The Republican Sweep

The Wall Street Journal, the day after a Republican sweep, acknowledged that President Barack Obama was dealt a tough hand, a deep recession and a financial crisis.

“But in New Jersey especially,” the paper notes, “former Goldman Sachs chief Jon Corzine became governor in the belief his financial industry skills would bring the state's high taxes and high spending under control. He didn't and he lost. If Washington's Democrats keep pushing taxes and spending in the same direction, they may be joining Jon Corzine on the retirement beaches soon.”

Here in Connecticut, Democrats ought to heed the same warning. The depth of the disenchantment with Democrats in Connecticut, as reflected in some astonishing spreads – Torrington: DEM 1796; GOP 6571 – should be worrisome to Democratic leaders who interpreted Obama’s win as a signal that his progressive programs would lift all the Democratic boats.

There is room for second thoughts. And some progressives are beginning to bite their nails.

Comments

Unknown said…

Slowly the idea that we are broke is seeping out. Right behind that is a hint that business is quietly leaving town. The Stanley/Black and Decker merger will reduce corporate staff, which is just the type of Jobs CT was relying on. THe war on Coal caused Alstom Power in windsor to lay off 100 last week and look to move work to India. And of course Pratt is slowly and surely moving manufacturing out.

When I point out to people that CT has nothing over lower cost states as far as quality of life, the laugh. Soon that denial will have to stop. IF the GOP can stop being afraid of the Courant and pound on the jobs issue, the Republicans will suceed. You cannot try to be a California lite and win.

4:12 PM

The Blumenthal Burisma Connection

Steve Hilton , a Fox News commentator who over the weekend had connected some Burisma corruption dots, had this to say about Connecticut U.S. Senator Dick Blumenthal’s association with the tangled knot of corruption in Ukraine: “We cross-referenced the Senate co-sponsors of Ed Markey's Ukraine gas bill with the list of Democrats whom Burisma lobbyist, David Leiter, routinely gave money to and found another one -- one of the most sanctimonious of them all, actually -- Sen. Richard Blumenthal."

Powell, the JI, And Economic literacy

Powell, Pesci Substack The Journal Inquirer (JI), one of the last independent newspapers in Connecticut, is now a part of the Hearst Media chain. Hearst has been growing by leaps and bounds in the state during the last decade. At the same time, many newspapers in Connecticut have shrunk in size, the result, some people seem to think, of ad revenue smaller newspapers have lost to internet sites and a declining newspaper reading public. Surviving papers are now seeking to recover the lost revenue by erecting “pay walls.” Like most besieged businesses, newspapers also are attempting to recoup lost revenue through staff reductions, reductions in the size of the product – both candy bars and newspapers are much smaller than they had been in the past – and sell-offs to larger chains that operate according to the social Darwinian principles of monopolistic “red in tooth and claw” giant corporations. The first principle of the successful mega-firm is: Buy out your predator before he swallows

Down The Rabbit Hole, A Book Review

Down the Rabbit Hole How the Culture of Corrections Encourages Crime by Brent McCall & Michael Liebowitz Available at Amazon Price: $12.95/softcover, 337 pages “ Down the Rabbit Hole: How the Culture of Corrections Encourages Crime ,” a penological eye-opener, is written by two Connecticut prisoners, Brent McCall and Michael Liebowitz. Their book is an analytical work, not merely a page-turner prison drama, and it provides serious answers to the question: Why is reoffending a more likely outcome than rehabilitation in the wake of a prison sentence? The multiple answers to this central question are not at all obvious. Before picking up the book, the reader would be well advised to shed his preconceptions and also slough off the highly misleading claims of prison officials concerning the efficacy of programs developed by dusty old experts who have never had an honest discussion with a real convict. Some of the experts are more convincing cons than the cons, p

Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

Search This Blog