Seven Problems with Polling and Electing a President

I happen to be a national political junkie.  I follow elections and get all the information my brain can take in on the politics of our nation.  I am a political junkie and have always been one.  The damn polls are wrong.  Toss them out with the cat liter.  They both have the same value.  Nothing.

Polling is done by calling land lines and that in itself should be the first flare.  How many people today still go and grab the big old "Phone Book" to look up the number for the pizza house up the street.  The phone book, like the stage coach is a dying technology.  I'm pretty sure the last stage coach was state of the art but you don't see many of them on the highways today.  Speaking of highways, we live in the digital information highway.  Everyone is online and pretty much everyone owns a cell phone/computer to talk with family and friends and check out what that son of a biscuit eater thought about your cute cat pictures on facebook.

One other thing that pisses me off is the so called lock on African American voters by one certain political campaign.  Nobody owns the African American vote.  Nobody.  If you claim to be in favor of changing the lives of African American voters then you should have been campaigning on it months ago or YOUR ENTIRE POLITICAL CAREER!   One of these candidates has, the other, not so much.

I have a landline but it is connected through our internet service and the "Land Line" costs us twenty bucks a year.  Thank you Magic Jack!  It isn't listed in the phone book because I am not using a recognized carrier for "Land Line" phone service.  Even my 79 year old mother in law no longer keeps a "Land Line" for her phone service.  Her son hooked her up with his cell phone plan years ago where he can have up to five people on his service.

Try this little experiment.  Question your friends and family to find out how many people have "Land Line" phone service.  If you survey thirty people and come back with a tally of one "Land Line" then you know way to many people that are living in the digital age.  Why would you accept polling numbers based on "Land Line" polls as a true sampling of the population?  They might as well poll people using only fax machines! 

Second problem is the push poll of these "Land Line" polls.  A push poll is when you put a biased criteria in-front of the poll that skews the data.  Questions or requirements such as if you voted in the last two elections that would dump your polling data because you did not vote.  That skews the data no matter how you look at it.  Look at the details of the polls questions before you say or print that your favored candidate is way ahead in the polling.

Third problem is the younger generation that is old enough to vote is moved by what the candidates have to say.  That is a huge voting block that is not even remotely considered in the next election because not a single person under 29 has a "Land Line" phone.  Along with them is the huge block of disenfranchised voters that have not voted in twenty or thirty years that are coming out of the rotting wood pile to cast a vote because they believe in what Bernie Sanders is running on for President.

Fourth problem is a GOP and Conservative voter problem.  Many moderate Republicans do not like what their own candidates are saying or running on and are actually looking at Bernie Sanders because they will never vote for Hillary Clinton.  GOP voters are the same as Dem voters and see that health care coverage needs to go further than it has, college education is having them remortgage the house to pay for their kids education, and jobs for those highly educated kids no longer exist and they and the grand kids might end up growing up in mom and dads house.

Fifth problem is that it comes down to people no longer being able to survive in this economy.  When huge corporations post mega profits in the billions of dollars but pay employees sub standard wages then we need a living wage for America and that is fifteen bucks an hour.  We need to stop corporate welfare and penalize companies that expect the country to pick up the slack for their lack of a decent paying payroll.

Sixth problem is Veterans.  Our political leaders wave the flag but every single time a veterans benefits bill comes up the political right side of the aisle in congress always says that our nation can not afford it.  If we can not afford to pay for our wounded warriors then we have no business sending them to war in the first place.  We should change the way votes for going into any conflict demand that the veterans of that conflict get the care and help they need prepaid and not tossed out on the street.  Veterans all across America are supporting Bernie Sanders because he has fought for them for all of his political career.

Seventh problem is Citizens United.  Corporations are not people and should not be allowed to contribute even one single penny to political campaigns.  President Teddy Roosevelt said it in his time and Bernie is shouting at the rafters in our time to end Citizens United.  Our elected representatives oversee the commerce of this country and Citizens United makes a mockery of the congress for sale.  If you donate enough money then a vote in the United States Congress can and will be bought.

I urge you to actually look at what Bernie Sanders has fought for over the many years he has been in congress and you will be a "Land Line" less supporter.  You just wont be polled for your opinion because you don't count.  But your vote counts!  Feel the Bern and vote for Bernie Sanders.

Visit BernieSanders.com to get enlightened and donate.

Hugs at ya all,
Papamoka

Bachmann to Screw over Veterans

The picture to your left is of the cemetery in Normandy France which best sums up how Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota) would like to see how all veterans are treated. You are better off dead and buried than wounded and needing lifetime care for your service to your country.

There are literally thousands of useless government programs that can be cut, shut down, eliminated, and torched, but the batshit loon, Michele Bachmann from Minnesota thinks that going after disabled Veterans benefits is the best way to cut government expenditures. She’s all for God and Country, defending our homeland from terrorists but when it comes time for the wounded people that need care that served in our nation’s military, she will give them the one finger salute every chance she gets. Isn’t that just so Tea Party Patriotic?

Tea party favorite Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., has unveiled a plan for cutting $400 billion in federal spending that includes freezing Veterans Affairs Department health care spending and cutting veterans’ disability benefits.

Her proposed VA budget cuts would account for $4.5 billion of the savings included in the plan, posted on her official House of Representatives website.

Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, said cutting veterans’ health care spending is an ill-advised move at a time when the number of veterans continues to grow as troops return from Iraq and Afghanistan. Sullivan said he finds it difficult to see how VA could freeze health care costs without hurting veterans. – Air Force Times

Apparently, the congresswoman thinks that her stating that veterans are a drain on the federal government is a plus to her Tea Party buddies. After all, she is only looking to cut the cost of government for the people that most need our nation’s gratitude and help when they stood in the line of fire for our freedom.

How about jumping on board Congresswoman Bachmann with Democrats to end the two wars that are causing the enrollment of new veterans that need benefits?

For a full list of all the things she wants to cut/eliminate… you can go to her congressional page. CLICK HERE! It’s a screw you to everyone including veterans, farmers, education, the environment, homeland security, job training, the elderly, and eliminating the nations entire transportation systems. It’s a total screw you package without any common sense. Typical batshit crap from the dipshit Bachmann.

And our Veterans are pissed off. This from the VFW site...

VFW Will Defeat Bachmann Plan

"No way, no how, will we let this proposal get any traction in Congress."

January 28, 2011

WASHINGTON, D.C., January 28, 2011 — America's oldest and largest major combat veterans' organization announced it will do everything within its power to defeat a plan introduced by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) to cut $4.5 billion from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

"No way, no how, will we let this proposal get any traction in Congress," said Richard L. Eubank, the national commander of the 2.1 million-member Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. and its Auxiliaries.

Amen to that VFW!

Papamoka

***CROOKS AND LIARS is linking in... Thank you Mike!
***Gun Toting Liberal is linking in... Thank you Gunny!

UPDATE 2/5: Bachman Backpedals on VA CUTS

Obama a One Term President

News reports, although never realistic based on push polls, can not be trusted when you insert reality or simple common sense into the scenario. Polls are out asking if President Barack Obama will be a one term president. I’m just thinking that the President still has two years left to his term but I’m funny like that wondering how this can even be realistically polled or predicted?

Alzheimer’s is rampant in the electorate given the last election results! We all know people are fickle and will vote their wallet and this fact is true because everyone forgot how screwed we all were under the leadership of George W. Bush. That is why Obama won the White House over Republican candidate John McCain in the first place! One has to ask if the voting public are sheep that will run the first time someone screams wolf? This past elections proves that theory given the fear factor of the Tea Party candidates that actually won and all of the democrat’s that were tossed out of office. Common sense lost and fear won.

Even Congressman Alan Grayson in Florida’s 8th Congressional district, a die hard for the people candidate was ousted. There was no common sense fiscally to understand his ousting at the polls knowing that he was a closet conservative budget watch dog on spending that just happened to be a liberal democrat.

Politically, it will look amazing in the history books on all of the accomplishments that President Barack Obama has been able to do in just his first two years as president. Obama passed Health Care Reform and when you look at history, every president since Harry Truman has tried to pass some form of national health care reform and none have succeeded. Obama passed banking and investment reform of Wall Street that cleaned up the mess that was disguised as pure capitalism but really was a house of magic where accounting tricks and mirrors were only the beginning to undermine the investments of all Americans. A banking industry where anyone that was breathing could qualify for a mortgage and bingo the house of cards in the housing market collapsed.

President Obama passed credit card reform and dealt a blow to the unscrupulous banking industry that gouged consumers simply because they could. Turning the employment numbers around since his predecessor, George W. Bush, whom is apparently the “New Ronald Reagan”, from a constant loss to positive yet small growth in the private sector was not a simple thing to do and it took leadership.

I find it amazing that it is even suggested to think that Obama will be a one term president. Yes, he was dealt a severe loss with the recent election but his presidency is only two years old. The party of “NO!” now has the House of Congress but they do not have the Senate. And the only real loser’s in this past election is the gridlock and bull that the GOP will unleash to stop any progress to help the people of America to not get out of a recession.

When I hear the crack heads in the GOP wanting to touch the third rail of Social Security, reducing benefits, cutting or even eliminating benefits for some, I’m reminded of my own advancing age. That brings up the “Get Out of my Pension” factor. AKA the GOP. That third rail burns anyone that touches it and that will be the reason President Obama will see a second term. When rich politicians touch seniors that vote in larger than life numbers based on the only income they have coming in then the third rail candidates always lose! Go GOP and crack heads.

As a political writer, the GOP taking the House of Representatives is a godsend. I’m wondering where all of these fiscally conservative people were when our nation went to war on two fronts and saw no problem with no bid contracts? Same folks want grandma and grandpa’s pension to bail out the deficit but see no problem with war profiteering? Go GOP!!!

Papamoka

Coffee Party Politics

I’ve heard some sound bites about the “Coffee Party” but mostly I’ve assumed it was the exact opposite of the “Tea Party” folks. I’m a middle of the road politics kind of person and that doesn’t make me comfortable with Tea Baggers and I’m certainly not ready for a double latte espresso light on the cream political group. Either way, I’m thinking that too much caffeine can’t be good for you. Anywho, I was looking into what the Coffee Party is all about and to be honest with you, they actually seem to be the Ying and Yang to the Tea Party. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Here is their blurb on the who or what the Coffee Party is all about…

About Us
Tue, 2010-02-23 17:43 — pcoughlin

We are diverse — ethnically, geographically, politically, in age and in experience.

We are 100% grassroots. No lobbyists here. No pundits. And no hyper-partisan strategists calling the shots in this movement. We are a spontaneous and collective expression of our desire to forge a culture of civic engagement that is solution-oriented, not blame-oriented.

We demand a government that responds to the needs of the majority of its citizens as expressed by our votes and by our voices; NOT corporate interests as expressed by misleading advertisements and campaign contributions.

We want a society in which democracy is treated as sacrosanct and ordinary citizens participate out of a sense of civic duty, civic pride, and a desire to contribute to society. The Coffee Party is a call to action. Our Founding Fathers and Mothers gave us an enduring gift — Democracy — and we must use it to meet the challenges that we face as a nation. - Coffee Party USA

It turns out that the Coffee Party people actually are the opposing force to the Tea Party folks but I’m hoping they aren’t as loony and destructive to the nice folks on the left as the Tea Party members are to the folks on the right.

Now I’m wondering if I should start another opposing party to the Tea Party and Coffee Party folks for all of us moderate middle of the road kind of people. How about the Milk and Cereal Party?

That might not fly seeing how so many of us moderates are fed up with both the left and right political parties and are now lactose intolerant. Worst case scenario, I just might end up checking out the Coffee Party just a wee little bit more.

Papamoka

Is John McCain Done

Senator John McCain of Arizona might be looking at his last election to the United States Senate if the buzz coming from the Republican Party is on target. Die hard Conservatives are not to happy with their former GOP candidate for the Presidency and the rumor mill around Arizona is leaning towards the thought that Johnny isn’t conservative enough for their liking. McCain’s opponent in the next election is none other than the Jack Abramoff (jailed lobbyist & corruption guru) sweetheart former Congressman J.D. Hayworth who lost his last election bid to the Democrats in 2006. The question to be asked is if Hayworth can unseat the 73 year old Senator in the primary election if McCain holds the Tea Bagger revolt faction and Sarah Palin’s (Fox News Opinion contributor) political support?

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Sipping beer in a noisy bar outside Phoenix, John "Buck" Hayes and his friend Kermit Thompson represent the rift that has made the Republican primary facing Sen. John McCain one of the country's most watched Senate races.

Hayes, 52, speaks reverentially of the four-term senator, describing him as a "steady fighter" who has the clout in Washington to call things as he sees them. Thompson, 70, a former McCain supporter, counters with this: "He's gotten too liberal for me."

Two years after he beat a crowded field to lead the GOP presidential ticket, the 73-year-old McCain is up against what some say is his toughest re-election battle in years as voters in his home state decide whether they want an experienced maverick or a diehard conservative. - USA Today

One of the talking points on McCain’s re-election viability is the immigration issue where his views are not in line with many of the folks in his states political party. J.D. Hayworth is playing up his difference of opinion with McCain on immigration with every political speech. In a state that has an ongoing issue dealing with illegal immigrants and border patrol, immigration may end up being the issue of this campaign for the Senate that sends John McCain home from Washington.

Political experts in Arizona say the immigration issue, not an intraparty feud, is central to any struggles McCain may face. McCain's support for comprehensive immigration reform, including a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrations already in the country, has hurt him politically in the past, including nearly derailing his presidential bid. Hayworth has derided such reform as amnesty for illegal immigrants.

"It's not a secret that Senator McCain has different feelings on immigration than Hayworth," said Matt Roberts, a spokesman for the Arizona Republican Party. "That's the issue garnering the most amount of attention and people feel strongly on both sides." - Fox News

On the flip side of the coin are the Democrats who seem to favor the candidacy of Air Force Reservist Rodney Glassman for McCain’s seat with a grass roots effort that features a $20 maximum political donation. Glassman is from the Tucson area where he is a city council member and very active in the local community. Questions abound if Glassman the Democrat can beat Hayworth the Republican in a predominate red state election campaign. That is if of course John McCain is done.

Papamoka

Tea Bag Revolt

A friend that comments here frequently sent me an email about the up and coming Tea Party’s that are going to occur this week across the nation. The original Tea Party occurred in Boston in the 1700’s to protest taxation without representation and for the most part was the beginning of the stepping stone to the Revolutionary War. Republican and Conservative thinking folks will re-enact the event in major cities across America with the call to arms to Tea Bag the White House.

Umm, I kid you not. Apparently, our brothers and sister on the right side of the political spectrum are not up to speed on the whole Tea Bagging terminology and lingo of today. Note to self: Mail a copy of Hustler magazine to the RNC Chairman Michael Steele.

Jon Stewart has this to say about indignation nation…

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
IndigNation! Populist Uprising '09 - The Enragening
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

Then of course we have this from Rachel Maddow who could barely keep a straight face while reporting on “Tea Bagging Obama”…

Video Link

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

I have to go wash my hands, I feel so dirty for typing all this dirty talk. Who’d of thunk the GOP was so raunchy, besides Senator Larry Craig and Senator David Vitter and…?

Papamoka

Is Bush Thinking He is Harry Truman

I think I need to make it loud and clear that George Bush is not Harry Truman. Harry Truman let the buck stop at his desk. He road the waste in government as a Democrat and went after people and companies that tried screwing over the American people in the federal budget. George Bush could not pass all the bucks forward fast enough as President and he was not and will not ever be looked at as a Harry Truman President. Oil companies not excepted, George Bush has never met a military contractor as well that he didn’t like and Haliburton was his favorite son that just happened to move it’s headquarters from his own home state of Texas to Dubai in the Middle East to escape any future prosecution for war profiteering. That was convenient was it not?

President Bush is distancing himself in the closing weeks of his administration from the war on terror or should I say distancing his excuses for it. Granted, the attack on 9/11 happened but the way that it was dealt with was dead wrong. Going to war in Afghanistan was justified because that was where Osama Bin Laden based his attack from and that government justified it as righteous. Iraq however was a personal debt that George Bush owed to Sadam Hussein and his father. Sadam threatened to kill his father for the Gulf War. George Bush pulled a gang land vendetta pay back with the most powerful military in the world for personal reasons. The cost of that personal war on terror is more than all the lives lost on 9/11.

George Bush can not walk out of the office of President lily white and clean and he will more or less not even blink an eye on the pardons he is going to dole out like candy to kids attending a parade. The handfuls of pardons will go out loud and clear to his political base and they are frankly demanding them. There is not one crime committed on his behalf that will not be pardoned. Wire tapping, torture, market manipulation, and just about anything that was good for the rich and bad for the middle and lower class. His record shows how he really feels about veterans and how they are only of use to him if they are actually fighting in the field. After that, those veterans more or less have to go fend for themselves. His backing of the VA is all you need to see how hollow his defense of veterans has been.

How the folks on the right side of the political aisle think that George Bush was a Godsend to America I will never understand. Somehow, President Bush thinks he has a firm record to stand on but from my perspective I see him about to stand on the quicksand of history. And it may take three or more Democrat administrations in the office of President to fix all the damage he has done to the Constitution and common law in the United States.

Over at The Weekly Standard they have this thought on whom President Bush should pardon in his last days in office…

One last thing: Bush should consider pardoning--and should at least be vociferously praising--everyone who served in good faith in the war on terror, but whose deeds may now be susceptible to demagogic or politically inspired prosecution by some seeking to score political points. The lawyers can work out if such general or specific preemptive pardons are possible; it may be that the best Bush can or should do is to warn publicly against any such harassment or prosecution. But the idea is this: The CIA agents who waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and the NSA officials who listened in on phone calls from Pakistan, should not have to worry about legal bills or public defamation. In fact, Bush might want to give some of these public servants the Medal of Freedom at the same time he bestows the honor on Generals Petraeus and Odierno. They deserve it. - The Weekly Standard

I’m thinking that President Bush is going to chuck America the finger one last time on his last day in office with ridiculous pardons that will more or less cripple the Justice Department from investigating the actual crimes he and his Vice President committed. What was good for Bush is off limits to prosecute and the President Elect is left holding his luggage just because Bush and Cheney left him the baggage. History in tens of years from now will show us all how much corruption and manipulation has taken place under President Bush. Only then will he go down in the disgrace he rightfully deserves.

George Bush is leaving the White House with a legacy of ignorance and intolerance for all other nations in the world. He has crippled the diplomatic corps of the United States that has been built up from one President to another over decades and hundreds of years. President Elect Obama has his work cut out for him and the simplest path is to simply say that “We” are not George Bush.

Hold your head up high as an American, the political waters are going to get ugly with facts over the next decade as real reporters talk about the deception filled Bush administration. The truth always surfaces no matter how much it is held under the waters of politics and government.

Papamoka

Rachel Maddow and Barack Obama Interview

Let me start off by saying that NBC and MSNBC is highly favored by the Obama campaign for good press but that does not stop Rachel Maddow from asking some tough questions of Senator Obama. Rachel Maddow still does not think this election is in the bag for either candidate and that makes this interview all that much more interesting. Below is part one of the interview in Sarasota, Florida. This interview took place in the former Secretary of State and Congresswoman Kathryn Harris district. Whatever happened to her by the way?

Video Link Part 1



One of the things that I did not know about Obama and his campaign is that he does not go after Conservatives at all, or for that matter he does not direct his comments to people as Republicans but what his opponent John McCain representing that party believes. Senator Obama is reaching for Republican voters and Republican servants in our nations government. It isn’t that he has to if he wins the election, it is that he knows that he needs too! Both political parties are not perfect but working together is better than banging our heads together time and time again on issues after issue where nothing gets fixed. We can do better.

America has many issues facing her over the next four or more years starting with the meltdown on Wall Street, our economy teetering on a recession if not worse, the housing collapse, two wars on two fronts in Iraq and Afghanistan and the shrinking job market here at home. These are serious issues that takes more than just one persons opinion to work on.

Our nation is in crisis and John McCain is not the answer with his coined responses to serious questions. As much as I respect him as a Veteran, I could not trust him with my children’s future and what America could be if special interests are holding the White House hostage through political contributions. In the back of many voters minds is the greed and deception of our political leaders over the last eight plus years and enough is enough. People are tired of seeing elected leaders step down in disgrace over one controversy or the other. People are tired of being treated like the bottom of the barrel and we do not deserve our governments leadership. People are tired of seeing only the top income earners get tax breaks while inflation is ripping the middle and lower classes off year after year with stagnant wages.

The time for change is coming on November 4th and you don’t have to vote, you must vote! Otherwise, shut the hell up and say hello to $4.00 per gallon gas, no jobs, special interest and corporate greed gone super nova, our military used as Pons to benefit corporations and the list goes on.

Vote for Barack Obama. Place your confidence in the hands of a man that is not afraid to face the issues and tackle them the minute they arise. Obama’s campaign against John McCain has shown that he is a true fighter with all the mud thrown at him.

Papamoka

Political Labels

Pretty much surfing the net you will find every accusation and label thrown at Barack Obama by Republicans. He’s been called a socialist, a communist, a race baiter, an elitist, an extreme liberal and of course a muslim. Just when you thought it could not get any worse, John Stewart of Comedy Central has this to say…

Video Link



Yes, we do need a bridge to the 13th Century! It is all coming clear to me now on how idiotic I have been.

Let me just add one more label for Barack Obama. President.

Papamoka

Republicans and Conservatives going Obama

Frankly, I was very surprised to see my former Governor, Bill Weld of MA endorsing Obama over McCain. Governor Weld was a Conservative Republican Governor in one of the most liberal states in America that served as Governor with a Democrat liberal legislature. Today, Governor Bill Weld (voted for him twice) endorsed Barack Obama. A decision Governor Weld did not come to overnight but after weeks of deep thought on the actual positions Barack Obama has stated publicly and on his website. Sound familiar?

Colin Powell, Secretary of State, former Joint Chief of Staff of our nations military under George W. Bush, has endorsed Barack Obama for President crossing party lines not because of race but because of the issues and the positions and future Obama offers America. Some well known blogs and radio talk show hosts on the right are calling Colin Powell a traitor, a racist, and some words that I don’t repeat because they are wrong. Since when is a Purple Heart medal recipient a traitor. How about a Bronze Star? I could go on with the heroics behind Colin Powel in his service to America through his entire life but I should not have to. He’s one American endorsing his choice for the next President.

Then you have Christopher Hitchens, a former Brit that is now an American citizen with severe right wing tendencies not only endorsing Obama but calling out that John McCain has something weird going on. His words, not mine. Hitchens even used the word “Senile” in describing many reactions on television and radio that McCain has spoken on. Christopher Hitchens went on Hardball with Chris Matthews and endorsed Obama.

Video Link



Is it just me or is the Republican Party running away from John McCain and Sarah Palin as fast as possible? Maybe America cares more about the issues that effect all of our lives rather than he said, he associated with, he did this, he voted for this in the past or he is a liberal. All of this is coming out of the McCain campaign and it is just attacks and not issues that need ideas and policy to fix them. Issues that you and I have to face every single day. One candidate is talking about the issues, how he will fix them, and the other is talking about the past. Vote your heart, just vote!

Papamoka

*****Reuters has picked up this post... Thank you!

McCain Oxymoron

This next Presidential election can make or break this country when you really think about it. America is about looking forward, it isn’t about looking back other than learning from our mistakes. John McCain is running for President based on his life experience and not on the possibility of what we can be as a people. I have enormous respect for Senator McCain but his vision of the future of America scares the hell out of me. Where he sees progress in Iraq, I see a quagmire that could never end if he is elected and then 100 years of American troops dying in Iraq would in fact be a reality.

Is that a promise of change or is that a guarantee of more of the same in thinking that the body bag factory will be in the black for another hundred years? Red state or Blue state, your children are in our military and that is just to high a price to pay for a war that was a lie to begin with. Afghanistan, hell yes! That is where the Taliban and the scum bag Osama Bin Laden were in co-hoots. One hundred years more in Afghanistan, no! Just like Iraq, Afghanistan must stand on its own and defend itself against scum like Al-Quaida and any other terrorist threat. Our nation can not be the police for the world. If that is what the world expects of us then the United Nations needs to fork over a check for one trillion dollars every year to the U.S. Treasury.

Getting past all of that war crap and the lies that go with it, our nation is broken, busted, out of sink, and on a downward spiral. The damage of W is done and it will take a decade to recover from it. While our government is spending hundreds of billions of dollars to defend a people that really don’t want freedom, our own people are falling by the wayside. Do you think that the billions of dollars allocated for the war in Iraq could have paid for a national health care plan times five?

How about making higher education free for all children in America? How far would a hundred billion tax dollars go to pay for that and actually for the American people every three months? How about taking care of our elderly that need nursing home care? How far would a couple hundred billion every three months go to pay for that? What about our infrastructure and roads and bridges that are in serious disrepair? What about putting one hundred billion into Social Security to make sure it is funded past the year 2100? This list could go on and on but McBush is more of the same and I can’t honestly see even one reason to vote for him for President. George Bush is all about spending billions of our tax dollars overseas and claiming to be a conservative when it comes to any spending bill when it comes to real life Americans. John McCain has voted in favor of every Bush intitiative for spending more overseas and against anything for American's including Veteran benefits and care. Billions for Iraq, nothing for Americans?

Hope, change, and a different perspective is coming from a new generation of Americans and if the message of Obama is change then his plans to make it happen can be a reality if he is elected President. Hope is a funny word, it means that better days are ahead and better times are coming. Isn’t that what all parents want for their children and their future? Given what President Bush has done to this economy, John McCain pointing his campaign of four more years of the same just isn’t selling well. Or he just can’t sell it as a candidate for President.

Many folks in the Libertarian and Conservative movement are abandoning McCain because his message is just weak. You can’t sell a policy of more of the same that busts the treasury and still claim to be a conservative. That is an oxymoron and you just can't sell a message that busts the federal budget when you claim to be a budget hawk.

Papamoka

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McCain Obama Scuffle

One of the things always common in past elections was the ability to launch out with full attacks on your political opponent. George Bush and Karl Rove toasted John McCain’s ass in the 2000 election so bad that it left John McCain with a bad taste in his mouth. So bad a taste that he morphed into George Bush to be his political parties candidate???

It’s ironic that John McCain who was the champion of change back then is now the stay the course candidate for the Republican Party. Is it me or has the Straight Talk Express run off the road and slammed into the out house? There isn’t enough toilet paper to clean up this mess that McCain has re-invented himself into. One thing is certain is that the Maverick is apologizing for the simple fact that someone used the Christian middle name of Barack Hussein Obama over and over before John McCaine took the stage.

This isn’t a shameless fact or reasonable excuse to apologize for giving a man’s Christian middle name or is it? Politics is all about the bait and switch and with the internet being a non stop twenty four hour feed of news then this was a classic we have this great car for you hear and we have this nice self destructing Ford Pinto for you in your mental price range. The end result of the talking points is to be afraid of a man Christened with an Arab middle name. If that isn’t more Bush II politics I don’t know what is?

Throw that mud up against the wall and the low retention level voters buy it. “I saw it on the Internet that Obama is an Arab Muslim” so it must be true. For the record, emails do not count as the internet and sites like this one that actually point out facts. Next line of thought after the middle name drop is that Arab’s attacked America and we are at war with fundamentalist Muslims who are also Arabs. Follow the trail of domino’s and that is the Republican war machine come the general election. Telling you who to be afraid of and why you should vote for keeping America closed up with our own version of the Great Wall of China.

One of the talk radio stations I listen to for Imus in the Morning every single day along with Eagan and Braude at lunch time also has Jay Severin on for the drive home that is a political mind provoking talk radio station. 96.9 FM WTKK in Boston has a good mix of opinion in a very Liberal state but does not connect well with Liberal opinions for the most part. With the loss of Air America in the local Boston market there is no other broadcast available for good talk radio. That being said they have an excellent orator in Jay Severin who is also a national political radio talking point go to guy that has some clear points from a Conservative but Independent side of the aisle political theology. You don’t know how many times I screamed at him for being an idiot on the drive home and in the same respect agreed with his points on other issues. That is what politics is all about, getting you moved enough or angry enough to demand change and Jay points that out daily.

Jay backed Mitt Romney like I backed Joe Biden. They both dropped out and broke our hearts in doing so. All of our heart went into promoting our individual candidate. They both busted us but the future is bright. America has a better future ahead of us if we all continue the debate of all the issues that matter to us as Americans.

Tomorrow he will either enlighten me or be the cause for an accident on interstate 190 South. Jay Severin is a political guru that sees the mistakes of many of the candidates on both sides and his dislike of Juan McCain as he coined the phrase works for me right now and that is what I like to hear. I’m a blogger, I point the obvious out and this is one pissed off Republican sympathizer against McCain. That I can agree with him on.

You can check Jay Severin latest adventure into blogging here.

You owe me one Jay! Best wishes for you in the Blogosphere.

Papamoka

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McCain or Obama Independents?

It was reported recently that Senator Hillary Clinton would have to win 57% of the remaining delegates to unseat Senator Barack Obama from the Democrat nomination for President. For argument sake let us all pretend Obama is the candidate against the Maverick John McCain. This will be the Presidential election of the century.

In the race of 2000 John McCain was the Maverick against George Bush and that John McCain could have been President if it were not for dirty politics. The evil scientist Karl Rove worked that election as if they were taking over the world and low and behold he actually did achieve his goal. With eight years of George Bush in the Presidency we have seen our nation go to war, mega profits snickered at and justified because of the war, and a nation of separated people. Those with the big bucks, and those of us emotionally and financially exuberant to find a dollar in an old pair of jeans.

John McCain morphed into a George Bush Junior after the election in 2000 for one purpose and that was to be his political parties’ nominee in this election. What was once a Maverick is now a yes man for W even to the point of changing his mind on torture. Just a few weeks ago he admonished Mitt Romney for dancing around the issue of torture and rightfully so. As the only Republican candidate that was ever tortured he can speak from experience. What changed John McCain’s mind between that debate and this past week? Could it possibly be the deliverance of not one but two Bush President’s to his campaign?

Independent voters are not the Ross Perot nut jobs of yesteryear like one might think. They are people stuck in the middle that can’t stand the extreme liberalism and big government on the left. They are people stuck in the middle that can’t stand the extreme hands off ideology that if it is good for big business the consequences to America do not matter of the right. Independent voters are the key to this next election and they vote! How you get them to vote for you is the task at hand.

In McCain’s case it is a toss up. You could vote for the John McCain that used to be an independent Republican mind in the Senate or you could vote for the new and improved John me too W McCain. McCain is guilty of not being the real John McCain with every speech he makes. Rather than standing up for his own convictions he has subjugated himself to more of George Bush theology in government just for the chance to sit in the Oval Office in 2009. If he or his campaign staff looked at the current President’s approval ratings for the last four years he might want to reinvent himself back into the old McCain. Independent voters are not idiots and they don’t buy sound bites that sound like Bush all over again.

As for Senator Obama, his invention of himself is just what you see. With an oratory expertise he can make you believe that change is possible and that hope is alive. Obama’s message may not be full of details but the man has the facts and plans figured out. He isn’t slamming his opponents because he does not have to! When the message is right and the people want to hear more of what he has to say then that is the ball game for many Independent voters as well. Republican crossover voters and Independent voters will put Barack Obama in the White House in 2009. Personally, I would give more credit to the Independent voters. That is the key to this election.

Come the general election, John McCain will run for the center with all he has to give. Once more he will be changing who he really is as a candidate for President. In doing so, he will morph into not the die hard conservative and become a moderate candidate that gives a lousy speech from cue cards and teleprompters.

Barack Obama will pull all his abilities together to speak without any assistance and what you will hear will be from his heart and soul simply because he believes whole heartily in the words he speaks. President Obama will bring America back to where she should be and that is right in the middle but with a concentration of helping American’s first and foremost.

Papamoka

Cross posted at MichaelLinnJones.com

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