Thursday Open Thread [1.26.12]
Some interesting poll results from yesterday from the National Journal:
Today’s United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll showed Democrats with an 11-point lead over Republicans in a generic ballot question asked to registered voters. When asked if they would “rather see the Republicans keep control” of the House or see “the Democrats win enough seats to take over control of the House,” 48 percent chose the Democrats, and 37 percent chose the GOP.
That type of result, if true, would switch control of the House back to the Democrats, quite easily actually.
And ABC News and the Washington Post released a poll on the favorability ratings of the three men looking to be elected President this November. Only one of them should be smiling.
Favorable/Unfavorable ratings, ABC/Washington Post poll, 1/24/12 (11/27/11 ratings in parentheses for Gingrich and Romney; 12/11/11 ratings in parentheses for Obama)
President Barack Obama (D): 53/43 (48/49)
Mitt Romney (R): 31/49 (38/38)
Newt Gingrich (R): 29/51 (35/42)
Romney now has almost Gingrich-like toxic numbers. Both are unelectedable in a general election.
More polling goodness:
GENERAL ELECTION
FLORIDA (Quinnipiac): Obama and Romney tie at 45; Obama vanquishs Gingrich 50 to 39.
FLORIDA (Suffolk Univ.): Romney d. Obama 47 to 42; Obama destroys Gingrich 49 to 40.
And of course, the teabaggers will insist Newt’s and Mitt’s numbers are so low because they aren’t conservative enough. Perhaps they can all have a conference to discuss their conundrum at Ni**erhead.
After his speech CBS did a poll among all voters..91% approved, 9% didnt.
Tom Carper will figure out how to be on the side of the 9% in the name of bipartisanship.
Everybody likes the speech, even Carper says he does. It’s just that there is no feasible path for converting the speech into legislation. Republicans won’t raise taxes on the rich, so cross “fairness” off the list.
If any proposals from the speech make it to the Senate floor, Carper will vote for it in full confidence that 41 Republicans and Democrats will vote against it.
Carper and Republicans probably will go for Obama’s corporate tax cut, though, even if Repubs will grumble at giving Obama a win on anything, even one of their own policies. The test of Democrats there will be how many loopholes will they close – Will GE’s tax go from 0% to 25%?
Jon Stewart says that Obama is the Oprah of tax credits. Sad but true. Our political discourse has been dumb down to guttural grunting.
BTW Good Friar Puck, hast thou noticed that today is the the day that the GOP established all figured out, “Holy shit! Newt could win this!!”
Pretty funny stuff out there.
“Tom Carper will figure out how to be on the side of the 9% in the name of bipartisanship.”
I noticed that on at least one reaction shot, Carper was the last one to his feet for a standing ovation. He’s Joe Lieberman without the heaping helping of sanctimony.
Newt and Mitt in dead heat in Florida for least unlikeable. HAHAHAHA HA HA HA…HAHA!!! I bet Jeb is staying close to his phone.
I hope get some good footage of Florida seniors grilling Mitt and Newt on Social Security and Medicare. Get ready to hear a lot of Chris Coons’s line, “Current retirees won’t be affected.”
Oddly, Newt’s strong numbers in Florida are not helping in the futures markets. He is at $0.14 per share. Each contract pays out $1.00 if he wins, so if you bough 100 shares for $14.00 and he won the nomination, you’d net out $86.00.
Bob Dole rouses Bob Dole from Bob Dole’s cave long enough to warn people that Newtie will cost the GOP just like he did in 1996.
w00t!
LOL
I love this line from the Dole statement:
Newt would show up at the campaign headquarters with an empty ice-bucket in his hand—that was a symbol of some sort for him—and I never did know what he was doing or why he was doing it.
If I’m in that office and Newt shows up with an empty ice bucket, I’m nervous. But if he shows up with a full ice bucket, I’m exiting through the window.
An ice bucket? Bring on the Newt is crazy theme!
And there’s ANOTHER debate tonight. Maybe Newt will bring the ice bucket!
Now if BobDole had observed that each time he saw Newtie and that ice bucket, the ice bucket had a different hotel logo on it.
If Rmoney was at all clever, he would show up with an ice bucket to give to Newt, and tell him that BobDole Says Hi.
Possible uses for ice bucket:
To catch his wives’ tears
To keep his heart in when he votes on the budget
Wow. Conservative media dropping a big-ass hammer on Newtie.
Yeah. This is “Holy shit! WE CAN’T LET NEWT GET THE NOMINATION!” day! …and I’m loving it.
Don’t they know it will only make Newt stronger? They have spent thirty years training their base to distrust the establishment. Now if the other choice wasn’t Mitt Romney it might have a chance of working.
Notice they can’t actually criticize Newt’s policies – because they are their own policies. So they go after character instead.
That’s why this is so awesome. The GOP has spent yars training the base to defend Newt at this moment and time.
Some will rub their eyes and join Romney as if they are waking from a bad dream. Others will go forward with the programmed mission like the brainwashed assassination squad that they are.
Newt is scary to the GOP because he will lose the House for them. Probably Romney will too but they don’t see that yet.
I don’t think anyone has noticed the real scary thing about Romney: Of all the Repub candidates, he is the only one who isn’t proposing to cut taxes below the Bush rates (as far as I know). He wants to keep the top marginal rate and capital gains at their current Bush/Obama levels.
IN waiting for friday open thread, and seeing the Gattis opinion poll, and reading other news this morning,
http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2012/01/27/conn-killer-sentenced-to-death.html
that right there is why i cant be definitively against the death penalty. I do know this; any legal punishment this country offers is too generous for these animals (no offense to non-human life forms). I think I believe humans can lose the right to be treated like humans if their decisions are horrific enough…. this is one of those cases.
Connecticut Dude is scum! Make him FRY!!!!
“You want this, don’t you? The hate is swelling in you now. Take your Jedi weapon. Use it. He is unarmed. Strike him down with it. Give in to your anger. With each passing moment you make yourself more my servant.
Luke: No.
The Emperor: It is unavoidable. It is your destiny. You, like your father, are now mine.
How prophetic that was as children seeing it first time in a most intimidating form of punishment. Instead, putting him in prison for life, so he can over the next 40, 50, 60 years look at his existence and regret the course of his action.. is a far, far superior punishment…
Instead of all the glory of a public beheading, the better deterrent to violent crime, is the visual of a wimpy old man, rotting his life away, for something he did one night on a whim… The more young people who see the after-effects of violence in the framework of clear rationality and not virulent emotionality, and societies’ continuous, steadfast condemnation of it, the less violence there will be… Reveling in the killing of a convict, is only a hairsbreadth difference than his reveling that one night, in the killing of a defenseless mother and children…
Once you say it is ok to kill, you open the door to the argument of “when” .. and as you know, when there is an argument, there are unlimited numbers of interpretations…
Now, compare that to the opposite argument FOR Capital Punishment which is so precisely expressed in the comment above (11:13) .. It makes me “feel” better…
With capital punishment, we continue the cycle of killing because it makes us feel better… When murders are asked “Why they did it, they too say: “It made me feel better…”
Something to think about… for sure.
WELL, my first kapvis spanking.
I bring up my war argument. we say there are circumstances where it is acceptable to kill people because they have a different government… but the most abhorrent thing we can do is kill our own citizens for behaving in a sub human way and for causing extreme pain. It is quite a conservative (small c) position to say “there is no time or place for anything.”
Even if they ARE exicuted, there is an imbalance in justice. This particular incident (and other like it) were not one misstep in judgment in the heat of passion. It was a cold hearted rape, torture and murder of 3 people…. and the emotional devastation of one other. you’re saying it is justice to lock them up with their “thoughts”?
Let’s look at any other crime… how about intentionally deceptive financial decisions that lead to the financial ruin of regular people who had no way or say in stopping it? we want to make examples of those people. we want them to go to jail and to know the pain they inflicted. Why would we treat true monsters with the same respect… that’s right, respect, as the greedy? Ive never heard a truly convincing argument against the death penalty in cases like this other than people alluding I’m some sort of unsophisticated brute for thinking punishments should fit crimes. There is a wide golf between the anti death penalty purest liberal and …. let’s say Rick Perry.