bad news

As anyone who reads this blog somewhat regularly knows, I feel there is a big risk of a President Bachmann in 2013. I have given plenty of reasons previously, but the biggest one that scares me is the enthusiasm gap on the left. A new Public Policy Polling poll verifies that fear:

There's been plenty of bad news for Barack Obama this month in the form of his approval numbers, but our polling finds that his problems go deeper than that. Democratic enthusiasm about voting in next year's election has hit a record low this month. 

Only 48% of Democrats on our most recent national survey said they were 'very excited' about voting in 2012. On the survey before that the figure was 49%. Those last two polls are the only times all year the 'very excited' number has dipped below 50%. 

In 13 polls before August the average level of Democrats 'very excited' about voting next year had averaged 57%. It had been as high as 65% and only twice had the number even dipped below 55%. 

Face it - the left is getting fed up. The President has constantly caved to the demands of the right, yet the right and the media makes it sound like everything sound like a victory for the left. Team Obama is also doing nothing to soothe over the disconnect between him and the base. That can easily lead to disaster next month.

With Bachmann in the top three in the Republican field and barring any last minute entries by some golden child, the fear of President Bachmann continues to grow. Just consider the two leading Bachmann - Romney and Perry. Both have parts of the base that absolutely doesn't like them. Bachmann is somewhat back burner now, so most people don't have much of an opinion of her, except that she has an R by her name. 

A majority of people are against the handling of the debt crisis on the part of every party, but the vast majority disapprove of the way the Republicans are handling the issue than anyone else a CBS News poll finds.

This really comes as no surprise given the melodramatic way GOP leaders like Eric Cantor have acted during the talks. On top of that, the GOP has constantly changed their goal posts. It's becoming more and more obvious that the right is playing politics with this issue while ignoring the financial security of our nation.

So what will happen if the negotiations fail and we don't raise the debt limit? My guess is that the GOP will way dearly for it and the best way to make sure of that is for the Democrats to pounce on it. They don't need to spin or stretch the truth. Just remind the American people of some simple facts:

As we get ready to roll into 2011 the fringe wingnuts have decided it’s time to come up with some brand new conspiracy theories about the President:

The good news is that the right-wing isn't talking about President Obama being a secret Muslim right now. The bad news is that they're now concerned that he's going to use his honorary status as a Crow Tribe Indian to return the United States to Native Americans.

The outrage began after the President announcedon December 16 that the U.S. would reverse course and support the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. The Declaration was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 2007, but the U.S., under President Bush, opposed it.

I really think the wingnuts would embrace this idea. They always seems so hell bent on taking the U.S. back to the days of the wild west, so why not?

I’m sure some will point to this as an indicator that we don’t need health care reform:

Spending on health care slowed in 2008, according to a government report released Tuesday. In fact, health spending grew more slowly than at any time in at least a half century.

[SNIP]

"National health spending growth slowed in 2008 to 4.4 percent, the slowest rate of growth in the National Health Expenditure Accounts."

In other words, the slowest growth since the government has kept records.

Of course the people who call this good news would be wrong:

There's still more bad news, says Rick Foster, the chief actuary at HHS. A major reason health spending slowed is that with the bad economy, many people simply couldn't afford medical care.

"In many cases they lost their employee-sponsored health benefits at the same time they lost their jobs. So that meant that the cost of care was much much higher because they had to pay it out of pocket. So some people presumably scaled back on their purchases."

People haven’t suddenly gotten healthier, nor has the health care industry done some major rate reductions. Instead more people can’t afford to seek health care when they are sick. The richest nation on earth and we have people who can’t afford to see a doctor when they fall ill. That alone is a crime and the fact that it happens here really shows that this is anything but a Christian nation.

Once this bill gets out of Congress and President Obama signs it, then I really hope he is ready for a sell job for the rest of his time in office.

Let’s examine the facts. The current polling shows the public very turned off by this bill:

That alone gives the Republicans an excellent platform in 2010 and 2012. Given the fact that the good parts of the health care bill won’t really be felt for 5 years, that spells extremely bad news for Democrats and can turn into trouble at the polls.

Now that the election is over we start getting a bigger look into the inner workings of the McCain campaign:

Randy Scheunemann, a senior foreign policy adviser to John McCain, was fired from the Arizona senator's campaign last week for what one aide called "trashing" the campaign staff, three senior McCain advisers tell CNN.

One of the aides tells CNN that campaign manager Rick Davis fired Scheunemann after determining that he had been in direct contact with journalists spreading "disinformation" about campaign aides, including Nicolle Wallace and other officials.

"He was positioning himself with Palin at the expense of John McCain's campaign message," said one of the aides.

In contrast, what bad news did we ever hear from the Obama campaign? What "leaked information" from campaign insiders bad talking the campaign did we hear? The answer is none - something that might be a first in presidential politics.

The Hamilton County Republican Party, which is the Cincinnati area, just got busted for using $800 of tax payers money to have a party.

On Feb. 17, 2007, the Republicans’ executive committee met at the Queen City Club on Fourth Street, and spent $307 on hors d’oeuvers, $282 for an open bar, $95 for a private room and $95 for parking, according to the audit.

But the money the party used to cover the tab was from a fund that includes public money, and as a result, is strictly limited to party-building activities such as voter registration drives and day-to-day operations and office upkeep.

Having bad news hit the GOP in a predominately red area, this close to an election is a good thing for Obama. I doubt it will sway people to go from McCain to Obama, but it just might make some McCain supporters think twice about venturing out on Election Day.

Remember - Ohio has already been plagued by a highly corrupt GOP, including our former Governor Bob Taft, who was convicted while in office. Ohio is a key battle ground state this year and a big key to turning it blue is to remind the people of Ohio about the this corruption.

A new CBS poll has Obama leading Clinton by 16 points nationwide. Come on Hillary - even Romney had the sense to get out after awhile.