January 2012
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RNC Research: Three Years As President And It... →
Today, President Obama Will Travel To Michigan To Announce A Plan Focusing On The Costs Of Higher Education.
Hey Republican National Committee. It’s me again. Because I’ve long bemoaned Tumblr’s failure to harbor a decent crop of conservatives. I have such high hopes … but this last post was a bit discouraging.
Here’s what I gathered from the post.
College...
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If you *had* to choose one of the (major)...
Paul? Romney? Santorum? Gingrich? (Assume whomever you choose wins the general.)
And why?
“[T]he only way out of … deadlock is an electoral rout of the GOP, since...”
– Andrew Sullivan
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RNC Research: SOTU Just More Words: Wall Street →
rncresearch:
Obama said he would not go back to the days when Wall Street was allowed to play by its own set of rules or allow financial institutions to make risky bets with customers’ deposits… unless they happen to be your “Wall Street guy” who bundled over $500,000 for your campaign.
Hey Republican National Committee! It’s nice to know that you’re giving the whole Tumblr...
"Ron Paul won't actually be able to do all the...
According to some Paul supporters, this is actually a reason to support Paul. Yeah, some of his idea are out there … but it’s not like he could ever make them reality. So what’s the harm.
The harm is that the President gets to make an awful lot of agency appointments. Who would Paul pick for Secretary of State? Who would he put in charge of the critically important Department...
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A 14% tax rate?
I’m not going to ask Mitt Romney to “apologize for his success.” But … I might ask him to act a little sheepish about his remarkably low tax-rate.
Guys like Mitt Romney are the guys who leave dinner early, leave enough cash to cover their tab, but skimp on the tip. It’s legal. But it’s not something to be proud of.
So...
Iowa: Santorum New Hampshire: Romney South Carolina: Gingrich
This sort of thing makes me so happy.
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"Some people shouldn't own houses"
This is one of the greatest lies to come out of the foreclosure crisis. It claims not only that under some circumstances homeownership doesn’t make sense,1 but that a certain class of person is somehow unfit for homeownership. Bipartisan efforts to push broader homeownership—and the stabalization of neighborhoods that comes with it—now face bipartisan ridicule.2
The problem is...
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Dumb Metaphor Friday: "Growing the pie"
The conservative criticism of redistribution is a claim that conservatives would rather expand the (economic) pie than ensure that it is divided evenly among everybody. The theory is that everybody then even the guy destined to have a smaller piece comes out ahead, even if the pieces aren’t the same size. This argument is apparently very persuasive to people who think pies expand (perhaps...
“If the court makes a fundamentally wrong decision, the president can in fact...”
– Newt Gingrich
False. And stupid. And slightly scary.
(via greaterthanlapsed)
Andrew Jackson took this approach—so it’s been tried. It resulted in the Trail of Tears.
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“The rushed and arbitrary deadline insisted on by Congressional Republicans...”
– Barack Obama, nailing shut the coffin of the Keystone XL pipeline.
“If I sound biased, that’s because I am. Biased toward the actual record, not the...”
– Andrew Sullivan (via prettayprettaygood)
baileyeverywhere asked: I agree with you re: communication and middle ground, but I'd also like to point out the Friendzone Fiona meme as one indication of the really damaging conversation around this topic and a reason why many woman are more up in arms than seems immediately sensible/necessary,
On the "friendzone"
golden-notebook:
I know it’s been said a million times, but if you’re giving all your ~* friendship *~ to women in expectation of some tail, maybe you should make it clear, with more than puppy dog looks and some Ben & Jerry’s, that you’re down to fuck. Because women aren’t fucking mind readers. If a guy never in our entire friendship expresses a desire to see my bathing suit areas, then I...
Companies say qualified workers aren't out there... →
Laura Clawson at Daily Kos, as reblogged by cartonplanet, writes about how a smaller percentage of working-age men are working today than in past decades and how mens wages are down across a variety of demographics. Clawson concludes,
If it’s a skills gap, wouldn’t we expect to see some group of people doing better, in the aggregate, than in the past?
Um … Clawson? Women are people...
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Political donations and political influence
Lazy political commentators tend to write stories that go something like this:
Politician A received more money from Company B than any other source.
Politician A supported legislation that helps Company B in some way.
Ergo Politician A is in the pocket of Company B.
There are a few problems. The first problem is that the money generally came from employees of Company B. When Mitt Romney...
zombiecuddle asked: Just FYI you are my favorite right-wing tumblr.
sh33pdog asked: Hey you seem to be right what I was looking for on tumblr for my conservative politics fix, Im kind of new to tumblr so I was wondering if you knew of any right handed politics pages from Canada/ about Canada. - Thanks
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The Republican Primary is a long way from over
If Mitt Romney manages to convincingly win the South Carolina Primary, he’s pretty well wrapped up the nomination. Florida should be friendlier territory for Romney. And after four consecutive losses, the other candidates (excluding Ron Paul) will have to see the writing on the wall.
The latest poll gives Romney a slight lead in South Carolina over Gingrich. But … there’s a lot...
Lost in a cluttered dashboard:
A while back, an image floated across my dashboard. I think it was an ad for a church in Boston that had words in the background along the lines of “genderqueer,” “questioning,” “LGBT,” “transgender,” and so on. The text in the front said, “Jesus welcomed everybody. So do we.”
At the time, I thought it was remarkably clever and thought,...
craigslist, Comcast, and Capitalism
I’m moving—which means I’m doing a bit more buying and selling than usual. Some of this involves selling large objects on craigslist. Like most craigslist transactions, it’s pretty straightforward. Something is listed at a price. Maybe some negotiation occurs. Sale commences or doesn’t. Everybody is happy and nobody is cheated.1
I’m also doing things like...
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Is The Obama Admin Trying To Box In Scalia On The... →
mohandasgandhi:
In its amicus brief filed with the Supreme Court Friday, the Justice Department cited no fewer than 10 times the 2005 Gonzalez v. Raich case, in which Scalia (and Justice Anthony Kennedy) broke with the court’s conservative wing to hand down what scholars viewed as one of the broadest declarations of federal power under the Commerce Clause: a 6-3 ruling decreeing that Congress...
Is Mitt Romney unstoppable?
politico:
With Mitt Romney winning the NH Primary, David Mark asks in the Arena: How much closer does this bring Romney to being the Republican nominee? Can any of his rivals realistically stop him in South Carolina, Florida or beyond? And which of them is the most likely to drop out?
Share your thoughts, Tumblr.
Romney’s candidacy has inspired the level of enthusiastic support usually...
I would like Ron Paul to win the Republican...
I want Ron Paul and Barack Obama to have a series of debates about our values and vision as a nation. And I want to see Obama crush Paul in the general election.
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Watch“A Vote for Vermin Supreme is a vote completely thrown away.”
When all the New Hampshire ballots are counted, it looks like Rick Perry will have (almost) twice as many votes as Vermin Supreme. Of course, to Mr. Supreme’s credit, he was running as a write-in. If he’d been on the ballot, this match-up might have gone in his favor.
Mitt Romney's going to win New Hampshire. So why...
dcdecoder:
D.C. Decoder thinks the media suggestion that Romney is in trouble is misplaced—particularly as he’s likely to romp to (another) victory in New Hampshire. Decoder suggests that this might simply be a media desire to make the Republican nomination more interesting than it already is. Decoder writes:
Mitt Romney is poised to win the New Hampshire primary tonight,...
New Hampshire
Jeff Miller offers some thoughts1 on today’s New Hampshire primary:
A few thoughts on today’s primary:
1. If Huntsman wants any chance, he needs to either come in second or top 20%. Even if he does these things, it will be an almost impossible road ahead, since he has little presence anywhere other than New Hampshire.
2. If Romney takes less than 35%, it’s a huge disappointment for him....
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The next time I interview for a job, I'm going to...
Interviewer: What interests you about our company?
Me: I hate it and think it should be dismantled.
Interviewer: What are your primary qualifications for the job?
Me: I would systematically destroy your company.
Interviewer: Why do you want to destroy our company?
Me: Your company has a successful and diverse market line and a global presence. But when it was incorporated, the founders had envisioned a little mom and pop operation. I think we need to return to their vision.
How come no one likes Jon Huntsman?
golden-notebook:
I think he’d be a great rival to Obama in the general election.
I don’t get it. Why don’t Republicans like him? Are they priming him for 2016? Is 2012 already a lost race?
Around 2006, we had a running joke about the Democrats’ ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The Republicans, on the other hand, had an image somewhere between the Illuminati and the...
Anonymous asked: With regard to reducing the impact of lobbyists, do you think there is any hope that a candidate or group of candidates will run with the intent of eliminating the requirment of declaring a party to vote in primary since both parties are married to The Lobby? Outside of this and the overturning of Citizen's United, how else can the lobby's influence be reduced? Also, do you think...
zigziggityzoo asked: Would you support legislation that prohibited congressmen or their spouses from having business interests or taking income/materially benefitting from other sources? No investing, no paychecks, no nothing.
How are term limits going to close the...
Term limits means more former congresspeople—which means more potential lobbyists. While I’m certainly amenable to discussing term limits on Congress,1 I don’t understand how it addresses the revolving door issue.
Preliminary thought: Term-limits in congress will create more problems than it solves. ↩
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Gingrich's Jobs vs. Food Stamps slur
Newt Gingrich claims that a choice between him and Obama comes down to a choice between a “jobs” President and a “food stamps” President. It’s simple enough to see why this slur would appeal to somebody who thinks he’s as clever as Gingrich fancies himself. After all, it combines a number of themes. It hits how much Gingrich cares about jobs and exhibits his...
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Is social security bankrupt?
No.
No matter how many times conservatives repeat this, it’s simply not true. The social security trust fund has about $2.6 trillion in assets. Those assets are comprised of long term, interest-bearing U.S. bonds.
Without some changes, the social security trust fund will eventually run out due to demographic shifts. Until 2010, the money paid into the fund exceeded the money paid out...
The Callus: What If It Isn't The Economy, Stupid? →
thecallus:
Better run on more than just Obama ruining the economy.
Every single Republican candidate is flawed, but the worst flaw is that there is only one line out of any of them: Obama ruined the American economy and you need me to fix it. Except…what if the economy isn’t the dominant issue of the 2012…
I think The Callus may be right here. After a string of solid economic news, we...
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Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Hoard
In anticipation of moving, we’re cleaning the house. As proper environmentalists, we’ve got the three R’s down—though we seem to have added an extra, less-desireable step.
We’ve Reduced the amount of crap we’ve brought into the house that we expect to ultimately get rid of.
We’ve Reused what we can reuse. Egg cartons had seedlings grown in them. Food...
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Just in time to give him a boost, The Boston Globe... →
shortformblog:
Whoever gets the Republican nomination could easily become president. Among the candidates, only two stand out as truly presidential, Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman. Both have track records of success, and both, through their policies and demeanors, have shown the breadth of spirit to lead the nation. But while Romney proceeds cautiously, strategically, trying to appease enough...
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“This president is a crony capitalist.”
– Mitt Romney, whose apparently took a look at this week’s polling data and decided that “crony capitalists” are bad things. Curiously, he apparently used the same appearance to accuse Obama of moving the country toward socialism. Traditionally, you would choose one accusation or the...
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Concerning signing statements
Uberconservative calls the following quote “the biggest lie of 2008”:
This is part of the whole theory of George Bush that he can make laws as he is going along. I disagree with that. I taught the Constitution. for 10 years. I believe in the Constitution and I will obey the Constitution of the United States. We are not going to use signing statements as a way of doing and end run...
muppetpants:
squashed:
zigziggityzoo:
It’s not exactly that he wants them to be cut - it’s that he believes that it’s the states’ responsibility to be doing many of the things the Federal government is doing.
And it’s not that I don’t want to take out the trash, it’s just that I believe it’s the dog’s job to do many of my chores. If the dog drops the ball on that one, it’s not my fault.
...
State responsibilities and irresponsibilities
zigziggityzoo:
It’s not exactly that he wants them to be cut - it’s that he believes that it’s the states’ responsibility to be doing many of the things the Federal government is doing.
And it’s not that I don’t want to take out the trash, it’s just that I believe it’s the dog’s job to do many of my chores. If the dog drops the ball on that one, it’s not...
Cutting to the quick
In response to Muppet Pants’ colorful but reasonably good analysis of what will happen in the Republican Primary post-Iowa, jasencomstock writes:
This makes me wonder why most people don’t think Paul is electable. I know why I don’t like him, and I thought I knew why most people don’t like him. but your reason is different.
I don’t think Paul is electable because he wants to...
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Obama Uses Recess Appointment For Richard Cordray →
jerfrey:
Today, Barack Obama plans to defy congressional Republicans and give Richard Cordray a recess appointment to head the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Senate Republicans had made it clear that they had no particular objections to Cordray, but simply were going to filibuster any nominee to head the agency until Obama agreed to partially repeal the law that created the agency. They...
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“Four years ago in Iowa, Barack Obama had a terrific night in the Democratic...”
– Bob Moser in The American Prospect
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Numbers that should depress Mitt Romney
In 2012 he won with a meager 24.6% of the vote in the Iowa caucus. In 2008 he lost with 25.19% of the vote.
He actually had six more voters in 2008 than he had last night.
Nobody has ever won the Iowa Caucuses from either party with such a low percentage of the vote.
The last republican to come in second place with such a low percentage of the vote was Pat Buchanan in 1996.
According to...
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Why this is happening
The Iowa Caucuses have a lot of evangelical voters. Prior to tonight, they had been split between Bachmann, Gingrich, Cain, Santorum, and Perry. Romney (a Mormon) never got traction. Ron Paul did pretty well—but A few days ago, Santorum got some critical endorsements—which means that even the people who didn’t much like Santorum came out to root for the home team.
New Hampshire...