Tag: Election

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Iowa Politics Republican Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin Advice To Michele Bachmann And Jon Huntsman – Quit

The quitter from Alaska has some strong advice for Michele Bachmann and Jon Huntsman – quit!

Speaking to Fox News yesterday, Mrs Palin said about Bachmann: “She has a lot to offer, also, but I don’t think it is her time this go-around.”

After those words of wisdom, Sarah Palin also had  this to say;

And I believe that unless she, too, wants to spend her own money or borrowing money and perhaps go into debt, which – heaven forbid – you do that to your family?’

When you’ve figured that one out, please explain it to me.

Categories
Politics Republican

Another Oops Moment For Rick Perry

One man cannot be this incompetent. I think Rick Perry is now dumber than even Michele Bachmann, and she took dumb to a level we hadn’t seen, even in the era of Sarah Palin.

So Perry is trying to win the Republican nomination to go against President Obama in the 2012 presidential election. In order to get the nomination, Perry must compete. His campaign tried to beat Thursday’s deadline in Virginia by claiming to have successfully submitted 11,911 signatures to get Perry’s name on Virginia’s ballot, but this is where Perry had the  second “oops” moment of his campaign.

This doesn’t bode well for Rick Perry: the GOP presidential candidate will not appear in the Virginia primary ballot after failing to submit enough valid signatures, Republican officials announced Friday evening. Perry’s campaign told state election officials that it had submitted 11,911 signatures, but the Republican Party of Virginia confirmed on Twitter that Perry didn’t submit the 10,000 signatures required to qualify.

“Hopefully, he will do better in other states,” a chairman of Perry’s campaign in Virginia told the Washington Post on Friday night. Perry was one of four GOP candidates who submitted ballot petitions on Thursday, along with Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, and Newt Gingrich. Romney and Paul have both been confirmed, and the Virginia GOP is expected to announce whether Gingrich will qualify later tonight.

Categories
Domestic Policies Politics presidential

The Polling Report: December 6, 2011

This article was originally posted on my blog: www.anjfarmer.blogspot .com. If you like it, please visit and read more of my posts.

Since our last episode, on November 6, one year before the national elections, much has changed in the race for president. We are currently in the middle (end? beginning?) of the Gingrich ascendancy, and there is some evidence (from this CBS News poll) that Newt could pull off a stunning comeback win in Iowa, which would put him in terrific position for New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida and Nevada later in January. So with that appetizing thought in our heads, let’s move on to the main meal.

Obama Job Approval

The latest RealClearPolitics Index of Obama’s job approval is here. Since last month, Obama’s approval has dropped from 45.3% to 43.8% and his disapproval has risen slightly, from 50.7% in November to 50.8% today. A look at the main 3-day averages that RCP uses, Gallup and Rasmussen, shows almost no change in Obama’s improvement. Further, this article puts Obama’s approval lower than Jimmy Carter’s at the same stage in their presidencies. Clearly, this is not good news for the President’s supporters.

Head-To-Head Match-ups

These number tell a much different story. While more Americans disapprove of the job the president is doing, they favor him over every other prospective Republican nominee.

He’s also slightly ahead of Mitt Romney in the swing state of Florida, but only by 1 point.

The Republican Field

It’s the Newt show at this point, and that’s a very recent phenomenon, coming on the heels of, and in some ways caused by, the implosion of Herman Cain’s campaign. The numbers are stark and solid, but the real question is, how long will they last?

Perhaps more troubling for Mitt Romney’s campaign are these results from pollsandvotes.com showing Romney’s support actually dropping in the first four states to hold votes next month. If Mitt doesn’t watch out, he might be in a position where a less-than-solid win in New Hampshire could be seen as a failure or a “he’s supposed to win” moment that doesn’t pay off in the long run.

My sense is that Romney will win most of the January states simply because, at this point, Gingrich doesn’t have a presence in these states that would allow him to conduct the retail politics necessary to corral votes. It’s even more uphill for Newt in Iowa, where getting your people to the caucuses is the main concern.  Still, he does have money and is beginning to air TV ads that will reach far more people than getting out and shaking hands.

But Romney also has to be concerned. Conservatives will show up in droves this year, and he could find himself third, behind Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann. That would be quite a fall. Romney didn’t think he would have to fight hard for Iowa since he’s been in the state for the past two years, but that’s changed now.

The Ballots

The Electoral College map hasn’t budged since November.

And neither has the Generic Congressional Ballot, which shows Democrats leading Republicans by 1.2%

Although it’s very early in the campaign, Obama’s strategists have mapped out his electoral college strategy, and it looks something like this:

First, the president is aiming to win all the states John Kerry won in 2004. That would bring him to 246 electoral votes, including Pennsylvania’s mother lode of 20. Add New Mexico, which the president won in 2008, and that’s five more electoral votes. Now he’s at 251.

Then it gets hard. The final 19 electoral votes would come through a process of mix and match.

North Carolina, Virginia, Florida, Ohio, and even Arizona are in the mix, with each showing both promise and peril for Obama’s reelection chances.

That’s it for now. Before I push-off for the holidays (I’ll post another polling report on January 3 for Iowa), let me suggest some gifts for the political junkie in your household. Or in your shoes.

From Amazon, if you’re one of those people who still reads (how 2009!)

Obama curios

Gag gifts.

The best free gift!

Cheers.

Categories
Wisconsin Wisconsin Union Bashing

Scott Walker “Looks Forward” To Defending His Non-Existent Accomplishments

The efforts to recall Wisconsin’s Union busting Republican governor Scott Walker is in full swing, with organizers saying last week that they already collected over 300,000 signatures in the first 12 days since starting the recall process. A total of 540,200 signatures are needed by January 17th to force the recall election in the spring of 2012.

But even with this apparent success by the recall organizers so far, Scott Walker is not at all concerned. In fact, he is looking forward to the whole process. Walker told CNBC today that he will gladly use this time to showcase the achievements Wisconsin made under his leadership.

“If come next May or maybe early June, if they actually have the signatures and it forces a new election, all of those issues will be up on the ballot. But I look forward to that,” he said. “I’d love to have the chance to talk to the voters of Wisconsin again to tell that story.”

Asked whether he believes he will win reelection, the governor predicted that his accomplishments will trump the attacks made against him.

“I think if voters hear the facts, every week, every day, every week, every month that goes by, our numbers get better because our story gets out and people see the positive impact of the results,” Walker said.

He added, “The facts, I think, ultimately trump all the attacks. If you see that the schools are the same or better and that our governments are doing well and in the end our taxes are going down, people want to hear that, and I think the results will trump everything else.”

We’re not sure what story Walker is so glad to tell, because under his leadership, Wisconsin’s economy is in a steep decline. Reports have shown that although Walker campaigned on creating over 250,000 jobs for Wisconsin residents, “Walker has consistently proved himself incapable of understanding the economic challenges facing Wisconsinites,” and his policies have caused unemployment in the state to balloon to 7.9%

Maybe Walker is a little confused. According to the Associated Press, Walker has listed about 6000 jobs on the state’s website, claiming credit for these jobs. Only problem is, these jobs were created outside of Wisconsin.

Hearing Scott Walker brag about non-existent economic successes in Wisconsin? – a dime a dozen. Watching him pack up and leave the office of the Governor after the recall election is held? – Priceless!

Categories
Politics

Oh,Those Little Republican Rascals!

Looking for your daily dose of entertainment? Well, look no further – those Little Republican Rascals are back and they’re zanier than ever!

Tune in, you’ll get all the laughs you’ll need!

Categories
Barack Obama Politics

Hank Williams Fired For Making Ignorant Statement

It is never a smart idea to compare the President of the United States to Hitler, and Hank Williams, the country western singer who coined the famous phrase, “are you ready for some football” on ESPN, found out the hard way.

ESPN has pulled Hank Williams Jr.’s iconic song from the opening of Monday Night Football, after the country star compared President Obama to Adolf Hitler on Fox and Friends.

Williams characterized Obama playing golf with House Speaker John Boehner like this: “It would be like Hitler playing golf with Netanyahu, OK?”

In the same interview, Williams compared Obama and Vice President Biden to the Three Stooges.

This isn’t the first time the country star has drawn ire for insulting the president. In 2008, while campaigning for Sarah Palin and John McCain, Williams led a Colorado crowd in the national anthem, claiming it was a song that then-candidate Obama wasn’t “crazy about.”

In a written non-apology, Williams claims his latest comments were simply comparing polar opposites.

Categories
Anthony Weiner Democrat New York Politics Republican

Democrats Gift Wrapped New York District To Republicans

The seat had not gone to a Republican since the 1920’s, but on Tuesday, the heavily Democratic congressional seat left vacant by Anthony Weiner went back to Republican control, with the win of Bob Turner. Republicans also won a special election in northern Nevada, where Republican Mark Amodei led Democrat Kate Marshall, 56 percent to 39 percent almost from the start.

The New York seat was originally held by Anthony Weiner, but after his Twitter mishap where he lied about sending naked pictures of himself to various women, both Democrats and Republicans demanded his resignation. The Nevada election was to replace Republican John Ensign, after his affair with a married campaign worker and a later revelation of bribery.

Both Republicans in the races tied their winning over their Democratic challengers to President Obama and his handling of the economy, and with that, Republican conservative radio and television shows went rampant with this new talking point.

Reports indicated that the Nevada election was basically ignored by Democrats, as they believed they had no chance of winning the heavily Republican constituents in that district. But in New York, Democrats went into a frantic, final, last-minute push to save the seat dumping $500,000 into the race in the final days, after it became clear that the seat could go to a Republican.

Although the New York district could eventually be zoned out through re-districting, Democrats should have tried harder to avoid this victory to the Republicans. Giving them even more ammunition to spew their lies is simply not worth it. The talking points about this Republican win in New York and associating it to President Obama and the economy, will be around for a long, long time.

Categories
democrats Politics Wisconsin

Republicans Stole The Wisconsin Recall Elections… Again!

Election night in Wisconsin, and the big story is not that Democrats won two of the six senate seats held by Republicans. Yes, that in itself is an amazing achievement. All the elections were held in historically Republican controlled counties, and throughout the 80 plus years recall elections were held in the state, only 20 have been successful. So to have two successes in one night is amazing.

But what’s even more amazing about the recall elections held last night was the results from a place in District 8 called Waukesha county and the behind-the-scenes workings of a particular county clerk in Waukesha called Kathy Nickolaus.

As the polls closed and results started coming in, Republicans breathed a collective sigh of relief when the first three counties stayed in their control – R. Cowles maintained his seat in district 2, S. Harsdorf kept the Republican seat in district 10 and L. Olsen kept Republicans in power in district 14.

By this time, hours after the polling closed, the remaining three races in the recall elections were led by the Democratic challengers. Keep in mind, that Democrats needed to win a total of three seats to regain control of the Senate and stop Scott Walker’s future corporate policies from being implemented.

The next election results showed that two seats would go to Democrats.  J. Schelling in district 32 and J. King in district 18 both defeated the Republican incumbents. Then all eyes turned to district 8 where the Democratic challenger S. Pasch was leading the Republican 52% to 48%. This was the last race to be decided for the night, and things were looking good for the Democrat. But remember Waukesha county and the particular county clerk name Kathy Nickolaus? Waukesha county is in District 8, and at the time when the Democrat challenger Pasch was leading, only one of eleven precincts in Waukesha county had reported their results.

Why is Waukesha county so important in these elections?

Kathy Nickolous, the county clerk responsible for, among other things, maintaining the integrity and accuracy of the votes in the elections, is a Republican with questionable morals.

Remember the election for the Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice a few months ago between Republican David Prosser and his Democratic challenger JoAnn Kloppenberg? In that election, Mrs. Kloppenberg was leading and predicted to be the winner. Then miraculously, after all votes were counted, Kathy Nickolous “found” an additional 12000 votes in her computer. Those additional votes were all that Prosser needed to move ahead. He was later declared the winner.

Which brings us back to last night’s election.

When the election in all the other districts were decided, Waukesha county still only had one precinct reporting a total of 600 votes, with a little over 400 going to the Republican, Mrs A. Darling. Television pundits began questioning why Kathy Nickolous was not reporting the other precincts. On the Ed Show on MSNBC, questions were being asked suggesting that another “Prosser” moment may be happening in Waukesha, and calls for a possible investigation into the county clerk were being echoed on different news networks.

Then suddenly, hours after the polls had closed, results from 9 precincts in Waukesha county came in – a total of 12,000 votes, putting the Republican in the lead 53% to 47%. When Kathy Nickolous reported the final precinct numbers, District 8 was called a win for the Republican.

Final results, A. Darling 54%, S. Pasch 48%.

Yes, an amazing night in Wisconsin indeed, but for all the wrong reasons.

Categories
Barack Obama Politics Republican Party (United States) presidential candidates 2008 White House

Obama Raises Twice As Much As All G.O.P. Candidates Combined

President Obama just set another record, shattering the White House record for presidential election fund-raising in the first 3 months of his re-election campaign. The Obama 2012 Campaign Manager, Jim Messina, made the announcement earlier today stating that in the first quarter of fund-raising, $86 million dollars was collected. Obama’s record also beat the efforts of all the Republican candidates combined.

In his 2004 re-election, former President Bush raised $50 million.

 Politico reports;

The total amount Obama raised in the first three months of 2011 also amounted to more than twice the $35 million raised collectively by the announced field of Republican presidential candidates.

“It’s a monumental achievement,” Messina said.

In order to compete against the special interests groups and secret corporate funds expected to drive the Republican nominee’s campaign, the president would have to raise an estimated  $1 billion dollars for his re-election.

Only $914 million dollars to go!

Categories
Politics Republican Wisconsin

Wisconsin Election Too Close To Call

Who is this Joanne Kloppenburg? Whoever she is, she’s giving the Republican incumbent judge in Wisconsin a run for his money.

As of this moment, the New York Times is reporting that with 99% of the votes counted, “the pair were separated by fewer than 600 votes from among more than 1.4 million cast. The leader had flipped again and again throughout the night.” See the results here.

The election in Wisconsin comes in the middle of a battle between Republican Scott Walker and his recent efforts to take away the collective bargaining rights of public workers. The election, held yesterday, was a sure win for the Republican, David T. Prossner before Governor Walker began to initiate his union busting policies. Prossner is seeking his second 10 year term on the state’s Supreme Court.

But here comes Joanne Kloppenburg, an assistant attorney general – virtually unknown by the state’s voters – giving the Republican judge the hardest fight of his political career.

With various cases filed in Wisconsin against Scott Walker’s bill, many consider this election to be of utmost importance. A win by Prossner will maintain the 4-3 conservative vote in the court, while a win by Kloppenburg could be the deciding vote in many of these cases.

With an election this close, there has to be a recount on the horizon.

Categories
Politics United States young

The Young, The Poor, The Blacks And The Stupid

As we near the time for the gathering of soothe sayers, spin doctors and corporate-made shills to throw their hats in the ring for the circus of illusions that the 2012 presidential elections promises to be, I’m reminded of a technique commonly used in marketing. The target consumer’s tendencies, mood and environment are studied and well-known by those merchants whose livelihood depends upon consumers viewing their products favorably. Careful consideration of wording, colors, slogans and exterior design of packaging is taken to ensure that the product is not only noticed, but that the product and its insignia or logo is remembered.

There will be jingles, there will be catchy phrases and celebrities who speak on behalf of a product that may or may not be beneficial to the consumer. If our favorite reality show star is the spokesperson for a brightly packaged processed meat product, it may just slip past us as to how much unhealthy sodium and fat content is inside the beautifully designed package.

And so it is with our political leaders. Not a hair out-of-place. Teeth freshly installed for the occasion. Talking points memorized and ready…or for one poor soul copied onto the palm of her hands. Every couple of years locally and every four years nationally, we are presented with the same warmed over, refurbished campaign rhetoric in a different suit.

Fellow Americans, we have been studied well.

The architects of this illusion we have of participation in the direction of this great nation, know us better than we know ourselves. Figuratively speaking, the political saturated fats and artificial ingredients will be disguised as organically grown, sun-kissed health food, just as sure as the marionettes of the super wealthy disguised as public servants, will be packaged to appear as if they actually have answers. The sincere and well-meaning political leaders who serve faithfully their duties are like a faint background noise in comparison to the cartoonish officials that get media play.

So as the political circus of campaign 2012 begins be careful what you consume, the contents may not be as beautiful as its wrapping.

In the words of  an R.J. Reynolds tobacco company executive “WE DONT SMOKE THAT SHIT, WE JUST SELL IT. WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO SMOKE TO THE YOUNG, THE POOR THE BLACK AND STUPID”. You do the math.

Son of Man

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