And the GOP Takeover of the Virginia legislature and senate was another voter-administered slap to President Obama and the Democrats.
...from Gallup, has conservatives in America now outnumbering liberals by a two-to-one margin.
Thirty-one percent of Americans in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll are downright angry at the way the federal government works, a record in polling back to 1992. Add in those who are merely dissatisfied and the total soars to 80 percent, one point from its high 19 years ago.
According to The Post/ABC survey, a staggering 89 per cent of Americans now say the economy is in “bad shape”, with nearly half calling it “poor”; 61 per cent of respondents disapprove of Obama’s handling of the economy, with 48 per cent strongly disapproving.Yes, America, Obama's job is almost complete. Now if the GOP can just get its act together...
Now if the GOP can just get its act together...
ReplyDeleteThere. You had to go and ruin it.
:]
"conservatives in America now outnumbering liberals by a two-to-one margin."
ReplyDeleteI think that's wishful thinking but it's MY wishful thinking, so I'll take it!
And, of course, the GOP has NOT got its act together, so yes, 98ZJUSMC is right, "you had to go and ruin it!" :-) But, not as much as the GOP has.
Virginia elections since 2008 indicate that the bloom is off the rose for Obama here in the Old Dominion.
ReplyDeleteI can't say the same about Northern Virginia, of course. Northern Virginia has long been a strong bastion of liberalism, and the 2011 local elections in our counties went to the incumbents -- mostly Dems.
I read the other day that various aspects of Obama are causing employers to drop employer-based health insurance policies. The article I read said that 1 million employees are not uninsured! I suppose that they will, in six months (the requirement in Obamacare) try to get one of the Obamacare state policies. Of course, not enough of those policies will be available.
In the end, the healthcare system will crash as more and more people (1) don't have insurance coverage, (2) are nearly the only ones with health insurance Medicare participants and thereby overwhelm the system, and (3) healthcare bills go unpaid because of the numbers of uninsured and underinsured.
A few years ago, a doctor wrote an editorial in Time to the effect that the next big crash will be the health insurance industry. The essay was written before Obamacare was enacted. Clearly, based on recent figures since Obamacare was passed by a Congress that didn't read the bill (!!!). Obamacare is causing even more trouble in the health insurance industry. Has that been the plan all along: to crash private health insurance?
Will the GOP ticket end up being Romney-Gingrich? Sheesh. It's starting to look that way!
ReplyDeleteIn Ohio, the vote on collective bargaining just showed that local municipalities will have to start laying off the union members. Unions and their support just slit their own throats.
ReplyDeleteWow, Republicans in Virginia.
ReplyDeleteWe still debating "Who's uglier, Boris Karloff or Peter Lorre."
Isn't it time to move on?
Republicans do not seem prone to getting their act together any time soon. I does appear, that the people see better than the politicians.
ReplyDeleteMark,
ReplyDeleteI agree wholeheartedly. Lets see what the thugs will do next...
AOW, I had heard Virginia got tons of Republican seats...that's amazing, especially for VA.
ReplyDeletekeeep it up!
Yeah, right Americans are conservative by a 2-1 margin. That's why Democrats have won the popular vote in 3 of the past 4 elections...
ReplyDeleteFunny that...
Gene,
ReplyDeleteYou're talking past history. The polling is from right now.
Also 2010 election results at the national and state level is a huge data point showing the tide is turning against big government statist progressivism.
Small town America is definitely more Conservative.
ReplyDeleteThis "occupy movement" wouldn't stand a chance in a small town of hard-working, common-sense individuals. They would be laughed away and ignored.
America is to the right of center. Why do you think the 111th Congress didn't ask any of us if they should spend us into oblivion? Where was the popular vote, then?
By the way...is that Michael Moore in the image used?
ReplyDeleteThe GOP has never shrank the government, other than to turn their backs to illegal, immoral and unethical behavior by moneyed interests. Spending and government growth has always increased dramatically under GOP rule.
ReplyDeleteJMJ
JMJ,
ReplyDeleteNormally we disagree, but you said something there that bears note. This is the reason, looking at your take on the GOP, that so many Conservatives have walked away from said GOP. (I wonder if people like you actually have noticed that. Within Conservatism, you will be hard-pressed to find the "GOP Ruling Class" that you hate as much as we do.) Big government, regardless of Dem or GOP, is still BIG GOVERNMENT. Conservatives like myself kinda hate that.
Nicely said, JMJ.
" ....is that Michael Moore in the image used?
ReplyDeleteTouché!
Very funny, ecc!
Brevity is the soul of wit, indeed.
~ FreeThinke
I have to agree with Jersey as well. And it needs to be noted that the same can be said of democrats, who are raking in the corporate money.
ReplyDeleteI like what Jersey said in his last post too.
ReplyDeleteThe Republican Establishment today is no more conservative than than Timothy Leary was back in the Sick-sties.
Michael Savage has accused the RNC of instructing the potential candidates to "take a dive." They don't really want to win.
I truly believe there is some kind of "fix" going on behind the scenes.
Why do I believe that?
Because there appears to be no other logical explanation for the failure of Republicans to oppose Democrats effectively when President Sambo has loused up his performance so badly.
Anyone who thinks our politics are open and aboveboard is incredibly naive in my never humble opinion.
As W.S. Gilbert so famously said, "Things are seldom what they seem ..."
The GOP wont 'get it together.'Obama 2012, Hillary/ Warren 2016
ReplyDeleteProgressives outnumber both liberals and conservatives combined.
Yawn, cite whatever loony study you want AOW. The freakin' CBO says HCR (what you call Obamacare) will SAVE billions over time.
ReplyDeleteIt really isn't 'Obamacare' since he compromised with the GOP to get this through and their contribution to this was to insure private insurance companies can keep making their billions off your health-and deaths.
Thankfully becasue of Obama, they can't drop you and just let you die.
So, Silver Fiddle, do you think it might be safe to say the huge, international corporations in league with the big international banks virtually "own" the government, and are determining outcomes by manipulation behind the scenes?
ReplyDeleteIt certainly seems likely.
The question ought to be what could we hope to do to break up this monstrous power bloc?
~ FreeThinke
PS: The entire concept of "International Law," has always struck me wrong, because it gives credence to the I-think insane idea that there is an international governing elite to whom the USA must be subservient. My liberal friends -- all of whom happen to be Ivy Leaguers with one exception, and she's Berkeley Girl -- just adore the idea of ceding our sovereignty to a World Government. Just can't wait for it to happen. So maybe I'm not as far out in my beliefs as some are eager to think? - FT
Anyone bring a flyswatter to this picnic?
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry I forgot mine.
~ FT
@liberaldude,
ReplyDeleteHey, Spec. 4, at ease, disease. Now go type me a leave request and fetch me my coffee before I return to the battlefront, where the soldiers are. Oh, and shine my fricking boots, you REMF.
Pogue. Just another pogue among men.
@JMJ,
ReplyDeleteDude. Three Conservative bloggers commented favorably in agreement on one of your comments.
Oh my.
What's this world coming to? :)
"Progressives outnumber both liberals and conservatives combined."
ReplyDeleteLOL... only in congress and only for the time being.
I have to agree with Jersey also... DAMN! I hate it when that happens!
@JMJ,
ReplyDeleteFinntann makes it 4!! I need to re-read Revelation and see if this is one of the seals to be broken.
Hey, Spec. 4, at ease, disease.
ReplyDelete-----
Is that some cutesy soldier boy phrase?
Shut up or I'll hit you with my freaking wallet.
President Sambo? Come on, try something like The Black Messiah, it isn't as vulgar, Freethinker.
ReplyDeleteNow Silverfiddle, how can you agree that both parties are equally guilty ad be a Raygun worshiper at the same time. He grew the debt by multiples and borrowed at 12+% to boot. A disaster but you're on your knees to him. Please explain, are the rethugs stiffs or not?
Or should we throw in with freaking Pee Wee Herman, speaking of President Sambo. There's the guy who can get things done. Actually, what you do not understand is that large deficits have been an intentional right wing strategy to force the dismantling of social programs. They knew there would be too much resistance so they went the deficit route.
So relax, it's all going according to plan.
Oh, Ducky....you will speak only when spoken to, princess. Isn't there a NAMBLA meeting you should be attending, or aren't you still a member?
ReplyDeleteYou'll hit me with your wallet? Why? Is that the biggest thing in your pants, or did your Viagra order come in and you're just feeling saucy? Is your wallet reference a proposal of some kind? Are you offering me money? Haven't you learned your lesson from Sandusky?
I can do this all night long, Ducky. We Conservatives are known for our stamina. Now off with you, cupcake. You need your beauty sleep.
"what you do not understand is that large deficits have been an intentional right wing strategy to force the dismantling of social programs."
ReplyDeleteROFLMAO
"Oh dear! Oh dear ! Oh dear! where is that big white rabbit? I so hope he can lead me out of this dreadful place. Mother never told me I'd ever run into anything quite like this.
ReplyDelete"Mother, where are you? Mother, please come. I need you help. MOTHER!!!"
[NOTE: These sentiments were reported to have been expressed by Alice as she sought to escape the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, though the lines never got into Mr. Dodson's book.]
I'm sure the Mad Hatter must have been a liberal. Poor Alice!
~ FreeThinke
>turn their backs to illegal, immoral and unethical behavior by moneyed interests.
ReplyDeleteYou know, you're right. The GOP has consistently ignored the typical behavior of the Democrats.
Serious deliberation becomes an impossibility in the face of willful perversity and sheer madness.
ReplyDeleteBlack's white.
Day's night.
Up's down.
Your smile's a frown.
West is east.
Lead is yeast.
In's out.
Whispers shout.
Choking's breath.
Life is death.
LEMMEOWDDAHERE!!!
~ FT
If Goldman Sachs isn't a "moneyed interest," I can't imagine what would be.
ReplyDeleteThe last I heard Goldman Sachs was squarely in the corner of the Obama Administration.
Buffett and Gates could also be clearly defined as "moneyed interests." The last I heard both of them were BIG TIME libberuls.
And don't forget who financed the Russian Revolution AND The Third Reich.
The moneyed elite have little or nothing to do with D v. R. They use both -- play all ends against the middle in fact -- in order to preserve, protect, defend and expand their POWER. Their aim is not more wealth; it is the authority to crush and grind underheel anyone they don't like or don't feel comfortable with. They don't have to have a reason. It's all about the POWER, stupid.
~ FreeThinke
My favorite nickname for the president would be The Black Knight, but somehow it's never caught on.
ReplyDeleteGoes to show you how utterly witless the nation has become.
~ FreeThinke
Finntann, I'm glad I was ab;e to open your eyes to right wing fiscal policy.
ReplyDeleteThe strategy is clear enough for ecc102 to understand. I'm surprised you hadn't caught on.
I think the reason so many of us on both the right and left agree with my statement about the GOP is simply because it is a fact. It is undeniable. It is, in fact, what has always happened.
ReplyDeleteSilver's reminder that the Dems are basically the same is an undeniable fact as well.
This is something I've been saying for years, and is why I get so infuriated when fellow bloggers go on and on about how the Dems are Socialists, and Liberals, and Progressives, ad nauseum. They really aren't. They are just slightly to the political left of Republicans, and that's about it.
I am a liberal, I am a progressive, and I certainly more socialistic in my political philosophy than the overwhelming majority of Democratic or Republican partisans.
This is the mirror image of you conservatives. Most of you are by far more conservative and/or libertarian than the vast majority of Republican and Democratic partisans.
Of course, this makes us minorities. Most Americans are rather oblivious to all this. They are apolitical, most of the time, until they are riled by some bogeyman. And they are easily manipulated by the rhetoric that masks itself as liberal or conservative, progressive or libertarian. We know the rhetoric is empty (at best) but they (the "moderates," "independents," the "Silent Majority") are caught unawares.
And that's why it's so easy for us to agree about things like this - and why we are so frustrated.
JMJ
Yeah Ducky you figured it out. The current economic state of this country is a vast right wing conspiracy aimed at denying the needy social benefits.
ReplyDeletePLEASE ADJUST YOUR TINFOIL HAT
The government added $5.3 trillion in new financial obligations in 2010, largely for retirement programs such as Medicare and Social Security. That brings to a record $61.6 trillion the total of financial promises not paid for.
This gap between spending commitments and revenue last year equals more than one-third of the nation's gross domestic product.
Corporations would be required to count these new liabilities when they are taken on — and report a big loss to shareholders. Unlike businesses, however, Congress postpones recording spending commitments until it writes a check.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2011-06-06-us-owes-62-trillion-in-debt_n.htm
2010 Spending by Category:
Social Security: 19.63%
Unemployment/Welfare: 16.13%
Medicare: 12.79%
Medicade: 8.19%
There's 56% of the outlays for social programs compared to the DoD at 18.74%
Now that 18.74% may seem like a lot to you, but then defense is an enumerated power... your social programs aren't.
If you want to add it all up, roughly 70% of the budget goes towards funding non-enumerated powers.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/ce/Fy2010_spending_by_category.jpg
Yeah buddy, we're trying to dismantle social programs by bankrupting us with social programs...
Go figure, it was a stroke of genius. A few more big social programs like free college for everyone and our evil plan will be complete.
As I said before: ROFLMAO
Well, Jersey, ya shore got that right.
ReplyDelete"Sometimes I love you, sometimes I hate you, but if I hate you, it's 'cause I love you ..."
Now isn't that a frightening thought? };-)>
Not to worry. I was only quoting Cole Porter.
I pray for you every day, and if all goes well, someday you will wake up miraculously transformed into a Conservative-Libertarian.
That ought to bring in the Millennium!
Cheerio!
~ FreeThinke
Damn Jersey, nailed it again.
ReplyDeleteThe Democratic and Republican parties have become the two sides of the progressive coin.
Anyone with a modicum of intelligence can see where Democratic and Republican progressivism has led us.
The answer is not MORE! The system is broken, the question then becomes where do we go from here?
I'll reiterate my previously unanswered challenge for anyone of a Marxist or Socialist bent... please point to a successful, self-sustaining example of your system in the real world that you would want to live under.
Cheers!
Finntann asks: "I'll reiterate my previously unanswered challenge for anyone of a Marxist or Socialist bent... please point to a successful, self-sustaining example of your system in the real world that you would want to live under."
ReplyDeletePerfect.......I can't wait for the response.
Not sure if I count, but here are some countries I like:
ReplyDeleteUK, Canada, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Finland.
I like it cold and European, I guess.
Canada enjoys success to the degree it moves away from European-style democratic socialism, so that's not a good example, nor is Belgium for Pete's sake!
ReplyDeleteThe others, OK, but it comes at a high price, over 50% total taxation when income tax, vat, gasoline and the rest of the taxes are totaled up, and still the health care systems can't match the US.
Also, these countries are now forced to cut back on social services and adopting austerity programs.
The voters in Ohio voted for higher defecits. Larger class sizes. Much worse government services.
ReplyDeleteWorkers also lost out too: in Ohio, most union members are forced into unions, whether or not it is in their interest.
That is what happens when the priority is to make government employees as rich as possible instead of paying them the fair actual-market value of their work.
It should also be pointed out that the union thugs campaign was funded by stolen money (it is illegal to divert dues to political causes, but the unions do it anyway).
The greedy thugs won.
Jersey said: "The GOP has never shrank the government, other than to turn their backs to illegal, immoral and unethical behavior by moneyed interests. Spending and government growth has always increased dramatically under GOP rule."
ReplyDeleteThe last part is true. The first part is not. There is nothing illegal, immoral, or unethical about making money.
dmarks,
ReplyDeleteYou said to JMJ:
"There is nothing illegal, immoral, or unethical about making money."
Allow me to retort in Socialist voice: (clearing throat) Here we go...
1. Illegal: Obviously laws are broken to make money. You rich white people are known for your corruption. This is a fact.
2. Immoral: Making money is driven by greed, which makes it immoral. You rich white people are known for your hypocritical "morality". This is a fact.
3. Unethical: Making money means you are exploiting the poor, keeping them as indentured slaves of your greed, and depriving them of ever being as wealthy as you. You rich white people are known for your unethical works and characteristics. This is a fact.
I know all this is true because I support the 99% and our struggle against capitalism! Fear us! We shall stink-up your neighborhood next! We will crap on your cop cars! We will rape minors and smoke weed! It's all Bush's fault and the GOP crony-capitalism of evil! You owe me! You owe me! Long live the Socialist Revolution!
---------------------
Than you, thank you. I'll be here all week. My next performance will be me playing a militant social activist homosexual screaming about how we don't have "Gay Only" bath houses on military installations, because all the heteros are intimidated by our sexuality. I've already contacted the ACLU, MSNBC, and Nancy Pelosi, for surely she feels our homosexual pain.
There aren't STILL people here who think Germans get free health care, ARE THERE? My stepdaughter in Munich pays $1000 a month for her FREE HEALTH CARE>
ReplyDeleteSchroeder, before he was out of office, was begging Germans to please buy private health care because the state couldn't afford it anymore.
a truth the media won't have you know because it doesn't support their agenda.
Thus my point about "self-sustaining".
ReplyDeleteCheers!
exactly!
ReplyDeleteSorry, I didn't know that "self sustaining" is synonymous with "immune from global events".
ReplyDeleteSF: I really don't know enough about Belgium, save for a few cultural exports that I am thankful for.
Belgium does make good beer.
ReplyDeleteThey've been without a government for a year and a half, and nobody's noticed.
"Good" doesn't begin to describe it ;)
ReplyDeleteI thought you'd approve of their small government.
Touche'
ReplyDeleteAnd I love Belgium White