Wednesday Open Thread

6 thoughts on “Wednesday Open Thread”

1. Another Triangulating (aka: abandoning the base, being bipartisan, moving to the "center") Dem endorsed by Obama:

   Let's all laugh at the president's joke!

   Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been a strong, progressive leader in Congress and a hardworking, committed Chair of our national Party since I proudly nominated her to the role in 2011," Obama said. "She always stands up and fights for what is right for her district while passionately supporting middle class families."

   Oh, what a card Mr. President is! Right now, Debbie is passionately supporting middle-class families by trying to deregulate the payday loan industry, which is probably the least excusable business in America until someone finds a way to franchise drive-thru anthrax dispensaries. She's also fighting for what's right by taking gobs of money from the private prison industry, which is probably the third- or fourth-least excusable industry in America. And, of course, in the past, DWS worked hard and was committed to the election of two of the most egregious Republican congresscritters rather than their Democratic opponents.

   And the simple empirical fact is that, ever since she was appointed DNC chair in 2011, as near as I can tell, strong and progressive DWS did fck all to prevent the election of the worst Congress in the history of the Republic, which has dedicated itself heart and soul to making the president's life as miserable as possible.

   We don't need purity, but a little more honesty would do. And some competence at electing good Democrats.

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   1. No doubt Bennet made him do it, right Zap?

      Seriously though she's an incumbent D in congress.   Party's and their leadership support their incumbents. It's pretty automatic.

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2. Various explanations are being explored in a new spate of articles on Obama's sustained rise in approval ratings with four weeks at 50% or above (lately 53%) in Gallup polls and an RCP average of +2.7 as of today.

   Is it that he looks so great compared to Trump? Is it a delayed reaction to improving prosperity?

   I'm kind of thinking it may have something to do with his new, WTF this is the end of my second term and I'm going to say whatever I want and do whatever I want within the bounds of our constitution attitude and more people liking this refreshing version.

   Maybe the ending of the ridiculous and completely ineffective shunning of Cuba has something to do with it. Maybe the gloomy prospect of having the charming, vibrant Obama family replaced in the WH by any of our current choices, none of which seem to promise much in the way of a fun first family.

   Whatever it is I just wish we'd seen more of this Obama starting about 6 years ago.

   http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-barack-obama-approval-rating-hillary-clinton-20160330-story.html

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   1. I agree. I'm glad the President's approval rating is going up but he could have helped himself by acting like this more over the past six years.

      Also, the fact we are winning the war against ISIS may be helping him. Since their zenith last year, ISIS has lost 40% of their territory and roughly 35% of their soldiers. We and the other forces involved are killing one of their leaders at the rate of one every three days. Apparently, President Obama knew exactly how to handle ISIS and we didn't even need to send a huge ground force to begin achieving its defeat. So much for the concept of a weak and ineffective President.

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3. Here is a mass shooting gun story with a happy ending for a change.  Thank goodness for one savvy gun dealer in Ohio!

   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dealer-likely-thwarted-mass-shooting_us_56fbc159e4b0a06d58040fe9

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4. "The 2016 Republican National Convention will return after this brief message from …

   … the makers of ExtenZe" ?????

   http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/31/us/politics/donald-trump-republican-national-convention.html

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