Month: November 2011

Obama’s Base Is Solid

Buck Banks

44%

According to several polls, the size of President Obama’s base. Chris Cillizza: “One of the most persistent story lines for the president has been that the liberal left has grown increasingly dissatisfied with his actions (or inaction) on some of its priorities… But an examination of the polling data among key subgroups that constitute Obama’s base makes clear that he has as much support from them as any modern president seeking a second term.”

Said pollster Peter Hart: “… if Obama’s base is largely united, so, too, is the opposition; in an October Washington Post-ABC News poll, 46% of respondents said they would not even consider voting for him.”

Frum Laments Passing of Grand Old Party

Buck Banks

When I entered Republican politics during an earlier period of malaise, in the late seventies and early eighties, the movement got most of the big questions — crime, inflation, the Cold War — right. This time, the party is getting the big questions disastrously wrong. … In the aftershock of 2008, large numbers of Americans feel exploited and abused. Rather than workable solutions, my party is offering low taxes for the currently rich and high spending for the currently old, to be followed by who-knows-what and who-the-hell-cares. This isn’t conservatism; it’s a going-out-of-business sale for the baby-boom generation.

— David Frum, writing in New York magazine.

Liberals Will Never Be Happy

Buck Banks

Liberals are dissatisfied with Obama because liberals, on the whole, are incapable of feeling satisfied with a Democratic president. They can be happy with the idea of a Democratic president — indeed, dancing-in-the-streets delirious — but not with the real thing. … For almost all of the past 60 years, liberals have been in a near-constant emotional state of despair, punctuated only by brief moments of euphoria and occasional rage. When they’re not in charge, things are so bleak they threaten to move to Canada; it’s almost more excruciating when they do win elections, and their presidents fail in essentially the same ways: He is too accommodating, too timid, too unwilling or unable to inspire the populace. (Except for Johnson, who was a bloodthirsty warmonger.)

— Jonathan Chait, writing in New York magazine.

Gingrich a Democrat’s Dream Candidate

Buck Banks

Republicans, apparently, will date anyone before they’ll marry Mitt. Remember their brief fling with Donald Trump? Then, after he decided not to throw his hair into the ring, they fell for Michele Bachmann, the Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya of the far right. Then it was Rick Perry — the guy who claims he jogs with a loaded gun (without a safety) tucked into his shorts. And now that they’ve tired of Herman Cain’s, umm, hands-on style of leadership, it’s Newt’s turn. … And so, like MacArthur, Newt has returned. I, for one, could not be happier–but then again, I’m a Democrat, so I have to take my political pleasures where I can find them. I seriously doubt Newt will be the GOP nominee. But a guy can dream, can’t he?

— Paul Begala, writing in The Daily Beast.

You Have to Spend Money to Win Elections

Trish

2

Number of non-competitive state legislative contests, out of 84, won in Florida by the candidate who spent less money in 2010. Non-competitive on a monetary scale means that one side raised more than twice as much as the closest opponent. That comes out to 97.7% of those with a funding advantage winning. Only 16 of 143 races were competitive, or 11%. California had even fewer competitive races, at 4%.

UC Davis Chancellor Faces Silent ‘Walk of Shame’ over Pepper Spray Incident

Jon Ponder

Here are two related, remarkable videos. On the left, UC Davis campus police fire pepper spray into the faces of protesters who are sitting peacefully on the ground. On the right, after facing a barrage of criticism over the incident, the university chancellor walks out of a building to her car at night while hundreds of protesters look on in total silence.

Sacramento Bee:

[University of California-Davis] officials found themselves under a barrage of Internet-driven outrage Saturday, after campus police officers pepper-sprayed protesters at an Occupy UC Davis encampment Friday.

Saturday evening, after holding a news conference to address intense nationwide media interest, UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi walked through a blocks-long gantlet of students, who stood silently as she passed to a waiting SUV. Katehi had stayed inside the building for more than two hours after the conference.

Earlier, the crowd of protesters, which grew to 300 or more, had waved signs and chanted “Resignation, Resignation” and “Take Responsibility.” There were no police officers in sight and protesters dispersed shortly after the chancellor departed.

The board of the Davis Faculty Association, among others, has called for her resignation.

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