The 2010 Elections

[Frankie's Market]

Re: The 2010 Elections

Haha! So what? The point is Brown got in as a result of tea party support, and the group now wields a powerful and dominant influence over national politics. Did you not read your own article?

You question whether I read James Oliphant's article,... yet, your comments are totally oblivious to Oliphant's point that members of the Tea Party consider Scott Brown to be a traitor and a sellout after he crossed party lines to support Obama's $17.6 billion dollar Jobs bill.

That Brown got elected to the Senate through the help of the Tea Party is quite apparent. But the question now is,.... will he be the type of Senator that conforms to the expectations of the Tea Party? What value is there in throwing one's support behind a winning candidate, when that person gets into office and starts voting in a manner that goes contrary to the promises and pledges that were made during the campaign?

I know you’re a bleeding heart-liberal, Frankie, but please. Try to leave the name-calling (yes I am offended at the obscene “tea-bagger” reference) and come to the table with more than just hollow accusations.

Tunnl, you need to get yourself more familiar with this thing called the New Oxford American Dictionary. Take some time to read it. You'll find that it defines "teabagger" as:

a person who protests President Obama's tax policies and stimulus package, often through local demonstrations known as "Tea Party" protests (in allusion to the Boston Tea Party of 1773

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...-70201607.html

So by definition, this guy is a teabagger:



And so is this guy:



Now Tunnl. If your sensibilities are offended over a provocative slang meaning of the term, then tsk tsk! Shame on you for having your mind in the gutter.

[matapule]

Re: The 2010 Elections

Both Iraq and Afghanistan are needless wars that should end immediately. Obama has waffled once on the date we withdraw from Iraq once. We’ll see if come August, he does it again.

I agree. I have criticized him on this Forum for his policy in the Middle East. But we are light years away from what we had before.

So President Clinton did a good thing, but if you have been following 808shooter’s thread then you know that Bill Clinton’s move was obviously canceled out by his own repeal of the Glass-Steagal Act.

I don't agree with the premise of that contention. There is always plenty of blame to spread around if you dig deep enough. Every President has been culpable to some extent for bad decisions. What we have to look at is the broad implications of their administration. Given that criteria, Clinton did more for the financial well being of the Nation than any President between Reagan and W.

It means Americans are finally holding their government accountable for irresponsible financial policy.

Why didn't it start with Reagan? or W? Why not, because the Tea Party is not a populist movement. It is a splinter party of arch conservatives whose agenda is discrediting a Democrat President and a half black one at that.

The Tea Party is scary to me because it is infiltrated and in some cases operated by sympathizers to the KKK, White Supremacists, Neo Nutzis, fundamentalist Christians whose agenda is 180 degrees opposite to mine. I have very close relatives who are active members of the Tea Party movement and they have shut me out of their lives because I won't subscribe 100% to their agenda. To them it is all are nothing. What a shame.

What about Barack Obama, who painted himself as a moderate Democrat? Matapule isn’t ready to brand Obama as a neocon yet, but I am.

No, I am not ready to judge the direction of Obama's administration until later in his term. It is simply too early to judge.

I’ll take extreme conservative/ libertarian (Ron Paul), thank you. At least I know where he stands when it really counts.

You can have him, thank you. Ron Paul is right.....extremely right (and un-electable).

I'll take a moderate socialist democrat like Al Franken, at this point un-electable but let's see what happens. Heavens to Betsey, he is building bi-partisan coalitions in Congress. Leave it to a comedian to make the impossible happen.

[Frankie's Market]

Re: The 2010 Elections

The Tea Party is scary to me because it is infiltrated and in some cases operated by sympathizers to the KKK, White Supremacists, Neo Nutzis, fundamentalist Christians whose agenda is 180 degrees opposite to mine.

Matapule, I think you know that the teabaggers carrying signs labeling Obama as a "socialist" and "Kenyan" would have been condemning him for another reason if this was 1965 instead of 2010, right?

The Tea Party proponents want to be taken seriously as a mainstream movement. And yet, how can they expect to be embraced by the moderates when you have a guy like Dale Robertson (founder of TeaParty.Org) carrying around signs like this?

I have very close relatives who are active members of the Tea Party movement and they have shut me out of their lives because I won't subscribe 100% to their agenda. To them it is all are nothing. What a shame..

AFAIAC, red flags always go up whenever any political organization or social movement allows for no diversity of opinion on certain key issues and purges those who do not pass a litmus test. Past history has shown us how these movements have come and gone. Sooner or later, they end up imploding. You just hope it happens before they cause too much damage.

[Kaonohi]

Re: The 2010 Elections

I VOTE FOR TOTAL ISOLATIONISM AND STOP FIXING THE WORLD!!!!!

AGREED!

At least we should keep our noses out of other peoples' businesses' until we can do a good enough job fixing our own!

[anapuni808]

Re: The 2010 Elections

Someone needs to teach Mr. Robertson how to use spell check!

[Random]

Re: The 2010 Elections

AGREED!

At least we should keep our noses out of other peoples' businesses' until we can do a good enough job fixing our own!

Good, we should also remove ourselves from the UN, have UN relocated outside USA.

[Kalalau]

Re: The 2010 Elections

Here in Cal we have a cautionary tale on the true meaning of the Republican supreme ct's Citizens United case making it possible for corporations to buy elections--proposition 16, put on the ballot by Pacific Gas & Electric and other energy interests. If passed (during a historically low turnout primary election) it amends the Cal constitution to require a 2/3 vote before any gvt. entity could get into the electricity business. It will be recalled that after a relentless advertising campaign by Texas energy speculators California voters were scammed into voting away electricity regulation in the '90's, immediately followed by vast rate increases. The only island of sanity was the publicly owned LA Dept of Water & Power. Many counties and cities made moves to become municipal power sources to get reasonable rates for their citizens. If prop. 16 passes it will be basically impossible for the public to escape whatever vast rate increases the energy companies chose to impose, other than disconnecting from the system and living without electricity.

The Cal airwaves have been saturated with well crafted ads in favor of 16, with literally nothing against it. "Let us rob you" is the real message, but it is so artfully presented--attractive young ladies, sweet voices, all sounding so reasonable, gee, we just want the right to vote before our city does anything to save us from rate increases. This is what you can expect under Citizens United. I will be very surprised if this monstrosity doesn't pass. It will be interesting to see how soon, and how much, electricity rates jack up.

[Kalalau]

Re: The 2010 Elections

You must have your papers in order in Arizona, to prove that you are a citizen, to prove that you have the right to be where you are. Burden of proof shifted from presumption of innocence, quite historic and considered quite beneficial under common law, to presumption of guilt, with the citizen required to prove innocence at a moment's notice. And the public loves it. Just as the GOP succeeded with Nixon's anti-Black southern strategy in the late '60's so now it succeeds again with anti-Latino strategy. Just appeal to the worst in people and they never let you down. You can see how Hitler got away with murdering 6 million, just marginalize them in the public mind, make the public hate them, and voila~holocaust. Appealing to the worst human instincts does not make this a better or a stronger country, it makes it worse. But who cares about that, and as to shifting the burden of proof, it will be years before anyone recognizes a problem with that.

[TuNnL]

Re: The 2010 Elections

The Tea Party proponents want to be taken seriously as a mainstream movement. And yet, how can they expect to be embraced by the moderates

I realize that HT’rs as liberal as you and Kalalau are tonedeaf to the changing attitudes of the politically active majority in this country, but perhaps I can open a door for you. When most politicians run as a “moderate” they do it almost exclusively to get votes from “Red” states and “Blue” states, or locally, in “red” and “blue” counties. Frankly, the all-time low approval rating of Congress is due to disillusionment with their Congressman/woman’s practical application of this deliberately vague label.

People are a lot smarter then you think, Frankie. Those who actually pay attention to elections and vote have woken up to the fact that voting for a moderate can be extremely dangerous. You don’t know which way they are going to vote on any given issue. They might vote for a liberal bill if kickbacks make its way into their campaign fund. Or they might vote for a conservative bill if the price is right.

Thankfully, according to tea party leader Jenny Beth Martin, this movement is 15 million strong and growing and a phenomenal pace. Here’s another fruit of the movement (whoohooo!!! Ron Paul’s son!!!! ):

Rand Paul’s victory also a win for Tea Party

By Peter Hamby, CNN Political Producer
May 19, 2010 4:19 a.m. EDT

Bowling Green, Kentucky (CNN) — Rand Paul, a first-time political candidate and beloved figure among Tea Party activists, captured the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in Kentucky on Tuesday.

Paul’s opponent, Secretary of State Trey Grayson, conceded the race as polls showed Paul cruising to a sizable victory.

[Kalalau]

Re: The 2010 Elections

We took a drive out to some hot springs in the far east county, went thru 2 internal border check points like they used to have in East Germany on the way out, and one on the way back. Thank God I am white, I can't imagine how frightening it would be to be a brown man facing all those rifles and prison lights in your face here in our free country. Of course its only a matter of time until Latino voters take effective control of some state, New Mexico maybe, and then big brown cops with rifles and prison lights will be demanding documents from us white people. Maybe when the shoe is on the other foot white people will understand the basic problem with presumption of guilt.

Yesterday's election wasn't too bad, really. Blanche Lincoln didn't clear her primary because she alienated liberal Democratic support. Democrats retained Murtha's Pennsylvania seat against a totally HUGE Republican campaign.

Turns out the recent NRA convention did not allow people to bring in loaded guns. Oh thats fine for churches and bars, but again, people understand a problem a bit better when its their ox getting gored. Do you think people should be allowed to take loaded guns on planes, or to schools? Why or why not?

What are the horrible liberal things the tea partiers want to do away with? Medicare? Social Security? Publicly owned water systems, roads, schools? Environmental laws? (Do you think the Gulf oil spill woke anybody up to the need for environmental protection, or not?) Big spending? Like for 2 needless wars that idiot boy got us into? Don't forget, Clinton left a $500 billion surplus and idiot boy not only ran thru all of that money, his 2 wars plus tax breaks for billionaires bankrupted us. Big spending for needless presidential vanity is fine with the tea party mentality, but let it get spent on something that the country actually needs and whoa, thats socialism!

[Kaonohi]

Re: The 2010 Elections

Turns out the recent NRA convention did not allow people to bring in loaded guns. Oh thats fine for churches and bars, but again, people understand a problem a bit better when its their ox getting gored. Do you think people should be allowed to take loaded guns on planes, or to schools? Why or why not?

Oooooh, right up my alley!

Second amendment aside (no infringement on the right to keep and bear arms....) there are proper times and places....

IF an area is adequately secured against armed incursion (e.g. airlines with at least two armed air marshals on each plane), then arms should be secured in baggage or safes.

Schools? Only properly trained and registered individuals. We don't want to see another school massacre, and the ONLY way to stop it is with armed protection. Anyone with a carry permit and adequate training should be allowed. Adequate training is of the kind the the Security Company provides.

Bars? Frankly, I think weapons should be checked with a 'keeper' upon entry, and retrieved upon exit (if sober - otherwise, come back tomorrow). Alcohol and gunpowder is a dangerous mix.

Church? What - you think God's gonna protect you? I got some special 'angel lotion' I can sell you, at $99.99 an ounce, that's guaranteed to protect you from violence in a religious structure!

Otherwise, anyone with a permit to carry should have been adequately trained and screened, and carrying anywhere shouldn't be any different than carrying your wallet or pocketknife (which, I discovered, is not allowed in Great Britain - the pocketknife, that is).

Wholesale paranoia will not save lives. Trained and licenced gun-toting citizens will.

I'm reasonably certain the NRA convention had enough trained armed guards around so that no members need carry their own, and so that the anti-gun nuts would be prohibited from throwing lead into law-abiding citizens.

[Kalalau]

Re: The 2010 Elections

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com...hp&ref=opinion

Kind of sums it all up. $17 TRILLION Lost???

[TuNnL]

Re: The 2010 Elections

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com...hp&ref=opinion

Kind of sums it all up.

Most of the article is just noise from a New York lib. As HT’s own 808shooter’s video illustrates, the financial meltdown began with President Bill Clinton’s signing of the now infamous bill that allowed commercial banks to sell insurance and underwrite securities. Ironically, a democrat president. Anyway, the writer still comes up with some gems:

...Now they have Rand Paul, with his libertarian heritage, to carry the banner. Dr. Paul has promised to fight for “liberty and limited government”...

...Rand Paul is the perfect person to force the issue. His father, Ron, was dismissed as a gadfly when he took fellow Republicans to task for putting a trillion dollars worth of wars on the credit card. Let’s see if the son also rises to fight...

I have no doubt he will. Go Rand!

[Frankie's Market]

Re: The 2010 Elections

People are a lot smarter then you think, Frankie.

With the folks who go to Tea Party rallies carrying signs that say "N----r," I will readily admit those bigots will agree wholeheartedly with you.

[escondido100]

Re: The 2010 Elections

please document and identify any incidence of this happening.
you do realize that many of these incendiary banners and actions are made by trolls attending these events in order to make the tea party look evil.