Thursday Open Thread [9.6.12]

Filed in National by on September 6, 2012

5 days until election day! Have you noticed that nerves are fraying? Have you noticed that the world seems pretty delighted that The Big Dog is back?

Yesterday, we talked about political signs — tradition, ritual and who messes with them. Apparently the Clark campaign folks captured on camera someone removing one of his signs:

As more cameras are installed to watch more and more of what we do, I bet we see more pictures like this in the future. And seriously people, if you want to do something to help your candidate, phone banking is safe and actually productive. There are NO campaigns that will post bail for you!

Chris Rock has some staging advice for the DNC:

And how about that Bill Clinton! Last night he reminded me that no matter how mad he made me over the course of his Presidency, he remains one of the best defenders of Democratic policies alive. Last night he was GOP Fact Checker-in-Chief and it was fun, eloquent and persuasive. It was smart of Team Obama to let WJC put Obama’s name into nomination — one of Clinton’s key skills is that he is able to speak to D base voters (most of them) and Independents pretty much at the same time. It was a masterful performance and it was great to see Bill Clinton clearly having some fun with his role. If you did not get to see Bill Clinton’s speech, this is the video from CSPAN:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5knEXDsrL4[/youtube]

After the speech, CNN’s Republican analyst, Alex Castellanos, made this comment:

“I would recommend to my friend Paul [Begala] here, tonight when everybody leaves, lock the doors. You don’t have to come back tomorrow. This convention is done,” Castellanos said. “This will be the moment that probably reelected Barack Obama. Bill Clinton saved the Democratic Party once, it was going too far left, he came in, the new Democrats took it to the center. He did it again tonight.”

Of course he had to indulge in this brain dead narrative that President Obama is somehow on the left and ignore the fact that Bill Clinton just spent 50 minutes defending much of the Obama Presidency.

What interests you today?

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"You don't make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas." -Shirley Chisholm

Comments (23)

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  1. puck says:

    I just walked by a radio and heard good economic news blaring out of NPR. Now I’m off to look up what that was all about. Sounds like it’s good for Obama.

  2. jason330 says:

    Your liberal media:

    “CBS Hires Frank Luntz, The Man Who Reportedly Shepherded The Plan To Defeat Obama”

    CBS News has reportedly hired Frank Luntz, the Republican strategist and pollster best known for helping Republicans craft often-deceptive messaging to torpedo liberal policies. In his post announcing the move, Politico media reporter Dylan Byers writes that Luntz will “make a number of appearances across the network between now and Election Day.” Luntz’s hiring comes only a few months after New York Times Magazine contributor Robert Draper reported that Luntz orchestrated a 2009 meeting where prominent Republicans formulated a plan to win back Congress and the White House.

    In his book Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives, Draper reported that Luntz “organized a dinner” on Obama’s inauguration night featuring a handful of “the Republican Party’s most energetic thinkers.” The attendees — which included current vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan — reportedly emerged from the nearly four hour dinner “almost giddily” after having agreed on “a way forward.”

    According to Draper, the Republican plan involved showing “united and unyielding opposition to the president’s economic policies,” with an eventual goal of defeating Obama and taking back the Senate in 2012:

  3. SussexAnon says:

    Beau Biden on MSNBC right now.

  4. cassandra_m says:

    Jack Markell on NPR (Tell Me More) right now.

  5. SussexWatcher says:

    Beau Biden just won a third term, the House, Senate, a federal appointment or whatever he wants. Earl Bradley is locked up for good, with the Supreme Court’s unanimously tossing out his appeal.

    Campaign song: “Goodbye Earl.”

  6. liberalgeek says:

    So do we have an ID on the guy stealing the Clark sign? It would be nice to have a direct link to Gordon.

  7. V says:

    and that’s why Beau didn’t go for that seat (i’m sure he had other reasons). If he’d campaigned and then Bradley’s case got bungled? can you IMAGINE what an opponent would do with that?

  8. puck says:

    The problem with the Clark photo is it doesn’t actually show somebody stealing a sign, unless there are more photos or other evidence. Could just as well be a jogger furtively taking a leak. But ID’ing him as opposition would point the finger.

    BTW, I saw two signs in Pike Creek that were not touched, but had large leafy branches placed strategically in front of them. That’s a new one on me. I couldn’t read them because I was maybe going a little too fast, and… because they had large leafy branches in front of them. I’ll check them out when I go by again this evening.

  9. Linda says:

    LOL I was thinking the same thing but did not want to say anything as I would sound partisan . . . now if it had been a Townsend sign . . . that would have been newsworthy!!!!

  10. JL says:

    That is just one in a series of time stamped photos. The last one shows the two poles with no sign. This is just one of the locations.

  11. Linda says:

    Maybe they are just relocating them to Vance Neck Road next to the Workforce Housing Development Signs that community has put up. Just sayn . . .

  12. cassandra_m says:

    It doesn’t look like they’ve nailed anyone yet, LG. There was some text from this tip that was taken from Clark’s Facebook page (this was sent to me from there, I think — I haven’t friended Clark so I don’t know) that I thought was part of the image, but this is it:

    Have you seen this man? Well, we have! And with over forty 4’x4′ signs stolen, he is looking at felony charges. If you have information on this persons whereabouts, please call us at (302) 540-2714, or call the State Police directly.

    Don’t know if they have 40+ images to substantiate the other signs they reference, but if anyone has more images, I’ll put them up.

  13. liberalgeek says:

    It would be great to make an example of this guy and whomever he is working for.

  14. SussexWatcher says:

    Looks like the Ds made a little progress filling holes.

    Kathleen Cooke will face Dave Lawson
    Perennial candidate Gary Downes will face Simpson/Opaliski winner
    James Testerman will take on Bobby Outten

    The Rs named:

    Matthew Brown to run against Quinton Johnson
    Daniel Lepre against Bryon Short

    It’s unclear if an R is running against Pete. The state elections list says no, but the Sussex County list has the Libertarian cross-listed as an L and an R … except I thought fusion was banned after both major parties threw a hissy fit and cried like little babies. Of course, it could just be that the Sussex County Department of Elections is run by an incompetent party hack and the information is wrong.

    Speaking of incompetent hacks, there is no Democrat in the 35th with the balls to run against Dave Wilson. I believe one of the county party vice-chairs hails from that district. He should be canned.

  15. SussexWatcher says:

    Apologies – the vice-chair I was thinking of is a vice-chair no longer.

  16. SussexAnon says:

    Your belief is wrong SW. The 2nd vice chair is from Lewes.

    Love it when people on the sidelines slam people for being icompetent hacks. Especially when the information is wrong.

    The 35th is deep deep red and are quite happy with Dr. No, Dave Wilson voting against everything while still getting roads paved in his district. The 36th would have a better chance at going D, but even that is a longshot.

    I am pretty sure the Libertarian is going to remain a registered Libertarian. It doesn’t matter either way. Pete will win handily.

    Speaking of incompetent hacks, the door is always open for you to run for something SW.

  17. chlorophil says:

    I love me some ScarJo.

    Have you seen the nudes?

  18. jason330 says:

    Tom Gordon is having John McCain steal Paul Clark’s signs.

    That’s John McCain right?

  19. SussexWatcher says:

    Did you read my follow-up, slackass? I admitted I was wrong. The former vice chair used to be from Bridgeville.

    I thought the purpose of a political party was to offer positive solutions and actual alternatives to the other side. If a committee can’t find a single person to run, why does it exist? What does the 35th Dem committee do?

    I am not a Democrat, therefore cannot run as a candidate of your party. I do want a choice, however, as a voter, and it dispirits me when the dominant party in the state runs such a half-assed operation in my back yard.

    Jim Westhoff is the only Democrat in the district with any balls. Aside from him, there hasn’t been a real Democrat running there for fuckyears. Chaffinch was a Thurman Adams D, and before him Ewing pretty much coasted every time. So because of the incompetence of the western Democrats, we simply do not *know* if voters are content or not. They have not had a consistent, real alternative.

    I’ve said it before, if the party can’t fill a line, the local chair’s name should go on automatically. That would make a lot of these slugs lift a finger.

  20. pandora says:

    Obama predicts the weather! It’s pouring in Charlotte. 😉

  21. saveourcity says:

    Stealing signs is a new low how sad!!!