Tag: Mid-Term Elections

Do Americans Really Want A Divided Government?

The cycle always returns…..when one party has all the power, it seems that the voter will vote one out so that there is a divide in the branches of government…but is this a good idea?

Political Wire tries to explain the thinking…..

“If Republicans take back control of the House and maybe even the Senate, it will return American politics to its standard state: divided government. In the 21 Congresses after LBJ’s presidency, one party has held full control of the House, Senate, and White House just six times. Also since LBJ, the longest one party has controlled those three bodies is just for four years (1977-1981 and 2003-2007). And get this: Every time a party has had control of the three bodies, it ended in a wave election for the other side (1980, 1994, and 2006). So is what we’re witnessing just American politics returning to its natural state? Indeed, our NBC/WSJ poll in late August found that 62% of respondents said it was better if different parties control the White House and Congress, while only 29% preferred one party in command of both.”

Now that is a helluva question……and the more you look at history of the political process….it does seem that Americans want a divided government….it think it comes back to the old “checks and balances” thing…..but a better question is it a conscious desire or is it something else?

I guess it is an unconscious thing……..

Pew Research: “While 75% identify the Republicans as the party regarded as doing best in the midterms, fewer than half (46%) know that Republicans will have a majority only in the House when the new Congress convenes in January. About one-in-seven (14%) say the GOP won both the House and Senate; 8% say they won just the Senate; 5% do not think they will have a majority in either chamber; and 27% do not know.”

That shows just how important the mid-terms were….after all the hoopla on the Right of how the American people have spoken……but they are not sure of what they actually said……situation normal…..

Reason Doesn’t Live Here Anymore

Or…..Do They All Have Alzheimer’s?

I recently wrote a post about my representative, Gene Taylor (D-MS-4) and his defeat by an unknown quantity in one Palazzo…I wrote:

in office….. What makes this all the more  moronic is that Taylor is a conservative Dem and voted like on on many issues…however he got a great rating by the group that watches middle class issues and also by the ARA a group that watches votes by Reps and then grades them on senior’s issues….For instance, 100% rating from the National Right To Life Committee,  76% rating from the Christian Coalition, given an “A” rating by the NRA, a 90% rating by the Association of Retired Americans, 100% by the Citizens For Tax Justice, 92% by the US Border Control for a sealed border, all the issues that the conservs and especially the Tea Party stand for……his ONLY crime was that he was a Dem in the House that was controlled by Pelosi…

I attacked the people of my district for their moronic vote…that it showed a serious lack of knowledge about the candidates….after all my district is a conserv district because of the amount of military and retired people….and Taylor was a Blue dog (conserv) Democrat……and even though he voted the way that his district wanted he still loss his bid for re-election……

I now need to apologize to the people in my district for chastising them for their vote against Taylor…it is NOT them that is the morons…..it is the whole senior voting block…nationwide!

Politico has an article written by Bryan Tau……

Voters over 65 favored Republicans last week by a 21-point margin after flirting with Democrats in the 2006 midterm elections and favoring John McCain by a relatively narrow 8-point margin in 2008.
Concerned by changes to Medicare and compelled by a Republican Party that promised a return to America’s glory days, seniors played a crucial — and often understated — role in races across the country. They were unswayed by ubiquitous Democratic warnings about Republican changes to Social Security. And they put a series of campaigns out of reach for Democrats 

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/44802.html#ixzz14hSxQK6O

Seniors voted overwhelmingly for the Repubs, eh?  They voted for the same group that wants to privatize their retirement so that the next crisis leaves them penniless and they voted for the same people that want them to work until they are 70 or 75 before they can retire…..they voted for the people that want to gut Medicare and leave them at the mercy of the insurance companies….they are ALL morons!  Wait!  That is being unfair!
“A CNN/Gallup Poll released Monday revealed that a vast majority of registered male voters would have strongly supported a naked woman in the 2010 midterm elections.”
At least with the naked woman….you would know what you are getting…….even if it fake!
They are all IDIOTS!  Reason be damned!

A Word Of Warning

This is just a small piece of advice for those in the GOP that have a new mandate in Washington……change….or was that the last batch that was elected?  Anyway…not that important….what is important is that all the campaign rhetoric was about just how inefficient the Obama admin has been in the last two years…and then there were the whackos on the far right that keep trying to equate liberal with some form of socialism…..they bitched heavily about the lack of job creation and the “out of control” spending and the size of the government (who was it that said size does not matter?)…….

My advice is to remember that the average American voter has all the patience of a horny rabbit…they proved that when the Dems did not have a magic fix for the economy in two years…so maybe their first official act is to come up with a workable plan to get the economy rolling again…and to spout tax cuts in every other breath is NOT a plan…..also recall that the same groups that voted them in a wave of expulsion for the Dems will have to vote again in two years…

So unless there was some sort of collusion between the GOP and business to keep the jobs down until after an election, then they will have to find real answers to the economic problems and hopefully they will not find a way to increase government spending on such fanciful things as massive investigations into perceived problems…..you know kind of like in the 90’s when they investigated just about everything Democratic and it bit them in the ass….it can happen again……the only thing that would do is put a bunch of bottom feeding attorneys to work on the taxpayers dime….not a smart move…..but then….few accuse them of being smart just devious….

So my dear GOP friends….please work for the country and let the rest of the crap fall by the wayside or you will be back to thinking of happier days….again!  Hit the ground running or hit the bricks….you have a choice, but choose well…..

Does A Power Struggle Loom Large?

College of Political Knowledge

2010 Mid-Term Elections

Lecture #12

I remember back in the day, during the Cold War, every time the USSR got a new leader there would be the inevitable power struggle to see who would get power or retain power…..I am going to do a Beck-esque drawing a conclusion…only difference is that I do not have an irritating blackboard (BTW, a blackboard is so old school)…the power struggle I am referring to is the one that will happen on January 3, 2011 when the new Congress takes over and all the new faces and hollow shells will be jockeying for their little slice of the power pie….

Let us start with the House of reps and the leadership….Ohio’s John Boehner will be in the lead to become the Speaker of the House and to buy votes for his election to that position he has resoprted to some interesting tactics…..as reported by the AP….

Minority Leader John Boehner promised this week that if southwest Georgia residents unseat Democratic Rep. Sanford Bishop, he will support placing GOP challenger Mike Keown on the House Agriculture Committee. It’s a promise designed to get Keown votes in a red-soil district that harvests the nation’s largest peanut and pecan crop.

As Republicans campaign to win a majority in Congress, Boehner has dangled similar promises in Georgia, Arkansas, Missouri, Minnesota and Hawaii, sometimes in districts where single economic interests like farming or defense dominate regional economies.

And then there are the other positions of influence within the GOP and the Repub Caucus…….as written in Talking Points memo…..

conservative activists don’t tend to hold the top two House Republicans — Boehner, and Whip Eric Cantor — in the highest esteem. Particularly Cantor. At the influential conservative blog Red State, Erick Erickson spoke for legions of conservatives, who are hoping against hope that Republican Conference Chair Mike Pence becomes a major influence peddler next Congress.”There are people, I’m not sure members, but people hoping to stop Cantor from becoming leader, because people don’t like Cantor,” says a top GOP strategist. “It feels like it’s going nowhere.

If Cantor gets the bump, that will leave the whip position open. GOP sources say the smart money is that Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) will get the nod over NRCC chair Pete Sessions. By building the Young Guns program, McCarthy has earned the sort of loyalty and respect from members and candidates that’s crucial for a successful Whip operation. How does the right feel about McCarthy? “McCarthy is a good guy and I appreciate both his work in building a new Republican majority [but] he is most definitely not by any stretch of the imagination outside of California, an across the board conservative.”

And then there is the leadership of the Republican Conference chairmanship……with Mike Pence planning to step down…there will most likely be a fight for that position and the first one to step forward is our old friend, Michele Bachmann….you remember her the crazy lady that thinks that liberals are un-American and set herself up as the leader of the Tea Party Caucus….she will most likely go head to head with Rep. Hensarling of Texas for the leadership position…..she will probably run an insurgent campaign because she will have little support among the old bulls of the Party……

Not everything will necessarily go so smoothly, though. There’s real potential for a power struggle on two of the Hill’s most powerful committees — Energy and Commerce and Appropriations. The current ranking member on Energy and Commerce, Joe Barton, is itching for a fight over the gavel, but he will be a political liability for Republicans, many of whom have battled with him in the past. After he apologized to BP CEO Tony Hayward, Republican aides suggested that he’d be term limited out of contention for the chairmanship, but the party’s rules aren’t clear on that point. It could come down to the caucus to choose between Barton and Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI).

Let us not kid ourselves…the Dems are in the middle of a power struggle too…..for minority leader of the House….so the Repubs are not the only ones looking for their day in the Ivory Tower we call…..Congress……

You see there are always power struggles within any political system…..but the few Tea Party candidates that won their election, if they hold true to their promises (and I am not holding my breath) then either the GOP bows to their will or takes them on….I see the latter…..

The Future “Weeper” Of The House

Now that the Dems have had their collective asses handed to them on a plate….what will happen now?  Will we finally get down to doing the business of the country?  Or will it be the same crap that was doing for the last two years?  Some analysts see a new day in American politics….I think they are just wishing for something new….I am afraid that they will be proven wrong…..it will be business as usual…..partisanship, obstructionism and more lies and half truths…..the usual stuff that comes out of Washington…..

I will bet that you, if you voted to “throw the bums out” are looking forward to the Repubs doing what they promised and emphasized……tee hee……dream on McDuff!

During the campaigns it was all about jobs jobs jobs….for that is what the people are most concerned with at this time in history……..but what will we get?  According to the new “Weeper” of the House, John Boehner…….

He called for fewer regulations on big business, continuing the Bush tax cuts for the rich, a freeze on government pay and hiring, trade deals with countries that violate human rights, an end to the extensions of unemployment benefits and an end to federal aid that is going to states to save the jobs of teachers, police officers and firefighters.

“The Boehner response is to keep tax rates where they are for the rich,” said Biden, “and cut all recovery spending, slashing 25 percent from domestic discretionary spending. We know two things about this program: It will kill more jobs than it creates; and it will add to, not subtract, from projected deficits.”

And then there was the comments made by the Senate minority leader McConnell who said that the nly thing we have to do is see to it it that Obama is a one term president..(paraphrased)……..he has also said that priorities are repeal and replace health bill, cut spending, shrink government size, and end bailouts……and yet…..NOT a word about what they say was the most important issue of the election….JOBS…….does this or the other thing sound like they are going to do anything differently?  Of course, it does not… and this is what I have been saying for 40 years or more……no matter which of the corrupt two parties is in power….NOTHING changes in the government except a few faces here and there……

Do you, as an American voter, really believe that the promise of change will ever come from a career politician in Washington?  Weeping will becoming a national past time and if you think career politicians have your back….. then may I prescribe a good dose of Prozac…after all I am a Doctor……

Is The Political System Decaying?

College of Political Knowledge

Subject:  Political Theory/Elections/Government

Paper #38

I have been saying for awhile now that the political system in the US is slowing strangling itself….and the voter is to blame…..the system could not strangle itself without the assistance of the people….but it is NOT their fault completely…..it is that of the politicians, special interests and a cult of corruption in Washington…..so yes…the system is slowly decaying…….Patrick Martin of wsws.org has made some amazing observations……

The 2010 US election campaign, now mercifully concluding, marks a further descent by the American two-party system into political imbecility. None of the major issues confronting the American people—the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, two wars, spreading poverty, hunger and homelessness, the plague of foreclosures, mounting attacks on democratic rights, the worst environmental catastrophe in US history—were seriously discussed. Most were not discussed at all.

Instead, the candidates of the Democratic and Republican parties engaged in a war of mutual mudslinging, inanities, diversions and outright lying on a scale without precedent even in the dismal history of American elections. More than $4 billion was spent by the two parties and various corporate-backed groups created for the purpose of smearing one set of candidates on behalf of the other.

A major function of the advertising barrage is to confuse the viewing audience and make coherent reflection about political issues virtually impossible. Neither party wishes to actually communicate with the voters on a rational level. Instead, their spin doctors and admen seek to stun the audience with emotionally loaded attacks on opposing candidates, while the actual agenda of the ad sponsors is concealed.

The populist posturing of both parties has become stale and unbelievable. Obama pretends that his administration has been the scourge of Wall Street, when it has overseen the handover of trillions from the Treasury to rescue the banks. The Republicans in their turn thunder against the bank bailout, although it was devised by the outgoing Bush administration and ratified by the congressional Republican leadership.

The absence of any substantive discussion of issues like war and the ongoing attacks on democratic rights is a demonstration of the degraded and false character of the officially sanctioned political process. Neither party will submit to the popular will when it comes to decisions on any critical questions.  (Thanx Patrick…..for the great synopsis of the mid-terms)

I have been attacked on many levels because I say that there is NO need to vote…that the whole activity is rigged in favor of the players and that we, as voters, have virtually NO say in what is important….we are told what is important and we blindly follow one party or the other without forcing any debate or clarification on the crap we are told…..this is why I gave up trying to have a substantial exchange of ideas on political discussion forums because people take everything personally….few could think outside their little sphere of political thought…..and when that happens there is NO relative exchange of ideas….just rants and insults and accusations….kinda like the political campaigns…..

So yes….In my opinion the system is decaying or a better analogy would be decomposing because of the stench coming off of it….it is a sad day when voting one must hold their nose before casting the vote…..or when our choices are between bad and worse……we will see just how serious the American people are about changing the way Washington does business…..personally, I do not think they know what they want….but they want it right now…..no time to wait!

Damn! The Mid-Term Election Is Over!

Mid-Term Election Series

What will us political junkies do now?  With enough coffee we can do anything!

The American voter has spoken….personally I think that they are WRONG….but they have spoken..(finally) and the people that they either elected or re-elected makes me think of a speech I heard in the not so distant past…..

Good evening, (America). Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of the everyday routine, the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration – whereby those important events of the past, usually associated with someone’s death or the end of some awful bloody struggle, are celebrated with a nice holiday – I thought we could mark this November the fifth, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat.
There are, of course, those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now orders are being shouted into telephones and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn’t there?
Cruelty and injustice…intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance, coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who’s to blame? Well certainly there are those who are more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable. But again, truth be told…if you’re looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror.
I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn’t be? War. Terror. Disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you and in your panic, you turned to the (GOP).  They promised you order. They promised you peace. And all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent.

…….remind the world that fairness, justice and freedom are more than words – they are perspectives. So if you’ve seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you, then I would suggest that you…. (continue to sit on your ass and wallow in ignorance…all will go to crap around you….as it always does)

First of all, I wish I said said this….but unfortunately I did not……

Second, words in parenthesis are my add on……

Third, an excellent summation of the crap Americans are doing to themselves..

So, now….who made the speech above?

Welcome to the results of the 2012 election…and you thought the two years leading up to this point were silly and absurd….oh, brother…you have NOT seen anything yet…..we still have a couple of months before these newbies are official and the weirdness begins in earnest…..but that never stopped a meglo-manic before and surely will not deter the new ones we will have to contend with in the next Congress……

Now that the Repubs have the House…..where are the jobs?

The Day Of The Dead

November 2nd……..Yesterday was the big day…..first, let us take a moment to honor our ancestors after all it was the Mexican Day of the Dead and second it was the big day in politics in the US, the mid-term elections.

Was the fact that the US election took place on the Day of the Dead a bit foreboding or is it possibly a prophesy?  (cue eerie music here)……

I have been saying for about 2 years that the system that we all love is in serious trouble…..why?….because lies and misinformation are molding American opinion and in doing so is making the system that our Founders intended a moot point….there is NO longer civility, respect or compromise left in the hall of power…..instead it is about the next election and NOT the people and the country……..our system is dying….so having an important election on the Day of the Dead sounds very prophetic….

You think I am exaggerating the fact?  Okay, unemployment is at 9.6% and a “real” unemployment at about 17% and congressional leaders have said in print that the next two years is about making Obama a one term president and others have said that there will be NO compromise….and some of the newbies have said they will push for subpoenas to force the birther issue and the possibility of an impeachment…..and others that want to shut the government down….where is any of that going to breath life into a dying economy and political system?

The next two years will tell the tale…..will we dig ourselves out of a crippling economy or will we dig an open grave for the political system?  If I were you, I would keep an eye on the doings in Washington so that you will not be late for the wake!

Oh Boy! Here We Go Again!

2010 Mid-term Election Series

Lecture #11

Just as the election of 2008 was about change….so was the 2010 mid-terms…the American people impatiently wanted change and did not get it quick enough and they once again voted for change…..will they be disappointed yet again…..you bet your butt they will!

If you are a Repub I would not be thumping my chest like some sex crazed primate…..why?  As pollster Charlie Cook has said…..the GOP were not winners, but rather beneficiaries…….the people did not vote for them in particular, but rather voted against the ones in power at the time……

So….what can we expect from the new Congress in January of 2011?  They will work 3 days a week and spend  the other four raising money for their next election….they will work about 14 months total in that 2 year time frame…they will spend time on their knees in front of special interests begging for cash……so far not much change has come with the new crop of veggies…..

Today’s vote shows such promise, but the promise that the 2008 election showed was just the typical illusion of American political activity.  After the voting there will be the same song and a slightly altered dance in Washington….the GOP will be looking at 2012 and the general election….so the politics will be about securing a win for the GOP and the country will just have to wait another two years for it to be important anough for actions coming out of Washington.

If you think the the last two years have been silly or absurd……then you will just love the next years for partisanship and obstructionism will be all the rage…..the only difference will be that the Dems will have someone they can actually run against…..John Boehner  and his colleagues foolish promises will they push….it will be intersting to see how many jobs the GOP can pull out of its butt….

As I have said….”Here we go again”!

Are You Voting Today?

Today is the day the Repubs and Teabaggers have been waiting for for 2 years…the 2010 mid-terms…..for some voting is such a chore and if you are looking for a better way then I have an answer for you…..

Watch this and then tell me that we would not get a better crop of representatives with this method…..

http://bit.ly/9Iezg4

Not only are they cute but they show a certain zest for politics…..I know the feeling…..