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July 25, 2012 03:51 PM UTC

Wednesday Open Thread

  • 49 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“Once you get into this great stream of history, you can’t get out.”

–Richard Nixon

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49 thoughts on “Wednesday Open Thread”

  1. NBC/WSJ poll: Negative campaign takes toll on candidates; Obama up six points

    msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/24/12933159-nbcwsj-poll-negative-campaign-takes-toll-on-candidates-obama

    Personally, I think the public is tired of this endless Presidential campaign with it’s endless supply of attack ads from every direction and may well choose in the end to just say no to both candidates and stay home.

    1. There were no primary campaigns.  The first one was in 1910 in Oregon.

      Presidential candidates were selected by caucuses from local to state levels. Then, the candidate was often ultimately selected, by the proverbial smoke filled back room power brokers.

      The nominee often wasn’t even there, but back home.

      They started campaigning after Labor Day.

      A few farmers in Iowa didn’t steer the ship of state.

      They seemed to pick candidates no better and no worse, in hindsight, than those through our primary process.

      Although I will certainly vote, I am completely fed up with this non-stop electioneering and the billions of dollars needed – kneepads, now, everyone – to serve the country.  And yes, I think most politicians at least think that they are serving and not in it for personal gain beyond power and ego.

      We could, at the least, have a national or just several regional primaries.

      I don’t think the founding fathers could have envisioned this swamp as democracy.

      1. probably had a bit more of an idea about the rough-and-tumble of politics than we often give them credit for.  They didn’t, of course, know what mass media would become, nor of the ease of traveling across the continent (they had a hard enough time traveling across the 13 colonies…).  But they were no strangers to politics.

      2. If I were designing an election reform Constitutional amendment (or two), one of the things I’d try to put in there would be a time limit on all election activities.  It’s not good that our Representatives spend more time campaigning and fundraising than they do actually running the country.  Perhaps if they weren’t dialing for dollars all the time, they’d have time to read the bills that were in front of them.

        1. is it Canada or Australia that sets a campaign season with a hard date start? But we’d have to limit speech so the issues orgs couldn’t swamp the airwaves in one-sided attacks. We’ve built (are allowed to be built) this ugly beast and, with slight sarcasm, I’m truly sorry for other countries that want to be more like us.  

          Maybe if we also limited the time Congress is actually in session.  I’m not sure Founding Fathers built the system to establish career politicians.  Politics was a necessary evil for folks wishing to self-govern but it was also just one part of their overall careers & lives.

          1. I’m guessing other Crown states follow their lead, but not sure.

            I think there’s a way to limit political speech in a way that keeps to the openness of the press, but it’s not a simple formulation.  I haven’t signed on to any of the current election finance reform amendments because I don’t believe they adequately address the issues surrounding free speech, and frankly I wish that the politicians out there who should know better would take some time to think about it.  Some year soon maybe I’ll get my ideas all together and write a diary – who knows, maybe I can start my own election reform movement!

        2. .

          A Member of Congress has two main jobs:

          1.  getting reelected; and (if there’s any time left over,)

          2.  helping to craft laws to govern the nation.  

          .

          The assorted gadfly MC will, from time to time, exercise leadership, but that’s strictly optional.  

          .

          The raison d’etre of political parties is Job #1 above; they sell themselves to voters on the basis of Job #2.  

    3. … then I can post the old code. Once you have it, it’s a matter of just pasting in the video’s youtube name into the code.

      Of course, I think soapblox is WAAAAAYYY overdue for an update. Or maybe it’s time for Pols to find a new platform…

      2. pointing out the following:

        According to the non-partisan CBO, post Supremes decision the ACA will shrink the deficit by about 84 billion, not increase it by trillions as the GOP claims, obviously on grounds as solid as those upon which ArapG stands in claiming to know what some unnamed liberals and some unnamed constitutional scholars are saying or thinking about….whatever.

        The GOP overhaul passed recently by the GOP House?  CBO estimates that it would boost the deficit between 2013 and 2022 by 109 billion.  Naturally, the burden wouldn’t be born by anyone in Romney’s financial class but by middle class paycheck earners who pay both higher income tax rates and a much higher percent of their income on things like payroll taxes.

        I won’t provide link but it’s in today’s Denver Post and, no doubt easily googled as an AP story.

        However, we little people shouldn’t fail to appreciate that, no matter what the cost to us in dollars and health care accessibility, we should be really grateful to the GOP for their valiant effort to save us from socialism.  Especially since the elite are so willing to suffer under the yoke of state socialism for the rich so the rest of us can be spared, right?

      3. To post HTML commands you use &lt; for < and &gt; for >

        To teach people how to post HTML commands you use &amp;lt; and &amp;lt;

        To show people how to teach people how to post HTML commands you use &amp;amp;lt;…

      4. To post HTML commands you use &lt; for < and &gt; for >

        To teach people how to post HTML commands you use &amp;lt; and &amp;lt;

        To show people how to teach people how to post HTML commands you use &amp;amp;lt;…

  3. @jamestaranto, who writes for the Wall Street Journal’s “Best Web of the Day Today” column, tweets:

    I hope the girls whose boyfriends died to save them were worthy of the sacrifice.

    Insensitive asshat much, James?

    3. We intended this to be thought-provoking, but to judge by the response, very few people received it that way. The vast majority found it offensive and insulting. This column has often argued that a failure of public communication is the fault of the public communicator, and that’s certainly true in this case. What follows is an attempt to answer for this failure with a circumspect accounting of our thoughts.

      Lots of fancy wording to avoid saying, “I don’t know what I was thinking, I’m sorry, and I never should have tweeted that.”

    4. First, the Good News:

      all 3 of the girlfriends were created in the image of God, making them worthy of the sacrifice of the lives of their beaux.  

      Now, the Bad News:

      “For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.”  

      This includes all 3 girlfriends, James Taranto and me.  

      None of us 5 is worthy to be saved by the sacrifice of Jesus’ life.  

      More Good News:

      He died for us anyway.  

    5. He was an outstanding guy; I don’t know his girlfriend.  I have to say that the same thought crossed my mind for a second when I learned about his death.  I suspect everyone who survived will forever wonder why they were spared, and those who survived because their companions shielded them will forever wonder whether they earned that sacrifice.  

  4. http://2012.talkingpointsmemo….

    A foreign policy adviser to Mitt Romney’s campaign warned against policies that would aid “the Soviet Union” Wednesday, making him at least the third person from Team Romney – including Romney himself – to refer to a country that hasn’t existed since 1991 in the course of attacking President Obama’s foreign policy.

    The Obama campaign has already accused Romney of having a “Cold War mindset” on foreign policy, so it naturally seized on a clip of longtime Republican diplomat Rich Williamson, a Romney adviser, speaking at the Brookings Institution Wednesday. Williamson was condemning the Obama approach to Syria. [Ari’s emphasis]

    Video at TPM.

    1. I might vote for Rmoney.

      If he can change the direction of the flow of time, there are some things in my life I’d like to redo.

      Retroactively.  

  5. http://www.ama-assn.org/amedne…

    Report dispels conventional wisdom on what drives Medicaid ED use Medicaid patients are more than three times as likely to visit emergency departments as privately insured patients, but visits are generally not for routine care.

    Poor people get sick more often, and can’t find a primary care doctor who takes their crappy government insurance, surprise!

  6. http://www.voxxi.com/naca-home…

    ‘NACA saved my home’

    Despite government programs, many homeowners have given up in the process of  trying to get a loan modification program. However, there is a national  organization that still brings hope to many homes in disarray if  homeowners are willing to work hard at putting their budgets and  paperwork in order.

    The Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA) a non-profit, community advocacy and homeownership organization, is  still the best way to get through the painful process of dealing with  big banks and predatory lenders.

    NACA has made the dream of homeownership a reality for thousands of working  people. Through a very structured process and monitored by dedicated  counselors, even those with poor credit are able to purchase a home or  restructure an unaffordable or predatory loan with far better terms than those provided even in the prime market.

    Remember how anti-choice protesters picketed the sub-contractors working the new Planned Parenthood building?  This guy invented that tactic, going after banksters instead.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N…

      1. it was only once . . . and those Apollo capsules were really crowded . . . and there was a lot of downtime and boredom during those long moonshots . . . and, something they never told you — after your sixth or seventh pouch of Tang in a day anything that moves starts to look a little enticing . . . and Buzz – God, I just love that name – he was hunky – and an Astronaut! . . . just a harmless experiment for chrissakes, curiosity . . . Anyway, it was one small step for man . . .  

  8. The Senate today, on an agreement from Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell, voted today on by simple majority on two tax extension bills.

    The first bill up, the GOP proposal, would have extended the Bush tax cuts for all tax brackets, but ended several stimulus tax cuts (an EITC expansion, a tax credit for children, and the American Opportunity credit for college students).  That bill failed by a vote of 45-54.

    The second bill, the Democratic proposal, extended the Bush tax cut rate for those making less than $200,000/yr ($250,000 per couple); it also extended the tax credits listed above, and it ended the Bush-era estate tax rate of 45% at $3.5 million and up, returning it to 55% at $1 million.  This bill passed 51-48.

    The bill now goes (back to?) the House, which I’m sure has to reconcile it with whatever bill the Senate used as a vehicle to vote on revenue measures.

    Game on, Republicans!

      2. 1) Because Reid would have brought up the bill anyway and just used the cloture vote in place of the simple majority.

        2) Because it’s a Senate Bill, and revenue measures have to originate in the House.  The House won’t take it up and give it legitimacy, so it dies in the Senate.

        Still, it’s a win for Dems.  Boehner challenged Reid to pass it, and now he did.  And we now get to talk about how Democrats are willing to do this and have shown it in a vote – and how House Republicans are obstructing it.

  9. Despite some ass-kissing to the energy industry, I’m glad Goofenlooper is my Governor!


    Popular, unpolished Colorado governor shines on national stage

    Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper stood in front of a slew of cameras hours after the carnage in an Aurora movie theater and struggled to find words:

    “The victims of this senseless act of … of violence …”

    Hickenlooper stumbled, then gave up. “Again, there just aren’t words,” he said.

    The governor’s remarks, at a news conference last Friday, sounded even more unfocused by comparison with the crisp report delivered minutes later by Aurora Police Chief Daniel Oates.

    But his halting performance on the national stage did not seem to bother the governor’s constituents. On the contrary, the geeky Democrat with the funny name has earned high marks from Colorado voters precisely because he’s unpolished, unscripted and slightly awkward – all of which makes him seem authentic and, especially in recent days, genuinely empathetic, political analysts say.

    Hickenlooper consistently earns favorability ratings of 60 percent or higher in a state where the electorate is roughly divided in thirds among Democrats, Republicans and independents. That makes him one of the most broadly popular governors in the country; he’s sometimes mentioned as a potential presidential candidate in 2016.

    Watching him at the news conference, wearing rumpled shirt sleeves and fumbling to find the right tone, outsiders might have said “He was not as professional as he could be,” said Floyd Ciruli, an independent pollster in Denver. “But that is pure Hickenlooper. He is in no way artificial or practiced.”

    http://www.reuters.com/article…

      1. Quid Pro Quo — way, way more to do with the owner’s politics.

        Wonder how many more clucks Rick owes them for campaign donations?  Don’t be too surprised if you see a certain former Senator (and Presidential aspirant) dressed up in a chicken suit, dancing and waving an arrow sign in front of a couple of their stores real soon.

        One more reason, I’ll never eat any of their output again.

  12. I caught this on Sirius Left.  He was speaking to the Urban League.

    Has this guy been taking speech lessons?  Holy cow!  Riveting, passionate, working the crowd. Had myself shouting “Amen!” a couple of times.

    Rmoney still has the edge with that Reagan-esque voice.  Ain’t no one that don’t like Grandpa Ronnie talking to us.

    But I’ve not yet seen passion from him.  

    1. of being short on speech skills.  It’s why he wowed the crowd at the 2004 DNC, and it’s why he won the 2008 election.

      IMHO, he spent the first few years of his Presidency trying to rise above the partisan fray, and it hurt him.  I appreciate what he tried to do, but it was his single biggest political miscalculation and failure as a President so far.

      He doesn’t seem interested in continuing that attempt, and he’s been getting stronger and stronger as he’s gotten back into the campaign swing and away from the Republicans who’ve been useless in helping him run the country responsibly.

      1. I don’t recall my own reaction of tonight approaching that of 2008.  My mileage may vary.

        The techniques of getting an audience to buy into the speech have been long well known.  You don’t need to speak German to see what Hitler did.  (With coaching, as I understand it.)  Same thing with typical black preaching; the repetition, the ramping up, the feedback.

        Anyway, what I heard tonight was very motivational, regardless of the audience.

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