Month: January 2012

President Obama to flip-flop on recess appointment?

CNN is just now reporting that the President plans to recess appoint Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  Such a recess appointment was previously assumed to be impossible, given that: the assumed minimum length of time is three days; and the Senate is deliberately meeting every two days in order to prevent recess appointments during that time period.  The Hill helpfully notes (via @RBPundit) that the three-day limit is actually from the Clinton era: they also note that Obama’s then Solicitor General noted the three-day rule during Supreme Court arguments (Politico gives the case as being New Process Steel, L.P. v National Labor Relations Board).  That his administration is now going to reverse themselves on this should come as a surprise to nobody; neither should it be a surprise that this administration apparently has absolutely no awareness whatsoever that their actions will have consequences that will make Democrats curse this White House for the next thirty years.

That’s pretty much it, except for one final note: ever hear of “unanimous consent,” Mr. President?  No?  Well, you will.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

 

First thoughts on the Iowa primary.

OK, with [96%] of the vote in we can maybe start to look at the results and get some meaningful data out of them. Apologies if any of this sounds loopy: the cold that took over the rest of my family last week finally hit me, so anything weird that I say is the medication. Also… you’ll note that I avoided being rude about the actual Republicans running for office (Ron Paul can be included as one just as soon as he promises to support my party’s eventual nominee); I really suggest that the triumphalism be kept down to a dull roar.

So… right now it appears that Romney and Santorum are pole-positioning for first place with 25% of the vote each; Romney was ahead earlier, Santorum is ahead as of this moment, and that may flip back and forth. Given that the difference in their vote total is unlikely reach four digits, both campaigns will probably credibly claim a win if Romney ends up with the higher vote total. Rick Santorum is having the best night of his political life, and I figure that we can let him have it before we start pointing out anything problematical; Mitt Romney is probably already focused on New Hampshire.

Continue reading First thoughts on the Iowa primary.

#rsrh I have to wonder if Meghan’s *meaning* to play King Canute…

…here, or whether it’s accidental.  Essentially, Meghan McArdle’s trying to gently explain to the Occupy DC people that no, really, they’re helping to indirectly raise Dizzy City’s crime rate via the Occupiers’ hogging of finite police resources for protection (I have summarized the DC police union’s position on this issue quite comprehensively, but not inaccurately).  To which I sardonically note, Good luck with that, Meghan.  Those people are absolutely convinced that they’re the vanguard of some strange, fever-dream revolution*; compared to that, what’s a little money?  Or a whole lot of money?

Besides, if the protests start up again in late spring/summer there’s a pretty good chance that the Occupiers will start by brawling with the cops and having things degenerate from there.  Ah, progressive activists: can’t live with them, nobody else really wants them, either.

Moe Lane

*If I was more of a troublemaker, I’d find a way to sneak the Yellow Sign** into the ‘official’ Occupier iconography.  Alas, though, so few people would get the joke.

**No, not the real one.  It doesn’t actually exist, you know.  And thank God for that.

Ten things to remember about the Iowa caucus.

These are as generic as I can make them.

  1. Politicians lie.  Let me repeat that.  Politicians lie.  Don’t be so upset about it: so do you.
  2. If the Iowa caucus was unimportant, people wouldn’t be obsessing over it.
  3. If the Iowa caucus was all-important, we’d have it in August and combine it with the nominating convention.
  4. When Candidate X’s supporter tells you that Candidate Y has a problem, s/he is not necessarily lying.  But, yeah, s/he is very likely being a jackass about it.
  5. Money, buzz, crowds, speeches, debates, polls, commercials, zingers, phone banks, ads, leaflets, and hand-knitted tea cozies with the candidate’s campaign logo on them are great… but not as great as winning the precinct votes.  Winning precincts is also the only metric that goes up on the scoreboard.
  6. When it comes to elections, the saying is inverted: defeat has a thousand fathers, victory is an orphan.
  7. Pollsters have reputations to protect, but they also know darn well that the acceptable margin of error in primary polling is larger than normal.  Trying to figure out whether it’s the former or the latter point that applies in any given case is one of the things that makes life interesting.
  8. Reagan’s fabled 11th Commandment does not include the clause “…so you must forgive an over-zealous supporter for being an jackass.” I mention this because many people seem to have that clause penciled in.
  9. The Republican party has a large contingent (but not as large as it might think) of people who will answer the question “What are you going to do, sit this one out?” with a flat “Yes” if you push them too hard.  If this happens, well, you were warned.
  10. I believe it was Abraham Lincoln who noted that the idea is not to pray that God be on your side; but rather that you pray for help for you to stay on His.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

Gov. Perry invites Politico to either give the source…

…that Politico used to back up its repeating of anonymous internal sniping from Perry’s campaign; or else to kindly shut up:

Partial transcript at the link. One of the nice things about being a Perry supporter is that his contempt for the DC establishment – which Politico most assuredly is a member of at this point – is never particularly in doubt. I’m also reasonably sure that at this moment Perry is making his staffers understand that anonymous talking out of turn to hostile media sources is a perk for other campaigns, not his. After 2008, that’s a selling point right there.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

#rsrh QotD, SSH! You’re Giving Away The Game, Walter Edition.

Walter Russell Mead, killjoy:

Unless you are a political operative or somebody angling to get an appointment in the next Republican administration, you could safely ignore every word written about the GOP contest up until this point without being any less well informed about the important things going on in the country and the world.

I say that without heat, by the way: speaking as a political operative – actually, I am offended by that term.  I am a partisan hack, damn your eyes* – I’ll be one of the first to admit that the primary season goes on for far, far, far too long.  But it’s how we set things up, and people seem to be happy to keep doing it this way… while all the time complaining bitterly about having to keep doing  it this way.  Whaddya going to do, cry in your beer?

Moe Lane

*You’d be amazed how empowering it is to be free to say that.  I know far too many people in this business who simply can’t admit that, even to themselves.  And it keeps them down.

This morning’s Nightmare Fuel provided courtesy of C-SPAN.

So I’m flipping through the radio while waiting for the Mickey Dee’s drive-through line to start moving, and there’s nothing on. So I say to myself, Hey, let’s put on C-SPAN.  They’re usually less behind the bleeding edge of the news.  So I turn it on… Continue reading This morning’s Nightmare Fuel provided courtesy of C-SPAN.