Democrats
mikethemadbiologist | January 8, 2007Did you vote for that? I didn't. It's great that Pelosi said on national television that Bush won't be receiving a blank check. But it's another part of the interview that bothers me. From Crooks and Liars (italics mine):
PELOSI: I'm saying two things. We will always support the troops who are there. If the president wants to expand the mission, that's a conversation he has to have with the Congress of the United States .
But that's not a carte blanche, a blank check to him to do whatever he wishes there.
And I want to make a distinction here. Democrats do support increasing the size of…
mikethemadbiologist | January 7, 2007While Iraq was the national backdrop for the 2006 elections, individually many campaigns succeeded (or did better than they had any right to do) due to a desire to end corruption (e.g., the Ohio state elections). Yet Rahm Emanuel, head of the DCCC, and the Congressional Black Caucus ('CBC') just don't seem to get that. First, Rahm Emanuel.
In Mark Foley's old district (FL-16), David Lutrin, a progressive liberal, was poised to run against Mark Foley. He certainly wouldn't have been a favorite to win, but then again, many successful Democrats didn't look like winners in early 2005 either.…
mikethemadbiologist | December 31, 2006Finally, there might be a Democrat who speaks my language about deficits and budgets. From Tapped (italics and bold mine):
I think the honest answer to this question is that there's a tension between our desire to eliminate the deficit and create a stronger economic foundation and eliminate some of the debt our children will inherit, there's a tension between that deficit and our need to invest and make America stronger for the 21st century.
I think that, if we're honest, you cannot it, it's just common sense in the math, have universal health care, and invest in energy, and make a serious…
mikethemadbiologist | December 29, 2006After reading this article about Democratic consultant Mara Vanderslice whose speciality is outreach to "theological conservatives", my head was about to explode. Thankfully, digby points out that courting social conservatives will make the Democratic Party, well, more conservative--or as a relative put it, "There's always a quid pro quo." And Jonathan Singer explodes the myth that it was social conservatives who elected Democrats (maybe if Vanderslice were a little less faith-based and a little more reality-based, she would understand what a control group is). But this statement by…
mikethemadbiologist | December 28, 2006...and decides that Massachusetts shouldn't be Mississippi. A couple of months ago, Republican Mitt Romney engaged in financial chicanery to cut social spending, including vaccination programs and programs that assist the mentally disabled. Why? To establish his Republican credentials. Thankfully, Democratic Governor Deval Patrick has decided to restore most of those cuts. Thankfully, someone realizes that the role of government isn't just to build roads and schools for suburbanites, but to provide for the welfare of all.
mikethemadbiologist | December 10, 2006Because said officials are even more ignorant than the Pundits of the Potomac. A few months ago, Jeff Stein published an op-ed about the many officials who are charged with anti-terrorism and who also know nothing about the Middle East--to the point where they don't know if Hezbollah is Sunni or Shiite. Stein has followed up with an interview with incoming House Intelligence Chairman Silvestre Reyes.
As far as I can tell, Reyes is marginally more informed than his Republican predecessors, which is damning with faint praise. Shakes and Ezra Klein both pile on Reyes, so I won't do that here…
mikethemadbiologist | November 29, 2006There was a time when think tanks on occasion actually thought. Not so, at the conservative Hoover Institute, where Hoover Institution fellow Peter Schweizer slimed Pelosi, claiming she had to explain why her family's vineyard does not use union employees. Schweizer claimed Pelosi was a hypocrite.
Two things to note:
1) Pelosi pays better wages than the union vineyards.
2) By law, Pelosi is not allowed to even suggest to her workers that they organize. She can only negotiate with a union once it is formed.
When confronted with this by a TV news station, Schweizer refused to return phone…
mikethemadbiologist | November 17, 2006CNN describes Nancy Pelosi as "damaged goods", and she hasn't even had her chance to screw up the country yet. Digby sums it up nicely:
There are no honeymoons for Democrats. Remember that. And "moral authority" is about haircuts and Hollywood, not torture and illegal wars. It is not merely a fight against the Republicans or a fight over politics and policy. It is a non-stop battle with the press to cover events with seriousness and responsiblity. For some reason, when Democrats are in power the press corps immediately goes from being merely shallow to insufferable, sophomoric assholes....…
mikethemadbiologist | November 15, 2006I like it like that. Webb writes dirty words in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. You know, words like "class" and "elites." Says Webb (italics mine):
The most important--and unfortunately the least debated--issue in politics today is our society's steady drift toward a class-based system, the likes of which we have not seen since the 19th century. America's top tier has grown infinitely richer and more removed over the past 25 years. It is not unfair to say that they are literally living in a different country. Few among them send their children to public schools; fewer still send their loved…
mikethemadbiologist | November 11, 2006Notice that I separated these two words. That's because between 2004 and 2006, there was a thirty point shift to Democrats among Latinos. Why? Well, this might have something to do with it:
I think the Republicans need to work on that whole Latino outreach thing...
mikethemadbiologist | November 11, 2006This is one reason why having a Democratic congress matters. The Inspectors General of NASA and the Commerce Department have begun to investigate whether scientific findings were muzzled or altered by the Bush administration (italics mine):
Prompted by a request this fall by 14 Democratic senators, the IGs are examining whether political appointees have prevented climate researchers at NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from conveying their findings to the public.
The issue of global warming has emerged as one of the most contentious scientific debates within the…
mikethemadbiologist | November 10, 2006Both the establishment centrists and the grassroots within the Democratic party are claiming the 2006 victory as their own. But what's really terrifying is that the group which pushed the Democrats over the top probably were the utterly clueless and indesicive voters. From CNN, comes this exit poll:
WHEN DID YOU DECIDE YOUR HOUSE VOTE?
TOTAL Democrat Republican
Today (10%) 61% 36%
Last Three Days (9%) 51% 47%
Last Week (9%) 52% 47%
Last Month (21%) 54% 44%
Before Then (50%) 54…
mikethemadbiologist | November 9, 2006So after reading Brad DeLong's post about how the Democrats won with a 13.4% majority in the Senate (if you total all the votes cast for each party), I decided to do the same with the Congressional races, since everyone votes for a congresscritter. Before I get to the results, here's some caveats:
I didn't include uncontested races. Since I was pulling data from CNN.com which didn't have totals for uncontested races, I'm underestimating the number of Democratic votes cast (the Democrats had far more uncontested seats than Republicans). This could result in an additional 1.2-1.5 Democratic…
mikethemadbiologist | November 8, 2006Already, you're seeing two competiting ideas about why the Democrats did so well in the election. This argument matters, particularly within the Democratic party, because, once again, the chicken shit loser centrist Democratic establishment is urging Democrats to move to the right.
The centrist argument is that this was a backlash phenomenon, and that Democrats shouldn't behave like Democrats--by that I mean that the Democrats should abandon Pelosi's 'radical' 100 hours. Because raising the minimum wage and reforming the House rules is just too lefty.
(an aside: Democratic congressman and…
mikethemadbiologist | November 7, 2006
For those of you who are fucking morons, the car is the Republican Party. Spin all you want baby, it sucks to be the car
I'm kidding about the last part of the post header. Sort of. So, what do you think the Republican spin will be?
I'll have more coherent thoughts later on Wednesday.
mikethemadbiologist | November 7, 2006
Time to go vote. We need sane people governing the country, and you sure as hell can't find them in the Republican party. As Andrew Sullivan put it, "This isn't an election, it's an intervention." After years of being called traitors, weaklings, and cowards because we correctly opposed Little Lord Pontchartrain's Excellent Iraqi Adventure, and after being called sluts and whores because we don't think a to-be-discarded blastula is equal to Michael J. Fox, pregnancy should be used as punishment, and cervical cancer should be used as coercion, and after watching 'faith-based', magical Peter…
mikethemadbiologist | November 6, 2006Our Benevolent Seed Overlords ask: What's the most important local political race to you this year (as a citizen, as a scientist)? For me, it's the Massachusetts gubernatorial race.
Deval Patrick is poised to become the first African-American governor ever. Also, since Massachusetts has a Democratic legislature, there's the potential of doing some very progressive, far-reaching things. Unlike in the Romney administration, where the primary purpose was to pave the way for Romney's presidential campaign.
A close second isn't a race, but a ballot initiative. In South Dakota, voters will…
mikethemadbiologist | November 6, 2006...because the only things they have left are voter intimidation and cheap tricks. As described by fellow ScienceBloglings coturnix and Josh, the Republicans are calling Democratic voters and either informing them that their polling place has changed or that they will be arrested if they vote illegally (the voters are accused of being out of state residents). These 'robocallers' are usually impersonating Democratic campaigns or election officials, the latter being a crime. The Republican crime wave has hit the following states:
Pennsylvania
Kansas
New Hampshire
New York
Connecticut
New…
mikethemadbiologist | November 6, 2006With less than 24 hours to go, here are my predictions for the Nov. 8 elections. The Democrats will pick up four Senate seats (and Lieberman will beat Lamont--let's face it, Lamont wasn't a very strong politician), and 26 House seats. Where I think we'll really see the Democratic tidal wave is in the state and local races; these races are very dependent on turnout and will be hurt by the top of the Republican ticket.
mikethemadbiologist | November 6, 2006This week's Carnival of Liberals, hosted by Philosophy, et cetera, asks contributors to submit posts that "assess the state of political discourse, or the question of how politics should be conducted." So, let's talk about that state of political discourse.
One problem that's always bothered (and intrigued) me is how citizens and voters are supposed to decide highly technical issues. Every day, the government, whether it be local, state, or federal, makes decisions about verycomplex issues that require a great deal of knowledge and training. As an example, ask yourself if you can assess…