Those silly MP moderators. MP Kline Won't Seek Re-election The Liberal commenters are saying all kinds of nasty things about John Kline. Then Pavel says he wishes Betty McCollum would retire also, to which Jason says at least she gets things done...
Now "I know nothing" about either of these folks. However I simply try to post GovTrack John Kline and GovTrack Betty McCollum, and they never show up. I would love to no their top secret moderation criteria. And of course Jason did not see John getting anything done, since one likes more government control and one wants less government control.
For a related post. MP True Swing District. I just don't see it happening, however I have been wrong before. Thoughts?
Officially, CD2 is an "R+2" district. That's pretty close to "swing" and the candidates and campaigns can make all the difference. McCollum's 4th District is a D+11. I really wish legislatures would just let the computer draw up the boundaries. When districts are as lop-sided as McCollum's you tend to get second-rate political hacks in office, and that's no way to run a railroad.
ReplyDeletePeople have been encouraging my neighbor and state rep, Joe Atkins, to run for this seat, but I don't think he is going to (he would be a strong candidate.) I think one of the two women currently running would be decent democratic candiates. If Mary Pawlenty runs I think she would be hard to beat. The dems have a chance winning in 2016, but would likely lose the seat in 2018 when voter turn out drops off so much.
ReplyDeleteLaurie, thanks for that info, but I just realized what a great difficulty I have calling ANYBODY a "decent Democrat candidate." Most of these candidates are decent people, but the minute they align with the Democrat Party they seem to lose whatever good sense they might display as your neighbor and get that "Washington disease" where they are smarter and more decent than you.
ReplyDeletejerry, you just described Republicans.
ReplyDeleteJoel
Joel, unfortunately you are correct, as regards some number of Republicans. The saving grace is that it is not all Republicans. Of course, to be fair, it's not true of all Democrats either, so long as they are a small minority. Get too many of 'em, though, and they run single-mindedly in the wrong direction. Republicans, given a majority, go nowhere, while Harry Reid still makes the majority-Republican Senate follow his minority's wishes.
ReplyDeleteJust saw a brilliant piece today about "moderate Democrats." It was a sort of test. You ask a liberal/Democrat to name a prominent left-wing figure. Hillary? Nope, she's a moderate. Same with Bernie Sanders, Liz Warren, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, correct? All moderates. So, the question is: If there is nobody to the left of you, and everybody else is to the right of you, aren't you a left-wing extremist?
ReplyDeleteHarry Reid is a pro-life Democrat with a lifetime "B" rating from the National Rifle Association. You're saying he's not a moderate Democrat?
ReplyDeleteDoesn't matter what I think. If you want to claim the "moderate" label and agree with Reid, be my guest. If you think he is to your right, then are you moderate, or a far leftie?
ReplyDeleteThe other thing is, how does he VOTE with regard to pro-life and 2nd Amendment issues? As an individual Democrat he may be a moderate, but as majority (and now minority) leader, has he done anything to advance the cause, or actually hampered Republicans trying to do so?
NRA scoring is based on votes, not positions. Same with NARAL (lifetime 29%).
ReplyDeleteMy sense of Reid's leadership is that while he has cast votes contrary to his caucus, the agenda has been set by the caucus. (Not that dissimilar to Boehner in principle, but Reid has seemingly been more effective.)
No argument there. But I still wonder, if someone further left sees Reid as a moderate or even a right-winger because of those two stances, does that make that person a radical leftist, or not? It's that old "perspective" thing that John keeps talking about.
ReplyDeleteOne upside to New Delhi India over China. Not nearly the same problem with censors and internet restrictions. Though so far all I have seen is the airport, a cab and the JW Marriot. (and during most of that time I was sleeping) Tomorrow I wander into the real India.
ReplyDeleteBack to the post. I just thought it was interesting that the Liberals on MP spent so much energy accusing Kline of questionable allegiances and/ or not doing anything. Whereas Jason, thought Mccollum was wonderful.
Yes, and you should know that Kline's one official challenger has charged a list of "bad votes" (too far left) that Kline has made, about 3/4 of which have no merit. That puts the challenger, according to your chart, somewhat near the "lunatic fringe" of the GOP. Yet I don't see any such (not left enough) complaints from Democrat challengers? (Sanders being the exception, maybe)
ReplyDelete