The latest Rasmussen survey has an interesting analysis of the race up in Ny-23 and what it says about the GOP.  The most interesting aspect of it was what it says about what the party base has to say about the Republican leadership - specifically those in Congress.

According to the survey, 73% of Republicans believe that the congressional GOP has lost touch with the party's base.  Which just pins a number of what we've known and experienced for the last several years or more.

What's even more interesting, or perhaps revealing, is the way the folks on the other side of the aisle feel...

...while Republican voters say their congressional representatives are out of touch, a plurality (47%) of Democratic voters view their members of Congress as roughly in the same place they are ideologically. Just 27% say the average Democratic member of Congress is more liberal than the average Democrat, while 19% think the average Democrat in Congress is more conservative.

In other words, Democrats in Congress are more representative of their party's base than Republicans are.  And when you consider that twice as many Americans self-identify themselves as conservatives, it better explains the level of anger and frustration that's bubbling up all across the country.  read more »

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The more things change, the more they stay the same. 

When political times get tough for liberal Democrats in Washington, conservative conspiracies are the bogeymen of choice.

Back in 1998 when things got tough for Bill Clinton, Hillary declared that there was a “vast right-wing conspiracy” looking to bring her husband down.  Other Democrats where quick to pick up the mantra and do anything they could to discredit those who criticized Clinton.

Now here we are eleven years later and, (although there are no chubby interns involved), we have another liberal President facing hard times.  So out pop the conspiracy theories like some worn out jack-in-the-box.

Except now we have two former Democrat Presidents cranking the handle.

In response to a question by NBC’s David Gregory on whether or not “the vast right-wing conspiracy” still exists, Bill Clinton responded, “Oh, you bet.  Sure it is.  It’s not as strong as it was, because America’s changed demographically, but it’s as virulent as it was.”  read more »

As the most recent scandal surrounding ACORN grows, it begs the question of “will they or won’t they?” As in, will Barack Obama and the mainstream media decide that it’s in their best interest to “throw ACORN under the bus”?

Things haven’t been going so well for either of them lately, and the ACORN scandal presents them with an opportunity to try and gain a little credibility.

The “mainstream” media continues to take a beating with steadily declining readers and viewers, and many media companies are in (or on the verge of) bankruptcy all over the country.

They have allowed themselves to become so invested in certain groups and politicians that they have forgotten their jobs – that thing they are supposed to do to attract readers and viewers and earn money – and now they are going down the tubes.

Obama’s in a similar situation. After taking office in what seemed like a coronation, accompanied by high public approval ratings, he has spent much of his time pushing policies that many who supported him have found to have little resemblance to the “hope and change” they thought they voted for. As a result, his numbers have been heading south. Fast.

A recent Gallup poll confirmed his slide in public approval as the third largest and fastest drop in presidential polling history. Currently only half of the country approves of the job he’s doing.

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As if you needed more reason to be sick of ACORN there's the distinct possibility that they are the reason that (it still hurts to say this) Al Franken is now a member of the US Senate.

How's that you say?  Quite simply, it's all about math.  Voter fraud math, that is.

After all the recounts and selective re-recounts were done, Franken won the election by an "official" 312 votes.  And ACORN claims that they registered almost 50,000 voters in Minnesota last year.  And, given the large percentage of ACORN registrations that have been proven fraudulent (too say nothing of further allegations), you easily come up with a "fraud" number bigger than the margin of victory in the race.

Kaus points out the following story from the folks at the Star-Tribune in Minneapolis...

...ACORN's foibles may seem largely irrelevant here in Minnesota, where the organization has so far been able to keep its nose relatively clean.

But ACORN does have a special place in its heart for at least one prominent Minnesota politician. Last year, it showered praise on Al Franken, endorsing his run for the U.S. Senate. Franken returned the esteem: "I'm thrilled and honored to receive this endorsement," he gushed in a press release. He added that he was "more motivated than ever to work with ACORN." ...

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As the most recent scandal surrounding ACORN grows, it begs the question of “will they or won’t they?” As in, will Barack Obama and the mainstream media decide that it’s in their best interest to “throw ACORN under the bus”?

Things haven’t been going so well for either of them lately, and the ACORN scandal presents them with an opportunity to try and gain a little credibility.

The “mainstream” media continues to take a beating with steadily declining readers and viewers, and many media companies are in (or on the verge of) bankruptcy all over the country.

They have allowed themselves to become so invested in certain groups and politicians that they have forgotten their jobs – that thing they are supposed to do to attract readers and viewers and earn money – and now they are going down the tubes.

Obama’s in a similar situation. After taking office in what seemed like a coronation, accompanied by high public approval ratings, he has spent much of his time pushing policies that many who supported him have found to have little resemblance to the “hope and change” they thought they voted for. As a result, his numbers have been heading south. Fast.  read more »

Let's preface this post by stating the obvious that's it's way to early to make any firm predictions.  A month, much less 14, can be an eternity in politics.

That said, Michael Barone over at the Washington Examiner has some interesting numbers and historical facts to take a look at:

Currently Real Clear Politics reports that Democrats lead Republicans by only 41%-39% in the generic ballot. But there’s a clear difference between the results shown by pollster Scott Rasmussen, who limits his surveys to those he determines to be likely voters, and other pollsters. Rasmussen currently shows Republicans leading 42%-38%...

 

Now comes political scientist Andrew Gelman, on the 538.com blog run by the Obama enthusiast and gifted numbers cruncher Nate Silver, saying that the generic polls suggest that Republicans could recapture a House majority in 2010. I have noticed that over the years generic vote questions have tended to understate the ultimate Republican percentage of the popular vote for the House; Gelman says his research indicates “the out-party consistently outperforms the generic polls.” Gelman says that in current generic polls Democrats get 52% of the two-party vote, comparable to what they got in 1946, 1994 and 1998—all years in which Republicans got more popular votes and won more House seats than Democrats....

 

...Ronald Reagan’s Republicans and Bill Clinton’s Democrats lost more seats in year 2 than in year 6; only George W. Bush of the presidents of the last 30 years saw his party do worse in year 6 than year 2.  Reagan’s Republicans suffered from recession and high unemployment; Clinton’s Democrats suffered from liberal overreach. Both factors could—not necessarily will, but could—work against Barack Obama’s Democrats next year.

Again, it's early, but those are facts.  And they show that the GOP is likely to have a tremendous opportunity next year.  The trick is not to blow the opportunity.  Use it to paint a clear contrast between yourself and  what the public is rebelling against.  read more »

By this point, everyone is familiar with the most recent scandal involving ACORN, (having its employees caught on video in multiple offices offering help in committing loan fraud, setting up a brothel and smuggling in underage illegal aliens to be prostitutes).  But there is a laundry list of other, more serious charges which scream out for a national RICO investigation by the Justice Department.

From Peter Roff over at US News: 

A report issued last summer by the Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, according to Sunday's Washington Times, "presented evidence that ACORN had engaged in criminal misconduct."

Among the findings, the report said, ACORN:

• Engaged in tax evasion, obstruction of justice and aiding and abetting a cover-up of nearly $1 million embezzled by Dale Rathke, brother of group founder Wade Rathke;

• Committed investment fraud, depriving the public of the right to "honest services," and engaging in a racketeering enterprise affecting interstate commerce;

• Conspired to defraud the United States by using taxpayer dollars for partisan political activities;

• Submitted false filings to the Internal Revenue Service, and the U.S. Department of Labor; and,

Opportunities and Challenges faced under the Umbrella of InsuranceKathy Gibson Boatman I sold insurance from 1994-2000 and I had an opportunity to learn how the products work and some of the challenges that insurance is incapable of handling. Like most people, I didn’t grow up saying….I want to be an insurance agent.  An opportunity for a good job with a respectable company presented itself and I took it. Due to this opportunity I was able to learn about insurance and that experience has proved itself to be more valuable than I ever imagined it could be. While I was an insurance agent I took classes and learned the art of sales. I learned basic facts about the financial world that benefit me to this day. I learned how to read and interpret a contract. I learned what a fiduciary responsibility is. As defined in Wikipedia it means: A fiduciary duty is a legal or ethical relationship of confidence or trust between two or more parties, most commonly a fiduciary or trustee and a principal or beneficiary. As in insurance agent I had a fiduciary responsibility to my client and to the insurance company.  read more »

As everyone knows by now, Jimmy Carter found time to leave whatever new house he was working on to try and seem relevant again by injecting himself into the current political debate...or in this case create one...by suggesting, twice now, that the "overwhelming majority" of the opposition to Obama is based on the fact that he's black.

Well, it doesn't seem that the public is buying it.

The latest Rasmussen poll finds that only 12% of Americans "believe that most opponents of President Obama's health care reform plan are racist".

As the WSJ observes...

That's 29% less than voted for Carter's re-election in 1980, a time when people were actually living through his disastrous presidency. The latter point leads us to think that Carter may have a conflict of interest in attacking Americans on Obama's behalf. Perhaps he secretly hopes Obama fails so miserably as to supplant Carter as the worst president of the past century.