Wednesday Open Thread [12.14.11]
Traffic in Frenetic HCMC, Vietnam from Rob Whitworth on Vimeo.
“[A]s a Christian who attends church on a weekly basis, hosts a Bible study, reads the Scriptures, speaks openly about my faith (and even writes about it from time to time on this web site), and who can pray at any moment of the day or night, I would say this: Whatever is happening in America today, it cannot fairly be considered a “war” on Christianity. … As for Perry’s invocation of gays in the military: that is a prudential judgment having to do with military readiness. And many of our top military officers support allowing gays to serve in the military. To contrast gays serving in the military with kids not openly celebrating Christmas is a very unfortunate road to travel down. If Governor Perry, a self-proclaimed Christian, is really interested in channeling the cares and concerns of Jesus, he might consider saying a word about poverty and injustice, which seemed to have concerned Jesus even more than gays in the military. Sometimes the worst advertisements for Christianity are its adherents,” – Pete Wehner on Perry’s “war on reality.”
Today’s roundup of polling:
NATIONAL (Gallup): Gingrich 31, Romney 22, Paul 8, Perry 7, Bachmann 6, Santorum 4, Huntsman 2
NATIONAL (NBC/WSJ): Gingrich 40, Romney 23, Paul 9, Bachmann 8, Perry 6, Huntsman 5, Santorum 3
NATIONAL (Pew): Gingrich 33, Romney 21, Paul 8, Bachmann 6, Perry 4, Huntsman 3, Santorum 3
IOWA (Insider Advantage): Gingrich 27, Paul 17, Perry 13, Romney 12, Bachmann 10, Santorum 7, Huntsman 4
IOWA (PPP): Gingrich 22, Paul 21, Romney 16, Bachmann 11, Perry 9, Santorum 8, Huntsman 5
NEW HAMPSHIRE (Insider Advantage): Romney 29, Gingrich 24, Paul 21, Huntsman 11, Bachmann 4, Santorum 2, Perry 1
NEW HAMPSHIRE (Rasmussen): Romney 33, Gingrich 22, Paul 18, Huntsman 10, Bachmann 3, Perry 3, Santorum 3
VIRGINIA (PPP): Gingrich 41, Romney 15, Bachmann 8, Perry 8, Paul 6, Santorum 6, Huntsman 3
PENNSYLVANIA (Susquehanna Polling and Research): Gingrich 35, Romney 18, Santorum 18, Paul 8, Bachmann 6, and Perry 2.
CALIFORNIA (Public Policy Institute): Gingrich 33, Romney 25, Paul 9, Bachmann 7, Perry 4, Santorum 4 and Huntsman 2.
NATIONAL (NBC News): Obama d. Romney (47-45); Obama d. Gingrich (51-40); Obama d. Paul (50-37)
NATIONAL (Rasmussen): Obama d. Paul (43-35)
NATIONAL (USA Today/Gallup): Obama d. Romney (47-46); Obama d. Gingrich (50-44)
“[S]houldn’t we be relatively happy that there’s a show pointing to a better model for Muslims than extremism? Isn’t it a good thing that there’s a show celebrating the fact that you can love America and be a Muslim?” – Jonah Goldberg, NRO, on the “All-American Muslim” controversy.
Republicans have hostages. Capitulation is in the air of the Senate corridors. There’s a veto threat, but… you know.
Chris Coons and Tom Carper, the spotlight is on you. Just this once, please tell Republicans to pound sand. Vote against compromise or capitulation. Go ahead, we can take it. It’ll be worth it. Vote down the compromise, and live to vote another day on a better bill. We’ll support you on it if you do.
The stench of Democratic sweat, fear, and capitulation fills the air once more:
and worse,
Fees which would be passed on to homebuyers.
Got that? Democrats are actually considering giving up the tax on millionaires and replacing it with a tax on homebuyers.
Chris Coons and Tom Carper, you can do better than that. Be Democrats and kill the bill if it ends up anything like that. It’s up to you to keep a calm head and vote AGAINST the capitulation version of the bill.