Monday Open Thread

Filed in National by on March 1, 2010

Welcome to March! It’s finally starting to feel like spring is coming. The temperature’s warming up, the sun stays out longer and my daffodils have started peaking up from the ground. Are you ready for an open thread? I am!

Blanche Lincoln, probably the Senate’s most endangered Democrat, is getting a primary challenge. Lincoln is one the conservaDems, who is pretty much hated by both the left and the right. She has alienated her base and thinks she can appeal to the teabagging birther contigent in Arkansas. Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter has finally announced a primary challenge:

Lt. Gov. Bill Halter says he is seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Sen. Blanche Lincoln this fall.

Halter’s spokesman provided a statement Monday in which the one-term lieutenant governor said he would file papers for the U.S. Senate this week. Halter is the only Democrat to formally announce a challenge to Lincoln as she seeks a third term.

Buh-bye Blanche.

Jim Bunning may have been a good baseball player, but he’s a lousy senator. He single-handedly put 2000 people out of work today (from his 1-man filibuster of unemployment benefits extension). That bill also contained continuing funding for the Department of Transportation:

Two thousand federal transportation workers will be furloughed without pay on Monday, and the Obama administration said they have a Kentucky senator to blame for it.

Federal reimbursements to states for highway programs will also be halted, the Transportation Department said in a statement late Sunday. The reimbursements amount to about $190 million a day, according to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

The furloughs and freeze on payments were the result of a decision last week by Republican Sen. Jim Bunning to block passage of legislation that would have extended federal highway and transit programs, the department said. Those programs expired at midnight Sunday.

I’d like to see Senator Bunning tell these 2000 people to their face “tough sh*t” and how awful it was that he had to miss the basketball game because he was too busy filibustering their funding.

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Opinionated chemist, troublemaker, blogger on national and Delaware politics.

Comments (26)

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  1. anon says:

    Wingnuts decide kicking God out of school isn’t such a bad idea after all.

  2. anon says:

    Welcome to the Republican health care plan:

    Women’s health advocates say they heard for years about problems at the West Philadelphia abortion clinic that was raided by state inspectors last week. WHYY reports that the high cost of abortion may have pushed some women to use the clinic despite warning signs of sub-standard care.

    That is the business model Republicans want to bring to the whole health care system. Heart surgery, gallstones, childbirth – just use your own money and shop around for the cheapest price. What could possibly go wrong?

  3. pandora says:

    Love this line about the charter school:

    “A quick web search reveals them to be either a great institution or a terrorist outpost which uses the school’s constant stream of money to support activities.”

    That’s quite a leap, homegrownboy. (See anon’s link in first comment. I’m not linking again!)

  4. liberalgeek says:

    I guess we can now start linking Charlie Copeland to hating on Muslims, right?

  5. anon says:

    I’d like to find out more about the school before judging one way or another. Heck if you just do a “quick web search” on the Catholic Church you would burn down all their schools tomorrow.

  6. anon says:

    Delaware: Send Tom Carper a message. Contribute to Blanche Lincoln’s primary opponent.

    http://www.billhalter.com

  7. cassandra m says:

    The Kids Are All Right

    Two teens stand up at an Ohio school board meeting to ask for comprehensive sex ed — not the abstinence only bs.

  8. I just read that MoveOn has already raised $250,000 for Bill Halter.

  9. anon says:

    Excerpt from an e-mail today from Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Perry Mitchell, a member of the Ocean View Town Council:

    My campaign is about jobs, reviving the Delaware economy and holding Wall Street accountable for their greed.

    On some issues, I will run to the right of Castle and hope to gain some Independent and Republican votes.

    I will follow the teachings of my church on life and marriage issues. Castle and Coons, my Democratic opponent, are pro choice. Castle has a 100% rating with NRAL Pro Choice.

    I will support the Second Amendment and the right of every American to own a gun and use it to defend his home. Castle and Coons will be for gun control. Castle has been given an F rating by National Rifle Association based on a lifetime of voting on gun issues.

    I am running on a plan to reform and lower our corporate income tax, to abolish our personal income tax, and federal debt over ten years. Many European countries have lowered their corporate income tax and it is time the U. S. should do the same so that we can create more jobs for Americans.

  10. liberalgeek says:

    Them Sussex Democrats are different.

  11. pandora says:

    In quirky, sort of Republican way.

  12. romeo says:

    It’s funny the way you moonbats ignore that the Democrats gained a majority in the house by running Conservative Blue Dog Dems who were Pro Life, Pro Gun, Fiscal conservatives… not Progressives.

    you are the fringe of your party.

  13. liberalgeek says:

    Aren’t all of us fringe? Certainly you don’t consider yourself mainstream, romeo, do you?

  14. cassandra m says:

    And the sockpuppet romeo still can’t find a true piece of information anywhere — Dems ran Dems everywhere. Some of them were progressive, some were Blue Dogs and some of each won — to some consternation at the DCCC who saw the recruitment and running of more progressive candidates as a threat. The difference — our little sockpuppet — is that we don’t exactly test for ideology when people want to be Democrats. Unlike Republicans, of course, who want to be the Party of Fringe.

  15. John Manifold says:

    Democrats took state House with superior candidates and motivated electorate. Mike Barbieri was outraised by a factor of 3½ to 1:

    http://www.delawaregrapevine.com/2-10legismoney.asp

    The money in state House races has become disgusting.

  16. liberalgeek says:

    I guess my point is that no one is a perfect model of their party. I disagree with the Democrats quite often, just not as often as I disagree with the Republicans.

    I am struck, however, that this guy claims to be running as a Democrat to the right of Castle. I guess that plays in parts of Sussex, but it seems like he only has a chance of carrying the 41st.

  17. cassandra m says:

    Move On is showing almost $400K raised today for Halter.

  18. cassandra_m says:

    NYDN reports that ACORN was cleared of charges of providing advice on how to hide money from prostitution.

    No word yet as to whether they’re still guilty of registering too many black and brown people to vote.

  19. Jason330 says:

    Christine O’Donnell a non-factor according to Swing State Project:

    “O’Donnell, incidentally, is a teabagger who took 35% against Joe Biden in 2008. She also sought the privilege of getting slaughtered by Tom Carper in 2006, but scraped together a pathetic 17% in the GOP primary. She’s only raised about $20K this cycle, so I tend to doubt she’ll have much of an impact, though I guess we can always hope.”

  20. Joanne Christian says:

    Sockpuppet? Is that season upon us again? Seems like Santa was just here.

  21. Jason330 says:

    Arkansas Lt. Governor Bill Halter is going after the only Dem Senator more in the pocket of the insurance/drug cartel than Tom Carper, Blanche Lincoln.

    His campaign is off to a good start with the Arkansas News reporting:

    Politics is largely about passion, and I see none for Lincoln and the potential for some for Halter.

    Coons should be watching this race – but I don;t get the impression that his campaign is going to be big on “passion.”

    Too bad. Look at Halter’s online fundraising haul after just seven hours in the race…

    Our original combined netroots goal for the WEEK was $500,000. In roughly seven hours, MoveOn and ActBlue have, combined, blown past those numbers. As of this update, the combined numbers are around $515,000.

  22. kaveman says:

    Hmmm…

    No discussion about Obama renewing the Patriot Act.

    Typical.

  23. Jason330 says:

    I guess you are pretty mad at Barry for setting up a police state. Suddenly a police state doesn’t seem like such a good idea eh?

    Typical.

  24. anonone says:

    Repubs: It was OK when Bush did it, particularly when it made Dems mad.

    Dems: It is OK when Obomba does it, particularly when he does it to keep repubs happy.

  25. Jason330 says:

    Don’t forget to read my comment from 10:54 last night.