Month: July 2010

June Democracy Corps poll results: DOOM.

Jim, Stan?  You had me at ‘Grim.’

This is the sexiest title of a political poll survey that you’re going to read all year: “Democracy Corps June Survey: Grim Stability Will Require Race-by-Race Fight” …and the bad news continues for page after page. Six point gap on generic Congressional ballot, dissatisfaction with the way the country’s going now at 2006 levels and rising, Democrats now on the wrong side (or right side, from my point of view) of the ‘Who’s looking out for you?’ question… and that last one should probably worry Democrats the most, as it’s directly attacking the Left’s own self-image in a way that I couldn’t hope to duplicate. Carville and Greenberg’s conclusion is particularly… there may not be a word in English that conveys the sense of weary nihilism, coupled with an obligatory advocating of a cynical policy that you know isn’t going to work – but it’s either amputate the hand now or amputate the arm later:

Democratic candidates should run as outsiders and independents that battle to change Washington.

Jennifer Rubin had the same reaction to me to that nonsense (or perhaps, I had the same reaction as her):

What are they supposed to say to fellow Democrats – “Many of you are going to lose but life after public office isn’t so bad” ? That would at least have the advantage of candor.

Candor is an advantage for the Democratic party? Is this a new thing?

Moe Lane

(Via Instapundit)

Crossposted to RedState.

MOJOCERATOPS!

This is the real name, by the way.  There was beer involved, which is how all scientific nomenclature stories should start:

“It was just a joke, but then everyone stopped and looked at each other and said, ‘Wait–that actually sounds cool’…. I tried to come up with serious names after that, but Mojoceratops just sort of stuck.”

The paleontologist-poet who came up with MOJOCERATOPS! – I’ve decided that it must be invariably capitalized and given an exclamation point – is one Nicholas Longrich, who discovered the species by looking through existing dinosaur fossil collections and noticing that some of them had distinctive features that suggested a new type.  As I understand it, this happens more often than you’d think.  It’s just rare that somebody comes up with a name like MOJOCERATOPS! to commemorate the occasion.

Rocking cartoon of MOJOCERATOPS! at the first link: my only quibble is that it lacks a pair of mirrorshades to reinforce the entire ‘cool’ thing.  Unless it’s the artist’s feeling that MOJOCERATOPS! won’t roll that way?  I could accept that.

Via my wife.

Moe Lane

PS: MOJOCERATOPS!  I’m pronouncing that like the guys who do the funny car raceway park radio commercials would, by the way.

Fisher without Bait: tales of the 2Q in Ohio.

The Democrat’s not exactly running rampant, there.

The 2nd quarter results are in for Rob Portman (R) and Lee Fisher (d), and it’s not… actually, it’s quite pretty.  Portman brought in almost three times as much cash (2.65 million vs. 1 million) and has an almost nine-to-one advantage in cash-on-hand right now (8.8 million to 1 million).  I originally got the latter’s details via email: for some reason, Fisher isn’t bragging about his inadequate performance on his own site.  As to whether his campaign’s enervated financial state will translate to a loss this November, well, Fisher’s own pleas from earlier say it all:

“Potential supporters will look at our next contribution report to measure our campaign’s readiness and decide whether they want to step onto the field or sit on the sidelines this fall,” he wrote in email June 29, one day before his second quarter fund-raising report closed.

So true, so true.

Moe Lane Continue reading Fisher without Bait: tales of the 2Q in Ohio.

PROSECUTORS: Jesse Jackson Jr. knew of Senate seat offer.

Hoo, boy.

A supporter of U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. told the Democratic congressman in 2008 that he would raise $1 million in return for then- Gov. Rod Blagojevich naming Jackson to the U.S. Senate, a federal prosecutor said Wednesday.

The allegation, made on a busy day at Blagojevich’s federal corruption trial, was the first time authorities publicly suggested Jackson was aware of efforts by his allies to swap campaign cash for his appointment to the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

Via AoSHQ.  Incidentally, this is what Rep. Jackson had to say about the suggestion that he was involved:

“I never sent a message or an emissary to the governor to make an offer, plead my case or propose a deal about a U.S. Senate seat, period.”

Continue reading PROSECUTORS: Jesse Jackson Jr. knew of Senate seat offer.

#rsrh Two words: demonsheep.

We all thought that was entertainingly dumb, too.  Up to the point where Carly Fiorina, you know, won the primary.

Mike Weinstein is running for re-election in the Florida state legislature, which is probably why he figured that he could risk a little goofiness. And no, it’s not a parody.

And… no, it’s not actually a bad ad.  Goofy, but not bad.

Moe Lane

Anybody else notice that the Democrats – particularly their cheerleaders in the Online Left – just aren’t having any fun this election cycle?  Bitter sourpusses, the lot of them.

#rsrh Letting Other People Do It: Stimulus edition.

I am so incredibly glad that the CA primary is over: I can link to Mickey Kaus again.  I think that I’ve mentioned it before, but I wasn’t willing to risk losing the pickup in November by making him look like a viable alternative to Barbara Boxer.

Anyway, Mickey’s bringing up this quote from Jon Alter’s book The Promise:

The biggest frustration involved infrastructure. Obama said later that he learned that “one of the biggest lies in government is the idea of ‘shovel-ready’ projects.” It turned out that only about $20 billion to $40 billion in construction contracts were truly ready to go. The rest were tied up in the endless contracting delays and bureaucratic hassles associated with building anything in America. [E.A.]

…and asking:

Did Obama really not know this back in January, 2009? I mean, Alter’s book pretty convincincly demonstrates that the President is a very smart man. But a smart man would have to have had virtually no contact, direct or vicarious, with government not to realize state and federal  construction projects are bound up with time-consuming rules (like the Davis-Bacon Act’s “prevailing wage” requirements) that undermine their Keynesian utility.

Continue reading #rsrh Letting Other People Do It: Stimulus edition.