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OT: American Politics

MindzEye

Wayward Ditch Pig
As requested by Jays, I won't be updating the news thread with anything directly related to American politics...and this seemed like a fitting enough piece to lead off with.

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/08/paul-ryan-congress-town-hall

Congress' approval rating—currently 13 percent, according to Gallup—is at a historic low, and its disapproval rating, at 84 percent, is at a historic high. Many Americans eagerly awaited Congress' August recess so they could use town hall meetings and other public appearances to give their elected officials a piece of their mind. There's just one problem: most of Congress isn't scheduling any town halls. None. Zilch.

The think tank No Labels called the offices of all 430 active members of Congress and found that 60 percent of them weren't scheduling town hall meetings. According to No Labels' analysis, more Democrats than Republicans are shutting themselves off from their constituents: 68 percent of Dems and 51 percent of Republicans hadn't planned a town hall during Congress' weeks-long summer break. (Click here to see if your representative or senator is planning a town hall or not.)

Not to be ignored, angry citizens, at least in one high profile district, have taken action to get some attention. Last week, a handful of unemployed constituents organized a sit-in in GOP Rep. Paul Ryan's office in Kenosha, Wisconsin, while 100 protesters picketed outside. Ryan in particular has drawn heaps of criticism for his plan to eliminate Medicare as we know it and refashion Medicaid into a state-based block grant program. In the end, Ryan's staff had police remove the protesters from the office, which was done peacefully.

Paul Ryan has made himself available during the recess—but for a price. That's right: Ryan and other lawmakers are now charging constituents to attend public events and ask them questions. Ryan wanted $15 a head. Rep. Dan Quayle (R-Ariz.), Politico reported, is charging $35 from attendees who want to ask him questions over a catered lunch at a Phoenix law firm. Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-Minn.) also wants money—$10 a person—to attend an his event, which is hosted by the National Federation of Independent Businesses.

Why the ticket price? At the very least, it's a way to weed out the unemployed and financially burdened, who are also the most likely to give lawmakers an earful for the dismal state of the labor market and sluggish economic recovery. As Scott Page, a twice laid-off worker who participated in the sit-in inside Paul Ryan's office, told a local blogger, "I don't have $15 to ask Rep. Ryan questions, so I guess this is the only means I have to talk to him."
 
Re: OT - American Politics

I do like Jon Huntsman out of the group, he is a smart guy. Will be interesting to see who wins, as far as I can see there are only 3 serious contenders: Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, and Michelle Bachmann. Anybody have another name that could legitimately win this thing? I don't see it.
 
Re: OT - American Politics

There are still some who think Paul Ryan will be running and he would definitely be a contender, though old people hate him for wanting to take away their Medicare.
 
Re: OT - American Politics

I actually really like Huntsman on the republican side. He sounds very reasonable and logical. He is not a radical at all. If there had to be a Republican President, he'd be my guy.

Problem is, since he is not radical, he won't get a sniff and that is a damn shame.

Romney might even be acceptable if he wasn't trying so hard to run from all of his accomplishments. Romney is actually a very central guy as we all know, but he has had to change his whole personna and because of his record as a middle of the road guy, he won't get a sniff.

Such a shame. A couple of guys who might be good contenders with real solutions and they won't even get a look.
 
Re: OT - American Politics

There are still some who think Paul Ryan will be running and he would definitely be a contender, though old people hate him for wanting to take away their Medicare.

Forget Ryan, he announced yesterday that he isn't taking a run at the top job.
 
Re: OT - American Politics

I actually really like Huntsman on the republican side. He sounds very reasonable and logical. He is not a radical at all. If there had to be a Republican President, he'd be my guy.

Problem is, since he is not radical, he won't get a sniff and that is a damn shame.

Romney might even be acceptable if he wasn't trying so hard to run from all of his accomplishments. Romney is actually a very central guy as we all know, but he has had to change his whole personna and because of his record as a middle of the road guy, he won't get a sniff.

Such a shame. A couple of guys who might be good contenders with real solutions and they won't even get a look.

Hunstman believes in Evolution and Romney was the architect of a bi partisan, fully function, envy of the rest of the country, government run medical program.

Therefor, they're both unelectable by Republican standards.


Forget Ryan, he announced yesterday that he isn't taking a run at the top job.

I didn't figure he had the base for it yet. He hasn't picked which sector of the Republican party owns him yet.
 
Re: OT - American Politics

Mitt Romney can still win this thing, if only because of the lack of strong contenders around him. In the end I think Bachmann is too much of a wacko to win the election, but she is a shrewd politician. Rick Perry's probably leading right now.
 
Re: OT - American Politics

The one thing leaning in Romney's favour right now is that the wacko base of dominionists are pretty much split between Bachmann & Perry.

Romney is the only one in the Republican camp than in a sane universe, can challenge Obama. People can't point at Obama's popularity right now, but the comparative popularity of the Congress makes him look as popular as Johnny Bower at a Leaf game. The country isn't just mad at Obama, it's irate at it's government, and not just for the reasons that the tea party put forward.
 
Re: OT - American Politics

The Christian right and fundamentalists will support Perry. Probably the majority of Tea Partiers will support Bachmann, though she loses some to Perry. Romney collects everybody else, which is a sizable group in its own right.
 
Re: OT - American Politics

If the question is can Mitt Romney win? The answer is yes. Romney doesn't have to worry about money which is usually a concern for someone who isn't on the party's fringe, and thus less likely to generate angry interest group cash.

Romney is ignoring Iowa and pouring money into New Hampshire with good reason. He's not going to win Iowa. The Republican Iowa caucus is dominated by Christian evangelicals who just aren't going to vote for a Mormon with a centrist past. However, that could help him in New Hampshire. Romney wins New Hampshire, builds a bit of a shield against the body blows he's probably going to take in South Carolina and Nevada.

After that, it all comes down to what states elect to dole out their delegates proportionally and which ones follow a winner-take-all format. Ideally, for Romney to win, the smaller states he's likely to win would go in March, so that he keeps racking up wins without handing too many delegates to other candidates (this would include most of New England going in the month of March).

If Romney can keep up the wins in March, even at a lesser pace, the race moves into April. Romney WILL win New York and New Jersey. But to win, he HAS to win California, Illinois and Pennsylvania. If he can rack up those three, in winner-take-all primaries after March, he can win the Republican nomination because he should already have Ohio and Michigan in his corner by that point. Bachmann and Perry will split up the traditional Republican heartland with Bachmann winning much of the prairie west and Perry taking the South and maybe Southwest.
 
Re: OT - American Politics

Romney wins but then has to go up against the President and bad mouth healthcare. Then will try and bad mouth him about the downgrade when he lobbied and raised taxes to get his states rating up. He is a Democrats dream. Then the flip flop on gay marriage, abortion.
 
Re: OT - American Politics

I think if Perry/Michelle don't win, we will see a third party in the form of a Tea Party person. However, they are so busy using the Republicans party for funding support they won't do have the balls to leave them.

I'd personally love to see Mayor Bloomberg run. He is the ultimate center candidate. Been a GOP and Dem person in the last 15 years and is now independant. And he could fund his own campaign.
 
Re: OT - American Politics

The Christian right and fundamentalists will support Perry. Probably the majority of Tea Partiers will support Bachmann, though she loses some to Perry. Romney collects everybody else, which is a sizable group in its own right.

I don't know if it's that cut and dry for Christian right/fundies/dominionist support. Bachmann has serious street cred in that world and touches all the right bases as far as her "intellectual" influences in that movement go. Texas is also a major tea party state, so Perry will bleed off a solid chunk of tea party support from Bachmann (who has been the TP spokesperson of choice since her hilarious off camera stare during her televised response to the State of the Union address from last year.)
 
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