. . . I’m not on the guest list for the annual White House Correspondents Dinner. Ask anyone who’s ever been at a party with me: Who’s really missing out on the fun?
Forming (Mustering) Janissaries as Response to Americans
by Smitty
The police were doing their job (or were they?), but it was just incredibly stupid, paranoid, silly, and abyssmal optics to form up the riot squad against little old ladies. I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough goofball mistakes. Not only does no one but the devout kool-aid swiller believe you, Mr. President, the bulk of the people are more inclined to give credence to the opposite of what you say. Recommend you regroup and quit urinating down the public back while proclaiming precipitation.
The Tim Burns Campaign For PA-12
A special shout out to Caught Him With A Corndog who has indexed the PA-12 coverage nicely.
Continue reading Forming (Mustering) Janissaries as Response to Americans →
Two Words: Freakin’ Huge!
No, I’m not talking about plus-size model Ashley Graham, I’m talking about Republican Tim Burns leading 46%-40% in the latest PA-12 poll from (brace yourself) Daily Kos:
The new Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll of the PA-12 special election gives Republican businessman Tim Burns the edge in the race for the House seat formerly held by the late Democratic Rep. John Murtha.
The numbers: Burns 46%, with Democratic candidate and former Murtha aide Mark Critz at 40%. The sample of likely voters has a ±4% margin of error. The Democrats have held this seat since 1974 . . .
President Obama’s favorable rating in this western Pennsylvania seat is only 38%, with an unfavorable rating of 55% . . .
This poll actually went online about a half-hour after I left home Friday on my trip to Washington, Pa., where I scored an exclusive interview with the candidate, visited the phone-bank operations, interviewed volunteers and hung out with the staff at Tim Burns campaign HQ.
More on that later today, but first I’ll need some sleep . . .
Fred Thompson Notices The Dots
by Smitty
Fred Thompson notices that health care policy, Wall Street policy, immigration policy, and energy policy all seem to have substantial events happening kind of close. No mention of Toyota and the auto industry takeover.
Fred falls short of connecting those dots in any way. Paul Krugman and the hapless TrogloPundit (separated at birth?) are already making noises about the oil spill.
Me? Here’s the deal: the Federal government must concern itself with Federal things. Such a notion cuts through the Alinsky Fog nicely.
Update: Valley of the Shadow questions the timing.
Other PA-12 Blogging From Christopher Renner At Red State
by Smitty
Christopher Renner is also on the PA-12 case, posting at Red State and his own digs, including a map of what a train wreck the layout of the PA-12 district has become under the Murtha tenure. Maybe I should walk that back: I don’t live there, and the citizens of PA may think its ducky. However, any system designed to lock in “safe seats” smacks of aristocratic skullduggery, so my criticism stands.
We can accurately blame Eldbridge Gerry for this tortured state of affairs for having foisted gerrymandering upon us. What do you expect from a gnarly old cuss who said:
“The evils we experience flow from the excess of democracy. The people do not want virtue, but are dupes of pretended patriots”
It’s the Information Age now. We can and should move the fight to raw Census data, and then have a published, legislated algorithm whereby raw data are turned into sensible voting districts according to whatever criteria are decided, e.g. population, tax base, size, or whatever. Let our politics be more like chess, and less like poker, say I, for the current situation makes pokees of us all.
PA12: Canary in a Coal-Mining District
Charlie Cook explains why this May 18 special election is so crucial:
With the midterm elections now just six months away, are Democrats’ prospects improving? Not really. For every hopeful sign they get, several others — usually the more telling ones — point the other way. . . .
This month could provide important clues about whether the Republican storm is still gathering force.
On May 18, Pennsylvania will hold a special election in its 12th Congressional District to fill the House seat of the late John Murtha. This is the only congressional district in the nation that went for Republican John McCain in 2008 after backing Democrat John Kerry in 2004.
It is a swing seat long held by Murtha for his party, but this part of the Keystone State is showing signs of going Republican. A Democratic loss would underscore the narrative that Democrats are in serious trouble heading toward November. . . .
Scott Johnson at Powerline highlights this powerful Pennylvania Patriots video in support of Tim Burns:
Democrats are pulling out all the stops in PA12 — watch the video of this local TV news report about Burns signs being vandalized. It’s make-or-break time, folks. Check out TimBurnsForCongress.com.
PREVIOUSLY:
Shocker: David Frum Backs Marco Rubio?
Somewhat less surprising than if Charles Johnson or Conor Friedersdorf had endorsed him, but surprising nonetheless:
Crist continues to lead the polls. I expect that lead to fade as Republicans rally to Rubio and independents question the grounds for Crist’s candidacy. I hope that translates into a Rubio win, but I worry that a Rubio candidacy will be a tougher and harder fight than a Crist candidacy would have been: I don’t share the view that the conservative future belongs to Rubio’s hard-edged style of politics, especially not in a state like Florida. But all that is past helping. The GOP nomination race has a presumptive winner and Republicans of all stripes have a new standard-bearer.
Not exactly a full-throated “Wolverines” war cry, but probably the best we can expect from a Harvard-educated Canadian. Contrary to Frum’s worry-wart concerns, Crist is toast. Nobody respects a two-faced crapweasel, and I expect the backstabber to be a non-factor Nov. 2. As Allahpundit says, Sorry Charlie’s speech was repulsive:
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Crist’s campaign staff has resigned en masse, which raises the question: Why did they hire on with that worthless political whore to begin with? I know we’re in a recession, but even GOP campaign operatives should try to maintain some shred of personal dignity . . .
PA12: Tim Burns vs. Murthanomics
From my latest column at The American Spectator:
This is the part of Pennsylvania whose small-town residents Obama infamously described at a San Francisco fundraising event two years ago: “It’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
Democrats seem to be banking on the “anti-trade sentiment,” a genuine phenomenon in a Rust Belt region where the unemployment rate — as high as 13.5 percent in Fayette County, and well above 10 percent in other 12th District counties — would be even higher, were it not for the fact that for decades, ambitious young people have been moving away in search of better prospects elsewhere. The DCCC attack ads portray Burns’s signature on a no-tax-increase pledge as favoring “tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas.”
That kind of accusation is transparently intended to appeal to surviving adherents of the arcane ideology of Murthanomics, wherein the keys to prosperity are protectionism and pork-barrel federal spending. Republicans may laugh at Murthanomics as a misguided nostalgia for the days of Smoot-Hawley, but at least a third of the audience at Wednesday night’s forum at Westmont Hilltop High applauded when Critz pledged to bring home the budget earmarks just like his late boss used to do. . . .
