The Politics Thread

[quartermainefan]

He has no ideas, let alone good ideas. All he is is a mash up of every conservative goal bundled into one candidate. If modern conservative theory holds there is no global warming, then his position is there is no global warming. If in 2015 the new conservative consensus is there is global warming, he will say he believes in global warming. 20 years ago he was for Roe v Wade. Modern conservatism does not even allow for abortion in the case of rape, so therefore he does not believe in that and hides behind some states rights bullshit. All he wants to do is cut taxes (because truly, the 10% he paid on whatever he isn't hiding in the Cayman Islands and Switzerland was just too high a rate for his tastes). He has no recipes for fixing the economy save plugging up these mythological tap loopholes he cannot name. He does not address the fact that even if he closed every loophole it wouldn't begin to make a dent in the deficit (let alone the debt) because the true conservative agenda--as always since the days of FDR--is to drive the country broke til you get to the point where you say "we would love to have social security but we just can't afford it. Sorry the entitlements have to go."

If you cut the tax rates to zero then of course you will have a broke country. It worked so well for GWB, who bemoaned the budget surpluses of Clinton. Bush bankrupted the country with his tax cuts and wars of choice for Cheney's neo-con dreams of empire, and lo and behold there is no money for medicare. Well no kidding, you spent it all on ten years worth of some fake war in Iraq and tax cuts for Bill Gates.

Edited September 10, 2012 by quartermainefan

[Money]

The fact is America was built on immigrants. I never understod the argument that undocumented workers steal jobs from Americans when most of those Americans who were outraged would never do the jobs those workers did. I knew of someone personally who would rather collect food stamps than be a trash collector. There's a lot of immigrants who are highly educated and would be huge assets to the economy but lack the documentation. Now most Americans are out of work and they can no longer use those immigrants as scapegoats but there will always be some Republican ready to make that argument instead of seeing the benefit of legalizing those immigrants.

[Wales2004]

I don't know whether Barack Obama will improve anything if re-elected but I do believe he won't feel the need to cave in to the Republicans if given another term. He won't be compelled to just accomodate them since he won't be concerned about running for office again. Those who want to keep their seats will probably end up backing off some of their tough talk since they will need to be more mindful of their constituents.

[marceline]

I'm glad you mentioned states rights because this is a place where I feel like the Democrats have missed a golden opportunity. Romney has spent the last few months running that disgusting, putrid lie-filled ad claiming that "Obama gutted welfare" (Ugh! Just typing that makes me want to slap that liar!) even though he knows that Obama agreed to release states from the welfare to work program if they could provide a plan that moved 20% more people into jobs. Is that not a perfect states rights solution? So why is Romney so dead set against it? I'd give ANYTHING to have someone ask him that during the debates.

Honestly, I don't get how anybody can even consider voting for that man. He just lies and lies and lies. He does it knowingly and deliberately and when called on his lies he basically just says "[!@#$%^&*] you, I'm Mitt Romney and the rules for everyone else don't apply to me." Everytime I see Jon Huntsman I just shake my head in disbelief that the Republicans think Romney (Santorum, Cain, Gingrich. etc...) is more qualified to be in the White House than he is.

[Ann_SS]

Yesterday, Romney did say that he would keep two or three elements of the Affordable Care Act.

[marceline]

By the end of the day he'll claim he never said that. Watch.

[Ann_SS]

You were not far from wrong. Someone from his campaign clarified Romney's comments about what he would keep from the Affordable Care Act.

Earlier, I read an article that Scott Van Nuzer who owns Big Apple Pizza and hugged the President was flooded with negative reviews by Republicans so Democrats went there and made tons of positive posts. I just visited it to see for myself. Boy, are Republicans pathetic. So much for business owners having a right to their opinions. Guess, they meant only businesses that hate others like the many Republicans do.

Edited September 11, 2012 by Ann_SS

[juppiter]

When you think about it tho that hug had to have been pre-planned otherwise the Secret Service would've intervened.

[marceline]

Yes and no. Secret Service clears any place POTUS enters before he enters it. That's how there was a camera and photographers already in the room when he walked in. The place had been swept. (Many, many, many years ago I did temp work at an event for Bush 41 in my hometown. I saw what Secret Service was capable of doing back then. For the record, don't ever joke with Secret Service. Trust me. )

Also, even if they hate it, Secret Service agents will take their cues from the person they're protecting unless they perceive a threat. Obama was clearly unafraid.

The photo op was definitely planned but I don't think the hug was. JMHO.

I just hate the fact that now that small business owner is being harassed by right-wingers.

[GoldenDogs]

Interesting comments. Remarkable double-standard of course, but interesting comments nonetheless. Speaks volumes.

It is this extreme partisan rhetoric that reminds me why I stopped posting in the Politics thread. Shameful.

[GoldenDogs]

Fueding between the US and Israel burst into the open today when Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's Prime Minister, sharply criticized recent US statements about Iran while the White House said President Barack Obama would not meet Mr. Netanyahu later this month.

[GoldenDogs]

Add this to the list of things I make up and aren't real...

Wendy Rosen, the Democratic challenger to Republican Rep. Andy Harris in the 1st Congressional District, withdrew from the race Monday amid allegations that she voted in elections in both Maryland and Florida in 2006 and 2008.

Democratic leaders — who raised the allegations, urged Rosen to step aside and notified prosecutors — said they would gather Central Committee members this month to identify a write-in candidate for the district, which includes the Eastern Shore and parts of Harford, Carroll, Cecil and Baltimore counties.

Republicans, meanwhile, said the allegations prove that voter fraud is real and called on Democrats join the GOP in calling for reforms.

I'm grateful to Democratic leaders in her state that recognized the problem and took action.

Voter ID is appropriate and should become law across the country... PERIOD.

[JaneAusten]

I haven't been following the voter Id drive so I'm curious, how are they proposing it get payed for. Since voting is a constitutional right, they cant expect voters to pay for it. in Illinois when we register, we receive a non photo voter Id card and it costs nothing.

Also they would have to give voters ample time prior to an election to get one with some sort of transitional period.

[marceline]

Oh Jane, you are ADORABLE!

I can't speak for any other state but here in Ohio there has been no discussion at all about how to pay for this extra layer of bureaucracy other than "If voting is important to you then you'll do what you have to do." IOW, poll tax. And obviously the GOP doesn't want to give voters ample time. That doesn't help them at all.

What I find utterly hysterical is with all this "rampant voter fraud" why didn't the Republican Party start fighting for this before the 2010 elections or shortly after since they picked up so many seats? Are they claiming that 2010 was filled with voter fraud? If so, then which of the Republicans who picked up seats won because of voter fraud? And if only Democrats engage in said fraud how did the GOP win so many races? Why wait until a few months before a presidential race? Could it be because only now does the Electoral College come into play? Nah, that couldn't possibly be it.

[Wales2004]

That sentence seems a bit off to me. I don't know anything about the feud but clearly two Israelis (Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak are not in agreement with each other when it comes to relations. Also, I commented on information available at the time you made your post so if you're saying something happened today then I would have no way of knowing that it would but still the two Israelis see things differently.

Please explain to me how Voter I.D. would have prevented this Wendy Rosen from voting in two different states. She probably has I.D. for both states. The problem in this case seems to be the ability to register in multiple states. If a person resides in more than one state then wouldn't it be up to that individual to designate one of those states as the primary residence for the purpose of voting?

It seems that there needs to be a national system in place to verify that a person is only registered to vote in one state and that would have to include being able to distinguish people with the same names from each other.