Posts by Delaware Dem

The President discussed the importance of reducing the number of people without health insurance during the Open Enrollment period for Obamacare, and the Governor highlighted four new milestones reached in conjunction with the Delaware Bayshore, including the preservation of a key wetland and opening of a new walking trail and ADA-accessible viewing platform on the property. We also have the behind the scenes West Wing Week.

Jonathan Chait: “A new paper by political scientist Corwin Smidt… documents the decline of swing voters, or (as many political scientists call them) ‘floating voters,’ which means voters who pull the lever for a different party than the one they supported in the previous election. From the 1950s through the 1980s, 10 to 15 percent of voters floated between the two parties in presidential elections. Recently that rate has fallen to about 5 percent.” “The sorting of American politics into semipermanent, warring camps unfolded over decades… But every effort to break the stalemate in the age of polarization has failed. Red-state Democrats and blue-state Republicans have tried to create separate, localized identities for their candidates that can allow them to compete in hostile terrain. It doesn’t work because elections at every level have increasingly grown nationalized. The divide between red and blue America is comprehensive.” The true swing voter is like a white elephant: rare. I only have one in my life. What the media considers "swing voters" are really just annoying Independents that do in fact have ideological preferences one way or the other, but can only be motivated to vote on rare occasions. Obama brought a lot of these voters out in 2008. Bernie Sanders is attempting to do the same thing now. George W. Bush brought a lot of these voters out on the right in 2004, and the selection of Sarah Palin brought a lot of these voters out to vote for McCain.

Last night during the special meeting of the Town Council, "Elsmere town officials are asking the Attorney General's Office for help in deciding whether a crime was committed by the mayor," WDEL reports. What I find fascinating is that what started out as a plan to explain away the firing of former New Castle County Chief Administrative Officer David Grimaldi has blown back and caused collateral damage on Tom Gordon and his allies, all because Grimaldi recorded his conversation with Berg. Gordon has to wonder what other conversations have been recorded.

The latest from Celia Cohen on Colin Bonini is as predictable as it is insane:

Colin Bonini, the Republican state senator, was committed to running against Beau Biden as the Democrats' candidate for governor, but against John Carney? Eh, not as much. It is probably too strong of a characterization to say Bonini has gotten cold feet, but definitely cool feet, maybe even chilled feet. [...] "I was planning on running against Beau Biden. It's not Beau, for the worst possible reason. John's a very popular guy, and by the way, a great guy," Bonini said.

Huh? Not more popular than Beau Biden or the Biden Family? Did Colin Bonini really think it was going to be easier to run against Beau Biden than John Carney? Really? With the Vice President as a surrogate for Beau? Really?

Dr. Ben Carson on Wednesday night confirmed his belief that the pyramids in Egypt were built for grain storage by Joseph, even though archaeologists have concluded that the pyramids were built as tombs for the pharaohs.

"My own personal theory is that Joseph built the pyramids to store grain," Carson said in a 1998 speech surfaced by Buzzfeed News on Wednesday. "Now all the archeologists think that they were made for the pharaohs’ graves. But, you know, it would have to be something awfully big if you stop and think about it. And I don’t think it’d just disappear over the course of time to store that much grain."

I have a lot of my own personal theories too. I think the pyramids in Egypt and those built by other ancient civilizations were built by aliens. But I am not really serious. When I get serious, I tend to defer to those who have much for education and training in a particular field. For example, I know very little about ancient Egypt, and what I do know comes from the movie "The Ten Commandments" and the HBO TV series "Rome." I also have never been to Egypt. So I assume that someone who has been to Egypt, that someone who has studied their ancient culture and history, that somebody who has studied the field of archaeology, would know much more than me. And thus I refuse to make a fool of myself by insisting that I know better than they. Ben Carson has no problem making a fool of himself, as we have seen time and again.

A political party is generally made up of various ideological, geographical and demographic factions, and the candidate who best appeals to all of them, or is deemed acceptable by as many of those factions as possible, generally wins. But when a primary starts, it also is helpful to a primary candidate to start off with a base of support that he or she can build on.

Jonathan Chait asks if Ben Carson is really running for President: “It is hard to tell. Conservative politics are so closely intermingled with a lucrative entertainment complex that it is frequently impossible to distinguish between a political project (that is, something designed to result in policy change) and a money-making venture. Declaring yourself a presidential candidate gives you access to millions of dollars’ worth of free media attention that can build a valuable brand. So the mere fact that Carson calls himself a presidential candidate does not prove he is actually running for president rather than taking advantage of the opportunity to build his brand. Indeed, it is possible to be actually leading the polls without seriously trying to win the presidency.” “And the notion that Carson could be president is preposterous. The problem is not only that he has never run for elected office. He has never managed a large organization; he has not worked in and around public policy, and he lacks a competent grasp of issues. His stance on health care, the closest thing to an issue with which his professional experience has brought him into contact, is gibberish. He mostly thrills audiences by scoffing at evolution and insisting Muslims be barred from the presidency, stances he cannot even defend coherently.”