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Democracy Corps » Congressional Battleground 2012

More and more Buyer’s Remorse as the GOP reminds people how incompetent they are….

These are the guys who caused the economic collapse and were supposedly elected to create jobs…

So far, the Republican Congress has voted to defund NPR and Planned Parenthood, declared war on women’s health in general, had a vote on putting “In God We Trust” on buildings, tried to repeal Health Care reform, and fawned at the feet of the Rich.

No signs of job creation whatsoever….

This poll shows there is hope emerging we can through the rascals out and retake the House in 2012…

A new survey by Democracy Corps in 50 of the most competitive battleground Congressional districts – nearly all of which gave a majority to Obama in the last presidential election – shows the new Republican majority very much in play in 2012. *

The Republican incumbents in these districts, 35 of them freshmen, remain largely unknown and appear very vulnerable in 2012 (depending on redistricting).  In fact, these incumbents are in a weaker position than Democratic incumbents were even in late 2009, or Republican incumbents were in 2007 in comparable surveys conducted by Democracy Corps.

These incumbents, identified by name, have an average approval rating of 35 percent across the 50 districts, with 25 percent disapproving.  Another 38 percent were not able to give the candidates a rating, suggesting lack of visibility.  This is about 10 points lower than the approval rating Democratic incumbents held in July of 2009 (with comparable disapproval rating).

More importantly at this early point, just 40 percent of voters in these districts say that they will vote to reelect their incumbent (asked by name in each district), while 45 percent say that they “can’t vote to reelect” the incumbent.

This leads to a congressional race that is dead-even in the battleground.  After winning these seats by a collective 14 points in 2010, these Republicans now lead generic Democratic challengers by just 2 points, 44 to 46 percent, and stand well below the critical 50 percent mark.  The race is dead even in the top tier of the 25 most competitive seats—46 percent for the Democrats versus 45 percent for the Republicans.  In the next 25 seats, the Republicans have a slight 42 to 47 percent advantage.

For comparison, in July 2009, after the luster of President Obama’s inauguration had already begun to fade, the Democratic incumbents in our battleground of 40 districts had a 6-point advantage over a generic Republican challenger.  36 of these 40 Democrats went on to lose their seats.  And in June of 2007, in the top 35 most competitive Republican-held districts, the incumbents also held a 6-point lead.  19 of those 35 Republicans went on to lose their seats.

And of course, we know that in 2010, two-thirds of Democrats in McCain seats could not hold on.  The Republicans in Obama seats are already at risk.

via Democracy Corps » Congressional Battleground 2012.

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The New Spin: The White House Would Be A Step Down For Sarah Palin | TPMDC

They know she can’t win, so they’ll do anything to try to stop her from running….

Pop quiz: you’re a right-wing commentator looking at a string of polls showing Sarah Palin’s poll numbers sinking to new lows even as the weak field of GOP presidential contenders continues to thin out. But a large chunk of your audience would sooner eat glass than hear Palin’s chances maligned by one of their own. What do you do?

Here’s one answer: claim that Palin is even more powerful outside the White House and that the presidency would be a step down for her.

It’s a line gaining some traction among pundits on the right. Take conservative media guru Andrew Breitbart, who suggested in GQ this month that Palin would be truly unstoppable if she only didn’t get bogged down by, say, being President.

“I think the presidency is beneath her,” Breitbart told GQ. “There’s more power in being Oprah Winfrey than in being Barack Obama. It would be my goal for Palin to become Oprah and be the ultimate kingmaker for twenty-odd years. Oprah anointed Barack Obama.”

Then there’s Ann Coulter, who has offered similar arguments in multiple interviews.

“I think it would be a step down for her,” she said in an MNSBC appearance last month. “It’s like saying Rush Limbaugh should run for President. She’s huge, she has enormous power. She sends out a Twitter on death panels and everyone’s talking about it. I think it would be crazy for her to run for president.”

Coulter offered a similar assessment last year to CBS, saying that Palin “has more influence than a President does.”

via The New Spin: The White House Would Be A Step Down For Sarah Palin | TPMDC.

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Charismatic Yoga Evangelist Takes Indian Politics By Storm

Interesting….

Maybe would should start Yoga Party as a third Party in the US…

India’s bewilderingly complex political arena has a new player — the country’s most popular yoga guru, Baba Ramdev.

An extremely successful yoga evangelist and entrepreneur, the saffron-robed Ramdev has promised to cleanse the country’s rotting body politic of corruption and is currently on a nationwide campaign to mobilize support among the masses.

“Yoga has the immense potential to cement the bond of amity between the people across the country and make them mentally strong and physically fit for transforming the nation into a spiritual and economic superpower in the world,” he said at a recent public rally at Khammam in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

Fifty-seven year old Ramdev has taken traditional yoga and pranayama (breathing techniques) to new heights. He has reintroduced yoga to the Indian middle class through his hugely popular television programs — believed to draw an average of 40 million viewers daily — and camps where he teaches unhealthy, overweight middle-class Indians breathing exercises and yoga postures to rid themselves of diseases ranging from depression to diabetes. He has also controversially claimed he can cure cancer and HIV/AIDS.

via Charismatic Yoga Evangelist Takes Indian Politics By Storm | | AlterNet.

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How You End Up Bankrolling Fox News: News Corp. and Rupert Murdoch Weasel Out of Paying Taxes | | AlterNet

The GOP is all over NPR…

But what about Fox “News”?

Sounds like they are costing us a lot more than NPR…

But, oh wait, they support the GOP, so they’re safe…

The article goes on to describe how News Corp used a complex network of accounting dodges including as many as 60 shell companies that were incorporated in such tax havens as the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, the Netherlands Antilles and the British Virgin Islands. More recently, an investigation by the New York Times revealed that…

“By taking advantage of a provision in the law that allows expanding companies like Mr. Murdoch’s to defer taxes to future years, the News Corporation paid no federal taxes in two of the last four years, and in the other two it paid only a fraction of what it otherwise would have owed. Du

Fox News has been the beneficiary of government largess for years and it is time stop it and make Fox pay its own way. As far back as 1999, there have been reports documenting how News Corp, Fox’s parent company, exploited loopholes in tax laws that permitted them to avoid levies that all other citizens have to pay. From The Economist:

“…News Corporation and its subsidiaries paid only A$325m ($238m) in corporate taxes worldwide. In the same period, its consolidated pre-tax profits were A$5.4 billion. So News Corporation has paid an effective tax rate of only around 6%. By comparison, Disney, one of the world’s other media empires, paid 31%. Basic corporate-tax rates in Australia, America and Britain, the three main countries in which News Corporation operates, are 36%, 35% and 30% respectively.”

ring that time, Securities and Exchange Commission records show, the News Corporation’s domestic pretax profits topped $9.4 billion.”

via How You End Up Bankrolling Fox News: News Corp. and Rupert Murdoch Weasel Out of Paying Taxes | | AlterNet.

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Poll: Public already losing patience with new Congress | McClatchy

That was a short Honeymoon….

I love it about politicians wanting to explain “the deliberate pace of Washington” to their constituents….

Never crosses their mind to change or adapt…

I’m afraid this is just going to get messier with the GOP passing insane bills in the House and the Senate stopping them.  At least as long as the Dems hold the Senate…

It could get really scary after 2012 if the GOP takes the Senate, too….

WASHINGTON — Once again, the public is getting increasingly disgusted with Washington.

It sees a failure to adopt remedies for even the most basic, pressing issues of the day, as Congress struggles to craft a federal budget. And incumbents are getting worried about the political implications.

“It’s hurting some of us,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who’s up for re-election next year. “They blame everybody.”

A new Pew Research Center poll shows that about half of Americans think the debate over spending and deficits has been “generally rude and disrespectful.”

There’s even bipartisan agreement — 48 percent of Republicans and Democrats have that view, as well as 57 percent of independents. President Barack Obama signed legislation Friday to provide funding to keep the government open until April 8, the sixth such temporary extension in the 6-month-old fiscal year.

Pew surveyed 1,525 adults from March 8-14. The poll’s findings suggest the political losers so far have been Republicans, who rode a wave of voter irritation to win control of the House of Representatives last fall.

After the election, 35 percent said Republicans had a better approach to the deficit, expected to reach a record $1.65 trillion this year. This month, that number has plunged to 21 percent.

People don’t think Obama has better ideas, either — 20 percent found his approach better, down from November’s 24 percent. Total sample margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The most restless constituency has involved supporters of the conservative tea party movement. After the November election, where backers helped elect dozens of congressional Republicans, three of four movement supporters liked GOP budget plans. This month that figure dropped to 52 percent.

“People are growing impatient,” said Carroll Doherty, Pew associate director.

They’ve been impatient for years. In 2006, voters gave Democrats control of both Houses of Congress for the first time in 12 years. Two years later, Obama, a Democrat, reclaimed the White House for his party after eight years of Republican George W. Bush. Last year, Republicans reclaimed control of the House.

“The American public is getting tired of change elections and then not seeing change. There have been three change elections in a row, but people today figure things are still adrift,” said Lee Miringoff, the director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, which conducts the McClatchy-Marist poll.

Political veterans are scrambling to educate their constituents about the deliberate pace of Washington.

via Poll: Public already losing patience with new Congress | McClatchy.

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Detroit’s Population Plunges To 713,777 – Down 25% Since 2000 Census

Sad story about the decline of a once great city…

Statistics from the 2010 census reports Detroit’s population suffered another big decline over the past decade.

The U.S. Census Bureau sent new data on Michigan’s population to state officials, who released it just before 2 p.m.

The latest data puts the once-mighty Motor City’s population at 713,777. That’s a 25 percent drop from 951,270 in 2000.

Detroit’s population peaked at 1.8 million in 1950, when it ranked fifth nationally. But an exodus of many residents to the suburbs and the auto industry’s steady decline has taken their toll.

via Detroit’s Population Plunges To 713,777 – Detroit Local News Story –WDIV Detroit.

Here’s a view from a more optimistic time- The 1960’s and Disney’s “The Happiest Millionaire” :

Sad how it all turned it…mainly due to bad management!

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Donald Trump: I ‘Screwed’ Gaddafi

TMI !!!!

Oh, wait…

“That’s what we should be doing. I don’t want to use the word ‘screwed’, but I screwed him,” Trump continued. “That’s what we should be doing.”

In 2009, Trump came under scrutiny for renting property to Gaddafi so that he could pitch a Bedouin-style tent in an upscale New York suburb. Trump claimed ignorance in the matter, saying that he was unaware that his land had been rented to the dictator. After a day of controversy, Trump reportedly forced Gaddafi off the property.

via Donald Trump: I ‘Screwed’ Gaddafi (VIDEO).

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Sarah Palin Says She Would’ve Won 2008 If She Had Been Top of Ticket

God, I hope she believes this…

No one else does…

I’m sure President Obama’s campaign prays nightly that she is the GOP nominee in 2012…

From PoliticsUSA:

Sarah Palin was in New Delhi, India March 19 for the annual India Today conclave, where she gave a speech on “My Vision for America.” The theme for this years conclave was “The Changing Balance of Power.” After her speech, Palin sat down for a Q and A session with India Today Editor-in-Chief and Session Chairman Aroon Purie, during which she blamed McCain for losing 2008, among other mildly amusing indications that she is running for President in 2012. When asked why she lost 2008, Palin snapped, “I wasn’t the top of the ticket!”

Palin’s speech, by the way, was nothing new: Palin bashed green energy, called for more oil drilling, and made sure to blame Obama again for high gas prices (I suspect they know about the global market in India and might not be as prone to buying this jingle as Americans are). I have no idea how they translated her word salad; I couldn’t follow it in English.

via Sarah Palin Says She Would’ve Won 2008 If She Had Been Top of Ticket.

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Ed Schultz: Ann Coulter Is ‘Toxic,’ Spreading Misinformation On Radiation

She really has gotten the publicity for her latest idiotic remarks….

I wish there was some way we could just ignore people like Ann Coulter, Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann…

But we can’t….

Even though it would kill them to lose the limelight…

While some poor misguided, people actually take them seriously,  they are too dangerous to ignore…

The George W Bush presidency proved that…..

Ed Schultz called Ann Coulter “toxic” and said that she was spreading misinformation about the health effects of radiation.

Coulter caused controversy by writing a column about the Japanese nuclear crisis, which said that radiation can actually be healthy. She brought up a number of scientific studies which she said concluded that “at some level–much higher than the minimums set by the U.S. government–radiation is good for you,” and can even reduce the risk of cancer.

Schultz heaped scorn on this theory on his Friday show.

“A lot of people say Ann Coulter is toxic,’ Schultz said. “But we had no idea that she would take that literally…you would laugh at her if she wasn’t making light of a terrible tragedy.”

via Ed Schultz: Ann Coulter Is ‘Toxic,’ Spreading Misinformation On Radiation (VIDEO).

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Bill Maher: Republicans Are Like Meth Addicts, Always Focused on Imaginary Problems | AlterNet

From Bill Maher via AlterNet:

When you go down the list of useless distractions that make up the Republican party agenda — public unions, Sharia law, anchor babies, the mosque at Ground Zero, ACORN, National Public Radio, the war on Christmas, the new Black Panthers, Planned Parenthood, Michelle Obama’s war on dessert…you realize that the reason nothing gets done in America is that one of the political parties puts so much [energy] into fantasy problems than real ones.

Governing this country with Republicans is like rooming with a Meth addict; you want to address real-life problems, like when the rent is due, and they’re saying, “How can you even think of that stuff when there’s police scanner voices coming out of the air conditioner unit??”

via Bill Maher: Republicans Are Like Meth Addicts, Always Focused on Imaginary Problems | AlterNet.

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