No such luck. Via Taegan-
'It wasn't that I thought that my political outreach and charm would immediately end partisan politics. I just thought that there would be enough of a sense of urgency that at least for the first year there would be an interest in governing. And you just didn't see that."
-- President Obama, quoted in The Promise: President Obama, Year One by Jonathan Alter, on Republican obstruction being his biggest surprise since taking office.
It's WSJ, subscription only, but even this teaser just floored me. Finally, they see what the Republicans are really up to. Thank you very much Tea Baggers!!
Adam Bustos, a third-generation Mexican-American, has voted Republican since Ronald Reagan ran for president. But he has been reconsidering his party affiliation since Arizona State Gov. Jan Brewer signed the nation's toughest immigration law last month.
"I've been thinking I might leave the party," said Mr. Bustos, a 58-year-old Arizona native. "A lot of my Latino Republican friends have been talking about it after this law."
Heh. Problem is that this kind of stuff doesn't resonate with the people all that much, but it can distract the GOPers for a bit.
The Michigan Democratic Party filed an official complaint with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday, alleging that the Michigan Republican Party and the Republican National Committee struck a deal to get around campaign finance limits and launder roughly half a million dollars in contributions from Michigan residents through the RNC and back to the Michigan GOP.
These allegations first came to light with an article in the Daily Caller last week, which we reported on at the time. The Michigan GOP denies any wrongdoing in the matter, but now the FEC will presumably open an investigation reach its own conclusion.
The Daily Caller cited an unnamed source within the GOP:“It was a known secret that a deal had been struck on the topic,” a former RNC official confirmed to The Daily Caller.
“I think the benefit to them was them getting guaranteed money,” the source said of the Michigan GOP, “and the benefit to the RNC was getting higher fundraising numbers.”
The article also noted that FEC reports showed that a group of Michigan donors all maxed out their contributions to the RNC in the last days of 2009, donating nearly half a million dollars collectively. The RNC then transferred that money back to the state party in two payments in early 2010.
By GottaLaff
Fox conducted a poll. Here are three little excerpts, but please go here for much, much more.
This little piggy is a little cringeworthy for everyone:
This little piggy is a little cringeworthy for Barbie McLipSchmutz:
And this little piggy cried "We're weeee-weeee-weeee'd up!" all the way to the ballot box:
Click on images to enlarge.
The End.
By GottaLaff
Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) on Sunday said Republicans are eager to cooperate with Democrats on financial regulatory reform legislation, the next major item on the Senate agenda.
Um, I think you need to blame the members of your own party that have been spreading lies to the stupid segment of the population, not the President. Sheep bleat the loudest when they're scared. Via Taegan-
Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS), who the Witchita Eagle reports dramatically increased spending in his taxpayer-funded Congressional office, blames the 22% hike on President Obama, CQ Politics reports.
Said a spokesman: "We saw that spike with the election of President Obama. We had to employ a number of people to answer phone calls."
Tiahrt's office claims they fielded about 50 to 60 calls a day during the Bush administration but is now up to 200.
Oh the shadenfreudey goodness streaming thru my bones right now. h/t First Read.
WASHINGTON — Texas is counting on the 2010 Census to deliver four new congressional districts, four new Electoral College votes in presidential elections, and millions of dollars in additional federal aid. But, as some elected officials are starting to worry, Uncle Sam can't deliver anything to the rapidly growing Sun Belt state unless Texas residents deliver their forms back to the government.
As of Friday afternoon, only 27 percent of Texas households had filled in and returned their census forms — well below the national average of 34 percent — according to computer data from the U.S. Census Bureau. In Harris County, the response rate is 23 percent. Houston's returns are running at 21 percent.
Contrary to historical trends, some of the toughest challenges facing the agency responsible for measuring the nation's population are not from counting the traditionally undercounted groups such as African-Americans and Latinos. Instead, a new and growing threat to an accurate national head count is coming from anti-government conservatives who may not fill out their forms to protest against “Big Brother” in Washington.
(snip)Polling by the Pew Research Center finds Democrats are more likely than other Americans to view the census as “very important” to the country. Seventy-six percent of Democrats call this year's count very important, compared with 61 percent of Republicans and independents.
In Texas, some of the counties with the lowest census return rates are among the state's most Republican, including Briscoe County in the Panhandle, 8 percent; King County, near Lubbock, 5 percent; Culberson County, near El Paso, 11 percent; and Newton County, in deep East Texas, 18 percent. Most other counties near the bottom of the list are heavily Hispanic counties along the Texas-Mexico border.
There is a reason for the enthusiasm gap on the census: A number of prominent conservative and libertarian Republicans have been blasting the census for months.
Or maybe the Teabaggers have finally achieved our erm, their goal? Via Taegan-
A new Democracy Corps poll finds Republicans may have crossed a line with independent voters.
Specifically, favorability ratings among independents for incumbent Republican members of Congress has dropped by 11 points in the last month, to just 42%. The generic congressional ballot shows Republicans dropping 12 points among independents.
Stan Greenberg: "Why? Independent voters may have been stirred by Senator Jim Bunning's one-man filibuster that stopped work sites and unemployment checks. They may have noticed the Republicans' last stand for the insurance companies, just as one of the largest insurers, WellPoint, raised its rates 39 percent."
By GottaLaff
In recent days, several Democratic offices around the nation have also been vandalized. Although it’s unclear who the perpetrators are, all the incidents took place shortly before or after the House’s vote on health care yesterday:
– The glass front door of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ (D-AZ) Tuscon office was “smashed out” a “few hours after she voted in favor of health care reform.” Giffords’ spokesman C.J. Karamargin “said it was unclear if the glass had been shot out with a kind of pellet gun, if it had been kicked or smashed with an object. The door has been covered with plywood.”
– On the morning of March 19, someone threw a brick through the front window of Rep. Louise Slaughter’s (D-NY) Niagara Falls office. Monroe County Democratic Committee officials also said that a brick shattered the glass doors at their party’s headquarters in Rochester, NY on Saturday or Sunday.
Get him on the road NOW. h/t Greg.
PRINCETON, NJ -- Americans remain more confident in the healthcare reform recommendations of President Obama (49%) than in the recommendations of the Democratic (37%) or Republican (32%) leaders in Congress. But these confidence levels are lower than those measured in June, suggesting that the ongoing healthcare reform debate has taken a toll on the credibility of the politicians involved.
Always an interesting report. Via Taegan-
The National Journal's annual vote ranking study is out.
Liberals: "The most liberal members in the Senate include Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Roland Burris (D-IL), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Jack Reed (D-RI) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), all tied for first place. In the House, 8 members share the distinction -- Reps. Rush Holt (D-NJ), Gwen Moore (D-WI), John Olver (D-MA), Linda Sanchez (D-CA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Mel Watt (D-NC) and Henry Waxman (D-CA) are tied for the top spot."
Conservatives: "Unlike Dems, GOPers get to fete a clear winner in the most-conservative sweepstakes: This year, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) takes the prize. He's closely followed by Sens. Jim DeMint (R-SC), Jim Bunning (R-KY) and Tom Coburn (R-OK). In the House, Reps. Trent Franks (R-AZ), Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Randy Neugebauer (R-TX), Pete Olson (R-TX), John Shadegg (R-AZ) and Mac Thornberry (R-TX) share the prize."
Next time someone asks a question like this in a poll they should next ask "What do you thing the consequences to Republicans should be for their unwillingness?" Be interesting to see that. Via Taegan-
A new Washington Post/ABC News poll finds that nearly six in 10 Americans say the Republicans aren't doing enough to forge compromise with President Obama on important issues; more than four in 10 see Obama as doing too little to get GOP support.
In addition, nearly two-thirds of Americans say they want Congress to keep working to pass comprehensive health-care reform.
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Blech. More "Please, please, PUHLEEZE work with us!! We looove you!!". Via Taegan-
White House political adviser David Axelrod tells Mike Allen the White House is looking for more opportunities to involve Republicans in the tough choices necessary in governing, like President Obama did last Friday taking questions at the House Republican retreat.
Said Axelrod: "You can't have a situation where we're governing and they're simply running an election campaign. Everybody's got to pick up an oar here and row, if we're going to get to where we need to go. Those guys were kind of free riders in the first year. The boat's got a lot of freight."
Also interesting: "There was not one minute of prep here -- I guarantee it. He left here for Baltimore on the helicopter, and we didn't have any discussion about Q-and-A. It was thoroughly spontaneous, at least from our end."
By GottaLaff
A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him:
"Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."
The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, "You're in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above ground elevation of 2,346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49..09 minutes west longitude.
"She rolled her eyes and said, "You must be an Obama Democrat."
"I am,” replied the man. "How did you know?"
"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct. But I have no idea what to do with your information, and I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help to me."
The man smiled and responded, "You must be a Republican."
"I am," replied the balloonist. "How did you know?"
"Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are or where you are going. You've risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. You're in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but somehow, now it's my fault."
Scientific American reports on a new study in which subjects "were able to accurately identify candidates from the 2004 and 2006 U.S. Senate elections as either Democrats or Republicans based on black-and-white photos of their faces. And subjects were even able to correctly identify college students as belonging to Democratic or Republican clubs based on their yearbook photos."How?
Study 3 then showed that these judgments were related to differences in perceived traits among the Democrat and Republican faces. Republicans were perceived as more powerful than Democrats. Moreover, as individual targets were perceived to be more powerful, they were more likely to be perceived as Republicans by others. Similarly, as individual targets were perceived to be warmer, they were more likely to be perceived as Democrats.Gaw, they get power, we get warmth.
Honestly, the only way we're still in the running is because the R's just plain screwed this country over the past 8 years. Mightily. Via Taegan-
A new Public Policy Polling poll found that only 19% of voters nationally are happy with the direction of the Republican Party, compared to 56% who are unhappy with it. Even GOP voters are displeased with where the party's going: Just 38% say they are unhappy with the current direction to 35% who support it.
Analysis: "This much seems clear: if the Republicans keep winning even with a heavily damaged national brand it's an indication voters are choosing much more by what they're against right now than what they're for. I think a GOP controlled Congress for next year is still unlikely but it could be the best thing that ever happened to Barack Obama's reelection hopes."
In a related piece, Politico notes that "it is indisputable that the GOP has surged, especially in the past several months" but that it is "also indisputable that the rise has little to do with the voters' view of Republicans writ large -- and that the very concerns that got them booted from power persist today."
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