Reading [the Constitution] on the floor of the House will not make the country more like you want it to be, unless your problem with the country is that you thought the Constitution should be read aloud on the floor of the House more frequently.Ezra Klein • On the GOP’s requirement that all proposed laws in the next Congress be prefaced by a reading aloud of the Constitution. Klein calls the move, seen by some as an attempt to appeal to the Tea Party, a “gimmick” that will have “no practical impact” on how members legislate. Kevin Gutzman, history professor at Western Connecticut State University, agrees: “This is the way the establishment handles grassroots movements… once they’ve humored [Tea Party sympathizers] and those people go away, it’s right back to business as usual.”source (via • follow)
When you have Akon on your side, you can do anything. But in all seriousness, it appears that our friends at No Labels are ready to break out a jam for the moderates. And who better to do it than a reformed ex-con who made good?
It’s never over until the count is done. I would encourage people to recognize that 255,000 votes were cast in the US Senate race and right now what we have is about a 2000 vote difference. Less than one percent.Alaska Senate candidate Joe Miller • Holding on a little too closely to the belief that he still has a shot in the race. The AP called the race for Murkowski today, making her the first candidate since Strom Thurmond in 1954 to win a race on write-in ballots alone. Murkowski hasn’t declared victory today but she is expected to soon. Miller, however, whose campaign contested 8,153 ballots, is still behind by more than .5 percent, which means that if he wants a recount, he’s gonna have to pay for it himself. Look man, we understand you weren’t expecting Murkowski to win. But your cavalier attitude towards your opponents hurt you down the stretch. source (via • follow)
This is a race where there’s going to be a lot of Monday Morning Quarterbacking regarding the Tea Party.Fox News analyst Carl Cameron • Bringing some perspective to the whole Harry Reid/Sharron Angle situation. As Cameron notes, the seat seemed likely to turn GOP … until Angle became the nominee. Reid was that unpopular in Nevada. But Angle proved to be a very weak competitor (even though she was in it until the end), meaning that Reid gets another six years, as well as another run at Senate Majority Leader. Honestly, this was the biggest loss of the night for the GOP, and one that they can attribute directly to Tea Party influence. source (via)
It drives me nuts to see that X millions are being allocated to build a turtle tunnel, a donkey museum, a salamander crossing, etc, etc, etc.Former Velvet Underground Maureen “Mo” Tucker • Explaining why she showed up in a news clip as a bonafide Tea Party supporter. While we stand by the fact that she doesn’t have anything to explain, she did offer a little bit of insight to her political views to the St. Louis Riverfront Times. She claims to dislike the heavy spending of the Obama administration, although she’s a Democrat/independent who doesn’t think highly of George W. Bush or Sarah Palin, either. She also wants more oversight of social welfare programs and less spending on frivolous projects. “Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not a fool, a racist, a Nazi,” she wrote. “Anyone who knows me knows I’m afraid of flying, afraid of bugs, but not afraid to say what I think.” source (via)
Yeah yeah, she didn’t go to Yale, she isn’t perfect, but this seems a lot more calculated the second time around. If you’re going to take this approach, you should change it up slightly so that people don’t tire of the message. We liked the conceit of it better the first time. Now it feels like formula. By the way, she’s down in the polls by nearly 20 points. source
Christine O’Donnell’s second campaign ad: Just like the first
Here’s a hidden feature that shipped in...
Watch: PCB gets a visual shout out on GMA’s Yahoo/Tumblr...
Wrote a thing.
Hat tip to this headline writer.
Congrats Tumblr!
Don’t screw this up Yahoo.
In 2007, I was...
» Where should the government step in? While Tea Partiers are notably anti-government, the study shows that they are looking for some government intervention on social issues such as abortion. Overall, though, the two somewhat disparate groups can agree on a couple of things, despite their differences. ”They know what they can agree on, which is what they’re against: Obama, Pelosi,” said George Mason University public policy professor Mark Rozell.
» Oh, and it gets worse for Reid: See, the Las Vegas Review-Journal just gave Angle a big endorsement over Reid, throwing some harsh words at the Senate Majority Leader in the process: “As he has climbed higher and higher in the Democratic hierarchy, he has veered further and further to the left, becoming politically disconnected from Nevada and its residents.” This is bad news for Reid, but will it be enough to hurt Harry’s ability to win?
» Other things to note: Is this just a hype issue? That’s Newsweek’s conclusion. They say that the chances of angry voters voting in the 2010 elections is roughly the same as normal voters, and there’s a lot more of those. And they note that Obama’s approval rating, currently at 48 percent. is way above where both George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were during their 2006 and 1994 midterms, respectively.
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