National

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.”

National Journal:

House progressives may have just had their tea-party moment. They went toe-to-toe Friday with their own president, the business community, and moderates of all stripes—and they won big. In overwhelming numbers, Democrats torpedoed a bill that would have moved President Obama closer to the landmark trade deal he's been seeking. And they did so hours after he visited Capitol Hill to make a personal appeal to their caucus. "It's more than 2-to-1," said a giddy Rep. Alan Grayson, watching the vote. "That's incredible. Nobody expected that." The trade drama was only the latest skirmish in a broader intraparty war, with organized labor and economic populists such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren on one side, and a dwindling corps of business- and Wall Street-friendly Democrats on the other. Increasingly, the political momentum and passion within the party is moving toward the first group.

They don't get that they've won. Guns are America. America is guns. "Bang, bang!... Ye haw, motherfuckers!!" That you can't take your gun to a zoo, amusement park, or state house is a little thing. Let it go.

A judge on Friday granted the St. Louis Zoo a restraining order against a gun rights activist planning a march at the zoo on Saturday, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Jeffry Smith, who organized an open carry march in downtown St. Louis last year, said he planned on carrying firearms into the zoo on Saturday in order to protest the zoo's policy banning weapons.