Midterm Elections (Nov. 2)
Predictions? Musings? Rants?
I see the Republicans regaining a sizable majority in the House, with the Democrats holding on to a 2-4 seat majority in the Senate. |
Re: Midterm Elections (Nov. 2)
I just hope the sensible, non-ideological, simply-get-nitty-gritty-things-done former Houston mayor -- Democrat Bill White -- wins as governor of Texas over that do-nothing current governor/emperor Republican Rick Perry.
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Re: Midterm Elections (Nov. 2)
Unlikely. Recent polls show that Perry has gotten a boost from previously undecided voters, which is the norm. It won't be a run-away, though, so anything can happen.
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I can't believe after 8 years of shenanigans before being voted out, republicans are about to be voted back in by saying "we aren't the same republicans."
Oh well. At least the awful political ads from both sides will be over soon. |
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Will the recent Juan Williams firing from NPR have an effect on the elections?
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Actually, I would say he has remained still as democrat leadership have moved left. |
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What we learned:
1) A Tale of Two Tea Parties. Rubio and Paul win, O'Donnell and Angle lose. Having the "tea party" stamp next to your name does not guarantee victory. The American people are smart enough to see through labels and identify is an individual is a good candidate. Angle and O'Donnell were lousy candidates, and they lost. In the end, their defeat should send a message to the Republican party that they need to listen to. 2) Money does not win elections, an informed voter base does. Lots of money was spent during this election, and in many cases the biggest spenders lost handily. In the end people chose based on their principles, whether we agree with those principles or not. 3) California, the worst run state in the union, deserves everything that is happening to it. Jerry Brown? AGAIN? Really? Barbara Boxer? AGAIN? Really? The definition of insanity is to repeat the same action over and over again expecting a different result. 4) While FoxNews is biased, MSNBC is deluded. Liberals like to say that facts have a well known liberal bias. Well I think Olberman and Maddow prove that statement wrong last night. Their analysis was comical, and I watched it all night. They could not bring themselves to make the admission that left leaning dems lost based on their record, and not simply because of advertising. Also, making the statement that the main reason why dems lost was due to advertising is essentially accusing voters of being mouth breathing retards who vote for the last person to run a commercial. Its offensive and condescending. 5) They still don't get it. If Harry Reid's post election speech is any indication, Democrats will be in trouble again in 2012. You do not take a historic beating like they did, and then pretend that you can continue to set the same tone afterward. Contrition will be the difference between Pres. Obama being another Bill Clinton, or if he falls down the same sorry path as Jimmy Carter. |
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Bummer of a night. Especially for a PA voter. Oh well. Expected, but disappointed. I hope Republicans actually do something positive other than try to stifle Obama and make him lose in 2012, otherwise politics will continue to bug the hell out of me.
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The Republicans in the house will have the opportunity to present legislation at least. As Speaker, Pelosi buried most Republican sponsored bills and they never hit the floor for an up or down vote. These bills will now likely be sent to the shaken-up and "moderatized" Senate, and with a little modification, many will be sent to the President for approval or veto. We'll how Clinton-esque Pres. Obama can be. On a side note, now that the Republicans are in power, I hope they do not bury Democrat legislation like the Dems buried Republican legislation when they controlled the house. The Speaker position is one of responsibility and order, not control and "king-making". Present the bills and let the votes decide. In any case, I'd much rather see fewer bills, narrower in scope, than these monstrous bills that try and do too much and hide self-serving earmarks and other nastiness. The process is as broken as anything else. |
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This is of course never talked about, but Carter did not fire one shot, did not drop one bomb, did not launch one missile. He Normalized diplomatic relations with China for the first time in a long time, brought peace between Israel and Egypt. Carter also cut Oil consumption in this country IN HALF. When Carter was elected the US was importing 8.6 million barrels of oil per day, which he cut down to 4.3 million barrels per day. Now, we are back at 11 million. Carter put Solar Panels in the White House, and Reagan of course took them down. I could list numerous humanitarian things he did and continues to do to this day, but I'll stop there. President Obama has inherited a political polarization in this Country that is Unheard of. Republicans have said they will not give Obama support under any circumstances. Obama is doing a superb job under the ridiculous circumstances the Republicans have managed to cause. I guess at the very least now that the Republicans control the house, they are partly responsible for whatever happens, so they cant be complete idiots anymore. |
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Jimmy Carter: 11.3% unemployment, an oil crisis that crippled the nation (if that is the reduction in oil consumption you mention, it is nothing to brag about), unheard of inflation, a stagnant economy, and an expansion of Russian aggression. Let us not forget about his hostage debacle that went on for a year. But I'm sure all of that was somebody else's fault.
Almost all of his achievements were reversed; his presidency made irrelevant. Any way you shake it, either in policy choices or in lasting impact, Jimmy Carter is one of the greatest failures in presidential history. As for Pres. Obama, time will tell. History has a way of objectively looking at controversial times. History has not been kind to Carter. It has been very kind to Clinton. |
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Politics are pretty disturbing right now. Republicans were just in control and raped the country in the ass with no vasaline... then managed to turn around and blame all of the issues they created on Democrats (since they took control right after the residual issues started).
Dems, on the other hand, failed to take control of the situation they had in washington and chose to compromise with a party that wasn't willing to do so. So hardly any of the real issues were getting resolved, and they looked weak... which demoralized their base and caused them to lose all of these elections (deservingly so). Will Obama win in 2012? Well, I can safely say that Dems base is demoralized and will likely not be as strong in voting as they were the first time... and maybe some will be so ignorant that they'll completly forget the fact that a republican run congress ran the country into the ground less then 5 years ago. The facts will come out sooner or later, and I highly doubt the Obama/Democratic congress did as bad as Bush. But we'll find out soon enough. |
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An interesting take on Pres. Obama's post "shellacking" press conference:
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I think the problem with the American people is that we see whoever is in power at the time as having created the 13 trillion dollar deficit.
I predict that the next series of elections will follow the same path this one did: voting out whoever is in office. I have a bad feeling that even if our new Republican house does some great things, they won't get a lot of credit for it since they weren't able to completely flip the recession around. People want to see sweeping change that balances the budget and pays off our debt. I don't think most people realize that there's not even enough money in the world right now to do that. Also we have a lot of people like this, who tend to actually turn out and vote: |
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Vamp, while I don't agree with the person you posted's socialism statement, I don't see any hypocrisy in his acceptance of unemployment benefits even though he is against spending. As the man said, if he refuses free money he is stupid, and his refusal would not change anything and potentially only hurt his family (if he has one). He would only be hypocritical if he lost his benefits, and then complained about the loss. If his situation is as he describes, he is simply making the best decisions for himself and his family and I can hardly fault him for that.
We also can't look at things like unemployment benefits, or entitlements in general, like they are disassociated from the rest of the economy. The wealth that pays for benefits comes from somewhere. Instead of the man working for the money, he is receives it for free, and the act of confiscating that wealth to pay for his non-work/benefits/etc might inhibit another individual or organization from employing him (in a macro-economic sense). |
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Vamp, that guy got owned on FB. lol
As for Prof. We've had the discussion before. Prof is all for unemployment because he had to get it before to keep his family afloat. But I'm sure he'd have rather worked at McDonalds and moved to a homeless shelter... don't expect anything more then the same hypocracy from him. (He still has me blocked, I assume.. so that's just info for everyone else who thinks Mr. Delusional makes any sense.) |
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Obama-Carter 2012!
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What is up with the hate?
EDIT: Actually, TheGame, that was highly rude of you to post something like that in a thread. I find that to be very personal. Damn man. |
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Just to be clear I'm not against unemployment benefits at all, I am very much for it.
I was judging him based on the fact he is against "socialism" in general, when some aspects of socialism are obviously beneficial (as in socialized unemployment benefits). I was also judging him based on his friends responses, indicating that he isn't even trying to find a new job, and instead sits around drinking. He's abusing a system just because it's abusable, and claiming that he has the right too since they didn't make it non-abusable (which would be virtually impossible). Systems like unemployment exist because people in bad situations deserve to be helped, and that help has to come from somewhere. People who immediately write it off as socialist and bad because it can be abused need to understand that sometimes you have to take the good with the bad. It can be abused, and it is, but I would still rather have it than not. |
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People like to forget why things like unemployment payments were created in the first place. It's not because the government wanted more control over people's lives, it's because these corperations that Strangler has so much trust in could get rid of their employees at any time for any reason and bump them into an instant state of poverty. (People who have potential to get another job, but not nessicarily another job before rent is due next month...) The second we bring up any subject about the government helping people who are truely in need for different reasons, he's strongly against it since he never had to take it himself. |
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Critiquing a system does not equal condemnation. I think people do need a bridge from one job to another, but our current unemployment system has serious flaws. Here are a two big ones: 1) 2 years is far too long. If you can't get a job in your chosen field for a year, its time to think about changing fields. 2) Currently, if you file as a small business in any way, you lose your benefits even if you show zero profit. This means if you become unemployed the government pays you to NOT be entrepreneurial. The benefits could be used to help fund a new, profitable business but instead are reserved for those who wait for another position and opportunity to work for someone else. Fixing these two obvious flaws would go a long way to correcting what used to be a reasonable system, but unfortunately politics tends to extend and exacerbate obvious flaws in entitlements, and not correct them. I tend to think that maybe private industry should be allowed to throw their hat in the ring. Mandate unemployment insurance, but allow private companies to compete for the business. I'm sure there would be a lot to work out to make this possible, but its worth a thought. It works with car insurance in PA, why not unemployment? |
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Game, I signed out so that I could see what you wrote.
When are you going to learn that you can't shoe horn me into what you think is the conservative opinion? The paragraphs of assumptions you wrote have proven themselves, yet again, to be incorrect. As I mentioned in my post above, criticism does not equal condemnation. My opinions tend to be nuanced, and even though you continually try to paint me one way, your fiction cannot overturn reality once I actually offer my true opinion. The part that probably bothers me the most is how cowardly it is to attack someone, and lie about their viewpoint, when you know they can't see what you are saying. It bothers me, but I'm not upset, mainly because it doesn't surprise me that you did it. In all, this is a perfect example of why I ignored you in the first place and will continue to ignore you. I can debate anyone on any topic as long at they are fair and honest. You are neither, and that makes any conversation on politics with you pointless. And with that, I will continue my policy of not feeding the trolls. |
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So with that said, the real 'coward' is the one who runs from any viewpoint that is different from their own... aka you. So go ahead and put your earmuffs back on Mr. Republican. As I told you from the start, that's not going to stop me from sharing my opinion... Quote:
So what other entitlements are you for my delusional friend? Oh wait, we had this debate before... pretty much nothing right? Anything that you won't get and/or don't have potential to get. Including 'socialized' healthcare right? Or am I making a blind assumption again? Oh... wait... I know, I know! He won't answer this question because he has me blocked... which brings me back to my first point, about who's hiding from who. And he has the audacity to call me a coward. pssssssh |
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Also, I in no way whatsoever feel that anything TheGame has posted in this thread as been anywhere near an "attack" |
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If he wants to debate my points and actual opinions while I hide his responses, he can feel free, but lying about someone's viewpoints, bringing their family into it, and insulting them behind their back is the act of an intellectual coward. In the end, it only further justifies my decision to ignore his posts. |
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I did not "lie about (your) opinion on unemployment" at any point. I said you were in favor of it, which you were.. even though you're generally against entitlements.. which you are.. and the one you happened to recieve in your history, is the one you happen to be openly in favor of.. And just in case you don't understand, saying someone is in favor of something doesn't nessicarily mean they think it's perfect. It's an entitlement system that is important and should be in place, in your opinion.. am I wrong? Or do I need to quote topics from over a year ago? -EDIT- Oh, and all the "Coward" BS when you're hiding from direct comfrontation is pathetic lol. |
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