Tag Archives: Daily Kos

Daily Kos Writes Up Coons-Castle Race

Daily Kos has noticed an ominous trend in Mike Castle’s poll numbers (which we discussed yesterday).

The dkos post also mentions a new development today. Christine O’Donnell was endorsed by a conservative anti-abortion group, the Susan B. Anthony List (yes they try to steal all the heroes).

WASHINGTON, DC – Today the Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund, a national pro-life political action committee, announced its endorsement of Christine O’Donnell, candidate for U.S. Senator of Delaware.

“Delaware families deserve the pro-life leadership Christine O’Donnell so capably provides,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA List Candidate Fund. “Unlike her primary opponent who has an explicitly pro-abortion voting record, O’Donnell has expressed her strong determination to be a vocal advocate for women and unborn children in abortion debates on the floor of the U.S. Senate.”

“A new women’s movement which affirms its original pro-life roots is making its way to the U.S. Senate and O’Donnell is one of its brightest new stars.”

Christine O’Donnell is a marketing consultant and nationally known as a regular political commentator and a strong voice for Life on cable and network television. She promoted Life as a member of the Board of Directors for Birthright of Delaware until May 2008 and has led delegations to the U.N. to lobby on behalf of Life. In these roles, she has successfully debated Cabinet members, lawmakers and international leaders on the Life issue.

Castle’s voting record shows negligible support for laws protecting the unborn. He voted for the Foreign Relations Authorization Act which funds abortion overseas through the Office of Global Women’s Issues and supported the public funding of abortion in the District of Columbia.

Christine O’Donnell will face Mike Castle in the September 14th Republican primary.

Are there really enough hard right conservatives in Delaware to make Castle worry? Judging by the results of the Republican convention this year, probably not. However, could a Castle candidacy mean that Delaware conservatives get discouraged and stay home?

Daily Kos Features Delaware’s Weatherization Stimulus

Meteor Blades at Daily Kos has published a post about how states are slow to use their stimulus weatherization dollars. One exception that is cited is the state of Delaware (with a h/t to Delaware’s very own TommyWonk).

In fact, thanks to foot-dragging at the state level, only 8% of that money had been spent by the middle of February, according to a special report from the Department of Energy’s Inspector General. The DOE took the inspector general’s advice last March to initiate steps ensuring rapid progress, but the grantees didn’t get it together. Thus, by February 16 this year, Connecticut had weatherized 23 of the 7500 homes it was supposed to, Illinois had finished 331 of the 26,933 on its list, New York had done 280 of its 45,400, and Texas had done zero of its 33,908. Only Delaware, having weatherized a third of the 1526 homes it was supposed to met its first-year goal in the program that ends in 2012.

The post links to this document from the state of Delaware:

In late February, the U.S. Inspector General prepared a report indicating that nationally, states had weatherized only 5.17% of the homes for which American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds were provided, even though one third of the life of the ARRA program had expired. Delaware, by contrast, had weatherized 34% of the homes for which it had received funds-almost seven times the national average, and first among the states.

In Delaware, the Department of Health and Social Services oversees the low-income home weatherization program. The day-to-day operations of the program are run by two non-profit organizations, Neighborhood House and First State Community Action. The state has authorized four entities to train new workers for this weatherization work, and the bulk of the training has been conducted by Delaware Technical and Community College and the Laborers union.

Other states can learn a lot from Delaware’s example. Congratulations to Governor Markell and Lt. Governor Denn on the good job they are doing using the stimulus funds to help our state.

Time Names The Best Blogs

Time magazine names its 25 best blogs and the 5 most overrated blogs. Once again, Delaware Liberal was sadly overlooked. What do you think of the list?

TOP BLOGS
Talking Points Memo
The Huffington Post
Lifehacker
Metafilter
The Daily Dish by Andrew Sullivan
Freakonomics
BoingBoing
Got2BeGreen
Zen Habits
The Conscience of a Liberal: Paul Krugman
Crooks and Liars
Generación Y
Mashable
Slashfood
Official Google Blog
synthesis
bleat
/Film
Seth Godin’s Blog
Deadspin: Sports News without Access, Favor, or Discretion
Dooce
Confessions of a Pioneer Woman
Said the Gramophone
Detention Slip
Bad Astronomy

MOST OVERRATED BLOGS
TechCrunch
Gawker
Jim Cramer’s Blog
PerezHilton.com
Daily Kos: State of the Nation

I have to admit I haven’t read a lot of these blogs (though maybe I should). I agree that Talking Points Memo is the best news organization in the blogosphere, and the blog part is good. I still find it annoying that you can’t comment on the Editor’s Blog. I find Andrew Sullivan wildly inconsistent and you can’t comment there either. (Do you think it’s any that blogs a lot like the MSM are on the top of the list?) But, seriously Time – the Huffington Post? They do some reporting which is good, but it’s also full of anti-vaccine conspiracists and other purveyors of woo along with gratuitous pictures of women in skimpy clothes. I’m happy a blog by a scientist also makes the top list. As far as Daily Kos, I’m a big fan, it’s what brought me to the blogosphere. It’s gotten so big now, though, that it’s a lot harder to navigate but I find it a good place to find political information and a clearinghouse for activism. It’s really the place to go to find out what the grassroots are thinking and saying.

So, what do you think? What belongs on the list that isn’t listed? Which ones on the top or bottom do you think don’t belong there?

Texas Is Now A Swing State – Are Republican Antics Causing A Backlash?

I missed this when it first came out last week, but Gallup has a new poll on the political preferences by state. According to Gallup, there are now only 4 solid Republican states: Idaho, Wyoming, Utah and Alaska and 1 leans Republican state: Alabama. The new swing states (within 2 in party affiliation) are Mississippi, North Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Arizona, Texas, South Carolina, and Montana. The continuing weakness in the economy is starting to hurt Obama’s approval ratings, but Republicans haven’t been gaining – approval/disapproval for the Congressional GOP now stands at 10/74.

I just wonder if we’re starting to see a backlash. I know the Republicans are proud of their ability to disrupt townhall meetings, but they have to remember that they are not just shouting down Congresspeople but also regular constituents. I think this strategy carries more risk than benefit for Republicans. For one, they are extremely rude but their arguments don’t even make sense (see this post from yesterday). The national party Republicans have not been hiding their involvement in these events, either. In fact, John Boehner was actually bragging about it! The Republican party is really in danger of not just looking like the party of obstruction but the party of teabaggers and Crazy Eileen. (That Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll last week really caught the media’s attention). With crazy, silly people like Orly Taitz in charge of the movement that includes 50% of Republicans, are we really surprised?

Update: It looks like today is the day to write about this subject. Republican columnist Kathleen Parker has an op-ed today titled “A Tip For The GOP: Look Away.” In the op-ed she is urging the GOP to channel their inner Voinovich:

Not all Southern Republicans are wing nuts. Nor does the GOP have a monopoly on ignorance or racism. And, the South, for all its sins, is also lush with beauty, grace and mystery. Nevertheless, it is true that the GOP is fast becoming regionalized below the Mason-Dixon line and increasingly associated with some of the South’s worst ideas.

It is not helpful (or surprising) that “birthers” — conspiracy theorists who have convinced themselves that Barack Obama is not a native son — have assumed kudzu qualities among Republicans in the South. In a poll commissioned by the liberal blog Daily Kos, participants were asked: “Do you believe that Barack Obama was born in the United States of America or not?”

Hefty majorities in the Northeast, the Midwest and the West believe Obama was born in the United States. But in the land of cotton, where old times are not by God forgotten, only 47 percent believe Obama was born in America and 30 percent aren’t sure.

Southern Republicans, it seems, have seceded from sanity.

A Daily Kos diarist also picks up the theme with a diary called “Umm, GOP? You got a second? I want to show you something.” The diary shows some of the excesses of the teabaggers and anti-reform activists, reminding us that this is who the GOP is celebrating right now. (There are an incredible number of Obama = Hitler signs.)

Republicans, you are losing the fight for public perception. I know you don’t feel that way right now because the GOP is following John McCain’s strategy of winning the news cycle (I guess some people really believe there’s no such thing as bad publicity). Republicans are losing control of their own narrative and have already forgotten the message discipline that they used to be famous for. The debate is now about the tactics of the activists and insurance companies and I don’t think that’s the ground that Republicans want to defend.