Arizona: New York

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Conservatives would have you believe that they are the defenders of the Constitution. For many, this is bullshit.

In the days immediately following 9/11, many conservatives were quick to unquestioningly accept Dick Cheney's dark vision of the imperial presidency and the "unitary executive" theory under which neither coequal branch of the government had the power to check the executive branch during times of war. A cowardly Congress quickly abdicated its constitutional prerogatives and duties over war and spending to the president. Article III federal courts suddenly became deferential to overly broad presidential claims of national security and state secrets (with a few notable exceptions for which these judges were savaged by the conservative media).

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Ben Smith reports at politico.com A Tea Party party registers in Florida:

A Florida conservative has registered an official "Tea Party" with the office of the Secretary of State, and is promising to run candidates against Republicans and Democrats in state and national races.

"The current system has become mired in the sludge of special interest money that seeks to control the leadership of both parties. It’s time for real change,” says Orlando lawyer Frederic O’Neal, the new party's chairman, who couldn't be reached immediately by phone, in a press release.

A spokeswoman for the Florida Secretary of State, Jennifer Davis, said the party had registered in August, and that its qualified candidates will appear on the ballot in the state.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Off-year elections are typically the subject of wild speculation and over interpretation by political observers. The conventional wisdom (CW) of the media villagers and Beltway bloviators is that the governor's races in New Jersey and Virginia are "bellwether elections" that are a "referendum" on newly elected presidents and are predictive of the outcome of mid-term elections.

Sorry to burst your Beltway bubble boys, but as Larry J. Sabato, Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia, has noted What are the national implications of the "mini mid-terms" in Virginia and NJ?

We go through this exercise every four years, just like clockwork.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

McClatchy News continues its investigative report on Goldman Sachs with part 2 of the series Goldman takes on new role: taking away people's homes:

Goldman Sachs spent years buying hundreds of thousands of subprime mortgages, many of them from some of the more unsavory lenders in the business, and packaging them into high-yield bonds. Now that the bottom has fallen out of that market, Goldman finds itself in a different role: as the big banker that takes homes away from folks such as the Beckers.

The couple alleges that Goldman declined for three years to confirm their suspicions that it had bought their mortgages from a subprime lender, even after they wrote to Goldman's then-Chief Executive Henry Paulson — later U.