Gallup: Opposition to President similar to 2010 and 2006, greater than other second term midterm elections

Click on table to enlarge it.

Compared to the 2010 election, Republicans are virtually exactly the same, but Democrat support is down 7 percentage points.  Democratic strategist Mark Mellman in The Hill newspaper claims that Republican picks ups over 2010 will be small and that means the Republicans won't be able to claim a mandate, but that is equivalent to saying the tide isn't very high because it can't greatly exceed the record levels reached during the last hurricane.

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Biden upsets allies in Middle East by incorrectly claiming that they are funding al-Qaida fighters in Syria

From the Associated Press:

Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday called the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates to clarify that he did not mean to imply in his remarks last week that the Gulf ally was supporting al-Qaida fighters in Syria.
Biden spoke with Prince Mohamed bin Zayed, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi and a key Emirati leader, the White House said.
It was the second time in two days that Biden had to call a key partner in President Barack Obama's coalition to walk back comments he made on Thursday, when he said that U.S. allies - including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the UAE - had funded and armed extremist groups linked to al-Qaida. . . .

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Corruption in Virginia, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe should be in a lot of trouble for bribing state senator, bribe caught on tape

Democrats don't seem to understand that there is a huge difference between the two cases:

1) Republicans offer a Democratic State Senator a job.  Now it is true that the Democrat has to resign his seat to take the job and that his resigning will give the Republicans control of the state Senate, but there is no explicit quid pro quo.

2) Democrats promise the that same Democratic State Senator a job for his daughter if he remains in office.  That is a definite quid pro quo and  against the law -- it is a crime.  To put it simply it is a bribe.  More specifically, the bribe was being offered to get a particular piece of legislation through.

Now prosecutors have been looking diligently into the first case, even though the now former Democratic State Senator claims that there was no quid pro quo.  Now the state Attorney General is a Democrat and prosecutors have not yet launched an investigation in to Terry McAuliffe, but the evidence here seems overwhelming simply because there is a recording of the McAuliffe's chief of staff offering the bribe.  The Washington Post has this transcript (the part in bold is the key):

“Hey Senator. This is Paul Reagan again. I just wanted to bounce one idea off you. I know there was a lot of frustration with your daughter, not, you know, getting a judgeship or something. if there’s something that we can do for her, I mean, you know, we have a couple of big agencies here that we still need agency heads. We could potentially, potentially, subject to approval of the governor and so forth, you know, the department of mines, minerals and energy could be available. So we would be very eager to accommodate her, if, if that would be helpful in keeping you in the senate. We, we would basically do anything. We just need you really, we need you for the rest of your term and beyond, but in the immediate future, we need you to help us get this Medicaid deal through and I think we’ve got a way to do it. So anyway, please let’s keep all this confidential. Call me 703-850-----. Thank you sir. Bye.”

Now the obvious point is this: Who could have turned the audio over to the Washington Post?  It seems that the only person who was likely to do that is the former DEMOCRAT state senator.

Here is the problem for McAuliffe.  His press spokesman noted: "Coy indicated that McAuliffe had no objections to it and suggested that the prospective job offer Reagan floated was not on par with what Republicans are accused of promising Puckett.  'The governor has full confidence in Paul Reagan,' Coy said."  Paul Reagan is McAuliffe's chief of staff so it is also hard to put much distance between the two of them.

It is pretty hilarious to listen to some Democrats suggest a defense for the Democrats (from the Washington Post): “Certainly based on prior cases, an offer of a job would be a thing of value. But would it be a thing of value to Puckett if the job is being offered to his daughter? That’s not clear cut.”  Does anyone who reads the above transcript not believe this is a bribe?  Read it again:  "So we would be very eager to accommodate her, if, if that would be helpful in keeping you in the senate. We, we would basically do anything. We just need you really, we need you for the rest of your term and beyond, but in the immediate future, we need you to help us get this Medicaid deal through and I think we’ve got a way to do it." Does anyone think that it wasn't clear that something of value to the state senator was being offered?

Will national media cover this?  When McDonald got in trouble it instantly got major national attention.  McDonald was convicted on less evidence than this.  Jason Riley has a write up about this in the WSJ, but there are relatively few stories on all this.

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Union uses Obamacare to defraud taxpayers of $1.3 million

From Fox News:

A Texas union’s dirty laundry -- aired out in court when workers charged they were cheated out of overtime pay – also shows the labor organization ripped off taxpayers under a $1.3 million contract to sign people up for ObamaCare, a watchdog group is claiming. 

Non-profit group Southern United Neighborhoods got a $1.3 million federal grant in 2013 to serve as a "navigator," enrolling people in Affordable Care Act coverage. The group subcontracted with United Labor Unions Local 100, which, according to Cause of Action, paid members less than it billed the government and, in some cases, paid them to recruit union members. The watchdog group discovered the alleged discrepancy in court papers filed by union workers suing the labor organization for unpaid overtime.  

“Southern United Neighborhoods and ULU Local 100, both rebranded ACORN entities, present a risk of violating the law – this time by potentially misusing over $1.3 million of taxpayer dollars for union activities instead of enrolling individuals in the Affordable Care Act,” Daniel Epstein, executive director for Cause of Action said to FoxNews.com. 

Epstein and his group sent a letter to the federal Health and Human Services Inspector General this week asking that SUN and the union be investigated for fraud. . . .

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Taxpayers pay for this "nonpolitical" speech by Obama

Here is the transcript from Obama's talk at Northwestern Unversity:

Now, I am not on the ballot this fall.  Michelle is pretty happy about that.  (Laughter.)  But make no mistake:  These policies are on the ballot -- every single one of them.  This isn’t some official campaign speech, or political speech, and I’m not going to tell you who to vote for -- although I suppose it is kind of implied.  (Laughter and applause.) . . . 

There’s a reason fewer Republicans are preaching doom on deficits . . .  There’s a reason fewer Republicans you hear them running about Obamacare . . . Republicans in Congress actually had to take a stand on policies . . . at least one top Republican in Congress said . . . 

Of course, since this was a non-political talk to the students, Obama was able to get taxpayers to pay for his trip out to Chicago so that he could to this $50,000-a-head fundraiser for the Illinois Governor.  

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Despite Obama's efforts to hide the coming health insurance spike until after the election, word is starting to leak out

President Obama has pushed back the dates for health insurance renewal until after the election, but still some information is going to come out before the election.  Will people be as clear of the implications as they would be if they actually saw the bills before the election?  Undoubtedly "no."  But still some information is starting to get out.  From The Hill newspaper:

Alaskans buying health insurance through their state exchange can expect a price spike of more than 30 percent on average, news that could hurt Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska), who voted for ObamaCare, 

Alaska Public Media reports that the two health insurance companies supplying plans on the state exchange will dramatically increase their plans' average costs next year. 

Republicans have long predicted that a spike in insurance costs driven by ObamaCare's state exchanges would occur this fall, and while that prediction has failed to materialize in many states, in Alaska, it looks like they were prescient — and that it might hurt Begich's campaign. . . .

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For Coast-to-Coast AM listeners: information on "Dumbing Down the Courts"

Reviews and debates on my book Dumbing Down the Courts is available here.

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