Florida Republican Senate nominee Marco Rubio has informed NBC that he will not be able to participate in this weekend's debate with Democratic nominee Kendrick Meek on "Meet The Press" due to his ailing father's condition.
Rubio spokesman Alex Burgos said in a statement, "Unfortunately, the health of Marco's father, Mario Rubio, has significantly deteriorated in the last 48 hours. As a result, Marco plans to stay with his father and family during this time."
Burgos added, "Mario Rubio is 83 years old and suffers from emphysema and...
In one of the most competitive Senate races this year, Democrat Alexi Giannoulias and Republican Mark Kirk remain locked in a heated battle for President Barack Obama's old Senate seat in Illinois.
Giannoulias and Kirk, both of whom have been dogged throughout the campaign by controversy, are tied at 34 percent in a new Chicago Tribune/WGN-TV poll, while more than one in five voters remain undecided. Green Party candidate LeAlan Jones earns the support of 6 percent of voters, and Libertarian Party candidate Mike Labno earns 3 percent.
Giannoulias, the state's treasurer, continues to...
California Working Families for Jerry Brown, a large labor coalition, is circulating a Web ad today mocking Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman and her heavily self-financed campaign.
CWF's ad amounts to a music video for Travie McCoy's recent Billboard hit, "Billionaire," and includes glamorous photos of the GOP candidate spliced in with rally-style campaign footage. In photo after photo, the former eBay CEO looks the part of a rock star; two of the photos that open the video show her leading boardroom discussions in rooms full of men.
One of the lines in the...
Two weeks ago, SurveyUSA caused a stir when it released a post-primary poll finding Washington Republican Senate candidate Dino Rossi up seven points over incumbent Democratic Senator Patty Murray. Rasmussen Reports now weighs in with a poll confirming that result. Its most recent survey of the race (8/31, 500 LVs, MOE +/- 4.5%) finds Rossi leading Murray 48 percent to 46 percent. As something of an ominous sign for Murray, when leaners are included, Rossi's lead grows to a three-point, 50 percent to 47 percent advantage.
While Washington voters have a generally favorable view of Murray...
We are a long way from Dwight Eisenhower's cabinet. "Eight millionaires and a plumber," as one journalist dubbed Ike's team.
The Obama administration has the least corporate executive experience of any White House in decades.
The premiere posts of Treasury and Commerce express the issue. Both are traditionally bridges to business. This is the only first-term administration in about a century, when the Commerce post was created, to have neither a Commerce nor Treasury secretary with significant business experience.
"Obviously, the Obama administration doesn't...
The much-analyzed speeches at the Glenn Beck Lincoln Memorial rally weren't as notable as what the estimated 300,000 attendees did: follow instructions, listen quietly to hours of speeches, and throw out their trash.
Just as stunning as the tableaux of the massive throngs lining the reflecting pool were the images of the spotless grounds afterward. If someone had told attendees they were expected to mow the grass before they left, surely some of them would have hitched flatbed trailers to their vehicles for the trip to Washington and gladly brought mowers along with them.
This was the...
Admitting you're a fan of economics is another way of saying that you live a deeply tragic life.
That said, I can't seem to get enough of economists who blog about human behavior or write wickedly counterintuitive books about how all the bad things we do are good for society.
Professionally speaking, economists are also vital. Where else are columnists going to find a Ph.D. to corroborate all the gibberish we put in our pieces?
But the most crucial lesson I've gleaned from smart men and women who practice the dismal science is this: Those who claim to grasp the vagaries of the...
There's been a lot of talk about Bush nostalgia lately.
At Martha's Vineyard, the Obama-bilia wasn't moving like it was during the Obamas' previous visit there. The big seller was a T-shirt depicting a smiling George W. Bush with the tagline "Miss Me Yet?"
In response to President Obama's vacillating, lawyerly support for the Ground Zero mosque, Peter Beinart recently vented in the Daily Beast: "Words I never thought I'd write: I pine for George W. Bush."
Well, I'd like to return the favor, a little. I'm suffering from a mild case of...
He is unknown, unseasoned, and unrevealing on some of the most pressing national issues of the day, but could Alaska Democratic Senate nominee Scott McAdams have what it takes to complete one more upset in the tumultuous Alaska Senate race by taking down Joe Miller on Nov. 2?
A former commercial fishing boat deckhand, high school football coach, and father of three, the imposing, broad-shouldered McAdams certainly fits the bill as a dyed-in-the-wool Alaskan.
Though he may not be well known outside Sitka, a picturesque hideaway tucked in the southeast Alaska panhandle with a population of...
LEESBURG, Va. -- The experts tell us that newborn infants like Sarah Jane cannot really distinguish what's before them when they open their eyes. These same experts also say the little smile I see on her tiny lips is just a sign she needs to be burped. Maybe. I choose to think our beautiful little (6 pounds, 8 ounces, 19 inches long) newborn grandchild really can see me -- and is smiling at her granddad. I really don't know, of course, but I do know I'm looking at the future. And someday, God willing, Sarah Jane will pull this column out of an old album and smile at her...
Six months before the invasion of Iraq, Taki Theodoracopulos, Scott McConnell and this writer launched a new magazine, The American Conservative. Goal: Convince our countrymen that invading Iraq would be imperial folly. In the first column, in mid-September 2002, I wrote:
"If Providence does not intrude, we will soon launch an imperial war on Iraq with all the 'On-to-Berlin!' bravado with which French poilus and British Tommies marched in August 1914. But this invasion will not be the cakewalk neoconservatives predict. ...
"(For) what comes after the celebratory gunfire...
To mark Labor Day 2010, President Obama will join hands with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in Milwaukee and pose as champions of the working class. Bad move. Trumka's organizing record is a shameful reminder of the union movement's violent and corrupt foundations. The new Obama/AFL-CIO power alliance -- underwritten with million in hard-earned worker dues -- is a midterm shotgun marriage of Beltway brass knuckles and Big Labor brawn. Trumka warmed up his rhetorical muscles this past week with full-frontal attacks on former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. He...
Over a century ago, William Jennings Bryan presided over mass rallies of mostly middle-class Americans angry about economic inequities. The tea party activists gathered in Washington last weekend for Glenn Beck's event shared similar concerns. Both leaders framed their populist mission in Christian terms.
But Bryan's people knew the source of their insecurity. Beck's don't.
Bryan's populists blamed unregulated banks and industrial mammoths for oppressing the middle class on down. They wanted government to protect them from marauding monopolies.
Beck's populists...
WASHINGTON -- A church in Florida is poised to commemorate an act of violence committed in the name of Islam, the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, with an act of stupidity committed in the name of Christianity, the public burning of the Quran. This threatened libricide proves little more than the existence of a few attention-seeking crackpots in a continental country -- the natural resource that makes cable news possible. But the Manhattan mosque controversy has exposed a broader, conservative Christian suspicion of mosques and Muslims. Protests against the construction of mosques in California,...
Two little girls I know, age 6, showed up the other day at a public pool in Washington for a swim. They were excited by the prospect of escaping, if only for a little while, the heat pushing the thermometer close to 100. Alas, they were wearing the only bathing suits they had: bikini bottoms, no tops. No go, they were told by the pool manager. There was a dress code, and no one was allowed to dress "inappropriately in a way that may offend others." Did I say these were 6-year-olds?
"Don't worry," their grandfather said. "They're boys."
The enforcer at...
BOSTON -- The contributions by unauthorized immigrants to Social Security -- essentially, to the retirement income of everyday Americans -- are much larger than previously known, raising questions about the efforts in many states and among Republicans in Congress to force these workers out.In response to a research inquiry for a book I am writing on the economics of immigration, Stephen C. Goss, the chief actuary of the Social Security Administration who enjoys bipartisan support for his straightforwardness, said that by 2007, the Social Security trust fund had received a net benefit of...
WASHINGTON -- According to polls, Americans are in a mood to hold their breath until they turn blue. Voters appear to be so fed up with the Democrats that they're ready to toss them out in favor of the Republicans -- for whom, according to those same polls, the nation has even greater contempt. This isn't an "electoral wave," it's a temper tantrum.
It's bad enough that the Democratic Party's "favorable" rating has fallen to an abysmal 33 percent, according to a recent NBC-Wall Street Journal poll. It's worse that the Republican Party's...
Hamas sent a greeting card to the quintet of leaders meeting in Washington, D.C., this week to initiate negotiations about a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. In a well-planned ambush, they killed four Israeli civilians near the city of Hebron, two men and two women (one nine months pregnant), creating seven orphans. The murderers escaped, and may perhaps have videotaped the atrocity. In Gaza that evening, 3,000 celebrants clogged the streets, waving flags, setting bonfires, passing out candy, and carrying their children on their shoulders. If there is videotape,...
The Republican-oriented American Action Forum has been polling across the country, in an attempt to gauge where certain competitive House races stand. Their latest round covers districts in the West. The results:
-AZ-01: Republican Paul Gosar leads Democratic incumbent Ann Kirkpatrick 47 percent to 41 percent.
-AZ-05: Republican Dave Schweikert leads Democratic incumbent Harry Mitchell 50 percent to 44 percent.
-AZ-08: Republican Jesse Kelly ties Democratic incumbent Gabby Giffords at 46 percent.
-CA-11: Repbulican David Harmer leads Democratic incumbent Jerry McNerney 45 percent to 44...
SECRETARY CLINTON: Good morning and welcome to the State Department here in the Benjamin Franklin Room. I want to thank all of you for joining us today to re-launch negotiations to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I know the decision to sit at this table was not easy. We understand the suspicion and skepticism that so many feel, born out of years of conflict and frustrated hopes. The tragic act of terror on Tuesday and the terrorist shooting yesterday are yet additional reminders of the human costs of this conflict. But by being here today, you each have taken an important step toward...
Chairman Angelides, Vice Chairman Thomas, and other members of the Commission, your charge to examine the causes of the recent financial and economic crisis is indeed important. Only by understanding the factors that led to and amplified the crisis can we hope to guard against a repetition.
Appropriately, the problem of too-big-to-fail, and the policies that the government uses to address that problem, will be a particular focus of your forthcoming report and in the hearing today. In my view, the too-big-to-fail issue can best be understood in the broader context of the financial crisis...
Florida GOP gubernatorial nominee Rick Scott announced on Thursday that state Rep. Jennifer Carroll is his pick for lieutenant governor. Carroll becomes the first African-American Republican woman to run on a statewide ticket in Florida.
Calling her "the embodiment of the American dream," the Scott campaign highlighted Carroll's compelling biography, noting that she was born in Trinidad before "legally immigrating" to the United States, where she served for 20 years in the U.S. Navy before becoming a small business owner and state legislator.
"Her conservative...
A new poll out this morning in Ohio's open Senate race from the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling (PPP) shows Republican Rob Portman opening up a lead over Democratic Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher.
Portman led Fisher 45 percent to 38 percent in the poll of 475 likely Ohio voters surveyed August 27th to 29th. The margin of error was 4.5 percent.
Voters have a similar lack of familiarity for both candidates: Forty-four percent said they're not sure what their opinion is of Fisher, and 43 percent said the same of Portman. But Portman's favorability rating among those with an opinion is...
Some of the most important things in history are things that didn't happen -- even though just about everyone thought they would.
Recent example: Scads of liberals gleefully predicted that the financial crisis and deep recession would destroy Americans' faith in markets and increase their confidence in big government. Many conservatives gloomily feared they were right.
Hasn't happened. If anything, public opinion has moved in the other direction, with most Americans rejecting the stimulus package and the health care bill, denying that government action is needed to address...
For decades I've advised students to let the facts speak for themselves, while avoiding the indulgence of shouting at the facts. In other words, we should take in all the available, reliable information; process it; and let the emerging mosaic tell its story-whether the picture pleases or not. The human (and partisan) tendency to twist facts into pretzels in order to produce a desired result must be avoided at all costs.
We've been patient and cautious here at the Crystal Ball as a year's worth of facts has accumulated. We've sifted the polls, cranked up the models, and...
The Tea Party Express wants to derail the Senate candidacy of the moderate but very electable Republican Mike Castle in favor of a perceived political lightweight with a string of negatives.
We are not the ones we have been waiting for.
That was the takeaway message of the recent Restoring Honor rally on the National Mall.
Unless you where on a strict no-media diet in the run-up to Labor Day this...
After a widely admired start in the White House, first lady Michelle Obama's popularity is falling and, if the current downward trend in her approval ratings continues, could touch lows not seen since the...
I would like to make a special request of our readers in discussing the current race in Florida's 8th Congressional District. Please forward this article to any of your friends and family because Alan Grayson must lose...
A new generation has joined the Mullings household.
This is for her.
The children of America have gone back to school. And, in nearly every household, there is at least one person who is standing over the...
There's been a lot of talk about Bush nostalgia lately.
At Martha's Vineyard, the Obama-bilia wasn't moving like it was during the Obamas' previous visit there. The biggest seller was a T-shirt depicting a...
To mark Labor Day 2010, President Obama will join hands with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in Milwaukee and pose as champions of the working class. Bad move. Trumka's organizing record is a shameful reminder of the...
WASHINGTON -- A church in Florida is poised to commemorate an act of violence committed in the name of Islam, the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, with an act of stupidity committed in the name of Christianity, the public...
When President Obama said it was time to turn the page on Iraq, he should have also declared his intention to close the book on the lingering, festering injustices the U.S. government has perpetrated on 10 American...
WASHINGTON -- Optimism about America's future is in very short supply nowadays as we near the end of the third year of an economic recession with little or no relief in sight.
I know the White House and its allies...
Sorry, but I can't allow Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' statement that "we have a lot of re-education to do" slip by without comment. It's amusing when avowed leftists don't even recognize the...
Why We Suddenly Miss Bush
Various polls report that George W. Bush in some states is now better liked than President Obama. Even some liberal pundits call for Bush, the now long-missed moderate, to draw on his recognized tolerance and weigh in on the Ground Zero mosque or the Arizona anti-immigration legislation. Apparently the erstwhile [...]
Blah, blah, blah
We?ve had nearly a month now of fruitless acrimony over the Ground Zero mosque.
About everything that can be said has been said. Little-read Newsweek and Time have published a near dozen ?I accuse? essays about America?s supposedly yokel intolerance ? as if we did not get their message at about screed two.
The past [...]
Decline is a Choice
As the summer winds down, there is more and more talk of decline in the air. Some of it comes from the left, as a sort of giddy notion that we are now, at best, devolving into what the Greeks called prôtos metaksu isôn, first among equals, enjoying traditional prestige but otherwise [...]
While America debates whether a ?bridge-building? Imam Rauf should erect his 0-million, 13-story outreach ?Islamic complex? (is the name ?Cordoba House? now officially to be dropped? And if so, could Mr. Rauf or the media explain why?) next to Ground Zero, Islam seems to be at war with most of the rest of the world, [...]
Are We Tottering?
Societies can sometimes implode abruptly, like the Mycenaeans from mysterious causes, the Aztecs before Cortés, or the Zulu nation in 1879 ? or gradually and insidiously, such as Rome in the latter fifth century BC or Britain between 1946 and 1960.
I don?t believe America is in inevitable decline or will falter, but I [...]
**Written by Doug Powers Harry Reid is a genius when it comes to military tactics — just ask him. The Las Vegas Review-Journal recently questioned the Harry Reid and Sharron Angle campaigns on various issues. Here’s part of the Reid campaign’s explanation for why the Nevada Senator once said “the war is lost”: On REID?S [...]
Thugs-in-chief My syndicated column today takes on the rise of President Obama’s best new Big Labor buddy, Richard Trumka — whose looming presence on the political scene I first flagged in April. As we noted last week, he’s got a combined million war chest with his labor alliance and a Marxist get-out-the-vote force behind [...]
**Written by Doug Powers You know it’s been a long year and a half when you can sit back, watch a pitch for Hillary Clinton for president, and fool yourself into thinking that she (and her husband) looks like Reagan compared to Barack Obama. From CNN: We’ve still got two months left until the 2010 [...]
**Written by Doug Powers By now you can probably read all about this in a revised report to the UN’s Human Rights Council that the Obama administration couldn’t wait to file like a nine year old girl tattling to momma after catching her brother behind the barn reading Playboy, but if you haven’t yet heard, [...]
Many have charged that President Obama's decision to begin withdrawing from Afghanistan 10 months from now is hampering our war effort. But now it's official. In a stunning statement last week, Marine Corps Commandant James Conway admitted that the July 2011 date is "probably giving our enemy sustenance."
A remarkably bold charge for an active military officer. It stops just short of suggesting aiding and abetting the enemy. Yet the observation is obvious: It is surely harder to prevail in a war that hinges on the allegiance of the locals when they hear the U.S. president talk of beginning a withdrawal that will ultimately leave them to the mercies of the Taliban.
Liberalism under siege is an ugly sight indeed. Just yesterday it was all hope and change and returning power to the people. But the people have proved so disappointing. Their recalcitrance has, in only 19 months, turned the predicted 40-year liberal ascendancy (James Carville) into a full retreat. Ah, the people, the little people, the small-town people, the "bitter" people, as Barack Obama in an unguarded moment once memorably called them, clinging "to guns or religion or" -- this part is less remembered -- "antipathy toward people who aren't like them."
It's hard to be an Obama sycophant these days. Your hero delivers a Ramadan speech roundly supporting the building of a mosque and Islamic center near Ground Zero in New York. Your heart swells and you're moved to declare this President Obama's finest hour, his act of greatest courage.
Alas, the next day, at a remove of 800 miles, Obama explains that he was only talking about the legality of the thing and not the wisdom -- upon which he does not make, and will not make, any judgment.
A place is made sacred by a widespread belief that it was visited by the miraculous or the transcendent (Lourdes, the Temple Mount), by the presence there once of great nobility and sacrifice (Gettysburg), or by the blood of martyrs and the indescribable suffering of the innocent (Auschwitz).
When we speak of Ground Zero as hallowed ground, what we mean is that it belongs to those who suffered and died there -- and that such ownership obliges us, the living, to preserve the dignity and memory of the place, never allowing it to be forgotten, trivialized or misappropriated.
Last week, a draft memo surfaced from the Department of Homeland Security suggesting ways to administratively circumvent existing law to allow several categories of illegal immigrants to avoid deportation and, indeed, for some to be granted permanent residency. Most disturbing was the stated rationale. This was being proposed "in the absence of Comprehensive Immigration Reform." In other words, because Congress refuses to do what these bureaucrats would like to see done, they will legislate it themselves.
Regardless of your feelings on the substance of the immigration issue, this is not how a constitutional democracy should operate. Administrators administer the law, they...
"They [the United States and Israel] have decided to attack at least two countries in the region in the next three months."
-- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, July 26
President Ahmadinejad has a penchant for the somewhat loony, as when last weekend he denounced Paul the Octopus, omniscient predictor of eight consecutive World Cup matches, as a symbol of decadence and purveyor of "Western propaganda and superstition."
But for all his clownishness, Ahmadinejad is nonetheless calculating and dangerous. What "two countries" was he talking about? They seem logically to be Lebanon and Syria. Hezbollah in Lebanon has armed itself with 50,000 rockets and made clear that...
Barack Obama's considerable political capital, earned on Election Day 2008, is spent. Well spent, mind you, on the enactment of a highly ideological agenda of Obamacare, financial reform and a near-trillion-dollar stimulus that will significantly transform the country. But spent nonetheless. There's nothing left with which to complete his social-democratic ambitions. This would have to await the renewed mandate that would come with a second inaugural.
That's why, as I suggested last week, nothing of major legislative consequence is likely to occur for the next 2 1/2 years. Except, as columnist Irwin Stelzer points out, for one constitutional loophole: a lame-duck Congress called...
In the political marketplace, there's now a run on Obama shares. The left is disappointed with the president. Independents are abandoning him in droves. And the right is already dancing on his political grave, salivating about November when, his own press secretary admitted Sunday, Democrats might lose the House.
I have a warning for Republicans: Don't underestimate Barack Obama.
Remember NASA? It once represented to the world the apogee of American scientific and technological achievement. Here is President Obama's vision of NASA's mission, as explained by administrator Charles Bolden:
"One was he wanted me to help re-inspire children to want to get into science and math; he wanted me to expand our international relationships; and third and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science and math and engineering."
The Fort Hood shooter, the Christmas Day bomber, the Times Square attacker. On May 13, the following exchange occurred at a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee:
Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tex.): Do you feel that these individuals might have been incited to take the actions that they did because of radical Islam?
Attorney General Eric Holder: There are a variety of reasons why I think people have taken these actions. . . .
Smith: Okay, but radical Islam could have been one of the reasons?
Holder: There are a variety of reasons why people --
There is no need, this year, to load up negative ads with adjectives painting your opponents as evil, big spenders in the thrall of the DC establishment. The simple facts of your opponents’ voting records are enough to defeat them. Just the facts, ma’am. Republican negative ad writers always delight in describing the Stimulus package [...]
The proposed mosque near to ground zero is not really a religious institution. It would be — as many mosques throughout the nation are — a terrorist recruitment, indoctrination and training center. It is not the worship of Islam that is the problem. It is the efforts to advance Sharia Law with its requirement of [...]
Published in the New York Post on August 18, 2010 With Republican prospects looking ever better for this fall, the House Democratic Campaign Committee and the PACs that follow its lead face tough triage decisions: Who will they fund? Republicans need 39 seats to take away the Democrats’ majority, so the temptation is to focus [...]
For a decade, the left owned the streets. Subsidized by George Soros and energized by the Clinton impeachment in the 90s and the Iraq War since, it dominated the Internet and grass roots campaigning. Michael Moore?s movies ? however misguided ? enthused their ranks and catalyzed their efforts. ACORN worked to commit massive voter fraud [...]
During the early Clinton years — 1993 and 1994 — the first couple vacationed in Martha’s Vineyard hobnobbing with celebrities and cruising on Ted Kennedy’s yacht. The result was that during each of the two summers, as they into the surf, so they dived in the polls. The last drop, after the summer of 1994, [...]
SARAH Palin has launched an angry tirade against reporters who write about her using anonymous sources! The former Alaska Governor singled out a piece in CQ Politics which reported that she had asked for an opportunity to speak in the Hawkeye state, instead of being invited to speak. ?I did see a headline on CQ Politics and [...]
Is Sarah Palin using code words to slam gay journalist Michael Joseph Gross, the author of a controversial new profile on the former VP nominee in this month?s Vanity Fair?
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin slammed reporters who write about her using anonymous sources Thursday, calling them ?impotent? and ?whack.? The 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee made the remarks in an appearance on Sean Hannity?s WABC radio show. In response to a question about an upcoming trip to Iowa...
Despite Sarah Palin's prominence, a majority of Americans and a significant number of Republicans doubt she would be an effective president, a poll indicates. A 60 Minutes/Vanity Poll shows 59 percent of Americans overall doubt Palin would be an effective president with 40 percent of Republicans agreeing, CBS reported Monday. A mere 26 percent of Americans say they would have confidence in a ...
New York, Sep 03 : Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has lashed out at reporters who write about her using anonymous sources, branding them 'impotent' and 'whack.'
# fightingwords Red state rabble rouser Sarah Palin ?who only recently discovered the joy of language ?took to Sean Hannity 's radio show today to rant about the "impotent, limp, and gutless reporters" who "slay" her. More »
Hillary Clinton for President. Hillary 2012. These are some of the words that people in New Orleans heard recently in a television commercial for a Hillary Clinton 2012 presidential campaign. But Clinton didn't pay for it, nor did she endorse it. The commercial was paid for by a Chicago dentist named William DeJean. When asked why he put the ad up, DeJean told CNN Thursday that ?I?m a dentist ...
While the rest of the political world is preoccupied with the midterm elections, Chicago dentist William DeJean is hatching plans for 2012. He shelled out ,000 to create an ad encouraging Americans to back a Hillary Clinton presidential run in 2012. He says the spot will run in New Orleans, Washington D.C., New York, and [... ]
The Mideast peace talks are Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's moment to shine. United States Secretary of State - Hillary Clinton - Bill Clinton - President - United States
A new ad advocating for Hillary Clinton for president in 2012 began running in New Orleans Wednesday. (CNN) - We've still got two months left until the 2010 midterm elections, but we now have our first television commercial of the 2012 presidential campaign. And the ad advocates for a person who says she has no [...]
WASHINGTON ? Israelis and Palestinians on Thursday opened their first direct peace negotiations in 20 months, a long-shot attempt to end the conflict that host Secretary of State Hillary Clinton acknowledged is burdened by history and bitter disputes.
Washington, September 3, 2010 : The American Secretary of State happens to be Hillary Clinton. In effect, she is the foremost diplomat of America. She has officially initiated the initial direct tranquility discussions between Israel and the Palestinians in almost two years.
WASHINGTON ? Israelis and Palestinians on Thursday opened their first direct peace negotiations in 20 months, a long-shot attempt to end the Middle East conflict that host Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton acknowledged is burdened by history and bitter disputes.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Israeli and Palestinian leaders began direct peace negotiations in Washington Thursday, a day after pledging to work to end a decades-long conflict. Israel - Hillary Rodham Clinton - Washington - Middle East - Palestinian people
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton insists she's not running for president in 2012 but that hasn't stopped one of her supporters from rolling out a wishful ad.
A 2012 presidential campaign ad is out--and it's for Hillary Clinton, funded by a dentist from Chicago. Though, as The Washington Post's Emi Kolawole points out, "this could make for awkward chatter at the White House," the blogosphere seems to be dismissing the ad breezily. A Clinton candidacy is barely even a remote possibility, say political observers. The combination of the ad's ...
Gov. Bobby Jindal said Mariner Energy officials told him this afternoon that all seven wells that were operating at Vermilion Block 380 at the time of the fire today have been shut in, which would mean no oil is leaking....
BATON ROUGE - Governor Bobby Jindal held a press conference today on the Mariner Production Platform fire incident in the Gulf, following a UCG meeting with all state agencies and Coast Guard Admiral Landry and Captain Stanton who joined by phone. State officials were also briefed by senior Mariner company officials on their response to the incident before the press conference. Governor Jindal ...
Washington, September 3, 2010 : The Republican Governor of Louisiana happens to be Bobby Jindal, who possesses Indian bloodline. He divulged in the afternoon on Thursday that the shutters have been put up on production from a smoldering oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal confirms a Coast Guard report that a mile-long oil sheen is spreading from the site of an offshore oil platform that exploded.
A luncheon featuring Gov Bobby Jindal as the keynote speaker that will benefit students throughout Washington Parish has been scheduled for Sept. 10 in the Fellowship Hall at the First Baptist Church in Franklinton.
Gov. Bobby Jindal said fire from an explosion earlier today on an oil production platform in the Gulf of Mexico is still burning but nearly is contained.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is headed north to help Minnesota Republicans raise money with Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a probable 2012 presidential candidate. Minnesota GOP spokesman Mark
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana ? Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said production has been shut off to the Mariner Energy Gulf of Mexico platform that caught fire this morning, according to reports from the state capitol.
Last Friday?s GDP report was a splash of cold water in the face of those who keep hoping against hope that, as the President and Vice President keep telling us, the nation really, really is seeing economic recovery. Really.
The report adjusted downward last month?s preliminary 2nd quarter GDP estimate of plus 2.4 [...]
From the In-box:
Tea Party Express
We have learned that the NRSC (National Republican Senatorial Committee) has sent a team of lawyers and political hacks – including the NRSC’s top lawyer – to Alaska to potentially manipulate the vote-counting process in the Alaska GOP Senate race.
Their apparent goal: to help Liberal Sen. Lisa Murkowski steal the election from [...]
Everyone should watch this video, whether you support the Ground Zero mosque, or whether you join with a majority of Americans who oppose it.
Pat Condell’s perspective is worth your time. “Is it possible to be astonished, but not surprised?”
828! Are you wishing you were there? This is going to be an amazing event! Even if Al Sharpton is trying to rain on the parade, WE WILL RESTORE THE HONOR!
FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO COULD NOT MAKE THE TRIP TODAY, LIKE MYSELF, THERE WILL BE A LIVE STREAM ON FACEBOOK!
http://www.facebook.com/restoringhonor
http://www.watchglennbeck.com/restoringhonor
Of course, the event is [...]
Just when you think this Democrat-controlled government couldn’t possibly kick the American people in the stomach hard enough we now hear that the Ground Zero Muslim center may get public financing… What ever happened to separation of church and state?
(Reuters) – The Muslim center planned near the site of the World Trade Center attack could [...]
Were gona have a lynch’n… Were gona have a lynch’n…
(Wtop.com) ~ Feds sue Arizona sheriff in civil rights probe
September 2, 2010
PHOENIX (AP) ~ The Justice Department sued the nation’s self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff” on Thursday, calling Joe Arpaio’s defiance of an investigation into his office’s alleged discrimination against Hispanics “unprecedented.”
It’s the first time in decades a [...]
If you got a couple extras… I’ll take one.
(CNN - Money) ~ Auto sales: Worst August since 1983
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The nation’s top automakers reported disappointing sales Wednesday, resulting in the worst August for industry-wide auto sales in 27 years.
According to sales tracker Autodata, U.S. new vehicle sales fell just short of 1 million [...]
What are you gona do with that?
(News Daily) ~ Judge rules against U.S. government on oil drilling
Posted 2010/09/01 at 3:50 pm EDT
HOUSTON (Reuters) ? A federal judge on Wednesday rejected the U.S. government’s request to dismiss an industry lawsuit challenging its deep-water oil and gas drilling moratorium, dealing another blow to the Obama administration…
READ [...]
Below is a picture of -Left to right- Princess Letizia of Spain, French first lady Carla Bruni, and you guessed it, our wonderful first lady who looks like a maid, Walmart blouse, wrinkled skirt and flat cheap shoes. Look at her posture… I don’t understand why some think she has class and taste. [...]
For those that are following this case the judge is hearing arguments today at 11:00 at Ft. Meade, Maryland. All court proceedings are open to the public.
(IMPEACH OBAMA CAMPAIGN.Com) Three-Star General Files Affidavit Supporting ?Birther? Officer?s Case
Washington, D.C., August 31, 2010. Retired Air Force Lieutenant General Thomas McInerney has supplied an affidavit [...]
In July, the dishonest far left hacks at Think Progress were caught manufacturing a fake racist tea party video.
Bob Owens reported at Big Government that the far left Think Progress blog was using liberal-manufactured signs from Crash the Tea Party as evidence of tea party racism.
Do you remember the abortive ?Crash the Tea Party? movement? It was the brainchild of a liberal that explicitly called for progressives to commit fraud in order to attempt to discredit the Tea Party protests.
This morning, I came across this video from Think Progress:
…Think Progress stitches together a series of posters they claim belong to Tea Party protesters.
Really, Think Progress?
Did you not think we?d remember the amusing signs your fellow liberals created for their little abortive ?Crash the Tea Party? stunt in Boston? Let?s just say that some were more amusing than others, and some just showed pathetic and angry progressives often are.
There is an old saying that you?re entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts.
Right Klik pointed out that basically every scene in the Think Progress video was manufactured. The liberal blog even included video footage from 2006 - before there even was a tea party!
So why would a leftist website put out such an obviously doctored video in order to smear the tea party movement?
The Center for American Progress(CAP) is a George Soros-funded initiative. It was founded by former Clinton chief of staff John Podesta. Think Progress is one of the CAP’s blogs that “provides a forum that advances progressive ideas and policies.”
But, the fact that Think Progress is a horribly dishonest leftist organization won’t stop the NAACP from joining with them to smear the tea party movement. FOX News reported:
A new website sponsored by the NAACP and left-leaning media operations is seeking videographers and bloggers who will search out “racism” and “extremism” among Tea Partiers.
Teapartytracker.org will feature tweets, interviews with people at rallies, blog entries and a picture of a t-shirt they say someone spotted at a rally that reads “Blacks own slaves in Mauitania, Sudan, Niger & Haiti.”
The site, sponsored by the NAACP, Think Progress, New Left Media and Media Matters for America, will monitor “racism and other forms of extremism within the Tea Party movement. We call on the Tea Party to repudiate extremists among their ranks and join in civil dialogue with all Americans.”
The NAACP really ought to clean up their ownracist side of the street before they start pointing any fingers.
I’m glad this didn’t come out of some conservative’s mouth.
Since it was posted at the liberal BBC if there is any controversy it should blow over in a few hours.
Unbelievable. In Oregon the reg’lar folks are losing their jobs right and left. And the bad luck for those actually paying the bills, the taxpayers, gets even worse because Oregon’s politicians have made sure that the state’s public employees unions get an automatic 5% pay raise starting this Wednesday!
5 percent pay increase for state union employees begins Wednesday
SALEM (AP) — A step pay increase of nearly 5 percent for Oregon state workers represented by unions goes into effect Wednesday.
Some workers will get the pay hike immediately and the rest on their hiring anniversary, the Statesman Journal reports.
The 4.75 percent increase will cost the state as much as million through the end of the two-year budget period.
The Department of Administrative Services, which negotiates union contracts with state workers, says the Legislature has already budgeted for the added expense.
Critics like Rep. Dennis Richardson of Central Point says the state can’t afford it. But union officials say the step increase is two years overdue and state workers have had
Remember to mark your calendars… ?GATEWAY TO NOVEMBER? TEA PARTY, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2010 in St. Louis, Missouri under the Gateway Arch!
St. Louis was chosen this year to hold one of three major regional rallies on Sunday, September 12th. Sacramento and Washington DC will also hold rallies that day.
The St. Louis Tea Party officially announced the news today:
Tea Party Patriots Host 9/12 Rally to ?Recycle Government? in St. Louis; One of Three Major Events Across the Country.
(St. Louis, Mo.) August 25, 2010 Thousands of Tea Party Patriots from across the Midwest are expected to converge in St. Louis on September 12, 2010 to rally in support of restoring founding U.S. principles, in protest at the size and scope of government, and in support of current efforts to repeal legislation that they believe has been forced upon them and will not deliver on its promises.
The rally will be held under the Gateway Arch with speakers and music on the Riverfront Stage. Music will begin at noon; speakers to begin at 1 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. KFTK 97.1 FM Talk serves as the official radio sponsor.
?Our theme this year is ?Recycle Government? ? to repeal ObamaCare, reduce government spending, and restore the principles of fiscal responsibility, limited government, and free markets that make this nation great and free,? says Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder and national coordinator for Tea Party Patriots, the largest network of voluntarily affiliated tea party and 9/12 groups in the country.
One of those groups, the St. Louis Tea Party, is a co-sponsor of the event. ?We?re thrilled to welcome tea partiers from across the nation to St. Louis, the very heartland of America. St. Louis supports the Tea Party Patriots and looks forward to welcoming grassroots groups from all over to the event,? says Dana Loesch, a co-founder of the St. Louis Tea Party along with Bill Hennessy.
The ?9/12? rally, as its come to be known, first took place on 9/12/2009. More than 850,000 people converged on Washington, D.C. to protest out of control government spending, the erosion of personal liberties, and the bailouts of troubled industries. This year, the ?9/12? rally will be held in St. Louis and Sacramento, CA in addition to Washington, D.C.
St. Louis participants will hear music from country music legend Sammy Kershaw; former American Idol contestant Krista Branch; Neil E. Boyd, winner of America?s Got Talent and St. Louis diva Kim Massie. Speakers will include US Congressional Representative Steve King, radio and Internet personalities, and grassroots organizers from Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, Ohio, Maine, Georgia, and Washington.
Here’s a list of speakers for the planned St. Louis rally:
# Dick Morris
# Rep. Steve King, IA-5
# Rep. Tom Price, GA-6
# Dana Loesch, Host: The Dana Show / Co-founder St. Louis Tea Party
# Bill Hennessy, Co-founder St. Louis Tea Party
# Dr Gina Loudon, Radio Host: The Dr. Gina Show, St. Louis Tea Party
# Andre Harper, Author. Speaker. Patriot. AndreHarper.com
# Stephanie Rubach, move-on-up.org
# Mike Flynn, Editor-in-Chief BigGovernment
# Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit
# Michael Prell, author of Underdogma (Due out Jan 2011)
# Michelle Moore, Smart Girl Politics
# Melissa Ortiz, National Co-chair Can-Do Conservatives
# Andrew Ian Dodge, Maine Coordinator Tea Party Patriots, Dodgeblogium
# William Greene, Right March
# Lyda Loudon and Cole Campbell, Tea Party Youth
# Steve McQueen, Quincy Tea Party
# Jim Bratten, Tri-State Tea Party
# Emery McClendon, Project 21 and ARMAD, Ft. Wayne, IN
# Anthony Shreeve, American Patriot Taxpayers
# Mark Herr, Mid South Tea Party
# Ralph King, Cleveland Tea Party Patriots
# Marianne Gaszeicki, Mansfield Tea Party
# Scott Boston, Bowling Green Ohio Tea Party Patriots
# Rob Gaudet, Shreveport-Bossier Tea Party
# Debbie Dooley, Atlanta Tea Party
# Mike and Spike, The Mike and Spike Show
# Stacy E Washington, St. Louis Tea Party
# Jonathan Krohn, Atlanta Ga, Author, Defining Conservatism
Come and be part of history! Join us under the Arch on September 12th.
* Johnson’s refrain throughout the whole interview is that she didn’t know she was doing anything wrong and now she’s trying to correct her mistake. And as I listen, I very much want to give her the benefit of the doubt…but she is making it so hard!
* Anderson tries to bring home the point that obviously someone on her staff must have known about the rules because family members signed the forms, denying they were related.
* Johnson: “Anderson, I have acknowledged that I was negligent. I have acknowledged that I made a mistake. When it was called to my attention, I tried to correct it. I know you want you to make a scandal out of this, but I can’t help you. All I can do is tell you the truth.”
* Our anchor: “Well, I think you have done enough in terms of making it a scandal. I’m trying to figure out how it happened. And you say you take responsibility.” I believe “oh, snap!” is the phrase you’re looking for.
* I like how Anderson’s mind is completely boggled that the congresswoman didn’t know what she did was ethically wrong. You know he just wants to be all, “duh, lady!”
* You think things are bad now, well, then Johnson claims she doesn’t know if the kids lied, because she doesn’t know if they saw the forms. To which Anderson replies, um, they signed the forms.
* Johnson: “Well, you have seen more than I have, Anderson.” Our anchor: “You haven’t looked into this at all?” Johnson: “I don’t have the forms, the records. The records are missing from my office.” You have got to be kidding me. Don’t worry, people. They looked for them!
* This woman knew she was on CNN, right? And she knew the topic she would be discussing? A member of your United States Congress, ladies and gentlemen! Weep now and get it over with.
* This interview was very well-done. Good research. Mostly nice job by Anderson, though as I said last night, he needs to be more careful not to talk over guests. Of course, I’ll take Interrupty Anderson over Asleep-At-The-Wheel Anderson any day.
Busted. This crook needs to go.
Nice job, Anderson Cooper.
When the Gallup Poll says the Democrats are toast come November, you can believe it because even their registered voter generic congressional ballot results are usually below what other pollsters show for the Republicans. Today Gallup has the Republicans up by 10, the highest ever recorded since 1950. On July 19th, Gallup had the Democrats up by 6 when no other pollster had the Democrats up at all. Obviously Gallup has made some adjustments to how they weight their samples. Rasmussen has had the Republicans up by as much as 12 and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, a Democrat firm, has had the Republicans up as much as 11. The previous high for Gallup was 7 for the Republicans in 1994 and that was using a likely voter sample rather than a registered voter sample. Had Gallup used a likely voter sample, the results would be even higher for the Republicans because likely voter samples always favor Republicans more than registered voter samples because Republicans turn out to vote better than Democrats.
If a 7 point spread in 1994 gave the Republicans control of the House by 231 to 204 seats, what would a 10 point spread do? If you have been following our model adopted from Gallup, you already know the answer: the Republicans would control the House by a whopping 71 seat margin, 253 to 182. That last time the Republicans controlled the House by that big a margin was as a result of the 1928 election, some 82 years ago. The last time the Republicans gained more than 71 seats was not in 1994 (54 seats) or even in 1946 (55 seats), it was in 1938 (81 seats). Thus a 75 seat gain would be the biggest in 72 years, but we have already pointed that out. At this point, it seems fair to say that the Democrats are not just toast, but burned toast.
All of this is merely a prelude to saying that we are adjusting our projections from a 67 seats picked up while losing 2 for a net gain of 65 to a whopping 80 seats picked up for a net gain of 78 seats. Thus our new projection is for a 256 to 179 seat House for the Republicans. Since the current House has the exact opposite of that, we are projecting a total flip over of the House giving the Republicans control by the exact same margin as the Democrats have now. Our reason for doing this is precisely because of what has been happening in the generic congressional ballot polls. This would require a 10.6 point margin in the likely voter generic congressional polls.
That average has been 10.5 lately even though today it is only 7.3 because Rasmussen has dropped down to 6 from 12 two weeks ago. The Gallup poll says that the latest Rasmussen poll is most likely an outlier poll and will return to the 9 point range next week. If you are interested in just which seats the Republicans will pick up, you will find that in our Marston Report. To give you an idea of what that means in the real world, it means the Republicans will have to defeat the likes of Bob Etheridge in NC-2, Ed Perlmutter in CO-2, Chellie Pingree in ME-1 and Bruce Braley in IA-1. The first two are rated by Real Clear Politics as leans D, but the last two are listed as likely D. If we cannot get those last two, the next two in our rankings are Phil Hare in IL-17 and Melissa Bean in IL-8 which RCP does list as leans D.
Palestine's Holocaust Of The Week - created by Little Satan - revolves around the 7th century concept of 'honor" (note - 'honor' in a crunk and disorderly hood like Arab League seems to lie betwixt a grrl's legs). LOLZ!
Palestine's Holocaust Of The Week - created by Little Satan - revolves around the 7th century concept of 'honor" (note - 'honor' in a crunk and disorderly hood like Arab League seems to lie betwixt a grrl's legs).
Rowdy suspect rejectionist, intolerant Palestinians have been phot'd en flagrente (spiritually please) in a helpless, shamefully honor free, powerless sitch, while a hot! conscript voltiguerre ala femme exhibits total control and power.
Usually it is only after a tipping point has already passed that one can look back and see that it occurred. We suspected that such a political tipping point was occurring during July but it has taken until now for us to be certain. Everyone who knows anything about politics knows that the political party of the President usually loses many seats in Congress in a midterm election. Given how many Democrats that were elected in 2006 and 2008 from traditionally Republican leaning areas, there was no doubt that the Democrats were going to get caught in the tidal undercurrent. However, that did not necessarily mean they were going to lose control of either house of Congress. That would be a political tsunami of major proportions.
That tsunami wave is building to never before seen heights as a result of the July tipping point. Right now our average of LIKELY VOTER generic congressional ballot polls stand at an incredible 11.5 points in favor of the Republicans. By comparison, it stood only at 7 points in favor of the Republicans in 1994. Barring a political miracle, the Democrats will lose control of the House and their chances of hanging on to the Senate diminish with every passing day. Nothing but passing a tipping point could cause this kind of a reversal of political fortunes.
So what event or series of events set off our passing a political tipping point? There was a series of three events that triggered the tipping point over the course of two weeks from the 6th of July to the 19th of July and they all had to do with racial relations. What evidence do we have that these events caused the tipping point? The first event occurred on July 6th when J. Christan Adams testified before the U. S. Commission on Civil Rights regarding the Justice Department's handling of the New Black Panther Party and intimidation of white voters at a Philadelphia polling place in 2008. His testimony that the DOJ was now refusing to handle any case involving civil rights of a white person sent off shock waves. On that day, the Real Clear Politics average of the generic congressional ballot went in favor of the Republicans and accelerated rapidly to 6 points in six weeks.
A week later, the NAACP adopted a resolution condemning the so-called tea party for harboring racist elements and demanding that such elements be repudiated. Another week brought us the Shirley Sherrod fiasco. All of these taken together left the impression that the Obama administration and the black community really had it in for "whitey". On July 21st, the backlash reached the President and his Real Clear Politics average of his job approval went negative and has stayed there, reaching as high as -6.2% on August 16th. Blacks only make up 1 out every 8 Americans so any advantages they have over the white population that constitutes 74.3% of the population requires the cooperation of the white populace.
Almost every white person knows that the black population got a really raw deal in the early history of this country that did not start to be rectified until the Civil War. It took the civil rights uproar of the 50's and 60's for us to finally get it right in our treatment of Black Americans. There is no question that a large proportion of the white population feel sorry for this past unjust treatment and have tried to make amends. That is why the white population in large measure have not rebelled against the forced busing of white children to end segregation or affirmative action programs. The white population even went so far as to elect a black President before electing a female one in the interest of putting this inglorious past to rest.
To suddenly find that instead of all their attempts to make things right improving racial relations, they have gotten much worse instead comes as a real shock. The white population extended their hand to the black population but got a bloody nose instead. It is obvious now that a sizable number of whites have decided that enough is enough. They are not feeling that way because they are racists but because they have decided they now have become the victims of reverse discrimination. They have decided that way too many of the black population have become racists instead. The events of July has confirmed that opinion. This is a classic example of overreach on the part of the black leadership encouraging race baiting and overlooking the corruption of several members of the Black Caucus. The race card has been played so much it has lost all meaning.
So why is the Democrat Party paying the price for this reversal of good will? It is because 90% of the black adult population is Democrat and that party has always claimed that they are the ones looking out for the best interests of the blacks. The fact that a Republican president freed the slaves and Republican support for the civil rights laws of the 50's and 60's over the vehement objections of the southern Democrats got them passed does not matter. To make matters worse for the Democrats, they misread what they thought was a mandate from the 2008 elections.
The voters wanted to prove America is not a racist country anymore but in doing so they were not voting to have socialism jammed down their collective throats. President Obama and the Democrat leadership support of the Ground Zero mosque has added more fuel to the blazing inferno. The white voters did not bargain for any of this or the "let them eat cake" attitude on the part of the Democrat leadership. The constant partying on the taxpayers' dime by President and Mrs. Obama is merely feeding the fire. All that firestorm will be quenched by the building political tsunami cresting on November 2nd.
This translates to an unbelievable net gain of 83 seats for the Republicans for a 261 to 174 margin. Since the current margin is 257 to 178 in favor of the Democrats, this would not only return control to the Republicans but flip the House to give the Republicans a larger margin than the Democrats have now. Even the RCP average is at 6 in favor of the Republicans and they include registered voter polls. Our average of such polls shows 6.71 because we include a Democracy Corps poll of likely voters that they are ignoring. A 6 point average would gain the Republicans a net gain of 51 seats on the 6.71 average would give them a 55 net gain.
We will have to see if this holds up over the next few weeks. For the time being we are going with a likely voter generic average of 8.0 and a 65 seat net gain. We were at 64 seats but are moving IN-2 from Democrat toss-up to Republican toss-up today. See www.marstonchronicles.info for the details.
As we have explained elsewhere, there is a pretty decent correlation between generic party polls done with LIKELY VOTER samples only in midterm elections with how many seats each party winds up with in the U. S. House of Representatives. To see which party would control the House if the election were held today based on the average of the likely voter generic ballot polls for today, we have prepared the tables below. The generic ballot number required column is shaded blue when that average favors the Democrats and red when it favors the Republicans.
The other columns are shaded blue where the generic ballot average would leave control of the House in Democrat hands and shaded red when it would give control to the Republicans. We project that the Republicans will lose two of their four vulnerable seats (DE-AL, HI-1, IL-10 and LA-3). Since the Republicans now have 178 seats they need a net gain of 40 seats to gain control, but since they will likely lose two of their own, it would take 42 pick-ups from Democrat held seats to gain control. As you can see from the table, it takes a generic ballot figure of 2.1 in favor of the Republicans to gain that 42nd seat.
We have run the main table down to 10 in favor of the Republicans. While there are another 56 seats in play, we cannot reliably extend the mathematical equations predicting a Republican outcome that strong because there is no data point that far in favor of the Republicans. The previous high was 7 in 1994 for the Republicans in all midterm elections since 1950 whereas the Democrat high was 20 in 1974. The mere fact that the generic ballot would favor the Republicans by a wider margin than in 1994 speaks volumes about the current political climate.
Next we have a table showing the likely voter sample polls for the generic ballot as of today. As you can see, the average today is 9.0 in favor of the Republicans which would give them a net gain of 77 seats or control by a 255 - 180 margin. The seats requiring a number higher than today's average are not shaded.
"We did the mosque, Katrina, Iraq, and now Middle East peace? And in between you redo the Oval Office? It has become a joke- Democratic strategist who works closely with multiple candidates and spoke on the condition of anonymity
From a Wapo article titled, "White House considers pre-midterm package of business tax breaks to spur hiring."
There is no doubt that a president's job is difficult and much of what is done is done behind closed doors. Obama can make speeches, can push his agenda, etc... but bottom line is what the public sees and what the anonymous Democratic strategist stated is exactly what the public sees in the news, on televisions and on blogs.
People are watching the unemployment rate continue to rise (9.6 percent as of this months release), they are watching the news which tells them Obama and Democrats have raised our national deficit massively, they are watching Democrats flounder and spend spend spend.... money our country doesn't have.
What they see, their perception, is a government so out of touch with the American majority that every single legislative "win" they have had they did against the opposition of the majority of Americans evidenced by multiple polls done by a variety of organizations at the time.
Unbelievable. In Oregon the reg’lar folks are losing their jobs right and left. And the bad luck for those actually paying the bills, the taxpayers, gets even worse because Oregon’s politicians have made sure that the state’s public employees 
