Month: March 2012

The Greatest Danger Of All: Right Wing “Patriot” Groups Which Are Encouraged By Republican And Conservative Anti Obama Propaganda

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The Southern Poverty Law Center does an annual report on the status of hate groups on the right, which represent a dire threat to American freedom and liberty.

In 2008, there were 149 groups, increasing in 2009 to 512, increasing again in 2010 to 824, and jumping to 1,274 in 2011. That is 755 percent growth in three years!

These “Patriot” groups emerged during the 1990s with the rise of domestic terrorism, including the attack in Oklahoma City in 1995. But the economic collapse of 2008, along with the growing minority groups in America, and the election of Barack Obama, further accelerated this right wing surge.

While we must be concerned about terrorism from abroad, in many respects our domestic terrorist threat is far greater, and these are not Arabs or Middle Easterners, but rather traditional white Americans who promote conspiracy theories about government taking away private guns, and planning concentration camps formed by FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency!

Militia groups also believe that Mexico is going to take back the American Southwest, and that the government will be unable to stop them on this matter, as crazy as that sounds!

With many Republicans and conservatives still spreading rumors and gossip about Barack Obama being from Kenya, and being a secret Muslim, they are actually abetting the instability of our nation in political, economic and social terms. Their recklessness is mind boggling!

“Joe The Plumber” Vs. Marcy Kaptur in Ohio: The Premier House Race Of 2012!

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“Joe The Plumber”, aka Samuel Wurzelbacher, is the Republican nominee in the 9th Congressional district in Ohio against thirty year veteran Democrat Marcy Kaptur, the longest serving woman in the House of Representatives at present; second longest serving House woman ever; 25th of 435 members of the House in seniority; and serves on the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

Marcy Kaptur is well regarded and respected as a solid woman of real accomplishments and strong principles, who has done an exceptional job in her long career.

Marcy Kaptur and “Joe The Plumber” both appeared on Lawrence O’Donnell’s LAST WORD on MSNBC tonight, and it was clear that the choice the voters of that Ohio Congressional District have is a choice between brilliance and pure stupidity and ignorance!

The best way to look at it is that this is a choice between Marcy Kaptur and the male Sarah Palin, totally inept and incompetent to the extreme!

“Joe The Plumber” wants to push Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan, which has been ignored and dismissed by all other GOP Presidential candidates, because it would raise taxes, and harm the middle and working class while only helping the rich, and would destroy Social Security and Medicare as we know it.

Lawrence O’Donnell tried to get “Joe the Plumber” to understand the realities of the Cain plan, and the harm it would do, but Wurzelbacher was too dense to understand.

O’Donnell also pointed out that Wurzelbacher had opposed the auto company bailout, and that it had worked, and that the auto industry was reviving and adding workers, but “Joe the Plumber” still insisted that he was against government intervention which had helped to restore the auto industry, and would campaign that it was a terrible idea. So talking to “Joe the Plumber” was like talking to the wall, as nothing penetrated this moron’s brain matter!

Why be so blunt and insulting, one might ask? The answer is that “Joe the Plumber” is still what he always was: a man with no knowledge, no intelligence, no insights, but with a tremendous ego! He has struggled to make a living for his family, and one can sympathize with that fact, but he more wants to be a Congressman so he can make the salary involved, than he is interested in learning and understanding the job of representing a Congressional district.

In that sense, he resembles Joe Walsh of Illinois, another loser who thinks he understands the job, but is in it solely for his own ego, and his own enrichment.

These Tea Party types have no clue how to run a government, but want to participate in the acquisition of the perks of office. They are NOT qualified to be members of our government, and the American people have to understand that expertise, knowledge and education are basic requirements for the PROFESSION of government. It is not for amateurs!

This race between Kaptur and Wurzelbacher will be fun to watch, particularly when debate time comes, as Marcy Kaptur will wipe up the floor with “Joe the Plumber”, and win by an overwhelming margin, and send “Joe the Plumber” back to the obscurity he richly deserves!

The Most Conservative And Most Liberal States, According To The Gallup Poll

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A Gallup poll measures the level of conservatism and liberalism of American states, as judged by those who are questioned about their perception of politics.

Under this measurement, the order of the top ten conservative states are Mississippi, Idaho, Alabama, Wyoming, Utah, South Dakota, Louisiana, North Dakota, South Carolina, and Arkansas.

Note that this is a list of five Southern states, two Great Plains States, and three Mountain West states (which happen to have large percentages of Mormons in their population).

The ten most liberal states are, in order, Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Oregon, Colorado, Washington, New Jersey, and California.

Note that this is a list of four New England states, two Middle Atlantic states, and four Western states.

So the country is still very much a divided country ideologically, and in many respects, by geographic section!

The Most Anti Obama State: Oklahoma!

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If one looks at the fifty states, and wonders which state is the MOST anti Barack Obama, based on voting support and polls, that distinction goes to the Great Plains state of Oklahoma.

In the Democratic primary for President, with a group of unknown candidates, Obama only won 57 percent of the vote and lost 15 counties, according to an article in the Washington Post.

Obama received his lowest percentage of the Presidential vote in Oklahoma in 2008, gaining only 34 percent of the votes against John McCain.

Obama lost all 77 counties in the state in 2008, and only received a maximum of 42 percent in Oklahoma City, the most urban but not much, part of a state overwhelmingly rural.

With no concentrated minority population, with the black population only eight percent in the state, the heavily white and culturally conservative state is no breeding ground for Obama support.

And yet, the state has had some Democratic officeholders recently, including the Governorship, and is not regarded by statistics to be one of the most conservative states.

It is just a fact that he is not liked for who he is and what he believes in, a perfect example of how no politician can be well liked and supported everywhere, and Oklahoma is simply Obama’s Achilles Heel!

Maine, The Independent State Politically! Angus King Likely Replacing Olympia Snowe

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Maine, a state which has had independent minded Senators and Governors, is about to have an Independent as the likely successor to independent minded Republican Senator Olympia Snowe, who has announced her retirement after a long career, due to frustration over the total stalemate and deadlock in the US Senate.

Former Governor Angus King, who had served as a legislative aide to Senator William Hathaway in the 1970s, has only run for office as an Independent, and was one of two Independent Governors in the late 1990s and early 2000s, along with Governor Jesse Ventura of Minnesota.

In the 1970s, Maine had Independent Governor James Longley, making them an extremely unusual state, in having had two Independents serve in that office in modern times.

King was Governor from 1995-2003, and now will be his own man, while if he wins, probably caucusing with the Democrats, as Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman do now. Major Democrats have decided not to challenge him, as his public opinion ratings are high, and the Republicans are almost certain to lose that seat that Snowe is vacating.

Three way races are not uncommon in Maine, as even the Governor’s race in 2010 was three way, leading to Tea Party favorite Paul LePage being elected Governor over a second place Independent and a third place Democrat.

Maine has had distinguished US Senators who have been independent minded if not actually running as Independents, including Margaret Chase Smith, Edmund Muskie, George Mitchell, William Cohen, Olympia Snowe, and Susan Collins.

So the likelihood of at least two Independents in the next Senate, King and Sanders, is extremely certain, with Lieberman retiring from the Senate.

2012 Could Become Another “Year Of The Woman” In Both Houses Of Congress

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2012 could well prove to be another “Year Of The Woman” in both houses of Congress, similar to 1992, when a dramatic increase in women in government occurred.

Presently, there are 76 women in the House of Representatives, 52 Democrats and 24 Republicans. The US Senate has 17 women as members, with 12 Democrats and 5 Republicans. So the Democrats have two thirds of all women in Congress, with 64 as compared to the Republicans with 29.

With the Republican attack on contraception, and the Rush Limbaugh fatal mistake to attack a woman personally for her testimony about contraception before a Congressional committee, and with no criticism by GOP Presidential candidates, and very little criticism by any Republicans in Congress, including the women members, it is certain that there will be many new, primarily Democratic, women elected in 2012 to both houses of Congress.

The Democrats have about 38 women running for House seats, while the GOP only have 7, while in the Senate, there are 6 women running as Democrats as compared to 4 for the Republicans. Many of those running for the Senate, particularly for the Democrats, come from states that have never had women elected to that distinguished body.

Notice that for women running for Congress, 44 are Democrats and only 11 are Republicans, 80 percent of the total, as compared to 71 percent for those presently in Congress.

More than ever, it seems highly likely that women will play a major role in the elections, and that will benefit the Democrats and Barack Obama.

And the odds of future women candidates for President from the Democratic Party grows dramatically, with the potential for more than 20 women Democrats in the US Senate in 2013!

“Joe The Plumber” Rears His Ugly Head Again! Candidate Against Marcy Kaptur In Ohio!

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“Joe The Plumber”, Samuel Wurzelbacher, who became infamous in 2008 when he confronted Presidential nominee Barack Obama on a campaign swing and challenged his views, and then showed up at campaign events of John McCain and Sarah Palin, has emerged from obscurity, and is now the Republican nominee in a congressional district covering parts of Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio.

He is running against long time Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, who won another nomination by defeating fellow Democrat Dennis Kucinich, when redistricting forced them into the same Congressional district.

This will be one of the more exciting and captivating races, as Kaptur has been in Congress for nearly 30 years, and is highly regarded and believed to be very tough to beat. Just by defeating Kucinich in the primary marks her as a tough lady who will be difficult for Wurzelbacher, who demonstrated NO knowledge or understanding of public affairs in 2008, to overcome due to her intelligence and her seniority and her excellent Congressional performance.

She has served in Congress since 1983, and is the third longest serving woman in Congress, the second longest serving woman ever in the House of Representatives, the longest serving woman presently in the House, the senior member of Ohio’s Congressional delegation, and the senior member of the House Appropriations Committee.

Imagining a debate between them is a fascinating example of knowledge vs the Know Nothingism of Wurzelbacher!

Republican Primary And Caucus Support For Mitt Romney Lowest In Modern Republican History

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Ever since the primary and caucus system developed in the 1970s, where voters en masse had the ability to vote for who they wished to be Presidential nominees, the Republican Party has always, through 2004, ended up having majority support in popular votes for a nominee.

In 2008, that did not happen, as John McCain only got 47 percent of the total GOP primary and caucus vote against his opponents.

This time around, Mitt Romney ONLY has 40 percent backing, an all time low!

That means, of course that six out of ten participants in GOP primaries and caucuses do NOT support Mitt Romney as their nominee!

That is very bad news, and a major negative for Mitt Romney, as he continues to battle Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and Ron Paul for the Republican Presidential nomination!

What Can Mitt Romney Win In November?

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Mitt Romney may have won Ohio by the small margin of one percent and about 12,000 votes over Rick Santorum, but the question remains: Where can he win a combination of states to equal a majority of 270 electoral votes?

Can he win New England, even his home state of Massachusetts? Unlikely, with maybe the exception of New Hampshire.

Can he win the Middle Atlantic states? Unlikely, with the best chance in Pennsylvania, but unlikely.

Can he win the South? Unlikely, despite being the GOP nominee, because of his Mormon faith. Sure, he will win some of the states but unlikely to win Florida, North Carolina or Virginia, the swing states, and a chance to lose Georgia to Barack Obama as well, with the growing Hispanic and Latino vote in the Peach State.

Can he win the Midwest? Well, maybe a few states, but he has lost all of the Midwest and Great Plains states that have had primaries and caucuses so far, except for his birth state of Michigan and a narrow win in Ohio. Rick Santorum has real support in this area of the country.

Can he win the Mountain States? Yes, for those which have large numbers of Mormons, including Arizona, Utah, and Idaho, and probably Montana and Wyoming as well, but not likely to win New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada.

Can he win the Pacific Coast states? Is that a serious question? NO, except for Alaska.

If the economy continues to get better, Mitt Romney has lost his biggest issue.

If the anti woman vendetta of Rush Limbaugh and social conservatives in Congress and the states continues, as with the failed Blunt Amendment and the Virginia vaginal probe law, Romney will lose.

If the anti immigrant (Hispanic and Latino) mentality of Arizona, Alabama, Georgia and other states continues, the only Hispanic vote Romney might win is the Cuban vote in Florida and elsewhere, but not the Mexican, Puerto Rican, Colombian, and other Latin nations’ immigrants, meaning only those who are legal and can vote.

If the extremism of the GOP continues down its destructive path, Independents will leave them in droves.

Of course, Barack Obama and the Democrats must work and plan as if they could lose the election, because they could, but the obstacles facing Mitt Romney are massive, and this could have a deleterious effect on the Republican Party in many state races and in both houses of Congress.

The Defeat Of Dennis Kucinich: “Dennis The Menace” At The End Of A Colorful, Controversial Political Career!

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Cleveland Congressman Dennis Kucinich, one of the most colorful members of the House of Representatives in the present generation, will be retiring from Congress at the end of 2012, as a result of his overwhelming defeat by Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, a fellow Democrat, longest serving woman in the House at present, who was forced into a race against Kucinich, due to the loss of two Ohio congressional seats as a result of redistricting.

Kucinich first came to notice as the boy mayor of Cleveland, and the push to recall him in 1979, which failed.

He re-emerged in Congress in the 1996 Congressional elections, and ran for President twice, in 2004 and 2008.

He became the leading critic of the Iraq War and pushed to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney.

Everything he ever tried or did ended in failure, but he fought the good fight, and was seen, even by critics, as a man of principle, dedicated to his nation, and beloved by many progressives, even though it was obvious he was the equivalent of Don Quixote.

While in theory he could move to the Seattle, Washington area in the next month, and still qualify for a new Congressional district created by population growth in that state, it might be seen as making him ineligible to keep his Ohio seat for the rest of this year, and being a “carpetbagger”, he might be rejected for that seat if he was to run on such short notice and residency.

Annoying to many, Dennis Kucinich will still go down in history as someone memorable, and not easily forgotten!