"Obama's approval rating is soft, but new polls of South Carolina and Florida show him ahead of Gingrich and Romney. Michael Tomasky asks: could the GOP be headed for disaster?"
Barack Obama may be elected for a second term as President of the United States. (photo: Getty)
FOCUS: Obama Headed for Landslide?
13 December 11
Obama's approval rating is soft, but new polls of South Carolina and Florida show him ahead of Gingrich and Romney. Michael Tomasky asks: could the GOP be headed for disaster?
ow can Barack Obama, as this new NBC/Marist poll has it, be beating Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney in South Carolina, of all places? The leads are narrow-it's just 45-42 over Romney and 46-42 over Gingrich. But still, this is South Carolina, the home state of a senator (Lindsey Graham) who, just this past Sunday on Meet the Press, was talking nullification of federal laws in the shameful style that is his state's benighted tradition. Is it conceivable that 10 months and three weeks from now, Obama could actually win the state? If it happens, we will know that the Republicans are headed off the cliff. And that is precisely where we should all hope they go.
Everyone wants sanity and civility restored to our politics. Some moderate Democrats and a smattering of Republicans have this fantasy that a centrist third party will do it. Nonsense. As I've written before, all a centrist third party will accomplish is ensure the election of the right-wing candidate. The only thing that might bring back sanity and civility is the destruction of the current GOP. If Republicans wake up next Nov. 7 to see that their extremist-obstructionist posture of the last four years has only reelected a president who started the year below 50 percent (as he will) and whom they should have been able to beat, then they might finally return to earth.
Nothing would say that the American people thought Republicans had vacated our planet like losing South Carolina. Everything was going gangbusters for the GOP there recently, even more than usual. The last remaining Democratic federal-level officials were all wiped out, except for James Clyburn, the congressman who represents the one majority-black district. The Democrats' last Senate candidate was a laughingstock. And the Palmetto State had this hot new governor, Nikki Haley: right wing; a Sikh, of all improbable things (by birth-she's a fervent Christian now); a heavyweight endorsee of Sarah Palin; and a rising star.
Now? Well, the Democrats aren't going to take over state politics anytime soon. But Haley's star is very much on the wane. Her approval rating in the state, 36 percent, is 8 points lower than Obama's. A state agency of her administration-get this-voted to grant Savannah, Ga., the right to deepen its port channels, thereby potentially putting the port of Savannah in a position to take business away in the future from the port of Charleston. Haley's appointees to the board voted with Georgia.
There are various allegations flying about. But on the central question of why the appointees of a governor of South Carolina would side with Georgia's interests and against their own state's, one South Carolina politics website, linked to above, has this to say: “According to our sources, moneyed Georgia interests with connections to the Port of Savannah threw a big fundraiser for Haley in Atlanta last month. Also, our sources say that the chairman of the Georgia Ports Authority-a major GOP donor who will select speakers for next year's Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida-has been negotiating with Haley and her political consultant to land the governor a coveted prime time speaking gig at the event.”
Ten months and three weeks is a long, long time. But today's poll suggests that a wipeout is not unimaginable-by a president whose anemic approval rating is just 44 percent!
Haley is sinking like a stone. Meanwhile, South Carolina Republicans surely know deep down that Gingrich is unelectable, and they find Romney unpalatable. The state's black voters, about 30 percent of the total, have no such reservations about the Democratic candidate. And his 45 or 46 percent in the new poll suggests he's getting some white support, too-more than he got in 2008, arguably, when he won just under 45 percent of the vote against John McCain.
OK. Realistically, South Carolina is a reach. But nobody cares about South Carolina, really-it is assumed to be in the red column just as Massachusetts is assumed to be in the blue. But now let's look at the Florida numbers from the NBC/Marist poll. There Obama is beating both Romney and Gingrich by outside the margin of error. He leads Romney 48-41 and Gingrich 51-39.
>Again, all politics is local. Republican Rick Scott is the least popular governor in the United States-right now at 26 percent and still sinking. Scott and Haley are prime examples of governors who were supposed to show a new and better way, with politics forged in the cauldron of Tea Party fervor about an absence of accountability, and so on. But these politicians have turned out to be just like all the old ones, except less competent. And if Obama holds Florida, he can afford to lose-take note of this list-Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, Indiana, Nevada, New Mexico, and either Michigan or Pennsylvania, and still rack up a winning 270 electoral votes. (Here, go click the states yourself.) But of course, if he's winning Florida, he's likely not losing any of those other states, with the exception of Indiana. Indeed, if he's winning Florida by around double digits, he's winning Missouri, Arizona, and maybe Georgia (yes, even-I'd say especially-against Gingrich).
Ten months and three weeks is a long, long time. But today's poll suggests that a wipeout of such proportions is not unimaginable. By a president whose anemic approval rating is just 44 percent! But I am not here to say the GOP had better grow up fast. Quite the contrary. If this tantrum lasts through the election, and if 2012 is for the Republicans what 1984 was for the Democrats, then finally our polity stands a chance of functioning again. The Tea Party will be dead and buried. Grover Norquist's vise lock on the GOP will loosen. Someone will start a centrist Republican Leadership Council, just as people started the centrist DLC back in 1985. A certain number of elected Republicans will understand that being the Party of No didn't get them much of anywhere. So this poll should not be a wake-up call for Republican voters. Hit the snooze button, folks, and keep fuming away.
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And Later did President Obama stop any of that nonsense - not a bit - he dove into the pool and added to the mess.
I see a massive gap between reality and political BS based upon convenient falsehood.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20013452-503544.html
Oops. Guess where you fall?
TARP had to occur because it was the failure of the REPUBLICAN'S who held all three branches for SIX YEARS to govern properly. Recall after Enron Bush made that impassioned speech about how this will never happen again? His policies GUARANTEED something worse.
This is about those with money who don't give a damn about who gets hurt. This is about people in power. But beware about spreading the blame - just because someone takes some steps to fix something DOESN'T mean they are responsible for the problem. And it wasn't Republicans who fixed it - it was Democrats.
If people think TARP sold them down the river they don't understand what happened PRIOR to TARP.
It is a fool who thinks if one side is wrong the other must be right - quite often they are both wrong.
The funny thing is that I've never heard you blame repugs for ANYTHING. You can see on this very thread that I'm perfectly willing to blame my side for a few things. Are you willing to do the same for the party you obviously belong to?
You know, listening to Americans argue over the relative merits of Dumbocrats over Rethuglicans or vice-versa is remarkably similar to listening to demented weirdoe arguing about chocolate versus vanilla flavoured shit.... STOP EATING SHIT! IT'S BAD FOR YOU!
By the way, I've decided that I'm all for liberals voting for a 3rd party if they can find a candidate they like, somewhere. However, I'm very tired of liberals not voting. I've never known a conservative who stayed home on election day. If the choice was between hitler and mussolini they'd vote.
Yes, the lesser of two evils is still evil..... LESS evil.
Voting for something better than shit would be nice, for a "change". Judging from your comment, may I assume you didn't realize that's all we Americans have available right now?
To wit::
"so we are to pretend that the democratically controlled house, democratically controlled senate (With then Senator Obama's vote) were hostile to big banking bail outs????
And Later did President Obama stop any of that nonsense"
Whether you agree with him or not, whether you agree with Democrats or not, the one thing, the truly one thing they have proven is that they can govern (not great, but they can).
The one thing Republicans have proved is that they can bring the country to brink of economic collapse.
The problem is that unless we run viable, untainted, unbeholden to Wall Street Congressional candidates it won't matter who wins. Without a reason voters won't bother - and many may miss the date anyway because they have no TV or radio in their tents.
Whereas I agree with you for the most part. But, the question becomes do you want Newt Gingrich as your president. Also, we need to set our sights on getting the Teapublicans out of the House and Senate.
AMEN!!!! A LIBERAL needs to challenge Obama for the DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION...AS AP!!!!!!!!!!
If Anderson/Justic e Party get enough support to siphon substantial resources away from Obama, get ready for a permanent majority of ultraconservati ves in the Supreme Court.... you know, our judicial branch of govt that has more power now than Congress and is so politicized and corporate-owned that we got the Scalia /Thomas /Roberts /Kennedy edict (Citizens United) giving corporations more rights and MUCH more power than we the people have. More than one Supreme will be retiring within 4 years.
I can't help wondering if the Republican Party is actually behind Anderson's candidacy.
With Republicans' biggest attack on democracy now underway -- via their ALEC-backed bills designed to suppress Democratic votes in most states -- this is no time for frustrated progressives to weaken Obama and progressive candidates and office holders any more than Republican obstructionists , corporate-owned media, and Koch-funded dirty tricks by Rove and their superPACS already have.
All the frustrated, angry, IMPATIENT progressives can destry our country for many years.
For this romantic notion that in 4 or 8 years,.... after the country is fed up with the republicans,... .. we will come in on our white horses .....is TOTAL CRAP !!
Because if the republicans win next year, we will not have a chance IN AGES, IF EVER. With 2 new reactionary supremes, the Supreme Court will basically run the country with the corporations. And NO REGULAR CITIZENS have a chance.
Who is going to go against the Supreme Court???? They are the highest court in the land.......And we saw what they did with citizens United??
They WILDLY OVER REACHED. AND WHO COULD- OR DID STOP THEM??? Congress sure was not able to.
WAKE UP PROGRESSIVES AND REALIZE WHAT YOU ARE ASKING FOR.
The Supremes and corporations will make it a total police state, and clamp down REALLY HARD ON DISSENTERS. Forget free speach.
NOW GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER, AND HELP GOOD CANDIDATES LIKE ELIZABETH AND GREYSON, AND LET'S SEE IF WE CAN FIND MORE LIKE THEM.
However, I strongly agree that we need the House and Senate to be progressive, especially that magic 60 seats in the Senate needed for confirmations and to get bills to the floor. Support Sherrod Brown in Ohio and Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts.
Without progressive super-majority, there is no possibility of a progressive Cabinet (if Pres. Obama decides to listen to progressives this time).
Have you ever heard the phrase: "Blue Dog Democrates"?
It was they who worked in concert with the "Tea Party" Republicans to defeat many of the initiatives to get our economy moving in the right direction.
As a result, your statement:"Ther e's nothing 'magical' about 60 votes. That's a bit of fakery designed to justify doing nothing." is just that......Fakery!
By the way, some 50% of the "Blue Dogs" were voted out of office in the 2010 election. But, now the House is controlled by the Republicans.
I hope you'll be very unhappy with the 2012 election results!!
No, I don't expect to like the 2012 results regardless, because the system is corrupted. The only thing that will help is to run them out of town, most of the GOP and half of the fake Democrats. Both parties are doing the bidding of the wealthiest, of the bankers and insurance companies, of Wall Street and the arms industry and the oil companies. The rest of us will continue to come last until we make it clear to these people that we will no longer support liars and hypocrites, regardless of party.
After a little "SESSION" with LBJ, they were usually ready to play ball....The way he wanted !!!
And THIS time I hope he will use the "rollerdex" when important laws are up for votes, e-mail all the names, CLICK, and tell them to call end mail their representatises to vote for the bill.
If we all STAND TOGETHER FOR A CHANGE it can be an immutable force.
OK comrades. TO THE BARRICADES !!!
Obama will probably be re-elected, but it won't matter if he is still stuck with a Republican majority in the House.
It's all about Congress in 2012!!
NEVER VOTE REPUBLICAN!
The reasonable republicans are being scared out of doing the right thing.
And sadly they don't say: I don't care if I loose my seat, I am voting FOR THIS BILL BECAUSE THAT IS THE RIGHT THING.
It is more important for them to stay in the house or senate, than doing what is right for the PEOPLE and the COUNTRY
to risk their cushy jobs either.
We will HAVE to make them understand that unless they do the CORRECT thing, we will see to it that they will need to look for another job too....soon
The aim of the bill is also to allow closure of smaller post offices, some where the local population is dependent upon the service,home delivery replaced "where possible" by block boxes.
In short Susan Collins is on the march to decrease pay and benefits for postal workers and USPS service to the public.
Congress passed a law in 2006 mandating that the USPS fund retirement health benefits 75 years ahead in 10 years.
But,rather than rescinding a law inherently unfair her solution is to cut workers' income and public service.
I am afraid we will be worse off. I don't know HOW we can get the money out out of elections and politics altogether.
Be prepared for flagrant election "irregularities ". This game plan might explain why the Republicans are running such unapologetic fascists.
Steal the election, do away with the rest of the Bill of Rights, and they have accomplished their corporate master's ultimate goal: No More Democracy.
Sadly, you are 100% correct, and far too many here just refuse to see it!
Hardly! You are spot on, my friend!
Upon reading the basic article, my first inclination was to say "Shhhhhh!" This situation has been developing for a couple of years now, and the circumstances cannot have been missed by knowledgable Republi-can'ts. There is no - and will be no - time for such crowing until well after the polls close next November.
The specter of electronic voting fraud by GOP supporters is real and chicanery such as disenfranchisin g large numbers of minority voters and "discouraging others is a always a probability.
Let's not be distracted by counting un-hatched chickens while the real work of electing Obama remains to be done.
Sorry, but I don't plan on being suckered twice by this guy.
Have you seen any republican who has integrity?
If you have, it, well it's just not possible. they are all way worse than Obama.
I'm not so sure about that. It is not unforseen that the GOP is moving full speed with state voter ID laws to deprive approx. 5 million student, elderly and minority voters of their right to vote, ie. anyone who is likely to vote Democratic. It's disgusting, shameless, amoral, anti-Democracy and (so-far) legal. They don't care who they screw so long as they win. The Republicans can no longer be allowed to hold this country hostage and let the rich suck it dry.
He is going to have to hear us loud and clear and constantly; no assuming that he will pay attention to the platform he runs on. Line up to lobby in Washington every day; if the corporations can do it, so can we!
Did you read Robert Redford's article here?? He explained very clearly why that pipeline is wrong for us.
The CANADIANS said that only abouT a few HUNDRED JOBS WOULD BE CREATED....and VERY few are permanent. The work is highly specialized so most WORKERS WOULD BE "IMPORTED" ? All the hollering about THOUSANDS OF JOBS id BUNK.
He is better than any one of the repug nuts who are running.
A lost vote for Obama is more likely to help a fascist than anything else.
NEVER VOTE REPUBLICAN !!
There's a difference?
The other one does the same thing, but uses a capital "D".
See the difference?
Numbers: a state with about 5 million voters gets about 10 or 11 Electoral College votes.
The smallest seven states, added together, have about 5 million voters, but they get a total of 21 Electoral College votes. And that's just the smallest seven. Most of the smallest (population, not square miles) states are right-wing. So it is already harder for any Democrat to win going into any Presidential race.
Senate numbers for these same seven states are worse:
A state with about 5 million would get 2 Senators.
These seven states get 14 Senators, and that skews the 60 vote requirement for appointments for Cabinet, judges, and to bring votes to the floor if there is a filibuster or other opposition.
So if the Democrats really win by a landslide for President, Senate, and House; then we must remind them again and again that it is their duty to act on our behalf and pass strong and decent laws.
Think about it. "We must remind them..."? Are you joking? They should not require any 'reminding'. Most of these clowns do not care about you any more than the Republicans do. Most 'Democrats' in the Congress are as bought-off as the G.O.P. Personally, I'm no longer voting for anybody I have to "remind."
Several posters here and on other sites always end their comments with "Never vote Republican." That alone doesn't fix anything. The Democrats are taking you for granted. That's why Obama isn't worried about screwing the left –– he figures, were else will they go?
I'm a lifelong Democrat. I've run for office as a Democrat. I've worked for Democrats, including a couple of U.S. Senators. But Obama has lost me. He and the rest of those Wall Street apologists had better realize that they're losing a lot of us.
Remember, thyey have obstructed and opposed every thing he has tried to accomplish.
I can't think of a single Repugnican that I could back! They vote as a block at the tyranny of Karl Rove, Grover Norquist and the like. They kowtow to the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Glenn Beck! AND they vote against the bulk of their own constituent's best interests and especially the nation's best health and public safety issues in an unconscionable selling out to their wealthiest donors and big corporate contributors with their anti-environmen tal, pro big business strategies.
THEY HAVE NO CONSCIENCE!
NEVER VOTE REPUBLICAN!
I can't think of a single Repugnican that I could back! They vote as a block at the tyranny of Karl Rove, Grover Norquist and the like. They kowtow to the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Glenn Beck! AND they vote against the bulk of their own constituent's best interests and especially the nation's best health and public safety issues in an unconscionable selling out to their wealthiest donors and big corporate contributors with their anti-environmen tal, pro big business strategies.
THEY HAVE NO CONSCIENCE!
NEVER VOTE REPUBLICAN!
This IS NOT the time for upsetting the apple-cart. Let's get Citizens United reversed and our skewed tax system fixed first.
Come 2016, and I'll be your man here in Virginia, but . . .
N O T N O W!!
There are times for all things, John Gill, and now is the time for creating jobs, getting our financial house in p order, reforming election financing (reversing Citizen's United), etc, but none of this will happen under a GOP Administration.
Granted, all of these items may not come to pass in a second Obama term, BUT with a solid House & Senate to back him, wonders are possible and - dare i say it? - predictable.
Howdy Doody for pres. Certainly wouldn't be the first stringed puppet to inhabit the Oval Office.
To compromise one's convictions by voting for :the lesser evil" is the greatest "copout" and negation of our free world, human rights democracy and to sanction hypocricy and lies.
A cautionary lesson of the havoc a third-party candidate can generate occurred in New Hampshire in 2000 -- in that state, Bush got 273,559 votes; Gore, 266,348; and Nader received 22,198. If only 7,212 of those Nader voters had gone for Gore, he wins the state, AND the presidency (forget the Florida debacle, just add NH's 4 electoral votes to Gore's 266 = 270 needed to win).
Just a little more than 7,000 votes ushered in the empowerment of neocons; the horrors of 9/11; the invasion of Iraq and grand-scale war profiteering; the deaths of thousands of Americans and untold thousands of Iraqis; a further-right-w ing Supreme Court; hundreds of lifetime right-wing federal judgeships; a nauseating return to an economic disparity not seen since the Gilded Age; an unbridled, deregulated romp for corporations and institutions; an ideological divide in America comparable to the 1850s; and a catalogue of woes and wounds that still haunts us all to this day.
A mere 7,212 votes did all that.
It's a major demographic shift that started while ray-gun was still in office 25 years ago and has continued ever since. It's reaching a point of critical mass now and there's no turning back. The borderline psychotic behavior coming from the far right is an angry acknowledgement of that fact.
Personally, I think this was the real reason for the "patriot" Act all along. That's why plans for some version of it were in the works back in the '80s.
Obama told us, back in 2008: You are the ones you've been waiting for.
You're right though. We already have a right-wing party. Democrats need to give us another choice.
Get out and help. Donate if you can. Volunteer. Whatever. We need to elect as many Democrats as possible to show the GOP that their extreme tactics won't work.
NEVER VOTE REPUBLICAN !!
They KNOW they're gonna lose the next Presidential election.
What's their response?
TO VOTE ANYWAY, AND TO VOTE FOR WHAT THEY REALLY WANT RATHER THAN COMPRIMISE ON THEIR TWISTED "principles".
Psychos who care get stuff done. Nice guy wimps who don't... don't.
Maybe, if we can get a 535 seat (or so) majority in the House and a 100 seat majority in the Senate we can win nearly 1/2 of all future struggles with the repug party. Until then, we need to keep pushing OUR PARTY to actually stand for something.
THAT would be "change I could believe in".
'Obama Headed for Landslide?'
i am afraid not. when obama was chosen as president using the slogan: 'change we can believe in' at least 43 percent of the american voters did not show up, a mere 1 percent more than showed up during the bush junior re-election. so these people never believed in obama's 'change we can believe in'. it would be a landslide if obama who lied and cheated as a president would be able to motivate the non-voters to vote, but I doubt this will happen. so words as 'landslide' are propagandistic. please don't use it anymore, you not only mislead your readers but also make a fool of yourselves. american people are not so stupid they cannot see through this kind of propaganda. you know friends, propaganda only works as long as people don't realize it is propaganda, the moment they do, they know what it has been all the time, pure lies.
The races to watch are in Congress, if the Democrats keep the Senate and regain the House the country could have some chance of getting through the century.
Fool me twice and I become realistic regarding who made a fool of me and why I let it happen.
It all seems like a set-up--run some idiot Repug like Newt, so Obama will most likely win. I know it is difficult to acknowledge reality--but too many Dems are corporate bought and paid for, including Obama. Wait and see, people.
Credentials ain't what they used to be.
If you don't vote for Obama, you hand a vote to the truly EVIL Republicans!
I can't think of a single Repugnican that I could back. They vote as a block at the tyranny of Karl Rove, Grover Norquist and the like. They kowtow to the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Glenn Beck! AND they vote against the bulk of their own constituent's best interests and especially the nation's best health and public safety issues in an unconscionable selling out to their wealthiest donors and big corporate contributors with their anti-environmen tal, pro big business strategies.
THEY HAVE NO CONSCIENCE!
NEVER VOTE REPUBLICAN!
so obama is an alternative. for what exactly? perhaps for some americans, the rich in the first place, but outside the land of the free, home of the brave, for whom is obama an alternative?
People who see party label before policies are useful idiots that the parties count on and will never ever call their mismanagers to task.
That label fits the current GOP candidates and the Tea Party quite well - although I would strike out "useful".
The party of "No" didn't get much done. As such, they don't deserve any support nor respect.
Conservatives had no home in either democrat or republican party.
It pleased me greatly to see some of the republicans - like my former US senator Arlen Spector finally swept out of office (one of many poster children for term limits) - the tea party has done much .. we have much more to go.
15 trillion admitted debt is a very bad thing, BOTH parties are responsible.
I am frustrated with this 2 party fiasco we have in this country. It appears to be a government for the corporations, for the military industrial complex, the prison complex, the medical mafia, and big agribusiness. Is there any hope that we the people can take back our country?
by the way Racism is necessarily a collectivist notion that ignores individual's values, individual's choices and instead substitutes a collective We or They so They are all like 'Bla bla bla'
Dr Paul's ideas are individualistic - that is why I like them.
If you're ever in a fatal car accident caused by a road that could have been repaired decades ago, I want you to deal with it like the 'rugged individualist' you are.
If you ever take a medication that was secretly swapped with something poisonous to you, but could be produced cheaper in Indonesia, I want you to deal with it. Afterall, we can't have "big government" snooping in the affairs of small businesses like the pharmaceutical industry, right?
If your wife, or one of your children is rapped by a gang, I want you to accept that fact, because afterall, cops are nothing more than government employees, right?
I already assume you hand deliver all of your Christmas cards or overpay to have UPS do it, just to keep it in the hands of private industry, right?
"Individualists" live in caves on worms and crickets and can't leave the safety of their cave, for fear of being shot by the private land owner who probably considers them trespassers.
Build your own roads, schools, and hospitals. Put out your own fires. Build your own house with tools you hand made from trees in your own yard. Grow your own food exclusively.
Do all of these things and more and we can start talking about how much of an "individualist" you are.
ending Social Security (what's left of it);
ending Medicare;
ending Medicaid;
ending the public schools (what's left of them);
ending public libraries;
ending national parks;
ending public roads and bridges (what's left of them);
ending inspections on the food we eat (what little we still have);
ending inspections on the medicines we take (what little we still have);
ending the post office (what's left of it);
ending safety inspections on the cars we drive and planes we ride in;
ending the FCC (what's left of it);
ending regulations on the banking industry (what little we still have);
ending public broadcasting (what's left of it);
doing away completely with the public airwaves (what's left of them);
ending environmental regulations that ensure slightly cleaner air, food and water (what little we still have);
and ending the rights of the public to petition the government (e.g. asking it to actually DO things)... (what's left of them);
are NOT "independant" ideas. They are EXTREMELY RIGHT-WING REPUG ones. If you agree with them, you're no "independant" either, no matter how much you try to mask it in "peace" rhetoric.
The states HAVE RETAINED the power and can choose or not choose to engage in any or all of these activities - they are where the power rest for that kind of thing.
Why not just leave the military at the state level as well? Seriously? Why not? Maybe Mississippi can invade Afghanistan and let the other 49 states focus on OUR country, instead.
By the way, I assume you have no problem with California telling the auto industry to switch to 100% electric vehicles, right? California actually tried to curb emissions just slightly and YOU REPUGS went APE, saying the state was over stepping its bounds, and that it was really the FEDERAL government's job to deal with things like that, afterall we can't have 50 different standards. It would be too costly.
A little consistency would be nice. Do you think you can make the "state's rights" argument in a consistent way, that allows states to make bank ATM fees illegal, without the federal government conservatives jumping to the bank's rescue?
I'd be interested in your reply...
This is pure fantasyland. Obama HAD a landslide and workable majorities in both houses. He and the party ignored the needs of the people, sucked up to the banks, continued and extended the Bush wiretapping, the Bush wars, and the Bush environmental policies. Stop believing the speeches and look at what these people are doing. We're being hosed. Wake up.
Please take us to an intelligent place in 2012 President Obama, I am standing solidly behind you. And I will do my part to ensure that you have the majority in both houses so that the party of NO does not bring this great country to ruin as it is currently attempting to do.
Obama has not pleased many of his supporters as hoped for, but can anyone imagine a Republican win in 2012?
What a terrifying thought!
This week FAUX put a graph up where they showed the # of unemployed for each month since 2008 - using bars. e.g. 9% would be longer in the negative than 8%.
Before Bush left there was an 8.6% way to the left. When they posted the Nov. 2011 bar of 8.6% - that bar was not even with the 2008 bar of 8.6%
Current TV has a new show: "The Young Turks". The moderator pointed out this farce by FAUX. Keith Olberman has a daily show and a few new ones of similar ilk are coming soon to Current.
And of this type of madness that worries me about the GOP/TP voter uninformed.
Those who vote GOP are voting against themselves. There have been several specials on Current where police target black/brown people and put them in jail for "nothing" but a marijuana cigarette. Bloomberg on NY, NY is one of those cities.
A showdown will occur this week between the W.H. and Congress: House (surprise) passed the payroll tax bill 236-193 - which includes the OIL pipeline and other crap. Senate will not pass and President Obama will veto it.
Call your Senators and tell them "Do not give in as they did in 2010." Let the people KNOW who caused them starvation.
Newt's tax reform gives top 1% more breaks. (Shades of 9-9-9)
But there's a flaw in it. So long as the voters follow this path, neither of the two major parties will have the slightest reason to listen to us. Right now, the Democrats believe that although Obama has truly betrayed every promise he made the specter of one of those GOP idiots will force us to back his re-election because we 'have nowhere else to go.'
Only when the voters in substantial number withhold their support from the phonies, liars, and hypocrites will be get better nominees. Only when we stop being suckers will we deserve anything better. The biggest financial contributor to Obama was Goldman Sachs. Do you seriously think he will act in our interest when it means lost revenue for these people? Why did he extend the Bush billionaires tax cuts? Is that explicable in any way other than the obvious?
I am a long-time Democrat and I am checking out of the whorehouse next year. I am done being hosed by people who don't mean their promises.
I can't think of a single Repugnican that I could back! They vote as a block at the tyranny of Karl Rove, Grover Norquist and the like. They kowtow to the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Glenn Beck! AND they vote against the bulk of their own constituent's best interests and especially the nation's best health and public safety issues in an unconscionable selling out to their wealthiest donors and big corporate contributors with their anti-environmen tal, pro big business strategies.
THEY HAVE NO CONSCIENCE!
NEVER VOTE REPUBLICAN!
What we need are four viable parties, two leaning right and two leaning left. That would shake things up nicely.
The fact is McCAin sucked - he supported the bail outs and the wars and .. I wasted my vote not because I did not vote for the guy who won - any one who votes for some one just because they think they can win is a true idiot.
My vote was wasted on McCain because he stood for things I did and do not agree with.
Because the message of freedom and liberty is important
I'll repeat, lesser evil = evil not even done well. You can give me all the thumbs down you want - but you'll be getting the single digit salute from DC.
THEY HAVE NO CONSCIENCE!
NEVER VOTE REPUBLICAN!
However, in the vein of "being realistic", don't you think any "gains" or "accomplishment s" Obama can give himself credit for are nothing more than playing the good cop?
Repugs are the bad guys. Obama plays the good guy. However, the things we actually voted for (single-payer, an ACTUAL end to Iraq - including mercenaries, an end to torture) are left "dead on arrival" and "off the table" before any negotiation is even tried. If you ask your boss for a raise and he says you deserve one, but his boss probably won't allow it, what's really going on? Grown-ups know, what's usually happening is that he doesn't want you to have it either. His boss is just a scapegoat.
Obama never wanted single-payer.
He never wanted to close the torture camps.
I know this because he never fought for either thing in good faith. By itself this wouldn't matter. However, he campaigned on promises that he had no intention of keeping.
CONT.
What do you plan to do about it? You can pretend it's not happening. You can throw your vote away on a third party candidate funded by the repug party. You can stay home and watch tv (WHICH IS INEXCUSABLE), or you can do what I plan to do: vote for the liar, and keep him nervous until the election. Also, make damn sure the Democratic establishment gets the message loud and clear to stop ignoring the base before 2016.
I plan to vote for Obama, because I want to keep repugs out of office. We're all grasping at straws here. If other people vote third party to send the Democrats a message, it might help too.
What I CAN NOT defend is the idea of stay at home on election day. I will walk 10 miles to vote for a can of soup if that's what it takes to keep repugs out of office. Repugs ALL seem to vote. That's why their tiny minority (seriously about 28% of the population) is being disproportionat ely heard.
Liberals are notorious wusses about this. Get registered and vote, damn it. Write in someone if need be. Just don't sit at home. You NEED TO BE HEARD.
If you believe Bush is a war criminal, who deserved to be impeached or even imprisoned for his acts as president, then voting for Obama is unconscionable. Obama is a war criminal, a financial fraud, and a partisan hack. I refuse to vote for "the lesser of two evils" because that just guarantees each administration will be worse than the one before it.
But my biggest issue with the Obama administration is that it seems to make many Americans complacent. There's a sense that "he's working on it", despite the fact that on most issues, he's basically the third term of Bush.
The only thing right now that gives me hope for the future of my species is that many people among the two most recent major protest movements (the TEA Party and Occupy Wall Street) are starting to realize that there's a lot of common ground between them. There are problems in America that are essentially impossible to make any headway on, because NEITHER party addresses them. We desperately need a true people's movement, focused around COMMON GROUND rather than playing up the differences between people.
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