Friday Open Thread [4.11.14]

LOL. The House Conservatives are planning a coup against Boner again. From the National Journal:
"The conservatives' exasperation with leadership is well known. And now, in discreet dinners at the Capitol Hill Club and in winding, hypothetical-laced email chains, they're trying to figure out what to do about it. Some say it's enough to coalesce behind--and start whipping votes for--a single conservative leadership candidate. Others want to cut a deal with Majority Leader Eric Cantor: We'll back you for speaker if you promise to bring aboard a conservative lieutenant." "But there's a more audacious option on the table, according to conservatives involved in the deliberations. They say between 40 and 50 members have already committed verbally to electing a new speaker. If those numbers hold, organizers say, they could force Boehner to step aside as speaker in late November, when the incoming GOP conference meets for the first time, by showing him that he won't have the votes to be reelected in January."
This reminds me of a time back in 1994, when it was announced that Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell (D) was going to retire from the Senate. I remember reading stories in the Washington Post about the race to succeed Mitchell (well actually I found a link to a story in the New York Times, but whatever) between former Senators Jim Sasser and Tom Daschle. No where did the articles and speculation consider that, um, what if we are no in the majority next year? Teabaggin efforts to oust Boehner would be quite misplaced if the GOP ends up losing the majority. And yes, that can happen.
Delaware Political Weekly, April 5-11, 2014

Delaware Political Weekly, April 5-11, 2014

Apparently there are self-appointed grown-ups amongst Sussex County Rethuglicans. Party leaders (an oxymoron, I know, but bear with me),  endorsed a resolution stating that they would not "endorse or support" Phillips should he run for reelection to Sussex County Council. The News-Journal quotes Sussex Republican Chair John Rieley as telling Phillips in a letter:
"This situation has the strong potential to bring disrepute on the party if we do not take a proactive moral position and are seen as lending support to your candidacy."
Sometimes the jokes write themselves. The Sheriff of Nuttingham. Bodie. Disrepute has, to put it mildly, not been a stranger to the Sussex County Republican Party. But, I digress. This did not stop Phillips from filing yesterday. Meanwhile, Colin Bonini will not run for Treasurer. This, of course, was inevitable. A guy who has gotten paid for 20 years to do nothing was not about to risk that gig for another job where he'd basically do nothing. Since he would have to give up his Senate seat to run for Treasurer, Colin Bonini was never gonna run for Treasurer this year.

Thursday Open Thread [4.10.14]

Republicans are acting all indignant on behalf of women, saying "how dare the Democrats talk about about equal pay for women!!! That's insulting to women!!" Booman:
[W]hile [Republicans are] opposing [Democratic] efforts they are attempting to distort the Democrats' position to make it seem like the Democrats think that the entirety of the problem with disparity in pay is due to simple gender discrimination. The Democrats have not made that argument, but it's a blessing that the Republicans seem to think that women will be receptive to it. This is an example of being wrong even if you're right. Simply by making the argument that women aren't discriminated against in the workplace, you piss off most women.
And we have lots of polling goodness inside today.
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thurs., April 10, 2014.

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thurs., April 10, 2014.

Yesterday was a light day. The Senate worked and passed a series of noncontroversial measures, some of which I previously discussed here. The Gun Down the Gray Fox bill made it out of committee. The Dream Act bill didn't. Priorities, people.  BTW, projected annual cost of the Dream Act bill, according to the Fiscal Note? Just over $40K/year. Here's the entire Session Activity Report. The Governor has 51 million reasons to root for passage of HB 265(Schwartzkopf) in the Senate today. The bill raises $51 million in increased annual corporate fees. Since the bill requires a 3/5 super-majority vote, 13 yes votes are required. Don't think the bill would be on the Senate Agenda if all 13 D's were not on board, but we shall see. The over/under on how long it takes Governor Markell to sign the bill? 30 minutes. I'm taking the under.
Wednesday Open Thread [4.9.14]

Wednesday Open Thread [4.9.14]

Come inside to watch a video from Randall Paul, which some pundits are saying will end his 2016 candidacy because he dared question Dick Cheney, the Iraq War and the military industrial complex. I am not so sure. David Corn explains:
Critics of President George W. Bush and Cheney have long assailed the pair for pushing a WMD-centered case for war that was false and questioned their reasons and motives for invading Iraq. But it's notable that a member of the Senate who might be a leading contender for the GOP's 2016 presidential nomination thinks that the most recent Republican vice president snookered the nation into war to boost profits for a company he once steered.
This is not news to us. We long believed that this was what Cheney did. We believed it then, in 2002 and 2003. And we were proven right. But we are dirty liberals, right? Who cares if we are always right. We're "libruls!!!!!" Now that a libertarian-tea-party-conservative-clinton-hater confused Republican is saying it, finally, the notion that Dick Cheney committed treason may finally sink in.
Courtship Republican Style

Courtship Republican Style

I don't get it.  Seriously, I just don't get it.  Republicans openly acknowledge that they have women issues.  They don't pretend they don't exist, so why in the world is their new "wooing women" strategy based on insulting women?  And the Republican statements over the gender pay gap give a stunning insight into how the GOP sees women.
Tuesday Open Thread [4.8.14]

Tuesday Open Thread [4.8.14]

Looks like I was right yesterday when I said someone had flipped on Christie. I was just wrong on who had flipped. Instead of Kelly, it appears that David Wildstein has flipped. Meanwhile, Jeb Bush is getting a lot of pub recently. Hell, even he is speaking about illegal immigration being an act of love rather than a crime, which should eliminate him as a contender for the GOP nomination. But establishment types are talking him up because he is all they have right now. Christie is gone (see above). The rest of the bland midwestern governors stand no chance against Hillary, and that is assuming they all win reelection (and some of them won't). So who is left besides Ted Cruz and Rand Paul? Jeb Bush. But don't get your tickets for Clinton v. Bush II: The Sequel just yet. Also, this New Yorker cover is awesome...
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Tues., April 8, 2014

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Tues., April 8, 2014

Same day registration/voting is coming to Delaware. HB 105(Viola) passed the House, 24-15, last Thursday. Two putative D's, John Atkins and Bill 'Lumpy' Carson, voted no. No R's voted yes.  I look for a 12-9 yes vote in the Senate. Karen Weldin Stewart loses yet more of her authority if SB 178(Peterson) passes. The bill 'transfers authority for state-approved motor vehicle accident prevention (defensive driving) courses from the Department of Insurance to the Division of Motor Vehicles'.  A classic example of the state adding by subtracting. The less KWS can screw up, the better.  When you think about it, it's pretty amazing that we have two elected public officials in whom virtually nobody in state government has any confidence. KWS and Chip Flowers. Said lack of confidence is totally justified. Weird.