Despite Quitting, Palin Still Most Popular Figure In GOP By A Mile
This blog has repeatedly wondered aloud whether Sarah Palin would be able remain hugely popular among Republican voters, now that her resignation has shown that the Alaska governorship was too big a fish tank for the Bailin’ Barracuda to handle.
Well, the new Gallup poll shows that she’s still far and away the most popular GOP figure among Republicans and Republican-leading independents (click to enlarge):
Palin retains an astronomical favorability rating of 72%. No one else in the Republican Party can touch her. Current Republican officials such as Michael Steele, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner just aren’t anywhere near being in her league.
What’s that say about today’s GOP? I really wonder what smart Republican consultants would have to say about this.
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“I really wonder what smart Republican consultants would have to say about this.”
I have a pretty good idea of what they’d say about this, but I doubt they would be willing to put their names behind it.
Wolcott had a good post on this subject:
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/wolcott/2009/07/i-marvel-at-the-metalplated.html
yeah, that’s great, FX. thx for sending. Might link. And SchrodingersCat, good to have you around here.
What’s that say about today’s GOP? Bone stupid and proud of it.
Thx, Greg. I don’t post often, but I do lurk a lot.
So what’s hwe favorablity with the rest of the population? Does the poll count that?
Farinata – there’s a great quote in there Wolcott underlines… “You cannot win elections by getting the same people to vote for you by pulling the lever harder”
Left unmentioned by Greg: “her lead on this measure largely reflects the fact that she is better known than the two former governors, given the substantially lower “no opinion” figures for her.”
Also unmentioned, Romney is actually the candidate that Republicans are most likely to support for the nomination.
Nice spin, Greg. (Thank gosh for links.)
@DJ: Huckabee is the GOP candidate that is most liked by the general population: “Huckabee’s numbers among all Americans look better by comparison. Although each GOP contender receives a similar favorable rating from the American public — 43% for Palin, 37% for Romney, and 42% for Huckabee — Huckabee’s negatives are lower. As a result, his +19 net favorable score is much better than Romney’s +8 and Palin’s -2.”
Hey Greg, you promised to revisit Rasmussen’s Sotomayor polling – que pasa? Didn’t see numbers that you liked after her second day?
DJ, Palin is in the negative territory with the entire population.
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/07/reality-check-2.html
note to greg – re your supposition yesterday that the senators tossing darts at Sotomayor might switch over to marshmallows, see “thoughtful conversation with Lindsay Graham” http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/live/sotomayor/#279854
sbj
“slight but not statistically significant 26% to 21% advantage over Palin” One can see immediately why Greg might try to disappear this troubling finding.
That Palin is “better known” than Romney/Huckabee (the piece does make that claim) seems entirely questionable. Both were presidential contenders, Huckabee is now a Fox TV personality and Romney has been around for a long time (unlike Ms Palin). I can’t imagine on the basis of name recognition that either one would be a mystery to Republicans.
To understand why she polls more favorably has to be answered in some other way.
They may like her personally ie be scared to say they don’t like her lest she call them a part of the “librul mainstream media”. However Romney leads her by 6 points in the same polling as to who they would support in 2012. So they still don’t think she is up to the job though they think she is a “cool” person.
@bernie: I appreciate the polite reply! However, I certainly disagree that it is “questionable” that Palin is better known amongst Republicans. Everybody knows her, her resignation keeps up the media coverage, Letterman’s ungentlemanly comments kept up the media coveage, and so on. The poll makes the point about Romney and Huckabee that “each seems to have lost a significant share of the public familiarity he built up during the campaign. There has been a double-digit increase in the percentage of Americans who do not express either a positive or a negative opinion of both Romney and Huckabee.”
@sg: Partially correct? I “like” her but don’t think she is qualified to be President.
She has a large following because people loving the fact that she scares the **** out of liberals. She is actually outside the Washington DC cesspool.
Regardless of the polls, the plan is to run as independnt then throw all her support behind Huckabee after primaries. Don’t you get it!
“She has a large following because people loving the fact that she scares the **** out of liberals. She is actually outside the Washington DC cesspool.”
We all know that’s why. Palin backers *think* she scares the **** out of us. We aren’t scared. We are laughing.
“Scared”? Yeah, maybe…but not in the way that you think we are. More like in the way we’re scared of Michelle Bachman…like “How f***ing scary is that someone can be that bats***t crazy and manage to tie their own shoes?”
I suspect that Peggy Noonan and Ed Rollins will simply avoid the issue of Palin. These people were honored to work with Ronald Reagan, and they’re now reduced to hoping that Sarah Palin just goes away. Unfortunately, Ms. Palin is on TV, for all to see. Unlike some commentators, the camera doesn’t lie. Sarah Palin’s mental status is out there for all to see; I think it’s best to own up to the reality, that she really is who she is (not very mentally together), and move on, before the Republicans become even more marginalized.
She’s loved because she hasn’t been bought by the elites who control wall street, the msm, and DC. Those of us who can think for ourselves and don’t want to be controlled love Sarah Palin. The rest of you drones who want “your betters” to give you food, housing, health care, retirement, ect. keep voting for progressives. I just want to be free.
Oh and another thing if you “progressives” were so smart why do you need someone else to take care of you? Shouldn’t you brillant, enlightened folks be able to solve the world’s problems without stealing from others? Shouldn’t the smartest people in the world be able to lift up your slaves by yourselves without using the government to control them? Just asking.
When you look at the cross section of our Congress, neither Democrat or Republican have the brains they were born with. All they do is concern themselves with feathering their nests and getting reelected. There are only a handful of legislators that really care about you and I. We need to purge them from office ASAP. Sarah Palin is the spark we need to help us rid this congress of these leaches.
Palin could get 100% of the votes in the general election and still lose becuse liberals count the votes !!
Of course they like her, she’s the epitome of the Republican Fantasy World.
@sbj, for someone who claims not to be a Republican you sure do defend and care a lot about them. A big bad libertarian like yourself would normally be wanting to know why Ron Paul is absent in all this. But not you. You’re consumed with the GOP. Interesting.
@chris: ohmigosh, you got me!
Let’s see, Ron Paul is a ‘Republican’ who ran for the 2008 ‘Republican’ Party presidential nomination.
More to the point – who am I “defending” here? Merely pointing out aspects of the poll that were not relayed.
Careful, Chris, your obsession is showing. (Of course a registered Libertarian who is conservative would more closely identify with the Republican party.)
SchrodingersCat wrote: “Scared”? Yeah, maybe…but not in the way that you think we are. More like in the way we’re scared of Michelle Bachman…like “How f***ing scary is that someone can be that bats***t crazy and manage to tie their own shoes?”
LMAO. Great stuff, coming as it does from the party of kooks, killers, klansmen, plagiarists, criminals, tax cheats, leakers, insider traders, bloodsucking trial lawyers, corrupt unions, shady land swappers, pimps, insider mortgage dealers, unindicted co-conspirators, clowns, slobbering perverts, Marxists and community organizers… and that’s just the leadership.
Newagegop:
So you don’t consider Bill “William the Bloody” Kristol an elite? I think he’s be offended by that. Besides, he is an elite so you’ve been conned again.
Ming wrote: “Sarah Palin’s mental status is out there for all to see; I think it’s best to own up to the reality, that she really is who she is (not very mentally together), and move on, before the Republicans become even more marginalized.”
Yeah, if only she had the mental stability and intellectual heft of Joe Biden. LOL.
As for being “marginalized,” you may wanna come out of the (not too distant) past and look at the latest polls. Our reckless, radical, incompetent president’s numbers are falling, his agenda — nearly ALL of it — is viewed negatively, the Bolshevik-run Democrat Congress is the lowest rated on record, and the Republican party is trusted on most major issues right now.
Every leftist state is a disaster and some are fending off bankruptcy, the unions have just destroyed the auto industry, the left’s socialist mortgage policies sent the economy into a deep recession, and our hapless, know-nothing, ACORN Marxist president is driving the economy into the dirt.
The Democrat party is quickly reminding the often-forgetful public why it can’t be trusted to run government.
Why do you think the radical nutcases are in such a rush to jam through their perverted agenda?
Newagegop:
Who is stealing from others? It’s the GOP that is stealing. The two wars. The bank bailouts. Want me to go on?
Adam Smith:
Nice job!! I have one quibble. You left out the Muslim President part. Is your head always that far up Glenn Beck’s rear?
I think that the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence would be much more popular than any of the Top Republicans Boehner, McConnell, Cantor, Rush Limb., Hannity. Did I forget anyone. The sisters got my vote.
Popularity can get you elected, look at who is the President now. No experience, just a good talker.
Do I like Sarah Palin? I enjoy living in America & like the American dream – I like her housewife to govenor story, I think thats what makes our country great, same with Obama’s rise. I also really liked Jesse Ventura’s resume – Navy Seal, Pro Wrestler, Govenor – that’s a resume 2nd to none.
Do I agree with her politically or personally, no – and I don’t think she’s cut out for the national stage as far as politics are concerned. But – she’ll likely make some money off a book deal, speeches & all. Good for her. I have no problem with people bringing ideas into the light of day – most won’t be good, but there may be a few.
What I don’t understand is what appears to be deep-seated resentment of her – ?? Why the hate?
Because she stands for everything the Leftys don’t!
Earning a living
Being responsible for yourself
Morals
Etc.
Newagegop: “Who is stealing from others? It’s the GOP that is stealing. The two wars. The bank bailouts. Want me to go on?”
Yes, please, let’s do go on.
You are aware, of course, that the primary obligation of government is national defense. Not redistribution of wealth.
Bush’s bailouts, whatever you think of them, were designed to rescue failing institutions. Obama’s, on the other hand, were designed to transfer wealth to his supporters.
See the difference?
And let’s face it, the Democrat party’s sole reason for existence is to figure out ways to steal money from those who have it to give it to those who don’t, in order to buy votes. That’s what every last Democrat initiative is about when it’s all said and done. Which is why the Democrat party is comprised of the country’s most good-for-nothing, useless bloodsuckers.
That’s it. End of story. Nothing more need be said.
Good job Adam!
Get used to it Sarah Palin will be the next President of the United States of America.She has more Courage than every member of the United States Senate and House of Representitives Combined.If White Males will not stand up for the American People,Well Sarah Palin will.The Men of this Country should be Ashamed of their Cowardise.
Calvin Jones wrote: “Is your head always that far up Glenn Beck’s rear?”
I suppose I could use the same kind of lame leftist tactic and attribute your leftwing claptrap to some hapless Air America radio host.
But then, they’re not on the air anymore, are they?
But don’t worry — I’m sure that’s another “crisis” that your arrogant, radical president will “fix.”
It’s remarkable how the left cannot argue any policy or point for that matter without icluding Bush, Iraq, WMD, Glenn Beck, Rush. They really have no point.
Schmict wrote: “It’s remarkable how the left cannot argue any policy or point for that matter without icluding Bush, Iraq, WMD, Glenn Beck, Rush. They really have no point.”
When you can’t argue a point on the merits, smear the messenger. That is ALWAYS the first, last and every resort of ideologically bankrupt leftists. Every popular conservative in the last 40 years has been subject to this tactic by the leftist smear machine, which includes the corrupt — and deservedly dying — leftwing MSM.
I would like to take a stab at why she is still so popular. First the elite republicans, all the Dems, and most of the media hate her. That is a plus in my book. Second, she takes a lot of hits for her intellect, to that I say what have we gotten from the harvard eductated idiots running the country now. I don’t think we can do worse.
Palin’s a celebrity and the rest of them are politicians. If you gave the same poll, and peppered in names like Jennifer Aniston or Paris Hilton, they’d probably beat the other Republican politicians as well. The question might just be, is Sarah Palin a bigger celebrity than Jennifer Aniston? Gallup should do that poll because it would be more apples and apples than this poll, which is apples and oranges.
You forgot an important point that most folks got, it was costing Alaskans millions for her to stay as gov. and costing her family. She is now free to represent herself and those of us who agree with her.
@sbj, admit it. You know you vote Republican. You spend 90% of your time here defending Republicans and the other 10% telling us all how you aren’t a Republican. Man up and just admit it. Just like you can’t admit it was 8 years of failure from your Party that gave us the world we live in today, you run and hide or ignore any comment that might force you to be honest.
Does anybody know whether SP is smarter than “wise” latina?
“Better known” does not necessarily mean “most popular.” Name and face recognition are key in politics and nobody’s name and face is in the news more than SP.
As a politician, Palin is too polarizing. Too many people I knew, including Republicans, feel that Palin was flat out not ready to be president.
Simply appearing to be”anti-elite” and “anti-establishment” isn’t enough to be president. Some people like demonstrated competence — Palin performed poorly on the national stage. Quitting the governorship should shut down any political ambitions she has.
Palin certainly is good at sympathetically tapping into the “white blue-collar anger” market, as seen in many of these posts. If Palin sticks with being a populist celebrity, she’ll do fine.
Chris wrote: “Just like you can’t admit it was 8 years of failure from your Party that gave us the world we live in today, you run and hide or ignore any comment that might force you to be honest.”
Let’s put aside leftist fantasies for a moment, and recognize the fact that the economy was actually very solid for the first half of the decade, and was only brought low by the collapse of the left’s socialist mortgage policies, which infected every corner of the financial system and brought us to where we are today.
But here you sit, with a vapid, bucktoothed grin on your face, as your hapless, reckless, extremist Marxist president has just done far more damage to the economy in just THREE MONTHS than anybody could possibly have imagined back in November.
It took Bush eight years to rack up $5 or $6 trillion in debt. It took Obama three months to add another $10-$20 trillion. That’s right, the $10 trillion number commonly bandied about assumes that growth will be 4% over the next ten years. That will not happen. In fact, if growth is half of that — and that is a very good bet — his debt will be $20 trillion.
And that’s BEFORE cap and trade, and BEFORE his socialist health care scam, and before the full effect of his nationalization policies and the consequences of unilaterally breaking contracts — and whatever other radical proposals this ACORN thug puts forth — are in full effect.
Anybody who claims that Barack Obama is “fixing” anything or is having any positive effect on the economy is either a clueless drone following the Bolshevik herd of sheep, or just another leftist anti-American ideologue.
Let’s just be perfectly clear: It is patently absurd for you pathetic leftists to try to make the ridiculous claim that the horrific Marxist economic policies of ACORN’s Barack Obama are in any way superior to free market principles. That is simply laughable and only demonstrates how uneducated and mindless you leftist sheep are.
Carol: “You forgot an important point that most folks got, it was costing Alaskans millions for her to stay as gov”
Prove it. Other than Sarah claiming it prove it.
to KCG:
Palin in the national stage…
look at Joe Biden with his verbal gaffes After 30+ years on the national stage! “misreading” economy?
@Adam Smith
Nice job citing only Rasmussen poll numbers.
“What I don’t understand is what appears to be deep-seated resentment of her – ?? Why the hate?”
I don’t fear the woman but I will admit that my feelings for her border on hate. And why? Because she’s made it clear that she hates me, even though she’s more “elite” than I’ll ever be. I disagree almost entirely with people like Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. But I don’t think they hate me. They don’t agree with me either – not at all – but they don’t hate me. Ms. Victim hates me. Actually, she hates a lot of people. And fears them. Very Nixon-like.
Are the trolls here serious? I have never commented here, just lurked, but some of the comments on this thread are laugh-out-loud funny — they’re like stereotypes of troll comments.
SchrodingersCat “You forgot an important point that most folks got, it was costing Alaskans millions for her to stay as gov”… Prove it. Other than Sarah claiming it prove it.
If Barack Obama can claim that he’s “saving” millions of jobs, I suppose Sarah Palin can make the far less absurd claim that she’s saving taxpayer money by resigning.
OG, Obama’s numbers are falling in ALL the polls.
But I suppose if I’m going to cite a particular poll, I’m going to cite the one that nailed the last two presidential elections to within one percentage point, while most of those used by leftist media vastly oversampled Dems and overestimated support for the Democrat, in some cases by a ridiculous margin.
@ adamsmith, just tell me when and where my man. When and where.
Good going, Greg. Must have been linked at Red State. Self-parody is so bracing!
Chris: “adamsmith, just tell me when and where my man. When and where.”
When and where, what?
When and where are leftists bankrupting states?
When and where can we find leftist sheep?
When and where have Marxist policies failed?
When and where what, my man?
Putin: There’s a difference between verbal gaffes (Biden) and incoherent rambles on the basics (Palin).
Jack Russell: Self-parody or not, the Republicans have embraced some of this nasty populism even at a mainstream level.
Right now, this is a problem for the party. You can’t win elections by only appealing to a narrow core of voters. The Democrats seem to have figured this out — they have their Blue Dogs, after all. In contrast, anytime a Republican deviates from the Republican paradigm, they get sneered at. (Some get sneered at so often, they change parties, to the cheers of the hardcore Republican types.)
I am not sure Palin is ready to be President or even VP but she is ready to lead the GOP or a third party. I think of all the canidates that have run or may run or could run, she hands down is the only one who will put the majority of Americans ahead of groups, or parties, or lobbiest, or special interest groups. Huck is probably a close second, I think he could be a man who will fight his own parties BS and do what is right for the nation.
I think she’s popular because she doesn’t have to take a position on just about anything. All she has to do is say “Liberty!” and “America!” and people read whatever they want into it. People say Obama was a blank slate, but at least he was a slate. With Palin, there isn’t even a slate.
Really, what specific policy positions does she stand for? I haven’t heard her talk coherently about just about anything substantive (including her resignation). And I do find it scary that someone with so little demonstrated mastery of the issues could come so close to the presidency (and may do so again if the economy remains in bad shape in which case any Republican would have a shot).
This is someone who clearly didn’t know what the bailouts were about (when I have a better grasp of the issue than someone running for national office, that’s trouble). This is someone who complained that a critical press somehow violated her First Amendment rights (how can you defend the Constitution if you don’t know what it means?)
[Yes, Biden has more verbal gaffes than most, but even when he confuses Article I with Article II of the Constitution, I'm pretty sure he knows the difference. Just because I often say April when I mean August doesn't mean I'm not knowledgeable about which month is which.]
So: what are her specific policy poitions on non-wedge issues (beyond Drill Baby Drill, which won’t produce enough to have any serious effect on oil prices anyway)? Where has she shown she understands economic, environmental, or health issues? If she can’t handle some ethics complaints, how is she supposed to handle Khameni and Putin?
Sarah Palin will probably never be president. But she represents a huge frustration within America and especially in the Republican Party. For the moment, she is the person most visibly representative of the small government, liberty movement. As much as her critics want to label her as a religious righty who wants to control what we do in the bedroom, her record doesn’t support that. I think she does come accross a little nutty at times and certainly her word-salad responses turn some people off. But right now, she’s the only person who has been able to get traction on issues that mean the most to a lot of us — and THAT scares a lot of people on the right and the left. We need to start building a coalition around a core set of values which include limited government, low taxes, rule of law, property rights, individual liberty, and personal responsibility. These values are being attacked by both parties and these values are losing. I appreciate Sarah Palin stepping up on these values — and we all need to step up!
“There’s a difference between verbal gaffes (Biden) and incoherent rambles on the basics (Palin).”
Yes, the difference is, one knuckleheaded dufus gets a free pass by the corrupt leftist media, while the other is savaged for far less.
“Self-parody or not, the Republicans have embraced some of this nasty populism even at a mainstream level.”
Only to a leftist is embracing liberty, freedom, democracy and the Constitution considered “nasty populism.” Of course, we know leftists hold these in contempt and constantly work to undermine them. So it’s not surprise you hold such views in disdain.
Republicans have lost power because they have distanced themselves from these values; not because they have embraced them. Unless you disbelieve the recent Gallup poll that found that 40% of country describes their political views as conservative, 35% as moderate, and 21% as liberal. The Republican party’s main problem is that has TOO MANY Democrat-lite McCain types. The idea that a party should pander to people based upon their skin color, race, religion, ***, sexual preference, etc is perverted, a uniquely Democrat disease, one Republicans should reject out of hand. And the last thing Republicans should do is take the advice of the corrupt leftist MSM and the Democrat party on what beliefs they should embrace.
Your claim that the Democrat party appeals to some broad base of voters is a joke. Yes, the phony “Blue Dogs” have learned to speak the *language* of red staters (Schmucky and Rahm’s stated strategy), but on the key issues, they are, for the most part, run-of-the-mill orthodox leftists who toe the party line. As for including those who “deviate from the party paradigm,” does that include Joe Lieberman and Robert Casey?
What the current freak show in Washington is doing to the country right now is hugely unpopular and is driving the left’s poll numbers into the toilet. The country rejects what you’re selling, no matter how big the Democrat party’s margins are.
AdamSmith: It took Bush eight years to rack up $5 or $6 trillion in debt. It took Obama three months to add another $10-$20 trillion.
Ah, it’s still mostly Bush’s debt. It was his tax cuts, his two wars, his prescription drug benefit program, all of which were instituted without any decrease in spending. Some of these are systemic, while the stimulus is a one-off. See David Leonhardt’s article, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/business/economy/10leonhardt.html
It is patently absurd for you pathetic leftists to try to make the ridiculous claim that the horrific Marxist economic policies of ACORN’s Barack Obama are in any way superior to free market principles.
It is patently absurd to paint Obama’s policies as “Marxist”; anyone who does so clearly doesn’t know what that word means.
I’m basically a free market person, but I’m also not willing to discard clear evidence that the market isn’t the best solution for everything under the sun. When some of our peer nations get comparable health care outcomes while we spend nearly twice as much per capita, I’d say that’s powerful evidence that their system is better than ours no matter what labels one puts on them.
Now, I don’t want the government setting the price of apples, but the real world isn’t going to adapt itself to someone’s ideology. Markets are means, not ends. We like markets because the usually provide for better goods and services at lower prices. But that doesn’t mean it will always be the case, and when it’s not, why not go for whatever gets the best results? Wouldn’t it be silly not to? If it’s the market, then fine. But advocating markets for markets’ sake without an eye on the results doesn’t make any sense. (And we see how well that worked in the heart of our financial system.)
Liberals should be careful with their remarks about Palin. Everytime Biden opens his mouth he puts his foot in it. The “veep” did admit that he and Obama had “misread” how bad the economy was though. Pity they weren’t listening to conservative before the passed the biggest government expenditure in U.S. history..an expenditure that has failed to stimulate anything other than unions and Obama political backers. Absolutely Palin scares the hell out of the left….they’ve got to look at Biden each time he’s aloud out of the basement and hope he doesn’t embarrass dear leader any more.
typo…”allowed out”.
Tel:The “veep” did admit that he and Obama had “misread” how bad the economy was though. Pity they weren’t listening to conservative before the passed the biggest government expenditure in U.S. history
First, admitting one’s forecasts were wrong is an improvement over the prior administration which insisted that it was right despite evidence to the contrary. Allowing facts to play a role allows one to self-correct.
Second, it has little to do with whether the spending program has or will help. The fact that the patient is sicker than we thought doesn’t mean that the medicine isn’t needed. Much of the spending, as expected, is still to make its way into the system. Even so, it’s not enough to turn around a huge economy, but it still may be helping. Neither you nor I can turn the clock back and see what would have happened without it, but most economists seem to think it’s doing about what they thought it would do so far.
As for Biden v. Palin: when Biden “puts his foot in it,” I’m still pretty sure he knows what he’s talking about (see my post above). By contrast, I’ve seen very little evidence that Palin knows what she’s talking about, nor has anyone in this thread provided such evidence.
She has a good moral compass unlike the politicians of today. Advisors can show her the ropes of being president.
dsimon: “Ah, it’s still mostly Bush’s debt. It was his tax cuts, his two wars, his prescription drug benefit program, all of which were instituted without any decrease in spending. Some of these are systemic, while the stimulus is a one-off. See David Leonhardt’s article…”
The NY Slimes? Snicker.
Sorry, but no sane person (so that rules out the Slimes) blames Obama’s massive, unprecedented spending increases on Bush. That so absurd it’s not even worth humoring you over it. But good luck with that at the DNC 2012 Convention.
And whatever definition you want to apply to Obama (Marxist, socialist, statist), it’s undeniable that he is attempting a massive government grab of the private sector, in attempting to nationalize portions of the auto, banking and health care industries. He’s radical, but he’s not stupid — he’s not going to try to grab the entire private sector at once, cause he knows it won’t fly politically. He’s ramming through his cap and trade scam, he’s planning to jack up taxes across the board; he’s stealing the rights of lenders and handing them over to the corrupt unions; he’s strong-arming companies who don’t toe his line; he’s stealing the census from Commerce to be run by Rahm Emanuel and ACORN and all the rest.
I don’t care HOW you categorize that or how you wanna nitpick with labels — it’s a massive, unprecedented government power grab. The Democrat party is the party of government and Barack Obama is trying to create a permanent majority by expanding it to an absolutely insane degree.
“When some of our peer nations get comparable health care outcomes while we spend nearly twice as much per capita, I’d say that’s powerful evidence that their system is better than ours no matter what labels one puts on them.”
Your premise is 100% wrong. Socialist health systems are an abomination. And the fact is, nearly 80% of the country is satisfied with their health care. That doesn’t mean it cannot be improved (for starters, cut out the greedy, slimy lawyers), but it doesn’t mean we should completely tear it down and hand it over to the same people who have bankrupted Medicare, bankrupted Social Security and have proven over and over and over that they run NOTHING efficiently, or even decently. I can’t believe any sane person thinks that’s a good idea. How many times do we need to see the total failure of government before people get it?
As for our financial market meltdown, it was largely the government that disrupted the market. It was the government that had a huge hand in creating the housing bubble by: (a) pushing FNMA and FHLMC to make HALF of their loans to subprime borrowers; (b) by requiring banks who wanted to merge, acquire or expand make more and more loans to less creditworthy borrowers; (c) by keeping interest rates very low for too long.
Adam Smith:”If Barack Obama can claim that he’s “saving” millions of jobs, I suppose Sarah Palin can make the far less absurd claim that she’s saving taxpayer money by resigning.”
Nice way too avoid the subject at hand. Last I saw, Obama wasn’t on this thread claiming anything and I certainly never put forth the idea that I agree or disagreed with anything that he may or may not have claimed.
The poster claimed AS FACT that St. Sarah martyred herself in order to save the taxpayers of Alaska millions of dollars. Why would you get so defensive about me asking for her to back up her claim with some actual FACTS?
And Larry, what exactly do you base your judgement about her “moral compass” on?
Adam Smith, I think you need to look at some facts. You can attack the NY Times, but that doesn’t mean the columnist isn’t right. Why don’t you look at the substance of the article and refute it if you can? And there are plenty of “sane” people who realize that the fiscal problems are largely those created during the Bush years. If you don’t want to address those issues, that’s your loss.
it’s undeniable that he is attempting a massive government grab of the private sector, in attempting to nationalize portions of the auto, banking and health care industries.
Another canard. First, these “nationalizations” amount to a tiny fraction of 1% of the private sector. See this chart at http://correspondents.theatlantic.com/conor_clarke/2009/06/what_socialism_looks_like.php.
Second, it was the Bush administration that did most of the funding regarding the financial sector.
Third, there is every intention of getting out of the financial, insurance, and automobile these fields as soon as is feasible. Liberals don’t want to be running car companies. To argue otherwise is to delve into conspiracy theory land.
Your premise is 100% wrong. Socialist health systems are an abomination. And the fact is, nearly 80% of the country is satisfied with their health care.
First, you clearly are not looking at objective statistics from our peer nations. Instead of claiming the assumption is wrong, why not look up the facts? Many of our peer nations get comparable health outcomes while we spend nearly twice as much. That you may not want to believe it won’t make it any less true. We are consistently not at the top of international health care rankings despite our massively higher expenditures.
And I see no “takeover” of health care. No one is proposing making all doctors government employees or making all hospitals government hospitals. Indeed, aside from Britain, our peer nations’ systems are not “socialized.” To characterize it as such is a rhetorical scare tactic.
As for our financial market meltdown, it was largely the government that disrupted the market. It was the government that had a huge hand in creating the housing bubble by: (a) pushing FNMA and FHLMC to make HALF of their loans to subprime borrowers; (b) by requiring banks who wanted to merge, acquire or expand make more and more loans to less creditworthy borrowers; (c) by keeping interest rates very low for too long.
Again, you need to look up some facts. If you’re really interested, read this Slate article at http://www.slate.com/id/2201641/. But since I suspect you’re not, I’ll summarize it for you.
It argues that the Community Reinvestment Act applied to depository banks. But many of the institutions that spurred the subprime market were not those banks; they were unregulated outfits or compliance monitoring entities that worked with Bear Sterns, Lehman, and the like. The CRA “didn’t force mortgage companies to offer loans for no money down, or to throw underwriting standards out the window, or to encourage mortgage brokers to aggressively seek out new markets. Nor did the CRA force the credit-rating agencies to slap high-grade ratings on packages of subprime debt.”
Second, some of the biggest real estate flameouts had nothing to do with the subprime mortgage market but were aimed at higher end consumers.
Third, lending to poor people is not inherently risky. Third world micro-loans have been tremendously successful. Some organizations have marketed and sold homes to lower income individuals with extremely low default rates.
Instead, it was loans to high-end financial firms that might rightly bear the brunt of the blame. The CRA didn’t tell investment banks to leverage themselves 33 to 1, or “to borrow hundreds of billions of dollars in short-term debt in the capital markets and then buy tens of billions of dollars of commercial real estate at the top of the market,” or have AIG immerse itself in credit default swaps.
The article concludes: “These organizations Investment banks created a demand for subprime loans because they saw it as a new asset class that they could dominate. They made subprime loans for the same reason they made other loans: They could get paid for making the loans, for turning them into securities, and for trading them—frequently using borrowed capital.” At a congressional hearing where Lehman CEO Richard Fuld could have shifted the blame to Fannie and Freddie, he said they had a “de minimus” effect on Lehman’s collapse.
The article concludes: “Lending money to poor people doesn’t make you poor. Lending money poorly to rich people does.”
Some of us like to get a handle on the facts before reaching conclusions. If you’re not going to do the former, then you’ve decide to believe in ideology regardless of the facts and nothing is going to change your mind. In that case it’s not worth arguing anymore. But as I wrote before, the real world doesn’t change to fit anyone’s ideology, no matter how much one would like it to do so.
What it shows is that Repulbicans can think for themselves and don’t need to be told who to support. Unlike Democrats who need to be told which glass of Koolaid to drink.
Palin you are not tied down any more you can protect your family, great move. YOU GO GIRL
No one seems to know why B. O. won the election I am sure you know how he won so take advantage of the situation and show us the way. You can have my VOTE
Exactly, Chris.
That’s why the Democratic primary ended so early last year because all of us “kool-aid” drinkers lined right on up behind Obama. That’s also why the Democratically controlled House and the Senate have already passed healthcare reform, intelligence oversite reform, passed same ***-marriage legislation, anti-gun legislation, repealed DADT and all the rest of the socialist, marxist, anti-Christian agenda.
Why the liberals hate Sarah Palin?
Evil hates Good.
Why “do” wingnuts hate verbs?
Apparently, it’s been decided that proper diction is elitist. This likely explains their fascination with Palin.
Seriously, though…of course evil hates good. If evil “loved” or even “liked” good then by definition wouldn’t that mean it wasn’t evil? In addition to skipping your grammar lessons, it sounds like you might have missed the critical thinking sections as well.
Sarah is a public servant, not a politician. That in itself is all the luster… will be great fun to watch!
It really makes no difference what the liberals think of Sarah Palin, does it? They can attack her as much as they want because it makes them look like ignorant fools. We have every right to like whoever we want to. We didn’t like the candidate that they chose for President, did we? I say GO SARAH, GET OUT THERE AND FIRE THEM UP!!!!
I am so excited for Sarah! She is the one to put the stake in Barack Obama’s heart and still do it with a smile!!!
xD ~~ SARAH 2012 ~~ xD
Come on girl keep going.we love you
Democrats who hate Sarah Palin are the only people besides those who support her, that understand why people love her. Palin accomplished, even with only 2 and half year as Governor, charismatic and governs from common sense instead of special interests groups. Without running for the White House, she could personally change the face of the House, Senate and the White House.
I would vote for her in a minute she will expose all those chickens with no one holding her back
I post only to note that there has been almost no list by Palin supporters as to what specific policy positions she stands for. “Liberty” and “America” do not constitute a platform.
Limited government? What does she propose to limit?
Personal responsibility? How does she propose to promote this goal?
Lower taxes? What major programs will she cut? (Note: pork does not constitute a major program.)
Environmental policy? Health care policy?
I’m waiting….
Sarah Palin is polarizing because people have been told she is polarizing. Most folks simply don’t take the time to discover the truth. When the daily show is a source for news you’ve got problems. When anyone believes everything they see on Fox or CNN or MSNBC you’ve got problems. When we place our trust in people who can be proven to be liars we’ve got problems.
If you want to know the truth about anything you don’t wait for someone to bring it to you. If the truth is what you really want, you will find it yourself.
I can prove socialism fails if you want, or you could just wait and see for yourself;)
Please, PEOPLE, can we NOT make the same mistake TWICE? Sarah is a beautiful, smart woman… yes… and SOMEDAY, maybe she will be ready to run for president… but NOT NOW. We let the Dems and Independents choose our candidate in ‘08… I think it’s time we choose our own for ‘12… but one who can actually WIN. Huckabee seems like a very nice man with a great sense of humor, but he IS NOT presidential material. Plus it will be difficult for a former Baptist minister to appeal to the general populace. Sad to say, but in our country, you not only need brains… you need “the look”. Mitt Romney is not only intelligent, self-made, understands business and the economy better than anyone… he has “the look”. And as for you Evangelicals… DON’T start the whining that he is a Mormon as you did in ‘08… look what you have now… an atheist/Muslim/black liberation theist.
Folks:
Sarah Palin is the ONLY one Obama the Fraud is scared of!
We NEED SARAH!
Get behind Sarah! She is the ONLY HONEST politician we can really TRUST!
We need to impeach the FRAUD and Con Artist, Obama, who calls himself the pres! NOT my pres!
IN regards to Sarah Palins views:
Folks, read the Constitution. Thats her views!
You want $1.00- $1.50 gal gas? Vote Sarah. You want every man woman to be working? Vote Sarah!
Sarah can and has run business’ and government! She will CUT out the expense accts for the delegates,congressman, aides, she will cut out the 18 secretaries they have down to 2-3, she will cut free postage for ones who dont need it. I bet she will get GOVT in check during her 4-8 years!
She doesnt need a brand new cadillac limo bult for her like the Fraud Obama.
She will not be flying Pizza guys in to make her Pizza like the fraud,obama.
She will not be spending, and spending!
I would bet that Sarah will brinh Much Much Prosperity to all of America!
AND..we WILL be respected again throughout the world!
ALSO_ she will UNITE the USA, in religion, in groups, not like the fraud, obama has rich vs poor,black vs white–he has created much division!
She will also bring taxes down! Small business will be a priority- thus putting people back to work-creating jobs, and when she starts Drilling-thats it!
We will need overseas workers just to fill all the JOBS in america we will have!
I Promise you- Sarah is what weve been waiting for!
My name is Lisa McMillan, from Maryland, and I am a Regaitered Democrat for the past 15 years!
The Republicans are always talking about the will of the people. Let’s see if they still agree when we nominate Palin in 2012. I want the old out and this fresh breath of air in!
OK folks… keep dreaming about Sarah in the White House. I love her too… but the candidate needs to be someone with broad appeal, not to mention someone who can debate Obama and clean his clock. She’s good, but not that good, yet. The world is a dangerous place… we need “grown-ups” back in the White House. Give Sarah several years to continue growing. I was one of few who KNEW McCain could not win the presidency… for many reasons (his pandering to liberals, his total lack of debating skill, his lack of charisma, etc.). Why do you all think the NY Times constantly bashed Romney during the primary? They were terrified of him (as they are of Sarah) Why do you think they propped up McCain (only to drop him flat)? They also knew he could not win! Give Romney a chance, and if he can get rid of “the marxist” (which will be tough with Acorn, Black Panthers, and the multitude of marxist organizations behind him), then he can appoint Sarah to a cabinet position (Secretary of State… or better yet, Secretary of Energy…). Her time will come…
“an atheist/Muslim/black liberation theist”
That’s a joke, right. Please say it’s a joke. Actually, don’t…it will be even more humorous if you are serious.
@Lisa
Are you smoking crystal meth? First of all, the stuff you said Palin would cut sounds like the stuff a small town mayor would promise to cut during a campaign for that office. O, wait…
In other words, it won’t mean diddly.
Second, are you kidding me? In her brief time as governor of Alaska, she charged the state tons of money to shuttle her family back and forth between Juneau and Wasilla because she didn’t want to live in the state capital. In her even shorter time as veep candidate she ran up all kinds of clothing bills buying expensive clothes not only for herself but for her family. And you think she’d drive around DC in a beat-up pickup and barbecue in the Rose Garden every night? Ha, ha, ha, ha!
“he has created much division!”
Um, did you watch those Palin rallies last fall?
What you want is to elect your sometimes nice, sometimes goofy, sometimes downright mean flaky next door neighbor as President of the United States because she’s “like you” and because loves “liberty” and “freedom”. Good luck with that.
By the way, can you tell me what the Constitution says and how that relates to Palin’s policy positions. Jeezum H. Christopher…are you 13-years-old?
On the other hand, if your post was parody, it was pretty good.
So when are the ACORN hordes going to come down and sack Rome? It appears that what was a little-known community activist organization just a year ago has become the new FEMA/ACLU for the black helicopter crowd. Get ready for the re-education camps, wingnuts. We socialist, fascist, elitist, god-hating, Muslim loving, baby-killing, racist, commie, latte drinkers are coming for our with our Che Guevera t-shirts and Birkenstocks. You will not escape our grasp!
couple of questions :
why can’t flake-left-libs admit their liberalism when running for office ?
lets face it, the bulk of bho’s experience is as a liberal-activist. why couldn’t libs just say that ??
why not openly state their agenda….
govern from the bench
pro-abortion & eugenics (m.sanger & Bader Ginsburg)
pro-terrorist rights
pro-pedophile-rights
acorn is a left-wing tool, its purpose is deceit
making idiot-biden vp was so bho can’t be removed
biden-pelosi catholicism is strickly political
debating MAN-MADE global-warming would expose the lie
the obama-clown car has just pulled up to the curb
the real show hasn’t even started yet !!!
@dave
You forgot:
*Pro-Satan
*Pro-Hitler
*Pro-Instant replay challenge in professional sports
*Pro-Legion of Doom
*Pro-The annoying piece of skin that hangs down from the roof of your mouth after you burn it drinking hot cocoa
*Pro-Nudist
*Pro-France
*Pro-Promiscuity
*Pro-Atheism
*Pro-Concentration camps for freedom loving Americans
*Pro-Tofu
*Pro-Patchouli
*Pro-Replacing all guns with soft throw pillow
*Pro-Metric System
*Pro-Transexual
*Pro-Bestiality
*Pro-Letariat
*Pro-Establishing Swahili as the official language of the United States
*Pro-Changing the name of the United States of America to the Republic of Liberal Fascist Wussification
*Pro-Bono
I’ll repeat what I posted above in the probably futile hope I’ll get an answer: what specific policy positions does Palin stand for?
Lisa: Folks, read the Constitution. Thats her views!
But she doesn’t know what the Constitution says. During the last campaign, she said that media criticism of her violated her Free Speech rights. Never mind that the First Amendment applies only to government restrictions on speech, and expressly has a Freedom of the Press clause.
You want $1.00- $1.50 gal gas? Vote Sarah.
Has she expressly adopted this policy position? (And it’s a bad one, by the way, since it will only encourage us to use more gas and so become more reliant on foreign oil even if we drill baby drill).
You want every man woman to be working?
And how has she said she’ll do this?
ALSO_ she will UNITE the USA, in religion, in groups, not like the fraud, obama has rich vs poor,black vs white–he has created much division!
Ah, she was the one who divided the country into “real” America and everyone else (and everyone else seems to be the majority, judging by the election results). By the way, I’m rich and I support Obama. Indeed, a majority in the upper income groups voted for Obama.
She will also bring taxes down!
And what significant budget cuts has she proposed to make it fiscally responsible? (Cutting pork won’t come close, if you look at the numbers.)
Again, still waiting for specific policy positions. Citations would be helpful.
pro-legion of doom………really ???
now i know that libs are used to attacking
when libs are asked to defend their ideas,
well there is usually some nonsensical reply.
(note OGLiberal @ 3:24pm)
can any lib justify this nutjob appointment ??
bho’s Science Czar, John Holdren -aka FLAKE
what happened to the car czar ??
is sotomayor ashamed of being a liberal??
or….
is it because most americans don’t dig the liberal thing ??
why isn’t bho flaunting is friendships :
bill ayers
bernadette dohrn
rev wright (20 years of stupidity??)
columbia university professor edward said (hamas)
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6619.shtml
how about tony rezko
you missed one OGLiberal
how about self proclaimed (pro-) communist and
‘green jobs czar’ Van Jones
the obama-clown car doors are opening….
as far as palin and spending,
how about…
she wouldn’t throw hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars
(tax-payer dollars) out into political coffers !!!
gee, do you think dem donations will reach record levels the next two election cycles regardless of job performace ??
“And now I’d like to entertain everybody with some fancy pageant walking!”
Great post mate! Where’s the subscribe button? Haha
This is just wonderful
Thanks for posting this.