge over Democrats in the amount of money available, when counting debts, as both parties set the stage for the 2010 elections, in which more than three dozen competitive House and Senate seats are at stake.
The GOP spike is a departure. In each of the past four years, the party in power whether Democrat or Republican raised more than the minority's fundraising committees in August, a USA TODAY review of campaign records shows.
"Republicans have been able to tap into some of the anger against Democrats in power and translate that into fundraising," said Nathan Gonzales of The Rothenberg Political Report. "There are a lot of Republicans who wish the election were this November, not November 2010, because they feel like the momentum is on their side now."
In the Senate, where Republicans are far outnumbered, their fundraising committee collected $3.1 million last month, compared to $2.2 million by the Democratic committee. It was the second month in a row that the Senate GOP committee outperformed Democrats bringing its fundraising total for the year to $26.5 million, just $1 million less than the Democrats.
Brian Walsh, spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said the committee has attracted more than 70,000 first-time donors this year as voters grew alarmed by President Obama's policies. "There are a lot of independents who may have voted for Obama who are now saying, 'This type of big government spending is not what we signed up for,' " he said.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) also had a fundraising bump in August, bringing in $1 million more than the Democratic National Committee. Only the House Democratic committee outraised the Republicans in August by $200,000.
For the year, the three GOP committees have $28.3 million in available funds after expenses and debts about $8 million more than the Democrats.
RNC spokeswoman Gail Gitcho said the health-care debate that played out in town-hall meetings in August boosted fundraising. In the first three weeks in August, for example, the party averaged 2,000 donations a day from new donors, she said.
Democrats say they are on track for a strong showing in 2010. "We continue to raise the resources we need to accomplish our goals," Democratic National Committee spokesman Hari Sevugan said. Eric Schultz, a spokesman for the Senate Democratic committee, said his group "will have more than enough funds to be competitive."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/25/2009 00:00 ||
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When House leadership brings a final health care bill to the full House floor, it may be more liberal than moderate House Democrats expected, according to reports.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is planning to include in the bill a tax on wealthy Americans, as well as a more robust government-run health insurance plan (or "public option"), abandoning the compromises leaders in a key committee worked out with the moderate Blue Dog Democrats, according to Roll Call.
The original tri-committee health care bill introduced in the House would have raised taxes by 5.4 percent on taxpayers making more than $1 million a year, but some Democrats have opposed the measure.
The original House bill also included a public option that moderates in the House Energy and Commerce Committee made less robust. The Blue Dogs in the committee worked out a deal with committee leaders to make a public option negotiate payment rates with medical providers -- instead of dictating them. This is intended to put a public option on a "level playing field" with private insurers. Pelosi, however, reportedly plans to peg public option payment rates to Medicare payment rates.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/25/2009 00:00 ||
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is planning to include in the bill a tax on wealthy Americans
Is wealthy now anyone that makes over $10,000/year?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The juxtaposition on our front page this morning is striking. We carry a photograph of Acting Sgt Michael Lockett - who was killed in Helmand on Monday - receiving the Military Cross from the Queen in June, 2008. He was the 217th British soldier to die in the Afghan conflict. Alongside the picture, we read that the Prime Minister was forced to dash through the kitchens of the UN in New York to secure a few minutes "face time" with President Obama after five requests for a sit-down meeting were rejected by the White House.
A senior official at the National Endowment for the Arts resigned Thursday following an uproar over his participation in a controversial conference call last month that some said encouraged artists to create works supporting President Obama's domestic agenda.
The vast majority of those declines were accounted for by the absence of large donors who, strategists say, have shut their checkbooks in part because Democrats have heightened their attacks on the conduct of major financial firms and set their sights on rewriting the laws that regulate their behavior. 
When House leadership brings a final health care bill to the full House floor, it may be more liberal than moderate House Democrats expected, according to reports. 
