The US wants a "Republican" president, just not any of the *actual* republicans!

DeVore

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2011/06/polls-generic-republican-beats-obama-specific-republicans-lose/38928/

Very interesting that the voters would prefer a "generic" brand republican president but the actual ones on offer fall below the ideal in the estimation of the public.

This is quite worry for everyone it seems, from Obama's point of view, he is winning only because the Reps are losing! From the Reps pov the will to elect them is there but they cant find a (non-bonkers) candidate!

DeV.

Memnoch

I feel this is a combination of two things.

The slow pace of economic recovery and the lack of job creation despite recovery. I haven't read anything so far on what Obama has done wrong or what he could have done differently short of 'slash taxes and spending,' without any practicable way of how this can be achieved.

The success of Fox and Co's relentless attacks on anything and everything Obama related with extreme prejudice and malice of forethought, and not giving him any credit for anything positive he has achieved.

It's a shame. They've got one of the better leaders of our times and in throwing them away they will be throwing away their best chance at any kind of recovery of prosperity.

loldog

That's interesting. Any Republican candidate needs to appeal to the "Religious Right" which unfortunately tends to attract the more looney cognitive dissonant types. Believing, or pretending to believe that the Bible is literally true is going to make you crazy.

Maybe when voters are saying "Republican Candidate" they're just expressing a desire for someone to come along to make things all better again, but faced with the reality of Republican policies they intuitively know that it's not going to fix things for them. The Bush tax cuts were supposed to provide jobs and a booming economy but it hasn't worked out like that.

.

steelcityblues

Too many people still looking through the prism of Coke n Pepsi style politics, I see.

I would have thought an honest president should be the #1 wish of a voter. Imagine that radical concept!

Black Swan

Moved to US Politics.

matthew8

Memnoch wrote: »

I feel this is a combination of two things.

The slow pace of economic recovery and the lack of job creation despite recovery. I haven't read anything so far on what Obama has done wrong or what he could have done differently short of 'slash taxes and spending,' without any practicable way of how this can be achieved.

The success of Fox and Co's relentless attacks on anything and everything Obama related with extreme prejudice and malice of forethought, and not giving him any credit for anything positive he has achieved.

It's a shame. They've got one of the better leaders of our times and in throwing them away they will be throwing away their best chance at any kind of recovery of prosperity.

"one of the better leaders of our times"!? How the f*** can you say that? A huge budget deficit, massive unemployment, foreign wars, taking away congressional powers, disregarding the constitution, 14 trillion dollars of our debt and he is one of the better leaders of our time? Ridiculous. He has done nothing about the budget deficit or the debt. They need a balanced budget, I would achieve it purely through cuts but I'd rather they raise taxes to balance the budget than have an unbalanced budget. No immigration reform, making a bad health system worse and wasting money on a stimulus. Do you think that the people who are unemployed (10s of millions) only dislike Obama because of what Fox says? Extremely naive. Yet despite all this we hear Obama and his press representatives that they are in no trouble and have turned the corner. As big a lie as when Lenihan said it.

ArtSmart

matthew8 wrote: »

"one of the better leaders of our times"!? How the f*** can you say that? A huge budget deficit, massive unemployment, foreign wars, taking away congressional powers, disregarding the constitution, 14 trillion dollars of our debt and he is one of the better leaders of our time? Ridiculous. He has done nothing about the budget deficit or the debt. They need a balanced budget, I would achieve it purely through cuts but I'd rather they raise taxes to balance the budget than have an unbalanced budget. No immigration reform, making a bad health system worse and wasting money on a stimulus. Do you think that the people who are unemployed (10s of millions) only dislike Obama because of what Fox says? Extremely naive. Yet despite all this we hear Obama and his press representatives that they are in no trouble and have turned the corner. As big a lie as when Lenihan said it.

for sure.

at least with Bush you knew someone was getting richer.














:cool:

silja

I'll be getting US citizenship early next year and look forward to voting in the presidential elections for the first time, and I would agree with this article. I consider myself conservative/ broadly Republican, especially when it comes to social policies, but none of the current candidates excite me. If it stays with the current field, I'll probably vote Herman Cain in the primaries, but I still hope Bobby Jindal runs.

Nodin

Romney appears sane, not particularily too right wing.....

(why do I feel nervous typing that...?)

Memnoch

matthew8 wrote: »

"one of the better leaders of our times"!? How the f*** can you say that? A huge budget deficit, massive unemployment,

And what was the cause of the deficit? TWO wars started by a republican president in power for 8 years. In addition to allowing reckless and greedy behaviour by the banking sector and wall street which resulted in a world wide economic crisis. Let me repeat that, WORLD WIDE ECONOMIC CRISIS, this is still having implications all around the world and in Ireland today.

Obama tries to regulate wall street and who jumps to the defense of the rich mega corproations that got away scott free? Republicans. So you want to get rid of Obama and put the republicans back in charge.

Now look into your heart and try to think for one second if these people who go on and on endlessly about how the private sector and business is the be all and end all and solution to everything will regulate the banks and greedy wall street correctly and fairly?

What do you think Obama should have done differently to reduce unemployment?

foreign wars, taking away congressional powers, disregarding the constitution,

Foreign wars that were ALREADY in play when he took office. It looks like he's doing all that can be done to bring the troops home and not get drawn into sending troops elsewhere. The whole disregarding the constitution stuff is vomit and there's no other word for it.

14 trillion dollars of our debt and he is one of the better leaders of our time?

And the debt is entirely Obama's fault? Clinton left Bush with a surplus. Bush left Obama with an economy in ruins. Bush spent 8 years destroying the economy and you expect Obama to have it fixed in 2?

Ridiculous. He has done nothing about the budget deficit or the debt.

He has outlined a plan to tackle the deficit in a way that doesn't hammer the elderly, poor or disadvantaged. But it's not going to happen overnight.

I would achieve it purely through cuts

And what will you cut? Take a look at the republican proposals for cuts which hammer those most in need, the oridinary citizen, the elderly and protect the wealthy. Maybe that's the kind of society you want to live in.

but I'd rather they raise taxes to balance the budget than have an unbalanced budget.

Obama wanted the taxes for the WEALTHIEST americans to return to the levels they were under CLINTON (when the country was at its most prosperous in recent times), while maintaining tax cuts for the middle class. The republicans blocked this.

No immigration reform,

And what shape should this take?

making a bad health system worse

More uninformed fox news drivel

and wasting money on a stimulus.

A stimulus began by a republican president and had they been in power I doubt they would have done any different despite all their noise. Also, it's very likely that the economic situation would have been 10x worse without Obama's actions.

Do you think that the people who are unemployed (10s of millions) only dislike Obama because of what Fox says? Extremely naive. Yet despite all this we hear Obama and his press representatives that they are in no trouble and have turned the corner. As big a lie as when Lenihan said it.

No, I think they are angry and looking for someone to blame and the spin and lies by Fox and Co help them with a target. Yes, they are extremely naive.

kenco

Romney is really the best of a moderate bunch. That said he got his you know what handed back to him on a plate in 2008 when I personally felt he would have had a better chance than McCain (though dont think he would have won either)

Looks like Romney will be the candidate but will be beaten unless there is a dramatic change. The fact that he is the only realistic GOP name in the ball park of a chance of winning speaks for itself.

If the GOP had a star candidate they would draw neutrals (ala the Reagan dems) who are hurting with the economy. There is no such star though and the party has to go through this period of identity crisis for at a least another 4 years before they can realistically challenge again. The Tea Party, Religious Right, etc might end up in control of the GOP and then its up to them to present coherent, structured policies and let the electorate decide if they want them. Alternatively the internal struggle might see a more centralist, pro business GOP which depending on the candidate would offer little or no difference generally from the Democrats.

Interesting to see where Jeb Bush positions himself post 2012.....

matthew8

Memnoch wrote: »

And what was the cause of the deficit? TWO wars started by a republican president in power for 8 years. In addition to allowing reckless and greedy behaviour by the banking sector and wall street which resulted in a world wide economic crisis. Let me repeat that, WORLD WIDE ECONOMIC CRISIS, this is still having implications all around the world and in Ireland today.

Obama tries to regulate wall street and who jumps to the defense of the rich mega corproations that got away scott free? Republicans. So you want to get rid of Obama and put the republicans back in charge.

Now look into your heart and try to think for one second if these people who go on and on endlessly about how the private sector and business is the be all and end all and solution to everything will regulate the banks and greedy wall street correctly and fairly?

What do you think Obama should have done differently to reduce unemployment?



Foreign wars that were ALREADY in play when he took office. It looks like he's doing all that can be done to bring the troops home and not get drawn into sending troops elsewhere. The whole disregarding the constitution stuff is vomit and there's no other word for it.



And the debt is entirely Obama's fault? Clinton left Bush with a surplus. Bush left Obama with an economy in ruins. Bush spent 8 years destroying the economy and you expect Obama to have it fixed in 2?



He has outlined a plan to tackle the deficit in a way that doesn't hammer the elderly, poor or disadvantaged. But it's not going to happen overnight.



And what will you cut? Take a look at the republican proposals for cuts which hammer those most in need, the oridinary citizen, the elderly and protect the wealthy. Maybe that's the kind of society you want to live in.



Obama wanted the taxes for the WEALTHIEST americans to return to the levels they were under CLINTON (when the country was at its most prosperous in recent times), while maintaining tax cuts for the middle class. The republicans blocked this.



And what shape should this take?



More uninformed fox news drivel



A stimulus began by a republican president and had they been in power I doubt they would have done any different despite all their noise. Also, it's very likely that the economic situation would have been 10x worse without Obama's actions.



No, I think they are angry and looking for someone to blame and the spin and lies by Fox and Co help them with a target. Yes, they are extremely naive.

The typical deluded democrat drivel blaming everything on Bush and saying that the constitution doesn't matter. Obama could've changed Bush's policies but didn't.

One comment in particular that is mind boggling is the economy being 10x worse without Obama. It's hard to imagine a 14 trillion budget deficit or 150 trillion of debt (10x current numbers) or more than 90% of the American working population being unemployed due to Obama not introducing Obamacare, not loaning car companies money or not going into Libya.

Jonny7

matthew8 wrote: »

The typical deluded democrat drivel blaming everything on Bush and saying that the constitution doesn't matter. Obama could've changed Bush's policies but didn't.

One comment in particular that is mind boggling is the economy being 10x worse without Obama. It's hard to imagine a 14 trillion budget deficit or 150 trillion of debt (10x current numbers) or more than 90% of the American working population being unemployed due to Obama not introducing Obamacare, not loaning car companies money or not going into Libya.

If McCain/Palin had won there'd still be the wars, the economy, the huge deficit

If you say something like "typical deluded democrat drivel" people are gonna see your post as just bias and not much objectivity - which is what its kinda looking like to be honest

mikemac

Romney seems a good candidate, he might be the man for 2012

But I've been disappointed before, I used to like John Edwards and even bought his book when he was a trail lawyer
And he turned out to be adulator

I hope Romney doesn't disappoint and I don't think he will

matthew8

Jonny7 wrote: »

If McCain/Palin had won there'd still be the wars, the economy, the huge deficit

If you say something like "typical deluded democrat drivel" people are gonna see your post as just bias and not much objectivity - which is what its kinda looking like to be honest

But McCain isn't running this time. In hindsight, though I supported McCain, they were very similar and would've had similar results. But this time we are in an even bigger mess and I turn to Ron Paul and Gary Johnson because I trust them to drive down the debt.

Sorry for being so insulting but I'm just tired of hearing people who refuse to believe Obama is anything less than god and that he will wave his magic wand to get us out of this mess.

steelcityblues

mikemac wrote: »

Romney seems a good candidate, he might be the man for 2012

But I've been disappointed before, I used to like John Edwards and even bought his book when he was a trail lawyer
And he turned out to be adulator

I hope Romney doesn't disappoint and I don't think he will

He didn't mind turning on his original positions on healthcare, abortion, gay rights through the years. Call him the Republican Edwards.

You only have to observe his slick and smug veneer for not too long, to know this guy a major phony.

Jonny7

matthew8 wrote: »

But McCain isn't running this time. In hindsight, though I supported McCain, they were very similar and would've had similar results. But this time we are in an even bigger mess and I turn to Ron Paul and Gary Johnson because I trust them to drive down the debt.

Sorry for being so insulting but I'm just tired of hearing people who refuse to believe Obama is anything less than god and that he will wave his magic wand to get us out of this mess.

He got Bin Laden.. there could be another 4 years of him.

gargleblaster

This demonstrates how sadly out of touch most voters are with the ways that actual policy decisions affect their lives.

southsiderosie

Nodin wrote: »

Romney appears sane, not particularily too right wing.....

(why do I feel nervous typing that...?)

Because there is something about Mitt Romney that is not entirely...human. I have a hard time believing that he is not a man-bot.

In all seriousness, I lived in Massachusetts when he was governor, and although he wasn't particularly bad, he consistently came across as very slick, to the point of insincerity. As an aside, I also had a colleague who used to work with him at Bain, and said that he was a shark among sharks. No matter what he says or does, I just do not trust that man. I also have a problem with politicians who run away from their own record - this suggests to me that they don't have a good understanding of why voters like them in the first place. John McCain did this big time, and while I would have considered voting for him in 2000, the 2008 version was scary (and he has gotten more ridiculous in the last few years).

If a candidate came along who was 1) willing to restore the Clinton tax rates, 2) would extend liability for social security contributions much further up the income scale past the current $110K limit, 3) would impose anti-trust and restore 1930s-era regulation on the banking industry so as to limit the risk of systemic collapse, and 4) would implement real spending cuts to both Medicare and the Pentagon, they would get my vote, regardless of party affiliation.

Nodin

^^
Ta for that.

(CBS News) Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., says that she prayed to God about whether or not to run for political office and that those prayers provided her with a "sense from God" of "assurance about the direction" she was taking.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/06/26/ftn/main20074482.shtml#ixzz1QPuqehtG

Of course if she doesn't get the nomination, that will look really bad in hindsight...

Memnoch

Nodin wrote: »

^^
Ta for that.




Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/06/26/ftn/main20074482.shtml#ixzz1QPuqehtG

Of course if she doesn't get the nomination, that will look really bad in hindsight...

Not really.

God, simply decided that she would be better suited taking on other challenges, and she would still be doing essential work at his direction.