Midday Post-Election Roundup

November 5th, 2014

A few quick post-election links:

  • Here’s a really solid Washington Post insider piece on how Republicans won, and Democrats lost, the election. “From the outset of the campaign, Republicans had a simple plan: Don’t make mistakes, and make it all about Obama, Obama, Obama.” That piece is also notable for David Krone, Reid’s chief of staff, going on record at how Obama screwed them. “The disagreements underscored a long-held contention on Capitol Hill that Obama’s political operation functioned purely for the president’s benefit and not for his party’s.” Read the whole thing.
  • The supposedly ascendant Obama coalition is intermittent and unstable.
  • “Tuesday’s voting was a wave alright—a very anti-Democratic wave.” Among the myths exploded: It wouldn’t be about Obama or ObamaCare, and women or their ground game would save Democrats.
  • Mickey Kaus notes that almost all Democrats who supported illegal alien amnesty lost.
  • “28 senators who voted for Obamacare and won’t be part of new Senate.”
  • “The actual truth is that Obama simply doesn’t do his job, because he is lazy, and he refuses to do the non-glamorous, non-“fun” parts of his job such as compromising, horsetrading, or working out the details, because he is a committed die-hard ideologue who also suffers from an intense Messianic complex in which he can only be the conquering hero.”
  • Nate Silver: The polls were indeed biased: in favor of Democrats.
  • Who do you think liberals will hate more, Mia Love or Carl DiMaio?
  • Sandra Fluke lost as well.

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    Posted in Border Control, Democrats, Elections, ObamaCare, Republicans | 1 Comment »

    Brief Blurbs on a Brilliant Bloodbath

    November 5th, 2014

    Democrats didn’t just lose last night, they got slaughtered up and down the ballot:

  • Republicans took control of the Senate, flipping seven Senate seats in North Carolina, West Virginia, Arkansas, South Dakota, Colorado, Montana, Iowa, giving them 52 and control of the Senate. There’s a good chance that will be 54 after runoffs in Louisiana and Alaska.
  • Republicans added at least 12 House seats to their majority, a margin that is likely to grow as late seats finish counting.
  • Republicans picked up at least three governorships.
  • Republicans continued to make massive gains at the state legislative level. “The Republican wave that swept over the states left Democrats at their weakest point in state legislatures since the 1920s.”
  • Here in Texas, not only did Republicans win all statewide races (again), but Abbott beat Wendy Davis not only worse than Rick Perry beat Bill White in 2010, but worse than Perry beat Tony Sanchez in 2002: Sanchez came in at 39.96% of the vote; right now Wendy Davis is at 38.9%. Davis even lost white women by a 2-1 ratio. Battleground Texas bragged about how they were going to turn Texas blue; instead, it got still redder.

    • More later.

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    Posted in Democrats, Elections, Republicans, Texas | 2 Comments »

    Liveblogging Election Night 2014

    November 4th, 2014

    Davis is currently at 38.1%. Just for the record, I called Wendy Davis dropping below Tony Sanchez’s 39.96% back in September.

    Back

    In local election news, Williamson County Republicans Tony Dale and Larry Gonzalez both won decisively over their Dem challengers.

    OK, I’m heading home. This isn’t a Republican landslide, it’s a Republican tidal wave. Enjoy it now. Tomorrow the hard work begins.

    Congratulations to Greg Abbott on being elected governor of Texas!

    News media now saying Ernst wins and Republicans take control of the senate.

    Republican Joni Ernst takes lead in Iowa.

    A very solid victory speech, with lots of family thanked.

    Wendy Davis called Abbott to congratulate him.

    Nope, family members first. Daughter Cecelia Audrey Abbott.

    Lights went down and they’re about to introduce Abbott.

    Fox just called Kansas Senate race for Republican Roberts.

    Wendy Davis didn’t even win Texas women.

    Right now Wendy Davis is running behind Tony Sanchez’s 39.97% in 2002. $38%.

    Ran into Sen. John Cornyn on my way to the bathroom. Congratulated him. Now he’s being interviewed 3 feet away from me.

    Wisconsin Governor’s race called for Republican Scott Walker.

    Governor Perry speaking after a huge round of applause.

    Whoa!

    Not a shock, but someone calling it this early is.

    Abbott spokesman saying they crushed Democrats AND BattleGround Texas. “Helping them waste their money, the way Democrats always do.”

    Calling West Virginia Senate race for for Republican Capito. Not a surprise, but that’s a flip from D to R.

    Republican Rounds projected to win SD Sen. No surprise.

    Republican Ed Gillispie beating Warner in VA; not final, but if true that would indicate a truly epic Republican wave.

    GOP Sen pickups: Cotton beats Pryor in Arkansas,

    OK, now I’m in on Twitter, but on another browser…

    Hi there! I’m blogging from the Greg Abbott Victory Party at the ACL theater. Can’t seem to get Twitter to take my password, so this may just be LiveBlog rather than LiveTweet.

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    Posted in Elections | No Comments »

    Go Vote!

    November 4th, 2014

    Williamson County voting information.

    Travis County polling locations.

    I hope to live tweet/live blog election results tonight.

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    Posted in Austin, Elections, Texas | No Comments »

    And Now News of Another ObamaCare-Related Rate Hike: My Own

    November 3rd, 2014

    I’ve been covering ObamaCare since before it was even passed. Along the way I’ve documented numerous ObamaCare-related insurance cancellations and rate hikes. But now I have a special insurance rate hike to report on: my own.

    Humana Hike 2014

    Yes, my monthly rate will be going up by $100, a hefty 27.33% hike.

    Background: As a contractor, I currently pay for my own health insurance. I have a Humana HMO Platinum Plan for myself only, with a fairly low deductible and solid prescription drug coverage (I’m not on any truly budget-busting medication, but I am on one slightly pricey one that essentially makes the pricier plan more cost effective than the cheaper ones.) I bought my plan through the private insurance market and not the ObamaCare website. (And the children’s dental is on there only because it was a buck more and I didn’t want to go through the bother of the paperwork hoops necessary to get it taken off.)

    It’s not that I’ve never seen an insurance hike before, but before ObamaCare I never experienced one so breathtaking. Judging from results, ObamaCare seems designed to fatten both the bottom lines of insurance companies and to force people on affordable plans that Democrats disapprove of onto Medicaid.

    I think I may have gotten my hike notice early only because I’m on a private, non-employer plan. If you’re on an employer-covered plan, there’s a good chance your rate hikes will be coming down the pike after the election…

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    Posted in ObamaCare, Uncategorized | No Comments »

    Election News Roundup for November 3, 2014

    November 3rd, 2014

    Election day is tomorrow! Now would be a good time to locate your voter registration card…

  • Democrats come up with a brilliant new strategy to get their voters to the polls: threaten them. And yes, that letter did actually come from the New York Democratic Party. “Nice voter you got there. Be a shame if anything happened to it…”
  • Wendy Davis’ campaign may doom Battleground Texas efforts by alienating Hispanics.
  • “On Tuesday, it is all but inevitable that Greg Abbott’s campaign and Texas voters are going to beat Wendy Davis like a circus monkey.” I think this line is deeply unfair to circuses who treat their monkeys humanely…
  • Yet another area the Wendy Davis campaign isn’t strong in: math. Namely, their bragging that Democratic early voting was up from 2010 was false: “Hours later, the organization had to remove that memo from its website, after it became clear that Battleground Texas was using inaccurately low tallies from 2010.”
  • “Joni Ernst has charged to achieve a 7-point lead over Democrat Bruce Braley in a new Iowa Poll, which buoys the GOP’s hope that an Iowa victory will be the tipping point to a Republican takeover of the U.S. Senate.”
  • Speaking of Ernst, Tom Harkin has a unique pitch to vote against her: “Oh yeah, I’d totally bang that, but you shouldn’t vote for her because (R) and stuff.” Of course, I’m paraphrasing here…
  • Mary Landrieu says she’s unpopular because her Louisiana constituents are lousy, stinking sexist bigots. I’m sure they’ll enjoy hearing that…
  • The Charlotte Observer memory holes story on her family’s illegal graft. Reporting the news must rank considerably behind “Protecting Democrats” on The Charlotte Observer’s priority list…
  • Travis County GOP Guide to City Council candidates.
  • Travis County GOP on AISD, ACC, RRISD, etc. candidates.
  • More Travis County race information.
  • If you need additional reasons to vote against the latest rail boondoggle, here’s footage of the rally against it.
  • And here’s Holly Hansen’s rundown of RRISD races again.

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    Posted in Austin, Democrats, Elections, Republicans, Texas | No Comments »

    LinkSwarm for October 31, 2014

    October 31st, 2014

    Happy Halloween!

  • This week’s example of Democratic elected official defrauding a non-profit comes to you from Philadelphia congressman Chaka Fattah.
  • Democratic Representative Alan Grayson, the 17th richest man in congress, has cut off funds to estranged wife, and now both she and her kids are on welfare.
  • Former Obama champion Tina Brown now says he makes women feel unsafe.
  • Secret Service investigator into prostitution scandal resigns after his own prostitution scandal.
  • Marine veteran father banned from school after objecting to his daughters history assignment to “list the benefits of Islam.”
  • The war in Ukraine has cemented Putin’s dictatorship in Russia.
  • On the other hand, the ruble is crashing, despite rate hikes.
  • How’s that Chicago model working out?

  • High and trying to grab a cop’s gun is no way to go through life, son. Which goes a long way toward explaining why Michael Brown no longer walks among the living…
  • Japan may have a low murder rate, but as the follow chart from this piece on “haunted” apartments shows, their suicide rate dwarfs our murder and suicide rate combined.

  • Texas Tech student admits to filing false sexual assault charges. Under California’s new kangaroo courts, the student falsely accused would have already been convicted and expelled by now. (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
  • Fund managers are the fish in the game. They can’t leave the table.
  • Interesting piece on GamerGate. “The feminism of male demonization and female victimhood has become an insidious force that, despite its faux-progressive trappings, stands in the way of genuine equality. Whatever its flaws, GamerGate is a politically diverse movement of cultural resistance to this brand of toxic feminism. For that, it deserves at least two cheers.”
  • Dear Ridley Scott: Moses did not wear scale armor.
  • Links to this and previous years’ Fark scary story thread.
  • Now that’s what I call shag carpeting.

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    Posted in Crime, Democrats, Economics, Texas, Welfare State | No Comments »

    Election Roundup for October 30, 2014

    October 30th, 2014

    Early voting ends tomorrow in Texas. Plan accordingly…

  • Turns out that Hispanics are just fine and dandy with a Republican-controlled senate. So how’s that “all gay marriage and abortion all the time” thing working out for you, Democrats?
  • CBS buries its own poll showing that Democrats are about to get slaughtered. (Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)
  • Democratic Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke was fired from her own family company because her “my way or the highway” management style alienated employees.
  • Ironically, Harry Reid protecting Democrats from tough votes may end up dooming them for tying them too closely to Obama.
  • Want to increase the number of black voters? Maybe it’s not such a swell idea to keep repeating that Obama is not on the ballot.
  • Democratic South Carolina gubernatorial candidate calls Republican Governor Nikki Haley a “whore.”
  • Dr. Milton Wolf endorses bitter rival Pat Roberts in Kansas senate race. Should help. (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
  • What better way to convince Iowans that Bruce Braley isn’t an out-of-touch elitist who sneers at them than having Joe Biden do a fundraiser for him in New York City?
  • Illegal alien amnesty is so unpopular even Karl Rove’s PAC is running ads against it.
  • Democrats offer up cunning direct mail come-on: “Accept Defeat.”

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    Posted in Democrats, Elections, Media Watch, Republicans | No Comments »

    Antonio Buehler Found Not Guilty

    October 30th, 2014

    From the Austin legal beat, Antonio Buehler was found not guilty of refusing to obey a police officer’s instructions while filming an arrest on January 1st, 2012.

    Chalk up another small but real win for the right to monitor government employees doing their work in public.

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    Posted in Austin, Crime, Texas | No Comments »

    Houston Mayor Backs Down Over Sermon Subpoenas

    October 29th, 2014

    Better late than never, Houston Mayor Annise Parker comes to the belated understanding that she was getting her ass handed to her on a plate over her subpoenas of church sermons by enemies of her Transvestite Bathrooms Initiative, and has dropped the subpoenas entirely.

    However, the clue-by-four still doesn’t seem to have fully registered:

    The move is in the best interest of Houston, she said, and is not an admission that the requests were in any way illegal or intended to intrude on religious liberties.

    Snip.

    The plaintiffs’ attorney in the lawsuit, Andy Taylor, called Parker’s announcement a “head fake,” and challenged her not only to pull down the subpoenas but to drop the city’s defense of the lawsuit and put the ordinance to a vote. The city last summer ruled opponents’ petition to submit the equal rights ordinance to a repeal referendum fell short of the legal requirements spelled out in the city charter, prompting the lawsuit.

    “The truth is she’s using this litigation to try to squelch the voting rights of over a million well-intentioned voters here in the city of Houston,” Taylor said. “It’s very simple why we filed a lawsuit: Because they won’t do what the city constitutional charter requires them to do.”

    Ms. Parker is obviously what we call a “slow learner.”

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    Posted in Democrats, Texas | 1 Comment »

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