One more time, but probably not the last time: WHAT THE HELL IS IN THIS WOMAN'S HEAD?!?!

In the intensifying Democratic precriminations game over who to blame if Coakley loses, here's one for the blame Coakley camp: On another talk radio show, "Nightside With Dan Rea," Coakley jabs Rudy Giuliani as a Yankee fan, then goes on to describe Brown supporter Curt Schilling, the great former Red Sox pitcher, as a Yankee fan as well.

The host sounds incredulous -- "Curt Schilling? The Red Sox great pitcher of the bloody sock?"

Audio at the link.

Thanks to cinyc.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:41 PM | Comments (150)
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I've been batting this idea around ever since the Prop 8 trial got going on Monday and it turned out to be extremely interesting. Even though there has been no video transmission of the proceedings, pretty much everything that goes on in the courtroom has been twittered. What the plaintiffs are going at and the witnesses, how the Prop 8 campaign is cross-examining, what the lawyers are up to, the judge, and on and on.

I have Tuesday off. So I was thinking about driving up to San Francisco this weekend, staying a few days playing tourist (I've never been to SF before), then livetweeting the thing on Tuesday and driving home that evening.

Pros: I'm a total lawgeek and this is a case that will go to the Supreme Court; obviously it's an area of interest to me; there's probably going to be DRAMA during testimony on Tuesday; and I've never actually been to a civil trial before (I do appellate work and stuff for a rather specialized trial-level administrative court).

Cons: Cost, cost, cost; the drive is six hours and longer in the rain; I will have to drive on the interstate in the expected rain at night, something still a little hard for me after my big accident; I'm going to miss all the Massachusetts fun because I'll be in court or on the interstate coming home that evening when that goes down; and I don't like unfamiliar places or crowds.

I would appreciate your thoughts. Pros or cons I haven't considered? Ideas? Whatever.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:35 PM | Comments (120)
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I know it's been all Brown-Coakley all the time today and pretty much all week, but the hits keep coming. I'm mentioning this for a few reasons.

If he'd had his druthers he could have stayed out of the whole thing, but Coakley is such a hippopotamic failure at campaigning that the President had no choice but to save her ass so she can save ObamaCare. Obama knows that if he half-asses it, he's going to get blamed if Coakley loses. So he's gotta go all in and that means telling people the stakes.

In Washington, IÂ’m fighting to curb the abuses of a health insurance industry that routinely denies care. IÂ’m fighting for financial reforms to stop Wall Street from playing havoc with our economy. IÂ’m fighting to create a new clean energy economy and itÂ’s clear now that the outcome of these and other fights will probably rest on one vote in the United States Senate.

The reason everyone on our side thinks this is such a great thing is because all of the things he mentions, and presumably the things he will be campaigning for with Coakley—including ObamaCare, Cap & Tax, and Stimulus 2.0—are disfavored by at least a plurality of voters. Even in Massachusetts.

So it's an exercise in turnout. The President isn't going to convince anyone new to support progressive governance. People gave that a chance until about February of last year when it became clear that Obama doesn't have a clue what he's doing. His anti-prosperity ideas have been trending down ever since. Rather, he's got to somehow get Democrats—Democrats that still like him, I mean—to go to the polls and make Republicans and independents stay home.

That's not going to happen. By announcing that this election is a referendum on his policies, he's made it possible for thousands of frustrated people in Massachusetts to absolve themselves of their mistake in November 2008. There are two groups of energized people in this race. Republicans are one, for obvious reasons. The second group are people who feel like they were misled by Candidate Obama in 2008. Obama just gave that group of people a do-over.

On the other side, Democrats just aren't that excited about this election. Martha Coakley is a certified idiot. And as much as Obama wants something—ANYTHING—with the words "Health" and "America" to pass Congress, not even the Democrats are excited about the Senate or House versions of healthcare reform. Second only to the Christmas Day attack, the dominant news story since Christmas has been how much the Senate hates the House version; how much the House hates the Senate version; and how much Democratic constituents hate both. Game over, man.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 04:49 PM | Comments (236)
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That pretty much makes it unanimous.

Posted by: Ace at 02:07 PM | Comments (452)
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In Soviet Union, balls dip YOU!

It's 48-45 with mere registered voters.

With all adults -- all respondents -- the GOP still leads by a titch, 46-45.

Write Up: Geoff tells me that Rick "Manslaughter" Sanchez isn't talking about this.

Democrats face a growing enthusiasm gap in this year's battle for Congress, according to a new national poll.

...

Forty-nine percent of Republicans questioned in the poll say they're extremely or very enthusiastic about voting this year, up 6 points from November. Thirty-one percent of Democrats say they're enthusiastic, down 11 points.

...

According to the survey, 48 percent of registered voters say they would vote for the Republican candidate for Congress, with 45 percent saying they'd back the Democrat. The 3-point edge for the GOP is within the poll's sampling error - but it's a switch from November, when the Democrats held a 50 to 44 percent advantage....

"That 3-point difference doesn't sound too bad for the Democrats, but the party's numbers are boosted by high levels of support in districts that the GOP has no chance of winning this year," says Holland. "In safe Democratic districts, the Dems have a 21-point advantage over the GOP."

I likes it.

Thanks to AHFF Geoff.

Posted by: Ace at 11:46 AM | Comments (209)
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Well Hello Mr. Fancypants!

Eh. Why not. Let's do this for real.

- AP sources: Obama will visit Massachusetts to help endangered Democratic Senate candidate.

That's all for now.

I assume he will do this on Monday night. Most impact on his clueless braindead followers, least time to rouse the anti-Obama sentiment.

Nope, Sunday.

Remain Calm, All Is Well!

From Slublog.

Posted by: Ace at 09:47 AM | Comments (672)
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Ahhh... now this is more like it.

I am less concerned about the detailed particulars of what platform we unite behind than that we do in fact unite behind one.

People might wrongly get the idea I'm a big fan of our current apparatchiks. No, I'm not. But we do need apparatchiks, and we need Indians, and we need Chiefs.

So long as we do have Chiefs and Indians willing to follow those Chiefs, I'm comfortable swapping out most of the old apparatchiks for new ones.

I just don't want a power struggle or third-party spoliers.

So here's three cheers for a newly engaged and activist citizenry.

The Tea Party movement ignited a year ago, fueled by anti-establishment anger. Now, Tea Party activists are trying to take over the establishment, ground up.

Across the country, they are signing up to be Republican precinct leaders, a position so low-level that it often remains vacant, but which comes with the ability to vote for the party executives who endorse candidates, approve platforms and decide where the party spends money.

A new group called the National Precinct Alliance says it has a coordinator in nearly every state to recruit Tea Party activists to fill the positions and has already swelled the number of like-minded members in Republican Party committees in Arizona and Nevada. Its mantra is this: take the precinct, take the state, take the party — and force it to nominate conservatives rather than people they see as liberals in Republican clothing.

Posted by: Ace at 09:34 AM | Comments (106)
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Whatever we do, let's not militarize this problem.

Damn military solutions are so worthless.

The military chief of the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda was killed in an airstrike Friday, according to reports from the country's official news agency.

Qasim al-Raymi, a deputy commander of the Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was reportedly one of six suspected militants killed by a Yemeni strike targeting two cars traveling in the country's north, Yemen's SABA news agency reported.

"Two cars carrying eight dangerous Al Qaeda members were hit in an area between Saada and al-Jouf," a Yemeni security official told Reuters. "Two may have survived and escaped."

I assume that there is some irony here -- if this was a big blast, his underwear must have exploded too.

In addition, a top Pakistan Taliban leader may have been killed.

-- A U.S. missile strike might have killed the top Taliban leader in Pakistan on Thursday even as Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani told Parliament that the drone attacks were a threat to the nation's sovereignty and could "undermine the war on terror."

The attack came during a three-day visit to Pakistan by U.S. special envoy Richard C. Holbrooke.

Missiles from a U.S. unmanned aircraft struck a compound once used as a religious school in northwest Pakistan, where Hakimullah Mehsud, one of the most wanted men in the country, was thought to have spent the night. Mehsud recently inherited the leadership of the Pakistani Taliban, which seeks to overthrow the Pakistani government and replace it with a rudimentary Islamic theocracy.

Thanks to DrewM.

Posted by: Ace at 09:17 AM | Comments (50)
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First they can't spell the name of the state she wants to represent right and now they decide that the symbol of greed for all that needs to be punished is...the World Trade Center?

A National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman, Brian Walsh, attacked its use.

“Using the image of a site where over 2,700 Americans died in a terrorist attack to distort Scott Brown’s position on regulating Wall Street is both distasteful and disrespectful. Martha Coakley should immediately renounce this ad and call for it to be removed from the airwaves," he said.

The DSCC which ran the ad is pulling it and will remove the image. Still the damage is done. This will be the topic today not the message of the spot.

Let me ask a question. Are Democrats trying to throw this election? This woman and everyone around her is a moron. Even when people try and help her, they klll her.

As I said in a comment late last night in one of the threads...

If for one second I believed in conspiracy theories and that the Republicans had the smarts to pull one off, I'd swear Coakley is a plant.

It's like a bunch of drunk and/or stoned poli-sci students sitting around their dorm at 3am and thought, "what kind of idiot would the Democrats have to run to lose Teddy Kennedy's seat 3 months after his death?"

She's the perfect freaking storm of stupidity.

Yeah, I'm quoting myself now. If POTUS can do it, so can I.

Speaking of the Dear Leader, he may show up in MA after all.

I doubt this though.

First, his record in NJ and VA was, um, not good. He can't afford to step into a race unless, unlike the Olympics, he can deliver.

Second, can he really do a full on partisan event with the Haiti situation? Put aside for the moment the plight of the Haitians themselves but there are thousands of Americans unaccounted for. This would be an awful image.

H/t for the WTC story to Jim Geraghty.

alexthechick brings teh funny in the comments.

Danny Glover is smart enough to not to use that image.

Thankfully Danny Glover isn't running the DSCC

Posted by: DrewM at 08:36 AM | Comments (199)
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Sorry to contribute to the 'all polls, all the time' feeling but I love me some schadenfreude.

Harry Reid said he expected to be showered with love and thanks (or some such nonsense) by his constituents for passing health care.

Um, not so much according to a new PPP poll.

Democratic hopes of keeping Harry Reid's Senate seat would probably be better with a different nominee. But the state has trended in a Republican direction since Barack Obama's strong victory there in 2008 and the party will have a tough time there this year Reid or no Reid.

On Reid our numbers find the same picture all other recent surveys in the state have: he suffers from 58% disapproval and trails Sue Lowden by a 51-41 margin and Danny Tarkanian by a 50-42 spread. It's worth noting that despite Reid's unpopularity only 42% of voters in the state think he should step down from his leadership position while 49% think he should remain.

I don't understand this. Harry is pasty white and speaks with no discernible dialect whatsoever. Why isn't this a cake walk? Love and gratitude ain't what it used to be.

The not at all ugly Sue Lowden appears to be the unofficial AoSHQ candidate, so be sure to check out her website and keep her in mind once we get Brown over the finish line.

Late Addition:

I guess he figures he might as well go out in a blaze of, um, glory.

Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Thursday said that there is room on the busy Senate calendar to bring up a sweeping energy and climate change bill this spring.

...“We have a lot on our plate. We have to finish reforming health insurance and Wall Street, and also must help bring Americans out of unemployment. But we are not so busy that we canÂ’t find the time to address comprehensive energy and climate legislation,” Reid said, according to his prepared remarks.


He probably figures if he's going down he's taking as many of the other miserable SOBs with him as he can.

Posted by: DrewM at 07:29 AM | Comments (134)
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