Senator Coons, Support Begich’s “Protecting and Preserving Social Security Act” and forget about Bowles-Simpson

Senator, You seem like a reality based guy. You know full well that Social Security isn't in danger of becoming insolvent any time soon, and according to the program’s actuaries, without any changes, Social Security will be able to pay out full benefits until 2033. But you also have Republican colleagues in the Senate who want to kill the program, and can't stop yammering about what a threat it is to our well being as a nation. So you need to be in favor of some sort of reform.... Well, check this out.

Good for Coons – voting needs to be fixed

I was hoping voting would be would be an issue this year, so I'm glad Senator Coons proposed this:
His bill is a multipronged effort to improve access to the polls. It asks states to create flexible registration opportunities, emphasize early voting periods, promote no-excuse absentee voting, provide foreign language assistance, improve accessibility for disabled voters, train election officials, audit polls with long wait times and create contingency plans for voting during natural and other disasters.

Unions scapegoated as vulture capital firm liquidates Hostess

We all see what is happening, right? Hostess management claims that greedy striking workers are responsible for plant closings, and the lap dog press reports it even though the Wall Street owners of Hostess already planned to close plants even if the workers accepted the cuts and stayed at work. Baker's Union President Frank Hurt says the workers knew the score all along:
Our members know that the plans all along of the Wall Street investors currently in control of this company did not include the operation of Hostess Brands any longer than it takes to sell the company in whole—or in part—in a way that will maximize the profits of these vulture capitalists regardless of the impact on the workforce.
Huzzah for job creators!!

Friday Open Thread [11.16.12]

The Republicans don't want to retool their message, which is excellent news for us:
"Two weeks after their presidential election defeat, Republican Party leaders are falling into roughly two camps as they struggle to explain what happened and devise ways to broaden the party's base. Some top GOP officials worry their message is wrong for a rapidly diversifying population, and that fundamental shifts in policy may be required. But the more dominant voice, and the one gaining currency within the center of the party, says such drama isn't necessary. It asserts that Mitt Romney's loss to President Barack Obama was primarily a tactical failure, a combination of poor articulation of GOP positions and a weak effort to register voters and move them to the polls. Better execution on both, they say, would have swung the few hundred thousand votes in a few states that would have tipped the presidential election the other way."
Maybe they will learn in 2024, after two terms each of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, while facing Texas Governor Julian Castro.

Republicans finally get a scandal they can love

A TPM reader nailed the reason why the GOP has fallen in love with this pitiful excuse for a scandal. Unlike birth certificate claims, or college transcript nuttiness that can be easily debunked and laughed off, this scandal comes complete with shoals of red herrings and over a half-dozen movable goalposts. It is perfect for wingnut Senators who are addicted to being interviewed on TV.
It’s kind of a scandal that means whatever its proponents want it to mean: failure to secure the consulate, attempts to cover up nature of attack, attempts to downplay its significance, failure to call it terror. Related but distinct charges that get refreshed each day by people who know there’s no there there. Frankly it makes me nervous. The made-up scandals are hardest to resolve and most likely to expand in scope.

It is not our “Duty” to talk about bullsh*t.

From one of our commenters:
Meanwhile in the real world....Israel is assembling troops for a possible ground attack, the fiscal cliff crisis still looms and that pesky Benghazi investigation is heating up. Has DL gone brain dead since the election?
Let's talk about this one by one.

SEIU trying to pierce Carper’s bubble: “We need jobs not cuts”

Economist agree. This isn't the time for cuts. This is a time for investments in public infrastructure and stimulus. The only people who think the current jihad on jobs is a good idea are residents of the DC bubble like Senator Tom Carper. To help try and penetrate the bubble a little bit, the letter below, signed by 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, Americans for Democratic Action, the Newark branch of the NAACP, the Delaware branch of the National Organization for Women, the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare and the Delaware State AFL-CIO was delivered to Senator Carper at his offices yesterday. The photo provides a tidy summary of what the SEIU and other organizations calling for budgetary sanity are up against.

Vice President Biden on NBC’s Parks & Recreation tonight at 9:30 pm

Make sure you tune in. Good ole Papa Joe is the comedic relief in the Obama Administration, as his portrayal in the Onion satire can attest. Some of the jokes are not goodnatured, especially among sore loser and unfunny conservatives.
No matter how harsh the joke, Delawareans seem to take pride in their most famous (and most powerful) son. Delaware may be small, but it swells with a tight-knit pride. And those were the feelings running through [Parks & Recreation star Aubrey] Plaza — Delaware’s fastest rising Hollywood star — as she found herself in Washington, D.C., with the man himself. “One of the coolest things about him and everyone in Delaware is this weird Delaware pride we all have,” she says. “I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s something in the chemicals leaking into the ground, but we’re all really psyched about being from Delaware and he’s the face of that.”
It's true, when maybe not about the chemicals, but about the Delaware pride bit.

A Howard Dean Meetup Reunion?

I know some of my old Howard Dean peeps are out there lurking. How about a meetup to reminisce about the good old days of "people powered Howard" and how we scared the pants off Karl Rove? Contact me through email if there is any interest in getting the band back together. Speaking of Howard Dean and Karl Rove, there is this now...