Month: January 2014

Democratic state-party advantage severely eroded from 2008.

This is a complex kind of situation, actually:

The Democratic Party’s advantage in the states was halved last year, continuing a dramatic multi-year decline.

In 2008, Democrats had a 30-state advantage in party affiliation over Republicans, according to state-level Gallup surveys. Last year, that advantage among states fell to just three.

With 36 governorships and 36 Senate seats on the line in this year’s midterm elections and Democrats trying to protect Senate seats in the solid-red states of South Dakota, Montana and Alaska, Republicans have reason for optimism.

Continue reading Democratic state-party advantage severely eroded from 2008.

So, @MarkUdall! You going to have @barackobama campaign with you in Colorado?

I SAID… Senator Udall?  Will President Obama be campaigning with you in Colorado? (Transcript below via RCP link)

DANA BASH, CNN: Is he a liability for you, the president back home?

SEN. MARK UDALL (D-CO): When the president comes to Colorado and talks about our all-the-above energy approach — we’ve got lots of natural gas and solar power — that resonates with Coloradoans. When he talks about making sure our veterans are treated properly that resonates with Coloradoans.

Continue reading So, @MarkUdall! You going to have @barackobama campaign with you in Colorado?

Quote of the #SOTU night, …Yeah. Yeah, @JonahNRO Is Right edition.

Pretty much got it in one.

My general impression was this was a remarkably boring speech, intellectually and rhetorically. Not every idea was terrible. But no idea was particularly exciting, or all that significant. Because it lacked ambition, it was a far less offensive speech that I thought it would be.

I was expecting more in the way of sheer, raw fury on my part. Instead, I got… well, apparently I wasn’t the only one who saw his low expectations of this speech fulfilled.  I just didn’t think that the President would be similarly wearily unsurprised at the results.

:monotone: here we go. state of the union speech soon.

because you have to be an informed citizen in order to be an excellent citizen of the republic and this is important and politics is not supposed to be fun.  so the coverage starts at nine pm sharp and my bon mots will all be on twitter because misery loves company.

sorry.  my bon mots will all be on twitter in order to encourage more participation in the democratic process. yes.  not because of the misery thing at all.

moe lane

p.s. no, there will be no drunk-blogging. it is a weeknight and it is my responsibility to make sure that the kids are ready to go to school in the morning.

George W Bush, income equality champion! (:rolling eyes:)

Man, having the Volokh Conspiracy over at WaPo is gonna be fun:

The president under whom the poorest quintile enjoyed the largest increase in after-tax household income was George W. Bush. And the two administrations under whom the richest quintile and richest 1 percent fared the worst were the two Presidents Bush. Among Barack Obama’s four immediate predecessors, the two biggest income equalizers were George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.

Just to be clear, I am not pining for the good old days of the economy of George W. Bush.

But George W. Bush was the most successful of our recent past presidents in achieving very substantial increases in incomes for the poorest quintile (+18.4%), while keeping gains for the richest quintile and richest 1 percent at modest levels.

Continue reading George W Bush, income equality champion! (:rolling eyes:)

Gov. John Hickenlooper’s Democratic cronies ‘clear’ Sen. Mark Udall of bullying charges. #obamacare

Funny how that happened, huh?

Colorado Republicans were stunned late Monday upon learning that the “neutral and objective panel” that cleared Sen. Mark Udall of bullying state insurance regulators in fact consisted of three Democrats in the Hickenlooper administration.

Barbara Kelley, executive director of the Department of Regulatory Affairs, released a statement to Fox31 saying that the three members of the panel were herself, her deputy Michelle Pederson, and legislative liaison John Cevette, former chief of staff to Democratic Senate President Brandon Shaffer.

Continue reading Gov. John Hickenlooper’s Democratic cronies ‘clear’ Sen. Mark Udall of bullying charges. #obamacare

Tweet of the Day, In Fairness The Democratic WI-GOV Candidate Has Enough Troubles Already edition.

Going up against The Honey Badger King* is hard enough as it is without having to add excess baggage:

Continue reading Tweet of the Day, In Fairness The Democratic WI-GOV Candidate Has Enough Troubles Already edition.

Had my regular @HobbyLobbyStore framer today!

As I opened up the art packaging she murmured And what interesting thing have you brought me to be framed today*?  …I get the impression that I bring in some of the more unusual items for framing.

This pleases me. Particularly since by now she feels free to tell me when I’ve picked out the wrong kind of frame and/or matting for a particular picture. Good customer service is key for modern retail…

Moe Lane

*This, for the curious. It’ll take a few days to finish framing, though: signed prints take a certain amount of careful handling.