Category Archives: Election

Election

Huntsman Again – too progressive to win a Republican primary

The first time I heard of Huntsman, someone joked he was running to the left of Obama. Hey, somebody should.

Jon Huntsman Wakes Up – The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan – The Daily Beast

  • GT_HUNTSMAN_110621

    This is exactly what he needs to do: lose the caution, stiffen the sinews and take on the know-nothings:

    When we take a position that isn’t willing to embrace evolution, when we take a position that basically runs counter to what 98 of 100 climate scientists have said, what the National Academy of Science – Sciences has said about what is causing climate change and man’s contribution to it, I think we find ourselves on the wrong side of science, and, therefore, in a losing position….I can’t remember a time in our history where we actually were willing to shun science and become a – a party that – that was antithetical to science. I’m not sure that’s good for our future and it’s not a winning formula.

    Here he is on the GOP’s recent economic brinkmanship:

    Well, I wouldn’t necessarily trust any of my opponents right now, who were on a recent debate stage with me, when every single one of them would have allowed this country to default. You can imagine, even given the uncertainty of the marketplace the last several days and even the last couple of weeks, if we had defaulted the first time in the history of the greatest country that ever was, being 25 percent of the world’s GDP and having the largest financial services sector in this world by a long shot, if we had defaulted, Jake, this marketplace would be in absolute turmoil. And people who are already losing enough as it is on their 401(k)s and retirement programs and home valuations, it would have been catastrophic.

    Keep it up. Huntsman has a prophetic role in this campaign if he chooses to adopt it: the truth-teller. His chances are so slim, he loses nothing by speaking this candidly. At the very least, he lays down a distinctive marker for 2016. At the very most, he could break out in New Hampshire if Romney falters.

    • Jon Huntsman Wakes Up – The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan – The Daily Beast

    Election

    Huntsman is a Republican?

    I’m not one to call someone a RINO – Republican In Name Only – shorthand for the purge of the GOP of anyone who doesn’t take talking-points from FoxSkews. Maybe there are still some Republicans who aren’t opposed to all authority – scientific or educational or governmental – that isn’t tight-fisted, small-minded, and weirdly “Christian.”

    The GOP is fed up with its choices – The Washington Post

    By Eugene Robinson

    “The minute that the Republican Party becomes the anti-science party, we have a huge problem,” candidate Jon Huntsman said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” — a declaration that makes me wonder how familiar Huntsman is with the political organization he seeks to lead.

    The GOP is fed up with its choices – The Washington Post

    Er, that “minute” ticked by before the DUHbya Error.

    “I think when you find yourself at an extreme end of the Republican Party,” Huntsman said of Perry, “you make yourself unelectable.”

    Election, NADA - New American Dark Ages

    O’Donnell Continues to Fascinate Me…

    More precisely, the fact that anyone voted for O’Donnell dismays me.

    Think Progress » The Old Adventures Of New Christine

    “There’s only truth and not truth. You’re either very good or evil. I went back to my dorm and asked myself what I was. If your principles aren’t grounded in absolute truth, you don’t know what to think.” [Wilmington News-Journal, 11/12/06] [mjh: Therefore, she is evil.]

    Think Progress » The Old Adventures Of New Christine

    E.J. Dionne Jr. – Mike Castle’s defeat — and the end of moderate Republicanism

    Castle’s defeat at the hands of Christine O’Donnell, a perennial candidate who may be the least qualified Senate nominee anywhere in the country, does indeed mark the collapse of the Republican Party not only of Nelson Rockefeller and Tom Dewey but also of Bob Dole and Howard Baker.

    E.J. Dionne Jr. – Mike Castle’s defeat — and the end of moderate Republicanism

    Op-Ed Columnist – Horror in the Hedges – NYTimes.com

    O’Donnell is a marketing consultant whose clients included the movie “The Passion of the Christ” and a Vatican portrait-painter. One of the most notable things on her political résumé is her well-publicized position against masturbation. (“The Bible says that lust in your heart is committing adultery. So you can’t masturbate without lust.”)

    … O’Donnell has had a series of financial problems, and her disclosure form says she earned only $5,800 last year, although she claims she had other income that didn’t require disclosing. She said for years that she was a 1993 graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University, but it turns out she actually got her degree … last week. And a conservative radio host was compelled to correct her when she claimed that she had won two counties in a 2008 race against Senator Joe Biden. That would have been quite a trick, given that Delaware has only three counties and she lost the election by 65 percent to 35 percent.

    “I meant tied,” she said, forcing the host to point out: “You didn’t tie him either.”

    Op-Ed Columnist – Horror in the Hedges – NYTimes.com

    PostPartisan – Why Christine O’Donnell’s victory is scary

    Republican members of Congress look at races such as those in Utah, Alaska and now Delaware and think: There but for the grace of the Tea Party go I. They will be that much more watchful of protecting their right flank against a primary challenge. They will be that much less likely to take a political risk in the direction of bipartisanship. In this sense, it matters less whether O’Donnell will win the general election — that doesn’t seem likely — than that she won the primary.

    The Delaware result might be good news for both Tea Partyers and Democrats. It is not good news for the cause of good government.

    PostPartisan – Why Christine O’Donnell’s victory is scary

    Election, NADA - New American Dark Ages

    This Week’s WTF!? and Sour Grapes from Sore Losers (Yawn)

    1 Comment

    Dumbed-Down System Wins
    THE DEMOCRATIC leadership and their Kool-Aid drinking followers have finally done it! They have been trying for years to “dumb down” the electorate and get so many people thinking that they are entitled to government handouts so the Dems can get a dictatorial socialistic government.
           The election shows how naive and uneducated 52 percent of the electorate are and even more in New Mexico. …
           We’ll probably see the next four years be as bad as when Jimmy Carter was in office and, hopefully, a new Ronald Reagan will come along to get us back on track.
    CURTIS S. SMITH Corrales

    Time Will Prove Poor Choice
    OH, FOOLISH American voters! Who has bewitched you? Time will tell what an incredibly bad choice Barack Obama was for the American presidency.
           Civil rights will supersede national security. The soft-on-crime Democrats will let known terrorists out of jail. Our border will not be secured. We will be wide open for attack. And we are told to “be patient” with the president-elect while he does on-the-job-training for a job he is not qualified for. That spells trouble, my fellow Americans!
    STELLA DILLENBECK Alamogordo

    Get Ready for Higher Taxes
    I WANT TO thank all of you who voted for Barack Obama for raising my federal income taxes.
           Let me explain. When Obama lets the “Bush tax cuts” lapse, he will be restoring the tax rates of 2000. Taxes will return to a higher level, and my family will pay more. My wife and I file jointly and earn around $90,000 a year. That means we will pay approximately $4,167 more a year in federal income tax.
           Check this for yourself. Go to http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/ and pull up the 1040 instructions for 2000 and 2007 and go to the tax tables. Based on your 2007 income, check your taxes rates for 2000 and 2007, and apply them to your taxable income for 2007.
           Obama has said he will allow the “Bush tax cuts” to lapse. While he does not call this a “tax increase,” my taxes will increase significantly. So, once again, thank you. My middle class family did not have enough of a burden with child care expenses and a mortgage. Remember, you reap what you sow.
    RYAN KETTLER Albuquerque

    ABQJOURNAL OPINION/LETTERS: Heavy Lifting

    Election

    Change Comes from Within

    The Page – by Mark Halperin – TIME

    The 44th President

    TIME First glimpse at this week’s TIME cover, hitting newsstands Friday.

    The Page – by Mark Halperin – TIME

    The Page – by Mark Halperin – TIME

    Obama said,

    “Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.  Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House – a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity. Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.  As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, “We are not enemies, but friends…though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.” And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn – I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too.”

    The Page – by Mark Halperin – TIME

    Obama’s awesome speech Nov 4th

    McCain’s gracious concession speech. (His supporters booed Obama’s name, while Obama’s supporters cheered McCain’s.)

    PS: Say Good Night, Grover

    Election

    NRA Votes for Fear — as usual

    This is the bag the Albuquerque Journal was wrapped in this morning. One last ‘fuck you’ from our friends at the Journal and the sensible folks at the NRA. I’d vote in a minute to take every gun away from everyone, including the cops and military. But, don’t be such chicken-shits, NRA: Your guns are safe. And so is your right to absurd fear-mongering. Let’s be clear: The NRA is all about fear. Which is why the NRA is merely a tool of the fearful conservatives. peace, mjh

    DSC00384

    DSC00385