National

Joan Walsh says Progressives won the Democratic Debate, hands down:

Courtesy of a Democratic Party that’s shifted left thanks to its base, for the first time in American history a national television audience was exposed to a serious discussion about capitalism vs. socialism, expanding Social Security, providing debt-free college, protecting reproductive rights, and jailing bankers. Early reporting tells us it was the most watched Democratic debate in history. What happened in Las Vegas Tuesday night surely won’t stay in Las Vegas. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley all had good nights, with debate performances strong enough to let each candidate’s supporters legitimately spin the night as a “win,” as they did. Progressives had a good night, too. The differences between Clinton and Sanders were made clearer, but not bitter. [Hillary] defended her shift left on many issues as coming to terms with reality. When CNN’s Anderson Cooper confronted her with a statement she made recently about being a “moderate,” Clinton retorted: “I’m a progressive, but a progressive who likes to gets things done.” That sums up Clinton’s pitch.

And there you go. It is a divide that I have spoken about for years. The Purists vs. the Pragmatists. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are no doubt pragmatists. For that, they are denounced as evil corporatist whores by some in the purist camp, which leads to the tonnage of disrespect and loathing the pragmatists feel for the purists. All of this is over tactics and incremental progress. Both sides pretty much agree on policy and the issues. It is the when and how that sets these two camps apart. Bernie Sanders is very much in the purist camp, and has been for years. He is so pure he cannot even be a Democrat. Hillary is very much in the pragmatist camp. And there is your primary.

Someone not named a variant of Brian to make it a three way.

Rep. John Carney’s decision last month to run for governor has opened up his at-large seat to Delaware Democrats hoping to make it to Washington. The day after the three-term member made his announcement, state Sen. Bryan Townsend, a corporate lawyer in Wilmington, got into the race. A week later, state Rep. Bryon Short, a small business owner and former aide to Sen. Thomas R. Carper, followed suit. Now a third Democrat is expected to get into the race. Lisa Blunt Rochester, who served as Delaware’s first African-American female secretary of Labor, is likely to announce her campaign in the coming weeks, a source who is familiar with her thinking told CQ Roll Call Thursday. In a safe Democratic district that President Barack Obama carried twice, the winner of the primary will almost surely win the seat. EMILY’s List has met with Rochester, and is encouraging her to run. “Lisa Blunt Rochester has been a fierce advocate for Delaware families,” EMILY’s List Communications Director Marcy Stech told CQ Roll Call. “We are excited to see that she’s taking a serious look at this race — she would be a strong leader in Washington who knows how to create opportunity for all.”

Via Roll Call

William Greider on the coming breakup of the GOP:

Fresh chatter among Washington insiders is not about whether the Republican Party will win in 2016 but whether it will survive. Donald Trump—the fear that he might actually become the GOP nominee—is the ultimate nightmare. Some gleeful Democrats are rooting (sotto voce) for the Donald, though many expect he will self-destruct. Nevertheless, Republicans face a larger problem. The GOP finds itself trapped in a marriage that has not only gone bad but is coming apart in full public view. After five decades of shrewd strategy, the Republican coalition Richard Nixon put together in 1968—welcoming the segregationist white South into the Party of Lincoln—is now devouring itself in ugly, spiteful recriminations. The abrupt resignation of House Speaker John Boehner was his capitulation to this new reality. His downfall was loudly cheered by many of his own troops—the angry right-wingers in the House who have turned upon the party establishment. Chaos followed. The discontented accuse party leaders of weakness and betraying their promises to the loyal rank and file. At the heart of this intramural conflict is the fact that society has changed dramatically in recent decades, but the GOP has refused to change with it. Americans are rapidly shifting toward more tolerant understandings of personal behavior and social values, but the Republican Party sticks with retrograde social taboos and hard-edged prejudices about race, gender, sexual freedom, immigration, and religion. Plus, it wants to do away with big government (or so it claims).

No it doesn't, as Hillary says. The GOP wants Theocracy, forcing one national religion upon all. It will take a big government to do that, to police the sexual habits of 350 million, to monitor millions of pregnancies every day to make sure none are aborted, to build and monitor a wall that keeps all in and out. The libertarian and business wings are repulsed by the racists and the theocrats, but only with them can they be a national party. Only with them can they have a chance to win national elections. But perhaps we have reached the point of not caring anymore. Boehner did.

Another Republican had a bout of honesty today and admitted the truth that the Benghazi Commission is nothing but a made up partisan witch hunt to crucify Hillary Clinton despite any wrongdoing on her part.

Currently, the 2010 Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in Delaware is being sued by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for allegedly using at least $20,000 in campaign contributions to pay personal bills, such as her rent at her Greenville townhouse. Well, it seems that beyond whatever retainer he secured before taking the case, her attorney is not being paid.

It is well overdue, but the leadership of the Democratic Party finally gets it. The GOP is the problem. Hillary Clinton called out the GOP and their malfeasance in no uncertain terms, and it was a huge hit. She sounds determined to tell the truth about the GOP on the campaign trail. In so doing she'll drag the GOP's cynical policies into the light of day and allow a legion of down ticket Democrats to adopt the message. There are far fewer Republicans in this country than there are Democrats. If, rather than pandering to the wishy/washy "center" she shows the country what the GOP has really been up to, she will win in a landslide and may well sweep away the GOP majorities in Washington and numerous state legislatures. Here are her finest moments from the debate:

GOP sources are telling Politico that House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) is looking to move a bill that would lift the debt ceiling before he steps down. According to the Politico report, published Wednesday... GOP leadership is willing to put forth a standalone debt ceiling bill -- a so-called "clean" bill -- before a new speaker takes over Boehner's gavel.

You really have to wonder what is coming next. THE GOP has gerrymandered its way into a nearly unbreakable majority which it can't use because at least 30 House Republicans are certifiably insane.

I mean Copeland is no idiot (unless maybe he is...?). Maybe he does read this stuff and actually thinks it is somehow rooted in reality. DEGOP Chair Responds to Democratic…

My personal opinion: I felt that Hillary was the clear winner of last night's debate. She was strong, quick on her feet, humorous. I feel her performance ended Joe Biden's presidential aspirations outright, unless something shocking and unknown happens at the Partisan Get Hillary Committee hearing next week. Biden is back to being an emergency Plan B candidate. The viscous cycle of bad press and thus bad poll numbers and thus bad press and thus bad poll numbers is ended by the debate. Reports were that Hillary's campaign team were ecstatic after the debate, and as well they should be. Bernie Sanders had some good moments, and two or three awful ones. His gun control position, and his unprepared, unsure and halting response to the criticism, were horrible. He had to have known he would be attacked for that, and that was the answer he came up with. And his Syria answers were not ready for primetime. But the best moment of the night, the moment that probably will stand out to most people and the media, was his very charming and very New York exclamation: "enough about her damn emails!" I grew to openly despise Jim Webb over the course of the evening. First, stop complaining about your time. No one likes whiners. Second, is he sure he is on the right stage? Seems more suited to the Republican party. Lincoln Chafee should drop out. Now. This very second. And Martin O'Malley had one really good and emotional answer, and his overall performance was probably good enough to be regarded officially as "the third candidate."