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Blogs Eric Reads
House GOP Rejects McCain on Earmarks
Oh McCain. Just a few weeks ago he was a presidential candidate and the face of the Republican party. And if you’d listened to anything he said between July and Election Day, it would probably have sounded something like “robble robble earmarks robble pork robble robble bad” or along those lines. Anyway, now that nobody cares about McCain anymore his signature issue–reforming and eliminating pork-barrel spending–is off the table:
For the second year in a row, the House GOP caucus Thursday rejected an effort to limit its members’ requests for special projects, or earmarks, in this case a short-term moratorium.
The vote again exposed fissures among GOP conservatives and could undercut one of the party’s signature themes, limited government.
Minority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio and Eric Cantor of Virginia had unveiled late Wednesday a moratorium on GOP earmark requests through Feb. 16 while a new panel of Republicans comes up with proposals for permanent restrictions and disclosure requirements for earmarks
But Todd Tiahrt of Kansas, an appropriator, offered an amendment to strip the requirement for an earmark moratorium. And Tiahrt’s moratorium-killing proposal was approved by the full caucus, said several GOP aides. The amended rules package was then adopted.
Oh well. Maybe he’ll have better luck in the Senate, where senatorial courtesy forces everyone else to listen to what he has to say.
A Case of the Mondays
(Sorry if all these bulleted-list posts seems like cop outs. It’s a busy time of the year.)
- The Senate Democratic caucus vote on whether Holy Joe Lieberman keeps his committee chairmanship is coming up soon. Kagro X reminds us that the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has jurisdiction over the District of Columbia, 93% of whose residents voted for Barack Obama, so it would be awfully shitty to let John McCain’s best buddy run the place. Since the Lieberman vote will be done by secret ballot, a fully expect the Democratic Senate majority to cave, just like they’ve been doing for the past couple years. (DailyKos)
- Still-President Bush has the high honor of being the first U.S. President to ever call Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi. Bush called Qadhafi to thank him for agreeing to a claims settlement agreement between the two countries. How dare Bush speak with a foreign leader with preconditions! Surrender!! (First Read)
- Right before the election, Barack Obama sent a letter to a bunch of federal employees telling them about change they can believe in. Basically, the letter explains all of the Bush administration policies that Obama would rescind, like outsourcing government work and censoring science. If it’s undoing something George Bush did, I’m for it. (Washington Post)
- Barack Obama met with John McCain today because he wanted to hear McCain call him “Mr. President-Elect” several times to his face. Oh, and they also released the world’s most generic joint statement. Seriously. It’s only two paragraphs long but it uses a lot of words to say absolutely nothing. On the plus side, there’s a hilariously awkward video of the two talking. Look how hard it is for Obama not to gloat. (Ben Smith/YouTube)
- Lots of racist white people are pissed off that we elected a black man to be president. They can’t handle that the rest of us don’t hate minorities as much as they do and they’re getting angry and violent. Obama has already received more death threats than any other president-elect in American history, and I’m willing to bet that some of that can be blamed on the vitriol of Sarah Palin. It’s not going to be an easy four years for President Obama. (Christian Science Monitor/Austin American-Statesman/Federal News Radio)
Republicans Abandon Ship!
- Ah, remember the good old days, when John McCain was the Republican nominee for President of the United States–you know, two weeks ago? Well, he lost the election (which means the GOP no longer has to believe in any of the same shit he does) so the RNC has filed a lawsuit claiming that McCain-Feingold is unconstitutional. Yes, you read correctly. The Republican Party wants the Republican nominee’s crowning achievement overturned. I guess they never liked that geezer after all. (Marc Ambinder)
- Well, looks like Palin for President is not off to the greatest start. Here’s five Republican governors telling the TV folks that Palin isn’t going to be ready for the top of the ticket in 2012. They were also unhappy about having to stand behind her at a press conference while she took questions about running for president in 2012. They did not like the appearance that they might be Palin supporters. Because they are not. At all. And they want that to be very clear. (YouTube/CNN)
- Palin for Senate isn’t going so well either. What, you didn’t know she was running for Senate? Yeah, she told CNN that she would be interested in running in a special election for Ted Stevens’ seat after he was reelected to and then expelled from the Senate. Only problem with that is that Mark Begich now leads Stevens by over 800 votes with many of the remaining votes expected to come from Begich friendly districts. (The Caucus/Anchorage Daily News)
McCain Website Punked
Just a friendly reminder to campaign web teams to always check their code for JavaScript injections.
(via)
The Enthusiasm Gap
I know that rally attendance isn’t the most accurate predictor of voter turnout, but just for fun let’s compare and contrast:
- McCain in Tampa:
About 30 minutes before John McCain is scheduled to lead a rally outside Raymond James Stadium, looks like maybe 1,000 people here. What’s up with that? On the day before the election? Bush drew at least 15,000 people to a rally just across the street on the Sunday before the 04 election.
“We are the quiet majority that goes out and gets things done..I smell victory,” said state Rep. Kevin Ambler. Good thing he smells it, because it’s hard to see it with this crowd. - Obama in Jacksonville:
Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena seats up to 14,000, but Buzz would be surprised to see the place completely fill up. Two hours before Sen. Barack Obama is scheduled to speak, there are at least a thousand in place.
Joe the Plumber Questions Obama’s Patriotism
The newest member of the McCain-Palin team thinks that Barack Obama’s “ideology is completely different than what democracy stands for”:
Is John McCain, whose campaign graciously “conceded” that Barack Obama is a patriot, going to denounce and reject Joe the Plumber? And by the way, if you don’t think that Joe should be held to the same standard as the rest of the McCain campaign, consider this:
When he was just the topic du jour because of his question to Barack Obama back in the neighborhood in Ohio, that was one thing. But “Joe the Plumber” is now actively campaigning with and for John McCain, appearing on stage with him at multiple events, etc. He has become a part of McCain’s campaign, like any other surrogate.
Joe the Plumber questioning Barack Obama’s patriotism is no different from Lindsey Graham or Joe Lieberman doing it. Where is John McCain’s honorable campaign now?
Simple Answers to Stupid Questions
The McCain campaign is unusually upbeat. Does it have reason to be?
McCain Campaign Kicks Supporters Out of Rally for Being Too Young
You durn kids, get offa mah lawn!
David Zarifis, director of public safety for the University of Northern Iowa, said McCain staffers requested UNI police assist in escorting out “about four or five” people from the rally prior to McCain’s speech.
Zarifis said while the people who were taken out weren’t protesting or causing problems, McCain’s staff were worried they would during the speech.
…
“When I started talking to them, it kind of became clear that they were kind of just telling people to leave that they thought maybe would be disruptive, but based on what? Based on how they looked,” Elborno said. “It was pretty much all young people, the college demographic.”Elborno said even McCain supporters were among those being asked to leave.
“I saw a couple that had been escorted out and they were confused as well, and the girl was crying, so I said ‘Why are you crying? and she said ‘I already voted for McCain, I’m a Republican, and they said we had to leave because we didn’t look right,’” Elborno said. “They were handpicking these people and they had nothing to go off of, besides the way the people looked.”
Caveat emptor for College Republicans, I guess. The GOP is still the party of crotchety old guys.
(via)
McCain Campaign Buses Students to Rally
This is interesting. Buried at the bottom of a story about how Joe the Plumber left John McCain hanging at a Defiance, OH, rally is this little nugget:
A local school district official confirmed after the event that of the 6,000 people estimated by the fire marshal to be in attendance this morning, more than 4,000 were bused in from schools in the area. The entire 2,500-student Defiance School District was in attendance, the official said, in addition to at least three other schools from neighboring districts, one of which sent 14 buses.
So more than two-thirds of the people who turned out to see John McCain give a stump speech were pulled out of school to do so. That means that McCain only drew about 2,000 voting-age supporters (maybe a little more depending on how many high school seniors will be 18 by Tuesday and are voting for him). Hmmm. The Pollster average currently gives Obama a 6-point lead in Ohio. Maybe it’s not such a swing state after all.