Jay Bookman

By AJC/DNC Management

October 9, 2008 6:37 AM | Link to this

In the wake of Tuesday’s debate, Joe Biden was making the rounds of the morning talk shows, chatting up his candidate’s performance, while Sarah Palin was nowhere to be found. Why? Because she is an icon incapable of conversing as an intelligent adult on the issues of the day. Yet the Republican base loves her anyway, as a symbol.

When toadies like kookman look all around the pinkkko press for any “signs” of Palin it tells you just exactly what the boundaries of his world really are.

The Sunday morning talk show planet.

The refuge of the elite Washington insiders, the very people that have destroyed our government in favor of their own special interests, the comfort lounges of people like Biden and Oblahma.

And the same place you will not find Sarah Palin.

She is out talking to We The People, a place kookman has no idea of.

By GodHatesTrash

October 9, 2008 6:42 AM | Link to this

Ah yes, Mr. Bookman, Andi/duh crawled out from under the rocks - s/he defends the Princess…

Who is L-o-l-a Palin ‘Princess” for? Reptiles, slugs, slime, and trash.

By AJC/DNC Management

October 9, 2008 6:44 AM | Link to this

Some of Sarah Palin’s Accomplishments will be listed and detailed here. She has been the Governor of Alaska for two years and Mayor of Wasilla Alaska for ten years. She also served as President of Alaska Conference of Mayors and was also a City Council member (1992-1996).

AGIA License bill signed August 27, 2008

Energy Package signed August 25, 2008.

Administrative Order 242 signed August 20, 2008.

May 24, 2008- Gov. Sarah Palin cut $268 million from the capital budget on Friday.

July 16, 2007- Gov. Sarah Palin struck a modest blow for fiscal restraint with her $231 million of vetoes to this year’s near-record capital budget.

OIL TAX REFORM Nov. 18, 2007 To pass any reform, Palin needed cross-party support from Democrats. To the Democrats’ credit, they backed away from plans to return to a tax on gross oil production instead of profits. To the governor’s credit, she was flexible enough to accept significant enhancements in her initial proposal.

I could go on, but name one Washington insider that cut their budget.

She is exactly what we need, someone fighting for our money and not a tool of the special interests, like Oblahma is.

By AJC/DNC Management

October 9, 2008 6:46 AM | Link to this

Did I not tell you?:

MYSTERY: ‘Voters’ Outnumber Residents in Indianapolis? Voting Age Population in Indianapolis: 632,896… Registered Voters in Indianapolis: 677,401…

I named the exact location where it would happen.

The integrity of the election has been compromised.

It is time for a top to bottom review of the whole entire process.

By AJC/DNC Management

October 9, 2008 6:52 AM | Link to this

Here’s what the toady liberals think surpasses Palin:

After being forced out of the 1988 race (for plagiarizing British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock,) the senator, one would have thought, would never again mention his “coal mining” heritage. Yet on September 21, while addressing an audience filled with coal miners in Virginia, he fibbed: “…I am a hard coal miner — anthracite coal, Scranton, Pennsylvania. That’s where I was born and raised.” He was never a coal miner and most of his early life was spent in Delaware.-AmSpec

A phony and a fraud, just like ant other common pinko is.

By GodHatesTrash

October 9, 2008 6:56 AM | Link to this

Mr. Bookman, Andi/duh is right - you can’t understand L-o-l-a Palin’s appeal to because you’ve never been to a dog fight or a lynching.

That’s the “people” Andid/duh is yapping about.

By Danny the red

October 9, 2008 7:02 AM | Link to this

Palin is being called a “cancer” on her party, and rightly so.

The Buckleyites are turning in their graves. This was not what the author of God and Man at Yale had in mind.

Long reign the Trotskyists! (Maybe someone will bring them some water in the political dungeon of their own making.)

By Nay Kookman (Mad As Zell)

October 9, 2008 7:03 AM | Link to this

Jay, you and your ideoillogical bomb-throwing character assassinating moonbat buddies are nothing more than shameless slimebuckets for the left-wing attack machine. Why you continue to be a flaming liberal w******* for swarmy outlets like the Al-Jazeera Urinal Constipation and the New Yuck Times is beyond human imagination. The left doesn’t want you for your mind or your body, Jay….they just want you for your mouth, which continues to run like diarrheal….with no brain to clog it up and stop it. Better look out Jay because you just might dehydrate yourself if you keep having diarrheal of the mouth. Why do democRATS, like Gay Kookman, fear Sarah Palin so much, anyways? Why are demoncRATS running so hard against their opponents number two on the ticket? Why are defeatocRATS trying so hard, in vain, to discredit the VP candidate on the opposing side? Could it be because the damocRATS number one couldn’t punch his way out of a wet paper bag, much less beat the Republican number two candidate. Imagine that! Black-supremist, terrorist sympathizer and America-hating radical Islamic fundamentalist, BaRAT Hussein Osama, couldn’t beat All-American hockey mom, Governor Sarah Palin, so the demoncRATS have to make these vain attempts to assassinate her and her family’s character.

By Joey

October 9, 2008 7:07 AM | Link to this

You would like the Republicans to change so as to protect the Democrats from their own excesses. Maybe you could list some of the most dangerous of those excesses. Please!!

I would like the Democrat Party to change. I was one once, right up to when Jimmy Carter was campaigning for re-election. The party lost its direction before then, but I stayed with it, hoping it was temporary.

My wish is for The Democrat Party to return to the values it posessed right up to and during the Kennedy years. Return to being the Democratic Party.

By Bill622357

October 9, 2008 7:15 AM | Link to this

When you have nothing positive to say about your own ideas for leading the country, dive back into the old tried and true. Play to bigotry and fear. Indulge in a little name calling. Twist the truth, and if that doesn’t work well enough, just plain lie. Try to appeal to the very worst qualities among us. And while you are doing that, wrap yourself in the flag and talk about Christian and family values.

It is the heart of conservative Republican political campaigns, and they deserve to lose the elections nationwide because of that and because of the mess they have put this country in as they stuffed their pockets full of our money.

By Bill622357

October 9, 2008 7:17 AM | Link to this

When you have nothing positive to say about your own ideas for leading the country, dive back into the old tried and true. Play to bigotry and fear. Indulge in a little name calling. Twist the truth, and if that doesn’t work well enough, just plain lie. Try to appeal to the very worst qualities among us. And while you are doing that, wrap yourself in the flag and talk about Christian and family values.

It is the heart of conservative Republican political campaigns, and they deserve to lose the elections nationwide because of that and because of the mess they have put this country in as they stuffed their pockets full of our money.

By Nay Bookman 4 Ayers-Osama '08 (Mad As Zell)

October 9, 2008 7:18 AM | Link to this

Glad to see that the William Ayers-BaRAT Hussein Osama ticket has a staunch defender in Gay Bookman. Gosh, Jay, we didn’t know that you so fond of radical murderous Islamic fundamentalists. We all knew that Jay was far, far, far-left, but we never took you to be the radical marxist type. You think that you know someone and you find out otherwise, so very disappointing Jay.

By Mrs. Godzilla

October 9, 2008 7:18 AM | Link to this

Maybe if Senator McCain would come out from behind Governor Palin’s skirts for a while……

By Mike

October 9, 2008 7:22 AM | Link to this

Of course, Bookman the partisan hack is too stuck in his bubble to understand, let alone acknowledge, that the absurd bias in the “news” media and our popular culture have been slamming Republicans and giving complete passes to Democrats, but hey, why should reality intrude on Bookman’s tedious partisan ranting.

By Road Scholar

October 9, 2008 7:34 AM | Link to this

Joey: And the repub party hasn’t changed? From it’s shift during the Reagan years to today? From financial conservatism to today’s pay later policies (have you seen the deficit?) At least the Demo’s are trying to come to the middle of the road.

Andy: Take your meds. You are slobbering all over my computer screen!

Will Ms Palin ever come out and play? If elected will she do the peoples’ business in secret without using the press to explain her actions/ policies/ desires/ legislation/ leadership? Is she the reincarnate of the Bush great communicator ignoring the right of the people to know? Ignoring a large slice of the public in gathering their concerns for consideration into whatever policy is developed?

The name calling and insinuation needs to stop now.

By Nay Kookman 4 Ayers-Osama '08

October 9, 2008 7:35 AM | Link to this

Jay, you know that your blatant and in your face partisanship that you frequently and openly display has lost you all credibility to the American people as a journalist. Of course Jay never had any credibility as a journalist to begin with so he doesn’t know the difference anyways. I guess that makes Jay a highly-qualified URINALIST seeing as though he works for the Al-Jazeera URINAL Constipation. Sounds like Jay needs a good laxative.

By Danny the red

October 9, 2008 7:40 AM | Link to this

“…Bookman the partisan hack is too stuck in his bubble to understand, let alone acknowledge, that the absurd bias in the “news” media and our popular culture have been slamming Republicans and giving complete passes to Democrats…”

waaahhh …. waaaahhh … waaahhhh . …

eh .. eh . eh . eh

waaahhh .. waaahhh … waaaahhh …

Such a CRUWEL world !!!!

By Copyleft

October 9, 2008 7:43 AM | Link to this

The response of the far right when they lose elections is always the same: “We need to go farther to the right! We weren’t fascist enough this time!”

That’s why they’ll keep losing, too. And why America will prosper with those lunatics cast aside, rightly forgotten and ignored.

By Danny the red

October 9, 2008 7:47 AM | Link to this

…the absurd bias in the “news” media and our popular culture have been slamming Republicans and giving complete passes to Democrats…

Hey buddy, try this:

The Democrats get a “pass” — though not really — compared to Republicans because they have earned it. They take ideas seriously and actually engage in the ideas that are critical to governing. For a while anyway, conservatives were aware they had to do that (see Reagan). Bill Buckley understood this well.

Or was that too Northeastern and blue-blooded for provincial reactionaries like you anyway?

By Joey

October 9, 2008 7:47 AM | Link to this

Road:

Yes, most Republican politicians have abandoned Reagan’s policies. I agree with you, that has not been good.

Democrats are not looking for the middle of the road. They are working to build a new road. A “don’t worry the Government will take care of you” road. This is by far the more dangerous route.

By Skeptic Tank

October 9, 2008 7:51 AM | Link to this

When I read Jay’s critics, assailing his partisanship, I have to laugh out loud. I’ll type this slowly, so our friends on the radical right can understand: Jay Bookman writes these pieces ON THE FLIPPING EDITORIAL PAGE. They are his opinions. Perhaps that’s the problem with you populist conservatives; you regularly confuse fact and opinion. It’s no wonder our country is in a mess; with Republicans basically ruling Congress since 1994 and a GOP President in office since 2000, your adherence to failed principles and your inflexibility are surely due to the fact that you believe that your opinions are facts, and anyone questioning them are heathens.

Take a look around you. America is hemorrhaging. That’s a fact. You have led the country for over a decade. That’s a fact. You have had the ability to change our course, but failed or refused to do so. That’s a fact.

Frankly, Jay’s opinions dissect you, on a daily basis, and you are unwilling to accept accountability. Obfuscate all you want, whine to your heart’s content, blame this all on Jay and the liberals…but you can’t escape the cold, hard facts.

By The Coming

October 9, 2008 7:52 AM | Link to this

Republicanism is still alive and well in spite of humanity’s best effort to date to quash the beast. Its fight for glory is far from over. For in its end times, it will unleash upon an innocent world its inner self in its fight for survival and it will be “ugly” in its truest form and it will come to be known as the Ugly Republican. No brand, color or shade of lipstick will contain it — the Ugly Republican — for it will know no shame in its vain but relentless attacks on all that is good. It will disguise itself for its believers with cleverly constructed infrastructure to nowhere. It will mislead those in search of more with its suits of law and offers to help expose the real truth will be met with thanks but no thanks. It has been nurtured and grown under the dark of long nights and soon it will be ready for the coming — the end is nigh and in these end of times will be found no time to be Palin’ around.

By Say What?

October 9, 2008 8:01 AM | Link to this

Joey:

Are you telling us that the bailout (actually, the sellout) legislation that was recently signed into law by our Republican President isn’t a “don’t worry the Government will take care of you” piece of crap?

Dude, you’re listening to your AM radio far too much. Both the Democrats AND the Republicans have become hard-core corporatists. You’re worried that some of the government pie may end up in the hands of the citizens instead of the multinational corporations and their greedy leaders. What a fool you are.

By Mike

October 9, 2008 8:03 AM | Link to this

Danny -

So let me get your point straight:

Democrats are intelligent and not responsible for any of our problems. Republicans are dumb and responsible for all of our problems.

There are plenty of Rush’s dittoheads who are mindlessly partisan and ignorant enough to believe the converse. You are just like them. Congrats to you and the rest of the folks who are the right side of the “me good-them bad debate”. You are just the kind of bleeting sheep that partisan ringmasters like Rush and Bookman count on to lap up their talking points.

By Left Nuts

October 9, 2008 8:11 AM | Link to this

Something the socialist left needs to remember, the 2nd amendment is the ‘reset’ button for our Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

And no matter how hard you try, you will not disarm the USofA!

By AJC/DNC Management

October 9, 2008 8:12 AM | Link to this

The Rove Monster shambles about:

For those leaning to Mr. Obama, there was no evidence of bipartisanship. There was no talk of accomplishments. Did he really think it was smart to answer Mr. McCain on Fannie by dismissing the GSE reform bill and pointing to a letter he wrote? In the Senate, is the pen mightier than legislation? And Mr. Obama’s say-one-thing, do-another approach was apparent. Blast Mr. McCain for talking up the economy, then say, “I am confident about the American economy.” Blame Mr. McCain for the credit meltdown, and end the assault with “you’re not interested in hearing politicians pointing fingers.” Say “only a few percent of small businesses” will get taxed when 663,000 small enterprises are in the top 5%.-Wall Street Journal

By Taxpayer

October 9, 2008 8:13 AM | Link to this

Good morning, Jay.

Are these outraged right-wingers one here the same ones that Wooten is so proud to proclaim as being the staunch defenders of truth and all that is good in the world or whatever. They are a laughable bunch of hot heads, aren’t they. Then again, desperation does have a tendency to bring out even worse from the worse society has to offer. Good show, Republicans. You do your party, and Wooten, proud.

By Nay Bookman 4 Ayers-Osama '08

October 9, 2008 8:14 AM | Link to this

Jay Bookman is really Paris Hilton disguised as an aging hippy faking intelligence in an effort to boost her low esteem.

By Danny the red

October 9, 2008 8:14 AM | Link to this

Democrats are intelligent and not responsible for any of our problems.

Pretty much.

But that’s just one of two things that are going on here.

When your party arm-twists your standard bearer to nominate as his VP someone who is not only defended for her lack of knowledge but is celebrated for it, then I think that’s a signal to the rest of us that the game is up and that the movement started by Buckley and represented by Reagan has been fatally split from within.

As for the purely strategic level, I Jay explains it well. And so does Skeptic Tank (“Take a look around you. America is hemorrhaging. That’s a fact. You have led the country for over a decade.”)

When you live like Trotskyists, you go down as Trotzkyists. All of this was set up by Rove and Bush II. What did they build you? Looks like a perfect Bridge to Nowhere to me.

By E

October 9, 2008 8:16 AM | Link to this

I wish just once someone in the media, be it print, internet, television or radio, would “firmly” point out that 100% of Obama’s ads focused on McCain are a direct - I repeat - direct reaction to the McCain camp’s 100% negative actions.

Last night I saw a new Obama ad in which there was no mention or suggestion of McCain, just like most of Obama’s ads.

I’ve yet to see one time ever when McCain has put out an ad that didn’t find a way to interject an obvious negative about Obama no matter how much the rest of the ad wants to pretend to be taking a higher road.

Obama/Biden ‘08

By Say What?

October 9, 2008 8:16 AM | Link to this

Left Nuts

Thanks for the tip. Next time you fools on the right decide to trample on our Constitution and our Bill of Rights, we’ll know what to do.

By CJ

October 9, 2008 8:16 AM | Link to this

I agree with almost everything Bookman said today.

I also want to note that, as the Bill Ayers nonsense is demonstrating, Republican campaign tactics are having less and less of an impact on the electorate.

Yes, the mainstream media is still easily distracted by Karl Rove tactics (as demonstrated by The Today Show’s Meredith Vieira allowing Nicole Wallace to give a speech on Ayers this morning while also practically begging Wallace to allow Sarah Palin to appear on NBC News), but voters have alternative sources of information that we can trust (e.g. TalkingPointsMemo, WashingtonMonthly, ThinkProgress) and where we can fill in the gaping holes in information and analysis that our dailies and network/cable news create.

I will say, however, that with almost a month to go, there’s still lots of time for things to turn around in McCain’s favor. Yes, the electorate is slowly moving back to center and even to the left, but we shouldn’t take our victory for granted. Each time McCain and his friends mention Bill Ayers, we should remind the viewers about McCain’s ties to right-wing paramilitary groups on the U.S. terrorist watch list, and we should remind viewers about Palin’s association with an organization founded by a murdered terrorist wannabe that seeks to have Alaska secede from the union. McCain and Palin are in no position to be throwing stones from their multiple glass houses.

By Joey

October 9, 2008 8:17 AM | Link to this

Say:

I chose to follow the lead of Jay’s closing three paragraphs. I wrote about where each party is headed or where I would like them to head.

If you want to get into past errors made by politicians…. Wow! I would need to take some vacation time to try to deal with that.

By Obamasuks

October 9, 2008 8:19 AM | Link to this

OOOH! I can’t wait. A Dem as president and Dems holding 60 seats in Congress so the Republicans can’t filibuster their bills. It’s going to be just like the good ole days when Jimmy Carter was president…

By Goldie

October 9, 2008 8:21 AM | Link to this

Barack Obama is not telling Americans “don’t worry, the gov’t will take care of you”— au contraire, mon amis… Obama has been encouraging and calling all Americans to take ownership of their own lives and to take political action on the local level to get problems solved.

Ya see, Obama has not been the one who worked in the US Senate for over 25 years who turned a blind eye to the fiscal failures caused by their own “trickle down” policies, but instead simply watched as America went downhill to bankruptcy.

Too bad John McSame has not shown good judgment during all the years of “experience” that he has been touting on the campaign trail. Maybe if his policies were having a positive outcome in America, he would not be watching his presidential aspirations implode today.

By Nay Kookman 4 Ayers-Osama '08

October 9, 2008 8:23 AM | Link to this

BaRAT Hussein Osama isn’t really a Presidental candidate, he’s actually a mindless partisan ideological figurehead hack whose strings are being pulled by William Ayers. In short, BaRAT Hussein Osama is nothing more than a brainless puppet and hired left-wing goon for William Ayers and the radical marxist Weather Underground Wing of the DemoncRAT Party.

By Danny the red

October 9, 2008 8:31 AM | Link to this

Hey Nay-man:

Good point.

But let me ask you, just hypothetically:

What if there really were a connection between Obama and some former homegrown agitator from the 1960s?

Wouldn’t that be a hell of a coup, if he could pull it off?

I mean, supposing there really were a connection?

You know ?

By Road Scholar

October 9, 2008 8:33 AM | Link to this

Joey: I must disagree with you concerning the Demo’s moving to the center/middle of the road. If you have read Obama’s second book, his intent is to do just that. He realizes (as opposed by both the left and right extremists) that the majority of the American people are in the middle. They want basically the same stuff (education, reasonable taxes (you do have to pay for services and defense), transportation, etc.)

That is why his lead in the polls continues to grow.

By @@

October 9, 2008 8:34 AM | Link to this

This country needs a more effective Republican Party. The Democrats need a more effective Republican Party to protect them from their own excesses.

Don’t have time for a lengthy post this morning jay. Since you chose to spin your column off a post I made yesterday, I offer you a challenge.

Let the conservatives here list those excesses you, ever so lightly, touched on — then offer your defense of or support of said excesses.

Why just yesterday, you discredited some guy Daniel’s claim of racism against McCain, now you show up here with one of your own? I’ll start off the list:

RACISM — Does the Democratic Party use race in excess?

You really are a piece of work jay.

By Gerald

October 9, 2008 8:36 AM | Link to this

George Bush and the Republican Party wrecked our country!

By Taxpayer

October 9, 2008 8:37 AM | Link to this

Wow, some of the right-wingers sound really distraught today — even more so than normal. What’s wrong with them! Did they finally find out that their Sarah Palin dolls were made in China. What would be their reaction to even more truth — truth that they clearly can’t handle.

By Paul

October 9, 2008 8:38 AM | Link to this

Possibly this is what happens when a Party is down - the moderates sigh in despair and the ‘base’ - the true believers organize around a person or group. Witness the rise of MoveOn - although its influence now is questionable and may have waned (but not their noise level) - their major cause, Iraq, has faded to the background and the Democratic nominee seems to now have the opinion ‘I really don’t need them any more, I can raise money on my own, thank you.”

Your description of some of the policies and behaviors of the Republican Congress and Administration left many Republicans wondering “who are these people and what have they done with my party and principles?”

So the ‘base’ of the Republicans have crystallized around Palin. It’s to be expected, isn’t it, especially in these times. A fresh face and all that. As with rallying around Obama, it’s youth and freshness (now there’s an article for Psychology Today: ‘Consort and Mistress: Archetypes in the Quest to Reestablish Identity in Long-Term Relationships).

‘Experience’ isn’t a required trait at the beginning of such relationships.

I see many of the arguments made about one party as applicable to the other. Just take out the nouns. For example:

“In fact, if Party X could govern as expertly and as diligently as they campaign — if they simply cared as much about governing as campaigning — the country might today be reaping the benefits of great prosperity and global respect, and Party Y would have gone the way of their predecessors.”

or, “once in power, tribal politics, fixed ideology and a disdain for the hard work of governance have proved disastrous.” Care to compare DeLay/Pelosi or key players in the Senate?

So thanks again, Jay, for another early-morning column to wake up the thought processes. I do, think, though, that more Republicans than Democrats will be listening to Kermit the Frog:

“I hope that something better comes along” (from the Muppet Movie, Rainbow Connection),.

By Gerald

October 9, 2008 8:39 AM | Link to this

George Bush and the Republican Party wrecked our country!

By TN Gelding

October 9, 2008 8:43 AM | Link to this

Great column, Jay. I see it is number 4 on the most popular list today.

If McCain/Palin lose she is history.

By E

October 9, 2008 8:45 AM | Link to this

Taxpayer at 8:37, too funny!

General Petraeus thinks that talking with our enemies is an important step in advancing U.S. goals. He wants to have talks with the Taliban. So according to McCain, Petraeus is naive.

“I do think you have to talk to enemies,” Petraeus said Wednesday at an appearance at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, when asked about potential dialogue with the Taliban.

“You’ve got to set things up. You’ve got to know who you’re talking to. You’ve got to have your objectives straight,” he said. “But I mean, what we did do in Iraq ultimately was sit down with some of those that were shooting at us.”

Obama/Biden ‘08

By Citizen of the World

October 9, 2008 8:46 AM | Link to this

I, for one, have had it with lazy governance. Bush didn’t do his homework as president and it showed every time he opened his mouth. He never had a good grasp of the issues, and he was easily manipulated by his handlers and advisers.

Now we have Sarah Palin as the Republican VP candidate, and when she was governor, she had a habit of not showing up for meetings to the point where people took to wearing “Where’s Sarah?” buttons.

Obama is young and vigorous, informed and articulate. I think he’s up to the job in a way that McCain may not be physically and Palin probably isn’t attitudinally.

By zeke

October 9, 2008 8:50 AM | Link to this

True. The Republicans fell into the democrat way. Spend, spend, spend! However they have done one great thing for the people and the country. Reduced taxes! These reductions must be made permanent! The death tax must go away, and not return. It is criminal that a person is taxed throughout their life and then when they die, because they have been successful, they are taxed again for socialist reasons! It is criminal that if a person decides to live in another country for whatever reason, they are penalized by losing up to 55% of their money and assets, for socialist reasons! The republicans may have mirrored the dems for the 6 of the last 14 years, but, the demos are a terrible option for the country and the people! If Newt had remained in the House, things would have been different! But, the demos successfully ran him out for doing the exact same thing that Hillary and others have done to make millions! In short, hopefully the republicans will return to their conservative, private rights, strong immigration enforcement, constitutional base and save this country from the socialist, race baiting, class warfare socialist democrats, and, hopefully the demos will go the way of the whigs! Gone forever!

By T

October 9, 2008 8:51 AM | Link to this

Democrats want the government to take care of them? Interesting.. Didn’t McCain say the the government needed to buy these subprime loans that are close to default? hmmm.

Why is it so hard to say, “I Fu$%^ed up”? Once we get passed that, we might be able to change our current situation. Only the delusional really believe that everything is ok. No one person, minority, or political party is at fault. We all are.

So, we might as well go pick out the switch. Make sure it’s a good one and hurry back. You know what will happen if you don’t.

Another thing I don’t understand. What is the big deal about “reaching across the aisle”? Isn’t that just working together. If I couldn’t or didn’t work with the people in my office I’d be fired.

Sounds to me, like a lot of these polititans have only child syndrome. Well, if they can’t learn to share then no one gets to play with America.

Sorry about the rant. Thanks for playing.

By Taxpayer

October 9, 2008 8:57 AM | Link to this

Would one of you Republicans tell your savior, McCain, that he left Washington too soon — the economy is still broke and he was supposed to stay there until it’s fixed. I guess he’s just like all the other Republicans — all mouth and no action. The only plans they seem to be capable of making are more plans to pander more. They’ve definitely utilized the drill, baby drill technique to master the art of pandering.

By gttim

October 9, 2008 8:59 AM | Link to this

“A Dem as president and Dems holding 60 seats in Congress so the Republicans can’t filibuster their bills. It’s going to be just like the good ole days when Jimmy Carter was president…”

You mean when Carter took over a country that was racked by double digit inflation and unemployment after years of Republican rule? Yeah, it might be like that again because the GOP has spent 8 years destroying the economy again! They did it with Nixon\Ford, Regan\Bush and BushCo. EVery time they get in control the run the economy and country into the ground. Why?

As Jay says, they are bad at governing. Is that surprising? It shouldn’t be. This is the party that honestly believes that the federal government is bad.They hate it! Of course they are going to run it poorly. They think the concept is flawed.

If a surgeon was doing a consult with you because you needed life saving surgery, and told you he didn’t believe in surgery and thought it cause more problems than it solved, would you hire him? That is what Republican voters do every time they elect Republicans.

By Bud Wiser

October 9, 2008 9:01 AM | Link to this

Skeptic Tank at 751a, I agree with you about your assessment of Congress being led by the Republicans since 1984, and their failure to use their power correctly. Also, your comments about Jay’s editorial page commentary, and the people who launch on him because of his expressed views were pretty accurate.

However, your peers on the left assault me on a daily basis when I present facts, as opposed to opinion, two things I never get confused. And, I am inflexible for sure when it comes to expressing opinion grounded in fact, and not spun to conform to it.

FACT : Barack Obama has had ties that even he admits to with Bill Ayers, since at least 1995. This “just another neighbor down the street that I didn’t know” crap flies like a lead balloon. As a Columbia University student in the 1980’s, he had to at least heard of the guy somewhere, in the media, on campus, because Bad Billy was arrested for his bad activity in 1980, grabbing headlines that even I remember, as I was a university student when Ayers and his wife, Bernadette Dorn worked their Weather Underground ‘magic’. Obama denies any such knowledge, therefore making him in all probability the dumbest college student on campus, or a liar.

FACT : William Ayers, domestic terrorist and unrepentant member of The Weather Underground, as one of Barack Obama’s close associates hired him for Ayers’ Chicago Annenberg Challenge. The three co-authors of Chicago’s winning Annenberg Challenge $49.2 million grant proposal were Bill Ayers, Deborah Leff, and Patricia Graham. At a meeting with Adele Smith Simmons and Graham, Deborah Leff suggested that Barack Obama would make a good board chairman. After meeting and being impressed by Obama, Graham told Obama that she wanted him to be chairman of the Board of Directors. Obama said that he would agree to serve as chairman if Graham would be vice chairman, to which Graham agreed. And Obama says he never had much of a professional association with Ayers?

FACT : The founding Board of Directors of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge as announced in 1995 were:[38]

All of these people had to know the Big 3 of Ayers, Leff, and Graham. But Obama denies working directly with Ayers? Really now.

Uh oh.

By AJC/DNC Management

October 9, 2008 9:02 AM | Link to this

Pollster: Don’t believe the Dem hype- “I don’t think Obama has closed the deal yet,” pollster John Zogby told the Herald yesterday.

bwa

By lovelyliz

October 9, 2008 9:06 AM | Link to this

The GOP beleived in their own PR.

By lovelyliz

October 9, 2008 9:09 AM | Link to this

The GOP believed in their own PR.

By RW-(the original)

October 9, 2008 9:11 AM | Link to this

Poor Tom Daschle (D-SD)

The Republican Party has held the White House for the last eight years and has controlled both chambers of Congress for 12 of the last 14 years

Even Jay B wants to pretend he wasn’t Senate Majority leader for most of GWB’s first two years.

By gadem

October 9, 2008 9:13 AM | Link to this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjxzmaXAg9E&eurl

It is sad to see in this day and time…”He has the bloodline”…what are you kidding me? A name constitutes a blood line? Fear and hatred is the platform of the neocons…

By ByteMe

October 9, 2008 9:13 AM | Link to this

Jay, your assertion that each party needs the other party to be at or near full strength in order for our country to prosper is correct. One party rule almost always leads to excess.

But I have a different proposal: we need to reform the laws so that the formation and interaction of additional parties is easier. The two-party system leaves us with limited choices.

For example, I want to vote for someone who is a died-in-the-wool fiscal conservative* who also happens to be a social progressive and is committed to human rights, civil rights, and environmental rights and believes that government can be a powerful force for good.

But with only two parties, I have to choose between what’s really become the social conservative party that hates government and the social progressive party that loves government a bit too much. Neither party truly believes in fiscal conservation, although one talks a better game than the other.

However, if we had more choices…. The excesses of each party would allow us to have options that we currently can only dream (and argue) about.

*A fiscal conservative doesn’t need to be a free-market-evangelical or anti-tax ideologue; I just want a party that makes the choice between taxes and services more clear and acts to ensure that more services = more taxes (or fewer services = less taxes).

By Taxpayer

October 9, 2008 9:14 AM | Link to this

ZEKE, the Republicans have not reduced taxes. They raised taxes and then handed over their AMEX card and said charge it. Then, when the bill came due and they could not pay it, they took over the bank and turned to We the People and said “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a can of spinach today,” or something like that. And that’s just the opening scene of this farce and its stolen GOP lapel pins.

By GMAN

October 9, 2008 9:14 AM | Link to this

Oh, what a beautiful morning! The birds are chirping, fresh dew on the grass, the wingnuts are whining, and Mr. Magoo & Elly Mae are dropping in the polls like a lead balloon with an anvil tied at the other end on the string. I think I’ll get my morning coffee!

Bush/McCain - Gambling with your children’s futures!

By Eric1

October 9, 2008 9:14 AM | Link to this

You nailed this one, Jay….and it’s killing the d*******. Right, Bud.

By lovelyliz

October 9, 2008 9:19 AM | Link to this

The GOP stands at the abyss because they confuse neo-conservativism with being an actual conservative.

The GOP stands at the abyss because they assumed the way to fix a perceived wrong was to be even more more in the opposite direction.

The GOP stands at the abyss because when they swept into office at the behest of the Democrats misdeeds, they didn’t learn from the very mistakes they had made.

The GOP stands at the abyss because whole heartedly beleieved in and practiced the prosperity gospels, confusing self-righteousness with being righteous, confusing financial rewards on earth with a blanket approval from God.

The GOP stands at the abyss because we live in a democracy not in a theocracy or a political aristocracy.

By JAY BOOKMAN

October 9, 2008 9:23 AM | Link to this

You got me on that one, RW. I forgot about the Jeffords switch. I’ve fixed the column, thanks for the heads up.

By "The Corporal"

October 9, 2008 9:26 AM | Link to this

Jay

What I read between the lines in your introduction is that even you are a little frightened by an Obama presidency and we both know why.

For just one thing, the Middle East will become a conflagaration as the terrorists will become emboldened and Israel (feeling abandoned) will do what they have to do …. and you know it.

If Obama is elected it will be for basically two reasons:

1) When Democrats are in office they are in power (because they crave power). When Republicans are in office they are in office (because they want less government.

2) The largely ignorant, unwashed masses always vote for their pocketbook and what the government can do for them instead of what’s best for the Republic. Something our founding fathers never intended in an electorate - they knew better.

Dark days ahead.

By Mrs. Godzilla

October 9, 2008 9:28 AM | Link to this

States’ Actions to Block Voters Appear Illegal

By Davo

October 9, 2008 9:28 AM | Link to this

Why spare your analysis on just the republicans, Jay? The party as a whole has failed but tell me how the dems are no different. The last 8 years have been exceptionally partisan but I would argue that because the democrats in congress lacked the courage and backbone to stand up to the president and the gop that they are equally guilty of the failure.

Look at how our senate and congress voted on bailout of wallstreet…by wide margins the public said ‘no bailouts’ yet the bill passed. If we live in a democratic republic then this should not happen…the congress ignored the will of the people because ‘they think they know better’, and amazingly we accept that.

Really then it’s our fault…if we don’t hold our representatives to the spirit of the Constitution we deserve the plutocracy that we have now.

By Black Knight

October 9, 2008 9:35 AM | Link to this

Grunt Corporal,

The Black Knight has decreed: “Off with your phalanges,” for ‘tis better to have not drooled at all than to have dribbled such drool as yours.

By RW-(the original)

October 9, 2008 9:35 AM | Link to this

Jay B,

You’re welcome. Daschle was also Majority leader from the time the Senate convened in 2001 until January 20th when Cheney was sworn in as VP. Because of the 50/50 split and Gore as VP the Democrats had control for those few weeks too.

I’m glad you changed the word from controlled to held as well. Neither party has really had control in the Senate for quite a long time.

By ByteMe

October 9, 2008 9:36 AM | Link to this

Corporal @ 9:26: Please explain Tom DeLay and the years 2002 - 2005 and the “K Street Project” in light of your broad assertions.

Please explain your #2 in light of the usual suspects who usually vote for whoever says they will cut taxes the most and damns anyone who says we have to raise taxes to actually PAY for the government we have. How exactly is that what is “best” for the Republic in light of a $10 TRILLION debt?

Or was your posting in the “I believe in this and it only happens in the best of all possible worlds, which isn’t lately, thank you very much”?

By Eddy

October 9, 2008 9:39 AM | Link to this

And so, Joe Biden is a serious candidate for VP slot…NOT! He’s the human gaffe machine. He is fodder for SNL skits each time he opens his mouth! Oh I forgot, only Palin can be ridiculed according to the Obama media monopoly so Joe is treated as if TV’s were really around to broadcast directly from Pearl Harbor! Remind me, was Brokaw doing the “live shot” from Pearl??

ACORN….Obama’s claim to fame for the only job he ever held ! Vote early, vote often, only ACORN can raise the dead just in time to vote.

Damn, I hate it when the “hairplugs” penetrate the brain cells!!

By RW-(the original)

October 9, 2008 9:41 AM | Link to this

And then I use the word control myself in a 50/50 split

Geez

I better go do some work.

Later!

By JAY BOOKMAN

October 9, 2008 9:47 AM | Link to this

Actually, RW, I believe you were correct the first time. With a 50/50 split, Democrat Al Gore was still veep at the time and broke all ties.

By Copyleft

October 9, 2008 9:48 AM | Link to this

Your cries are sounding more and more desperate each day, Bud Wiser…

Sounds like the right wing is getting bitter. (snicker)

By RW-(the original)

October 9, 2008 9:52 AM | Link to this

Jay B,

I know I was correct about Daschle being Majority leader for those early weeks in January, I was just scolding myself for using the word “control” after mentioning that “held” is a better word the way the Senate operates.

See you a few floors up at Happy Hour.

By "The Corporal"

October 9, 2008 9:58 AM | Link to this

1) The CBS reporter said the Obama campaign treats the press poorly as compared to the McCain campaign. Nothing new here. The Republicans are professional and have class and the Democrats don’t.

Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/10/07/politics/fromtheroad/entry4507703.shtml

2) Dems. - “Only a terrorist attack can preclude an Obama landslide”.

Why is that? Because even the unwashed masses know the Dems./Obama are soft on terrorism.

Source http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14413.html

By E

October 9, 2008 10:03 AM | Link to this

Michelle Obama was as cool, calm and collected as her husband last night on Larry King.

She was gracious to Hillary Clinton, and even to Sarah Palin and the newest McCain female pit bull - his wife Cindy, who have been relentlessly attacking the Obamas.

I just don’t believe I could be that nice.

Obama/Biden ‘08

By "The Corporal"

October 9, 2008 10:11 AM | Link to this

The NRA has just endorsed McCain. Foreign countries that support terrorism have long endorsed Obama.

You decide.

By Joey

October 9, 2008 10:12 AM | Link to this

Road;

I have not read Obama’s second book. So maybe the book indicat a desire tobe in the center. It is clear to me though that the Obama and Democrat campaign is not near the center.

Of course it may be that you and I are not on exactly the same road. Which is one of the things that makes life interesting.

By ByteMe

October 9, 2008 10:12 AM | Link to this

Corporal is getting desperate for attention now.

By T

October 9, 2008 10:21 AM | Link to this

1) The CBS reporter said the Obama campaign treats the press poorly as compared to the McCain campaign. Nothing new here.

Interesting. I thought the argument was how much the press loved Obama. Maybe it’s that Ike and Tina relationship.

By Skeptic Tank

October 9, 2008 10:22 AM | Link to this

When the Corporal relies on the LIBERAL MEDIA (a CBS reporter, to be exact) to give him his talking points, you know the end is near for the Republicans.

By Taxpayer

October 9, 2008 10:24 AM | Link to this

The Grunt Corporal needs more spuds to peel. He obviously has too much free time on his hands.

By RealityKing

October 9, 2008 10:37 AM | Link to this

The best thing the GOP has going for it is the spend, spend, spend ideology of self-absorbed liberals. And a simple review of history clearly shows what will follow 4 years of Jimmy Carter’s mindless sytle of leadership.

By E

October 9, 2008 10:37 AM | Link to this

gadem at 9:13

I’d like to get my hands on that blonde beyotch and slap her across Ohio.

Sorry, just had to get that out of my system.

Obama/Biden ‘08

By bigd

October 9, 2008 10:45 AM | Link to this

If obama wins is he going to blaim Bush for his four years of broken promises and failed policies? I predict he does, how bout you.

By CommunistAJC

October 9, 2008 10:48 AM | Link to this

Jay Hackman, Stop watching PMSNBC. You act like Keith Olberqueers little p** off brother who’s angry that he didn’t get his 15 minutes of fame. It makes this conservative happy that Obama Hussien will win the presidency. Why? Because we all know how Jimmy Carter turned out. Sarah Palin is going to come out swinging in 2012. That will give her a total of six years running a state. Mccain is not a conservative and would only pander to democrats for four years. He would not be a great president and should therefore step aside and let Sarah, a real conservative, take over.

By RealityKing

October 9, 2008 10:49 AM | Link to this

But mostly it is America that is at the edge of the abyss, the abyss of socialism that is.. Out of control spending, government handouts, government bailouts and cheap paper capital coupled with self-absorded individuals on all sides have driven us to enacting socialist tenets to ward of depressions. A sad place really. A place where there will be no innovation or creativity. A place where everyone just plods long like the below average people around them. A place much like Europe.

By E

October 9, 2008 10:51 AM | Link to this

Mrs. Godzilla at 9:28

Of course Repub redneck racist Georgia has to be in on it.

Shameful!

Obama/Biden ‘08

By TN Gelding

October 9, 2008 10:51 AM | Link to this

AJC/DNC Management

October 9, 2008 6:44 AM

It’s Alaska (pop. 700,000) for goodness sakes. It’s obvious she had no interest in what was going on in the lower 48 or the rest of the world.

{We’re funding their state government with earmarks and oil purchases while they hoard billions.](http://www.apfc.org/home/Content/home/index.cfm)

She could perform the duties of VP, but we don’t want her anywhere near the Oval Office except for photo ops.

Drill baby, drill?

The industry, however, warns new taxes are already discouraging future exploration and development in newer, more expensive projects needed to boost waning production in Alaska’s oil patches.

By David

October 9, 2008 10:52 AM | Link to this

What in the world happened this morning?

Most of the right-wingers on here have just lost all candor, minus the more sensible RW.

By Dr. R

October 9, 2008 11:00 AM | Link to this

Good column, Jay. As a disaffected GOPer, I’m distressed by the dumbing down of the campaign and the cynical approach of putting someone on the ticket just for popularity. I’d gladly vote for Palin for city council, or maybe the House, or to be my girlfriend. But not to run my country. I miss having a more intellectual conversation about conservatism from the likes of William Buckley, Bill Kristol and George Will. Now it’s all about slogans and “feelings,” not rational thought. Whatever happened to finding smart, talented people do to things instead of someone we want to buddy around with? I don’t want my best friend filling my cavities or fixing my car. I’d like the same level of professional competence when it comes to running my country.

By tcoach

October 9, 2008 11:11 AM | Link to this

I am one who wishes that the republican party would return to the conservative ways of their past. I agree that nearly a total reform back to the party principles is in order.

With that said some type of reform must take place in the democratic party as well. They are condoning voter fraud, at best are funding it.

For starters, Obama paid ACORN, which has endorsed him for president, $800,000 to register new voters, payments his campaign failed to accurately report. (They were disguised in his FEC disclosure as payments to a front group called Citizen Services Inc. for “advance work.”) -Investor Busisness Daily

These people,ACORN, are commiting voter fraud and are knowingly doing it. They have an agenda to get Obama in office, and a lack of resect for the laws while doing it. When is Obama going to protect the election process and control the group he paid to commit voter fraud.

Obama seems to consistantly surround himself by shady charecters. Why?

By "The Corporal"

October 9, 2008 11:15 AM | Link to this

Yesterday, I watched in awe a sonogram of my five month old granddaughter. The technician said she was sucking her thumb. How these lives can be destroyed under “color of law” is unthinkable. Obama supports this holocaust and McCain doesn’t.

You decide.

By Bosch

October 9, 2008 11:16 AM | Link to this

Good column this morning.

Some have already summarized my feelings about the political parties. I don’t think it would be a stretch for me to say that most of us want fiscally responsible and socially progressive politicians (well, that might be stretching it).

Instead, as we are continuing to see in this election, one particular politician who has publicly announced that he will turn the page on discussions of the economy and instead start flinging turds.

We see his running mate inciting the worst among us, dangerous individuals - and speaking at rallies that appear to have a more mob mentality, than a discussion of ideas.

Yes, the GOPers are totally out of touch. Palin has made it perfectly clear that she will do and say what she wants and be damned if McCain says any different. That not only shows their mentality, but also that McCain does not have control over his own running mate, much less his campaign.

We’ve also seen Cindy McCain screeching about Obama, while on the same day seen Michelle Obama demonstrate grace and class.

Keep on screeching GOPers. It’s killing ya’.

By BDAtlanta

October 9, 2008 11:16 AM | Link to this

Looks like the some old-school Republicans are turning to the Libertarian party which doesn’t have all the religious zealots and still respects tight controls on spending. We really do need a three party system.

By RealityKing

October 9, 2008 11:21 AM | Link to this

This year we have on the left, a one term senator whose using a childs cartoon as his motto. And on the right we have a one term governor who is using her looks as her motto.

Yes indeed, America has definitely sunken to an all new low. But hey, what did you expect from a progressively dumb down education system? Substantive voters?? Of course, it’s only going to get worse..

By Skeptic Tank

October 9, 2008 11:22 AM | Link to this

Right wingers: Please refer to Jim Wooten’s columns for a complete hack-job on all things Democratic.

If you venture into Jay’s territory, at least TRY to rebut some of Jay’s points, rather than playing that bait and switch game that has become ever-so-tiresome.

By tcoach

October 9, 2008 11:24 AM | Link to this

Guess it is a good thing that our congress continues to sign off on socialist bills grasping at a fix-it-straw.

The reason that is good news is because currently a former socialist party member of the New Party is leading almost all polls.

Obama was a member of the New Party in the mid and late 90s. This just adds to the list of contiued lies by the Obama campaign. Members of his campaign on his behalf said he was never a member of the New Party.

Only to find out there is proof now that he was a member.

Mr. Bookman I say, you are correct today, the repubs need to get back to their core issues. But you have to concede that if this is the top of the democrate ticket much reform is needed. Unless all democrates are willing to go on record and say the party has switched to a party centered around socialism

By Murph

October 9, 2008 11:25 AM | Link to this

Jay,

First time poster.

The McCain tactic of smearing Obama by his associations doesn’t seem to be sticking with voters and surely the McCain campaign will realize that soon, if they have not already. So then, where do they go next? Knowing that desperate republicans should never be underestimated, I fear that they may head to their last bastion of hope - the ballot boxes. Look for them to dredge up “voter fraud” and try to get votes disqualified for this reason or that. The desperation is what scares me. The republicans don’t like to lose.

By AmVet

October 9, 2008 11:25 AM | Link to this

We are approaching the dawn of a glorious new day in America. One where the evil heart of the vampire called neo-conservatism tastes that silver dagger.

My musings aside, thank you Mr. Bookman for such crystalline clarity.

And you sir, have captured, in a few short paragraphs, the very essence of the reasons explaining the imminent final implosion of the once Grand Old Party.

And why so many of us are extremely proud to have successfully countered these horribly misnamed conservatives.

I have said repeatedly that the GOP, not the Democratic Party, holds the great hope for this nation.

And if they can somehow find a way to return to rational, reasonable positions, and restore some sense of integrity in their “leadership”, they will thrive again.

But they will have to recreate a new “base”; one that does not rely excessively on looking backwards, fear mongering, religiosity run amok, corruption and hubris, but instead intellectual curiosity, humility, vision, compromise and true brotherhood.

But I agree that given that we are currently dealing with those who think Ms. Palin is qualified and ready, and is in fact the new standard bearer of their dogmatic ideology, the chances remain very bleak.

And it appears the slow-learners are going to have suffer a few more humiliations at the polls, like the historic slaughter of 2006, to finally get the message.

And unless and until they can reinvent themselves, America, at last, is ready to accommodate them in their political hari kari…

By Dr. R

October 9, 2008 11:28 AM | Link to this

I saw a report on CNN with a bunch of housewives somewhere in the Midwest, Ohio or Pennsylvania, and they were reacting to the debate. All of them were whining that neither candidate offered enough substance, didn’t respond to their needs, etc. I think everyone’s expectations about a) what a president can do, and b) what government can do are out of whack. We’ve seen in recent years that a bad president and a partisan Congress can screw up a bunch of stuff. How powerful a good president and responsive Congress is to fix things is still in doubt. I guess because of that people are willing to give up on the idea of real substantive policy and fall in with the feel-good slogans from the left (class warfare) and right (culture wars).

You know, if Mike Bloomberg had decided to run, he actually might have a shot. He’s nonpartisan, he knows economics in and out, and all the nonsense social policy stuff is not on his radar. I’d vote for him in a New York minute. We don’t need ideology right now, we need competence. We don’t need a national preacher or community activist; we need a mechanic who can crawl under the hood and fix the damn thing.

By Mrs. Godzilla

October 9, 2008 11:30 AM | Link to this

The GOP is at the abyss because they have failed to recognize that the American people are just not that into them and their conservative policies.

We want health care for all, an end to the occupation, rich folks to pay taxes, infrastructure improvements, good schools, real justice, etc.

We want good government, managed by people who believe in good government - and that ain’t the GOP.

By drew

October 9, 2008 11:31 AM | Link to this

As we inch closer to the Obama victory dance, the Repug bloggers here fall into one of two camps.

There are those that refuse to see the writing on the wall, and proceed to prop up their dying ticket, while slinging as much shiit as possible at Obama/Biden, hoping against hope that something will stick.

And then there are those who realize the jig is up (no pun intended), and in their anger and desperation, sit at their keyboards with tears running down their cheeks, and sling as much shiite as possible at Obama/Biden, hoping against hope that something will stick.

And I don’t know whether to feel sorry for them or laugh at them…

…yes I do.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

By Say What?

October 9, 2008 11:38 AM | Link to this

EARTH TO DITTOHEADS. COME IN, DITTOHEADS

Why can’t you admit to yourselves that your demise is entirely your own fault?

Why can’t you admit that your stranglehold on power was not taken away by the liberals, or by the media, or by Nancy Pelosi or Obama, but by your own failures and lack of accountability?

Why can’t you admit that your beloved two-term President has single-handedly destroyed the GOP?

Why can’t you admit that the vaunted Republicans in Congress defied your principles and embraced socialism and irresponsible spending?

Look in the mirror. Your imminent losses in November are your cross to bear…and you only have yourselves to blame.

By Paul

October 9, 2008 11:41 AM | Link to this

Bosch 11:16

“Cindy McCain ‘screeching;”?!!?

You have three choices, good sir -

Admit to a momentary lapse in literary accuracy.

Banish yourself to the night shift on the sewage reprocessing ship Demetrius.

Hit ‘mute’ and enjoy the view.

By Copyleft

October 9, 2008 11:51 AM | Link to this

Nice try, tcoach, but you’ve got three problems:

One: The New Party was not a socialist party.

Two: The New Party contributed their votes to Obama’s 1996 election, but that didn’t make him a member. Their whole purpose was to establish a principle of “electoral fusion,” throwing support behind candidates already nominated by other parties.

Three: The topic of this blog is the GOP’s meltdown—and trying to change the subject to Obama isn’t going to work.

By Bosch

October 9, 2008 12:00 PM | Link to this

Paul,

Screeching. AND she’s got wicked looking eyes, that I’m totally convinced can shoot lasers if necessary.

By tcoach

October 9, 2008 12:02 PM | Link to this

So Ms. Godzilla what you think the American people want is a mix between socialism and communism. That is exactly what you stated as things Americans want.

When you speak of the occupation is that just the one with Iraq or does that include the three other wars Obama has been inching us closer to.

National healthcare does not work, look at europe, nor can we afford it after the bailout.
About taxing the rich, when have they not paid taxes. Why not go flat tax and tax everyone the same percentage?

I agree schools need a massive reformation. Just here in Gerogia alone 40% of current teachers are scheduled to retire with in 5 years. Something needs to be done to recruit more teachers. While also testing our way to being smarter is not working. We have to admit that there are those who have no interest inbeing educated, and we should not be required to waste other students time. Also the most valuable asset in a school system is not given the credit nor the blame they deserve. Parents determine how well a school does. Parents expect schools to be the ones to discipline their children. Get the parents to do abetter job parenting and watch schools improve. That would mean personal accountability and that is not something very popular in this country right now.

What are your views about the points I raised, valid or not. Just trying to gain a better perspective

By Mrs. Godzilla

October 9, 2008 12:11 PM | Link to this

Offered in the spirit of the sesaon….

Yes We Carve. The Barack O Lantern

By tcoach

October 9, 2008 12:16 PM | Link to this

Really copyleft I knew one of you guys would challenge me without doing any real research yourself. So here is some more information from the article. -The ‘New Party’ was a political party established by the Democratic Socialists of America (the DSA) to push forth the socialist principles of the DSA by focusing on winnable elections at a local level and spreading the Socialist movement upwards. The admittedly Socialist Organization experienced a moderate rise in numbers between 1995 and 1999. By 1999, however, the Socialist ‘New Party’ was essentially defunct after losing a supreme court challenge that ruled the organizations “fusion” reform platform as unconstitutional.

There is your socialist part. The New Party admitted they were socialist.

*From the October 1996 Update of the DSA ‘New Party’: “New Party members are busy knocking on doors, hammering down lawn signs, and phoning voters to support NP candidates this fall. Here are some of our key races…

Illinois: Three NP-members won Democratic primaries last Spring and face off against Republican opponents on election day: Danny Davis (U.S. House), Barack Obama (State Senate) and Patricia Martin (Cook County Judiciary).”*

There is the New Party proclaiming Obama to be a member. Wait there is more.

*The NP’s political strategy is to support progressive candidates in elections only if they have a concrete chance to “win”. This has resulted in a winning ratio of 77 of 110 elections. Candidates must be approved via a NP political committee. Once approved, candidates must sign a contract with the NP. The contract mandates that they must have a visible and active relationship with the NP.

The political entourage included Alderman Michael Chandler, William Delgado, chief of staff for State Rep Miguel del Valle, and spokespersons for State Sen. Alice Palmer, Sonya Sanchez, chief of staff for State Sen. Jesse Garcia, who is running for State Rep in Garcia’s District; and Barack Obama, chief of staff for State Sen. Alice Palmer. Obama is running for Palmer’s vacant seat.*

So Obama even signed a contract with this group. WOW, interesting since you disclaimed all of my information as false.

You can check this out too. A little hard to find since New Party took all items involving Obama off of website, after Obama and the New Party denied having a relationship. So you have to go to archives and such.

Now what say you the guy is a socialist, right.

By TN Gelding

October 9, 2008 12:26 PM | Link to this

tcoach

October 9, 2008 12:02 PM

A flat tax, with no deductions and no exemptions, I could support because of its simplicity. The current system is much too costly to comply with.

The cost of health care wouldn’t go up, it would just be funded differently and everyone would be covered. There’s a wait in this country for elective surgery as well.

As these teachers retire, let’s retire the school buildings as well. I nearly cry when I read our local system is spending $50 million to build a new one. “Home schooling” rules.

By CommunistAJC

October 9, 2008 12:32 PM | Link to this

Only a democrat would worship a presidential candidate. Good luck on Judgment Day Obama Hussein worshipers. It won’t be Obama Hussein that saves your soul.

By Mrs. Godzilla

October 9, 2008 12:32 PM | Link to this

tcoach

I won’t attempt to add some “ism” label to what the American people want.

Your opinions, while certainly of value, are very different than that of the majority of the electorate.

Please come prepared for class.

Do your homework.

By tcoach

October 9, 2008 12:35 PM | Link to this

How would health care cost be paid for, what does differently mean. Obama still will not say exactly what programs he will cut.
Your assertion of waiting for elected surgeries is true, kinda.

Disloating your knee is elective, having gall stones elective.

Yet I have had 6 knee surgeries and my gall bladder taken out yet never waited the first day. I went to see teh surgeon and that day scheduled a date for surgery, never more than 2 weeks away. My friend up in canada just spent his last 6 1/2 months waiting to have his ACL repaired after he slipped on ice in his drive way.

Still though where are you gonna come up with the money, without cutting any programs?

Please don’t say Iraq, because as Obama stated in the debate he plans to send all of our troops from Iraq into Afgan.

By Copyleft

October 9, 2008 12:38 PM | Link to this

Still wrong, Tcoach… quoting lies made up on right-wing blogs as “news” and “truth” is the current coin of the realm for the increasingly desperate right wing.

(By the way, how many times could they cram the word “socialist” into that opening paragraph? Are they afraid people will forget it if it’s not mentioned at least twice per sentence?)

Ahh, I remember when the lie-of-the-week was “Barack’s not a U.S. citizen!” Or better yet, “Barack’s a closet Muslim!” Yes, the desperate mudslinging of the right as they slide into defeat is funny to watch…

Almost as funny as realizing there are dimwits dumb enough to BELIEVE the garbage they’re dutifully parroting everywhere they go, hoping against hope that America really isn’t a smarter, more liberal nation than they wanted.

I’ll keep it simple for you: “Trunk Report” and “Politically Drunk” are not reliable news sources. They’re BLOGS. They circulate propaganda and hysteria for the far right. They have zero credibility.

By Mrs. Godzilla

October 9, 2008 12:45 PM | Link to this

Commie AJC

Ronald Reagan?????

By TN Gelding

October 9, 2008 12:45 PM | Link to this

Barack Attack!

By Paul

October 9, 2008 12:46 PM | Link to this

Bosch

Don’t know about the screeching, still, the rest sounds like my kind of woman!

By tcoach

October 9, 2008 12:50 PM | Link to this

Those arn’t lies you joke most of them are direct quotes off of the former website of the New Party. Go look for yourself. Or do exactly what I watch you do every day on here. If you get stuck and do not have a good answer you acuse teh person of getting it from a right wing source. Or you say that they are racist or just a bible thumper. That is fine call me what you will but this is factual information. I am sorry that it upsets you to find out that the person you have villified other people over happens to have been a member of a socialist party. With the execption of 1 quote it was all fro the New Party’s website. Eventhough they tried to get rid of it once questions came up during the primaries about this group. Go look it up

By Copyleft

October 9, 2008 12:55 PM | Link to this

If they were facts, you’d be able to support them. I haven’t seen you offer any such support.

And you’re STILL trying to change the subject away from the blatant GOP meltdown going on….

By TN Gelding

October 9, 2008 12:56 PM | Link to this

tcoach

October 9, 2008 12:35 PM

He’s not going to send all the troops to Afghan, but I’d bring them home from there, too.

You pay for it like you pay for Medicare; taxes, supplemental insurance and out of pocket. I know that isn’t what’s being proposed by Obama.

By mm

October 9, 2008 12:59 PM | Link to this

Like Wile E. Coyote, the GOP is hanging onto that one little tree growing on the side of the cliff.

No further proof is needed than to see the wingnuts clamoring for Palin in 2012.

My Jack Russell Terrier is smarter than that woman.

Got brains?

By tcoach

October 9, 2008 1:02 PM | Link to this

No never tried to change subject now you my friend are lying. I have stated more than once the GOP is in need of serious reform and a return to their actual principles of smaller government and a govern by the people for the people mentallity.

And again you lied in the quotes I provided I showed you exactly where to go to confirm what I stated in my previous post.

So shut up and prove it not to be true. You cannot, because it is factual. Go prove something to the contrary

By tcoach

October 9, 2008 1:10 PM | Link to this

Gelding I understand how you are proposing that health care plan.

I have 2 disagreement though.

With that said I am also unwilling to call you wrong.

Something does need to be done, because there are families that have no health care. It is not the fault of the children in the home. It is a lack of planning and preperation on behalf of the caregivers in the home.

I knew I needed health care and chose a career that would provide that. IO had goals and a plan and worked hard to achieve it, I cannot understand why the same is not expected of everyone else.

By citizen

October 9, 2008 1:34 PM | Link to this

I am watching Sen. McCain hand the Oval office over to the Democrats. He will be judged as the main reason Se. Obama wins this Presidential race. HE SIMPLY JUST DOES NOT GET IT!! The audience is better than he is and I’m a conversative.

By lovelyliz

October 9, 2008 2:20 PM | Link to this

By mm

My Jack Russell Terrier is smarter than that woman

So is my female pitbull who has never worn lipstick although somehow my niece managed to paint her nails, all 4 sets of them purple.

By Greg Mendel

October 9, 2008 2:22 PM | Link to this

The Republican Party is not standing at the abyss. The Republican Party IS the abyss.

By GodHatesTrash

October 9, 2008 2:40 PM | Link to this

Touche, Mr. Mendel.

Too true.

By Greg Mendel

October 9, 2008 3:10 PM | Link to this

It wasn’t always so, GodHatesTrash, as you know. Many traditional Republicans — honest conservatives — have abandoned the party to become Libertarians or Independents. The vacuum was filled by people who are terrified and angry over imaginary threats. They are particularly afraid and resentful of individual freedoms. Many rants about “law and order” have been more about “order” than “law.”

In fairness, however, the political spectrum of left and right is circular, not linear. The extremes of left and right bend around to meet each other, yielding the same fanatical lunatics at the union.

I think at core of today;s partisan politics is an inclination to see each other only in extremes. Republicans view all Democrats as Al Sharpton. Dems see all Republicans as Sean Hannity.

By GayGrayGeek

October 9, 2008 3:26 PM | Link to this

Mr. Mendel @ 3:10 - Unfortunately, the Party Of Rockefeller has become the Party Of Stone A Heathen.

What’s amazing to me is how many different categories of “heathen” now exist.

By Judith E. Barnes, Ph.D.

October 9, 2008 11:47 PM | Link to this

Sarah Palin should garner enough integrity, perhaps from her now pregnant daughter and walk away from this travesty that she has signed up to participate in.

I am a black woman who sees nothing in Sara Palin that appears to have any empathy for anyone and certainly not for me. She does not fool me with her shrieking beer talking, downhome girl next-door nonsense. We need a Vice President that is unlike Chaney and unlike the pin-up of the month. This woman’s greatest error in my estimation is that she is unwilling to admit that she is out of her league.

I am offended as an intelligent woman that this individual is allowing herself to be used as a pawn by a man that has little or no regard for women (and certainly none for black women and black people in general). Sarah Palin does not exhibit any genuine affection for anyone including her son that she is being lauded for giving birth to. This woman has an ego that is dysfunctional and her idea of what honesty and integrity is really all about are seriously miscalculated.

Sarah Palin needs to know that she would serve herself better if she learned how to be assertive and not aggressive. Sarah Palin would be a better human being if she learned what loyalty is truly about and Sarah Palin would do herself and her family well to return home and face herself admitting that she needs to undergo some serious counseling and then start mothering her children. I am not being malicious here, but any woman who is the mother of children, as in her case, 5, and goes on the road the way she has chosen to do; has serious issues that need to be addressed.

Sarah Palin’s orchestrated and staged attacks against Obama is a disservice to herself, women in general and eventually a disservice to herself and the legacy she will leave to her children.

It’s not that Sarah Palin has no merit, it’s just that she is in the wrong place trying to do something that she is not equipped to do and to do it by projecting racist remarks and folowing a script that is clearly not of her own making is an embarrassment to her as well as true women all over this country and the world.

Sarah Palin must know that real genuine and smart women, can clearly see that she is out of her league and that she is allowing John McCain to use her in a most unflattering manner.

Go home Sarah and learn how to mother your children; your 15 minutes (Andy Warhol) of fame should never have been, but now that you have had it, walk away gracefully.