Re: Politics

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VT'er wrote:But they are "The Good Guys"! Cali says so!

"The Good Guys" have a widely attended car show in our town at least twice a year. The local hotels and restaurants are full.

And I hear those engines being gunned as all the old farts with the cars wake up at 4AM to head to IHOP before going to The Show.

I don't naturally wake up at 4AM. Sometimes I do not go to sleep until 4AM.

But yes, they ARE "The Good Guys."

:-)

Really.

Re: Politics

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The establishment republicans like Rove can continue forcing guys like Bush, McCain, and Romney on me but that doesn't mean I am going to support them. Sure, if it comes down to someone like them or an Obama/Pelosi/Barney type candidate then the choice is clear for me. I will vote for (R). Hell, I even donated some money to McCain, who I really did not like. But I am gonna continue to do my part to make the party put forth some true small government fiscal conservative candidates. People I can feel good about getting behind.

I've spent time with Karl Rove. When he was about age 24 and still the National Executive Director of College Republicans.

I am a Republican, fiscal Conservative and open minded Libertarian in spite of Karl Rove....not BECAUSE of Karl Rove.

I also ironically spent time with Lee Atwater, and he dated my first wife before I married her. True story.


I am a Republican, fiscal Conservative and open minded Libertarian in spite of Lee Atwater....not BECAUSE of Lee Atwater.

For the record, Lee Atwater was way better at the politics of winning elections than Karl Rove ever hoped or hopes to be.

And Lee played a killer guitar.

I do feel for Karl Rove knowing that his mother committed suicide in one of my favorite towns......Reno, Nevada.

"I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die."

Johnny Cash.

As fuddy duddy as it may sound, we have to rally around our most electable candidate to defeat Barack Obama in 2012.

That said, I still think Obama has a "I come to you with a heavy heart" speech in his repertoire, and he might just exit before November.

If Vegas had odds on it, I'd lay $100 for the heck of it.

Re: Politics

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Tribe Fan in SC/Cali wrote:
That said, I still think Obama has a "I come to you with a heavy heart" speech in his repertoire, and he might just exit before November.

If Vegas had odds on it, I'd lay $100 for the heck of it.
You must be hallucinating if you really think that has even the most remote chance of happening.

As things stand right now, Obama is going to win a second term. Things would have to change drastically for one of the Bozos the Republicans are throwing against the wall to beat him.

As for myself the person I want as president is not going to be on the ballot for either party.

I do like Ron Paul even though I don't agree with all of his ideas, simply because he is the only genuine person running, period. He is ideologically consistent, and he truly believes 100% in the things he says. But he will never win. I do wish him well and I want to see a legitimate 3rd party emerge - the sooner the better- because neither of the two we have is ever going to do what needs to be done for this country.

I want someone who will push hard for some version of the Simpson-Bowles proposal to be enacted.

The democrats give lip service to cutting the deficit and reducing the debt, and they want to do it mainly through revenue increases. The republicans are never serious about cutting the deficit and reducing the debt, and they want to do it only by cutting government.

Neither approach will work, period. BOTH things have to be done, and people have to see this sooner rather than later or else we will go over the cliff we came so close to in 2008.

I will vote for anyone who would seriously tackle the debt by attacking it from both sides of the equation. My other requirement is that they drastically simplify the tax code. Not cut taxes, because we need to increase revenues for however long it takes to pay down the debt while at the same time drastically cutting spending. If and when we get the debt under control, then we can talk about lowering taxes, and we can also talk about what things government should be doing that we're willing to pay for.

No such party exists, and no such candidate exists.

Re: Politics

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As things stand right now, Obama is going to win a second term.

I am not so sure of that, Mt.Fan. As long as his approval ratings are below 50 in key swing states then he is on rocky footing.

Incumbant presidents never get the undecided vote. It's like asking if you like your wife or not after being married to her for 3 years. If you say you are undecided then that is a bad sign. Undecideds rarely go for the incumbant this late in the game.

The last time a president with an approval rating below 50 won re-election was Truman. And you may remember people famously thought Dewey would win, to the point of printing it.

So if you look at his approval ratings in important states, like Ohio. Right now his approval is 47% there. 49% disapprove. So if the election were held today I'd bet you he'd lose Ohio 53-47, or very close to that. (this poll was just released. Very up to date)

I did a quick search and the latest polls I could find of other crucial swing states was done by Quinnipiac last fall. There has to be something more up to date, or if not there will be soon. (there was one just done across many swing states, I'll touch on that in a minute)

39% approval in Florida last fall.

43% in North Carolina.

40% in Virginia.

35% among registered voters in Pennsylvania.

.

Now he does has some positive signs in his favor.

His national approval rating has actually risen lately.

And a poll was just released that spanned across all the so called swing states - the states I mentioned above plus Wisconsin, Colorado, New Mexico, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, and New Hampshire - and his rating in that poll was 53%. 4 months ago he was at 44% in this exact same poll.

Now some of those other states are obviously more left and lifted the number. I don't think the GOP are counting on winning a few of those other states. But Florida, Ohio, N.C. Penn., & Virginia are real keys though. Keep an eye on his numbers there.

And lastly, in recent national polls done with him going head to head against Romney and Santorum he is winning by about 10 points against each of them. (But I also don't worry much about that cause the GOP'ers are beating the hell out of themselves right now. This fall all this negativity will be old news. Kinda like when Hillary and Obama were beating themselves to death 4 years ago. But alot of the things Hillary kicked him for and made the news was never brought up in the fall cause it was old news. unless you watch the Hannity show. I think he mentioned Reverand Wright daily..)

Anyway, he's gonna be in for a fight, unless something happens one way or the other before November. You may remember shortly after announcing Palin as his running mate, McCain went ahead in the polls by a decent margin. 6 to 8 points if I remember correctly. But then the economy tanked and Obama ended up winning easy. Alot can happen so we'll see. But keep an eye on those approval ratings in crucial swing states, that will be the key. If he's below 50 he's in for a battle.

Re: Politics

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I will vote for anyone who would seriously tackle the debt by attacking it from both sides of the equation. My other requirement is that they drastically simplify the tax code. Not cut taxes, because we need to increase revenues for however long it takes to pay down the debt while at the same time drastically cutting spending. If and when we get the debt under control, then we can talk about lowering taxes, and we can also talk about what things government should be doing that we're willing to pay for.

Tough to disagree with that.

Easy to agree that person is not Barack Obama.

Re: Politics

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Hillbilly wrote:Wow. I dunno what world you guys are living in but Obama is not that popular right now.

My bitch about starting these primaries so early is that it changes the important formula for a winning candidate to "peak" in the polls.

We're still 8 months away from the General Election in a world where 24 hour news and "social networking (I hate that phrase)" can get big waves and many legs in a short time. NOTHING is for certain about the November election.

Re: Politics

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Hillbilly wrote:Wow. I dunno what world you guys are living in but Obama is not that popular right now.
The people that voted for Obama the first time are going to vote for him again. They are not going to vote Republican no matter who the candidate is.