Archive for July, 2013

They are going to have to call him “Blue Chip”.

Filed in National by on July 17, 2013 35 Comments
They are going to have to call him “Blue Chip”.

Chip Flowers burnishes his populist cred: Delaware politicians treasure the Sequoia’s allure, too. On Thursday, state Treasurer Chip Flowers is scheduled to hold a $300-a-head fundraiser on that ship in Washington, D.C., which, according to court papers, rents from $10,000 to $12,000 for a four-hour tour. Dover lobbyist Bobby Byrd, Wilmington developer Rob Buccini and […]

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Late Night Video — Colbert Is Baffled By Non-Rioting Black People

Filed in National by on July 17, 2013 8 Comments

Be sure to watch to the very end……..

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Vance Phillips Pleads the Fifth

Filed in Delaware by on July 17, 2013 5 Comments
Vance Phillips Pleads the Fifth

At least that is what is being reported in the Cape Gazette today. You’ll remember that Phillips is being accused of sexually assaulting a campaign staffer in 2011 — repeatedly. So much for looking forward to Phillips telling his side of the story — as his legal team claimed he was eager to do.

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Wednesday Open Thread [7.17.13]

Filed in National, Open Thread by on July 17, 2013 4 Comments
Wednesday Open Thread [7.17.13]

“Nobody in Wyoming likes a long campaign, and anybody from Wyoming would know that.” — Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), quoted by the Washington Examiner, taking a dig at primary rival Liz Cheney (R) who announced her bid yesterday. I am not going to attack Liz Cheney for being a carpetbagger, because Hillary Clinton was a carpetbagger and thus I would be a hypocrite. In my opinion, if a state’s residency laws allow someone not currently living in the state to run, then that is the state’s law. But New York is a different place than Wyoming. Many New Yorkers wanted Hillary to run, and she won in a landslide, twice. It doesn’t sound like the Republican establishment in the state wants Cheney to run, and are quite offended about it, actually. It remains to be seen if the Republican primary voter will warm to someone like Liz Cheney. A reader at TPM makes a great point ….

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ABC Is Wrong To Hire Jenny McCarthy For The View

Filed in National, Science and Health by on July 17, 2013 7 Comments
ABC Is Wrong To Hire Jenny McCarthy For The View

I would really like to know ABC’s thinking on this.  First, the only subject that Jenny McCarthy seems to have had an opinion on is vaccines cause autism.  I’ve actually spent the last half hour googling her to discover if her activism crosses into areas other than autism and came up empty handed.  So why would ABC select one issue McCarthy to co-host a show that covers a multitude of issues?

And there’s concern over giving Jenny McCarthy such a large platform.

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Wednesday Daily Delawhere [7.17.13]

Filed in Delaware by on July 17, 2013 0 Comments
Wednesday Daily Delawhere [7.17.13]

Photo by Mike Mahaffie.

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Tuesday Open Thread [7.16.13]

Filed in National by on July 16, 2013 5 Comments
Tuesday Open Thread [7.16.13]

LOLz. This is from Gallup. The only group that supports Republicans on the immigration issue is the old white people. Even young white people, like myself, support the Dems.

Texas Governor Rick Perry is running for President again in 2016. Dan Balz asked him if his “lousy introduction to the national stage” during the 2012 presidential campagin would affect his chances if he were to run again.

Said Perry: “You mean in the way Bill Clinton’s introduction was bad?,” referring to Clinton’s infamous nomination speech for Michael Dukakis at the 1988 Democratic National Convention.

So Rick Perry has just favorable compared himself to Bill Clinton. Governor, I worked with Bill Clinton. I knew Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton is a friend of mine. Governor, you’re no Bill Clinton.

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Limited Filibuster Reform Showdown Today

Filed in National by on July 16, 2013 0 Comments
Limited Filibuster Reform Showdown Today

I say limited because Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s proposed rule change is extremely limited to only eliminating the silent non speaking obstructive hold that is today incorrectly called the filibuster on only presidential appointees, meaning nominanees to executive agencies like the National Labor Relations Board or the Consumer Protection Board or the Secretary of State or Defense, and on and on.

It does not include “filibusters” on judicial nominees or legislation. Well, the Senators all met in the Old Senate Chamber last night, and that must have been crowded, if you have ever been to the old Senate Chamber, you know what I mean. They met for three hours to discuss some insipid and downright insane “bipartisan” solutions to this crisis that is entirely of the Republicans’ own making.

One solution from John McCain was so outrageous that I could not write about it last night as I might have called for bodily harm to befall him. John McCain’s solution to Republican obstruction was for the twice popularly elected (by overwhelmingly margins each time, once over John McCain himself) President of the United States to delegate his appointment powers to, get this, John McCain and the Republican Party.

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Election 2014: Delaware’s Most Vulnerable Incumbents

Filed in Delaware by on July 16, 2013 53 Comments
Election 2014: Delaware’s Most Vulnerable Incumbents

I’m El Somnambulo, and I’m a listaholic.

Admit it: So are you.

Bearing in mind that incumbents need viable challengers in order to be vulnerable, here is a list of those with at least reason to be worried:

State Auditor Tom Wagner: A do-nothing R in an increasingly D state. Here’s the problem. If a do-nothing R is replaced by a do-nothing D, does it really make any difference? No doubt it does to Tom Wagner. But not to Patrick Harker or Lonnie George. Which is my point. And the problem.

State Treasurer Chip Flowers: While the R’s talk hopefully, and, IMHO, delusionally, about defeating him, I suspect that any real challenge would come from the Democrats. We’ll likely know in 6 months or so whether there will be a party-backed challenger. We might as well get used to Flowers being a polarizing figure by choice. Which would be fine if it was principle, not ego, driving that train.

State Senator Greg Lavelle (4th SD): Got 50.8% against Michael Katz. Probably less vulnerable this time, but he’s got two more years of anti-gay and pro-gun votes on his record. Will a credible challenger emerge?

I know that people expect me to have Ernesto Lopez on this list, but I don’t see him as particularly vulnerable. Feel free to make a case.

More inside….

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Tuesday Daily Delawhere [7.16.13]

Filed in Delaware by on July 16, 2013 0 Comments
Tuesday Daily Delawhere [7.16.13]

Photo by Mike Mahaffie.

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Late Night Video — Everything Wrong with Skyfall in 4 Minutes or Less

Filed in National by on July 15, 2013 1 Comment

I don’t care, I’m still a fan of this movie. Even though this video has a Whole Lot of Good Points. 4 and a half minutes long:

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Monday Open Thread [7.15.13]

Filed in Open Thread by on July 15, 2013 3 Comments

The Editorial Board of the Independent on the Zimmerman verdict:

[T]he first black president of the United States ventured an early comment, saying that if he had had a son “he would look like Trayvon”.

In so saying, Barack Obama pinpointed the truth that a great many white Americans will see a young man up to no good before they see a president’s son. For all the civil rights advances over half a century, personified by the black family now residing in the White House, racism remains pernicious and entrenched. […]

[T]he verdict leaves the impression not just that it is acceptable for an individual in large parts of the US to take the law into his own hands, but that the life of a young black man is cheap. This incendiary case from central Florida – electorally, a swing district of a swing state – shows how far, despite Mr Obama’s election, the US still fails to practise racial equality.

And if you celebrated Zimmerman’s verdict, Andrew Sullivan” says you just might be a racist. At the very least you are repellant. And I agree with him.

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Carper to Homeland Security, Beau to Senate??

Filed in National by on July 15, 2013 7 Comments

Major tip o’ the sombrero to one of my compadres for passing along this juicy rumor: http://politicalwire.com/archives/2013/07/12/napolitano_will_resign_as_homeland_security_secretary.html Carper as a possibility to replace Napolitano as Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Beaudhisattva to the Senate. Major upgrade for our delegation, major downgrade to the Cabinet. Although, as a doddering fool, Carper would be ideally suited […]

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