Republicans Gain Ground Among IndependentsA new comprehensive national survey shows that independent voters—who voted for Barack Obama by a 52%-to-44% margin in the 2008 presidential election—are now moving strongly in the direction of the Republican Party. The survey, conducted by Douglas E. Schoen LLC on behalf of Independent Women's Voice in late August, raises the possibility of a fundamental realignment of independent voters and the dominance of a more conservative electorate.
Today, independents say they lean more toward the Republican Party than the
Democratic Party, 50% to 25%, and that the Republican Party is closer to their
views by 52% to 30%. This movement comes in spite of independents' generally
negative views of the GOP—a majority of independents (54%) view the Republicans unfavorably, compared to 39% who have a favorable impression. (The poll also revealed that 48% of independents were either "sympathetic to or supporters of the tea party.")
Lots of statistics here basically showing the Democrats have lost the independents vote anyway you look at it. This is one of the big reasons November 2nd will be a nightmare if you are a supporter of Obama and the Democrat Party.
67% of Political Class Say U.S. Heading in Right Direction, 84% of Mainstream Disagrees
Here is an example of why there is so much anger and confusion in the election this year. The political class and the MSM keep talking about how the TEA Party is a negative for the Republicans. Yet poll after poll shows that Independents view the TEA Party favorably and the Republicans are significantly ahead of the Democrats in generic polls. This gap between the elites and the voter should bring about a tsunami this November which may change politics for the next generation.
The gap is just as big when it comes to the traditional right
direction/wrong track polling question.
A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 67% of
Political Class voters believe the United States is generally heading in the
right direction. However, things look a lot different to Mainstream Americans.
Among these voters, 84% say the country has gotten off on the wrong
track.
“The American people don’t want to be governed from the left, the right
or the center. The American people want to govern themselves," says Scott
Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports. “The American attachment to
self-governance runs deep. It is one of our nation’s cherished core values and
an important part of our cultural DNA.”
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/august_2010/67_of_political_class_say_u_s_heading_in_right_direction_84_of_mainstream_disagrees
Federal Pay Still Inflated After Accounting for Skills
From the Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation has conducted two separate studies that both
reach the same conclusion: Federal employees are paid substantially more than
comparably skilled private sector workers. Defenders of the federal pay system,
including the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), have mischaracterized
The Heritage Foundation's analyses by suggesting they ignore skill differences
between the public and private sectors, resulting in an "apples to oranges"
comparison. On the contrary, Heritage has carefully accounted for skill
differences, always comparing apples to apples.
While federal employees do earn more partially because they are more
skilled than the average private sector worker, controlling for skills does not
eliminate the federal pay premium. Depending on the methodology employed, the
average federal employee receives as much as 22 percent more in wages than an
equally skilled private sector worker. Including both wages and benefits,
overpaying federal workers costs taxpayers approximately $40–50 billion per
year.
Somehow when I read the story above I’m reminded of Jack Nicolson’s speech in the movie “A Few Good Men.” When he said, “I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then question the manner in which I provide it. I prefer you said thank you, and went on your way,” Do you get the feeling that is what the public unions think?
The TEA Party from A to Z
What would we do without the Tea Party? For well over a year, this
rollicking muster of citizens—mocked and feared in equal measure by the
Democrats and, indeed, by many Republicans—have offered more than just
whizz-bang political entertainment. Starting out as a loose-knit posse of loudly
disaffected conservatives, the movement has become better organized and
improbably daring; in fact, it is now a full-blown political uprising. As we gird our national loins for the mid-term elections in November, here is a brisk primer on the movement.
A is for anger, the jet-fuel of a movement that Nancy Pelosi, in a rare moment of wit, pooh-poohed as Astroturf (i.e., not grassroots). …..
B is for Glenn Beck and Andrew Breitbart, the two gaudiest Tea Partiers in the American media, and for Scott Brown, the Massachusetts senator whose astonishing election to Ted Kennedy’s seat in February was the earliest indication that the Tea Party amounted to more than just a rabble …..
Y is for young, which Tea Partiers are not. A NYT
poll found that 75% of Tea Partiers are over 45, 29% over 64, and only 7% under
30 years of age. One thing the movement’s members tend to have in common,
irrespective of age, is a petit-bourgeois fondness for yard signs. My favorite:
“Remember, November 2, 2010: Take Out the Garbage.”
Z is for the zeitgeist, which in our unhappy nation at present happens to mean,
alas—on both left and right—zero tolerance for views with which we
disagree.
Kind of a fun read.
The end of the Pelosi Era?
The Washington Post's Paul Kane and Karen Tumulty have a big story this morning about Democrats fleeing the speaker:
Democrats from a number of states, including Texas, Ohio and North Carolina,Everything is going south for the Democrats. Much like Napoleon’s grand armee it appears the Democrats got too ambitious and went too far left. The results for Napoleon was Of the 690,000 men that comprised the initial invasion force of Russia, only 93,000 survived.
are running away from Pelosi in a harsh political climate. Distancing one's self
from the speaker is nothing new for many Democrats, including [Rep. Chet]
Edwards, but the number of incumbents criticizing the party House leader is
larger than it has been in past election cycles—and the volume of their
criticism is louder.More than a few Democrats have said they are wavering on
supporting Pelosi as their leader next year. At least four House Democrats are
running ads stating their opposition to the speaker's agenda, and one Democrat
running in Tennessee called for her resignation.
Don’t the rubes know the recession is over?
WASHINGTON – The longest recession the country has endured since the
Great Depression ended in June 2009, a group that dates the beginning and end of
recessions declared Monday. The NBER, a panel of academic economists based
in Cambridge, Mass., said the recession lasted 18 months. It started in December
2007 and ended in June 2009. Previously the longest post World War II downturns
were those in 1973-1975 and in 1981-1982. Both of those lasted 16 months.
The four quarters since they said the recession ended growth rates
1.6 5.0 3.7 1.6
The four quarter since they said the recession ended growth rates
for Reagan’s recession
0.3 5.1 9.3 8.1
So the recession may be over, but it sure doesn’t feel like it.
Even Chris Matthews knows the difference between a tax cut and a government check.
“I have one small tweak to make to what the president said today -- he
should stop saying that giving people tax cuts is giving people money. It`s
their money! A tax cut is when the government doesn`t take our money. It`s an
important distinction.
He talked today, for example, about people getting a check from the
government in the form of a tax cut. That`s not the way it works. If tax rates
are kept lower, it`s a matter of the check going to the government being
smaller. Again, it`s an important distinction.”
No comments:
Post a Comment