Tuesday Open Thread [4.17.12]
I thank Nemski for helping out with the open threads during the last several days. I was very busy in real life elsewhere. Do we have polls? That’s a silly question.
An Associated Press analysis of the presidential battleground finds Mitt Romney likely has 188 electorate votes in states that are either solidly Republican or leaning Republican while President Obama has 242 electoral votes in safe Democratic or likely Democratic states. That leaves 104 electoral votes in states that are purely tossups: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia. I would give the President the edge in Colorado, Florida, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia. Indeed, the only swing state I see him losing is Iowa.
NATIONAL–GENERAL ELECTION–PRESIDENT (CNN/Opinion Research): Obama 52, Romney 43
Thinking about the following characteristics and qualities, please say whether you think each one applies more to Barack Obama or more to Mitt Romney: Is in touch with the problems facing women today?
Obama 55
Romney 27As of today, do you lean more toward …?
Women: Obama 55, Romney 39
Men: Obama 49, Romney 46
More on that CNN poll:
NATIONAL–GENERAL ELECTION–PRESIDENT (Gallup Tracking): Romney 47, Obama 45
NATIONAL–GENERAL ELECTION–PRESIDENT (Ipsos/Reuters): Obama 47, Romney 43
NATIONAL–GENERAL ELECTION–PRESIDENT (Rasmussen Tracking): Romney 47, Obama 44
WISCONSIN–GENERAL ELECTION–PRESIDENT (PPP): Obama 50, Romney 44
NORTH CAROLINA–DEM PRIMARY–GOVERNOR (Tulchin Research): Bob Etheridge 32, Walter Dalton 22, Bill Faison 4
WISCONSIN–RECALL–GOVERNOR (PPP): Gov. Scott Walker (R) 50, Tom Barrett (D) 45; Walker 50, Kathleen Falk (D) 43; Walker 51, Doug LaFollette (D) 40; Walker 50, Kathleen Vinehout (D) 38
WISCONSIN–DEM. PRIMARY–GOVERNOR (PPP): Tom Barrett 38, Kathleen Falk 24, Doug LaFollette 9, Kathleen Vinehout 6
WISCONSIN–GENERAL ELECTION–SENATOR (PPP): Tommy Thompson (R) 47, Tammy Baldwin (D) 45; Baldwin 46, Mark Neumann (R) 45; Baldwin 47, Jeff Fitzgerald (R) 40
ADS–OBAMA SUPER PAC
ADS–DNC
THIS IS AWESOME:
socialistic ben:
April 17th, 2012 at 1:08 pm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/17/alec-retreats-stand-your-ground-laws-voter-id_n_1431531.html
another win for sanity. Shouldnt stop here…. next up Chamber of Commerce.
anon:
April 17th, 2012 at 1:16 pm
wingnut infinity: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=06XVt6zEr9E#
checkmate.
Rustydils:
April 17th, 2012 at 1:19 pm
I have been living in New Mexico since 1983. We now have a republican governor. I know alot of people in New Mexico from various walks of life. THERE IS NO WAY OBAMA WILL WIN NEW MEXICO THIS TIME AROUND. So if you used the same logic for your other swing state picks, you better reevaluate.
Geezer:
April 17th, 2012 at 1:44 pm
Wait — you live in New Mexico? It’s so boring there that you have to comment on a Delaware blog for something to do?
Liberal Elite:
April 17th, 2012 at 1:51 pm
@Rd “THERE IS NO WAY OBAMA WILL WIN NEW MEXICO”
Yet another stupid prediction? Why? Why do you feel the need to keep repeating utter crap like this? Do you think that this will actually help get your creepy friend Romney elected?
Again… Take it to Intrade. You can get really good odds on that prediction right now. Current odds are listed at 10:1 (91%) in favor of Obama.
@Rd “I have been living in New Mexico since 1983.”
(and I’ll bet it’s in the pit that Albuquerque has become) You looking for sympathy? Condolences.
fightingbluehen:
April 17th, 2012 at 2:03 pm
GSA? Let’s look into the over the top lavish parties, trips and spending of the Obamas.
All during a recession when a lot of people where and are still struggling to put food on the table.
Real classy huh?
Sounds like an issue to me.
fightingbluehen:
April 17th, 2012 at 2:09 pm
New mexico mex food is the best mex going.
Liberal Elite:
April 17th, 2012 at 2:12 pm
@fbh “Sounds like an issue to me.”
Except that Obama had nothing to do with the GSA party, and he did fire (or will soon fire) nearly everyone involved. There was no “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job” slap on the back before a much belated resignation.
fightingbluehen:
April 17th, 2012 at 2:17 pm
LE: Screw the GSA. I’m talking about the Obamas over the top parties and vacations during a recession.
Liberal Elite:
April 17th, 2012 at 2:23 pm
@fbh “New mexico mex food is the best mex going.”
Yes. And also the worst food. I don’t know any place in the country (except maybe Florida) where the range and distribution of food quality is greater.
Try Gabriel’s near Camel Rock.
Liberal Elite:
April 17th, 2012 at 2:27 pm
@fbh “LE: Screw the GSA. I’m talking about the Obamas over the top parties and vacations during a recession.”
Uh.. Most Americans take vacations. I sure do… and I go to nice places all over the world.
And most of those parties are thrown by the people he visits. “President is coming? Let’s throw a big party.” — That’s the way it has always has been.
socialistic ben:
April 17th, 2012 at 2:43 pm
nonono LG. EVERYTHING Obama does is at the tax payers expense. Buys his daughter a birthday toy? TAX PAYER MONEY!!!!! He doesnt make a salary or money from other business ventures at all. He has no money. It’s just like welfare queens driving caddies. Right FBH?
heragain:
April 17th, 2012 at 2:47 pm
Friends School is on fire. Anyone who needs help picking up kids, I’m in the area. https://twitter.com/#!/DamianGiletto/status/192305156719779840/photo/1
Jason330:
April 17th, 2012 at 2:51 pm
New Mexico: Obama’s numbers will probably come down to earth a little now that the GOP primary is over. I don’t think he’ll win New Mexico by 16%.
pandora:
April 17th, 2012 at 2:52 pm
I am in the Friend’s area, too. If anyone needs help email me at pandora@delawareliberal.net or use the tip link.
cassandra_m:
April 17th, 2012 at 2:59 pm
@LE — fbh doesn’t have much to say unless he’s heard it on FOX or Rush, so you can feel free to ignore.
nemski:
April 17th, 2012 at 3:18 pm
No injuries reported at Friends. That’s a good thing.
SussexAnon:
April 17th, 2012 at 3:41 pm
Anyone read the post on DailyKos about Ted Nugents comments at the NRA event? Good stuff. Makes Rosens comments seem tame. And Nuggent is claiming he is tight with Romney. Unlike Rosen & Obama.
fightingbluehen:
April 17th, 2012 at 3:55 pm
Sorry Cassandra, but I’m usually a step ahead of Limbaugh and I don’t watch Fox Unless it’s the Fox Soccer Channel or cartoons.
Anyway, why would I need somebody to tell me that taking forty friends to a five star hotel in Spain with tax payer money or taking separate planes four hours apart to a 4mil vacation in Hawaii while claiming we use too much oil or throwing lavish, way over the top non state parties (that they tried to hide) at the white House . All this while people are struggling to put food on the table during the worst economic downturn since the great depression.
Talk about a slap in the face to the struggling populous. It’s like they couldn’t care less.
cassandra_m:
April 17th, 2012 at 4:01 pm
So you keep saying. Except that all you can contribute here are the day’s talking points from these wingnut sources. So perhaps if you could step up your game, you might not find your comments dismissed so fast.
fightingbluehen:
April 17th, 2012 at 4:11 pm
I haven’t heard the comparison of the Obamas lavish spending compared to the GSA’s yet Cassandra , but I’m sure it’s just a matter of time.
socialistic ben:
April 17th, 2012 at 4:12 pm
dont you see? Rush and Beck and Hannity all get their talking points from FBH!!! who knew! all along we had the brainmaster of the conservative movement commenting right here. I feel blessed
fightingbluehen:
April 17th, 2012 at 4:22 pm
Check this out Cassandra.
The GSA was just following the lead of the Obamas. Just came up with that one….. lol
cassandra_m:
April 17th, 2012 at 4:57 pm
Actually, you didn’t. But we’ll let you know when you’ve had an original thought, ok?
fightingbluehen:
April 17th, 2012 at 5:23 pm
I didn’t ? Do tell.
cassandra_m:
April 17th, 2012 at 5:53 pm
Please let this be the beginning of a trend: Citigroup shareholders reject executive compensation plan.
Dave:
April 17th, 2012 at 7:19 pm
@rustydils – You’ve been in NM since 83? The state where the largest employer is federal government. The state that heads the list for for the highest return on every dollar they send to DC, getting back something like $2.50 on the dollar?!
Any chance you can lead a secession movement out there? We could actually reduce the national debt. Is there any chance we can give NM back to the Mexicans?
MJ:
April 17th, 2012 at 7:26 pm
The circus came to Georgetown today with St. Bodie Girl and Wolfgang von Bombast (or whatever the hell his name is) leading the parade. Not only were these clowns calling out County Council (once again) for supporting HB 290, but they started venturing into birtherism, especially when one woman categorically stated she had a copy of the President’s Kenyan birth certificate.
anon:
April 17th, 2012 at 7:31 pm
Was Mack there?
MJ:
April 17th, 2012 at 7:40 pm
Mack was a no show. Sheriff Woody showed up at 11:57 AM and was still there well after 1:00 PM. Hopefully he counted the time he was holding up the wall as his lunch hour. If not, he owes the taxpayers a refund.
Jason330:
April 17th, 2012 at 7:40 pm
“…when one woman categorically stated she had a copy of the President’s Kenyan birth certificate.”.
LMAO
MJ:
April 17th, 2012 at 7:43 pm
Jason, that was after her rant about how the Council is trampling on the Constitution.
Dave:
April 17th, 2012 at 8:35 pm
I briefly heard Christopher talking on WGMD. The snippet I heard was about armed Deputys protecting the city council at the meetings. Oh yeah, and George Cole and Vance Phillips are no longer real Republicans, like Christopher who came out the “womb” Republican.
I thought he had gone so far out to the edge that he and his posse had fallen off, but I guess there is more edge out there, but it has to be getting thin.
We need a robust two party system and I hope for the Republican Party’s sake it can survive these kind of people.
Geezer:
April 17th, 2012 at 9:10 pm
Somebody has to get this stuff on video and post it on Youtube. It won’t take a month to make Sussex County the laughingstock of the nation, instead of just the state.
MJ:
April 17th, 2012 at 9:11 pm
The best part of the meeting was when the birther woman asked Vance if he was laughing at her. He said “Yes, I am.”
Jason330:
April 17th, 2012 at 9:20 pm
Good for Vance. That he is now considered one of the sane ones says a lot about how completely the DE GOP has occupied Looneyville.
MJ:
April 17th, 2012 at 9:35 pm
I also forgot to mention that Wolfgang von Baumgart came to County Council dressed in this Australian-type khaki uniform complete with boots.
Geezer:
April 17th, 2012 at 9:51 pm
It’s the Sussex GOP, not the state party, but they haven’t just occupied Looneyville. They freaking built it with their bare hands.
MJ, I’m serious. Embed videos of this stuff here and you’ll go nationwide.
JPconnorjr:
April 17th, 2012 at 9:53 pm
I have know Wolfie for 20 years he wears that every day. Pretty sure he has washed it twice in that period of time.
MJ:
April 18th, 2012 at 9:05 am
Geezer, I’ll embed the audio of yesterday’s meeting.
Geezer:
April 18th, 2012 at 9:56 am
MJ: If I didn’t live up here, I’d bring a video camera to the next meeting. Look at what happened with Crazy Eileen — that video ultimately gave us Sen. Chris Coons. It doesn’t have to be the whole meeting — wouldn’t it be great if we had a 15-second camphone clip of Bodenweiser dropping to his knees to make some pathetic point?
If the rest of the state gets a look at these clowns playing Student Council, it will destroy either their movement or the Republican GOP. No reasonably sane person will want to have any connection with the likes of Bodenweiser, Hudson, Ayotte and Christopher.
puck:
April 18th, 2012 at 10:11 am
Bring a second covert camera guy to catch them harassing the first camera guy.
Aoine:
April 18th, 2012 at 12:08 pm
Geezer – I is on video and streamed live from council
check out sussex county’s web page
http://www.sussexcountyde.gov
it dont get much better than that
MJ:
April 18th, 2012 at 8:46 pm
They only stream video the day of the meeting. Audio can be heard at any time though.
And one of the wingnuts announced today that he is going to primary Mike Vincent, the council president, because of the sheriff issue.
Aoine:
April 19th, 2012 at 12:24 am
wingnuts and campaigns
long on mouth – short on money
just click on where they live
gives the term :chesp shot: a whole new view”
anon40:
April 19th, 2012 at 12:33 am
@Geezer–
Do you really think Coons is all that different from Castle? Coons votes almost exactly the same way Castle would have voted on every single important issue.
nemski:
April 19th, 2012 at 8:47 am
@anon40 – That’s bs. Castle was Boehner’s bitch and voted straight down the party line against the Obama agenda.
jason330:
April 19th, 2012 at 8:54 am
Castle’s only talent was the ability to seem like he was making his own choices. If you look at his record, Castle was a straight-up GOP company man.
puck:
April 19th, 2012 at 8:56 am
Coons votes almost exactly the same way Castle would have voted on every single important issue.
Hear, hear. Delaware Democrats have reasonably liberal voting records thanks to the filibuster, which allows them to rack up ineffectual Yes votes for doomed kabuki Democratic bills that have no underlying support from Obama, Biden, or Reid.
This was Castle’s game too. GOP leadership tolerated him voting Yes on Democratic bills as long as it didn’t matter.
nemski:
April 19th, 2012 at 9:02 am
puck conveniently forgets about Lily Ledbetter, banking reform, recovery bill and repeal of don’t ask don’t tell.
puck:
April 19th, 2012 at 9:21 am
nemski conveniently forgets all but DADT were passed before Carney and Coons took office. The loss of the House just gave Democrats even more cover to vote Dem when they really meant Repub. Democratic bills stopped coming to the Senate altogether.
Also, everything changed after December 2010, when Obama flip-flopped on tax policy and set the table for austerity, which gave GOP-friendly Democrats permission to let their austerity flags fly. And Carper/Coons/Carney ran with the new tone, endorsing the Bowles-Simpson tax cuts for the rich and cuts in services for the rest of us.
jason330:
April 19th, 2012 at 9:32 am
Puck’s reflexive “Democrats Suck” stance is tiresome, pointless and factually wrong. His argument is lost when he admits….”the GOP leadership tolerated (Castle) voting Yes on Democratic bills as long as it didn’t matter.”
jason330:
April 19th, 2012 at 9:33 am
Puck, If you want to go down the rabbit hole and wallow in this kind of “Democrats and Republicans are just alike” nonsense, try hanging out on some Green Party blogs.
It is an article of faith for those nut bags.
nemski:
April 19th, 2012 at 9:35 am
Shorter puck: Coons/Carney/Carper have a liberal voting record because of the Republicans.
Note: I’d never say that these three were out and out liberals, but I would argue that we are better off with Coons and Carney than O’Donnell and Urquhart.
nemski:
April 19th, 2012 at 9:36 am
Oh yeah, I’d win that argument too.
jason330:
April 19th, 2012 at 9:40 am
You can’t even argue that Castle would be better in the Senate than Carper. And I think Carper is horrible. But as Puck points out, “when is matters” Castle is a GOP party man.
puck:
April 19th, 2012 at 9:42 am
Nice blogswarm, but I’m still right about conservadems.
And I’m still right on the facts. Just saying my facts are wrong doesn’t make it so. You need more than just assertions.
And no, Democrats are not the same as Republicans (nice straw man though – maybe some of your readers will fall for it just like your more gullible contributors).
Republicans have moved even further to the right while Democrats have moved into the space right-of-center that Republicans abandoned.
Even with their endorsement of Bowles Simpson tax cuts for the rich and service cuts for the rest of us, Coons/Carney/Carper are still to the left of Republicans, but only because Republicans have moved into even crazier territory.
nemski:
April 19th, 2012 at 9:50 am
No, you’re wrong.
nemski:
April 19th, 2012 at 9:51 am
Let me elaborate, read your comment above. That is just so wrong, you might as well be a member of the GOP
jason330:
April 19th, 2012 at 9:53 am
First off.
“Coons votes almost exactly the same way Castle would have voted on every single important issue.
Hear, hear.”
I called you out and you yelp “straw man.” That is weak. Stop lying about your position in an attempt to walk aback your stupid comment. Just own it and apologize.
Dave:
April 19th, 2012 at 10:41 am
“Republicans have moved even further to the right while Democrats have moved into the space right-of-center that Republicans abandoned.”
True. They were pulled there by the edgers, who moved so far right they have finally fallen off the edge. When Frank Knotts gets called a liberal, it tells you how far they have gone.
Still, the Democrats have the center. Good show. Great things can happen in the center. Rarely do great things happen on the margins. Eisenhower, a moderate Republican, was equally hated by the far left and far right. Sounds like a good place to be when you want to lead an entire nation. You don’t lead from left or the right of the army. You kinda have to be in the center to make sure the army is behind you when you charge.
jason330:
April 19th, 2012 at 10:48 am
I disagree. We have to acknowledge that we have a two party legislative system which works like a courtroom. Each side makes its arguments and it is far easier for the right to make its arguments when the left concedes too much.
I think that may have been Puck’s point, but he veered into Looneyville saying that Coons is the same as Castle.
puck:
April 19th, 2012 at 11:05 am
Actually we do have a chance to see how Coons and Castle voted on the same bills, since Coons and Castle served in the lame-duck session together. The major legislation in the lame duck was the full extension of the Bush tax cuts.
1. Castle YES, Coons YES (and Carper YES).
I’ve dealt with Obama’s own culpability in the defeat of the middle-class only tax cuts in previous comments.
You know Jason, when you tell everyone my facts are wrong, have you forgotten these events already happened and can be checked?
puck:
April 19th, 2012 at 11:12 am
Coons and Castle also both voted to repeal DADT (I think; too lazy to double-check).
jason330:
April 19th, 2012 at 11:20 am
That vote does not contradict your other, accurate observation about Castle. I think you can extrapolate from your accurate comment about Castle to figure out how he would have voted on the Buffett Rule vs. Coons.
Check and mate.
nemski:
April 19th, 2012 at 11:23 am
In the 111th Congress, Mike Castle voted along party lines 87% of the time; Chris Coons, 100%. Source: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/111/
jason330:
April 19th, 2012 at 11:29 am
I think the point about conservative Dems strengthening the hand of wingnut Republicans is a good one. Puck, like so many true believers, goes off the rails when he says that there is no difference between Coons and Castle.
puck:
April 19th, 2012 at 11:47 am
Every day that goes by without some misguided tax reform package is one day closer to the expiration of the godless Bush tax cuts. Here’s to gridlock!