Bernie Sanders: Kinsley Gaffe, or just not paying attention?

Contra Gateway Pundit (and Hot Air), I am not certain that Senator Bernie Sanders (Socialist-VT) actually meant to imply that the Democrats were going to destroy private health insurers. Given that he is in fact a socialist, it may be that being one has finally killed enough brain cells to make him not notice that he answered the question so poorly.

Look, it’s not my fault that intellectually speaking being a self-identified socialist in this day and age is much like being a self-identified Flat-Earther*. It just is. And it makes you do dumb things, like tell private insurance companies that the United States Senate is coming after them with a mad gleam in its eye. Given that, true or not, this is precisely the impression that current Senate leadership does not want to create… well. To use the terminology of the guy that the Senator spent the last eight years ineffectually fighting: heckuva job there, Bernie.

Moe Lane

PS: More seriously, please remember: no matter what happens with the health care plan, neither Senator Sanders, his family, nor his close associates will ever suffer from the more onerous aspects of it. Because while all animals are equal, some animals are more equal than others.

*Well, except for the former’s higher historical body count.

Crossposted to RedState.

I can’t call this an ‘Obamateurism.’

It’s one heck of a Kinsley Gaffe, to be sure.  But accidentally admitting who really runs Russia?

“I suspect when I speak to President..eh.. Prime Minister Putin tomorrow, he will say the same thing.”

That’s just him saying what we all know. I have yet to grasp why Putin hasn’t just gone ahead and found that evidence that he’s actually the son of the Princess Anastasia, and thus heir to the Romanov Dynasty.  Pravda would eat that up. 

With a spoon.

Crossposted to RedState.

Metal manufacturers pay the price for Joe Biden Opening His Mouth.

It was apparently their turn.

The annoying bit is that we can’t even put the Vice President in an undisclosed location, given that he’s already gone out and disclosed it. I would write that it’s days like this that make me miss Dick Cheney, except that doing so would imply that I’ve ever stopped doing so since 01/20/2009.

Biden comments drive metal manufacturers lower

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of major metal manufacturers traded sharply lower Monday, a day after Vice President Joe Biden said the White House “misread” the economy, prompting concerns that an economic recovery could be slower than expected.

[snip]

During the second quarter, commodity prices “went through the roof,” and investors snapped up metal makers stocks on word that the economy was “less bad” than before, he said.

But, now, the market has switched its thinking amid broader concerns about the economy, he said.

See here for a link to the interview (Hot Air for the H/T). About the only thing that you can say about it is that at least the White House hasn’t sent out people to retract the economic portions yet – unlike, for example, the VP’s recent comments that could be read as the USA giving permission to Israel to bomb Iran (via Sense of Events). But the ‘pace of the ball is now going to increase,’ at least – and if you know what that actually means, I’m not sure whether to be envious of, or worried about you.

Just another Monday in this, the best of all possible worlds…

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

NY Senate Watch: Paterson (D) could end this, any time?

He arguably has the authority to do so.  And knows it.

Groups call on Paterson to appoint Lt. Governor

Citizens Union, Common Cause and Assemb. Michael Gianaris (D- Astoria) urged Paterson to exercise the authority given him by Section 43 of the Public Officers Law.

The provision reads in part, “if a vacancy shall occur, otherwise than by expiration of term, with no provision of the law for filling the same, if the office be elective, the governor shall appoint a person to execute the duties thereof until the vacancy shall be fill by an election.”

Gianaris said the groups’ idea was presented to Paterson several weeks ago and he hasn’t yet made a decision.

It seems odd that Paterson, who is (like other Democratic governors) polling extraordinarily badly right now, doesn’t seem all that interested in ending the Senate mess in NY*, or at least getting it under some sort of control.  Then again, it seems odd that Attorney General Andrew Cuomo would be arguing against the constitutionality of a solution that would arguably help not only New York, but his own party head.

Well, no.  Not really.  An out-of-control Senate is a wonderful thing, if you’re a Democrat trying to unseat an incumbent…

Moe Lane

Continue reading NY Senate Watch: Paterson (D) could end this, any time?

Yeah, kind of politics-heavy today.

That’s how it goes; take a few days off, more or less, and the stuff piles up. Meanwhile, drink your coffee:

Coffee ‘may reverse Alzheimer’s’

Drinking five cups of coffee a day could reverse memory problems seen in Alzheimer’s disease, US scientists say.

The Florida research, carried out on mice, also suggested caffeine hampered the production of the protein plaques which are the hallmark of the disease.

Is it true?

Do you really care?

Moe Lane

PS: You really do have to wonder about the karmic burden that mice must be bearing.

Line of the day, Reason Hit & Run edition.

‘…the soft sophistry of low absolutism.’ – Matt Welch, in the process of eviscerating Ezra Klein for, among other things, holding up as a model the state-run newspaper industry of a minor European country with no meaningful defense budget and a GDP comparable to that of North Carolina’s. (Via Jim Treacher‘s Twitter.)

I’d comment further, except that I’m doing a quick check for the thens, so forths, after alls, insofars, and especially of courses that apparently cause Matt to get that funky Hulk-pupil effect going.  I haven’t decided yet whether to banish them from my language, or save them up for the next Reason shindig…

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Schumer: no need for bipartisanship on health care.

He’s got those sixty votes, you see.  And he’s impatient.  Impatient of the way that people are still getting in the way of his shepherding of a health care plan that neither him or his will ever have to use.

Schumer: With Franken Seated No Need To Compromise On Public Option

One of the leading Senate Democrats in the health care reform battle said that the seating of Al Franken has given the party the purpose and direction it needs to ensure that a public option for insurance coverage remains in any bill.

“If you did a consensus within the Democratic Party, you would find the level-playing-field public option to be the answer,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “And now that we have 60 votes, it seems to me like we don’t have to turn it inside out for something we don’t like.”

Well, that’s certainly blunt enough; so, shall we get on with it then, Senators?

That would be Senators Bayh, Bennett, Gillibrand, Lincoln, and Specter, mind you.  After all, none of you are scared of taking a firm position on an issue that’s splitting the country right down the middle, are you?

Moe Lane

PS: See also.

Crossposted to RedState.

What, the weekend?

Was very nice, actually.  Spent it in a Massachusetts lakeside camp where high-tech was a power outlet.  No internet, obviously: my rule of thumb on how the world was going was if they weren’t interrupting the Red Sox game on the radio, everything was fine.

Everything was fine.  And I’d forgotten how nice it is to hear a ball game on the radio.  Especially when you have no skin in the game, as it was.

Hell, I even drank a Budwiser and didn’t die from the shame of it.

It’s official: Steve Pearce (R Cand, NM-02) wants his seat back.

Real quick: NM-02 went for McCain (barely) in 2008; Cook has it at R+6.  It’s been rumored for some time that Pearce (who didn’t run for the seat in 2008) would be trying to get it back for the GOP, but Harry Teague’s vote on cap-and-trade was the triggering event. You can donate to his campaign here: his basic site is here, and includes his reasons for running.  They’re sufficiently important that Pearce isn’t going to run for Governor after all: Continue reading It’s official: Steve Pearce (R Cand, NM-02) wants his seat back.