I really do wish that these people that keep throwing around words like socialist and communist would actually study them and gain even a basic understanding so that they can stop looking foolish by throwing them around so flippantly. For that matter, people on the left ought to stop throwing around the word fascist too but that is a topic for another post.So when Wurzelbacher brought up a flat tax, Obama responded by endorsing progressive taxation – the principle of taxing those with higher incomes at a higher percentage than those with lower incomes. And it is in that context that Obama said he wanted to "spread the wealth."
Progressive taxes do indeed spread the wealth a bit. But they do so much more modestly than government owning the means of production.
Few serious policy makers — including McCain — consider progressive taxation socialist. In fact, on the Oct. 26, 2008 edition of NBC's Meet the Press, McCain stood by a comment he made in 2000 that "there's nothing wrong with paying somewhat more" in taxes when you "reach a certain level of comfort."
So no, Obama's tax increase on those making more than $250,000 would not represent a transformation of the U.S. system of government. His desire to "spread the wealth" through progressive taxation makes him no less a capitalist than McCain, or Lincoln. Palin's allegation that Obama wants to "experiment with socialism" seems designed less to inform than to inflame. That's Pants on Fire wrong.
Both Dailykos and Talking Points Memo have begun noticing this blip and while it certainly could be nothing more than an anomoly it is an interesting phenomenon that has not been given much notice by the rest of the media.
So, I am on my way to get the car washed today and I drive by a house with a John McCain for President yard sign. However, this particular sign read: "Another Democrat for McCain".Questioner: "Give us specific skills that you think you have to bring to the White House to rebut that or mitigate that concern."
Let's review:
- I'm an outsider...
- I'm prepared...
- I have that confidence, I have that readiness...
- You are going to have to be more specific about your specifics question...
*Being a former POW makes one immune to every conceivable criticism...
*Being a hockey mom is all one needs to know about a candidate in order to support them for the second highest position in the land...
Have you ever wondered about all those people claiming it is the endtimes and that the world as we know it will be gone? I had considered them little more than crackpots in a long line of endtimes predictors. Yet, today I am beginning to wonder if they don't have a point as political slime merchant Karl Rove took John McCain to task for being a liar."McCain has gone in his ads one step too far, and sort of attributing to Obama things that are, you know, beyond the 100-percent-truth test," said Rove. "Both campaigns ought to be careful about... there ought to be an adult who says: 'Do we really need to go that far in this ad? Don't we make our point and get broader acceptance and deny the opposition an opportunity to attack us if we don't include that one little last tweak in the ad?'"
Carol Ronen, the now-retired state senator who sponsored the bill, said its main intent was to make sure that teenagers got information that was "medically accurate," a requirement that wasn't then part of the school code. A secondary effect was to expand age-appropriate sex education down to lower grades, to allow things like teaching school children to avoid sex predators, Ronen said."Barack never had anything to do with it," she said. "This is a lot of hoopla."
Obama voted for the legislation in committee on a party-line vote. He was not a sponsor nor a co-sponsor, and the legislation never made it to a full Senate vote. So calling it one of his accomplishments is wrong, since it never became law and it wasn't his bill anyway.
Education Week did write that Obama "hasn't made a significant mark on education," but the phrase is plucked out of its original context. It's is from a long article written during the Democratic primary that reviewed Obama's positions on education, particularly in comparison with the other Democratic candidates.Here's the full quote:
"In his eight years in the state Senate and two years in the U.S. Senate, Mr. Obama hasn’t made a significant mark on education policy. In Illinois, his biggest accomplishments were in reforming state ethics rules and capital punishment. He did promote early-childhood initiatives that advocates considered 'innovative and progressive,' said Betsy D. Mitchell, a lobbyist for the Illinois Association for the Education of Young Children. "His biggest accomplishment in the field was the creation of a state board to oversee the expansion of early-childhood education in the state, Ms. Mitchell said."
So Education Week did write the words "hasn't made a significant mark on education," but it was not as disparaging a remark as the ad makes it out to be.
Graphs provided by electoral-vote.com
Graphs provided by electoral-vote.comI have always thought of North Dakota as a different political animal. These are a people who hold their political views close to their chest and their money even closer. While they consistently vote Republican for President, they have also provided Congress with an entirely Democratic delegation.
The lesson for North Dakota is that they are willing to vote for a Democrat, but that Democrat must stop ignoring the state and participate in the retail politics that it will take to get North Dakotans to vote for a Democratic President. Let us hope that this appearance heralds a new era in Democratic politics where we stop ignoring states such as North Dakota.
Politics in North Dakota is an entirely different animal than in the rest of the country or even here in Central Minnesota. It is not a matter of economic status as the article tries to hint at towards the end but rather a matter of culture and priorities. I have somewhat of a unique perspective on this subject having grown up in the area and having done some fundraising for the North Dakota Democratic NPL Party.
On Culture: Perhaps it is the prevalence of Scandinavian blood in the state which dictates that no matter what you believe, you mind your business and don't air your dirty laundry in public. This certainly extends into the political arena. Growing up, I don't know that I ever saw a yard sign or even heard people publicly discuss their political positions. It was one of those things, much like religion and family matters, that was kept to yourself.
That is precisely why it was such a culture shock to move closer to the Twin Cities where politics and political discussion rages on in a very public manner.
On Money: It seems to me, due to this culture of privacy, that North Dakotans detest putting themselves out there by giving even those they support any money. When I did fundraising, from a fairly reliable list of Democrats, it was almost as if we had the wrong list. It literally took every ounce of power to keep these people on the phone for an extended period of time. To top it off, North Dakotans hang on to their money more than perhaps any other people on the planet. It was rarely a situation where they didn't have the money but rather of not being interested in talking about politics with some stranger on the phone. This is a place where people driving Cadillacs are considered a little too flamboyant for our tastes.
John McCain Republican Convention Speech (wordled):
