The General Assembly is Back to Work and It Is Open Bamboozlement Season for the DE GOP

The General Assembly is Back to Work and It Is Open Bamboozlement Season for the DE GOP

34 Comments
In the past couple of days, the DE GOP (almost extinct) has taken to the NJ editorial pages to push more of their innumerate BS -- going back to their message of having all The Government You Can Eat for free. Even though that is not true, they've decided that no one will get the math -- apparently taking their cue from Colin Bonnini. Both are taking aim at the .10/gallon gas tax proposal, and neither grapple with the fact that there are 1) real costs to getting road improvements and repairs done, 2) there have to be revenues to pay for those costs, or 3) be very clear about what improvements, repairs and programs they would be willing to see die on the vine in order to get the budget in shape:
A Tale of Two Democrats

A Tale of Two Democrats

16 Comments
Or at least two types of Democrats. Yesterday, Senator Bernie Sanders and 15 other Democratic Senators sent a letter to President Obama urging him to not cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid in his FY15 budget. It won't be much of a surprise to most of the readers here to find that neither Senator Carper or Coons signed on to this letter. Interestingly, Senator Coons voted to restore the cuts to military pensions and Carper voted against them. So take a look at what a group of Democrats genuinely interested in the well-being of middle class and working class people urged the President:
Today, retirement insecurity is as high as it has ever been. Only one in five workers in the private sector has a defined benefit pension plan; half of Americans have less than $10,000 in savings; and two-thirds of seniors rely on Social Security for a majority of their income. Given this reality, we respectfully urge you not to propose cutting Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid benefits in your Fiscal Year 2015 budget. In good times and bad, Social Security has succeeded in keeping millions of senior citizens, widows, orphans, and persons with disabilities out of extreme poverty. Before Social Security was developed, about half of our seniors lived in poverty; today senior poverty is down to 9.1 percent. Without Social Security, one-third of senior citizens would have virtually no earnings at all. Social Security has not contributed one penny to the deficit. Social Security has a surplus of more than $2.7 trillion and can pay every single benefit owed to every eligible American for the next 19 years.
Beau Biden is planning something, but he is skipping over a step…..

Beau Biden is planning something, but he is skipping over a step…..

41 Comments
It is time to come clean with your fellow Delawareans. We are adults. We can accept and understand any kind of news, good, bad or even horrible, every day. But first, Celia Cohen:
Beau Biden collected more than $1 million in political contributions in 2013. This does not look like the conduct of a sick man. This looks like the conduct of a man who wants to be regarded as a future candidate for governor. Not that anybody is saying. Not that anybody ever does. It is all still supposed to be about Biden running for a third term as attorney general in 2014. "He has not made any bones about his love of public service. At this point he has not made any decisions. He's always taken it one year at a time," said Molly Magarik, who manages Biden's political operation. Money talks, and maybe this money is as close as Delaware is going to get to a statement about Biden's wellbeing.
Well, Biden will need more than fundraising as proof of his wellbeing before he proceeds with whatever plans he has, especially if he intends to run against Matt Denn for Governor.
Snow Day Tomorrow

Snow Day Tomorrow

3 Comments
Here we go again!  As of now, Brandywine, Christina and Red Clay Schools are closed tomorrow.  Nothing on Appo's site yet, and I can't make sense of Colonial's (horrible site) but it looks like they haven't called it yet.  Use this thread to keep us updated.  And, no, I'm not looking up 19 flippin' districts. Everyone ready?  Milk, bread, eggs? Alcohol?

Tuesday Open Thread [2.11.14]

2 Comments
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) sent us what they called a guest post, but it was more like a press release, concerning the General Assembly's passage of SB 6, the Minimum Wage Bill. I am very happy that the DLCC is working up the state legislative races across the land, because, as we have seen across the country, when Republicans get control of them, they everything and anything they ever wanted to pass. Forced gun ownership. Complete abortion bans. Voter suppression. So I wish them well in there efforts to link the state legislative into the Democrats' overrall midterm narrative of income inequality. But... sometimes these national organizations miss some of the local politics that take place. Come inside to see their guest post / release and what I mean by that...