Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), who heads a congressional subcommittee that may be investigating ACORN in the not-too-distant future, has been providing advice to ACORN's lawyer, according to a new report.
Nadler, a longtime ACORN ally, is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on the Constitution, civil rights, and civil liberties.
Lincoln Anderson, a reporter for the Villager, writes that earlier this month while he attended at the office of ACORN's New York-based lawyer Arthur Z. Schwartz to interview him, a telephone call came in from Nadler:
Midway through the interview with The Villager last Thursday, Schwartz got a phone call from Congressmember Jerrold Nadler. The West Side congressmember -- one of only about a dozen Democrats to oppose the Defund ACORN Act -- was calling Schwartz's attention to an e-mail that had been forwarded to him, detailing a directive from two weeks earlier to federal agencies, implementing the act. The directive not only ordered agencies to cease funding ACORN and all its subcontractors, but cancel all funding allocated in previous years. The memo had been found -- where else? -- on a right-wing blog.
Nadler has branded the Defund ACORN Act a "bill of attainder," or an unfair, punitive act by Congress; Schwartz said the congressmember, during the phone call, asked him why ACORN hasn't sued over this yet. [emphasis added]
How exactly is it appropriate for the chairman of a congressional subcommittee to be offering strategic advice to a group he is now under growing pressure to probe?
A call to Nadler's Capitol Hill office on Sunday seeking comment was not immediately returned.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2009 00:00 ||
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ACORN attorneys can always claim to be trapped by Nadlers gravitational field.
It seems to me they've tried this on a time or two before. The targets somehow never seem to notice.
Ecuador's president is in London this week to promote a unique proposal: pay his country $3 billion not to drill for oil in a pristine Amazon reserve.
Germany and Spain have expressed interest in President Rafael Correa's idea, which environmentalists say could set a precedent in the fight against global warming by lowering the high cost to poor countries of going green.
"This is the first time the government of a major oil-producing country has voluntarily offered to forego lucrative oil extraction in order to help combat climate change," said Dr. Matt Finer, staff scientist for Save America's Forests and author of a study on Correa's initiative.
But Correa's idea is two years old and he has yet to receive a firm cash commitment.
Under the plan, rich countries would pay Ecuador at least half the revenues that the 850 million barrels of heavy crude oil estimated to be in Ecuador's remote Yasuni National Park would be expected to generate over the next 10 years -- or about $3 billion.
Correa is scheduled to meet with the British Parliament members Wednesday to discuss the proposal and plans to travel to Canada, France, Sweden, Belgium and the United States in November. First Correa should head to North Correa to learn the finer points of extracting cash from the capitalists.
I have a counter proposal. Pay me $250K/year or I promise to drive a gas guzzler to work 250 or more days/year. That's no idle threat my freunde und amigos.
Posted by: ed ||
10/27/2009 00:00 ||
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Long ago I predicted the UN (or other group) would buy up Amazonian property to protect it from being exploited. That hasnt really happened, yet.
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
10/27/2009 10:05 Comments ||
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#3
Kennedy is DEAD, drill offshore Massatuchets NOW.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/27/2009 14:18 Comments ||
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This agreement will last right up to the point where the revenues on the oil will out-strip what they have been paid. then it will be . . . pay us some more . . . then more . . . since you are already in the hole, why not more . . . a little more please?
Then they will invalidate the agreement and drill anyway.
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
10/27/2009 15:22 Comments ||
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Hey, you guys want to go drill in what the natives like to call "The Green Hell", go to it.
#6
Actually, I figure he might stick by that agreement.
There's a chance that money and income from drilling will go into the general economy without his approval. But aid money.... paid directly to his government... for him to disperse... ain't _nobody_ getting any money before it's passed through his kidneys first.
Instead of workers getting paid, it's _all_ him and his clients.
Via InstaPundit The Chávez model hits Nicaragua.
If Honduras manages to preserve its democracy despite U.S. pressure to abandon it, the tiny Central American country may wind up thanking Nicaragua's Danny Ortega, of all people.
Last week, President Ortega inadvertently provided the best defense yet of the Honduran decision this summer to remove Manuel Zelaya from the presidency. Nicaragua has a one-term limit for presidents, and Mr. Ortega's term expires in 2011. However, the Nicaraguan doesn't want to leave, and so he asked the Sandinista-controlled Supreme Court to overturn the constitutional ban on his re-election.
Last week the court's constitutional panel obliged him. The Nicaraguan press reported that the vote was held before three opposition judges could reach the chamber in time for the session. Three alternative judges, all Sandinistas, took their place and the court gave Mr. Ortega the green light. Mr. Ortega has decreed that the ruling cannot be appealed.
Posted by: ed ||
10/27/2009 11:24 ||
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Hiding behind "social justice," Patrick Kennedy attacks the Catholic Church and those concerned with the life of health-care reform in the most innocent of ways:
I cant understand for the life of me how the Catholic Church could be against the biggest social justice issue of our time, where the very dignity of the human person is being respected by the fact that were caring and giving health care to the human personthat right now we have 50 million people who are uninsured, Kennedy told CNSNews.com when asked about a letter the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) had sent to members of Congress stating the bishops' position on abortion funding in the health-care bill.
You mean to tell me the Catholic Church is going to be denying those people life saving health care? I thought they were pro-life? said Kennedy. If the church is pro-life, then they ought to be for health care reform because its going to provide health care that are going to keep people alive. So this is an absolute red herring and I dont think that it does anything but to fan the flames of dissent and discord and I dont think its productive at all."
His bishop, Thomas J. Tobin, does some educating in response; he also requests "an apology for his irresponsible comments":
Congressman Patrick Kennedys statement about the Catholic Churchs position on health care reform is irresponsible and ignorant of the facts. But the Congressman is correct in stating that he cant understand. He got that part right.
As I wrote to Congressman Kennedy and other members of the Rhode Island Congressional Delegation recently, the Bishops of the United States are indeed in favor of comprehensive health care reform and have been for many years. But we are adamantly opposed to health care legislation that threatens the life of unborn children, requires taxpayers to pay for abortion, rations health care, or compromises the conscience of individuals.
Congressman Kennedy continues to be a disappointment to the Catholic Church and to the citizens of the State of Rhode Island. I believe the Congressman owes us an apology for his irresponsible comments. It is my fervent hope and prayer that he will find a way to provide more effective and morally responsible leadership for our state.
Moving south, the archbishop of New York goes even more fundamental, writing that "The comparison of abortion to slavery is an apt one." Kennedy's not the one with the fuller "social justice" picture.
#1
Maybe if he put down the booze and most of his pills (not the ones he needs for his well documented mental problems...the other ones), he might understand.
But I wouldn't bet on it. (BTW, Bishop Tobin...nice bitch slap!)
#3
"Congressman Patrick Kennedy's statement about the Catholic Church's position on health care reform is irresponsible and ignorant of the facts. But the Congressman is correct in stating that "he can't understand." He got that part right.
ouch.
Patches is certainly an example of a gene line diluting
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/27/2009 9:50 Comments ||
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The older I get, the more I appreciate the Catholic Church.
#5
I don't get that many of these Catholic politicians [Kennedys, Kerry, etc.] are pro-abortion. Do they really believe what they profess or are they just without an ethical/moral rudder? Are they just trying to satisfy their moonbat base?
#9
Think of them as ethnic Catholics rather than religious Catholics, JohnQC. Catholics of the St. Patrick's Day parade and schmoozing the voters at the Knights of Columbus hall, enjoying the Christmas Eve midnight mass pageantry as prelude to seeing what Santa Claus put under the tree, without noticing the actual words of the prayers.
#12
CF, that only applies if you choose to at least follow some of the rules (as in, "yeah, I agree with this, but I'll still use birth control", that kind of thing). Generally, Cafeteria Catholics keep their mouths shut about stuff they don't like and don't follow.
The Kennedys don't even adhere to that standard. They only "remember" the Church when election time rolls around. TW, as usual, is correct.
#13
TW, as is occasionally the case as usual, is correct.
Fixed it for you, dear Cornsilk Blondie. I am keenly aware how much of what I know I learnt here at Rantburg from all y'all. Thank you.
rightwing, I hope #10 means we won't miss any more of your posts. Fred has a top secret list of unacceptable words that get posts disappeared or the writer sent to Roadside America. We all run into it periodically. :-(
#15
Maybe we should call the Kennedys, Pelosi, Biden, Kerry and the rest CINOs - Catholic in Name Only. When they start claiming the Church only started opposing abortion a few years ago, when they claim to know Catholic theology better than the bishops, they are no longer Catholic.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
10/27/2009 20:28 Comments ||
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Methinks its times like this that many Catholics in America miss the commentaries of the late great BISHOP FULTON SHEEN.
With just a week to go in New Jerseys closely contested race for governor, Republican Chris Christie holds a three-point advantage over incumbent Democratic Governor Jon Corzine.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in New Jersey show Christie with 46% of the vote and Corzine with 43%. While the margin is little changed from a week ago and the week before, the biggest news may be that support for independent candidate Chris Daggett has dropped four points to seven percent (7%). The number of undecided voters is down to four percent (4%).
The decline in support for Daggett comes in a week when several state newspapers endorsed Christie or Corzine, but none followed The (Newark) Star-Ledgers lead and came out in favor of the independent candidate. Additionally, Christie began a new ad campaign linking Corzine and Daggett.
Christie leads by eight points among those who are certain they will show up and vote. A week ago, he was up by five among that group. Christies supporters are also less likely to say they might consider voting for someone else.
Corzine does better among voters who might not make it to the polls. That's one reason President Obama, former President Bill Clinton and other Democratic Party luminaries are spending time in the Garden State in hopes of encouraging turnout.
(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.
At this point, there is no possible way to project what will happen on Election Day. The Democrats clearly have an edge in New Jersey when it comes to getting out the vote, which is one reason no Republican has won a statewide race in New Jersey since 1997. It's also impossible to know how much support Daggett will retain.
Measuring the ultimate impact of third-party candidates is always challenging. Many voters initially say they support an independent option and then change their minds as Election Day nears. Thats because they eventually decide to vote for the lesser of two evils between the major party candidates.
Currently, 14% of voters cite Daggett as their first preference. Thats down a couple of points from a week ago. However, only about half that base appears likely to stay with him at this time.
Corzine is now viewed favorably by 41% and unfavorably by 57%. Those numbers are unchanged from a week ago.
Christies totals are 49% favorable and 49% unfavorable, generally the same as last week.
Feelings remain stronger about the governor: 40% have a Very Unfavorable view of him while 27% say the same about Christie.
Daggett is now viewed favorably by 42% and unfavorably by 40%. That unfavorable number is up eight points over the past week and 13 points over the past two weeks. Fifteen percent (15%) have a Very Unfavorable opinion of the independent candidate.
Early in the year, Christie held a solid lead over Corzine. The governors campaign worked to make Christie an unacceptable alternative and succeeded in driving the negative ratings up for the GOP hopeful. Daggett became a possible candidate for those who didnt like the governor but also didnt want to vote for a Republican, so Christie began linking Corzine and Daggett. That has succeeded in driving up Daggetts negative ratings. About the only thing certain in New Jersey at the moment is that the next governor will be someone that is disliked by at least half the state.
#1
I grew up in Youngstown ("Little Chicago") and my dad was in politics. When I was a kid, the Dem primary vote tended to break on ethnic lines: the Irish voted for the Irish candidate, the Italians for the guy with a vowel on the end of his name, the "Slovaks" (East European) for the guy whose name ended in "-ski," and so on. If the party machine's preferred candidate was named, say, "Bubba Brewski," and he was facing a strong challenge from a guy named, for example, "Luigi Linguini," the machine would often recruit a "cutter" candidate of the same ethnicity as the challenger--in this example, he might be "Mike Macaroni." The cutter (Macaroni) would split the challenger's (Linguini's) ethnic vote bloc, and insure that the machine's guy won.
I suspect a lot of people in Jersey are starting to perceive Daggett as Corzine's "cutter." That's been Christie's argument of late, anyway.
Posted by: Mike ||
10/27/2009 12:53 Comments ||
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Given Corzine's nearly limitless access to funds, it's remarkable that the badly outspent Christie is doing so well. How many candidates could survive a $45m blitz of negative TV and still be in the race?
Another day, another Obama nominee who doesn't appear to love America. Another nominee who thinks the United States is inherently racist. Another nominee who thinks that judges should let their "ethnic and racial background" have an effect on how they conduct their trials. President Obama's radicalization of American government needs to be stopped.
In this case, the nominee is Northern California federal district court nominee Edward Chen, forwarded by the Senate Judiciary Committee to the full Senate last Friday on a party-line vote. Mr. Chen is currently a federal magistrate in San Francisco, and a lawyer long active with the American Civil Liberties Union before that.
Judge Chen's words speak for themselves. When the congregation sang "America the Beautiful" at a funeral, Judge Chen told the audience of his "feelings of ambivalence and cynicism when confronted with appeals to patriotism - sometimes I cannot help but feel that there are too much [sic] injustice and too many inequalities that prevent far too many Americans from enjoying the beauty extolled in that anthem."
In a speech on Sept. 22, 2001, he said that among his first responses to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on America was a "sickening feeling in my stomach about what might happen to race relations and religious tolerance on our own soil. ... One has to wonder whether the seemingly irresistible forces of racism, nativism and scapegoating which has [sic] recurred so often in our history can be effectively restrained."
And talking about the role of judges, he in effect embraced the "empathy standard" that Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor was forced to denounce in her own confirmation hearings: "Simply put, a judge's life experiences affect the willingness to credit testimony or understand the human impact of legal rules upon which the judge must decide. These determinations require a judge to draw upon something that is not found in the case reports that line the walls of our chambers. Rather judges draw upon the breadth and depth of their own life experience.... Inevitably, one's ethnic and racial background contributes to those life experiences."
You get the picture. To quote and paraphrase Sen. Charles E. Schumer from another occasion, this man's attitude "doesn't even whisper 'judge.' " Instead, it yells out that he is a biased radical willing to impose his own politics from the bench. Judge Chen should not be confirmed.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2009 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Bisa ||
10/27/2009 13:38 Comments ||
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One Obama advisor who has not gotten much attention to date is Dalia Mogahed, appointed earlier this year to serve on something called the President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Mogahed, who claims Muslims in America have spent the last eight years "enduring religious racism," recently made a very disturbing joint appearance on British TV's "Islam Channel" with an official from Hizb un Tahrir -- the Sunni fundamentalist group that wants to impose sharia law as the foundation for establishing a global caliphate. (See here and here.) The theme of the program was that sharia doesn't really oppress women -- in fact, it's far better for them than Western notions of liberty. (Cinnamon Stillwell has details at the Middle East Forum, here.)
A very different perspective is offered by the Syrian-born American psychiatrist Wafa Sultan in a bracing new book called A God Who Hates, about the bleak life of women in Islamic societies. Andrew Bostom reviews the book at the American Thinker.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2009 00:00 ||
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sharia doesn't really oppress women -- in fact, it's far better for them than Western notions of liberty.
Then let them move back to the shitholes that practice it.
Democratic Gov. Corzine winked as he extended his hand to independent Chris Daggett in a ceremonial handshake before the last televised debate in the tumultuous New Jersey governor's race.
Was it a facial tic or, as some wonder, something more - confirmation of a conspiracy theory running through Republican circles that Daggett is somehow being helped by Corzine? Wouldn't be surprising. Daggett's rise has coincided with Christie's decline ...
Suspicion runs rampant when a candidate becomes a major factor in a race that appears to be a near tie between the big-party nominees.
Independent pollsters and analysts say Daggett's recent surge in popularity hurts Republican nominee Christopher J. Christie a little more than it hurts Corzine.
"Without Daggett, Christie would be in better shape," said David Redlawsk, a political scientist and director of the Rutgers University poll. "Corzine has simply sat where he is, not able to break that 40 percent number, while Christie has gone down as Daggett has gone up."
Redlawsk probed further a week ago by asking Daggett supporters whom they would vote for if they didn't pull for their candidate. Thirty-four percent said they would vote for Christie, and 28 percent said Corzine. Twenty-four percent said they wouldn't vote at all.
Daggett polled at 20 percent, the number that he has said from the outset of his campaign would signify a chance to win. When the poll came out, his campaign contributions went up, allowing him to buy more ads.
Sean Darcy, Corzine's communications director, denied that the governor's campaign was helping Daggett.
"We're clearly not propping anyone up," he said. "Anyone who knows Daggett knows nobody speaks for him or pushes him around."
Daggett dismissed the notion as "another Republican scare tactic to try to say an independent can't win a race or can't govern."
Rider University political scientist Ben Dworkin said Corzine was more worried about holding on to Democratic voters than throwing votes at Daggett. The "cavalcade of stars" visiting New Jersey - including President Obama and former President Bill Clinton, who stumped for the governor last week - did so to energize Democrats, Dworkin said.
Even before Redlawsk's poll, the Republicans determined that Daggett was damaging Christie. Christie's campaign, supplemented by the Republican Governors Association, spent the last two weeks attacking Daggett, stepping up its attacks last week. It has tried to brand him as the "second Democrat" in the race, or "Corzine light" - appeals to voters it believes could drift his way.
"The Corzine campaign hopes [Daggett] attracts away anti-Corzine voters and gives them an alternative place to go other than Christie," said Mike Duhaime, Christie's political consultant.
Duhaime is aware of the conspiracy theorists but, like other Republicans, could not cite evidence that Corzine and Daggett were in cahoots.
"I think the people of New Jersey are fed up to the teeth with the two parties," said Hazel Gluck, a lobbyist and former assemblywoman who served in the inner circles of Republican Govs. Christie Whitman and Thomas H. Kean.
"People all across the country are fed up with the two parties, and this could be their way of saying, 'We've had enough of all of you.' " Gluck said.
Whitman went so far as to tell Fox News last week that Corzine's campaign was "urging people quietly to support Chris Daggett because, by doing that, they figure they'll split the independent vote."
Though she declined to be interviewed for this article, Whitman said through a spokeswoman that she had been quoted accurately.
"That she's a conspiracy theorist I find amazing for a woman who is intelligent and the former governor of our state," said Daggett, a former Republican who served in the Kean administration.
Winks aside, Daggett said, he's focusing on just one thing: "How can I continue to show people what I have to offer and then let the chips fall where they fall?"
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2009 00:00 ||
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Whitman went so far as to tell Fox News last week that Corzine's campaign was "urging people quietly to support Chris Daggett because, by doing that, they figure they'll split the independent vote."
Doesn't look like Christie is going to be caught with a live boy or a dead girl in the next few weeks so Corslime has no other play if he is to retain the office.
President Barack Obama's two-day visit to Florida beginning Monday marks his first personal outreach to Democrats there heading into 2010 and indicates how determined his White House is to compete for the state in 2012.
This trip, more than any the president has taken since January, looks like a campaign swing. The itinerary and the events are crafted to accentuate positives -- health care and the economy are not on the agenda -- and to squeeze the most into his time there.
"He's doing very much what George W. Bush did when he got elected, visiting Florida and Pennsylvania, states he wanted to flip or keep in his column," said David Johnson, a Republican political consultant. "They're shoring up for 2012."
Obama will hit three of the swing state's largest media markets. He begins in Jacksonville, stays overnight in Miami and flies to a rural area in a moderate Republican congressional district near Tampa Tuesday morning before returning to Washington. Along the way the president will energize new Democrats and the traditional faithful and engage the state's independent and moderate Republican voters who were pivotal to his election.
That the president is staying overnight in itself is significant. Obama has only bunked overnight in the same state where he'll hold an event the following day twice since taking office: in Arizona and California. Unlike Florida, both states geographically make for a tricky day trip. By stretching out his Florida visit over two days, Obama sends a strong signal about the state's significance, and gets more media coverage.
Perhaps the strongest sign that Obama is in campaign mode is that his scheduled events sidestep controversial issues.
While he's in a state with an abundance of seniors, who are nervous about the impact Obama's health care reform plan will have on Medicare, the president will not host an event focusing on his current top legislative priority. And despite Florida's double-digit unemployment rate, Obama's events will not focus specifically on the economy (although he'll likely mention jobs during an energy event).
Instead the president will raise money for the DCCC and DSCC, address members of the military and headline an energy event highlighting climate change legislation that Congress is struggling to pass this year at the opening of the largest solar power facility in the country.
"It's obviously very important for us," Kirk Wagar, Obama's top Florida fundraiser during the 2008 campaign, said of the president's visit. "It absolutely shows that we take nothing for granted."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2009 00:00 ||
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when is this guy not in campaign mode? The Campaigner-in-Chief would be a more apt title for him.
#4
I remember reading (Maybe in the Peter Principle) The sure mark of a Manager out of his (Mental) Depth is he stalls instead of deciding until the decision is either plain, or made for him.
Hummm, Sounds like a certain Famous Half-Black fellow we all know, doesn't it?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/27/2009 14:29 Comments ||
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Instead the president will raise money for the DCCC and DSCC...
He was hired to do a job, not work for executive bonuses.
A new poll done for the Club for Growth shows Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman leading the New York special election.
The Basswood Research poll has Hoffman at 31 percent, Democrat Bill Owens at 27 percent and Republican Dede Scozzafava at 20 percent. The Club is supporting Hoffman in the race.
Owens has led the last two public polls on the race, with Hoffman third in both at 23 percent, so this poll represents quite a different (or changing) picture of the race. Hoffman has seen his online donations surge over the last couple of weeks and has gained new traction thanks to big-name Republican endorsements.
The Club's past polling has also differed from other pollsters', including when it had the race as a three-way tie early on.
The Club has not released the full details of the poll.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2009 00:00 ||
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Beck had Hoffman on last night, Hoffman is about as exciting as watching paint dry.
#2
Hoffman is about as exciting as watching paint dry.
He's NEW, never been in politics....a FNG......give him time......Mr. Smith goes to washington. I personally hope he makes it. Scozzafava's a freakin LIB
#3
Hoffman is not exciting. He's a CPA. They tend to be conservative. You don't want a CPA that is too creative--especially with the books. I've not known too many CPAs who are exciting. That said, I care more about what he stands for and how well he represents his constituents rather than the status quo in Washington. I'm not looking for a cult of personality. We have that already and it's not working out too well.
#4
Newt has been all over CATV News outlets (I guess in campaign mode?) spouting that Hoffman does not even live in that district, can anyone here confirm..
Posted by: Tom- Pa ||
10/27/2009 12:52 Comments ||
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Hard to say if he lives in district. His residcence on Wikipedia is Lake Placid. On the map of the district Lake Placid proper is gerrymandered out of the district, but it is not clear if he might live in part of the district without knowing his exact address. Newt will be the big loser.
#6
This poor district has a choice between Obama, Obama Lite and Wet Paint. I'm sorry for Mr Hoffman, he looked totally out of his element. Beck tried everything to draw him out but he could barely answer yes or no without hesitation.
#7
given the "ram it through, NOW!" attitude in the Exec and Legislature, a distinct "hey! maybe we oughtta read it first and talk about it?" attitude is welcome
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/27/2009 20:54 Comments ||
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As he is quick to point out, President Obama is presiding over two wars, a sour economy, and an epic fight to rebuild the nation's health care system.
Now he has tacked on state and local political races. With an off-year election fast approaching, Obama is stepping up his commitment to Democratic candidates in hopes that an infusion of campaign charisma might pump up turnout.
What the party is finding, though, is that the electricity of 2008 is tough to recapture. Some Democratic candidates running for local office around the country call the phenomenon the "Obama Hangover.'' It is proving tougher to recruit volunteers and get people to vote.
"It's like the morning after the party,'' said Michael McGann, a Democrat running for clerk of courts in the Philadelphia suburbs. "The party was wonderful and exciting. The day after it's like, 'Gee, I don't want to do that again for a while.' ''
Obama is trying to inspire voters with the "fired up; ready to go'' fervor that made last year's race riveting political theater.
But Democratic candidates are hard pressed to scratch out victories this year in the New Jersey and Virginia governor's races, and in a congressional race in upstate New York's 23d District.
In New Jersey, local issues such as high property taxes loom large. Asked if an appearance by Obama would make them more likely to vote for Governor Jon Corzine, the Democratic incumbent, nearly three-quarters of state voters polled said no.
Conditions look even tougher for Democrats in Virginia. A recent survey showed the Democratic candidate for governor, Creigh Deeds, trailing Republican Bob McDonnell by 12 points.
Worse for the Democrats, if any one constituency is energized this season it's conservatives, who are angry about rising deficits, some pollsters said.
"There's real anger on the right, and that anger isn't matched by enthusiasm on the left,'' said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling. "So the emotion is on the side of the far right.''
A clean sweep by Democrats looks unattainable. So for Obama, the question is how much to invest in what could turn out to be losing candidacies.
"They're trying to make sure they're responsive to the needs and wants of the campaigns, and at the same time recognize the limits of their usefulness,'' said Jim Margolis, who was a senior adviser to Obama's presidential campaign. "If I were advising him, I would advise him not to set up campaigns in New Jersey and Virginia.''
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2009 00:00 ||
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This hangover is going to last for years!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
10/27/2009 9:05 Comments ||
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It will be a hangover... then to find out the person you went home with gave you something that doesn't clear up easily without a painful shot.
Creigh Deeds, the Democratic candidate for governor of Virginia, has a Barack Obama problem. Obama won Virginia in last year's presidential race--the first Democrat to do so in 44 years--but his popularity in the state has plunged since then. Deeds is conflicted. Asked if he's an "Obama Democrat," Deeds said he's a "Creigh Deeds Democrat," whatever that is. And he's skipped two of three Obama appearances in Virginia during the campaign season.
The rub is Deeds can't live with Obama, and can't live without him. His campaign is sputtering, he trails Republican Bob McDonnell by 7 points or more in every poll, and the Democratic base is demoralized. He needs Obama's help in arousing voters and creating a Democratic surge in turnout on November 3.
The downside is Obama motivates Republicans as well and is likely to have little effect on independents. In 2006 and 2008--disastrous election years for Republicans in Virginia--"the independents were behaving like Democrats," says former Republican congressman Tom Davis. They had turned sharply against President Bush and the war in Iraq. With Bush gone, independents are increasingly leery of Obama. For Deeds, the president is a "net negative," Davis says.
The Obama problem isn't unique to Deeds. It's likely to afflict many Democratic candidates in 2010. A strong economic rebound and a rise in Obama's approval rating would ease the problem. But for the foreseeable future in regions where Obama is relatively weak--Sunbelt, border, plains, Rockies--Democratic candidates will be skittish about being linked to the president.
Virginia 2009 is the test case. Since 2004, Democrats here have won a presidential race, a second straight contest for governor, three House seats, two U.S. Senate seats, and control of the state senate. That's a powerful Democratic trend. Virginia seemed to have moved from Republican stronghold to blue state almost overnight--or at least to swing state that tilts Democratic.
But maybe not. The political landscape a year later looks quite different. John McCain lost to Obama by 53 percent to 46 percent in 2008. Davis says if the probable shape of the turnout next week--fewer students and blacks, more Republican-leaning independents and angry seniors--had been the case last year, McCain would have won the state. Polls of likely voters suggest the same.
When Deeds, a rural state senator, won the Democratic primary in June, Democrats were optimistic. With his moderate-to-liberal record, Deeds seemed well positioned to unite Democrats, attract independents, and win the governorship. Republicans, who'd expected former Democratic national chairman Terry McAuliffe, to be the nominee, were rattled. Deeds led McDonnell in two polls.
It's been all downhill from there. Democrats would have you believe the blame rests with Deeds and his inept campaign. There's some truth in that. In contrast, McDonnell, who defeated Deeds for attorney general by 323 votes in 2005, has run a crisp, disciplined, inclusive campaign from the start.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2009 00:00 ||
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#3
Husband: "But honey, if I do that to you, I'll be violating the UCMJ."
Wife: Slap!
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
10/27/2009 1:32 Comments ||
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#4
A panel of legal scholars has suggested that Congress remove sodomy as a crime punishable under the Uniform Code of Military Justice,..
Call it the Gerry Studds Amendment. It's like turning a new page. Obviously, the 'legal scholars' fail to grasp a fundamental of power dynamics - one set of rules for me, another set of rules for thee - be it sexual proclivity, taxes, health care, etc. Rules are for the little people to keep them in line.
Another special interest which treats the power mongers at Congress as divorced from their constituents. It's 'Congress', not the 'people' who need to be convinced in their perspective.
#12
Out of respect for Sharia Law and the religion of peace mind you!
You can still get the monthly PlayGoats® in the local markets, however.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
10/27/2009 16:29 Comments ||
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#13
Who are the people on these panels? Someone should arrange for them to be on the receiving end of some forced buggery. I am so tired of the gibbering assmonkeys.
At what point does decent Society spontaneously decide to rid itself of these parasitic vermin? That is a serious question. You would think that at some point, enough people are going to say ENOUGH! and just take matters into their own hands. Grrr!
#14
When they equate butt sex with oral sex in terms of "degree" of illegality and say its the same is disgusting. Seriously WTF??? No big friggin deal, right? I cant be a believer in that. Not to mention fruits in the military do create way too much disruptive drama. The panel are a bunch of friggin ball licker geniuses no doubt.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
With just a week to go in New Jerseys closely contested race for governor, Republican Chris Christie holds a three-point advantage over incumbent Democratic Governor Jon Corzine. 
President Barack Obama's two-day visit to Florida beginning Monday marks his first personal outreach to Democrats there heading into 2010 and indicates how determined his White House is to compete for the state in 2012.
A new poll done for the Club for Growth shows Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman leading the New York special election.
