DHS Funding - Boehner Screams for Democrats to "Get Off Their Ass" on DHS Funding
http://www.ezkool.com.
By: Ezra Grant
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DHS Funding - Boehner Screams for Democrats to "Get Off Their Ass" on DHS Funding - Video
Chris Matthew slams Democrats for going back to losers to win 2016
Chris Matthews points out a very important issue with the Democratic Party. In effect there is no bench.
By: Egberto Willies
Originally posted here:
Chris Matthew slams Democrats for going back to losers to win 2016 - Video
If Marylands race for governor had been decided by those who stayed home on Election Day, Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown (D) would have been the runaway winner, a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll has found.
The poll, along with newly released state voting data, offers a fuller picture of how Republican Larry Hogan became the governor in such a heavily Democratic state. While GOP turnout was down slightly from four years earlier, Democratic participation fell considerably more. Hogan successfully wooed independents and disaffected white Democrats, while Brown struggled to get voters from his party to the polls and performed less well than hoped among African Americans, a core constituency.
The findings suggest lessons for both parties as they look to the future in a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 2 to 1.
To reclaim the governorship in 2018, Democrats will need a candidate with a crisper message who is more capable of motivating the partys base, analysts and strategists say.
For Hogan to win reelection, he must not alienate the Democrats who voted for him a large chunk of whom share his concern about high taxes and spending but disagree with him on other issues.
Hogan has to govern from the center, said Donald F. Norris, director of the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. Maybe center-right is okay. But he cant govern from the right. ... Hogan can get all the Republican turnout he wants next time and still not win in Maryland. He needs [votes from] Democrats.
In November, 59percent of eligible Republicans voted in the governors race. That was down from 62percent four years earlier, when incumbent Gov. Martin OMalley (D) soundly defeated former governor Robert L Ehrlich Jr. (R).
Democratic turnout, meanwhile, dropped from 55percent to 47percent.
And those who did not vote in November, the poll found, preferred Brown over Hogan 46percent to 35percent.
Thirty-seven percent of white Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents voted for Hogan a key part of his winning constituency. Only 11percent of this group supported Ehrlich for governor in a 2010 pre-election poll.
Original post:
Hogans victory, political future hinge on disaffected Democrats, poll finds
By Frank Thorp V
If congressional Republicans were hoping that a Texas judge's injunction on President Obama's immigration actions was going to change Democrats' tune when it comes to the House-passed DHS funding bill, they shouldn't hold their breath.
"Nothing changes," a Senate Democratic Leadership aide told NBC News.
At issue are the three failed attempts by Senate Republicans to bring up the House-passed legislation that not only funds DHS until the end of the fiscal year, but also curtails Obama's executive actions related to immigration.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has scheduled yet another vote on the motion for next Monday, when Congress gets back from their Presidents Day recess. The motion is set to fail again because Democrats are expected to unanimously oppose the measure, a move called a filibuster.
"This procedural ruling, in our opinion, is very unlikely to be upheld," Sen Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in a statement. "But regardless of the outcome Democrats remain united in our belief that funding for the Department of Homeland Security should not be used as a ransom by Republicans, period."
Even moderate Democrats, whom Republicans have been targeting as possible 'Yes' votes on the motion to move forward with the House-passed bill, are saying the court ruling doesn't change anything. An aide for Sen Joe Manchin (D-WV) told NBC News that Manchin still believes funding for the DHS should be separate than the riders attached by the House.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has repeatedly said it's up to Senate Democrats to allow for consideration of the House-passed bill in the Senate, or they will be responsible for the DHS shutting down at the end of the month. McConnell has said the House-passed bill is "stuck" in the Senate, and told reporters last week it's time for the House to pass another bill that can achieve the 60 votes needed to move forward in the Senate.
Funding for DHS is set to expire at midnight on February 27th if Congress fails to act.
First published February 17 2015, 10:47 AM
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'Nothing Changes' : Democrats Aren't Budging in DHS Funding Fight
In the wake of Dave Fahrenthold's great piece about Scott Walker's college years, Democrats have begun to openly question the Wisconsin governor's ability and readiness to be president, given that he doesn't have a college degree.
Former Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean went on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" late last week and called Walker "unknowledgeable" because he didn't graduate from college."I worry about people being president of the United States not knowing much about the world and not knowing much about science," Dean added. "I worry about that."
Then on Friday, Media Matters for America's Eric Boehlert tweeted this out:
Boehlert later retracted that tweet.
This seems to me to be a MAJOR strategic mistake that could badly backfire on Democrats if Walker happened to become the Republican nominee in 2016. Here's why:
1. The idea that smart/able = college graduate reeks of elitism. Lots -- and LOTS -- of very successful people have never graduated from college. (There is a Web site called the College Dropouts Hall of Fame.) And, no one likes the guy (or gal) who asks what you got on your SAT scores or what college you went to when you meet them. Elitism is rarely an appealing trait in a political party. Democrats would do well to remember that.
2. A majority of people in this country don't have college degrees. According to Census numbers from 2009-2013, less than three in 10 Americans (28.8 percent) over the age of 25 have a bachelor's degree or higher. That means that there are tons of people who have a similar educational background to Walker, people who almost certainly don't (or wouldn't) appreciate a dismissal of their intelligence because of their lack of a college degree. Remember, too, that there's a growing belief in conservative circles that higher education has become a liberal's paradise -- so not having a college degree may well help Walker with that crowd."He'll lay to rest the absurd belief that you're a nobody if youdon't have a college degree," wrote conservative Glenn Reynolds of Walker in a USA Today op-ed. "And he might even cut into the surprisingly recent takeover of our institutions by an educated mandarin class, something that just might save the country."
How to talk (or if to talk) about Walker's lack of a college degree is going to be a hot topic in the coming weeks as the Wisconsin governor's just-launched attempt to pare back funding for the University of Wisconsin system is sure to be a massive political fight in the state with big 2016 ramifications. Conflating Walker's lack of a college degree with his effort to reduce funding to the state's university system seems to me like a political loser. Yes, it is true that Walker didn't graduate from college. And, yes, it is also true that he is pushing to cut some funding for the University of Wisconsin system. But simply because both statements are true doesn't mean they grow out of one another.
Democrats would be on far safer ground framing Walker's latest move on higher ed as an example of his putting his own presidential aspirations ahead of what's good for Wisconsin. (To their credit, many in-state Democrats are doing just that.) That's an argument that can be made without even mentioning Walker's level of academic achievement and one, it seems to me, that is more likely to succeed as well.
Viewed broadly, the fact that Walker didn't finish college does make him unique among modern presidents and those who want to be president. (Truman was the last president who didn't finish college.) But it's hard to imagine a lack of a degree as a disqualifying trait in the eyes of most Americans -- even if Howard Dean doesn't agree.
The rest is here:
The Fix: Scott Walker never graduated from college. So what?