2024 Election
October 3, 2023 — John Hinderaker
This Morning Consult poll is a week old, but still worth noting. It finds that Democrats’ standing with voters has declined significantly since 2020, while Republicans have gained. Of course, this is what one would expect with the disastrous Biden administration, but it is good to see it reflected here: I suppose Matt Gaetz is undermining the Republicans’ edge on the “capable of governing” metric. This is the key chart.
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October 2, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Donald Trump appeared this morning for a trial in New York City on the civil fraud charges that were brought against him by Democratic Party activist Letitia James. Politico has an account of this morning’s activities. This is an Alice In Wonderland trial, as judge Arthur Engoron issued an order last week finding Trump and others liable in fraud for providing documents to banks and insurance companies that inflated the
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October 2, 2023 — Scott Johnson
California Governor Gavin Newsom promised to appoint a black woman to replace the late Dianne Feinstein in the Senate, so you know this is a man who has his priorities in order. Politico reveals that Newsom will appoint Laphonza Butler to fill Feinstein’s seat. Butler apparently does not reside in California — Politico reports that she is registered to vote in Maryland. However, Butler owns a home in California. When
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October 1, 2023 — John Hinderaker
I appeared on the excellent Outsiders show on Sky News Australia last night. There were significant technical hurdles. First, the signal coming from Australia was shaky. Then my four-year-old laptop’s battery, which has been on life support for a while, suddenly gave out. They bumped my appearance back to the end of the show, and we filmed it using my iPhone, which actually worked pretty well. It was a relatively
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September 30, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Democrats have rewritten their rules and schedule to accommodate the requirements of President Biden. Biden is not wildly popular in his own party. Those in the know — they know that Biden needs all the help he can get. He needs help remaining upright in public. He needs help in the Democratic caucuses and primaries to stave off embarrassment. It’s not an edifying sight. Running a quixotic campaign for the
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September 30, 2023 — Scott Johnson
I haven’t thought about the late comedian Pat Paulsen in a long time. He started running for president in 1968 and kept at it on a quadrennial basis, more or less like a comic version of Minnesota’s own boy wonder Harold Stassen (although Stassen himself became a punch line). See the history set forth in “Pat Paulsen for president!” The Library of Congress has even found a place in its
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September 28, 2023 — John Hinderaker
I didn’t watch last night’s GOP debate, which, based on the accounts I have read, including Scott’s, was a good decision. Many morning-after accounts have focused on the fact that Fox included a liberal Hispanic reporter as one of the moderators, and, in addition, the nominally Republican moderators asked many challenging if not outright hostile questions. See, for example, Ed Morrissey, who quotes some of the questions. I will reproduce
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September 28, 2023 — Scott Johnson
The Republican candidates for president assembled minus President Trump for an event televised on the Fox Business channel last night. The event was held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley. The debate was moderated by Dana Perino, Stuart Varney and Ilia Calderón. Who is Ilia Calderón and what was she doing there? She posed hostile questions in heavily accented English. “Why have you fleeped?” she
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September 24, 2023 — Lloyd Billingsley
Former Federal Election Commission member Hans von Spakovsky brought up the term in 2000 Mules, and politiqueros will doubtless draw a blank from many voters. Once upon a time National Public Radio actually directed a beam of light at this issue. “In Rio Grande Valley, Some Campaign Workers Are Paid To Harvest Votes,” the July 7, 2015 Morning Edition explained. Politiquero or politiquera means “campaign worker,” and these workers are involved
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September 24, 2023 — Scott Johnson
“Biden poll disaster” is how Drudge flags the just-released ABC News/Washington Post poll results reported here by Gary Langer (PDF with full results, charts, and tables posted here). Clicking on the story, I thrilled to the beat of the first few paragraphs. President Joe Biden’s job approval rating is 19 points underwater, his ratings for handling the economy and immigration are at career lows. A record number of Americans say
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September 20, 2023 — Lloyd Billingsley
“I want a seasoned pro that knows how to get things done,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom told CNN on Monday. “I’m a little old-fashioned. I want a guy who produces results, and the results are in: It’s been a master class.” The governor was referring to 80-year-old Joe Biden, who announced his reelection bid back in April. “There’s simply no administration in my lifetime that’s been more effective producing more
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September 18, 2023 — Scott Johnson
The Biden administration has deputized Krazee-Eyez Killa Jack Smith to put President Trump away some time before the 2024 presidential election. The train keeps a rollin’, banana republic style. Last week Smith filed a motion in his District of Columbia 2020 election case against Trump. Smith’s motion is supported by a 19-page memorandum that is posted online here. Jonathan Turley criticizes Smith’s motion in “Gagging Donald Trump: Why Smith’s ‘Narrowly
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September 13, 2023 — Scott Johnson
David Ignatius is the Washington Post’s twice weekly foreign affairs columnist. He is easily one of the most repulsive pundits in the world of the prestige press. I haven’t written about Ignatius for a long time, but see (for example) my 2014 post “The case of David Ignatius, cont’d.” Ignatius was of course one of the many prominent media voices promulgating the Russia hoax in the early days of the
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September 12, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Earlier today, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. released this indictment of the Democratic National Committee. Why, he asks, is the Democratic Party opposed to democracy? Why is it rigging the primary process? I am not certain whether what he says about the DNC’s machinations is correct, nor am I sure what he considers to be real democracy. (For example, it has never been true that the candidate who gets the most
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September 12, 2023 — John Hinderaker
This morning, Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced that the House is launching an investigation that may lead to the impeachment of President Biden. Here is McCarthy making the announcement; text is below: Welcome back, everyone. You know, in the months that we were gone, in the weeks, House Republicans have uncovered serious and credible allegations into President Biden’s conduct. Taken together, these allegations paint a picture of a culture of corruption.
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September 12, 2023 — John Hinderaker
You probably remember Katie Hill, the Democratic Congresswoman from California. Hill and her husband were swingers. Among other things, they went on a swingers’ cruise. In connection with that venture, Katie placed an ad in a swingers’ magazine in which she used the name “Angelbutt 123.” She and her husband then became entangled in a “throuple” with a young woman on Katie’s staff. That implicated workplace concerns, and was too
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September 10, 2023 — Elizabeth Stauffer
A CBS News/YouGov poll found that 48% of adults under the age of 30 support sending U.S. troops to defend Ukraine. I’m rather struck by such a high number given that the military is failing to reach recruitment goals among this very demographic. Perhaps they feel it’s a good idea as long as it isn’t them being sent to the front lines. The numbers drop off sharply among older age
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