election day

If you have any doubts rather Pelosi should be minority leader or not, just take a look at this post from Armstrong Williams:

A barely known Democratic member of the House has done what over a half-dozen more qualified of his colleagues have cowered in fear over — mount a challenge to Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and her bid to remain the highest-ranking member when Democrats assume the minority in January.

Rep. Heath Shuler (N.C.), a former Heisman award winner, stepped up yesterday and announced his bid to unseat Pelosi as incoming minority leader. This isn’t some empty challenge, even though Shuler stands little chance. It’s one based on recognition of the political reality facing this party now — they’re about to be led over a cliff again by the same liberal shepherd.

Williams is taking Heath Shuler’s challenge to become minority leader as a real threat against Pelosi. Shuler is one of the few remaining Blue Dogs in the Democratic caucus, which saw a 50% loss of membership on Election Day. The fact that Williams is overlooking is that the more liberal members of Congress did fine in their election bids.

So thanks Armstrong for giving Pelosi the ultimate endorsement. If the House Democrats listen to you and do the exact opposite then they will see their numbers grow in future cycles.

Now that we are 5 days away from Election Day, we need to start asking ourselves what our future holds. By all odds we are looking at Republicans regaining control of one house of Congress, if not both. But what are our new leaders promising us? Let’s look:

- Repeal healthcare

- Extend Bush tax cuts

- Cut spending, mainly on things like social programs and infrastructure.

- “Accountability”

But what are the alternatives to these items? Go ahead and repeal healthcare, but then we are left with the same problems we had before. How will the GOP fix our old, broken system?

And if we decide to cut spending on things like Social Security, unemployment, infrastructure and all those other “socialist” programs, what’s the outcome? Is America ready to face a tidal wave of growing homeless, seniors unable to afford to live and collapsing bridges? And even if we do massive cuts on all these items, it still will not offset the deficit increasing Bush tax cuts. In the simplest of terms this is stealing from the poor and giving to the rich, or stealing from the 98% and giving to the 2%.

I’m just spit-balling here, but something has struck me. For years we have talked about how banning abortion was a necessity for Republican victory, as backed up by the evidence of them actually not doing much to deliver once in office. The thought is that Republicans need to keep the abortion debate alive to insure they have voters come election day – the hard core anti-abortion base. If abortion was banned then this huge chunk of the base may not be willing to vote as much.

So that makes me wonder if health care reform could be viewed the same way for Democrats. Keep dangling that carrot in front of the face of electorates from one cycle to the next in hopes that they will turn out on that Tuesday morning in November.

Sure pass a half-assed measure now to throw us a very small bone and then in November promise us that you will deliver something more – like Medicare for 55+. Then in 2012 we get President Obama transforming back into canidadte Obama and he will be out there saying how he will work hard to expand health care to even more.

Yes it is a very sinister notion, but given the lack of a real fight from people like Reid and Obama it does make perfect sense. Politics come first – actually delivering on your agenda, well that is a distant second.

When there is a ton of finger pointing at the Democrats going on, it can only mean one thing – ELECTION DAY!

Earlier today, the Hoffman campaign and conservative bloggers threw a fit over a very nefarious accusation: That somebody had slashed the tire of a Hoffman poll-watcher's pickup truck.

"Hoffman Poll Watcher Has Tires Slashed," blared Red State, with photos of the truck and its flat tire. And Hoffman himself chimed in.

"We just had a report that one of our pollsters in Clinton County just had their tires slashed," Hoffman said. "So I think the Democrats are doing everything they possibly can to steal this election away from the 23rd District."

However, the Wall Street Journal reports that the local police captain said there's another explanation: "This was not a tire slashing--this was some guy who drove over a bottle and cut his tire."

Does this remind anyone of Ashley Todd?

This from a new CBS/New York Times poll is stunning:

The poll found that most Americans would be willing to pay higher taxes so everyone could have health insurance and that they said the government could do a better job of holding down health-care costs than the private sector.

[SNIP]

The national telephone survey, which was conducted from June 12 to 16, found that 72 percent of those questioned supported a government-administered insurance plan — something like Medicare for those under 65 — that would compete for customers with private insurers. Twenty percent said they were opposed.

So why in the hell are Democrats waffling on the issue of single payer? They have the momentum of a nation (a sick nation) behind them. But the fact that we have an auction instead of a democracy is killing the idea. The big donors of the health care industry are forcing the Democrats to abandon the idea.

Keep this up Democrats and your new found power will be shortly lived. You will see a 2012 that mimics 2008, except this time it will be copious amounts of registered Democrats changing their affiliation to Independent or deciding to stay at home on Election Day. If that happens we can forget ever seeing healthcare reform in our nation.

There's problems in paradise according to Ben Smith:

Even as John McCain and Sarah Palin scramble to close the gap in the final days of the 2008 election, stirrings of a Palin insurgency are complicating the campaign's already-tense internal dynamics.

Four Republicans close to Palin said she has decided increasingly to disregard the advice of the former Bush aides tasked to handle her, creating occasionally tense situations as she travels the country with them. Those Palin supporters, inside the campaign and out, said Palin blames her handlers for a botched rollout and a tarnished public image — even as others in McCain's camp blame the pick of the relatively inexperienced Alaska governor, and her public performance, for McCain's decline.

"She's lost confidence in most of the people on the plane," said a senior Republican who speaks to Palin, referring to her campaign jet. He said Palin had begun to "go rogue" in some of her public pronouncements and decisions.

"I think she'd like to go more rogue," he said.

Read the whole thing. It gives great insight into the circle firing squad now forming within the GOP. I hate to be overly optimistic, but I think this would be the deal closer for Obama. Let Palin go rogue, which appears to mean super negative, and we will have a very early night on Election Day, thanks to Sarah Palin.

Charles Keating's law firm has made donations topping $50,000 to the McCain campaign. I don't really think Obama should go negative, but if he targeted the Keating story in the Cincinnati area it could deliver him a very red part of Ohio. A lot of people in the Cincinnati area lost their life savings because of McCain's buddy and Keating's name is a very sore subject around here, since he got his start in this area. I know a few Republicans who are staying home on Election Day simply because of McCain's close ties to Keating.

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.