I still haven’t given up waiting for Vol. 2.

Comments

President Obama’s old “Choom Gang” is back in the news today, but all I could think of was this.

Big props to Jim J for the photoshop.

4 Comments

Venture capitalism: It’s OK when high-profile Democrats from swing states do it!

Comments

Analyst James McQuivey thinks he’s cracked the code behind Apple’s long-rumored TV set:

“Apple should sell the world’s first non-TV TV,” McQuivey wrote. ”Instead of selling a replacement for the TV you just bought, Apple should convince millions of Apple fans that they need a new screen in their lives. Call it the iHub, a 32-inch screen with touch, gesture, voice, and iPad control that can be hung on the wall wherever the family congregates for planning, talking, or eating.”

The analyst continues, noting that such a device could eventually replace the traditional television for many users. ”My proposal takes advantage of everything Apple has going for it: Its base of super-engaged customers, its bevy of hungry developers, its ability to open our minds to the possibility of post-PC computing form factors, and its spectacular track record with generating elegant experiences that teach us to do things we didn’t know we needed. In fact, I want this so bad I can almost taste it.”

I’m going to have to think about this one some more. But a 32″ iPad you bring with you from room to room? Why?

An iPad can be passed back and forth for games, or two iPads can share a bluetooth connection for multi-screen gaming. If you’re just watching TV, use the big screen on the wall or the iPad in your lap.

I might be falling into the same group of people who said nobody would ever need a “third screen” between their smartphones and their laptops. You have heard much from those people since the iPad become the biggest runaway hit in consumer electronics.

Do you need a fifth screen in-between your iPad and your TV?

7 Comments

Hat tip to MartyB, who turned me on to PJ Fusco — and a whole lot of red.

Fusco explains:

We’ve taken into account past elections, including those in which several major issues were of concern, the mood of the country as evidenced by several factors, e.g. consumer confidence, amalgam of recent polls, purchasing etc., media treatment of the candidates, i.e. general media BS, and the respective organizations of both candidates, i.e. who has the more effective ground game, who is coming off as feckless and directionless, who is more prone to destructive gaffs etc.

We make no claim to a scientific presumption, rather, based on Mr. Fusco’s years of political observation, we decided to approach our call on something we’ve labeled “The Fed-up Factor,” that is, how fed up the country is with itself.

For Romney to capture that many states — pretty much every possible R pickup — requires a “wave” election, like we saw in 2008. We had another wave — an equal-and-opposite force in 2010.

Three big waves in a row? Right now, that seems unlikely. But I’d be deliriously happy to be wrong.

[LINK WAS MISSING BEFORE.]

11 Comments

This is how a civilization ends.

15 Comments

I can’t tell you that this looks good:

China’s manufacturing activity contracted at a faster pace in May as conditions for exporters worsened during the month, the preliminary findings of a survey by HSBC showed Thursday. The “flash” reading of the manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index dropped to 48.7 in May from a final print of 49.3 in April, HSBC said. A measure below 50 in the survey indicates deterioration, whereas one above that figure shows an improvement.

POSITIVE SPIN: It’s not like we sell much to the Chinese.

5 Comments

From Rasmussen:

A new telephone survey of Likely Voters in Pennsylvania finds Casey, who is seeking a second six-year term, with 48% support to Smith’s 41%. Three percent (3%) favor some other candidate in the race, and seven percent (7%) are undecided.

That’s not exactly encouraging for Smith. But Casey can’t rest easy, either. Incumbents with support under 50% are often in trouble.

8 Comments

Yeah, this one isn’t a photoshop.

TMZ has the scoop and the details.

3 Comments

Trifecta: Now is the time on Trifecta when we play Veepstakes!

Comments

Yep:

Newark Mayor Cory Booker’s off-message criticism of the Obama campaign’s attacks on Mitt Romney’s background at Bain Capital gave the campaign an untimely, unwanted headache this week. But more significantly, it exposed a tension that’s developing between the Democratic Party’s centrist wing and its more-outspoken liberal base—one that threatens to fester more openly if President Obama fails to win a second term.

These things take time, too. The GOP is still in the process of getting over “compassionate conservatism.” First came the shock — to the GOP leadership that is — of the drubbing the party received in the 2006 midterms. In 2008, the Democrats managed a repeat, in large part because the GOP hadn’t yet had the chance to purge itself.

Well, 2010 Tea Party election helped that process along quite a bit, and left the Democrats just as shocked as the GOP establishment had been four years earlier. But the Republicans have a ways to go. Should Romney win in November, it will hinge on how he governs. If he’s another Bush 43 (or, hell, Bush 41), then the GOP Civil Wars will continue. If he leans more to the right, the fighting can stop for a while.

If he loses — then things get really nasty. Can you say “Whigs?” I knew you could.

The Democrats watch all this, loving every minute of it. But their worst days are yet to come. The national party is beholden to its Progressive wing, which has very little appeal outside of super-liberal enclaves. But the moderate wing of the national party more or less ceased to exist after 2010. Up-and-comers like Cory Booker should be the Democrats’ centrist salvation, but look at how quickly he got jerked back into line by the Progressive White House.

An Obama win this fall will only strengthen the Progressive more, while doing serious damage to the Democrats’ chances moving forward. An Obama loss? It might just make the GOP infighting look tame.

I can hardly wait.

But remember: Both parties are uneasy coalitions of disparate factions. It’s like that line from The Godfather. “That’s all right. These things gotta happen every five years or so, ten years. Helps to get rid of the bad blood. Been ten years since the last one.”

And, yeah, it’s been ten years since the Democrats had their Come to Jesus moment, when the Republicans actually picked up seats in the historic 2002 midterms. Their time might have come.

8 Comments

Remember, the real “War on Women” is being waged by the Left.

6 Comments

Trifecta: President Obama has been inserting himself into history, so it’s only fair that Bill, Scott, and I return the favor.

BONUS: Brilliant photoshops from Travis.

Comments

Delicious:

Obama carried only 58% of the vote in yesterday’s Kentucky Democratic primary — against 42% for “uncommitted” delegates to the national convention; “uncommitted” actually out-polled the president in 67 of Kentucky’s 120 counties.

Obama also carried 58% in the Arkansas primary; little-known Tennessee lawyer and Occupy Wall Street supporter John Wolfe won 42% of the vote against the Democratic president in Arkansas.

Two weeks ago, a federal prisoner in Texas named Keith Judd racked up 41% of the vote against Obama in the West Virginia primary.

Positive spin: “Uncommitted” remains slightly more popular than “Federal Prisoner.”

Hope!

2 Comments

Welcome to the official launch of this season’s Wargames. It’s way — way — too early to call this election either way, so instead we’re going to look at the changes since 2008, and the special challenges Mitt Romney faces. My maps are all courtesy of 270toWin‘s iPad app, which is a superior tool to their website. The maps are prettier, too.

First up, Team Obama is counting on at a 50/50 election, which looks OK to them. If you drop Obama down to 50% of the vote, from his 52.9% of four years ago, here’s what you get.

In this scenario, Romney picks off NC, IN, FL and NE’s second district. That’s a 290 to 248 victory for the President, or four better than what George W. Bush pulled off in 2004. Those of us who remember that election know that isn’t a whole lot of wiggle room, but it will do. Unless Romney implodes between now and then, this is probably Obama’s best-case scenario. Maybe he blames Bush.

There’s been talk on the Obama side of maybe picking up Arizona this year, but I haven’t heard much of that talk the last few weeks.

If Romney connects with voters while “his” 527s help make “Obama” a dirty word, he might manage a cozier win in the popular vote, with 51.5%. If we drop Obama down to the remainder, let’s what happens to the map. You might be in for a surprise — I know I was.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 | 150 Comments

Well that’s nice:

Last week PJM Interconnection, the company that operates the electric grid for 13 states (Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia) held its 2015 capacity auction. These are the first real, market prices that take Obama’s most recent anti-coal regulations into account, and they prove that he is keeping his 2008 campaign promise to make electricity prices “necessarily skyrocket.”

The market-clearing price for new 2015 capacity – almost all natural gas – was $136 per megawatt. That’s eight times higher than the price for 2012, which was just $16 per megawatt. In the mid-Atlantic area covering New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and DC the new price is $167 per megawatt. For the northern Ohio territory served by FirstEnergy, the price is a shocking $357 per megawatt.

It’s not like you weren’t warned, proles.

41 Comments

Trifecta: Is President Obama holding Mayor Cory Booker hostage?

1 Comment

How’s that War on Capital going, Mr. President? Not too good, you say? Not even within your own party? Really? Really:

Booker is not the only Democrat to question the aggressive, negative portrayal of Romney’s work in private equity. Former Tennessee Rep. Harold Ford Jr. said today he agreed with “the substance” of Booker’s comments and “would not have backed out.”

“I agree with him, private equity is not a bad thing. Matter of fact, private equity is a good thing in many, many instances,” the Democrat said in a separate appearance on MSNBC earlier in the day.

Former Obama administration economic adviser Steven Rattner made similar comments last week, calling a new Obama campaign TV ad attacking Romney’s role in the bankruptcy of a Bain-owned steel company “unfair.”

And here’s former DNC Chairman and PA Governor Ed Rendell from another story:

And Rendell joined the chorus of criticism of Obama’s attacks on finance, whose leaders have written checks to many members of both parties.

“I think they’re very disappointing,” Rendell said of the ads attacking Bain. “I think Bain is fair game, because Romney has made it fair game. But I think how you examine it, the tone, what you say, is important as well.”

The War on Women, the Life of Julia, the War on Capital… they’ve even given Joe Biden extra lead on his leash. Others have called this campaign tone deaf, or accused Obama of having a tin ear. But it looks to me like there’s something deeper, something fundamentally wrong in the West Wing.

When a soldier in Vietnam wanted out, he might shoot himself in the foot on purpose. But what do you call it when somebody shoots himself in the foot, again and again, on accident? It beggars belief that a campaign crew that was firing on all cylinders against Hillary and then McCain just four years ago, could have become so incompetent. It’s not as if Romney is a stellar candidate with a whirlwind of popular support, causing Team Obama to make all these unforced errors. No, they just keep putting up loser after loser. Axelrod’s crew can’t even maintain control of their own lame hashtag games on Twitter.

It’s almost as if there is something psychologically mixed up about the Obama campaign, a willful streak of self-destruction. They’re running a race based on public tantrums, like a messed-up emo kid who cuts his flesh or pulls his hair to protest just how unfair it all is. And we do hear an awful lot about unfairness from this Administration.

It’s enough to make me suspect they have a clue in the White House, they have real numbers they aren’t showing us, that we really are this close to the fiscal cliff. Really, all it would take is for the bond markets to lose confidence, and — boom! — we’re Greece. Believe me, this is not the crew to inspire continued confidence in the bond markets.

Maybe on some level they want to lose, to get out of Washington before Barack Obama becomes the next Herbert Hoover.

That’s my theory. What’s yours?

27 Comments

Our Senate Democrats clearly have their finger on the pulse of the nation. Well, they have their finger on something:

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday moved forward with legislation to increase airline passenger security fees, beating back a GOP attempt to keep them at current levels.

The 2013 Homeland Security appropriations bill would increase one-way fees for passengers from $2.50 to $5 in order to close a budget shortfall at the Transportation Security Administration.

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) said the $350 million in funding would otherwise come from taxpayers and argued it is better to stick passengers who rely on TSA with the bill.

The idea of stopping this security kabuki and abolishing the TSA ever entered their pointy little skulls.

Comments

Not news, from the WSJ — Wisconsin might be in play this year. The story is subscription only so I won’t pull a long quote, but Team Romney is eyeing to make Wisconsin a battleground if Governor Walker survives the recall election.

I suspect Walker is going to make it, and pretty handily. Call it a five-point spread. Maybe a bit better.

While Obama won WI pretty handily in 2008, you should remember that George W twice came close to painting the state red. He lost there by barely 4,000 votes in 2004, back when the GOP had very little state infrastructure. Today, the party controls the state government, and will continue to do so unless something unexpected happens during the June 5 recall.

In fact, let’s go back to my very first Wargaming the Electoral College map from last August.

I wrote then that

There’s a wave of disgust and despair in the industrial Great Lakes and Midwest. I believe this wave hurts both parties, making the region the battleground for 2012.

Wisconsin is doing better than the nation at large, which ought to help Obama. But Scott Walker has put together a pretty amazing machine, effectively governing a leftwing state from the center-right. Everything he and his team learn from the recall, they can put into play during the general election. And if a polarizing Republican like Bush can nearly win there, Wisconsin should certainly be winnable for a moderate like Romney.

1 Comment

Why should I send you elsewhere to get your Hair of the Dog, when you can do it right here.

BONUS: My solemn pledge to you is… never on autoplay.

You’re welcome.

4 Comments

From David Hogberg:

Despite official estimates predicting millions of firms would claim ObamaCare’s small business tax credit for health insurance, actual usage has been a trickle, a new Government Accountability Report shows, because the credit was too complicated and too small.

Just 170,300 small businesses claimed it in 2010, Internal Revenue Service records show. The Obama Administration’s Council of Economic Advisers predicted 4 million businesses would claim it, while the Small Business Administration estimated 2.6 million.

The credit was too small to create an incentive for small businesses that didn’t previously provide employee insurance to begin offering it, the GAO report said. And the credit was too complicated for business owners to comply with.

Wait here while I go find my shocked face, that the Administration failed to understand how small business works.

4 Comments

They say this is new, but it really isn’t:

China can now bypass Wall Street when buying U.S. government debt and go straight to the U.S. Treasury, in what is the Treasury’s first-ever direct relationship with a foreign government, according to documents viewed by Reuters.

There are lots of junkies with direct lines to their dealers.

5 Comments