Pajamas Media

54 Comments

1. AQUA:

And it’s going to be one horrific and filthy fight. The Dem’s will have their fangs bared in ways that can’t be imagined. I think there will be stuff done that has never been done before in this country.

Look, right now, the Dems are planning to “SNEAK” the Health Care bill back to the House as an AMENDMENT to a bill so that the House will re-attach it to some kind of tax bill.

This is not politicking but criminal mentality. They barefaced refused to post the bill on the Internet, and they won’t tell the Budget Office how it will be financed or for how much. And they know 61% of the public is against the bill — And they don’t care.

If they’re in such a deranged fever now, what will they be like then?

Republicans better get prepared.

Oct 5, 2009 - 2:32 am 2. Pathetic:

It is indeed a sad state of affairs when the GOP cannot muster confidence the size of a mustard seed while running against the most incompetent bunch of nincompoop boobs that ever sat in the Whitehouse and Congress.

Obama has made the United States the laughing stock of the entire world; no leader of any nation, large or small has any fear of, or respect for Obama. Our economy, our free market system and our society at large are falling apart at the seams and yet; even on the issues of total collapse of our national defense posture and foreign policy there is not one, single competitive Republican on the horizon.

Oct 5, 2009 - 3:07 am 3. AQUA:

continued

And we have to realize that they prohibited Humana Health from sending a letter to their OWN Medicare Advantage customers informing them of what benefits will be lost if the Public Option passes. THEY PROHIBITED FREE SPEECH!!! I guess Humana can take them to Court, but by the time it’s resolved it will be too late.

This on their say-so that Humana “lied.” So, will other speech they disagree with be called a lie and prohibited?

Will Talk Radio have been suppressed by then?

Even in the last election, I forget which state, maybe Missouri, prohibited a video negative to Obama — about his associations, from airing on TV, some who were campaigning against Obama and for McCain were shut down on the streets — BY THE POLICE!

How intense will false accusations of racism become?

If Obama, as he did, told his campaigners to “Get In Their Faces!” then — what will he tell them to do to hold on to the Office?

Will we have the “Civilian National Security Force” by then? Will they be non-partisan? Will they help search for those who are “lying” or “fishy?”

And the MONEY that will come pouring in!!! There was no inspection of “fishy” contributions and very suspicious record keeping methods last time — surely
this will only intensify.

If Republicans don’t get themselves geared up and ready way in advance — they will surely and easily lose no matter what.

Oct 5, 2009 - 3:11 am 4. Terry:

Americans, by & large, cannot see the effects of bad foreign policy on their personal security & well-being. Most Americans are complacent, thinking that tomorrow will pretty much be a continuation of today. The mainstream media has done a terrific job of giving Americans a large daily dose of valium. Even as horrific an event as 9/11 is quickly forgotten, it’s link with a specific ideology blurred. Generally, Republicans have been just as clueless as their Democrat counterparts.
In any case, Republicans cannot win if they move to the centre, they cannot be Conservative-lite. If both parties are more or less the same, why bother to vote Republican? Actually, why bother to vote at all?

Oct 5, 2009 - 3:13 am 5. Terry:

Look at the lack-luster campaign mounted by John McCain. The sad fact of the matter is that Republicans are part of the same big-gov’t. system that is ruining this country. Their campaign speeches are just more political double-talk. The real problem is that we have developed a professional political class that is very much out-of-touch with reality, their campaigns run by professional marketing experts, like selling cornflakes.
American politics is governed by a kind of political correctness that obfuscates issues rather than revealing reality. Our entire political class has become so sensitive to ”bad press” to media criticism that they can’t even talk straight.
Now we have an administration that is far to the left of the majority of Americans yet Republicans seem unable to capitalize on this. The real voice of Conservativism is on talk radio, on the internet – not from Republican leaders.

Oct 5, 2009 - 3:42 am 6. Steve DeMarcus:

“They can bash Obama for letting Iran go nuclear and they’ll get some points for it, but the public will cut him some slack because they weren’t ready to support military force either,

Well according to a poll 61% of Americans favor the use of force regarding Iran at the following link: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/10/01/fox-news-poll-say-use-force-stop-iran/

I believe that if this “health care bill” is passed that will ensure that the democrats are voted out of office including Obama!

Oct 5, 2009 - 3:48 am 7. Francis W. Porretto:

Most likely, President Obama will go with the surge option. He can’t afford to maintain the status quo or, even worse, suffer a defeat. Should General McChrystal be denied the resources he needs, he may resign, creating another political debacle that the administration cannot afford.

There’s an assumption built into the above that needs to be closely examined: that the Obamunists have the same perception of their man’s assets as his conservative and Republican opponents do. Remember: Obama took his presidential campaign to Europe. The evidence is strong that he received a lot of overseas funding. Besides that, there’s the matter of the left-liberal “base,” which analysts across the spectrum have evaluated as badly disappointed with Obama. If Obama considers those two sources of support paramount, he’ll withdraw from Afghanistan, despite all military consequences and the cession of foreign policy / military posture superiority to the GOP.

Foreign policy and military posture are hard ground to campaign on in any case. There’s too much room for dissent about the consequences of any particular initiative, and far too much room for dissent about what would have happened if some initiative had not been undertaken. That’s why American elections almost always emphasize domestic matters, especially economic and fiscal matters. There are occasional exceptions — Kennedy made the fictitious “missile gap” a strong card in 1960, for example — but most elections in the 20th Century were “about” Americans’ senses for our national prosperity, budgetary and fiscal risk, and economic trends.

Oct 5, 2009 - 4:03 am 8. RE:

Mr Mauro need not worry. Obama is demonstrating himself to be just as incompetent on domestic matters.

The problem is that the GOP may end up rescued from the wilderness by the ‘the other guys are worse’ crutch that they’ve coasted on since Reagan, returning America to the death by erosion paradigm.

Obama prefers national suicide by trauma. The GOP seems to prefer suicide by complacency.

Oct 5, 2009 - 4:19 am 9. Terry:

Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats (most certainly not) want to clearly & unequivocally define the problem as a war against an IDEOLOGY. What we are facing is no different than the war against Nazism or Communism – but in this case, the fact that the ideology in question is disguised as a religion makes it politically incorrect to define. This is not about terrorism, which is just a tactic, nor is it about ”a few extremists” nor is it about ”fundamentalism” – and the fact of the matter is that it is not about Afghanistan or Iran, not about Iraq, nor any other ”local” problem but rather a global problem that includes many countries who we pretend are somehow our allies when they assuredly are not.
How do you fight a war if you can’t even mention who the enemy is?

Oct 5, 2009 - 4:38 am 10. David Thomson:

“…but President Obama ran one of the best campaigns of all time.”

Nothing could be further from the truth. That is simply not correct. Barack Obama ran, at best, a so-so campaign. The odds were in his favor because of the fawning MSM—and the ineptness of the politically correct John McCain. The Republican candidate refused to exploit Obama’s nefarious relationship with Rev. Jeremiah Wright and other leftist personalities. By all rights, Obama’s campaign should have been essentially over by September. The American should have been persuaded that he was too much of a risk, and to instead bet on a one term McCain presidency.

Oct 5, 2009 - 4:42 am 11. David WL:

This article is an extended straw man argument.

I don’t follow policy arguments closely, but I am not aware that conservatives (forget Republicans) are arguing that they can beat Obama with his foreign policy errors.

Whatever his mistakes or achievements in foreign policy will be by 2012, it is the domestic side that will save or sink him. (Based on current course, the great ship Obama is on a collision course with reality.)

(I responded quickly; I now see Mr. Porretto, immediately above, says something similar.)

Oct 5, 2009 - 4:43 am 12. Fred Beloit:

Interesting academic discussion of politics. Left out is what is the right thing to do. The right thing to do IMO is to fight on with a larger force in the Afghan boarder regions until the enemy is destroyed or gives up. After all the issue is the safety and security of the U.S., one of the clear responsibilities of government as set forth by the Constitution.

If the decision of the government, either party, is to give up in Afghanistan, we will appear weak and be asking to be attacked again, and will soon get what we are asking for. So back we will have to go, and at greater cost in blood and money, just as we did into Iraq.

Oct 5, 2009 - 4:43 am 13. vivo:

“If Iraq goes to shambles, the GOP can play a game of “I told you so,” but it cannot offer a politically acceptable alternative, . . . ”

As far as I’m concerned, the whole Middle East can go to shambles anytime.

But the military-industrial complex won’t give up the billions of $’s that they profit there regardless of human lives lost. An American tragedy.

Oct 5, 2009 - 5:03 am 14. Booker T. Gain:

Backlash against Obama’s policies toward Afghanistan, Iraq, or Iran is unlikely to clinch the presidency for Republicans.

This is just silly. If a nuclear bomb goes off in the Middle East, everyone including fake conservative David Brooks, will ask whether Obama’s dithering appeasement was responsible.

Oct 5, 2009 - 5:13 am 15. Blackwater:

Thief in Chief gets no “I told you so” regardless of how Iraq turns out. Thief in Chief has been thoroughly discredited and exposed when it comes to his opinions on Iraq. He was totally opposed to the surge and his troop withdrawl schedule lasts longer than what Bush proposed. And you’re completely wrong about Republican candidates refraining from offering total support to the Iranian freedom fighters. McCain has done so numerous times as has Romney. And your claim that the Democraps traditionally win the debate over economic policy is a joke. Everyone who’s taken an economics 101 course knows conservatives are right on economic policy. And no crap we can’t win just discussing foreign policy. Who said we were? That doesn’t mean we should refrain from criticizing the countless number of idiotic mistakes he’s made.

Oct 5, 2009 - 5:17 am 16. MarkD:

You can track his chances with the unemployment rate. We’re at a real rate of about 17% – people who want to work, or work more, or not be forced to retire.

It’s Bush’s fault isn’t going to sell in 2010, much less 2012.

Oct 5, 2009 - 5:19 am 17. Booker T. Gain:

President Obama ran one of the best campaigns of all time.

It’s very easy to run a good campaign when 90% of the media is in the tank for you, ignoring your gaffes and pouncing on your opponents every alleged mis-step.

In the next election enough of the public will ignore the media’s attacks on his opponent. Obama will have to run on his record. And his record, both domestic policy and foreign policy will be pathetic – even if the Middle East is not an inferno.

Oct 5, 2009 - 5:20 am 18. cedarhill:

Back to basics. It’s going to be all about freedom and prosperity. Mostly it should be about energy. Energy ties all the components together. You can’t have the freedoms you enjoy, such as traveling where you want to go, without cheap energy. You can’t have the standard of living you want without cheap energy. You can’t have the foreign policy you want without your own energy resources free from foreign dependency.
We have, simply, the greatest energy resources on the planet which, if developed, will last for thousands of years plus making us a net exporter of energy (actual fuels plus technology). The Democrats and Obama have thwarted development which means we’ll all be much poorer and live in a much more dangerous world.
Whoever runs against Obama must have energy as the central issue.

Energy supports life.
Cheap energy means propserity.
Obama wants neither.

Oct 5, 2009 - 5:31 am 19. Mike2:

“it appears that the GOP’s only chance at victory is to have a significant edge in the public’s trust on the economy and other top domestic issues, areas traditionally known as the Democrats’ strengths. The 2012 battle will be fought on the Democrats’ turf.”

Exactly. But the 2010 elections are closest and will be even more important. The real question is whether or not the majority of incumbents will be unseated. There may not be enough of us that value the Constitution to get it done.

Oct 5, 2009 - 5:44 am 20. BC:

Do I need to remind you guys that all of this is yet another little legacy that Bush bequeathed to Obama and the American people? Iraq and Iran were mortal enemies, and once Hussein was taken out, as per the dumbass PNAC plan, Iran’s stature in the area ramped up. And the US’s fumbling, stumbling about in Iraq emboldened other countries who had been impressed by US’s hard-ass, no-nonsense initial invasion of Afghanistan in going after bin Laden and his protectors, the Taliban. Your usual, idiotic and baseless fantasies about Obama aside, Iran will not be allowed to go nuclear. Period. The Republicans, as usual, have nothing but talk and smear tactics.

Oct 5, 2009 - 6:03 am 21. Old Soldier:

The current crop of Democrats are the absolute best politicans and worst leaders in our history. Their policies both foriegn and domestic demonstrate this every day. The only thing they are good at is campaigning.

Republicans will either force enough independents to recognize this fact or they will lose again.

Oct 5, 2009 - 6:22 am 22. ricpic:

It always comes down to the state of the economy. If the economy is on a rebound (no matter how false a rebound) in late 2010 and 2011 then Obama will have a distinct advantage. Nevertheless he can still be defeated if all those who came to Washington on 9/12, and the millions more at home who were with them in spirit DON’T FORGET what an abomination Obama & Co. are and show up at the polls in massive numbers.

Oct 5, 2009 - 6:26 am 23. Patrick Sarsfield:

“It is indeed a sad state of affairs when the GOP cannot muster confidence the size of a mustard seed while running against the most incompetent bunch of nincompoop boobs that ever sat in the Whitehouse and Congress.”

That is because Progressives have been in control of academia for two to three generations and the traditional media for four…Americans have been raised on lies regarding Progressive movtives and the effectiveness of their initiatives going back to the days of Woodrow Wilson, much less FDR. They accept their successes and philosophies as immutable historic and economic fact when history and economics actually prove that they’ve failed every time (including the current administration’s economic policies).

But so many Americans don’t have time to really get embroiled and do the research. They get their news from CNN and NPR and the New York Times and honestly believe they’re getting the straight dope as long as they tune out the Olbermans. Those of us who are away to what’s going on, and to historic and economic reality, come off sounding like a bunch of extreme “conspiracy theorists.”

Top that off with the average human being’s desire to not feel uncomfortable, and it should come as no surprise that they’d rather tell themselves that “it can’t be that bad, in the end” and that we’re blowing things out of proportion and fearmongering.

When it comes to support in the polls (on elections or on policy issues), we’re not only fighting the desires of the party in power, but a subconscious, multigenerational indoctrination into Progressive fundamental assumptions on the part of large swaths of the country’s population.

Oct 5, 2009 - 7:25 am 24. arthur:

Nobody cares about foreign policy, the only thing that matters is the economy, jobs, and health care. currently the republicans have backed themselves into the corner of merely siding with whatever is opposite of Obama and the Dems. So for instance the republicans are against using Federal money to help people in need, and against improving health care. this is a miserable way for the republicans to operate,and it will not work because the majority of the people are on the same side as Obama and the Democrats on these two issues.

Oct 5, 2009 - 7:28 am 25. pelaut:

The Nelson Rockefeller Country Club Republicans — cheesy trust fund babies that could never take their gloves off, let alone put on the brass knucks — put up Bozo in 2008 because THERE WAS NO ONE ELSE.

The Demogoguic Party put up Obama for the same reason.

With no white knights on either side, the conservatives and libertarians within the GOP have a shot of finding one to send into the arena in 2012.

Think of an Ayn Rand AND Barry Goldwater ticket.
Think Palin/Malkin, and get the women to pull their heads out and vote massively for an all female ticket.

Oct 5, 2009 - 7:39 am 26. billslayer:

If you’ve read my post in the past, you’ve heard this one. Being the party of tax cuts is ridiculous when you engage in deficit spending and taking our debt through the treasury. If the republican party wants to retake its majority it needs a major policy shift to being the party of SPENDING CUTS. The only way, I believe has been established the hard way, for elected officials to maintain this integrity is to be bound to it. They must take an oath, a pledge, which holds them to this duty. No deficit spending, no borrowing. This must be the policy of the party with no exceptions. No legislator may vote for deficit spending and no executive may sign deficit spending into law. Period. This is the axiom: Anyone who tells you the government cannot live within its means does not want the government to live within its means!

Oct 5, 2009 - 7:58 am 27. ETAB:

What is remarkable about this column is that it exists almost entirely in words, in images, in fantasy rather than fact. In this, it is similar to the perspective of Obama, who also lives in a virtual rather than real world.

A second remarkable focus of the article is its complete indifference to,and even ignorance of, the results of actions by the presidential office. There is no evidence of any awareness of what happens to the people of the ME if Iran gets a bomb, if Afghanistan returns to the control of the Taliban; and no awareness of the global agenda of Islamic fascism, an utter indifference to the peoples of L. America.

Notice how the author focuses only on the images in people’s minds…they’ll have forgotten Obama’s support for anti-constitutional dictatorship in Honduras;…He doesn’t focus on reality, ie., that there IS an open agenda of dictatorship in L.America.

Notice how, like Obama, he delegates and outsources: ‘Israel will take care of Iran’s nuclear bomb’. Yeah, sure.

As for the veracity of this rhetoric, like all rhetoric, it is pure speculation. As others have pointed out, Obama did not run a ‘brilliant campaign’. His campaign was focused on two areas: ‘I am not Bush’, to a nation tired of war (and that was the reason for his Berlin imagery); and the equally irrelevant “Hope and Change’, without any clear indication of what these terms mean when moved out of their ambiguity into facticity.

Obama’s campaign, like all his actions, ran and continues to run on image not reality. And that’s the problem. Even though Obama is unable to govern and administer and lives almost totally in a fictional image-only world, the rest of us live in and must deal with reality.

As Sarkozy said of Obama, ‘he lives in a virtual world’. This was because Obama refused to announce Iran’s second nuclear facility on the day Obama was addressing the UN about ‘getting rid of all nuclear arms in the world’.

So, here we have Obama refusing to acknowledge the reality of Iran’s nuclear arms capacity, because he, living totally in his image-world, was talking about a global nuclear free world. Which reality is more important to Obama: The virtual or the real? We all know the answer.

And it is this ‘gap’ between fact and fiction that is becoming more and more apparent as we observe the ‘real’ Obama rather than the fictional one he gave to us in the campaign.

Obama cannot face reality, he cannot come up with domestic policies that, not only Americans want, but that are actually productive for America. Instead, he tries to ram through – against dissent, against questions – a fictional America…one which cannot economically function.

He cannot come up with foreign policies that benefit either America or the peoples of the world. Again, his fictional world has hegemonic domination over the real world – and he’ll walk away from any real world interference with the abstract images in his mind. So, he’ll abandon the democratic desires of the people of Iran, support the Honduran dictatorship, insult Western leaders because they are ‘imperialists’ in his leftist imagery…abandon Iraq and Afghanistan, enable Iran to get a nuclear bomb…

But Americans live in reality not the virtual world. That’s why more and more are stunned by the Obama they se coming out of the fog-of-rhetoric.

Oct 5, 2009 - 7:59 am 28. Ruebacca:

In 2012 all the Rep candidate has to do is ask. Are you better off than 4 years ago? And stand up to the fascist demonetization that the MSM will throw at her. Yes her. We are going to have years of double digit inflation and unemployment. Obama wont get the democratic nomination if that happens.

Every 12-18 months during the Clinton administration we saw big terrorist attacks. If we go back to that Obama will be done, but I think he is done now.

Oct 5, 2009 - 8:10 am 29. JED:

The Rebuplicans can score with me, an independent, if they can on the domestic agenda, have a presidential candidate who knows when to stop promising/campaigning and deliver on the chief executive’s job. “Waste and corruption” and spending controls would be a great theme. That pack of thieves in congress and their non-stop pork projects need a tatooed bulls eye. A $12 trillion deficit on a $15 trillion economy is no way to invest.

Oct 5, 2009 - 8:32 am 30. don:

Really? Seems to me like the Pentagon is positioning itself on where the blame gets put for “losing Afghanistan.” The Generals in charge apparently have risked “insubordination” during public utterances on the predictable consequences of failing to do a “surge,” and the White House is furious. Apparently the preferred policy is the presidential stall, letting events take their course, and blaming the resulting fiasco on that dastardly Bush. In short, the necessary war is now superfluous. But outspoken generals make “Bush’s war” Obama’s war, which means it’s Obama’s war to loose. American’s don’t like losers, and Obama risks morphing into a composite of Lyndon Baines Johnson and Tricky Dick Nixon and moralizing Jimmy Carter, the worst of all possible worlds for 2012.

Oct 5, 2009 - 9:08 am 31. jodetoad:

I tend to agree with ETAB, #27. Except in wondering how many Americans live in the real world.

Not only are many Americans so oblivious as to be ignorant in public affairs, but it appears many see the world of wishful thinking as the real world.

The 2008 election shook my faith in the American public. Sure, the media, war-weary, etc. etc. But the bottom line is America voted for an unvetted feel-good candidate.

Usually the economy is the main indicator, and if the stimulus money has not been saved to create an appearance of an improving economy, I’ll eat my power bill. But in the current situation, I believe there are much more important issues than the economy. The basic philosophy of the country is threatened. If the voting public is unaware or uninterested in the reduction of the Constitution to an advisory memo, encroaching socialism, and so much more, then another feel-good campaign may work.

If we have really been so dumbed-down, we may get the government we deserve. Most of the people I know are alarmed, and won’t be sold on easy answers, but I am rural, and don’t know how it is elsewhere. The polls give me some hope, but if we buy a bunch of claptrap after seeing this administration and congress in action, then we are indeed a declining people, and will go the way of Rome.

Oct 5, 2009 - 9:10 am 32. tanstaafl:

Backlash against Obama’s policies toward Afghanistan, Iraq, or Iran is unlikely to clinch the presidency for Republicans.

We’re speculating about what might, might not, coulda, woulda, mighta tank The One™, 3 years from now ?

Is this relevant on someone’s planet ?

I will, however, speculate that Barack Obama’s egocentrism and shallowness of character combined with his notions of transformative change* in what America looks like…will continue to dog him for those remaining 3 years.

In the words of New Zealander, Trevor Loudon:

“The change is towards a unionized, centralized, oligarchic “progressive” society where the values of the left reign supreme and traditional American values are demonized and all opposition is marginalized-by whatever means necessary.”

Oct 5, 2009 - 9:35 am 33. Richard:

Things just aren’t bad enough yet. No sarcasm here. It won’t be until you can’t buy a tank of gas at any price, until unemployment reaches 30 percent, et al. Then you might see a GOP President in 2012. Having said that, Obama seems well on his way to achieving all of the aforementioned.

Oct 5, 2009 - 10:27 am 34. SteveB/Colorado:

#2 Pathetic: “….our economy, our free market system, and our society at large are falling apart at the seams……” Obama’s been in office all of 9 months. Can’t blame him for all the economic rot that began in prior administrations.

#5 Terry: “the real voice of conservatism is on talk radio, on the internet….” So you think El Rushbo, Hannity, Beck, Coulter, Malkin will save us all? Sigh!!!! At least Bill O’Reilly does his homework and background research. Can’t say that for the others.

#18 cedarhill: “whoever runs against Obama must have energy as the central issue…..the Democrats and Obama have thwarted development….” Another example of a poster who hasn’t done his/her homework. As of June, 2008, BEFORE the recession kicked in. energy companies were sitting on nearly 70 million acres of undeveloped oil & gas leases, both on-shore, mostly here in the West, and off-shore (source: http://www.rep.org ). Doesn’t sound like the Dems are thwarting much of anything. However, energy companies…..

#29 JED: “that pack of thieves in congress and their non-stop pork projects….” Anybody catch the Senate vote last week; 65-34; in favor of buying 10 more C-17 transport planes at a cost of $2.5 billion; planes the Pentagon does not want? Colorado’s 2 Dem senators voted no. Any tea partiers interested in this?

Oct 5, 2009 - 10:40 am 35. Annie:

In 2010 there will be money released to the public. Granted it will be our own money, but it will be released to guarantee our gratitude at the 2010 election. After that, it’s up for grabs. HOWEVER!!

The McCain campaign was a bunch of milk-sop. The right needs a James Carville of their own, and for hecks sake learn to color ourside the lines!!!!

I agree that a lot of America lives in a dream world. they don’t know and really don’t care about what is going on as long as they have a job and an income. I say this because I speak with moms everyday that absolutely floor me in their lack of knowledge of the world in general. I don’t know what has happened but we need a wake up call..soon.

Oct 5, 2009 - 10:46 am 36. genghis:

If the Republicans wish to compete, they had better come up with positive proposals. Simply bad-mouthing the Democrats won’t cut it.

Oct 5, 2009 - 10:58 am 37. wGraves:

Either Obama green-lights this shindig or McChrystal and Petraeus resign and run for office. They just declined to sit silently while he arranges the demise of their reputations thus ending any nascent political competition.

Oct 5, 2009 - 11:09 am 38. Poor Citizen:

Well, the american people came to reject the Bush doctrine in 2005 which of course, turned into a democratic landslide victory in 2006. McCain’s choice of Palin in 2008 and her “dim” understanding of how the world worked spelled disaster at the polls for sure, their party was left in a real crisis. However, over the next few years, they have the chance to listen, watch and pick and choose their battlegrounds as the headlines vary from year to year. With the exception of national defense, where one of their own is in charge, they have no other hope of influence, especially with Clinton in charge there. But that could also spell a real opportunity for them by 2012.

Also, they have to make 2012 a new ball game if they are going to make any real impact on voters. The Republicans now have a chance to clean house, and they should take advantage of that now….then come up with real alternatives depending on what the result of the Obama doctrines are in 2011. It all depends on “who is left” once the dust clears from their house cleaning. And who knows…if they make the right moves it could lead the way for serious contention in the 2012/2016 elections. Good Luck to them.

Oct 5, 2009 - 11:54 am 39. stuart williamson:

There’s been a lot of well-reasoned comment on this thread, but this particular time is so fraught with crisis and uncertainties that to forecast even one year ahead is like spitting in the wind. Who can foresee what irrational decisions a Communist Administration my take, domestically or internationally, as it fights ruthlessly to make the most of its window of opportunity? It is focussed on first destroying our Constitutional, capitalist system, not on strengthening our nation. The witless, gtless, leaderless GOP, is certain to be shaken, top to bottom, and dramatically changed by Sarah Pain’s entry, because she’s going to go after them as hard as the Democrats. The Iran situation is positively going to lead to open warfare: they have. de facto, declared war and, unless forcefully prevented, will certainly follow through.

Postulations, drafting scenarios on how it all may a unravel may give us intellectual exercise but are as ineffectual as wild-ass guesses. We’re caught in an apocalyptic crapshoot. And God doesn’t care/

Oct 5, 2009 - 11:56 am 40. Richard:

“If the Republicans wish to compete, they had better come up with positive proposals. Simply bad-mouthing the Democrats won’t cut it.”

Sadly the election of 2008 puts that theory to the lie. Obama basically got elected on “I’m not Bush” and little else.

Oct 5, 2009 - 1:39 pm 41. Now and Then:

40. Richard:

Wrong. Obama got elected on “I’m not Republican.” And it’s gonna take a lto more than Sean O’Beckbaugh to change that.

Oct 5, 2009 - 4:46 pm 42. Now and Then:

26. Layer of Bill

Well, since we had a deficit on January 20, thegovernment shoudlnot hae spent any money since then. Right? No defense? Seems kinda foolish,

Oct 5, 2009 - 4:49 pm 43. EscapeVelocity:

Its the economy stupid.

Massive inflation, currency devalutation, tax increases, China and Japan pulling out of the T Bill market…etc ad naseum.

Dems are toast because their proposed fixes are terrible in the best of times, and downright dissasterous in more difficult times.

Dems are toast because their ideology sucks from the get go and isnt reality based. Sure they can pay UAW workers good wages and benefits for a time…but alas..

Oct 5, 2009 - 5:54 pm 44. Stevemmn:

Mauro is wrong on a number of counts. First, what in the world makes Mauro think the economy is a Democratic strength?? Obama and democrats are in the process of wrecking the economy. Apparently Mauro forgets the train wreck of the Jimmy Carter years with malaise and the misery index, the last time Democrats held full power for more than a mere 2 years.

Second, there is no indication that Obama will fare any better in foreign policy than domestic. A wishy washy milksop like Obama is unlikely to have the backbone to do what is required to win in Afghanistan and has already shown utter incompetence there. Obama blasted Republicans for neglecting Afghanistan and then has done the exact same thing since gaining power, neglect Afghanistan. It is highly unlikely that Obama would be willing to stand up to the extremists on the far left and more than likely will ultimately cut and run in Afghanistan leaving a major foreign policy crisis.

Heck, Obama can’t even call terrorists what they really are, has appointed a string of tax cheats and far left wingnuts for advisors. Obama is headed for a fall, and it will be a big one.

Oct 5, 2009 - 7:50 pm 45. David W. Lincoln:

The Aecon Group is an engineering firm based in Frisco, and it is one of the companies working on the Light Rail Transit being extended in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. This bit of information was ignored, or forgotten, by Canadian and American negotiators trying to head off retaliation for the “Buy American” provisions of the stimulus package brought into being by the current US government.

So, is this a foreign affairs matter? Partially. But when you have Canadian firms (as well as firms based in countries other than the US) being frozen out of work made available to American based firms, you can bet that this is more than a foreign affairs matter. It is an economic matter.

Plus, there is this matter of firms being barred
from US stimulus funding who hire people who are
not American citizens.

Plus, what about the role the United States plays
in distorting trade via excruciating subsidies that make foreign aid necessary.

These are not just foreign affair matters.

Plus, the matter of the same mistakes being made
in regards to the financial maelstrom. Sloppy research, as pointed to in “Check the Numbers” by
McKitrick and McCullough, continues to haunt the global financial market.

Oct 5, 2009 - 8:30 pm 46. Richard:

I completely agree that, as a “brand name”, Republican is damaged goods.

Part of that blame put at the feet of the popular news media, which have made it their business to so damage it.
The other of that blame I put on the Republicans themselves, who under Bush, spent more like Democrats, and in many cases behaved with the same licentiousness, only without the forgiveness of their constituents.

That’s why I said in my opening comment that things aren’t bad enough at this moment.

The voters feel like battered wives going from bad to worse right now.

Oct 5, 2009 - 9:32 pm 47. Supaman:

I can’t believe some of the comments on here. There are so many people here who claim they know so much about the real world when in fact nothing could be further from the truth!!!! Somebody on here said that no world leader respects Obama: Are you kidding? Right after the election, they all responded enthusiastically to his victory. It’s Bush they hated. Somebody else said that the liberals control education and the media. The media I may understand (MSNBC), but doesn’t FOX news count as the media? And education? So being educated is a liberal thing now? Gee, I’m happy I’m liberal. If anyone on here knew anything about the real world, had any facts about the world in general, they would be approving of Obama. His “Socialist” public option actually PROMOTES competition. His stimulus, according to leading ECONOMISTS, has helped turn the recession around. His bank bailouts have given the banks liquidity. Iraq was a travesty. Afghanistan is a war we should be focusing on. So for all the people on this blog “Shocked” that America voted for Obama better wake up and go read a history book or two. Stop your backwards thinking. America finally makes the right choice and there are people who simply don’t get it. They’re under the impression that George W. Bush and the republicans were respected around the world (yeah, that’s why Bush got a shoe thrown at him, right?). Obama’s campaigns was one of the most fantastic campaigns run in this election, and not because he’s feel good but because he makes sense and is intelligent and has lived abroad and has a worldview which frankly many Americans don’t. By the way, isn’t Reagan a “feel good” candidate for the Republicans? Remember, its very easy to make a mess, but it takes time to clean it up. So to all the conservatives on this blog, please research your facts. If you did, you would be agreeing with me.

Oct 5, 2009 - 9:46 pm 48. syn:

If Moderate-Independents need the GOP to convince Moderate-Independents that the Democrat Party is leading America on a suicide mission of destruction then Moderate-Independents are too insane to vote since they are still unaware they can be easily bamboozled by state-run Big Brother media.

Moderate-Independents voted Obama and the Democrat Party into acquiring complete control of the the White House and Congress so if Moderate-Independents wish to stop the madness they put into power they have much work to do to convince me they know what they’re doing.

Moderate-Independents made this mess, and they better quickly figure out a way to clean it up.

Oct 6, 2009 - 4:47 am 49. carla:

VIVO

‘the military-industrial complex’…..you’re such a tool. It’s hard to control my bladder when you spout such sophmoric crap. I gotta guess that you’re in you’re late teens or early twenties. You’re so funny. Keep entertaining us with your vapidity, it helps lighten the mood.

Oct 6, 2009 - 5:05 am 50. Clay Barham:

Wouldn’t it be great if the GOP would openly pick up where the 19th century libertarian Democrats left off, before the Rousseau-Marx infection captured the Democrats, as cited in THE CHANGING FACE OF DEMOCRATS (Amazon.com) and http://www.claysamerica.com? They might win!

Oct 6, 2009 - 8:06 am 51. SteveB/Colorado:

#49 Carla: “Vivo: ‘the military industrial complex’…..you’re such a tool. It’s hard to control my bladder when you spout such sophmoric crap….”

I believe it was outgoing president Dwight Eisenhower in a 1960 speech who first warned about the military-industrial complex. I’m surprised that anyone would call the leading US general in WW II “sophmoric.”

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a study of weapons procurement programs back in February of this year. 66 of 94 programs reviewed were running a collective $268 billion or so over projected budget. I can understand a few billion over, but 268!!

I find it amusing and sad that Fox News, tea party citizens, talk radio types like Rush, and posters on these PJM threads are blistering Obama about stimulus payments and ACORN, but continually ignore defense contractors lining their pockets at taxpayer expense. If you want to have credibility in opposing excessive & wasteful government spending, you got to be in for it all.

Oct 6, 2009 - 9:46 am 52. Varian:

SteveB/Colorada (and Vivo)

Eisenhower did in fact speak of the military-industrial complex, “the conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry…new in the American experience.” Eisenhower considered it, like the “scientifictechnological elite” to be among the trends that should be watched for their potential to acquire undue influence over the country. He did not speak of it, as does Vivo, as if it were some malignant conspiratorial entity actually dictating policy. Saying things like “But the military-industrial complex won’t give up the billions of $’s that they profit there regardless of human lives lost” is in fact a sophomoric (and paranoid) distortion of what Ike said.

Oct 6, 2009 - 10:57 am 53. texexpatriate:

The elections of 2010 and 2012 will not turn on questions of foreign policy. They will turn on the single question of genuine Americans rejecting the Socialism and Fascism of all Democrats and half the Republicans in Washington, D.C. (District of Corruption)

Oct 8, 2009 - 11:50 am 54. Freedomlover:

If the terms “appeaser”, Chamberlainesque foreign policy” become part of the American vernacular when describing Obama , Obama will lose in 2012. The comparisons to the 1930’s are stark. Point them out, repeat often, ad nauseum. By 2012 Americans may be getting back to work. Marking Obama as the appeaser he is WILL limit him to one term.

Oct 8, 2009 - 2:09 pm

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