Open Threads

I realized we have not had one in a while.

I’ve been cranky today, and especially so since I have been craving Mexican all day, and the line at my favorite place was around the block.

Open ThreadPost + Comments (125)

Reihan Salam is supposed to be one of those sane Republicans that we always hear about. This shows he is not:

With Specter running in Pennsylvania’s Democratic primary in 2010, Republicans have a perfect test case. There’s an excellent chance that a primary candidate from the Democratic left will give Specter a serious fight, opening him up to a vigorous challenge from a Republican reformer. That challenge will probably come from Pat Toomey, who, as head of the Club for Growth, has emphasized tax cuts above all else. But as a Senate candidate, Toomey will have to connect with voters in a state hard hit by industrial decline. To have even the remotest chance of winning the seat, he’ll need to offer effective solutions on health care, energy and transportation. This might not come naturally to Toomey. But if he can pull it off, and if he can claim Specter’s scalp, he’ll become the face of a revitalized GOP.

I predict that Pat Toomey will be elected Senator from Pennsylvania right after Noam Chomsky becomes the governor of Idaho.

Hard-right Republicans don’t elections win in states that Obama won by double digits. It just doesn’t happen. Look at that goddamn registration figures for Christ’s sake.

Not likelyPost + Comments (130)

Talk about squiffy and whatever else is on your mind.

Open ThreadPost + Comments (198)

I can’t even figure out what I want for dinner, let alone what I am doing this weekend.

Open ThreadPost + Comments (314)

JMM notes that many are saying that the retirement of Justice Souter, like all other earthly events, is good news for Republicans. I expect to hear the phrase “a chance to get their mojo back” a lot over the next few weeks. Now, logic dictates there is no way that it is good news to have an Supreme Court vacancy occur while you are an opposition party with fewer than 41 Senate seats. That’s not my point here, though.

My question is this: why is it a smart political strategy to insist that absolutely everything is good news for your party? Other things in life don’t work that way. It’s not considered a good idea to insist you don’t need medical attention when are suffering from a life-threatening ailment. It’s not considered a good idea to run out the clock when you are behind. Why is politics so different from the rest of life?

All news is good newsPost + Comments (108)

Pretty good stuff from Michael Steele toay:

“You wear your hat one way. You like to wear it, you know, kind of cocked to the left, you know, because that’s cool out West,” Steele said. “In the Midwest, you guys like to wear it a little bit to the right. In the South, you guys like to wear the brim straight ahead. Now, the Northeast, I wear my hat backwards, you know, because that’s how we roll in the Northeast.”

He left out wearing hats made of tin foil.

Hats ass backwardsPost + Comments (106)