Open Thread

Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), says the health insurance exchanges will work, and will work well. Well, if that is case, that means Coburn believes that the exchanges will both lower the costs of health insurance so that it is affordable, while at the same time insuring the uninsured. So why he is against it? How can you be against something that both lowers the cost of health insurance and covers the uninsured? Could it be that you oppose it because you think health insurance is a privilege for only those who can afford it?

Since the Conservative Outrage Machine is in real silly season outrage mode today over the fact that President 1) showed respect and civility by shaking another head of state's hand and 2) did not show respect and civility by posing for a funeral selfie with British Prime Minister David Cameron and the Danish Prime Minister, I feel a detour into music is warranted. I always love these DJ Earworm mashups every year, and inside is his attempt for 2013. My reaction is meh. For some reason the songs don't fit together as well this year. It's a shame too, since this decade (what do we call it, the Teens?) has a very distinctive sound to its pop music, and that is the first time that has happened to music since the 80's. I don't know how to describe the sound, but come inside and listen to some songs and tell me you don't hear it....

Alex Seitz-Wald says the Newtown school shootings last year derailed President Obama's second term agenda.

"Suddenly, priority No. 1 wasn't immigration reform but gun control. The base that had just elected Obama was clamoring for background checks and magazine-clip restrictions, threatening to desert the president before his second inauguration... That meant immigration would have to wait. The clock was ticking on both gun control and immigration, but Democrats moved ahead with gun control first, recognizing that as the memory of the tragedy at Sandy Hook faded, so too would the impetus for new laws. The Senate spent months on a bill, which eventually got whittled down to a universal background-check provision, before it finally died at the hands of a Republican filibuster in mid-April." "In the process, the administration fatally, and irrevocably, antagonized the populist libertarian Right, the same people whom mainstream Republicans and Democrats needed to stay on the sidelines for immigration reform to succeed. By engaging in such an emotional, polarizing issue so early on, Obama poisoned the (admittedly shallow) well of goodwill and the willingness to compromise by Republicans before his term even began in earnest."

President Obama knows how to pick good Secretaries of State. Doyle McManus:

He's the same windy, stiff Bostonian who ran unsuccessfully for president a decade ago. And he's taken on a list of assignments that looked distinctly unpromising: nuclear negotiations with Iran, peace between Israel and the Palestinians, the civil war in Syria. But in 10 months, Kerry has embarked on a whirlwind of diplomacy. He helped conclude an interim deal with Iran that puts a ceiling on Tehran's nuclear enrichment. He launched new Israeli-Palestinian peace talks with the goal of producing a deal next year. And he secured a date for negotiations to end the war in Syria, although it's still not certain who will show up. ...give Kerry credit. He has dared to take big risks — in notable contrast to his revered but risk-averse predecessor, Hillary Rodham Clinton. Clinton tended to subcontract out the unpromising assignments to special envoys like the late Richard C. Holbrooke, her deputy for Afghanistan. But Kerry has taken them on himself, personally and visibly. If any of them fail — and they all could — he'll take the fall himself.

Dear God. The 2004 election was nearly a decade ago? Feels like yesterday. I am getting old.

Really, the Republicans are a sick people. I'm serious. They have a pathological condition. This obsession with socialism and Obamacare. They cannot talk about anything without linking that anything to it. During an appearance on Fox News Thursday night, former Sen. Rick Santorum discussed the death of Nelson Mandela, saying the former South African president fought "great injustice" just like Republicans who are battling Obamacare.

Steve Newton over at Delaware Libertarian has an interesting point.

Over at Delaware Liberal, Cassandra has another post up about crime in Wilmington. Cassandra and I have our differences, but she continues to do excellent fact-based blogging about the nature of the problem, the potential solutions, and the general ineptitude/malaise of the current governmental apparatus to solve the problem. As Cassandra knows and has blogged repeatedly, this ain't rocket science. There are a lot of evidence-proven strategies (like full-scale community policing with a constitutionally careful stop and frisk approach) that could make a dent, a serious dent, in crime and violence in Wilmington. The problem is--in this one-party state--the Democrats don't care enough about reducing what amounts to urban terrorism in Wilmington to do anything about it. Instead, last year, they supported a State budget that included millions to bail out casinos and tens of millions in corporate welfare rather than invest in either inner-city education or crime fighting.

Good points, Steve. If the Democrats make a huge investment in fighting crime in Wilmington, I am sure you will support it, even if it means raising taxes on the rich to pay for it.

Polly Sierer was officially sworn in as Newark’s new mayor last night in City Council Chambers. I admit that that I did not follow Newark's election very closely, since I do not live in Newark and it was a non partisan election focused on local issues. Indeed, I did not have to cover it since Nancy Willing at the Delaware Way did a fantastic job doing so, as she always does on local New Castle County matters. But the election took a turn to the interesting yesterday:

Roe and a small group of residents sought to delay the swearing in over questions that had regarding an outside advocacy group’s activities and confusion regarding polling place information.

Nancy has more. Kavips has much more on what he calls a power grab.

Kevin O'Holleran, who managed Mark Herring's (D) campaign for Virginia attorney general, writes that gun control was the key to Herring's narrow win.

"Political conventional wisdom has it that in a purple state, such as Virginia, support for gun-safety legislation is best played down. As manager of Mark Herring's campaign for attorney general, I got a lot of advice. One of the things I heard most frequently was that we should soft-pedal his strong record and advocacy for sensible gun legislation. It would hurt us outside of Northern Virginia and wasn't a voting issue within the Beltway, I was told. Like much conventional wisdom, this was wrong -- and we not only ignored this advice but did the opposite."

You know why? Because those who are against gun control to such an extent that it is their number 1 issue will never vote Democratic. They will always vote Republicans. So those voters are lost. And Democratic candidates will lose even more voters, from their own base, if they soft pedal or play down not only their records but their positions on reasonable gun control. Stand up and Man and Woman Up, Democrats.