President Biden’s polling numbers are in the Trump past history place….
His disapprovals are higher that his approvals….
While Trump isn’t doing as well with his Republican support…
He still leads his party and out polls any other Republican…
He keep’s running his sore loser crying and it appears he wants a second round in the ring where he lost last November in the vote by 7 million, and in his efforts throw out the votes against him.
It IS becoming increasing clear that Donald Trump the ‘loser’ is also pressing ahead with a possible 2nd bid for the Presidency to overshadow any harm that might come to him from numerous legal case’s in the pipeline….
Biden’s poll numbers will go back up eventually…
And Democrats are gonna have a rough Midterm election next year…
But the worries out there are NOT about those things….
The worries are about ANOTHER three ring chaotic circus that a Donald Trump re-election bid with saddle the country with….
One in which Trump & Co. will try ANYTHING legal or ILLEGAL to recapture the Presidency of the United States of America …..
Democrats are worried about another White House bid by former President Trump, something that is appearing increasingly likely on the eve of an Iowa rally by the leading potential GOP candidate.
Democrats say Trump can’t be taken for granted. While some are confident a new Trump candidacy would bring out a wave of Democratic voters to defeat him, others are worried he could return to power. And that’s enough to bring shudders to most in the party.
“There’s not a strategist or insider that I’m hanging out with who would like to see Donald Trump running again,” said Rachel Bitecofer, a Democratic pollster. “Nobody should think he would be a weak nominee.”…
…
Trump also has sought to keep other Republicans — including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — out of the race, clearing the field for a potential run.
“If I faced him, I’d beat him like I would beat everyone else,” Trump said in an interview last week with Yahoo Finance. “I think most people would drop out. I think he would drop out.”
A Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll survey out last month showed that 58 percent of the GOP voters surveyed would want Trump to be the Republican nominee in 2024, setting up a potential rematch between Biden and his predecessor.
A Des Moines Register-Mediacom Iowa poll out this week showed Trump’s favorable rating hitting a new high, with 53 percent of Iowans approving of him….
…
Biden, 78, has told associates that he does plan on running again in 2024. “It’s very real,” one ally said.
But some Democrats who acknowledge his age will be a defining factor in a reelection race suspect he won’t. And they worry about what they see as a weak Democratic bench…
…
But other Democrats say they would relish another Trump run, pointing to his polarizing nature and his ability to turn off independents and mobilize the Democratic base.
“While there is a little angel over my shoulder reminding me of what I thought in 2016, I’m more confident it would be a disaster for him — and Republicans up and down the ballot — than in 2020,” said Democratic strategist Eddie Vale. “Another Trump run isn’t just the over the hill rock star trying to play his greatest hits again, it’s trying to come back on stage for an encore after you’ve been booed off.”
Vale argued that it wouldn’t just be Trump hurting himself.
“This would help to keep pushing independents, suburban voters and even some Republicans away from the party,” he said. “And the 2024 Senate map would be really good for Democrats to have Trump driving turnout.”
But one Democratic strategist described another Trump run as “the world’s biggest nightmare.” ….
image…Salon.Com
New Open Thread is HERE….
Morning All…
Donald Trump is sending the clearest signals yet that he’s planning another presidential run in 2024 as he heads to Iowa for a rally this weekend.
The Saturday event in the first-in-the-nation caucus state is the latest sign the former president is gearing up for a third White House bid as he doles out midterm endorsements, hires aides in places such as Iowa and boasts in media interviews of what he sees as a glide path to victory in a 2024 GOP primary.
After it was reported this week that aides had to hold him back from officially announcing a bid, Republicans are viewing a Trump candidacy as a near certainty…
…
A blowout victory in the state’s caucuses in 2024 would all but cement the nomination, but with expectations so high, anything other than a strong showing is viewed as fatal for a comeback bid.
“I’m not sure how vigorously anyone who might stay in the race would compete with him in Iowa because I think it’s pretty clear he’s very popular with Iowa Republicans,” Kochel said. “But I would say that if he were challenged in Iowa and someone actually, you know, [Sen.] Ted Cruz [R-Texas] comes along and actually wins the Iowa caucuses, I think that would be the story of the primary. So I do think the expectations run extremely high in Iowa.”…
More…
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Pope Francis met Saturday, the same day the pontiff gave a speech calling on lawmakers in countries around the world to act on climate change.
“His Holiness’s encyclical Laudato Si’ is a powerful challenge to the global community to act decisively on the climate crisis with special attention to the most vulnerable communities,” Pelosi, a practicing Catholic, said in a statement released Saturday….
More…
I see James is back to blathering again, either restating the obvious to all four posters here at this site, or providing simplistic comments like his conversation last night.
In any event, it is all too ridiculous to take time to respond to individually.
I have work to do.
Get vaccinated James. You are hurting the economy.
Hey Keith?
Thanks for helping me explain MORE here on the subjects u fronted….
THAT IS why i like this….
Oklahoma’s two-term State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister announced on Thursday that she is switching her party affiliation from Republican to Democrat and challenging Republican incumbent Gov. Kevin Stitt in next year’s gubernatorial election, according to a video Hofmeister posted to Twitter.
“I believe Governor Stitt is running Oklahoma into the ground,” Hofmeister told the Tulsa World in an interview. “I am changing parties to run as a Democrat and that is because I also believe in the values of supporting public education, supporting quality and good access to healthcare, as well as rural infrastructure.”
Stitt’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic was a top reason for Hofmeister’s decision to challenge the incumbent, and she told the Tulsa World that if Oklahoma “had a leader who contemplated expert advice and opinion and set an example to help protect Oklahomans, we could have avoided thousands of people dying.”
Like several other Republican governors nationwide, Stitt has targeted local school boards for their student mask mandates, challenging local officials in the Oklahoma City School District and the Cherokee Nation after signing a law in May that instituted a statewide ban on these mandates, CNN previously reported.
As of October 7, Oklahoma has suffered 9,213 Covid deaths and 622,335 confirmed cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University….
—By Andrew Millman, CNN
Updated 8:10 AM ET, Fri October 8, 2021
https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/08/politics/oklahoma-joy-hofmeister-2022/index.html
Republican NC Lt Gv . Mark Robinson says “Christians” need to be in charge of public schools to keep children from learning “filth” about homosexuals and transgender people.
Mark Robinson – who is black – is also a strong opponent of conservative’s newest bogeyman, critical race theory.
We certainly have a pile-up of media stories about doom for Democrats next November, eh?
Allen West who is unvaccinated has pneumonia and Covid-19.
Afternoon everyone….
That’s what happens when someone is stupid enough not to be vaccinated.
Morning people
Columbus did not discover America
A whole lot of people where here before him
Columbus never even stepped foot in what is now the United States. When Republicans refer to Columbus discovering America, they really are referring to places like Haiti – which Columbus did see.
I hate to cite (yucch!) Fox News, but
Dr. Dorian Abbot, a geophysical sciences associate professor at the University of Chicago, was slated to deliver the John Carlson Lecture, which is billed by MIT as an annual lecture meant to communicate “exciting new results in climate science to the general public,” in light of his research on climate change. But MIT retracted his invitation, not because of the content of his planned lecture, but instead after activists and MIT academics took issue with Abbot’s past comments arguing academic evaluations should be based on merit, not on race or ethnic identity.
Abbot, and his colleague, Ivan Marinovic, had criticized diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives by universities and some employers in an August opinion piece for Newsweek titled “The Diversity Problem on Campus.”
After MIT announced it had canceled Abbot’s participation in the lecture, the geophysicist wrote a piece on the “Common Sense with Bari Weiss” substack noting that, “a small group of ideologues mounted a Twitter campaign to cancel a distinguished science lecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology because they disagreed with some of the political positions the speaker had taken.”
Cancel culture backfires when banned lecture by Princeton professor at MIT draws thousands
https://www.foxnews.com/us/cancel-culture-backfires-princeton-lecture-geophysics-professor-mit
https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/mit-abandons-its-mission-and-me
But a Bing search also turns up items from, e.g., Newsweek (limited free articles per month) and Jonathan Turley.
https://www.newsweek.com/mit-cancels-geophysicists-lecture-after-activists-outrage-over-his-views-diversity-1635371
https://jonathanturley.org/2021/10/05/mit-cancels-lecture-by-uchicago-professor-who-criticized-diversity-programs/
¶ Old-fogey, unwoke civil libertarians of a certain age (like me) will remember when Communist professors couldn’t teach or lecture on any subject anywhere, solely because of their appalling politics, for example the Great Oath Controversy at the University of California in the early-mid 1950’s or Nixon calling for Eugene Genovese’s dismissal in the mid-1960’s (before Nixon was President and when Genovese was still a radical who welcomed a victory by the Viet Cong).
Simply….
Most Republicans row together….
Democrats tend to NOT do so unless in trouble…..
Democrats are in deep shit in next years Midterm elections….
Democratic Rep. John Yarmuth announced on Tuesday that he will not be seeking reelection after serving thirteen years in Congress and becoming one of the most powerful liberals in Washington DC.
Yarmuth’s announcement is a blow for Democrats who hold a slim majority in the chamber and must now field a new candidate for his US House seat.
Yarmuth, the lone Democrat to represent Kentucky, also serves as the chair of the House Budget Committee, which is helping to steer President Joe Biden’s social safety net agenda through snags that have come up in negotiations….
More…
Charles Booker
@Booker4KY
With all of the news swirling today, allow me to remove all doubt…
I am running for United States Senate to defeat Rand Paul, and we are going to beat him like he owes Kentucky money.
Former President Obama will campaign with Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe later this month ahead of the state’s off-year election.
Obama will join McAuliffe on Oct. 23 in Richmond.
The news comes after McAuliffe’s campaign announced that first lady Jill Biden and former Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams will campaign with him this weekend….
More…
Morning…
Morning….
James had previously largely admitted he was a xxxxxxxx Hopefully he gets caught and punished. So now the slimeball says he would vote against Pelosi and Biden because they support ensuring that people pay their fair share in taxes.
James always sounded like a conservative to me, and opposing a law because it would expose his sleaze and corruption is just one reason.
Again?
You guys seem to have NO PROBLEM paying MORE taxes…….
Interesting…….
None of u guys would get my vote…..
But i’ll talk to ya all day!
Yea ……
You guys should just start sending the US Treasury MORE MONEY since that’s ok…..
They can take ur money give out MORE of it!
I guess u guys don’t need the money?
Z?
Are you making a accusation about me as a fact?
Or was that just a slip of the mouth?
Zreebs i AM waiting for something from u as a statement that ur comment that i am a tax cheater was without merit or proof…..
And apology would also be nice…….
I don’t really care what Jack says, because he just wants to mess with me…..
But ur statement is out of line….
I’m wait for ur reply……
We do NOT go past a certain point here
I’m serious Z……..
Does this mean you weren’t “serious” all the other times you feigned “anger?”
Stay out of this Jack……
This is me and him……
He needs to make this right….
Oh bullshit James, he doesn’t need to apologize for telling the truth. Make something right? You actually changed his post to remove an “offending” term. Really?
How about making that right?
You’re down to four posters here, want to try for two? You regularly implied that you didn’t pay your fair share of taxes here James. Do you deny that?
You mock people who actually pay taxes because it is part of being a good citizen, something Republicans know nothing about.
Zreebs has nothing to “make right” with you James. You’re upset because you got called out.
Keith with all due respect?
This is me and Z…….
It’s not ur business…..
I was referring to your previous scheme to declare this website as a business and to get a tax credit for this hobby. And in addition to that you clearly recently suggested that if the IRS saw your banking activity you would be in trouble. No apology from me would be honest. I do not deliberately lie.
If you wish me to leave I will. Just ban me and the use of my name. I’m okay with that. Truthfully, I am probably more irritated with you, than you are with me. Maybe it is not your fault that you struggle understanding things, but it is your fault when you just make shit up to put someone you don’t like in a bad light. Maybe you don’t understand why that is annoying because no one here other than you does that shit. CG’s analogies might have been a little weird at times, but he rarely if ever deliberately lied.
I had offered to not engage with you if you didn’t engage with me. You turned me down.
I’ve legitimately considered declaring the money spent on music for my YouTube channel and toys for my Christmas and Easter doings for tax purposes. Maybe I will, we’ll see. But for a blog? Not so much.
Get an accountant if ur not sure
I use one
And he’s good
Piece by piece…….
I mentioned i do not want the IRS having the bank look at anything i do over $600 ….
I believe banks do report some interest activity to the IRS……
As the piece explains i am among a LOT of company with my view….
I NEVER indicated i have anything to hide as u suggest
Point 2
Before the 2017 tax giveback to the rich and big business this website WAS something to claim as hobby, home office or whatever….
Afterwards my accountant advised me that deduction was out…..
Again?
Ur claim that i want to cheat on my taxes is without knowledge or merit…..
You can get irritated all you want
This place IS about discussion
But as ur complain about me
I would appreciate u NOT MAKING shit up that ain’t true
I do not want to band u
I want u get better and come at things less personally incorrect…..
If u can do that?
Then i’m happy to have u here
If u can’t?
You are free to leave….
Hopefully the IRS audits you soon.
That’s why I support hiring 50000 new IRS auditors.
I’m sure you’re against that too.
Back at ya Jack
Goood Morning…..
Well Jack?
The GOPer’s ALREADY are attacking Biden’s efforts to send more money to the IRS to beef up their efforts to collect more miney from millionaires and big business…
The IRS has taken drastic revenue cuts from the GOPer’s since they came down on some Right leaning non-profits a decade or so ago….
The Service has been thru rough times and has to do its base mission of collections and disburse stimulus checks
Increased funding for the Service is not something Republicans will pronely vote for since the agency has little support from the public in general except for a few people here….
The tax the rich/big business actually seems to only have the support of progressived…
A LOT Dem’s get campaign money from the same people that the increased tax scrutiny would effect
We’ll see if more money for the tax man survives….
I think James needs to fix Zreebs’ words here. You have consistently opposed the enforcement of tax laws and objected to paying taxes, something I consider un-American and very Republican.
Just like refusing vaccination is un-American and Republican. Or making racist comments about Kamala Harris.
Keith?
I PAY MY taxes and they have gone up….
I am NOT against the concept of paying taxes….
We ALL should pay our FAIR share….
I do express a doubt often that lawmakers in Congress will seriously get any increase in the IRS’s ability to get more tax money out the rich and big business….
How me saying ‘I pay enough and don’t want to pay more’ morphed into I’am against paying taxes was figment of someone’s imagination…..
James is starting to sound like a regular Gordon “Greed is Good” Gekko.
No
I PAY MY taxes
I ALWAYS HAVE…….
But yes……
I ‘m not slap happy about an increase in what pay since I live in NY and the GOPer’s have cut back my deduction against the taxes….
If James is upset at Zreebs saying that he admitted once being an xxxxxxxxx.., I read that as referring to a political party (which is really no problem with me since at least one other contributor here, ScottP, has said that before he became an independent and then a Democrat, he also had belonged to that party.
I see i have become the main attraction here instead of the subject matter…..,
Not what thought running a blog would turn out to be……
Makes me wonder about the format here…
I do not mind disagreement
But there is a fine line that should NOT be crossed….
I do hope we can get back to the posted subject matter or the media stories here….
I have no reason to believe that Jack or Keith cheat on their taxes. Janes implied that they would have to pay more taxes if the IRS had better monitoring capabilities – just has he would have to pay more in taxes. I doubt that either Jack or Keith would be impacted.
James likes to complain about others going over the “fine line”. I don’t think he is going to change. If anything, he is getting even worse over time.
Ok guys here’s the story….
I WILL censor ANYTHING THAT I think is too personal or patently incorrect…..
I agree Jack that I do spend a lot of tine here making comments and will continue to do so….
He, he, he….
You do tend to lead the loyal opposition…
No problem…
You seldom, if ever get ‘personal’ like Z has several times in the past….
I have NO problem with us going back and forth on topics and policies…..
THAT IS what the place IS about…
Anyone that has a problem with this needs to not be here….
Since I’m hosting and paying for the place….
“Patently incorrect?”
Since it is well known here that you often publish things that are wrong factually , you will likely be spending an inordinate amount of time engaging in self censorship!
James,
You have made yourself the subject matter.
Many of these type blogs have moderators who rarely if ever get involved in the discussions.On the old Political One site,Gunzburger rarely got involved in the discussion,contenting himself with simply posting political news and then letting the conversation flow from that.
On the HHR site ,that moderator simply posts various polls and then lets the posters go at in a general free for all.
Your modus operandi is to post news items, usually,but not always , with an introductory editorial comment .Its not unusual therefore that comments are often directed at you personally .Accordingly, I don’t quite understand your complaint.By posting your editorial comment,you are implicitly inviting others to jump in.
Much of what you complain of you bring on yourself by your irritating insistence in stating the obvious and imply that you are “educating “ us to things that we don’t understand.
You don’t seem to understand that the majority of comments s made here are usually posters giving their opinion as to the matter or matters contained in the post.I have suggested in the past that if you honestly disagree with an opinion expressed by one of us,express it;however, more often than not you resort to your well known “ain’t gonna happen “ routine.
As an example,this morning I stated my support for hiring more IRS auditors.Now, believe it or not,I well understand that due to Republican opposition that’s not going to happen.I really don’t need you stating the obvious .You have a differing opinion express it but we don’t need you trying to end all discussion with your vain attempt to act as if you have some knowledge that we don’t.Its insulting and dumb.
You want to take the spotlight off yourself?Then drop the editorialist role.Just post the news items and let The conversation flow.Join in if you have something to contribute but drop the role of lecturer .
Personally I don’t think you can do that.I think you honestly believe you are imparting information to us that we don’t know.Youre not.
Trump has placed the Republican Party on notice that if they want his voters to come out in next years midterms they had better embrace his lie that last years election was rigged against him.
Tell em Donald!
I enjoy how Trump treats the Republican Party with total contempt because a contemptible bunch they are.He owns them.
What a sight in Iowa last week when old Charles Grassley was standing there like death warmed over while Trump was lying to the assembled kooks about how he was cheated out of reelection.
Part of Trump’s fragile, diseased ego is an adamant, rock-hard stubborn refusal ever, ever, ever to admit that he was defeated even once in anything (golf, business, politics, love).
In his mind there is not the slightest, remotest possibility that anyone could beat him in an honest election.
He has no choice but to believer the Big Lie, so he does.
And anyone who casts doubt is either deluded or betraying him.
EGO and Idiocy ….
Former president Bill Clinton was hospitalized earlier this week for an issue not related to covid-19 and is recovering, his spokesman said Thursday.
Clinton was admitted to the University of California at Irvine Medical Center on Tuesday “to receive treatment for a non-Covid-related infection,” his spokesman Angel Ureña said in a statement.
“He is on the mend, in good spirits, and is incredibly thankful to the doctors, nurses, and staff providing him with excellent care,” Ureña said…
More…
Morning….
British Lawmaker Dies After Stabbing
A British lawmaker from the Conservative Party died after being stabbed multiple times in an attack, the BBC reports.
The Guardian has the latest.
Glenn Youngkin, the GOP, and media outlets are trying to turn the VA Governor race into this top tier prospect for party hopes this year. I still think their only shot this year is Curtis Sliwa in the NYC Mayorship race.
Media tends to want to turn local and state races into national bell weather events….
McAulliff seems in good shape to according to the polls
Early voting is going on and the report is the voting has been light
Hey Jack, I was curious if you knew Alex Murdaugh? I assume “probably not” but thought I would ask.
Yes not well but I know him and his brother.
They are from Hampton County ,a small rural county south of Charleston. Their family essentially controls the county.
It’s definitely southern Gothic politics down there.
A University of Virginia study found that they could predict the number of lynchings in a county by the number of Confederate statues in that county. For whatever reasons, the counties that had confederate statues were disproportionately the same counties that had lynchings.
Southern Conservatives like to talk about their pride in their heritage. But these statues have a cost to society that goes far beyond what it cost to manufacture them.
.
Keep bringing them down….
Rename Columbus Day
Good Afternoon Everyone….
Conservative pundit Charlie Sykes on Friday lamented what he described as the “race to the bottom” to “see who can be the most MAGA” between Republicans in Florida, Arizona and Texas.
“I know that Republicans in Texas have been conservative for a long time but there was a time when conservative Republicans in Texas were not absolutely batshit crazy,” Sykes, founder of the conservative website The Bulwark, told MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace in video shared online by Mediaite.
“Texas Republicans used to be respectable,” Sykes continued. “And now we are almost in this competition … between Florida, Arizona and Texas to see who can be the most MAGA, who can play the most hair-on-fire culture war games, because that seems to be this race to the bottom that we’re talking about here.”
Sykes’ comments came during a discussion about a Texas law that instructs teachers to offer opposing perspectives on historical events. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) recently banned COVID-19 vaccine mandates in the state, which is also now subject to a highly restrictive abortion law.
A school administrator faced backlash this week after saying educators should “make sure that if you have a book on the Holocaust, that you have one” with alternative viewpoints.
Sykes said it was “easy to beat up on the administrator” but “the focus ought to be on the law and the fact that the teachers are terrified. They don’t know what’s going to happen.”
“What is the other side of the Holocaust?” Sykes later asked. “Are you going to assign fourth-graders ‘Mein Kampf’? Are you going to make them listen to Seb Gorka’s radio show? I just don’t know what she actually had in mind. But again, this is exactly what you get when you have politicians playing culture war and then trying to ram that into badly thought out draconian legislation.”
— Lee Moran
Sat, October 16, 2021, 3:44 AM
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
https://news.yahoo.com/conservative-pundit-torches-absolutely-bats-074422125.html
Morning All
Slippery Republican Politician of the Week (or month), the ever-elusive, hard-to-pin-down, semi-plausible, fence-straddling Governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson:
CHUCK TODD (Meet the Press)
….You did not think this was a good law passed by your Republican-controlled legislature to essentially dictate to the private sector how they do these things. But you decided not to veto it. You decided not to have the, the veto fight with the legislature. Why?
GOV. ASA HUTCHINSON:
Well, the principle reason is that the whole debate on mandates takes away from the efficacy of the vaccines themselves and our push to increase vaccination rates. Ever since the president reversed his position and said, first said that we weren’t going to have federal mandates and then he switched and said we are going to have federal mandates, and then some of the states came back and said, “Well, we ought to have state mandates to push back against the federal mandates,” all of this slowed down acceptance of the vaccine and increased resistance. And so, I’d like to see us get back to, without the mandate battle, let’s just encourage the vaccine acceptance, build confidence in it. And that’s the direction we need to go. My heart goes out to these workers that many of them say, “We’re not anti-vaxx. Were just anti-mandate.” And they’re making a principled stand. And that sort of makes the point that the mandates are not being beneficial. So, I pushed back here in Arkansas that we don’t need to counter a federal mandate on our employers with a state mandate on our employers. That’s just the wrong direction and I made that point.
CHUCK TODD:
Well, I want to ask you, though, if — we got some evidence here that mandates work. Let me show you some statistics in your state. On August 1st, 36% of the state was fully vaccinated. After the vaccine mandate was announced and you had companies like Tyson and Walmart in your state, essentially, announce their own vaccine mandates, vaccine acceptance went up 30%, you got 46% of the state now. Is that not evidence that the mandates by Tyson and Walmart have had an impact?
GOV. ASA HUTCHINSON:
Well, absolutely, it does indicate that. And it’s not just there, but our health care workers. Many of our hospitals have put in a requirement for vaccines and the rate goes up. So, yes, there is an effectiveness there. And so, let me make it clear that when I say I don’t believe we ought to be engaging in mandates, I’m speaking of the government mandates, whether it’s a federal government mandate or a state government mandate. And the states are sometimes coming in and saying, “Employers should not have the ability to impose a vaccine requirement on their workers.” To me, that’s the wrong direction as well. It’s not practical in terms of creating that debate, but it’s not principled either. So, I am a defender of the employer’s right to provide a healthy workplace. You would have just as many workers say, “I don’t want to work there because it’s not a healthy workplace, because not everybody’s going to be vaccinated.” The employers are in a tough position. They should have the prerogative to make those decisions and I support that.
CHUCK TODD:
You know, there is a lack of consistency now in your party, not with you, on this issue, but this sort of government intervention with the private sector. Republican state legislatures all across the country have gotten really aggressive at trying to insert government either into overreach on local government decisions or on private sector decisions. Are you concerned about the direction of your party? That there is this sense of it’s not a small government party anymore. It’s a my government, my way, party, if you will, at least in these state legislatures.
GOV. ASA HUTCHINSON:
Well, it’s an important debate on liberty. And my view has always been, which I believe is consistent with the principles of our party, that let’s stay out of interfering with those private business decisions. These are not all large employers. They can be a small employer that wants to protect their business and their employees and their customers. They ought to have those decisions. To me, if you’re going to say the government ought to come in and tell the employers what to do, the next thing is they could say we shouldn’t have drug-free workplaces, where you can’t require drug testing in the workplace by employers. I think that’s wrong. I’m former head of the DEA and I believe employers ought to be able to make that decision. And if somebody doesn’t comply and it’s a sensitive workplace, they lose their job. We require that in many different sensitive businesses across the country. So, yes, I think when you’re talking about a restraint on government, let’s be consistent. I don’t want the federal government doing the mandate. I don’t want the state government doing the mandate. Let’s try and be a little bit more consistent in that.
CHUCK TODD:
All right, but it is noticeable you chose not to fight. Why didn’t you fight your Republican colleagues on this in the legislature?
GOV. ASA HUTCHINSON:
Well, that’s the uniqueness of Arkansas. You can override my veto in Arkansas with a simple majority and I didn’t want to bring them in for that same debate because every time we debate and spend a week debating vaccine mandates and efficacy, our resistance increases and our acceptance goes down. And so, I didn’t want to recreate that. Let’s just move on and let’s try to get back to the business of encouraging vaccines across the board.
CHUCK TODD:
Very quickly, it was among the bizarre statements that the former President Donald Trump has released this week was this one where he said this: “If we don’t solve the presidential election fraud of 2020,” his, his bizarre characterization, “which we have,” he claims, “ which we have thoroughly and conclusively documented, Republicans will not be voting in ‘22 and ‘24.” Many — there’s some Senate Republicans that I’ve talked to who believe President Trump’s actions in Georgia encouraged people not to vote. Are you concerned that this is only going to hurt Republican turnout in the midterms?
GOV. ASA HUTCHINSON:
Re-litigating 2020 is a recipe for disaster in 2022. Let’s talk about the future. The election is passed, it’s been certified, the states made decisions on the integrity of each of their elections and made improvements where it need be. It’s about the future, it’s not about the last election, and that — those kind of comments are not constructive. We can win in 2022. We’re going to, but let’s focus on the important issues of our supply chain, of getting over this pandemic, about freedom, and not the, not the last election…
https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/news/meet-press-october-17-2021-n1281714
I saw this….
Hutch is on his way out…..
His view on mandates is party centric….
But his views on Trump’s METHODS of operation reflect deep seated worries among others in his party going forward to the Midterms….
As I repeat here over and OVER….
Things are complex….
Hutch is correct in mentioning Arkansas Politics….
He IS a Politican…..
It is good to see Arkansas politics is another areas that James has expertise. And James points out that things are complex. If we try to over-simplify things, we will look foolish. Good thing we have James here to guide us to a clear way of thinking.
Asa is a politician?
Who knew!!
On his way out? Amazing revelation.!
That’s why I come here.
At least James knows better than to burrow deeper on the subject of AR politics and start discussing Hutch’s Second in Command and probable successor, Starsky.
Please outline how this is IN any way,
“Complex”
Afternoon guys…..
Apparently by his non response to this rather simple question?
Either James cannot explain how “things are complex” or the “complexity “ is of such magnitude that it simply overwhelms his explanatory abilities or
This whole “complex “ stuff is all a bunch of his typical cow manure!
POLITICO
@politico
Rep. Matt Gaetz’s wingman has been given more time to help federal authorities in “different investigations” of the congressman.
Just heard on NPR that Colin Powell has passed away.
RIP
He died of COVID related complications even though he was vaccinated. Although he had a PRE existing condition that suppressed his autoimmune system.
Another delta virus has taken hold in England, thank you Boris and all the stupid people who won’t get vaccinated.,
Morning to ya….
Post coming tonight
Q Poll has Biden below 40%
Just like last weeks poll that had the President at 50%
Another outlier
The conservatives pro-death culture surfaces again..
https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2021/10/19/miami-private-school-hold-off-vaccines-children-santiago-newday-vpx.cnn
The conservatives culture of death surfaced in Illinois this past week. Despite that Illinois has significantly lower gun per capita death rate than it’s pro gun neighbors Indiana and especially Missouri, Republicans were trying to change that by making it easier to buy a gun in the state.
There is a new long haul Covid-19 symptom of people who recovered from the disease: restless anal syndrome – which is pretty much what it sound like.
A Texas “Freedom fighter” who led the attack against Covid_19 measures has died from the disease. He was 30.
Morning
Good Morning All….
House votes to hold Bannon in contempt of the commission request to testify….
The nine Republicans who voted to hold Bannon in contempt of the House:
* of whom two voted for contempt on the Jan. 6th commiettee
*Cheney Republican Wyoming YEA
Fitzpatrick Republican Pennsylvania YEA
Gonzalez (OH) Republican Ohio YEA
Herrera Beutler Republican Washington YEA
Katko Republican New York YEA
*Kinzinger Republican Illinois YEA
Mace Republican South Carolina YEA
Meijer Republican Michigan YEA
Upton Republican Michigan YEA
One Republican not voting:
Pence Republican Indiana NOT VOTING
Total 229 Yea to 202 (all R) Nay & one (R) NV
https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=117&session=1&vote=00411
Thanks DSD
ANOTHER step up to the plate against Trump by ‘his’ party lawmakers
Only 9 (or 10) out of 212, less than one in twenty (<5%); hardly indicating any groundswell in the GOP caucus.
Nope….
But some hanging in there….
DOJ decides what next with Bannon
I will admit some of my musings last night about possibly replacing President Biden with Stacey Abrams was born from my disappointment in all I was hearing about concessions being made in the infrastructure negotiations(In particular the likelihood of climate provisions being gutted at the behest of Chevron CEO Joe Manchin). The one headline came on the heels of that and…well, maybe those musings won’t age well.
I do think Abrams will be the best bet if Biden either retires or is muscled out behind the scenes come ’24, contrary to the conventional wisdom that puts Harris in the lead position. If nothing else, her voting rights activities give her a remarkable ability to actually run a 50 state campaign, taking in every possible vote out there. In fact, I’ve thought for the last year that President would be a better use of her time than being the lowly Governor of Georgia constrained by a gerrymandered GOP legislature.
There’s still a year to turn it around, I have to remind myself of this often. The off year races make it seem like a more urgent situation than it actually is, though the optics now are not good at all.
Again?
Go talking to ya SE…
Glad to have ya back….
I have doubt’s about Abrams being up for the job, and I would prefer she get the Georgia Governorship with a Warnock win also to nail down that state for Democrats….
If Biden does NOT climb back in the polls, which I believe he can easily do with better political ‘touches’ with the public, which is his strength and more crazy Trump media attention, I have no idea who would be the better replacement….
Yes….
We’re very premature….
This move faster these days….
And Obama lost his coattails in 2010 but got a second term 2 years later….
Fossil fuel’s are running America for a LONG time….
Climate Change IS a worry….
But ‘cost’ and the economy come FIRST to everyday people….
Biden is gonna be a tough place at the Climate change summit at the end of the month….
Manchin writes the energy policy this go-round……
Not Biden
BTW?
We WILL see a abundance of Climate change stories in the media in the next week as Biden gets ready to go to the Glasgow Summit and Biden tries to outflank Manchin in the final legislation negotiations …..
You don’t give a damn about climate change.
All you’re concerned about is the price of gas
You don’t give a damn about your own children and grandchildren let alone other people’s grandchildren.
You are everything wrong with this country.
Jack?
Everybody gotta get thru today and paying their bills
U have solar on ur house?
Yeah I feel sorry for you.
So put upon.
You sound just like those Republican whiners.
New York provides substantial economic incentive to invest in solar. But no one here thinks that your decision to put up solar has anything to do with your concern for the environment. It was purely economical as is every decision you make. You have consistently advocated against green energy and supported big oil on this site. Don’t pretend you give two shits about the environment. And even you know that. You just don’t want to look like a piece of shit, so you want to make it look like to people who haven’t read you prior posts that you in fact care about the environment.
In fact Z?
I use less electricity that most here….
And YES…
I’m smart enough to save money and resources to do so….
Just doing my part…..
The S&P 500 inched to a new high on Thursday, continuing a rally aided by signs of progress in spending talks that could pave the way for an injection of some $3 trillion into the U.S. economy.
The index rose 0.3 percent to 4,549.78, its seventh straight day of gains and a fresh peak after more than a month of volatile trading driven by nervousness over the still-wobbly economic recovery and policy fights in Washington….
More…
I totally agree with Zreebs.
I guess we ain’t the only ones thinking about the 2024 Dem nomination SE….
“Influential Democratic donors who backed Pete Buttigieg in 2020 are privately chattering about prodding him to run for the White House in 2024 if President Joe Biden doesn’t seek reelection,” Insider reports.….
Politicalwire
If Biden isn’t viewed as being a success come 2024, I don’t think a Cabinet member from his Administration will cut it. A Southern duo with Abrams and NC Governor Roy Cooper is likely their best bet, leaning into the geographic and demographic future of both party and country.
As far as 2022 goes, all Democrats need to do is campaign on the successes of the first 2 years and let the Republicans relitigate Stop the Steal. They have a good chance at least of gaining in the Senate and maybe holding even in the House best case scenario.
I think their chances are better fir the Senate….
The loss of swing voters and Indies along with more Dem veteran lawmakers departing is gonna be tough……
One would assume the pandemic would be almost gone by next fall and if the economy actually gets cooking vs inflation?
THEN?
I think Democrats might have a ‘chance’ at keeping their US House Majority….
I wonder if Pelosi tries to hang in after the midterms?
Jefferies from NY seems to be the heir apparent
Really? I’d have figured Adam Schiff for House D Leader. Maybe one of the Castro brothers from Texas.
Schiff wanted the AG job back home in the spring but Newsom picked Rob Bonta in March….
He’s just released a book….Midnight in Washington….
He is hard on Garland’s case to go after Bannon
The Castro Bros are NOT in top tier for Democrats….
I do NOT have any idea on who to run if Biden doesn’t….