Friday Open Thread [8.23.13]

Friday Open Thread [8.23.13]

The Around the Horn will be published tomorrow. I had my physical this morning so I did not have time to go through everything. Bruce Bartlett:
Just as Democrats had depended on the South to maintain their congressional control for generations, Republicans now depend on that region to maintain theirs. This has made the GOP ever more sensitive to issues that especially resonate with Southerners—abortion, gun control, low taxes and a hard line on immigration. In the process, the liberal wing of the Republican Party completely ceased to exist. Just as all conservative Democrats became Republicans, all liberal Republicans became Democrats. Thus for the first time in American history, our two major parties are ideologically uniform—all the conservatives are in one party and all the liberals are in the other. Since the GOP is now vitally dependent on maintaining its position in the South, I believe that the South now controls the Republican Party to a much greater extent than it controls the South. This makes it very hard for a Republican presidential nominee to reach out for moderate and swing voters in the North and West. In effect, the price Republicans pay for holding Congress, by way of the South, is that its presidential nominees become unelectable. Republicans don’t yet believe this, but when they lose again in 2016, at least some will be forced to accept it.
QOTD — The NRA Builds a Database of Millions of Gun Owners, Where’s The Outrage?

QOTD — The NRA Builds a Database of Millions of Gun Owners, Where’s The Outrage?

Buzzfeed has reported on the NRA's efforts to build a database of possibly tens of millions of gun owners from data they were able to obtain from states on gun and hunting permit owners. Interesting, yes? This is the same NRA that manufactures its outrage over the press publishing the publicly available list of people with gun permits. The NRA specifically fundraises off of manufactured fear that the government is creating lists of gun owners in order to seize those guns, or some such. As if the government didn't outgun these gun owners anyway. But here is the NRA specifically building the database it accuses the government of trying to do -- so where *is* all of the conservative outrage on this data collection effort that is being done without the permission of those gun or hunting permit owners?

Thursday Open Thread 8.22.13

At Wonkblog, Sarah Kliff has an ironic revelation: "A new poll finds that young Republicans are more likely to have health coverage through their parents' policy than young Democrats, an option widely expanded under the Affordable Care Act...The poll comes from the Commonwealth Foundation, which has spent two years tracking how adults between the ages of 19 and 25 are reacting to the Affordable Care Act. Beginning in 2010, the health care law allowed young adults up to age 26 to stay covered under their parents' health plans...The Commonwealth Foundation estimates that of the 15 million young adults that have insurance coverage through a parent, 7.8 million would not have qualified without this policy."
Trashing Teachers – Another Big GOP Fail

Trashing Teachers – Another Big GOP Fail

In spite of the GOP's ongoing assault on public schools, and public school teachers, a new Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll shows that most Americans like their public schools and the teachers who work there.
...parents, especially, are increasingly pleased with their neighborhood schools and more displeased with the rising use of standardized, multiple choice tests to evaluate, and potentially punish, teachers, a new Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll suggests.
The GOP's efforts to trash public schools and vilify public school teachers may have had some impact, but, like so much of conservatism, not the anticipated impact.
(Parents are) displeased with the rising use of standardized, multiple choice tests to evaluate, and potentially punish, teachers, a new Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll suggests.

More on Beau (Updated).

The AP, through the Huffington Post, is reporting that AG Beau Biden's bout of fatigue and disorientation in Indiana last week was not the first time symptoms appeared.
Emergency responders were called earlier this month to the home where the son of Vice President Joe Biden has been staying, two weeks before he was hospitalized during a family vacation, authorities said Wednesday. A [New Castle] county dispatch center log indicates that someone at the vice president's home was reported to be possibly having a stroke and apparently not alert. Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, 44, has been staying at his father's Greenville home while his own house is renovated. [...] Rickie Clark, a staff supervisor with the Cranston Heights Fire Co., confirmed Wednesday that county dispatchers received a call for help from Joe Biden's home. However, he refused to provide further details.
Ok, now Republicans are just insane.

Ok, now Republicans are just insane.

According to a Public Policy Polling survey, 29 percent of Louisiana Republicans say President Obama is more to blame for the botched executive branch response to Hurricane Katrina while just 28 percent blamed George W. Bush. A plurality of 44 percent said they were unsure who was more responsible. Let that sink in for a second while we enjoy a moment of quiet. Still letting that sink in. Alright, are you ready? Ok, let's examine this.

Wednesday Open Thread 8.21.13

Rep. Kerry Bentivolio (R-MI) said he's consulted with lawyers about impeaching President Obama. From BuzzFeed:
"If I could write that bill and submit it, it would be a dream come true. I stood 12 feet away from the guy and listened to him. I couldn't stand being there, but because he is president I have to respect the office. That's my job, as a congressman, I respect the office." Bentivolio said that after the encounter with Obama he returned to his office and summoned lawyers to discuss the impeachment process.
Hopefully those lawyers told him that first, you have to have an action on Obama's part that in some realm of plausible legal theory constitutes a high crime or misdemeanor. In 1998-99, the GOP pursued impeachment BECAUSE they had plausible crimes on President Clinton's part... perjury and obstruction of justice. Regarding Obama, they have nothing. There is no action that the President has taken that can be considered a high crime or misdemeanor. Impeachment is not a tool available to the opposition party when they do not like the President or are not in favor of his policies. It is for when the President commits a high crime or misdemeanor. And Mr. Bentivolio should know that if he writes up a bill, while there is a question of whether it passes the House, there is no doubt it fails in the Senate. So he is talking about using a nuclear weapon that is guaranteed to blow up in his face. So, please proceed Congressman.
Beau Biden has a mass in his brain.

Beau Biden has a mass in his brain.

From Allen Loudell:
Multiple sources say the 44-year-old Biden is undergoing tests at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, which U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT has consistently ranked as the nation's best hospital for cancer treatment. Usually, people are evaluated at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center for particularly daunting conditions. We already know the Attorney General was evaluated at hospitals in Chicago and Philadelphia. That raises this question: Is Beau Biden being evaluated at M.D. Anderson primarily as a precaution (and it doesn't hurt to be the son of the Vice President of the United States), or does he really have chronic, complicated issues?
Indeed. This morning, NBC News and the New York Daily News are reporting Beau Biden has a mass in his brain. He is in Houston to figure out whether the mass is malignant.