Death to the Incumbent! Part Two: Now with more Death.

[pirate]

Re: Death to the Incumbent! Part Two: Now with more Death.

Reasonable points. But, big picture, Iraq and Afghanistan were a relatively small portion of the overall deficit spending under Bush. People just talk about it a lot because it's easier to argue for and against war spending than it is to look at the rest of the out-of-control federal budget.

I was thinking of incremental spending...assuming what a candidate inherits is the base, and any one-time or one-off adjustments are made to the base and their term, spending or cutting from that point is what the candidate is 'responsible' for. One question would be Homeland Security, is that a justified national expense (a one-off) or is that republicans increasing spending? Now, I would suspect that whatever they got done, or think they got done, with H.S. the same results or better could have been achieved with 60% of the money spent...but that is probably true of anything the government does.

So, if the budget was $10 and Obama spend $1 on BP cleanup, then I wouldn't call that reckless incremental government spending. Katrina cleanup would also be a one-time expense.

Heard something last night from the talkin heads...in '94 the reds had a list of 91 agencies they wanted to eliminate...by the time the next admin took over those agencies were something like 150% of their size when they were 'marked for death'...I may not have remembered that exactly..but it was something like that. Always bet the over when talking about government spending.

 

[WeWantMore]

Re: Death to the Incumbent! Part Two: Now with more Death.

Hawaii's State Senate is now made up of 24 Democrats and 1 Republican. Talk about the loneliest number.

 

[bronconick]

Re: Death to the Incumbent! Part Two: Now with more Death.

She is?

Now, Christine O'Donnell on the other hand...

 

[bronconick]

Re: Death to the Incumbent! Part Two: Now with more Death.

Goddammit, really? We haven't learned our lesson about letting people's kids win offices based on the last name?

 

[WeWantMore]

Re: Death to the Incumbent! Part Two: Now with more Death.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/106644623.html

Defeated U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold "has no current plans to run for anything," a campaign spokesman said Wednesday.

That's not a denial though is it?

 

[Old Pio]

Re: Death to the Incumbent! Part Two: Now with more Death.

Hawaii's State Senate is now made up of 24 Democrats and 1 Republican. Talk about the loneliest number.

When I was a kid there was a lone Republican on Chicago City Council named John Hoellen (49-1). His main claim to fame was advocating for a statue of Ernie Banks outside the Daley Center, not the Picasso statue. Someow or another Hoellen was convinced to run against Mayor Daley--big mistake. Daley threw considerable resources at defeating Hoellen in the aldermanic election, so he'd be running for mayor as a lame duck. Daley then bought every bus board, cab back and billboard in the ward, thumping Hoellen. And had machine goons following him around throughout the whole campaign. It didn't turn out well. This was one mole who should have never popped his head up.

 

[Tundra]

Re: Death to the Incumbent! Part Two: Now with more Death.

Here's the basic feeling of the vast majority of Alaskans: Joe Miller is crazy nutbag lying *hole dbag. He really messed himself over the past few weeks. It wasn't the media, it wasn't Murkowski, it wasn't the "Alaska Establishment", it was Miller.

Yeah. he really messed up by refusing to answer local media questions. that was a major mistake (major negative press). All the recent stuff was spinable and he could always play the I made a mistake line. He should have taken a better playbook instead of crazy Odonnell.

And dem Mcadams just sucked. All he had to do was run a intro ad and let them duke it out...copy paste ads running on channel 10: vote for sweet relish: he cares about young people, he saved my life, he'll represenrt us well in washington, vote for side of hashbrown: integrity, determination, honesty.

I really hoped we would clean out the incumbents...

 

[Kepler]

Re: Death to the Incumbent! Part Two: Now with more Death.

Full clip:


O'Donnell is well below the Mendoza Line. Cute hairstyle, though.

 

[WeWantMore]

Re: Death to the Incumbent! Part Two: Now with more Death.

Nope, no ideas here. No sir.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/44641.html

 

[Kepler]

Re: Death to the Incumbent! Part Two: Now with more Death.

Nope, no ideas here. No sir.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/44641.html

So you've read it? It could be a detailed outline of specific cuts and proposals. Or it could be 22 pages of empty platitudes:

“conduct an immediate and comprehensive review of existing and proposed government rules and regulations”

This, at least, is a good idea:

Cantor says he wants to do away with legislation recognizing “individuals, groups, events and institutions.” In the past, Congresses in the past have passed legislation that honors entities such as baseball teams and universities. Republicans, the Virginian thinks, should only name post offices once a month.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for reform. Institute YouCut by all means, but then listen when millions of us propose an across-the-board 50% cut in the military budget and an end to all corporate welfare. Somehow I don't think that's what he has in mind.

Top campaign contributors to Eric Cantor:

1. Comcast
2. McGuireWoods (huge health care lawfirm / lobbyist)
3. Goldman Sachs
4. Dominion Resources (coal and nuclear)
5. Blue Cross / Blue Shield

 

[WeWantMore]

Re: Death to the Incumbent! Part Two: Now with more Death.

So you've read it? It could be a detailed outline of specific cuts and proposals. Or it could be 22 pages of empty platitudes.

This, at least, is a good idea:

Hey, don't take it from me. Read it for yourself.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/40906877/...s-22-page-game-plan-on-how-to-change-Congress

 

[unofan]

Re: Death to the Incumbent! Part Two: Now with more Death.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/03/opinion/03bayh.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general

It is clear that Democrats over-interpreted our mandate. Talk of a “political realignment” and a “new progressive era” proved wishful thinking. Exit polls in 2008 showed that 22 percent of voters identified themselves as liberals, 32 percent as conservatives and 44 percent as moderates. An electorate that is 76 percent moderate to conservative was not crying out for a move to the left.

No ****, sherlock. Hopefully the GOP realizes that 66 percent of the country is moderate-to-liberal by the same token, and doesn't take this as a mandate to institute a move to the right, either. Otherwise we'll be repeating this process in 2-4 years.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: Death to the Incumbent! Part Two: Now with more Death.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for reform. Institute YouCut by all means, but then listen when millions of us propose an across-the-board 50% cut in the military budget and an end to all corporate welfare. Somehow I don't think that's what he has in mind.

I'd be for those. Won't happen though.

 

[Kepler]

Re: Death to the Incumbent! Part Two: Now with more Death.

Hey, don't take it from me. Read it for yourself.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/40906877/...s-22-page-game-plan-on-how-to-change-Congress

I've been reading it since you mentioned it. While it's mostly pap, there are about 5-6 pages of real information in it. Some of it is gimmickry but the procedural stuff sounds great. The Senate could also streamline by doing away with the hold, cloture votes and the filibuster. That would help speed things up tremendously.

And as there is no filibuster in the House, I expect Cantor to make it all happen. Then we'll see. I particularly like the justification on why continued spending justifies spending 37 cents on the dollar. That's a good point, and it should also be applied to why the temporary tax cuts should be extended.

 

[Kepler]

Re: Death to the Incumbent! Part Two: Now with more Death.

I'd be for those. Won't happen though.

I would take an across-the-board cut in the entire federal budget (except loan payments) by the factor we are in deficit. Presumably, the GOP House could vote for that on day one of the new Congress.

They could also try to give the President the line item veto again like they yammered about all through the 80's. I cannot for the life of me understand why they dropped that...

 

[WeWantMore]

Re: Death to the Incumbent! Part Two: Now with more Death.

I'd be all for that as well. Cut cut cut cut. Anything and everything. However, I disagree with the Senate doing away with holds and filibusters. The Senate is not supposed to be another version of the House.

 

[WeWantMore]

Re: Death to the Incumbent! Part Two: Now with more Death.

Yikes. Just read that Jerry Lewis and Hal Rogers are going to be Appropriations committee chairs. Keep that pork train rolling I guess. Idiots.

 

[geezer]

Re: Death to the Incumbent! Part Two: Now with more Death.

Stay classy, Slate.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: Death to the Incumbent! Part Two: Now with more Death.

Stay classy, Slate.

Are they wrong? I think that's a pretty good analysis all things considered.

 

[Shirtless Guy]

Re: Death to the Incumbent! Part Two: Now with more Death.

Are they wrong? I think that's a pretty good analysis all things considered.

I think it was the naming of the article:
Electile Dysfunction
The GOP's incredible shrinking Boehner.