National

After six years, the science of "which mascot would win in a fight" continues to confound the experts with a 100% success rate. That's right,  6 for 6 Bitches!  Suck it Terry Bradshaw! Anyhoo...let's take a look at Super Bowl XLIX (official pronunciation - "Super Bowl Ex-licks"). This could be a tough one.  A minute man style colonial militia "Patriot" vs. Bird.  Frankly I was rooting for Packers vs Colts because that would have been dead easy.  But as Dick Cheney once said, "You may pray for defenseless victims and the easy snuff out of a bewildered child or an enfeebled old lady, but in the end you get what you get." Here is what I said about the Seahawks last year....

I remember back with Governor Markell nominated Chief Justice Leo Strine, some wrote that Strine may be too brash to fill the normally stoic and silent role of a Delaware Chief Justice. I thought of that when I heard that a war of words has erupted today between Senate Minority Leader Greg Lavelle (R) and Chief Justice Strine.

[Lavelle] called out [Strine] on the floor of the Delaware Senate[!!!], saying Strine owes law enforcement an explanation, "if not an apology," for comments on Monday that Lavelle said inappropriately compared Delaware's rate of incarceration to North Korea. Strine delivered the remarks to a Chase Center crowd on Monday at a Delaware State Bar Association breakfast honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The chief justice said Delaware can't "incarcerate our way to public safety" and noted "shocking disparities" for blacks in Delaware. Strine added, "You don't want to be in a state where incarceration rates are associated with North Korea."

Lavelle wants Strine to apologize for that? Pardon my french, Mr. Lavelle, but go fuck yourself. The Chief Justice owes no apology to anyone. You, however, owe an apology to all Delaware citizens for trying to create a false controversy. Strine's office bitchslapped Lavelle as well with the following statement inside....

Andrew Sullivan, in remarks prior to the Speech, congratulated President Obama for showing the Democratic party where their cajones actually were located.

I have to say that, as rumors and reports came in last week that Obama was going to propose a straightforward redistribution from the mega-mega-rich to the struggling middle classes, I could scarcely believe it. I mean: how often does the Democratic party actually exercise solid pro-active political judgment? How often do they seize the policy initiative from Republicans? How often do they propose things thay passionately believe in and unabashedly direct the message to the vast majority of Americans treading water in rougher and rougher seas? How often does a winning Congressional party get effectively marginalized in the public debate just after a stunning mid-term win?

We have the Drop Mic Moment and more of my favorite moments from last night's State of the Union speech inside. We also have some reactions from the punditry... like this: Andrew Sullivan: "This is a speech that revealed to us the president we might have had without the extraordinary crises – foreign and domestic – he inherited. I’ve always believed in his long game and in his bent toward pragmatism over ideology. Events can still upend things, but this is a president very much shaping the agenda past his own legacy. He’s showing Hillary Clinton the way, and has the midterms to point to as the result of the defensive crouch. If his standing improves still further, he will box her in, and she’ll have to decide if she’s going to be a Wall Street tool and proto-neocon or a more populist and confident middle class agenda-setter. One of his best. And for the first time in his six years, he has the economic winds behind him."

Vice President Joe Biden was in Delaware yesterday to give a speech at a Martin Luther King, Jr. breakfast in Wilmington on repairing the breach between police and the African American community. And the News Journal, in their story on the Vice President's speech today, showed the following pictures of the former Attorney General and future alleged gubernatorial candidate Beau Biden, who was present for his father's speech but did not speak himself. Photos are courtesy of Jennifer Corbett of the News Journal. The side profiles of Mr. Biden are concerning. I hate that I have to study every picture of Beau Biden after his rare public appearances to judge how his health is. I hate that I have to wonder about his health at all. As someone who had to endure a health scare last year, I understand how important privacy is. But then again, I am not a supposed candidate for Governor. Nor was I in public office when I got sick. Just tell us. We are adults. We can handle it.

The President's State of the Union speech is tonight and we will not only be hosting our live chat, but also the speech itself, both here in the Open Thread (in the video box below) and in the chat thread. The White House has already let it be known that the President is going to call for a tax on the wealthy to fund middle class tax breaks. John Nichols at the Nation lays out the plan, which I think the GOP is going to have a hard time fighting. They will of course, but I don't envy them. This is not a radical plan. It redistributes a very small amount of wealth, and most of that wealth will be steered right back into the economy by working families, who truly drive the economy. Indeed, to get a sense of how far we have fallen in the previous three decades in the desire to fellate our billionaire masters, this Obama proposal will only return the capital gains tax rate to the level it was when Ronald Reagan was President. And, according to Booman , it proves how President Obama is different from the last two term Democratic President saddled with a hostile and Republican Congress in the last years of his Presidency.

Today's theme is Mittens Willard Dillard Romney the III. Before that though, let's enjoy some polling goodness, some of which does touch on the once and future frontrunner to the GOP nomination. IOWA--PRESIDENT--REPUBLICAN PRIMARY--Gravis Marketing: Romney 21, Bush 14, Walker 10, Huckabee 9, Paul 8, Cruz 7 NATIONAL--PRESIDENT--REPUBLICAN PRIMARY--Economist/YouGov: Romney 28, Bush 12, Carson 10, Cruz 9, Huckabee 8, Paul 8, Walker 6 NATIONAL--PRESIDENTIAL APPROVAL--Washington Post-ABC News: President Obama’s overall approval rating now stands at 50%, the highest since the spring of 2013.

Some idiot potential assassin tried to kill Vice President Biden and his family last night by firing bullets towards the Vice President's home on Barley Mill Road in Greenville. The Vice President and Dr. Jill Biden were in Washington, D.C. at the time.

So the Supreme Court has decided to take up the whole issue of marriage equality once and for all. Specifically, the questions presented and to be decided by the Court are as follows:

The cases are consolidated and the petitions for writs of certiorari are granted limited to the following questions: 1.) Does the Fourteenth Amendment require a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex? 2.) Does the Fourteenth Amendment require a state to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out-of-state? A total of ninety minutes is allotted for oral argument on Question 1. A total of one hour is allotted for oral argument on Question 2. The parties are limited to filing briefs on the merits and presenting oral arguments on the questions presented in their respective petitions.

My opinion is that the answers to both questions will be yes, by a vote of 6-3. Yes, the four liberals plus Kennedy and Roberts.

Now that the General Assembly is back in session, we have our first legislative weekly "address." We also have President Obama's weekly address that previews his State of the Union Address on Tuesday night, Governor Markell's weekly address, the West Wing Week, and a special video about Big Block of Cheese Day, which features some characters from the old "West Wing" show.