Recently in Republicans VS Category

The reality of the change and manifestation of the attempt at 'transformation' by Barack Obama seems to have scared the voters. The big issues at exit according to polls ..economy, real estate taxes.

We are scared the economy is going to be made WORSE, not just that whatever 'they' are doing won't work, and we absolutely don't want higher taxes ...I'm going to guess because we really believe we can't afford it, not on principal.

Voters yesterday who said they were WORRIED about the direction of the nation's economy -- Virginia: 85 percent. New Jersey: 90 percent.

In NJ and VA there is an unmistakable message. Republicans ... FREE ENTERPRISE WORKS, FREE ENTERPRISE IS THE RIGHT DIRECTION ..

FREE ENTERPRISE WITH SAFETY NETS ....hello?

In Maine, a commercial showing children in 1st grade being taught about gay lifestyles in the name of teaching tolerance caused a HUGE turnout and repeal of the law allowing gay marriage, and I mean HUGE. I saw as many people last night as I did for the Obama election.

And in NY23 where the dem won 49-46? Well, FEAR of a 'radical, right wing candidate' was the mesage of the dems, and of the person endorsed by Newt Gingrich, Michael Steele and supported by Boehner and Cantor, all of who can now be wearing a big red "S" (SCHMUCK) on their lapels. The republican ACORN supporting liberal who withdrew and endorsed the democrat polled 6%, THE DIFFERENCE, FELLAS. But what must be notable is that the PORTRAYAL OF HOFFMAN AS A RIGHT WING FREAK worked. Axelrod and Emanuel will take note for 2010, you can be sure.

If you take any of the following positions, and you are to the right of say .... Diane Feinstein, you will be portrayed as a right wing freak unless the letter (D) is after your name:

You are uncomfortable enough with abortion to say so.
You are against abortion as birth control
You think partial birth abortion is murder
You think public paid for health care is unworkable
You think the Constitution means what it says, and that the Bill of Rights trumps other ideas of localism and diversity
You think WE HAVE TO WIN BY KILLING THE ENEMY WHO MEANS TO KILL US WHEREVER THEY ARE AND NO MATTER THE COST
You think NATO should actually function
You recognize that the armed forces can really do only two things, KILL PEOPLE AND BREAK THINGS, and think they should be used for that.
You think non heterosexual lifestyles, or ANY sexual lifestyles should not be taught in grade school in the name of teaching tolerance
You believe in equal opportunity as opposed to equal outcome
You believe the USA should have assimilated cultures into a goop melange of American culture and not separate multicultures

If you flirt with any of these ideas and run for office as anything but a democrat, you will be a right wing fringe freak in your opponents nationally paid for campaign.

The objective: to make the voter FEAR YOU

BET ON IT

It may not be Ein Volk... but it is, taken at the goal, ..ONE PLAN

Politico:

Code Pink first made headlines by disrupting congressional hearings with anti-war rhetoric. Today, it's helping disrupt health care meetings -- even though it's in favor of reform.

What's up with that?

Call it a classic case of Washington mission creep -- and Code Pink is hardly the only group facing it.

A host of progressive advocacy groups that spent years warring with Republicans are now finding new causes to justify their existence and stay relevant in the Democratic-controlled city.

VoteVets, known for advertising against Republicans who voted against funding better body armor for combat troops, is now pushing Congress to pass climate change and pro-union legislation.

MoveOn.org is returning to its roots as an issue advocacy group.

And the Center for Community Change, a granddaddy in the progressive movement, is shifting its organizing strategy to concentrate on Washington instead of the local communities that have been its usual domain for pushing immigration, health care reform and other social justice issues.

"My group and other groups have made a radical switch in our approach because we think there's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make change on some very long-held progressive goals," said the center's executive director, Deepak Bhargava.

Still, he concedes: "It is a very difficult challenge because most of us have built up a culture that is deeply adversarial and oppositional."

Read more: "Liberal groups get makeover - Chris Frates - POLITICO.com" - http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23329.html#ixzz0HSyoHZUu&A

....

In the first 100 days of Obama's administration, the VoteVets brought 350,000 people to Washington, made more than 100,000 phone calls on health care and economic recovery legislation, and held more than 800 local meetings with congressional lawmakers.The 40-year-old center also is devoting 90 percent of its $13 million budget to passing major national reforms of health care, immigration and other big-ticket issues.

Meanwhile Rush and Steele are fighting over who is allowed to use the word republican in front of their name.

Are you kidding me?

HERE

It's amazing what distance from real life will do to your vision.

WHAT SERVICES?
Here are the services I receive from govt:

1. Garbage Collection (which was FAR superior when we paid private garbage haulers $2/week, and more when we had big stuff to get rid of...NONE OF WHICH can be given to the govt authorized service, local)
2. Roads being maintained (good job plowing, but fix the holes, local)
3. Schools (not anymore, but I'll pay for that...it's called sales and property tax, state and local)
4. Unemployment? Well I needed it once, but when I started my own business, even though I drew no moneys, THEY WANTED IT BACK
5. Clean air and water? We have a well. Air looks good. They create neither.
6. Protection, well locally we can leave our door unlocked at night, and sometime forget and do, nationally .. we need defense, and I'll pay for that.

When I have a problem with 1-3 I go to town hall where an actual human listens. But I live in a town with about 1200 voters. Once we get beyond that, policies are made beyond my ability to strongly influence. Therefore, I prefer as little of that as possible. SMALLER GOVT.

Powell says: "Americans are looking for more government in their life, not less."

I believe that to be either an error by Powell or the American people.

Distant people with weird views of life, who have a very different set of experience from yours, different needs, different wants, ... well I don't want more of them deciding things abut what I can do or not.

While I believe conservatism based on religious values are a danger since faith is dangerous in making law for all, and that so called religious conservatives should take caution from Goldwater's admonitions, I am not so sure that a move to be more like democrats is in the interest of either the Republican party or the nation. Powell singles out Eric Cantor who is no right wing freak, and Rush Limbaugh, whose views on only a few topics could be characterized that way, IF YOU ARE OF THE LEFT.

More still, American political views run like a sine wave. Sooner or later the wave returns back to 0 and then above. Sooner or later a theory of governing runs into problems, it's called nature and chance. And when that happens shall we have center-left and way-left be the choices?

I am not so sure that a move to be more like democrats is in the interest of either the Republican party or the nation. I will have to think more.

Being defined as a moderate or independent does not mean one has oatmeal views (hear me, Rush?), it may mean that you have choices which MAY be thought of as considerably left or considerably right on succeeding issues such as I do on respectively, gay marriage, and what defines national security.

By moving to the center the Republican party will narrow my choices. So I will have to think more.

But ironically the leftward lurch in the democratic party and what THEY perceive (after this election which was in REALITY - based on Republican corruption, and mishandling, and Lehman Bros and real estate value bubble economic-shock), as a SEA change in the American people (it isn't sport fans) may in the end cause there to be more republicans, SOONER OR LATER, just as inevitably Hastert, Foley, Delay, Livingstone, et caused there to be fewer.