The Politics Thread

[DRW50]

Joseph McGinniss, who wrote a scathing insider account of Nixon's 1968 campaign, but may be most recently known for his feud with Sarah Palin, passed away.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/03/joe-mcginniss-dies-at-71-104507.html

[Max]

I have decided to change my prediction for the Florida special election held today: I now believe that Alex Sink will defeat David Jolly. The latest poll shows Sink ahead by 3%, and a Libertarian candidate (who is most likely taking a lot more votes away from Jolly) is at 6% support.

Edited March 11, 2014 by Max

[DRW50]

I think it's going to be close. I'd say 1% either way. Or 2%. As you may have heard, the GOP is furious with Jolly, but I have to wonder how much of that is to try to convince Sink voters that they can stay home.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/03/david-jolly-alex-sink-florida-special-election-2014-104397.html

Media darling Marco, in spite of Beltway gushing over his speech and how hard he's working to prove to them what a stud he is, had a horrible showing at CPAC this weekend.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2014/03/08/cpac_2014_rand_paul_wins_the_straw_poll_as_marco_rubio_s_support_collapses.html

Edited March 11, 2014 by DRW50

[Max]

In terms of the "expectations game," Christie did quite well, while Cruz did terribly. Here are the full results:

Rand Paul: 31%

Ted Cruz: 11%

Ben Carson: 9%

Chris Christie: 8%

Rick Santorum: 7%

Scott Walker: 7%

Marco Rubio: 6%

Rick Perry: 3%

Paul Ryan: 3%

Mike Huckabee: 2%

Bobby Jindal: 2%

Sarah Palin: 2%

Condi Rice: 2%

Note that this poll has historically been a poor predictor as to who gets the Republican nomination.

[DRW50]

Politico said that Cruz really underwhelmed with his speech, and the most attention he got was his shot at Bob Dole (which McCain asked him to apologize for).

Anyway, looks like David Jolly is going to beat Alex Sink by about 2%-3%. I think when this started a few months ago I said here he would win. I'm not that surprised. For all his flaws (and he is going to be a very flawed Congressman, and likely far less willing to bring the bacon home than Bill Young was), the district has supported Republicans for decades, and Alex Sink is a piss-poor candidate. I assume this was her last shot at the carousel.

[ThePrinceOfSunspear]

Very depressed about Florida and very worried about the potential impact of the Affordable Care Act on November. I really don't expect the Dems to pick up seats in the House like I want them to but now I'm very concerned about the Senate remaining in Democratic hands. I think Harry Reid has been a little too effective at enraging the Tea Party and the Republican base and they're out to get rid of him as majority leader no matter what.....

And again I'm sorry I know people will say there's nothing the President could have done to get the website working but I simply do not believe it. I mean I pinpoint all this negative news on that major failing. IF the website had worked I think there's absolutely no doubt that we would looking at 5-5.5 million enrolled (hell why not even 6 million) in the ACA rather than just 4.2 million. And that just gave the Republicans so much red meat and negative attack ads to last a lifetime.

Alex Sink apparently was a bad manager at some company she worked for and gave herself a bonus even though times were bad but I still think she should be utterly embarrassed that she lost to a LOBBYIST who was parading around that Florida district with a 26 year old girlfriend if I remember correctly. If she runs again in November I hope she'll take a better look at herself and actually stay in the damn district to build more support and meet more people. The amount of votes she lost by wasn't that bad but it's still shocking to me that she did.

Edited March 12, 2014 by ThePrinceOfSunspear

[marceline]

The Florida election wasn't about the ACA. That was a case of poor turnout. It was a special election and people just don't show up for those. They barely show up for midterms. It's the reason Chris Christie spent millions of taxpayer dollars to avoid being on the same ballot as Corey Booker.

One of the things I loathe about media coverage of elections is the fixation on trying to make local elections about national narratives. When examining electoral wins and failures, look at the local first. Back when Dennis Kucinich was one of Ohio's representatives I used to see the national media constantly try to spin how and why he got elected over and over. They tried to make it about ideology or Obama or Clinton or whatever. The reason Kucinich kept getting elected was because he was responsive to his constituents (before he turned into a famewhore). When you called his office, you got a response. It didn't matter whether you were calling about pending legislation or a stuck railroad crossing.

That's the reason I'm against term limits. If I'm lucky enough to have an elected official who does his job to my satisfaction then why shouldn't I be allowed to give him the job over and over?

[ThePrinceOfSunspear]

The 9 million spent by outside groups would disagree with you but you're absolutely entitled to your opinion. However I do think the ACA played a big role in nationalizing the race and motivating the Republicans in that district to vote....

[DRW50]

The "liberal" media once again doing angel kisses with gay men who are virulently anti-gay. Before you read anything from that overrated hack Ezra Klein, know who he hires.

http://americablog.com/2014/03/hipster-homophobia-ezra-klein-hires-jerry-falwell-loving-gay-bashing-gay-vox.html

RIP former Florida governor Reuben Askew.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/former-florida-gov-askew-dies

[DRW50]

That hack Klein admits he never even read any of Ambrisino's work. This is why I don't trust fake ass liberals.

http://prospect.org/article/ezra-kleins-queer-new-hire

[DRW50]

Scary developments in Russia.

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117007/while-west-watches-crimea-putin-cleans-house-moscow?utm_source=internal&utm_medium=flyout&utm_campaign=mostpopular

[Roman]

http://samuel-warde.com/2014/03/republican-lawmaker-posts-offensive-picture-battered-women-facebook/

I've seen many vile, horrible things said and done in politics. This is truly one of the sickest things I've seen from any politician. Just one more reason why I will NEVER vote for that party. This is just disgusting.

[ThePrinceOfSunspear]

I don't know if I'd consider Ezra Klein a "liberal". Every time I've seen him appear on MSNBC he usually plays the role of policy wonk and facts provider rather than taking either side hard on...

Regarding his recent hire I don't know much about the mans writing but I don't understand why people feel the need to attack Mr. Klein because of it. Just don't read his stuff if you don't like it. I find posts like the one on HuffingtonPost saying "I Call Bullsh**t on Ezra Klein...." completely laughable. At times it does seem like gay people are in the throes of this group think where they have to bully every one into agreeing with their views regardless of whether they have merit or not.

Sorry but there is the possibility that some people find gay marriage morally wrong while still want to find it in their hearts to support/love gay people. Rather than just automatically hating such people and attacking them as "homophobe!!!" right off the cuff wouldn't it be better to talk with those people in a rational conversations and try to show them the human aspect and why marriage is a legal right as well as a moral right since we're all created by the same God (at least in my opinion we are).....similarly it seems like he holds the same opinion I have regarding trans but because he used what apparently is an offensive word his thoughts on the matter were disregarded. I do think there's a BIG difference between people claiming that you choose to be gay versus someone choosing to go from man to woman or vice versa

[marceline]

Sometimes I wish I could be one of those people who doesn't care about politics.

[DRW50]

They were criticizing Klein because he was giddy over a hire that said bizarre, quasi-homophobic things for click bait, like "I chose to be gay," like tired old rants about pride parades (does anyone even care now? I'd say more straight people are at those than gay people), inappropriate and misguided attempts to use MLK to attack gay people, and other absurdities. This man is a hero to the far right because he is the gay apologist for their cause.

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/03/12/meet-brandon-ambrosino-homophobes-favorite-gay/198461

No one bullied Klein. They were horrified by his choice and he then admitted he hadn't even read any of the man's work. If you were running a paper or a magazine, would you hire someone without reading their work?

Edited March 22, 2014 by DRW50