Janice Gangsta Moll Hahn Wins District 36 By Ten Points
— Ace

Not close. Closer than expected, for all that counts, which isn't much at all.

With all reporting, Hahn, a Los Angeles city councilwoman, had 41,585 votes, or about 55 percent, to 34,636, or about 45 percent, for Huey, who owns marketing and advertising companies and largely bankrolled his campaign with nearly $900,000 in personal funds.

Hahn called the victory bittersweet as she mourned the unexpected death of her 86-year-old mother on Monday....

[H]ahn's victory was far from impressive, given an 18-point Democratic registration edge in the 36th Congressional District[.]

I don't think it was close enough to even be considered a warning shot, and besides, they ignore every warning shot. They only notice defeats. After they litigate the hell out of them for a year.

Still. Seems like a lot of people are down on the Democrats.

Posted by: Ace at 07:16 AM | Comments (69)
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Secede Already: State of Southern California Would Be Big Red State
— Ace

A state official named Jeff Stone is proposing secession.

The proposed state would consist of San Diego, most importantly, plus less-populated counties making up the so-called "Inland Empire" (I think), with a total population of 13 million, making it the fifth largest, behind Texas, NY, Florida, and the rest of California.

Stone said California is too big to govern, a situation that has led the state to raid local government coffers because of runaway spending. He knows it will be a challenge to create another state but doesn't believe it's an impossible task.

...

Even if leaders from the 13 counties got serious about secession, the U.S. Constitution says no new state can be formed without the consent of Congress and the state Legislature.

A spokesman for Gov. Brown treated the proposal with all the respect we've come to expect from Democrats:

Gil Duran, a spokesman for California Gov. Jerry Brown, said Stone's proposal is "a supremely ridiculous waste of everybody's time."

"If you want to live in a Republican state with very conservative right-wing laws, then there's a place called Arizona," Duran told the newspaper.

Geraghty acknowledges this will never happen, but makes up a map anyway.

The proposed state would be a new red state.

Posted by: Ace at 06:56 AM | Comments (133)
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And The Retreat Is On: Lindsey Graham (Of Course), Yeah We Should Raise Taxes To Get Debt Deal
— DrewM

Once again I must ask, Really South Carolina?

Senator Graham said Republicans should be willing to accept a deal that curbs entitlement spending and increases tax revenues by closing loopholes.

“To me, that makes sense,” he said. “That way you don't raise tax rates, but you do generate new revenue by closing loopholes. You're giving money away to a few people at the expense of many, and I think it's time to reevaluate that.”

The obvious solution, Graham said, is for Republicans to give some ground on taxes and for Democrats to give some ground on entitlements. But he doubts negotiators will get there before August 2nd.

Oh is that all we should do? Thanks for clearing that up. Boy, it is pretty obvious now that you mention it.

Maybe Lindsey could read a news paper once in awhile. If he did, he might have heard that Obama pretty much ruled that out and not even Mitch McConnell thinks Obama is dealing in good faith.

I don't know how we get through the next 15 months or so but personally, I'm glad we've gotten to this point. As a country, we've avoided a fight about First Principles for too long and that's gotten us to this point. The sides are too divided and their respective positions are mutually exclusive. The only way to settle the issue is to put the case to the voters next November and let them decide one way or the other.

Somewhat related: Allen Simpson needs a nice big mug of STFU.

Alan Simpson says Cantor undermined Boehner. "It's the stuff going on in my party where the pettiness overcomes the patriotism"

Hey old man...why not question the patriotism who named you to a debt commission and then walked away from everything you recommended?

Posted by: DrewM at 06:34 AM | Comments (118)
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That's Mister DOOM To You, Punk!
— Monty

Even Chris Muir (of Day By Day fame) isn't impressed with Mitch McConnell's "fallback plan" for the debt-ceiling vote. Jim DeMint, a Tea Party favorite, won't support it either. I have to wonder if McConnell ran this plan by anyone else in his caucus, or if he just threw it out there to see who'd bite. I might be willing to consider it a bit of Machiavellian manipulation, but...well, I don't think the GOP is really that bright.

The WSJ's editorial page is in favor of the plan, however. This is as good a statement in favor of McConnell's idea that I've read so far:

The reality is that Mr. Obama is trying to present Republicans with a Hobson's choice: Either repudiate their campaign pledge by raising taxes, or take the blame for any economic turmoil and government shutdown as the U.S. nears a debt default. In the former case Mr. Obama takes the tax issue off the table and demoralizes the tea party for 2012, and in the latter he makes Republicans share the blame for 9.2% unemployment.

I've got news for you, Chief: the Democrats (and a lot of the voters) are going to blame the GOP for all of this stuff anyway, regardless of this vote. If the hope is to draw more "independents" out of Obama's orbit and into the GOP/Tea Party fold...it's seems a little far-fetched as a strategy. I think most Tea Partiers would prefer a simpler solution: just don't raise the debt ceiling at all and let the chips fall where they may.

ADDENDUM: A bit of editorializing here -- to me, McConnell's plan stinks of ass-covering rather than problem-solving. I am a foolish idealist, I know, but in my mind we send our representatives to Washington to do the people's business, not to craft strategies to avoid taking responsibility for things. If you can't do the hard thing, take your worthless ass home.

Speaking of the Tea Party's influence on the debt-ceiling negotiations: the problem is that those Tea Partiers are just a bunch of Jesusland morons who don't understand the intricacies of the national debt.

What happens if the debt-ceiling deal isn't reached? No one seems to know for sure. I don't think the consequences are as dire as many are predicting -- the market may indeed take a failure to raise the debt-limit as a good sign; a sign that the United States is finally getting serious about paying down its debt. But the Democrats, as usual, will scream that the GOP is trying to starve old folks to death or something. As James Taranto puts it: Raise Taxes or Granny Gets It!

Hey, who's up for QE3? I hear this one is in 3-D! (I should note that though I sometimes agree with Brad DeLong, this is not one of those times.)

Ireland's debt gets cut to junk status by Moody's. Don't let the debt-ceiling soap opera distract you from the action going on over in Europe right now -- the sovereign debt crisis over there is accelerating.

Why Obama's war on small businesses is killing the job market. (You want to jump-start the jobs-market, Bammer? Abolish the minimum wage. Unemployment would drop by two full points by the end of the year.)

Obamageddon coming to a city near you? This is what you get when you let ideology trump basic principles of economics and municipal government.

And as for the CA-36 special election: California is boned. Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown.

UPDATE 1: The issue isnÂ’t default but government shutdown. We will only default if we choose to; we have plenty of money to service our debts even without a debt-ceiling hike.

UPDATE 2: As reported in the sidebar yesterday, Cisco is looking to axe about 10,000 jobs, many of them as soon as August. That'll be enough to put a hurt on US employment numbers generally.

UPDATE 3: "The U.S. has an unemployment problem. It has an education problem. It has a regulation problem. And they are fundamentally interrelated."

UPDATE 4: Signs of the times - Scrap metal thieves make off with vineyard's irrigation system. I'm hoping VDH will read this story and comment on it. (California is so boned.)
more...

Posted by: Monty at 04:56 AM | Comments (184)
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Designated Hero: Obama Raised $86+ Million Compared to GOP Candidates' Paltry $35 Million
— Gabriel Malor

WARNING: Today, you will see many ZOMG! DOUBLE-RAINBOW-ish headlines in the papers and much breathless gushing on the news channels about Obama's fund-raising haul with barely veiled suggestions that his money will inevitably carry him back to the White House in 2012.

First, take care not to aspirate your vomit; I'm rather fond of you.

Second, take heart. The MBM is back in Designated Hero territory and that means the actual situation bears little resemblance to the Democratic fantasy. Here are the facts:

Last quarter Obama's campaign raised $47 million. Combined, the GOP campaigns raised about $35 million. Now that doesn't sound so bad, does it? In fact, the $12 million difference is shockingly low, given that the Democrats already know who their candidate is and many GOP donors are waiting until the GOP field narrows to get in it.

So where is the MBM's $86 million number coming from? They're adding the DNC's haul to the President's. Last quarter the DNC brought in $38 million from fund-raisers hosted by the President. It's a bit apples and oranges, though, isn't it? Much of the DNC money will go toward paying for things other than the presidential election.

Third, take note of the left-wing flip-flop. When you went to bed last night, Democrats were insisting that money is a horrible evil when it comes to politics. Liberals were lamenting money's influence in 2010 and cursing Justice Alito for daring to suggest that the President's demagoguery against campaign spending was misplaced. When you woke up this morning, though, it turned out that campaign money is a very good thing. Liberals are more than happy to cheer the news that the President will have an enormous cash advantage.

Finally, take this chart to any Democrat who buzzes about the President's fund-raising. The President is underwater again and he's fresh out of bin Laden's to kill. So his ability to separate Democratic donors from their money will be used by the MBM as a proxy for his favorability among the public at large. Do not fall into that trap. Democratic donors are giving money to him because, err...they're Democratic donors. It's what they do. That Obama managed to raise "about three times the amount of his GOP rivals" does not signify that he is about three times as popular with the public.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 03:25 AM | Comments (83)
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Top Headline Comments 7-13-11
— Gabriel Malor

Had you rather Caesar were living and die all slaves,
than that Caesar were dead, to live all free men?

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:56 AM | Comments (100)
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CA-36 Special Election Results Thread
— CAC

Biggest thing to watch is the turnout of Republican votes in Torrance. If it is massive, and the Democratic turnout remains lackluster, it could be enough to tip the scales in Huey's favor.

Results HERE, polls close at 8pm PST.
Backup site here
As of 6pm PST, with 2 hours until polls close, turnout is at 17.32% per the LACRR.
Per the LA County Registrar Recorder/County Clerk, Dean Logan:
"First results by 8:30 (vote by mail). Poll returns will begin once in Norwalk likely starting around 10 PM until finished."

Update #1:
The mail-ins through Saturday are already in and it is Hahn with a roughly 8.5% lead:
JANICE HAHN DEM 21,365
CRAIG HUEY REP 18,025

Rest of the results as already mentioned will be coming in at a snails pace. Huey needed a strong final push, and that is even more evident now. If total turnout is indeed around 17.8%, there would be another 16-17,000 votes outstanding, so lets wait and see.

Posted by: CAC at 07:54 PM | Comments (444)
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Paul Krugman is a Frickin' Dope
— Gabriel Malor

I feel like this needs to be repeated. While we're waiting for CA-36 with nothing else to do.

It's quite simple. Paul Krugman will say whatever it takes to make himself sound smart and libtards eat that shit right up.. It doesn't matter what he said yesterday, or last week, or ten years ago. The facts must fit the theory, ergo: the spendulus wasn't the kind of stimulus Krugman meant, even though that's not what he said back when he was pimping the spendulus.

There's a technical term in psychology for someone who continually reinterprets reality to fit his or her preconceived notions. It's when the senses are actively disregarded by the brain, which subconsciously knows better than to believe the nerve input. The term is "dumbass."

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 06:39 PM | Comments (36)
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Overnight Open Thread
— Maetenloch

The Eternal Shame of Your First Online Handle

Some mistakes you can move past but some will haunt you forever....

Today, humans stake online claims to their real-life names before they can even form words or survive outside the womb.

If only we were all so lucky.

Those of us who came of age alongside AOL must contend with something even more incriminating than a lifelong Google profile: A trail of discarded online aliases, each a distillation of how we viewed ourselves and our place in the world at the time of sign-on. The dawn of the Internet was an open invitation to free ourselves from the names our parents gave us and forge self-made identities divorced from our reputations IRL.

Well back in the early 80's I was known as 'Maximinus Thrax' online - because it was unique (and historical) but mostly because it just sounded cool. And since then I've pretty much stuck with my current nom de blog. I could've done a lot worse I guess.

So how did you end up with your current online moniker?

more...

Posted by: Maetenloch at 06:05 PM | Comments (747)
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Hmmm....: Hahn Alleging GOP "Voter Suppression"
— Ace

Does that mean what I'm hoping it means...?

As voters headed to the polls Tuesday to decide a hard-fought special congressional election in the South Bay area, attorneys for Democrat Janice Hahn filed complaints alleging that supporters of her opponent, Republican Craig Huey, were trying to suppress turnout of her voters.

In a letter sent Tuesday to the Los Angeles County district attorney, the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles and the California attorney general, Hahn lawyers Stephen J. Kaufman and Steven J. Reyes asked for immediate investigations into "voter suppression actitivies" in the 36th Congressional District race.

Posted by: Ace at 05:30 PM | Comments (85)
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