Friday Open Thread [3.1.13]
Nate Silver on whether Arizona and Texas can turn blue in 2016 based on demographics alone. The answer is no, but North Carolina does.
“Conservatives are trying so hard to highlight controversies, no matter how trivial, we have forgotten the basics of reporting: W5 + H as I learned in grade school, also known as who, what, where, when, why, and how. I think conservatives need to reset some of their reportorial resources to tell the stories that need to be told by focusing on the facts at hand in a world view of the right. We need to establish a baseline for integrity in reporting that then allows us to highlight the truly outrageous. That baseline must be the basics of who, what, where, when, why, and how and it must be set before taking the next step into analysis of motivation and its implications.” – Erick Erickson
Who dares run against Hillary in the Dem primary, Steve Kornacki wonders:
I would say there’s a decent chance Clinton actually could clear the field and face no serious opposition for the nomination. Not a good chance, but a decent one. This has never happened for a non-incumbent in the modern era, but then again, it’s not like we’re dealing with a huge data set here. And Clinton really is approaching the ’16 race with a set of advantages we’ve never before seen for a non-incumbent. Yes, there’s plenty of time between now and Iowa – time for Clinton to stumble or take a pass on the race, time for Obama to really step in it, time for a real split to open up within the Democratic Party. I’m not calling Clinton a shoo-in for the nomination, or even predicting she’ll run. I’m just arguing that if she does, she could break the mold for non-incumbent candidates of the modern era.
The only with the stature that Hillary now possesses is Gen. Eisenhower in 1952, and even he faced a credible and significant primary or a challenge from the more conservative Senator Bob Taft. I think if Hillary does run, we will still see a candidacy from Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley. Cuomo will demur to Clinton. And so does Biden, in my opinion.
Jon Chait on the lying and unethical Bob Woodward:
His more recent books often compile interesting facts, but how Woodward chooses to package those facts has come to represent a barometric measure of a figure’s standing within the establishment. His 1994 account of Bill Clinton’s major budget bill, which in retrospect was a major success, told a story of chaos and indecision. He wrote a fulsome love letter to Alan Greenspan, “Maestro,” at the peak of the Fed chairman’s almost comic prestige. In 2003, when George W. Bush was still a decisive and indispensable war leader, Woodward wrote a heroic treatment of the Iraq War. After Bush’s reputation had collapsed, Woodward packaged essentially the same facts into a devastating indictment. Woodward’s book on the 2011 debt negotiations was notable for arguing that Obama scotched a potential deficit deal. The central argument has since been debunked by no less a figure than Eric Cantor, who admitted to Ryan Lizza that he killed the deal.
On today’s poll…. I vote “other”. Specifically, Westeros.
Erick Erickson lecturing anyone about reportorial standards is pretty rich. Especially when it includes this:
focusing on the facts at hand in a world view of the right.
FACTS are not exactly partisan. It is how you make use of them that can be partisan. But the world view of the right is not going to line up with facts. C’est impossible.
Someone will run (cordially) against Hillary to build up the name rec and donor network. Also, Clinton could have a heart attack or fall down a flight of stairs. Stuff happens.
Any one else find it depressing that the Women In The World 2013 Summit is being sponsored by Walmart, BoA, Merk… AND is going to be held in the David H Koch theater?
Way to sell out to the enemies, whoever made those decisions..
http://www.davidhkochtheater.com/moreinfoWW.html
I reject the premise for the question on today’s poll.
Auntie D, America’s time at the top has to end SOMETIME…. we’re coming up on 100 years of being the most powerful super power in the history of super powers. Ive always said our decline can be graceful and simple like Britain (relative to how empires USED to fall, it was easy) … or we can go out like Rome. our choice.
If Clinton is elected, I predict Biden will be Sec of State. 1) he’d be great at it. 2) Greenville De is not ready for him to come back and remind everyone he was VP yet. 3) It would be his payment for not running.
http://appotruth.wordpress.com/2013/03/01/epilogue/
The Wilmington Home Show is this weekend at the Chase Center. DelDOT will be there this year,and DelDOT and DMV will give away a five digit tag number CP 5550, and the black and white tag that goes with it. And if you are planning to drop off material for the Household Hazardous Waste event over at Frawley Stadium on Saturday, you might as well stop by the Home Show!
Will McVay has pleaded guilty to DUI – marijuana. He got into the first offender program and a year probation.
Select the phoniest smile:
http://capegazette.villagesoup.com/p/video-hundreds-celebrate-76th-georgetown-oyster-eat/967189
Chip Flowers, who is thinking: “My God, where did all these damn white people come from? Oh, look, there’s Ernie. He’s a ‘Rican, that’s as close as I’m going to get to brown tonight. We gotta stick together.”
Down the page you’ll see Sam Wilson looking semi-constipated and puckered up. That’s because he just saw Chip and Ernie.
The guy with the beer in his hand probably has the most authentic smile.
Ernie has a forced smile like “I just cut my pinkie off with that commemorative oyster knife” (look at his hand).
And Chip is smiling like “I have an umbrella down my pants…”
Chip is wondering “how far away exactly IS the shrimp feast?” And how fast can I get there
With all those drunk women to take advantage of……
So many women ,and so little time……..wonder if Miss Teen Delaware is available……..?
-Back to Bob Woodward. it is pretty obvious today, seeing the pattern of all the pieces, that he is vying for a position on Fox News. He saw how Dick Morris made out; in three months he’d have earned the equivalent of one of his books which he pulls out every two or three years.