I don't know a lot of him but Sestek was on with Chris Matthews last night and he seemed like a stand-up guy. I have always thought Spector was a bit of a slimebag and his aisle jumping certainly didn't do anything to change that.

pacino wrote:what, meaning you anticipate Specter dying and Corbett installing a republican?

Yes

In Pa. House race, identity politics with a twist - Center City Dem incumbent accuses challenger of pretending to be gay to win LGBT vote

George Will on New Jersey's fattest, most awesome governor

jerseyhoya wrote:In Pa. House race, identity politics with a twist - Center City Dem incumbent accuses challenger of pretending to be gay to win LGBT vote

he's no lindsey graham

but on a serious note, i know people who are self-identified as bisexual and gravitate towards one end of the scale. it's a scale, not a definitive thing. this may not be the best thing for her to attack...though she will and should win


in no way will a man who has tried to turn the public against their children's educators ever be called 'awesome' by me. fwiw

Will's article was starkly anti-union too, as though unionization is a terrible and crippling thing.

jerseyhoya wrote:George Will on New Jersey's fattest, most awesome governor

George Will wrote:Christie is built like a burly baseball catcher

Christie is built like THREE burly baseball catchers.

George Will wrote:Christie is using his power to remind New Jersey that wealth goes where it is welcome and stays where it is well-treated.

what does that even mean, other than that, to Mr. Fucking Bowtied Cubs Fan, wealth is synonymous with virtue? He doesn't even bother to pause & note that, as long as it's valuably employed in service of - well, those among whom it is welcome & well-treated - there's some merit to rolling out the welcome mat.

What also goes unchallenged in Will's pean to the fat man is the notion that the nature of the benefits public sector employees have negotiated for - at however tilted a table - are somehow obscenely generous relative to, say, the sums that suspender-snapping Saddle River Masters of the Universe salt away for themselves for their golden years.

Sure, the teachers & firefighters' private sector brethren don't have such lavish retirement benefits to count on - but that doesn't mean that benefits of that level aren't "fair", just that corporations are not disposed to provide them. And if you believe that private sector firms who employ the bulk of the US workforce simply could not manage to do so, you have not paid much attention to the marked changes in the slope of the wealth (or income) pyramid over the past generation or so.

jerseyhoya wrote:I had to watch something where Warner gave a speech to some liberal group about a month ago. He mentioned this work with Corker among other things, and on the whole came across remarkably well. Would not be surprised if he gets on the fast track in Senate leadership if Reid loses, and there's a shake up. He'll also make a very plausible presidential candidate in 2016.

As of late 2006, when Obama was uncertain for the race and (I think) Warner was still viable, he was the guy I'd planned to support for 2008. In terms of his policy interests, he's pretty close to my ideal: huge education guy, business-friendly but not prone to slurp Big Finance.

Unfortunately for him, I don't think he's quite charismatic enough to run and win a national race, and a term in the Senate doesn't generally help with that. (In this respect, he'd have been vastly more typical of every Democrat I supported for president pre-Obama than the current officeholder.)

As for the PA Senate race, I think I'd be pretty torn were I voting in the Dem primary. In the end, I'd probably vote for Sestak just because my sense of the politics this year is that it'll be easier for non-incumbent Democrats to win. As pacino noted, he's been solid since coming across, though I share traderdave's and jhoya's sense of the guy's core... let's say opportunism.

Chris Christie, 2012 dark horse, from my boy Steve Kornacki.

jerseyhoya wrote:Chris Christie, 2012 dark horse, from my boy Steve Kornacki.

"Is it wrong to love another man?" Limbaugh asked. "Because I love Chris Christie."

and some thought there could never be more effective political campaign killer imagery than Mike Dukakis at the controls of an M1 Abrams.

jerseyhoya wrote:Chris Christie, 2012 dark horse, from my boy Steve Kornacki.

I would certainly take him over Sarah Palin, not that that is saying a whole lot. I'd vote for my paperboy before I'd vote for Palin.

It will all depend, of course, but if I were Christie, unless Obama is really, really on the ropes, I'd wait until 2016. It's tough to beat an incumbent President.

Brown people better be verrrry careful in Arizona going forward. If the cops sense anything too immigranty about you, you're gonna have to produce your papers.

jerseyhoya wrote:Chris Christie, 2012 dark horse, from my boy Steve Kornacki.

33/63 disapproval

Of course, not having read Kornacki's piece, that could be part of the argument: make the tough call early in your term, then ride the wave and look like a visionary when the economy turns around and lifts your boat. Bloomberg's local approval/disapproval in 2002 was probably pretty close to 33/63; three years later he got something like 60 percent.

Probably more to the point, Christie couldn't both be governor of New Jersey--where he has to come across as a pragmatic administrator who doesn't loathe all liberals, gays, and immigrants, and win over Republican base voters who likely will be looking for those things.

The piece isn't serious about Christie 2012 and is more a discussion of how crappy the 2012 GOP field is.

jerseyhoya wrote:The piece isn't serious about Christie 2012 and is more a discussion of how crappy the 2012 GOP field is.

Having now read it, I can see that.

Still, it's an interesting premise. And as a Democrat who'd really like to see Republicans who are serious about governing get some love within the party, I actually wish him well.

Watch for the Jindal comeback.

Jindal will be a national player at some point. His biggest gaffe (that awful speech) bothered people who wouldn't vote for him most anyway. He seems savvy enough not to try if Obama looks strong in 2012 though. If I recall, he declined consideration for McCain VP short list on those grounds.

VoxOrion wrote:Jindal will be a national player at some point. His biggest gaffe (that awful speech) bothered people who wouldn't vote for him most anyway. He seems savvy enough not to try if Obama looks strong in 2012 though. If I recall, he declined consideration for McCain VP short list on those grounds.

I think it was more that he realized he needed to serve a full term before he would be taken seriously nationally. Plus Louisiana really needs him. I don't think Jindal will run till 2016.

jerseyhoya wrote:

VoxOrion wrote:Jindal will be a national player at some point. His biggest gaffe (that awful speech) bothered people who wouldn't vote for him most anyway. He seems savvy enough not to try if Obama looks strong in 2012 though. If I recall, he declined consideration for McCain VP short list on those grounds.

I think it was more that he realized he needed to serve a full term before he would be taken seriously nationally. Plus Louisiana really needs him. I don't think Jindal will run till 2016.

Taken seriously and/or built a record to run on. Admittedly, Obama was in the Senate for two years before he started running for president and four before he took the top job. But I'd say that's the difference between being a senator and being a governor--it's easier to assess an executive's record than a legislators, thus the substance of the record is more important.

pacino wrote:Brown people better be verrrry careful in Arizona going forward. If the cops sense anything too immigranty about you, you're gonna have to produce your papers.

This really depresses the everloving shit out of me

I'm pretty sure most everyone has forgotten the speech. And that was a style issue, not a substance one.