The Politics Thread

[DRW50]

I can't believe he's still pretending he's going to run for President.

Palin looks so awkward around him. The whole thing is such a stunt.

It's damn pathetic the way the media pants over these carnival barkers while the country burns. Palin has said nothing and is basically just wandering around the country, and yet the media can't get enough.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/56062.html

[DRW50]

This is what's on the mind of the power brokers in today's GOP - gay marriage, abortion, Obamacare, Reagan, and of course, a birth certifcate joke.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/wires/faith_freedom_wire/faith_freedom_wire.html#41

[Max]

I'm surprised that nobody else has brought this up (especially Carl, who loves to talk about current events and post news articles), but I have to say that I am very disappointed that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie took a state government helicopter to his son's baseball game. This action is extremely hypocritical on Christie's part, given that he has built a national reputation on being a fierce opponent of wasteful spending. (Let me make clear that despite Christie's hypocrisy, I still support the deep budget cuts that he has proposed, because I feel they are necessary in a time of deep recession. The only other alternative would be to raise taxes on individuals of all income levels, since a tax increase for the very wealthy would not bring in enough revenue to sustain NJ's massive government budget.)

Now, Christie maintains that these helicopter flights cost the state no extra money. (I forget his reasoning behind this statement.) However, even if that is true, Christie's actions create the preception of wasteful and unnecessary spending, and any smart politican knows that perception equals reality. Since Christie is asking so many others to do more with less, he--by virtue of being a leader--should follow suit. The fact that Christie did not do so shows that he is not yet ready for prime-time, and seriously hampers his future presidential ambitions.

Edited June 7, 2011 by Max

[DRW50]

I didn't bring it up mostly because this type of thing happens so much with politicians that I didn't think it would really affect views of Christie. To me he is an opportunist and a blowhard and unfortunately this is what gets attention in today's media and today's politics.

[quartermainefan]

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[DRW50]

Gingrich, never likely to have a chance, but always a favorite of the media (he's the ideas man!!!), seems to have suffered the final blow, as the high echelons of his campaign staff have abandoned him.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/56631.html

It looks like they wanted out after the bizarre decision by Newt and wife to disappear and take an expensive cruise.

Some speculation that the new favored son will be Rick Perry, who has spent the last decade destroying Texas.

[quartermainefan]

I can't stand Newt, but his own party did a terrible wrong to him. His big crime was giving his honest opinion on the Paul Ryan plan, and for that he is being run out of town on a rail. So much for wanting honesty in our politicians.

[DRW50]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/why-was-gingrich-so-ill-prepared-to-run/2011/06/10/AGDlxmOH_story.html?hpid=z2

[Max]

It's very rare for a campaign to crash and burn so spectacularly the way Newt's has. Off the top of my head, the only other comparable presidential campaign was that of Joe Biden (in 1988), where he was forced to immediately withdrawl after he plagarized that British politician's speech.

While Perry is very far to the right, I have to give him credit for being a competent executive. I fail to see how Perry spent the last decade destroying Texas (could you please elaborate on your opinion, Carl?), given that the economy is in much better shape in Texas than in most other places in America. (Throughout the last decade, Texas' relatively strong economy and low cost of living has been responsible for massive population growth; this growth, in turn, has resulted in the state gaining four additional House seats.) While it's debatable if Perry is responsible for this, Democrats have wasted no time in giving Arnold sole responsibility for California's especially dreadful economy.

Regarding 2012, I have to reconsider my previous statement that no Republican (other than Huntsman) has a chance to defeat Obama. What has caused me to change my mind was the especially horrendous economic data released in the last couple of weeks: (1) unemployment over 9%, (2) the number of jobs created last month were three times lower than what was estimated, and (3) housing prices are still in the gutter. (Of course, it's amusing to watch Democrats "spin" the overall economic picture by taking some good piece of economic news--like the successful auto bailout--and act as if Obama's done a masterful job on the economy as a whole.) If numbers like this continue over the next seventeen months, then Obama will lose to any Republican who's not on the far-right, even to a dull and boring candidate like Romney or Pawlenty.

To further support my assertion that Obama is in danger, his approval rating (according to a recent CBS News poll) is at 48%. (This approval rating would be much lower were it not for the Bin Laden killing and the perception that Obama is so "likeable.") As a general rule, if an incumbent's approval rating is lower than 50%, he loses re-election. Now, Democrats have been comforted by polls showing Obama ahead of each of his potential Republican rivals. But this is a false sense of security, because (aside from Palin) the general public knows little or nothing about the GOP field. (In fact, because Clinton was still little known back in the spring of 1992, he was beind President Bush in the polls, despite the fact that--by then--Bush's approvals were poor.) In actuality, these polls (that show Obama ahead of the Repbulicans) shold be worrysome to Democrats because Obama (in most of these polls) is garnering less than 50% support.

Edited June 10, 2011 by Max

[DRW50]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/opinion/07krugman.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

[Max]

Carl, since the New York Times is a liberal paper, it's no surprise that they would have an editorial that focuses on what's wrong with Texas' economy. To counterbalance the editorial you posted above, please refer to this piece from the conservative Wall Street Journal:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304259304576375480710070472.html

Amoung the facts cited in this editorial are the following:

*37% of all new jobs in the U.S. (since the recovery) were created in Texas.

*Since June 2009, Texas added about 265,000 new jobs (out of a nationwide total of 722,000). New York comes in a distant second in this measure, adding only 98,000 jobs, followed by Pensylvania at 93,000.

*Texas is one of only three states to have experienced a net increase in jobs since December 2007. (North Dakota and Alaska are the others. DC, while not a state, also has experienced a net increase in jobs.)

Edited June 11, 2011 by Max

[DRW50]

Media darling "T-Paw" fumbles when trying to explain why he uses "Obamneycare." Presumably he felt that he needed to go back to being nice. The real question is why he came up with a dumbass line like "Obamneycare" in the first place, since most people already associate the two without a cloying catchphrase.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/56904.html

Minnesota will still be represented by another media darling, the ever-extreme Michelle Bachmann, who is the media's chance to get the Sarah Palin they wanted.

[DRW50]

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/newt-gingrich-charity-paid-cash-gingrich-profit-business/story?id=13804431&singlePage=true

[DRW50]

One of the Republican conferences had an Obama impersonator. He was pulled off the stage just as he was about to tell some jokes about their darling, extremist Michelle Bachmann.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/20/reggie-brown-obama-impersonator-rlc-performance_n_880541.html

Edited June 21, 2011 by CarlD2

[DRW50]

Our "liberal" media in action again. Mark Halperin, never known for having a very high opinion of Obama, decided to spew profanity about him on MSNBC. He has been suspended. Let's see how long it will take for him to become a martyr/hero/victim of those censor-happy bleeding heart PC-loving liberals.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/58098.html