I wrote a few days ago that Occupy Wall Street was more popular than I’d realized. It’s natural and only fair to compare them to the Tea Party…except that the Tea Party hardly compares. Many more Americans view the Occupy Wall Street protestors favorably. At the end of September, only 28% of Americans viewed the … Continue reading
Here’s Clint Cook, spokesman for the Texas Tea Party Alliance, defending Governor Rick Perry’s DREAM Act for Texas: We in Texas have a very long record of being neighbors to Mexico…Some taxpayer dollars are being used, but at the same time those kids graduate from college and go on to create money for the economy. … Continue reading
“Without strong movements to arouse and mobilize grievances at the grassroots, elite reformers stood naked before their stand-pat adversaries. Yet, without the aid of insiders able to speak to a national constituency and work the levers of government, movements withered away or became impotent, bitter shells. Legitimacy of this sort carries a price, of course. … Continue reading
I really don’t have much to say about the debt ceiling—hence my relative silence in recent weeks—but this is proof that Boehner’s truly gone through the looking glass. Last night the Speaker pleaded with Democrats [emphasis added]: We have a reasonable, responsible bill put together by the bipartisan leaders here in Congress. There’s no reason … Continue reading
More on why I’m not crazy about Netroots Nation. These flare-ups are what the web does best. Trouble is, they often don’t have any staying power. That’s because it’s really easy to expose and confront someone on the Internet, especially when it’s anonymous. Meanwhile, it’s really hard to muster the courage for real political confrontations. … Continue reading
Great article by Neela Banerjee on House Representative (and political chameleon) Fred Upton last weekend in the Los Angeles Times. Let me stress that: great story. Read it. Frequent readers won’t find the article surprising (I write on Upton a LOT), but it’s still worth a scan, because it includes analysis from a wide range of … Continue reading
Apparently John Boehner’s speech last night at the Economic Club of New York fell stillborn from his lips. The “audience of Wall Street executives” was unimpressed by his threat to hold the debt ceiling vote hostage without trillions in dramatic spending cuts. The Hill reports: “Disconnected from reality,” one attendee said as he walked briskly … Continue reading
In case you missed it, Florida Gov. Rick Scott is getting ready to sign an interesting bill into law [quote via NPR]: Florida Gov. Rick Scott is expected to sign a bill that will make the state the first in the nation to prohibit doctors from asking patients if they own guns. The bill is … Continue reading
What’s the largest political issue looming over the next few years (decades?) in the United States? It’s almost certainly the federal government’s fiscal health. So, right now, I’m remembering Ronald Reagan, the man who inaugurated “The Reagan Era” in American politics (hip name, no?). This was/is the era dominated by the “cut taxes while raising … Continue reading
Thanks to John Lennon (RIP) and Paul McCartney… Woke up (to clean air, thanks to the EPA/Clean Air Act), fell out of bed (whose mattress and pillows didn’t catch fire, thanks to the USCPSC), Dragged a (lead-free, thanks to the USCPSC) comb across my head (not a hair on it harmed, thanks to the Department … Continue reading
