Month: February 2010

Barbara Mikulski and the Democratic margin of error.

As in, there isn’t one.

Jim Geraghty dumped a bit of cold water on this not-yet-officially-refuted rumor that Senator Mikulski is planning to retire:

…the least she’s ever gotten in a Senate race is 60 percent. Evan Bayh faced a tough reelection bid, but Mikulski’s biggest-name opponent so far, is Queen Anne’s County Commissioner Eric Wargot. She’s raised $3 million, he’s raised $176,526. Even in a terrible year for Democrats, she should be safe.

If Mikulski is contemplating retirement, it’s not because she fears she’ll lose in 2010.

…which is true enough: if Mikulski is retiring (we should probably get that confirmed today), it won’t be because of the current political environment.

But from now on, reasons for Democratic drop-outs no longer matter.  Particularly in the Senate. Continue reading Barbara Mikulski and the Democratic margin of error.

And, speaking of John D MacDonald…

…what? Oh, Gail Carriger (the woman who wrote Soulless) had mentioned that she considered him “probably the best writer America has ever produced.” I think that this is not quite true*.

Not quite. If you’ve never read John D MacDonald, then to paraphrase Spider Robinson, I envy you: you have the wonderful sensation of enjoying his books for the first time to look forward to.

Just thought that I’d give him the shout-out.  It’s been pretty politics-heavy lately.

Moe Lane

*It is, however, an excellent way to make me kindly-disposed towards the writer.

Picked up Soulless this morning…

…I wanted to have something to read at the food court before I did my clothes shopping, I had heard some good things about Soulless (The Parasol Protectorate), and, well, it’s nice to have both the wherewithal and the opportunity to just buy a book and be able to read it on the spot. All in all, I liked it: the author has an ear for writing period dialogue, and she was gratifyingly familiar with the time period (mid Victorian; probably 1880s). The novel is alternate fantasy (not quite horror, despite the existence of vampires and werewolves*); I’m not going to give a review, because I’m bad at book reviews, but it was well worth at least one read, and I look forward to the sequel with some interest.

Plus, it has dirigibles.

Moe Lane

*Probably because both were fully in Society, and quite keen to avoid being cut from it.

WH ready to go up against Cheney… says anonymous source. Wait, what? #rsrh

[UPDATE] Welcome, Instapundit readers.

Do these people actually understand how this looks?

But debating Dick Cheney on terrorism? The Obama White House says it’s happy to do that anytime, as it did with Sunday’s split-screen standoff between Cheney and Vice President Joe Biden.

The dueling appearances, along with what is a clear administration strategy to play up its newly aggressive approach in Afghanistan, show a White House determined to project a posture of strength on national security and trying to gain the upper hand with Republicans who wish to portray Obama as weak.

“We have never engaged in chest-beating on what we’re doing on terrorism,” said a White House official, who was pleased by how the interviews had played out. “But this dynamic where we’re responding to criticism from the former vice president gave us the opportunity to explain what we’re doing, without just going out and talking tough.”

Except that what they didn’t do was debate Cheney. They whined about him. And then they bragged about whining about him. Anonymously. Joe Biden wouldn’t actually dare go face-to-face with Dick Cheney on this issue. Heck, he won’t dare go face-to-face with Scott Brown.  And don’t get me wrong: that might even be smart strategy on Biden’s, or the White House’s, part.  But this isn’t September 2008: the Democrats aren’t able to have it both ways quite this comprehensively anymore…

Moe Lane

An Inconvenient Democrat: meet Tamyra d’Ippolito (IN).

If you were reading Hotline On Call exclusively, you’d think that Indiana Democrats were going to have to pick a candidate to replace Evan Bayh on the ballot:

Candidates running for statewide office in IN have to collect 500 signatures from each of the state’s 9 districts. Those signatures are due by tomorrow.

Once signatures are in, candidates have until Friday to officially file for office.

Bayh could still file to run, then drop out. But if he does not file his signatures tomorrow, no other Dem is expected to collect the required [4,500] signatures by then, meaning Dems will get the chance to pick their own nominee.

Not… quite. Continue reading An Inconvenient Democrat: meet Tamyra d’Ippolito (IN).

Quote of the Day, Mark Steyn edition. #rsrh

On the odd nature of rebellious Americans:

I’ve been saying for months that the difference between America and Europe is that, when the global economy nosedived, everywhere from Iceland to Bulgaria mobs took to the streets and besieged Parliament demanding to know why government didn’t do more for them. This is the only country in the developed world where a mass movement took to the streets to say we can do just fine if you control-freak statists would just stay the hell out of our lives, and our pockets.

He ends a little depressed, although I don’t see why he should be. After all, he lives in a country where Mind Your Own God-Damned Business is a venerable battle cry…

The frustrating thing about Senator Lindsey Graham (R, SC)… #rsrh

…is not that he does stuff like this:

It’s also not that he doesn’t do stuff like this a lot. Really, he’s been eating his Wheaties during the 111th Congress. It’s that you never know when he’s going to stop doing things like this.

That being said: nice work, Senator.

Moe Lane

2010 SEN +4 to +8 R at this point…

…and that +4 is me being nice and assuming that the Democrats will take two of the open R seats (they won’t) and keep two of Cook’s Democrat Tossup seats (they won’t do that, either). One of each sounds more likely, making the final total at least +6… and if we run the table at +8 it’s a 51/49 Senate.

By the way: that’s not the worst-case scenario. That’s a scenario that assumes that Senators Boxer, Feingold, Gillibrand, & Schumer don’t do anything stupid. Or Candidate Blumenthal.

Snickering based on this latest Cook Political Report survey.

Moe Lane

PS: Sen. Bayh really handled this retirement announcement… poorly. And what is Bayh going to do with that 13 million war chest, anyway?

Crossposted to RedState.