Sad news that former New York City mayor Ed Koch has passed.

From MSN:

NEW YORK — Former Mayor Ed Koch, the combative, acid-tongued politician who rescued the city from near-financial ruin during a three-term City Hall run in which he embodied New York chutzpah for the rest of the world, died Friday. He was 88.

Koch died at 2 a.m. at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia hospital, spokesman George Arzt said. The funeral will be Monday at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan.

Koch was admitted to the hospital Monday with shortness of breath, and was moved to intensive care Thursday for closer monitoring of the fluid in his lungs and legs. He had been released two days earlier after being treated for water in his lungs and legs. He had initially been admitted on Jan. 19.

After leaving City Hall in January 1990, Koch battled assorted health problems and heart disease.

He was a true voice of sanity in a sea madness during the city’s dark days in the late 1970′s. One who was key in getting the city out of a financial and criminal tide wave of despair.

A true patriot, New Yorker to the bone, as well as being true bi-partisan, who cared less for political parties and more for his city.

But his faith was probably his most admirable trait, best expressed here, by having Daniel Pearl’s last words inscribed on his tonbstone.

Image via Twitchy:

R.I.P. Mayor.

• 

• Tweet

Since these are the stuffy, hot and dog days of a very, very warm summer, it is time to do a little poll jumping, watching and analyzing.

While not as relaxing as jumping through a sprinkler in your bathing suit, it will help cool you down while reading them in the comfort of an air-conditioned room. (Something that might become a rare luxury if Obama, Nancy Reid Pelosi and the enviromarxists have their way.

First up, Fiorina increases her lead over “Call me Senator” Boxer:

From CBS 5:

California Republican U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina has increased her lead over Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer to five percentage points according to a new CBS 5 KPIX-TV poll released Thursday, which also shows gubernatorial candidates Democrat Jerry Brown and Republican Meg Whitman in a dead heat.

The CBS 5 poll, conducted by the research firm SurveyUSA, showed Fiorina edging Boxer 47 percent to 42 percent, compared to a CBS 5 poll one month ago showing Fiorina over Boxer 47 to 45 percent.

The poll results indicated Fiorina’s support was essentially unchanged among men and women, young and old, white and Hispanic while Boxer had lost small ground among men, younger voters, and independents.

The poll also showed Fiorina tripling her lead in the Central Valley, from seven points one month ago to 21 points in this latest poll.

I find that last line quite interesting. Maybe those people are starting to tire of sky-high state tax rates, the crushing weight of the cost of illegals and having their votes on Prop. 8 throw out the window by a judge who turns the 14th amendment on it’s head.

Boxer looks to be toast.

Next up, some Obama numbers. They are about as appetizing as a plateful of goat’s eyes.

From Ed Morrisey at Hot Air:

“Elusive”? The only issue on which Gallup’s respondents gave majority job approval to Barack Obama was “race relations,” and even that barely nudged above half to 52%. Only on three others out of thirteen does Obama stay above water with plurality approval; on nine others, he sinks below the disapproval rating, including a big loss on the economy among adults — not registered or likely voters, which is a huge flare of distress:

(snip)

Obama stays above water on education (49/40), terrorism (48/45), and energy policy (47/42), although on terrorism it’s closer to a dead heat within the MOE. The bad news starts at foreign affairs (44/48) and goes downhill from there. While foreign policy hasn’t been a front-line issue during the past eighteen months — the economy and immigration has taken nearly all of the political oxygen — it’s notable that Americans have gotten so disenchanted with “smart power” and reset buttons.

But the really bad news is on the issues that appear to be driving the midterms:

* Healthcare policy – 40/57
* Economy – 38/59
* The federal deficit – 31/64
* Immigration – 29/62

Imagine how bad these number will be come January 1, 2011 at 12:01am.

On the Senate side, some good news for Marco Rubio:

From Rasmussen Reports:

The race for the U.S. Senate in Florida continues to be all about Governor Charlie Crist and former state House Speaker Marco Rubio, regardless of which Democrat they face.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Florida shows Rubio with 38% of the vote and Crist at 33% if Congressman Kendrick Meek is the nominee. Meek earns 21%. Only one percent (1%) prefer some other candidate, and seven percent (7%) are undecided.

If billionaire Jeff Greene is the Democratic candidate, Crist gets 37% support to Rubio’s 36%, with Greene trailing at 20%. two percent (2%) like another candidate, and five percent (5%) are undecided.

If I not mistaken, I think that is the highest number that Rubio has received since Crist started running as an independent. As I have mentioned before, I think Rubio will start breaking away from the pack soon enough and should coast to victory.

Also in the Senate, Roy Blunt maintains a steady lead over Robin Carnahan.

From Rasmussen Reports:

The race between Republican Congressman Roy Blunt and Democrat Robin Carnahan in Missouri’s U.S. Senate race is little changed after both candidates easily won their party primaries last week.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Missouri Voters shows Blunt with 50% support, while Carnahan earns 43% of the vote.

Two weeks ago, Blunt posted a 49% to 43% lead over Carnahan, Missouri’s current secretary of state. Blunt has run slightly ahead of Carnahan in surveys all year, with support ranging from 45% to 50%. She, in turn, has picked up 41% to 45% of the vote in those same surveys.

Maybe the money line:

Both candidates earn high levels of support from voters in their own party. Voters not affiliated with either of the major parties favor the Republican by nearly 20 points.

Throw in the 71% of Show Me Staters that voted against ObamaCare last week in the state and it does not look too promising for the Dems to pick up this seat.

• 

• Tweet

Obama made a surprise visit to a shuttle bus on Memorial Day. Many of the bus passengers cheered him while some, particularly one person who was near the person recording the video, heckled him several times. Calling him a “liar” and that he “should be impeached”.

Obama himself seemed to take little notice of the heckling, which seems to occur at the rear of the bus.

Video courtesy of CNN iReport.com:

• 

• Tweet

To use one of my old quotes, “This is like having Ted Kennedy as your AA Sponsor”.

I am glad to hear that the RNC told the DNC to go “Sit and spin, you cruddy skank!”. (Any MST3K fan will recognize that one)

From Politico: (Hat Tip: Riehl World)

The Republican National Committee has rejected a proposal from its Democratic counterpart to sign a joint “civility” statement, POLITICO has learned.

Various members of the DNC — including Chairman Tim Kaine, Executive Director Jen O’Malley Dillon and Communications Director Brad Woodhouse — contacted their respective RNC counterparts this week in hopes of getting RNC Chairman Michael Steele to co-sign a document with Kaine that, in part, called for “elected officials of both parties to set an example of the civility we want to see in our citizenry.”

“We also call on all Americans to respect differences of opinion, to refrain from inappropriate forms of intimidation, to reject violence and vandalism, and to scale back rhetoric that might reasonably be misinterpreted by those prone to such behavior,” read the proposed joint statement, which came at the end of a week that saw acts of vandalism and threats of violence directed at members of Congress from both parties, but mostly aimed at Democrats who voted yes on the health care bill.

Republicans see the statement as an attempt to force them to either reject the statement — allowing Democrats to say the RNC finds the incidents acceptable — or to sign on to something that the DNC would later wield against them.

The proposed statement was faxed and hand-delivered to the RNC at midmorning Friday. POLITICO learned Friday afternoon that the RNC would not sign the DNC statement.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/35096.html#ixzz0jP9kaM6B

Ah yes, those “peaceful” and “civil” leftists.

• 

• Tweet

I am not much for gossip of any type, but this is a juicy little piece of steak:

From the NY Post: (Hat Tip: Free Conservatives)

Gov. Paterson was spotted nuzzling, neck-kissing and cooing like a smitten schoolboy with a pretty young woman — not his wife — in a New Jersey steakhouse yesterday afternoon, The Post has learned.

“I saw him kissing her neck,” said Sharon Farrell, a lawyer sitting two tables away from Paterson and his mystery gal pal at the River Palm Terrace in Edgewater. “He was right on her neck, nudging, like back and forth.”

Do you know the mystery woman? Email the Post at webeditor@nypost.com!

Paterson’s spokeswoman later said the governor’s dining partner was just a friend, and that he never got romantic with her.

The governor himself told The Post that the woman “works with me.”

But Farrell said, “No way it was a business meeting . . . It was very intimate.”

Farrell’s friend and dining companion, special-ed teacher Carol McGuirt, said Paterson and his lady friend, a leggy Latina in her 20s, were ensconced in a cozy, curved banquette for several hours during lunch, and clearly were enjoying each other’s company — immensely.

It also looks like this place is a Steakhouse of Ill Repute:

Coincidentally, or not, the same steakhouse has been frequented by Eliot Spitzer — whose 2008 resignation as governor after being exposed as a prostitute-loving horn-dog put Paterson in charge of the Empire State.

No word on whether Chris Dodd or Ted Kennedy’s ghost were in the backroom with any of the waitresses.

• 

• Tweet

This is just tooooo rich.

As Connecticut “lawmakers” were debating measures on how to balance their budget, some of those “for-the-people”, unselfish paragons of virtue were too busy playing Solitare or watching major league baseball games on their PCs.

Photo courtesy of Courant.com via Michelle Mallkin

I suppose after passing (pissing) their budget, which includes the usual Democrat recipe of taxing the rich (all those with incomes over $1 million) and borrowing (to the tune of $1 billion), the pure exhaustion of it all just called for dawdling on their tax-payer funded computers, while one, long minority member spoke well into the night.

From the article:

The state House of Representatives late Monday approved a Democratic-written budget bill that would cut estate taxes for the wealthy, reduce the sales tax for everyone and increase the state income tax for couples earning more than $1 million a year.

For nonsmokers with middle-class income, the biggest tax impact would be a cut in their sales taxes from 6 percent to 5.5 percent that would be enacted in January 2010 in an attempt to stimulate the economy. But that tax cut would be repealed if the state’s revenue collections fall more than 1 percent lower than projected.

In a vote shortly before midnight, the bill was approved largely along party lines, 103-45. The measure was immediately sent to the Senate, which was expected to approve the budget after a debate early this morning.

The vote marked the latest turn in the longest budget battle in state history breaking the record that was set in 1991 during the creation of the state income tax. Connecticut has been one of only two states — along with Pennsylvania — that still did not have a budget in a summerlong soap opera that was filled with dueling press conferences and high-pitched rhetoric.

Cut real estate taxes for the wealthy while at the same time raising state income taxes on those who make over (horrors!) $1 million. Someone get ahold of Rangel and ask him if he thinks this is just “shoddy accounting” on the CT legislature’s part.

“For nonsmokers with middle-class income”. That line right there shows more of the bean-counting, class-warfare, divide and conquer mentality strategy then one million “for-the-children” hosannas that any Democrat Glee Club on Zoloft could produce in a week’s worth of concerts.

• 

• Tweet

Drown a woman.

Kill a woman.

Rape a woman.

Impregnate a woman.

Diddle with a male page.

Though several Democrats are guilty of the above. In spades.

But why bother comparing since Dems have no morals or ethics and the above list is both a resume enhancement and a good way to help campaign fundraising if you are a Donkey party member. So every one of you Dems can stuff it up your asses if you say one word about Sanford’s actions. Since you care about morals about as much as stepping in slug slime during a hot August night. After all, it is “just sex”, a “personal matter” and “everyone does it”. Well, I have news for you. Just because a GOPer or two gets his wanger caught in a compromising place, it does not besmirch the rest of us.

But your undying support of those guilty of the above list speaks volumes about you and your party.

Out.

• 

• Tweet