Too late for Democrats, that is. Unemployment hit 9.9% in today's report. But this isn't exactly bad news. The economy actually added ~250,000 jobs, and unemployment spiked because people who've been left destitute and homeless by govt. policies for a year and a half are back looking for work. True unemployment is over 17%, and the reported unemployment rate is going to be even higher over the next months. The housing market seems to have hit bottom, though those who managed to make their mortgage payments through all this have gotten a hair cut to the tune of about 33% (or more). It's nowhere near enough to help by November election time. http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2010/05/confidence_impr.php Only 39% would vote to re-elect Obama, and he's far more popular than congress. And you know it's bad when David Obey retires from congress, and his seat is one of the safer ones.
Many dems have "retired" as they realize the fact they have pushed the deficit to the point of insolvency with no escape and by passing entitlement legislation over the will of their constituents. They have to resign for the good of their party. That way, in the primary the dems up for election can disavow the Obama administration and state their case why they would not have voted to destroy the country. It has also been reported that many of the dems, prior to the Omabacare legislation voting, negotiated various jobs for their votes and subsequent "retirements". It was a deal made with the devil.
Maybe they retire because they can afford to and want to. Maybe they're just tired of being blamed for the results of Bush's mistakes.
It has also "been reported" that Republicans worship Satan. Literally a deal made with the devil. Oddly, the same number of Republicans are retiring from the House as Democrats (and thus a greater percentage of Republicans are retiring). I guess they must also be resigning for the good of their party? barfo
LOL! Did you read the rest of that guys post? So f'ing funny. I do not raise this question lightly in this public forum. I am doing so because I fear the answer may be "yes." I wish I had access to close-up color photos of Obama from the time of his nomination until the present. I believe a close examination would reveal the sort of rapid onset moles, skin discolorations, straight-line laser-like scarring and bald streaks (from crown of his head down to behind his left ear), sores that do not quickly heal (such as the one under his left eye in the summer of 2008), prematurely graying hair, etc. that are consistent with silent exposure to microwave/laser attack. Early on, Obama and his staff complained publicly of constant lethargy while working in the White House -- extreme fatigue, not your normal tiredness. Kind of like the way many of us feel when we wake up, and throughout the day... the kind of "induced exhaustion" that can result from exposure to extreme low frequency microwave emissions. Politico.com even wrote a story about complaints of fatigue among White House employees. At the time, earlier this year, I posted to political blogs the suggestion that the President's aides commission field testing to determine if the White House was being dosed with EMF (electromagnetic fields). While I cannot prove it, I have seen (and experienced) enough empirical evidence to theorize that the President, and possibly the Vice President and perhaps other high Obama administration officials, could be covertly targeted for silent, Pavlovian-style entrainment and mild impairment -- by way of the same cell tower and satellite based weapons systems (and perhaps some portable gear) that are used to attack many of us (in the case of "targeted individuals," on the apparent command of fusion center operatives). ...So it is doubtful that ANY government agency would seriously investigate these concerns. Are these weapons being used to influence the behavior and decision-making of key political leaders? I would not raise this question if I did not believe that evidence exists that raises the possibility. Someone please send this post (with links below) ASAP to Jesse Ventura, because I am being blocked from the http://trutv.com web forms. The only other former reporters I know of who may be willing to consider that this theory could be true are Bob Woodward of the Washington Post; and former ABC News reporter John Miller, now an assistant director of the FBI. Operatives reading this as I write: I won't mind if you send this post to Mr. Miller. I have tried to call him and "the program" won't let me through. And if any of you want to forward this theory to the British tabloids, that might be interesting, too. They're more apt to follow up that any American media, except for maybe the National Enquirer (come to think of it, that paper was RIGHT about John Edwards, wasn't it?). Denny you need to reach out to this guy and invite him to post here.
That's ok. Secret microwave/laser technology is GOOD FOR YOU! Makes men strong, virile. Makes women fertile, children obedient. Secret microwave/laser technology for long life and happy days. barfo
In related news: Utah Sen. Robert Bennett loses reelection bid I laughed out loud watching CNN as they try to spin things as "anti-incumbent." Making excuses for Democrats (they're most of the incumbents) expected losses this fall, in advance. The reality is that guys like Bennett and all the Democrats who are certain to lose their seats are going to lose because the sentiment is for fiscal restraint and smaller government.
I laughed out loud at your spin here. The reality is that this wasn't an election. This was a party convention in Utah, where the Republican party bosses decided they wanted someone even more conservative than Bennett (himself the 27th most conservative senator). Polls showed he would have been renominated in a primary, (and therefore reelected) but Utah Republicans don't use a primary. You trying to spin the actions of 3500 extreme conservatives in super-conservative Utah as some sort of evidence of national agreement with your agenda is pretty funny. But yes, if CNN spun it the way you said, that would also be funny. barfo
I'm laughing at your spin. The Utah republican primary is held on June 22. Bennett's voting record is quite conservative, but the tea party folks didn't like it that he voted for TARP. If the republicans were concerned about social issues, like abortion and gay marriage, they'd have voted for Bennett, who voted against bills favoring abortion near 100% of the time. Instead, I consistently see in article after article, that it's all about the big spending, big deficits and debt, and big government. Like this article: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0510/36960.html Sen. Bennett loses Republican nomination SALT LAKE CITY— Sen. Robert Bennett lost his party's nomination during the second round of voting at the GOP state convention Saturday, making the three-term Senator the first incumbent to fall in this volatile midterm election cycle. Bennett finished in third place in the crucial second-round vote, garnering just 26 percent of the delegates' support, well behind Tea Party-backed attorney Mike Lee and businessman Tim Bridgewater, who will advance to the June 22nd primary. "The political atmosphere obviously has been toxic and it's very clear that some of the votes I have cast have added to the toxic environment," Bennett acknowledged in a brief media availability with reporters shortly after he was eliminated in the second round of voting. "Looking back on them, with one or two very minor exceptions, I wouldn't have cast any of them any differently, even if I had known at the time they were going to cost me my career," he continued. Bennett was dogged by his support for the Troubled Asset Relief Program and for co-sponsoring a healthcare bill with Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oreg.). To help make his case to the 3,452 delegates, he even tapped the star power of former Massachusetts governor – and fellow Mormon – Mitt Romney to make a final pitch. But in the end, the furor stirring at the grassroots level of the party over spending and the growth of government was too much for him to overcome.
Next up is Kentucky, where Jim Bunning is retiring and Ron Paul's son is supported by the tea party folks and is ahead in the polls, in spite of Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's endorsement of Paul's opponent. How can CNN spin this one, considering the incumbent retired so it's an open seat type race? http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/04/1612567/mcconnell-endorses-grayson-in.html In Kentucky Senate primary, contest is Tea Party vs. GOP FRANKFORT, Ky. — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell took sides in Kentucky’s GOP primary for U.S. Senate on Tuesday and endorsed Secretary of State Trey Grayson, highlighting a growing uneasiness between the Republican Party establishment and grassroots conservatives. “I rarely endorse in primaries, but these are critical times,” Kentucky’s most prominent Republican said in a Grayson campaign ad that started airing Tuesday. “... I know Trey Grayson and trust him. We need Trey’s conservative leadership to help turn back the Obama agenda.” Most polling shows Grayson significantly trailing Tea Party movement favorite Rand Paul, who also has the backing of retiring Republican Sen. Jim Bunning, the lawmaker Grayson and Paul hope to replace. Aside from trying to breathe new life into Grayson’s floundering campaign, the endorsement is a sign of just how much McConnell, the Senate minority leader, has riding on the election. Paul has repeatedly criticized Republicans and Democrats alike for their support of budget earmarks that funnel money to projects in their home districts and for supporting a bailout for banks as the economy crumbled in late 2008. McConnell won re-election that year as he supported the bank bailout and waged a campaign that centered on his ability to steer money to Kentucky.
I'm laughing at you claiming anything I said in that post was spin. I did get it wrong about the primary - I should have said Utah doesn't have an open-to-all Republicans primary. They have a runoff primary between two party-selected candidates. Of which Bennett isn't one. Laughing at you promoting published reports about the motivations of the 3500 party delegates as gospel truth, while at the same time disparaging published reports you don't agree with as spin. In the end, it's 3500 Utah republicans. Whether or not they were motivated by your pet themes we can debate, but there's no question those 3500 Utah republicans are not representative of the country as whole. barfo
Utah and Kentucky. Yeah, I'm convinced. It's clear Republicans in deep red states are getting even more extremely conservative. Whether that is a bad thing for Democrats, as you claim, or a good thing, because the blue states will recoil in horror, remains to be seen. It's certainly not a good thing for the country, unless you like polarization. barfo
How about the dead John Murtha's seat in W Va, which is 2:1 registered democrats? That's an open seat. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/08/AR2010050803284.html Special election for John Murtha's House seat is a high-stakes affair This once safely Democratic district where Murtha reigned for 35 years is now a toss-up.
Wasn't Murtha from PA? Anyway, yeah. The democrats are going to lose some seats this year. That nearly always happens in the first midterm after the white house switches parties. And Murtha is a prime candidate to lose his seat, what with being dead and all. barfo
Yeah, he's from PA. Another guy from W Va, Allan Mollohan, is in deep doo doo after serving 35 years as well.
I don't think that's a problem (even if he agreed with me on every issue - which, for all I know, he might). 35 years is plenty. barfo
6 years is plenty. 12 is pushing it. That'd be 6 terms for a congressman and 2 for a senator. Term limit the fuckers.
Disagree on that. I think term limits have proven to be a failure - basically the lobbyists take over, because they have the institutional knowledge rather than the elected representatives. I could go for term limits of, say, 24 years, however. barfo
Elect people who say NO. Not a problem. Guys like Murtha who were there for decades raided the treasury for all kinds of bullshit.
