Democrats on the March

So That Nobody Hasn’t Been Warned

By Justin Katz | September 14, 2010 |

Just in time for election season, I’ve finally managed to read Travis Rowley’s The Rhode Island Republican. For good reason, the largest portion of the forty-page pamphlet addresses unions, specifically public-sector unions, primarily in context of the “Cloward-Piven Strategy”: In 1966, two Columbia University political scientists, Richard Andrew Cloward and Frances Fox Piven, penned an…

RE: Shifting Packs, Political and Economic

By Marc Comtois | August 3, 2010 |

Justin makes a good point: whether Rhode Island can take advantage of the company of other states experiencing Rhode Island-like economic misery will have a lot to do with politics. 70+ years of one party rule haven’t done much for us and you’d think that Rhode Islanders would be ready to try something else. Yet,…

Going Negative on the Public

By Justin Katz | May 7, 2010 | Comments Off on Going Negative on the Public

With Tiverton’s financial town meeting tomorrow, I’ve been incapacitated with activity, over the past couple of days, but there’s always time for a chuckle. A couple of National Reviews ago, Rob Long’s “The Long View” column imagined a go-negative strategy that the Democrats might attempt against their main opposition, the American people (subscription required): GENERIC…

Slipping an Internet Grab in Under Cover of Wall Street Theater

By Justin Katz | May 3, 2010 |

It’s quickly becoming the signature move of Obama and the Congressional Democrats: slip an unrelated power grab into law under cover of a larger power grab. Most recently, over the Internet: Earlier this week, the Washington Post reported on another little Easter egg in a bill cruising through Congress that would normally have followed Nancy…

Lest We Lose Our Sense of Dark Awe

By Justin Katz | March 11, 2010 |

A little pre-bedtime reading: The government ran up the largest monthly deficit in history in February, keeping the flood of red ink on track to top last year’s record for the full year. The Treasury Department said Wednesday that the February deficit totaled $220.9 billion, 14 percent higher than the previous record set in February…

Healthcare as Inspiration for Fealty

By Justin Katz | March 9, 2010 |

Further to Monique’s post about signs of the wisdom of the Democrats’ desired healthcare regime, I thought I’d beat the drum again with Mark Steyn’s Saturday column: … Look at it from the Dems’ point of view. You pass Obamacare. You lose the 2010 election, which gives the GOP co-ownership of an awkward couple of…

Town Democrats Just Say Whatever

By Justin Katz | February 27, 2010 |

I’ve meant to address a letter in the Sakonnet Times (not online) that attacks Tiverton Citizens for Change, not because it’s particularly worthy of response, but because it’s such a clear illustration of the up-is-down rhetoric that our local opposition has decided to pursue as a political strategy. The letter, expressing concern about an “extreme…

Lynch Bids for Congress, Depends on Voter Amnesia

By Marc Comtois | February 14, 2010 |

As the usual and unusual suspects emerge out of the woodwork, we can be sure that we’re going to see and hear some things that should induce a chuckle amongst the politically astute. And there’s no better example than now-Former RI Democratic Party chair Bill Lynch: The partisan politics of Washington are no longer providing…

Ahh, the Transparency of the Campaign Finance Reform Inspired 527 Schemes

By Marc Comtois | February 10, 2010 |

We’ve heard the caterwauling in reaction to the recent Supreme Court ruling regarding corporate political donations. But, whether you like the idea of big business giving directly to political candidates or not, you have to admit that at least it’s a relatively transparent process. A simple check of any number of sources will readily reveal…

The Federal Church of the United States of America

By Justin Katz | January 17, 2010 |

By now, you’re likely to have heard Martha Coakley’s interpretation of the First Amendment’s application to the matter of abortion. In conversation with radio talk host Ken Pittman, the Democrats’ candidate for U.S. Senate spoke as follows: Ken Pittman: Right, if you are a Catholic, and believe what the Pope teaches that any form of…