Midterm Elections Of 2010

The Coming Conflict Within The Congressional Republican Party!

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Assuming that the Republican party wins control of the House of Representatives this November, and even possibly the Senate, does this mean a united GOP against President Barack Obama in 2011 and 2012?

The clear answer is NO, as younger and more right wing conservative members now, and newly elected, will be desirous of grabbing power and going in a more extreme direction in policy and philosophy!

It is hard to know which new House members will become leaders of a “revolution” in the House, but one can be assured that Eric Cantor, the House Minority Whip from Virginia; Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, who is seen as the ideological leader of major conservative oriented reform; and Kevin McCarthy of California will lead the charge for change, and just might challenge John Boehner’s leadership.

Cantor, Ryan and McCarthy are publishing a book called “Young Guns: A New Generation of Conservative Leaders”, and it is a clarion call for moving away from the stodgy, unimaginative leadership of Boehner, who is from the Newt Gingrich era, and a lot older than them! And they fail to even name him in their book!

Will libertarian, Tea Party Movement supporters who are elected this fall move to oust Boehner in favor of Cantor? No one can be certain, including Boehner!

And, as stated elsewhere by the author, IF a whole group of libertarian oriented Tea Party types are elected to the Senate–Rand Paul, Sharron Angle, Mike Lee, Ken Buck, Joe Miller, Marco Rubio, Pat Toomey, and Linda McMahon–or most of them–it could be a very uncomfortable time for the old line Republican leadership of Mitch McConnell and other traditional conservative Republicans in the upper chamber!

Imagine this internal set of battles going on as the GOP tries to make a case for its nominee to challenge President Obama, and with Sarah Palin possibly complicating the battle by becoming a burden to the other GOP presidential possibilities by either deciding to run, or trying to influence who IS the nominee!

Will the GOP be able to accomplish anything in the 112th Congress, and make a case for their keeping control and for a Republican President in 2012?

It might actually be better for them to be unable to gain control, but come close, so that the burden of governing is still left in the hands of the Democrats! It would make it easier for them to build a case for a GOP majority and a Republican President in 2012!

Will 2010 Be Another 1994? It Does Not Have To Be!

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In 1994, the Democrats lost control of both houses of Congress, losing 54 House and 8 Senate seats to the Republicans, who gained control of both houses for the first time since 1954!

Many see a similar result today, but conditions are different in a number of ways!

The Democrats had leadership which was really senior in nature then, with Tom Foley as Speaker and Dan Rostenkowski as Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, and there was lots of corruption within a party which had held control in the House for 40 straight years!

This time, the Democrats have only had control for four years, and Nancy Pelosi has been much more effective and successful than Foley was, and although former Ways and Means chairman Charlie Rangel is in trouble, it does not match the level of Rostenkowski and other senior Democratic leaders who were involved in scandal back then!

Barack Obama has accomplished much more than Bill Clinton had by this time in 1994, and while there is criticism of Obama, it is not personal in nature as Clinton faced then, with investigations going on on his personal life and years before the Presidency!

Newt Gingrich was a new, aggressive leader of the Republicans back in 1994, while John Boehner is older and more stodgy and far less imaginative today, not exactly a great leader to stir the troops in his party!

The Republicans have major headaches dealing with the Tea Party Movement candidates within its midst, but back in 1994, there was a greater sense of unity, instead of an internal struggle which could cause a rift and make the GOP totally ineffective in the next two years if they should win the control they are seeking!

Barack Obama may be at a low level of popularity right now, but again it was the same for Ronald Reagan in 1982 and Bill Clinton in 1994, and yet both went on to win reelection, and Obama has the capability to rally less than enthusiastic Democrats and attract independents, if he goes on an active equivalent of Harry Truman’s “Whistlestop Campaign” of 1948!

The bad economic conditions really hurt, but again if it is emphasized that the Republican opposition has no new ideas, and that things could have been a lot worse without the policies and actions of the Democratic majority in both houses and the President’s efforts, this year does not have to be another 1994!

Why A Second Economic Stimulus Is Essential!

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If you listen to conservatives, they will constantly state that the economic stimulus legislation of 2009 has failed, and that the nation does not need any more attempts at economic stimulus, a totally wrong viewpoint!

Sure, the economic stimulus has not been a panacea, but ask most economists and they will say that WITHOUT the stimulus, our unemployment rate would have been closer to 20 percent, instead of the 9.6 percent that it presently is!

We are facing an extreme economic crisis with local and state governments, undermining public safety and public education, with the anticipated dismissal of hundreds of thousands of police, firefighters, teachers and other public service fields that we all take for granted!

The first stimulus helped to prevent many of these people losing their jobs, and it is estimated that at least three million people either kept their employment because of the stimulus, or were employed when they had been unemployed due to the economic collapse that began at the end of 2007!

This is, of course, a “drop in the bucket” solution of the problem, but if we continue to act as if we have no need to deal with this crisis in public safety and education, we will pay the price in higher crime rates and worse educational opportunities for millions of school children, which will affect lives not just for a year or two, but for the long term future!

Also, extension of unemployment compensation creates consumer spending and gives the long term unemployed a lifeline until things get better, and if it is not done, we will have widespread starvation and homelessness!

It is easy to say it is someone else’s problem and not care about it, but this could literally happen to anyone at anytime, and the fact that it does not is due to a lot of luck, as there is nothing inherently wrong with people who lose their jobs!

We should not be judging others, and looking down on them, as “there but for the grace of God go I!”, and one does not have to be religious to realize the truth of that statement!

We must also work on creating critical infrastructure jobs, as that is a long term need and will provide many new employment opportunities, and we cannot allow the fear of deficits long term to make us paralyzed in our actions short term!

The problem is that if the Republicans gain control of either or both houses of Congress in November, the room for action on these matters may very well be lost, and the country will then suffer through a much worse economic downturn over the next few years!

We might look back in 2012 and after and bemoan what the voters did in 2010, in their moment of frustration and anger! Let us hope they do not take self destructive actions! 🙁

Female Vs. Female Political Races And More Women Running Against Men: A Record Breaking Year?

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A fascinating part of the 2010 election cycle is the fact that there will be more female vs. female races than we have seen before in American history!

For the Senate, the only such race will be Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer against former Hewlett Packard CEO and Republican Carly Fiorina in California!

For the office of Governor, there will be two all female races–in New Mexico, where Republican Susana Martinez will run against Democrat Diane Denish; and Oklahoma, where Democrat Jari Askins will compete against Republican Mary Fallin! Both Democrats, by the way, have been Lieutenant Governor of their states and still are!

In Congressional races, the most notable is Republican Congresswomen Michele Bachmann of Minnesota against Democratic state legislator Tarryl Clark!

But also running in South Dakota for the state wide Congressional seat are Democratic Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin against Republican state representative Kristi Noem!

Of course, there are other women running for high office, but against men! Among them are gubernatorial candidates in California (Republican Meg Whitman), South Carolina (Republican Nikki Haley), and Florida (Democrat Alex Sink). For the Senate, we see Sharron Angle (Republican of Nevada) and Linda McMahon (Republican of Connecticut). Additionally, there are numerous Congresswomen running for reelection, and many women who are opposing men in and outside of the House of Representatives for House seats.

Will this be a major “Year of the Woman” in American politics? Maybe it will not be a record breaker, but certainly women are playing a growing role in American politics, and of course we are not talking here about the numerous women who sit in state legislatures, city councils, boards of education, and other elected bodies, or who are running to be part of these government structures!

Are The American People “Spoiled Brats?” Unfortunately, YES!

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Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post wrote a column yesterday that is bound to cause controversy!

He stated that the American electorate are acting as “spoiled brats”!

Wow, what a charge! Is there any justification to this accusation? Obviously, Robinson says YES, and the author would tend to agree with him, which requires explanation!

Robinson says that we want quick easy solutions to complex problems that have been built up over many years, and cannot be resolved in any one presidential term or one two year congressional term! He is ABSOLUTELY CORRECT in that assertion!

We have so many problems, as Robinson points out, including:

1. Restructuring of the economy which has been outsourced over the past thirty years (since Ronald Reagan), and with manufacturing having disappeared because we all want cheap Walmart CHINA goods, and don’t want to support American made labor goods!

2. We have an infrastructure which needs a major investment, including the rebuilding of roads, bridges, canals, and other public works, but don’t want to make the investment because it might cause taxes to go up, which we hate as a concept, expecting everything to be done without paying for it!

3. We need to recognize the importance of reforming entitlements, but even to suggest it is to cause hysteria and panic and anger, as again the thought is that we don’t want to sacrifice, but make sure you don’t cut anyone’s future expectations of gaining benefits without paying appropriate level of taxes!

4. We need to plan a 21st century economy based on weaning ourselves off foreign oil, and must face the fact that fossil fuels are not the long term answer, but corporations and politicians continue to promote an outdated idea of how our future energy needs can be met!

5. After years of paying very low or no taxes, the wealthy keep on complaining about paying more taxes, even though there is no way to maintain enough revenue without their participation in the tax structure, but the attitude is “NOT ME!”, and selfishness and greed rule! When one percent of the population earns 23 percent of the income, to say they should not pay more taxes means no solution in the future to solving our economic problems is possible, and instead it forces bigger and bigger budget deficits which can lead us to losing our status as a world leader, which is already under attack as it is!

6.We need to develop an education system to sustain the future, but have failed to keep pace, and again it requires willingness to sacrifice, which no one wants to do!

7. We need to realize that immigration is part of a plan for an economic future, but instead we just make immigrants and people who have different cultural backgrounds seem to be the enemy and a threat to the future of the country!

8. The country has an unsustainable burden overseas, trying to be the world’s policeman, and therefore, we need to redefine our role in world affairs in such a way to make it manageable, as now our defense requirements are overwhelming our ability to sustain it financially!

As Robinson says, we want quick and easy solutions without pain and suffering, and so we are ready to “throw out the rascals” and try the other party in power, but not understanding that the GOP has no solutions either, and that likely, after they have a try at power, they will be thrown out in 2012!

So we are acting like “spoiled brats”, like children who have a “temper tantrum”, and take irrational steps that will do nothing to deal with the reality of the future!

That reality is that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans have any magical solutions, and we are going to suffer through five to ten years of trouble to undo the damage done in the past 30 years, all of it except the BIll Clinton years, under Republican Presidents who made life better for the wealthy, and miserable for the middle class and the poor!

So it is time for the American people to “grow up” and stop expecting quick, easy solutions, as they are not going to come, whether or not one party or the other controls the White House and the Congress!

We are, unfortunately, in for the toughest decade we have suffered through since the 1930s! To believe anything else is to believe in the “tooth fairy” and “Santa Claus”! 🙁

The Total Arrogance Of Republican Politicians! :(

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We are now witnessing total arrogance of Republican politicians, feeling no need to face news media or participate in debates, and yet expecting the voters to elect or reelect them! 🙁

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer had a “brain freeze” at a debate with her opponent, Attorney General Terry Goddard, yesterday, but more significant than that, was that she refused to answer his charge that she had fabricated the idea that headless corpses have been found in the Arizona desert, an assertion that has been denied by county governments near the border with Mexico, but constantly repeated by Brewer as a way to stir up support for the immigration law passed by Arizona and now in litigation!

As a result of the embarrassing “brain freeze”, Brewer has now declared that she will not participate in any more debates during the campaign! What gall and nerve, and it should be rewarded by the voters defeating this woman who is best at lying and being a demagogue than governing the state in a competent manner! 🙁

In Florida, gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott, who spent $50 million of his fortune to win the GOP nomination, now refuses to debate Democratic nominee Alex Sink, and has shown a high level of arrogance, including referring to himself as the “bald, handsome guy!”

Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul and Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle have both refused to be interviewed by mainstream media, favoring Fox News Channel only!

None of these or other candidates have any solution to the problems their states or the nation faces, but they seem to think they can ride on the discontent of the population to win office without having to deal with hard questions and real challenges as to their competence for office!

Hopefully, the people of these states and across the nation are not going to reward these arrogant politicians with the responsibility for high office!

Alaska GOP Goes Right Wing Tea Party Radical: Joe Miller, Sarah Palin’s Choice! :(

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Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin triumphed in her home state yesterday, successfully defeating Senator Lisa Murkowski’s bid for renomination, just as she personally defeated Senator Murkowski’s father, Governor Frank Murkowski when he ran for renomination in 2006!

In so doing, Palin presented us with the most extreme right wing radical candidate yet in Senate races this year–more so, imagine this, than Sharron Angle of Nevada and Rand Paul of Kentucky! 🙁

Joe Miller came out of “nowhere”, but with Palin’s backing, gained the nomination in a close contest, winning by fewer than 1,700 votes over a Senator who could be regarded as somewhat of a moderate!

But what does Joe Miller represent? He represents a belief that we should return to “basic principles”, meaning a LITERAL view of the Constitution, meaning no federal government other than defense and security, and a return to states rights, even though that was supposedly settled by the Civil War 150 years ago! 🙁

Miller is the most extreme Tea Party candidate of all running this year! Realize what Miller is promoting specifically!

He advocates no unemployment compensation, complete privatization of Social Security, the end of Medicare and Medicaid, and closing down many federal government agencies!

However, the government MUST have the right to force a woman who has been raped to bear the child of her rapist! 🙁

The Democrats have nominated Sitka Mayor Scott McAdam, who normally as a Democrat, would have had no chance for election against a comparative moderate such as Lisa Murkowski!

But now there is a fighting chance that McAdam, if he is given sufficient financial support in a state with such a small population as Alaska, might have a shot at defeating Miller!

Hopefully this will happen, because Miller is the nuttiest and whackiest of all GOP candidates for the Senate this year, bar none! 🙁

It would also be a way to slap Sarah Palin down, as backing such a candidate makes one wonder about her own sanity and fitness for political office! 🙁

How Obama Can Revive Democratic Party Hopes In The Midterm Elections!

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The Democrats are alarmed at the most recent Gallup polls that indicate a major shift toward the Republican Party for the midterm elections!

There is obviously the likelihood that the opposition party will gain seats in both houses of Congress, but that does not mean it has to an electoral “Armageddon”!

Obama, along with all members of his party who are running for election or reelection, needs to change strategy and tactics and show the electorate that they have been fighting for them and will not give in to Republican demagoguery!

The President must stop being so intellectual and gentlemanly, as that obviously does not work!

He must be focused and disciplined about emphasizing the progress that has been made in the past 19 months!

Obama needs to simplify and communicate his message better, and in that sense, seem like Ronald Reagan, who was the Great Communicator!

Obama needs to use the teleprompter less often, and learn to communicate his message more directly, and show emotion and commitment, even if he does not use the precise words he has planned to utilize!

He needs to show that he is willing to fight, go on the offensive as Harry Truman was excellent in doing in his years in the Presidency!

Obama needs to appeal to independents about his positive vision for the future, and work hard to win them back for the Democratic party!

Obama was able to rally people to vote in 2008, and he needs to get the “fire in his belly” again to limit losses in 2010!

Obama needs to remind people why they voted for him two years ago, and electrify the debate over the future in the next two months!

If he does all of the above, the losses in November will be minimal, rather than catastrophic!

The Latest Gallup Poll: An Electoral Armageddon For The Democrats? :(

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The Gallup poll results reported today are an alarm bell for Democrats across the nation, particularly in the House of Representatives!

Asking voters whether they will favor a generic Republican or a generic Democrat, the result today is a ten point lead, 51 to 41 percent, the greatest margin in the history of Gallup polling! It indicates a possible massive swing of support to the GOP in November, with some observers predicting a gain of as many as 60 seats in the House of Representatives, with only 39 needed for GOP control! 🙁

There are still nine weeks to turn this situation around, but it seen as an electoral “Armageddon” for Democrats, with the major problem being the lack of enthusiasm by liberals and Democrats to go out to the polls this fall, while the level of interest in voting is very high for Republicans!

Also, Independents seem to be very unhappy with the situation that exists, and therefore, seem to favor voting for the Republicans as a protest vote to demonstrate their dissatisfaction!

The question that arises is why so many people seem to have no problem that the Republican party has no agenda, except to repeal the past two years! The party offers no new ideas, and yet it seems as if many Americans have amnesia as to what caused the nation to be in such a economic free fall these past three years! 🙁

It is almost as if it is just a question of dissatisfaction, and a resultant “throw the rascals out!” reaction, without careful thought as to why one would wish to return to failed policies in place of giving a real trial to the Obama agenda! 🙁

So the future seems grim, but Democrats MUST mount a national campaign, and fight with vigor to get the message out to the American people!

While there can be a sense of defeatism at this point, the effort MUST be made to convince Independents, liberals and progressives, and registered Democrats to get out there and work for the party and vote, as despite gloomy predictions, polls have been wrong in the past, and it is not yet a “fait accompli”!

Or as the saying goes, “It ain’t over till it’s over!”

The Trend Is Overwhelmingly To Keep Incumbents In Office After All The Hype!

Ronald 1 Comment

One of the big stories of 2010 has been the belief that the country was ready to rebel against all incumbents in office, both in Congress and the Governorships, because of citizens’ disgust with the economic recession, and anger at government’s reaction to the crises the nation faces!

So therefore, it was supposed to be through the primary system that the “rascals” would be thrown out and replaced by “rebels” who would radically change the way the states and the national government operate!

So as we await the challenges to incumbents John McCain in Arizona and Lisa Murkowski in Alaska tomorrow, we should stop and observe how has the primary system gone so far!

The shock is that the grand total of SEVEN incumbents have been defeated in primaries, but 317 incumbents have been renominated!

So a little over TWO PERCENT of incumbents have been retired by the voters, and it is highly expected that Senators McCain and Murkowski will be renominated and likely win their contests in November, after all of the expectations that J. D. Hayworth would overcome McCain, and that Sarah Palin’s support of Joe Miller in Alaska would defeat Murkowski! But that is apparently not to be!

So all of the talk and discussion has led to little change, and it makes one wonder: Could the same thing happen with Congress and in some states in November? Could it be that the Republican Party might not gain that many seats from the Democrats? Could it be that Barack Obama will be seen as gaining an endorsement for his actions as President despite the public opinion polls?

No one can possibly know the answers now, but it certainly makes following the campaign for Congress and the Governorships more interesting, and makes one look forward to see what will happen on November 2!

It may be, as the author has indicated in other earlier entries, a very different result than many have predicted!