Much more from Allah: "The more I read, the more I think the only difference between this and an atomic bomb being dropped is the absence of radiation."

And in case you didn't read, The One asked, as Allah calls him, The Cause of All of America's Problems to co-head the relief fundraising effort. He accepted, of course.

I look forward to Barack Obama using his messianic charisma to head a similar relief effort sometime in 2013.

Posted by: Ace at 02:25 PM | Comments (199)
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Most of it online, by the way.

"We'll be able to pay our bills," I saw a campaign worker say dryly earlier, refusing to comment on the exact level of support they were getting, but noting "Money won't be a problem."

Not a problem at all, it seems.

Not sure, but maybe their new need is for bodies, for people to walk precincts and knock on doors and man the phone lines and drive people to the polls.

Nope: Money Still Is Needed; Democratic Groups Outspending Conservative Ones 2-to-1: They're spending their little hearts up out there.

We still need the moneybombs.

Posted by: Ace at 01:22 PM | Comments (208)
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Soon-to-be-former constituents.

I hope the prairie states remember this. These assholes talk a good centrist game, talk up conservative values, but it's the Democratic Party Uber Alles for them.

They'll vote with their constituents' wishes... as long as it's a free vote and the Democratic Party can afford them casting a cosmetic vote "against" them.

When the party calls, however, they're on the only team that matters.

Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson and his wife were leaving dinner at a new pizza joint near their home in Omaha one night last week when a patron began complaining about NelsonÂ’s decisive vote in favor of the SenateÂ’s health care bill.

Other customers started booing. A woman yelled, “Get him the hell out of here!” And the Nelsons and their dining companions beat a hasty retreat.

“It was definitely a scene in there,” said Tom Lewis, a 41-year-old dentist and registered Republican who witnessed the incident. A second witness confirmed the incident to POLITICO.

ItÂ’s a new experience for Nelson.

He used to be a popular figure back home, a Democrat who served eight years in the governor’s office and was elected twice to the Senate by a state that’s as red as the “N” on the University of Nebraska's football helmets.

But Nelson has seen his approval ratings tumble in the wake of his wavering over the historic health care bill...

.... Nelson made his peace with the bill by striking deals on his state’s Medicaid costs and on abortion language — and, in the process, incited a furious backlash in Nebraska.

Anti-abortion activists who have supported him in the past have abandoned him; heÂ’s been the target of a fierce campaign by opponents to push him to block the bill on final passage; and the GOP now sees the opportunity for a pickup in 2012.

And, while we're on that subject, how is super-duper-centrist and conservative Senator John Tester voting?

How about super conservative Virginia Senator Jim Webb?

Thanks to EdwardR.

Posted by: Ace at 01:18 PM | Comments (124)
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Hmm...

Coakley's internal poll last night, I've been told, showed her barely ahead, 46 to 44 percent. The momentum clearly favors Brown, and one very smart Massachusetts Democrat I know told me this morning that "this may be too far gone to recover."

Geraghty takes this with a grain of salt, and notes that if Coakley is threatened but not truly doomed, maybe this is the sort of message she wants out there. After all, as has been noted again and again (and h/t to Allah for noting it first), Brown's original best chance of victory consisted of his mounting a stealth insurgency which snuck up on Coakley in the 24 hours before the election, giving her no chance to adjust.

Obviously, if that was Plan A, Plan A has gone to shit. The word is out there. Boy, is the word out there. And Democrats are now fully warned this is officially a Big Important Race.

Be that as it may, I'm pretty psyched about Plan B: Have a big turnout election in which Democrats are suitably alerted and yet still beat 'em.

I don't know if Coakley really would deliberately leak a close poll. Or that a Democrat would try to "help" her by saying she's already almost too far gone to help. That flies in the face of conventional wisdom, where you're always supposed to project confidence and a lead.

I think maybe she's simply cratering. A preference cascade, as Glenn Reynolds introduced me to a while ago: When people aren't aware there are other choices available, or are somehow bullied into thinking only one choice is socially acceptable, they will falsify their preferences and trick themselves, even, into thinking they prefer the one available option.

However, once they are alerted to the fact that another choice is possible (and permissible), suddenly all those falsified preferences reverse themselves in a "preference cascade" and huge shifts in public opinion take place in the space of days.

I can't really tell, but I think Coakley is cratering very, very badly, and probably has gone from 65% to 45% support in ten or fourteen days. That 20% that flipped never really supported her. They just didn't really grasp that another option was available.

I've been listening to this a bit recently, and I think of this as a Moron's Anthem for the Brown Campaign.

Throw it on the ground.

Also from Geraghty: Michael Graham's parody of all of the anti-Scott-Brown ads:

Americans for Job Security is spending a half-million to air a pro-Scott-Brown, anti-ObamaCare ad.

NOTE: The poll numbers mentioned above were from polling that took place before TimeShareGate. They are likely now meaningless, and Coakley almost certainly enjoys a 20 point lead again.

Posted by: Ace at 12:22 PM | Comments (150)
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I'm sure he thinks it's a pro-Coakley ad. But since he's promising that Scott Brown will stop cap and trade and ObamaCare, it's almost like he's taped this for Brown's benefit.

Posted by: Ace at 10:47 AM | Comments (282)
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Guy was a cop.

Seems that Coakley does as the machine asks her.

I can't think of any other explanation except that someone made a big withdrawal from the Favor Bank.

Well, either that or outright bribery.

Can anyone else explain?

In October 2005, a Somerville police officer living in Melrose raped his 23-month-old niece with a hot object, most likely a curling iron.

Keith Winfield, then 31, told police he was alone with the toddler that day and made additional statements that would ultimately be used to convict him.

But in the aftermath of the crime, a Middlesex County grand jury overseen by Martha Coakley, then the district attorney, investigated without taking action.
It was only after the toddlerÂ’s mother filed applications for criminal complaints that Coakley won grand jury indictments charging rape and assault and battery.

Even then, nearly 10 months after the crime, CoakleyÂ’s office recommended that Winfield be released on personal recognizance, with no cash bail. He remained free until December 2007, when CoakleyÂ’s successor as district attorney won a conviction and two life terms.

Coakley, now the Democratic candidate for US Senate, has made much of her record prosecuting crimes against children, and says her office handled this investigation appropriately. But the case stands out as one in which she drew criticism for not being aggressive enough. Indeed, the case gave rise to CoakleyÂ’s last competitive election.

Whoops: I wrote the niece was 23-years-old. Of course she was 23 months old. Brain fart.

Posted by: Ace at 09:47 AM | Comments (300)
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Hey, its a MA news kinda day...

Industrial. Strength. Stupid.

...The US bans former detainees from entering the country, but members of Newton's Board of Aldermen want to change that. They're proposing a resolution to Congress to allow cleared detainees into the US...

What could possibly go wrong? I'm sure there are probably dumber things...like keeping a replicator as a pet, or sticking your junk into a garbage disposal.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 09:27 AM | Comments (63)
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Oh well. I knew this was too good to be true.

It's over.

The Coakley campaign just sent out a press release pushing this HuffPo hit piece on Scott Brown. They’ve dug up some real dirt on this supposedly “regular guy” candidate. Did you know he “owns five properties”?

Brown owns three rental units in the college neighborhood of Brighton, and the Coakley campaign is trumpeting the fact that “Brown's 2008 SFI reports . . . a net income derived from [one of these units] of $1,001 to $5,000.” Obviously, Brown doesn’t need some crummy senate job with an income like that!

Then there’s this stunner: Scott Brown, who pretends to be a modest, typical Massachusetts resident, owns a time share in Aruba. That’s right: A time share. The Coakley e-mail reports the value of this Aruban paradise as “valued at $10,001 to $20,000.”

Oh God, we've been set up and knocked down again. Word on the street they're already calling him Scott "Five-Lots" Brown.

Via, um, "pre-paid sex monster."

"Mostly:"

Posted by: Ace at 08:59 AM | Comments (322)
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Well gee why didn't I think of that.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., told reporters that negotiators are pushing toward a broad agreement on the legislation by Friday, and would send the package to the Congressional Budget Office for its estimates. The agreement in principle would cover key issues such as how many Americans would get coverage, and how to pay for it. Certain issues, including restrictions on taxpayer funding for abortion, would be resolved later.

"We're shooting for tomorrow," Rangel said early Thursday after meeting with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other leaders. "We hope to have the whole thing, as much as we can have (for the budget office) to be able to start working." The budget referees must review the legislation before Congress can cast a final vote and send the bill to Obama.

Officials familiar with the negotiations said Wednesday that options being considered to lessen the impact on union members included raising the threshold at which the tax would be levied — it's $23,000 for family plans in the Senate-passed bill — and exempting collective bargaining agreements negotiated before 2013 from the tax.

Under that scenario the tax wouldn't hit until union contracts were renegotiated, delaying its impact on most union health plans until perhaps 2015 or 2016.

You know, Captain Wonderful, I can give you the names of millions of taxpayers who could be induced to support your plan if you exclude and exempt them, too.

Posted by: Ace at 08:16 AM | Comments (136)
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Just beating the DNC to it.

Surging GOP Senate candidate Scott Brown yesterday warned President Obama to “stay away” from the Bay State during his roiling race against Democratic rival Martha Coakley and not to interfere with their intensifying battle in the campaign’s final days.

“He should stay away and let Martha and I discuss the issues one on one,” Brown said. “The machine is coming out of the woodwork to get her elected. They’re bringing in outsiders, and we don’t need them.”

Notice how he says "them" so casually. "Them," the kissing cousin of "Those People."

I like the sort of bravado here in warning Obama off (and last I read I thought Obama was staying out, anyway).

Remember that DNC nitwit who wanted to Palinize the contest? To some extent Brown seems to be Obamaizing it.

So how popular is Obama, even in Massachusett[e]s?

Posted by: Ace at 08:05 AM | Comments (100)
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