Re: Politics

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I resurrected this post from the first days of last March. Nothing in my way of thinking has changed much. I voted for Gary Johnson in a state that was a slam dunk for Obama.

I thought Romney gave a very classy concession speech, I hope all of his supporters hear, understand, and follow his lead. I spend at least some of my time trying to console conservative friends who are shocked and dismayed by yesterday's result, trying to talk them back off the ledge.

Time to get some version of Simpson-Bowles in place come hell or high water. Anyone who obstructs that initiative is my political enemy no matter which side they're doing it from.

It's time for Congress to do the work of the people. No excuses.

MtFan wrote:Before I watched the republican debates I thought it was almost a sure thing that the "anyone but Obama" vote would surely sweep him out of office. I never had any idea that they would put up such an incompetent group of candidates.

Now if the economy continues to improve, and the unemployment numbers continue to drop I think Obama will get back in. If he runs against Santorum the election will be a landslide for Obama. If he runs against Romney it will be closer but I just can't see Romney winning unless the "anybody but Obama" vote really solidifies and there's some kind of catastrophe (war in Iran, gas prices going to $6, the double dip recession kicks in, something fairly big).

If things stay on the current glide path I think Obama wins fairly easily.

Romney is a joke, and even if he somehow does win he won't be much of a departure from what Obama has been doing once he settles in. Deep down they're cut from the same mold, both are puppets to the corporate interests. Remember, no matter what Romney says now, Obama's health care was modeled closely after the one Romney put in place in Mass. That is a fact. Romney is a total chameleon. Right now he's saying anything to get the republican nomination, and he will move way to the center once he gets it.

Re: Politics

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City of Cleveland Precinct 118: Obama 438, Romney 1
City of Cleveland Precinct 119: Obama 558, Romney 4
City of Cleveland Precinct 120: Obama 531, Romney 2
City of Cleveland Precinct 121: Obama 452, Romney 3
City of Cleveland Precinct 122: Obama 671, Romney 5
City of Cleveland Precinct 123: Obama 704, Romney 6

and on and on, with much the same through the 300 plus City of Cleveland precincts.

City of Cleveland Precinct 154: Obama 542, Romney ZERO


http://boe.cuyahogacounty.us/pdf_boe/en ... ecinct.HTM

It's a lot of data to drill through if one is inclined to try. The first grouping requiring a major scroll is the total ballots cast by each city and precinct in Cuyahoga County. After that, the "key" to the column numbers of candidates for President (all of them) is reached, and then then each city and precinct in Cuyahoga County.

I didn't dump the numbers into excel just for Cleveland, but I'd estimate the City of Cleveland went over 95% for Obama, and it might be higher.

The national media was just being kind to the region noting that Cuyahoga County normally is a strong Democratic area


If you care to label the data, call it what you want.

I think we can all readily agree there was no "open thinking and weighing of the various issues" among Cleveland voters.

And those stratospheric percentages of votes for Democrats year after year serve to offset and or negate the reasoned discussion and results of the rest of the state. The same state victory formula applies strongly many years in Detroit, Philadelphia and Chicago for Michigan, Pennsylvania and Illinois. To name a few.

Re: Politics

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So what are you trying to say TFISC ? None of those voters used reasoned thought like you to make their decision ?

My country club mens card room voted 39-1 for Romney. I guess we did not use reasoned thought to make our decision.

Re: Politics

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I voted for Gary Johnson in a state that was a slam dunk for Obama.
That's me as well.
Romney is a joke, and even if he somehow does win he won't be much of a departure from what Obama has been doing once he settles in. Deep down they're cut from the same mold, both are puppets to the corporate interests. Remember, no matter what Romney says now, Obama's health care was modeled closely after the one Romney put in place in Mass.
True dat.

Re: Politics

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The Obama campaign machine was filled with people that knew what to do and when to do it. Since the elections are over maybe the big three Cleveland teams can clean house in their front offices and hire some of these guys.

New ideas, new direction, winning for a change.

Re: Politics

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American voters choose four more years of decline

By: Cal Thomas | Special to the News


Great nations and proud empires have always collapsed from within before they were conquered from without.

President Obama's re-election mirrors the self-indulgent, greedy and envious nation we are rapidly becoming.

Pollsters Michael Barone and Dick Morris got it horribly wrong. Both predicted a 300 electoral-vote win for Mitt Romney. It was President Obama who reached that mark.

The central message coming out of the election seems to be that we are no longer the America of our Founders, or even the America that existed during World War II, which produced our "greatest generation."

Instead, the election validates the enormous cultural shift that has been taking place since the '60s when a countercultural bomb was dropped on society, producing moral fallout that continues to this day.

I am a child of the "greatest generation." My parents believed I should learn to take care of myself. They would have been too embarrassed to ask for help, if they needed it. If they did, they would turn to family first, or to a friend or neighbor. There were fewer social programs then, so people mostly did without, living only on what they truly needed. It said something about your character if you refused to strive toward self-sufficiency.

In 2012, nothing appears to embarrass us. Snooki. Honey Boo Boo. Reality TV wives. Look at what is paraded before us as normal. Oppose the new normal and it's you who are the anomaly.

Young people are taught in public schools, at major universities, on television and in movies, that every life choice is acceptable and every tenet open to interpretation. In politics, some proclaim it is right to oppose the successful and envy the rich to the point where they must be denigrated and penalized for their success with higher taxes. No one has to be personally responsible. No education; no motivation; no life plan? No problem. The government will take care of you.

One thing Romney might have done better is to have featured more people who had overcome government dependence by embracing the values he was promoting. Example trumps philosophy and success should trump victimhood. Inspiration follows perspiration. But in our "entitlement" age even that might have been impossible to overcome.

Other signs of cultural decay are accepted with little notice. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 40 percent of babies born in America are born to unmarried women. Shrug. Abortion clinics continue to operate. Yawn.

There is no longer any cultural corrective because we have abandoned the concept of objective truth. Nothing is right or wrong, because that suggests a standard by which right and wrong might be defined. Personal choice is the new "standard," which is no standard at all. One might as well develop individual weights and measures.

Politicians bid for votes, making promises they can't keep to voters who will believe anything, as long as it appeals to greed, envy and their sense of entitlement. This undermines our culture. This fuels our massive debt, weakening our economic power and America's standing in the world.

Standards used to be defined and mostly accepted, if not always universally practiced. Many grew out of religious principles. According to a recent Pew Poll, a growing number of people, especially young people, no longer believe in God or religion. In this, and in our increasing flirtation with socialism, America is becoming more like Europe. Government seems to be replacing God as the only acceptable "deity."

So what is the answer? Should conservatives throw in the towel and say America, as passed down to us by previous generations, is no more? That was President Obama's announced goal four years ago when he promised to "fundamentally transform America." He's doing it and sufficient numbers of us appear happy to let him. When they realize what they have done, however, it may well be too late to reverse course.


http://www2.oanow.com/news/2012/nov/08/ ... r-4926256/

Re: Politics

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Vote was astronomical for Obama in some Philadelphia wards

November 09, 2012|By Miriam Hill, Jonathan Lai, and Andrew Seidman, Inquirer Staff Writers



Some Philadelphia neighborhoods outdid themselves in Tuesday's presidential election.

In a city where President Obama received more than 85 percent of the votes, in some places he received almost every one. In 13 Philadelphia wards, Obama received 99 percent of the vote or more.

Those wards, many with large African American populations, also swung heavily for Obama over John McCain in 2008. But the difficult economy seemed destined to dampen that enthusiasm four years later.

Not to worry. Ward leaders and voters said they were just as motivated this time.

"In this election, you had to point out to the people what was at stake. And in many cases, they felt that the Romney doctrine was not going to favor the working man," said Edgar "Sonny" Campbell.



Campbell is leader of West Philadelphia's Fourth Ward, where Obama received 9,955 votes. Romney? Just 55. That's five fewer than McCain in 2008.

Campbell acknowledged that the odds are stacked in his favor in Philadelphia, where Democrats outnumber GOP voters by nearly 7-1.

"You are looking at black neighborhoods where you have 1,000 voters in a division and maybe seven Republicans," he said. "We are shocked if Romney got any votes."

Even so, Randall Miller, a history professor at St. Joseph's University, said politicians almost never get 99 percent of the votes anywhere except, perhaps, the towns where they were born.

He said the Democratic voter turnout effort deserved credit for the president's success.

"Ninety-nine percent is extraordinary, and it shows discipline as much as anything else," he said.

Philadelphia's numbers were tilted so far in favor of Obama that one incredulous Republican revived the specter of voter fraud.

House Speaker Sam Smith, musing over "staggering" turnout in some city precincts and reacting to wrong information that "90 percent of the precincts in Philadelphia County turned out over 90 percent of voters," called the ability to get such numbers "questionable."

Smith's math does not add up. Voter turnout in Philadelphia was around 60 percent, according to state election figures.


State Sen. Vincent Hughes (D. Phila.) responded swiftly. He said Philadelphians came out to vote because they were tired of the "hard-right" Republican agenda.

"If they believe there was a corruption of the process, then go to court and challenge it. Show the people of Pennsylvania," Hughes said. "Beyond that, shut up."


http://articles.philly.com/2012-11-09/n ... gop-voters