It’s Obama vs Clinton in New Jersey’s 9th CD

I never really bought into the notion that there’s a friendly peace between the Obamas and the Clintons. Sure, Bill Clinton is campaigning for Obama, Hillary is the Secretary of State, and all appears to be tranquil in Democrat land. But I still don’t buy it.

I’m old enough to remember the political cage-match that was the 2008 Democratic primary, with its ugly charges of racism, the ‘pimping’ of Chelsea, the whole bit. Despite her bitter loss, Hillary still wants to be president, and I have no doubt that she will make another go of it. (I’ll leave the speculation as to whether she replaces Biden on the ticket this year or makes a solid run in 2016, for another time).

All that being said, there’s a literal endorsement battle between the two for Democrat candidates down ticket, one specifically in a congressional race here in New Jersey:

A top Obama campaign adviser is taking sides in a member-versus-member primary in New Jersey, with senior adviser David Axelrod set to campaign for Rep. Steve Rothman (D-N.J.), according to a national Democratic aide.

Rothman faces Rep. Bill Pascrell in a North Jersey district that was merged by redistricting.

[…]

Bill Clinton endorsed Pascrell this month, making this race the seventh in which he has supported a Hillary-endorsing candidate against an Obama backer.

The Pascrell campaign thinks so highly of Clinton, he made it to their latest campaign ad:

For what it’s worth, Pascrell’s district is a predominantly middle class, blue collar constituency, whereas Rothman’s former district included a sizable portion of the more affluent Bergen County which is closer to Manhattan, consisting of upper-middle class NYC commuters, and a growing immigrant population. Demographically, there’s a noticeable difference between the two, but both districts are solid blue Democrat.

And then there’s this–a source I know with knowledge of the Pascrell campaign implied that there was a financial strain on both camps because of the redistricting fight, but acknowledged the Pascrell got “a boost from the Clinton endorsement,” adding “…[Clinton’s] favorables are much better than Obama, even in the cities.”

The primary’s on June 5th, and I’m thinking Pascrell wins the district, based on the demographics I mentioned and it could very well be that the Clinton endorsement puts him over the top. I’d be interested to see how the other Obama vs Clinton endorsements in other CDs go, and I’m sure the Obama campaign will be keeping an eye on that as well.

And now, a message from the Obama campaign

I get e-mail from Obama 2012 headquarters:

Friend —

I love seeing 2008 bumper stickers on cars and bicycles when I travel across the country. But as we start to see Republican gear hit the streets, what about making sure people know you’re supporting the President in 2012?

You can do that with a 2012 campaign car magnet. Will you donate $10 or more and we’ll send you one?

An Obama 2012 car magnet? With a minimum $10 donation to the campaign? Clearly, the Obama campaign doesn’t realize there’s a recession going on right now.   Oh, well.  The e-mail continues:

Maybe you’re wondering how putting a magnet on your car will help re-elect the President. 

When people see us out in the neighborhood showing support with our clothing, our dog leashes, our cars, or our water bottles, it starts conversations. You might get a chance to tell someone why you’re supporting the President, and maybe even convince someone to sign up to volunteer.

At the very least, you’ll show everyone that you’re on the President’s team — and you’re proud of it.

Starting conversations is good.  Unfortunately for the Obama camp, I’m seeing some different sentiments on people’s cars these days.  I saw this down in Cape May this past July:

Talk about starting conversations.   And this one I saw on the way to work just last week:

 

These are all in New Jersey for pete’s sake.  

And from Virginia, a state that many leftist bloggers and pundits are claiming is turning deep blue, a friend sends this:

Maybe Americans are tired of having “conversations” with this president.  And maybe, just maybe, they’re about ready to move on.

Let’s not fret over a trip to Martha’s Vineyard

Along the same line as my post from yesterday regarding conservatives complaining about the President’s trip to Martha’s Vineyard, is this post from Ann Althouse:

[W]hen you look at August 2011 from Spring/Summer/Fall 2012, one more vacation isn’t going to seem like much of anything. The economy will matter, but not what it was in August 2011, what it isnow. Whatever it is, people will hold Obama responsible, so right now, he’s hoping things will be better enough that he’ll have something to claim credit for.

Could he do something right now, in August 2011, that will make the economy better at that future point, something that will be more effective than biking and golfing on Martha’s Vinyard? I don’t think he can, and if he doesn’t think he can, in my book, that’s a point in his favor. Spare me your programs and clever ideas. I like getting some evidence that he knows the limits of government.

Obama’s presidency is about getting reelected, and doing nothing right now fits that agenda just fine.

Exactly.  Here’s hoping that Republicans take note.

Gallup: 40% approval for Obama, lowest of his administration to date

Notice the disapproval rating is up to 52% as well.

Here’s an interesting bit from Gallup’s write-up:

The crucial period for Obama will begin after Labor Day, given the relative quiet on the political front that should be the case before then. Obama will generate some news coverage this week with his bus tour through Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois, but after that, he has a scheduled vacation on Martha’s Vineyard, during which he will be largely out of the news — barring some major crisis.

[…]

If the president is not able to turn around the negative momentum in his ratings during the fall months, it may be more and more difficult for him to do so as the presidential campaign begins in earnest next year.

The White House is getting the word out that a “jobs plan” is on the way.  Sometime in September, after his vacation.   There is no urgency here on the President’s part, as millions are without work.  And any plan he has will probably include more spending, useless targeted tax credits and the like.

This administration and its ideology are out of ideas, and it shows.

We need to get serious about our fiscal situation

While President Downgrade and a do-nothing Democratic leadership in Congress sit around calling fellow Americans terrorists for wanting lower taxes and lower government spending, some people are actually stepping up to the plate, and being brave about what needs to be done:

…[W]e need to get serious about our deficit. No more accounting gimmicks. No more cuts in “out-years” that never materialize. The permanent political class in D.C. might be fooling themselves with these Enron-like accounting games, but they’re not fooling the world’s capital markets. And we don’t need any more happy talk from the White House about “investing” in solar shingles and really fast trains. The White House shouldn’t even bother floating these new spending programs. We can’t afford them. Period.

We need to stop this deficit spending, balance our budget, repeal Obamacare, cancel all unused stimulus funds, and reform our entitlement programs. We have to have an adult conversation about our spending commitments; circumstances have changed, and we must adapt.

I know none of this will be easy, but, “thick” or not, the average American outside the D.C. politico bubble knows that we no longer have a choice! We will have entitlement reform and a balanced budget; it’s just a matter of how. We can do it ourselves in a calm, methodical, and responsible manner, or we can wait for the world’s capital markets to ram it down on us.

That’s from Sarah Palin’s new Facebook post, which is well worth reading in its entirety, especially in the light of the recent S&P downgrade, and volatility in world markets.

What a mess

Less than two hours ago, I returned from a truly relaxing five-day trip to Harwich Port in Cape Cod.   Trying to actually enjoy a relaxing time, I tried as hard as I could to stay away from Mets baseball, the status of the NFL lockout, and more importantly, the debt ceiling negotiations on Capitol Hill.

As I was driving back earlier today, I realized that the Mets just swept a four-game series with the Reds, the lockout is officially over and…well, yeah.

The debt ceiling deadline has been staring Washington in the face since last year.  Neither President Obama nor the Democrats in Congress bothered to address the issue, even when they had their majorities in both chambers.  So of course, the big news today is that Speaker Boehner and the Republican leaders, not to mentioned the so-called Republican “conservatives” in the pundit class, are willing to shoot the Tea Party conservatives in the back of the head, figuratively speaking of course, in the name of waiting for 2012.  Or something.

Heckuva job guys. 

An update of today’s events here.

Bachmann’s migraine “problem”

It doesn’t get much dumber than this.  Caught this screenshot last night off of the WaPo website.  Idiocy on parade:

This is from a  “serious” political pundit, people us rubes need to really listen to and take seriously when it comes to politics in Washington.  Apparently forcing a conservative Republican woman to release a doctor’s note confirming she has migraines, and that said migraines might negate her ability to be President are of paramount concern to our media overlords.

When you want to see Obama’s birth certificate however, or ask questions about his past drug use, well then clearly we need to STFU because we’re all racists.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who is this “generic Republican” person?

And when can I start volunteering for him?

A generic Republican candidate now holds a four-point lead over President Obama in a hypothetical 2012 election matchup. It’s a fifth week in a row that the GOP candidate has been ahead and the widest gap between the candidates to date.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds a generic Republican candidate earns support from 46% of Likely U.S. Voters, while the president picks up 42% of the vote.  Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate, and nine percent (9%) are undecided.

Last week, the Republican held a 45% to 43% advantage.

All joking aside, it’s still too early to put credence into these polls so far out from the election.  But we are getting closer.

The problem for the GOP is that Mr. Generic Republican is not a real candidate and the current field really isn’t setting the faithful on fire.

Somebody needs to cause a spark soon.

On NY-26

The professional Left has a serious case of the vapors over the Democrat Kathleen Hochul winning this special election in upstate New York.

The conventional wisdom is that this is a rebuke of the Ryan plan for Medicare, and of course, tons of left-wing idiocy is afoot.

Both are wrong of course.

Drew M:

Special elections are always hinky affairs at best. With a fake tea party candidate in the race and the previous seat holder disgraced in a Craig’s List dating scandal, this wasn’t anything approaching “at best” for Republicans.

The NY GOP just sucks at these (as does the party nationally). They lost NY-20 when Kirsten Gillibrand was named to the Senate. They lost NY-23 when John McHugh was named Secretary of the Army (that was the whole Dede Scozzafava v. Doug Hoffman race). The one win was the race to replace Eric “The Tickler” Massa in NY-29 but that special was held concurrently with the general election last November.

The party picked candidates (NY doesn’t allow for primaries in specials, the county chairs name candidates) in NY-20 and NY-23 did lousy jobs.

That pretty much sums it up.

Erick Erickson:

Ultimately, for those who think this was a rejection of the GOP’s medicare reform efforts, they’ll have to explain who the GOP candidate and the Tea Party candidate combined got more votes than the Democrat.

Read the whole post.

This was more of a special election issue, rather than a position on Medicare reform.

How not to run for President

It’s barely Tuesday and it’s already the worst week ever for the Gingrich campaign.   Will Gingrich flame out before the campaign is even a week old?

[South Carolina Governor Nikki] Haley, whose promise to endorse a presidential candidate has made her a key power broker in the Republican primary fight, joined in the chorus Tuesday and said she is “terribly disappointed” in Gingrich.

“What he said was absolutely unfortunate,” Haley told CNN in a phone interview. “Here you’ve got Representative Ryan trying to bring common sense to this world of insanity, and Newt absolutely cut him off at the knees.”

“When you have a conservative fighting for real change, the last thing we need is a presidential candidate cutting him off at the knees,” she added.

It’s easy to figure out Newt’s Road to the White House from here.  Let’s see now:

1) Piss off Iowa Republicans?  Check

2) Piss off South Carolina Republicans?  Check

3) ??

4) President Gingrich!

A sincere hat-tip goes to Governor Haley, especially for the last sentence in that excerpt.  Paul Ryan has done what most politicians would never dare to do–formulate and actually present a plan to reform our disastrous entitlement programs.  The President,  the Democrats in Congress–not one of them is proposing anything.  And certainly not Newt Gingrich.  He’d rather see what the polls are saying and play to the elderly vote “have a conversation” about entitlement reform.   That’s not leadership, Mr. Speaker.  That’s more of the same crap.  Which is what we don’t need nor want.