Republican Platform starting to lose its gilding?

[gojujay]

hey, dont forget this one.

for those who don't have the time to read it: florida is attempting to pass legislation which allows college students to sue professors who teach evolution as fact because it is intolerant to their beliefs. and its actually on its way to being passed. its actually making its way through the proper channels without being shot down.

hell in a handbasket, i tells ya

So the Republicons have discovered the favorite tactic of the Left... And the complaint is "Hey, these guys are shooting back!"

University speech codes have borne children. Just gotta laugh...while crying

[gojujay]

As if these people will ever be beneficiaries of the policies of the party they elected! And all under the guise of something we all have been duped with called "values."

Shows the consequences of ignoring or worse, belittling those "values". Until the Left comes to understand that, they will always lose those areas.

[gojujay]

Has anyone else been struck by the thought that the news from Florida has been mired in the bizarre lately? I always thought the loose nuts rolled down to southern California, but I'm changing my mind about that. Is Jeb hoping all this stuff will get him into the White House?

And we natives down here would appreciate if you would keep your nuts a little closer to the tree

[esskreemr]

Just saw this on CNN, Bush's approval rating has been taking a hit as of late particularly concerning Economic conditions.

A large part of it seems to be fuel prices...

http://www.gallup.com/poll/content/?ci=15373

[Maeve_Mari]

Shows the consequences of ignoring or worse, belittling those "values". Until the Left comes to understand that, they will always lose those areas.

But they're (the republicans) not delivering on any of them. Just talking them. Not even intending to. What is occuring is capital gains changes, business exemption changes, taxes on persons earning greater than $250K. Reducing education benefits, deconstructing social security into a personal savings account, further reducing medical benefits from medicare are against the core economic and political needs of the very middle american states that are voting for them. They've been duped and they aren't getting any return or service back.

[gojujay]

But they're (the republicans) not delivering on any of them. Just talking them. Not even intending to. What is occuring is capital gains changes, business exemption changes, taxes on persons earning greater than $250K. Reducing education benefits, deconstructing social security into a personal savings account, further reducing medical benefits from medicare are against the core economic and political needs of the very middle american states that are voting for them. They've been duped and they aren't getting any return or service back.

What is one of the best ways for a doctor to avoid complaints? Answer the patients questions, make them feel like they are part of the loop and at least appear like you are considering their input. The Left has ignored the "common man" and now they are reaping what they've sown, or failed to sow. Arrogance infuriates people more than anything else.

Don't forget as well that many people feel that all the Left has done is pay lip-service, just like the Right is doing now. If the Right is not careful, then the pendulum will shift, again, just as it has before, and before that, and before that...

[Soldier]

I'll put it here because the WMD debate seems to come up just about everywhere anyway:

http://sluggy.com/daily.php?date=021009

[esskreemr]

What is one of the best ways for a doctor to avoid complaints? Answer the patients questions, make them feel like they are part of the loop and at least appear like you are considering their input. The Left has ignored the "common man" and now they are reaping what they've sown, or failed to sow. Arrogance infuriates people more than anything else.

I don't think that the left has ignored the "common" man. The problem is that the left consists of many people from different walks of life. I think the left's "core" values are much less focused than the right's. The right is also MUCH better at unifying on an issue and pushing that issue out. Even if they don't necessarily agree 100% with the message, they are willing to pander to the party platform which I find preposterous (yeah, I know doesn't fit but I was on a roll with the p's ). The right is very efficient at propaganda as has been shown in the last few years. They have taken the "if you say it enough times it will become true" mantra to a new level of efficacy. It's hard to scream against the stream of misinformation if your drowning in bull****...

Don't forget as well that many people feel that all the Left has done is pay lip-service, just like the Right is doing now. If the Right is not careful, then the pendulum will shift, again, just as it has before, and before that, and before that...

Lip service. Let's talk about lip service. What happened to abortion? What happened to gay marriage? What happened to the terror alerts on a nearly weekly basis? They seem to all have been shuffled aside for the more "important" issues such as dismantling SS ( they're starting the process, not trying to complete it all in one swoop), reducing other Social Services including spending on education, introducing further tax cuts for the wealthy. Now things are already returning to normal as the "common" man slowly realizes that he/she has been duped.

[oiuyt]

2) Social Security - Most American feel that the system needs fixed, not overhauled into "personal retirement savings accounts".

While not endorsing the GOP personal retirement accounts "solution", the fact that the average American opposes a given change to the Social Security system is NOT something that I take as evidence that the change is a bad idea. The average American (and worse, the collective thought of Americans as a whole, as expressed by polling data) is NOT who I would trust to make the correct decisisions about just about anything financial, certainly anything where the impact isn't felt for a decade or more.

The optimal solution (whatever it is) would be extremely likely to face truly horrible polling numbers in the next-to-impossible situation that it was ever actually presented. I'd guess considerably worse than the numbers being garnered by Bush's option.

-B :)

[esskreemr]

The optimal solution (whatever it is) would be extremely likely to face truly horrible polling numbers in the next-to-impossible situation that it was ever actually presented. I'd guess considerably worse than the numbers being garnered by Bush's option.

-B

The solution they offer is not a solution. It does NOT fix the Social Security problem. The insolvency issue is due to the same people with the power to fix the SS continually adding the cash from SS to the general budget. With the Iraq war costing almost $200 billion to date and the current deficit reaching record levels, are we supposed to trust these special-interest funded fools to look for our future?

Again, Bush's "fix" doesn't fix a damned thing. You wanna a real fix? Take the money the we blew on Iraq, put it into SS. Temporarily stop the tax cuts we can't afford anyway. Bump the SS tax limit up a couple notches to include more income levels, and then lock down the SS funds so they can't be used to fund a "Laurence Welk museum"; basically anything to get the solvency issue up to around 2100. By that time, the current problem of the baby boomers soaking up all the cash will take care of itself unless there is a medical advancement.

[oiuyt]

The solution they offer is not a solution.

Which is why I had quote marks around the word solution in the phrase:

the GOP personal retirement accounts "solution"

-B :)

[Inquartata]

Private accounts are not a solution to the short-term problem. They are a possible remedy for the long-term problem, ie demographic changes. With personal accounts, each worker pays his or her own way---and does not need to rely on possibly nonexistent future workers to support him or her. No more going from 8 workers per retiree to 2.

The short-term problem of paying present and near-term retirees will still require other measures, such as borrowing, which are troublesome. But thinking only about this year and the next is what has gotten us into the present pickle in the first place. It's time to think about a viable system for the future---a system which can stand on its own when the present Ponzi scheme has finally wound down.