GOP nominates Obama as Roy Barnes’ running mate
When President Obama comes to Atlanta on Monday, Roy Barnes will not be at his side. The Democratic nominee for governor is scheduled to be campaigning that day among the good people of South Georgia, which puts as much distance as possible between himself and the president.
However, once Georgia Republicans settle on a candidate of their own in the Aug. 10 runoff, Barnes is likely to find it a little more difficult to maintain that separation. Judging from rhetoric in the GOP primary and races elsewhere around the country, Republicans plan to make the 2010 elections a referendum on Washington in general and Obama in particular, even in races such as governor that have little or nothing to do with the federal government.
Here in Georgia, that means the GOP will be trying to link Obama to Barnes as if they were Siamese twins.
Results of a recent poll conducted by the Georgia Newspaper Partnership explain the virtues of that strategy. Among other things, the poll found that 56 percent of Georgians oppose the president’s controversial health insurance reform plan and support its repeal.
Overall, only 37 percent of Georgians approve of Obama’s job performance. Among likely white voters, where the GOP is strongest, that approval rating falls to 18 percent. In light of those numbers, defining the election as a referendum on Obama makes a lot of sense.
Fervor also plays into the GOP calculation. In nonpresidential elections, motivating turnout is difficult. Party leaders hope that by depicting a vote for a Republican as an act of rebellion against Washington, they can inspire their base and convert anger at the federal government into gains at the state and local levels as well.
But here in Georgia, that strategy has yet another important advantage for the GOP.
The party has held the governor’s office for the last eight years and for most of that time it has controlled the Legislature as well. Yet in all that time, it has made little progress in addressing critical state challenges such as unemployment, transportation, education and the water war with Florida and Alabama, among others.
(Barnes, in contrast, was accused of trying to do too much too quickly as governor from 1999-2003, which some believe caused his defeat.)
The GOP has been particularly apathetic, and at times even antagonistic, toward metro Atlanta, an attitude that has allowed other metro regions to emerge as competitors.
Transportation, for example, has long been key to Georgia’s prosperity, but in recent years we’ve been investing less per capita in transportation than any state but Tennessee. And even when the economy was doing well, Gov. Sonny Perdue and his colleagues were slicing billions from state aid for education, another important driver of long-term prosperity.
Perhaps as a result, Georgia’s unemployment rate has now exceeded the national average for 33 consecutive months. In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, Georgia has lost more jobs from June 2009 to June 2010 than any state but California, a state with almost four times our population.
That record contradicts GOP claims that low taxes — and by extension low public investment in our physical and human infrastructure — would make the state a leader in job growth, a message that they continue to preach even now.
As both parties understand, political campaigns are almost always won by the side that is able to define the agenda. While Georgia Republicans try to stoke public ire at faraway Washington, Barnes will ask voters to look instead at what’s happened for the last eight years under the Gold Dome in Atlanta.
That is, after all, where a governor has the greatest impact.
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287 comments Add your comment
Outhouse GoKart
July 27th, 2010
8:58 am
Riding along with Capt Obama is kinda like being on the SS Poseidon. The trip was all fun n games for awhile until the Tsunami blitzkrieg occured. Then all the rats went scurrying to and fro.
DEEP THROAT
July 27th, 2010
8:59 am
SKB 8;48 YOU ARE EXCUSED , YOU MAY LEAVE.
justine
July 27th, 2010
8:59 am
I have lived in the same house for 14 years and in my previous one 16. I have had the same telephone numbers for all of that time. In all of those years and with the same telephone number for almost 30 years, no one has ever polled me. Not once has my telephone rang and someone asked my opinion for any of these so called political polls. In other words I believe they poll who they want to poll.
The biggest problem with US politics is no one, politicians, reporters or voters ask the important questions. No individual congress person can change the law on abortion or take away gay rights. So time talking about this is wasted time. I want to know their exact plan for bringing more of our tax dollars back to the state. I want to know what they are planning to do about the lack of jobs and how they will bring them. And I want to know if they will stop giving tax dollars to businesses who say they are going to bring jobs but the jobless rate continues to grow.
In other words I want real answers to real issues.
larry
July 27th, 2010
9:00 am
” Im not a crook” , i can still see his jaws flapping. LOL !!
Normal
July 27th, 2010
9:00 am
Gammer
July 27th, 2010
8:54 am
Just keep closing your eyes real tight and putting your fingers in your ears and saying over and over again…lalalalalalalalalala…and YOU can keep avoiding reality.
Know Thy Facts
July 27th, 2010
9:02 am
Larry and others – “We keep suffering from their mistakes” (Bush and Cheney),
Unless I missed something in 7th grade History, the President does not write laws, Congress does. Contrary to what many believe, the President of the United States does not have that much power and the VP even less! Blame the US Congress, which has been under control of the Democrats, for current problems!
larry
July 27th, 2010
9:03 am
Im out until later…………………….. I am not a crook …. Still see Rich Little doing a spot on impression of him.
LOL !!!
Doggone/GA
July 27th, 2010
9:04 am
“President does not write laws,”
But the President has to sign them before they become law, so the decision is ultimately the Presidents…and, therefore, so is the responsibility. The only time it is SOLELY the fault of Congress is if Congress votes to override a Presidential veto.
Pope UGA XXIII
July 27th, 2010
9:06 am
Most people with an IQ above room temperature will agree that
the Washington leadership, Obama AND Bush, along with their
congressional cohorts have seriously damaged this country – quite
possibly beyond repair.
What I’m interested in hearing Barnes respond to is just how much
of the current lunacy in Washington he supports. The same goes for
Deal & Handel. I have no interest in seeing anyone from either party
in the Governor’s office who doesn’t understand the common sense
notion of not spending what you cannot reasonably expect to pay for.
See Governor Christie in New Jersey as a good example of what is
needed in Georgia.
My suspicion is that either of the Republicans would do a better
job that Roy Barnes who can only get elected if he reverses previous
stands taken that the Georgia teachers opposed.
TaxPayer
July 27th, 2010
9:07 am
Let’s see, Georgia has higher unemployment than the national average. Georgia also has the most failed banks of any state. Georgia is waaaay down there in the rankings on education. The real estate foreclosures are off the charts here in Georgia. Taxes on individuals have not dropped over time (and being unemployed does not count). De-regulation has only brought more death and destruction… Georgia GOP — this is your life. Georgia’s Party of No is actually saying to Obama, “NO! Don’t stop giving us that fed money!”
mm
July 27th, 2010
9:07 am
Taxes are the lowest they’ve been in 50 years.
So will one of you wingnuts please tell me how low taxes need to be before you are happy?
DEEP THROAT
July 27th, 2010
9:08 am
To all liberals the year is 2010, your precious Oblamer is in office, Lincoln, Reagan and Bush are no longer in office, live in the present, live for the future. Why are Liberals so backthinking people ?
Peadwg
July 27th, 2010
9:09 am
With Obama’s approval so low I think it’s a great strategy by the GOP to paint Barnes to be just like Obama. It’ll probably work out pretty well.
Saul Good
July 27th, 2010
9:10 am
Larry: “Ugh!!! Saul , you had to mention Broun. Easy stomach……….easy.”
ya….isn’t he something for ALL Georgians to be proud of when representing us on the national level?
TGT
July 27th, 2010
9:11 am
Giving Barnes a little campaign advice Jay? He needs it: about 280,000 more votes cast in the republican primary for governor in Georgia than in the democrat one = Barnes is toast. (He knows it too: he sounds more like a conservative than a liberal.)
For that matter, according to the latest polls, republicans stand to make HUGE gains in governors races across the country. RCP no-toss-ups summary has the republicans owning 34 states and Dems 15 (independents 1).
The states are a great barometer for the federal govt. The biggest reason for this political turn (towards the GOP) in the states is the desperate financial crisis that many states, especially “blue” ones, find themselves in. Despite Jay’s assessment of Georgia, the fact is it is the states that have been in liberal hands that are in the worst financial condition:
http://www.forbes.com/2010/02/25/democratic-states-bad-financial-shape-personal-finance-blue.html
And given that DC is firmly in the hands of liberals as well, people all across the country have seen enough. That is why we have the rise in the TEA parties, the backlash against Obamacare, etc. The Dems are in for a political bloodbath at every level and Georgia will be no exception.
kayaker 71
July 27th, 2010
9:12 am
Love it when Democratic candidates shun Bozo when he wants to “help them in their campaign”. These guys/gals are not stupid. They want to stay as far from this disaster as they can.
TaxPayer
July 27th, 2010
9:15 am
All Barnes has to do to win over Georgia’s rural teachers is start off his speeches with phrases like, “Don’t you just love that Glenn Beck!” They’ll melt in your hands.
Richard
July 27th, 2010
9:16 am
Jay, when McCain was linked to Bush it was simply smart politics. The GOP is doing the same here.
As for Barnes, riding the coattails of a democrat in a red state would be dumb whether that democrat is doing a good job or not. That’s simply reality.
Bill
July 27th, 2010
9:17 am
Nice comment Jay – let’s blame unemployment on the Ga education system rather than:
1. Kids who fail to go to school
2. Teen pregnacies
3. Gangs in schools
4. Forcing Gov institutions to loan morgage money to people too stupid to read a contract and could ill afford the payments in the first place
5. Bush – Chaney – economic policies (just what was that policy again? Oh yeh, run up a deficit – seems like Obama is a steriod clone of that policy)
Diehard
July 27th, 2010
9:21 am
Rahm Emanuel is the love child of Jay Bookman and Cynthia Tucker.
StJ
July 27th, 2010
9:22 am
“Republicans plan to make the 2010 elections a referendum on Washington in general and Obama in particular, even in races such as governor that have little or nothing to do with the federal government.”
But it has EVERYTHING to do with the liberal Democrat mindset/agenda whose ultimate goal is permanent power and absolute control of the people. After all, the Constitution as written is terribly obsolete.
@@
July 27th, 2010
9:22 am
Democratic nominee for governor is scheduled to be campaigning that day among the good people of South Georgia
Good people? As opposed to the ignorant, white, trailer trash OTHER people? Democrats are GOOD? Republicans are BAD?
Outhouse GoKart
July 27th, 2010
9:24 am
Ya…use the Glenn Beck scare tactic. Thats a real election winner!
Bosch
July 27th, 2010
9:27 am
Of course the GOP will try to pair Barnes and Obama – which makes absolutely no sense — because they want to distract from the fact that the GOP in this state have ruined it. It’s the old “look, pretty, shiny” routine.
And the sad part is, that it works — because of the rabid ignorant people who keep voting in these ignorant rabid imbeciles.
Outhouse GoKart
July 27th, 2010
9:29 am
So Barnes previously holding the office of Guber makes him and his voters ignorant rabid imbeciles?
DEEP THROAT
July 27th, 2010
9:30 am
Borsch we see what happens when the ignorant vote, just look at Oblamer.
Big D
July 27th, 2010
9:31 am
Liberals can’t get off that stupid argument of “I don’t mind paying more taxes” well you know what… conservatives don’t mind either. Conservatives are just smart enough to try and plug all the entitlement holes that all the money is flowing back out of. Jay,you talk about painting Barnes with an Obama crayon, but liberals keep painting a conservative congress with a “heartless crayon” because they don’t want to keep putting more holes in the federal bucket. We have lost TRILLIONS to OBAMA’S NEW ( not Bush) programs and NOBODY can logically tell you where it went. We will only start to see accountability when we balance the power in Congress this year.
lmno
July 27th, 2010
9:31 am
A lot of GOP Candidates are running against Obama. It doesn’t make sense that the guy running for a State Representative in Coooterville, GA should say he will end “Obamacare” but they are doing it and people are dumb enough to buy it.
Even the the two GOP Governor Candidates are running on National Platforms, arguing over who hates abortion more, as if the GA Governor has any say on that issue.
“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Democracy simply does not work”- Kent Brockman
USinUK
July 27th, 2010
9:32 am
Bosch – where ya been??? we were worried that the puppies were holding you hostage. s’everything okay with you and yours?
AmVet
July 27th, 2010
9:33 am
If I had been absolutely oblivious and unethical enough to have EVER voted for the Worst Administration in American History EVEN ONCE, I too would be playing that sophomoric card of “But they’ve been out of office 18 months!!!”.
According to Republilogic, these head in the sand (or is it up the ___?) neo-cons, must believe that everything was hunky dory in Europe on May 9, 1945.
Though you are exceptionally talented at it, wake up conned. The BushCo Cabal and his corporate overseers inflicted such massive death, damage and destruction on this nation, it will take ten years or more to recover. And even if a Republican gains the White House in 2012 or 2016, everybody with a clue will still acknowledge it, except you blind mice…
Bosch
July 27th, 2010
9:33 am
Shut up Outhouse.
JohnnyReb
July 27th, 2010
9:33 am
“The GOP has been particularly apathetic, and at times even antagonistic, toward metro Atlanta, an attitude that has allowed other metro regions to emerge as competitors.”
One has to look no further than the latest flap at the airport where city official under the table “deals” cost taxpayers millions, or the “book” deal in Dekalb, to see why most Georgians (GOP) have little support for Atlanta metro. Something like those embarrassments has occurred for as long as I can remember (and that’s a long time). No, we can’t divest ourselves of Atlanta, Fulton and Dekalb Counties, but it sure is a nice day dream sometimes.
The local government problems in Atlanta and surrounding metro counties is not a GOP problem. Citizens in those districts need to elect officials that will fix the problems, those could be GOP candidates, and once their is evidence of actual change you might see the rest of the state start giving Atlanta more support. Change in Atlanta, Fulton and Dekalb, however, are likely a day dream also.
USinUK
July 27th, 2010
9:33 am
“Conservatives are just smart enough to try and plug all the entitlement holes that all the money is flowing back out of. ”
just like they did between 2000 and 2007, when they ran the table.
oh. wait …
Outhouse GoKart
July 27th, 2010
9:34 am
mmm hmmm and if the people of Cooterville were voting in favor of Dem policies Im sure they would be the most highly educated of the entire State…perhaps ever the Nation.
Nice try and thanks for playing.
NEXT!
Normal
July 27th, 2010
9:37 am
DEEP THROAT
July 27th, 2010
9:30 am
I guess you voted too?
Soothsayer
July 27th, 2010
9:39 am
[T]he only problem Republicans ever had with George W. Bush was his low approval rating. They always loved his policies and his governing style — and they want them back. In recent weeks, G.O.P. leaders have come out for a complete return to the Bush agenda, including tax breaks for the rich and financial deregulation. They’ve even resurrected the plan to cut future Social Security benefits.
But they have a problem: how can they embrace President Bush’s policies, given his record? After all, Mr. Bush’s two signature initiatives were tax cuts and the invasion of Iraq; both, in the eyes of the public, were abject failures. Tax cuts never yielded the promised prosperity, but along with other policies — especially the unfunded war in Iraq — they converted a budget surplus into a persistent deficit. Meanwhile, the W.M.D. we invaded Iraq to eliminate turned out not to exist, and by 2008 a majority of the public believed not just that the invasion was a mistake but that the Bush administration deliberately misled the nation into war. What’s a Republican to do?
Let’s see how closely aligned the Republican candidates are to George Bush come November.
Joe
July 27th, 2010
9:39 am
WOW! US in UK is a woman. I totally had this person imagined in my mind as a guy from Atlanta who now has a British accent. Funny how your mind works
Saul Good
July 27th, 2010
9:39 am
Hmmmm…. so I post a link showing DEEP THROAT how the great REAGAN actually was no better at creating jobs in his first 18 months compared to Obama… and in typical republican fashion… he simply responds that he’s focusing ONLY on Obama (or something along those lines in his simplistic manner)… yet he fails to respond due to not having ANYTHING to show just HOW or WHAT republicans could be doing a better job…or just what it is that they propose to do in the future to CREATE more jobs.
Cut more taxes? The Bush tax cuts are STILL CURRENTLY in place. How many jobs have they created?
Normal
July 27th, 2010
9:41 am
Funny how your mind works
yeah, like a car, you have to take it out for a spin every now and then or it gets rusty…
DEEP THROAT
July 27th, 2010
9:43 am
Normal, I did vote, I did not drink the koolade that put Oblamer in office. How much koolade have you drank, can yo see clearly now ?
USinUK
July 27th, 2010
9:43 am
Joe – nope. no british accent. I can’t even bring myself to say “cheers”, I still say an American “thanks”
DEEP THROAT
July 27th, 2010
9:44 am
SAUL GET IT IN YOUR HEAD , ITS 2010
Moderate
July 27th, 2010
9:44 am
Let’s see…..Barnes wants to (1) add more teachers (2) pay them significantly more and (3) not bankrupt the state and counties. I want to know how. Sounds like Obama magic to me.
Saul Good
July 27th, 2010
9:44 am
Soothsayer @ 9:39am
Good points and good post.
It’s ALL going to be about “tax cuts” to create more jobs…and all one will have to do is show those tax cuts…and the millions of jobs LOST during the period they were in effect.
Time for them to go back to the drawing board… (they always can focus on what Handel and Deal are: Abortions and gays)…
AmVet
July 27th, 2010
9:45 am
“Let’s see how closely aligned the Republican candidates are to George Bush come November.”
Soothsayer, despite the clueless BushCo faithful, it was OBVIOUS to the rest of the nation, that other than McCain and Paul, those other eight candidates in 2008 were to a man, neo-Bush stooges. None, was significantly different and all were laughably unelectable.
But man, was it good spectacle…
Soothsayer
July 27th, 2010
9:45 am
We interrupt the George Bush reputation rehabilitation tour for this brief reminder:
“For most of the past 70 years, the U.S. economy has grown at a steady clip, generating perpetually higher incomes and wealth for American households. But since 2000, the story is starkly different.
The past decade was the worst for the U.S. economy in modern times, a sharp reversal from a long period of prosperity that is leading economists and policymakers to fundamentally rethink the underpinnings of the nation’s growth.
It was, according to a wide range of data, a lost decade for American workers. The decade began in a moment of triumphalism — there was a current of thought among economists in 1999 that recessions were a thing of the past. By the end, there were two, bookends to a debt-driven expansion that was neither robust nor sustainable.”
Just in case you forgot: By nearly any conceivable measure, the George W. Bush administration (2000-08) economic performance was the worst of any President since Hoover.
See, we need to get rid of Obama and return to the “good ole days” under Bush.
USinUK
July 27th, 2010
9:45 am
Deep – 9:44 – but, why don’t you answer Saul’s legitimate questions in his 9:39?
Saul Good
July 27th, 2010
9:45 am
DEEP THROAT: Caps key “locked”???…maybe it’s “stuck” in place… Gee….I wonder why!
Paulo977
July 27th, 2010
9:46 am
USinUK @7:3am…. I am afraid that is the extent of majority Georgian ‘thinking skill’…This is a red state and of course a democratic president has to be the reason for unemploment here . As to the present governor’s role in the situation is not even ‘covertly’ considered !!! For cryng out loud , Georgians are struggling to cope with health care costs and still want the health care bill repealed!!!!
Saul Good
July 27th, 2010
9:47 am
UsinUK… it’s always easy to avoid those questions. Perhaps DEEP will FINALLY lavish us with just WHAT we should be doing to “create” jobs that Obama is NOT doing.
USinUK
July 27th, 2010
9:48 am
Paulo – “As to the present governor’s role in the situation is not even ‘covertly’ considered !!!”
the Republican governor, the Republican state house OR the Republican state senate.
JohnnyReb
July 27th, 2010
9:48 am
If you guys on the Left would read or watch something other than legacy media that is in Obama’s pocket, you would know that the number one reason businesses are not hiring is the Obama big government, spread the wealth, agenda. Time after time Fox News has interviews with small business owners who state same. Too much uncertainty with health care, now financial regulations, and the possibility of tax hikes. They are holding their money with hopes of staying in business. I think denial is one of the steps toward healing, so perhaps there is hope for you when you finally realize the Bamster fixes have made things worse.
Saul Good
July 27th, 2010
9:49 am
Paulo977 : “For cryng out loud , Georgians are struggling to cope with health care costs and still want the health care bill repealed!!!!”
Yup…but don’t you dare TOUCH those “socialist” items they embrace like Medicare or Medicaid… let alone the king of ALL “socialist” programs we have here: Social Security.
USinUK
July 27th, 2010
9:49 am
Saul – 9:47 – not holding my breath.
Joe
July 27th, 2010
9:49 am
well, I do want to compliment you on your writing style. It is only your comments that I look for thruout this messiness we live with in GA. Are you sure we couldn’t get you to come back to the states and play a little politics? I know it would mean leaving the Sheppherd’s pie behind but think of the joy you’d get by humiliating all the good ol’ boys!!!
Big D
July 27th, 2010
9:49 am
U,U…can we just ONCE stay in the NOW. You guys want to call us “Birthers” you are undeniably “BLAMERS” .
Bosch
July 27th, 2010
9:49 am
Hi USinUK,
The puppies are good, they are getting a little more rowdy, but I haven’t been around because my mom passed away. I’m trying for a little familiar surrounding today whilst I catch up on some work.
squire
July 27th, 2010
9:50 am
Sonny Lied!
Saul Good
July 27th, 2010
9:51 am
JohnnyReb… perhaps they should interview my wife. She owns a small business…and she’s been hiring. Her numbers are up over 40% compared to last year (month to month)… The stock market is up over 30% since Obama took office. Not a bad return if one invested in the dow on Jan. 20th 2009. Damn good one if you ask me.
Curious Observer
July 27th, 2010
9:52 am
It strikes me that the run-up to the 2010 elections is the closest thing to propaganda I’ve seen in my lifetime. We hear cries of “Socialism!”, and yet I’ve seen nothing that even faintly resembles a socialistic movement. Take the health law, for example. How, exactly, is leaving the insurance system in the hands of private enterprise while the federal government helps the poor and uninsurable obtain the insurance any different from any previous assistance provided by the federal government? Ditto for the so-called bank bail-outs. What was the alternative? Doing nothing and allowing the entire banking system to collapse?
The Republicans have certainly whipped up a lot of fervor, and they’ll most certainly do well this year. They’ve succeeded in shifting blame for the economic disaster their own stewardship created. They may even be able to benefit from the inevitable recovery from their own disaster. Yet, their campaign is based on instilling a false hope in the voting public. In another year or so, the public will come to recognize that there is no magic bullet. By then, the public will be stuck in the warfare and stalemate created by a Democratic executive and a Republican legislature. It will be a stalemate even worse than the one we have now.
Soothsayer
July 27th, 2010
9:53 am
Anybody notice the big, giant, humongous thing that could be trimmed from this budget? Hint: it’s at the top right.
Saul Good
July 27th, 2010
9:55 am
Curious Observer @ 9:52am… great post. Instead of anyone answering your questions…perhaps you’ll get called a few names instead.
“The Republicans have certainly whipped up a lot of fervor, and they’ll most certainly do well this year. They’ve succeeded in shifting blame for the economic disaster their own stewardship created.”
Oh but don’t you realize…they’re DIFFERENT now. Even though the only “solution” I hear is the same ol’ thang: Tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts… those very same one’s which have NOT yet expired and have created NO jobs. In fact…they COST us jobs and ADDED to the deficit.
DEEP THROAT
July 27th, 2010
9:55 am
USUK unlike you backward thinking Liberals I cannot go back in time. Its 2010, no past president can change what is taking place today, Oblamer is the president whose policies affect our lives today, Heck I can not even see into the future, but my actions may help influence the future, and I will do all within my rights to see our country and state come back to the people. You Liberals continue living the past.
Saul Good
July 27th, 2010
9:57 am
Soothsayer,
Common… that’s like asking someone to not bring their loaded weapon into a bar here in GA.
Maybe it should be renamed in the post “Iraqi Invasion” world to the “OFFENSE BUDGET”….
Saul Good
July 27th, 2010
9:57 am
Deep… got that key fixed huh? Good!
Anyway…answer the question…just WHAT should we be doing to “create” jobs?
Ready?
GO!
Doggone/GA
July 27th, 2010
9:58 am
I’m thinking DT is a graduate of the LA school of blog replies
AmVet
July 27th, 2010
9:58 am
Bosch, my most sincere condolences. Best wishes.
Intown
July 27th, 2010
9:58 am
Dems better turn out for Barnes. This is their last best shot at the Governor’s Mansion for a LOOOONG time.
USinUK
July 27th, 2010
9:59 am
ohmygod, Bosch – I’m so very sorry to hear about your mom! oh, my sweet friend – know that I’m keeping you and your family in my thoughts and sending you big hugs.
Saul Good
July 27th, 2010
9:59 am
Bosch…sorry about the loss of your Mom. My condolences as well.
Soothsayer
July 27th, 2010
10:00 am
DEEP THROAT: Obama inherited an economy that resulted from over 30 years of Republican policies: deficit spending, globalization, offshore outsourcing, deindustrialization. Now, you want to demonize him because he doesn’t have a magic wand to “fix” it. You see, demonizing Obama is easier than admitting that the policies of your own party are what got us into this mess.
Bosch
July 27th, 2010
10:01 am
Deep Throat,
“Oblamer is the president whose policies affect our lives today”
And it doesn’t occur to you that policies that were put into effect us years ago, still effect us today? Policies don’t change with each new administration or each new election, you do know that right?
AmVet
July 27th, 2010
10:02 am
USinUK, your post reminded me of this, which I just received in an email earlier today.
For you brother Bosch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN8CKwdosjE
USinUK
July 27th, 2010
10:02 am
Deep – “backward thinking Liberals”
blahblahblah … here’s an idea. rather than sling poo, why don’t you just answer the question?? what should Obama be doing to create jobs?
Doggone/GA
July 27th, 2010
10:03 am
Bosch – my condolences on your loss. I know what it’s like to lose your Mom.
JohnnyReb
July 27th, 2010
10:03 am
Saul, my wife also owns a small business and her year over year is up 45%. However, a large portion of that came from two competing businesses in the same area going TU. Plus, if we had to depend on income from the business, it would not be a pretty story. Instead, she has rolled all the profits back into the business. We are optimistic, but the economy has to improve and people have more discretionary income if our investment is to ever be worth it. As to hiring, we have found that people want a job but they don’t want the standard starting pay for retail which is just above minimum wage. Some think they should be paid commensurate with their skills, but their skills are not retail.
USinUK
July 27th, 2010
10:05 am
Joe – thanks for the kind words (there are far better writers than I am, though) … as far as moving back to GA, I don’t know that I could cope with the summers, anymore! our avg temp here is usually between 75-80 in the summer … I think 103 would melt me!
I will be making my annual pilgrimmage in late September, though, to see my fambly and friends – huzzah!
Bosch
July 27th, 2010
10:05 am
USinUK, AmVet, and Saul – thanks. Having your mom die, really, truly, absolutely sucks.
Outhouse GoKart
July 27th, 2010
10:05 am
Just for fun…
Article shows pix of The Goron estate…looks almost big enough to hold his huge ego.
So, Who Will Keep Al Gore’s Brand New $9-Million Mansion In Southern California?
http://www.businessinsider.com/al-gore-mansion-2010-6
Baby's Daddy
July 27th, 2010
10:05 am
Roy got to stay away from Obama if he wanna win. Best to pretend Obama got leprosy and stay da hell away–not mention his name. Better he sit down and eat grits with Jimmy Carter than be caught in a phot with Obama.
Pennsylvanian
July 27th, 2010
10:06 am
Pity poor King Rat. He might have had a shot against Oxendine. Hell, I would have voted for King Rat over Oxendine. But now we have the Dems scared silly that Handel will win, and Palin will be launched into superstar status as the GOP power player. She will use that status and media visibility to drag Obama’s pathetic record in front of the voters from Nov ‘10 to Nov ‘12.
USinUK
July 27th, 2010
10:06 am
Bosch – “Policies don’t change with each new administration or each new election, you do know that right”
and it’s not like the marketplace zeroes out every January 20th so that you can judge each president’s economy on its own merit.
Oblamer
July 27th, 2010
10:08 am
funny. GOP covers and wins in a landslide. May common sense conservatism like Marco Rubio be the future over this devilish democratic leadership…calling evil good and good evil..
USinUK
July 27th, 2010
10:08 am
Bosch – been there. know that. wish I could say that it gets easier – it doesn’t. I miss my mom every flippin’ day (it’ll be 17 years this October) – you just learn how to fold the pain into your daily life. “sucks” doesn’t even begin.
Normal
July 27th, 2010
10:08 am
Bosch,
Just read about your loss. Mom’s are special people. Angels on earth. My heart breaks for you. Here comes some good vibes…I hope they help.
uhoh
July 27th, 2010
10:10 am
I’d much prefer a “do nothing” legislature than a “let’s see what boneheaded stuff we can pass” legislature. See: US House of Representatives, circa now.
DEEP THROAT
July 27th, 2010
10:11 am
You liberal dummies, If business was not scared of what Oblunder will take away from them perhaps they would be more apt to hire. Oblunder is pro union as is Barnes, unions do not work they hurt business.
Call it like it is.
July 27th, 2010
10:11 am
“US in UK”
What is this google you speak of? and do you apparently get all of your information from this source? I mean you telling me Barnes is a lawyer, wow what insight, does Jay pay you for this vast amount of knowledge you bring to the table?
“Jay” once again the question for you is what has Barnes done as a lawyer for the past 8 years. Who has he represented? Big money or the little guy. I’m sure everybody on this site would like to know.
Bosch
July 27th, 2010
10:12 am
Good God, AmVet, are you trying to kill me? That song gets me choked up on any given Tuesday.
And thanks too Doggone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
USinUK,
“and it’s not like the marketplace zeroes out every January 20th so that you can judge each president’s economy on its own merit.”
Do you think that’s really what the wingnut problem is? Do you really think they believe that? Maybe you should have told them that a long time ago.
Soothsayer
July 27th, 2010
10:13 am
Internet trolls, also known as “paid posters” or “paid bloggers,” are increasingly being employed by private corporations as well, often for marketing purposes. In fact, it is a rapidly growing industry.
Trolls use a wide variety of strategies, some of which are unique to the internet, here are just a few:
1) Make outrageous comments designed to distract or frustrate:
2) Pose as a supporter of the truth, then make comments that discredit the movement.
3) Dominate Discussions: Trolls often interject themselves into productive web discussions in order to throw them off course and frustrate the people involved.
4) Prewritten Responses: Many trolls are supplied with a list or database with pre-planned talking points designed as generalized and deceptive responses to honest arguments.
5) False Association: For example: calling those against the Federal Reserve “conspiracy theorists” or “lunatics”.
6) False Moderation: Pretending to be the “voice of reason” in an argument with obvious and defined sides in an attempt to move people away from what is clearly true into a “grey area” where the truth becomes “relative.”
7) Straw Man Arguments: A very common technique. The troll will accuse his opposition of subscribing to a certain point of view, even if he does not, and then attacks that point of view.
Do you see any of these here today?
Gammer
July 27th, 2010
10:14 am
(La de da la de da) – my eyes are closed. Everything’s going to okay.
“These future deficits are driven almost exclusively by rising spending. President Obama’s budget would push inflation-adjusted federal spending past $36,000 per household by 2020—$12,000 above the level that prevailed under President Bush. Even President Obama’s enormous and anti-growth $3 trillion tax increase proposal won’t stop this spending spree from pushing the national debt to economically dangerous levels.
The Mid-Session Budget Review also confirms the failure of Obama’s economic agenda. The President concedes that the unemployment rate will remain at nearly 10 percent this year and not revert to pre-recession levels until 2016—and even that is based on the same optimistic Keynesian economic models that claim the stimulus created or saved 3 million jobs. If this is economic policy success, one wonders how failure would look.”
Now that’s a future and a REALITY to look forward to, no?
Normal
July 27th, 2010
10:14 am
uhoh
July 27th, 2010
10:10 am
…and I’d like to see a legislature that works together and do what’s good for the majority of the people instead of just what’s good for the wealthy minority…silly me.
godless heathen
July 27th, 2010
10:16 am
Bosch – My condolences. You never get used to a world without your mother in it.
Normal
July 27th, 2010
10:17 am
Gammer
July 27th, 2010
10:14 am
You ever wonder what today might have looked like if nothing was done at all?
AmVet
July 27th, 2010
10:17 am
Sorry Bosch! (And a virtual hug.)
I too loved Deep’s observation about backward-thinking liberals. Project much, reactionaries?
Isn’t it enormous fun how the Tweedledee and Tweedledum parties have reversed roles?
Remember when we had endless years of GOP presidents who were as bad or worse that BHO and all the Dems could do was trot out an endless litany of non-electable jokes?
To that changed end, I predict that the GOP slate is 2010 is going to be another hysterical collection of political misfits to rival Tancredo, Thompson, Romney, Brownback, Giuliani, Keyes, Huckabee and Hunter.
And the Uppity Muslim juggernaut does his GOP-lite thing and gets re-elected with ease in spite of a poor performance in his first term.
And the endless summer of neo-con discontent rolls on.
Good times…
DEEP THROAT
July 27th, 2010
10:18 am
Soothsayer I do not want to fall for the Liberals trap of going back in time, but you said Oblamer inheritted THIRTY YEARS OF REPUBLICAN POLICIES. Does your backward thinking only work when Republicans were in office. What was Clinton or Carter ?
USinUK
July 27th, 2010
10:18 am
Bosch – 10:12 – “Do you think that’s really what the wingnut problem is? Do you really think they believe that? Maybe you should have told them that a long time ago.”
I know … you can keep posting this until you are blue in the fingers, but they still seem to insist that unemployment was a new thing that started in January 2009
http://www.pensitoreview.com/Wordpress/wp-content/themes/mimbo2.2/images/chart-job-growth-bush-obama.jpg
Saul Good
July 27th, 2010
10:18 am
JohnnyReb,
My wife too has rolled much of what her store makes into expanding. She just moved her store and literally doubled the size of it. I posted not so long ago what she pays… ($12 an hour for full time retail staff)… more for assistant managers… and she had MANY who came from other fields looking for work. She has people walking into her store every single day looking for a job. Since the “products” she sells are kind of “specialized” and do take some serious product knowledge and training… most don’t qualify. Most of her recent hires were customers of hers. The largest group (by classification) that she gets when people fill out applications are those who had ties to the real estate industry. Nobody can deny that MANY if not MOST of the jobs lost here in GA had ties to real estate…from former agents, builders, subcontractors, mortgage brokers, etc and those who worked in manufacturing of building products (or the selling of those same products)… our local economy was heavily weighed down with ties to both commercial and residential building. Sad thing is…I STILL see many who feel that they ONLY way out of this economy is to start building again and kick start that industry again. My only hope is that people learn from their past mistakes. Yet history shows us (like the many who win and lose in the stock market)…that when the next “boom” starts… people will always look for the quick buck and jump right back on the same bandwagon.
Jefferson
July 27th, 2010
10:19 am
If you don’t like the President, its your own fault — you could have voted for Hillary, as that was the only other chance for somebody else, so blame yourself or enjoy the ride.
Curious Observer
July 27th, 2010
10:19 am
…and I’d like to see a legislature that works together and do what’s good for the majority of the people instead of just what’s good for the wealthy minority…silly me.
Rest assured that so long as corporations and the wealthy donate to political campaigns, what’s good for the wealthy minority will continue to be the order of business in the legislative halls.