The Politics Thread

[DRW50]

After the huge fiasco of his being unable to get on the ballot and having his signatures investigated, McCotter has just decided not to run again. I guess this tells you the level of support he had within his party. This is one of the oddest stories I've ever heard.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0612/77000.html

[Roman]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/05/paycheck-fairness-act-senate-vote_n_1571413.html

That party tells everyone every day where they stand.

[DRW50]

Tonight is the big night in Wisconsin. The recall Gov. Walker campaign ends, as do lt. governor and a number of state senate races. Due either to Democratic ineptitude, fatigue, or both, along with big GOP $$$, Walker and the other Republicans are likely to win.

California and New Jersey are having primaries, some very bitter due to gerrymandering throwing incumbents together. California no longer has the traditional primary system, and instead does "top two vote getters." They will be on the ballot in November. The most interesting of these may be Pete Stark, 80 years old, in office for many a decade, explosive, atheist, fiery, in a very ugly battle with a 31 year old up and comer who has repeatedly accused Stark of lying about him and his campaign.

Edited June 6, 2012 by CarlD2

[DRW50]

Exit polls claim the WI recall gov race is 50-50, but so far early results favor Walker. We'll see what happens.

[DRW50]

Looks like Walker will win big. Not sure what was going on with the exits. Maybe someone wanted to laugh at Democrats.

Once again money, and hate for those evil teachers and federal workers, wins out.

[MissLlanviewPA]

NBC called it a little while ago, the Huffington Post is saying it too (there's a live election feed on their website--I'm listening to it now).

So frustrated about Wisconsin tonight. I mean, it's expected, but frustrating. Gah.

[DRW50]

There was a sad anecdote in, I think, Esquire, from a huge Scott Walker fan, who retired from the post office because they cut down to a three day work week. He was supporting Walker because he was furious that his sister-in-law, a teacher, got free dental care. He said no one deserves free health care.

This is what America has become. It's not about succeeding - it's about punishing others to make sure they also have no chance.

[MichaelGL]

This video/interview = nail:head. Basically sums up that the congressional dysfunction we see today is not like those of the past. Think tankers Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann discuss their book which charts the decline of cooperative problem-solving in Washington.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-june-4-2012/exclusive---norman-j--ornstein---thomas-e--mann-extended-interview-pt--1

[Max]

I'm not going to say much about the botched recall effort by Democrats in WI, other than the fact that it represented an embarrassing defeat for the far-left and big labor. However, I am not somebody who was jumping for joy at the result, for the simple reason that it really won't affect the presidential race in that state. (I still expect Obama to win WI, though he will have to spend more resources than originally planned to defend it. On the flip side, I worry that Romney will spend too much time and money trying to win a liberal state that even Michael Dukakis won.)

I'm thankful that there are some voices of moderation within the Democratic Party. For example, President Clinton felt it was wise to extend the Bush tax cuts until the economy gets better. (Not surprisingly, he seemed to backtrack his original statements after the MSNBC wing of the party had a hissy fit.)

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ITwoqtlQDIs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The moderates prevailed again in a New Jersey Democratic primary that pitted two incumbent Congressman against each other. (Such a race occurred because NJ lost a House seat due to its below average population growth in the last decade.) In a move that was purely opportunistic, Steve Rothman chose not to run against a Republican incumbent in the fall but instead chose to represent a Congressional District that isn't his home district. He challenged Bill Pascrell (whose home was in the district) and trashed him for "siding with polluters" and not being supportive enough of gay marriage (even though Pascrell "evolved" on the issue before Obama did). In a major upset, the Clinton-backed Pascrell got over 60% of the vote against the Obama-supported Rothman.

Edited June 7, 2012 by Max

[DRW50]

I don't see how it's an upset if you win in the district you've represented for years.

[Max]

It's an upset because one would expect the more liberal candidate to win a Democratic primary, because no pre-election polls showed Pascrell crushing Rothman, and because most of the political analysis I read predicted a Rothman victory. (Also, not all of the new district was previously represented by Pascrell. But, it upset a lot of people that Rothman's home was not in the district whereas Pascrell's was. If Rothman wanted to, he could have challenged an extremely conservative Republican--Scott Garrett--who will represent the town that Rothman resides in. However, he opted not to do that and instead took the easier option of challenging Pascrell.)

Edited June 7, 2012 by Max

[DRW50]

Most of what I read was that Rothman would win and if he hurt himself it was by his own mistakes, not any of his opponent's strengths.

As for Clinton, he has a long history of saying the wrong thing. Even his aides were baffled.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0612/77147.html

[Max]

Carl, I do think that Rothman was hurt by the fact that he looked so opportunistic by running in another district. (And he never adequately explained why he was doing this, other than to say that defeating Garrett would be a hopeless undertaking; he just attacked Pascrell for not being "progressive" enough.) Pascrell isn't the best politician in the world, but I was very impressed with the way he was able to get out the vote in Passaic County.

Even though Garrett's district is solidly Republican, I think that Rothman could have made the general election competitive (given that Garrett is so far to the right). I wonder if Rothman regrets his choice, as things couldn't have ended any worse for him. (He even stated that he doesn't expect to run for public office again.)

I honestly do believe that Clinton has a legitimate policy disagreement with Obama. That being said, I am not naive enough to believe that's the only factor at play: he obviously wants Obama to lose as well. Clinton is walking a fine line, because he can't openly cheer for a Romney victory. Instead, he has to go through the motions of supporting the president all the while dropping comments that undermine his re-election (such as his support for the Bush tax cuts as well as his statement that he believes Romney is qualified to be president).

What I don't understand is why few, if any, Democrats aren't openly pushing for Obama to drop his re-election bid and hand his delegates--and, by extension, the Democratic nomination--to Hillary Clinton. I'll be perfectly honest and say that this is something that would bother the hell out of me, given the underhanded nature of such a tactic. That being said, swing voters could care less, and the end result would be a Clinton landslide over Romney. Given the hatred that Democrats have for Romney, the choice seems clear for them: stick with Obama and risk a 50% chance of losing, or nominate Clinton and have a 100% chance of winning.

Edited June 7, 2012 by Max

[Roman]

We read the exact same story today. I guess it gets forgotten all the off the wall statements that have made by members of Congress, particularly those in the Republican Party. I just feel in bones that the RP has not one idea to get working class Americans back to work. I've heard no plan...have you?

[DRW50]

Hillary would have as much of a chance of winning as Obama. The same money spent making people hate him would make people hate her. Hillary is popular now because she is not running for President.

Bill Clinton is responsible for many of the problems we have in America today, thanks to 8 years of enabling rollbacks on the checks and balances which kept our economy from falling off a cliff. He likes to hear himself talk and nothing else matters. That's why he ruined Hillary's chances.

Besides hating minorities and women, the only tactic seems to be constantly reinforcing how you should hate and envy public workers and want their benefits to be cut down to nothing. It's all about making sure everyone but their rich friends gets kicked in the teeth.