The well-mannered person adheres to the proposition that "if you can't say something nice, you shouldn't say anything at all." As a result, Republicans, and Senator Judd Gregg in particular, have gotten the benefit of Democrats' forbearance, even as they denigrate their "opponents" every chance they get. Moreover, ignoring their rudeness does nothing to tamp down an aggressive stance. Rather, given an inch, the intentionally anti-social will go for a mile or the whole globe. Perhaps, like other addicts, the abusive person has a bad habit and requires an intervention to make it stop.

At least, Gregg's escalation of his antagonism towards socialism into what he now calls "pandering populism" needs to be called out. His own words are rather damming:

Now we have this huge populist movement here and I'm trying to think, what is the rationale here other than just rampant pandering populism? A vote occurred in the Budget Committee last week, which I happen to be Ranking Member of, that crystallized the situation for me. Senator Sanders from Vermont, who I consider a friend and I enjoy immensely, a great guy with a great sense of humor, but we disagree on a lot of things as he runs as a socialist and I run as a conservative. Senator Sanders offered an amendment which said that the government has the right to break up large corporations.

Breakfast with U.S. Senator Judd Gregg
Senator Judd Gregg will be the featured guest at a breakfast hosted by the New Hampshire Institute of Politics and the Business and Industry Association. Senator Gregg will speak about recent acts of Congress and pending legislation, including healthcare reform and new financial regulations. He will also answer questions about those issues and other issues of importance to the business community in New Hampshire.

Monday, May 17, 2010
Center of New Hampshire, Manchester

8:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
Check-in begins at 7:30 a.m.

Tickets are $30 for NHIOP patrons. To purchase tickets, please contact Christine Ducharme at (603) 224-5388 x116 or visit nhbia.org. We hope to see you there!

Sponsored by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Centrix Bank, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Fidelity Investments, Liberty Mutual and Lincoln Financial.

New Hampshire Institute of Politics
Saint Anselm College
100 Saint Anselm Drive
Manchester, NH 03102

SOURCE: WaPo

Voter anger fuels New Hampshire congressional candidates
By Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 26, 2010; A01

NEWPORT, N.H. -- Bounced out of Congress in the 2006 Democratic sweep, former congressman Charlie Bass is trying to win back his narrowly divided district in November.

He's still a bellwether candidate. But Charlie Bass has changed.

The old version, the one who didn't believe he would lose until the day it happened, was a traditional New England Republican, moderate in substance and style.

The new Charlie Bass is full of fight. He accuses President Obama of "coddling terrorists" and advancing "extremist" policies, like the Wall Street overhaul bill now facing a Republican filibuster threat on the Senate floor. Bass said recently of "tea party" activists: "God bless every single one of them. Their agenda is exactly the same as mine."

But for a career politician who served on Capitol Hill for a dozen years, addressing serious policy questions with people who profess to hold zero faith in the federal government can get awkward. Bass's challenge is to recraft his image in a way that will defang his conservative Republican opponents yet stay true enough to his centrist self to win back the crucial independent voters who defected to his Democratic opponent in 2006.

SOURCE:DailyKos

Cantor's "campaign office" isn't in his congressional district

by Jed Lewison

Fri Mar 26, 2010 at 07:45:34 AM PDT

You know the implausible story Eric Cantor told yesterday about how his campaign office had been the target of a shooting incident? (His exact words were: "Just recently I have been directly threatened. A bullet was shot through the window of my campaign office in Richmond this week.")

Well, even if it weren't for the fact that Richmond police are saying the bullet was fired randomly, there would be reason to be skeptical of Cantor's claim. It turns out that it is nearly impossible to imagine that anyone ever could have figured out that the building in question housed his campaign office...because the building isn't even in Eric Cantor's congressional district, and it's not his campaign headquarters.

Senatorial hopeful Bill Binnie and Gubernatorial hopeful Karen Testerman will be speaking and having a 912 style Q&A. Come and bring your questions for these candidates. These events are your chance to meet and talk with the candidates on a one to one level as only the Rochester 912 does.

SOURCE:Huffington Post Fund

Anatomy of an Attack Ad

How Dick Morris Is Making Seniors Feverish About Health Care Reform

By Ben Protess and Lagan Sebert

Huffington Post Investigative Fund

4:40 pm | 24 Sep 2009

Standing in a medical exam room, a neurosurgeon in a white lab coat stares solemnly into the camera and warns that President Obama’s health care plan “will hurt our seniors” and “end Medicare as we know it.” Two networks, NBC and ABC, declined to run the 30-second ad, but it has probably reached millions of people on Fox, CBS and local stations as well as on the Web.

How this ad – one of dozens of health care spots making the rounds -- came to be produced and distributed provides a case study in modern American political advocacy. It shows how a quickly assembled group with uncertain origins and funding can make a mark on one of the most contentious public policy debates in memory.

I don't, typically, hog the front page with blog posts. However, Gregg prompts me to make an exception and use the tools that will provide exposure of his posturing for the longest period of time.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Dan Pfeiffer, White House Communications Director, wrote on the White House blog that

Let's be clear: Sen. Shelby is preventing qualified nominees who will help protect the American people from being confirmed. He’s not alone, though. This is just the latest example of this kind opposition for opposition’s sake that the President talked about earlier this week.

Which is accurate, as far as it goes, but really just a symptom of a bigger problem.