Monday Open Thread [11.4.13]
Tomorrow is election day in Virginia, New York City, and New Jersey. In New York City, Democratic candidate Bill de Blasio will be elected mayor in the largest landslide in several generations. Likewise, in New Jersey, Governor Christie will be reelected Governor by wide if not landslide margins. And in Virginia, we have a relatively competitive Governor’s race, but the Republican candidate has not led a poll in two months. Will the results tomorrow be a harbinger for 2014 and beyond? Ed Kilgore at the Washington Monthly argues that it might be, depending on the results:
What I’ll be most interested when the votes are in next Tuesday are turnout patterns (normally an off-year election like Virginia’s is even more skewed towards pro-Republican older white voter than a midterm) and whether McAuliffe did unusually well in demographic groups that went Republican in 2009, 2010 and 2012. If the Republican hold on old white folks is fading, that’s good news for Democrats in 2014 even in districts labeled solidly Republican due to their partisan character in 2008 and 2012.
Truth is, after 2010 confirmed the heavy shift to the GOP of the groups most likely to turn out in mid-terms and off-year elections, I figured it would be a good long while before a Democrat would win the governorship in a “purple” state with off-year elections like Virginia. There’s got to be a non-trivial reason for McAuliffe’s apparently easy win, and while it may perhaps be personal to Cuccinelli, there’s no reason to conclude that without post-election evidence.
First Read: “Remember when Hillary Clinton said she was looking forward to some rest after her whirlwind travel as secretary of state? Well, that rest has certainly ended… just look at all the cities where Clinton has either delivered speeches or attended fundraisers in the past 10 days – Buffalo, NY, Washington DC area, Minneapolis, New York City, Chicago, Beverly Hills, CA, and Hamiliton, NY. And today, Clinton will speak in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Conference for Women. Just askin’, but does any other potential 2016 candidate have a busier schedule than Clinton.”
Rand Paul has a Joe Biden problem. Last week, he was busted by Rachel Maddow for plagiarizing a Wikipedia entry for the movie Gattaca, then busted by BuzzFeed’s Andrew Kaczynski both for plagiarizing a Wikipedia entry for the movie Stand and Deliver and for plagiarizing a Heritage Foundation study in his book Government Bullies. The man is a serial plagiarizer.
Instead of being concrite and apologetic, Paul on Sunday threatened to murder any one who dared question or criticize him.
Seriously.
“I take it as an insult, and I will not lie down and say people can call me dishonest, misleading or misrepresenting,” he said, dismissing his critics as “hacks and haters.” Presumably in jest, Mr. Paul added: “If dueling were legal in Kentucky, if they keep it up, it’d be a duel challenge.”
I do not give Mr. Paul the benefit of the doubt, so I am not going to presume he was kidding. I am going to presume that Mr. Paul would challenge Mr. Kaczynski and Ms. Maddow to a duel, if such were legal, where he would attempt to shoot both of them before they shot him.
That is his response to being caught in the act.
He wants to murder them.
In addition to revealing a desire to shoot Maddow, Rand Paul reveals himself to be a very whiny little baby in that statement. What is it with these Republicans and their exceedingly thin skin?
In Rand’s case he was coddled by a lunatic. Don’t know what ails the others.
Jason,
I’d say that people with a guilty conscience are usually more thin skinned, but that would assume that these people have a conscience and we know that’s not the case.
Predicting a win for McAuliffe even though he’s a bit slimy for a D. The D’s will vote for him because the alternative is too horrible to contemplate and he plays well with the center right, or what passes for moderates these days. It’s the same coalition that Tom Carper wins with.
McAulliffe will win in part because he did what all successful candidates do – hire a great team, raise a ton of money, define an opponent early, make the race a debate about terms that favor your platform and try not to make too many unforced errors.
It’s hard to think of another D in Virginia that could have kept a lead this entire time.
I’m still worried about that one. Cunicelli was able to strike 70,000 from the voter rolls based on nothing other than the fact that they were D’s.
On NPR this AM, they were talking about the possible McAuliffe win as a Republicans In Disarray story. Yay! They also talked to voters in Richmond and there seems to be a fair number of people who say they are holding their noses to vote for McAuliffe. Hope the McAuliffe team is really working the GOTV.
Today is the anniversary of Will Rogers Birthday (The famous Humorist)
Born November 4th, 1879, died (In a plane crash) August 15, 1935
You can go to the site below to see many of his famous quotes
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/w/will_rogers.html
Only thing is, the one I was looking for was not there, they are attributing it to Reagan, but I think it dates back to Will Rogers
The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help”
I just figured out where President Obama got the idea to Lie about “no one losing their insurance” under Obama Care.
Watch the office, season 6, episode 12, Scotts Tots, Michael Scott tells kids 10 years prior that if and when they graduate high school in 10 years, he will pay for their college. Of course knowing full well, he will not be able to afford it, and so it will not be possible. The difference is, at the end he goes to their class, and reluctantly tells them he won’t be able to do it. Of course they are furious, but at least he fesses up to his Lie. We don’t anticipate President Obama fessing up to any of his lies. So far, as far as he is concerned, he has been 100 percent honest with the American public.
Rusty-
Thank you for demonstrating that you have absolutely no concept of humor. Do you think Hurricane Sandy victims were happy or sad when the gov’t employees helped them? How about the 9/11 widows?
Our government is not perfect. That is an undisputed fact. However, the Tea Party Crackers and “conservatives” in general seem to think that NO government is better than what we have now.
These are the same people who line up for Medicare, Social Security, Federal Flood insurance, Federal Farm Subsidies, etc. & then BITCH about what a hassle it is to collect their free help from the Federal Gummint. 2 seconds later, the idiots they’ve elected to Congress cut SNAP benefits & these same “conservatives” think that’s a good thing. I guess those “conservatives” also thought the Great Depression was a good thing. They seem to like seeing poor people line up at NGO food banks & homeless shelters.
Get a clue, sir. You really need one.
RE: The Office (the American version) you also apparently have no idea that one idiotic middle-manager at an imaginary paper company DOES NOT equal the President of the United States.
WE should check and see if his medical license was faked
The New York Times:
CNN provided heavy coverage last week of the troubled introduction of the website tied to the Affordable Care Act. The result was the lowest weekly ratings for CNN in more than a year.
I thought CNN’s coverage was especially unhinged. I guess I wasn’t the only one.
A good fight is to be had tonight at the NCC planning board public hearing. A rich guy wants to subdivide his farmette on the Route 100 Scenic Byway with millionaire’s cluster development so other rich guys won’t have as much lawn to mow and can still live in Chateau Country.
http://saveourdelawarebyways.com/
The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help”
Scarier: “I’m from the Tea Party, and I’m here to help.”
That makes me think of the old joke about the flood victim who turned away a truck, a boat, and an a helicopter, saying “God wil save me.” He drowned, and when he asked Jesus why He didn’t save him, Jesus said “I sent you a truck, a boat, and a helicopter!”
t