Posted by: Luke Vander Linden in Untagged on
Nov 18, 2008
As the 110th Congress nears its conclusion, inside the Beltway mag Roll Call is preparing to recognize members of both houses of Congress who defined the past two years on Capitol Hill. They've selected nominees across nine categories and have opened the voting online. Categories include Most Valuable Player, Freshman of the Congress, Best Macaca Moment and the Squeaky Wheel Award.
Link
Posted by: Luke Vander Linden in Untagged on
Nov 6, 2008
Former City Council Member Andrew Eristoff sent this detailed letter to his email list yesterday. I don't think he would mind me posting it here in its entirety. It's worth a read for any Republican -- urban, suburban or rural -- who's interested in the future of the party in our state. Of course, his sentiments aren't totally new. As frequent poster Stu Mirsky noted to me this morning, it's very similar to some ideas a group of us tried to get going back in 2005. But, this isn't the time for credit-taking or finger-pointing -- any and all participants who want to fix what is broken should be welcomed with open arms.
The Morning After: An Open Letter to New York's Republicans
Re: Rebuilding New York's Republican Party
Dear Fellow New York Republicans:
It’s finally happened. After years of tactical retreat and ideological compromise, New York’s Republican Party has lost its 43-year majority in the State Senate as w ell as seats in Congress, the State Assembly, and numerous local offices. The once proud New York Republican Party -- the party of President Theodore Roosevelt and national leaders like Thomas Dewey, Nelson Rockefeller, Rudy Giuliani, and George Pataki -- has ceased to exist as a viable political organization.
More than an embarrassment, the Republican Party’s self-immolation is a disservice to all New Yorkers regardless of party affiliation. New York’s voters deserve a functioning two-party system that fosters competition and viable electoral choices. We Republicans have failed them.
Posted by: Luke Vander Linden in Untagged on
Nov 4, 2008
Posted by: Luke Vander Linden in Untagged on
Oct 23, 2008
From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review today comes the news that outspoken Dem Rep John Murtha's lead in his re-election race is down to 4 points. Like most incumbents, he hasn't faced a real challenge in years, but his recent comments referring to his constituents as "racist" "rednecks" might be the last straw.
I spent a week there one night this summer (no, really, Western PA is surprisingly beautiful) and didn't get the same sense of the people that live there that Murtha has. It also didn't seem like it should be a Dem seat, but of course it's heavily gerrymandered.
Posted by: Luke Vander Linden in Untagged on
Oct 23, 2008
I happened to read a guest column in this week's Broadcasting & Cable by Patrick Maines of The Media Institute. In it, Maines bemoans "it is as ominous as it is lamentable that we don’t have at least a few national news organizations that are trusted, for their rigorous commitment to thoroughness and objectivity, by people of different political persuasions."
Earlier he says "The United States today is fairly seething with fear and anger. It is no overstatement to say that many people in this country, left and right, literally hate some of their fellow Americans...A few years ago I used to say jokingly that I didn’t think the country was up for any more foreign wars, but that I thought there might be an appetite for a good civil war. I don’t think it's funny anymore."
So what did happen to the fair press? Why isn't there an unbiased media in this country?
The answer is simple -- there never was one.
Posted by: Luke Vander Linden in Untagged on
Oct 22, 2008
Amanda Carpenter over at Townhall.com commented today on an announcement of an official partnership between MSNBC (a division of NBC News) and "Election Protection," a coalition of 60+ "non-partisan" organizations like the Human Rights Campaign, the National Gay and Lesbian Law Association, Sierra Club, SEIU and, oh yeah, a little group called the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now, better known as ACORN.
Looks like on election night, NBC will be in the position of both making and reporting the news. So says Phil Alongi, Executive Producer of NBC News' Election Coverage: "Not only will we be able to direct voters who are experiencing problems with a hotline to call, we will also have our team of reporters and producers follow-up on the information Election Protection is gathering." in the press release annoucing the tie-up.
Posted by: Luke Vander Linden in Untagged on
Oct 22, 2008
Vikram David Amar, a law professor at the University of California at Davis,
opines in today's LA Times that states should unbundle their electors for VP from the Presidential contest, thinking that we would "improve the quality of Vice Presidential picks." I don't think that would do a damn thing, but the process could probably use reform of some kind.
Posted by: Luke Vander Linden in Untagged on
Oct 17, 2008
NY Times has a neat, interactive map on who supports and who's against the term limits recall.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/10/14/nyregion/20081014-council-graphic.html
Posted by: Luke Vander Linden in Untagged on
Oct 17, 2008
The SI Advance is reporting minute-by-minute on Vito's court appearance today for his DWI trial:
Rep. Vito Fossella arrived at a Virginia courthouse more than an hour after his trial was set to begin.
Posted by: Luke Vander Linden in Untagged on
Oct 14, 2008
I've been meaning to write about this since it broke last week. It turns out Barney Frank's live-in boyfriend from 1987-1998, a gentleman by the name of Herb Moses, was Fannie Mae's Assistant Director for Product Initiatives. What were his responsibilities? According to National Mortgage News, Moses "helped develop many of Fannie Mae’s affordable housing and home improvement lending programs."
This was of course, at the same time that Congressman Frank was writing housing and banking laws and as the Boston Globe reported in 1991, Frank was pushing Fannie Mae "to loosen regulations on mortgages for two- and three-family homes, even though they were defaulting at twice and five times the rate of single homes, respectively."
The Herd: Have Your Say
