Thursday Open Thread [11.15.12]

Filed in National by on November 15, 2012

John Heilemann : “This is a president unusually focused in the present on what his legacy will be in the future. With Obama’s reelection, one foundational element of that legacy has been secured: the Affordable Care Act, which, had he been defeated, would not only likely have been repealed but retrospectively reduced to one of the causes of his loss. Now, with a second term ahead of him, among Obama’s paramount goals, say his advisers, is to add another glittering trophy to his mantle: at least one more domestic-policy reform tantamount in importance to near-universal health care.”

“The shiniest such prize would be the achievement of a grand bargain on entitlements and tax reform: a bipartisan agreement that would put the nation’s fiscal house in order for years, and maybe decades, to come. The extent to which Obama pines for this was illustrated by his ardent pursuit of such a megadeal in 2011, which ultimately fell apart when House Speaker John Boehner proved unable to move the tea-party faction in his caucus to accept new revenues.”

And I think this republication in full, and I will give credit where credit is due. Erick Erickson of Red State denounces the base of his own party.

Barack Obama won the election.

He did not win by stealing the election. Voter irregularities always happen. It is one reason we support voter ID rules. But even in the worse scenario of reports out there, there were not enough tales of voter irregularities to matter nationwide. This is another benefit and built in safeguard of the electoral college.

Barack Obama won. He won by turning out the most people in a well run campaign. In other words, he won fair and square.

We here at RedState are American citizens. We have no plans to secede from the union. If you do, good luck with that, but this is not the place for you.

We have a place for you here if you wish to continue the fight against Republicans in Washington like John Boehner and Mitch McConnell who’d be happy to sell us down the river to keep their power, no matter how devoid of principle or sound policy. You have a place here if you’d like to keep fighting the Democrats who are intent on further stifling economic growth, pushing forward with Obamacare, bankrupting the nation, and siding with teachers unions against kids who deserve better.

Too many people have spent the past four years obsessed with birth certificates. Now they are obsessed with voter fraud conspiracies, talk of secession, and supposed election changing news stories if only we had known.

So let’s add dabblers in this latest nuttiness to birthers as a category of people we do not welcome at RedState. Our aim is to beat the Democrats, not beat a retreat to a Confederacy that Generals Grant and Sherman rent asunder well over a hundred years ago.

Even here at RedState, while we may not much care for him, President Obama is still our President and we are still quite happily citizens of the United States. If we must drain this fever swamp that’s taken hold of a few people on the right over this past week before we can drain the swamp in Washington, so be it.

All others need not apply.

Sincerely,
Erick Erickson
Editor-in-Chief, RedState.com

“I think that there was a period of time when the Romney campaign was falling apart, people were not optimistic, nobody thought there was a chance of victory and I felt that it was my duty at that point to go out and say what I said.” – Dick Morris, in an interview on Fox News, explaining why he predicted a landslide for Mitt Romney in the presidential election. So basically he admitted he lied to support the Romney campaign, as the truth was too damaging. Or in other words, he is a propagandist.

Jeff Greenfield has some words of caution to us Democrats:

“You’re looking at a political party that has lost the popular vote in five of the past six elections; whose one winning presidential candidate achieved the White House thanks to a fluke; and whose prospects for the future seem doomed by demography and geography. No, it’s not today’s Republican Party you’re looking at–it’s the Democratic Party after the 1988 elections. And the past (nearly) quarter-century is an object lesson in the peril of long-term assumptions about the nature and direction of our political path.”

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  1. Jason330 says:

    If John Heilemann is right, the President needs to be thinking about winning big in the mid-terms by putting Republicans to impossible votes.

    He isn’t going to get to any satisfactory fiscal deal by chasing Republicans and coddling wobbly Democrats.

  2. socialistic ben says:

    Get Graham to vote with the majority on immigration, then donate a million dollars to the crazy teabilly who primaries him. The formula for destroying the repuke is easy. we KNOW they haven’t learned from the election, they think it was all voter fraud and free abortions. They may come to their senses by 2016, so if the dems can win back the house by stacking the general election with crazy teahadis, we can put the country in a good place for the Rubio/Jindhal landslide…. no i couldn’t type that without laughing.

  3. socialistic ben says:

    That last article seems like a very important warning for those talking filibuster reform. Am i the only one who is a little wary about taking away, or weakening the thing Dems will need to defend the country if/when the GOP gains back power?
    I understand how badly they have abused it, but im not sure the filibuster is the issue. Part of future president Warren’s plan is to force the filibusterer (hehe) so stand on the floor and talk the whole time… as ever, she is on the right track.

  4. Liberal Elite says:

    @J “…the President needs to be thinking about winning big in the mid-terms by putting Republicans to impossible votes.”

    There’s no way in hell that the Dems win the mid-terms. The chance of retaking the house is nearly zero. We’ll be rather lucky to hold the Senate.

    The basic problem is that roughly 60% of eligible voters vote in Presidential elections, but only about 40% bother to show up for mid-term elections. And the simple truth is that Republicans are more reliable at voting. Until the Dems get a real ground game for mid-terms, it’s going to be difficult.

  5. socialistic ben says:

    that only holds true if OFA sits out again. The president’s team seems to have learned many many lessons from the first term. One of them is the base doesnt vote in mid-terms even though we should all know better. It’s not like he has to save up for a re-election bid. If Obama is popular enough in 2016, that will be all the help Hillary will need. I say focus the money on 2014 in holding the senate and gaining in the house. You’re right LE, it is unlikely D’s will take the house…. but they can totaly make Boner increase his daily Brandy allowance.

  6. Jason330 says:

    SB, spot on. I was going to say that the President could have a say in those turnout numbers.

  7. puck says:

    Hmmm… so what could the President do (or avoid doing) to keep enthusiasm high in his base and avoid digging a new enthusiasm gap?

    Two years ago I was at Thanksgiving dinner with four generations of my extended family, the oldest of whom are FDR Democrats. And they were all morose about Obama, agreeing “He’s not a fighter.”

    I’m looking forward to their reactions this year, now that Obama has shown some fight at least in campaign politics.

  8. socialistic ben says:

    Obama tried for about 2 years to really reach out to republicans. I suspect he knew all along that it was useless… but there absolutely had to be the appearance that he tried. The bar is so much higher for him and the standards are more than doubled. He is a black democrat…. cant get much more handicapped than that in our country.
    I complained bitterly that he “wasnt fighting” but honestly, what could he do? executive order everything? travel around the country complaining about the GOP? naw. He had to let them show what a-holes they were…. and it meant sacrificing the 2010 mid-terms….. which, if you think about it wasnt that bad. If Scott Brown had not won, we would not have senator Warren. Had the Teaparty not been allowed to take over the GOP, we would have Senator Castle. It’s the Chess match. It has always been the Chess match.
    But you asked what he could do. Same message from now till august 2014. “Here is what we want, here are the people holding it up, here is why they claim to be against it” then late summer, hit the road for every defending dem and possible dem pick-up states (we won north dakota… anything is possible)… hope for some more Akins, and GOTV like a mo-fo.

  9. puck says:

    Liberal expectations – and by liberal I mean center-left traditional Democrat – are high for Obama, and are not unrealistic. Once again he has the mandate and the tools to accomplish the simple tax cut expiration on the rich, as long as he doesn’t gum it up with some murky tax reform that ends up in the pockets of the rich.

  10. Liberal Elite says:

    The GOP can no longer hurt Obama by refusing to compromise. That, in itself, is a huge motivation removed. It will make a difference as the GOP seeks to help their own, and they can only do that through compromise.

    I expect to see the GOP cave in a real manner, but in a way that allows them to save face with their base and to help their friends (a select subset of the 1%) in the process.

    The only question is how willing is Obama to help them do just that?

  11. puck says:

    Good point. Obama doesn’t really need anything from Congress this year. Congress will be more malleable in January, and they know it. I just hope Obama sees it that way.

    All Reid really needs to do this year is keep putting up Hobson’s Choice bills for Republicans to ponder. It will be like pulling the wings off flies, only more socially acceptable.

  12. puck says:

    John “Grandpa Simpson” McCain misses classified briefing on Benghazi in order to give a press conference complaining Obama isn’t providing answers on Benghazi.

  13. Jason330 says:

    I can’t believe pancakes are last (losing to muffins, even) in that poll. Pancakes are the best blueberry delivery medium ever.

  14. John Young says:

    Pancakes + Blueberries = <3

  15. heragain says:

    Remember when President Obama said, “Don’t complain about the mess… grab a mop!”? Thats where i am. Got my mop.

    Working on 2014 already. Every day.

    (ps. Nice to see LG last night.)

  16. liberalgeek says:

    Nice to see you, too.

  17. John Young says:

    NSFW Holiday Buying guide review of Williams-Sonoma: http://deadspin.com/5959212/the-haters-guide-to-the-williams+sonoma-catalog

  18. I had the pleasure of meeting cassandra_m tonight.

    El Som was wrong–she’s nothing like Darth Vader!

  19. SussexWatcher says:

    From Friday’s TNJ: “While many of the top donors gave to Democrats, Lammot Copeland Jr., CEO of Associates International Inc., was the largest contributor to Republicans. He donated $32,250, primarily to congressional candidates such as Tom Kovach and Kevin Wade.”

    Isn’t that Charlie Copeland?

  20. W-w-what??!!

    I NEVER said that Cassandra was like Darth Vader…did I?

    I’m sure I meant that, uh, her voice/demeanor is as authoritative as the guy who PLAYS Darth Vader.

    Yeah, THAT’s the ticket…

  21. jason330 says:

    Sussexwatcher, If he works for Associates Graphics Services (AGS), then Yes. It is Charles trying to be tricky. (Unless the other Lammot Copeland who died on July 1, 1983 is back from the dead to help out the GOP.)

  22. Gene Mauch once said, “Sometimes you add by subtracting.”

    The nutritional health of Americans is better today b/c the scumballs at Hostess have thrown in their final Ding-Dong rather than succeeding in getting their workers to totally screw themselves. A world without Wonder Bread and Twinkies is a better nutritional world…although it might do some damage to the bottom line of the DuPont Food Additives division.

    One can only hope that Hostess won’t be able to get away with reorganizing free of those pesky union contracts that they supposedly signed in ‘good faith’:

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/16/1162235/-Private-equity-owned-Hostess-blames-striking-workers-as-it-liquidates

    Some companies deserve to die, especially ones as mismanaged as Hostess. They can blame the workers (who, you know, did all the work), but their own greed and incompetence did them in.

    Good riddance.

  23. Michelle M says:

    Twinkies are utterly disgusting, good riddance.

  24. puck says:

    The administration should expedite any loans or assistance to former Hostess workers who want to start independent bakeries or other businesses. I’d love it if the outcome was a new crop of independent bakeries in towns across the nation. Baking is one business that benefits from being small.

    If you are into Twinkies, stock up now, they keep forever.

  25. SussexWatcher says:

    Thanks, Jason. The DuPont inbreeding and name repetition makes me despair to ever understand that family. I was more surprised that TNJ didn’t know who he was.

  26. puck says:

    Lammot Copeland Jr. is Charlie’s dad and is a Republican donor and philanthropist in his own right. He is reputed to be a nice guy who once made a small fortune by starting with a much larger fortune. In 1970 he went through what I think still is the nation’s largest personal bankruptcy (the judge in that case was Murray Schwartz of Delaware desegregation fame). Fortunately his trust income together with vast writedowns quickly repaired the situation and he has kept a low profile ever since.

  27. Jason330 says:

    So Lammot is the owner and CEO of AGS?

  28. mediawatch says:

    From Friday’s TNJ: “While many of the top donors gave to Democrats, Lammot Copeland Jr., CEO of Associates International Inc., was the largest contributor to Republicans. He donated $32,250, primarily to congressional candidates such as Tom Kovach and Kevin Wade.”

    Isn’t that Charlie Copeland?

    Charlie is the president of Associates International. His father is the CEO.
    The NJ probably missed the connection because Maureen Milford, the NJ’s resident du Pont genealogist, was not working on the story.

  29. puck says:

    Yes. If I recall correctly, Lammot Jr. either started or bought a small printing company in 1973 out of the wreckage of the bankruptcy and turned it into AGS. Charlie is the president and I assume expanded the company to its modern form when he came of age, and is basically running things now.

  30. mediawatch says:

    Yes, Puck, you’ve got to give Charlie props for turning the business into a thriving printing/direct-mail operation. And he gets points for buying out Farley Printing, the D’s official print shop for nearly a generation.
    Say what we want about his politics, he has done a good job building a small business and restoring his father’s diminished fortune.

  31. puck says:

    “and restoring his father’s diminished fortune.”

    His father had (has?) a very large trust income and has probably picked up an inheritance or two along the way. I don’t think AGS income is make or break for either of them. Nonetheless, props to Charlie for creating a successful business that employs Delawareans. Printing is a crappy business that can always win by being more professional than the other guy.