Year: 2013

So I guess Vice President Biden is getting up appearances as the Democratic Plan B, as he is making the rounds at state party functions. He is headlining Virginia's Jefferson-Jackson Dinner on June 29. This is his third Jefferson-Jackson keynote of the year, after South Carolina on May 3 and Michigan on April 20. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said he would examine ways to block the National Security Agency's surveillance programs before the Supreme Court, according to The Hill.

"I'm going to be seeing if I can challenge this at the Supreme Court level. I'm going to be asking all the internet providers and all of the phone companies: Ask your customers to join me in a class action lawsuit. If we get 10 million Americans saying we don't want our phone records looked at then maybe someone will wake up and something will change in Washington."

Well, a couple of things. First, if Rand Paul really wants to challenge these programs, the first thing he should do is sponsor a bill in the Senate to repeal the Patriot Act in its entirety. He is a Senator and legislation is his wheelhouse. The foundation for the surveillance state is the Patriot Act. Get rid of the Patriot Act, and you deal a crippling blow to all of these programs.

Here is some polling goodness for our open thread today.... 2013 MASSACHUSETTS--U.S. SENATE--PPP: Rep. Ed Markey (D) 47, Gabriel Gomez (R) 39. MASSACHUSETTS--U.S. SENATE--University of Massachusetts: Markey 51, Gomez 40. 2014 PENNSYLVANIA--GOVERNOR--Quinnipiac: Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D) 45, Gov. Tom Corbett (R) 45; State Treasurer Rob McCord (D) 43, Corbett 35.

"Already unpopular with Pennsylvania women, Gov. Tom Corbett trails the leading female challenger, U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, and State Treasurer Rob McCord," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "Election Day is 17 months away, but Schwartz is in a strong position to become Pennsylvania's first female Governor."

More inside...

Yesterday, President Obama strongly defended the NSA's Big Surveillance program:

Obama, who ran for president in 2008 on a platform of reversing some of the Bush administration’s encroachments on civil liberties, instead defended the programs. ”I came in with a healthy skepticism about these program,” Obama said, noting his administration has strengthened some program safeguards. “My assessment and my team’s assessment is that they help us prevent terrorist attacks.”