The Democrat Thread

[Balta1701]

The point here is that Obama is pulling the country hard left. Compared to past years, this is hard left. Not Billy C. left nut on a blue dress left. Hard left.

 

It turns this into a Euroweenie state. And frankly, that's socialism. Obama clearly belives this is the best policy for this country.

The remarkable thing about the whole "Socialism!" thing is how the Obama Health Care plan basically took the Republican opposition outline to the Clinton plan (the individual mandate) and used that as the basis for everything.

[Soxy]

The point here is that Obama is pulling the country hard left. Compared to past years, this is hard left. Not Billy C. left nut on a blue dress left. Hard left.

 

It turns this into a Euroweenie state. And frankly, that's socialism. Obama clearly belives this is the best policy for this country.

No, if BS or I were running the country that would be a hard left. Obama has not even wandered off the moderate path.

[BigSqwert]

Evidence, please. Most of the "hard left" in this country are pissed off at Obama for various reasons.

*raises hand*

[Jenksismyhero]

I'm pretty well read on current events and since the inception of the Tea Party I have yet to hear a speech, read an article, see a misspelled sign in a crowd, etc. that slams out of control military spending.

 

I actually saw quite a few at the rally in Chicago a week or so back.

[Soxy]

Got invited to have lunch with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, but can't go because of class. Damn!

[BigSqwert]

A new survey by the University of Washington Institute for the Study of Ethnicity, Race & Sexuality offers fresh insight into the racial attitudes of Tea Party sympathizers. "The data suggests that people who are Tea Party supporters have a higher probability"—25 percent, to be exact—"of being racially resentful than those who are not Tea Party supporters," says Christopher Parker, who directed the study. "The Tea Party is not just about politics and size of government. The data suggests it may also be about race."

 

Surveyers asked respondents in California and a half dozen battleground states (like Michigan and Ohio) a series of questions that political scientists typically use to measure racial hostility. On each one, Tea Party backers expressed more resentment than the rest of the population, even when controlling for partisanship and ideology. When read the statement that "if blacks would only try harder, they could be just as well off as whites," 73 percent of the movement's supporters agreed, while only 33 percent of people who disapproved of the Tea Party agreed. Asked if blacks should work their way up "without special favors," as the Irish, Italians, and other groups did, 88 percent of supporters agreed, compared to 56 percent of opponents. The study revealed that Tea Party enthusiasts were also more likely to have negative opinions of Latinos and immigrants.

 

via Newsweek

[NorthSideSox72]

via Newsweek

Careful. Tendency is not the same as all, and having one problem in the group doesn't mean the entire group's message is corrupt.

 

Its no surprise that, especially as the Tea Party has been co-opted to become the We Hate Obama Party, that it has attracted the right wing hatred you see here. The original and core message of the movement has been subverted.

 

[Balta1701]

The original and core message of the movement has been subverted.

Which was?

[Soxy]

Les Cousins Amoreux: The Map. Interesting. Particularly if you think about states worried about the "sanctity of marriage."

[lostfan]

Which was?

lower taxes, lower federal spending, smaller government, deficit control. That's all it is... seriously, that's all it is, very basic Republican ideas. Much of it gets lost in translation thanks to the screaming idiots and people that bring incoherent and just plain dumb signs, that is what makes the blogs and the cable news networks that aren't Fox actively promoting the rallies. Also, because they're rallies and pretty shallow by nature, they aren't usually very specific on HOW they plan to balance the budget, solve specific problems, etc.

 

However, a question like "why weren't you having rallies when Bush and the Republicans were doing the same things 4 years ago" is a fair question IMO - as if Republicans are incapable of f***ing these things up again.

[lostfan]

They are upset with government spending levels. From what admittedly little I've seen in speeches and quoted statements from their leadership, they don't exclude military spending from that equation. Some might, I don't know, but you seem to THINK they feel that the military isn't subject to it. I just haven't seen any evidence as such, only your assumption.

 

As an example, Ron Paul, the Libertarian that he is, was quite against many of our military endeavors.

It's not so much that as much as that they seem to actively oppose any measure that would actually reduce military spending even if they say the defense spending is too high. What would happen if someone proposed cutting weapons systems or spoke against one of the wars? They get booed.

[StrangeSox]

It's the problem with populism, imo.

 

Everyone shouts the high-level slogans; "Cut taxes!" "Balanced budget!" "Cut spending!"

 

But when you get down into the details, no one actually wants to cut anything major or figure out increase tax revenues to pay for it.

[kapkomet]

It's the problem with populism, imo.

 

Everyone shouts the high-level slogans; "Cut taxes!" "Balanced budget!" "Cut spending!"

 

But when you get down into the details, no one actually wants to cut anything major or figure out increase tax revenues to pay for it.

 

 

It's simple, in reality, but everyone craps their pants and is too chickens*** to do it.

[bmags]

well yeah, i'm pretty scared to lose the benefits i'd get from medicare and ss.

[Balta1701]

"That's good ol' fashioned family racism, Mr. Will."

Arizonans should not be judged disdainfully and from a distance by people whose closest contacts with Hispanics are with fine men and women who trim their lawns and put plates in front of them at restaurants, not with illegal immigrants passing through their back yards at 3 a.m.

[StrangeSox]

LOL.

 

Because dishwashers, chefs and the lawn service industry aren't largely illegal immigrants?

[Balta1701]

LOL.

 

Because dishwashers, chefs and the lawn service industry aren't largely illegal immigrants?

And because people with Hispanic backgrounds don't do the important jobs. Like writing newspaper columns.

[StrangeSox]

Well, yeah, there's that part, but even the basic point of "lawn care mexicans are legal immigrants" is retarded.

[HuskyCaucasian]

Report: CA Voters Tricked Into Registering As Republicans With Pot Petition

Orange County authorities are launching an investigation into possible voter registration fraud after a local newspaper reported over a hundred cases of voters being tricked into registering as Republicans by petitioners who asked them to sign petitions for, among other causes, legalizing pot.

 

The Orange County Register reported last week that the Orange County District Attorney's office announced it would team up with the Secretary of State on the case, following a Register report that 99 written complaints were filed since March by voters who said they were registered as Republicans without their consent.

 

Another 74 voters reached by the Register said they, too, were unwillingly made members of the GOP.

 

In a lengthy investigation published earlier this month, the paper pointed to an $8 "bounty" offered by the California Republican Party for each new registration as a cause for the problems. It identified multiple petitioners who work for vendors "with ties to the California Republican Party." Back in 2006, a similar scandal led to the convictions of several petitioners.

 

The Register explains how it went down this time around:

S

ome voter

s

told the Regi

s

ter they

s

pecifically remember mar

k

ing them

s

elve

s

a

s

s

omething other than a Republican. Other

s

s

ay the petitioner told them they had to chec

k

Republican in order for their

s

ignature to count, or becau

s

e Republican

s

were

s

pon

s

oring their

s

ignature gathering or for

s

ome other vaguely official-

s

ounding rea

s

on.

 

In

s

ome ca

s

e

s

, voter

s

were told mar

k

ing Republican didn't change their actual voter regi

s

tration. Other

s

were told they could alway

s

change bac

k

. A few even

s

aid they didn't

k

now they were

s

igning official document

s

of any

k

ind - they

s

aid the

s

ignature gatherer

s

made off li

k

e they were

s

tudent

s

, collecting

s

ignature

s

for a cla

s

s

project.

[KipWellsFan]

The remarkable thing about the whole "Socialism!" thing is how the Obama Health Care plan basically took the Republican opposition outline to the Clinton plan (the individual mandate) and used that as the basis for everything.

 

Meh, I'm not going to get worked up about this on here anymore. Obama as President is to the right of Obama as Presidential candidate, and as it was 53% of the electorate voted for the more liberal Obama anyways. In addition, Washington Post's poll from yesterday indicated that 53% of people think Obama's views on the issues are "just about right," while 39% think he's "too liberal," and 5% think he's "too conservative."

 

EDIT: link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/polit...ST2010042800009

Edited April 28, 2010 by KipWellsFan

[BigSqwert]

The original and core message of the movement has been subverted.

 

Some timely commentary from Andrew Sullivan...

 

Balko is uneasy:

I

’

d have no problem if the Tea Partie

s

were merely

s

ilent on i

s

s

ue

s

li

k

e foreign policy, law enforcement, and the war on terror

—

that i

s

, if people who di

s

agree on tho

s

e particular i

s

s

ue

s

had come together for the purpo

s

e of rallying again

s

t government debt, bailout

s

,

s

pending, and

s

o on. But it

’

s

increa

s

ingly loo

k

ing li

k

e the right

’

s

favored big government policie

s

are a fairly important part of the agenda of a fairly large portion of the Tea Party crowd. Advocating for more police power, more foreign policy imperiali

s

m, and more power for the federal government to detain, torture, and abrogate ba

s

ic civil libertie

s

s

ort of mi

s

s

e

s

the entire me

s

s

age of the original Tea Party.

 

It al

s

o ma

k

e

s

a moc

k

ery of the media narrative that the

s

e are gathering of anti-government extremi

s

t

s

.

S

eem

s

li

k

e in may part

s

of the country they

’

re a

s

pro-government a

s

the current admini

s

tration, ju

s

t pro-their

k

ind of government.

I couldn't agree more. And how many tea-partiers favor the Arizona law? Almost all of them, you betcha.

 

Worse, on the fiscal front, they're total frauds. They have yet to propose any serious cuts in entitlements and want far more money poured into the military-imperial complex. In rallies, the largely white members in their fifties and older seem determined to get every penny of social security and Medicare. They are a kind of boomer revolt - but on the other side of that civil conflict, and no longer a silent majority. In fact, they're now the minority that won't shut up.

 

More and more, this feels to me like an essentially cultural revolt against what America is becoming: a multi-racial, multi-faith, gay-inclusive, women-friendly, majority-minority country. The "tea-party" analogy is not about restricting government as much as it is a form of almost pathological nostalgia. That's why there's much more lashing out than constructive proposals. And yes, a bi-racial president completes the picture. And no, that doesn't mean they're all racists. Discomfort with social and cultural change is not racism. But it can express itself that way.

[BigSqwert]

A new survey of Arizona by Public Policy Polling finds that Sen. John McCain's approval rating has plummeted in his home state.

 

[lostfan]

Report: CA Voters Tricked Into Registering As Republicans With Pot Petition

What is the point of this? You can trick me into registering Republican but it doesn't make me any more likely to vote Republican come election day than I already am. If anything it makes me less likely. Then when I figure it out I just change it back to Democrat or Unaffiliated (whatever the unaligned category is called in CA).

[FlaSoxxJim]

What is the point of this? You can trick me into registering Republican but it doesn't make me any more likely to vote Republican come election day than I already am. If anything it makes me less likely. Then when I figure it out I just change it back to Democrat or Unaffiliated (whatever the unaligned category is called in CA).

 

Yes, but if voting laws in CA are like here in FL with closed primaries then you won't be able to vote in the Dem primaries if you are a registered GOP. And when you realize you are registered to the wrong party it may be too lat to get it corrected to be able to vote.

[Balta1701]

What is the point of this? You can trick me into registering Republican but it doesn't make me any more likely to vote Republican come election day than I already am. If anything it makes me less likely. Then when I figure it out I just change it back to Democrat or Unaffiliated (whatever the unaligned category is called in CA).

Well, first of all it screws up the Democrats ability to campaign to people who want their literature or get their people to the precincts. Not a huge deal to me.

 

What really bothers me though is we all know how this actually happened...it's 99% of the time a paid signature gatherer. Which if it is done by a Democrat group or is done to register, you know...MINORITIES (angry music)...is the most heinous crime in human history.