 |
 |
   Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Gnter Grass still thinks reunification was a bad idea.
 Forty years of writing from Taylor Branch, James Fallows, Katherine Boo, Marjorie Williams, Joshua Micah Marshall, and more.
 With help from Washington, the for-profit college industry is loading up millions of low-income students with debt they'll never pay off.
 The best recent memoir from republican Washington is a hoax. That should tell you something.
|
   |
|
|
October 29, 2009
THURSDAY'S CAMPAIGN ROUND-UP....Today's installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn't generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers. * A new Rasmussen poll shows Bob McDonnell (R) building on his earlier leads in Virginia's gubernatorial race, and now enjoys a 13-point edge over Creigh Deeds (D), 54% to 41%. * For his part, Deeds is going with a closing message that uses some of his awkwardness as a selling point. "If you want 'slick' go with the other guy," the narrator tells viewers in the Democrat's latest ad. * Over the summer, when Gov. Jon Corzine's (D) campaign was struggling badly in New Jersey, the White House took a more active interest in the race. After meetings with David Axelrod and political director Patrick Gaspard in the Garden State, Corzine made some changes, including replacing his pollster. * In the special election in New York's 23rd, a new Research 2000 poll for Daily Kos shows Democrat Bill Owens with the narrowest of leads. The results, which won't be formally available until later, show Owens leading with 33%, with Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman extremely close behimd with 32%. Republican Dede Scozzafava, who was in second, is slipping badly, with 21% support. * MoveOn.org moved yesterday to help support the Owens campaign. * A right-wing group calling itself Common Sense in America is pulling a dirty trick this week, "praising" Dede Scozzafava for some center-left positions. The ad, engineered by Hoffman supporters, called Scozzafava "the best choice for progressives." The intention, obviously, is to convince Republican voters that Scozzafava isn't nearly conservative enough, while hoping to fool Democratic voters. * In Texas, where Gov. Rick Perry is facing Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in a closely-watched Republican gubernatorial primary, Dick Cheney has weighed in, throwing his support to Hutchison. * The latest Ohio Newspaper Poll (pdf) shows Gov. Ted Strickland (D) leading Republican challenger John Kasich (R) by just one point, 48% to 47%. * And in New York, Chris Collins' (R) gubernatorial campaign is off to a bad start, after the county executive compared Jewish state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to Hitler and suggested he might be the anti-Christ. —Steve Benen 12:00 PM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (15)Comments
somebody say "dick cheney"? God damn Dick Cheney's shit-filled soul to hell. Posted by: neill on October 29, 2009 at 12:08 PM | PERMALINKIn the race for the Va. governorship, there is a lesson to be learned by democrats. Deeds has campaigned as being a rethugnican-lite and as being opposed to much of what Obama is trying to accomplish. It is failing miserably and deservably so. The lesson for dumbocraps is that democrats should campaign as being democrats and not as pseudo-rethugs. Unfortunately, the 'dumb' in dumbocrat means that many will not learn the lesson! Posted by: SadOldVet on October 29, 2009 at 12:11 PM | PERMALINK
'specially when even obama sometimes distances himself from himself...stepford economics...afghanistan... Posted by: neill on October 29, 2009 at 12:17 PM | PERMALINKStrickland has some serious problems. He's attempting to balance the state budget through a combination of cuts and looking for other funding. The results have been services slashed to the bone which doesn't stop state Republicans from claiming that more savings can be found by "eliminating wasteful spending." Part of those services are things like library funding. Most library systems have scaled back hours, some drastically. This, needless to say, doesn't thrill me. His other budgetary measure has been to push allowing casino gambling. Unlike most previous efforts to allow casinos in Ohio, this one is polling slightly favorable. It has the police union backing it (arguing that it shouldn't increase crime, while protecting its union members from budget cuts). Gambling has a long and contentious history in Ohio, as a state measure. Every couple of years, it seems, there's a new casino measure on the ballot, and every year, it's been voted down. Often because the measures suck for Ohio tax payers. This year, it might pass, but I doubt that it will really help, long term, with the state's budget pains. All of this has Strickland's political future in question. If he can keep the state afloat financially, he's in good shape. Overall, though, his term has been a disappointment to progressives. He keeps letting the GOPers set the terms. There's an income-tax bill to make some cuts permanent, and they've been far too successful in painting any vote against doing so as a tax increase. In fact, anything that might make money for the state is painted as a tax increase by the state GOP, and Strickland's been pretty weak in pushing back. Posted by: Sisyphus on October 29, 2009 at 12:18 PM | PERMALINKIn Texas, where Gov. Rick Perry is facing Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in a closely-watched Republican gubernatorial primary, Dick Cheney has weighed in, throwing his support to Hutchison. And Sarah "Alaskan Independence Party" Palin endorsed Rick "Secesh" Perry months ago. Does it get better than that? Posted by: Snarky on October 29, 2009 at 12:18 PM | PERMALINKI should point out, about the Ohio tax thing, that the final measure that might get voted on is one to decrease taxes on the highest brackets. It'll cut taxes for a family with an income of 40K about $20 a year. It does significantly more for the wealthy. It's really a no-brainer, policy wise, but Strickland's not pushing back on it enough for my tastes. Posted by: Sisyphus on October 29, 2009 at 12:21 PM | PERMALINKSadOldVet, I wouldn't make such a blanket statement about Democrats in general; some of them HAVE learned to be bold about their own positions. Of all the Democratic candidates who won senate seats last year, none of them cloaked their rhetoric in conservative frames. They understood that you win by being true to your convictions. They learned. For some reason, though, Creigh Deeds didn't. He has proven to be an awful candidate with an incredibly poorly run campaign. I almost wish Terry McAuliffe had gotten the nomination instead. Sure, he might well have ended up losing, but at least he would've put up a fight! Posted by: The Caped Composer on October 29, 2009 at 12:22 PM | PERMALINK"In Texas, where Gov. Rick Perry is facing Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in a closely-watched Republican gubernatorial primary, Dick Cheney has weighed in, throwing his support to Hutchison."
You know, that business about Silver being the anti-Christ really was pretty obviously intended as a joke. Maybe we could lighten up just a bit. Posted by: Bernard Yomtov on October 29, 2009 at 12:40 PM | PERMALINKThank you neill @ 12:08 I always look forward to that when SB uses that nasty trigger phrase. Posted by: Kevin on October 29, 2009 at 12:50 PM | PERMALINKAnd in New York, Chris Collins' (R) gubernatorial campaign is off to a bad start, after the county executive compared Jewish state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to Hitler and suggested he might be the anti-Christ. how stupid can you get? Posted by: mudwall jackson on October 29, 2009 at 1:54 PM | PERMALINKAgree with atlliberal (@12:38). If Cheney really, truly, supported Hutchinson, he'd have invited Perry for a duck hunting weekend. Posted by: exlibra on October 29, 2009 at 4:21 PM | PERMALINKToo bad about Deeds here in VA. I hoped for better, but we do have a chance for a major upset in the 93rd district (new challenger Abbott (D) v. long-time but scandal-plagued incumbent Hamilton (R).) If CP candidate Hoffman wins in the 23rd, it will be a jarring event for the Republican Party. This will dog them for awhile. It is poetic justice for stirring up wingnuts and hoping they'd stay loyal. If you're into the "23 mystery", it is an appropriate District for something like this to happen. Posted by: Neil B ↨ on October 29, 2009 at 4:49 PM | PERMALINK"* And in New York, Chris Collins' (R) gubernatorial campaign is off to a bad start, after the county executive compared Jewish state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to Hitler and suggested he might be the anti-Christ." ++Ode to Chris Collins' Bravery++ Brave to battle Nazis Are Hitler comparisons and anti-Christ accusations controversial anymore? I'm just getting used to the idea that's how Republicans talk to Democrats. Posted by: Algernon on October 30, 2009 at 8:39 AM | PERMALINKPost a comment
November 2009
October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 |
|
|
    |
|
||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
