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SEQUESTER: The Horror!
March 1, 2013 | 4 comments
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SOTU Preview: Human Props, Budget Fights, and Wedge Issues
February 12, 2013 | 0 comments
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Hello, I Must Be Going
August 14, 2012 | 18 comments
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Weekend Political Wrap-Up, Paul Ryan Edition
August 12, 2012 | 16 comments
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Esquire Blogger Sees Paul Ryan, Shreds His Safety Net
August 11, 2012 | 13 comments
The Spectacle Blog
1. Ted Cruz had some advantages in his Texas Senate runoff against David Dewhurst: the mood of the Republican primary electorate, the smaller and more conservative group of voters likely to turn out for the second round, Cruz’s mastery of social media, and the two months between the first round of voting and the second.
But Cruz was still outspent 3-1 by the sitting lieutenant governor in his state. More strikingly, Cruz went from losing the first round by 11 points, with a candidate to Dewhurst’s left taking 13 percent of the vote (support that was presumably more likely to go to Dewhurst than Cruz) while the other major conservative got just 4 percent, to winning the runoff by 14 points. To put it another way, Cruz went from winning a little more than a third of the Republican primary vote to a little less than three-fifths. That’s got to rank as the biggest Tea Party upset of 2012.
2. Last week, on August 1, the HHS contraception mandate took effect for businesses hiring more than 50 employees. The Newlands of Colorado, the family that owns Hercules Industries, are among those suing the federal government. They do not want to pay for coverage that violates their religious convictions. The Justice Department essentially retorted that God didn’t tell them they had to have a business.
“Hercules Industries has ‘made no showing of a religious belief which requires that [it] engage in the [HVAC] business,” the DOJ replied in a formal filing in district court. Welcome to America.
3. On the same day, there was an outpouring of support for Chick-fil-A. Politicians in New York City, Boston, and Chicago — including the mayors of two of those three cities — had suggested the government should try to keep out the fast food chain because of its president’s position on same-sex marriage and the company’s financial support for socially conservative groups. Who knew that either of those things were illegal?
Ordinary Americans tend to gravitate toward social liberalism out of tolerance. Showing social liberalism’s intolerant side seems like a good way to ensure a backlash — and that’s the early result of the Chick-fil-A flap.
4. Sean Trende has another great piece on the state of the presidential race, this time focusing on an apparent disparity between the state and national polls. The data suggests that Barack Obama’s campaign spending has arrested his decline in the major swing states, while there has been no movement in the states that haven’t witnessed a Democratic ad blitz. This could suggest either that Mitt Romney will be in trouble as Obama takes this show on the road — or that Obama will be in trouble once he’s already taken his best shot and Romney starts firing back.
5. I’ve seen only one public poll in the Indiana Senate race since Richard Mourdock dispatched Richard Lugar in the Republican primary, and it’s a Rasmussen survey that shows Mourdock leading Democrat Joe Donnelly by just two points. Lugar’s lead would presumably be larger and another poll shows Romney beating Obama in Indiana — a state the president carried in 2008 — by 16 points.
I expect Mourdock to pull it out in November, but if he somehow doesn’t — or if he requires substantial national help to cross the finish line — expect anti-Tea Party Republicans and their liberal media enablers to make a great deal of hay.
6. One hopes that the tragic shootings at Sikh community in Wisconsin won’t be politicized. Is that too much to hope for?
Kingofthenet| 8.5.12 @ 9:38PM
Sean Hannity better do a PSA, ASAP the 'baggers are getting confused which 'Rag Heads' it's Open Season on.
Truth to Power| 8.6.12 @ 9:14AM
Bigotry flows off your keyboard a little too easily, kingofthedebt. Anybody that has been around progressives is not surprised.
mike 3/505| 8.5.12 @ 9:39PM
My belief, is that these polls showing Obama ahead, are a result of Romney's overseas trip where the public was showered with the "failure/gaffe" meme. This too, will blow up in Obama's face. After the initial blitz, thinking people will come to the conclusion that there was only one very minor blip, and in that case Romney was right on substance. For the other two, there was no gaffe at all, and Romney was really right...especially the "culture counts," comment. Governor romeny would best double down on that one. He should conttrast the culture of the Democrats, Liberals, Statists, OWS, PLO & Greece on one side and the Republicans, Conservatives, TEA Party on the other.
Libertyinfinite| 8.5.12 @ 10:14PM
Couldn't disagree more. The only thing that romney has is his trip abroad. He & his people think that that is all that they have to do to win, is talk about other nations. Mitt Romney thinks he'll win because his convention will be such a stunning success that it will carry him over the finish line. In short, romney thinks that he can win over the American People without even doing anything. I say romney will not see another political win until he loses to obama in november. Romney has zero real fight in him. He is a liberal, & therefor, can't really fight for the rights true values. & though he has lots of big smoke & mirrors, we the people are not as dumb as he & his millionaire friends would like for us to be. His plans were seen to only help those making over a million dollars a year. Ooops, the truth hurts. But the whole of the right is too hard up to care what it believes in anymore. Truth is out of the national picture in 2012. & conservatism, down the toilet.
mike 3/505| 8.5.12 @ 11:22PM
I agree...Conservatives and Conservatism are down the toilet....Just look at the overwhelming Liberal Triumph in the 2010 Midterms. Right after that, the Liberals successfully recalled the Governor of Wisconsin and reinstated their liberal budget.
Even in the Republican party, establishment candidates are triumphing...just this past week, Ted Cruz got soundly trounced by the establishment Republican candidate...and on the moral front, that evil company Chick Fil A had one of their worst business days, this past Wednesday as people stayed away from their stores by the millions.
Yep...Conservatism and the TEA Party are dead.
mike 3/505| 8.5.12 @ 9:40PM
Edit Button Please.
Libertyinfinite| 8.5.12 @ 10:06PM
The Ted Cruz is great, but today it is too little too late. While everyone on the right loves to bring up things like religious freedom & (the left would call it gay marriage) traditional family values, our chosen savior Mitt Romney is still MIA on those topics.
Here we sit under the despotic national nanny state society, the colossal giant of tyrannical adherence that we created by taking our marxist cultural social liberalism & living under it without a care. Here we sit, talking amongst ourselves about conservative values. While Mitt Romney will hand the win on social liberalism (AKA harmless cultural marxism) to the left by not saying a word. We sit here under it, & look to the guy who hands everything off to the left, asking for him to help us recover.
2012 is the death of conservatism in America. The social issues that romney hands the win to the left on, are what in fact created the society that we have today. To give it away, as the right does with romney is suicide for conservatives. But, they seem to be unable to help themselves anymore.
Sweep it under the rug America, & everything will all go away soon. Cultural marxism will swallow us whole unhindered as it will be now.
Kingofthenet| 8.5.12 @ 10:20PM
Sarah Palin just Tweeted: "Cease Fire, you got the wrong Rag-Heads"!
Sjccoach| 8.5.12 @ 10:30PM
The shooter was a liberal pederast like you and Harry Reid
Nick| 8.5.12 @ 11:58PM
President "You Didn't Build That" just Tweeted: "Did any dogs get killed? I missed my dinner!"
Nick| 8.6.12 @ 12:37PM
I apologize for the disrespect I have shown to the victims of this atrocity, by my stupid remark.
I am truly sorry, and my prayers are with the victims and their families.
I was tired, and just wanted to stick it to KooK. But, that is no excuse. I should have resisted the urge.
Again, I'm sorry.
Nick from Detroit
Reggie Love| 8.5.12 @ 11:04PM
Obama has spent millions and millions on polls. We realy have to look at the huge Democrat oversample in most of them.
Tom Kyba| 8.6.12 @ 12:19PM
Whenever kingofhisownego posts, people start sniffing the air and looking at the bottom of their shoes. Kingyboy, you have no class, no relevant point to make, ever, and sadly enough, you think yourself a sardonic wit but you are witless. If your desire is to come across as a spoiled desperate attention-dependant little brat, mission accomplished.