Welcome to Fusion October 28, 2013 09:15 AM By MICHAEL FALCONE ( @michaelpfalcone ) NOTABLES OBAMA TALKS TO FUSION: Fusion, a brand new television network formed by a joint venture between the Disney/ABC Television Network and Univision Communications Inc., launches today with an exclusive interview with President Obama airing during a special 7:00 p.m., ET edition of the new networks flagship show: AMERICA with Jorge Ramos. President Obama will speak with Fusion White House Correspondent and ABC News Senior National Correspondent JIM AVILA. The interview will take place Monday afternoon at the White House and air first on AMERICA. ALSO, TED CRUZ AND SHERRIFF JOE: In addition, Fusions JORGE RAMOS sits down with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) for their first one-on-one interview. They discuss immigration reform, Cruzs political future and Obamacare among other topics. PREVIEW: fus.in/1c52mlS. Plus, Ramos traveled to Arizona last month to visit the U.S.-Mexico border. While there he spent time with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The first portion of that report will also air on the inaugural edition of AMERICA. PREVIEW: fus.in/1759nmR. MEET FUSION: Fusion is a news, pop culture and satire TV and digital network. It will engage and champion a young, diverse, and inclusive America with a unique mix of smart and irreverent original reporting, lifestyle, and comedic content. Fusion will launch in millions of households nationwide today as six major distributors have already agreed to carry the cable network including Cablevision, Charter, Cox, AT&T U-Verse, Verizon FiOS and Google Fiber. For more information about Fusion visit fusion.net or follow Fusion on Twitter @ThisIsFusion and Facebook @FusionNetwork. THE ROUNDTABLE ABCs RICK KLEIN: Over the summer, back when the world was just getting to know Edward Snowden and the documents he introduced us to, President Obama expressed hope for a thoughtful, fact-based debate that would then lead us to a better place. This is quite the detour. Its becoming a global crisis - friendly foreign governments lining up to express outrage that their communications were monitored by the United States. Theyre responding to domestic political pressures in showing their outrage, and the president cant ignore his, either. Already, Republican members of Congress are lining up to outline the necessity for American snooping on even its allies. But back to that original quote: fact-based. Yes, internal reviews are ongoing, and the president himself is not involved in every operational detail. But spying on allied heads of state is kind of a big deal. If the president himself didnt know those facts, what confidence can he convey about the ability to have that thoughtful debate? ABCs JEFF ZELENY: The beleaguered health care law faces a critical week. Yes, Kathleen Sebelius is scheduled to testify for the first time about the troubled website at a House Committee on Wednesday. But a deeper sense of concern at the White House comes from the Senate, where a growing coalition of Democrats are calling for at least some provisions of the Affordable Care Act to be delayed. This is quickly becoming an issue for the partys Senate candidates, too. With the Senate returning to the Capitol this week, health care will once again be a chief topic of discussion. The White House may find the Democratic calls for delay increasingly difficult to ignore. ABCs SHUSHANNAH WALSHE: Ted Cruz spent the weekend in Iowa, his third trip to the presidential testing grounds in less than 3 months, and he told Republicans at the Iowa GOP Ronald Reagan dinner: We need to unify, we need to come together, and let me tell you growth and freedom are principals and ideals that unify the entire Republican Party, Cruz said, explaining that all aspects of the Republican Party can come together if we get back to our core principals. But, he still laid the blame squarely on the unsuccessful Obamacare effort on Senate Republicans saying had we stood together Im convinced the outcome of this fight would be very, very different. Now, we didnt accomplish our ultimate policy goal in this battle and we didnt because unfortunately a significant number of Senate Republicans chose not to unite and stand side by side with House Republicans, Cruz said. He was introduced by Iowas governor, Terry Branstad and he made a point of saying he wanted to help bring all Republicans together and urged the party to follow Reagans 11th commandment: Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican. We need to be united as a party and we need to get our message across to the people of this great country Branstad said. After the dinner, Cruz was asked about Branstads comments and whether he had violated Reagans 11th commandment. He answered that he is a big believer that Republicans need to stand for principal. abcn.ws/17kf6Y9 WHAT WERE WATCHING ANN COULTERS POLITICAL LOVE AFFAIR WITH TED CRUZ. Ann Coulter is standing by her love, Ted Cruz. The conservative pundit told ABCs RICK KLEIN that Cruz has a huge future in the Republican Party after leading the effort that led to the 16-day government shutdown earlier this month. I think he has a very bright future, Coulter said of Cruz. He was over in the House whipping the House Republicans. He was like a general in this. Coulter, who has previously called the government shutdown magnificent, explained why she supported Cruzs hard-line stance of refusing funding for the government unless the presidents health care law was repealed. I think it was a good thing, because it branded Republicans as the anti-Obamacare party, Coulter said. Obamacare is less popular than the bubonic plague right now. Thats a great branding, Coulter has just published a new book Never Trust a Liberal Over 3 - Especially a Republican, in which she makes a case that Republican activists groups, including some that have the support of Cruz, should stop mounting primary challenges to Republican members of Congress in an effort to replace less conservative Republicans. For more from Coulter, check out this episode of Power Players: yhoo.it/17nkWbr BUZZ SENATOR BARRASSO CALLS HHS SECRETARY, THE LAUGHING STOCK OF AMERICA. As technical problems continue to plague the Obamacare rollout, Senator and orthopedic surgeon Dr. John Barrasso, R-Wy., once again called for Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to resign, reports ABCs ISOBEL MARKHAM. Shes already, as of Saturday Night Live last night, the laughing stock of America, he said on This Week this Sunday. Shes lost considerable credibility. Sebelius was parodied in the opening segment of Saturday Night Live last night, poking fun at the failures of the Healthcare.gov website. The Obamacare rollout has been beleaguered by problems since the enrollment system went live at midnight on Oct. 1. In his weekly address Saturday, President Barack Obama said Healthcare.gov had been visited more than 20 million times since its launch. However, only around 700,000 Americans have successfully submitted applications. The website was supposed to be the easy part of this, Barrasso said on This Week Sunday. This is just the tip of the iceberg of problems, with bigger problems to come. abcn.ws/19KouC2 MANCHIN ON SEBELIUS: I THINK SHE SHOULD STAY. West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin acknowledged that it was a mistake to go forward with the launch of Healthcare.gov on October 1, but didnt agree that Sebeliuss resignation should be part of the solution. I think she should stay and I think she will get the job done, Manchin told GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS on This Week. A Congressional hearing on Thursday revealed that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services allowed just two weeks to road test the website before the launch and was aware in advance of problems that would likely cause system malfunction. Sebelius is due to testify before Congress on the rollout Wednesday. Frustrations with signing on to the new system have led some on Capitol Hill, including Senate Democrats, to once again call for a delay. Manchin is calling for a one-year delay of the penalty for failing to sign up for the individual mandate. Instead of the current $95 fine taking effect in January 2014, a larger penalty of $325 would hit those not signed up by January 2015. Itll still induce people to get involved but itll also give us the time to transition in, Manchin said. abcn.ws/19KouC2 TODAY AT THE WHITE HOUSE: President Obama visits FBI headquarters at noon to deliver remarks at the installation ceremony for the new Director, James Comey. Later, Obama meets privately with Secretary of State Kerry, where U.S. surveillance of world leaders will no doubt be a likely topic of discussion. CHENEY SLAMS SEN. MIKE ENZI ON FUNDRAISING, SAYS THEY ARENT FISHING BUDDIES. Sunday on This Week, former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney slammed the man his daughter Liz Cheney is challenging for his Wyoming Senate seat - Republican Sen. Mike Enzi - calling out the three-term senator for his political fundraising and his characterization of their relationship. Mike has a record, if you go back and review his finances, of getting about 84 percent of his campaign funds from Washington-based PACs. Thats more than any senator of either party. He doesnt get much money from Wyoming, Cheney told ABCs GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS. In the quarter just reported, Liz got 25 percent of her funds from Wyoming; he got 13 percent of his from Wyoming. She outraised him in the last quarter, over a million dollars in the first quarter out there. Cheney also took Enzi to task for reportedly saying that the pair are fishing buddies. Mike also said he and I are fishing buddies, which is simply not true. Never happened, Cheney said. The New York Times reported in July that Enzi recalled that the two bonded over fly-fishing, when they were on the same team competing in a popular annual One Fly tournament - fishing with the same fly lure all day - in the Snake River. Despite being behind in the polls and gaining little support from Republicans in Washington, Cheney said his daughter had just started in the race and would eventually prevail in the final vote next year. Shes going full speed. Shes going to win and Washington isnt going to decide whos the next senator from Wyoming - Wyoming is, Cheney said. abcn.ws/18Z318K TED CRUZ COY ON 2016, SAYS FOCUS IS 100 PERCENT ON THE U.S. SENATE. Sen. Ted Cruz has visited the presidential testing grounds of Iowa three times in less than three months, but the Texas Republican is coy when asked directly whether hes ruled out running for president in 2016. My focus is 100 percent on the U.S. Senate, Cruz told reporters in Le Mars, Iowa this weekend while leaving a fundraiser here for fellow tea partier Rep. Steve King who represents this part of the state. It is a tremendous honor to be here, the reception has been very warm, very encouraging and my focus is on the substance of the battles we have right now. … My focus is 100 percent on the U.S. Senate because that is where these fights are being fought. Three years out from the next presidential election, Cruz was on a two-day swing of the state. Saturday he went on Kings annual pheasant hunt here in the northwest part of Iowa. Its also a fundraiser for Kings congressional campaign and has become a must-stop for potential presidential candidates. The congressman is a sought-after endorsement from candidates before the caucuses. Wearing a navy checked shirt and jeans, Cruz told reporters he bagged two pheasants on the hunt. abcn.ws/1eWiqs2 WHOS TWEETING? @PhilipRucker: In case youre keeping count, @GabbyGiffordss Des Moines crowd was double @TedCruzs this weekend desmoinesregister/article/20131028/NEWS09/310280039/1056/news05 … @McCormickJohn: Reagan Revolution Misses Tax Fiefdoms Flourishing in U.S. (day 1 of 4-day @BloombergNews series on local government): bloomberg/news/2013-10-28/reagan-revolution-misses-tax-fiefdoms-flourishing-in-u-s-.html … @Jordanfabian: Group of Latino donors wants to go after lawmakers blocking immigration reform fus.in/19MFhV0 via @mateagold @seanspicer: Promises Unkept-After Nearly One Month Into The ObamaCare Rollout, A Look At Obamas Broken Promises gop/?p=21840 @matthewjdowd: Good Monday am! Can we each look at everything in our lifes as if we are borrowing them including relationships? With no ownership? Tryin
Posted on: Mon, 28 Oct 2013 16:18:15 +0000
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