No Runny Eggs

The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.

Archive for January 28th, 2010

Another indicator Feingold could be in trouble

by @ 20:58. Filed under Politics - National, Politics - Wisconsin.

Rasmussen Reports came out with a new poll today that has former governor Tommy Thompson beating Senator Russ Feingold in a hypothetical matchup, 47%-43%. Indeed, that poll, despite involving somebody who has been known to tease us instead of either of the announced challengers, it got a fair amount of national attention, from The Campaign Spot to Hot Air, from Instapundit to Memeorandum, from Politico’s Scorecard to Politics Daily. Of course, that could be because Politico’s Jonathan Martin got an instant post-Brown-win “I’m not saying no” reaction from Thompson (H/T – Kevin Binversie).

This is not the first poll this political season that gave Thompson an advantage over Feingold in the hypothetical matchup. A poll done by the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute and the UW-Madison Political Science Department had Thompson up 43%-39% in the hypothetical matchup back at the end of September (see tables 33 and 34).

At the time of the first Politico story, Kevin noted the lengthy “Hamlet-Brett Favre” act that Thompson has pulled since essentially the moment he left Madison for DC and the Bush administration. Indeed, Jim Geraghty noted that most of those who have not made a campaign of this magnitude official by this point have decided not to run. Bolstering that line of thinking is the reported 4th-quarter fundraising numbers by both Feingold and the more-conventional Republican challenger, Terrence Wall (both courtesy WisPolitics) – Feingold raised $947,000 to boost his warchest to $3.65 million, while Wall took in $500,000 in the first 7 weeks of his campaign. Despite Thompson’s wide name recognition and the fact that nomination papers aren’t circulated in Wisconsin until June, it’s going to take a lot of money to overcome the messaging money can buy, and there’s not a lot of time to get that money.

However, the timing and release of this poll strongly suggests that Thompson is preparing to jump in the race and overwhelm both the still-unknown Wall and the not-fundraising-and-yet-unknown Dave Westlake. Things are too far along for a major pollster to focus on a hypothetical without a very strong indication that the hypothetical will happen.

The key change in the fortunes of Feingold is that he has lost the independents. In September, he had a 39%-38% lead among “independents”; now, he’s losing them to Thompson 53%-36%. That overwhelms his recapturing of self-described Democrats.

Worse, Feingold’s unfavorables have skyrocketed. In September, his Approval Index (strong approval less strong disapproval) was +9 (23% strong approval, 14% strong disapproval, with the overall at 54% approval-30% disapproval). Now, it’s at -4 (26% strong approval, 30% strong disapproval, with the overall at 47% approval-48% disapproval).

Revisions/extensions (10:39 pm 1/28/2010) – If Feingold loses the black vote,…. (H/T – Patrick)

It’s Time For Michael Steele To Go!

by @ 11:03. Filed under Politics - National.

Howard Dean has been the proverbial gift that keeps on giving.  Starting with his scream in Iowa and through incidents like:

“I think with a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, you can’t play, you know, hide the salami, or whatever it’s called.” –urging President Bush to make public Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers’s White House records

Dean becomes a characitured face of many of the things that are wrong with Democrat thinking.  Don’t get me wrong, I want Dean to stay where he is.  His frequent foot-in-mouth episodes help crystallize the absurdity of many of the Democrat policies.

On the other hand, I don’t admire the same characteristics from our current RNC chairman!

Michael Steel is also a gaffe machine.  From picking a fight with Rush Limbaugh a short time after he became Chair to more recent statements like saying that Republicans aren’t ready to lead and saying:

`Critics should ‘get a life,’ ‘shut up,’ ‘fire me’  … or get out of the way’

after he received criticism about his ability to lead the party. 

While verbal gaffes are many times the result of an inexperience or inability to “think on one’s feet” and can be occasionally excused, gaffes of planned events or execution are much less so.

Under the direction of Michael Steele, the RNC decided to have their winter meeting in……..Hawaii! 

“Imagine lush tropical gardens, waterfalls, exotic wildlife and priceless artwork,” boasts the website of the Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort & Spa. “This one-of-a-kind Honolulu Hawaii hotel resort is the only true resort property in Waikiki.”
While unemployment hovers around 10% and in an environment where the general population thinks much of the political class is elite and removed from the realities of “normal” people’s lives, Michael Steele books his meeting in Hawaii, completely missing the impact of the public’s perception on the credibility of the GOP.
Fortunately, some of the meeting participants understand the potential impact of the meeting’s location:
“Do I want voters to think that Republicans do nothing but go to beach resorts in January? No,” House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) told reporters last week.
When asked about the location, Michael Steele responded:

I’ve had the chance to participate in a few company events in Hawaii.  While there is some work done to satisfy the IRS requirements, I can assure you that no meeting on Hawaii is a “working meeting!” 

If Michael Steele really believes that his gathering is a “working meeting,” why didn’t he choose some place like Des Moines, Kansas City or even St. Louis?  Why wouldn’t Steele have chosen a place that didn’t require an 8+ hour flight for most of the events participants?  Couldn’t Steele find a convention hall and some hotel rooms in a city that is more convenient than Hawaii?

Michael Steele is a liability.  On so many levels he has shown that he is either clueless or patronizing towards the mood of the country represented by the tea party participants. 

It’s time to find someone to lead the RNC who can harness and work with the tea party movement.  Michael Steele isn’t the person.  It’s time for Michael Steele to go!

Open Thread Thursday – hair of the dog version

by @ 7:33. Filed under Open Thread Thursday.

I hope you’re not too hung over from last night, because I’ve got the cure-all from Metallica…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzMJhOwBLqw[/youtube]

Before I turn over the thread, there is a must-read from Erick Erickson that recognizes a state of war now exists between the federal government as headed by Teh Won and the free market.

Now, I’ve got a headache to attend to.

Talking to Four Year Olds – Be Careful of The Friends You Choose Edition

by @ 5:57. Filed under Talking to Four Year Olds.

Our twin boys, Thing 1 and Thing2 are in fifth grade.  Parenting is a full contact activity at this age.  While they aren’t yet old enough to get into major trouble, they are flexing and testing their independence muscles.  One of the areas where we’ve had to work with both of the Things is in their choice of friends.

Both of the Things are very social and compassionate boys (Insert “where did they get the from?” here).  From a very early age they had a spirit that let them make friends with anyone and everyone.  For the most part, this character trait has been a great advantage to them.  However, as the saying goes; the greatest strength can be the greatest weakness.

Because the boys accept others so readily, they don’t always use good judgement in determining who they should be friends with.  A couple of times they have befriended other boys who did not have the same values regarding school work, school behavior or behavior with other kids.  On a couple of occasions, the poor choice of a friend has gotten one of the things in trouble in school.  Our counsel to them has always been that while we want them to be friends with as many people as possible, they need to be aware of the behaviors of the people they choose to be friends with.  Like it or not, we are judged by and impacted by the company we keep.

Wow, that was a lot of stage setting for this article from WSJ.  It seems that the PGA is about to have a really tough season.  While the financial situation of some previously large sponsors like GM, Chrysler and Stanford Group Co. have left some holes in the sponsorship line up, the big problem is the loss of Tiger Woods.

The loss of Woods is and will, have a large financial impact on the PGA:

Ticket sales are down, fewer hospitality tents have been sold, and the title sponsor had to be lured with a cut-rate price.

It is a harbinger of what the PGA Tour may be without its most popular player. Three of the Tour’s 46 tournaments scheduled for 2010 don’t have a lead corporate sponsor, nor do 13 of next year’s tournaments. Television viewership of the first two events of this year’s Tour tumbled.

While the PGA will be challenged this year, they have no one to blame but themselves.

It’s become clear that the behavior which caused Tiger Woods to step out of the tour was not a behavior that was hidden from those around him.  It’s now clear that Woods’ behavior was well known on the tour.  One would have to believe that if not actually assisting in his behavior, people associated with the tour abetted the behavior simply by keeping it from the public and not dealing with it.

What’s all this have to do with my counsel to the Things?  Well, like the Things, the PGA had a choice of how closely to embrace their friend, Tiger.  They did not remain casual friends.  No, the PGA made Tiger their BFF while knowing that his behavior was dangerous to himself as well as the reputation of the PGA. 

The result?  Because the PGA not only listed Tiger as their BFF but perpetuated the mystic of the clean cut, family guy, knowing that the truth was something far different, when Tiger fell, so did the PGA.

The halcyon days of both Tiger and the PGA may be over, we’ll have to see.  The Things have both learned how to be friends without letting the friendship dictate who they are as individuals.  It will be interesting to see whether the PGA will be able to learn that same lesson.

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