Counting the Score

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Mr. Biden’s attendance is a sign, Democratic officials here say, that he wants Iowa voters to know he is very much considering another White House bid in 2016. (NYT, 8/11/2013)

Run Joe, run!

In keeping with our practice of supporting the novelty candidacy of Democrats for office (see Sharpton, Rev Al; Weiner, Anthony; Spitzer, Eliot) RedStateVT urges Joe to get in the race. It's not too early, especially with Hillary out there grabbing the headlines. (Benghazi? What's Benghazi?)


Limited
In another setback for President Obama’s health care initiative, the administration has delayed until 2015 a significant consumer protection in the law that limits how much people may have to spend on their own health care.
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The discovery is likely to fuel continuing Republican efforts this fall to discredit the president’s health care law. (NYT, 8/12/2013)

Republicans do not have to do anything to discredit the law. That is happening organically.


Two By Four
Two decisions Monday, one by a federal judge in New York and the other by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., were powerful signals that the pendulum has swung away from the tough-on-crime policies of a generation ago. Those policies have been denounced as discriminatory and responsible for explosive growth in the prison population. (NYT, 8/12/2013)

And yet somehow, magically almost, crime is down. Liberals just do not get this whole cause-and-effect thing.


Sympathies
Whenever I write sympathetically about religion, I get bombarded by tweets and notes from readers who normally agree with me but cannot abide by the idea that religious belief should be seen as intellectually serious.
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Getting lambasted doesn’t bother me. On the contrary, citizens talking back to the purveyors of opinion is a glorious aspect of free speech. But my correspondents underscore the existence of a strong anti-religious current within a segment of the liberal community that is both an important political fact and a potential problem for progressives. (E.J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post, 8/4/2013)

Loyal readers know that Dionne Jr. is often a subject of our ridicule. Today we will give him a tip o' the hat for calling out Liberals on their animosity toward religion. We saw this first hand recently at a local lecture. The topic was a theistic view of the big bang theory and the speaker was a local professor who was also a minister. His presentation was wonderful. He was clear about where his beliefs lay; he was scientific in his approach; and he fervently welcomed a discussion on opposing views. Such openness and candor which drew scorn from the atheists in the audience who were more interest in scoring cheap shots then in having an intellectual discussion.


How Bob Filner Can Save His Political Career
San Diego Mayor Bob Filner’s endurance in the face of mounting sexual harassment accusations may be driven by his need to get out of an even bigger problem: a federal criminal investigation that has received little attention from the national media. (Dailycaller.com, 8/9/2013)

It is very simple, actually. All Filner has to do to escape sexual harassment charges is to issue a press release reaffirming his iron-clad, 100% support of abortion. All abortion including late-term abortion, partial birth abortion, abortion for minors, abortion for minors without parental notification. Feminists and Liberals will rally to his defense.