NH-01: What an Amazing Coincidence!

co inky dink? (0.00 / 0)

http://www.bluehampshire.com/s...

Not in the shot

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by: JonnyBBad @ Mon Apr 19, 2010 at 21:36:25 PM CDT

No doubt people asked Mahoney to run, just like they asked Guinta. (0.00 / 0)

I remeber when Guinta entered the race, he made a point of saying he was "asked" to run.  He wasn't running just because his ego was making him run, he wasn't running because he wanted to run for a higher office than Mayor of Manchester: he was running because so many people had asked him to rum.  He didn't say who "asked" him.

No doubt we will be told that people also asked Mahoney to run.

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by: TimothyHorrigan @ Tue Apr 20, 2010 at 05:05:40 AM CDT

Look to the Rotary and the Chamber of Commerce (0.00 / 0)

and the Lions and all those other eleemosynary business groups that occupy deal-makers when they're not at the country club.
The ties are forged at the selection process.  That's why Republicans offer multiple flavors to make it more likely one stamp will be licked more than the others.

That's perhaps not a felicitous image.  Only the ones that actually make it to Washington become rubber stamps.

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by: hannah @ Tue Apr 20, 2010 at 06:37:43 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

hey watch it... (4.00 / 1)

you tar with too big a brush..Hoefer is a 15 year Rotarian...for instance...they raise money to end polio worldwide etc etc etc   very differnt than Chambers

Not in the shot

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by: JonnyBBad @ Tue Apr 20, 2010 at 09:40:53 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

One hopes they also encourage people to run for office. (0.00 / 0)

My point is to emphasize that waiting until the primary to have input is too late.  Voting is simply not enough.

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by: hannah @ Tue Apr 20, 2010 at 13:42:26 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Rotary does no overt politics...although they will host both sides n/t (0.00 / 0)

Not in the shot

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by: JonnyBBad @ Tue Apr 20, 2010 at 16:22:04 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

about his announcement video (0.00 / 0)

For his annoucement, Mahoney made a point of standing in front of the Memorial Bridge in Portsmouth.  This is a landmark bridge which is on the verge of closure or even collapse if it doesn't get fixed immediately.  And yet, the issue of our nation's crumbling infrastructure is not addressed during his announcement.  

BTW, the mere fact that he started his campaign in the diverse and notoriously liberal city of Portsmouth contradicts his rabidly rightwing message.

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by: TimothyHorrigan @ Tue Apr 20, 2010 at 05:11:49 AM CDT

Actually, I'd say it's rather typical to assign your own weak (0.00 / 0)

points to the opponent.  It sort of preempts the issue and deters the opponent from focusing on her strengths.  Now when Carol talks about infra-structure, she can be charged with me-too-ism.  
It's an effective tactic.  It throws Democrats off their stride to be challenged where they are strong.  Telling Kerry his medals weren't deserved was a brilliant bluff coming from a man who went AWOL.
The bluff needs to be ignored and citizens need to challenge what phoney mahoney actually has to offer.  Surely he's got some sort of public record.

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by: hannah @ Tue Apr 20, 2010 at 06:45:58 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

@ 1:27 (4.00 / 2)

Mahoney asserts that the remaining balance of the stimulus money NOT be put into the economy, but rather be returned to pay down the national debt.

Even the high unemployment rate may be less important politically than you'd think. Seth Masket, a political scientist at the University of Denver, has found that, in midterm elections since 1950, there's been no correlation between the unemployment rate and election outcomes. The key economic variable for voters, other studies show, has been income growth, or, more specifically, how fast per-capita G.D.P. is rising. In other words, if income growth is brisk enough, Democrats should benefit at the polls even if unemployment stays high. And Democrats do have an ace in the hole when it comes to keeping the economy moving: last year's stimulus bill was backloaded, which means that close to five hundred billion dollars in stimulus money is still to be spent.

That backloading of the bill was good economics: with the Federal Reserve doing less to pump up the economy, an extra half-trillion dollars in fiscal stimulus will help pick up the slack. It was also good politics, since much of that money will be flooding into the economy during the key second and third quarters. Republicans in Congress would presumably block any Democratic attempt to pass another major stimulus, both for ideological reasons and because they have no political incentive to see the economy improve. (While you might expect all incumbents to pay the price for a poor economy, in Sides's words, "It's really only the President's party that suffers when the economy's bad.") Pushing much of the stimulus spending off until this year made that less of a problem.

(h/t JBB)

I'm sure Mahoney's position with regards to the "national debt" is sincere.

Well, I'm kinda sure.

Maybe, not so much.

www.KusterforCongress.com - www.paulhodesforsenate.com

www.nikitsongas.com - www.devalpatrick.com

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Tue Apr 20, 2010 at 06:54:03 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

The national debt is owed mainly to Americans and our good (0.00 / 0)

friends who are looking for a safe place to store their money while they don't need to use it themselves.
The national debt is a red herring.  If fewer subsidies are wanted, just pay productive workers more.  Then they'll be able to afford keeping themselves alive and rearing the next generation.

The favored argument has always been that when the federal government borrows, there's not enough money for productive investment because interest rates go too high to reflect the short supply.  Well, we now know that near zero interest rates do not keep the money flowing and while restricting the money supply artificially can cause the economy to seize up and almost crash, pouring in money does not simply reverse the process.  Money is not a fuel; it's a lubricant.  What Wall Street did was the equivalent of draining the oil out of the engine.  The reason they were able to do that for so long seems to be that Bush/Cheney kept infusing funds via various insurance assistance.  Indeed, the one trillion over seven years for the war pales in comparison to what was shoveled out as flood insurance, mortgage insurance, small business loan insurance, and crop insurance.  Even the money that went to medicare and medicaid pales in comparison.  In 2007 alone (the last year for full amounts in the reports) Florida collected $292 billion in flood insurance.  Georgia collected $15 billion.  The housing bubble didn't just inflate the price of houses; it justified increases in home and small business insurance, fire insurance and property taxes.  And somehow none of that registered as inflation.  Isn't that strange?

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by: hannah @ Tue Apr 20, 2010 at 14:42:13 PM CDT

[ Parent ]