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October 08, 2014 06:32 AM UTC

Wednesday Open Thread

  • 83 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

"A liar begins with making falsehood appear like truth, and ends with making truth itself appear like falsehood."

–William Shenstone

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83 thoughts on “Wednesday Open Thread”

    2. Hey shite-for-brains — I can't help but notice you're no longer singing the praises of Sam Wang! You remember him: the guy you vilified and dismissed for weeks, only to become his very best friend in all the world suddenly when he said things had moved slightly your way, briefly.

      And now, suddenly, you're all quiet about being Sam's new best friend.

      Why is that?

      Oh yeah, that's right — because he now has Dems back up, and your mentally ill party failing to steal the senate majority in November! So now I guess you'll go back to slamming and dismissing him again, right, wussbag?

      You craven RWNJ slugs are as predictable as the sunrise.

      1. Note that Wang now has Con Man Cory at a mere +1 — even with the bogus, grotesque Quinnipiac outlier poll from two weeks ago showing Con Man up 10 factored in!

        Oh, the Koch Borg is not gonna be happy about that at all!

          1. Yes and you said it was a trend that the next poll would show – you got that wrong troll. I guess you don't like Sam Wang anymore. You still have that rash?

  3.  

    From VOX, a story by Brad Plumer, that will surely make the oily boys nervous…..

     

    Oil prices are plummeting. Here's why that's a big deal.

     

     

    The sharp drop in oil prices over the last month is arguably the biggest energy story in the world right now — with major repercussions for dozens of countries, from the United States to Russia to Iran.

    Ever since 2011, oil prices have stayed consistently high, hovering around $100 per barrel. But this year, they've dropped as much as 20 percent since June — and some analysts now think they could keep nosediving in the months ahead:

    http://www.vox.com/2014/10/7/6934819/oil-prices-falling-russia-OPEC-shale-boom-gasoline-prices

     

     

    1. Good article, heres one take away I copied; "Overall, cheaper oil would likely boost economic activity — as gasoline prices declined and US households spent less on fuel, giving them more money to spend on other things" .

    2. A sensible congress — (yeah, I know . . .)  — would find this one of those opportune times to sharply raise gasoline taxes, for — you know — the good of the country . . . 

    4. That was a great article, Duke.  Thanks for sharing.  I know the word ethanol rankles a lot of feathers with my friends in the enviro community, but it has contributed significantly to our energy security, rural development and has had a devastating effect on gasoline prices over the past 15 years.  Because of the near 15 billion gallons on the market today, that supply has hampered the ability of the cartels to gouge us in times of extremely short supplies.  A recent study by the University of Wisconsin has concluded that ethanol has reduced since 200, on average, the price of gasoline by 29 cents; in times of short supply it has arguably shaved up to $1/gallon increases.

      That's a lot of extra change in the economy for American households.  $477 billion to be exact.  And that is precisely why Koch, Inc. and the American Petroleum Institue – and their lackey's like Gardner – make sure that no increases in the federal mandate occur.  You see, they see a $477 billion in savings for ordinary Americans as $477 billion in additional profits they could have derived. 

      There is no amount of profits that will ever be enough for them.

      Corn ethanol built the foundation (and it's now capped); we have so much we can do with advanced biofuels.  A recent DOE study shows that we produce in excess of 1 billion tons of organic waste in the US annually.  If we simply converted 1/6 of those tonnes to advanced biofuels we would produce 3x the amount of fuel that would flow down the KeystoneXL.  And with it we would have true energy security, jobs, tax base and a cleaner fuel supply. 

      But that would be an all-out assault on the robber barons of the world, and the elected officials like Gardner who protect them.

  4. Yet another major blow against the evil, racist, anti-democracy GOTP/Koch empire:

    News from the Votemaster

    Judge Throws Out Gerrymandered Virginia Congressional Map

    Yesterday a district judge threw out the gerrymandered map of Virginia's 11 congressional districts. The judge said it was racially motivated, in violation of the law. Republicans got 51% of the vote in the most recent House election, but ended up with 73% of the House seats (8 of 11), a classic case of gerrymandering.

    The state legislature will now have to draw a new map before the 2016 elections. Although the Republicans control the state legislature, if they try to draw a new gerrymandered map, it will be vetoed by Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D-VA), so they will be forced to work with the Democrats to draw up a neutral map, unless an appeals court throws out the lower court decision.

    1. I could of sworn the Gerrymandering in Colorado was by the Dems.

      Didn't they control things back then.

      I know they won't in a few months.

       

      4. Colorado isn't gerrymandered, you dumb fuck.

        The House delegation from Colorado is 4 Republicans and 3 Democrats.  The Colorado House and Senate are closely divided.

        The electorate is obviously slightly Democratic (2 times for Obama, Democratic U.S. Senators, Democratic governors).

         

  7. And good stuff today from WaPo's Greg Sargent:

     * UNINSURED RATE DROPS: This finding from Gallup is significant:

    The Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as “Obamacare,” appears to be meeting its goal of reducing the percentage of Americans without health insurance. The uninsured rate remained steady from the second quarter of 2014 at 13.4% in the third quarter. This is the lowest recorded uninsured rate since Gallup and Healthways began tracking it in 2008. The previous low point was 14.4% in the third quarter of 2008.

    But but but Obamacare is a disaster, because, well, this just has to be true.

    * GARDNER PULLS HOMINA-HOMINA-HOMINA ON CLIMATE: Colorado GOP Senate candidate Cory Gardner declined to answer at yesterday’s debate when asked whether humans are the leading cause of climate change. Senator Mark Udall was asked the same question, and he replied: “Yes.”

    1. Oops — sorry, denverco. I forgot you already covered above the HuffPo piece exposing Con Man Gardner's horribly botched attempt to dodge the climate-change question!

      2. Yes, of course he did — one of the many, many totally debunked lies he has spread about the ACA.

        But hey, when the Koch Borg barks, "Dance, puppet — dance!," you can bet ol' Skippy hops right to it. Even a POS troll like him has to make a living.

  8. Breaking…Thomas Duncan,  has succumbed to Ebola in the Dallas hospital where he was being treated with experimental drugs.

    Please have the common courtesy to NOT make this a political football. I'm looking at you, AC….

    1.  

      No need to make his passing a political football, but the handling of Ebola is.

      I understand Obama is suspected of contracting it.  He is quarantined for the next four weeks in NY, DC and Calif at he home of Fundraisers.  He can't be seen in public with vulnerable Dem Senate candidates who fear that their campaigns might become infected.  Here is a picture of Dear Leader when he was given the news.

      Obama golf what

      3. You are a joke, Carnegie.

        But, since you continue to excel at making a laughing stock of yourself and, hence, those you support, you are a useful fool. Keep up the good work ….

    1. Great article!  The two key passages I found most telling:

      McConnell is already on record as having ordered the Republican strategy of obstruction before President Barack Obama even took office. Six years later, it seems no one is impressed with the rather predictable results. Average Americans are suffering due to Republican refusal to pass anything under this president including things that used to be non-partisan and normal like an extension of unemployment insurance during hard times. Democrats are enraged that Republicans continue to hurt the country out of pique that they keep losing elections, and Republicans are upset that McConnell’s tactics aren’t working.

      .

      In summation, Republicans are questioning McConnell’s obstruction strategy and conservatives are questioning his failure to obstruct enough. Meanwhile, Democrats are frustrated by the games McConnell plays in the Senate and the way he repeatedly goes back on his words and promises. McConnell has no honor, but that’s part of what Republicans like about him. 

      1. The whole point of that strategy was to make Obama a one term President. To that end, making life as miserable as possible for ordinary Americans was an actual undisguised goal because it was supposed to make us want to vote Obama out.

        It didn't work but they're still doggedly sticking with the same strategy. For what? So, at best they can have a tiny Senate majority with no chance of over-riding a veto for the next two years? For that, they're willing to continue to promote presidential failure as their primary goal at all costs no matter how much suffering their obstructionism causes? Do they really think that's going to set them up for 2016?  If so, they're as stupid as they are irresponsible spiteful, cynical and stone hearted.

        1. Whistling past the graveyard about realpolitik:

          ​

          At the state level, Democrats have been complacent, as dangerous and foolish as that might be. They have failed to combat effectively the determination of business interests and of ideological conservatives to secure power. This determination on the right drove the Republican Party to successfully focus on crippling the left in state races in 2010 and 2012, turning the contests of 1980, 1994 and 2010 into Republican wave elections.

          Democrats today convey only minimal awareness of what they are up against: an adversary that views politics as a struggle to the death. The Republican Party has demonstrated a willingness to sacrifice principle, including its historical commitments to civil rights and conservation; to bend campaign finance law to the breaking point; to abandon the interests of workers on the factory floor; and to undermine progressive tax policy – in a scorched-earth strategy to postpone the day of demographic reckoning.

          1. Very good advice.  But, there may be help on the horizon courtesy of the ongoing split in the GOP:

            Karl Rove is a moderate "who never cared about conservatism and has spent his entire career opposing any Republican who might be successful in promoting or implementing a conservative agenda," Media Research Center president and conservative activist Brent Bozell writes in Politico.

            In a biting opinion piece, Bozell accuses Rove and his fellow moderates of helping defeat Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater in 1964, of trying to keep Ronald Reagan out of the White House in 1976, and of making things difficult for him again in 1980. 

            "They said Reagan would be a disaster for the party and even the country," according to Bozell.

            Rove's tradition of fighting true conservatives has transferred to tea party candidates, who Rove "kneecapped" in 2010, Bozell writes.

            "He called Rick Perry's policy prescriptions, many which have had great success in Texas, 'toxic,'" he writes. "Rove said Sarah Palin lacked 'gravitas.' He has said Rand Paul 'causes GOP squeamishness.'"

            http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/Brent-Bozell-Karl-Rove-tea-party-GOP/2014/10/08/id/599317/?promo_code=165C6-1

            I have to say, Karl Rove does appear to have a pretty good handle on the NutWing end of the GOP.  I think they are just 40 years into their Hundred Years War 🙂

  10. The problem with Amendment 68 is that it's rotten either way: vote to improve the bottom line for out of state gaming companies or vote to limit competition and protect the bottom line for in-state gaming companies.

     

      1. Sin-taxes, while seductive as a revenue-source, often lead to unintended consequences: e.g. the legislature decides to cut school funding—Amendment 23 may complicate this—figuring the rest will be made up for by sin-taxes. For this reason, you don’t want to get too dependent on sin-taxes as a source of revenue.

         

        I’m not real fond of gaming  either and the dark side that often comes with it; however, I’m also bothered by the Colorado industry trying to twist the law to keep out competition. What happened to the free-market—oh wait there never really has been such a thing.

        I'm leaning towards no, though I'm not real thrilled about legislating protectionism.

        1. I always vote no on gambling measures. It's a tax on the math-challenged that falls disproportionately on those with lower incomes. If we could restrict it to yuppies, dinks, and trustafarians, I'd be all for it.

          1. Look whats going on in Atlantic City now….3 casinos closing including Revel, built for over a billion dollars sold for pennies on the dollar.

            Vote no

            1. I vote No on ALL constitutional measures. My tendency is to vote No on initiatives, too. It is far to easy to gum up the state with such trash.

               

              1. I'm now leaning your way anti-68, Gertie. Although there may be a way for communities to say that they don't want the regular gaming after the 5 year horse racing is over, it's cumbersome.

                We should respect local control, period.

              2. I'm with you. The way this is written there's so much up in the air.  We have no idea how much it will help schools, if in any significant way at all, or who will get stuck with paying all the added infrastructure costs from the crowds coming to  the mega casino ( I  believe that's to be negotiated after passage. Cute) or how much it will suck out of our already established mountain casino towns. And it's a constitutional amendment so if we don't like it when those questions get answered on down the line, tough luck. I'm voting no.

  12. Forget the old new wave singer Wreckless Eric, it's Reckless Hick:

    Politics in Colorado are probably best known nationally because in 2012 it became one of two states (the other was Washington) to legalize recreational marijuana. Governor Hickenlooper opposed that initiative and remains concerned about the consequences of legalizing marijuana. During a recent debate with his Republican opponent Bob Beauprez, in a statement that was reminiscent of John Kerry being for the war before he was against it, Mr. Hickenlooper, spoke about Colorado’s decision to legalize marijuana, “To a certain extent you could say it was reckless. I’m not saying it was reckless because I get quoted everywhere. But if it was up to me, I wouldn’t have done it. I opposed it from the very beginning. What the hell. I’ll say it was reckless.”

    Governor Hickenlooper appeared to be confused about whether or not legalizing marijuana was reckless-unprecedented might have been a better word-but what he seemed to be really saying was that he was not sure what position on marijuana would most help him in a tough reelection campaign. The initiative passed in 2012 with 55% of the vote, but with a somewhat different electorate expected to vote in 2014, one that like 2010 will probably skew older, marijuana is complicated issue for Mr. Hickenlooper. Judging from that quote, it is clear that Mr. Hickenlooper has some reservations about legalizing marijuana, but it equally clear that he knows some of those reservations are unfounded. “To a certain extent you could say…I’m not saying it was,” are not the kids of phrases used by a man who has great confidence in what he is saying. They are also the words of somebody who is following, not leading, public opinion.

    Read more at http://observer.com/2014/10/colorados-governor-flipflops-on-marijuana-reckless-not-reckless-reckless-again/#ixzz3FazcaEv7
     

    1. And this is the reason we put A64 in our constitution – so it wouldn't be subject to this kind of political pandering by anyone.  It wasn't #reckless and it wasn't #risky (as it's being peddled now).  t's time to end this failed, trillion-dollar War on Drugs; it's time to stop incarcerating (mostly) men of color.  It's time we start dealing with this as a health issue and not one of a criminal nature.  It's time we end this scourge of the schools-to-prison program that benefits only one industry: private prisons.

      Do you know we have more men of color in prison, on parole and probation that we had slaves in 1862?

      No politician that refuses to lead on this prohibition issue will have my vote.  Stop it.  Just stop it. 

      I supported A64 not because I was a consumer of this non-lethal plant, but for social justice and economic reasons.  And I 'get it' that we don't want the children to have access to mmj.  (Note to politicians: I grew up in the 70's – marijuana didn't just arrive on the public school scene upon the passage of A64).  1:7 Colorado deaths is attributed to alcohol.

      End this madness…and lead. Or get the hell out of the way.  This is too serious an issue to deserve anything less.  The 'Great Social Experiment' isn't our ending of Prohibition, but the implementation of Prohibition decades ago.    Thank God 1,383,139 Colorado voters understood that on Election Day, 2012.
       

      1. Seriously, Hickenlooper is making it harder for Dems to vote for him. I had planned to hold my nose while marking my ballot in the governor's race. Now I think I might need full hazmat gear.

        The real question is how do we hold Hick accountable for all his opportunistic wavering after we send BWB back to the buffalo farm?

         

        1. We'll have the majority in both the House and Senate so that will be a good start.  For those of us who have been openly critical, I'm guessing we'll have to go back to our own 'pastures' and 'graze' for a while, too!  smiley ( because I'm pretty sure the idea loyal opposition isn't openly embraced nor tolerated ….)

        2. The real question is how do we hold Hick accountable for all his opportunistic wavering after we send BWB back to the buffalo farm?

          Make it crystal clear to him that we will hound him interminably with the intention of destroying his national ambitions. We need to continue to raise hell with the Democratic party and challenge his support there. I am not a political purist…but I seriously question whether John Frackenlooper should be a Democrat.

           

      2. This will probably be one of those years when I vote third party or independent for governor.

        Hickenlooper clearly has the election wrapped up and doesn't need my measly vote. So, let him have my vote of No Confidence.

  13. The moral?:  [Our campaign-finance system] is the root of all [of this country's] evil . . .

    A must read . . .

    "Just look at Washington these days and listen to what politicians are saying and watch how they spend their time. You can’t help but ask: Do these people care a whit about the country anymore? Is there anybody here on a quest for excellence, for making America great?

    Yes, yes, I know. They’re all here to do “public service.” But that is not what it looks like. It actually looks as if they came to Washington to get elected so they could raise more money to get re-elected. That is, until they don’t get re-elected. Then, like the former House majority leader, Eric Cantor, they can raise even more money by cashing in their time on Capitol Hill for a job and a multimillion-dollar payday from a Wall Street investment bank they used to regulate.

    Getting elected and raising money to get re-elected — instead of governing and compromising in the national interest — seems to be all that too many of our national politicians are interested in anymore. There are exceptions, to be sure, but it feels as if many do not take pride in their work in government."

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/08/opinion/thomas-friedman-the-secret-service-and-the-political-class.html?src=me&module=Ribbon&version=context&region=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Most%20Emailed&pgtype=article

     

    1. Sounds about right. And especially for Rs who look down their noses at real public service people like teachers, cops, nurses and firefighters as losers because if they were winners they'd be making big bucks in business or banking or something.

      Salaries and benefits for congress members are nice compared to average income folks but paltry compared to the real "winners". So it makes sense that their main motivation is to amass power and connections that they can turn into serious money down the line. Otherwise wouldn't they just be sap losers, serving the public instead of going into something more profitable?

      And the best part is, it's a way for the decidedly mediocre to have a crack at climbing into that top .1% someday. You don't have to be some kind of brilliant entrepreneur or financier or genius creator of anything. You can just put in the time being a good foot soldier for your betters until it's time to cash in. Of course Dems do it, too but I think it's really a more core part of GOP DNA to see no point in public service if you can't cash in.

      1. Perhaps their crypts closed a bit early this evening.

        But when they do show up to crow falsely and ignorantly about how "great" this is for Con Man et al, remember: these are Fox News polls, and we all know for which political party Fox News serves as profoundly partisan/biased mouthpiece and full propaganda arm.

        Watch the long-term polling averages; forget the day-to-day noise. Crap outlier polls always garner much short-term buzz — just before they get flushed.

        1. Agreed.

          Gardner has been up in 4 of the last 5 polls and is up 1.5 in the RCP average.

          That is more important than he is up by 6 points in one poll.

    1. No doubt. The GOTP and its minions continue to adhere to that old Goebbels declaration that a lie (or a distortion, obfuscation or character assassination) repeated often enough, becomes "truth."

    1. That is terrific. I've met Quick a few times. Know his impressive resume.

      Hope they will also endorse Markey. Durango went with Stapleton. I think Durango was trying to not get tagged as "liberal" at the expense of making a wiser choice

      1. Hopefully they will also endorse Neguse.  Cynthia Coffman would be a disaster as AG (she does almost nothing as Chief Deputy, and doesn't understand legal complexities), but Wayne Williams is just a Gessler "wanna-be".  

  17. WA Post is reporting that DSCC is dropping $1 million into S. Dakota thanks to the combined effects of Mike Rounds' weak numbers and Larry Pressler's strong independent run.

    Wasn't SD one of the states like KS which were done-deals for the GOP?  

    Thingy1, Thingy2, care to comment……..

     

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