Page 3 | October | 2010 | TaylorMarsh.com

Taylor Marsh has been writing on line since 1996, with the archives provided here a representation of that work.

Archive | October, 2010

After Christine, on the Main Stage is Sharia Sharron

By Taylor Marsh on 14 October 2010

–post debate update–

UPDATE: Tweeted the debate for those wanting a rundown. Sharron Angle passed the “I’m not crazy test” easily, which could prove real trouble for Reid. Much of the debate was painful to watch. The screen capture tweet here is the bottom line. Angle was prepared, Reid wasn’t.

~~~~~~~~~~~original post below~~~~~~~~~~

James Fallows is as good as they come on China, but saying Christine O’Donnell “could be more dangerous than Sarah Palin” is evidence that he’s not been in the loop since summer 2009, when Palin ignited the Tea Party force that is causing Democrats and Republicans a lot of extra work. Like so many others, Fallows neglects Palin’s political rise in Alaska, which came at the expense of the Republican Party establishment and the leading family in that state, the Murkowskis, against whom Sarah is still waging war. Christine O’Donnell is the bargain basement version of Sarah Palin, even though Ms. O’Donnell’s accomplished in front of the camera on sound bite conversations, as we saw last night, she’s not close to being able to finesse her way through a debate. She just happened to finally have her perpetual campaigns happen in the right year at the right time. But Ms. O’Donnell is only the opening act for the big event that happens tonight in Nevada.

Sen. Reid has been written off so many times in the last year I’ve lost count. His network inside the state is as formidable as it comes, so for good reason he has stayed in the game. But against Sharron Angle everyone believed Reid would finally slip through. It’s not been so easy.

Chris Cilizza:

Put another way: This is Angle’s “I am not a witch” moment.
She will stand on stage opposite Reid, the most powerful Democratic Senator in Washington, for an hour. The trick for Angle is to look like she belongs, to show that she can handle non-scripted questions and demonstrate the sorts of thinking-on-your-feet- skills most people expect in their senator.
“If she can hold her own, look senatorial next to the majority leader, that could assuage doubts the Reid campaign has raised,” said Jon Ralston, the state’s leading political reporter. “But if she looks unsure, says something bizarre, that could drive people to Reid or none of the above.”

Ms. Angle’s bar is much lower than “I am not a witch.” Nevada isn’t Delaware, with likely voters more than ready to vote against Reid, but also Pres. Obama, who lingers over the midterms more than the White House will openly admit. In Nevada that’s certainly true, because he didn’t win any points by suggesting companies not bring their events to Las Vegas. You just don’t do that to a state that’s been the hardest hit by the recession in the country. Nevadans love Las Vegas, it was a slight that many took personally.

Read full story · Comments { 40 }

Chaos Politics, No Sanity in Sight

By Taylor Marsh on 14 October 2010

There’s a reason a majority of voters want a third party, even if they’re anything but sure the Tea Party should be one of them. What’s gone on the last 19 months is enough to make anyone pine for an alternative.

One so called Democrat, Georgia Rep. Jim Marshall, is boasting in an ad that he voted with “Republican leaders 65% of the time” and he doesn’t support Pelosi. If this is the best Dems can do just give up the district to the GOTP, because we aren’t going to get where we need to be with this jackass calling himself a Democrat. Bart Stupak proved that conclusively.

Tea Party “hicky” ad candidate John Raese wants to spend tax dollars on a $20 billion extensive laser-based missile defense system. Evidently Raese is scared of everyone, but also ignorant enough to believe the U.S. is in danger in a way that is very 20th century. He’s running against Gov. Manchin in West Virginia, who actually shot the cap and trade bill, that’s right he shot it using a rifle, and also said if “Obamacare” can’t be fixed it should be repealed. That’s how badly Democrats have fallen, because we are talking about West Virginia.

Then there is Christine O’Donnell who shouldn’t be anywhere near Congress, because it’s screwed up enough without her ideology leading us further off a cliff. Charges of Marxism against Dems got old in 1954.

But nothing registers on the disgust meter more for me than the Senate race in Nevada. From Jon Ralston about the Reid – Angle race:

… I’ve read plenty of such missives over the years that have vicious language and stinging adjectives. Indeed, the Reid campaign has called Angle “crazy” and said she has “lost her mind.” But “hatred” is such an awful word — a word I forbid my daughter to use — and yet it sums up exactly why the Senate majority leader may lose to a woman who just last week talked of Sharia law existing in cities in Michigan and Texas.
It’s hatred that has brought this Senate race, with three days until voting begins, to a place where Angle can win. It is hatred that brought her that $14 million haul. And it is hatred that courses through the American electorate, bringing venomous and vitriolic assaults upon anyone who dares to suggest Obama-Reid-Pelosi is not a three-headed monster.
Angle has all but done what she promised to do when she advertised her campaign on conservative talk shows and Fox — “Harry Reid has said he will raise $25 million in this race. I need 1 million people to send $25.”
And you know what: She did it. Or essentially she did.
An incredible 161,358 people sent her checks of $200 or less. Her average donation is $90, Agen says.
This is real, unparalleled (except, perhaps, for Barack Obama in 2008) grass roots. And there is a wildfire blazing through the grass roots, with burning hatred for Reid animating Angle’s chances.

Chaos politics doesn’t happen very often in history. What we’re witnessing is one for the books, with the outcome likely to be truly stunning. No wonder people are looking for a viable alternative. Trouble is the way our system is set up there are very few ways for someone outside the two main parties to win enough states.

When candidates like those named above are considered viable and the only choices it proves why people don’t vote, particularly women, but also that something is seriously shifting in our democratic republic this year. It seems no matter which party wins this November in many races the one thing that will not occur is for sanity to be restored. Not even Jon Stewart’s rallying cry for deliverance from the chaos will make it so.

Read full story · Comments { 33 }

Dems Get Hoisted On Own Chamber Money Charge

By Taylor Marsh on 13 October 2010

This was the dumbest, forced error by Obama and the Democrats yet and for very obvious reasons, not the least of which is that Democrats are enjoying the Chamber’s largesse as well. Then there’s the obvious, which Glenn Greenwald lays out:

But what makes it so infuriating to watch Gibbs make this argument is that Gibbs himself — back in 2003 and 2004 — was heavily involved in exactly the same kind of anonymous-funded negative campaign the Chamber is running now, when the brand-new advocacy group for which he was the spokesman invoked the same excuses as the Chamber is invoking now to conceal its donors. As Chris Moody recalls, when Howard Dean was the 2004 Democratic front-runner, a new group abruptly popped up — calling itself “Americans for Jobs, Health Care and Progressive Values” — and, shortly before the Iowa primary, began running an extremely ugly anti-Dean TV ad campaign, featuring images of Osama bin Laden, along with ominous claims that Howard Dean would fail to Keep Us Safe, that he could not “compete with George Bush on foreign policy.”

Now, I wasn’t a Deaniac, but I knew of Gibbs’s group, as well as the obscene Osama ad his group ran. The White House was forced to respond to the charge after the Daily Caller and others picked up the story, saying Gibbs’s group did have to disclose the funds because it was a 527 forced to do so under the tax code. Others on the right bring up Obama’s own funding in 2008. The Wire calls this what it is, a can of worms, which I believe was stupid to open.

I’d just like to mention that Obama’s team has always been hypocritical. Like the notion Obama would usher in a “different kind of politics.” Having been deep in the trenches during 2008 all I can say is that team Obama operated in the old Lee Atwater style of dirty politics as well as anyone. Calling others out while navigating the same way is how they have always operated. It’s just no one cared before.

The other problem is that the Democratic Party has a lot of corporate Dems that the Chamber of Commerce is happy to support, which won’t come as a surprise to any of you. From ABC’s “Ten Democrats Getting Chamber of Commerce’s Help, and Happy to Have It”:

In some corners of Democratic politics the uproar coming from senior party officials about how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is paying for its massive 2010 election advertising campaign is falling on deaf ears.
That’s because the Chamber, which has already spent millions on ads boosting Republican Congressional candidates across the country, has also thrown its support behind 10 business-friendly Democrats. In districts from Utah to Virginia, the Chamber has gone on the air with television ads for these candidates and they don’t seem to be complaining.

If you’re going to make a charge like what Obama and the Dems did against the Chamber of Commerce you better make sure it doesn’t blow back on you. Instead of being a closing argument it’s turned into a walk in the weeds.

That caterwauling you hear is Karl Rove laughing his ass off. He doesn’t care that his ads have been found to be “barely true” and “seriously misleading.” Truth has nothing to do with it, never has with Karl Rove.

Read full story · Comments { 11 }

Obama & Republicans Side with Banks in Foreclosure Nightmare

By Taylor Marsh on 13 October 2010

Recently, Pres. Obama and Timothy Geithner, the last man standing in Obama’s economic team, decided to side with Republicans and Rep. Eric Canter in protecting banks yet again, thinking that profits are more important than protecting people. Sen. Harry Reid, who is in the fight of his political life, however, is neck deep in foreclosure madness in Nevada, so he isn’t as nonchalant as his White House pals who think struggling homeowners should eat cake, the irony of what happens when you’re about to feel the wrath of the affected. This is the politics of economics today, revealing yet another reason why likely voters would choose “none of the above” if given the chance. It also illustrates why many likely voters just aren’t relating to Pres. Obama, but also the Democratic message as midterms close in, that is if they can even discern a coherent theme, which has been missing from the start. The latest numbers proving the tough climb isn’t getting easier for Dems.

The Hill released a very interesting poll today:

On the generic ballot question, Republicans hold a three-point edge, with 43 percent of likely voters saying they intend to vote for the Republican this fall, compared to 40 percent who picked the Democrat. Among independents, that generic ballot lead stretches to 11 points in favor of the GOP.
In the 12 battleground districts being defended by freshman Democrats last week, Obama’s approval rating was even lower, at 42 percent, and the approval rating of Congress was only 20 percent.
The president continues to be a factor for voters in picking their next member of Congress. In the 10 open seats polled, a majority of voters said Obama will be an important consideration when they go to the ballot box.
Independent voters broke toward Republicans, 44 percent to 33. Male voters are also leaning toward the GOP, while females favor the Democrats.

An important distinction is the number of male, as well as Independent voters, weighing in against Democrats, will most assuredly top female voters siding with Dems. That’s just the reality this year.

From the New York Times:

The swelling outcry over fast-and-loose foreclosures has thrust the Obama administration back into the uncomfortable position of sheltering the banking industry from the demands of an angry public.

“There are, in fact, valid foreclosures that probably should go forward,” said David Axelrod, an adviser to the president.

While senior Congressional Democrats join the calls for a national moratorium on foreclosures, the White House once again is arguing against punishing the industry, just as it did in 2009 amid the outcry over the unbreakable habit of paying large bonuses.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz, likely headed for a leadership position in the next Congress, but someone who many movement progressives do not support, is in favor of a moratorium. Eric Cantor wants to protect the bankers, joining Obama against protecting people.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, a top House Democrat, said she backed a foreclosure moratorium and government talks with the banking industry to concoct ways to let lenders reshape troubled mortgages. She said the foreclosure problem has been “extremely vexing” in her state.
The No. 2 House Republican, Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, said a national moratorium would remove the protections that lenders need. “You’re going to shut down the housing industry” with a national stoppage, Cantor said. “People have to take responsibility for themselves.”

Ah yes, like the White House, people need to be responsible when lenders screw them. Got that? Mr. Axelrod has been a disaster for Obama. He needs to go where he’s best utilized, gearing up for his nasty reelection plan, because he’s been a net negative in the White House. He should take the entire White House press shop with him.

I very rarely point to policy positions of Hillary Rodham Clinton now that we’re in the post-political Hillary era, in fact I’ve not done it since Pres. Obama took office, but the foreclosure issue she saw coming is a way to drive home one of the reasons Pres. Obama isn’t connecting. He just doesn’t naturally empathize with the plight of people through populist policy decisions, which is unnecessarily killing him with voters across the country. Of course, this doesn’t mean people don’t find Obama likable, which he most assuredly is, but beyond loyalists, likely voters simply don’t support his policies and now trust Republicans over Democrats with the economy. This is a stunning development given that Republicans got us into this mess. But Obama’s political shop has so botched the message people just aren’t listening to them anymore. Given the long-term plight of our economic challenges this is a real issue for Pres. Obama and Democrats going forward. So, below is a snippet from a CBC debate back when, Hillary weighing in on the importance of a foreclosure moratorium, long before the fraud crisis manifested, which Rep. Grayson explains in the video at the top.

On Budget & Economy: Foreclosure moratorium mitigates agony; doesn’t prolong it (source)

Q: Does your plan prolong the subprime agony?

A: No. I think it helps to mitigate the agony. What I hear as I go in and out of people’s homes and talk to so many who have already lost their homes, they’re in foreclosure, they see these interest rates that are about to go up and they know they can’t pay them, is that we take action now. I’ve been calling for action since last March. When I first started calling for it, a lot of the same economists who now say don’t do anything about it said, it won’t be that bad. The mortgage crisis is not only destroying home ownership, it is having a ripple effect across the world. So my moratorium for 90 days is a work-out. It’s not a bailout. I want people to be able to see whether they can stay in their homes paying a rate that is affordable for them. The interest rate freeze is merited. If you’re a homeowner who has been at the bottom of this incredible scheme that was established, you’re left holding the bag and you don’t have the house anymore.

Source: 2008 Congressional Black Caucus Democratic debate Jan 21, 2008

Segue to when the foreclosure fraud catastrophe hit:

Wow, someone in DC has connected the dots: that the banks’ failure to adhere to contractual and legal requirements in the residential mortgage backed securities market are so extensive and widespread as to constitute systemic risk. Alan Grayson, Congressman from Ground Zero of the foreclosure mess, is calling on the Financial Stability Oversight Council to investigate the escalating foreclosure fraud crisis.

This obstinance of Pres. Obama and his economic team not to understand how badly people have been screwed, while politicians side with the banking industry, is symptomatic of the wider perception that Obama just doesn’t care about people. Of course he does, but the perception is otherwise and come November the Democrats are going to get beat upside the head with it but good.

Read full story · Comments { 24 }

Bill Clinton Draws Blood in Kentucky… (and New York)

By Taylor Marsh on 13 October 2010

“…honest to God, half of them need psychiatric care… They’re trying to make this a referendum rooted in apathy, anger, and amnesia… –heckler tries to interrupt– …I don’t know what they’re shouting, but compared to all those Republicans and what they’re saying, there’s only one person in America that’s balanced four budgets, run four surpluses (wild cheering)… They never care about the deficit except when there’s a Democratic president… (wild cheering) …When I left office we had the smallest federal government since 1960 when Dwight Eisenhower was president. ..I don’t need any lectures or shoutin’, you need to listen to me. …” – Pres. Bill Clinton

The quote and video was in New York, meanwhile yesterday in Kentucky…

Poor little Rand. The Big Dawg pissed him off and he couldn’t think of anything else to say after former Pres. Clinton came into Kentucky and laid him out, so he played the “sexual relations with an intern” card. You’ve got to know Clinton got a laugh out of that oldie, because it proved his job was done and he’d hit just the right nerve.

Rand Paul doesn’t have any of the charm and sincerity of his crotchety, squeaky-voiced dad who’s at least an original. Rand’s a whiny little man who evidently thought he was going to waltz into the Senate easily, which is certainly no longer the case, but along the way got stopped by a charming, erudite politician who stole the hearts of Kentuckians a long time ago. No, I’m not talking about Jack Conway, who’s done a hell of a job making it a tight race, knocking Rand off his tea cushion. I’m talking about the closer. The number one gun of the Democratic Party who is doing more for Democrats in the midterms than anyone else. Thing is, not even the Big Dawg can get Democrats out of the mess Pres. Obama’s political team has made out their message. Hey, but you’ve got to try.

Howard Fineman has written a mixture of the personal and professional for his first assignment for Huffington Post, “The Power of Clinton, the Invisibility of Obama,” which includes a trip back to where he started his career, Kentucky, where Pres. Clinton was today. Watching Clinton in action, Fineman delivers a terrific example of how the traditional media regulars have had to eat their words, giving credit where it’s not only due, but demanded. You really should read Fineman in full, but here’s a snippet:

… Clinton sincerely wants to help out on the trail — and certainly wants to avoid the accusation that he didn’t try to help. But his travels have turned into a personal victory lap that often makes him — not the candidate he’s touting — the center of attention. That was true here in Kentucky. The rally’s mechanics were mostly handled by the Secret Service; more to the point, the final (and therefore top-billed) speaker wasn’t Conway. It was Clinton. The Conway people didn’t mind. They were glad to have him.

Rail-thin but not frail, wearing a tweedy professorial sports coat and his signature rueful, knowing smile, Clinton was treated with a respect bordering on awe. His familiar mane of white hair, thinning now, was translucent in the sun, giving him an almost otherworldly look: the Sage from a Better Age.

Clinton is beloved In Kentucky. He won the state twice. He speaks the local dialect, which contains Appalachian notes of working-class pride, suspicion of big shots and Baptist revivalism. But more than that — and more than just in Kentucky –Clinton’s economic record (22.7 million jobs created, and he tends not to forget to mention the .7) looks spectacularly good in the context of what has followed.

These days there is almost an Old Testament, milk-and-honey reverence for that economic record, at least as expressed by former Kentucky Sen. Wendell Ford. An old-school podium pounder, Ford — stooped but still strong voiced at 86 — talked of the former president in messianic terms. “Bill Clinton found us the path to gold!” he shouted. The crowd of 2,000, most of them students, didn’t laugh. They seemed to think he was right.

Of course, he is right.

Nothing has been more ironic lately than to hear Chris Matthews talk about traveling with Bill Clinton in Ireland, interviewing him for a “documentary” on his post presidency. Matthews has even praised former Pres. Clinton recently, like yesterday on “Hardball” when Josh Marshall was stumbling around trying to give analysis on Clinton’s campaign power, but the words got stuck in his craw. Marshall still has trouble giving grace where the Clintons are concerned, so it’s amusing to see him try, attempting to make the case that former Pres. Clinton’s power comes from being out of the political scene. Not even Matthews was having any of it. That’s because it doesn’t pass the smell test when Clinton’s crisscrossing the county helping out candidates in close races, with his political prowess on the economy untouchable by anyone else; talking to middle class white voters exactly what Democrats need, but what Pres. Obama has never known how to do.

It makes a big difference when a politician is more than speech deep. When he or she can address issues people are worried about and actually reach them with language they recognize, but also with heart that touches them emotionally. Bill Clinton can deliver because his brand of political conversation goes beyond boundaries and divisiveness all the way to answers to problems that he can actually explain so likely voters can understand them. It’s the art of the game that blasts beyond word salads and endless rhetoric that never ends in a sound bite that people can take away and trust.

Fineman again:

But Clinton is all too happy to show Obama how it’s done. As a campaigner and as president, Clinton’s gift was his ability to untangle the knots of even the most complex policy issue and explain it in plain language to people suspicious of the powerful — but eager not to be screwed by them or to be seen as dupes. Republicans and their corporate allies were out to shut down the few good things that government does for you, he said, in the name of balancing a budget that they themselves destroyed. “I gave you budget surpluses!” Clinton said, as if this had been an act of personal beneficence.
Knowing his audience, the former president focused on Pell Grants, and on a new program that allows graduates to pay back their loans over longer periods and at lower rates. Paul, he said, will try to take that new program away — and, given the GOP’s deliberate vagueness about spending cuts — there is reason to think Clinton is right.
Which is why Paul got personal today. Which means Clinton drew blood. Which means that he did what he came to do. Which means Obama will remain invisible, at least in Kentucky, at least for now, and probably for a long time to come.

Former Pres. Clinton is doing all he can to help Pres. Obama and the Democrats, but not even he can save them from the hole that’s been dug. But he does remind everyone of how they felt back in the ’90s, which if it helps even on the margins will make a very happy man out of his successor, because he’s not got a clue how to get his party out of the mess they’re in politically, which is only going to get tougher no matter how bad the outcome in November.

Read full story · Comments { 58 }

Tea Party Exposed: Ron Paul Says Abolish Medicare, Ken Buck Blames Rape Victim

By Taylor Marsh on 12 October 2010

“…and help these people who are dependent on the government. I think it’s wrong to be dependent, and you’re right it shouldn’t happen. We should work for the day when these individuals can take care of themselves once again, be self-reliant.” – Rep. Ron Paul

After Paul’s “self-reliant” rant, Lawrence O’Donnell pounced: “…That’s just code language to abolish Medicare. You want to get rid if Medicare.” That’s the bottom line, even if Rep. Paul won’t be honest about it.

People supporting Tea Party candidates just don’t understand the impact of what these candidates want to do, or already have done in the case of Ken Buck, even if none of them have calculated what it means themselves. Caterwauling about “smaller government” is convenient, but specifics matter. A lot.

See Sean Wilentz in the New Yorker, who makes the same case I’ve been making for well over a year:

[...] In 1906, early in the Progressive era, the humorist Finley Peter Dunne’s fictional barroom sage, Mr. Dooley, put the social and political tumult of the day into perspective. “Th’ noise ye hear is not th’ first gun iv a revolution,” Dooley remarked. “It’s on’y th’ people iv th’ United States batin’ a carpet.” A century from now, or even a year from now, Americans may say the same about the Tea Party. For the moment, though, it appears that the extreme right wing is on the verge of securing a degree of power over Congress and the Republican Party that is unprecedented in modern American history. For defenders of national cohesion and tempered adversity in our politics, it is an alarming state of affairs.

It’s the Republican Party’s “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” mentality on steroids. So it’s no wonder wingnut radio candidates like Ron Paul and Ken Buck are running into walls when they have to explain the Tea Party’s foundational tenets, especially when real life events are involved.

Ken “vote for me because I don’t wear high heels” Buck’s Tea Party mantra has now exploded in Colorado, because it goes so far as to blame a rape victim for her attack. It’s causing him further troubles, with women’s groups already having issues with Buck who’s proven he’s a misogynist pig. Part of a transcript is below, which is going public in a very big way:

(139) KB: Because when you look at what happened earlier in the night, all the circumstances, based on his statements and some of your statements, indicate that you invited him to come to your apartment… that you told him how to get in …. It would appear to me and it appears to others that you invited him over to
have sex with him. Whether that you, at that time, were conscious enough to say yes or no… ?

(147) V: So you’re telling me that previous sexual relations is enough to provide consent, and you’re telling me that because of me calling him and because of previous sexual relations and because I invited him up and told him how to get in, that invited him up for sex…
(153) KB: I’m telling you that’s what the circumstances suggest, to people, including myself, who have looked at it. Although, you never said the word yes, but the appearance is of consent.

V: Even though, he also stated that I told him no.

“Small government” sounds great in theory, especially considering the very real financial crisis we’re facing, which no Democrat disputes. But when Gov. Chris Christi starts scuttling infrastructure projects that create jobs because he doesn’t understand the purpose of basic economic recovery programs, or Tea Party candidates like Ron Paul or his son Rand start opining about Medicare recipients being “self-reliant,” or deductibles being raised, people should wake up and take a look at the consequences of installing Tea Party candidates who don’t know what they’re doing.

The Tea Party plan for America is just now getting drawn out and it’s not going to be good for anyone.

It’s a further illustration of why Obama and Democrats getting sidetracked with the foreign money “stealing” elections meme was so ludicrous.

Lawrence O’Donnell did more to advance the Democratic ball last night, as did Rachel Maddow with Ron Paul, than Tim Kaine, Barack Obama and the DNC have combined. The argument against the Tea Party platform is not that hard to make at a time of maximum populism interest. It’s just many of the current Dems can’t sell it. It’s also the reason Bill Clinton and Joe Biden are more effective this midterm than anyone else, especially Pres. Obama.

This post has been updated.

Read full story · Comments { 21 }

Republicans Expand Turf Before ‘Avalanche’

By Taylor Marsh on 12 October 2010

More than 4 of 10 likely voters who say they once considered themselves Obama backers now are either less supportive or say they no longer support him at all, according to a Bloomberg National Poll conducted Oct. 7-10. – Obama Loses Support in Poll as Joblessness Prompts Growing U.S. Discontent

It’s getting treacherous out there. Jeff Zelny reports about the trouble in Ohio, which is hardly the only place Republicans have widened the turf war.

Republicans are expanding the battle for the House into districts that Democrats had once considered relatively safe, while Democrats began a strategy of triage on Monday to fortify candidates who they believe stand the best chance of survival.
As Republicans made new investments in at least 10 races across the country, including two Democratic seats here in eastern Ohio, Democratic leaders took steps to pull out of some races entirely or significantly cut their financial commitment in several districts that the party won in the last two election cycles. [...]
The strategic decisions unfolded at a feverish pace on Monday over an unusually wide playing field of nearly 75 Congressional districts, including here in Ohio, a main battleground in the fight for the House and the Senate. The developments resembled pieces being moved on a giant chess board, with Republicans trying to keep Democrats on the defensive in as many places as possible, while outside groups provided substantial reinforcements for Republicans.
The National Republican Congressional Committee, the party’s election arm in the House, can afford to make the new investments because the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a host of newly formed political organizations have come to the aid of Republican candidates who have far less money than the Democratic incumbents.

Maybe Dems will get an upset in Kentucky, with Rand Paul going down to Jack Conway, though nothing will cut the sting from a loss of Russ Feingold.

George Soros made the news cycle yesterday, with what he said confusing some people, Steve Benen being one. Soros is opting out of the 2010 midterms, putting his cash on issues, not politicians, with Benen wondering why Soros would not choose to use his money to help Dems who support those causes.

Back in June 2006, I was on a conference call with Mr. Soros, where he said he believes in a strong two-party system, but he was so incensed over the Bush administration policies he had to get involved. It was the “war on terror” that really moved Soros at the time, because of his book, “The Age of Fallibility – Consequences of the War on Terror.” This time around it’s different for him, and for a very good reason. From the New York Times:

Mr. Soros, a champion of liberal causes, has been directing his money to groups that work on health care and the environment, rather than electoral politics. Asked if the prospect of Republican control of one or both houses of Congress concerned him, he said: “It does, because I think they are pushing the wrong policies, but I’m not in a position to stop it. I don’t believe in standing in the way of an avalanche.”

Soros doesn’t think all the money in the world can stop what’s coming. He doesn’t think he can save the Democratic politicians who support the causes he is most interested in, so he’s just going to step back and help the groups who work on his issues, because they’ll be around to fight another day after the avalanche is over. Many Democrats will not, it’s that simple.

It’s a stark view of what many have come to believe, because the anger at the current situation in Washington is just too rabid. The Democratic message to haphazardly dispassionate on a pitch that has been a moving target for weeks. Republicans maintaining their edge with likely voters, with no signs of this momentum abating, particularly among Independents.

This post has been updated.

Read full story · Comments { 6 }

What’s In a Message?

By Taylor Marsh on 11 October 2010

The grand pooba of political insiders, Mark Halperin, takes to TIME today to lay it out starkly for Democrats, focusing on Barack Obama. The message is an inside the beltway biz meme being repeated everywhere, with hints that midterm troubles are deeper than November. It’s one of those things that has a way of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy, because no politician in today’s two party corporate system can survive if this message becomes accepted fact.

On Friday, after the release of the latest bleak unemployment data — the last major jobs figures before the midterms — Obama said, “Putting the American people back to work, expanding opportunity, rebuilding the economic security of the middle class is the moral and national challenge of our time.” But elites feel the President has failed to meet that challenge and are convinced he will be unable to do so in the remainder of his term. Moreover, there is a growing perception that Obama’s decisions are causing harm — that businesses are being hurt by the Administration’s legislation and that economic recovery is stalling because of the uncertainty surrounding energy policy, health care, deficits, housing, immigration and spending.
And that sentiment is spreading. Many members of the general public appear deeply skeptical of Obama’s capacity to turn things around, especially, but not exclusively, those inclined to dislike him — Tea Partyers and John McCain voters, but also tens of millions of middle-class Americans, including quite a few who turned out for Obama in 2008.

The first response from Tim Kaine central for the midterms was to blame Bush, which was never going to work. When the White House doubled down to blame the “professional left,” then upped the pot to include Democratic base “whiners,” the die was cast on the plan to make everyone else the problem, with the President accepting none himself. The “stolen” election gambit being the worst idea from Dems yet.

Again with feeling, GOTP candidates want to raise the retirement age on Social Security. To that Democrats should offer a pledge to protect Social Security as sacrosanct. But considering it was Pres. Obama who concocted the Deficit Commission, then put Alice Rivlin on it (if you don’t know who she is you need to get acquainted), Democrats have a new problem, which is they’re not looking like Democrats at all, so why vote for them?

In West Virginia, Joe Manchin has decided to strike out on his own, not unlike what’s happening with Blue Dog Democrats like Bobby Bright, while candidates like Raul Grijalva, as well as Alan Grayson whose got a great new “Sopranos” type ad out, and others are fighting tough to hold on, too. Across the spectrum, Dems are drowning.

Now amidst streakers and a book lob, Pres. Obama continues his barnstorming with the Democratic message being the missing element, which has been one step behind the rising tide on the Right since Sarah Palin squealed “death panel” on Facebook. The White House has been playing defense ever since. On health care, which could have been an amazing advancement for Democrats, candidates aren’t mentioning it at all and for good reason, with some campaigning against it.

Democracy Corps posted results of a new poll on Friday that lays out what works and what doesn’t with voters, coming in exactly where I’ve been stressing for weeks. That Obama’s political shop is doing most things wrong isn’t surprising. Just yesterday David Axelrod went on “Face the Nation” to proclaim that the Obama administration wasn’t in favor of a blanket foreclosure moratorium. It’s enough to render you speechless, especially since there are mechanisms beyond the presidential to take care of this, so chiming in on it just makes the White House sound anti-populist, which doesn’t help any Democrat, except maybe Bobby Bright.

From Carville’s group:

The weakest messages assert we should “go forward, not back.” Voters are not moved by Democratic messages that say ‘go forward, not back,’ mention President Bush, compare then and now, or even that hint the economy is “showing signs of progress.” No matter how dramatically these messages set out the record of Republican obstructionism, their work for the wealthiest and Goldman Sachs, the millions of jobs lost and Democrats’ support for jobs, small business and new industries – these messages falter before the Republican attack.

The messages get lower scores and lose voters. After hearing this battle of Republican and Democratic messages, 8 percent shift their vote to support the Republican, while only 5 percent move to the Democrats. We lose ground. These messages are helping the Republicans.

Another “don’t” is not to “Read your resume of accomplishments. Things as they are aren’t good enough – explain how we will do better.” One of the biggest missing pieces of the fall campaign is a Democratic message that includes what must change if you give Dems another two years to prove themselves. Coupled with a comparison of the other side’s proposed ideas Democrats would come out on top, however, this has not been done consistently, with Democrats bouncing around still trying to find something that breaks through the anger.

Squealing about a “stolen” election sure as hell won’t do it.

Even with all the anger and disaffection out there, when you compare what Democrats offers versus Republican austerity there is no choice. That the voters don’t understand this is because the White House and the DNC blew the message weeks ago.

I got some grief recently on Facebook for not being a cheerleader this close to midterms. I’ve said it before, but that’s simply not my job. The most important thing for people to know is that even in a wave election year it didn’t have to be this tough a fight for Democrats who have the better message. That it is isn’t the fault of the “professional left,” “whiners,” or movement progressives. It’s not too late to make sure Grijalva isn’t a casualty, but that he’s in a tough race reveals just how bad Democrats have botched it.

Read full story · Comments { 30 }

Dems Duck Populism for ‘Stolen’ Election Theme

By Taylor Marsh on 11 October 2010

Ratcheting up the debate over the influence of outside groups in congressional elections, the Democratic National Committee has made a major ad purchase pushing the case that the November elections could very well be “stolen” by foreign influences. – Sam Stein, Huffington Post

Well, if you ever had any doubt that Democrats dont’ have a clue this ad is more proof. The tag line, “Tell the Bush Crowd and the Chamber of Commerce – stop stealing our democracy,” is going to bounce right over people’s head. Democrats should be making the case why they must be reelected and what’s at stake for voters if they are not. Likely voters want a plan with answers not scapegoats.

Now, don’t get me wrong. The recent Think Progress investigation is important. However, it’s not a closing argument for Democrats up against a wave of anger. The “Bush Crowd” line appallingly tone deaf, because nobody is thinking about Bush, with people wanting to know what Obama and the Democrats are going to do to change the current trajectory of the country and their own personal plight. The problem is the Supreme Court campaign finance ruling, which is an in the weeds discussion that shouldn’t be had in the final weeks going into an election where the other side has most of the momentum.

The only argument Democrats should be making is how Republicans want to repeal the minimum wage, get rid of the social safety net in a recession, raise the retirement age on Social Security while privatizing it, with the list going on from there to include the GOTP making abortion illegal including in the case of rape or incest in districts where it will resonate.

Unfortunately, the Democratic Party today doesn’t seem to be able to sell populism, with lines like “tell the Bush Crowd and the Chamber of Commerce – stop stealing our democracy” simply setting up angry voters like a burlesque punchline. Because right now Independents and the Tea Party crowd are convinced the people “stealing our democracy” are Democrats.

It’s hogwash, but perception is reality in politics, especially when you’re the party in power not making the case for what you can do for the voter the other guys can’t in an off election year when likely voters want your head.

Read full story · Comments { 31 }

Your Sunday News Round-Up

By Stacy on 10 October 2010

Good morning, I hope everyone is having a good weekend.

On this day in history, October 10, 1967, the Outer Space Treaty, prohibiting the placing of weapons of mass destruction on the moon or elsewhere in space, went into effect.

Some links to go with your morning coffee:

~Iran admits espionage
at its nuclear facilities which probably means it’s much worse than they are letting on. And I guess that Stuxnet computer virus/worm did some real damage to their infrastructure including possibly their nuclear sites.

~Justice Clarence Thomas’ wife started a new right wing organization that keeps the source of its donations secret and some have said this could create the perception of impropriety with respect to Justice Thomas, as he likely knows who the large contributors are. The concern is more about businesses and organization contributions than individual ones with respect to conflicts of interest that might arise if one of the companies had a case before the Court. Given how Thomas has made his political views very apparent in various speeches, I am going to go out on a limb and assume he could care less about any perception of impropriety. Kind of like Scalia duck hunting with Cheney.

~Violent homophobia on the rise? This story of the torture of two gay gang members is horrific.

~~ China is very, very angry. The best part is China’s massive censorship crack-down immediately following the announcement that Liu Xiaobo deservedly won the Nobel Prize, simply proves the point the Nobel committee was trying to make- China is an oppressive, freedom-hating, rights-violating communist regime. I understand that China is our banker, but if we don’t speak out against human rights abuses with more consistency, then we will lose all credibility- we can’t just speak out against countries like Iran, Cuba and Venezuela because it’s politically expedient, and popular, to do so. A better test of our commitment to human rights is our willingness (or not) to speak out when countries with whom have strong diplomatic ties, violate international norms.

~ Could somebody please explain to me why top Obama officials, including Cabinet members, were so willing to talk crap about each other to Bob Woodward, knowing that he was going to write a controversial tell-all book, like he always does? For the life of me, I can’t understand it. Did they think he was their therapist? Or their confessor? What did they think would happen when the book was published and all the embarrassing stories come out. Not to mention the fact that many of them come across as a ship of fools with all the infighting and backstabbing. I just started reading the book, but I am pretty amazed at the information I am seeing, assuming it’s true. Over at Salon, they have an idea how Woodward does it.

~Remember John Edwards? The Feds do.

~Tea Party favorite in Ohio, Rich Iott, has a thing for dressing up in Nazi SS uniforms and taking part in reenactments. Color me shocked.

~The Arab League agreed to essentially give the US one more month to make the Israeli settlement problem disappear. A cynical observer might see this as a victory for Israel, as it can continue to build settlements all the while Dennis Ross works on new rewards for Israel in exchange for a 60 day extension on settlements. You can read about some of the alleged rewards here. You know it’s bad when even former US ambassadors to Israel can’t believe what Ross and Obama have offered in exchange for almost nothing.

~Linda Norgrove, a British aid worker in Afghanistan, was killed during a botched rescue attempt by NATO and Afghan forces.

~Pakistan is going to reopen a key border crossing into Afghanistan after a 10-day blockade which saw the targeted destruction of upwards of 150 fuel supply trucks by insurgent groups including the Pakistani Taliban.

~ Have you seen this viral video? It’s really cool.

~The Center for Constitutional Rights is demanding to know what the U.S. is planning to do about the killing [at point-blank range] of American citizen Furkhan Dogan at the hands of Israeli commandos aboard the Mavi Marmara, now that autopsy results have been made public via the recently released, and subsequently ignored, UN report. So far, the State Dept. has nothing to say about Dogan’s death and the U.S. media have helped ensure, through their silence, that the U.S. government can continue to remain silent.

~Ann Coulter is trying to become relevant now that the Tea Party Crazies have stolen her racist, homophobic, mean-spirited, thunder. Have you ever noticed that all these right wingers who make a career of claiming there is a vast left-wing media conspiracy, get endless promotion and attention from said media?

~In a galling display of corporate cronyism, the Washington Post and NY Times have casually swept aside claims that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is subverting our democracy by using foreign donations to channel money to the GOP. Lets not forget one important factor- the NYT and the Washington Post are corporate entities. ‘Nuff said.

~It’s a sad day for the Washington Post when they have Dinesh D’Souza spewing his misinformed, paranoid, racist nonsense on their opinion pages. Yeah, I get that it’s an “opinon” but at this point, do they have any standards at all when it comes to filling up editorial space? Oh, that’s right, Fred Hiatt is in charge of ~~dumpster diving~~ filling that space. Never mind.

~Now that the economy has been in the tanker for a while and midterms are coming up, both democrats and republicans are pointing fingers at each other in campaign ads, alleging that their opponents have supported the outsourcing of jobs to China. Nice try. Both parties have helped ensure our economic loss is China’s gain.

~ The NYT has an interesting editorial about the legality/potential for abuse of Obama’s targeted assassination program. They are a little late to the game, don’t you think? Also, am I really supposed to believe, as the NYT claims (based on government assurances) that only 10 civilians have been killed as “collateral damage” in drone attacks this year? I have a feeling both Afghanistan and Pakistan would beg to differ. One of the problems with top secret programs which vest expansive power to the Executive, is that, well, they are top secret. We are left to simply take the government’s word for it when it comes to potential abuses. Speaking of which, the editorial also casually claims that it doesn’t seem like Obama has abused his authority under this program as of yet. How exactly do they know that? Once again, the NYT is trying to play both sides- tough on terrorism while pretending to care about civil liberties.

~The Senate puts Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on notice that if Mideast peace negotiations fall apart, it’s all the Palestinians’ fault. It’s going to be hard for the administration to be a legitimate mediator when the U.S. Congress is carrying Bibi Netanyahu’s water. But of course, there is no excuse for Barack Obama not realizing this prior to initiating these negotiations.

~The government was repeatedly warned about the foreclosure crisis, but did little to avert or even curb it.

~Apparently if you are an Arab-American college student, that alone warrants the FBI putting a GPS tracking device on your car, then showing up at your home after you find it and post the photos on the internet. Then, it’s apparently ok for the FBI to act like a bunch of goons as though ordinary laws don’t apply to them. Because apparently after the PATRIOT Act, they don’t.

The End.

Read full story · Comments { 14 }

My $0.02: It’s Saturday Morning and Donald Duck Meets Glenn Beck

By Wonk the Vote on 09 October 2010

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfuwNU0jsk0&w=300&showinfo=0]

Good morning everyone! WTV here with some Saturday reads and rantage, but first a recommendation — I know it’s making the rounds, so you may have already seen it, but please be sure to watch the cartoon to the right if you haven’t already. It’s a short by Rebellious Pixels entitled, “Donald Duck Meets Glenn Beck in Right Wing Radio Duck.” The entire thing is just shy of eight minutes and may take a few moments to get into at the very beginning, but stick with it. The payoff at the end is worth it, and being able to laugh either before or after you finish this roundup will help today’s headlines go down a little easier.

Now, onto the news. First up, a disturbing polling trend from CNN that we Cassandras saw coming:

By 47 to 45 percent, Americans say Obama is a better president than George W. Bush. But that two point margin is down from a 23 point advantage one year ago.

Nothing like a DINO President and a DINO Congress to rehabilitate the Bush brand.

Right on cue, over at Faux News naturally, the faux cowboy’s swagger is back:

“I have written a book. This will come as a shock to some of the elites. They didn’t think I could read a book, much less write one,” Bush quipped.

LOL. What a charmer. I wasn’t planning on reading his book, but maybe I’ll set aside 10 minutes to flip through the Annals of Deciderism at Borders when it comes out next month after all. I figure that’s all the time W. spent studying Iraq before he took us to war there, so his book deserves the same thorough treatment.

Back to the CNN polling write-up:

“Democrats may want to think twice about bringing up former President George W. Bush’s name while campaigning this year,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

I tend to agree and think that card has been overplayed, and played poorly at that. Obama, Pelosi, and Reid had a lot of ground they could have covered in the early months of O’s presidency if they would have used the backdrop of 8 years of GOP Fail to push through bold FDR-style legislation. The country didn’t vote Democrats in during the 2008 election to hem and haw once they got in while genuflecting at the altar of some manufactured style-over-substance semblance of bipartisanship. They voted Democrats in to give them a chance to fix the mess Bush-Cheney and the GOP had made. If the Democrats had wanted to use their muscle on behalf of genuine Democratic policy ideas, they could have, but, that’s not what the so-called Democratic leadership wanted to do and it’s not what they did.

So to remind people of the Bush years does nothing in the absence of anything in the Obama years to point to that viscerally hits home the point that he changed anything when it comes to substance. Instead, the more the Democrats mention W. now., the more they unwittingly remind Americans of the similarities between W. and his successor. Both W. and O. enjoyed media darling coverage during their first presidential runs and were touted as “good” campaigners after all, and both subsequently fell far short of their promises to “unite the country” with their buzzwards (hope, change, and compassionate conservatism) once it came time to govern.

If the Ds want to keep playing the George W. Bush card while refusing to fill the void when it comes to true blue Democratic leadership and governance themselves, the rest of America may very well catch on to what Cassandras like myself have long since figured out: W. and O. represent two different styles of presidentin’, but the end product of both has been the same corporate governance by, for, and of K-Street.

The excuse handed to the electorate this time around by Obama and his apologists is often some variant on the theme that America is just “ungovernable,” even though, as my blogosphere buddy, paper doll, astutely pointed out the other day:

hello..using the the word ” ungovernable” when speaking of voters in a supposedly democratic society….. and it doesn’t raise eyebrows, is remarkable

I’m just getting started with my roundup, so click to keep reading after the jump. Continue Reading →

Read full story · Comments { 7 }

Populism Works, But You Have to Know How to Sell It

By Taylor Marsh on 08 October 2010

There is absolutely no doubt that Democrats are going to take a serious hit in November. But at least some have started the populism argument, which Pres. Obama refuses to embrace, while Republicans hope to make the Gipper rise from the grave.

From Paul Krugman today:

When people ask why the Obama stimulus didn’t accomplish more, one good response is to ask, what stimulus? Leaving aside the cost of financial rescues and safety-net programs like unemployment insurance, federal spending has risen only modestly — and this rise has been largely offset by cutbacks at the state and local level. Many of these cuts were forced by Congress, which has refused to approve adequate aid to the states. But as Mr. Christie is demonstrating, local politicians are also doing their part.
And the ideology that has led Mr. Christie to undermine his state’s future is, of course, the same ideology that has led almost all Republicans and some Democrats to stand in the way of any meaningful action to revive the nation’s economy. Worse yet, next month’s election seems likely to reward Republicans for their obstructionism.
So here’s how you should think about the decision to kill the tunnel: It’s a terrible thing in itself, but, beyond that, it’s a perfect symbol of how America has lost its way. By refusing to pay for essential investment, politicians are both perpetuating unemployment and sacrificing long-run growth. And why not? After all, this seems to be a winning electoral strategy. All vision of a better future seems to have been lost, replaced with a refusal to look beyond the narrowest, most shortsighted notion of self-interest.

Mayor Bloomberg has joined the austerity stupidity by threatening to veto legislation for paid sick leave, because it would hurt small businesses, calling it a “disaster.” Bloomberg’s threat is the disaster, which threatens families and is unthinkingly austere, not to mention a danger to workers.

Cutting for the sake of it is being hailed by small government conservatives who also believe we can balance the budget in our current state of financial disrepair. They’ve never heard of a true stimulus that creates jobs to rebuild our infrastructure, good paying jobs where the people can see the result, fueling a rise in growth that’s organic and builds a new foundation for more.

Some Democrats, however, are seeing their opponents go down the road of austerity knowing that the people won’t buy their prescriptions.

Jack Conway is hitting Rand Paul on his ridiculous medicare deduction idea.

Michael Bennet is hitting Ken Buck on his absurd notion of a national sales tax, as well as privatizing Social Security.

Candidates running on unemployment benefits, as well as Tea Party candidates expecting a woman to suck it up if she gets pregnant as a result of rape or incest.

The bank theft of “too big to fail” still sticking in people’s throats.

Newt Gingrich evidently thinks a societal safety net is something people don’t appreciate, especially when the economy tanks. His memo on “Paychecks versus Food Stamps” for Republican candidates is one of the more clueless ideas he’s had in recent memory. But what do you expect of a guy screaming “Nazi!”?

Imagine what Democrats could have done if they’d had a middle class tax cut argument to go up against all the Republican austerity language, which is at least causing likely voters to tune in to what electing Tea Party Republican could mean. Regardless, it’s so bad economically in Nevada there is real fear that Sharron Angle is surging, with a lot of outside help, which other Democrats in the target zone, too.

Republicans have no new ideas, so with the emergent energy of the Tea Party wing, Newt Gingrich and Mike Huckabee decided to resurrect Ronald Reagan, which you can see in the video trailer above. Evidently they missed the part about Reagan’s policies in the 1980s starting us down the road that ended us up in the ditch in the first place. Hey, but if your followers are ignorant of history why not give re-marketing Reagan a shot?

History tells us that rage on the right should not be confused with populism. The far right attacks government regulation as it feeds Wall Street and the insurance companies. It rails against government spending for the least privileged as it lavishes tax cuts favoring the most privileged. – Sen. Sherrod Brown

Democrats have made a mess of things, especially health care legislation. If they’d followed the party’s historic populist heart we wouldn’t have mandates inside a monopolized system. We’d also have had things kick in earlier so that people could see the benefits of legislation that was crafted for the good of the people.

A few candidates are starting to embrace their inner populist, but it’s been done far too late, with no help from Pres. Obama, though at least he’s out on the stump revving up people, which he’s very good at doing, as long as he’s talking to the choir. Democrats under Obama doubted our very roots, which allowed Sarah Palin’s “death panel” squeal to take over and ignite the Tea Party chaos politics that will come to a head in November.

On “Morning Joe” this week they played a NARAL ad about what women’s rights would look like if Tea Partier Carl Paladino had his way. Now, regular readers know I’m no fan of NARAL for a variety of reasons, but while Mika and Joe scoffed, Mike Barnicle saying people don’t care about this, the fundamental truth of the ad Howard Dean was left to explain. The bottom line being that if there were enough Tea Party Republicans elected they would think it was their job to curtail women’s rights and turn back the clock.

It’s not just about being an abortion rights opponent, but belies the hypocrisy of these right-wing “small government” conservatives who want to police single women and gay teachers, women’s lives, and put government in our homes and bedrooms.

Faux populism, like the health care legislation that was concocted, never works, because it never goes far enough for people to see the benefits of true populism at work such as Social Security. It allows corporate deals and half measures that still leaves people beholden to what got us into the mess in the first place, which upon failing and bad marketing makes people mad at the sheer incompetence.

If you don’t sell it the people won’t buy it.

Joe Scarborough rails about Obama being too far left, blaming that on movement progressive and the “professional left.” Rush Limbaugh rants about the same thing, while ignoring the Democratic base and movement progressives are irritated with Congress pulling their punches and wasting a majority, but also that many don’t like the health care legislation any more than Republicans, though repealing isn’t the answer, fixing it is. Both Joe and Rush missing that Democratic populists don’t support the tepid politics of the Democratic elite, because it’s not about going “too far left,” it’s about constructing populist policy that actually works. But does anyone doubt they’ll both love Barack Obama if the new Congress gives him a chance to go to “the center”?

Never mind it’s where Obama’s been all along, straddling populism and calculation so that when populism was finally tried against the Tea Party austerity crowd the most surprised of them all was the Democratic elite. But when things get tough, that’s when populism really starts singing.

The history of Democratic activism should have been the party’s leadership guide. Unfortunately, it was hijacked on the alter of bipartisanship with nothing to show in return.

Read full story · Comments { 35 }

Gallup: Unemployment at 10.1%

By Taylor Marsh on 08 October 2010

–updated–

While total government jobs fell by 159,000, private sector companies added 64,000 jobs last month. The unemployment rate, which measures the percentage of workers who are actively looking for but unable to find jobs, stayed flat at 9.6 percent. – Cuts in Government Led U.S. Economy to Lose 95,000 Jobs

This was expected as more people once again get counted as looking for employment, with Erin Burnett of CNBC the first to weigh in on this. But it’s not a number that will do any good for Democrats. The underemployment according to Gallup is 18.8%. We’ll get more on the last unemployment picture before the election today.

However, it won’t stop Dems from engaging and voting, especially as they check in to see the alternative in their state. By alternative I mean something well beyond the eccentricities of some of the Tea Party candidates, the latest that Carl Paladino reportedly having a press conference likely to be a circus.. The notion that cutting Social Security or the minimum wage is an answer to the economic ills of our country, to name just one, won’t cut it.

You can sure bet Republicans will be talking up the new number from Gallup led by talk radio, which started getting overconfident after Labor Day.

That said, there are still too many races within the margin of error, which a wave election could easily wipe out.

Read full story · Comments { 10 }

2010: Sharron Angle’s Sex, Lies, & Political Ads

By Taylor Marsh on 07 October 2010

Ms. Angle isn’t even trying to be factual.

This ad is a complete lie. In fact, Reid and the Democrats voted down the amendments offered during the health care debate, just like the one Angle touts in this ad, because they knew they’d see negative ads on them if they didn’t. Not to mention that the notion of giving Viagra to sex offenders would never be supported by any Democrat, let alone Harry Reid who is a devout Mormon.

This isn’t just down and dirty. It’s immoral. But it does prove that women can be as unethical as men.

UPDATE II: Opening the topic to 2010 ads in general, via Dave Weigel on Twitter. Paladino talking about confronting Fred Dicker, and “Come out and debate like a man” confrontation to Cuomo. You won’t believe this one… or maybe you will.

UPDATE: Harry Reid got a big NV endorsement today, via Jon Ralston.

Read full story · Comments { 9 }

GOTP ‘Hicks’ for John Raese Ad Pulled in West VA.

By Taylor Marsh on 07 October 2010

They didn’t even spell “John Deer”(sic) right for the casting call.

Mike Allen broke the story, which has now freaked out the GOTP and pushed the NRSC to pull the ad from YouTube, while releasing an overwrought statement that they had nothing to do with the ad. A little late, folks. From Politico:

… The ad was shot at least 250 miles east of the state, in Philadelphia, and features not actual West Virginians, but paid actors instead. And to look the part of a West Virginian, the talent agency in charge of casting for the spot sent out a call for a “‘Hicky’ Blue Collar look.”
“These characters are from West Virginia so think coal miner/trucker looks,” the casting call read, obtained by CNN from a Democratic source. “Each character should bring [sic] several options and stay away from all black or all white or thin stripes (thicker stripes and plaid are good).”
The talent agency also made several additional clothing suggestions, including a “Dickie’s type jacket with t-shirt underneath,” “Down filled vest,” “John Deer hats (not brand new, preferably beat up),” and “Trucker hats (not brand new, preferably beat up).” [...]

This reminds me of the “cling to guns or religion” gaffe candidate Barack Obama made during the primaries.

There isn’t an elite in either party that gets blue collar workers. That was proven conclusively when Democrats walked away from the middle class tax vote, but also saddled voters with a forced mandate into a monopolized health care law that’s causing more headaches than red wine.

Tea Party Republicans want to roll back the minimum wage, stop unions, and even though the Democratic health care law is horrible, would deny any type of health care reform at all, which certainly isn’t the answer. The GOTP also wants to raise the retirement age of Social Security, which hurts more working class, blue collar workers than anything else.

The additional problem with John Raese in West Virginia, running against Joe Manchin, is Raese doesn’t come close to representing the state. He reportedly lives in a $3M mansion in Palm Beach to boot.

Current Democratic West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin was on Andrea Mitchell today making his case against Raese, whose “hicky” ad should do some good for Manchin in a state where Democrats are sweating bullets to hold on. Considering we are talking about West Virginia here, that last sentence reveals the chaos politics in play during the midterms.

Read full story · Comments { 8 }

Another Reason Why People Hate Congress

By Taylor Marsh on 07 October 2010

–bumped and updated below–

Democrats have some explaining to do. The title says it all: Foreclosure Cover for Banks Seen in Bill at Obama’s Desk:

A bill that homeowners advocates warn will make it more difficult to challenge improper foreclosure attempts by big mortgage processors is awaiting President Barack Obama’s signature after it quietly zoomed through the Senate last week.
The bill, passed without public debate in a way that even surprised its main sponsor, Republican Representative Robert Aderholt, requires courts to accept as valid document notarizations made out of state, making it harder to challenge the authenticity of foreclosure and other legal documents.
… The legislation could protect bank and mortgage processors from liability for false or improperly prepared documents.
The White House said it is reviewing the legislation. [...]

After all the things the Republicans have blocked and the Democrats haven’t been able to pass, it’s unconscionable that this is the type of legislation that “zoomed” through Congress without public debate.

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner told Reuters in an interview that the law would weaken protection of homeowners by requiring many states to accept lower standards for notarizations.
She said it was “suspicious” that the law unexpectedly passed just as the mortgage industry is facing possible big costs from having filed false or improperly notarized documents.

They think you’re stupid and won’t notice.

The U.S. Congress has become the most toxic, incompetent, grossly negligent, and corporate enabling entity in the world. Pres. Obama should veto this legislation without hesitation.

CNBC is calling the legislation a bailout.

In related outrage, the foreclosure nightmare is starting to see the daylight of impending doom. From the Washington Post:

For big banks, “there’s a possible nightmare scenario here that no foreclosure is valid,” said Nancy Bush, a banking analyst from NAB Research. If millions of foreclosures past and present were invalidated because of the way the hurried securitization process muddied the chain of ownership, banks could face lawsuits from homeowners and from investors who bought stakes in the mortgage securities – an expensive and potentially crippling proposition.

Our world is made of sand.

UPDATE: As WonktheVote pointed out in her diary, Pres. Obama isn’t touching this bill, which is called a “pocket veto,” reported by Jake Tapper. From the White House:

Today, the White House announced that President Obama will not sign H.R. 3808, the Interstate Recognition of Notarizations Act of 2010, and will return the bill to the House of Representatives. The Interstate Recognition of Notarizations Act of 2010 was designed to remove impediments to interstate commerce. While we share this goal, we believe it is necessary to have further deliberations about the intended and unintended impact of this bill on consumer protections, including those for mortgages, before this bill can be finalized.
Notarizations are important for a large range of documents, including financial documents. As the President has made clear, consumer financial protections are incredibly important, and he has made this one of his top priorities, including signing into law the strongest consumer protections in history in the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. That is why we need to think through the intended and unintended consequences of this bill on consumer protections, especially in light of the recent developments with mortgage processors.
The authors of this bill no doubt had the best intentions in mind when trying to remove impediments to interstate commerce. We will work with them and other leaders in Congress to explore the best ways to achieve this goal going forward.

h/t memeorandum

Read full story · Comments { 20 }

Food Stamps Shouldn’t Be for Coke & Pepsi

By Taylor Marsh on 07 October 2010

[...] The ban would apply to any beverage that contains more than 10 calories per 8 ounces, except for milk products, milk substitutes like soy milk and rice milk, and fruit juices without added sugar. A 20-ounce sugar-sweetened drink can contain the equivalent of as many as 16 packets of sugar. [...] In fiscal year 2009, New Yorkers received $2.7 billion in food stamp benefits and spent $75 million to $135 million of that on sugary drinks, the city said. – AP

Hail Mayor Michael Bloomberg, yet again, for showing courage and a lot of tough love.

Why should taxpayers support buying sugary drinks that are horrible for people’s health, especially kids, but also are a prime reason for obesity?

The request, made to the United States Department of Agriculture, which finances and sets the rules for the food-stamp program, is part of an aggressive anti-obesity push by the mayor that has also included advertisements, stricter rules on food sold in schools and an unsuccessful attempt to have the state impose a tax on the sugared drinks.
Public health experts greeted Mr. Bloomberg’s proposal cautiously. George Hacker, senior policy adviser for the health promotion project of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said a more equitable approach might be to use educational campaigns to dissuade food-stamp users from buying sugared drinks.
“The world would be better, I think, if people limited their purchases of sugared beverages,” Mr. Hacker said. “However, there are a great many ethical reasons to consider why one would not want to stigmatize people on food stamps.”
The mayor requested a ban for two years to study whether it would have a positive impact on health and whether a permanent ban would be merited.
“In spite of the great gains we’ve made over the past eight years in making our communities healthier, there are still two areas where we’re losing ground — obesity and diabetes,” the mayor said in a statement. “This initiative will give New York families more money to spend on foods and drinks that provide real nourishment.” …

Sorry, but Mr. Hacker sounds like a hack.

Nobody is trying to “stigmatize people on food stamps,” but simply focus what is paid for through a government program. As I’ve written before, I think a tax on all junk food should be levied, but the food lobby is too powerful for that to manifest.

The fact is that health care costs are directly related to the amount of crap we ingest and the way we live our lives, which includes our food intake, how much we ingest, as well as the stuff we are addicted to that’s terrible for us. Nobody has a perfect diet, but as our health care concerns merge, because of the reality of cost sharing, at some point the obese person next to you, who is making horrific choices, ends up costing us all, as does the smoker.

There are emotional reasons for why we overeat or have substance issues that includes food, but then there are addictive substances in our food that end up controlling us if we don’t break the cycle. Sugar is one of the first things to moderate if you want to gain control over your moods, but also your weight. Processed foods is another, but I could go on forever on this subject. I became health conscious when I was in my later teens to try to grab control of my migraines, and guess what, I won.

Exercise is one way to fight fat, but it also helps build strength, which is very important once you’re over 45. The only sure way to keep your weight and health in check is to eat less, but also eat healthier foods, though everyone is going to splurge now and then. Picking Saturday and Sunday to relax helps you feel less deprived, though we’re not talking about binging here. But the benefits of exercise and working out, especially cardio, but with weight training added, is that it build strength in your entire body. For women over 40, this is critical, especially to keep from getting saddle bag arms! New studies even show that women working up a sweat can cut their risk of ovarian cancer.

Bloomberg’s proposal is challenging, especially when a parent who’s been out of work wants to buy treats or junk food for a child’s birthday party. What we can do about exemptions I have no idea, but this also seems to be one example that does not fit the average purchase.

Much of America is fat, lazy and under-exercised. With winter and the holiday season approaching, no doubt the challenge gets more fierce.

There is simply nothing more important for kids than starting early on a healthy food lifestyle mentality, particularly when it comes to junk food and sugary drinks.

This post has been updated.

Read full story · Comments { 35 }

Not These Guys Again

By Taylor Marsh on 06 October 2010

The fat cats at the big corporations are drooling at the prospect of “Speaker Boehner,” and why not?

The industries giving the most to Boehner: insurance companies, drug manufacturers and Wall Street firms, all of which now face new regulations adopted by the Democratic-controlled Congress. The political action committees and employees of insurance firms, for instance, donated nearly $426,000 to Boehner’s campaign committees through June 30, according to the center’s tally, compared with $118,000 in insurance industry donations to Pelosi’s fundraising accounts. Don Seymour, a Boehner spokesman, said contributors know that Boehner “understands the best way to help create new jobs is to cut spending, stop all the tax hikes and end some of the uncertainty facing job creators.” – USA Today

Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie are right behind them via American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS, accumulating money to dump into races to push the GOTP over the top, especially in close, margin of error races.

American Crossroads GPS is far from the only soft-money organization that has pledged massive spending on conservative candidates. Together with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ($75 million), Americans for Prosperity ($45 million), the Club for Growth ($24 million at a minimum), the NRA ($20 million), FreedomWorks ($10 million) and a host of less prominent groups, Republicans have been promised an eye-popping $400 million in “independent expenditures” — the FEC’s term for almost-unrestricted political campaign spending that can be impossible to trace back to its sources. – Political Correction

But the story Think Progress broke yesterday about the Chamber of Commerce buy-in against Democrats is frightening. Through a heavier presence in Bahrain, the Chamber plans to accumulate money overseas, then funnel it into the midterm elections, targeting Democratic candidates. The same type of operation is also in play in India, according to the Think Progress investigation, as are “affiliates” in other locales, like Egypt and well beyond. From Think Progress:

The largest attack campaign against Democrats this fall is being waged by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a trade association organized as a 501(c)(6) that can raise and spend unlimited funds without ever disclosing any of its donors. The Chamber has promised to spend an unprecedented $75 million to defeat candidates like Jack Conway, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Jerry Brown, Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA), and Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA). As of Sept. 15th, the Chamber had aired more than 8,000 ads on behalf of GOP Senate candidates alone, according to a study from the Wesleyan Media Project. The Chamber’s spending has dwarfed every other issue group and most political party candidate committee spending. A ThinkProgress investigation has found that the Chamber funds its political attack campaign out of its general account, which solicits foreign funding. And while the Chamber will likely assert it has internal controls, foreign money is fungible, permitting the Chamber to run its unprecedented attack campaign. According to legal experts consulted by ThinkProgress, the Chamber is likely skirting longstanding campaign finance law that bans the involvement of foreign corporations in American elections. [...]
… Previously, it has been reported that foreign firms like BP, Shell Oil, and Siemens are active members of the Chamber. But on a larger scale, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce appears to rely heavily on fundraising from firms all over the world, including China, India, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Russia, and many other places. Of course, because the Chamber successfully lobbied to kill campaign finance reforms aimed at establishing transparency, the Chamber does not have to reveal any of the funding for its ad campaigns. Dues-paying members of the Chamber could potentially be sending additional funds this year to help air more attack ads against Democrats. [...]

We’ve all seen this horror film before. Here we go again.

…and all because of an anti Hillary film by David Bosse, the same wingnut who just produced the film touting conservative female politicians this cycle. Bosse’s Clinton derangement over all the years finally paid off when the Supreme Court rendered a decision that changed the midterms back to an unfettered cash free for all.

Boehner’s the ring leader of this crew, which gives you a foreshadowing of what could happen come November 3rd.

Read full story · Comments { 31 }

What’s In It for Hillary?

By Taylor Marsh on 06 October 2010

“There’s absolutely nothing to it,” senior adviser David Axelrod said Tuesday night. “The president is blessed to have a spectacular vice president and an outstanding secretary of state. They’re both doing great work, and he wants to keep them on the job.” Advisers to Clinton said the same, and another Obama adviser called the idea “nuts.” – A Clinton-Biden swap ‘on the table’? Absolutely not, says Axelrod.

There is absolutely nothing in the vice presidency for Sect. Hillary Clinton, especially if she wants to keep her 2016 options secure, whether she’s sure about it now or not. At this point, it’s there for the taking if she decides she wants another run.

Biden to State, Hillary to the vice presidency, it’s a rumor that’s been circling through the chattering classes for months. The photo here is likely the reaction Clinton, Biden, but also Pres. Obama would have at it being floated, this time in public. James Carville’s response was classic: “I’d be stunned if there’s anything to it,” Democratic strategist James Carville said Tuesday. “Anything is possible in politics. But I don’t know of anything beyond speculation, and I really doubt it’s anything.”

You should have heard the response when I asked insider Clintonites about the SecDef rumor. As for the job swap from State to vice president, Anne Kornblut sums up what most insiders are saying, “nuts,” at least those who will talk (those closest to Clinton won’t),

With the launch of Bob Woodward’s book and the subsequent interviews, it’s now finally out in the open. It all starts on page 31 of “Obama’s Wars,” with none other than Mark Penn. But the conversation revolves around whether Hillary should take the job of secretary of state, which president-elect Obama is pitching through intermediaries. Woodward explains through the mind of Mark Penn, who before Obama has served one day in office is already speculating that he’ll be in trouble by the time he runs for re-election:

Penn always had his eye on the prize–the White House. If she did the job for four years, Obama might be in trouble and have to dump Biden and pick her to run with him as vice president. She had nearly beaten Obama and had won substantial margins in the primary among four important constituencies–women, Latinos, the working class and seniors–voting blocs Obama would need in 2012. Her addition to the ticket might be a necessity.

As anyone knows who has dealt with publishers before, everyone needs book buzz, even Bob Woodward. There’s no better way to get it than catapult a wild rumor like this into the political air before a midterm election, from Mark Penn no less.

Woodward continues by talking about the alleged Clinton family motto, “We’re going to keep going,” which teases the very real possibility that in 2016 Hillary would be ready to run again, with no one able to stop her this time. Also from page 31:

“In terms of 2016, Penn noted, if she served eight years a State, she could not be better positioned to run for president again. She would only be 69–the age Reagan had been when he took office. And statistically, women lived longer and generally stayed in better health during later years.”

Sect. Clinton never enjoyed such broad based popularity as a politician. The relationship president-elect Obama fought so hard to get with Clinton at State has served both of them very well. Clinton’s on the team, taking orders from the boss on all things, but does have a measure of autonomy at the State Department. Her position as secretary of state has also established her professional independence from her president husband, well beyond the Senate. It’s been a total win for Hillary, as it has for her boss.

Clinton’s stated she doesn’t want a second term at State. She’s also said she doesn’t want the presidency. We can speculate, but we’ll all just have to wait to see what happens. But the fact is that 2016 is waiting for Hillary if she wants it, in my opinion, with there absolutely nothing that can stop her from the nomination.

Once the post-Hillary political era began, after she lost the nomination to Obama, then took the job at State, everyone relaxed while watching Clinton and Obama team up, along with Joe Biden, to become the three Democratic musketeers of the Obama administration, with Robert Gates rounding out the quartet on security matters. It’s not been perfect on the national security team, as Woodward tells it, but the Obama, Biden, Clinton team has been as good as it can get.

By all objective observation, Joe Biden has been an exemplary vice president. That he has been proven correct on Afghanistan is just one point. However, he remains the outspoken expert Pres. Obama so needs in private. His blue collar roots help immensely when he’s on TV, with his deprecating charm endearing.

Then there is the obvious question. Would Barack Obama ever think about dumping Biden, because he sees himself in trouble for 2012? That question is laughable to me. There is nothing in Pres. Obama’s makeup that would lead him to believe he needs Hillary. Politically, the other reality is that no one votes for the vice president.

Woodward belches in a book, and the media runs with it. Some things never change.

Looking beyond the current gossip, that even after Penn’s disastrous involvement in her presidential campaign Hillary went to him for advice on whether to take the offer of secretary of state is revealing. Penn knows polling, but Hillary would be smart to keep him well away from anything else. No one, beyond Hillary, was more responsible for her presidential campaign running into a ditch than Mark Penn. Let’s hope someone in Hillaryland reminds her when the decision for 2016 rolls around and let’s hope she listens.

Read full story · Comments { 19 }

USA Today Shocked to Find No Vagina Voters

By Taylor Marsh on 06 October 2010

Where was Susan Page in 2008? It’s articles like hers that make the case for why people like Howard Fineman and Howard Kurtz are happily moving to new media. Under the title of “Elections are likely to trim number of women in Congress,” Page’s article becomes the latest to fail to rebut the notion that 2010 is “the year of the woman.”

Hotline — with an update — and Atlantic were among the first, with Politico pointing to positives in New York, to mention just a few picking up the storyline.

As if the cascading numbers of women graduating with law, doctor and graduate degrees don’t count on top of the record year of female politicians running for office. As if the number of conservative women rising, for the first time in such numbers, doesn’t count either.

The fact Sarah Palin has taken what she started with and maximized it, even after a humiliating national debut and being called a “quitter” when she quit her job as governor, regardless of the outcome in November, isn’t monumental in itself. Name a man of either party who ran against the party establishment and had such an impact as Sarah Palin has had this year, even with the whopper of backing Christine O’Donnell. **crickets** You can’t, because no man has led an a revolt inside a party and taken on the elite, let alone successfully, like Mrs. Palin, which has led to the Republican establishment being forced to embrace the Tea Party or fail in November.

From Page’s article comes stunning pretzel analysis. Hold on to your g-string:

Bottom line: Independent analysts predict that the number of women in Congress — currently 56 Democrats and 17 Republicans in the House, and 13 Democrats and four Republicans in the Senate — will decline for the first time in three decades. The drop would come two years after a string of breakthroughs, when Hillary Rodham Clinton was the first woman to vie seriously for the Democratic presidential nod, Sarah Palin the first woman nominated for national office by the GOP and Democrat Nancy Pelosi the first woman elected speaker of the House.
Overall, 47 Republican and 91 Democratic women are on the ballot for the House, along with six Republicans and nine Democratic women for the Senate. Both totals set records.

Hello? Susan Page, anyone home? Evidently not.

Then this:

Those statistics don’t tell the whole story, however. A dozen incumbent women in the House are in tough races, as are four of the female senators on the ballot this year. Many of the women who aren’t incumbents are running in districts so dominated by the other party that they are all but certain to lose.

Holy Wonder Woman! Like, oh, my God, Susie! You know, like, women can lose, too? Jeepers, who knew???

Page actually writes that women are going to set records in both parties for candidates running when you total their numbers. But then goes on to say it’s not the whole story, because women in tough races can actually lose their seat once elected, especially when “running in districts so dominated by the other party.” As if being a woman would inoculate a female from accountability simply because of her gender.

Deliver us from this dumbness.

If you want to blame anyone you could deduce that since Republicans are the ones predicted to take over the House in a wave, but also gain in the Senate, that because they’ve not had women represented nearly as much as Democrats that the cause of the alleged slide backwards in 2010 isn’t the fault of women, but of the Right in general for not supporting women earlier.

It took the Hillary effect from 2008, after Clinton was defeated for the nomination, to even get the Republicans to join the 20th century and nominate their first woman on the national ticket. That same woman, Sarah Palin, then took the power she was handed and ran with it, tripping, but getting up and regrouping, without any help from the men at GOP central. But of course a traditional outlet like USA Today can’t blame Republicans, it just isn’t done in corporate America.

Women have never had such numbers running for office as they have in 2010. Femme Dem politicians currently serving are up against it, because this is a chaos politics year against insiders, but not Democrats, which may result with even outsider, independent Democrats like Russ Feingold being swept from office. How does USA Today’s Page think Democratic women are going to escape a similar fate?

Oh, ri-ight. The power of the vagina. It pulls in likely voters and they can never get out.

Read full story · Comments { 4 }

« Previous 1 2 3 4 Next »

TM MUST READS

Hillary Clinton has Attended Last SOTU as Obama’s SoS
“I think after 20 years — and it will be 20 years — of being on the high wire of [...]
U.S. News & World Report Op-Ed
President Obama takes his base for granted on issues like the Bush tax cuts, Plan B, and the economy - US [...]
Ryan Lizza and The Hillary Effect, Case Proved Beyond Any Doubt
The reason I wrote my book was to tell a piece of history. It was to set the record of [...]
Newsweek Asks Correct Question, Gives Wrong Answer
The right is exploding in indignation. As for the left, Tina Brown’s cover title, Why are Obama’s critics so dumb?, [...]
Stephen Colbert, Ron Paul and Others Take on Republicans and Democrats
The Colbert ReportGet More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive As much as our national media deserves [...]
Capitalism Out of the Closet
**UPDATED** Would we be any worse off with Stephen Colbert as president? I doubt it. Politifact has watched the video [...]
Shameless Plugs, UK Guardian Edition for The Hillary Effect
Last week was busy for me. One interview I did was for the UK Guardian, which is up today: Does [...]
Mitt, Newt, that Guy Ron Paul, and Democratic Trouble
UPDATED Before we get to Iowa, something that’s not getting covered deserves mention, because it ties into the opposite [...]
The Party’s Over
There’s a reason Obama reelect doesn’t have a slogan. All they’ve got is a question: Are you in? Symbolic of [...]
Barack Obama, the Sane Republican
The quote to end the year comes from Cenk Uygur in a piece that’s worth a read. I am “uncommitted” [...]
Why Newt Committed The Cardinal Sin Among Conservatives
We should not expect Gingrich to understand this until he understands that his work for Freddie Mac was not, as [...]
The Romney as Hillary Headline Finally Appears
WASHINGTON – Oh, what a set up. Thank you Politico. First it was floated on NBC’s First Read, then came [...]
Obama’s Fight for Cordray Missing for Elizabeth Warren
“But the bottom line is that we are going to stay here as long as it takes to make sure [...]
Pres. Obama’s War on Women’s Reproductive Freedoms Continues
**UPDATED** In a statement, FDA Administrator Margaret A. Hamburg said she had decided the medication could be used safely by [...]
A Word from Amb. Joseph Wilson about The Hillary Effect
“During the primary elections that pitted Hillary Clinton against Barack Obama, Taylor was the leading analyst of, and most articulate [...]
Chris Matthews: ‘There’s nothing to root for.’
“I’m like everybody, I want more action. But I understand that [Pres. Obama's] trying not to piss off a lot [...]
Not Disappointed in Pres. Obama
**Postscript added** President Obama is now neck and neck with a generic Republican challenger in the latest Real Clear Politics [...]
OWS: The Connections are Wide and Deep
The video above is of Sgt. Shamar Thomas. It went viral and now has over 2 million hits. After Scott [...]
Obama’s Lost Moon Shot on Energy
“… We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do [...]
Fan Politics
Despite rising public concern about the federal budget deficit, Americans favor keeping Social Security and Medicare benefits as they are [...]
Money Quote that Would Make Reagan Laugh
“Cantor and Kyl just threw Boehner and McConnell under the bus. This move is an admission that there will be [...]
Getting that 1979 Feeling Again
It’s déjà vu all over again. via David Weigel Pres. Obama has never understood the incredible gift he was handed [...]

TM Connect

After Christine, on the Main Stage is Sharia Sharron

Chaos Politics, No Sanity in Sight

Dems Get Hoisted On Own Chamber Money Charge

Obama & Republicans Side with Banks in Foreclosure Nightmare

Bill Clinton Draws Blood in Kentucky… (and New York)

Tea Party Exposed: Ron Paul Says Abolish Medicare, Ken Buck Blames Rape Victim

Republicans Expand Turf Before ‘Avalanche’

What’s In a Message?

Dems Duck Populism for ‘Stolen’ Election Theme

Your Sunday News Round-Up

My $0.02: It’s Saturday Morning and Donald Duck Meets Glenn Beck

Populism Works, But You Have to Know How to Sell It

Gallup: Unemployment at 10.1%

2010: Sharron Angle’s Sex, Lies, & Political Ads

GOTP ‘Hicks’ for John Raese Ad Pulled in West VA.

Another Reason Why People Hate Congress

Food Stamps Shouldn’t Be for Coke & Pepsi

Not These Guys Again

What’s In It for Hillary?

USA Today Shocked to Find No Vagina Voters

Tag Cloud

Follow Taylor on Twitter

TM MUST READS

New Media