Political blogger since 2001, I've worked for statewide and national campaigns.
http://claimid.com/jeromearmstrong
If anyone is still there that worked with Howard Dean they ought to hang their head low.
Screw Mark Penn and the dept of debt that he rode in on.
I'm too busy trying to defeat Terry McAuliffe in the VA primary to blog much lately (its a sort of karmic payback for the '08 primary experience); you'll thank me later.
btw, this video was shot from the driver seat of a UAW/American-built Chevy Traverse recently, and expresses a glimpse on the race I'm too close too for any sort of analytical reflection, but none-the-less:
I read through Glenn Reynolds article about the Tea Parties today, which presents itself as "a post-partisan expression of outrage" which makes me chuckle, given how front and center the "former" hyper-partisan Republicans like Michelle Malkin have been to the movement.
On the one hand, it's obvious that the Democrats capitulating to their knees for Bank bailouts has severely damaged the Party's credibility as an outsider agent of change. I had mild hopes for February and March being markers when we would see Congress/Obama makes some real progress, either on Labor bargaining, or Healthcare reform. Instead, the continuation of failed Wall Street bailouts became the agenda-- a political disaster for the Democratic Party.
On the other hand, most of the Republican Representatives and Senators are even more in the pocket of interests such as the banks. They might feign outrage for mock political capital, but when the AIG bonuses are voted on, they quickly capitulate to their bellies before their gods on Wall Street.
Glenn Reynolds recognizes a failed party when he sees it:
Then, at the same time, we have a DHS ("Janet Napolitano, playing the role of Janet Reno") that has put out a lame report on "right-wing extremist activity" rising in the US. Again, how can one resist a chuckle, with what Glenn Greenwald calls the ultimate reaping of what one sows:
That's upcoming issue of newsweek (via Politico). Thank Goodness For Krugman.
Israel's Labour Party is history. Yglesias sums it up:
It's hard to imagine this being anything other than the end for the remnants of the Labor Party.
680 of Labor Party central committee members voted in favor of joining the coalition, while 570 voted against. The voter turnout stood at 78 percent of the committee members.
"I'm happy that party delegates have decided to enter the government," Ofer Eini, head of the Histadrut labor union and a senior Labor Party operative, told Israel's Army Radio.
But others chanted slogans like "Disgrace" following the announcement.
Labor's 13 seats in the parliament would give Netanyahu a majority of 66 in the 120-seat house. But there is a possibility that the party could split as a result of the vote, and some members might choose to remain in the opposition.
Organize Virginia is here. As most of you know, I am deep in the VA primary, with our consultant group working for Brian Moran, and we launched the netroots organizing platform for Moran's campaign last Friday. Via CNN's political ticker:
The site has a look and feel reminiscent of the Obama online platform, offering supporters tools to organize on their own by starting groups, raising money, blogging and planning events.
The Moran campaign isn't hiding from the obvious comparison.
"Our online organizing tool connects the grassroots and the netroots, just like the Obama campaign," said Moran spokesman Jesse Moran. "We can be the first to do this effectively because, from local leaders to big city mayors, we have the grassroots necessary to support it."
The site, which went live for supporters on Friday, was created by Jerome Armstrong, the pioneering blogger and strategist who once worked for former Virginia governor Mark Warner when the now-Senator was considering a presidential bid in 2007 [ed. Actually Luigi Montanez is the brains behind the platform].
Moran is running for his party's nomination against two other Democrats: former DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe and state Sen. Creigh Deeds. The winner of the June 9 primary will face off against Republican Bob McDonnell, the commonwealth's former Attorney General.
In contrast, on Organize Virginia, over 30 people have already launched fundraising pages, which are integrated in partnership with ActBlue. Here's mine, Bloggers for Brian Moran.
This is getting to be pretty predictable:
President Barack Obama's top economics adviser, Lawrence Summers, said that insurance giant American International Group's plan to award senior executives hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses and retention pay is "outrageous."
...In a phone call Wednesday to AIG CEO Edward Liddy, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said it was unacceptable for the company to give out tens of millions of dollars in bonuses for senior executives after the government committed $170 billion to keep the struggling company afloat -- far more government bailout money than has been awarded to any other firm.
"UNACCEPTABLE", says one.
"OUTRAGEOUS", says the other.
Fake and disingenuous also come to mind.
Between Timothy Geithner and Lawrence Summers, its hard to imagine Obama's economic leadership being any worse. We really need for the Democratic congress to take away the economic agenda from these two. The corporate bailouts have become a complete political disaster.
Whisky Fire has had it:
Josh Marshall is too timid:
Chris in Paris, over at AmericaBlog, has an attitude problem:
David Waldmanis having a period:
You know, I haven't heard any chatter about bipartisanship out of Obama or the WH for a week. Maybe it's just my very narrow political reading and watching lately, but its a hopeful sign. So is this:
I got this email from Ruy Teixeira, and thought I'd pass it on, as the work is right up our alley here:
One is my own effort, using the latest and best data to analyze the demographic, geographic and attitudinal trends reshaping the country (New Progressive America). I argue there is a new demography, a new geography and a new agenda tilting the country progressive. I include an extensive discussion of minority, white college graduate and white working class voters (national and by state), going back to 1988 and forward to 2050. And I provide detailed analyses of county, metropolitan area and regional vote shifts since 1988 in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Colorado, Nevada, Ohio, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina and Indiana. I also cover Millennials, professionals, single and college-educated women and the growth of religious diversity. And I cover what all of this means for the American attitudes, especially the likely end of the culture wars.
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2 009/03/pdf/progressive_america.pdf
The other, by Halpin, covers our new national survey about political ideology (State of American Political Ideology, 2009). More evidence that we are not, in fact, a center-right nation. We use a five point ideological scale and turn up the interesting finding that about as many people now self identify as progressive or liberal as identify as conservative or libertarian. Also, the favorability rating of "progressive" has skyrocketed in recent years and is now as high as "conservative". The heart of the survey is a 40 item battery where we test people's fundamental political values and beliefs in four areas: government, culture, economic and international. The composite score for the public leans progressive and eight of the top ten items in terms of agreement are progressive ones. But conservative ideas retain considerable strength. Check out the report:
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2 009/03/pdf/political_ideology.pdf
Plus! you can take our 40 item quiz yourself. How progressive are you?
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2 009/03/progressive_quiz.html
Plus!! there is a very cool interactive map that includes 7 levels of exit poll demograhics and county level vote shifts going back to 1988. Take the twenty year test: what's happened in your county since 1988?:
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2 009/03/progressive-map/
My "ideology score" was 332/400, which made me "extremely progressive" given the average American score is 210.
· LA-2010: And It Begins ... (DailyKingFish)
· WH Taps Anita Dunn for Comm. Dir. (Jonathan Singer)
· Mary Bono Mack Gets Strong Democratic Challenger (Jonathan Singer)
· VA-Gov: Virginia Governors' Debate (Todd Beeton)
· Michael Steele's First 100 Days (Senate Guru)
· Geither, Sebelius, Holder, Solis draw most no votes in Senate (desmoinesdem)
· NBC Doesn't Like "Kings" (Jonathan Singer)
· Happy Birthday James Madison (Jonathan Singer)
· Dick Lugar to Support Dawn Johnsen Nomination (Jonathan Singer)
· Re: The Democrats' Jewish Problem (Jonathan Singer)
· Cloture Vote on Sebelius Could Come Tuesday (Jonathan Singer)
· Stand by Change (Jerome Armstrong)