Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

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Weicker Revisited, and the End of Two-Party Governance in Connecticut

Weicker paying court to Castro Facts always arrive at our doorsteps with tattoos attached. It is important to get the facts straight so that, as Mark Twain somewhere says, you may them misinterpret them as you will. The tattoos are conventional interpretations. Most reporters do not neglect to mention the fact that former U.S. Senator Lowell Weicker was, until he was relieved of his congressional responsibilities by then Connecticut Attorney General Joe Lieberman, a Republican. Weicker called himself a Jacob Javits Republican. Republicans in Connecticut, many of whom heeded the call by Bill Buckley to cast their votes in the 1988 US Senatorial election for Lieberman rather than Weicker, had some doubts concerning Weicker’s true affiliation. During his last year as a U.S. Senator, Weicker was awarded high marks by the left leaning Americans for Democratic Action (ADA). The senator’s voting record in Congress during his last year in office was 20 points higher than that of

Bridgeport… Sigh….

Samson It’s a pretty straightforward news account, written by longtime reporter Chris Keating in the Hartford Courant and carried by the paper on its front page above the fold on Thursday, October 24 – “Senator claims election not secure.” “Ariana Hernandez, who is a permanent resident but not a citizen,” the paper disclosed, “said in a sworn affidavit to the state Elections Enforcement Commission that Bridgeport city council member Alfredo Castillo came to her house in 2023 and said that he could help her with voting. ‘He told me to sign the voter’s registration application,’ Hernandez said in the affidavit that is dated October 4, 2024. ‘I did not fill out the form. I do not know when it was filled. I did not indicate on the form that I was a citizen. He told me that I would not have a problem if I voted as a permanent resident.’… He told me to sign the voter’s registration application,’ Hernandez said in the affidavit that is dated October 4, 2024.” The form was signed b

Real Threats to the Democracy

Harris and Trump -- duMond/Brendan Smialowski/AFP/GETTY After Tuesday, November 5, it will become clear who had a sufficient number of electoral votes to win the 2024 presidential election, former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris. The election, we have been repeatedly told by pollsters, is “too close to call.” Political commentators, of course, are not content to wait on certainty. It is speculation, some of it improbable, not certainty, that sells newspapers. On the Republican side, Trump and Vice President Nominee J. D. Vance appear to be gathering momentum in the two weeks before the election, but momentum is not always dispositive. Money and positive coverage are also important in elections. If Harris wins the presidency in November, the attempt by Democrats to abolish the Electoral College and replace it with a popular vote may well succeed. The Electoral College was first introduced by the founders because they did not want populous states

Harris and Sinwar

Biden and Harris The Bret Baier interview with Democrat Party presidential prospect Kamala Harris was a debate between Harris’ two faces. Baier simply held up the mirror to nature. He had less than 20 minutes in the interview, and Harris was fashionably late to arrive and early to leave. The former interview-shy prosecutor, Vice President for nearly four years in the President Joe Biden administration, has been interviewing at the margins the last few weeks. The Baier interview should have been political Hollywood for her but, as part of a long term strategy to duck hard questions and embarrassing exposures, it turned out to be a glaring failure, largely owing to Baier’s persistent questioning. The more Harris ducked and bobbed and weaved and let loose convoluted non-answers to Baier’s simple and necessary questions – How many illegal migrants have crossed the border during your nearly four years as Vice President in the Biden administration? Baier was looking for a number

Marginalizing Wealth in Connecticut

Ritter Rising electric bills that have angered Connecticut voters are a very small tip of a very large iceberg. In a Hartford Courant story – “ Anger over massive CT electric bills will drive voter choices on Election Day, GOP says ” – party honchoes assessed the anger. Senate Republican leader Stephen Harding of Brookfield said. “Every day that I door-knock, every time I go to an event, I can’t speak to three or four constituents without the electric rates being brought up. People have had enough … Most voters want to see some effort to do something. We had an ability in a special session to stop the bleeding. On top of that, we can provide some immediate relief. At least it’s something. We should not dismiss it the way the Democrats have dismissed it.” Hartford Democrat House Speaker Matt Ritter off-handedly dismissed Harding’s concerns and at the same time gave the neo-progressive game away when, shrugging his shoulders, he confessed that any attempt to provide a s

Are Political Debates Necessary?

Lincoln and Douglas Longtime Hartford Courant reporter Chris Keating pops the question in a front page, above the fold story: “Where are the debates?” and he notes, what all of us always knew, that long-term incumbent politicians tend to be debate-shy because – my opinion, not Keating’s – they regard continuance in office as an affirmation that successful incumbents need not present themselves to voter consideration during elections. Longtime State Democratic Party chairwoman Nancy DiNardo says it without blushing: “Himes, DeLauro, Larson, and Courtney, too, [multi-term Democrats] tend to be strong candidates. I would think the Republicans have a hard time getting candidates who really want to run. … I have no doubts that whoever they debate that they would be able to beat them. Why, and this is just my opinion, give them any publicity so that people can see them? I don’t see the need for doing that.” Also, Democrat incumbents do not wish to appear on stage with “Republican