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Dr. Brantly joins Obama to encourage Ebola volunteers in West Africa, tamp down calls for quarantines and travel bans

Medical professionals in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea "have fought a valiant effort against this menace," Dr. Kent Brantly said, but more are "desperately needed."

Medical professionals in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea "have fought with valiant effort against this menace," Dr. Kent Brantly said, but more are "desperately needed." (Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press)

updated with comments from NJ Gov. Chris Christie

WASHINGTON – Dr. Kent Brantly, the Fort Worth doctor who became the first American to contract Ebola in treating patients in West Africa, starred at a White House event meant to put a spotlight on the need for health care workers to volunteer to fight the outbreak.

The medical professionals of the three nations battling Ebola – Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea – “have fought with valiant effort against this menace,” Brantly said, introducing President Obama. “More medical professional are desperately needed.”

Obama warned that the United States “can’t hermetically seal ourselves off” from the rest of the world. He urged the public and state leaders to set aside fear — a term he invoked four times in 15 minutes, in pointed remarks aimed at displaying displeasure with state-level efforts to quarantine nurses and doctors returning from the Ebola hot zone.

“If we’re discouraging our health care workers who are prepared to make these sacrifices … then we’re not doing our job” in terms of protecting Americans, Obama asserted. “What we need right now is these shock troops who are out there leading globally. We can’t discourage that. We’ve got to encourage it and applaud it.”

Behind the scenes, the White House pressured governors in New Jersey and New York to ease policies regarding returning health care workers.

Several hundred guests filled seats in the ornate East Room of the White House.

Obama warned against reacting to fear, hysteria or misinformation. One reason the world looks to America, he said, is because of its cool- headed response to a crisis.

The president was flanked by doctors and other health workers, many in white lab coats.

Brantly’s wife, Amber, sat in the front row, and Obama joked that her husband had gained some weight since the last time he was at the White House more than a month ago, shortly after recovering from his own bout with Ebola.

“Each of you studied medicine because you wanted to save lives. The world needs you more than ever,” the president said.

The health care workers serving in Africa, Obama said, are a “shining example” to the world. And he vowed that with ongoing efforts, international efforts will “contain and ultimately snuff out this outbreak of Ebola.”

“I know that with all the headlines and all the news, that people are scared. … But the reason I’m so proud of this country is because when there are times for us to step up and do the right thing, we do the right thing,” Obama said,

With indirect language, he needled and mocked critics — including many political conservatives — who speak of “exceptionalism” but then promote policies such as travel bans and quarantines. These, he said, amount, to pretending the problem will go away.

“When I hear people talking about American leadership, and then are promoting policies that would avoid leadership and have us running in the opposite direction and hiding under the covers, it makes me a little frustrated,” he said.

In New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie, head of the Republican Governors Association and a possible 2016 White House contender, blasted Obama for issuing “lectures.”

He called it “common sense” to isolate health workers returning from working with Ebola patients in West Africa for the full 21-day incubation period.

“This is our policy. It will be our policy as long as this crisis is going on,” he told reporters. “I don’t know when the White House is going to get around to admitting that and not giving us seven-minute lectures from the South Lawn.”

And he took issue with the idea that quarantines will discourage volunteers.

“It’s part of the sacrifice. I’m sure none of these folks want to come home and get anybody else sick… Folks should understand. Part of the sacrifice is going over there and the remainder of the sacrifice is when you come home,” remaining quarantined for three weeks, Christie said.

Brantly is medical missions director for Samaritan’s Purse. He contracted Ebola while working in Liberia, and was the first person treated for Ebola in the United States. He has donated blood plasma to other patients since being cured at Emory University Hospital.

The group behind the president included doctors and others who either have worked against Ebola in West Africa or plan to travel there soon. Doctors and nurses who treated Dallas nurse Nina Pham at NIH were also on stage and in the audience, along with healthcare workers from a variety of nonprofit groups and others.

The president’s new “Ebola czar,” Ron Klain, was on hand, along with a Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health and a number of top White House aides, including homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell and National Security Adviser Susan Rice.

Ebola: White House sees NJ quarantine as deterrent for doctors and nurses to volunteer in West Africa

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is concerned that quarantining health care workers returning from stints in the Ebola zone of West Africa — as New Jersey did with nurse Kaci Hickox — will deter badly needed volunteers.

“We’re going to need doctors and nurses traveling to West Africa to treat Ebola patients,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest.

He referred to state actions “in some cases outright disrespecting” health care workers who’ve put themselves at risk by working with Ebola patients in Africa.

“Stopping this Ebola outbreak in its tracks in West Africa is critically important… The likelihood of a widespread outbreak in this countr of Ebola is exceedingly low,” he said.

He noted that under the United States’ federal system, state and local authorities have the authority to take steps to protect the public health of their citizens. And that could lead to a patchwork of rules facing travelers – including health workers.

If anyone doesn’t like that, Earnest said, “Take that up with James Madison” — a suggestion that prompted one member of the White House press corps to note, “He’s not here.”

The sight of Hickox in an isolation tent in a parking lot next to a hospital in Newark, N.J., clearly bothered some Americans and many at the White House, Earnest said.

“What we hope… is that these kinds of policy decisions should be driven by science,” Earnest said — simultaneously working to avoid a direct condemnation of N.J. Gov. Chris Christie’s actions while also making clear the administration’s disdain. He focused on the point of agreement: the state’s decision earlier today, in coordination with CDC, to release Hickox from isolation.

“I’m not steeped in New Jersey quarantine law,” Earnest said, declining to  weigh in on whether Hickox is correct in her assertions that by being detained in a tent for three days, without any symptoms of Ebola, her rights had been violated.

Ted Cruz stars at Gridiron dinner, lampooned as Fred Flintstone

Photos aren't allowed at the annual Gridiron Club and Foundation dinner, a white tie-and-tails affair that lampoons the powerful. A skit devoted to Sen. Ted Cruz, the Republican speaker for the evening, depicted him as Fred Flintstone -- "a right-wing fossil" peddling ideas that will ensure "the name of Cruz goes down in pre-history." (Courtesy photo: Hanna-Barbera)

updated: Coverage of the dinner in Sunday’s Texas Watch column.

WASHINGTON – Lampooned as a political caveman, Sen. Ted Cruz took a star turn Saturday night at the annual Gridiron dinner.

Cruz’s constituency lies far beyond the Beltway. And he has carefully cultivated an “outsider” image somewhat at odds with the annual gathering of the capital’s political and journalism elite – a white tie and tails affair that features satirical songs performed by members of the Fourth Estate.

Presidents usually attend, though this year, Barack Obama sent Secretary of State John Kerry in his place. Cruz representing the Republicans, former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist – a former Republican seeking his old job again– represented the Democrats.

One year ago, as a freshman with all of two months tenure in the Senate, Cruz had already made enough of a splash to merit a joke from Obama: “If Ted Cruz calls somebody a communist, then you know he’s in my Cabinet.”

A year later, Cruz has proven himself a force to contend with, and the 129th annual Gridiron dinner devoted an entire number to Cruz: “Flintstone Cowboy,” to the tune of “Rhinestone Cowboy.”

The best baritone in the ensemble (a ringer from the Marines Band) played the senator, costumed in an orange Fred Flintstone outfit with oversized orange cowboy hat.

The lyrics spoofed him as a caveman peddling an agenda that will doom the GOP.

I never lost one vote despisin’
Weasel words like “compromisin’ “
Cuz nobody’s gonna get to the right of me.
…And with a load of backward thinkin’
A grand old party buys extinction’
While the name of Cruz goes down in pre-history

Gridiron president Clark Hoyt joked that the Texan only agreed to spend an evening with the liberal media he so often criticizes because the alternative was even worse: “Hot yoga with Mitch McConnell” (eew!) – the Senate Republican leader for whom Cruz has become a near-constant irritant.

The opening skit depicted the infighting between the Republican old guard and tea party insurgents such as Cruz.

In keeping with the Gridiron’s traditional tone – singe without burning — the factions were portrayed as a Downton Abbey wing in top hats and evening gowns and led by Karl Rove, and a Duck Dynasty wing dressed in camouflage, led by Rep. Michele Bachmann.

In real life, Cruz shows all the signs he’s gearing up to run for president. The party’s “establishment” didn’t put in the Senate, doesn’t much care for the way he has comported himself since he got there, and won’t fuel his near-certain attempt to run for the White House.

But with 640 or so cabinet members, White House aides, diplomats and news media luminaries gathered in their finery, the Gridiron dinner provided an unusual opportunity to shape his image.

Obama used it to great effect during his brief Senate tenure. Two years ago, still dusting himself off from his “oops”-plagued presidential campaign, Gov. Rick Perry delivered a virtuoso performance of self-deprecation and wit.

One joke combined his reputation for dimness with birther attacks on Obama, who had skipped that particular dinner to visit South Korea and tour the demilitarized zone: “I read that he is in Korea at the DMZ. …Why do you have to go all the way to Korea to get a driver’s license?” Perry said. “Must be something to do with that birth certificate thing.”

President Obama leaves the 2013 Gridiron dinner with Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, right. Obama sent Secretary of State John Kerry to represent the administration this year. Unlike the White House Correspondents Association dinner in April, this event is not covered by C-Span. (AP/Charles Dharapak)

Saturday night’s skits ranged across the partisan and geopolitical landscape.

Edward Snowden, the NSA contractor who fled to Moscow after exposing the inner workings of the modern spy state, sang “I’m a Yankee Doodle leaker” dressed as Uncle Sam.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was depicted as a highway worker in a send-up of the traffic-as-payback scandal that has imperiled his presidential ambitions. With the chorus wearing traffic cones for hats, an aide sings soulfully, to Simon & Garfunkel’s “Feelin’ Groovy.”

Hello, Fort Lee/How’s it flowing?/I’ve come to watch the gridlock growing….It’s not cool to diss Chris Chris-tie.

In the Democratic skits, a singer dressed as Bill Clinton serenades Obama to the tune of “Summertime Blues,” telling him “There ain’t no cure/for the second-term blues.”

Another number marvels at Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ survival, despite the bungled rollout of Obamacare: I’m still standing, though I launched a mess/Holding up the pieces of my job with no thanks to the press.

“Colorado” – to the tune of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma” – plays off the state’s recent legalization of marijuana, with lyrics such as “Just know if you have lots of cash/we can be your supplier of hash.”

The wits behind the libretto scrambled to throw in a skit devoted to the late-breaking crisis in Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin, depicted in a padded Mr. Universe costume, sings a tune from the gay romp La Cage Aux Folles.

I am what I am/I am half czar, half ol’ Joe Stalin….
Crimea is mine/it’s a no-brainer.
And so on.

The Gridiron members even poke fun at the Fourth Estate, in a song lamenting Obama’s routine stiff-arming of journalists with few news conferences and unprecedented use social media and White House-controlled photography to control his image. To the tune, “You’ve Lost that Loving Feeling”:

You killed our liberal leaning/with your scorn, scorn, scorn/then you tapped our phone.

Cruz at CPAC: Obama is hammering youth, Clinton would kill the economy

Sen. Ted Cruz speaks Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference at National Harbor, Md. (AP/Susan Walsh)

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Sen. Ted Cruz, leaving little doubt that he’s eyeing the White House in 2016, delivered a scathing critique Thursday of both the president and of tepid Republicans who shrink from fights and compromise on principle.

For 20 minutes, he tossed red meat to cheering activists at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, a traditional showcase for rising stars on the right.

“Of course all of us remember President Dole and President McCain and President Romney,” Cruz said, ticking off a series of failed GOP nominees and intimating that the next one — himself perhaps — should be a harder-edged conservative.

He mocked unnamed naysayers who have criticized him for stirring up the Senate: “Don’t stand against Obamacare, don’t stand against the debt ceiling, Don’t stand against nothing…. That is a false dichotomy. You want to lose elections, stand for nothing.”

(Watch it here.)

Speaking with reporters, after being mobbed by convention-goers, he asserted that President Obama’s weak foreign policy has emboldened Russia to invade Ukraine. And he took a shot at the leading Democratic contender for president in 2016.

“We can’t afford 8 more years of this. Hillary Clinton would continue the failed Obama economic agenda. There comes a point where you can’t turn this country around,” Cruz said. “… It is now or never to get back to the free market economic principles, get back to the constitutional liberties and to bring back morning in America.”

In his speech, Cruz struck a populist note, calling for a lifetime ban on lobbying for anyone who serves in Congress and for adding term limits to the Constitution.

“We need to end the corruption. We need to end corporate welfare and crony capitalism,” he said in a huge ballroom at Gaylord National, a resort overlooking the Potomac River.

He called President Obama “utterly lawless,” citing executive orders delaying certain requirements under the Affordable Care Act. “If you have a president who is picking which laws to follow and which laws to ignore, you no longer have a president.”

He called for dismantling the IRS and replacing the current tax code with a simplified flat tax. He lamented rampant corruption in Washington and “mendacity in the White House.”

He described the Obama era as “5 years of the great stagnation. No economic growth.”

He criticized Obama’s push to raise the minimum wage, arguing that the real minimum wage is zero — the salary for anyone who can’t find a job. Obama’s agenda almost seems designed to “hammer” the youth of America, he said, describing Obamacare as “a massive wealth transfer from young healthy people to everybody else.”

He embraced key elements of the Ron Paul agenda, calling for an audit of the Federal Reserve, for instance, and accusing the central bank of “debasing the currency.”

That, he said, “is hurting American” and “it’s fueling the abuse of power by petro-tyrants like Putin.”

This line of appeal seemed designed both to court the party’s libertarian constituency and make inroads with supporters of Paul’s son, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul – a tea party ally of Cruz, but also a potential rival in the 2016 presidential hunt.

Marji Ross, a conservative publisher, introduced Cruz by calling him “fearless” and “relentless,” and noting that he’d been described as the most hated man in Washington.

“And that’s a pretty competitive list to be at the top of.” Either way, she said, “Business as usual ended when Ted Cruz came to Washington. And that gives us hope for the future.”

Cruz revved up the crowd in a way that made him a hard act to follow.

Rep. Paul Ryan, the GOP nominee for vice president in 2012, had the misfortune of being the next potential 2016 hopeful to speak. His delivery felt flat by contrast with the fiery Texan’s.

“The left isn’t just out of ideas. They’re out of touch,” Ryan said.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry will speak at CPAC on Friday morning.

New Jersey’s embattled Gov. Chris Christie spoke a few hours after Cruz, followed by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and later, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. Birther billionaire Donald Trump was on the schedule later.

Christie — whose 2016 ambitions took a huge blow amid allegations that aides ordered politically motivated traffic jams at the George Washington Bridge — got a generous reception.

One of his main messages: Governors get things done. He’s head of the Republican Governors Association and like Perry and other members, he’s been making the case that the party’s next presidential nominee should be someone who’s run a state.

Christie also urged conservatives to stand on principle but warned, “We don’t get to govern when we don’t win.”

Both he and Rubio steered away from immigration, a cautious choice with this crowd, given that both support reforms that would allow legal status for millions in the country illegally.

Rubio focused mostly on foreign policy, painting Obama as a failure who mistakenly thought he could shape world events through force of personality.

“The good news is that we have everything we need to succeed economically except the leadership in the White House,” he said.

NJ Gov. Chris Christie confesses: he’s a Dallas Cowboys fan

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie confessed today that he doesn’t root for any of the football teams that command the loyalties of most of his constituents.

“My favorite football team are the Dallas Cowboys. Which by the way, it’s not the smartest thing for the governor of New Jersey to want to be is a fan of the Dallas Cowboys,” he said, averring that his candor on the topic “gets all of my political advisers nervous.”

Christie grew up in Livingston, N.J. — a great hometown, but one where most of us rooted for the Giants or Jets.

“My father was a Giants fan and I used to remember watching him when I was eight, nine years old and every Sunday he would watch the Giants and yell at the TV set. I used to think to myself why would I want to root for a team that makes you angry?” Christie said, answering a question from a student at Samsel Elementary School in Sayreville, NJ, earlier today about his favorite sports teams.

“The Cowboys were really good,” Christie recalled, and he became a big fan of quarterback Roger Staubach.

He eventually got to meet his hero, and now has a Staubach-autographed football in his office.

His other favorite teams: the New York Knicks, New York Mets, and New York Rangers.

Scene at Bush Center: Karl Rove, John Boehner, Chris Christie and 1000s of others

On the plaza at the Bush Center with thousands of VIPs.

Karl Rove, Karen Hughes and Mark McKinnon mingled with the likes of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, House Speaker John Boehner and famous and unknown alumni of the Bush era.

Jim Oberwetter, a former ambassador to Saudi Arabia and president of the Dallas Regional Chamber, called it a great day.

“But the bigger import is what it means for the city and for SMU. I believe it moves us up a notch in terms of international. Because it becomes a center for academic discussion and debate in addition to the programs our president has,” he said.

As for Bush, Oberwetter said, “He served at a very difficult time in our nation’s history and 9-11 shaped his presidency. Yes, there’s a lot of controversy remaining but President Obama has continued many of the policies that the president put in place, especially with respect to counterterrorism.”

U.S. Rep. Roger Williams, a longtime Bush friend who had feared that votes would keep him in Washington, scored a pretty good seat stage left.

“There’s not that many presidential libraries, and for Texas to have three, it’s a big deal,” he said. “Right here, there’s a so much loyalty to this president and what he went through and the eight years. It’s just a great culmination of what his legacy’s going to be about. It’s a chance to remind people he did a lot things, a lot of great things, for those eight years.”

The governors of Texas, Arizona and New Jersey are on hand. Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz and former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison are here, along with seven Texas congressmen, all Republicans: U.S. Reps. Kay Granger, Michael Burgess, Jeb Hensarling, Pete Sessions, Mike Conaway, Kenny Marchant and Roger Williams.

Perry trails (badly) in 2016 presidential poll

Gov. Rick Perry has among the least support right now among possible Republicans seeking the presidency in a new poll just released by Public Policy Polling.

The PPP polls shows a wide open field with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as a favorite among GOP voters with 21 percent support. But Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan is close behind with 16 percent, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee with 15 percent and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie are tied at 14 percent.

The far away leader among Democratic voters is Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, with 57 percent support in a nine-person field. In a head-to-head match-up, the poll shows she would clobber Jeb Bush and Paul Ryan by double-digit margins. Christie trails her by only 2 points, mostly because he is strong among independents.

As for Perry, he is in the lower tier among possible GOP candidates. He has a favorable rating among Republicans of 19 percent, compared to a negative impression among a whopping 52 percent.

The other candidates in single-digits are Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul with five percent, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal at three percent and New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, who ties Perry with two percent.

PPP surveyed 1,100 American voters Jan. 3-6 through automated telephone calls, including 400 usual Democratic primary voters and 563 Republican primary voters. The margin of error for the
overall sample is plus or minus 3.0 percent, plus or minus 4.9 percent for the Democratic portion, and plus or minus 4.1 percent for the GOP portion.