The Big Ass Second Term/Politics thread part VII: Mitch McConnell Rises

[KevinNYC]

Republicans won big on Thursday, bigger than predicted. Why?

Nate Silver says polls were biased towards Democrats this year as opposed to 2012 where polling bias was towards Republicans. The Democrat in VA is going to win by less than 1%. He was up 9 in the polls.

This evidence suggests that polling bias has been largely unpredictable from election to election. Beyond the shadow of a doubt, the polling was biased against Democrats in 1998, 2006 and 2012. However, just as certainly, it was biased against Republicans in 1994, 2002 and now 2014. It can be dangerous to apply the “lessons” from one election cycle to the next one.

In fact, its much more likely to be a larger bias in off year elections when less polling is done.

[KevinNYC]

New Majority Leader McConnell gave an interview to Time.

No to government shutdown.
No to full Obamacare repeal. Yes to repealing the individual mandate.
Yes to approving the Keystone XL pipeline.


this part was interesting

So, in 2016, what’s your top priority?

Well, it’ll be to keep the majority, of course.

What about winning the White House?

Well, that’s not unimportant. Obviously, winning the White House is the most important thing and I think we’re going to have a good shot at it.

[Nanners]

fvck the keystone pipeline, that pipeline is awful for the american people. we take all of the risk and reap none of the rewards.

[KevinNYC]

Obama gave a speech the other day where he said he wants a new Authorization to Use Military Force to fight ISIL* and funding to combat ebola.


Some Democrats have said this is a challenge to Republicans to stop playing armchair quarterback and help solve things.



I would like to see the new Senate pass a law to make Obama call it ISIS.

[BasedTom]

just passing by

[KevinNYC]

The US targeted the Khorasan group again in Syria with drone strikes. The target of the strikes appears to be a French Jihadi who joined Al Qaeda and became a bomb maker

The United States said it conducted air strikes on Wednesday night against the so-called Khorasan group, an al Qaeda-linked militant faction based in Syria, and said the group was plotting to attack Europe or the United States.

U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a target of the strike was David Drugeon, a French-born militant and convert to Islam who some U.S. officials say is a bomb maker for the group.

General Lloyd Austin, the head of the U.S. military's Central Command, said Drugeon was one of the group's "leadership elements and one of the most dangerous elements in that organization."

He declined to say whether Drugeon was killed, telling a forum in Washington the military was assessing the results of the strikes. Asked whether Drugeon was a target, he said, "Any time we can take their leadership out is a good thing.".....


U.S. officials have described Khorasan as a grouping of skilled al Qaeda veterans who moved to Syria from the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and set up operations under the protection of Nusra Front, the main Syrian al Qaeda affiliate.

[KevinNYC]

just passing by

That same guy lived under all three forms?

[theballerFKA Ace]

McConnell seems pretty smart and wise. I think he'll do alright if he can keep Ted Cruz and his more extreme minions in line. I'm excited about the shared balance of power in Washington. The Republicans have the football now, lets see how they run.

[RidonKs]

ugly stuff

[KevinNYC]

Ben Carson throws his hat in the ring.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...s-look-ahead-/


http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...s-look-ahead-/
[QUOTE][B]It

[theballerFKA Ace]

Ben Carson throws his hat in the ring.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...s-look-ahead-/


http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...s-look-ahead-/

Ben Carson may be black but he is extreme right. Like a black version of Ted Cruz. The Republicans controlling all 3 houses would be bad for the country, as well as for themselves, because there would be no Democrat punching bags for moderate America, but an extreme Republican like a Ben Carson or Ted Cruz would be a disaster.

Rand Paul looks like the most promising Republican but I hope Hillary wins. The country doesn't function well with all the power in one party's hands.

[GimmeThat]

just passing by

I am wayyyy late

but I thought I just found the guy who thought he came up with the name Dumbo

[Patrick Chewing]

Mitch's voice is so annoying. Sounds like he has marbles in his mouth.

[KevinNYC]

Mitch's voice is so annoying. Sounds like he has marbles in his mouth.

John Stewart does a good impression of him as the Looney Tunes Turtle.

http://looneytunes.wikia.com/wiki/Cecil_Turtle

[KevinNYC]

On a Friday night before Thanksgiving week, comes a good Friday night newsdump.

The Benghazi "Scandal" is over. The House Intelligence Committee killed it.
House finds no government wrongdoing in Benghazi

two-year investigation by the Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee has found that the CIA and the military acted properly in responding to the 2012 attack on a US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, and asserted no wrongdoing by Obama administration appointees.

Debunking a series of persistent allegations hinting at dark conspiracies, the investigation of the politically charged incident determined that there was no intelligence failure, no delay in sending a CIA rescue team, and no missed opportunity for a military rescue.


It also found no evidence the CIA was covertly shipping arms from Libya to Syria.

In the immediate aftermath of the attack, intelligence about who carried it out and why was contradictory, the report found. That led Susan Rice, then US ambassador to the United Nations, to inaccurately assert that the attack had evolved from a protest, when in fact there had been no protest.

But it was intelligence analysts, not political appointees, who made the wrong call, the committee found. The report did not conclude that Rice or any other government official acted in bad faith or intentionally misled the American people.

The House Intelligence Committee report was released with little fanfare on the Friday before Thanksgiving week. Many of its findings echo those of six previous investigations by various congressional committees and a State Department panel. The eighth Benghazi investigation is being carried out by a House Select Committee appointed in May.