Thursday Open Thread [12.8.11]

“Look, for the longest time, Gingrich was not really a factor in this race, he was left for dead at the checkout counter at Tiffany’s,” said David Axelrod, a chief adviser to the president’s re-election bid. “Now he is resurgent and he could be the nominee.”

Thursday Daily Delawhere [12.8.11] — Christmas Lights

One of my favorite things about the holidays is all the Christmas lights outside everyone's homes. Starting tomorrow, I will begin posting pictures on that theme. Since these photos are of people's houses and not of famous Delaware landmarks, buildings or locations, I will not be asking you to identify the house or any other identifying details. These photos will just be for your enjoyment during the holiday season. Feel free to submit your own pictures of your outside decorations too. You can email them to me at delawaredem@delawareliberal.net. If the picture quality is good, it will be posted!

Newt: I Would Make Sarah Palin Secretary Of the Interior

Newt Gingrich is speaking at the RWNJ Republican Conference. He gathered huge applause when he said that if he was elected President he would nominate former half-term Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin as Secretary of the Interior. Updated: Sorry. It was John Bolton for Secretary of State. Simple mistake, they are equally crazy.

The DBLC, an idea for 2012?

Here is a 2011 idea (modeled on something that they have in Vermont) that I never got around to following through on. (Life intrudes sometimes.)
DELAWARE BUSINESS LEADERSHIP COUNCIL (DBLC) The Need: There is a widespread awareness in the Delaware business community that a well-run state government and successful communities are “good for business.” Unfortunately, the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce, which claims to speak on behalf of Delaware businesses, follows an extreme, right-wing agenda that is primarily concerned with lowering Delaware taxes paid by large multi-national corporations.

How should we thank OWS and Occupy Delaware for changing the debate?

Chuck Schumer (D-NY) recently pointed out that the political plates have shifted, and that the GOP is having a “tough time messaging their way out of the box they’ve put themselves in now that the country’s clamoring for fairness for the middle class even if it means higher taxes on wealthy people.” We need to thank OSW and Occupy Delaware for that, because it sure as hell wasn’t “Democratic” Congressman John Carney leading the push back.

BCBSD vs. Delaware Kids

Yesterday's NJ reported on the issues to be discussed in a hearing held last night in front of the Insurance Commissioner on a rate application that would attempt to charge Delaware kids more for subsidized insurance than they charge (via Highmark) in Pennsylvania. The bottom line here is that BCBSD/Highmark is trying to weasel out of a commitment required by law to cover these families in the way that Highmark covers families in Pennsylvania. It looks to me that they agreed to this when their merger was still not yet approved and now that it looks like a done deal they want to back out of it.