Ornstein says ‘nihilists’ and he always knows what he’s talking about

Norm Ornstein chimed in this morning on the near future of the GOP. He views Cantor’s loss less as the beginning of a populist trend and more a preview of intracine battles yet to come in the party. It’s here.

He sets it up with pitch perfect – and delightful – disdain for our fickle media narrative:

The new dominant narrative, of course, is that the Tea Party rose up, struck back, showed its muscle and has the party establishment on its heels. That replaces the previous narrative, that the establishment rose up, struck back, and has the Tea Party on its heels.

And wraps with this:

American political parties always face a tension between their establishment and ideological wings. On the Republican side, going back more than a hundred years to the Teddy Roosevelt era, that was a struggle between moderate progressives and conservatives.

Now it is different. There are no moderates or progressives in today’s GOP; the fight is between hard-line conservatives who believe in smaller government and radical nihilists who want to blow up the whole thing, who have as much disdain for Republican traditional conservatives as they do for liberals.

Always worth a look is old Norm.

Here’s the best news out of that Virginia primary

Okay, we all know now that a very powerful entrenched leader of the national Republican Party and the US House was tossed out by a previously unknown opponent. That’s the politics.

But for the rest of us, it’s more than politics. It’s hope. Eric Cantor outspent his challenger by 26 to 1 and lost. Cantor campaign spent OVER $5,000,000;  Brat spent $200,000.

Money got a big fat slap upside the face last night. Sleep better tonight – everything looks more possible today.

Dragon slayer

What!!?? What??!!!

Eric Cantor lost his primary? Pigs are flying. The deed was done by a first time candidate, an economics professor who pretty much ran on immigration (he’s not for it). He had lottsa support from . . . wait for it . . . the Tea Party. (Actually, he may not be ‘of’ them, but was popular with them for what it’s worth.)

An amateur took down the (presumed) next Speaker of the House. Holy hobbyhorselobby!

I remember everything. Every piercing painful moment.

This should qualify as a perfect trifecta for Moe. It all comes together right here in a single number – an oldie, politics, and an anniversary. Plus Frank Sinatra. So why am I so sad?

I guess he’s running for President

And now, in news from Wisconsin:

Gov. Scott Walker distanced himself from House Republicans debating a new immigration bill Tuesday by endorsing a path to citizenship for immigrant workers. . . .  He also was sharply critical of how difficult the federal government makes it for those workers to come to this country.

“If people want to come here and work hard and benefit, I don’t care whether they come from Mexico or Ireland or Germany or Canada or South Africa or anywhere else,” he said. “I want them here.”

Yup. Running for the big one. The Reverend Perry better watch out!

Finally! A genuine case of voter fraud

In December of 2011 Newt Gingrich needed 10,000 signatures to get his name on the Virginia presidential primary ballot. Adam Ward, 28, collected more than 11,000 signatures according to prosecutors. More than 4,000 signatures could not be verified by investigators.

Tuesday night, Ward pleaded guilty to 36 counts of voter fraud and perjury in Augusta Circuit Court.

Sentencing is scheduled for December.

I didn’t know young people, college kids and blacks in Georgia were so enthused about Newt.

Now it’s even more urgent that Trump get back into politics

This is a disaster for we vapid, shallow news junkies and consumers of utter nonsense. Aiken lost. Palin is gone (mostly, give it a few more months). Is it going to have to be all Louis Gomert all the time? Come back Donald, come back. Please.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) announced early Wednesday that she would not seek a fifth term in Congress in 2014 but would keep fighting for the conservative principles that made her a favorite of the tea party movement and, she said, are vital to protecting the United States from moral and economic decline.

Because it’s so much easier to throw stones than waste time on all that problem solving stuff.

Some scandals be a-comin’ her way, so time is of the essence – there are riches out there, waiting to be scooped up before fame fades.

please please please please . . .. oh dear Elvis, please

Let this be so. Please.

Donald Trump has spent more than $1 million on electoral research for a potential presidential run in 2016.

From Glenn Beck’s ‘Blaze’: whuddaya think?

Teh blacks are gonna get us this time fer sure!

In case you can’t see it, the cryon reads:

VOTER INTIMIDATION CONCERNS: Member of Black Panther Party at PA voting site. (Got it? One member. And he is present. I’d say case closed.)

• Doocey at 0:16: “That looks like intimidation. Like in 2008.”  No question. Being black is quite enough proof.
• Video at 0:50: OMG, the intimidator in chief just opened the door for a lady!! I’ll bet she’s a Kenyan commie!
• Other guy at 0:54: “It appears to be intimidating. It is intimidating!” Oh dear, I hope that guy doesn’t open any more doors or we all might die!

This keen bit of reporting ought to earn those FOX fellows the Great Hero of the Electoral Restoration of 2012 badge.

Expect that tonight enough underwear will be tied into knots to bring everyone home from the Space Station and shuttles be damned!

 

 

My Romney peeps will pull the Romney lever anyway, but . . .

I’m not listening, I’m not listening . . .

. . . do note that Romney’s constant campaign rhetoric has been “Obama promised to cut the debt/deficit in half but instead he’s doubled it (debt/deficit)!”

He uses the terms carelessly and interchangeably. The debt is not the deficit. The deficit is not the debt.

Obama promised to cut the deficit in half. He did. Actually, he said his ‘proposed budget’ would cut the deficit. I can’t even remember if that budget ever passed the House.

But this is just political trivia – there’s not a conscious Romney voter to whom that fact will make a difference.

 

Pop quiz: which are the anti-Americans

I understand that seven of these guys just voted for that black President again. You’d better go ask your Limbaugh admiring neighbor if he would kindly identify them for you. Can’t be too careful.

So maybe I’ll liveblog . ..

Maybe.

But, but, but . . . he’s not a Mormon!

The Salt Lake City Tribune (I love any newspaper that calls itself ‘Tribune’) just endorsed a candidate for President. Guess who.

(They’re rolling in tonight. More endorsements from elite liberal newspapers: The Denver Post and The Tampa Bay Times.)

Nooooooo . . .

Dear Mr. President:

When someone asks you about the price of gas, you really ought to say that no president can affect the price of gas. No president.

Oil is fungible. The world market sets the price. People would understand that. Really.

Love, Moe

Could that gay Kenyan Muslim be this diabolical?

I think we all agree that Obama’s oddly lethargic demeanor handed Romney the win in Wednesday night’s debate. But did it also . . .

• . . . . deny Romney any opportunity to put his own spin on the 47% video? I’m sure he had a crisp and well rehearsed answer. All he needed was the question, but it didn’t come.  He was locked and loaded, 70 million viewers and their 140 million eyes were waiting, but the question didn’t come. Poor guy had to go on Hannity the next night and present his case to barely a tenth of the audience.

. . . .  boost the chances for Democratic ‘down-ticket’ candidates? Even before the debate, party and PAC money was shifting away from Romney into the war chests of Republican Senate and House candidates. But the dollars did a quick U-turn after the debate because Romney wasn’t a loser anymore! Which is pretty good news for the Democrats who are running for those Senate and House seats.

I don’t beleive it either, just fishing for a silver lining.

It’s my fault. Romney took my advice

Friend Gina just reminded me of what I said Romney needed to do in his convention speech if he wanted to appeal to a broader base. Since he’d already won the nomination, that acceptance speech should come from a guy who’s going to actually be running in the general election. He didn’t take my advice then, but by Wednesday night he’d listened to this mama and he did as he was told. Full post here. Summary:

He’s a technocrat, a strategizer, an analyst and he’s been very very successful where those qualities have mattered.

He shouldn’t hide from it. He should acknowledge – publicly – who he isn’t.

But whatever way he goes, he’ll still be a weak candidate unless he actually presents a vision that goes beyond the bumper sticker talking points.

I think that’s what he did the other night.

Dishonestly for sure, lying openly for sure, cavalier to the extreme, but he knew that millions of viewers were taking their first good look at him as a candidate – and what he said is what they’ll remember.

And Ayn Ryan didn’t help

Look at “Age 65 and Older”. That’s a demo where Romney should be doing much better. Perhaps some day, in one of what will be many stories about how the 2012 election played out, this graphic might be resurrected and renamed How Medicare sunk Romney ‘s dreams of the White House. Chart from National Journal where the story is worth a read.

Does the Angel Moroni know about this?

There’s an article in Addictinginfo from a former Mormon who says Romney “should never be President”. The tone seems a bit like sour-grapes, but there was this, having to do with the growth of Mormonism (which I’ve heard reported to have the fastest growth of any religion in the country).

If the membership numbers come from the Church, this makes them suspect:

Mormons duck out the back door of the church as quickly as they come in the front door. The number of people on the church rolls rises all the time, but that’s because even if you join and then decide the church really isn’t for you, they still continue to count you as a member. . . . .

Mormons have a member “stand in” for a dead person and they’re baptized as a member of the church.

Mormons have a couple “stand in” for a dead man and woman and marry them into the church, and those count as a “twofer” in church membership rolls. Supposedly they’re “sealed for time and eternity” as husband and wife.

There’s also this, which made me giggle:

Mormons are also supposedly the only ones who will be allowed to have sexual intercourse in Heaven.

A good speech at last

Alright, I’ve only seen a few of tonight’s speeches but nothing excited me till just now, when Sister something-or-other of Nuns on the Bus  did a bit of much needed barn burning. She was wonderful, joyous, generous and very mischevious. Thank you Sister.

As Catholic Sisters, we must speak out against the current House Republican budget, authored by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI).

I wonder if it’s true?

If so, this could be the biggest thing this campaign season since Newt Gingrich’s head.  Per Mashable, a techy sorta social network sorta site:

Mitt Romney’s tax returns are reportedly in the hands of a team of hackers who plan on releasing them publicly at the end of the month unless a ransom is paid.

The group allegedly obtained the files from PricewaterhouseCooper’s Tennessee office on Aug. 25, in what was described on PasteBin as a Mission Impossible-like caper:

Romney’s 1040 tax returns were taken from the PWC office 8/25/2012 by gaining access to the third floor via a gentleman working on the 3rd floor of the building. Once on the 3rd floor, the team moved down the stairs to the 2nd floor and setup shop in an empty office room. During the night, suite 260 was entered, and all available 1040 tax forms for Romney were copied. A package was sent to the PWC on suite 260 with a flash drive containing a copy of the 1040 files, plus copies were sent to the Democratic office in the county and copies were sent to the GOP office in the county at the beginning of the week also containing flash drives with copies of Romney’s tax returns before 2010. A scanned signature image for Mitt Romney from the 1040 forms were scanned and included with the packages, taken from earlier 1040 tax forms gathered and stored on the flash drives.

The files are to be released to the public on Sept. 28, according to the PasteBin document.

This is the rising star?

Tonight’s keynoter: this speech isn’t working for me. The young mayor of San Antonio is handsome for sure. Hispanic for sure. And a very good speaker. But so far – he’s still speaking – the lad hasn’t managed to light my fire. 

One thing bothered me right off the bat: he does that thing Obama does, where he lowers his voice almost to a whisper to deliver the punch line (right into the mic of course). I never like it when Obama does it and I like it less when a young wanna-be does it.

I’m probably being unfair. This is an accomplished kid and I’m here sitting on my very comfortable couch thinking about a bowl of raspberries with some confectioners’ sugar sprinkled on top.

Hmmm.

Now Cory Booker is leaving everyone before him in the dust

It’s just getting better and better. Tonight is full of that ole time religion!!

Strickland rocks too

If Lewis Black had a child with Lyndon Johnson, they’d have to name the kid Ted Strickland. I’ve never heard him before; he’s the former Democratic governor of Ohio. I’ve  counted more political clichés than it should be decently possible to squeeze into a single speech – and he’s making every single one of them work.

More of this please.

Dem days: I wanted to be fair, but . . .

Harry Reid, is not the second worst. speaker.ever.

And another. You’re on a roll ladies!

More from Little Green Footballs:

 

Sarah Palin does not disappoint

The ‘half-governor’ and now national joke offers one of her signature word-salads on Todd Akin. Here’s an exquisitely twisted bit of grammar (my favorite part is in bold). Just splendid.

Todd Akin has said he’s not going to drop out, and bless his heart, I don’t want to pile on Todd Akin, because in some respects I understand what he was trying to say here, in standing on principle that he doesn’t want to be perceived as a quitter, but you gotta know when to hold ’em and know when to fold ’em. Believe me, I’ve walked before, and I know when you have to hold that mantle and then hand it someone else in order to progress a positive agenda. That’s what I had to do in Alaska.

He’s a man with a plan

Romney and Robin were on the trial today, out there, tie-less, with the people.

QUESTION: “If you guys take over Washington, what are you going to do about this damn mess in Afghanistan?”

ANSWER: “I can tell you this, when I become commander in chief if I’m so lucky, I will address the American people about these issues. […] With regards to Afghanistan, I will do everything in my power to transition from our military to their military as soon as possible, bring our men and women home and do so in a way consistent with our mission . . “

Wow. That’s bold. And so different from, ya’ know, what we’ve been doing for the last seven or eight years.

“America’s comeback team”

I was wrong. I thought Romney would bypass Ryan. He’s from Congress – a body with an 11% approval rate. He voted with Bush on Medicare D. His budget is unpopular.  He’s aligned with the Tea Party. He’s a Randian.

HIs appeal is narrow, but he will energize a segment of the Republican electorate with a pretty good record of getting the vote out.

Ryan closed his speech with ‘We will be America’s comeback team’. Good line, very good line. If they’re tuned in, that phrase should become central to the campaign from now on.

 

 

Bill Mahar explains the difference between a Model-T and bags of money

Perfect.