Arizona: New Jersey

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

How do you take the textbook definition of a "safe" Republican district (a Democrat has not represented the region since 1854), a no-brainer that the Republican will win by default against token Democratic opposition, and lose the seat for the first time in 155 years? By caving in to pressure from the far-right extremist fringe Teabagger Taliban and the Mighty Wurlitzer of right-wing conservative "entertainment" personalities.

Blue Dog Democrat Bill Owens, the token opposition, won a stunning victory in the special congressional election in New York's 23rd congressional district only because the GOP Taliban and the conservative "entertainment" personalities declared civil war against GOP moderates and the GOP establishment, demanding ideological purity to conservativism - as they have defined it.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Off-year elections are typically the subject of wild speculation and over interpretation by political observers. The conventional wisdom (CW) of the media villagers and Beltway bloviators is that the governor's races in New Jersey and Virginia are "bellwether elections" that are a "referendum" on newly elected presidents and are predictive of the outcome of mid-term elections.

Sorry to burst your Beltway bubble boys, but as Larry J. Sabato, Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia, has noted What are the national implications of the "mini mid-terms" in Virginia and NJ?

We go through this exercise every four years, just like clockwork.

by David Safier

How can you ridicule the totally ridiculous?

Protest Planned Against NJ School's Obama Song

Conservative groups plan to rally Monday near a New Jersey school where students performed a song celebrating President Barack Obama.

The planned rally has school district officials planning to beef up security at the B. Bernice Young School in Burlington Township, which houses kindergartners through second-graders. 

Right. Tell the kids who were singing that song how wrong they were to sing it. Shame them. Create an atmosphere of fear around the school.

I don't have the figures, so I'll put this as a series of questions. How many schools are there in the U.

by David Safier
The House health care bill proposes a tax -- or surcharge, take your pick of terms -- on people with incomes above $350,000 to help pay for universal health care. Citizens for Tax Justice has figured out how many Americans would have to pay that tax.

Watch out if you're in Connecticut, which has the highest percentage of folks who will pay. If you're one of the top 2.8% of earners, you're going to dip into your wallets on this one. Next come D.C., Massachusetts and New Jersey, all above 2%. After that, the numbers fall off.

In Arizona, you're going to have to get 111 people in the room before you find one of them who will have to pay the surcharge.