GOP Leads in Critical States

I've yet to see the headline "Democrats Lead in Critical States," so perhaps we're past the point of no return.

Bummer for the Dems.

At Politico, "Polls give Republicans edge in critical states":

Republicans are on the precipice of taking control of the Senate for the first time in eight years, new NBC News/Marist polls released Sunday show, but the GOP has yet to lock up many of the key battleground races.
The surveys show the Republican candidate with slight, inside-the-margin advantages in three of the hardest-fought contests for Democratic-held seats: Arkansas, Colorado and Iowa. North Carolina is a dead heat.

Republicans’ brief scare in South Dakota appears to be over, with Mike Rounds now leading by double digits. But the party still faces danger in Kansas, where an independent candidate is in a virtual tie with the GOP incumbent.

NBC/Marist didn’t poll all of this year’s competitive Senate races. But with Montana, West Virginia and South Dakota in the GOP column, Republicans need to pick up just three seats in the following states: Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana and North Carolina.

Republicans have a cushion. Five of those states currently lean toward the GOP, poll averages show, while North Carolina is still a toss-up. They also are closing the gap in New Hampshire. But the party may need to pick up additional seats if it loses Georgia, Kansas (if the independent conferences with Democrats) or Kentucky.

Here are the numbers from Sunday’s NBC/Marist polls...

Keep reading.

Senate Control Comes Down to Colorado, Georgia, and Iowa

Actually, I think Ernst has Iowa in the bag, so it's going to come down to Colorado, Georgia, and Kansas.

But here's Norah O'Donnell at CBS This Morning:

Former Communist Insurgent Dilma Rousseff Elected to Second Term as Brazil's President

I blogged about this at the time but don't see it in my search results, but here's Telegraph UK, "The former Marxist guerrilla who is set to become Brazil's first woman president":

She is a former Marxist guerrilla whose organisation once stole $2.5 million from the safe of the governor of São Paulo.

And now she's reelected to another four-year term. At the New York Times, "Brazil Stays With Rousseff as President After Turbulent Campaign":

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian voters re-elected Dilma Rousseff as president on Sunday, endorsing a leftist leader who has achieved important gains in reducing poverty and keeping unemployment low over a centrist challenger who castigated her government for a simmering bribery scandal and a sluggish economy.

Ms. Rousseff of the Workers Party took 51.4 percent of the vote in the second and final round of elections, against 48.5 percent for Aécio Neves, a senator from the Social Democracy party and scion of a political family from the state of Minas Gerais, electoral officials said Sunday night with 98 percent of votes in the country counted.

While Ms. Rousseff won by a thin margin, the tumultuous race was marked by accusations of corruption, personal insults and heated debates, revealing climbing polarization in Brazil. Mr. Neves surged into the lead this month in opinion surveys, only to be eclipsed by Ms. Rousseff as the vote on Sunday approached.

“People without much money have seen their lives improve during recent years,” said Liane Lima, 62, a secretary in São Paulo who voted for Ms. Rousseff. “I think we should let Dilma finish what she started.”

Indeed, Ms. Rousseff’s victory reflects broad changes in Brazilian society since the Workers Party rose to power 12 years ago with the election of her predecessor and mentor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who chose Ms. Rousseff as his successor to run in the 2010 election and campaigned for her again this year.

Building on an economic stabilization project put in place by the Social Democrats in the 1990s, Ms. Rousseff and Mr. da Silva aggressively expanded social welfare programs, lifting millions of Brazilians out of poverty. Pointing to the popularity of the antipoverty spending, Mr. Neves, the challenger in the race, said he would not scale it back.

But while Ms. Rousseff campaigned largely on her government’s support for poor and working-class citizens, she faced fierce criticism over her economic policies, with Brazil struggling with slow growth throughout her first term and a recession this year. Brazil’s financial markets gyrated wildly throughout the race, reflecting skepticism over her management of the economy.

Ms. Rousseff, 66, a former Marxist guerrilla who was imprisoned and tortured by Brazil’s military dictatorship, rejected much of the criticism while emphasizing that she had no plans to shift away from policies involving greater state control over the economy. Still, she signaled openness to shaking up her cabinet, including replacing her unpopular finance minister, Guido Mantega.

In addition to facing turbulence in the markets, Ms. Rousseff will deal in her next four-year term with a sprawling scandal involving testimony of bribes and money laundering at Petrobras, the national oil company, which has eroded confidence in the Workers Party. A former high-ranking executive at Petrobras has testified that he channeled bribes to the party and its allies in Brasília.

“I always voted for the Workers Party, since I was a teenager, but this government hasn’t done anything different,” said José Abel, 48, who runs a tourist agency in Brasília and voted for Mr. Neves largely out of concern over corruption in Ms. Rousseff’s government. “They’re just the same as other parties now.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Brazil's Marxist president seen with America's Marxist president, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Julia Roberts: I've Risked My Career by Not Having a Facelift

Actually, I think she's helped her career.

What a beauty. And let's keep it that way honey.

At Telegraph UK.

Julia Roberts: I've risked my career by not having a facelift http://t.co/BzOBIqMA8O

— Telegraph Film (@TelegraphFilm) October 26, 2014

Islamic State Urging More Lone Wolf Attacks

Impossible!

Lone wolves act alone. Progressives said so! Wah!

At ABC News:

Living With Ebola in West Africa

At the Big Picture.

Living with #Ebola in West Africa (in our redesigned blog) http://t.co/DC4SxLRp6r #photojournalism pic.twitter.com/wbZkGrfZqg

— The Big Picture (@big_picture) October 9, 2014

'Disaster' Predicted for #Democrats as Millennials Abandon Midterm Electoral Participation

Well, as I said before, Millennials have been taking it up the ass from the Democrats, so it's no surprise they're turned off from participation.

Couldn't happen to a more disgusting political party.

At American Thinker, "Democrats worried that youth vote alienation could lead to 'disaster'."

Epic Bumgarner Shutout in Game 5 of #WorldSeries

The series now heads back to Kansas City with the Giants leading 3-2.

And what a performance tonight by Madison Bumgarner. A historic shutout win.

Madison Bumgarner Complete Game Shutout #WorldSeries Game 5 We are all witnesses. pic.twitter.com/6gHrpb2rcy

— #OctoberTogether (@SFGiants) October 27, 2014

#sfgiants a win away from championship after Bumgarner gem: http://t.co/SaOhro2zQZ

— Henry Schulman (@hankschulman) October 27, 2014

Don't Quarantine Me Bro! Obama Administration Pushes Back Against Mandatory Ebola Quarantines

Barack Obola's pushing back.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Christie Defends Mandatory Ebola Quarantine for Health-Care Workers: But Administration’s Fauci Says Quarantines Send Wrong Message":

The White House pushed back against the governors of New York, New Jersey, Illinois and other states that instituted procedures to forcibly quarantine medical workers returning from West Africa, deepening an emotional debate brought on by recent Ebola cases in the U.S.

A senior administration official said Sunday that new federal guidelines under development would protect Americans from imported cases of the disease but not interfere with the flow of U.S. health workers to and from West Africa to fight the epidemic there.

“We have let the governors of New York, New Jersey and other states know that we have concerns with the unintended consequences of [quarantine] policies not grounded in science may have on efforts to combat Ebola at its source,” the official said.

It wasn’t clear what action the Obama administration could take to end the quarantines.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie held firm on his decision to quarantine returning health-care workers. “I absolutely have no second thoughts about it,” he said on Fox News.

A nurse detained in New Jersey after treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone retained lawyers to challenge her mandatory quarantine in a tent at a Newark hospital, where she said Sunday the conditions are “really inhumane.”

One of those lawyers, Norman Siegel, a prominent civil rights attorney, said the mandatory quarantine policy infringed on the constitutional rights of the worker, Kaci Hickox, a 33-year-old Doctors Without Borders nurse, raising “serious questions procedurally.”

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio also criticized how Ms. Hickox was treated.

Whatever happened to federalism? You know, the laboratories of democracy? We might find out that New Jersey's doing the right thing, but then again, the Democrat-left isn't really about keeping people safe and healthy. They're all about creating more political conflicts and distractions.

But keep reading.

Embattled Democrats Move to Pin Losses on President Obola

President Obola needs to be quarantined.

At the New York Times, "On Campaign Road, Uneasy Democrats Show Obama Their Tail Lights":

WASHINGTON — Bracing for a difficult election in just over a week, when they could lose control of the Senate, Democrats exasperated with the White House are already moving to pin blame on President Obama, whom Republicans have made the centerpiece of the campaign.

Even optimistic Democrats say they have little more than a 50-50 chance to retain their Senate majority. Senior elected officials, strategists and donors have begun to openly criticize Mr. Obama, contending that his low popularity and some ill-advised remarks have proved toxic for candidates trying to distinguish themselves from the president to appeal to swing voters.

“It is all Republicans are running on,” Gov. Mike Beebe of Arkansas said. “It’s not necessarily the national environment as it is mismanagement by the White House, real and imagined.”

Continue reading.

Heh, I'm just tickled by the Democrats' problems. They're so well-deserved, lol.

Latest NBC/WSJ Poll: Republicans Hold 11-Point Lead on Question of 'Who Should Control Congress?'

Wipeout!

At the Wall Street Journal, "Poll: GOP Expands Advantage Days Before Midterm Election":

Republicans have expanded their advantage in the final days of the midterm campaign and now hold an 11-point lead among likely voters on the question of which party should control Congress, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Annenberg survey finds.

Some 52% of likely voters in the survey said they wanted the election to produce a Republican-led Congress, while 41% favored Democratic control.

A week earlier, Republicans had held a narrower, 5-point lead on the question in the Journal/NBC/Annenberg survey.

“The Democrats, who badly need some momentum, find little comfort in these results some ten days out from the election,” said pollster Peter D. Hart, who helped conduct the survey. “The thread holding things together for them is both more slender and now even frayed.”

By historical measures, an 11-point lead on the question of which party should control Congress is large. Republicans held a seven-point lead on the question at this point in the 2010 election in a Journal/NBC survey, which used a different method to determine which voters were most likely to cast ballots. Republicans went on that year to make big gains in the Senate and to retake the majority in the House.

In the new survey, Republicans also led on the “congressional control” question among registered voters, a broader group than likely voters, with 46% favoring GOP leadership and 42% favoring Democratic control. The GOP lead had been two percentage points a week earlier.

“The GOP appears to be solidifying its lead,” said Mr. Hart.

The midterm battle for control of the Senate will hinge on state-by-state dynamics in about a dozen closely contested races, where Democrats hope intensive campaigning has built a climate more favorable to their candidates than national polls suggest.

Still, the Journal/NBC/Annenberg survey points to a national political climate that continues to favor Republicans. Coming amid fears of Ebola, the U.S. war on Islamic State terrorists and intensified campaigning just ahead of the election, the survey found that recent events had taken a toll on both parties but had hurt Democrats more.

Asked whether the events of the past few weeks made them feel more or less favorably toward the parties, 53% said it made them less favorable toward Democrats; 40% said they were less favorable toward Republicans.

Nearly 9-in-10 registered voters at the poll said they disapproved of President Obama's handling of the ISIS threat. Yep, the Democrats continue to appease our enemies, and it shows.

Jessica Valenti Lovin' Her Some Amy Poehler Sex Advice

Hmm, apparently Ms. Valenti's an anomaly for Robert Stacy McCain's theory of feminism inevitably leading to lesbianism.

She's married, of course. But besides that, she likes muff diving men --- or keep walking, brother.

Everything in Amy Poehler's book makes me think we'd be friends, but this sex advice for men proves we're soulmates pic.twitter.com/zpBc9r00iI

— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) October 22, 2014

Alana Campos

In Hawaii:



More here, "On the Set: Nude Playmate September 2012 Alana Campos (VIDEO)."

Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers

Standing ovation.

Angry Kaci Hickox, Quarantined Nurse, is CDC Employee and Registered Democrat (VIDEO)

Oh poor thing.

At CNN, "Quarantined nurse to CNN: 'My basic human rights' are being violated."

But see Got News, "#Ebola Nurse Complaining About Quarantine is Left-Wing Democrat, CDC Employee."

Polls Within the Margin of Error Are Killing the Democrats

Perhaps the polls are truly skewed toward the Republicans, or that the Dems will have the superior ground game, blah blah.

Whatever happens, at this point the Democrats are just hatin' life. And Obama.

Polls: Momentum swinging to Republicans http://t.co/6gLwiXYw6j

— The Hill (@thehill) October 26, 2014

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."



Also at Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES," and Woodersterman's, "Toonietoon Friday."

More at Randy's Roundtable, "Friday Nite Funnies (early edition)," and Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Grim Reapings."

Still more at Theo's, "Cartoon Round Up..."

CARTOON CREDIT: William Warren.

On Ebola, 'I don't think it's below the belt to have a feeling that the establishment or the ruling class in this country is not particularly competent...'

Oops!

New York Times columnist David Brooks goes off script!

At RCP, "David Brooks on Ebola: A Lot Of People Have No Contact With People Like Us Giving Them Expert Opinions":

I think it’s a respectable position to say we should not allow flights from West Africa. I don’t think it’s probably very effective, because don’t just fly here from direct to Africa. They fly around the world and then come here. So, I just don’t think it’s effective, but it’s a respectable position.

But I don’t think it’s below the belt to have a feeling that the establishment or the ruling class in this country is not particularly competent. And you wouldn’t look at the way Ebola has been handled, at least so far, and say it’s been a testimony to the competence of the establishment.

And there are a lot of people who are just — we have a great social segmentation going on. And so there are a lot of people just with no contact with the people like us they see on TV giving them expert opinion about Ebola or anything else, and they just want to wave it away and they just want to pull in and trust the people they trust and that’s local.

And when the national borders seem porous and uncontrolled, they are going to react. And I think that’s a completely legitimate reaction.

OMG!! Brooks is just a Fox News fearmonger! Oh, well, not exactly, since he's on the far-left PBS network, but don't tell No More Mister! He might get his "we won't panic" panties in a bunch, lol!!

Ebola and Your Safety: Why the Federal Government is Putting All Americans in Danger (VIDEO)

It's Bill O'Reilly's Talking Points Memo, via RCP, "O'Reilly: Ebola And Obama Administration Incompetence":

The liberal media and the Obama enablers will not tell you the truth, instead you have a New York Times editorial saying: "Starting Monday in six states, and rolled out in other states soon after, travelers who visited [the Ebola region] will be required to report their temperature and any other symptoms to state or local health officials daily for 21 days, the maximum incubation period for the disease to develop. The officials will be responsible for finding and detaining anyone violating these rules."

Are you kidding me? The officials will be responsible for finding these people if they don't call in?

They should be in isolation. If you have direct contact with anyone in the Ebola region, and you come back to the U.S.A., you should be in quarantine for 21 days. Period.

The Times continues: "The new measures surely make unnecessary a harmful ban on all travelers who have been in the three countries."

Sure. Just ask Dr. Spencer, he went through the screening, it did not work. That doesn't matter to the New York Times because the countries involved are poor and largely comprised of Black Africans. That's why the Obama administration and the liberal press do not want a travel ban.

Here's what should be happening: No American airlines go to the Ebola region. None. Charter flights are allowed, but folks on those flights should be isolated for 21 days. You simply can not have self-reporting, it does not work. So the people, military people, diplomats, whoever they might be, have to give up three weeks of their lives when they return from the Ebola region. Otherwise, we're going to have more Ebola cases.

Bwahaha! Martin Longman at Booman Tribune: 'I can't think of anything that Sen. Udall has done to arouse the anger of Coloradans...'

Our crack political analyst Martin Longman, at Booman Tribune, says he "can't think of anything that Sen. Udall has done to arouse the anger of Coloradans..."

See, "A Look at the Colorado Senate Race":

As I discussed here yesterday, of all the unexpected twists and turns of this year's midterm election cycle, nothing has surprised and flummoxed me more as an analyst than the Senate race in Colorado between incumbent Democrat Mark Udall and Republican challenger Rep. Cory Gardner. Sen. Udall held a narrow but persistent lead in the polls all year until early September. Ever since, he has been trailing in virtually every poll, and the trend into October has been getting worse.

This has confused me for a couple of reasons. I can't think of anything that Sen. Udall has done to arouse the anger of Coloradans. If he's outspoken about anything, it's government surveillance which I don't think is something that would galvanize any opposition outside of the Intelligence Community.

Bwahahaha!! Boy, I'm sure old Booman's going to have a bang-up election forecast for the midterms!

Let's just say that someone's got to be burying their head in the sand if they missed the epic meme that's dogging Senator Udall: He's a one-trick pony on reproductive rights, to the point that he's been hilariously hammered as "Senator Mark Uterus."

See Twitchy, "‘Mark Uterus': Colorado debate moderator calls Mark Udall by his feminist-friendly nickname."

Senator Mark Uterus https://t.co/odi4dASTwm
— Rosie Gray (@RosieGray) October 8, 2014

But hey, let's trust old Booman's 2014 midterm forecast. I'm sure he's just going to nail those predictions, lol!!