Maybe we’re not all as stupid or defeated as we appear.

ThinkProgress » Christine O’Donnell Not Sure If Separation Of Church And State Is In The Constitution

Yesterday, in a debate with Democratic opponent Chris Coons at Widener University Law School in Delaware, O’Donnell accused Coons of “constitutional ignorance,” saying “perhaps they didn’t teach you Constitutional law at Yale Divinity School.” But when Coons defended his position against teaching creationism by citing the First Amendment’s prohibition against establishment of religion, O’Donnell inquired, “that’s in the First Amendment?“:

Coons said that creationism, which he considers “a religious doctrine,” should not be taught in public schools due to the Constitution’s First Amendment. He argued that it explicitly enumerates the separation of church and state.

“The First Amendment does?” O’Donnell asked. “Let me just clarify: You’re telling me that the separation of church and state is found in the First Amendment?”

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” Coons responded, reciting from memory the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

“That’s in the First Amendment…?” O’Donnell responded.

Later in the debate, O’Donnell stumbled when asked whether or not she would repeal the 14th, 16th, or 17th Amendments if elected. She asked the questioner to define the 14th and 16th amendments, adding: “I’m sorry, I didn’t bring my Constitution with me.”

“You actually audibly heard the crowd gasp,” said Widener University political scientist Wesley Leckrone, adding that her responses “raised questions about O’Donnell’s grasp of the Constitution.”

ThinkProgress » Christine O’Donnell Not Sure If Separation Of Church And State Is In The Constitution

E.J. Dionne Jr. – GOP’s election strategy lets others do its dirty work

By E.J. Dionne Jr.

Monday, October 18, 2010

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. The Republican Party is running a three-level campaign this year that gives its candidates a wealth of advantages — in flexibility, deniability and determination.

At the first level are the party’s candidates, who can be as reasonable or as angry, as moderate or as conservative, as their circumstances require.

Next come the outside groups that refuse to disclose their donor lists. They are doing the dirty work of pounding their Democratic opponents in commercials for which no one is accountable. The Republican candidates can shrug an innocent "Who, me?" Deniability is a wonderful thing.  [mjh: Thank the “Conservatives” on the Supreme Court for this.]

And then, on the far right, Glenn Beck and his allies cast President Obama as the central figure in a conspiracy against America itself, fueling participation by the most extreme 10 percent or 15 percent of the electorate.

Their crackpot ideas, as the historian Sean Wilentz documented in the New Yorker recently, originated in the 1950s and ’60s, in the paranoid theorizing of the John Birch Society. But whereas responsible conservatives such as William F. Buckley Jr. denounced the Birchers and the rest of the lunatic fringe back then, Republicans this time are riding the radical wave. In some cases (think Sharron Angle in Nevada), the extremists are their standard-bearers.

It’s quite brilliant in its way, and judging by the polls, it’s working out rather nicely for the Republicans. They are also profiting from the discontent bred by an economic downturn that began on their watch. …

E.J. Dionne Jr. – GOP’s election strategy lets others do its dirty work

Having had 14 to 18 years – hell, 30, if you want to go back to Raygun – to screw everything up, “Conservatives” now scream that every attempt to fix their own fuck-ups is a failure in less than 2 years. Assholes.

If Republicans take the House – which they won’t succeed in doing – they’ll be fighting among themselves over which to do first: Undo everything Democrats have done or impeach Obama. And they will impeach him, the damn fools, as their last hurrah before the whole country slaps them down in 2012.

ThinkProgress » Rep. Steve King Blames President Obama For The Government Shutdown The GOP Wants To Orchestrate

In the absence of any tangible or new policy solutions, Republicans are promising one concrete action should they win a majority in Congress: government shutdown. Picking up on former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s two-tiered strategy, many Republicans are supporting Gingrich’s call to defund “every radical bill passed by the [Democratic] machine,” particularly the health care reform law.

Government shutdown would seriously jeopardize aid to vulnerable populations like veterans, Social Security and Medicare recipients, and 33 million Americans in need of health insurance. To defend such a disastrous strategy, Republicans are now shifting the blame on to President Obama.

ThinkProgress » Rep. Steve King Blames President Obama For The Government Shutdown The GOP Wants To Orchestrate

Eugene Robinson – 2010: The year of politicking insanely

This isn’t politics, it’s insanity.

I know that O’Donnell is likely to lose to Democrat Chris Coons. But until Election Day — at least — we’re supposed to take her seriously as the Republican candidate for the United States Senate. Sorry, but I just can’t do it anymore.

Nor can I pretend that Carl Paladino, the raging bull from Buffalo, is qualified by experience or temperament to be governor of New York. Or that Sharron Angle, whose small-government philosophy is so extreme as to be incoherent, could possibly make a worthwhile contribution as a senator. Or that Rich Iott, whose idea of weekend fun is putting on a Nazi SS uniform and gamboling through the woods, is remotely acceptable as a candidate for the House.

When has there been an election with so many looney tunes running under the banner of one of our major parties? It’s not that they are ultraconservative, or even that some of them believe their psychic powers let them know what the Founding Fathers would have thought about, say, stem-cell research.

Eugene Robinson – 2010: The year of politicking insanely

ThinkProgress » ThinkFast: October 14, 2010

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS) said this year’s midterm elections may tip the balance to the Republican Party for the next decade. Barbour suggests this midterm election will be one of the most important in recent memory due to both the effect of the 2010 U.S. Census and the number of gubernatorial seats that are up this cycle.

ThinkProgress » ThinkFast: October 14, 2010

Your vote is important. That said, I recall Karl Rove declaring a generation of Republican majority following 2004.

Study says cell phones affecting polling « New Mexico Independent

By Matthew Reichbach 10/14/10 7:39 AM

The amount of cell phone-only households is affecting the polls in electoral contests, a study released by the Pew Research Center suggests.

“In three of four election polls conducted since the spring of this year, estimates from the landline samples alone produced slightly more support for Republican candidates and less support for Democratic candidates, resulting in differences of four to six points in the margin,” Pew reported. “One poll showed no difference between the landline and combined samples.”

Pew says that the effect is even more pronounced when it looked at likely voters.

In that case, the poll without cell phones showed that 50 percent supported a generic Republican candidate while 43 percent supported a generic Democratic candidate. The same poll including cell phones is 47 percent to 44 percent in support of the Democrat.

This suggest that polling firms who do not include cell phone-only households could be understating support for a Democratic candidate.

Auto-dial pollsters like Rasmussen Reports, SurveyUSA and Public Policy Polling use this technology to keep down costs. This is why these pollsters poll more often than those who use live phone calls.

Study says cell phones affecting polling « New Mexico Independent

Vote Again 2010 Urges Young People to Get Out the Vote – AppScout

The Vote Again 2010 Campaign is a non-partisan collaboration of 30 organizations all dedicated to a common goal: making sure that young people get out to the polls each and every November. The people behind the group were active in the 2008 and the 2006 elections, and they’re back this year urging young people to go to the polls on November 2nd, and share their stories and videos through the Vote Again 2010 YouTube channel encouraging them to vote.

Vote Again 2010 Urges Young People to Get Out the Vote – AppScout