Thinking Right

By Bill Shipp

November 19, 2008 8:26 AM | Link to this

For Republicans seeking a silver lining from the last election, try this one:

The GOP held the Old South. After 40 years, the Republicans’ Southern strategy still works. Race beats all.

Sure, the Democratic presidential ticket took North Carolina, Virginia and Florida. Virginia and Florida no longer count as Old South. Florida is New York south and snooty Virginia had rather be known as a Middle Atlantic state.

I don’t know what happened to North Carolina. Maybe the Tar Heels wearied of losing furniture-manufacturing jobs to China and India, or they tired of Republicans warning of Mexican immigrants at every turn. Whatever it was, N.C. went Democratic by a whisker.

The rest of the South held fast. Barack Obama won only 44 counties of the 410 mostly white Appalachian counties that stretch from New York to Georgia and Mississippi.

Less than one-third of whites in the South voted for Obama, compared with 43 percent of whites nationally.

Somewhere, Richard Nixon and Barry Goldwater must be chuckling. They invented the Southern political strategy way back in the 1960s and 1970s. Despite a few cracks, the bloc, based primarily on a calculated appeal to white sentiment, still functions just fine.

While Republican John McCain lost the nation by a near landslide, he romped to easy victory in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Louisiana.

Those states (plus a few empty Western ones) now comprise the heart and soul of the new/old Republican Party. A few delusional Democrats think their Georgia senatorial candidate Jim “More Than Just a Pretty Face” Martin will prevail in a December runoff against GOP incumbent Saxby Chambliss. They must be dreaming. To the rest of the nation, Chambliss may be the poster boy for dirty campaigning and sticking his thumb in his constituency’s eyes. Back home among majority Republicans, Saxby is our kind of guy. He has promised to protect “our values and our way of life.” We all know what that means.

Sorry, Martin. Nice try, but you just don’t look the part of a Deep South senator. Try dyeing your hair white and saying something really nasty about the food at Taco Bell. That might help.

Back to the main event and the wonderment over whether the heavyweight Republican Party has got enough punch left to wage another championship fight.

Historic irony abounds in the last election. The party of Lincoln is now depending on the late Confederacy for survival. Before the 1960s, the Republican Party was despised and derided across most of the South. After all, wasn’t it a Republican named Sherman who invented scorched-earth warfare and field-tested it across Georgia? And wasn’t it the Democrats who thought up the white primary and Jim Crow?

In his book “Whistling Past Dixie,” University of Maryland political scientist Tom Schaller presents a cogent order of battle for Democrats on how to win a national election without paying much attention to the South. The strategy worked.

All it took was a panic over the economy, two wars we can’t afford, massive unemployment, the collapse of key industries and a runaway deficit. That is when most Americans decided another Republican administration was a luxury we just couldn’t afford. It didn’t matter whether the Democratic challenger was a black guy from Chicago named Hussein. He could have been named Al Capone and still have won most of America.

Our part of the South just didn’t see it that way. Even if Republican John McCain was too old and showed signs of tilting to the left, he was still white, and that’s what mattered.

So what does the Grand Old Party do now? It owns the South, at least the white part of it. However, the South has demonstrated it is so far out of the American mainstream that it is practically a colony or territory, like Samoa or the Marianas.

The Republican leadership could abandon its Southern base and try to go national again. If that tactic failed, however, the GOP would become known as the Gone Old Party. As I see it, the Republicans have but one choice: Hang onto the South and hope Obama falls on his face. Of course, if that should happen, America might fall on its face too, and Republicans might be replaced by the Kuomintang.

By Churchill's MOM

November 19, 2008 8:30 AM | Link to this

Jim who cares about a old White hared man who is a liar, here’s today’s Palin, the only hope for our party.

I am getting very irritated with the media’sÂclaim that the choice of Gov. Sarah Palin was a mistake and that she cost John McCain the election. As far as I am concerned, she helped him a lot more than hurt him.

I was in charge of Republican Headquarters for Columbia County and was present the entire time we were open to the public. When we first opened, a few people came inÂasking for McCain yard signs with a real ho-hum attitude. The basic comment was “he wasn’t my first choice, but…”

After Gov. Palin’s acceptance speech, everything changed. People started asking for “McPalin” yard signs. “McPalin” became the new vocabulary word at the headquarters. When I told them they had to wait for the McCain-Palin yard signs, they said they would gladly wait.

We were ready with the McCain-Palin signs on Monday, Sept. 15. Although we were asking for a small donation to cover our costs, 300 yard signs were gone by Tuesday evening.ÂAn order of 1,000 was delivered on Sept. 26. They were gone in a week. Another 1,000 were gone in the next two weeks.ÂIn all, we gave out more than 3,000 “McPalin” yard signs, 5,000 bumper stickers and a myriad of voter information.

We had “Read my lipstick” pink t-shirts that flew out of the headquarters,Âto women of all ages. At least a dozen women said they were going to dress as Sarah Palin for Halloween. Another dozen or so students said they were going to play her in political debates at school. They came looking for any merchandise with Palin, and any position papers we had on the candidate.

Of the nearly 30 people who volunteered at headquarters, over 20 worked in campaigns for the very first time. Many of these volunteers came forward because ofÂGov. Sarah Palin.

John McCain received 71 percent of the vote in Columbia County. I guarantee you that he would not have done as well without her on the ticket. He won the state by only 52-47. Without her on the ticket it would have been much closer, or even a loss.

I think the press did an injustice to her and the Republican ticket. Even the latest nasty comments coming from the campaign staff were totally uncalled for and not true. My biggest disappointment though was that John McCain did not come out and defend the Governor, immediately.

I don’t know what the future holds for the Republican Party or Governor Sarah Palin, but if she were to try for higher office in 2012, I would be proud to support her.

By Dennis

November 19, 2008 8:35 AM | Link to this

Mr. Wooten writes, “Before conservatives can sell their ideas they have to first establish their credibility.”

I would say that’s an understatement given the last eight years of nothing but a downhill slide and taking the country with them.

You don’t have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.

By Ga Values

November 19, 2008 8:35 AM | Link to this

I wish we had a Senator like Jim DeMint, he is a REAL REPUBLICAN. We are stuck with 2 RINO/ Socialist Senator. Saxby in a BIG GOVERNMENT, BIG SPENDING, PRO AMNESTY LIBERAL. Saxby mares Martin look like a moderate so he will get my vote.

By Ga Values

November 19, 2008 8:36 AM | Link to this

I wish we had a Senator like Jim DeMint, he is a REAL REPUBLICAN. We are stuck with 2 RINO/ Socialist Senator. Saxby in a BIG GOVERNMENT, BIG SPENDING, PRO AMNESTY LIBERAL. Saxby makes Martin look like a moderate so he will get my vote.

By Mitt Romney

November 19, 2008 8:48 AM | Link to this

I love cars, American cars. I was born in Detroit, the son of an auto chief executive. In 1954, my dad, George Romney, was tapped to run American Motors when its president suddenly died. The company itself was on life support — banks were threatening to deal it a death blow. The stock collapsed. I watched Dad work to turn the company around — and years later at business school, they were still talking about it. From the lessons of that turnaround, and from my own experiences, I have several prescriptions for Detroit’s automakers.

First, their huge disadvantage in costs relative to foreign brands must be eliminated. That means new labor agreements to align pay and benefits to match those of workers at competitors like BMW, Honda, Nissan and Toyota. Furthermore, retiree benefits must be reduced so that the total burden per auto for domestic makers is not higher than that of foreign producers.

That extra burden is estimated to be more than $2,000 per car. Think what that means: Ford, for example, needs to cut $2,000 worth of features and quality out of its Taurus to compete with Toyota’s Avalon. Of course the Avalon feels like a better product — it has $2,000 more put into it. Considering this disadvantage, Detroit has done a remarkable job of designing and engineering its cars. But if this cost penalty persists, any bailout will only delay the inevitable.

Second, management as is must go. New faces should be recruited from unrelated industries — from companies widely respected for excellence in marketing, innovation, creativity and labor relations.

The new management must work with labor leaders to see that the enmity between labor and management comes to an end. This division is a holdover from the early years of the last century, when unions brought workers job security and better wages and benefits. But as Walter Reuther, the former head of the United Automobile Workers, said to my father, “Getting more and more pay for less and less work is a dead-end street.”

You don’t have to look far for industries with unions that went down that road. Companies in the 21st century cannot perpetuate the destructive labor relations of the 20th. This will mean a new direction for the U.A.W., profit sharing or stock grants to all employees and a change in Big Three management culture.

The need for collaboration will mean accepting sanity in salaries and perks. At American Motors, my dad cut his pay and that of his executive team, he bought stock in the company, and he went out to factories to talk to workers directly. Get rid of the planes, the executive dining rooms — all the symbols that breed resentment among the hundreds of thousands who will also be sacrificing to keep the companies afloat.

Investments must be made for the future. No more focus on quarterly earnings or the kind of short-term stock appreciation that means quick riches for executives with options. Manage with an eye on cash flow, balance sheets and long-term appreciation. Invest in truly competitive products and innovative technologies — especially fuel-saving designs — that may not arrive for years. Starving research and development is like eating the seed corn.

Just as important to the future of American carmakers is the sales force. When sales are down, you don’t want to lose the only people who can get them to grow. So don’t fire the best dealers, and don’t crush them with new financial or performance demands they can’t meet.

It is not wrong to ask for government help, but the automakers should come up with a win-win proposition. I believe the federal government should invest substantially more in basic research — on new energy sources, fuel-economy technology, materials science and the like — that will ultimately benefit the automotive industry, along with many others. I believe Washington should raise energy research spending to $20 billion a year, from the $4 billion that is spent today. The research could be done at universities, at research labs and even through public-private collaboration. The federal government should also rectify the imbedded tax penalties that favor foreign carmakers.

But don’t ask Washington to give shareholders and bondholders a free pass — they bet on management and they lost.

The American auto industry is vital to our national interest as an employer and as a hub for manufacturing. A managed bankruptcy may be the only path to the fundamental restructuring the industry needs. It would permit the companies to shed excess labor, pension and real estate costs. The federal government should provide guarantees for post-bankruptcy financing and assure car buyers that their warranties are not at risk.

In a managed bankruptcy, the federal government would propel newly competitive and viable automakers, rather than seal their fate with a bailout check.

By Road Scholar

November 19, 2008 8:57 AM | Link to this

“DeMint held off at the behest of colleagues who urged him to wait until Stevens had actually been reelected before sanctioning him.”

Senator DeMint sounds like a breath of fresh air, although I do not know that much about him. He had the guts to speak his mind as it related the felony conviction; he could have waited until an appeal was heard (there is always an appeal). Note the wording was not to hold off to see the results of an appeal. But he stuck his neck out for the good of his country, and party. Enough is enough. Hold them accountable.

The remainder of the Rupubs who bidded time and waited for the voters in Alaska to weigh in are scum. No backbone, no scruples, no ethics, no balls!

By K Parker

November 19, 2008 9:01 AM | Link to this

As Republicans sort out the reasons for their defeat, they likely will overlook or dismiss the gorilla in the pulpit.

Three little letters, great big problem: G-O-D.

I’m bathing in holy water as I type.

To be more specific, the evangelical, right-wing, oogedy-boogedy branch of the GOP is what ails the erstwhile conservative party and will continue to afflict and marginalize its constituents if reckoning doesn’t soon cometh.

Simply put: Armband religion is killing the Republican Party. And, the truth — as long as we’re setting ourselves free — is that if one were to eavesdrop on private conversations among the party intelligentsia, one would hear precisely that.

The choir has become absurdly off-key, and many Republicans know it.

But they need those votes!

So it has been for the Grand Old Party since the 1980s or so, as it has become increasingly beholden to an element that used to be relegated to wooden crates on street corners.

Short break as writer ties blindfold and smokes her last cigarette.

Which is to say, the GOP has surrendered its high ground to its lowest brows. In the process, the party has alienated its non-base constituents, including other people of faith (those who prefer a more private approach to worship), as well as secularists and conservative-leaning Democrats who otherwise might be tempted to cross the aisle.

Here’s the deal, ‘pubbies: Howard Dean was right.

It isn’t that culture doesn’t matter. It does. But preaching to the choir produces no converts. And shifting demographics suggest that the Republican Party — and conservatism with it — eventually will die out unless religion is returned to the privacy of one’s heart where it belongs.

Religious conservatives become defensive at any suggestion that they’ve had something to do with the GOP’s erosion. And, though the recent Democratic sweep can be attributed in large part to a referendum on Bush and the failing economy, three long-term trends identified by Emory University’s Alan Abramowitz have been devastating to the Republican Party: increasing racial diversity, declining marriage rates and changes in religious beliefs.

Suffice it to say, the Republican Party is largely comprised of white, married Christians. Anyone watching the two conventions last summer can’t have missed the stark differences: One party was brimming with energy, youth and diversity; the other felt like an annual Depends sales meeting.

With the exception of Miss Alaska, of course.

Even Sarah Palin has blamed Bush policies for the GOP loss. She’s not entirely wrong, but she’s also part of the problem. Her recent conjecture about whether to run for president in 2012 (does anyone really doubt she will?) speaks for itself:

“I’m like, okay, God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I’m like, don’t let me miss the open door. Show me where the open door is…. And if there is an open door in (20)12 or four years later, and if it’s something that is going to be good for my family, for my state, for my nation, an opportunity for me, then I’ll plow through that door.”

Let’s do pray that God shows Alaska’s governor the door.

Meanwhile, it isn’t necessary to evict the Creator from the public square, surrender Judeo-Christian values or diminish the value of faith in America. Belief in something greater than oneself has much to recommend it, including most of the world’s architectural treasures, our universities and even our founding documents.

But, like it or not, we are a diverse nation, no longer predominantly white and Christian. The change Barack Obama promised has already occurred, which is why he won.

Among Jewish voters, 78 percent went for Obama. Sixty-six percent of under-30 voters did likewise. Forty-five percent of voters ages 18-29 are Democrats compared to just 26 percent Republican; in 2000, party affiliation was split almost evenly.

The young will get older, of course. Most eventually will marry, and some will become their parents. But nonwhites won’t get whiter. And the nonreligious won’t get religion through external conversion. It doesn’t work that way.

Given those facts, the future of the GOP looks dim and dimmer if it stays the present course. Either the Republican Party needs a new base — or the nation may need a new party.

By Ga Values

November 19, 2008 9:11 AM | Link to this

PBS just reported The Labor Department said Wednesday that consumer prices fell by 1 percent last month, the biggest one-month decline on records that go back to February 1947. The drop was twice as large as the 0.5 percent decline analysts expected.

The big drop reflected not only a huge fall in gasoline and other energy costs, but widespread declines in other areas. Core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy, fell by 0.1 percent last month, the first drop in core prices in more than a quarter-century.

This could be really distructive for the recovery, I sure am glad that I am sitting with almost all my investments in cash and everything is paid for.

By Davo

November 19, 2008 9:17 AM | Link to this

JW, you warm my heart this morning. You are finally coming to terms with the fiasco which the republicans have wrought. I hope this trend will continue…people need to realize that integrity and CONSERVATIVE values still matter. This will be the only way for the republican party to capture power again.

And good luck with supporting Palin…brain-dead valley girls should have no place in government.

By Dusty for MARTIN

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

Saxby got $15,000 from Uncle Ted. He & Stevens are really tight. Saxby says he is not giving the money back. Birds of a feather stick together. VOTE MARTIN, VOTE OFTEN

By findog

November 19, 2008 9:23 AM | Link to this

Counterfeit @8:26 I know Bill Shipp, read his column every Wednesday it is published before I come here, Bill is a friend of mine, Bill makes his living fairly reading Georgia’s tea leaves, Bill would never post his column for free…

Mitt @8:48 The UAW has already agreed to take over retiree’s health care in 2010; if you actually knew anything you would know the major need of the big three is to bridge that expense shift to the union. What union leader would give anything away for stock grants when that will all be lost in bankruptcy?

Road @8:57 The only problem is the colleagues that put the needs of the party ahead of the country. While it may be patriotic to vote republican this lesser of the evils ploy being used, even here in Georgia, still results in evil…

By ron

November 19, 2008 9:32 AM | Link to this

Good morning, It may have served DeMint better if he had waited until he had an actual object on which to vent his outrage.Now he looks sort of foolish sitting there with the wind blown from his sails.All that parsimonious banter and no one now to listen.This is the future?

I can’t imagine anyone voting for Stevens,but vote they did.Republicans can sometimes be blind.To paraphrase Charles K.——“we’re accused of not being diverse enough as a party and when we try to include a couple of felons everyone objects”.

I see where Cheney and Gonzales have been indicted.That’s a strange indictment if I ever saw one.

Years back British Leyland sucked billions in before it finally succumbed.GM and Ford need Chapter 11 to get it sorted out if it is possible.Goodbye to Chrysler.How many chances do they need?Will people buy cars from a manufacturer in Chapter 11?Maybe.Outlook bleak.

By getalife

November 19, 2008 9:33 AM | Link to this

Be a “real American”, think “country first”, support President Obama and elect Senator Martin.

Suxby must go.

By Glenn

November 19, 2008 9:40 AM | Link to this

Before conservatives can sell their ideas they have to first establish their credibility.

Might I suggest, Jim: “re-establish their credibility?” We Goldwaterites, who now are down to perhaps fewer than a dozen in number, in the key elected offices, never lost our cred. And the rest of conservativedom would do well to rebuild, as before, on our sturdy cactus stump.

By Redneck Convert

November 19, 2008 9:41 AM | Link to this

Well, I see the Terrists up and called Obama a House N* but that’s alright, he ain’t my president and never will be.

I was right mad to read this guy that crittersized the Republican party for sticking with Christians. Well, it was us Christians that got the party in office and it will be us Christians that get them back in. Give me that old time religion, I always say, and forget the Jews and Those People and the Mexicans and everybody else we don’t like. We may be out of office for a few decades, but leastwise we will be Right with God. And one day the libruls will wake up and find out they are in Hell, with tall flames everywhere and they will wish they voted Republican.

I’ll vote for old Saxby instead of this librul Martin. We need to be able to gum up the works and keep Obama from getting any of his stuff passed. That way, we can talk about how the librul Democrats in Congress don’t get nothing done and the voters will be ready to throw them out. Saxby may be pretty worthless as senators go, but leastwise he’s a godly Republican. He needs to keep right on talking about how Martin and Obama will raise our taxes and he don’t have to say nothing about the only taxes getting raised will be on the real rich people.

Have a good day everybody.

By Soothsayer

November 19, 2008 9:56 AM | Link to this

How much are labor costs in relation to the total price of a new vehicle? The total labor cost of a new vehicle produced in the United States is about $2,400 which includes direct, indirect and salaried labor for engines, stamping and assembly at the automakers’ plants. This represents 8.4 percent of the typical $28,451 price of a new vehicle in 2006. The vast majority of the costs of producing a vehicle and transporting it to a dealership and preparing it for sale – including design, engineering, marketing, raw materials, executive compensation and other costs – are not related to direct or indirect manufacturing labor.

Mitt:

Let’s play “find the scapegoat.” Surely those evil unions are the cause.

By deegee

November 19, 2008 9:58 AM | Link to this

I wish I could have a nickel for every time some lamentable republican will utter the words, “diversity”, “inclusive” or “big tent”. In the next six months I could recoup what I have lost over the last 6 months in my 401k.

By Steven Daedalus

November 19, 2008 10:18 AM | Link to this

I hope the Republican Party does put their hopes and dreams into people like Demint and Palin,if they do, they will always be a minority party, which is, at best, more than they deserve.

By Peter

November 19, 2008 10:20 AM | Link to this

Well said Jim………Before conservatives can sell their ideas they have to first establish their credibility. Being just another ethically-challenged politician out to loot the treasury for the home crowd — the Ted Stevens model — doesn’t fly anymore. That’s the model that grows and corrupts government.

That pretty much explains Republican Politics from Bush and Cheney on down………

Gee no wonder you guys got hammered this last election, and the Country is in the huge mess today.

Republican’s for the Rich, by the Rich, and For themselves.Screw America to get Rich !

By Steven Daedalus

November 19, 2008 10:33 AM | Link to this

Palin, I’m sorry, every time I write or see that name I laugh for ten minutes.

By Soothsayer

November 19, 2008 10:35 AM | Link to this

Let’s turn the clock back to 2006. The Big 3 automakers couldn’t make SUVs fast enough. In fact SUVs were the big money-makers for the automakers. SUVs were de rigeur for suburbia.

Soccer moms wouldn’t be caught dead in a Honda or Toyota. Imagine the shame!

Sure, the automakers made cars like the Focus, Fusion, Cobalt, Impala, etc. But it was the giant monsters that were their bread and butter.

Then what happened? Speculators (without any government oversight) drove the price of oil to $147/barrel which meant that gasoline—once relatively cheap—now costs over $4/gallon.

So now after decades of making the vehicles we wanted all of a sudden the Big 3 automakers are a bunch of dipsheetz that can’t pour p!ss out of a boot. Kinda makes you stop and think, huh?

But wait! There is a bogeyman here. It’s those evil, despicable, greedy union workers. Yeah! that’s it! There the cause. Even though wages represent just 8.4% of the price of a new car.

By reebok

November 19, 2008 10:43 AM | Link to this

The GOP has become a regional party that will become increasingly irrelevant unless it changes course - and I mean by moving towards the center, not further to the right.

By Glenn

November 19, 2008 10:45 AM | Link to this

Anytime you want to play “Let’s Find the Scapegoat”, Soothsayer, please count me in. On your team.

Sincerely,

Rene Girard

By Glenn

November 19, 2008 10:50 AM | Link to this

…the Big 3 automakers are a bunch of dipsheetz that can’t pour p!ss out of a boot.

As Ross Pea-row was said to have said: “No look, People, ya cain’t pee into a Mr. Coffee an’ expekt to git Taster’s Choice. It jes’ don’t work that way!”

— Dana Carvey

By Copyleft

November 19, 2008 10:55 AM | Link to this

Saxby’s new campaign slogan: “Vote for the criminally corrupt incompetent guy—it’s best for the PARTY!”

By Soothsayer

November 19, 2008 10:57 AM | Link to this

Glenn:

My favorite Ross Perot quote was when he was asked what he would do about the economy:

“We’ll just th’ow open the hood and feex it.”

By Glenn

November 19, 2008 11:05 AM | Link to this

An’ dangit, Soothie, we sho shoulda hahrred that fella, ‘cause bah now it’d all be feexed.

“Feex”: Would that be Bill Dana doing Jose Jim-e-e-nnnnnnez?

By Cornbread Fred

November 19, 2008 11:08 AM | Link to this

Hey Redneck Convert: You complain about different ethnic groups (all created by the same God who created you), then describe “us” as “godly”, then try to compare Christians (followers of the original teacher of peace, love and sharing) with republicans (constitution-despising, war-propagating money-mongerers). Think you can concentrate long enough to reconcile these contradictions for us? Or are you still trying to get into the Jim Wooten/Cornbread Fred stand-up comedy troupe?

By @@

November 19, 2008 11:09 AM | Link to this

Before I read Jim’s column, I want to ask Soothsayer to explain what characteristics are common among “soccer moms”.?

I’ve always wondered what that means.

By Soothsayer

November 19, 2008 11:32 AM | Link to this

In North American social, cultural and political discourse, soccer mom broadly refers to a middle-class suburban woman who spends a significant amount of her time transporting her school-age children to activities such as soccer practice and music lessons. The phrase became popular during the 1996 United States presidential election campaign.

—Wikipedia

By Cindy

November 19, 2008 11:34 AM | Link to this

While Saxby is on his way out, Max Cleland is on his way in; he will be given a post in the Obamba administration. God bless our Vets! What goes about comes about.

By Ga Values

November 19, 2008 11:38 AM | Link to this

Good read about a prepackaged bankrupcy for the big 2.5

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/18/AR2008111803510.html?hpid=topnews

By King DumbA$$ I

November 19, 2008 11:43 AM | Link to this

Hooooeeeeeee! This here being president is good work if you can get it! ‘Em last few checks’ll be hittin’ my Swiss bank accounts in a few days. HECK! I AIN’T NEVER GONNA HAVE TO WORK ANOTHER DAY IN MY LIFE! The best part is the eye are ess (wink, wink) don’t no nothin about it. And ya’ll thought I was a dumba$$! Man I love it! Wish you were here! See ya all in Crawford!

By ron

November 19, 2008 11:45 AM | Link to this

Dear @@ ——allow me to take a stab at the soccer mom definition.

I see a middle class woman from suburbia that drives the biggest and best SUV on the market.The Espalade,The Youkon,whatever Lincoln contributes to the scheme.Said SUV is used to transport her school children to and from school,to soccer practice,to band practice,to ballet,To wherever the little darlings have to go.Sometimes she even transports their friends.

As stated before,she does this in a very large,four wheel drive vehicle that guzzles gas like a drunk guzzles rum.

She’s actually suburbia’s answer too the male redneck.

One other note of interest is that the vehicle is never used when it snows because all schools and all school functions are cancelled.

By Suburban Mother

November 19, 2008 11:45 AM | Link to this

Don’t START with me, G—D——t! Work, traffic, groceries, cooking, cleaning, and driving OTHER people around so THEY can have lives, then staying up late to pay bills, wash dishes, and fold laundry… It’s always everything for everybody else. Do I get to relax? Do I get to do something fun? Oh, nooooooo… Just a life support system for a mortgage company, and bunch of utility companies, and a bunch of small, often smelly creatures who have NO DARN APPRECIATION whatsoever that I gave up the prime years of my life to be a freaking SERVANT to all their selfish little desires they think are needs! WELL YOU CAN ALL JUST KISS MY A—!!!!!

BTW, I voted for Obama, and will be casting my run-off vote for Jim Martin! DO YOU HEAR THAT, MIZ UPPITY REPUBLICAN Lexus-driving MOMS?

By Hot plumber

November 19, 2008 11:56 AM | Link to this

Fear not, Suburban Mother, I’ll be over to “fix your shower,” momentarily … and massage your tired feet, mon cherie.

By Soothsayer

November 19, 2008 11:56 AM | Link to this

Suburban Mother:

Please don’t put a hex on me. I didn’t say anything disparaging about Soccer Moms. It was that other guy. OK?

By Drop it Where?

November 19, 2008 11:56 AM | Link to this

From the Guardian, “Russia’s deepening strategic partnership with Venezuela took a dramatic step forward yesterday when it emerged that Moscow has agreed to build Venezuela’s first ever nuclear reactor.

Guess it’s time to bomb Mexico City.

By Suburban Mother

November 19, 2008 11:58 AM | Link to this

ron, let me clue you in to a little thing called a CARPOOL: Sometimes another mom drives my little ones to practice, and sometimes I drive other moms’ little ones to practice. Since I can only afford one vehicle for my own use, I have to drive one big enough to hold at least four children and myself. That’s why, when you see me driving TO AND FROM MY JOB, it might look like I’m enjoying all that space for my own comfort or ego, but I assure, you, I’m ON MY WAY to deal with my grown-up, non-selfish responsibilities. How does that make me a redneck? Why don’t YOU actually take responsibility for someone besides yourself once in awhile before you judge others? D—k.

By @@

November 19, 2008 11:59 AM | Link to this

Sorry guys (Soothsayer & ron) I took some time to water the pansies on the porch.

That’s it? That’s what defines a soccer mom?

Why then, is the term used with such disdain by democrats?

And ron……She’s actually suburbia’s answer too the male redneck.

Am I to assume then, that she’s white, rich, and votes Republican?

By Soothsayer

November 19, 2008 12:07 PM | Link to this

HOLY CR@P! I didn’t use it with disdain. I just said SUVs were the vehicle of choice of Soccer Moms and still would be were it not for the gas price spike.

Please see my post @11:56.

By Suburban Mother

November 19, 2008 12:20 PM | Link to this

Soothsayer, relax Hon. I wasn’t yelling at you. First I was just yelling, ‘cause it feels good, and we don’t get to do it just anywhere. Then I had to straighten Ron out as to why we have bigger vehicles, although I drive a smaller SUV, just barely big enough for the humans, dogs, groceries, and bags o’ cleats, etc. (Carpool = fewer vehicles clogging traffic. Makes sense if you actually think instead of judging.)

To answer @@’s questions: I am NOT rich. I work, and I vote DEMOCRATIC most of the time, Libertarian occasionally, but never Republican. The moms I know with rich husbands and no need for their own jobs tend to drive bigger, nicer vehicles and vote Republican, but that’s just what I see in my neck of the suburbs. Your observations may vary. (Oh, and my kids don’t play soccer, but do play other sports, and are therefore not roaming around after shcool, breaking into houses for drug money.)

By Bo Chambliss LOBBYIST

November 19, 2008 12:30 PM | Link to this

SAXBY ECONOMICS, LOBBYIST GET THE MONEY, TAXPAYER GETS THE BILL

Rajeev Dhawan, director of the Economic Forecasting Center at Georgia State University, predicted Wednesday that the already gloomy unemployment picture in Georgia and metro Atlanta will worsen at least through next year before a light rebound.

“We expect significant layoffs in the state,” Dhawan said in a report to be released today at the center’s quarterly conference.

Rajeev Dhawan, director of the Economic Forecasting Center at Georgia State University.• Find ways to save ‘Your Money’

From the start of the job cuts to the end of 2009, Georgia payrolls will bleed a stunning 170,000 jobs — 4 percent of the total, he said.

Metro Atlanta, which accounts for about two-thirds of the state’s jobs, will likewise account for the majority of this year’s job losses, he said: Atlanta payrolls will shed 45,600 jobs.

Metro Atlanta will lose 42,100 jobs next year before adding a modest number — 17,200 positions — in 2010.

The worst losses are coming in construction, where 12,200 jobs disappeared in the past two quarters, according to Dhawan.

Housing construction, which provided so much of the muscle for Atlanta’s boom, has shriveled dramatically. New housing permits will end this year down by 54 percent — after a 35 percent drop in 2007, Dhawan said.

The number of permits will slide again next year before bottoming out in 2010, he said.

By Soothsayer

November 19, 2008 12:36 PM | Link to this

“I was just yelling, ‘cause it feels good, and we don’t get to do it just anywhere …”

I wish my ex-wife had had your restraint.

All hail “Suburban Mother”

By @@

November 19, 2008 12:43 PM | Link to this

Sorry Soothersayer! It was not my intention to place you or ron in Suburban Mother’s line of fire.

I’m remain confused by her response, but not why she is an Obama supporter.

a bunch of small, often smelly creatures who have NO DARN APPRECIATION whatsoever that I gave up the prime years of my life to be a freaking SERVANT to all their selfish little desires they think are needs!

That’s kinda harsh MOM.

By Soothsayer

November 19, 2008 12:49 PM | Link to this

I like “rugrats.” Then there’s “yard apes.” How ‘bout “curtain climbers?” Maybe Mr. Suburban Mom could “try a little tenderness?” If not there’s always … well, better not say here.

By @@

November 19, 2008 12:52 PM | Link to this

Remove the “apostrophe m” that follows the “I” in my 12:43.

And Suburban Mom! Here’s hoping your life improves IN SPITE of your smelly creatures.

Sheesh!

Signed: One time cheerleader mom who drove other Mom’s girls home from practice daily (in a Subaru) and was happy to be of assistance to both the girls and their Mom’s

By ron

November 19, 2008 1:01 PM | Link to this

Dear Suburban Mother, I remember the parenting days.They were done with a Toyota.The little darlins were delivered hither and yon by Japanese horsepower.One thing I did notice was that the older they got,the bigger they got, so subsequently we were limited to how many we could take.By the time they graduated we were down to the origional family.

The Toyota went off to college and there appeared on the scene the first Ranger.My wife said that there wasn’t any room to take anyone with us and I replied that that was the plan.

Why soccer moms are held in disdain is beyond me.I don’t hold them that way.

Their four wheel drive SUV’s are simply the opposite of thr redneck’s four wheel drive pick-up.I don’t know how they vote.

There are no judgements here only explanations.

In the mood you’re in,don’t kiss your kids tonight.

By Brent

November 19, 2008 1:03 PM | Link to this

We should already expect Minnesota to be stolen from Republicans. Former ACORN goons and other various left wing lib-dems are in charge of the recount in major areas, and even before the recount started mysterious ballots started appearing. That’s fine. Let the lib-dems get their full filibuster proof unchecked power in congress, something Republicans never had, even if lib-dems claim otherwise. America, you’ll get what you deserve and there will be a revolt eventually swinging back the other way.

Now Al Qaeda slams Obama. Huh? You mean the peace birds didn’t come out chirping and all our enemies reach out for peace overnight with the election of The Savior? You mean the world is still a dangerous place? You mean all those jobs that went overseas to escape gestapo taxation in America aren’t yet coming back? We’ll I’ll be darned. One would have thought that the election of The Savior would have changed the world. I suppose the celebration hangovers and clouded heads after Nov. 4th are starting to clear up.

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Al-Qaida’s No. 2 leader used a racial epithet to insult Barack Obama in a message posted Wednesday, describing the president-elect in demeaning terms that imply he does the bidding of whites.

The message appeared chiefly aimed at persuading Muslims and Arabs that Obama does not represent a change in U.S. policies. Ayman al-Zawahri said in the message, which appeared on militant Web sites, that Obama is “the direct opposite of honorable black Americans” like Malcolm X, the 1960s African-American rights leader.

In al-Qaida’s first response to Obama’s victory, al-Zawahri also called the president-elect—along with secretaries of state Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice—”house negroes.”

By ricardo12

November 19, 2008 1:19 PM | Link to this

“The Saudi Arabia-owned supertanker hijacked by Somali pirates in a raid several hundred miles out to sea is understood to have anchored off the coast of Somalia. The Sirius Star, which is fully loaded with crude oil, is understood to be at anchor close to a headland called Raas Cusbad, near Hobyo.”

President elect Obama wants the US to be more involved with the UN. For those a little slow - and democrat voting liberals - that means more of our tax dollar involvement and less of our military investment and projection overseas. What, precisely, has the UN been doing over the past month to curtail the savages coming out of Somalia pirating international ships? Even better, what have the Democrats and our president-elect mentioned we should do about the problem? [chirp] [chirp] [chirp] [chirp]

The British get a big kudos for sending two of said savages to the bottom of the sea last week in minced meat for sharks.

By Soothsayer

November 19, 2008 1:30 PM | Link to this

Ricardo12:

You seem to answer the question in the last sentence of your second paragraph with the first sentence of your second paragraph. The supertanker you refer to was hijacked nearly 450 miles offshore. Far to the south of where most of the hijackings have occurred. Given the state of our economy do you really think we need to be deploying our navy in international waters to combat a rag-tag group of pirates? Obama has not taken office. What has George W Bush done?

By ron

November 19, 2008 1:35 PM | Link to this

Dear @@—-Fear not for me.I am up to the task.

Dear Soothsayer.See the mess you got me in? Try ankle biters to describe the little cretins.

By Soothsayer

November 19, 2008 1:40 PM | Link to this

A U.N. Security Council resolution, pushed by the U.S. and passed June 2, allows the U.S. and its coalition allies to intervene by “all necessary means” for the next six months to stop piracy off the Somali coast. Coalition ships have since scared off pirates in at least two attacks, says the London-based International Maritime Bureau.

By Tom

November 19, 2008 1:41 PM | Link to this

Palin implied that God might “open the door” for her to move into Stevens’s Senate seat to get in position to run for president in four or eight years. Then God said “Ha” and slammed the door shut.

Turns out God laughs at Sarah Palin, just like the rest of us.

By BS Aplenty

November 19, 2008 1:43 PM | Link to this

Bill Shipp

I’m continually amused by pencil-toting-imbeciles who cast “the South” as some ancient castle filled with a unique kind of voter. As I survey the popular voting landscape, I see a a lot of your “South” all over the country. In only a few of the most liberal states like California and New York do Democrats have anything that approaches a clear majority for either party. And at 60/40, even those two heavily Dem states cannot be considered a monolithic whole.

Any cogent, objective analysis of the 2008 presidential election would necessarily focus on the Independent voters that Republicans must have and that Democrats need only slightly less so. Your analysis about a Southern strategy is simply oh-so-much pedestrian Dem talking point rhetoric - but impressively lengthy.

I realize that Dems like you are inherently scared of Southerners. Maybe a consequence of those un-Civil War casualty numbers. Your attempts to demonize strikes us as funny since you Dems are so adamant opposed to Southerners demonizing blacks, gays, transgenders, illegal immigrants, stray dogs, cats, squirrel roadkill, snail darters, and others but, impressively, not unborn children. I must applaud the Dems for drawing the line somewhere.

I think at the end of the day I still see the Democrat party as an association of the stupid and scared looking to sit around a campfire on some communal farm, fearful of what’s outside the tent. Fear really doesn’t appeal to me or most Americans.

Yes, my Dem idiot, we’ll give Obama his due, he ran a sound campaign but on December 2nd or before I’m still voting for Saxby Chambliss.

By ron

November 19, 2008 2:01 PM | Link to this

BS Aplenty——Mike Huckabee carried the South in the Republican primary.This is because the south has a certain kind of voter.I could describe them but you know who they are.How would you like to have Huckabee as your presidential candidate in 2012?Why do you think Palin was picked as McCain’s running mate?Because the South has a certain kind of voter.

I supported McCain in 2008.I’m one of those independents you mention.Would I have supported Romney-Huckabee?Never.

By Soothsayer

November 19, 2008 2:05 PM | Link to this

This article really spells it all out.

As a matter of fact, a very large majority of Americans—both Democrats and Republicans, men and women, residents of cities and of rural areas, high school graduates and college-educated—all say that the United States has been headed in the wrong direction under George W. Bush’s stewardship. Bush’s approval rating reflects the lack of confidence that Americans have in him and his administration. In fact, George W. Bush has recorded the lowest approval rating of any president in the 70-year history of the Gallup Poll. And, around the world, the United States has never had a leader who commands so little respect and confidence. Most people in the U.S. and abroad will find satisfaction in seeing his term come to an end.

By Gator Joe

November 19, 2008 2:07 PM | Link to this

Wooten: I am pleasantly surprised you would speak ill of another Republican, however, it took a felony conviction of Stevens for you, Demint and the rest of the Republicans to speak out. By the way, since you mentioned “liberal” once again in your column, we Liberals serve in the armed forces, don’t send others, or their children to fight unnecessay wars (like Chambliss), we pay taxes, and we think for ourselves.

By Soothsayer

November 19, 2008 2:21 PM | Link to this

Here is part two.

Economically, the Bush-Cheney administration is leaving behind a big financial and economic mess. In fact, this is an administration that has brought misery upon America by its misguided economic policies that have built a mountain of shaky debt and rendered dysfunctional large segments of the American banking industry and large sectors of the U.S. economy, through inappropriate deregulation to enrich greedy special interest characters, wheeler-dealers, corporate con men, professional short-sellers and other scam artists and swindlers. In so doing, it has empowered rich parasitic speculators and turned the financial sector into a giant casino, thus risking the health of the entire economy.

By Gator Joe

November 19, 2008 2:25 PM | Link to this

Dear BS Aplenty: In an effort to enlighten and have you avoid displaying your ignorance: Democrat is a noun and Democratic is an adjective, as in “Democratic Party.” Also, I agree, we Democrats are scared, and sometimes stupid (see: Lieberman), but then again southern ignorance and racism are scary. Finally “scared” and “stupid” aptly describe your candidate Chambliss. He was scared to serve and too stupid to oppose Bush’s policies.

By LOLO

November 19, 2008 2:32 PM | Link to this

President Bush’s final test of character will come from the petition to pardon the two Border Patrol officers who shot the drug smuggeler. If he lets them rot in prison for 12 years then so should his “legacy.”

By Soothsayer

November 19, 2008 2:36 PM | Link to this

The Successful Presidency of George W. Bush

By Billy Boy

November 19, 2008 2:44 PM | Link to this

Saxby is a BIG SPENDING, BIG GOVERNMENT, PRO AMNESTY SOCIALIST. SAXBY sells our vote to the highest paying LOBBYIST. A vote for Saxby is a vote for out of state LOBBYIST

By Jane

November 19, 2008 2:54 PM | Link to this

I’m a white female who has lived in GA and SC all my life. I voted for Obama and, oh, yeah, Kerry, Gore, Clinton twice, Dukakis, Mondale, Carter twice, and McGovern. It’s great to be on the winning side for a change. Two things - first, Jim DeMint made so many idiotic comments when he ran for the Senate the first time he was practically speechless on “Meet the Press.” His handlers had told him to SHUT UP because whenever he speaks he shows how ignorant he is. Now he talks mostly in safe venues and to the right-wing press. Second, EVERYONE I have ever known who called him or herself a Republican did so for one reason only - they said openly it is the party for white people. They also say openly that the Democratic Party is for black people. That’s why McCain carried the Deep South. Palin didn’t have much to do with it except to excite people who already were voting Republican. The Republican party will no doubt win again at some point in the future, but it can never erase what it has done to race relations in this country over the past 30 years.

By Soothsayer

November 19, 2008 2:55 PM | Link to this

Rove’s Dismal Legacy

By Jane

November 19, 2008 2:57 PM | Link to this

I’m a white female who has lived in GA and SC all my life. I voted for Obama and, oh, yeah, Kerry, Gore, Clinton twice, Dukakis, Mondale, Carter twice, and McGovern. It’s great to be on the winning side for a change. Two things - first, Jim DeMint made so many idiotic comments when he ran for the Senate the first time he was practically speechless on “Meet the Press.” His handlers had told him to SHUT UP because whenever he speaks he shows how ignorant he is. Now he talks mostly in safe venues and to the right-wing press. Second, EVERYONE I have ever known who called him or herself a Republican did so for one reason only - they said openly it is the party for white people. They also say openly that the Democratic Party is for black people. That’s why McCain carried the Deep South. Palin didn’t have much to do with it except to excite people who already were voting Republican. The Republican party will no doubt win again at some point in the future, but it can never erase what it has done to race relations in this country over the past 30 years.

By ron

November 19, 2008 3:01 PM | Link to this

It has been reported that the executives of the big 3 went to Washington to beg for public money in their private ,luxurious jets.This is like going to pick up food stamps in a Rolls Royce.It just grates people the wrong way.People get the impression that someone is lying.

By Soothsayer

November 19, 2008 3:06 PM | Link to this

Just in case you have forgotten

By The Oddball

November 19, 2008 3:17 PM | Link to this

Bully for you, Joe.

Any political philosophy that forgives corruption for the sake of ideological purity — left, right or “other” — ends with concentration camps and the gulag.

By @@

November 19, 2008 3:24 PM | Link to this

Finally! I get a moment to respond to your column Jim.

Maybe I’m missing something in the procedural practices….senate ethics or should I say etiquette? But why wait wait for his re-election? Send Stevens a clear message “Don’t bother coming back! There will be no open arms to welcome your return.”

Anyhoo, on to others in politics.

Before Joe Lieberman’s scolding by the dems, I watched several Republicans say they would welcome Joe to their side of the aisle. Wouldn’t require he change party affiliation (I) — wouldn’t even have to vote conservative if his principles disallowed. Then I hear that before the dems would allow him to return to their caucus — his committees, HE MUST FIRST APOLOGIZE for exercising his free speech during the campaign?

Then I reflect back on Murtha’s (D) recent campaign in Pennsylvania. He appeals to his constituents by first calling them racists…..then rednecks, but in the end he appealed to them by reminding them who brought home the pork to Pennsylvania.

That dem creep (judge and jury of our troops) successfully defeated an honorable and honest Iraqi veteran, Lt. Colonel William Russell?

What the heck!!!!!!

Before I leave, I was wondering where the democratic members of congress stand on a stalwart representative in THEIR good standing?

Remember William Jefferson, the Louisiana congressman who was indicted last year on bribery, racketeering and money laundering charges?

Well, he’s still in Congress, and he’s likely to stay there for a while.

Technically, Jefferson still has to win a Dec. 6th runoff in Louisiana. But his opponent, little known Republican lawyer Anh “Joseph” Cao, stands little chance in Louisiana’s heavily Democratic second congressional district.

So what? Democratic crooks are fashionable….acceptable?

I’m not too impressed with THEIR SIDE. Obviously dems think it’s GRAND.

ron:

I had no doubt you could handle yourself. Since she hasn’t returned, I’m hoping that Suburban Mom has taken some time to reflect on her blessings.

By BS Aplenty

November 19, 2008 3:57 PM | Link to this

ron

Any reasonable reviewer of Barrack Obama’s long-term support for a racist organization like the Trinity United Church of Christ would come to the conclusion that he should have been disqualified from the national elections - period. And rightly so. National elections are for those leaders who champion the best of what America should be.

However, the MSM declined to pursue that particular issue other than to obligingly chase the “rabbit” of J. Wright offered by the Dem party. The Democrats were wholly willing to overlook Obama’s history of racism as they pursued their larger agenda. After all, what’s racism when Supreme Court nominations are at stake? This ends-justify-means racial politics makes many voters, particularly in the South, question the legitimacy of Democrat party whining for a color blind society. In fact, you’d have to be stupid not to question it.

Now, the next time you propose that Southerners are somehow of a certain voting-ilk you may wish to review the behavior of the MSM and Democrat voters in this election. They seem all too willing to overlook commonly held American principles in pursuit of their larger liberal cause.

Just my take.

By Saxby Stole my Social Security

November 19, 2008 3:57 PM | Link to this

Georgia Has Lost 88,000 Jobs This Year, and Had Some of the Highest Rates of Unemployment, Personal Bankruptcies and Foreclosures in the Country. Georgia has the second highest unemployment rate in the country, has lost 88,000 jobs since January, and leads the nation in home foreclosures. [BLS Unemployment Statistics; AP, 1/30/08; Atlanta Business Chronicle, 3/13/08]

Georgia Has Lost 173,000 Manufacturing Jobs During the Bush- Chambliss Era. Since January 2001, Georgia has lost 172,900 manufacturing jobs. In January 2001, Georgia had 578,800 manufacturing jobs. In August 2008, Georgia had 405,900 jobs in that sector. [Bureau of Labor Statistics, 9/19/08; BLS, 3/1/01]

…Saxby’s Response Makes His Priorities Clear:

A $700 Bailout For Wall Street And CEOs. Chambliss voted for the $700 billion dollar Wall Street bailout package that banks are now using to continue paying executive bonuses and dividends to stockholders, and to acquire other banks. Chambliss has received $2,536,728 from the financial, real estate and insurance industry. [Vote Time Magazine, 10/27/08; GPB Debate, 11/2/08; Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 11/6/08]

… And Continuing Tax Breaks for Companies that Ship Manufacturing Jobs Overseas. In 2004 and 2005, Chambliss voted twice in opposition to amendments that would repeal the deferral tax subsidy for companies that outsource production of goods for sale in the U.S. market. In 2005, Chambliss voted against a Dorgan (D-ND) amendment that would “repeal the tax subsidy for certain domestic companies which move manufacturing operations and American jobs offshore.” In 2004, Chambliss voted to table, effectively killing, an amendment that would “partially repeal a tax deferral regulation for U.S. multinational companies by requiring those companies to pay federal income taxes on foreign factories when goods are reimported back into the United States,” according to CQ. [Vote 63, 3/17/05; Vote 83, 5/5/04; CQ Floor Votes, 5/5/04]

By K_College Park

November 19, 2008 3:59 PM | Link to this

TO THE BITTER, RACIST BIGOTS WHO KEEP HATIN’ ON PRES. OBAMA - GET OVER IT, HE WON! AND IT WAS GOD’S DIVINE WILL. IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT - LEAVE THE COUNTRY! THE SOUTH WILL WILL BE MUCH BETTER OFF WITHOUT IGNORANT A**HOLES WHO USE UP ALL THEIR ENERGY TO HATE DIVERSITY AND PEOPLE WHO ARE DIFFERENT FROM THEM. GO JIM MARTIN ON DEC.2! WE NEED TO RID WASHINGTON OF THUGS LIKE CHAMBLISS AND DEMINT WHO KEEP ARE TRYING TO KEEP GEORGIA IN THE OLD RACIST TIMES!

By Soulfinger

November 19, 2008 4:01 PM | Link to this

Ron and Soothsayer…great posts!

By AmVet

November 19, 2008 4:15 PM | Link to this

DeMint, a rising star???

A REAL Republican???

Are we talking about the Jim DeMint who believes openly gay individuals and single mothers should not teach in public schools?

Or the one who favors banning all forms of abortion?

Maybe the one who has desperately wants to allow school prayer back in public schools?

NO? How about the loon who introduced legislation that would allow schools to display banners reading God Bless America.

If this is the NEW face of the GOP, then the millions of us non neo-cons in this country are going to be laughing at you “center-right” maroons for LONG, LONG time…

By Suburban Mom

November 19, 2008 4:24 PM | Link to this

I’m hoping that Suburban Mom has taken some time to reflect on her blessings.

I was just using the opportunity to blow off some steam, lest people start picking on us oft-maligned “soccer moms” for our vehicle choices. Like I said, we can’t go around yelling at people in real life, so I hope you can forgive me for siezing the moment with my CAPS LOCK key! Ha! Good fun. My little ‘07 import gets good mileage, by the way, but still looks hopelessly mom-ish.

By JESUS

November 19, 2008 5:16 PM | Link to this

BLAMEIT ON BUSH!!!

By JESUS

November 19, 2008 5:18 PM | Link to this

BLAMEIT ON BUSH!!!

By catlady

November 19, 2008 5:33 PM | Link to this

I don’t especially think it is healthy to have a filibuster proof majority. Of course, it did not seem to bother the repubs when Newt was throwing his (considerable) weight around.

What I DO know is that Saxby Chambliss must be defeated for the good of Georgians.

By Churchill's MOM

November 20, 2008 9:09 AM | Link to this

Jim who cares about washington, here’s our gal..

November 14, 2008, 10:00 pm The Wild Wordsmith of Wasilla Electronic devices dislike me. There is never a day when something isn’t ailing. Three out of these five implements — answering machine, fax machine, printer, phone and electric can-opener — all dropped dead on me in the past few days.

Now something has gone wrong with all three television sets. They will get only Sarah Palin.

I can play a kind of Alaskan roulette. Any random channel clicked on by the remote brings up that eager face, with its continuing assaults on the English Lang.

There she is with Larry and Matt and just about everyone else but Dr. Phil (so far). If she is not yet on “Judge Judy,” I suspect it can’t be for lack of trying.

What have we done to deserve this, this media blitz that the astute Andrea Mitchell has labeled “The Victory Tour”?

I suppose it will be recorded as among political history’s ironies that Palin was brought in to help John McCain. I can’t blame feminists who might draw amusement from the fact that a woman managed to both cripple the male she was supposed to help while gleaning an almost Elvis-sized following for herself. Mac loses, Sarah wins big-time was the gist of headlines.

I feel a little sorry for John. He aimed low and missed.

What will ambitious politicos learn from this? That frayed syntax, bungled grammar and run-on sentences that ramble on long after thought has given out completely are a candidate’s valuable traits?

And how much more of all that lies in our future if God points her to those open-a-crack doors she refers to? The ones she resolves to splinter and bulldoze her way through upon glimpsing the opportunities, revealed from on high.

What on earth are our underpaid teachers, laboring in the vineyards of education, supposed to tell students about the following sentence, committed by the serial syntax-killer from Wasilla High and gleaned by my colleague Maureen Dowd for preservation for those who ask, “How was it she talked?”

My concern has been the atrocities there in Darfur and the relevance to me with that issue as we spoke about Africa and some of the countries there that were kind of the people succumbing to the dictators and the corruption of some collapsed governments on the continent, the relevance was Alaska’s investment in Darfur with some of our permanent fund dollars.

And, she concluded, “never, ever did I talk about, well, gee, is it a country or a continent, I just don’t know about this issue.”

It’s admittedly a rare gift to produce a paragraph in which whole clumps of words could be removed without noticeably affecting the sense, if any.

(A cynic might wonder if Wasilla High School’s English and geography departments are draped in black.)

(How many contradictory and lying answers about The Empress’s New Clothes have you collected? I’ve got, so far, only four. Your additional ones welcome.)

Matt Lauer asked her about her daughter’s pregnancy and what went into the decision about how to handle it. Her “answer” did not contain the words “daughter,” “pregnancy,” “what to do about it” or, in fact, any two consecutive words related to Lauer’s query.

I saw this as a brief clip, so I don’t know whether Lauer recovered sufficiently to follow up, or could only sit there, covered in disbelief. If it happens again, Matt, I bequeath you what I heard myself say once to an elusive guest who stiffed me that way: “Were you able to hear any part of my question?”

At the risk of offending, well, you, for example, I worry about just what it is her hollering fans see in her that makes her the ideal choice to deal with the world’s problems: collapsed economies, global warming, hostile enemies and our current and far-flung twin battlefronts, either of which may prove to be the world’s second “30 Years’ War.”

Has there been a poll to see if the Sarah-ites are numbered among that baffling 26 percent of our population who, despite everything, still maintain that President George has done a heckuva job?

A woman in one of Palin’s crowds praised her for being “a mom like me … who thinks the way I do” and added, for ill measure, “That’s what I want in the White House.” Fine, but in what capacity?

Do this lady’s like-minded folk wonder how, say, Jefferson, Lincoln, the Roosevelts, et al (add your own favorites) managed so well without being soccer moms? Without being whizzes in the kitchen, whipping up moose soufflés? Without executing and wounding wolves from the air and without promoting that sad, threadbare hoax — sexual abstinence — as the answer to the sizzling loins of the young?

(In passing, has anyone observed that hunting animals with high-powered guns could only be defined as sport if both sides were equally armed?)

I’d love to hear what you think has caused such an alarming number of our fellow Americans to fall into the Sarah Swoon.

Could the willingness to crown one who seems to have no first language have anything to do with the oft-lamented fact that we seem to be alone among nations in having made the word “intellectual” an insult? (And yet…and yet…we did elect Obama. Surely not despite his brains.)

Sorry about all of the foregoing, as if you didn’t get enough of the lady every day in every medium but smoke signals.

I do not wish her ill. But I also don’t wish us ill. I hope she continues to find happiness in Alaska.

May I confess that upon first seeing her, I liked her looks? With the sound off, she presents a not uncomely frontal appearance.

But now, as the Brits say, “I’ll be glad to see the back of her.”

By John

November 20, 2008 10:54 AM | Link to this

Hey Bill:

You stated that, “They invented the Southern political strategy way back in the 1960s and 1970s.” Wrong, they embraced the segregationist who fled the democratic party. The sad result is that the party of Lincoln et al took on a “racists” tag. You cannot keep expelling the NC’s and VA’s from the south. Obama made some inroads and one day soon all of America will realize that the color of ones skin does not define them. Maybe then, the GOP will get it.

By DCDawg

November 20, 2008 11:05 AM | Link to this

NOVEMBER 18, 2008 Obama’s Use of Complete Sentences Stirs Controversy Stunning Break with Last Eight Years

In the first two weeks since the election, President-elect Barack Obama has broken with a tradition established over the past eight years through his controversial use of complete sentences, political observers say.

Millions of Americans who watched Mr. Obama’s appearance on CBS’ “Sixty Minutes” on Sunday witnessed the president-elect’s unorthodox verbal tick, which had Mr. Obama employing grammatically correct sentences virtually every time he opened his mouth.

But Mr. Obama’s decision to use complete sentences in his public pronouncements carries with it certain risks, since after the last eight years many Americans may find his odd speaking style jarring.

According to presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota, some Americans might find it “alienating” to have a President who speaks English as if it were his first language.

“Every time Obama opens his mouth, his subjects and verbs are in agreement,” says Mr. Logsdon. “If he keeps it up, he is running the risk of sounding like an elitist.”

The historian said that if Mr. Obama insists on using complete sentences in his speeches, the public may find itself saying, “Okay, subject, predicate, subject predicate - we get it, stop showing off.”

The President-elect’s stubborn insistence on using complete sentences has already attracted a rebuke from one of his harshest critics, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.

“Talking with complete sentences there and also too talking in a way that ordinary Americans like Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder can’t really do there, I think needing to do that isn’t tapping into what Americans are needing also,” she said.

By think about it

November 20, 2008 11:22 AM | Link to this

It’s good to see the Dems are following Obama’s call to take the high road and bridge the gap between liberals and conservatives.

It might work better if Dems stopped retreading manipulative stories about Palin (whom I don’t really like, but I’m tired of listening to the same malicious tripe you’ve posted the past 3 months). And it would help if Dems quit calling all Republicans racist. 1) It’s not true - not that some Republicans aren’t, but it’s false that all are; and 2) if you continue to water down the word to nothing, it will have no meaning, like crying wolf. It has been a useful Dem drum for years, but if you overuse it, it will become as useless in your ability to slant public opinion as words like values and morals have become for Republicans.

By Chip Shirley

November 20, 2008 1:11 PM | Link to this

28 Years of Republican Economics…

Even Alan Greenspan has said that, in terms of the economy, Bill Clinton was a Republican, because he signed the free trade deals that the Republicans had sought forever and which were passed by almost all Republicans in congress.

If you consider Clinton a Republican economically, then we’ve had the last 28 straight years of Republican economic policies, Bush, Bush Clinton, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Reagan.

28 years of lessening corporate regulation, cutting social programs, cutting spending on public works, lowering taxes on the top 1% allowing more and more free trade and illegal immigration. Look where we are now.

If we become more socially conscious and invest in ourselves more, then we will better avoid the pure socialism we are forced to resort to now because our present plan has put us in the poor house.

That’s Saxby Economics…

Give Jim Martin a chance.

By Chip Shirley

November 20, 2008 1:25 PM | Link to this

…Saxby Economics…

The most conservative people, the least socialistic and sharing people, the richest people in America have led us to the precipice of another stock market crash like the Great Depression.

They have pushed our economy and the world economy to an emergency and they have forced us to Socialism to bail them out.

And yet they still say we can’t afford to invest in America for the good of us all. There is nothing evil, or bad, in investing nationalistically in the infrastructure of your nation. If there was no work that needed to be done in fact, it would be socialism to pay people not to work.

But there is work to be done and wars to be won and we will win if we vote Democrat.

We have got to start spending hundreds of billions of dollars on two things. To modernize our infrastructure and create jobs.

These things can be accomplished simultaneously and for the good of us all in the long run. It’s just common sense.

Boost the economy and improve our land value at once.

Rail expansion nationwide, build a whole new set of tracks.

Electric grid expansion.

Fiber Optic expansion.

Ethanol, we can grow our way out of our energy crisis. It doesn’t have to increase food prices if we double the amount of crops we grow and we can do that.

Create jobs, increase property value.

Why Not?

We can’t afford not to.

By Tyrone

November 25, 2008 5:45 PM | Link to this

Actually Palin was NOT a mistake. McCain was the mistake himself. A lot of Republicans threatened to say home on election day if McCain would have won the nomination. People seem for some reason to forget that conservatives never liked McCain, and a candidate without a base off supporters, don’t have a chance of winning. People normally vote for the TOP OF THE TICKET not the person underneath. McCain turned off conservatives during his campaign. People that voted for McCain didn’t do it because they actually liked him, They voted for him because Palin was on the ticket. Palin was drawing crowds rivaling that of Obama. At the Republican Convention, Palin was the one that had the people on their feet electrified, McCain was dull and put most of the people in the audience to sleep during his speech. McCain wouldn’t attack Obama because he was trying to be Mr. Nice guy and that angered conservatives as well. I’ve noticed that the people that somehow blame palin tend to be more moderate to neo conservative in nature. The Rasmussen and Gallop polls state that Republicans especially conservatives feel that Palin was an overwhelming asset to a other wised doom from the start McCain campaign.