1 Here in CA we've watched Meg Whitman blow a 50-point poll lead over Steve Poizner while spending over $70 MILLION on a FRICKING PRIMARY! People are literally getting sick of the sight of her, especially since her commercial campaign has been backed with almost no public presence.

2 Ya, that's why Obama used public funding /sarc

3 Did the poker party just break up over at Ace's house? 4 late night posts?

unpopular positions like some Zombie robot in the face of overwhelming opposition to them just kinda pisses people off.

Kind of like that cereal thread.

4 I think the electorate has been burned very very badly and is paying a lot more attention than it has at any point in perhaps the past 100 years.

That is *really* bad news for the Democrats and RINOs

For the last 15 years or so the playbook is talk right to the 'yahoos' who vote, and then govern left. They were able to do this because while the 20-30% of the electorate that decides elections is basically conservative, they don't pay much attention to details.

Obama says he's going to cut my taxes? And fix whatever it is the media keeps telling me Bush screwed up? Where do I sign up?

[1 year later]

Wait, he's raising my taxes? Taking my healthcare? And now talking about stealing my 401k? What the hell did I vote for?

5 I find it very hard to trust any politician willing to spend 59 million of their own money. As a friend said, "She's gotta be expecting to get that back somehow." Her ads against Pozner seem like picking nits to me. I'll never drink the CA GOP kool-aid again after Arnold. Couldn't we just hire some Sybelline Oracles to pick random sayings from Reagan's writings and use those to govern the state instead of having a live governor ?

6 Kind of like that cereal thread.

Posted by: Guy Fawkes at May 12, 2010 01:12 AM (7VvJB)

Oh, snap. crackle. and pop.

7 Money doesn't matter? But this outrageous Supreme Court ruling totally means that corporations can buy elections, or something! I weep for democracy, etc.

8 I think people might listen to zombie robots myself. Especially if what they keep saying is "BRAINS!!!".

9 Money doesn't matter? But this outrageous Supreme Court ruling totally means that corporations can buy elections, or something! I weep for democracy, etc.

Posted by: John Marshall at May 12, 2010 01:18 AM (UmYHE)

Dude, that's last month's Journolist. Get with the program. We have to scare these damn Democrats into toeing the National Socialist line with the little time we have left.

10

Money still matters and Kos is still an idiot.

Money just doesn't matter as much as it used to matter, and it matters even less if you are a buffoon.

Let's get real here; money always matters, it just isn't enough to paper over serious defects in a candidate.

11

Let's get real here; money always matters, it just isn't enough to paper over serious defects in a candidate.

Posted by: Jim in San Diego at May 12, 2010 01:23 AM (oIp16)

Or a political ideology. Well, at least for long after it comes to power.

12 The 'Obama Club' Opens

13 Obama won with 52% of the vote and Gallup put his approval rating at 51% today.

I'd say the people who voted for him are still pretty happy with him.

14 Money matters a hell of a lot.

It's incredibly important.

If there's a candidate out there you really want to see succeed, be it Rubio or Hayworth or Kaus or fucking Romney, you need to open your wallet up and give them cash.

Sure, you can't effectively lie from the left anymore.  The MSM can't really dominate the discussion.  But legal battles, handling polling, knowing where to organize GOTV, and hundreds of other things are fucking expensive.  The best funded candidate usually wins.

Scott Brown's election was incredibly expensive.  Not as expensive as Coakley winning would have been.  I'm sure the left is pissed off that their MSM isn't as effective, but even then, that was really just a backwards and hidden campaign contribution.  Every time you pay to watch a theater movie or buy a liberal paper, that money helps fuel the democrat media machine. 

That machine is more and more obsolete, because even a free blog can debunk the NYT.  But saying money doesn't matter is pure nonsense.  Kos is probably just whoring for attention, but he himself is a well paid political operative, taking cash from a political party because that's the way our system works.  And Obama has greased innumerable wheels in unions and wall street and insurance companies and contractors and car dealers and an endless list of others who will max out their contributions to him.

Obama will probably be impossible to outfund.

15 "Obama won with 52% of the vote and Gallup put his approval rating at 51% today.

I'd say the people who voted for him are still pretty happy with him.

Posted by: snapdragon at May 12, 2010 01:39 AM (5Etcj)"

SAY, was that a poll of likely voters?  You imply it is, since you say these are the people who voted for him, but I guess you know you're lying, right?  That's not likely voters.

In fact, it includes a lot of people, I guess double digits, of those who won't vote for Obama and didn't vote for him last time, but still approve of his job.

That's just how it works.  He had nearly 70% approval, and Bush much higher at times, because a lot of people who didn't vote for someone and won't vote for them in the future still will express satisfaction.

But to the real point: Obama is underwater with likely voters.  He's at 48%, but that's only part of the story.  He's at -10 index.  Keep spinning!

16 "But to the real point: Obama is underwater with likely voters.  He's at 48%"

48% is still good enough to beat whoever the Republicans prop up against him.

17 IP = 78.110.8.18

18 I gotta agree with Kos as well.  Sunlight.  Dog's ass.

I just wish the fucking national party would butt out of the primaries and picking favorites (cf. Toomey, Pat) and wait until the generals to go all-in.

19 "48% is still good enough to beat whoever the Republicans prop up against him.

Posted by: snapdragon at May 12, 2010 01:54 AM (5Etcj)"

Could be, could be.  Obama won last time against who we put up.  But your analysis was blatantly wrong.  And I wonder, when's the last time a candidate won with 48% from Rasmussen, the accurate pollster?  Does that happen a lot?

You have to admit, it sure looks like more people are rejecting your view and adopting my view.  52% of folks don't even weakly approve.  There's 10 percent more folks who strongly disapprove than strongly do approve.  He's fallen sharply in popularity.  But the GOP has to present a very strong alternative, or Obama will win a landslide.  I'm not like you, and have no illusions about the way things work.

20 There's no need to fear, Crapwagon is here!

The secret compartment of my ring I fill
With my Obamassiah Greatness pill!
It fits so neatly into the little hole
I take it and recite the latest poll.
His numbers are up, up, up, I swear!
He'll beat any Republican in '12, so there!

21 IP = 124.3.235.242

22 Cute how the democrats usually like to trumpet how Obama won a massive landslide, but when it's time to compare how far he's slid, even being underwater is relatively close to his narrow victory!

23 Cute how the democrats usually like to trumpet how Obama won a massive landslide

McCain and Palin only managed to get 45% of the vote.

I doubt Romney will be able to better that in 2012.

24 Shoe spammers are nothing but lowdown, double-dealing, backstabbing, larcenous, perverted worms. Hanging's too good for them, burning's too good for them! They should be torn into little-bitsy pieces and BURIED ALIVE!

25 McCain and Palin only managed to get 45% of the vote.

McCain was a rotten candidate we all hated, and he still got 46% in the most anti-Republican year in most of our lifetimes.

A 6 point margin, dumbshit. And that was before fully half the country positively hated Obama's Indonesian guts, as is the case now.

You can see the shitstorm coming to bury your ass, snapdragon, or you wouldn't spend your evenings posting snotty little one-line comments on a board where everyone hates you.

Hell of a life you've got there, loser.

26

OT: AZ signed into law today hb2281s. Greatest hit will be the progressives. The bill prohibits the following:

 

1. Promote the overthrow of the United States government.
2. Promote resentment toward a race or class of people.
3. Are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group.
4. Advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.

27 "You can see the shitstorm coming to bury your ass"

I see the Republicans picking up a few seats in each House this November and then an Obama landslide in 2012.

"Rasmussen, the accurate pollster"

Rasmussen called the 2000 election 49-40 for Gore...

28 Posted by: popcorn at May 12, 2010 02:17 AM (HlpHc)

That settles it. I'm moving to Arizona. At least one state has its head on straight. 'Sides, Texas, I mean.

29 Money matters less these days, but more because the MFM is totally in the tank for the left and the Avenging Angel of Indonesia and gives them billions of dollars of free ads and insane spin every single day of the week.

What we see is that the left needs even more than that, since they are so utterly repulsive and grotesque, but it's there, nonetheless.

30 Rasmussen called the 2000 election 49-40 for Gore...

Posted by: snapdragon at May 12, 2010 02:18 AM (5Etcj)

Rasmussen was accurate on voters then.  He's easily the most accurate pollster, but thank you for admitting you refuse to accept polls you don't like.  That explains a lot.  You probably think bush stole both his elections.  Well done!

Anyway, you say the GOP will pick up a few seats only.  Few is 3 or 4.  I say they pick up more than 50.  Let's see who is more in touch with reality.  I think this November will inspire many new faces to attempt to unseat Obama, and it will be clear he's in serious jeopardy.  I agree Obama would easily beat Romney, but I don't think Romney has a chance at winning the primary.

31

Money doesn't matter? That's nice to know.

 

32 "I think this November will inspire many new faces to attempt to unseat Obama, and it will be clear he's in serious jeopardy."

Obama is a mortal lock to win in 2012.

I would like you to list some of these "young faces" you think have a chance to beat him, though.

Is Bobby Jindal one of them?

33 I see the Republicans picking up a few seats in each House this November and then an Obama landslide in 2012.

I see you crying into your incestuous uncle's crotch in November as the GOP sweeps your punk ass right into the ditch. It's pretty much a given at this point that the GOP takes the House and at worst comes within a seat or two of getting the Senate, and if you don't know that by now then you don't pay attention very well. Since you can so clearly "see" these few seats that you allow are going to flip, I'd be very happy to hear you tell us which seats they are, by incumbent name and district, and which seats you therefore are presuming to be safe. 'Cause I've got a list of around one hundred Dem seats in serious jeopardy, which in case you can't count any better than you can troll, works out to about 250% of what the Republicans need to take the House. Show us exactly what you've "seen" in your crystal ball that suggest otherwise, something that might demonstrate that for once in your life you actually know what you're talking about.


Rasmussen called the 2000 election 49-40 for Gore...

I don't know whether that's true, but I do know that he was the most accurate pollster in the two presidential elections after that, which pretty much wipes out any inaccuracy from a decade ago. It's fitting though, that you have to go back in time ten years to find something that props up your sadly inaccurate view of American politics and the world in general.

34 Very nice site because there are many types information here so I like this very well......

35

#30

Paul Ryan 2012.  May he slow down the inevitable so I can go Galt before the collapse. 

(Thank you RR for pushing the clock forward 30 years)

36 "I see you crying into your incestuous uncle's crotch in November as the GOP sweeps your punk ass right into the ditch."

I think the Republicans would have done well if the election had been held a few months ago...things are swinging back to the Dems now and will continue to do so up to November.

37 Obama is a mortal lock to win in 2012.

Again, you wouldn't be here protesting so much if you actually believed that, bitch.

Let me say it again in case you missed it: In 2008 we made it a six-point race with our worst possible candidate, in our worst possible environment. 52% is Obama's ceiling, and that's not a good position for a president seeking re-election to be in. A year ago at this time, you stupid libs couldn't even see TODAY'S political landscape forming, let alone the one that will exist in two years. I'll tell you one thing, though: What we're seeing from Obama, from the Congress, and from your own slimy punk ass is not the behavior of people who think they're winning. We're seeing desperation. And I hope you've got stones enough to still come in here and wave your cock around six months from now, after it's been broken into several pieces and pounded into the dirt.

38 I think the Republicans would have done well if the election had been held a few months ago...things are swinging back to the Dems now and will continue to do so up to November.

Evidence, bitch. Races. Districts. Names. "Because Snapdragon Says" is not the way we play this game.

39 "A year ago at this time, you stupid libs couldn't even see TODAY'S political landscape forming"

It's true many liberals lacked faith that Obama could get the Health Care Reform bill passed.

Now that he has, everything else is just gravy.

40 things are swinging back to the Dems now and will continue to do so up to November.

D'oh! No one told me.

Well, now that I'm giving up my seat that I've had for 40 years, and chairmanship of one of the plushest committees in the House, I guess I'll just go spend some time with the family.

41 snapdragon, how many seats will the GOP take this November?

I said more than 50.  Do you still contend 4 or fewer?  That's what you seemed to be saying.  Or are you not confident enough in your view of reality to state an actual number?

Now, I don't think health care is such a gravy train for Obama.  The ten point gain your leader's advisers promised has not materialized.   But I admit, that's a big win for Obama.  It's a huge government entitlement, it's massive spending, and it's a real victory against conservatism, from your POV.

I think a campaign to repeal and replace it will be part of the movement to defeat Obama in 2012, if the bill isn't tossed out by the courts.

I do not think Jindal is a great competitor, but he's a lot better than Romney.  I'm not naming names... my point was that November will inspire many to come up and toss their hat in the ring, and we'll have a spirited debate.  We don't have democrat style primaries, where the actual winner get's fucked out of the nomination.  Our debates will be relevant.

You claim Obama is a mortal lock to win reelection despite the fact that Bush had a squeaker of a reelection and was much much more popular at this point in his presidency.  In fact, Bush is better than Obama in many ways, demonstrating his abject superiority as a man and a leader to Obama, who is inferior at golf, speaking, and diplomacy, not to mention at approval.  It's hard to take someone seriously when they claim a president who is unpopular with voters has a lock on reelection.

Anyway, how many seats will the democrats lose this year?  90?  5?

42 "You claim Obama is a mortal lock to win reelection despite the fact that Bush had a squeaker of a reelection and was much much more popular at this point in his presidency."

Yep, and Ronnie Reagan was less popular than Obama at the same point in his first term.

I think you guys forget how fast economic recoveries happen.

By "few" I'd say 10-20 House seats and 4-5 Senate seats.

43 Posted by: snapdragon at May 12, 2010 02:44 AM (5Etcj)

That's what I figured. You got nothing. Nothing but bluster and snark, and such a total lack of any kind of a life that you spend every evening hanging around in a place where you're laughed at and despised.

Unless you actually believe the horseshit you've been regurgitating here, in which case I almost feel sorry for you. Getting blindsided by Election Day is never fun.

Marion Berry, Vic Snyder, Bill Ritter, Chris Dodd, Beau Biden, Ed Case, Colleen Hanabusa, Evan Bayh, Dennis Moore, Charlie Melancon, Martha Coakley, Bill Delahunt, Bart Stupak, Jon Corzine, Eric Massa, Byron Dorgan, Patrick Kennedy, Bart Gordon, John Tanner, Creigh Deeds, Brian Baird, David Obey, and now Alan Mollohan all know what's up, though. Look 'em up, you might learn something. (No, of course you won't.)

44 By "few" I'd say 10-20 House seats and 4-5 Senate seats.

We're still waiting to hear which seats. Those are pretty specific numbers; surely you based them on pretty specific ideas of which seats are in play and who's running in them.

Or not.

45 I think you guys forget how fast economic recoveries happen.

Posted by: snapdragon at May 12, 2010 02:56 AM (5Etcj)

LOL.  Economic recoveries don't happen when staticist, anti-growth policies are all that are being implemented.  Further, people are really pissed off at how you leftists are shitting all over this nation, our traditions, and our Constitution.  People don't like how your junta has set out to destroy our legislative process.  The way health scare was forced through does not sit well with this nation and will not be forgotten, no matter how much you wish it.

People know what a total retard the Indonesian Imbecile is.  They know he's a pathological liar.  And they know he's an enemy of this nation. Maybe after he declares the next terror attack to be "a lone wolf, whose motivations we don't know" things will change ...

46

Why do I see well read morons, smart dudes....guys I would like to have a beer with....responding to a pathetic troll?

(punching down is an understatement)

47 "People know..."

I think you're speaking for maybe 10% of Americans, pop.

48 Posted by: Delta Smelt at May 12, 2010 03:06 AM (8OTio)

Crapdragon's more like a pet chihuahua that gets nervous and keeps pissing on the rug.

49 I think you're speaking for maybe 10% of Americans, pop.

Interesting! Ten percent of Americans have put a hundred Democrat House seats in play, from New Hampshire to Hawaii! Damn, we didn't know our own strength!

50 Trolls, like small hairball dogs, are meant to be kicked... kicked hard!

51

#50

Aight, fair enough.  I guess a guy (me) who specializes in low carb diets, Mittens Romney, mob figures, and dead presidents shouldn't say much.  Heh.

52 I think you're speaking for maybe 10% of Americans, pop.

Posted by: snapdragon at May 12, 2010 03:10 AM (5Etcj)

You keep telling yourself that.  I speak for 35 states that have health scare nullification resolutions running through the system.  But, that's only 70% of the states (or a mere 60% of the 57 states in the US of the Indonesian Imbecile's world).

This is just the tip of the iceberg, and only about the health scare.  Your America-hating buddies have infringed on just about every area and PEOPLE are ticked.  You people are un-American and have attacked everything this nation stands for.  That assault will not stand much longer.

53 snappy, you still here? How many seats will the Republicans grab in Massachusetts this November?

54 "I think you guys forget how fast economic recoveries happen.
By "few" I'd say 10-20 House seats and 4-5 Senate seats.
Posted by: snapdragon at May 12, 2010 02:56 AM (5Etcj)"

Sincerely, I appreciate the prediction.  I think it's wildly off, and at least you will know, or I will know, that the other was right.  One of us is crazy wrong.

Frankly, I hope your recovery occurs.  It's hurting a lot of folks I care about.  I don't think it will happen, because the dollar is being fucked up and there's too much uncertainty.  I know the left and the media are cheerleading it they way they tried to destroy it when Bush was prez.  I think that's sad, but I'm always cheering for my country to do well.  I know that if the economy recovers, that will mean a landslide for Obama.

But there is a lot going on these days around the world, such as China's teetering problems, and concerns in energy and for the gulf, not to mention the coming massive increase in unemployment from the census ending, that don't say great things for this recovery.

55 As we speak, The Snapper's furiously running through Wikipedia learning names of congressmen and slapping together a list of 20 races, and only 20 races, that he figures work.

56 BTW...where are the West Coast Morons?

57 BTW...where are the West Coast Morons? California, Oregon & Washington, mostly

58 Oh and by the way, Snapper, that figure of 100 doesn't even count the Dem seats we're just plain gonna take with little or no contest, including IN-08 (Ellsworth), KS-03 (Moore), LA-03 (Melancon), NY-29 (Massa), TN-06 (Gordon), and apparently (since the national party is pulling out) HI-01 (Abercrombie).

59

#59

You forgot Alaska and Hawaii, wiseass.  heh. 

60 Posted by: Delta Smelt at May 12, 2010 03:39 AM (8OTio)

And Guam ... until it capsizes.

61

#62

I'm protesting there this weekend.  Should I be worried?

 

62 Checkin' in. Just catching up with Snatchdragon's latest rants. Mf'er is unconscious. Seriously. Kids, this is what happens when you sniff glue.

63

I'm protesting there this weekend.  Should I be worried?

 

Posted by: Michael Moore at May 12, 2010 03:46 AM (8OTio)

No.  But, the rest of the Guamians should be.  You'll float.  They're screwed.

64 PA: "In fact, remaining tone deaf and continuing to 'explain' unpopular positions like some Zombie robot in the face of overwhelming opposition to them just kinda pisses people off."


Feb. 2007 - "IÂ’ll build the goddamned fence if they want it."

May 2010 - "And complete the danged fence."

What? Don't you trust me? This still pisses you off? How many times do I have to deal with this fence? You want I should dig a moat and fill it with sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads... 'cause I'll do it! What do I have to do to get you into the sweet ride of a McCain Bus this afternoon?

65

#65

No worries bro.  I'll be there for balance.

(ideological and otherwise)

66 You forgot Alaska and Hawaii, wiseass. heh. Hawaii isn't on the coast. Also said 'mostly', so I am covered by that qualifier. Did I mention that I'm a wiseass?

67

#68

Screw you man! 

(I can't get laid tonight so I think I'll beat the skinny smart ass up!)

68 I think I'll beat the skinny smart ass up! That's one butt ugly split infinitive. Plus, I'm not skinny.

69

#70

Too Shay.

Think I'll beat you up anyway.

 

 

70 "Obama says he's going to cut my taxes? And fix whatever it is the media keeps telling me Bush screwed up? Where do I sign up?" 1) Incessant MFM propaganda even made me want to vote Obama - JUST TO SHUT THEM UP FOR A WHILE. I mean, the smallest dumbest "scandals" under Bush are ecclipsed daily by Obama and its no big deal. 2) I think socially liberal, fiscally conservative "RINOS" would do just fine in Cali...but that fiscal conservatism keeps being dropped.

71 I think you guys forget how fast economic recoveries happen.

Yea, Germany just had a scorching .2% 1Q GDP growth...why that's almost 1% annualized!

72 Think I'll beat you up anyway. Think harder. You'll never land a punch the way you're staggering.

73 Lets not forget that this is the guy who allowed $1k plus donations via PayPal, internationally. Furriners givin' me big bux? No sweat! Union millions? In the bag! $1.7 Million from BP? Well it must be the Refucklicans that are in the pockets of big bidness. Oh, millions to ME from BP? That's another matter. Wanna puke.

74 Feb. 2007 - "IÂ’ll build the goddamned fence if they want it." May 2010 - "And complete the danged fence." ------- If he was wrong in 2007 and changed his mind, isn't that a good thing? Even if its from popular pressure, its better than Obama "promise one thing, and then ignore it FOREVER after."

75 "Even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then and I think Kos has found one here. Most of what he's saying I agree with, although he gives a tad more credit to organizing and outreach than I might."

Don't kid yourself.  Kos has only changed his mind because his current position helps the Dems.  Incumbents typically have the advantage in fundraising, and the Dems are by and large the incumbents in these battles.  If the Republicans manage to take over one or both houses, or even -- Heaven forfend! -- the White House, expect Kos to go back to whining about the "influence of money on elections." 

The best evidence that Kos's "change of heart" is merely a recognition of what gives Dems an advantage is his continued opposition to allowing groups of people (a/k/a "corporations") as having roughly the same rights as if they were acting individually.  He continues to oppose that recognition, not because it's too large or somehow invidious, but because allowing people to organize their opposition might hurt the Dems' incumbent advantage. 

76 Well, the drunk meathead is talking to his buddies over by the pool tables. They're giving me some nasty glances, so I'll depart quickly and live to shoot my mouth off another day.

77 I think the electorate has been burned very very badly and is paying a lot more attention than it has at any point in perhaps the past 100 years

That is the key question, how much attention are the voters paying?  A better question is "what are they paying attention to?".  If they are watching the MFM they are getting the same old lies. Even if they are not believing the lies they are still not getting the truth.

And that is where money comes into play for conservative candidates. While the internets do provide a venue for conservatives the TV set is still the major communication device for the average person. And in that venue the liberals reign supreme. In order to get their message out conservatives must buy air time.

So while Kos may be correct for his commie followers, he is not correct for conservatives.

78 I think money no longer buys seats. which is a problem for incumbents.

People are now paying attention to what character they are putting in office.

79 "Let's get real here; money always matters, it just isn't enough to paper over serious defects in a candidate."

LOL.  Obama campaigned to the right of McCain on taxes, immigration, national defense, health care, and the economy.  Money is exactly what is need to paper over serious defects.  Money bribes. Google, Yahoo, Facebook have masturbatory fantasies about how much money they'll make between now and November.

Bloggers are the last people I would expect to value integrity over $5.  Somebody willing to let Google put whatever ads Google fancies will put anything up on thier blog for money.

80 Kos is full of shit.

In 2008 he mounted a campaign to primary Dan Lipinski here in Illinois-03 district.  Lipinski is not his kind of Democrat, you see.  Too conservative.. the guy actually listens to his constituents who, while staunch machine Democrats, are fairly conservative.

Not only did he get his minions to pour tons of money at Lipinski's opponent (can't even remember the name anymore), but he had tons of people coming from the north side of Chicago and even out of staters come in and walk the district, house by house, campaigning against Lipinski.

It was a total waste of time and money.  Lipinski won by a landslide.  Kos didn't understand the district.

Blanche Lincoln is their current "project".. they have an all out effort going to primary her.. because they are just so sure that Arkansas is really a very liberal state.. the people who live there just don't know it yet!

I laugh when I hear him spouting off about this or that political tactic.  He's a blowhard and likes to hear himself talk.. especially on TV to the lefties that will have him on as some kind of "expert".

So, I ignore him.. he's still pushing the theme that Democrats have not been progressive enough.. and if they would just grow some balls and be more liberal and pass more goofy crap bills, they will get elected and even increase their majorities this fall.  They are all pathetically ignorant over there.

81

Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at May 12, 2010 06:13 AM (Do52

 

Kos tried to pull the same $hit here in CT in 2006 with Lieberman.  He didn't like Liberman's support for the war so he got about 16% of the registered Dems to oust him from the primary in favor of Ned Lamont.  We all see how well that worked out, didn't we?

82

Money matters in areas not yet under the gun by the Indonesian Imbecile's stupidity in a terminal glidepath.

Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, and Atlantis er Tennessee with parts of Pennsylvania thrown in have figured out barry just asked them for more scratch via taxes whilst wanting to go Unabomber on their livelihoods in the coal industry.

Hey Snapdragon the writing's on the wall.

83 sexypig: "If he was wrong in 2007 and changed his mind, isn't that a good thing? Even if its from popular pressure, its better than Obama 'promise one thing, and then ignore it FOREVER after.'"

"If" is a pretty big word. First, have no doubts that Maverick doesn't think he is wrong. You are. He's just caught with bad political timing right now and he's playing the incumbency game. Second, he is playing the incumbency game. IOW, he lied. He hasn't changed his mind -- or he hasn't changed it enough to really carry through with his new-found Aha!. He'll reach across the aisle, in memory of Kennedy's ghost, to heal the divide and "get something done"... and it'll be superficial. Third, it's really too late. He proved himself unworthy of the office with his behavior when it mattered.

This critique, however, is not an endorsement of Obama. There's not a politician since the 1850's I dislike more. Granted, contemporaneous pols are easier to dislike because we're the most aware of what is happening in the now; but Obama truly is a godawful Precedent. Promising something and never doing it is bad. Promising and doing it but in a disingenuous, concealed manner such that the cure is worse than the disease may be worse. Let's just say both are bad and work from that premise.

I didn't mean to sidetrack the thread here, but thought you deserved a response. I commented earlier because it was snark to complement PA's premise of reiterating unpopular positions and just pissing people off. McCain did that WRT illegal immigration because he refused to change (when it mattered and not out of political expediency!) and insisted he was right while insulting the legal, American public.

84

I predict snapdragon will have a very, very bad November.

I also predict snapdragon will have a ready-made excuse as to why the Dem's got their asses handed to them.

You just cannot argue with someone who is devoid of reality.

85

42 things are swinging back to the Dems now and will continue to do so up to November.

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

If only I'd hung on!

86 Just an Idea to throw out here. Ya think snapdragon is just a session blogger? It does not care about insults, it does not take the bait. It just keeps throwing out Updated DNC Meme^tm. And it is persistent. Axelrodding perhaps?

87

I also predict snapdragon will have a ready-made excuse as to why the Dem's got their asses handed to them.

You just cannot argue with someone who is devoid of reality.

Posted by: Snorty McBrearty at May 12, 2010 07:47 AM (Wjv9m)

 

Voting machine fraud/malfunction should do for it.  After all, didn't the guy who's cousin cuts the hair of the wife of Harliburton's CEO butler invent those machines? 

88 Hey it worked for me in Indianapolis

89 I notice my friends in Ohio are still not thrilled with Precedent Advertising Executive not saving their GM  jobs....

90

I don't see the point of these seminar trolls.

They like to come in and post the libtard talking points but why? They certainly don't change anybody's mind or even plant seeds of doubt. In fact, they piss people off so that we become even more irritated by the marxist/socialist aganda and the obviously stupid retards that support it. They are all so incredibly stupid, they just reinforce the fact that the left is all  moochers and looters. Curious and failed plan.

91

97 Dagny,

They think the right is as cowed as we were in late '08, early '09.  They also mistake the RiNO squish as being indicative of the whole party.  The steamroller is coming, barring massive voter fraud on a 30-40% scale the jackass party is about to enter the endangered species list in the rust belt.

92

McCain and Palin only managed to get 45% of the vote.

Like Clinton?

93 I know one thing, the damn spammers are getting ridiculous now. 

94

This incident is another sobering reminder of the times in which we live. Around the world and here at home, there are those who would attack our citizens and who would slaughter innocent men, women, and children in pursuit of their murderous agenda. They will stop at nothing to kill and disrupt our way of life. But once again, an attempted attack has been—failed.

-Barry Soetoro aka Captain Eloquence of the USS Hope'n"Change

Astounding that the guy was actually gonna try to claim that the Times Square mess was an example of DHS "standing tall, looking good"

95 This is why the Susan B. Anthony List was able to help defeat Alan Mollohan spending only about $75,000.00 in ads.  A mobilized base of Pro-Life Democrats who weren't going to be lied to any more.

96 Kos is wrong. Money matters - not how much you have, but how you spend it. The days of big MSM ad buys, unless exceedingly clever, are over. Money spent organizing, having a rapid response PR team that is internet savvy, excellent demographic research, etc. all matters.

97

102 QM,

 

Yeah but you get the implications right?

Part of me is starting to wonder if Frau Botox, Dirty Harry, and the Won are trying to hold on to power by running the Dick Gephardt wing of the Donks in the areas they know are about to flip.

They only need one to three more Congressional sessions to finish nuking our wealth.

98 Daily kos? ....Never click on it.

99 ... remaining tone deaf and continuing to "explain" unpopular positions like some Zombie robot in the face of overwhelming opposition to them just kinda pisses people off.

Could you cite examples of politicians like .. cough ... Pelosi, Reid, Obama ... cough .. that have ever done such a thing

100
Repeal tax-payer funded health care "reform"  NOW.

That's all the GOP needs to say.

101
Anti-tea party vandalism and violence. 

Tolerance.


Meanwhile, Megan McArdle says (about Kagan) but it applies broadly.

What’s disturbing is that this is what our nomination process now selects for: someone who appears to be in favor of nothing except self-advancement. Then we complain when the most passionate advocates for ideas are the lunatic fringe.”

*cough*

102 Agree with the little Kos-sucker, closeted Frisco cum-guzzler? What? I woke up in an alternate universe. Kos-sucker can go shove the whole produce department up his well used ass.

103 I think the electorate has been burned very very badly and is paying a lot more attention than it has at any point in perhaps the past 100 years.

I agree.  I think it's the attitude more than anything else that's ticking people off.  Every time I see Obama at the moment I want to start screaming "You work for ME!"  It's painfully obvious that the political class, on both sides, have forgotten that they serve at the will of the public.  They are our employees, we are not their servants.  I am only too happy to help remind Our Betters of that lesson.

104 I don't see the point of these seminar trolls.

To give us great fun in the mocking?

105
Question:

If the TSA is doing its job, how did this happen?

CAIRO (AP) — Airport officials in Cairo say police have detained an American-Egyptian man who arrived on a flight from New York with several weapons in his luggage.

The officials say the man was taken into custody as he tried to pass through customs with a metal box containing two 9 mm handguns, 250 bullets, several swords, daggers and knives.

They say customs officials had been alerted after the weapons were discovered when the box was examined upon arrival Wednesday on an Egypt Air flight from New York's JFK International Airport in Cairo.

106

I think the electorate has been burned very very badly and is paying a lot more attention than it has at any point in perhaps the past 100 years.

Why? what was going on in 1910 that was so bad?

107 Even a blind hobo squirrel finds a bottle of valurite nut now and then...

FIFY

108 Airline lost his longbow.

109 Ben - Woodrow Wilson, an Intellectual Fascist with an army of Brown shirts. Your still in school, right.

110

I think that Americans are, for the most part, disgusted by the mentality of equitable distribution that pervades socialism.  They aren't turned off necessarily that someone would give them free money, but they are certainly revolted by the thought that someone would think it ok to take from someone else in order to give it to them.

Americans, whether they are well off or not, want at least the dream - the possibility - of becoming well off open to them.  And they don't appreciate the prospect that some arrogant bureaucrat would feel it within their power to take too much of what they have worked so hard to acquire.

Socialized medicine and the underlying socialist mechanisms necessary to foster it are simply a bridge too far. 

Most Americans aren't stupid.  They saw, and are seeing socialism fail time and time again and they are revolted for the reasons it is failing - the mentality that someone would be so enormously arrogant to believe that they have the right, by virtue of their superior intellectual and moral basis, to take from some who achieve to benefit others who don't.

111

95

Exactly. There was voter suppression in Chester County, PA, courtesy of  young minority "students' bussed in from who knows where. Longtime residents of the precinct finally gave up and went home after being held up from voting for HOURS. The reason for the delay: these "students" aggressively claiming they were being discriminated against when the poll workers couldn't find their registration.

Who knows how many times this scenario played out all over the country.

112 Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery. Winston Churchill

113 Just heard John Dennis, Pelosi's GOP rival on the Ricochet podcast--great stuff; even if he is up against The Borg.

114
112
Question:

If the TSA is doing its job, how did this happen?

Answer:
We need more government.  That should help.

115

New media and organization do matter.

However, Kos tries desperately to make himself matter more than he actually does.  The fact that this think piece coincides with the commencement of the 2010 campaign is not, in fact, a coincidence.

 

116 We need more government.  That should help.

Now your gettin' it.

117 Obama won with 52% of the vote and Gallup put his approval rating at 51% today.

I'd say the people who voted for him are still pretty happy with him.

Posted by: snapdragon at May 12, 2010 01:39 AM (5Etcj)

That's all well and good you dipshit but when it comes to actual elections (Virginia, New Jersey, Massachusetts, West Virginia) those that support Barry are getting voted out. Now go get your shinebox.

118
Uh - when Obama won with 52%, his approval rating was in the +70% range.

119 Little Kos rocks! We love the job he did for us!

120

and Gallup put his approval rating

Gallup! Ha ha

121

Well, gee, the RCP presidential approval average is 48.7, snapdragon.

This is known in literate circles as "being underwater."

Do you have gills by any chance?

122 Snapdragon is at a palin steele level of stupidity

123
That's right KOS - dirty Democrat money is becoming unpopular.  Better get busy and hide it.  Soros/Acorn/Health Care "reform"/Corruptocrat style.

Mollohan is a crook. He did it legally. But trading favors for $250 million worth of earmarks over the years to “nonprofit” — tax-exempt — groups run by his associates is unethical. The irony being he was the leading Democrat on the House ethics committee at the time. He had to turn over every penny of his congressional salary to lawyers who are expert in defending people in white-collar crime cases.

In the end, no charges were filed.

All of Jay Rockefeller’s money couldn’t put Alan Mollohan’s congressional campaign together again. From West Virginia Watchdog: Rockefeller “unleashed a flood of money towards Mollohan. Mountaineer PAC, Rockefeller’s political action committee, donated $66,450 to the candidate. Rockefeller and his wife Sharon personally donated $9,600 to the Congressman. Mollohan also received donations from former West Virginia governors Bob Wise and Gaston Caperton.”

But even with more than twice the money to spend as Oliverio — even with 28 years in Congress — even with the backing of the state Democratic Party — Mollohan was thumped, 56%-44%.

124 This makes sense to me. The question is where from here.

I think anybody of a Tea Party or non-establishment persuasion needs to understand that the politicos operate by a particularly nasty set of rules, and eventually, in the process of building these movements talked about above--even though you may still be a private citizen merely expressing your opinion--eventually, if your opinion comes to be seen as potentially influential, but does not yet have a power base associated with it, you are at risk of having the full politico tool kit opened up on you, a process that I believe is very difficult for a private citizen to survive. For a lot can be done in the shadows.

Now, naturally there are counters, the most logical of which is the old nuclear deterrence doctrine of MAD. Perhaps the big boys do it--you mess with my guy outside the normal realms of campaign and media, I mess with yours. I don't know. But Tea Partiers and non-establishment people do not have such protection, nor are they usually part of the commentariot, which usually has its own ability to make sure extra-special dirty tricks are not played. The system is not fool-proof: a politico tried to dig up dirt on Eric Erickson of RedState two or three years ago, but the effort failed because Erickson had an outlet to signal the threat, at which point I assume the effort stopped.

But the loose confederation of Tea Partiers and non-aligneds really don't have this protection network yet. Perhaps they don't need it. But make no mistake--your logical patrons, the establishment of the GOP, will not assist you unless you agree to worship the Great Golden God of the Elephant--which you may not wish to do. So there you are, often single individuals or small group, ready to be picked off anytime the big boys choose.

To me the answer is clear--You need to form a party, or give in to the establishment and join the GOP. I myself cannot do the second, and you will have to judge for yourself which is the best course. But as to the concern about going third party and enabling permanent liberal rule--I say let the future take care of itself in the future. And it will take care of itself. Do the bold thing today.

I'm sorry, but I honestly feel you have no choice, and it is hard-worn advice you  are getting. The Democrats are vicious and are already thinking of doing background investigations of key Tea Party leaders (President Clinton has called for this). The GOP is still not ready to embrace you, and besides, if they were the persons of character to do such things, we would not be in this mess to start with. No. You must band together so that you have the resources to fight back, and you must do so earlier rather than later, lest you be defeated in detail, lonely drink offerings poured out before their times. I would hate to see this, for essentially the two establishment parties would be proving that popular sovereignty does not reside in the people, but in themselves. And that is simply not true. You have a right to speak out, to band together, and to not have anything come of it but a reasoned debate about your ideas occur in the public sphere. And I simply do not think that will happen unless you are able to field political strength of your own, and that strength does not appear to be compatible with the GOP.

It's your choice, but make no mistake. Things can succeed, and things can fail. And it often depends on a single solitary choice. So choose well and wisely.  Either the GOP establishment capitulates immediately, or you need to form a third party. Or else you will hang separately.

125 I think PA went off way too diffuse on the points OS takes from the examples he raised, which are that: the relative effectiveness of approval versus disapproval in animating potential electors is a function of information, and its corollaries: that the effect is exaggerated at the extremes, and that as information increases generally across the electorate, we can expect more signs of this effect at the extremes. (I should point out that there is no necessary correlation between the amount of information and either the cogency or reliability of that information.) This is hardly novel, and there is a very good recent example of it where the level of information across the electorate was generally markedly lower: the 2000 presidential election. Thus, the primaries in that year were for the most part animated almost entirely within brand-name orthodoxy, to the slight arguable benefit of the Republican party in the general election from at least having had a contest (A related effect can be gleaned from 2008, where it was the Democrat party that had the more information infused contest.). What we're seeing this year is quite possibly more information -- more in volume and more diffuse -- than ever before, not just generally but within each brand-name party. So, we're seeing an unprecedented power display from each party's highest-information components. In the case of the Democrat party, this is playing out at the primary stage as a contest between the party's orthodoxy and its sole insurgency, so-called progressives. Complicating that contest is that there are factions within each component, with the newly empowered Obama/Emanuel group still struggling with long-entrenched Clintonites on the orthodox side, and with progressives struggling between ideological purity (the democracyinamerica/firedoglake/moveon.org crowd) and accommodating to the fact of its side being in office (the relatively larger and more diffuse dailykos and huffingtonpost crowd). The Republican side also shows struggles within its components, but those are playing out somewhat differently. The party orthodoxy doesn't have office incumbency working for it, and thus the RNC is competing for resources with the congressional election committees, and even a parallel group led by Ken Mehlman and Karl Rove. The insurgency component has on the one hand a more established faction with DNA in the party party philosophy in the Paulite libertarians, and the single most animated high-information faction anywhere in the political firmament in the Tea Partiers -- which we should logically expect would be showing even more effectiveness if the Tea Partiers were not themselves an expression of several sub-factions. Regardless the peculiar factions and dynamics, due in large part to online organization, each of those insurgency factions is able to command very large numbers -- which means a lower component of information shared across the party, and in turn, to an extent never before seen, is resulting in profligate use of a tool that's historically identified with most effective use in general election: attacks. And this very early and virulent use of attacks is what makes the upcoming midterms so intriguing. Polling implies that attack ads are extremely effective to a point, then drop off, even to the point of back-firing. Does this mean that attack ads are going to prove less effective this year in the general election context? I don't think we can say that, and frankly I very much doubt it. Here's a thought: the Dems were very concerned that they'd lose support from women, particularly white women, and by extension white voters, from Hilary Clinton's eventual loss to Obama. That didn't happen, or at least it was severely muted, by virtue of the events of September 2008, and the identification of the Republican party with responsibility for the financial crisis and of McCain with a deer in the headlights. Without the convergence of those two factors, even in a year where the Republicans were at a particularly low ebb, even with McCain's underwhelming performance as a campaigner, Republicans may very well have retained the White House and certainly would have kept the bleeding down in Congress. Indeed, one can argue that the main reasons behind the virtual industry of second-guessing over McCain's selecting Sarah Palin as his running mate are all inextricably tied to those two factors, and have blinded us to the real measure of power in that selection. There's a conventional wisdom in the orthodoxy that the earlier in time the party gets over its own internal blood-letting, the more effectively it can portray itself as expressing itself as a 'movement'. I think we can take from 2008 that such does not apply in the same way in the Information Age. In horse and buggy days, information took eons to get around, and that of course had impacts on voters' decision cycles. Today information flows are measured in seconds, news cycles are measured in hours, and decision cycles are measured in weeks, if not days. Does anyone recall the last ditch efforts to disseminate Obama's radio talk from his pre-Senate days on the subject of "redistribution"? That has proved out in spades over the period since. If memory serves, it emerged just a few days before election day -- but it was fully in play by the time of the inauguration, and completely negated all of the 'feel good' from that within a matter of days. Without the September crisis and McCain's related meltdown, that would have been enough -- and again: just a few days before election day. (PA = Purple Avenger, OS = Orange Satan)

126 Kos is an asshole of the highest magnitude, and if a meteor hit him square in the forehead I'd stand up and applaud.

127 14 Obama won with 52% of the vote and Gallup put his approval rating at 51% today.

I'd say the people who voted for him are still pretty happy with him.

Posted by: snapdragon at May 12, 2010 01:39 AM (5Etcj)

yep, apparently you are this stupid.

128

I don't see the point of these seminar trolls.

They like to come in and post the libtard talking points but why? They certainly don't change anybody's mind or even plant seeds of doubt. In fact, they piss people off so that we become even more irritated by the marxist/socialist aganda and the obviously stupid retards that support it. They are all so incredibly stupid, they just reinforce the fact that the left is all  moochers and looters. Curious and failed plan.

Posted by: dagny at May 12, 2010 08:24 AM (AW8qk)

Sure, it's easy to see some rich liberal funding a few trolls to astroturf, but in this case and most, I think it's just lonely bitter people trying to get some atention.  Snapdragon's arguments wouldn't get much respect on the left, but here he gets reactions and feels like he matters at least a little.

When I see a particularly dedicated troll who doesn't seem to have an actual mission or message, I feel pretty sorry for him.

Also, some have noticed that the polls in swing states show Obama's losing support there faster than elsewhere.  His support in blue states is centralizing, which doesn't help him at all, and falling quite a bit in swing states that are moderate and sensitive to his dishonesty.

The GOP has a very complicated mission ahead of it.  We're getting tons of support and close races, and barely really preparing for them.  And most of our victories have come at a surprise to the RNC and didn't involve much more than a money transfer, if that.  The GOP has to pick which states to attempt to win a presidential election in, and that's harder than it sounds.  It requires laying the organization groundwork now, in this election, to gauge GOTV changes and many other issues.  I do not think the RNC is doing an acceptable job preparing for the critical battles ahead.  The democrats are better organized, which sadly is an argument in favor of their competence at other things.  Howard Dean, nutjob that he was, did not leave them with a broken party.  Michael Steele has fired a lot of the best people, so as to install loyal people (and he's fired a lot of them, too, more recently).

We have a serious snag in any hope to unseat Obama.  I'm glad there are a couple of organization alternatives and message alternatives.  The RNC simply isn't effective, so I hope Kos is right that a lot of what they do can be done elsewhere.

129 Snapdragon has some use -- in the sense of portraying the basis for whatever optimism there is among the Dems: that they are betting 'long' on America in the futures market. That sure wasn't where the smart money went in the housing-related bond market: 'long' got it's ass handed to it. And the part of it that survived was what was bailed out. Obama's STIM recovery, to the extent it works at all, is aimed on the investment side at high-tech alternative energy and rapid transit infrastructure, and on the tax incentive side at seeding small business. The former may be smart long-term, but it's sure not short-term jobs intensive -- yet to the extent the Dem sales message is about the economy, that's really code for "jobs", and not actually anything about debt and deficits. The Dems wouldn't have been able to point to Clinton leaving Bush a surplus without Clinton having all sorts of desperately urgent reasons to accommodate congressional Republicans, and there's no way the Dems could argue now that Bush left Obama in a big hole, without all those Boy Genius moves Robert Rubin and Larry Summers made to hype the Clinton economy, not to mention September 11 (A key magic ingredient in the Clinton record on the economy was 8 years of completely ignoring national security threats that all ended up on Bush's doorstep. How was that NOT a multi-trillion dollar hole present from Billy, with love?) Point being: even "success" on that first "investment" front isn't going to work for the Dems in the usual way they count on (not unless the U.S. Census adds about 10 million permanent hires, and not without a big ol' Acorn dumpster to shovel it all out the door into). The latter side, tax reductions and incentives, the side Obama characterized as the "Republican idea", in order to suck in bipartisanship, that works fine for those who've managed to hold onto their jobs, and maybe would have had some meaning for those who lost their jobs but still had savings to invest in new start ups, but notsomuch in an economy where credit isn't flowing from Wall Street to Main Street. All it's really doing is allowing some to keep their jobs at reduced income and wages, in other words, to tread water. The only parts of that group that are in any way natural Dem voters are the Big Labor parts, and as time goes on the states' argument that this was just delaying the inevitable to the benefit of Obama's image are looking prescient. Ain't no bail out in electoral politics.

130 nice Parfumuri originale

131 goood