| Morning Jolt
. . . with Jim Geraghty August 11, 2014 URGENT: Beware of Political E-Mails Telling You Things Are 'URGENT' I choose to believe that these sorts of cheap tricks only work with a particularly gullible and easily-manipulated audience . . . you know, like the kind of people who voluntarily sign up for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's e-mail list. House Democrats have their email fundraising down to a science: Cast Speaker John Boehner as the leading villain, use President Barack Obama's signature (but sparingly) and don't hesitate to go ALL CAPS with a subject line like this: "BREAKING: IMPEACHMENT." | | You know you want to come! Get complete info at NRCruise.com. | | | | Over the top? Undoubtedly. But the fact is it's working — better than anything Republicans have tried so far. Last week, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised $4.8 million, thanks to a series of "red alert" emails feeding off talk of impeachment and Boehner's lawsuit against Obama over executive actions. It was the committee's best week for online fundraising. So what makes someone give money after an e-mail message like that? Is it just a matter of pressing the recipient's emotional "anger" buttons and telling them, "You can help fight back by giving us money"? Do Democrats really fear Republicans successfully impeaching President Obama? Probably not. Do they think Republicans will attempt it? Probably, which I would attribute in part to the mirror effect; many of them would do the same to an opposing president if they had the chance. So why do these people give to the DCCC? Because the message about Speaker Boehner and the House Republican majority reminds them that Speaker Boehner and the House Republican majority exist; they're the primary obstacles to the political agenda of the Democrats' Munificent Sun-God in the Oval Office. They want that GOP House majority to go away. And whether or not they grasp the extraordinarily unlikely odds for a Democrat House takeover in November, they send their money because they want to see Boehner and company go away. So those $4.8 million in donations to the DCCC really reflect, "I am angry at John Boehner and House Republicans!" They're looking for a way to say, "I'm angry" besides berating their friends on Facebook, people on Twitter, relatives, and anyone who ventures into the comments sections. NRSC: Look Who Else Is Skipping Official Duties to Attend Fundraisers! All summer long, folks on the right and more than a few in the center have criticized President Obama for keeping up with a relentless pace of attending political fundraisers while major crises at home and abroad explode and worsen. By July 26, he had attended 399 fundraisers during his presidency. In eight years, George W. Bush attended 328. This morning, the National Republican Senatorial Committee unveils a new ad that reveals that several Senate Democrats and Senate Democratic candidates -- Senator Mark Begich of Alaska, Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, and Representative Bruce Braley of Iowa, skipped hearings and votes to attend fundraisers. 
A nice closing line: "Barack Obama and Senate Democrats are prioritizing their pocketbooks over yours."
Look Who's Calling Obama's Middle East Policies a 'Failure'! What a vicious criticism of the Obama administration's foreign policy: . . . used [the] sharpest language yet to describe the "failure" that resulted from the decision to keep the U.S. on the sidelines during the first phase of the Syrian uprising. "The failure to help build up a credible fighting force of the people who were the originators of the protests against Assad—there were Islamists, there were secularists, there was everything in the middle—the failure to do that left a big vacuum, which the jihadists have now filled . . ." "Great nations need organizing principles, and 'Don't do stupid stuff' is not an organizing principle." The speaker: Hillary Rodham Clinton, former secretary of state for the Obama administration. Iraq's Political Leadership, Picking a Swell Time to Obsess with Infighting Just what Iraq needed this morning, a possible coup: Iraqi forces and tanks surged into some Baghdad neighborhoods Sunday as a wave of troops swarmed Baghdad's Green Zone -- the secure area where many government buildings, the military headquarters and the U.S. Embassy are located, two Iraqi police officials said. Exactly what led to the surge remains unclear. But some believe the beefed up military presence is part of a power struggle between second-term Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and newly elected President Fuad Masum. "You've got Nuri al-Maliki refusing to step down. Now he's mobilized not just security troops loyal to him, but now he's mobilized army units to put tanks in the streets,"said retired Lt. Col. Rick Francona, a CNN military analyst.
"Some of the bridges have been closed. It looks like he's trying to lock down the city in some sort of confrontation with the President, so this does not portend well." . . . Al-Maliki has accused Masum of violating the country's constitution by extending the deadline for Iraq's biggest political coalitions to nominate a candidate for prime minister. Hey, does anybody over there want to fight those ISIS barbarians at the gate? What's the Point of Schools Serving Healthier Food if Kids Won't Eat It? This is interesting: Lunch at Fort Thomas Independent Schools may include more French fries, fewer vegetables and larger portions this year. One thing that won't be on the menu: federal dollars. The Campbell County, Ky., district is opting out of the federal school lunch program, forfeiting hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal funding.
The reason: Kids didn't like their healthful lunches. "The calorie limitations and types of foods that have to be provided . . . have resulted in the kids just saying 'I'm not going to eat that,' " said Fort Thomas Superintendent Gene Kirchner. The 2,800-student district joins a small but growing number of school districts across the country -- mostly wealthy districts that can afford to forfeit the money -- that have dropped out of the federal program in the wake of stricter nutritional standards. Schools said students don't like the unsalted potatoes, low-fat cheese or the mandatory fruits and vegetables. They throw food away or decide not to eat at all. Just one wacky school district, right? Maybe not: Nationwide, 1 million fewer students are choosing a school lunch each day, according to the national School Nutrition Association. Last year, it said, 47% of school meal programs reported that their overall revenues had declined -- and when kids don't buy school lunches, the district loses money. Getting kids to eat healthy is a wonderful idea in theory, but I suspect most parents will concur that it's a harder idea to enact in practice. Which is why these sorts of decisions are best driven by parents, school administrators, and the folks who actually serve the food (and who see what kids eat and what they don't) . . . not, say, the First Lady of the United States, no matter how much she insists she just wants to help. ADDENDA: USA Today: "Republicans are forecast to pick up as many as a dozen U.S. House seats this November, strengthening their grip on the House majority." Don't delay! Sign up today for the NR 2014 Post-Election Caribbean Cruise, and for our spectacular pre-cruise kick-off gala November 8th featuring Ambassador John Bolton and Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio! Learn more here.
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