National

Margaret Carlson wants Joe Biden to run for President. I personally think it is the furthest thing from his mind.

It’s hard to see how they could look at Biden and not see [a viable candidate]. In some ways, Biden is the anti-Obama, and maybe his perfect complement. The vice president has an ample gift for the kind of politics Obama can’t stomach — the shooting the breeze, the backslapping and, yes, even the shoulder squeezing. ... Not one Republican presidential candidate has his experience or his heart — nor, for that matter, does the presumptive Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton.

We got a ton of polling results in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Florida, as well as nationally, so click through to check it out.

One day that headline is going to be true. If you are around me when Cheney kicks the bucket, the PARTY IS ON! I'm buying. That's all. I just wanted to make that offer official. Carry on.

Blogger Kevin Ohlandt of Exceptional Delaware posted a GoFundMe campaign for $1875 to cover the Delaware Department of Education’s demand for fulfilling Kevin’s FOIA request. The request is for contracts and emails related to Delaware’s relationship with AIR and DRC, who are respectively the testing and scoring vendor for Delaware’e Smarter Balanced Assessment test. www.gofundme.com Kevin has asked repeatedly for this information, and has followed up with DOJ do reduce DOE’s demands from an even more ridicuous $8000-something. Kevin is blessed with the time, the energy, and the integrity go make the most of the information. We need to fill the GoFundMe campaign TODAY to send DOE and the Senate a message, on this day when HB 50 (Opt Out) is on the Senate agenda, and Governor Markell has his veto pen ready. So put in a few bucks, or even a few hundred to make the message loud and clear today.

Hmm... A Jeb Bush campaign centerpiece that reminds people of Dubya's failures and Bill Clinton's successes? Brilliant!!

The centerpiece of Jeb Bush’s campaign is a promise to restore 4 percent growth. This goal has already been claimed by the guy Bush is trying to make people forget — his brother, Dubya, whose post-presidential center has also made “4% growth” its primary theme. Borrowing your theme from a failed ex-president brother you’re trying not to be associated with seems like a questionable strategy.

But wait... it gets better. So much better.

This is a straight pickup from Dkos.  I'm reposting it here to atone for my last gun nut post that implied that open carry activists are merely nuts.  They are,…

Paul Krugman thinks Democrats are being Democrats again:

On Friday, House Democrats shocked almost everyone by rejecting key provisions needed to complete the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an agreement the White House wants but much of the party doesn’t. On Saturday Hillary Clinton formally began her campaign for president, and surprised most observers with an unapologetically liberal and populist speech. These are, of course, related events. The Democratic Party is becoming more assertive about its traditional values, a point driven home by Mrs. Clinton’s decision to speak on Roosevelt Island. [...] On one side, the success of Obamacare and related policies — millions covered for substantially less than expected, surprisingly effective cost control for Medicare — have helped to inoculate the party against blanket assertions that government programs never work. And on the other side, the Davos Democrats who used to be a powerful force arguing against progressive policies have lost much of their credibility. I’m referring to the kind of people — many, though not all, from Wall Street — who go to lots of international meetings where they assure each other that prosperity is all about competing in the global economy, and that this means supporting trade agreements and cutting social spending. Such people have influence in part because of their campaign contributions, but also because of the belief that they really know how the world works. As it turns out, however, they don’t.

For Republicans who have said, "It isn't a clown car, these are serious candidates." When Donald Trump emerges from the door, it is a clown car. Case closed. The good news...? Nobody picked him, so for our purposes, he doesn't exists. Oh yeah... also Jeb! announced yesterday. He actually has a shot at the nomination as the GOP typically goes through a lot of hyperventilating and spastic gyrations then picks with the guy the big money tells them to pick. (See: Romney, McCain, & Dole)

This, from The National Review in 2014, is fairly amusing given how things played out:

Sam Brownback might not be a household name yet, but Grover Norquist says that’s going to change in 2015. The Kansas governor, who ran a short presidential bid in 2008 and served in the Senate for a decade and a half, has a big fan in the Americans for Tax Reform head. Norquist tells National Review Online that Brownback is strategically positioned for a 2016 presidential bid, and that he’ll be a competitive candidate.

Philip Klein: “When Republicans lost two elections to Obama, it was easy to explain away as a special phenomenon. In 2008, Obama was a rock star running against a boring old senator who represented an incumbent party that had presided over an unpopular war and financial crash. In 2012, he ran for re-election against a weak candidate who had trouble winning over his own party. But in 2016, Republicans have the ability to nominate a formidable candidate to put up against a Democrat with lots of baggage. If they blow it, then it may be time to throw in the towel.”