Archive for 2009

POLITICO: Backlash: Democratic Dangers Mount. “Democrats giddy with possibilities only six months ago now confront a perilous 2010 landscape signaled by troublesome signs of President Barack Obama’s political mortality, the plunging popularity of many governors and rising disquiet among many vulnerable House Democrats. The issue advantage has shifted as well, with Democrats facing the brunt of criticism about the pace of stimulus package spending, anxiety over rising unemployment rates and widespread uneasiness over the twin pillars of Obama’s legislative agenda: his cap-and-trade approach to climate change and the emerging health care bill.”

Related: Republicans ahead on generic ballot.

HOPE AND CHANGE: 49% Now Say America’s Best Days Are In The Past. “Nearly one-out-of-two U.S. voters (49%) now say the nation’s best days are in the past, a five-point jump from last month and the highest level of pessimism on this question in a year.”

MARK STEYN: “Thousand-page bills, unread and indeed unwritten at the time of passage, are the death of representative government. They also provide a clue as to why, in a country this large, national government should be minimal and constrained. Even if you doubled or trebled the size of the legislature, the Conyers conundrum would still hold: No individual can read these bills and understand what he’s voting on. That’s why the bulk of these responsibilities should be left to states and subsidiary jurisdictions, which can legislate on such matters at readable length and in comprehensible language.”

JENNIFER RUBIN: Obama is Tanking in the Polls: Is it Unemployment, Or is it Him? “Polls show the public thinks Obama is spending too much and taking on too much power. It is not hard to conclude that Obama has been caught trying to pull off a bait and switch — he ran as a moderate and is governing as a left-winger. With ample evidence that they have been conned, the voters are now registering their disapproval.”

MICKEY KAUS: “Here’s a safe political prediction: Despite all the innovative e-mobilization and ad campaigns and town halls, the August recess will not produce any effective groundswell of popular support for Obama’s health care reform.”

HENRY WAXMAN, closet Birther? And what about John Murtha?

ANOTHER RICCI CASE in NYC?

FROTHY DIPLOMACY.

LOCAL BUSINESSES PROTEST CAP-AND-TRADE in Quincy, Illinois.

ALTERNATIVES to Obamacare.

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