God Rigs Election: It's Bush In A "blowout"

[KenJames]

Much to my confusion, most of the high-profile legislation that the GOP has turned out over the past few years has trampled states' rights. That brings me back to my oft uttered question, how does the GOP still get credit for being the party of small government and lower spending? I'll give them credit, the Democrat PR machine has got nothing on the Republican one. Truly amazing.

- Mindy

A big reason is that the right wing has bought most of the media outlets and present everything with their spin.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Much to my confusion, most of the high-profile legislation that the GOP has turned out over the past few years has trampled states' rights. That brings me back to my oft uttered question, how does the GOP still get credit for being the party of small government and lower spending? I'll give them credit, the Democrat PR machine has got nothing on the Republican one. Truly amazing.

- Mindy

The simple answer to your question is that the Democrats are no more careful with states rights than the Republicans. The Dem's picked up their anti-state's rights tag in the sixties and have never shaken it. Just like their tax and spend, big government lable they do nothing to shake it. In fact they seem to embrace it and perpetucate it.

Bush's tax cuts are a good example. The dem's opposed it. In doing so they decried that it wouldn't help anyone but the rich. Sher said she saw about 300$ of relief I think. Not a huge amount, but defintely some. For a middle calss person, who listened to the Dem's denouncing the tax cuts and predicting it wouldn't help anyone but the rich exactly what did that 300$ mean? Going back to traditional lables it's pretty easy, the Dems were against it because they didn't want me to see 300$ of the money I earned going back to me. That's 300 bucks of mine they don't have to throw away. Thus the old tags remain firmly in pace.
It dosen't take clever PR, the Dems are happy to do all the grunt work for the GOP.

-Colly

 

[shereads]

The simple answer to your question is that the Democrats are no more careful with states rights than the Republicans. The Dem's picked up their anti-state's rights tag in the sixties and have never shaken it. Just like their tax and spend, big government lable they do nothing to shake it. In fact they seem to embrace it and perpetucate it.

Bush's tax cuts are a good example. The dem's opposed it. In doing so they decried that it wouldn't help anyone but the rich. Sher said she saw about 300$ of relief I think. Not a huge amount, but defintely some. For a middle calss person, who listened to the Dem's denouncing the tax cuts and predicting it wouldn't help anyone but the rich exactly what did that 300$ mean? Going back to traditional lables it's pretty easy, the Dems were against it because they didn't want me to see 300$ of the money I earned going back to me. That's 300 bucks of mine they don't have to throw away. Thus the old tags remain firmly in pace.
It dosen't take clever PR, the Dems are happy to do all the grunt work for the GOP.

-Colly

No, Col. It's $300 that's been borrowed at an open-ended rate of interest from the next generation. Do the math.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

No, Col. It's $300 that's been borrowed at an open-ended rate of interest from the next generation. Do the math.

Math was never my strong suit sher, in fact without a calculator I would be hard pressed to balance my check book

I didn't want to revive the quite dead horse of the tax cuts as a good or bad thing. I simply wanted to illustrate that the reason the perceptions Mindy is angry about persist is as much the work of the Democrats as the Republicans. I don't think you consider yourself "the rich", yet you saw a break. To someone who pays less attention to the broader ramifications that break is in direct conflict with the Dem's saying only the rich benefit and thus helps perpetuate their standing as the party of tax and spend.

-Colly

 

[shereads]

To someone who pays less attention to the broader ramifications that break is in direct conflict with the Dem's saying only the rich benefit and thus helps perpetuate their standing as the party of tax and spend.

Hmm. So you're saying that the dumber people are, the more Republicans there will be...



Funny you should bring that up, Col. I just found this letter-to-the-editor on the Opinions page of The Onion:

Yee-Haw! My Vote Cancels Out Ya'll's

By Duane Bickels

Well, damn, man, it's pretty soon gonna be president election time again, and that means we gotta start thinkin' about who's gonna be the one we want to be president. That's some important stuff, who's president, because whoever's president will be in charge of the whole dang shootin' match. And, if y'all are like me, you know America's president needs to be the kind of old boy who, in the first place, kicks him some damn ass, and in the second place, don't listen to all that bitchin' about how he shouldn't be kickin' so much ass. And, if you ain't like me, guess what? My vote cancels out y'all's!

Now, you probably waste a whole lotta good-fishin' Saturdays readin' yourself the papers, watchin' all the talk on the TV, and sittin' around thinkin' real hard about which way you gonna vote. Well, it's a real shame, then, ain't it, that all that time you spend in real careful considerin' don't count for nothin', once my vote runs y'all's right off the road.

Shoot, neighbor, if there's one type'a guy you don't want in charge, it's some damn weaklin' in the White House what won't kick enough ass. Bush, that guy we got now, he kicked him some ass in that old desert. And Bush's daddy? He kicked him some ass, too. Reagan? Kicked all the ass he could, and some they said he shouldn't! But Clinton? Barely no ass-kickin' at all. Just got his ol' joint tugged by a fat girl, and hell, I could do that down by the Dew Drop Inn off I-78. What's the damn use of bein' the Commander-Chief if that's all you're gonna do? Face it, bein' president is a job of work for ass-kickers, and if you say otherwise, hell, I got a vote here what totally negates yours.

So maybe you ain't a patriot like I am. Now, when I say patriot, I'm talkin' about most of our athletes, country-music stars, and guys like me what agree with them. So, say you ain't a patriot, and you're fixin' to vote up a candidate what's some limpo what'll give in to the crybaby liberals, the damn screechin' women, the commies at the United Nations, and the other America-haters. Fine by me! I got a vote here that does just as much good as yours, and mine's marked "No Limpos!"

Or say you wanna take away the money we need for our Army tanks and rifles and fightin' planes what let us keep our eternal vigilance of freedom by invadin' other countries. And say you want to give it to the damn schoolteachers, which let me tell you never done old Duane any damn good, and still, they most times drive a newer car than I do. I learned all I got from my daddy—another guy without any fancy book smarts, by the way. If he didn't need them books, then why do anybody else?

Well, hey, I might not be educated, but I do got me a big ol' flag, $300 from the government,*and a president that, like I told you before, kicked him some ass.
It's things like that what make me happy my vote gonna meet y'all's toe-to-toe and take it down!

Plus, what's more, I got to see Saddam get his ass throwed in jail. That's a big ol' switch-a-dilly from a few years ago, when Saddam was runnin' around free while Duane was in the tank, let me tell you.

So maybe you think what we got here is one a them Mexican pissin' matches, what with my vote and your vote both bein' worth the exact same. But I tell you what! There's all the guys workin' down here at the budget-transmission shop with me, and the guys at the body shop across the way, and the car-battery dismantlin' yard. Plus, there's all our pals at the Dew Drop off 78, and all our other pals at the County Dragaway, and our big ol' families, and our wives, for those what have 'em. Read me?

In this next election, whenever they set it to come around, we gonna go up agin' all you guys at the coffee shop and the library. Now, if you ain't noticed, we got a lot more parkin' lot space down at the racetrack and the Farm & Fleet store than y'all do out in front of your bookstores and muffin shops. All of us add up real quick, and our votes do a damn bunch more than just cancel out all y'all's!

[note from shereads: Is that paragraph eerily familiar?]

Shit, somehow we do it ever' time we need to keep the damn school board from gettin' uppity on us.

So hey, man, have fun readin' up and debatin' and thinkin' on what you gonna mark down on your votin' papers this year. Duane ain't thought too much yet about which way his vote's gonna go. But somethin' tells me, friend, it ain't gonna be the same as y'alls!



*$300? Hey, me too. - sr

 

[shereads]

Key recall points of the State of the Union message:

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Hmm. So you're saying that the dumber people are, the more Republicans there will be...



Funny you should bring that up, Col. I just found this letter-to-the-editor on the Opinions page of The Onion:

Yee-Haw! My Vote Cancels Out Ya'll's

By Duane Bickels

Well, damn, man, it's pretty soon gonna be president election time again, and that means we gotta start thinkin' about who's gonna be the one we want to be president. That's some important stuff, who's president, because whoever's president will be in charge of the whole dang shootin' match. And, if y'all are like me, you know America's president needs to be the kind of old boy who, in the first place, kicks him some damn ass, and in the second place, don't listen to all that bitchin' about how he shouldn't be kickin' so much ass. And, if you ain't like me, guess what? My vote cancels out y'all's!

Now, you probably waste a whole lotta good-fishin' Saturdays readin' yourself the papers, watchin' all the talk on the TV, and sittin' around thinkin' real hard about which way you gonna vote. Well, it's a real shame, then, ain't it, that all that time you spend in real careful considerin' don't count for nothin', once my vote runs y'all's right off the road.

Shoot, neighbor, if there's one type'a guy you don't want in charge, it's some damn weaklin' in the White House what won't kick enough ass. Bush, that guy we got now, he kicked him some ass in that old desert. And Bush's daddy? He kicked him some ass, too. Reagan? Kicked all the ass he could, and some they said he shouldn't! But Clinton? Barely no ass-kickin' at all. Just got his ol' joint tugged by a fat girl, and hell, I could do that down by the Dew Drop Inn off I-78. What's the damn use of bein' the Commander-Chief if that's all you're gonna do? Face it, bein' president is a job of work for ass-kickers, and if you say otherwise, hell, I got a vote here what totally negates yours.

So maybe you ain't a patriot like I am. Now, when I say patriot, I'm talkin' about most of our athletes, country-music stars, and guys like me what agree with them. So, say you ain't a patriot, and you're fixin' to vote up a candidate what's some limpo what'll give in to the crybaby liberals, the damn screechin' women, the commies at the United Nations, and the other America-haters. Fine by me! I got a vote here that does just as much good as yours, and mine's marked "No Limpos!"

Or say you wanna take away the money we need for our Army tanks and rifles and fightin' planes what let us keep our eternal vigilance of freedom by invadin' other countries. And say you want to give it to the damn schoolteachers, which let me tell you never done old Duane any damn good, and still, they most times drive a newer car than I do. I learned all I got from my daddy—another guy without any fancy book smarts, by the way. If he didn't need them books, then why do anybody else?

Well, hey, I might not be educated, but I do got me a big ol' flag, $300 from the government,*and a president that, like I told you before, kicked him some ass.
It's things like that what make me happy my vote gonna meet y'all's toe-to-toe and take it down!

Plus, what's more, I got to see Saddam get his ass throwed in jail. That's a big ol' switch-a-dilly from a few years ago, when Saddam was runnin' around free while Duane was in the tank, let me tell you.

So maybe you think what we got here is one a them Mexican pissin' matches, what with my vote and your vote both bein' worth the exact same. But I tell you what! There's all the guys workin' down here at the budget-transmission shop with me, and the guys at the body shop across the way, and the car-battery dismantlin' yard. Plus, there's all our pals at the Dew Drop off 78, and all our other pals at the County Dragaway, and our big ol' families, and our wives, for those what have 'em. Read me?

In this next election, whenever they set it to come around, we gonna go up agin' all you guys at the coffee shop and the library. Now, if you ain't noticed, we got a lot more parkin' lot space down at the racetrack and the Farm & Fleet store than y'all do out in front of your bookstores and muffin shops. All of us add up real quick, and our votes do a damn bunch more than just cancel out all y'all's!

[note from shereads: Is that paragraph eerily familiar?]

Shit, somehow we do it ever' time we need to keep the damn school board from gettin' uppity on us.

So hey, man, have fun readin' up and debatin' and thinkin' on what you gonna mark down on your votin' papers this year. Duane ain't thought too much yet about which way his vote's gonna go. But somethin' tells me, friend, it ain't gonna be the same as y'alls!



*$300? Hey, me too. - sr

Gotta love the onion Right up there with toostupid to be president and landoverbaptist.

I don't think you have to be stupid to appreciate your tax break or vote republican. I voted republican all my life and don't consider myself stupid. Of course I suppose most stupid people don't consider themselves stupid so that may be wrong.

-Colly

 

[shereads]

Don't make me come over there.

My Dad was a Republican and one of the smartest people I know. Just misguided. I think it had to do with being undernourished as a child during the depression.

 

[shereads]

At any rate, Colly, we couldn't ask you to change parties now. You have to Stay The Course. It's in the manual.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

At any rate, Colly, we couldn't ask you to change parties now. You have to Stay The Course. It's in the manual.

Blind obedience, to a man, a party or an ideaology isn't in my manual. I don't know who I will squander my vote on, there is no way I am voting for the party hell bent on returning me to the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant. The democratic choices seem about as palateable as gooseliver patte. The libertarians, who probably most closely approximate my views will no dount run someone recently released from an asylum as is thier want. Luckily for me I live in NY so my vote isn't that big a deal, the state will go to the dems so no matter what third party I choose I won't feel like I am wasteing it

-Colly

 

[shereads]

Blind obedience, to a man, a party or an ideaology isn't in my manual. I don't know who I will squander my vote on, there is no way I am voting for the party hell bent on returning me to the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant. The democratic choices seem about as palateable as gooseliver patte. The libertarians, who probably most closely approximate my views will no dount run someone recently released from an asylum as is thier want. Luckily for me I live in NY so my vote isn't that big a deal, the state will go to the dems so no matter what third party I choose I won't feel like I am wasteing it

-Colly

You just hit on the one thing that really bugs me about the electoral college system. I know the pros and cons, and you've argued that side effectively enough that if my side had won those extra 500 votes in Florida in 2000, I might agree with you.

Except for this: It has to be disheartening to live in a state that's heavily Republican or Democrat, if you're of the opposite persuasion. There's a feeling of being outnumbered, so that your vote doesn't count. It's not as if you are adding your vote to the strength of others outside your state who think as you do. Your vote will never be added to the tally. I know we're supposed to feel that every vote counts, but in national elections I imagine many people are discouraged from going to the poles because the pundits have already predicted how the state will go.

It's aggravated by the fact of seeing constant election-day "projections" about how your state is going. If you've waited until the end of a work day to vote, and you hear that your side is either losing big or winning big, your vote becomes meaningless. Or so it seems. When Tim Russert and NBC announced that the polls were closed in Florida and called the state for Al Gore, there were still thousands of voters in another timezone - the westernmost part of the Florida Panhandle - who heard the results and stayed home.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

You just hit on the one thing that really bugs me about the electoral college system. I know the pros and cons, and you've argued that side effectively enough that if my side had won those extra 500 votes in Florida in 2000, I might agree with you.

Except for this: It has to be disheartening to live in a state that's heavily Republican or Democrat, if you're of the opposite persuasion. There's a feeling of being outnumbered, so that your vote doesn't count. It's not as if you are adding your vote to the strength of others outside your state who think as you do. Your vote will never be added to the tally. I know we're supposed to feel that every vote counts, but in national elections I imagine many people are discouraged from going to the poles because the pundits have already predicted how the state will go.

It's aggravated by the fact of seeing constant election-day "projections" about how your state is going. If you've waited until the end of a work day to vote, and you hear that your side is either losing big or winning big, your vote becomes meaningless. Or so it seems. When Tim Russert and NBC announced that the polls were closed in Florida and called the state for Al Gore, there were still thousands of voters in another timezone - the westernmost part of the Florida Panhandle - who heard the results and stayed home.

It is a little disheartening to live in a state where you know the outcome before the polls even open. Voting for me is a real trial, requiring a couple of tranquilizers and someone I know to go with me. Standing in the firehouse with 100 or more people all around is terrifying for me. That said I have never missed a vote, be it for school board (like I should care here I have no children) or president. I was raised to believe voting wasn't just a right, it was a duty. The duty all of us have asmembers of a free country and a right won by the deaths of untold thousands of men.

Florida isn't New york. You can't feel comfortable which way the state will go in any year. It would not surprise me in the least to se Florida go to the democratic candidate no matter who he is, simply because no democrat will sit home and not vote when they realize just how their vote might have changed history in 2000. My guess is republican voters won't feel the same sense of urgency since they won the last time around. All in all the Florida debacle may be good for the population, it may convince people thier vote does matter. over 35% or registered voters not voting is a shame.

-Colly

 

[PCharming]

I agree florida will go to a Democrat, but for a whole nother set of reasons. Republicans have proven that they will vote no matter rain or shine. nothing will stop them from getting to that box. They have more at stake when elections come around, and have been taught like most republicans its a duty. However, i believe the democrats will take the Florida because Florida has lots its faith and respect in our leaders, from govenor jeb bush down. For example a lot of respect was lost when Jeb Refused to go to court with his daughter thus denying her moral support. For weeks on end there were commentaries in papers that he just shouldn't have done that. How many of our citizens just couldn't vote for a man who wouldn't care enough to be there for his kid even when they've done wrong. There are countless other incidences that show that Florida has lost its faith in those republicans. so i don't think its so much that the Democrats voting sooner or voting at all, but i think a lot of republicans will vote democrat.

 

[minsue]

It is a little disheartening to live in a state where you know the outcome before the polls even open. Voting for me is a real trial, requiring a couple of tranquilizers and someone I know to go with me. Standing in the firehouse with 100 or more people all around is terrifying for me. That said I have never missed a vote, be it for school board (like I should care here I have no children) or president. I was raised to believe voting wasn't just a right, it was a duty. The duty all of us have asmembers of a free country and a right won by the deaths of untold thousands of men.

Florida isn't New york. You can't feel comfortable which way the state will go in any year. It would not surprise me in the least to se Florida go to the democratic candidate no matter who he is, simply because no democrat will sit home and not vote when they realize just how their vote might have changed history in 2000. My guess is republican voters won't feel the same sense of urgency since they won the last time around. All in all the Florida debacle may be good for the population, it may convince people thier vote does matter. over 35% or registered voters not voting is a shame.

-Colly

As a Democrat in AZ, I feel your pain. My vote never counts.

Regarding the crowds when you go to vote - Does NY have absentee ballots? That's almost always how I vote, but AZ has one of the biggest, easiest absentee ballot programs with no restrictions so anyone can vote that way. I know some other states have restrictions on who can vote by absentee ballot, but you may want to look into it.

I often have panic attacks in crowds or if I am afraid I'm going to screw something up or just in public at all, so I can tell you voting by mail has done wonders for me. Not only that, I sit down with the ballot and research the candidates for offices that I used to just skip because I didn't know anything about them (State Mine Commisioner is always up there on that list) and at least I can feel like I'm making an informed decision. As a plus, it gives my husband fodder for mocking me.

- Mindy

 

[shereads]

Absentee ballots can be a godsend, or they can be a waste of time depending upon your precinct. Sometimes boxes of them are found uncounted weeks after an election. Elsewhere, in heavily Republican Miami, even the dead sometimes vote by absentee ballot (if the criterion is that it would be inconvenient to go to the polls, who's better qualified?) For the convenience of elderly Miami voters, party activists have been known to show up at their homes with absentee ballots in hand, already filled out, and all that is required is a signature. Some of them claim later on that they didn't know what they were signing, but that's because they're old.

Anyway, this is Florida. You may have a less voter-friendly system where you live.




Edited to add: We are proud of our politically-active community of dead persons, or as we prefer to call them, Lifesigns-Challenged Americans.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

LOL,

Least the republican dead only vote once. I remember hearing about one zealous gent who voted five times for Kenedy in chicago. I think he passed away some eight to ten years before the election

-Colly

 

[Edward Teach]

Prediction

I don't often make predictions, but I'm going out on a limb this time so that I can crow later if I'm right and know that no one will remember if I'm wrong.

I saw John Edward's wife speak for the first time last night. She is a fairly ordinary looking, slightly overweight, middle aged lady with a law degree and a sharp as hell mind. She knows the issues and answers probably better than most of the candidates.

Beginning to sound familiar? Yep, a brunette Hillary.

I predict that the righteous neocon right and the media will go after her when they get to SC or soon thereafter.

They just can't abide uppity smart women.

Ed

 

[shereads]

Howard Dean's wife has already been the subject of some cheap shots because she didn't accompany him to the pancake-athon in Iowa, like a good political wife. She's a doctor, and has said she plans to continue in private practice in Vermont. That alone would be enough to outrage righteous Americans who are comfortable with the Laura Bush model.

That woman set American working women back twenty years with her stand-sligthly-to-the-side-and-behind-and-gaze-adoringly-at-him 1950s persona. I bet Barbara Bush makes Laura lick the floors clean after holiday dinners.

 

[shereads]

Re: Prediction

I saw John Edward's wife speak for the first time last night. She is a fairly ordinary looking, slightly overweight, middle aged lady with a law degree and a sharp as hell mind. She knows the issues and answers probably better than most of the candidates.

Beginning to sound familiar? Yep, a brunette Hillary.

And if he does win the nomination, and takes John Junior out of his pants with some trollop, I am moving to New Zealand.

 

[Edward Teach]

Re: Re: Prediction

And if he does win the nomination, and takes John Junior out of his pants with some trollop, I am moving to New Zealand.

LOL.

If he wins and does as much for the economy as Clinton did, I'll personally buy him a hooker. Hell, I'll line up to give him a blow job myself.

Ed

 

[shereads]

Shhhhh! They'll hear us.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

And you guys wonder why liberals frighten me!

-Colly

 

[shereads]

Frighten you? We're so powerless that there are only about three of us that still use the "L" word. Poor Paul Wellbourn probably was rolling around in the casket saying, "Shhhh! Stop calling me a liberal in the obituaries. People will unelect me posthumously."

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Remember that movie about the president who ran away from his advisors and toured around the ghettos, flirting with one black girl, and telling everyone that the politicians didn't really care about them? Remember the scene when he (accompanied by two dancing Sisters) is rapping to...was it the congress? Don't remember. Anyway, the scene includes him turning to his conservative-conservatives and conservative-liberals, saying:

"Let's hear it now! The ugly word: SOCIALISM!!!"

 

[shereads]

Kay Cites Evidence Of Iraq Disarming
Action Taken in '90s, Ex-Inspector Says

By Walter Pincus and Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, January 28, 2004; Page A01


U.S. weapons inspectors in Iraq found new evidence that Saddam Hussein's regime quietly destroyed some stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons in the mid-1990s, former chief inspector David Kay said yesterday.

The discovery means that inspectors have not only failed to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq but also have found exculpatory information -- contemporaneous documents and confirmations from interviews with Iraqis -- demonstrating that Hussein did make efforts to disarm well before President Bush began making the case for war.

The fact that Iraq disarmed at least partially before 1998 but did not turn over records to U.N. inspectors even when threatened with war has led Kay to conclude that Hussein was bluffing about his weapons capability to maintain an aura of power.

Kay, who will testify this morning before the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in an interview yesterday that inspectors recovered only partial records detailing the destruction of some of Iraq's forbidden weapons. But he said that while the full truth may not be known for years, if ever, that ambiguity should not be used to delay an examination of why the allegations about Hussein's weapons were wrong.

"If the weapons programs existed on the scale we anticipated," Kay said, "we would have found something that leads to that conclusion. Instead, we found other evidence that points to something else." Kay reiterated his view that 85 percent of the Iraq Survey Group's job has been completed and that "the major pieces of the puzzle" have been covered.

"We will be digging up smaller pieces for the next 15 years, but we should not wait for every piece and not be able to begin to reconstruct what happened," he said. Kay added that he is "afraid that ambiguity would be used as a delaying function by some people to delay trying to find out what went wrong."

Kay's revelation that Iraq had documented the destruction of its weapons is the most recent of several disclosures he has made since his resignation Friday as special adviser to CIA Director George J. Tenet that have put the White House on the defensive. Kay's statements have also enlivened the Democratic presidential race and caused a wave of recriminations from the CIA and on Capitol Hill, where Democrats are demanding a probe to determine whether the administration or the intelligence services are to blame for what has turned out to be false accusations about Iraq's weapons programs.

Bush, fielding numerous questions in the Oval Office based on Kay's earlier assertion that there are no weapons stockpiles in Iraq, said yesterday that it is premature to form judgments. "I think it's very important for us to let the Iraq Survey Group do its work so we can find out the facts and compare the facts to what was thought."

Though he did not repeat his earlier statements that forbidden weapons may yet be found in Iraq, Bush said: "I said in the run-up that Saddam was a grave and gathering danger -- that's what I said. And I believed it then, and I know it was true now. And as Mr. Kay said, that Iraq was a dangerous place."

--------------

West Coconut Grove is a dangerous place too, you miserable failure of a human being. You going to bomb it? - SR