Day: September 8, 2012

Jimmy Carter Surpasses Herbert Hoover As Longest Retired President!

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Today, former President Jimmy Carter surpassed former President Herbert Hoover for longevity in retirement, having reached the 11,554th day after leaving the Presidency.

He has been retired for 31 years, seven and a half months, and has been an extremely active former President, much like Herbert Hoover was.

Both were constantly berated in retirement and seen as failures, because they lost re-election to Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, often considered the two Presidents of the 20th century who have had the most impact on the nation in the past century!

Carter will be 88 on October 1, with only Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan at 93, John Adams and Herbert Hoover at 90, and Harry Truman and George H. W. Bush at 88, having lived longer!

Carter seems to be in excellent health, and it would not be surprising if he manages to live long enough to surpass Gerald Ford in March 2018 as our longest lived President of the United States!

From Nixon And Agnew To Romney And Ryan: Has Honesty Improved? NO!

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On this day in 1974, President Gerald Ford pardoned former President Richard Nixon, preventing any prosecution of Nixon for involvement in the Watergate scandal.

This highly controversial decision would undermine Ford, and help to cause his defeat in 1976, when he lost the Presidency to Jimmy Carter by the small margin of two percent, and close election defeats in Ohio and Hawaii.

Years later, it would be concluded that Ford did the right thing, but the issue of Nixon’s long career of lying and deception still remains as a troubling legacy.

And now, we have two candidates who are tallying up a record of lies and deception unseen since the time of Nixon and Spiro Agnew, his Vice President!

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have been lying their way across America, since Romney announced for President, and since Ryan became the Vice Presidential running mate less than a month ago.

It could be argued that every politician lies, and cannot be trusted, and while that is a sad commentary that people believe is a given, it is not true if one compares pledges to facts.

One can pledge to do things, and much of it does not work out, for various reasons and factors.

But to make claims that are shown to be factually incorrect, and fail to acknowledge the errors, and double down on the lies when everyone knows they are lies, is a method of demagoguery that has become common to both Romney and now, belatedly, Ryan.

Do we want an administration that insults us, by lying constantly, on the idea that most people might be ignorant of the facts and the truth? Or do we want an administration which might pledge many changes, and only gets some done, but without telling lies over and over again in the process?

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are becoming the most dishonest team to run for President since at least Nixon and Agnew, and we know what happened 40-45 years ago!

Is this what the American people should have to deal with, which will only add to their cynicism and disgust with their government?

Why cannot Romney and Ryan run an honest, forthright campaign, without spreading lies, deceit, rumors, myths, and going for the lowest common denominator?

In the long run, however, it is clear that the American people, in polls, do not trust or even like Romney, and the attitude toward Ryan is also being shaped by his behavior, so this time, what Nixon and Agnew did in 1968 and 1972 will not work, but still, it is a tragedy for the nation that the honesty level of Romney and Ryan is the lowest since Nixon and Agnew!

Joe Biden: The Major Jewel And Treasure Of The Obama Re-Election Campaign!

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Vice President Joe Biden is a true jewel, a true treasure, for the Barack Obama re-election campaign, and insures that we will have a second Obama term in the Presidency!

Critics point out that Joe Biden sometimes “puts his foot in his mouth” and makes comments that are embarrassing or awkward. The answer of this blogger is “so what?” as no one is perfect, and Biden has never harmed anyone, including Barack Obama, by his blunders, only at times embarrassing himself!

Joe Biden is a dedicated, highly experienced public official, who now has FORTY years in government, 36 as an outstanding Democratic Party United States Senator, and now four years as Vice President!

He knows foreign policy and constitutional matters in a way few do, as he was intimately involved as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee at crucial times in the past four decades.

He has been a very dedicated Vice President, very close to the President, and Obama himself has stated that Biden helped get the economic recovery program begun, and also helped to bring about the logistics to end the war in Iraq. He has given more advice to Obama than just these areas, has not always carried the day, but is highly valued for his expertise and wisdom.

Biden has added distinction and decency to the Vice Presidency, after the arrogant and scandalous Vice Presidency of Dick Cheney!

One could make the case that Biden has been more significant in a positive way to Barack Obama than any Vice President, and competes for influence with Al Gore under Bill Clinton and Walter Mondale under Jimmy Carter. Obama and Biden have great respect and affection for each other, which is also very important!

Biden gave a rousing, fantastic speech for the President at the Democratic National Convention, and he will matter more than anyone in the re-election campaign, as he has the ability to appeal to white blue collar workers, Catholics, labor, and women, due to his close association with these groups during his years in the Senate, and the reality that he is a rare politician, a truly genuine, sincere spokesmen for those who are not wealthy, and just want a fair shake in life!

The upcoming Biden-Paul Ryan Vice Presidential debate on October 11 will give the nation a clear cut image of a fighting Vice President who is nearing 70 years of age, but is still vital and alert and brilliant in his oratory and commitment, against a young 42 year old ideologue, who probably will come into the debate with a cockiness and arrogance and assumption that he will “win” the debate, despite his constant lying about his record on so many issues. Biden will teach Ryan to “respect his elders”, and show how dangerous it would be for the Wisconsin Republican Congressman to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency!

And yes, Joe Biden is interested in seeking the Presidency in 2016, when he would hit the age of 74, and although there will be a long list of potential Democratic nominees a generation or more younger, don’t ever underestimate Joe Biden and his future, as he has often shown the ability to surprise people with his ability to overcome adversity in his life!

“Swing” States Down To Eight, Narrowing Romney Chances Of Winning Presidency!

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The Mitt Romney Presidential campaign has decided to buy advertising time on television in only eight states, narrowing the chance that the former Massachusetts Governor can win the Presidency.

Eliminated as places of opportunity are Michigan, the birthplace and childhood of Romney, and the state that his father was Governor in the 1960s; Wisconsin, the birthplace and home of his running mate, Paul Ryan; and Pennsylvania, despite the well known white male battleground of western Pennsylvania, often thought to be an Achilles Heel for Barack Obama!

So what are the states still in play?

New Hampshire–4 electoral votes
Virginia–13 electoral votes
North Carolina–15 electoral votes
Florida–29 electoral votes
Ohio–18 electoral votes
Iowa–6 electoral votes
Colorado–9 electoral votes
Nevada–6 electoral votes

The total electoral votes in play are 100, while Obama leads with 247 electoral votes from 19 states and the District of Columbia, and Romney has 191 electoral votes from 23 states. Remember that the winner of the election must have 270 electoral votes.

So, with the updated realities that even Romney’s advertising campaign reflects, Obama wins If

he wins Florida (29 electoral votes)
he wins Ohio and Virginia (31 electoral votes)
he wins Ohio and North Carolina (33 electoral votes)
he wins Ohio and Iowa or Nevada (24 electoral votes)
he wins Ohio and Colorado (27 electoral votes)
he wins New Hampshire, Iowa, Colorado and Nevada (25 electoral votes)
he wins North Carolina and Colorado (24 electoral votes)
he wins North Carolina and Iowa and Nevada (27 electoral votes)
he wins Virginia and Iowa and Nevada (25 electoral votes)
he wins Virginia and Colorado and New Hampshire (26 electoral votes)
he wins Virginia, Colorado, and either Iowa or Nevada (28 electoral votes)

So these are ELEVEN scenarios where Barack Obama has the advantage–needing only between one and four states of the eight “swing” states to win the Presidency in the Electoral College!

The unemployment rate is lower than the national average in New Hampshire, Virginia, Ohio and Iowa, while higher in North Carolina, Florida, Colorado and Nevada.

So if one were to assume that the four states that have the lower unemployment rate than the national average go to Obama, he wins 41 electoral votes, for a grand total of 288 electoral votes.

Of course, there are five states, that are considered “red” or Republican states, that actually are in play, although expected to go to Romney. These are Indiana (11 electoral votes), which went to Obama in 2008; Missouri (10 electoral votes), which was won by John McCain in 2008 by only about 4,000 votes; Montana (3 electoral votes), which is becoming more Democratic; Arizona (11 electoral votes), which is moving toward Democratic over time with the growing Hispanic vote, and the controversial immigration law under Governor Jan Brewer; and Georgia (16 electoral votes), which is gaining a large Hispanic population, which means it will likely trend Democratic over the next few election cycles. Were all of these to go Democratic in a close vote situation, Obama could, theoretically, win 51 more electoral votes!

So, IF Obama were to win all of the eight “swing states” now in play, based on Romney’s decision as to what states to spend money on advertising, he would go from what seems clearly 247 electoral votes to 347 electoral votes–meaning he would have won all of the states he won in 2008, except for Indiana!

This is 18 electoral votes fewer than in 2008, when Obama won 365 electoral votes–due to the theoretical loss of Indiana (11 electoral votes), plus the fact that the states he won lost a total of 7 electoral votes due to reapportionment of seats in Congress, based on the 2010 Census.

But IF Obama were to win the “red” states that could be in play, listed above, a total of five states with 51 electoral votes, his highest theoretical total of electoral votes would reach 398 electoral votes, meaning Romney would win only 140 electoral votes, with Obama winning 32 states and the District of Columbia, and Romney winning 18 states!

The ultimate point of this discussion is to make it clear that the odds of Obama being re-elected are very high, despite the supposedly tight popular vote on a national level, which really proves nothing, as the polls on popular vote in the eight “swing” states demonstrate that Obama is ahead in all of them, except in North Carolina and Colorado, so to bet against Obama would be a losing bet, best thought about before being placed, as the odds of losing large amounts of money is extremely a likely occurrence!