Delaware

Tuesday Open Thread [12.30.14]

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), the No. 3 Republican in the House, addressed a group of white supremacists and neo-Nazis in 2002, the New York Times reports.

“Mr. Scalise made his remarks to the European-American Unity and Rights Organization, which was founded two years earlier by David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan leader and Louisiana politician… It was unclear what the revelation means for Mr. Scalise’s future in the House leadership. Speaker John A. Boehner declined to comment on the reports.”

Uh. We knew who David Duke was in 2002, and if you didn’t know who he was, or you didn’t know that “European-American Unity and Rights Organization” is straight up code for the KKK, then you are too stupid to draw a salary at any level of government and you must be forced out immediately. The truth here is Scalise is a racist white supremacists, as are a lot of conservatives down in the South, most of home are now Republicans. So it was quite natural for him to speak to people with like minds.

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Tuesday Open Thread [12.23.14]

Nancy LaTourneau pushes back on the notion that Obama has rebounded and seized the narrative with several bold moves recently. She argues that each action has been in the works for over a year….

Every one of the things these pundits name as an example of the President’s newfound persona – executive actions on immigration, new EPA rules, climate change agreement with China, Russian sanctions, normalization of our relationship with Cuba – has been in the works for at least the last 1-2 years (during the time he was supposedly a listless, passive spectator). Back in January of this year, he announced his intention to implement the “pen and phone strategy” we’re all witnessing unfold.

President Barack Obama offered a brief preview Tuesday of his State of the Union address, telling his Cabinet that he won’t wait for Congress to act on key agenda items in 2014.

“I’ve got a pen, and I’ve got a phone,” he said at his first Cabinet meeting of the year. Outlining the strategy, Obama said he plans to use his pen to sign executive actions and his phone to convene outside groups in support of his agenda if Congress proves unable or unwilling to act on his priorities.
It’s true that President Obama might have a new lightness in his step. But that could just as well be because he’s finally off for a much-needed vacation in Hawaii with his family. Anyone who has really watched this President operate knows that he plays the long game.

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