With the new poll data showing pretty clearly that substantial majorities of Americans do not want to extend the Bush tax cuts for upper income Americans, I want to be able to keep track of which Dems are coming down where. Can you let us know what you’re seeing and hearing in races in your state and district?
Christine O’Donnell, the fast-rising Tea Party insurgent running against Mike Castle, is continuing to push a gay rumor whisper campaign against Castle, now accusing him of ‘un-manly’ tactics.
Can we get off distractions like the Koran burning and focus on the real issues like the president’s chief of staff’s fantasy run for mayor?
Obama wrapped up his press conference with a very powerful statement in defense of the civil rights of American Muslims. Video soon …
When I step back from all the furor and contention over tomorrow’s anniversary of 9/11, what strikes me is that it’s the 9th anniversary, not the 10th. I say that because it would stand to reason that the 10th anniversary would prompt some renewed reflection over meaning and the passage of time. And hence the commemorations might be different. But that’s next year, not this year. And yet, the whole thing does seem very different. It’s far more contentious and politicized than I ever remember these commemorations being. And I don’t think my memory is off.
Certainly one aspect of this is the mosque controversy and the larger anti-Muslim push from the right over recent months. Both of which have had the effect (intentional, I think) of making 9/11 more contested ground within the country as opposed to a space of common commemoration since it’s become somehow a proxy for the right’s arguments about American Muslims and indirectly Obama. (Now we even have people on the fringes of Gingrich’s and Palin’s movement threatening to hold Koran-burning festivals.) It’s also true that there have been two failed terrorist attacks on American soil since last September (over Detroit and in New York). And no doubt the two things are related on various levels.
What’s your take?
Jon Stewart: Obama’s Cleveland speech “may be as close as any President of the United States has ever come to saying: f*** all ya’ll.'” Watch.
Across the country you’ve had various insurgent Republicans who’ve pissed off their state party establishments, come out with various positions that would normally make them unelectable and gotten caught in various embarrassments. But in most cases, the institutional GOP has stuck with them. And in many cases they’re still competitive or even beating the Democratic incumbent. But there’s one case that breaks the mold: The Republican candidate for Governor in Colorado: Dan Maes.