Barack Obama, our next President

[Fenris the Archangel]

OK leftist puscees; life calls. Till I laugh at you again, sayonara.....:-)

[Lincoln Duncan]

loose cannon wrote:

Lily,
The Palestinian Authority is in danger of collapse.

So is Republican opposition to taxing the rich.

One by one, Republicans seem to be toppling in the direction of President Obama’s insistence that wealthy Americans pay higher taxes.

On Sunday, it was Sen. Bob Corker (R) of Tennessee, who told “Fox News Sunday” that Republicans likely would have to give in on Obama’s demand that the Bush-era tax cut for those making more than $250,000 be allowed to expire at the end of the year. The President, he acknowledged,“has the upper hand on taxes.”

[sonicfilter]

Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) came out in favor of allowing tax rates on the wealthy return to Clinton-era levels, arguing on "Fox News Sunday" that Republicans don't have a lot of cards in their hand when it comes to negotiations. Corker argued that once Republicans concede on tax rates, they will have more leverage to negotiate on the spending side of a debt deal, namely entitlement reform. "I actually am beginning to believe that is the best route for us to take," he said.

"There is a growing group of folks that are looking at this and realizing that we don't have a lot of cards as it relates to the tax issue before year end," Corker said. "So, a lot of people are putting forth a theory, and I actually think it has merit, where you go ahead and give the president the 2 percent increase that he's talking about, the rate increase on the top two percent. And all of a sudden the shift goes back to entitlements… The focus then shifts to entitlements and maybe that puts us in a place where we actually can do something that really saves this nation. So there is a growing body -- I actually am beginning to believe that is the best route for us to take, to again shift the focus where it needs to be, which is on entitlements."

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/g...

finally give and take reappears. goodbye Tea Party.

[sonicfilter]

Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) said Sunday that middle income tax cuts would pass the House if brought up.

Asked on CNN’s “State of the Union” if he sees growing Republican support for the bill that GOP leaders oppose, he said,“Yeah, honestly I think if it got to the floor, it would carry.”

“I think it would,” said Cole, a deputy majority whip.“Look, that’s my judgment, but I spend a lot of time counting votes and looking around. But this doesn’t say we’re going to raise taxes on anybody, it says OK this group for sure, your taxes aren’t going up. Get that done with, get it over with.”

The remarks seem to undermine Speaker John Boehner’s hand in fiscal cliff negotiations with President Obama. The Speaker’s call for Obama to make concessions in the talks is built on the premise that the president’s plan for avoiding the cliff cannot pass both chambers of Congress.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/12/to...

[sonicfilter]

Tom Coburn: I Will Accept Tax Increases If Dems Do Entitlement Reform

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/t...

i wonder how FOX will misinform about Republicans?

[Nj raider 1]

lily boca raton fl wrote:

<quoted text>
That percentage doesn't seem to change, wonder why.

Ya'll truly need to get out of the suburbs alot more. Go to the city parts alot more. Shit'll change your life & how ya'll view equality & inequality. Trust me it ain't what ya'll think. Though everybody says & alot want change & equality, shit is still black & white. So when you make a remark like you wonder why the percentage doesn't change, one can only wonder where that type of thinking comes from (racism, or just misunderstanding or pure ignorance). Either way you needs a reality makeover!

[sonicfilter]

A few words to ponder as we sail toward the fiscal cliff. Those words would be:“That was then, this is now.”

Strip away the false piety and legalistic hair splitting offered by Republican lawmakers rationalizing their decision to abandon a pledge that they will never ever, ever, ever vote to raise taxes, and that’s pretty much what the explanation boils down to.

Rep. Peter King says he understood the pledge, propounded by the almighty Grover Norquist and his group Americans for Tax Reform, to obligate him for only one term. Apparently, he thought it had to be renewed, like a driver’s license.

Sen. Lindsey Graham says that if Democrats agree to entitlement reform,“I will violate the pledge for the good of the country”— a stirring statement of patriotism and sacrifice that warms your heart like a midnight snack of jalapeño chili fries.

In other words: bull twinkies. If you want the truth of why a trickle of GOP lawmakers is suddenly willing to blaspheme the holy scripture of their faith, it’s simple. The pledge used to be politically expedient. Now it is not.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/12/09/3132053...

[carol]

Maybe someone who knows more about the stock market than me can say if this is good news or not.

"While investors may be selling stocks to avoid higher taxes in 2013, companies may continue to announce special and accelerated dividend payments before year end.

"To be sure, the big sell-off in stocks following the November 6 election was likely related to tax selling, making it hard to judge how much more is to come."

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/fiscal-cliff-...

[carol]

Realtime wrote:

<quoted text>You're so sadly informed and gullible it's pathetic.

Funny, I thought it was the other way around. In fact, I'm quite sure it is.

[sonicfilter]

Author and economist Ben Stein joined Fox & Friends on Thursday where he stunned the hosts after he called for raising the tax rates on people making more than $2 million per year. He said that he did not think that the United States simply had a spending problem, and cited the early post-war period as an example of a time when you could have high tax rates and high growth.

“I hate to say this on Fox – I hope I’ll be allowed to leave here alive – but I don’t think there is any way we can cut spending enough to make a meaningful difference,” said Stein.“We’re going to have to raise taxes on very, very rich people. People with incomes of, say,$2,$3,$4 million a year and up. And then slowly, slowly, slowly move it down.$250,000 a year, that’s not a rich person.”

Stein said that the government has a spending problem, but they also have a “too low taxes problem.”

“With all due respect to Fox, who I love like brothers and sisters, taxes are too low,” said Stein.

“That sounds like Bowles-Simpson,” said Gretchen Carlson.

“It is Bowles-Simpson,” Stein replied.

“The evidence is that there is no clear connection between the level of taxation and the level of economic activity,” said Stein.“The biggest growth and prosperity we’ve ever had in this country was from roughly 1941 to 1973. That was the best years we’ve ever had and those were years of much higher taxes than we have now.”

“Taxes were at 70, 80 percent then,” said Steve Doocy.

“And yet, we were very prosperous,” Stein replied.“The highest rate was in the 90s during parts of the 50s, and yet we were very prosperous.”

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/ben-stein-stuns-fo...

[carol]

TheIndependentMajority wrote:

<quoted text>
You missed Christie addressing the folks of his state, with immediate plans already in action, didn't you.
That's what GOOD governors do DUH A Vey...not damn and blame the weather on a potus.

Exactly. Louisiana governor and New Orleans mayor headed for the hills and then popped up in front of every camera they could find to blame Bush when it was the governor, herself, who delayed armed national guard from taking control of their mistakes.

But all Obama had to do was show up and look like he has the situation completly under control right before the election while people in those states are still begging for help.

This is the irony of it all.

[carol]

Nuculur option wrote:

<quoted text>
Too bad your stories are mostly lies.
Which you've been caught at hundreds of times on this thread!!
Go back into hiding, dingbat!!

The truth is always consistent and unwavering. It's why Obama and democrats get stuck between that same old rock and a hard place.

[sonicfilter]

Fox Business Guest Curtis Sliwa: Obama Is "Being Street" In Budget Talks

http://mediamatters.org/video/2012/12/07/fox-...

it's about time.

now some nutjob will whine and cry that Obama didn't offer anything to the republicans that they liked. then i'll have to tell that nutjob that the republicans never offer anything Obama likes.

though in nutjob world it's only fair when they get EVERYTHING they want. problem is nutjob, you threw fair out the window a long time ago.

[carol]

Okay, I'm back. Where'd everybody go?

[carol]

Just think. In 6 more days, I get to start my traditional Christmas countdown.

Like I said, I'll try and be more creative this year.

[sonicfilter]

The Conservative Bubble Influences More than Just Politics

POLITICO's Jonathan Martin gets some good quotes from Ben Domenech, Ross Douthat, Bruce Haynes, and Tray Grayson on the conservative media's isolation from reality.

I have called this problem "the alternative knowledge system," but you don't need to use that clunky name to see the thing.

But here's the next challenge:

The problem with Fox and the rest is not only - or even primarily - that they duped conservatives about Mitt Romney's likely margin in the Electoral College.

The problem is the steady stream of misinformation they feed about basic matters of government: such as that the United States spends $1 trillion a year on "welfare"; or that taxes went up in President Obama's first term ; or that the economy did not grow over the past two years. All false, all frequently reported; all widely believed.

It will be a great first step when conservatives insist upon accurate political information. But the job cannot be considered finished until conservatives reject media that feed them false information about public policy as well.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11...

if only we all watched FOX.

but we don't.

[carol]

sonicfilter wrote:

Fox Business Guest Curtis Sliwa: Obama Is "Being Street" In Budget Talks
http://mediamatters.org/video/2012/12/07/fox-...
it's about time.
now some nutjob will whine and cry that Obama didn't offer anything to the republicans that they liked. then i'll have to tell that nutjob that the republicans never offer anything Obama likes.
though in nutjob world it's only fair when they get EVERYTHING they want. problem is nutjob, you threw fair out the window a long time ago.

Until Obama gets to raise everyone's taxes and businesses start hunkering down and wall street has the first inkling of which direction it's going, all of this speculation is pointless.

Let's wait and see if Obama's plan works. Even though it's not any different than the last time and 65% of the nation still believes we're on the same wrong track as before.

Should be interesting anyway, huh? The nation experiencing collective regret.

I hope I'm wrong. But, if not, can't wait to say "told ya".

[carol]

Sorry sonic, guess I'll come back later. Have fun copying and pasting the liberal propaganda.

[Realtime]

carol wrote:

<quoted text>
Funny, I thought it was the other way around. In fact, I'm quite sure it is.

US Corps of Engineers__US Coast Guard__US Department of the Interior are all present year around and around the clock in the Louisiana Delta Carol as are several other US agencies. That the POTUS would need the Mayor of New Orleans or the Governor of Louisiana's permission to respond to a disaster is beyond stupid and pathetic.

Get a clue babe!

[sonicfilter]

A long-simmering generational battle in the conservative movement is boiling over after last week’s shellacking, with younger operatives and ideologues going public with calls that Republicans break free from a political-media cocoon that has become intellectually suffocating and self-defeating.

GOP officials have chalked up their electoral thumping to everything from the country’s changing demographics to an ill-timed hurricane and failed voter turn-out system, but a cadre of Republicans under 50 believes the party’s problem is even more fundamental.

The party is suffering from Pauline Kaelism.

Kael was The New Yorker movie critic who famously said in the wake of Richard M. Nixon’s 49-state landslide in 1972 that she knew only one person who voted for Nixon.

Now, many young Republicans worry, they are the ones in the hermetically sealed bubble — except it’s not confined to geography but rather a self-selected media universe in which only their own views are reinforced and an alternate reality is reflected.

Hence the initial denial and subsequent shock on the right that the country would not only reelect President Barack Obama — but do so with 332 electoral votes.

“What Republicans did so successfully, starting with critiquing the media and then creating our own outlets, became a bubble onto itself,” said Ross Douthat, the 32-year-old New York Times columnist.

“The right is suffering from an era of on-demand reality,” is how 30-year-old old think tanker and writer Ben Domenech put it.

Citing Kael, one of the most prominent Republicans in the George W. Bush era complained:“We have become what the left was in the ’70s — insular.”

In this reassuring conservative pocket universe, Rasmussen polls are gospel, the Benghazi controversy is worse than Watergate,“Fair and Balanced” isn’t just marketing and Dick Morris is a political seer.

Even this past weekend, days after a convincing Obama win, it wasn’t hard to find fringes of the right who are convinced he did so only because of mass voter fraud and mysteriously missing military ballots. Like a political version of “Thelma and Louise,” some far-right conservatives are in such denial that they’d just as soon keep on driving off the cliff than face up to a reality they’d rather not confront.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/837...