April 2011
53 posts
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Tea Party Decline Threatens Guinta Influence
47% of Americans have an unfavorable opinion of the Tea Party movement compared to just 33% who view the movement favorably. An April 20-23 USA Today/Gallup poll measured the highest unfavorable rating for the Tea Party movement since Gallup began asking the question last March.
As the Tea Party loses popularly with the American public, Republican candidates swept into office by the movement...
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Pawlenty, Romney Disavow Previous Policy...
Last night we were treated to the embarrassing spectacle of Republican presidential candidates denouncing their own policy initiatives. In the GOP’s zeal to oppose everything proposed by Pres. Obama, the party has abandoned many of its best ideas from the past. Republican orthodoxy requires policy makers who supported and implemented those ideas to now disavow them.
Exhibit #1:...
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Rand Paul Learns a Truth About American Politics
Americans are ideological conservatives and operational liberals. For the last 50 years, majorities have expressed agreement with general conservative principles and support for activist government to address social problems. In an interview with John DiStaso, Sen. Rand Paul acknowledges learning this lesson.
“Forty-seven Republican senators signed on to support the balanced budget...
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Guinta Constituents Angered by Budget Vote
Last night, New Hampshire Congressman Frank Guinta faced his constituents for his first town hall forum since casting his vote for the GOP budget that guts Medicare while extending tax cuts for the wealthy. The voters (and one soon-to-be voter) were angry and upset.
“If you don’t like the plan, let me know that.” Someone shouted back: “We don’t like it!”
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Shea-Porter to Face Primary Challenge from Dowdell
James Pindell reports Portsmouth resident Joanne Dowdell has filed paperwork to run for Congress in New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District. Dowdell is New Hampshire’s first African-American member of the Democratic National Committee.
Dowdell will be facing two-term Rep. Carol Shea-Porter in a Democratic primary. Shea-Porter, who lost the seat to GOP Rep. Frank Guinta, announced...
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Guinta and Ayotte: "Our Version of Al-Qaeda...
Paul O’Neill, Treasury Secretary under Pres. George W. Bush, notes the catastrophic damage not raising the debt ceiling would have on the U.S. economy and likens those playing politics with the issue to terrorists.
The people who are threatening not to pass the debt ceiling are our version of Al-Qaeda terrorists. Really. They’re really putting our whole society at risk by threatening...
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Did Guinta Convince Trump of His Birther Bona...
Rep. Frank Guinta headed to Portsmouth today and shelled out $1000 to have lunch with Donald Trump. When he and the Donald chatted in the hallway, do you think maybe Guinta established his Birther bona fides with Trump by telling him about this exchange he had with a constituent?
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Bettencourt: Mass. Drivers Will Flock to NH for $1
Majority Leader Bettencourt suggests Massachusettes drivers are going to head to New Hampshire to fill their gas tanks if the state cuts the gas tax by five cents per gallon. Let’s check the numbers.
If we assume the entire savings is passed along to consumers (which is not guaranteed), a driver buying 20 gallons of gas would save $1.00. At $4.00 a gallon, if our Massachusetts driver...
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It's Called "Predatory Lending" for a Reason
In a move that would allow payday lenders to return to the state and set up shop, the New Hampshire House today voted to dramatically increase the maximum allowed interest rate for vehicle title loans. SB57, An Act Relative to Regulation of Title Loan Lenders, passed the House by a narrow 180-171 vote. It previously passed the Senate by a 17-6 margin.
Although payday loans are marketed as quick...
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Ann McLane Kuster "On the List"
EMILY’s List, the influential organization dedicated to electing pro-choice Democratic women to political office, announced today that Ann McLane Kuster is among the first set of candidates to receive its “On the List” designation.
The “On the List” designation is a new feature for the 2012 cycle and differs from a full EMILY’s List endorsement, which is typically announced later in the...
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"Obfuscation is Pretty Much the Only Play" for...
Jonathan Chait points out one of the truisms of American politics, “Americans hate government in the abstract and favor it in the specific.”
Republicans win when the conversation centers around the broad issues of taxes and spending and lose when the discussion turns to their specific proposals, like cutting taxes on high income and gutting Medicare.
For Republicans to succeed, Chait...
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"Charlie Bass Loves to Watch Sinking Ships"
The House Majority PAC, a new independent-expenditure “Super PAC” dedicated to winning Democratic control of the U.S. House, has launched a radio ad targeting Rep. Charlie Bass for his recent vote in favor of the GOP budget.
Eveyone has a favorite movie. Congressman Charlie Bass says his is “Titanic.” Yep. Turns out, Charlie Bass loves to watch sinking ships. That’s...
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Quote of the Day: Rejection of Reality
The dismaying truth is that birtherism is part of a larger pattern of rejection of reality that has taken hold of intimidating segments of one of the two political parties that alternate in power in our governing institutions. It is akin to the view that global warming is a hoax, or that the budget can be balanced through spending cuts alone, or that contraception causes abortion, or that...
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ARG: 47% of GOP NH Primary Voters Support Tea...
In last week’s ARG survey of likely GOP voters in the New Hampshire presidential primary, 47% responded that they consider themselves “supporters” of the Tea Party. An earlier Magellan survey found 58% of likely Granite State GOP primary voters supported the goals of the Tea Party “all” or “most of the time.”
Mitt Romney maintained a similar lead among...
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Assessing the Democratic Gubernatorial Candidates
On Blue Hampshire, former State Rep. Jim Splaine, longtime observer of the Granite State political scene, takes a look at the emerging race for the 2012 Democratic gubernatorial nomination. Splaine believes Gov. John Lynch should run and can win big. If Lynch chooses not to run, Splaine lists the leading contenders.
Mark Fernald. [H]e has spoken and written about the needs of our state more and...
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Bonus Quote of the Day: Folks of a Certain...
When you combine the words “tea party” with “presidential candidates” and “media event,” you get, well, a media event. And the little get-together held April 15 at the State House was just that. … The most intriguing aspect to it all is that folks of a certain political stripe within the walls of the State House are pointing to the event as yet another...
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ARG Poll: Romney Maintains NH Primary Lead
As GOP presidential wannabes begin to flood the state, Mitt Romney continues to hold a double-digit lead over his nearest competitor in the New Hampshire presidential primary. (Though as I’ve said, it doesn’t matter.)
In a new ARG survey of likely Republican primary voters, Romney leads the field with 32%. Donald Trump is his nearest competitor with 17%. Four others —Newt...
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Quote of the Day: Disproportionate and Drastic
“The House’s proposed cuts are so disproportionate and so drastic that they would threaten the ongoing transformation at UNH just as it is taking hold. I am asking that you provide UNH with the support we need to complete our metamorphosis. I ask this not for myself or my colleagues or even for the students who are now enrolled at UNH. I ask it instead for the next generation of students and...
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Bass: GOP Medicare Plan Is Not Dramatically...
Ezra Klein breaks down the House-proposed Medicare plan:
The money seniors would get to buy their own policies would grow more slowly than their health-care costs, and more slowly than their expected Medicare benefits, which means that they’d need to either cut back on how comprehensive their insurance is or how much health-care they purchase. Exacerbating the situation — and this is...
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Politico: Guinta "Settles Score with Organized...
Politico’s Jeanne Cummings writes that while most new House members spent their first few months in Washington promoting standard-issue conservative legislation, nine of the 96 House freshmen used the legislative process to “assist donors, protect favored industries or settle scores with their political enemies.” Rep. Frank Guinta was singled out for using his new power to settle...
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NH Senate Passes Right-To-Work Legislation
Today, the New Hampshire State Senate passed a Right-to-Work bill by a veto-proof, 16-8 vote. GOP State Rep. Lee Quandt explains:
What happened this morning? This morning, 16 members of our state Senate forgot who they are supposed to represent. They voted to approve legislation written and promoted by a Virginia-based lobbying group, even after it was clear that the bill would harm New...
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Marco Rubio Models Himself After Racist Homophobe
[Sen. Marco] Rubio, in an interview with National Review Online, says that the late senator Jesse Helms, the firebrand conservative from North Carolina, is his model.
From Helms’ New York Times obituary (2008):
He fought bitterly against federal financing for AIDS research and treatment, saying the disease resulted from “unnatural” and “disgusting” homosexual behavior.
“Nothing...
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Another Notch on Bully O'Brien's Gun
Rep. Lee Quandt reports GOP Rep. Susan Emerson was just removed from the House Health, Human Services & Elderly Affairs Committee by Speaker Bill O’Brien.
The story I was told was that Susan sent a letter to the senate asking them to restore some of the budget cuts. Susan has strong feeling, rightly so, for the needy and helpless that the state budget was going to touch.
It has...
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Lackluster Fundraising Quarter for PAC-Man Bass
Rep. Charlie Bass reported raising a relatively modest $119,688 last quarter. That’s considered $30,000 below the Mendoza line — the threshold of incompetence — for House fundraising. In keeping with his previous fundraising efforts, most of the money came from political action committees. Individuals donated a paltry $15,000 to Bass this quarter.
Much of the PAC money comes...
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Why Congress Doesn't Increase Taxes on Higher...
Jonathan Chait notes a new Marist poll, showing registered voters favor increasing taxes on high income by a 64% - 33% margin, and wonders why the tax debate tilts so far right.
The interesting thing about tax cuts for the rich is that proposals to raise taxes on the rich aren’t some fringe, populist fad. They command support from economists at places like Brookings and the Tax Policy...
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Frank Guinta's Pennies from Heaven
Congressional candidates have reported their first quarter fundraising numbers. Rep. Frank Guinta had a solid quarter, raising a little over $200,000. (Hotline declares $150,000 is the Mendoza line for House fundraising). Here are a few lowlights:
Given Guinta’s budget slashing rhetoric, I was initially puzzled by his support for a project that is the epitome of wasteful military spending...
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"Do You Really Want to Move Backward?"
Students, have you ever been bullied? Have you ever watched a sibling, a friend or a classmate suffer from bullying? Parents, do you want your child to attend a school where bullying and harassment of any form will not be tolerated? Teachers, do you want your students to be able to focus in class and learn as much as they can?
Do you really want to move backward?
— Brianna Hartford, a...
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NH House Budget: Documenting the Damage
In a legislative forum in Portsmouth this week, House Democratic Leader Terie Norelli assessed the impact the House-passed budget would have on the state. “This budget will costs thousands of public and private jobs, will put the lives of Granite Staters at risk, and will lead to significant increases in local property taxes.”
An itemized list of the budget’s impact on the...
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Rick Santorum: On Abortion and Social Security
Yesterday, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum denied saying there are not enough people to pay into the Social Security system because so many women have had abortions.
Santorum said the comment, which has been attributed to him, was made by a caller on a radio show. While he said he could see the logic, he would never equate abortion with economics.
Here’s the direct quote from...
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Frank Guinta: Ryan Budget Not Extreme Enough
Before the House of Representatives passed Rep. Paul Ryan’s proposed 2012 federal budget today, the House voted on an alternative budget offered by the Republican Study Committee.
[The] Republican Study Committee’s alternative budget [is] a radical plan that annihilates the social contract in America by putting the GOP budget on steroids. Deeper tax cuts for the wealthy, more severe...
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Terie Norelli on the Impact of the House Budget
This budget will costs thousands of public and private jobs, will put the lives of Granite Staters at risk, and will lead to significant increases in local property taxes.
— Terie Norelli, April 12, 2011
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Quote of the Day: “This Place is Ready to Implode”
I just got back from the state house after testifying on a bill and the conversations up there were quite interesting. I talked to not only democrats but real old fashion republicans. Some used the words “this place is getting ready to implode”. The stress level is quite high and the speaker has a new nickname, “bully O’Brian” instead of Billy O’Brian. That appears to be the perception and it is...
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Mitt's Unresolvable Health Care Reform Dilemma
Five years ago today, Massachusetts passed comprehensive health care reform — a program that became the model for the Affordable Care Act.
But Mitt Romney — who announced just yesterday that he is forming an presidential exploratory committee — has tried to downplay his role in enacting what he once defended as the “ultimate conservative plan” and has thus far stayed mum about the anniversary....
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PPP Poll: NH Voters Don't Like Bass and Guinta
Today’s Public Policy Polling survey finds New Hampshire Reps. Charlie Bass and Frank Guinta “have both fallen quickly out of favor with their constituents.” Both congressmen have negative favorability ratings in their respective districts.
34% of voters in Guinta’s 1st Congressional District have a favorable opinion of Guinta compared to 41% who have an unfavorable...
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PPP Poll: NH Voters Favor Democrats, 49% - 41%
A new poll from Public Polling Policy indicates New Hampshire voters might be experiencing buyer’s remorse with the Republican majorities they elected to the state legislature in 2010.
By a 49% - 41% margin, voters now say they would vote for a generic Democrat over a generic Republican in their district if the election were held today. This represents a 16-18 point swing from voter...
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Anti-Union Thugs Attack Right-To-Work Opponent
First, Republican State Sen. Sharon Carson is attacked by the out-of-state National Right to Work Committee with a smear so vicious and unscrupulous that a GOP Representative is moved to label them a “hate group.”
The antics of this hate group which claims the “Right to Work” organization they work for supersedes NH’s right to govern itself in a way which is most...
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NH House Says No to Barring Guns from Schools
Yesterday afternoon, I had the following text message exchange with my thirteen year old son:
Him: Schools on lockdown. Me: Whats up? Him: Apparently a psychopath is in the school. Him According to someone in my homeroom who was just downstairs someone has a gun.
It turns out there wasn’t an armed psychopath in the school, just a man exercising his “natural right” to walk by...
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Quote of the Day: Distorted and Outlandish Claims
I am reminded of the extremism of the out of control, religious group that protests at funerals of our fallen soldiers claiming the death is gods punishment for crimes committed by others. They bring their own judgements upon the world to places they were never asked to visit and they do so to fill the world with the same hate they fill themselves with. I for one have no use for their hate or...
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Kelly Ayotte's Lies and Distortions: Planned...
Wednesday, Sen. Kelly Ayotte gave a web interview to Marjorie Dannenfelser, President of Susan B. Anthony List. SBA List is an organization that seeks to eliminate abortion by supporting pro-life politicians.
The interview topic was Planned Parenthood. Given how Planned Parenthood funding has become central to the Congressional budget fight, it’s worth taking a closer look at the interview....
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"The House Is Controlled by a Dictator & His...
Rep. Laura Pantelakos (D-Portsmouth) has been serving in the New Hampshire House since 1978. In 32 years as a State Representative, she has seen it all. But, as she writes in a fiery letter to the editor, she has never seen anything like the antics of the current House leadership.
I have been elected to the General Court for 17 terms. I have never until this year felt such a combative group of...
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Another Day at the State House Circus
With his Republican party imploding in the wake of the D.J. Bettencourt “pedophile pimp” scandal, GOP Chairman Jack Kimball stepped in and tried to rein in the wayward lawmakers.
“Many of our State Representatives seem to have lost sight of the bigger picture and what Republicans were elected to do.
Speaker Bill O’Brien, perhaps stung by the implicit criticism, refused to...
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NH House Too Extreme for Gingrich and Union Leader
Last week, the New Hampshire House passed HCR 19, a Tea Party-backed resolution asserting the state’s authority to nullify federal laws it deems unconstitutional. Yesterday, the bill that 242 New Hampshire state reps supported was disavowed by Newt Gingrich and a Union Leader editorial.
Newt Gingrich:
“I think Andrew Jackson dealt with that” during the nullification crisis, he said, adding that...
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GOP Disgraceful Attack on Catholic Church...
In an email to colleagues, Tim Comerford (R-Freemont) said Catholic Bishop McCormack is a “corrupt scumbag” and “disgraceful man.” Comerford later said he “might” have gone too far in his language, but not the sentiment.
“That email was an emotional response,” said Comerford. “What I should have said is that [McCormack] is a pedophile shuffler or an enabler.”
This is sad.
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Senate Grownups Begin Budget Process
Will the State Senate restore the draconian budget cuts to critical services for the mentally ill, at-risk children, and institutions of higher learning proposed by the House? It’s too soon to tell — the GOP does have an overwhelming 19-5 advantage in the chamber. But there are some encouraging signs.
The Senate Finance Committee chairman opened his committee’s budget work...
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NH Lawmaker Threatens Catholic Church Tax...
Catholic League president Bill Donohue reports receiving an email from New Hampshire State Rep. Andrew Manuse threatening to revoke the Catholic Church’s tax exempt status in New Hampshire. Donohue received a separate email from New Hampshire State Rep. Lynne Ober accusing Catholic Bishop McCormack of helping pedophiles abuse children.
The emails came in response to the Catholic League...
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Kelly Ayotte Has the Worst Idea in Washington
Sen. Kelly Ayotte is a proud co-sponsor of the Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA), a proposed constitutional amendment that would cap federal spending at 18% of GDP, a requirement that could only be waived with a 2/3 vote from Congress.
Republican Bruce Bartlett, senior policy analyst in the Reagan White House and deputy assistant secretary for economic policy under George H.W. Bush, explains that...
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House Republicans Don't Care About Revenue...
Buried under coverage of last week’s House budget vote and historic State House rally was news of the state’s monthly Revenue Report. Friday, the Department of Administrative Services released the report showing March revenue exceeded projections by $5.8 million.
Revenue for FY2011 has been trailing projections, so this is good news. But it has added significance because of the...
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D.J. Bettencourt: No Apology, No Retraction
After calling Catholic Bishop John McCormack a “pedophile pimp who should have been led away from the State House in handcuffs with a rain coat over his head in disgrace,” House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt sent a public letter to the bishop.
In the letter, Bettencourt said his “colorful comments” were “undiplomatic” and admitted “a better choice of...
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Quote of the Day: A Fight No One Wanted
The voters, I thought, they told us they wanted the budget (spending) cut and taxes reduced and job creation. In this process everyone knew that there would be layoffs and program reductions. What I don’t think they directed was the horrific attacks on our public employees, police, fire, and state workforce that started a war you didn’t want and cannot win. Anyone who goes out looking for a...
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Frank Guinta's "Patently Unconstitutional" Budget...
When campaigning for Congress, Rep. Frank Guinta told a Dover town hall, “Whether Congress is discussing a bill on health care, education, taxes, spending or another issue, the primary concern for any representative should be whether the proposed law is constitutional.”
Ignoring his own advice, Guinta yesterday became a co-sponsor of H.R. 1255, The Government Shutdown Prevention...
