Inside the Beltway: Gung-ho Republicans

Forget that steady, annoying drone from the liberal press that Republicans have given up on the election. Members of the Grand Old Party “express increasingly positive opinions about the presidential campaign and are now about as likely as Democrats to view the campaign as interesting and informative,” says a new survey of 1,005 adults conducted Oct. 18 to 21 by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. It finds that 63 percent of Americans overall deem the campaign is “interesting.” The GOP, however, has an even warmer review.

“Seventy three percent of Republicans say the campaign is interesting, up 23 points since early September and by far the highest percentage of the year,” the research says. The percentage of Democrats who agree remains unchanged since September at 66 percent.

Compared with a month ago, far more Republicans also view the campaign informative — 69 percent now, 49 percent then. “Substantially fewer say the campaign is ‘too long’ than did so in September, 42 percent now, 62 percent then,” Pew says.

TRUMPALICIOUS

Donald Trump has half the planet awaiting his “big news” about President Obama; the billionaire says he’ll reveal election-changing revelations on Wednesday, prompting voters to hope that, well, Mr. Trump actually has election-changing revelations. But what could they be? Paddy Power, Europe’s largest betting company, is offering the following odds about the content of Mr. Trump’s announcement:

2-5 that Mr. Obama is not an American, 4-1 that Mr. Trump plans to “fire” an Obama impersonator, 8-1 that Mr. Trump will endorse the president, 50-1 that Mr. Obama will appear on NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice,” 75-1 that Mr. Trump will award Mr. Obama an honorary golf membership at the Trump International Golf Club, 250-1 that Mr. Obama thinks the 1969 moon landing was staged and 250-1 that Mr. Obama is actually an alien from outer space.

“It’s no secret that there’s little love lost between these two. It will be interesting to see whether or not the Donald’s trump card on President Obama will have an impact on the presidential race,” observes Feilim MacAniomaire, spokesman for the Ireland-based betting house.

DONE WITH THE DEBATE

In case anyone is curious, 53.9 million people tuned in to the third presidential debate Monday night — down from the 67 million and 66 million who tuned in, respectively, for the first two bouts between President Obama and Mitt Romney. Well, what with baseball, football and dancing celebrities, the final debate had plenty of competition. Who won the ratings derby? That would be NBC among the broadcast networks with 12.4 million viewers, and Fox News among the cable contenders with 11.5 million.

OBAMA AS KING (OPINION)

“He looked like Louis XIV masquerading as president of the United States.”

(Fox News contributor Karl Rove’s review of President Obama’s performance in the debate on Monday night).

OBAMA AS KING (FACTS)

“There is no excuse for this continuous disregard of legislative authority and the constitutionally required separation of powers. In some instances, President Obama attempted to garner legislative authority, failed and then acted unilaterally in defiance. In other instances, the president never even sought to find consensus and instead ignored Congress and its authority from the outset,” declares House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who has released “The Imperial Presidency,” a report revealing Mr. Obama’s “disregard for the legislative process.” The analysis cites 40 examples of same.

“This is no way to govern. The president has set a precedent that even his supporters should find troubling. After all, what would now prevent a subsequent president, with opposite policy predilections, from bypassing the checks on his own authority and enacting his own policies in this same manner? The Founding Fathers wisely gave the president many powers, but making law was not one of them,” the Virginia Republican points out.

Story Continues →

© Copyright 2013 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.