Monday Open Thread

 

"Bell Boy" - The Who

- I haven't had a chance to comment on the federal judge in Montana circulating the racist email about Obama.  Those of you who read the blog regularly know that I have a generally pretty high opinion of the federal judiciary.  I have to admit I was shocked by this one -- not only by how manifestly inappropriate it was, but also by how low class such an activity is.  This is the kind of thing that the uncle you hate to be cornered by at a Fourth of July picnic does, not a guy who is the chief judge of a federal district court.  I think that if he does not resign there should be an investigation of this by the Senate Judiciary Committee.  I don't know how anyone can feel that Judge Cebull is someone who is capable of administering justice on an even-handed basis after seeing something like this.  

- I am enjoying the Rush Limbaugh debacle for the GOP as much as I have enjoyed any political story in a while.  This guy has been an unacceptable racist, sexist pig forever, but has largely gotten away with it.  Republicans are so afraid of him and his audience that most of them seem unable to do the clearly right thing here and condemn his remarks unequivocally.  (Scott Brown at least had the good sense to do this.) 

- Brown, however, did not have the good sense to vote against the Blunt amendment.  I think he misread the tea leaves on this, which is uncharacteristic for him.  Brown has been pretty adept at knowing when he can push the Republican agenda and when he needs to part company with the leadership.  Massachusetts has a hugely liberal female electorate, one which went for Obama by a 68-30 margin in 2008.  (Men, by contrast, went for Obama by a margin of 56-42 in Massachusetts.)  Obama also won the under thirty vote in Massachusetts by a margin of 78 - 20! I just cannot imagine that this vote is going to play with either of these constituencies, groups that will turn out in force in a way that they did not in the special election in which Brown won.  This should really play to Elizabeth Warren's strengths. 

- I am really pulling for Santorum to take Ohio tomorrow, along with Tennessee and Oklahoma.  Beating Romney in those places while losing to him in Massachusetts, Vermont, and Virginia (where he didn't get on the ballot) sets up a narrative where Romney can only win in states he can't win in November or, in the case of Virginia, where he is not subject to a fair fight.  It is unfortunate for Santorum that Gingrich has remained in the race.  If he could have added Georgia to his list, he might have really bloodied Romney.  Of course, Santorum's failure to get a full slate of delegate in Ohio is likely to cost him dearly, as will getting shut out in Virginia.  Nate Silver is predicting that Romney will get half of the delegates tomorrow as a result of this and will probably be very difficult to stop as a result.  Still, he continues to look weak in the Republican heartland.     

What's on your minds?  

Update:  Oh my God, lately I am getting so many laughs out of politics, I can't quite believe it.  To continue on one of my favorite themes, this latest Fox News poll on Latino voter sentiment in the presidential election is making me chortle.   It shows Obama beating the best of the GOP hopefuls by a margin of 84-14.  Forty percent of Latinos who voted for John McCain (who got only 31% of the Latino vote) indicated a preference for Obama among the presidential candidates.  

If these numbers hold, it will be the most significant political occurrence in a very long time.  (h/t Daily Kos)  

Comments

[oddjob]

Scott Brown at least had the good sense to do this.

Running for reelection in a state with a large liberal presence when you yourself aren't liberal will do that.

[oddjob]

This should really play to Elizabeth Warren's strengths.

Perhaps, but I'm also seeing polling indicating Brown has an 8% lead (in a fluid electorate, but nonetheless) and chit-chat about Warren risking becoming "the female candidate". Not a good thing for a female candidate in a statewide race in Massachusetts.

[kathy a.]

really is pretty stunning that a federal judge would distribute something like that. he says he asked the 9th circuit judicial council to investigate -- which is appropriate, as is his apology to the president. but you're right that his actions call into question his judgment, and they also reflect poorly on the federal judiciary as a whole. i'm pretty sure there are rules of judicial ethics that prohibit that kind of conduct.

the rush thing is something, no? yesterday i was running an errand and heard the CBS hourly news report on my local news radio station -- i assume that 5 minute thing is distributed nationally to affiliates -- and it wrongly reported that rush's comments came in the wake of requiring catholic institutions to provide abortion coverage! i called the local affiliate, they checked the tape, and acknowledged that saying "abortion" instead of "contraception" is a big mistake. i was pretty please with their responsiveness, checking it while i was still on the phone and acknowledging the mistake.

[oddjob]

Today's Non Sequitur (comic strip, March 5, 2012 if you check it out on a later date).

:)

[oddjob]

I saw earlier today that Limbaugh has now lost a seventh commercial advertisor.

[kathy a.]

i know we are looking at the big picture and winning in november. and the GOP seems so seriously fractured; really kind of astonishing. but santorum is so repellant that i can't bring myself to root for him....

[oddjob]

It won't make much difference at all, but since I'm not a member of either party and since Massachusetts has open primaries I intend to vote for Little Ricky tomorrow.

[oddjob]

Now Limbaugh's lost his 8th: AOL.

Hat tip, Sully (who also notes that among women Obama now leads Romney 55-37%).

[kathy a.]

oooh, aol. cool! i was proud of pro-flowers for being #7.

oddjob -- despite my previously-expressed views, i'd probably do the same thing if i lived in your state.

[Crissa]

I don't believe a poll that shows a 16-point change in a month without a gaff http://www.salon.com/2011/12/08/elizabeth_warren_wall_streets_best_marxist_friend/singleton/

[low-tech cyclist]

I'm rooting for Ricky tomorrow, to keep the fun going on the other side, but I'm really expecting a good day for the Oven Mitt tomorrow. He gets Massachusetts, Vermont, Virginia, and Idaho essentially for free, he's got the edge in Ohio, and Tennessee seems to be on the verge of going his way.

I love seeing the advertisers finally running away from Rush. Also, folks, sign the petition to get Rush off of Armed Forces Radio, where he had no business being even before now.

And Romney's weak-tea "I'll just say this which is it's not the language I would have used" takes the full measure of the man. Or perhaps the full measure of the protozoan, given his total absence of backbone.

[oddjob]

Crissa, lots of people haven't made up their minds yet, but know already that they like Scott Brown. He has a very solid approval rating (something like 55% approve/28% disapprove). That makes things difficult.

[oddjob]

(And then there's the very persistent historical pattern that Massachusetts voters rarely vote in women to statewide offices.....)

[oddjob]

(Massachusetts politics is still very much a boys' only club up in their tree house with "no girls allowed". Scott is a natural in that environment.)

[Sir Charles]

oddjob,

I tend to think that Brown's approval ratings are going to slide quite a bit once he gets pinned with voting with the Republicans on these kinds of issues.

I also think that the electorate is going to be very favorable for Elizabeth Warren.

It's not an easy pick up by any means, but I think that with Obama winning by somewhere in the neighborhood of 20-30% he is going to have some coat tails. (I think Romney is going to play very poorly in the Bay State this time around.)

[oddjob]

I think you're right about Romney. I'm not so sure about Brown, although I very much want him to lose since I never wanted him to be there in the first place.

[kathy a.]

oddjob, i wrote the armed forces radio people directly, stressing the service of my dad, stepfather, and husband, and the potential for one of my children to join. funny, they haven't responded.

[nancy]

Not surprising. Pentagon is sticking with its Limbaugh programming. This should get more interesting. per wiki:

AFN also offers a variety of radio programming over its various frequencies throughout the world. Not only is there local programming (with military disc jockeys), but there is satellite programming, as well. Music programming spans Classic Rock, Rhythmic R&B, Jack FM, Techno/Trance and country music. Ryan Seacrest's AT 40, The Rick Dees' Weekly Top 40 and the American Country Countdown with Kix Brooks are broadcast weekly over AFN Radio. In addition to music, AFN broadcasts syndicated talk radio programs such as Car Talk, Kidd Kraddick in the Morning, Kim Komando, The Rush Limbaugh Show, The Motley Fool Radio Show, A Prairie Home Companion, Doug Stephan,Titillating Sports with Rick Tittle, Sports Overnight America, and other programs form a variety of sources. Weekly religious programming is offered to AFN stations via closed-circuit.

On December 5, 2005, liberal/progressive Ed Schultz and conservative talk show host Sean Hannity were added to the radio programs provided by the AFN Broadcast Center to its affiliate stations. Liberal Alan Colmes rounds out the political talk lineup on The Voice channel.

So a little something for everybody being the idea -- except only Rush gets the *sluts/prostitutes/feminanzis* pass. I'd say the brass has a problem. If the Rush listening demographic is really as has been reported this past week -- shrinking and aging -- AFN listeners might prefer a swap-out for, say, Howard Stern.

[nancy]

Sir C -- Your update. Am I reading that correctly? ^^ OMG.

[Sir Charles]

Si.

[low-tech cyclist]

From SC's link, I love the RNC spokeswoman's desperate attempt to spin it: "The 2012 election will be a pocketbook election, and Barack Obama has failed Latinos on the economy."

Good luck with that: when the GOP has all but waved a "we hate brown people" banner in their faces, it's gonna be hard for them to pick up Hispanic votes.

Also from the link:

The Fox News Latino poll show likely Latino voters across the country overwhelmingly support the DREAM Act (90 percent), favor a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants (85 percent), and believe undocumented workers help to grow the U.S. economy (82 percent).

Obama and the Dems are for all these things, and the GOP's against 'em. I think Hispanics have a pretty good clue as to who's on their side, and who hates their guts.

During the February Arizona debate, both Romney and Santorum backed controversial Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Hadn't realized Romney had backed that reprehensible piece of shit, but I'm sure just about every Hispanic voter does.

The GOP: the party of straight white males, and of the women who believe that straight white males should be in charge.

[oddjob]

Drops of Good News (& counterintuitive, too).

[oddjob]

When it comes to alienating key voting constituencies, Republicans are on a roll. The GOP has already gone out of its way to push Latino voters away, and seems to operating under the assumption that women no longer vote at all.

Yesterday, Mitt Romney, the likely Republican presidential nominee, decided to alienate students, too.

The high school senior who stood up at Mitt Romney's town hall meeting here today was worried about how he and his family would pay for college, and wanted to hear what the candidate would do about rising college costs if elected. He didn't realize that Mr. Romney was about to use him to demonstrate his fiscal conservatism to the crowd.

The answer: nothing.

...

(What I don't get is why Ron Paul is finding a following among college students. Ron Paul believes more passionately than Romney that "nothing" is the right answer to that student's question.)

[oddjob]

A short, MUST READ Limbaugh update. Read all the way to the very end!

Words

simply

fail.....

[Sir Charles]

oddjob,

I heard audio of Romney making that reply this morning on Morning Joe -- I couldn't quite believe it. God is this guy a rich, insensitive douche bag.

McCaskill was on with Matthews last night and decrying Rush's election to the Missouri Hall of Fame.

[oddjob]

Limbaugh has now lost 26 advertisers (some of them from local markets rather than national).

Hat tip, The Plum Line.

[oddjob]

God is this guy a rich, insensitive douche bag.

He may well not be if you're a friend of his, but he's at least as bad a campaigner as Martha Coakley can be and so he repeatedly appears painfully out of touch and robotic. He's just awful.

Did you read this column when I linked to it back in January? I found it quite insightful in that Boston Globe columnist noted that Romney was just as bad a campaigner back when he ran for governor. It's just the way he is. As a campaigner he's stiff, plastic, and without that innate ability to emotionally connect with a total stranger that comes in so handy to a politician.

[oddjob]

Former Maine governor (& political independent) Angus King looks to be leading in the race to replace Olympia Snowe, but will be under pressure to declare which party he would caucus with if he wins (& likely King voters appear to overwhelmingly prefer he caucus with the Democrats).

[nancy]

The good people of Missouri might want to look at this bit of reality check before proceeding with the Hall of Fame induction. This won't surprise anyone who's been near the ad sales office of a radio station. Smoke and mirrors helped along, once again, by our cooperative media.

[kathy a.]

nancy, i read someplace else today that more modern sampling (about who's actually listening at a given time? will look for the article) puts rush's numbers way way lower, too.

yay about the loss of sponsorships. i was out for a few hours, and came back to emails about pressuring the DOD to drop advertising (vote vets), and about pressuring clear channel to either drop rush or make him quit doing his hateful thing. (ha.)

[kathy a.]

here is a rundown on contraceptive coverage, the reasons it is included as preventive care, and etc.

[Crissa]

What I don't get is that a TV channel gets fined millions of dollars for a breast you couldn't see... But Rush gets to use filthy words on the radio every day and nary a peep.

[nancy]

Rush tries a new tack today, trying to keep the thing from capsizing. Pathetically absurd.

Crissa, I wrote to the FCC last week with just that question. Hope they're inundated.

Speculation here that he won't recover from this, at least on air.

[low-tech cyclist]

Looks like Romney edged Santorum in Ohio, but Santorum won in Tennessee, Oklahoma, and North Dakota, and Newt took Georgia easily. That's enough to keep the clown show going.

My wife and I fly into the Tampa airport a lot, since her family is in nearby Plant City (we took the kid to the Strawberry Festival last weekend, where he had a blast), and as you pass through the airport, you can't miss the signs welcoming the 2012 GOP Convention to Tampa. Couldn't resist a "Oh look, dear, the circus is coming to town!" comment as we passed one of the signs.

[oddjob]

:)