Wednesday Open Thread [1.22.14]
Sorry that there was no Open Thread yesterday. I was busy contending with the Blizzard of 14. I hope you are all dug out where you are.
Talk about instant karma. Don’t make fun of Mother Nature to her face. She was later rescued with only minor injuries. But I think she learned her lesson.
The Hill reports that John Podesta has quickly reshaped and honed the White House message machine in his first three weeks on the job.
“The White House has focused on income inequality and executive action since President Obama’s new adviser came on at the beginning of the year — demonstrating a singlemindedness often missing during a rocky 2013.” “Both issues were championed by Podesta as effective ways to score victories over congressional Republicans and motivate the Democratic base ahead of the midterm elections, where the Democratic majority in the Senate is in peril.”
Meanwhile, amid building scandal, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was sworn in yesterday. One way or the other, he will not be completing it. Either he will be forced from office by scandal, or he will resign to run for President (and he will have to resign given New Jersey’s laws about raising money for federal office while serving in a state one).
Michael Tomasky says Republicans have reached the panic mode now over the damage the Christie scandals have done to their chances in 2016.
“They know deep down that there isn’t a single other figure in their party who can come within yodeling distance of 270 electoral votes. Certainly not against Hillary Clinton. Against her, the rest of them max out at around 180, which would constitute the biggest wipeout since Bill Clinton thumped Bob Dole in 1996 (379-159)…”
“The fact that the GOP establishment needs to come face-to-face with is that they have no one to blame for this but themselves. They’ve reached the point where they almost have to have a Northeasterner like Christie to run for president, just as they had to settle for Romney last time. They’ve let their party go so far off the deep end that practically no Republican officeholder from any other region of the country could appeal to enough moderates in enough purple and blue states to win back the territory the party ceded to the Democrats in the last two elections.”
- POLLING
VIRGINIA–US SENATE–Roanoke College: Sen. Mark Warner (D) 50, Ed Gillespie (R) 21.
NATIONAL–BRIDGEGATE–USA Today/Pew Research: 58% do not think New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) was unaware his aides caused a traffic jam for political payback, while just 32% said they believed the governor when he says he was unaware of his aides’ actions.
NATIONAL–PRESIDENT–Quinnipiac: Hillary Clinton (D) 46, Chris Christie (R) 38.
Last month, the two were tied at 40% each. The biggest shift is among independent voters whose support for Christie dropped 7 points to 40% from 47%. Clinton’s standing among those same voters improved by 9 points, climbing to 41% from 32%.
Can he resign and leave the Lt Governor in charge given her role in the Hoboken case?
New Gallup Poll finding that 67% of Americans are Dissatisfied With Income, Wealth Distribution.
Anybody at work today? We never close and we closed.
I’m at work, but for some inexplicable reason we are closing at 3 pm today. I took off yesterday because I knew it would be hell on earth on the roads, but that meant I had to go in today.
Post-Game/Pre-Game preempted by snow yesterday and today, as was the General Assembly itself.
As of now, I don’t know if there will be committee meetings on Thursday to go along with Gov. Markell’s State of the State.
Christie ain’t dead yet but it’s not going well for El Rotundo. Still, I expect no resignation in the short term, perhaps the long as well. In the mean time there’s more fun to come I’ll warrant, and then perhaps we can talk resignation.
Wow!
Censorship error bites China in the ass. Vast business activity throttled.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/china-accuses-hackers-for-internet-disruption-experts-suspect-censors/2014/01/22/414a4388-8395-11e3-8099-9181471f7aaf_story.html
There’s a pitched battle in China between the business interest faction and the social control faction. This event may tilt the playing field.
Markell floating the idea of raising taxes on the wrong people:
Rumors are swirling around Legislative Hall about potential tax increases that could be unveiled in Governor Markell’s State of the State.
“Gas taxes and fees and things like that,” says Senate Minority Whip Greg Lavelle.
A slight increase in gas taxes is not a bad thing, especially if it is earmarked for infrastructure investment. But it will be unpopular. Let’s see some progressive increases on the upper incomes as well.
The new Lacey Lafferty for Governor video is amazing. Minutes and minutes of her alone with farm animals.