Thursday Open Thread [11.29.12]

President Obama's national lead over Mitt Romney is now 50.9% to 47.4%. Or, given rounding, 51% to 47%. LOL. God enjoys irony. First Read: "That's a bigger (and more decisive) margin that Bush's victory over John Kerry in 2004 (which was Bush 50.7% and Kerry 48.2%). What's more, the president's lead has grown to close to 3 points in Ohio, 4 points in Virginia and 6 points in Colorado. One doesn't win Colorado by six points without winning swing voters; there isn't a big-enough Democratic base to make that argument." Speaking of the Mittster, he is joining President Obama for lunch today at the White House. Now this is probably all for show, but it will be interpreted as "a gracious move that makes the president appear bipartisan." But I would love to hear their private conversation. It is well known that the President, as with all of Mitt Romney's opponents, grew to despise Romney.

Crappy Deal Emerging

This deal clearly sucks, but when you have blue state Democrats like John Carney and Chris Coons saying, "OMGZ!!! THE DEBT!!! Medicaid is wrecking the country!!" - you lose a lot of your negotiating strength.

The New Republican Leadership in the General Assembly

Senator Gary Simpson has been reelected by his Republican colleagues to continue as Senate Minority Leader. I am somewhat surprised that Lavelle did not grab the job to position himself for the 2016 Gubernatorial race. Yes, it would have been audacious for a newly elected freshman Senator to become Minority Leader, but not out of the realm of impossibility, since, after all, Lavelle did get elected as the Minority Whip, the second highest position in the Senate caucus. I think what we will see in Simpson stepping down after down the 2014 elections after six years in the leadership role to pass the mantle over to Lavelle.

QOTD — Who Should Be In Obama’s Second Term Cabinet?

So we know that there will be some departures from the first term -- Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner is out; Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is out (after doing a spectacular job); Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta; Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank (acting); Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar; Press Secretary Jay Carney; Attorney General Eric Holder (maybe not going for a year or so) look like they are at the top of the list to go. Other possibilities include:

I get the feeling John Carney is being had by these charlatans

Carney via Facebook:
This morning, Rep. Jim Renacci, a Republican from Ohio, and I organized our first bipartisan policy meeting since the election. Our group -- divided evenly among Democrats and Republicans -- meets every other week to brainstorm legislation and try to find common ground. We had great turnout today and took the opportunity to hash out our priorities for the upcoming Congress. If you're not familiar with the group, you can read about it in this short article from 2011.
The Partisan Republican voting record of Renacci is 99%. Keep looking Congressman. Your bipartisanship should be the kind that demands at least some small demonstration of good will by your Republican counterpart.

By Their Oppression of People Not Like Them Shall You Know Them

Dana Millbank tells the story of how Rick Santorum went back to the US Capital this week to help lobby against the human rights of disabled people. That's right -- Mr. Culture of Life is fearlessly lobbying against the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities. This treaty was actually negotiated by the George W. Bush's administration and has been ratified by 126 nations, including China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, and Syria.

Boehner: If my taxes go up, so will yours.

House Speaker John Boehner today rejected a proposal from former NRCC head Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) to extend existing tax cuts for middle class Americans, primarily because Boehner (and other wealthy Americans whose incomes have been going up while everyone else's has been going down) doesn't get a piece of the tax cut action.

In Which We Find John Stapleford Blaming Black and Brown People for Big Government

That was the nicest title I could come up with after reading this new bit of stupidity from John Stapleford of the brain dead CRI. Titled What role does government aid play in elections?, we find Stapleford trying to gin up some numerical proof for Mitt Romney's claim that Obama won because he gave out gifts to key voter groups. And as usual for Stapleford, he produces a ton of numbers that aren't sourced anywhere, counting on readers not to notice and counting on readers to not ask questions about the numbers he provides. In other words, it is the usual CRI bullshit. And I want to know how he gets paid for this. Seriously. And explain to me how it is that wingnut welfare -- which Stapleford is clearly a beneficiary of -- isn't it's own gift to the angry white people being paid to push this bullshit to people who really need better information than this. Because I'd bet ALOT OF MONEY that the number of wingnut welfare recipients that voted for Mitt Romney approaches 100%.

Wednesday Open Thread [11.28.12]

A new Quinnipiac poll in New Jersey finds voters overwhelmingly favor Gov. Chris Christie (R) for re-election, 67% to 25%. 95% of voters think Gov. Chris Christie (R) did an "excellent" or "good" job responding to Hurricane Sandy, and Christie now holds a sky high 72% to 21% approval rating. The strongest possible Democratic challenger, Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D), trails Christie by 18 points, 53% to 35%. I bet you that Booker abstains from the 2013 Gubernatorial race and runs to replace Frank Lautenberg in 2014 in the Senate. Christie is frankly unbeatable in New Jersey right now. Hell, even I think he deserves a second term. There is no reason for Booker to be the sacrificial lamb. Happy 10 year Anniversary to the Delaware indoor smoking ban!! The best thing RAM ever did. Meanwhile, this painting was painted in the 1990's, so it doesn't include Obama, but I always thought it was pretty awesome: