Clockwise from left: Liz Lauten, Malia and Sasha Obama at White House Thanksgiving event, former Rep. Joe Walsh, Rep. Stephen Fincher
Decent people everywhere are still absorbing the shock from the scandal that erupted when a Republican Capitol Hill staffer, Elizabeth Lauten, a former Republican National Committee apparatchik who has served in communications positions under two tea party congressmen, took to Facebook over the Thanksgiving holiday to smear Pres. Obama’s daughters, Sasha, 16, and Malia, 13, as having no class and dressing like sluts:
Of likely voters — a majority for the first time — want Congress to fix the new national health care law rather than repeal it, a new Rasmussen survey finds. While 30% still think Congress should repeal it entirely and start over again, just 13% want to leave the law as is.
Kind of cool. I always say, cooler than most politicians, not as cool as actual cool people. He’s not cool like Jay Z’s cool. He’s not Eddie Murphy. But in a world of politicians … ”
— Comedian Chris Rock, in an interview with Frank Rich, on his impressions of President Obama.
Of Americans “believe Republican control of both chambers of Congress will be bad for the country, and a majority say it will in fact cause more gridlock in Washington,” a new CNN/ORC poll finds. Also interesting: 68% of Americans polled say the GOP isn’t cooperating enough with President Obama, while 57% say it’s Obama who’s not cooperating enough with the GOP.
— President Obama, quoted by the New York Post, picking up a copy of Chuck Todd’s new book, “The Stranger: Barack Obama in the White House,” in a Washington, D.C., bookstore.
President Obama’s job approval rating among white non-college graduates so far in 2014, 14 percentage points lower than among white college graduates. This is the largest yearly gap between these two groups since Obama took office, a new Gallup poll finds. “These data underscore the magnitude of the Democratic Party’s problem with working-class whites, among whom Obama lost in the 2012 presidential election, and among whom Democratic House candidates lost in the 2014 U.S. House voting by 30 points.”
We pose no threat to anyone and do not intend to get involved in any geopolitical games or intrigues, let alone conflicts, no matter who tries to draw us into them or how they do so.
— Russian President Vladimir Putin, quoted by Reuters.
In the diplomatic ranks, trained professionals toil,
To keep the peace and tamp down foreign turmoil.
But for Greek ambassador,
Trump picked an artful dodger —
The grifting, drunken blackmailer Kimberly Guilfoyle.
A record number of women are running for state legislative seats this November, more than two-thirds of whom are Democrats, reports Florida Phoenix. Across the 46 states with legislative seats on the ballot, a total of 3,824 women are running — up from 2022’s previous record of 3,621 women candidates, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. Women make up 35.5% of all state legislative candidates this cycle. Currently, women hold about one-third of state legislative seats across the country — a record level of representation but nowhere near parity.
“Prediction markets about the 2026 midterm elections have surpassed $1.4 billion in trading volume as Election Day fast approaches,” CNN reports. “This year has seen massive growth in the prediction industry, where people can bet on real-world events like sports, entertainment and the weather. While small-scale election markets have been around for a while, they gained traction before the 2024 presidential election and have seen huge numbers for the 2026 midterms.”
G. Elliot Morris: “Low-knowledge 2024 voters say they backed Trump by 8 points, according to our poll. Today they give him a net job approval of ?27, a 35-point shift. Compare that to Trump’s approval rating among voters who got both questions right: These voters backed Harris by 1 point and now give Trump a net ?24 approval, a 23-point shift. … Low-information voters have moved against Trump at a higher rate than high-information voters, by 12 points.”
President Donald ?Trump’s approval rating fell to a record low as Americans worried about high gasoline prices and appeared ready to punish his Republican Party in the November 3 congressional elections, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on Monday. Some 31% of Americans approve of Trump’s ?performance in office, down a percentage point from two weeks earlier and the lowest level in ?either of his presidential terms, the four-day poll showed.
KFF Poll: “With the 2026 midterm campaigns in full swing and early voting about to begin, there is a wide enthusiasm gap between partisan voters, with Democratic voters 25 percentage points more likely than Republican voters to say they are ‘more motivated’ than usual to vote (63% vs. 38%).”
