Month: August 2009

Carol Shea-Porter (D) has the political instincts of a tasered marmoset.

[UPDATE]: Welcome, Instapundit readers.  I’m not exactly sure what it means, either – but it was just somehow satisfying to write.

[Further UPDATE]: Sorry, folks: via The Campaign Spot, original story here.

So Rep. Shea-Porter wants proponents of health care rationing to try to convince the majority otherwise.  OK.  She wants them to go talk to the folks at the town halls, presumably because they’re the most engaged in the issue.  Also fine.  And – gasp! – she thinks that her side needs to soften their words!  Truly, the Democrats have reached a place where they can see a new, cleaner level of discourse in the distance.

And then she wrecks it.

“Find those tea-baggers who don’t like the idea of this and talk to them.”

Not to burst Rep. Shea-Porter’s balloon or anything, but the Tea Party people have long since been made aware of the obscenity that lurks behind that epithet.  And until the Other Side gets it through their head that we can actually tell when people are sneering at us, they might as well not try to hide the hate, if only for the sake of their blood pressure.

Moe Lane

PS: Go Frank Guinta.

Crossposted to RedState.

This Anne Lamott person: satirist, right?

(Via Publius Forum) This article on the coming Great Netroot Betrayal by the President on health care can’t be for real: it’s too perfect a stereotype of the Aging White Liberal Boomer.  From the generally aggrieved and petulant tone to the dreadlocks; from the need to politicize the personal to the need to personalize the political; and from the familiarity toward believed friends to the ugly hatred towards perceived enemies; it’s like  Anne Lamott fell out of the Lefty Tropes Tree and hit every branch on the way down.

If you doubt that, read this paragraph:

We did not know exactly how you [President Barack Obama] would proceed to restore our beloved Constitution. It seemed beyond redemption, like my kitchen floor did briefly last week after my dog, Bodhi, accidentally ate 24 corn bread muffins. You said you would push back your sleeves and begin, that it would take all of us working harder than we ever had before, but that you would lead. While acknowledging the financial and moral devastation of the last eight years, you said you would start by giving your people healthcare. You would do battle with the conservatives and insurance companies. You said in your beautiful way many times that this was the overarching moral and spiritual issue of our times, and we understood this to mean that you took this to be your Selma, your Little Rock.

If I was writing a parody of the type, this is the paragraph that I would write to clue everybody in that it was all a joke. I mean, come on: naming the dog “Bodhi?” That’s perfect absurdity.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Obviously, we need to walk through minimum wage raises.

It goes like this:

(pause)

…’this’ was turning into a lecture, even with bullet points.

(pause)

And the lecture was a lecture, too.  Dull as dishwater – which is the problem.  So to hell with it: Continue reading Obviously, we need to walk through minimum wage raises.

Richardson pay-for-play probe squashed?

Via Dan Riehl, it certainly looks like Bill Richardson (and cronies) will no longer have to worry about any pesky questions about his political contributions.

The decision not to pursue indictments was made by top Justice Department officials, according to a person familiar with the investigation, who asked not to be identified because federal officials had not disclosed results of the probe.

“It’s over. There’s nothing. It was killed in Washington,” the person told The Associated Press.

[monotone voice]
Completely unexpected.
Inconceivable.
Utterly shocking.
[/monotone voice]

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

I actually find this Rasmussen cash-for-appliances poll reassuring.

When you can’t get a majority of the population to agree that a government subsidy of their new kitchen upgrade is a good idea – when, in fact, you get just under half of the population saying that it’s a bad idea – well, perhaps we’re not quite as doomed as some might think.

Thirty-nine percent (39%) of Americans favor a “cash for clunkers”-like government program to give cash rebates to people who buy new, energy-efficient appliances, but 49% think it’s a bad idea, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

Twelve percent (12%) aren’t sure what they think of the $300-million plan that will provide cash rebates up to $200 to Americans who buy energy-efficient refrigerators, dishwashers, washing machines and the like. Unlike the just-concluded “cash for clunkers” plan to encourage purchase of newer, more energy-efficient cars, no trade-ins are required.

First off, it’s not a $300-million plan. It’s a “$300-million, plus whatever else we pump into the program when it runs dry, which would probably be… by lunchtime” plan.  Second, given the differences in this program with Cash-For-Clunkers (no need for trade-ins, more eligible participants, much easier to scam the government) the 49% against is astounding.  Given that it’s as close to being free money as you can get without just cutting people a check, I would have guessed it’d be 65/35 the other way.

Apparently, we can be taught.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Meet Lou Huddleston (R Cand, NC-08).

NC-08: R+2 district, flipped to D after a lot of effort by the national Democratic party, including redistricting.  The former holder Robin Hayes barely won in ’06 and lost by quite a bit in ’08; since then Larry Kissell’s voted for the ‘stimulus‘, played duck-and-cover on the health care rationing bill and has cosponsored EFCA – even though North Carolina’s unemployment rate has nearly doubled in the last year.

As you might have gathered from the above links, the NC GOP is particularly interested in taking the seat back.  Hayes has declined to run again, which clears the field for new challengers; the first one to declare is Colonel Lou Huddleston, a retired Afghanistan veteran and North Carolina businessman.  He’s already picked up the support of potential candidate Linwood Faulk, but Huddleston is probably going to have at least one serious primary opponent.  He’s got a good background (local, career military, and businessman); his major potential problem was that he ran and lost a state race last year (I call it ‘potential’ because I don’t know what he learned from it).  Huddleston also seems to be already generating a bit of venom from North Carolina Democrats, if comments here are any indication.  I, of course, will not scruple to speculate as to why.

Huddleston’s site is still in placeholder mode, so if you’re interested check back on it later.  In the meantime, here’s the North Carolina GOP site (donations here).

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.