1) There are two ways to think of debates.
a) Did you excite/enthuse base? On this, Trump wins. He was consistent, and made the points that he is running on in this election--law/order; economy; D corruption in terms of FBI investigation/Hunter; handling of virus. #Debates2020
2) Biden didn't help himself with base. Performance was OK, but he was forced several times to distance himself from policies that are baseline progressive demands--Medicare for All, defund police, Green New Deal. Never forget the D party is seriously divided. #Debates2020
3)Then b) Did u persuade anyone not already decided? WSJ recent polls suggests there weren't many persuadable watching this debate. Most have made up minds. Still, on that front, legitimate question if Trump steamroller style won him points with, say, suburban women. #Debate2020
4) But also legitimate question if Biden's mealy answers on city violence, or China/jobs, or Hunter/ethics won him points with average independents.
Overall, debate was too messy to call a winner. But in such a tight race, different calculations come to bear. #Debate2020
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1. This "omnibus" is one of the ugliest, least transparent bits of lawmaking I've ever seen--and that's saying something. It isn't just the spending, though the new domestic numbers are gross, given the trillions spent in the past few years.
2. It's also that Congress, in a new trick, is attaching dozens of pieces of stand-alone legislation to this--retirement changes; public lands management; healthcare policy; cosmetics regulation; electoral count act changes; horseracing rules.
3. Every one deserves a full debate and a roll call vote, so that Americans can see where their representatives stand. Instead, this monstrosity is cooked in a back room, and members can claim they had no choice but to vote against a shutdown--ducking accountability.
The GOP choice: Make way for a new generation of winning leaders, or stick with a guy who keeps losing Republicans key elections. wsj.com/articles/donal… via @WSJ
2) For those saying Trump wasn't on the ballot, c'mon. He was definitive in candidates chosen for major races who got trounced/beat. Bolduc/Oz/Dixon/Michels/Mastriano. The rallies clearly didn't help--tho might have hurt.
3) For those saying this is because McConnell/SLF didn't do enough, c'mon. SLF poured millions in to Trump candidates in Senate races-PA/NH/AZ/GA. $30 million in Ohio alone. One reason Vance won is because DeWine won by huge margin and pulled along voters.
1) The comment section for this piece is clocking a lot of liberal pushback, and their arguments provide great insight as to why the left likes this system..... wsj.com/articles/the-r… via @WSJ
2) It basically goes like this (I will decode): Our current two-party primary/election system is turning out "radicals" (ie, conservatives) that are bad for society (ie, liberal causes)....
3) Therefore we the people (ie, liberals funding these ranked choice initiatives) will impose upon all of you a voting system that guarantees more "moderate" "consensus" candidates (ie, politicians more likely to do what we on the left would like.)
1) I see @Liz_Cheney retweeted this. Someone ought to ask her how a conservative can justify a committee plan to rifle through the emails/voicemails/texts/calls of private citizens, including her colleagues--without giving them opportunity to litigate.
2) Last I knew, principled conservatives had issues with government that thinks it has a limitless right to secretly spy on its citizens--depriving them of the right to contest in court. Remember the whole FISA/Carter Page thing?
3) At least when Schiff pulled his secret subpoena stunt, he mainly obtained metadata--what phone number called what phone number, and when. The Jan. 6 snoops have asked companies to preserve a stunning amount of text/email/voicemail info, over a 10-month period.
2) The Jan. 6 Committee hardly has an obvious right to this information. We have laws protecting American privacy. I know it is asking a lot that reporters should do their homework, but they can start with this statute, 47 USC 222.
3) That law does allow telcos to release information when required by "law," but it is far from clear the Committee meets this test. Just last year the DC circuit threw into doubt whether House even has the power to enforce subpoenas.
2) The piece asserted that Mr. Johnson’s “drumbeat of distortions, false theories and lies reminds some Wisconsin Republicans” of Sen. Joseph McCarthy. It then quoted Sensenbrenner saying McCarthy's name.
3) But Sensenbrenner never said Johnson was like McCarthy. He’d made a general point about Wisconsin’s love of mavericks (he also talked about Dem Sen. Bill Proxmire--tho Times filed to mention that), and noted its voters appreciate that Johnson “thinks outside the box.”