Wednesday Open Thread [3.12.14]

8 Comments
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.
Wednesday Open Thread [2.26.14]

Wednesday Open Thread [2.26.14]

4 Comments
Delaware is not sharing its salt with Pennsylvania or New Jersey.
Salt-strapped New Jersey had asked Delaware to share its salt earlier this week, and Delaware said it has enough to last a few more storms, but isn't willing to share. When asked again if they'd share with neighboring states, {DelDOT Jim] Westhoff told WDEL, "No way."
LOL. A story about a responsible squirrel and his acorns comes to mind.

Tuesday Open Thread [2.25.14]

1 Comment
"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.
Monday Open Thread [2.24.14]

Monday Open Thread [2.24.14]

5 Comments
Arizona's Republican-controlled legislature passed a pro-discrimination bill last week that gives government sanction to any form of discrimination that a bigot wishes to practice. Now, obviously this law is blatantly unconstitutional and it will not survive its first encounter with a judge, any judge, anywhere. And Governor Jan Brewer (R) vetoed a similar bill last year. So there are hopes that this bill will never take affect as law. But to prod Brewer along, and to punish the bigots who call themselves the Republican legislators, George Takei has sent a message to the people of Arizona.

Sunday Open Thread [2.23.2014]

This is an eye-candy Open Thread -- a very cool infographic featuring visuals for 50 Incredible Natural Phenomena. The magnetic north one might be controversial, but this infographic is not for creationists:

Saturday Open Thread [2.22.2014]

6 Comments
Michael Tomasky has taken to the NY Review of Books to speculate about A New Populism in the Democratic Party. He sees signs of the party "soft-shoeing" its way leftward:
For example, the Center for American Progress (CAP), under its new president Neera Tanden, has pushed “middle-class” or “middle-out” economics as the left’s alternative to supply-side, trickle-down economics. The idea of middle-out economics is that the government, instead of investing in the top 2 percent by means of tax and other privileges, should instead invest in the broad middle through a number of left-leaning policy choices from which the bounty would radiate out to all sectors of the society. These would include a much higher minimum wage, paid family leave, and improvement of decaying infrastructure. Obama’s Knox College speech on inequality is one expression of the middle-out view in the way it ties middle-class investment to growth.4 CAP has been pushing the White House to take up these arguments, not the other way around. John Podesta, CAP’s former president, helped launch a new think tank, the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, devoted specifically to issues related to inequality. Podesta is now a White House counselor, which gives these issues respected representation in debates in the Roosevelt Room and the Oval Office. This is all a welcome shift in emphasis, but of course it doesn’t mean that populist policies are going to become reality anytime soon. There is opposition to them within the Democratic Party and its broader policy solar system. Not nearly as much as there once was; the radical rightward shift of the Republican Party has, perhaps inevitably, moved the Democratic center of gravity leftward. But the opposition to populism continues.

Thursday Open Thread [2.20.14]

4 Comments
So, now that Governor Chris Christie has been destroyed as a credible Presidential candidate in 2016, some in the GOP have turned their lonely eyes to Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin (R). Walker is a golden boy in the GOP hive mind for talking on the public sector unions and winning, and then surviving a recall, but I have never pictured him as a viable presidential candidate for one very important reason: he has what I call a permanent Eli Manning Face. You know that face, right? Come inside to see some picture comparisons if you don't. Anyway, Mr. Walker, like Mr. Christie, has an email problem.
Wednesday Open Thread [2.18.14]

Wednesday Open Thread [2.18.14]

3 Comments
Jonathan Chait on how the House Republicans really screwed their Presidential candidates and doomed their hopes for 2016. Seriously, these guys are such experts at foot shooting, they should teach courses.
"The decisive case for inaction that Republicans made to Boehner has been that moving an immigration bill would divide the party in advance of the midterm elections. Republicans are anticipating a favorable midterm election, with a shrunken and more demographically favorable electorate, along with a Senate map tilted heavily toward red states. They don't want to instigate right-wing infighting when they can instead spend every day harping on the multitudinous evils of Obamacare." "Yet, once the midterms pass, the presidential primary will quickly command attention. Republicans again will be competing for the loyalty of a heavily white, distinctly anti-immigrant electoral base, and the candidates will again face pressure to lock themselves into positions that will alienate Latino and Asian voters. They could still win anyway if the economy is weak enough, or some other major scandal envelopes the Obama administration. But in an electorate that is both increasingly hardened in its partisan inclinations, and growing steadily more Democratic-leaning in its basic shape, the GOP's outlook is, if not hopeless, decidedly grim."

Tuesday Open Thread [2.18.14]

3 Comments
Teabagger Senator Ted Cruz is apparently not very well liked by his fellow Republican Senate colleagues, and last week was yet another example as to why. You see, the debt ceiling bill, which had passed the House by a bipartisan majority of all of the Democrats and 28 of the non-gutless Republicans. Ideally, what the Senate Republicans wanted to do was to pass the bill with little fanfare, quickly and quietly by unanimous consent. Then Ted Cruz stepped in, and filibustered the bill, requiring a recorded vote that needed 60 votes to pass. That meant 5 Senate Republicans had to vote yes. But the Senate Republicans are even more gutless than the House, and the Republican leadership were having a hard time coming up with the votes. So they, the leadership, i.e. Mitch McConnell and John Cornyn, had to vote yes. And the votes probably guaranteed McConnell's defeat in his primary, and gave a serious boast to John Cornyn's teabagger challenger. Go read Dana Millbank's account of the incident. You will be amazed at how close our nation came to utter disaster because of the cowardice of Senate Republicans and Calgary Cruz.
President’s Day Open Thread [2.17.14]

President’s Day Open Thread [2.17.14]

32 Comments
Late on Friday, Michael Dunn (the middle-aged white man who shot a black teenager who wouldn't comply with his demand to turn down his music) was convicted on 4 of the five charges:
Dunn, who is white, fired 10 shots into an SUV, killing Jordan Davis, 17, who was black. The shooting in a convenience store parking lot in Jacksonville erupted after Dunn asked the teenagers in the vehicle to turn down their music. Dunn was charged with first-degree murder, three counts of attempted second-degree murder and one count of firing into a vehicle in the Nov. 23, 2012, shooting. The jury couldn’t reach a decision on the first-degree murder charge, but convicted on the other four.

Saturday Open Thread [2/15/14]

10 Comments
Even though Volkswagon had no issues with the formation of a union at their plant in Tennessee, the GOP lied and howled and threatened enough to help narrowly defeat a vote for a union yesterday. The take away, of course, is that every time you hear someone in the GOP talk about the middle class or a better deal for workers, you know that is a lie. Because the only people the GOP were defending here were themselves and their anti-union special interests. Of course, you won't hear one word from the usual "Government should stay out of the way of business" crowd denouncing the GOP's clear interference with Volkswagon here.

Tuesday Open Thread [2.11.14]

2 Comments
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) sent us what they called a guest post, but it was more like a press release, concerning the General Assembly's passage of SB 6, the Minimum Wage Bill. I am very happy that the DLCC is working up the state legislative races across the land, because, as we have seen across the country, when Republicans get control of them, they everything and anything they ever wanted to pass. Forced gun ownership. Complete abortion bans. Voter suppression. So I wish them well in there efforts to link the state legislative into the Democrats' overrall midterm narrative of income inequality. But... sometimes these national organizations miss some of the local politics that take place. Come inside to see their guest post / release and what I mean by that...