Yes, I am crushed that Rick Scott defeated Bill McCollum for Florida Governor. I will stand behind Mr. Scott. As for the Florida Senate race, the Meek may inherit the Earth, but they are not getting the Senate Seat.
Republicans are well positioned to rip the Democrats to shreds in 2010. They are also in a position to screw it up royally.
There are two issues that deeply concern me. One of them we can fix. One of them, we just have to wait.
The first issue concerns the Republican platform of issues we will run on in 2010.
We don’t have one.
In 1994, Newt Gingrich gave us the Contract With America. It was the right thing to do. After taking over Congress, the Republicans had a clear agenda to try and pass. They house brought all 10 items to a vote, passing 9 of them. Eventually the GOP ran out of gas, but in the early years Gingrich clearly moved the debate to the right.
In 2006, the Democrats stood for nothing. They were simply against the Republicans. I asked a friend during that election cycle when the Democrats would offer anything remotely resembling a policy. He insisted as the election got closer that they would. This never happened. The result was that when they captured congress, they were totally unable to pass their agenda. The agenda never existed.
Those making excuses for the Democrats pointed out in 2006 that a Republican still occupied the White House. This is hollow. The Gingrich Republicans had a Democrat to contend with as president, and they steamrolled him for several significant victories. Liberals give Bill Clinton credit for balanced budgets, but it was Newt Gingrich that dragged Clinton kicking and screaming to a balanced budget. Would a balanced budget happen without Clinton? Of course. That is how to tell.
Republicans in 2010 are tempted to just be anti-Obama. After all, it worked for the Democrats in 2006.
This is wrong. Those who fear offering a positive agenda because it will give Democrats something to attack are cowards.
The country music song says “You’ve got to stand for something or you’ll fall for anything.”
The left stands for hating the right. The right must offer the people a compelling vision. The public is begging for something to believe in.
The left will accuse the right of offering the “same tired old solutions,” but those solutions still work.
Here is how the Contract With America Version 2010 should look.
1) Make the Bush tax cuts permanent, and offer new tax breaks to businesses and families.
2) Eliminate the death tax
3) Eliminate the capital gains tax entirely for anyone with less than $100,000 in stock. Cut it in half for everyone else.
(I would rather eliminate for everyone, but that is easy to demagogue as a giveaway to the wealthy. My solution is much more politically palatable. It is about getting things done.)
4) Ban the use of union dues for political purposes without the written consent of the dues payer.
5) Defund Obamacare.
(Easier than outright repeal. All money saved must either be used for deficit reduction or a market based healthcare program.)
6) Cutting Congressional pay in half if the budget is not balanced by 2016.
(Also applies to congressional pensions of those who retire in 2010 and afterward.)
7) Eliminating lifetime congressional pensions for anybody serving less than 20 years. At 20 years they would get 75% pay. At 30 years they would get full pay. This is in line with other industries. Anybody serving less than 6 years gets nothing. From 6 to 20 years the pension can match the years served.
8.) Increasing vouchers for parochial schools and increasing funds for charter schools. Making it easier for school departments to fire bad teachers.
9) Increasing the Defense budget and allowing them to have the best technology possible. Legalizing the coercive interrogation methods and techniques that keep America safe. Keeping Gitmo open.
10) Legal and judicial reform. Banning the use of foreign law to affect American judicial rulings. Placing caps on liability lawsuits.
It does not matter if anything I propose gets blocked by Barack Obama or filibustered. As long as we run on these issues, we can then have a platform to govern.
Liberalism has failed for decades because they run out of gas as soon as they win the election. Conservatism is not like liberalism. Conservatism is still relevant.
Opposing Mr. Obama can get us some electoral wins. It will not help us govern.
If we run on another contract, the day after the 2010 election we can begin trying to implement it.
Like Mr. Clinton, Mr. Obama will quickly surrender and sign much of the legislation (and then try to take credit for it). This is ok. Bill Clinton won reelection, but the right still beat the tar out of the left.
Barack Obama does not care about the left or the right. He cares about himself. As long as he keeps his job, the rest is just details to him. He is a blank slate.
We need to fill in those blanks with smart, conservative policies.
Republicans are ready to win. We need to roll out our contract so we can again be ready to govern.
As for the other issue threatening the GOP, that can wait for another day.
eric
Yes, we Republicans can screw up a royal chance to gain majorities
in both houses, royally.
Now, we learn that some in Washington D.C. want to impose affirmative
action on Wall Street, to even out the minorities (and women) employees.
This would hit executive positions, and possibly all employees
down the job ladder, to include janitors (nothing wrong with being
a janitor folks).
Years ago, civil service did away with affirmative action, after
the minorities became the majority among employees. even
in areas of the counry where the majority (whites) were the majority.
A writer than noted that where minorities are a majority, affirmative
action sometimes results in their non-hiring.
Take for example Southern California. Blacks are less than 20% of
the population, Hispanics over 50%. Yet, the numbers of staffing
at lower levels are disproportionate..Is that unfair, you betcha.
Wall Streeters are claiming that if they hire based on race, or gender,
or some other catagory, in effect, they are deluting the talent..preferring
someone less qualified. Foreign competition for the bucks will
then kill US.
I agree. There must never be discrimination for or against anyone
based on race, gender, ethnicity, or nationality.
People should be hired, (or fired) based on merit. Provide everyone
with equal education and opportunity..then its up to them to succeed or fail. ( Unless of course you make over 250,000 year, which under Obama will result in a tax increase (hear Biden). He apparently faiults anyone
who is accomplished, successful, and inspired to work hard.
However, the Republicans have backed themselves into a corner
with these issues. Immigration is a good example. With Hispanics
now increasing, Republicans are losing votes if they come on too
strong for enforcement or preferential immigration, (or legalizing
illegals).
Republicans have to circumvent these traps by:
offering jobs, jobs, jobs. That is what its all about.
Attacking Obama, a sitting President, is counterproductive.
The nations ills should be attacked.
In foreign policy issues, any candidate must view Islamic
fascism as just that, fascism, and remind the American people
that we in the West are in a war for our survival.
The Republicans should attack the mosque being built near the WTC
as provocative. (NY is a big state with lots of room for mosques. In fact, the city should ban any church, temple, synsgogue or mosque within
1 mile of the site, to be fair.
The Isrraelis-Palestinian problem has been around for 100 year, and wont be resolved any time soon.
However, I favor speaking to someone other than Abbas (a terrorist
in a suit), and to his deputy. (Who seems fair and realistic). Abbas showed his true colors recently by congratulating the Palestinian people
for the murder of dozens of Jews several decades ago, in a bus bombing.
Two states…per UN242, is the only solution, a Palestinian (Western)
and a Jewish, with viable borders for both, taking Jordan and Egypts
security into consideration. ( An Israeli presence in the Jordan Valley
for a few years, is necessary). No heavy weaponry, (tanks, jet fighters
artillery, etc., should be allowed in the Palestinian side).
The right of return ( not an absolute right), is applicable to the new Palestinian state (Or: Jordan is the real Palestine-check your history
for confirmation).
Iran is another matter, difficult to solve. Israel and the US missed
an opportunity to take out the nuke plant last week., a mistake.
Doing so, would have sent Ahmad and Putin a strong message.
Obama will get his votes..the inexsperienced youth, the liberal Jews,
the blacks, the union vote..and others.
These groups never vote against repairing the world, in their
view., before repairing US.
More later.
I love the way our good host just rewrites the history of the balanced budgets of the ’90’s. Suffice to say, those of us who were paying attention and remember, Bush Sr., Dan Rostenkowski, and Tom Foley had more to do with the balanced budgets of the ’90’s than Clinton and Gingrich did. As well, the impetus to make the balancing stick was the particulars of the divided government itself. The PROOF is that the minute one party took control, the budget exploded.
JMJ
As for the tired old ideas porposed in this new contract, I just don’t what to say.
More tax cuts, more attacks on organized labor, more uninsured Americans, more privatization, more militarization, and, of course, fewer rights for Americans. Can anyone tell me if they have proof that any of these ideas have ever done anything good for America?
6 and 7 are ethical ideas, I suppose. Not very substantial, though.
JMJ
Clinton was a cheap b*stard who risked our national security. Thats the only way he ever saved a buck
“More tax cuts, more attacks on organized labor, more uninsured Americans, more privatization, more militarization, and, of course, fewer rights for Americans. ‘
And I guess you cant see how the opposition to this has brought us to where we are now ?
good grief man must take a big sandbox to bury that head of yours
“Clinton was a cheap b*stard who risked our national security. Thats the only way he ever saved a buck”
Again, I think we have yet another conservative who simply refuses to recall modern history. It was Bush Sr. and his contemporaries who first began budgeting around the Peace Dividend – not Clinton. Are you lying or were you in a haze in the early ninties? Heck, I was in a haze and I still remember!
“And I guess you cant see how the opposition to this (More tax cuts, more attacks on organized labor, more uninsured Americans, more privatization, more militarization, and, of course, fewer rights for Americans) has brought us to where we are now?”
No. Can you show me?
JMJ
jersey
Having healtvare shoved down out throats is a loss of freedom.
The private sector being bought and paid for then dictated to by the executive is a loss of freedom.
Having your brains blown out at Ft. Hood is a loss of freedom.
Housing market is the worst in 50 years.
Unemployment highest since Carter
No one is spending squat right now for fear of impending tax hikes and regulation.
Gold is at an all time high.
The unions are costing taxpayers dearly as government subsidizes their outf&ckingrageous pensions and crappy products
Gas prices are tanking because no one has the money to go anywhere
And Clinton skimped on the miltary by shrinking it and not doing what Bush spent the money to do.
You guys held the congress for the last 4 years and the executive for two.
You had you chance and you screwed everything up…
buhbye
Oh, and shutting down the fed will almost guarantee anyone a surplus
:-)
Hope they dont pull that crap when I need my federally mandated healthcare I’ll have to pay into 4 years in advance…
“Having healtvare (sp) shoved down out throats is a loss of freedom.”
So… Having healthcare – friggin’ HEALTHCARE – is something that could be “shoved down our throats” (as if there’s someone out there who doesn’t want or will ever need healthcare) in the name of “freedom, which is something that without good health we couldn’t enjoy anyway? Really? Micky? Do you live on Earth?
“The private sector being bought and paid for then dictated to by the executive is a loss of freedom.”
Okay. Show me an example.
“Having your brains blown out at Ft. Hood is a loss of freedom.”
Yes. That gets to the whole “healthcare” thing too, when you think about it. But that crazy Ft Hood shmuck was ranting and raving back during the Bush years too. Do you think Bush was some Islamist-appeaser as well?
“Housing market is the worst in 50 years.”
Yes. thank you, GOP.
“Unemployment highest since Carter”
Yes. Thank you GOP.
“No one is spending squat right now for fear of impending tax hikes and regulation.”
They have NO CHOICE but to spend like crazy right now. Your stupid GOP majority cut taxes on the rich, started two wars, financed all of it with debt, and now we have NO CHOICE but to spend like nuts. Thank you, again, GOP.
“Gold is at an all time high.”
Unsustainably, but yes. Thank you GOP. And aren’t all those rightwing talkshow scum making a big buck on that, huh?
“The unions are costing taxpayers dearly as government subsidizes their outf&ckingrageous pensions and crappy products”
Good to hear you hate the American worker, Micky.
“Gas prices are tanking because no one has the money to go anywhere”
Tanking??? LOL!!! Yeah, gas prices are f’ing my “tank” right now!
“And Clinton skimped on the miltary by shrinking it and not doing what Bush spent the money to do.”
Which Bush? The responsible one who cut military spending, or the sleazy moron who borrowed from communist China to make war opn Third World gnats?
“You guys held the congress for the last 4 years and the executive for two.
You had you chance and you screwed everything up…”
LOL! Nice try there Micky. You may win some stupid people over with that “born yesterday” knowledge, but you’ll never win with any person with an age over 8 and an IQ over 80.
JMJ
The majority of the country did/does not want Obamacare Jersey
Yes.It was mandated. Shoved down our throat.
You cant just say “people want insurance” and think you’ve made a point.
In proper context…
The people dont want it and its unconstitutional to require the people to buy any product other than ones that protect you from liability.
“Okay. Show me an example.”
F$F, GM, Chrysler, AIG, etc…
“But that crazy Ft Hood shmuck was ranting and raving back during the Bush years too. ”
Yeah, so was Bin Laden and Clinton the cheepo let him get away with murder numerous times and spent practically nothing.
“They have NO CHOICE but to spend like crazy right now”
Of course they have a choice. What are you. Stupid ?
There is NOTHING TO SPEND ANYMORE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Stop spending !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“Yes. Thank you GOP.”
Carter was a democrat…last I checked
“And aren’t all those rightwing talkshow scum making a big buck on that, huh?”
Ugh, only republicans have gold in their portfolios, right Jersy ? Jeezloueez
“Good to hear you hate the American worker, Micky.”
NO, I hate the American thief whos pension I’m paying outside of the revenues his product should of.
“Tanking??? LOL!!! Yeah, gas prices are f’ing my “tank” right now! ”
http://www.cbs6albany.com/news/gas-1277631-lot-lower.html
August 23, 2010 5:26 AM
Ed O’Brien
Gas prices are creeping lower and there are signs that trend will continue as we approach the unofficial end of Summer.
First, the current picture: the latest numbers from the CBS6 Gas Gauge show the average cost of a gallon of regular is just under $2.76 — that’s down about a nickel in the past week. We are now paying just about what we did last year at this time.
And looking ahead, at least one industry analyst said we could see a decline of as much as 15 cents per gallon in the coming weeks.
Crude oil is falling because there’s a lot of supply in the pipeline and demand is lower. Concerns about the economy and Americans reluctant to do a lot of spending are contributing factors.
“LOL! Nice try there Micky. You may win some stupid people over with that “born yesterday” knowledge, but you’ll never win with any person with an age over 8 and an IQ over 80.”
Bwahahaha.
You guys are up sht creek buddy and it aint cuz of your stellar performance
PERIOD
Even though you think I pulled this outta my rump maybe if you hear someone else back it up with the same facts I’ve presented you that you still to this day have been able to refute I’ll try again.
http://alfin2100.blogspot.com/2008/09/jimmy-carter-bill-clinton-share-blame.html
“Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton Share Blame for Subprime Mortgage Recession, Government Overshoot
The current Wall Street quakes have their origins in the Jimmy Carter administration of the late 1970s, and the “affirmative action” banking laws Carter instigated. Bill Clinton only made things worse by adding more muscle to affirmative action banking enforcement.
To hear today’s Democrats, you’d think all this started in the last couple years. But the crisis began much earlier. The Carter-era Community Reinvestment Act forced banks to lend to uncreditworthy borrowers, mostly in minority areas.
Age-old standards of banking prudence got thrown out the window. In their place came harsh new regulations requiring banks not only to lend to uncreditworthy borrowers, but to do so on the basis of race.
These well-intended rules were supercharged in the early 1990s by President Clinton. Despite warnings from GOP members of Congress in 1992, Clinton pushed extensive changes to the rules requiring lenders to make questionable loans.
Lenders who refused would find themselves castigated publicly as racists. As noted this week in an IBD editorial, no fewer than four federal bank regulators scrutinized financial firms’ books to make sure they were in compliance.
Failure to comply meant your bank might not be allowed to expand lending, add new branches or merge with other companies. Banks were given a so-called “CRA rating” that graded how diverse their lending portfolio was.
It was economic hardball.
“We have to use every means at our disposal to end discrimination and to end it as quickly as possible,” Clinton’s comptroller of the currency, Eugene Ludwig, told the Senate Banking Committee in 1993.
And they meant it.
In the name of diversity, banks began making huge numbers of loans that they previously would not have. They opened branches in poor areas to lift their CRA ratings.
Meanwhile, Congress gave Fannie and Freddie the go-ahead to finance it all by buying loans from banks, then repackaging and securitizing them for resale on the open market.
That’s how the contagion began.
With those changes, the subprime market took off. From a mere $35 billion in loans in 1994, it soared to $1 trillion by 2008. _IBD
Once government institutes such economically destructive laws in perpetutity, the destructive snowballing begins. Of course, given the 15 second average attention span of most voters, Democrats such as Pelosi and Frank are safe in their dishonest double speak and outright deceptions. The media will certainly never hold their feet to the fire. The king of “affirmative action” politicians, Barak “Hollow Man” Obama, has a much better chance of being elected if voters do not understand that he will accelerate the entire process exponentially.
Of course, computer models are also to blame–the rule of GIGO allowing wall street investment bankers and Fannie Mae kleptocrats that the risk was but slight. Even global warming’s Al Gore, James Hansen, and carbon trading all come in for their fair share of the blame–at least for Lehman Bros. collapse. A sucker born every minute.
But the fact is, President Bush in 2003 tried desperately to stop Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from metastasizing into the problem they have since become.
Here’s the lead of a New York Times story on Sept. 11, 2003: “The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.”
Bush tried to act. Who stopped him? Congress, especially Democrats with their deep financial and patronage ties to the two government-sponsored enterprises, Fannie and Freddie.
“These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis,” said Rep. Barney Frank, then ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. “The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.”
It’s pretty clear who was on the right side of that debate.
As for presidential contender John McCain, just two years after Bush’s plan, McCain also called for badly needed reforms to prevent a crisis like the one we’re now in.
“If Congress does not act,” McCain said in 2005, “American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system and the economy as a whole.”
Sounds like McCain was spot on. _IBD
Thanks, Jimmy Carter. Thanks, Bill Clinton. Thanks in advance, Barak “Rezko’s Boy” Obama. We really owe you all, big time. And the media, yes indeed, the media.”
Hah !
Biden trys to sell us the Brooklyn Bridge and then Barry interupts his 6th vacation so he can actually see what it looks like.
Thank God for laughter or we’d never make thru this
Micky, just because the majority of the country wants or doesn’t want something, that should not be the only measure of something’s worth. The majority of the country has either private health insurance or Medicare. The majority of the country is healthy at any given moment. The uninsured are all under 65, most of them work, and all of them will likely need health coverage at some point. Most of them will use emergency rooms at some point rather than seeing a doctor in a private office. The bill for that emergency room visit will be multiple times the bill from a visit t oa doctor’s office. Most of them will neevr pay that emergency room bill. You, me, we all are paying for these people care now, through our taxes. We are paying much more to subsize emergency room costs than we would be paying if the uninsured were going to doctors’ offices. “Obamacare,” as you righties put it, attempts to address that problem by getting these people out of the emergency rooms and into the doctors’ offices. The majority of Americans are TOO STUPID to see the value in that.
As for the myth that the government is taking over the private sector… F&F, Bush did that, and they were initially puiblic entities anyway and should have stayed that way. As for AIG, Bush did that too, but the government did not take it over. As for GM and Chrysler, the government is already selling off, the copmpanies are purchasing their own stock back from us, and plans to be completely out as soon as the sale of the stocks they bought are worth the money are under way. It is a LIE of the Right that the government is taking over the private sector. We are NOT. It is a LIE.
As for spending, they HAVE to service the debt and they HAVE to pay obligations. That’s the vast majority of the spending aside from the military, which is still the number one drain on the taxpayers.
Gas prices are double what they were before Bush-CheneyCo. And will probably never go down all that much. We live in a new world now in which we are not the primary consumers of gasoline anymore. For 8 years we did nothing to get off our smack-like addiction to oil. We need to get off oil – particularly gasoline – if we are going to enjoy a sustainable future.
As for the racist-pandering myth that somehow social programs caused the sub-prime crisis, it’s like I always say: Conservatives hate the common working man.
JMJ
‘Micky, just because the majority of the country wants or doesn’t want something, that should not be the only measure of something’s worth.”
Look, the wgole time this bill was being constrycyed/proposed,campaigned on the majority of Amerikcanswanted more answers to what could be collatoral damage/effects.
The damn thing was passed without those who participated knowing its full content.
In addition, theres the constitutionality issue. Its one thing to present an entitlement/benefit as an option. Its a completely different story to tell the American people “you must purchase this or else “!!!
“We are NOT. It is a LIE.’
You have nothing to substantiate this. I, once again, have provided you with irrefutable examples proving massive government taking over in every area concievable to Wallstreet regulations to mandated healthcare to corporate bail outs. GM is still in the hole and F&F just asked for another thirty billion…give it up. Its no lie, its todays news.
BushCheney…bla bla waa waa…
No one can afford to do sht right now.
Unemployment has gone the exact opposite direction a trillion bucks was supposed to take it (and you b*tch about bushs debt?) and we have not got one dimes worth of crap out that whole stimulus package.
I could go on and on and on.
The bottom lines is this.
This administration has spent more money we dont have in 1 1/10 th the time of the Bush admin. and only made things 10 times worse.
The country is as divided as its ever been.
Our enemies are empowered.
Demand for gas is low.
People arent driving, they cant afford it
The market, businesses have no faith, they’re scared, money is sitting idle, people arent being hired, the GDP is at an all time low and cannot support the present track were on.
You guys carried the ball and you guys fcked it all up… big time, period.
Grow a set and stop blaming everyone and thing for your inept actions at the cost of the countrys future.
You put your faith in hope and change and yes we can.
As Eric said very accurately, these platitudes have turned into “are you f*cking kidding me?”
“Conservatives hate the common working man”
Right, were all rich stock brokers… moron.
When it comes to finances you make financial decisions instead of ones designed to engineer society.
When you learn that you’re racist injection into everything becames moot…and frankly, really stupid.
Thats why you guys are loosing your arses all over the map. Everyone is sick and tired of everything being met with claims of bigotry and racism.
It means nothing at this point
This list is so depressing. Cut taxes for the wealthy, increase spending, and no plan whatsoever to pay for it except “Congress will think of something!” At least 8 and 10 are decent ideas, but overall a terrible plan through and through.