Thursday Open Thread [1.24.13]

10 Comments
For once, the weeping willow gets one right:
Speaker John Boehner said he believes the primary goal of President Obama’s second term is to “annihilate the Republican Party.” “Given what we heard yesterday about the president’s vision for his second term, it’s pretty clear to me that he knows he can’t do any of that as long as the House is controlled by Republicans,” Boehner said in a speech Tuesday to The Ripon Society. “So we’re expecting over the next 22 months to be the focus of this administration as they attempt to annihilate the Republican Party. “And let me just tell you, I do believe that is their goal — to just shove us into the dustbin of history.”
My only quibble is that it is really the Republicans' own actions and policy preferences that are leaving them in the dustbin of history. But the President will do all he can to pursue just, popular and right policies this year and during the entirety of the second term, and the GOP's radical, feverish and irrational opposition to those policies, as well as their delusional conspiracy theories and hateful and bigoted social policy proposals will most assuredly leaving the Republican Party annihilated. It is long past time that the the Republican Party in its current form be destroyed, and in its place a rational center right party dedicated to a social libertarian principles and fiscal responsibility. That is a opposition party that even I could vote for if the circumstances were right. So yes, Boehner, we want your party destroyed. The secret is out.

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thursday, January 24, 2013

24 Comments
Big doin's, today. BIG doin's. Senate Bill 3 is on today's House Agenda. I'd first like to thank everybody who made this vote possible. From sponsor Sen. Marshall; to Sen. Blevins, who assigned the bill to a favorable committee; to the 11 yes voters in the Senate, to the Speaker, to committee chair Bryon Short, and to everyone who has made consideration of this bill a priority. I'm not sure that this gets done without the blogs, the media, and some damn good public servants. This bill also demonstrates that elections matter. Think about it. The Senate vote was 11 yes, 9 no, 1 not voting. Had Tony DeLuca been reelected instead of Bryan Townsend (a yes vote), it would have been due in large part to the extraordinary intervention of Governor Markell in that election. Meaning that SB 3 could well have been buried in DeLuca's Executive Committee, never to see the light of day. If it had somehow made its way to the floor, DeLuca quite possibly would have sided with the Governor, leaving the bill one vote short of passage. Perhaps two, had Nicole Poore not defeated Dori Connor, since not a single R voted for the bill. Now onto today's doins...

PDD-DL Vote Tracker for January 23, 2013

As promised, here is the first version of the PDD-DL Vote Tracker for the 147th General Assembly. Out of all the legislation that has been introduced so far, I have selected the bills and resolutions that are of most interest to progressives and liberals. And in reality, I have only left out those bills that are really perfunctory, like two bills to reincorporate the town of Georgetown and to make changes to the Bridgeville charter. All bills of controversial substance will be included here. As El Som and Cassandra have already pointed out in their posts over the last two days, the most important bill scheduled for a vote tomorrow in the House is Senate Bill 3, concerning legislative oversight and approval of any privatization of the Port of Wilmington. Come inside for the Vote Tracker chart.

Wednesday Open Thread [1.23.13]

4 Comments
Our most recent DL inaugural front page poll has the President's approval rating at 57%, while 36% of you are either conservative haters or progressive purists, and 7% don't know or don't care. We now have our poll up for Governor Markell, and it will be up for a couple of days. Like we have done before, we are going to run through our entire statewide leadership, including Lt. Governor Denn, Auditor Wagner, Treasurer Flowers, Insurance Commissioner Stewart, Congressman Carney, Senators Carper and Coons, Attorney General Biden and Vice President Biden.

John Carney Brings the Pete Peterson Entitlement Destruction Circus to Town

38 Comments
These events don't seem to be on Representative Carney's website yet (or I just bypassed them), but he is holding two Town Meetings to talk about the deficit. From his Facebook page:
Want to discuss ways of reducing the federal deficit? I’m hosting two town hall meetings, in coordination with the Concord Coalition, on January 31st to get your thoughts and ideas. We’ll be at Wesley College in Dover from 1 – 2:30 and at Delaware Tech’s Stanton campus from 6:30 – 8:00. These meetings are open to the public, but seating is limited, so please RSVP by calling (302) 691-7333 or (877) 899-7872.