Thursday Open Thread [4.23.15]
“A week before a closely watched U.S. Supreme Court hearing on the issue, public support for gay marriage reached a new high in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, with 61 percent of Americans – more than six in 10 for the first time – saying gays and lesbians should be allowed to marry legally.”
“Identical or similar majorities favor gay marriage on two key issues before the court: Sixty-one percent oppose allowing individual states to prohibit same-sex marriages. And 62 percent support requiring states to recognize gay marriages performed legally in other states.”
National Journal: “One of the biggest political stories of the coming 2016 presidential election happened in Florida last week via an explosion that didn’t happen. President Obama notified Congress that he intended to take Cuba off a list of state sponsors of terrorism, another step toward normalizing relations with the island nation. One or two decades ago, such an act would have unleashed storms of protest in Miami, with bipartisan outrage among Florida’s elected leaders.”
“The response last week? Almost nothing. No marches on federal buildings. No mass demonstration on Calle Ocho. What was one of the most reliable voting blocs for Republican candidates in Florida is no longer unified on what once had been an organizing principle—Cuban regime change. A Florida International University study last year shows that a majority of Cuban-Americans in Miami-Dade County are in favor of ending the embargo, with the younger generations overwhelmingly supportive.
Jonathan Bernstein explains “Why Clinton is pushing campaign-money reform” in his Bloomberg syndicated column: “Campaign-finance reform is a safe subject. It’s hard to see how events will make current talking points on it look silly or embarrassing in the future. Restricting money in politics is broadly popular (especially with a lot reporters and their editors), even if it isn’t something that will sway a lot of votes in the general election next year.”
At The NYT Noam Scheiber reports that “Democrats Are Rallying Around $12 Wage Floor.” Scheiber elaborates: “A January 2014 poll by the Pew Research Center showed that 73 percent of Americans, including 53 percent of Republicans, supported raising the minimum wage to $10.10…”In a deeply polarized country, the minimum wage is one of a small handful of issues that gets broad bipartisan support,” wrote Daniel H. Pfeiffer, who until recently was a senior adviser to President Obama, in an email in response to questions. “The Republican problem of opposing the minimum wage grows much worse when paired with their support of tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations. The 30-second ad writes itself.”
Harry Enten with another reminder that Chris (Burnt Toast) Christie is not John McCain:
The basic problem with the comparison is that McCain was never as far back in the polls as Christie is now in New Hampshire. Christie is in fourth place in the state, polling at 9 percent and trending downward in the Pollster.com aggregate. His favorable rating in the most recent Franklin Pierce University poll was 43 percent, lower than his unfavorable rating of 46 percent. So not only does Christie have to hop over a bunch of other candidates to take the lead, but a plurality of Republicans dislike him. A negative net-favorable rating can be deadly for a candidate as well-known as Christie.
McCain, on the other hand, never dipped below third place or 15 percent in the New Hampshire polling aggregate. Most importantly, he remained well liked even in his darkest hour. In the summer of 2007, McCain’s favorable rating in the Franklin Pierce College poll was 65 percent, against an unfavorable rating of 28 percent. That is, McCain’s favorable rating was 22 percentage points higher than Christie’s is now. McCain always had a base of Republicans who might be willing to support his campaign, even if they weren’t doing so at the time.
Breaking:
Hillary is a fraud, and the Clintons may be guilty of treason.
In other news:
Is anyone surprised?
Link.
Surprised? That conservatives and their money can be easily parted? No, that’s no surprise at all.
Same old libelous bullshit from FBH.
No, not libelous. They’re public figures.
They can’t just hate them, they must insist they have righteous reasons for doing so. The truth is the Clintons rub a lot of people, me included, the wrong way. That doesn’t make them traitors and, frankly, their many self-serving actions are no different from 99% of the rest of the political class.
Admit it, FBH, you just don’t like them. It has nothing to do with anything they’ve done to break the law. Just acknowledge that it’s irrational and let it go.
@pandora
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/24/us/cash-flowed-to-clinton-foundation-as-russians-pressed-for-control-of-uranium-company.html
Good luck selling that in a post-Cheney/Halliburton world.
What’s really surprising to me is that the New York Times posted this type of story.
I was like….no they didn’t!
It almost feels like the NYT is pulling some sort of intervention like they do when people confront drug addicts, but instead of getting off of drugs, they want her to get off the campaign. It’s shocking really.
The Times was complicit in the lies that Judith Miller told to get us into Iraq as well. It is only surprising if you see the world in black and white terms like a Republican.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKwwcCpa2Ag
…..and it was all completely legal.
Kudos to FBH for calling on gov’ts to intervene in the free market’s attempt by one company to sell an asset to another.
Oh, I’m sure that the Clintons have their bases covered SussexAnon. They always do, but for now could you please stop raining on my parade.
FBH, what kind of hopeless jamoke are you? GWBush’s family has its noses so far up the Saudi royal family’s asses that they went traipsing hand-in-hand through a meadow ON CAMERA(!), and you’re upset that the Clintons have bought their way into the global military-industrial big leagues? Give. Me. A. Fucking. Break.
This is being covered on NBC news right now. Andrea Mitchell reporting…. The book “Clinton Cash” Bill got $500,000 for a speech. The Foundation got $125 million from Russia? Then a Russian company bought an American company. But…There is no smoking gun connection.
This is bullshit, of course…but if they can get the “real” news to pay attention, it will evoke the kind of “worries” among low info voters that the GOP conglomerate wants to evoke.
This is swift boating written large. The question now is, how will the Clinton campaign handle it? Better than Kerry I hope.
Also – hopefully O’Mally is smart enough to not be turned into a GOP stooge.
Its all over for the clintons, and a lot of other people. You can waste your time pretending its not, bit clinton gate is going to make watergate look like nixon knocked over a lemonade stand.
Down goes Frazier, Down goes Frazier, Down goes Frazier.
I never post on Open Threads because I generally just like to read what everyone else says.
But…y’all should have been there for that House Ed meeting yesterday. WOW is all I can say. I know you spent many years working in the Legislature, El Som, but I would have been interested in hearing if you ever witnessed anything as intense as the debate on the Opt Out bill yesterday. Quite an event it was. I’m not feeling good about the ultimate prospects of the bill, but I’m comforted knowing there’s going to be one helluva fight!
And……Tom Carper just voted in favor of fast tracking trade negotiations……
F. U. T. C.
Where were FBH and Rusty when Reagan was given millions to speak in Japan after giving Japan special consideration?
And Reagan reported receiving it on his tax return. Its over Tom, but, if you have time to waste, keep pretending that it is not
The thing is, those who hate Clinton enough to mindlessly believe stuff that that without question already do, while those who will support her unwaveringly (or see her as the Dems best hope) already do. Those illusive “swing voters” aren’t paying attention yet, and when they do this might be too much of a stretch to care. Depends on how much the money jump behinds it. Frankly, it’s kind of sad that the Republicans are so bankrupt of good ideas that they have to attack a candidate’s history this early. Who would have thought – “no” is not a good party platform.
The Clintons thrive in a pay-to-play culture where influence is peddled, and non-profit foundations are created for personal enrichment….Chelsea was there.
@Rusty Dils: “And Reagan reported receiving it on his tax return. Its over Tom, but, if you have time to waste, keep pretending that it is not”. Do you just make stuff up? You need to write for those other blogs then. You certainly do not know whether or not Reagan reported those speaking fees on his tax return because, once he left office, his returns were never made public. Whether or not there is a “there there”, history shows that if you cannot beat an opponent on the issues that matter to the people, or on that candidate’s qualifications, use personal attack and side issues. Sadly, as I can attest, sometimes it works. If Rusty and his like-minded allies weren’t worried about Hillary’s prospects, they wouldn’t junp on every issue and drag up all the old (I actually heard someone on talk radio drag up the “The last person to see Vince Foster before he was ‘murdered” was Hillary Clinton”
“Schweizer says he and a team of researchers have been poring over Bush’s financial life for about four months.”
I hope they find dirt on Jeb Bush too.
I never put political bumper stickers on my work truck, but I am getting a “No Bush, No Clinton” sticker this time around, and if my clients don’t like it, that’s just too bad.
“I never put political bumper stickers on my work truck, but I am getting a “No Bush, No Clinton” sticker this time around, and if my clients don’t like it, that’s just too bad.”
Wow, amazing business acumen you got there.
“The Clintons thrive in a pay-to-play culture where influence is peddled, and non-profit foundations are created for personal enrichment”
You say that like it’s a bad thing. I thought you people were all about admiring people who get rich. What did you think, they all did it by following the rules? You really are naive.
What song reached number one in the UK in June of 1964?
I’ll give you a hint, sung why Roy Orbison
Its Over