Stories to Watch: 11/26/13

A new CNN poll shows Democrats have lost the edge in the generic congressional ballot to Republicans. While this is somewhat dispiriting (wait and see if it's a trend or a slump before you get too worked up over it), it's still entertaining as all get-out to watch rightwingers shout doom and gloom down on dems now -- after arguing for months and months that whole concept of a generic congressional ballot poll was just a hair away from nonsense. When polls are bad news for the GOP, they're meaningless; when they have bad news for Democrats, they're gospel.


One reason not to get too excited or depressed by that poll: Healthcare.gov is nearly up to speed. The idea that it won't be operational by Novemeber 2014 is looking pretty ridiculous -- and that's what's driving the Democrat's falling numbers. The success rate on the consumer side is nearly 100%.


But don't expect the media to pick up on the turn around right away. They have far too much invested in the OBAMA'S KATRINA!!!! narrative to just let it die a natural death.


When George Zimmerman was taken into custody for his domestic violence arrest, he had five firearms and 100 rounds of ammunition -- on his person. The man is obviously a powder keg. Too bad we didn't do anything about it the last time he went off.


Florida Republicans want coke-snorting "hip-hop conservative" Rep. Trey Radel to resign from office. It's a pretty solidly red district, but his resignation could set up a destructive Tea Party v. establishment primary. So you wonder if they'll get any pushback from the national party establishment.


Rightwing has-been Dinesh D’Souza demonstrates why he's a has-been by tweeting that he was thankful to "remember that America is big enough and great enough to survive Grown-Up Trayvon in the White House." This is also a good demonstration of why there are so few (are there any?) successful conservative comedians.


Finally, on matters economic, Pope Francis must sound like some sort of "Occupy the Vatican" activist to the world's elites. "It would appear that somebody's been listening to hippie Jesus instead of puritan Jesus or John Galt Jesus," writes Digby. Meanwhile, conservatives aren't big fans. I guess Republicans find it so much easier to be Christians if they ignore that whole Sermon on the Mount thing. Seriously, conservatives never talk about the Sermon on the Mount. They just talk all around it. They like Christianity when they can use the Bible to tell other people what to do. But when it comes to the Bible telling them what to do; well, it's better just to ignore those parts and go back to worshipping false idols guns, selfishness, and greed.


[cartoon via PoliticalHumor.About.com]