David Freddoso

Poll: Ohio Republicans continue to lead

Just a few years after scandal nearly destroyed the Buckeye State's GOP, Rasmussen has the Ohio Republican candidates for governor and Senate leading their Democratic counterparts. Republican former Rep. John Kasich leads Gov. Tom Strickland, D, 47% to 41%. Former Bush budget director Rob Portman leads his two Democratic opponents by smaller margins in the race to succeed Republican Sen. George Voinovich....

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SF Mayor: 'Green police' ad hits home

The Audi ad mocking overzealous environmentalism "hits home," San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom tweeted during the Super Bowl. The locally conceived advertisement was enough to get Newsom, who has pushed for the type of recycling and composting mandates that give the spot its believably authoritarian edge...to tweet, "Ok .. That "green police" Audi commercial hits...

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Subject: 'No more stimulus hugs'

Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., sends word by e-mail of a Marco Rubio moneybomb tomorrow, to celebrate the anniversary of President Obama's hug with Rubio's opponent for the GOP Senate nod, Gov. Charlie Crist. Last Feb. 10, Crist was promoting President Obama's stimulus package throughout Florida, and President Obama visited. The two men shared the stage and hugged briefly. Now the hug may come back to haunt. Writes DeMint, promoting his Senate Conservatives' Fund: On February 10, 2009, Governor Crist cleared his schedule to stand on a stage with President Obama in Ft. Meyers, Florida. Governor Crist used the opportunity to embrace the President and campaign for the $787 billion stimulus...

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Rep. Steve Cohen, D, already chasing Murtha's ambulance

In a television interview this afternoon, Democratic Tennessee Rep. Steve Cohen pronounced judgment on the doctors who were operating on Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Pa., when he died. Cohen, a government attorney before he began his political career, was asked about tort reform in health care when he brought up Murtha's death: "As we speak today, Rep. John Murtha died. And he was my friend, and he served this country for many years...He died because, when he went in for gall bladder surgery, his intestine was perforated. And that shouldn't have happened. It was, from what I understand, malpractice." Cohen might even be right, but it would be a coincidence: he all but admits his lack of full...

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RFK Jr. never saw this much snow when he was a kid

During our last big snowstorm, in December, I unearthed an old column by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., in which he claimed that the winters in D.C. have become anemic, that global warming is to blame, and that his anecdotal memories prove the perfidy of oil companies that try to explain global warming away. His anecdotal evidence seems to be falling flat this year. The winter of 2009-2010 is already the snowiest in D.C. history, with more than five feet measured already at Dulles Airport. Not only that, but we're expecting 10 to 20 inches of snow tomorrow. None of this disproves the idea of anthropogenic global warming. But neither does Kennedy's vague memory of colder times prove anything....

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RFK, Jr. 15 months ago: Global warming means no snow or cold in DC

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who flies around on private planes so as to tell larger numbers of people how they must live their lives in order to save the planet, wrote a column last year on the lack of winter weather in Washington, D.C. In Virginia, the weather also has changed dramatically. Recently arrived residents in the northern suburbs, accustomed to today's anemic winters, might find it astonishing to learn that there were once ski runs on Ballantrae Hill in McLean, with a rope tow and local ski club. Snow is so scarce today that most Virginia children probably don't own a sled. But neighbors came to our home at Hickory Hill nearly every winter weekend to ride saucers and Flexible...

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Yech: Moving the Edwards sex tape

From the "salacious-details-we-didn't-really-want-to-know" department: A North Carolina judge wants security officers to accompany a former John Edwards aide as he goes to retrieve a sex tape of his former boss. The FBI has already received a copy of the tape, according to the AP. Just imagine the blackmail possibilities if Edwards had become president, or even vice president?...

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Mag: Undie-bomber was not so helpful after all

From AmSpec's Prowler: A Senate Intelligence Committee staffer says that in recent updates to the committee, and in briefing individual Senators, national security and national intelligence officials have indicated that they have gained "no actionable intelligence" from interviews with the so-called "Christmas Day" or "underwear bomber," Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab..."The information they may have drawn out of him after his family arrived was probably more than a month old and there just wasn't very much of it to begin...

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Poll: 75 percent of voters are angry

From Rasmussen: Voters are madder than ever at the current policies of the federal government. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 75% of likely voters now say they are at least somewhat angry at the government’s current policies...up nine points since September. The overall figures include 45% who are Very Angry...Part of the frustration is likely due to the belief of 60% of voters that neither Republican political leaders nor Democratic political leaders have a good understanding of what is needed today. I thought it very significant that the angriest group is the upper-middle class: families making between $60,000 and $100,000 per year. (Median annual...

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Toyota staggers, trial lawyers circle above

Trouble with your Toyota? Time to sue! Plaintiffs' law firms all over the nation are gearing up for some lucrative litigation over the sticky accelerators on some of the deep-pocketed automaker's models. "This is just the beginning," said Mark Bunim of New York-based mediation firm Case Closure LLC. "There's going to be one of these cases in every town." ...On its website, the national plaintiff lawyers trade group the American Association for Justice has a blurb that reads: "Coming soon... Toyota Sudden Acceleration Litigation Packet." That blurb is no longer on the AAJ site's splash page, but it was recorded here, and a simple Google search turns up scores of law firms soliciting...

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Sarah Palin also went to Texas this weekend

Sarah Palin did more this weekend than just speak at the Tea Party Convention. She also went to Houston to stump for Republican Gov. Rick Perry's re-election campaign. Perry currently leads the field for the Republican nomination, with a recent Rasmussen poll showing him at 44 percent, ahead of Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (29 percent) and conservative activist Debra Medina (16 percent). "I look forward to Texas sending a message on how things get done, because you're doing them right in Texas," said Palin. Palin says she supports Perry over the other candidates for Texas Governor, because he's a fiscal conservative with proven leadership. "In Washington,...

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Four versions of liberal condescension

Gerard Alexander's piece in yesterday's Washington Post is the definitive analysis of liberal condescension. It comes in four kinds (I added the numbers): (1) The first...maintains that conservatives win elections and policy debates not because they triumph in the open battle of ideas but because they deploy brilliant and sinister campaign tactics. (2) [I]f conservative leaders are crass manipulators, then the rank-and-file Americans who support them must be manipulated at best, or stupid at worst...speaking to a roomful of Democratic donors in 2008, then-presidential candidate Obama offered a similar (and infamous) analysis when he suggested that residents of Rust Belt towns "cling to...

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Uh, is this supposed to make me feel good about environmentalism?

When I saw this ad during the Super Bowl, I wasn't sure whether it wasn't an anti-Obama spot. Then I though maybe it was just poking fun at Congress for dictating to Americans what kind of light bulbs they can use. But no, it was a car...

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Cohen drops out, giving Illinois Dems a break

Bowing to calls from several Democrats, Scott Lee Cohen has renounced his claim to the Democratic nomination for Lieutenant Governor of Illinois, which he won in last Tuesday's primary. The pawn broker and owner of a cleaning supplies company won the nomination Tuesday. Since then, it has become widely know that he was accused of abusing his ex-wife and holding a knife to the throat of an ex-girlfriend. The decision mitigates the damage Cohen did by winning the nomination. Consider the still-recent disgrace of former Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich, D, the appointment of Sen. Roland Burris, D, and the nomination Alexi Giannoulias, D, a former banker with mob ties whose family bank is...

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At DNC meeting, lots of fear, few fresh ideas

As MSNBC focused on the Tennessee Palin-fest in hopes of finding embarrassing material on the former Alaska govenor, the Democratic National Committee held a far more important meeting. This meeting, which was attended by the President of the United States, was maked by its somber tone, well captured in this piece from Politico: Gone was the exultant mood of jubilation that party officials felt when they last gathered for President Barack Obama's Inauguration a year ago. In its place was a sense of palpable concern that the party is on the verge of suffering significant — if not crippling — losses...Raymond Buckley, the Democratic chairman in New Hampshire, brought up the...

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Brown slaps back at Patrick Kennedy

Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., struck back at the son of his Senate predecessor today. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., had criticized Brown for seeking to be sworn in quickly so that he could take votes in the Senate instead of appointed (not elected) Sen. Paul Kirk, D-Mass. Said Brown: “I was elected and the votes are certified and I’m here to do my job. It’s unfortunate that he would use mean-spirited comments like that at a time when we’re just trying to solve the problems of the Commonwealth,” Brown said today on his first full day on the job....

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It's settled: Global warming science is sloppy

From the Dutch News: According to the last IPCC report, published in 2007, some 55% of the Netherlands is below sea level and 65% of gross national product is produced in that area. But according to the national statistics office CBS, just 20% of the country is below sea level and 19% of GDP is earned there. 'I am very disturbed,' environment minister Jacqueline Cramer told MPs. 'I do not wish to accept any more mistakes.' Sometimes you get the feeling they're just making this stuff up....

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It's not the deficit, it's the spending. Part II

Rasmussen reported a second deficit-related poll yesterday: Eighty-three percent (83%) of Americans say the size of the federal budget deficit is due more to the unwillingness of politicians to cut government spending than to the reluctance of taxpayers to pay more in taxes..[J]ust nine percent (9%) of adults put more blame on the unwillingness of taxpayers to pay more in taxes. In the party breakdown, just look at how closely Independents and Republicans are thinking alike right now, and also how readily Democrats agree to this proposition: Ninety-four percent (94%) of Republicans and 91% of voters not affiliated with either major party place the blame on politicians, and two-thirds...

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Patrick Kennedy's sour grapes over Scott Brown

Even as a new poll hints that he faces his own election difficulties, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., took time yesterday to dump on newly elected Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass. Apparently, Brown made the mistake of demanding his seat as soon as he was certified and for possibly not voting as Kennedy's late father would have voted on a union-friendly nominee to the National Labor Relations Board. From The Hill: "Brown's whole candidacy was shown to be a joke today when he was sworn in early in order to cast his first vote as an objection to Obama's appointment to the NLRB," Kennedy said Thursday. Kennedy, who represents the eastern half of Rhode Island, also gave the impression that voters...

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GOP eyes Kennedy's seat -- the other Kennedy, in Rhode Island

Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., appears to be in trouble. If this poll is correct, then Democrats are in much more trouble than anyone realizes... The WPRI-12 poll showed the Rhode Island Democrat with a 56 percent unfavorability rating in his district - a negative that grows to 62 percent statewide. Only 35 percent of voters in Kennedy’s district said they would vote to re-elect him. Another 31 percent said they’d consider a different candidate and 28 percent said they would vote to replace him, according to the poll....

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CQ: Shelby takes a page from the Nelson-Landrieu playbook

From Congressional Quarterly: Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., has placed a blanket hold on all executive nominations on the Senate calendar in effort to win concessions from the Obama administration and Pentagon on a variety of fronts affecting his home state, according to aides to Senate Majority Leader Reid. Reid should have expected this. Once it became obvious that he would pay bribes, it's only natural that more people would start making demands....

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Cheers in Congress: 'Woo-hoo! The taxpayers will keep funding our spending binge!'

Democrats cheered after narrowly passing an increase in America's debt ceiling by $1.9 trillion. Video: Woohoo! Taxpayers will keep it coming!...

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There is no private mortgage market

This chart appears in a little-reported section of TARP Inspector General Neil Barofsky's 225-page report -- the part in which he excoriates the government's policy of re-inflating the housing...

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'Corpse-man': Obama also needs a pronounce-o-prompter

Over at RealClearPolitics, they show the video of President Obama mispronouncing the word "corpsman" this morning. It's embarrassing all on its own, but it also makes one wonder about the story he's telling. Surely, the corpsman he refers to did not introduce himself as a "corpse-man." On the heels of Obama's conspicuous teleprompter use in a sixth grade classroom (see photo) and in a small meeting with an advisory panel, one must ask: has this president been overrated when it comes to rhetorical delivery?...

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Has Carly Fiorina jumped the shark -- or the sheep?

This leaves me completely speechless. I don't think I have ever seen a dumber campaign commercial than this web-ad released by Republican Carly Fiorina's campaign in the California Senate primary: This reminds me of the Mike Gravel "Rock-in-the-pond" ad, except that it's much more embarrassing....

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Addressing fearful Dems, Obama argues in the alternative

Here's Jon Ward's take in The Daily Caller on President Obama's meeting yesterday with Democratic lawmakers: President Obama on Wednesday rolled out a dizzying set of accusations against the Republican party that veered toward contradicting one another, as he encouraged Senate Democrats to keep fighting for his agenda. The president, during an 80-minute session with Democratic lawmakers, made the following claims: Republicans don’t want to fix health care or the economy; when they do want to fix health care or the economy, their ideas are bad; and Republicans may have a few good ideas but Democrats have included them in legislation. This is what attorneys call "argument in the...

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Obama's 'green' policies a boon for employment -- in China.

From Bloomberg: President Barack Obama is spending $2.1 million to help Suntech Power Holdings Co. build a solar- panel plant in Arizona. It will hire 70 Americans to assemble components made by Suntech’s 11,000 Chinese workers. That gap shows the challenge Obama faces as he works to create “green” jobs. This is the sort of success the stimulus package is having nationwide. Without it, the Chinese would have fewer jobs, and we would probably all be eaten by alligators. But if you think that's something, just wait until we pass cap-and-trade....

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It's not the deficit, it's the spending.

From Rasmussen: President Obama has now turned his attention to the ballooning federal budget deficit, but a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that a modest plurality of voters (41%) prefer a budget deficit with tax cuts over a balanced budget that requires higher taxes. Thirty-six percent (36%) would rather see a balanced budget with higher taxes. Twenty-three percent (23%) are not sure which is better...Fifty-three percent (53%) of voters believe decreasing the level of government spending will help the U.S. economy. Sixty-one percent (61%) say cutting taxes will boost the economy, the highest level of support since May. Bear this in mind as President Obama...

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Obama has a banana in his ear

"If we had allowed the meltdown of the financial system, unemployment might be double what it is today," President Obama said in his State of the Union address last week. "More businesses would certainly have closed. More homes would have surely been lost." These words remind me of that old "Sesame Street" skit -- the one where Ernie has a banana in his ear. He tells Bert that it's there to keep alligators away. "Ernie!" replies the ever-annoyed Bert. "There are no alligators on Sesame Street!" "Right," Ernie says. "Works pretty good, doesn't it, Bert?" Obama can always scare people with counterfactual narratives -- "If I hadn't done it then ..." -- because we'll never really know...

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Upon revision, 800,000 jobs will disappear

From Bloomberg: The U.S. may lose 824,000 jobs when the government releases its annual revision to employment data on Feb. 5, showing the labor market was in worse shape during the recession than known at the time. Their multimedia presentation explains the technical reasons behind the discrepancy, which applies to the period between April 2009 and March 2009....

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