The Open Thread for Saturday, August 3, 2013

GOP Chairman Charlie Lamont du Pont Copeland is already at work drumming up some non-scandal.
Last week, Markell’s office said his campaign donated about $28,000 to charity after learning they could’ve been illegal contributions from D.C. accountants. Copeland contends that under Delaware law, a candidate has to return those contributions within seven days of knowing they were illegal. But Election Commissioner Elaine Manlove says that only applies if the donations are proven to be illegal. “My reading is that the governor acted with an abundance of caution because he could not substantiate the contributions he received were illegal contributions and it didn’t make me think that I should take any further action,” said Manlove. “But now that it’s been brought to my attention again, I can investigate further.” Manlove says she’ll follow up with the Attorney General’s office to determine the next step in the process. Copeland sent letters to Manlove and Attorney General Beau Biden Thursday asking for a more thorough investigation.
I will bet my house that if Markell had not returned the donations, Copeland would have been attacking him for not returning the donations.
The Open Thread for Friday, August 2, 2013

The Open Thread for Friday, August 2, 2013

Republican governance, a contradiction in terms, or an oxymoron, reached a fever pitch this week as the GOP tried to wrap up the legislative calendar and pass some necessary appropriation bills before going on vacation. Of course they failed... Jonathan Chait: "Yesterday, the House of Representatives pulled a bill from the floor for lack of votes -- the sort of scrambling chaos that occurs routinely in the chamber where John Boehner presides like a trembling child monarch. But this defeat was different. The bill concerned the funding of housing and transportation programs, though its failure represented more than just a programmatic setback, or even a setback for the Republican economic strategy writ large, but the potential ruin of its entire posture toward Obama. Since taking control of the House two and a half years ago, Republicans have fomented a series of crises that seemed to have no end in sight, explicitly refusing to negotiate with Obama and implicitly denying his legitimacy as president. The crumbling of that wall is far from certain, but yesterday a wide crack opened up." Andrew Sullivan: "Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the current GOP's refusal to do anything but propose to slash spending is that "propose" is all they really want to do. They cannot actually stomach the actual cuts their abstract ideology demands. And so what happened yesterday, when the House leadership suddenly yanked a bill slashing transportation and housing spending, is of a piece with the growing incoherence on the right." So now the House GOP has revealed to all that not only will they refuse to pass any Democratic budget or spending bill from the Senate, but they also cannot pass any Republican budget or spending bill of their own.

Wednesday Open Thread [7.31.13]

The folks over at Wired Magazine took a look at who in Congress voted for and against clipping the wings of the NSA and found that those who voted NO to uphold, received double the amount of campaign money from the defense and aerospace industry than those who voted YES. To remind you, John Carney voted NO to keep the spying operation in your business -- and received $9000. Not alot (Buck McKeon holds the record with $526K and he also voted NO), but it is a good reminder of where the interests lie.

The Open Thread for Tuesday July 30, 2013

If immigration reform is going to get done, this is why:
"More than 100 Republican donors -- many of them prominent names in their party's establishment -- sent a letter to Republican members of Congress on Tuesday urging them to support an overhaul of the nation's immigration laws," the New York Times reports.
But it will only get done if these donors not only threaten the withholding of their big money donations, but also start doing it. Defunding the RNC and other various Republican Party organizations and candidates is the only message Republican congressman will understand. Condemnations about their bigotry and racism doesn't work because, in their circles and in their districts, their racism and bigotry are commonplace and not a source of shame. And they no longer care about losing all of the Latino vote since they have convinced themselves that they can somehow win all of the white vote.

Sunday Open Thread [7.28.13]

The NJ does a long piece today about the red-light camera industry here in Delaware. Most interesting is that Wilmington's program seems most disconnected to any effort to increase traffic safety, even though safety data is available for analysis. I'm also intrigued by the fact that Wilmington operates its camera on a revenue-sharing basis with its contractors, while DelDOT does not. Revenue-sharing with an entity that is supposed to make money obviously changes the incentives for camera placement and enforcement, and is one more deal that Wilmington was willing to cut that doesn't look like it was for the benefit of its taxpayers.

The Open Thread for Friday, July 26, 2013

Washington Post's Jonathan Bernstein:
Do Republicans believe that Obamacare is a disaster in the making? Or is it such an appealing program that they have to take extraordinary steps to undermine it? Reuters reports today that conservative groups are taking their campaign to undermine the law to ever new heights. As the Tea Party group FreedomWorks puts it: “We’re trying to make it socially acceptable to skip the exchange.” [...] At the same time they’re trying to undermine it, Republicans are loudly insisting that the program just won’t work — it will “collapse under its own weight,” as the talking point has it. For example, see the apparent attempt by Republican state governments to hype “rate shock” well beyond any reality. As Sarah Kliff argues today, Republicans have set expectations for the program so low that “if Godzilla doesn’t march in on Oct. 1 and gobble up our health insurance coverage and legions of IRS agents fail to microchip the masses, that could plausibly look like a success.” If they really believe that the Affordable Care Act will collapse on its own — that premiums will skyrocket, that people will lose what they have now, or whatever other horrors they’ve been asserting — then there’s no reason at all for any campaign to spread misinformation about the law or to encourage anyone to “skip the exchange.” Consumers would do that on their own. But Republicans apparently think they can’t take the risk that Obamacare will work out just fine.
It is an article of faith if you are a conservative or a Republican: ObamaCare is going to be a disaster, a trainwreck, a total mess. So if you are a Republican, and you want the Dems and Obama to be blamed for the mess that is Obama, why would you not just allow it to go into effect with full funding and sit back and watch the disaster? No, they have to sabotage it for it to be a trainwreck, for if Obamacare goes into affect fully funded and fully implemented, then the people will love on the level of Medicare and Social Security. Meanwhile, there is something for everyone in this new ABC/Washington Post poll on abortion....
The Open Thread for Wednesday, July 24, 2013

The Open Thread for Wednesday, July 24, 2013

The Delaware ADA is holding two events on Friday, July 26, up and down the state. At 11:45 am down at Bethany Blues in Lewes, and at 5:30 pm at the Home Grown Cafe in Newark, the Delaware ADA is having Matt Gardner, the Executive Director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, speak about what taxes DuPont does and does not pay on the federal and state levels, as well as the how and why behind those numbers. In Lewes, there will be a luncheon, and in Newark, there will be a Happy Hour.

Tuesday Open Thread [7.23.13]

Michael Mann is one of the most famous and most referenced scientists on Climate Change. He is the creator of the famous Hockey Stick graph, a graph that the writers at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the National Review used to specifically denigrate by accusing Penn State (at the time wrapped up in the child-abuse coverup business) of covering up research fraud by Dr. Mann. Mann filed a defamation lawsuit against them both and.....

Monday Open Thread [7.22.13]

You've probably heard that Nate Silver and FiveThirtyEight are leaving the NYT and going to ESPN/ABC. This deal will give him a chance to expand his franchise, it seems, but I just care about the political modeling, really. I'll maintain a subscription to the NYT for his work, but won't be getting cable to keep up with it, so do hope that the website is still the centerpiece of his work. TPM quotes Political (of all people) on why Nate left: