Inside the Beltway: Oh, those uptight conservative girls

NEWS AND OPINION:

Everyone can get partisan, even while explaining their odd relationships with certain politicians. “Conservative girls are really uptight. It makes me think of all those, like you know, Fox News fembots who obviously are self-loathing or they wouldn’t be Republican and female, in my opinion,” says Sydney Leathers.

Yes, well. This is the same adult entertainer who wrote the final chapter in the lurid sexting escapades of New York City mayoral hopeful Anthony D. Weiner, who continues to campaign on the city streets with great vigor.

But back to Miss Leathers, 23, who made her comment on a brief video interview released Tuesday by The Frisky, a celebrity gossip site. She also revealed that she personally would not stand by Mr. Weiner’s dubious antics, if she were his wife.

“I’ve never been married. But I don’t think I would have put up with it. Maybe once I’d forgive him,” Miss Leathers declared.

“Sheesh. Sydney Leathers, what did we ever do to you?” the slighted Fox News asked in an unsigned editorial, also noting that Miss Leathers — an “Indiana Democrat” — would appear on the network’s prime time show “Hannity.”

OH, WOE IS WEINER

The New York City primary, meanwhile, is less than four weeks away. Though he could be the potential subject of an upcoming MTV documentary, the aforementioned Mr. Weiner may not have enough time for a miracle turnaround in public opinion by the time Sept. 10 dawns. A new Quinnipiac University poll now places public advocate Bill De Blasio in the lead of the city’s Democratic mayoral primary with 30 percent of the vote.

Alas, poor Anthony. His public support has sunk to 10 percent, dropping from 26 percent a mere three weeks ago. He gets his highest support — 14 percent — among “very liberal” Democrats.

But you never know. The survey also found that 68 percent of the voters still think Mr. Weiner has “the right experience” for the job while another 65 percent say he “understands” their problems.

“A few weeks ago, Bill de Blasio looked like an also-ran. Today, he’s the leader of the pack, and a winner in the runoffs. Follow the bouncing ball, folks. This line-up keeps changing,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

“Nobody thinks former Rep. Anthony Weiner will pack it in, but 52 percent of likely Democratic primary voters wish he’d go away and 51 percent say they’d never vote for him,” Mr. Carroll said.

2014 MAY NOT BE 2010

A Gallup poll released Tuesday finds that American opinion of Congress is on pace to tie the historic low of such ratings set only last year. Currently, 81 percent of the public disapproves of their lawmakers. But there’s some quirks at work as the 2014 midterm elections loom, when all House seats and about a third of the Senate will be up for grabs.

“When Congress is unpopular, that typically leads to more turnover of seats in Congress, as in 1994, 2006 and 2010. However, with control of Congress divided between the two parties, it is harder for voters to assign blame and thus give control of Congress to the minority party, as occurred in those other elections,” says Gallup analyst Jeffrey Jones.

“Additionally, Americans are much more positive about their own member of Congress, and are able to vote for or against only that member. Thus, despite Americans’ frustrations with the institution, it is unclear whether the 2014 elections will bring about major change in Congress.”

ON THE MENU

“Fried shrimp, fried oysters, onion rings and french fries.”

President Obama’s lunch in Martha’s Vineyard on Tuesday, according to a White House pool report by Washington Post reporter Bill Kenber. The president cheerfully ordered his meal at the window of Nancy’s snack bar, also home to lobster mac and cheese, truffle fries and the “oyster of the week.”

STEALTHY OBAMACARE

Lawmakers and analysts are steadily weighing in on news that the Obama administration will delay a second provision of the Affordable Care Act, limiting out-of-pocket expenses for patients.

“Step by step, waiver by waiver, and delay by delay, Obamacare’s official name — the Affordable Care Act — is being shown to be three lies in one,” points out David L. Applegate, a policy adviser in legal affairs at The Heartland Institute

“Each day brings more news that Obamacare is not ready for prime time. Last week, we heard that Americans’ personal and financial data could be at risk because of missed deadlines for the new health exchanges’ security systems,” says Sen. Deb Fischer, Nebraska Republican.

“Now we learn that the administration has selectively delayed another major portion of the flawed law. This time, it’s consumer protection. Rather than capping costs for individuals and families — as promised by the law — the delay of a key provision limiting patients’ out-of-pocket costs guarantees that this law will be anything but ’affordable.’”

She continues, “This quiet decision by the administration, which was posted on a little-noticed government website in February, is the latest in a long litany of broken promises.”

She adds, “Instead of following the president’s lead and selectively delaying the law for some, I remain committed to delaying — and defunding — this law for all Americans.”

KERRY SUMS UP HIS WORLD

“Ever since the end of the Cold War, forces have been unleashed that were tamped down for centuries by dictators, and that was complicated further by this little thing called the Internet and the ability of people everywhere to communicate instantaneously and to have more information coming at them in one day than most people can process in months or a year,” Secretary of State John F. Kerry told the staffers and families at the U.S. Embassy in Brazil on Tuesday, according to a transcript.

“It makes it much harder to govern, makes it much harder to organize people, much harder to find the common interest, and that is complicated by a rise of sectarianism and religious extremism that is prepared to employ violent means to impose on other people a way of thinking and a way of living that is completely contrary to everything the United States of America has ever stood for. So we need to keep in mind what our goals are and how complicated this world is that we’re operating in.”

POLL DU JOUR

• 92 percent of Americans say adult children who live at home “should do their own chores.”

• 82 percent say adult children should pay rent.

• 80 percent say it’s OK for adult children to live at home if they are saving money for their own home.

• 70 percent say adult children living at home are “avoiding responsibility.”

• 65 percent say the adult children are “overstaying their welcome.”

• 24 percent say adult children can live at home for as long as they want.

• 13 percent say adult children should never live at home with their parents.

Source: A Coldwell Banker Real Estate survey of 2,0007 U.S. adults conducted June 13 to 17 and released Tuesday.

• Laments, bombastic notions to jharper@washingtontimes.com.