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March 07, 2014 06:22 AM UTC

Friday Open Thread

  • 52 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

"Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped."

–Elbert Hubbard

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52 thoughts on “Friday Open Thread”

    1. You're probably right AC . . . 

      . . . here we are, over four years into this decade and the sixth year of the Obama Presidency, and we haven't yet come up with any good reason to blow the hell out of Iraq again?!?  Ukraine is the perfect opportunity, and we're letting it pass without even a single cruise missle attack, WTF?!?  Seem's a shame to waste as good an excuse as we've ever had — Cheney's probably down to his last quarter-billion by now!!! . . .

      Or, we could act like something other than a bunch of screeching dumbass Republicans (excuse my redundant redunancy) —  you know, maybe take a market-driven approach:

      http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/08/business/why-russia-cant-afford-another-cold-war.html?action=click&module=Search&region=searchResults%231&version=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fquery.nytimes.com%2Fsearch%2Fsitesearch%2F%3Faction%3Dclick%26contentCollection%3DOpinion%26region%3DTopBar%26module%3DSearchSubmit%26pgtype%3Darticle%23%2Fukraine%2F24hours%2Fallresults%2F2%2F

       

    2. Why do so many tough talking, freedom-loving, gun-sucking, Patriot Defenders of Liberty spend so much time drooling over a Shirtless Authoritarian? 

      I mean, I don't judge, but dayum, boys…have some dignity.

    2. I refuse to support any measure that chooses to alter clocks to something other than a fact-based offset from UTC. Keeping DST year-round is like declaring you don't really belong in the country you were born and live in. How about keeping rational time offsets year round? Hell – I'd be fine with UTC if could adjust my work hours…

      In a more on-topic analogue, choosing to move from partial year DST to full-time DST is like moving elections from plurality to open top-two runoff (as California did). If there's one option less rational than what it's replacing, you're choosing it.

    3. Don't know what they do they now but when I spent time on a Kibbutz in Israel back in the early 70s they didn't go to daylight savings time then. I loved it. The days are naturally enough longer in the summer to have plenty of time to enjoy after work activities outside and it was really nice having an hour more cooling off time before bed, especially with no AC.  I'm a big fan of real, noon by the sun, standard time as opposed to fake DLS time, especially since Bush expanded it. 

  4. So the only way I can access Friday's Open Thread is through the recent comments section.  It has not appeared on the Home page.  Golly gee whiz, Colpols, how are the "progessives" ever going to be effective, if the website can't even be accessed consistently? 

    Three observations before we head out to the East Coast to see family….brilliant planning to travel east as daylight saving time starts…..

    1) OFA may have been successful in 2012, not just because of the data collection and GOTV; but, because the organization started in the summer of 2011 gathering people into do the data collection; calling; the worker bee stuff.

    Those people formed a social network that reinforced political ideology and developed a strong ream spirit and keep growing.

    2) That is what is happening in Colorado on the republican/tea party side, today.

    3) Randy Corporon on 560KLZ  5am to 7am is refreshing.  He is a tea party person who failed to make the count to get to the state assembly.  His total focus is on conservative political values and strategy.  None of the old hat rants from the aging boyles, caplis, rosen same old same old.  If anyone wants to get any insight about what is going on in Colorado teaparty/republican grassroots, that is a good show.  So far, no birthers, no ted nugents; not even a lot of tancredo supporters….

     

    1. Dwyer,  glad the OFA is doing such a fine job.  Thought you might want a look at some of the people you have been supporting who helped you on that recent Obama cop-killer lawyer as civill rights lawyer vote.
       

      Keep up the fine work.  I am sure each of them appreciates your dedication.

      1. @AC

        Only progressives are allowed to criticize me, and I get angry with them when they make assumptions about what I think.  So, you are way out of line and wrong in your assumptions.  You must be  desperate, which is the most encouraging thing I have read in a long time.  Although, the distinction of being anathema to both you and BC is one I am loath to give up.  

        I don't think that OFA is doing such a great job, now.  They are no longer a partisan political force and I think that is a huge mistake, as I have said.

        As for the Democrats who did not vote to confirm the judical nominee because he had been the defense lawyer for either a "cop killer" or a terrorist.  None of them are "my" senators.  The only one I know anything about is Bob Casey of Pennsylvania.  His father was a great proud man, who took principled stands, even when they were extremely unpopular.  I think that Senator Casey did not do his father proud with this failure to confirm.

        All the democratic senators are running scared. The ones that really piss me off are those that have simply "retired."  In the olden days, when people learned to type; the sentence was "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party." Never more true than today.

         

        2. OFA is still the main organization countering misinformation, canvassing and signing people up for the Affordable Care Act.

          I don't think we can ever replicate the 2008 OFA experience of at-the-barricades "Yes we Can" team work- we're older, more cynical, and have learned that Barack Obama kind of prefers spying and surveillance. (In his defense, if I got over 30 credible death threats every day, I might be a bit paranoid, too. )

          Like it or not, dwyer, OFA is now a top-down, centrally controlled organization with active groups in thousands of communities. I'm glad that they are working on promoting Obamacare. I do that, too, but with an independent progressive group. I don't know if I'll ever work with OFA again, except perhaps as part of a coalition or alliance. I still cherish and keep in touch with my friends from those days.

          One thing OFA did, which I'd like to see repeated in all election cycles, is having the top-ticket help the lower-ticket candidates. As I understand it, this only works legally at the Federal level. But OFA's help for Bennet was a factor in why we don't now have Senator Buck.

          I hated it at the time, though. sad

           

          1. BUT OFA of today is NOT the OFA of 2008 – 2012.  It is now JUST an issue organization, not a partisan political one.  It was supposed to provide strong grassroots support to pass the Obama legislative agenda and it has failed in that regard, miserably.

            OFA can NOT work in partisan elections without losing its tax-exempt status and handing the repub a great issue.

          2. Unfortunately, to those of us working the Dem party trenches back in 2008, OFA often acted exactly like you claim it didn't. It wasn't involved with the Dem party. It didn't help other candidates, because it was so focused on getting Barack Obama elected. Or at least that was an often-voiced perception back in the day.

            Things always look a little bit different in your memory, but…  The lack of connection between OFA and party activists was sometimes frustrating to me as the then county chair.

            1. @PR,

              I absolutely agree with you about the high handed manner of OFA and said so.  Then, Obama won in 2012 and I had to recant.  I was just trying to figure what OFA had done to win in 2012.  I absolutely agree that one of the many reasons that the Democratic Party is a shadow of its former self, is the top down OFA and MONEY that dominated 2012.

              1. D,

                I think the reason you perceive the Democratic Party to be a shadow of its former self is that the party leadership (D-trip, DSCC, etc.) doesn't really excite party members.

                But the various Democratic Party organizations are still kicking the butts of their Republican counterparts in fundraising, and they've been taking advantage of it.

                One reason Democrats did as well in 2012 as they did is that Republicans all swarmed to post-Citizens United PAC donations. Because they're not well regulated, they could get away with a lot more. But Democrats used the advantages of campaign and party cash to devastating effect: those funds can be used with guaranteed low rates for broadcasting, and Democrats booked the time early to get discounts. Democrats were on the air more than Republicans in 2012 and in the same or better time slots despite being significantly outspent.

                Republican politicians, when they do spend money, seem to have a habit of throwing it away as though it grew on trees. From fundraising outfits that look to be either gigantic kickback machines or scam artists, to wasting broadcasting dollars, they're good at spending the cash. Just not well.

                1. The fund raising information is very interesting. In the book I keep recommending, The Blueprint, it was reported that campaign finance had limited political parties ability to raise money and that is one reason that the parties lost importance.

                   

                2. According to MSNBC's Chris Matthews, 13 Democratic senate seats are in play and  only two Republican….the repubs have to pick up six out of the 13………and it looks doable.

                  The repubs did well in 2010….financial advantage or not…..I am afraid that is going to happen in 2014 /…..one of the strategies, I am beginning to suspect, is to make Congress so gridlocked by their tactics, that people get fed-up and look to state governments to solve problems…that plays right into the repub playbook because their power is in the states.

                  I think it is going to take more of an effort from Udall that I have seen so far…….IMHO.  

                  1. as a D activist I can tell you that Udall has a strategy and he is working it. It will peak, as it properly should, late summer and early fall. 

                    1. @Gray in Mountains

                      okay, if you say so.  But know that Gardner, et.al. is already branding Udall as being 100% for Obama and throwing Obamacare around Udall's neck….It will difficult, IMHO, to change that impression if Gardner has five months  unopposed…..just saying….

      2. Ah, good. I'm glad someone brought that up.

        Let's talk about killers and lawyers, shall we? Chief Justice John Roberts donated pro-bono time to defend a serial killer in appeals and had no problem getting confirmed to his post. So what set people off about Debo Adegbile – a long-time civil rights attorney?

        For the Fraternal Order of Police, it is apparently either contempt for the judicial process, or a thirty three year grudge against one convicted killer who happened to target one of their own. After all, Adegbile was only involved in the appeal, and managed to be involved with a team who successfully argued that jury instructions were improper, resulting in "merely" a life sentence for the killer rather than the death penalty.

        For Republicans, though, some of them argued straight out that a civil rights attorney should not head up the civil rights division of the DOJ. Because heaven forbid we have someone familiar with an area of the law in charge of the division enforcing that area of the law. That would be like an EPA inspector who knew what to look for in a chemical spill being assigned to investigate a chemical spill. Shock.

        So – shame on Republicans, some of whom had the gall to come straight out and state that they didn't want effective enforcement of civil rights laws. Shame on the FOP for perpetuating a grudge (or simply not wanting to deal with proper judicial process). And shame on 7 Democrats – all conservative or from swing/conservative states – who didn't have the guts to stand up for the right thing.

  6. Polsters seem to have a problem seeing how anyone could be thinking other than warm and fuzzy thoughts about Udallcare.  The fact that abou 90% of the Polsters are left of center Dems has something to do with that.  The chart below came from Gallup and explains how party affiliation impacts perceptions re Udallcare. Independents indicate by 2.5 to 1 being hurt as oppossed to helped their families.

    Dems think it is great.  Republicans think it is awful.  Those things may balance out.  The illusive middle is the key.  they think is sucks too.

     

    The Affordable Care Act's Perceived Effect on Families, by Party ID, February-March 2014

    http://www.gallup.com/poll/167756/number-americans-saying-aca-hurt-inches.aspx

      1. Like I said, please tell the Goopers to 'repeal' it a 51st time, and a 52nd time, and a 53rd time.  Nothing suceeds like repeated and obsessive failure.  Onward to the past!

        WASHINGTON, D.C. — Although several parts of the Affordable Care Act have yet to be implemented, 23% of Americans say the healthcare law has hurt them or their families, while 10% say it has helped them so far. Still, the majority of Americans (63%) feel the law has had no impact on them or their families.

      1. It's those Repubs who whine, "Get your gubmint hands off my Medicare." Maybe they still believe the lie that Obamacare is hurting their God-given Medicare. Must be SO confusing for them . . .

         

  7. Why are the righties crushing on the former-KGB guy so hard, and yes that's the right word.  Make sure to clean up after yourself, troll.

    Pre-emptively, although I do not get my 'news' from John his analysis is far better than stupid bagger one-dimensional cartoons one after another.  But if you have the IQ of a turd I suppose it is predictable.

    For thise with a brain enjoy:

     

    http://www.businessinsider.com/jon-stewart-on-putin-and-crimea-2014-3

    http://theweek.com/article/index/257636/speedreads-watch-the-daily-show-mock-fox-news-confused-man-crush-on-vladimir-putin

     

  8. Question – what if between all the candidates in the GOP primary for governor and/or CD4 no one gets 30%? Get several at 25 – 28%, the rest pulling 10%, and none qualify. Does the law then say the top 2 qualify for the ballot or does no one qualify?

    2. In the primary? It's plurality rules – top vote-getter is the party nominee and moves on to the general.

      If you're talking assembly, I asked a bit about the GOP process the other day and got no answer.

      1. Apparently the "GOP process" varies depending on your county, from what I hear. In a county Repub caucus in my area, no straw poll was taken and delegate selection seemed to have no connection to candidate support. No wonder so many Repubs try to petition on to the ballot – they probably have no clue what kind of support they'll get at district and state assemblies.

  9. So why Is McCain still the media's go to guy for pontfication on international isues? Even his own constituents don't think much of the guy as a Senator. 

    John McCain’s home-state approval numbers have dropped considerably, according to a Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey released Thursday.

    McCain — whom the poll cites as having “now become the least popular Senator in the country,” — registers an approval rating of just 30 percent with Arizona voters. Fifty-four percent of respondents disapprove of the job the senator is doing, while 16 percent are not sure, according to the poll by the Democratic-aligned outfit.

    McCain is unpopular across all political party affiliations, the survey says, scoring a weak 35 percent positive approval rating with fellow Republicans, against a 55 percent disapproval rating with GOP voters.

      1. Because we just love those sour grapes from such a cranky old man.  The other day McCain was trying to assert Obama had some sort of naive view of Putin as a nice guy.  Still angry after all these years.

  12. U.S. Job Gains Likely to Allay Anxiety After a Dismal 2 Months

     

    The healthier-than-expected gain in hiring in February is very likely to remove some of the anxiety that has been hanging over the economy because of the weak labor market data in the previous two months, as well as other gloomy signals like a downward revision in the government’s estimate of economic growth late last year and a decidedly mixed holiday shopping season for many retailers.

    It is also almost certain to mean the Federal Reserve will stick with its plan to slowly ease back its stimulus efforts when policy makers meet at the end of this month. In December, the Fed announced the scaling back after job gains of more than 200,000 in the fall, only to watch the pace of hiring shrivel.

    “In our view, the February employment report signals that the U.S. has returned to moderate job growth and that better economic data lie ahead once weather effects subside,” said Michael Gapen, senior United States economist at Barclays.

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