Author: Moe_Lane

Rasmussen: Support for Obamacare repeal almost 2-to-1.

I almost wish I hadn’t written this: it would have been perfect for this Rasmussen poll on Obamacare.

Support for repeal of the new national health care plan has jumped to its highest level ever. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 63% of U.S. voters now favor repeal of the plan passed by congressional Democrats and signed into law by President Obama in March.

Prior to today, weekly polling had shown support for repeal ranging from 54% to 58%.

Last year Sean Trende over at Real Clear Politics argued that the Democratic party took precisely the wrong lesson from 1994 by assuming that it was better to pass something titled ‘health care reform’ than to be visibly seen to fail; polls like this suggest that he’s right.

Roll on, November.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

#rsrh So, what happened at the CT Dem convention?

I mean, it looked like Connecticut Democrats bullied into submission the only real opposition to Dick Blumenthal’s Democratic nomination for Senate.

“I would like to formally withdraw my name from nomination,” Alpert said shortly before 8 p.m. That line generated enthusiastic applause from the crowd. “We’re going to have an early dinner. Good night.”

Immediately after Alpert’s remarks, Blumenthal was nominated by acclamation.

Alpert originally intended to deliver a speech to more than 1,800 delegates at the Democratic Party convention at the cavernous Expo Center in Hartford’s North Meadows, but the rules committee prevented it, according to Alpert.

(See also Hot Air.)

Not-really-ironically, said candidate (Merrick Alpert) served in Bosnia and is actually a member of VFW: Blumenthal, of course, lied about serving in Vietnam, on multiple occasions.  I would say that I’m sympathetic, except that it’d be a lie, and I’m trying not to be like Blumenthal here.  Alpert folded like a cheap suit at the first hint of disapproval from the CT Democratic party establishment; and honestly, I’m a little weary of politicians who are principled until it’s inadvisable to be.

Moe Lane

PS: Hey, remember Ned Lamont?  Turns out nobody else did, either.

The Joe Sestak thing is kind of a big deal, actually.

I have to disagree with Jim Geraghty here that Rep. Joe Sestak’s (D) admitting that the White House tried to bribe him reflects well on Sestak.  Either Sestak is lying about this, in which case he’s, well, a liar who did so for crass political gain; or Sestak’s telling the truth about this, in which case he’s pretty much explicitly participating in a cover-up of a felony.  Either way, talking in general terms is not really acceptable.  Unless there was an active conspiracy permeating the entire Executive Branch to bribe Joe Sestak, somebody in the White House is innocent of this crime – but until we get the full details of what happens, we won’t know who.  And while I may have been heavily critical of the unprofessional behavior of the White House’s staffers, I think it’s hardly fair of Sestak to talk about this scandal in a fashion that implicates all of them.

Put another way: check out this video from the GOP House Oversight committee…

Continue reading The Joe Sestak thing is kind of a big deal, actually.

All even in the House special election net tally.

I’d like to put the history of special elections in the 111th Congress to date in context of well, the 111th Congress.  Which is to say that, after all the drama and excitement that we’ve seen thus far, the end result is that… we’re right back to where we started.

Race Old New Switch? Net
NY-20 Dem Dem No 0
IL-05 Dem Dem No 0
CA-32 Dem Dem No 0
CA-10 Dem Dem No 0
NY-23 Rep Dem Yes -1
FL-19 Dem Dem No -1
PA-12 Dem Dem No -1
HI-01 Dem Rep Yes 0
GA-09 Rep Rep No 0

Continue reading All even in the House special election net tally.

Joe Sestak admits bribe offer.

Marvel, my friends, at the moral heroism put on display here:

If you define ‘moral heroism’ as ‘reluctantly and inarticulately admitting that one was offered a bribe by the White House, while neglecting to alert the relevant federal authorities of the alleged crime in question,’ of course.  Which apparently Joe Sestak does.  Watch that video to the end to see DNC chair Tim Kaine disassociate himself from this mess – and it is a mess.  I’m not just saying that because I’m a Republican and the President is a Democrat.  I don’t even think that the President or his senior advisers knew that Sestak was offered a job; this incident has all the hallmarks of a Executive branch staffer having an excess of enthusiasm and a deficit of awareness of federal ethics guidelines.  But it doesn’t matter; and it doesn’t matter because President Obama explicitly ran on a platform of his Administration Not Being Like Other Administrations.

Guess that was a lie, then.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

‘ZOUNDS! AG Cuomo (D) running for Governor!

Imagine my shock.

Andrew Cuomo, following in the footsteps of dad Mario and two scandal-scarred predecessors, announced his long-expected campaign for governor by promising a crackdown on corruption.

“I don’t work for the lobbyists,” Cuomo told his supporters Saturday afternoon in lower Manhattan. “I don’t work for the politicians. I don’t work for special interests. I work for the people of New York. Period.”

The real question, of course, is what Cuomo’s hidden catastrophic flaw is. Being a Democratic Northeastern Attorney General, he has to have one: it merely waits to be seen whether it’s hookers (Eliot Spitzer), lying about his military record (Dick Blumenthal), or just having the political instincts of a tasered marmoset (Martha Coakley).  Then again, there’s ordinary, vanilla civil corruption – but it turns out that Rhode Island AG (and gubernatorial candidate) Patrick Lynch may have that one sewn up (via Anchor Rising).

And here we all thought that state Attorney Generals were attractive candidates for larger office.  At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised if it came out that Cuomo was running guns to Quebecois separatists.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Need some primo crazy? I got some right here.

Came across this while putting together a post on the disastrous record of Democratic Northeastern AGs. I almost feel sorry for William Sorrell, for having to listen to people like this screaming in his ear.

Almost: he is, after all, a Vermont Democratic elected official. In a very real way, he’s responsible for the screamers’ existence in the first place.