Month: June 2013

Oh, yeah, there was a special election in MO-08 tonight.

As expected, Republican Jason Smith crushed Democrat Steve Hodges in this R+13 district.  For those scoring at home, this is the third special election held this election cycle, and – like the other two – has resulted in the incumbent party keeping the seat.  I note this largely because, prior to 2010, you couldn’t have a special election without some earnest Democrat type telling you brassily that his party had a magic formula for always winning those particular contests.  I wonder what happened to those people? …No, wait, that’s a lie: I really, really don’t.

Congratulations to Rep.-elect Smith.

You know, @barackobama, RICHARD NIXON would have loved secret emails.

He would have thought the idea was shiny.

Some of President Barack Obama’s political appointees, including the Cabinet secretary for the Health and Human Services Department, are using secret government email accounts they say are necessary to prevent their inboxes from being overwhelmed with unwanted messages, according to a review by The Associated Press.

The scope of using the secret accounts across government remains a mystery: Most U.S. agencies have failed to turn over lists of political appointees’ email addresses, which the AP sought under the Freedom of Information Act more than three months ago. The Labor Department initially asked the AP to pay more than $1 million for its email addresses.

Although Nixon would have blanched at the idea of trying to get a million bucks out of the Associated Press in the process.  I mean, that’s just stupid.  And, whatever else you can say about Nixon, you can say this: the man wasn’t stupid.

Via Jim Geraghty.

Moe Lane

Democrats to try 2010 Obamacare strategy in 2014.

Well, it’s not like they have many options left at this point:

Scarred by years of Republican attacks over Obamacare, with more in store next year, Democrats have settled on an unlikely strategy for the 2014 midterms: Bring it on.

Party strategists believe that embracing the polarizing law — especially its more popular elements — is smarter politics than fleeing from it in the House elections. The new tack is a marked shift from 2010, when Republicans pointed to Obamacare as Exhibit A of big government run amok on their way to seizing the House from Democrats.

That’s… not precisely true, by the way.  It’s sort of incomplete: while ‘big government run amok’ was certainly a central theme of the 2010 elections, it doesn’t explain why Republicans were able to capitalize on it.  When you think about it, honestly, big government is not exactly a problem that only rises up when one party is in office.  Both parties are guilty: in 2010, one party got spanked and the other got all of those wonderfully troublesome new legislators joining their ranks. Why is that? Continue reading Democrats to try 2010 Obamacare strategy in 2014.

QotD, You Win Or You Die edition.

John Hayward over at RedState, in the process of reviewing WITH EXTREME SPOILERS the latest episode of Game of Thrones, makes this point about how the universe does not care about how unfair life is to any particular candidate:

A prospective candidate who thinks himself above the unpleasantness of the modern electoral arena should save his prospective donors a lot of money and take a pass on running.

Yes, yes, I know: half of you are still getting over the fact that RedState is doing something like reviewing GoT from a conservative/Republican perspective: and the other half of you are startled that this is being done by somebody who isn’t me.  Personally, I’m just as happy to have other people be comfortable in their political geekery: it means that I’m winning.  Besides, I’m not watching that show right now, either.

Tweet of the Day, Isn’t @barackobama Committing A Federal Crime In This Picture? edition. [UPDATED]

The answer, by the way, is “Yes.”

Since David Plouffe is so concerned about criminality, and all.

 

Continue reading Tweet of the Day, Isn’t @barackobama Committing A Federal Crime In This Picture? edition. [UPDATED]