Tuesday Open Thread [4.15.14]

Tuesday Open Thread [4.15.14]

6 Comments
A new CBO report shows Obamacare will cost $100 billion less than expected while insuring more people. Run against that you Republicans, we dare you. And you spineless corporate shill Democrats, run away from it and you are done. You might as well call yourself a Republican. Meanwhile, we have Markos Moulitsas on the fact that Liberals have won the Culture War, and we have pretty much won the Everything Else war too.

Monday Open Thread [4.14.14]

2 Comments
Republicans think healthcare is a great issue for them. With ads like Mark Begich's in Alaska, they might want to rethink that. With their focus on Obamacare in 2014, and their belief that the law is actually failing and that the people actually hate it, Republicans are heading for a repeat of 2012. Obamacare is now the new unskewed polls.
What If Beau Doesn’t Run?

What If Beau Doesn’t Run?

48 Comments
It has been widely assumed that Beau Biden would coast to reelection for Attorney General this year, then set his sights on a gubernatorial run in 2016. Why else would he be sitting on a gargantuan campaign war chest? To defeat a non-existent Rethug challenger in November? No. However, I think that anyone other than the terminally-gullible can recognize that there is a reason that Beau has remained largely out of the public eye since his emergency medical stop in Houston last summer. I think someone needs to say it, after all, the election is less than seven months away: What if his condition, whatever it is, prevents Biden from running in both 2014 and 2016? Who runs for Attorney General in 2014?
Procrastination Nation

Procrastination Nation

2 Comments
Residing in my "twilight years", I've been reflecting on the many unresolved issues facing my country and revisiting the ebb and flow of progress/regression in the search for solutions I've witnessed and worked for as an activist over about 45 years of my more than seven decades of life.

The Weekly Addresses

We are adding a new address to the mix this week, and that is the weekly legislative wrap up from the House Democratic Caucus. Last week, it was Speaker Peter Schwartzkopf giving the address. This week, it is outgoing Representative Daryl Scott. President Obama:

Friday Open Thread [4.11.14]

1 Comment
LOL. The House Conservatives are planning a coup against Boner again. From the National Journal:
"The conservatives' exasperation with leadership is well known. And now, in discreet dinners at the Capitol Hill Club and in winding, hypothetical-laced email chains, they're trying to figure out what to do about it. Some say it's enough to coalesce behind--and start whipping votes for--a single conservative leadership candidate. Others want to cut a deal with Majority Leader Eric Cantor: We'll back you for speaker if you promise to bring aboard a conservative lieutenant." "But there's a more audacious option on the table, according to conservatives involved in the deliberations. They say between 40 and 50 members have already committed verbally to electing a new speaker. If those numbers hold, organizers say, they could force Boehner to step aside as speaker in late November, when the incoming GOP conference meets for the first time, by showing him that he won't have the votes to be reelected in January."
This reminds me of a time back in 1994, when it was announced that Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell (D) was going to retire from the Senate. I remember reading stories in the Washington Post about the race to succeed Mitchell (well actually I found a link to a story in the New York Times, but whatever) between former Senators Jim Sasser and Tom Daschle. No where did the articles and speculation consider that, um, what if we are no in the majority next year? Teabaggin efforts to oust Boehner would be quite misplaced if the GOP ends up losing the majority. And yes, that can happen.
Delaware Political Weekly, April 5-11, 2014

Delaware Political Weekly, April 5-11, 2014

14 Comments
Apparently there are self-appointed grown-ups amongst Sussex County Rethuglicans. Party leaders (an oxymoron, I know, but bear with me),  endorsed a resolution stating that they would not "endorse or support" Phillips should he run for reelection to Sussex County Council. The News-Journal quotes Sussex Republican Chair John Rieley as telling Phillips in a letter:
"This situation has the strong potential to bring disrepute on the party if we do not take a proactive moral position and are seen as lending support to your candidacy."
Sometimes the jokes write themselves. The Sheriff of Nuttingham. Bodie. Disrepute has, to put it mildly, not been a stranger to the Sussex County Republican Party. But, I digress. This did not stop Phillips from filing yesterday. Meanwhile, Colin Bonini will not run for Treasurer. This, of course, was inevitable. A guy who has gotten paid for 20 years to do nothing was not about to risk that gig for another job where he'd basically do nothing. Since he would have to give up his Senate seat to run for Treasurer, Colin Bonini was never gonna run for Treasurer this year.