Open Thread

Marc Ambinder: "One undeniable truth: Iraq weakened the U.S. more than anything done since. Maybe Obama overlearned its lessons; maybe we all have. But nothing empowered Vladimir Putin more than America's squandering of moral standing in the early part of this century." Today, Delaware Economic and Financial Advisory Council (DEFAC) will release the first revenue forecast of 2014. In December, DEFAC added $42 million to incoming revenues, but that still left a hole of about $125 million for Gov. Jack Markell to fill in his budget.

South Carolina U.S. Senate candidate Dave Feliciano (R), a teabagging Christine O'Donnell wannabe, is challenging Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Said Feliciano: "It's about time that South Carolina says hey, We're tired of the ambiguously gay senator from South Carolina. We're ready for a new leader to merge the Republican Party. We're done with this. This is what it's about, all of us coming together and saying, one way or the other, one of us is going to be on that ballot in November." Given the homophobia of the right, I bet his poll numbers go up.

Are you following the dissapearance of the Malaysian Airways plane? It is remarkable to me that somehow this flight just vanished without a trace -- and that it seems that the flight may not have been on the track it should have been. Then there is the WSJ reporting today that the plane was in the air (or at least the engines were running) well past the time currently suspected.

I am up in the wonderful Clarion, Pennsylvania on business today and tomorrow, so my presence here will be limited. But here is a polling fix to sooth the pain of the special election loss down in Florida (which was entirely predictable, as I said yesterday, since it has been a Republican district and seat since the Eisenhower Administration). PRESIDENTIAL APPROVAL BACK UP--A new Bloomberg Poll has President Obama's job performance rating at 48%, a jump of 6% since December. His favorability rating is nearly the same, at 49%. DEMS TAKE THE LEAD IN THE GENERIC BALLOT--A new Public Policy Polling survey finds the Democrats lead the generic Congressional ballot, 43% to 40%, after trailing by two points in January.

"One key difference is that Democrats are at least happy with their own party in Congress, giving it a 66/21 approval, while Republicans give their own [party] a negative assessment at 43/48."

So as the supposedly liberal media carps today about a coming Republican wave in November as predicted by last night's loss in FL13, keep in mind that two prerequisites to any GOP Wave is presidential approval at or below 40% and a lead in the generic ballot. Neither of which favor the GOP at this point.

"I think we got off that track when we allowed our government to become a secular government, when we stopped realizing that God created this nation, that He wrote the constitution, that's based on biblical principles." -- Former Rep.Tom DeLay (R-TX), in an interview on Global Evangelical Television. The sound you hear is our Founding Fathers, and most notably Thomas Jefferson, rolling over in their graves. "Once a child does exist in your womb, I'm not going to assume a right to kill it just because the child's host (some refer to them as mothers) doesn't want it." -- Virginia State Sen. Steve Martin (R), quoted by Slate. And that's how Republicans view women. As receptacles and hosts. Not as humans and mothers. “There are several possible explanations for why Republicans would not denounce Nugent and his statement in unqualified terms. One is that they aren’t all that offended by what Nugent said. A second is Nugent is on their “team” and therefore needs to be treated with kid gloves. A third explanation is that they fear that in denouncing Nugent they will upset elements of the GOP base. Any of these explanations is an indictment,” – Pete Wehner, Commentary.