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Chris Christie Only Republican to Poll Competitively with Hillary Clinton for Election 2016

May 15, 2013 by 2 Comments
Chris Christie Only Republican to Poll Competitively with Hillary Clinton for Election 2016

Chris Christie Only Republican to Poll Competitively with Hillary Clinton for Election 2016. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Public Policy Polling is out with a new poll showing  New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) trailing Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton by four percentage points in a hypothetical match-up for the 2016 presidential elections. He is the only one of the possible Republican presidential candidates who could be a threat to any presidential aspirations Hillary Clinton may have. From the poll results, it seems that Joe Biden wouldn’t be much of a threat to Christie.

PPP’s monthly look at the 2016 Republican field for President finds essentially a 4 way tie at the top- Marco Rubio has 16%, Jeb Bush and Chris Christie 15% each, and Rand Paul 14%. Paul Ryan at 9%, Ted Cruz at 7%, Rick Santorum at 5%, Bobby Jindal at 3%, and Susana Martinez at 1% round out the potential candidates we tested.

[...]

There hasn’t been much movement on the Democratic side either. Hillary Clinton leads with 63% to 13% for Joe Biden, 4% for Andrew Cuomo, 3% for Mark Warner and Elizabeth Warren, 2% for Martin O’Malley, and 1% each for Kirsten Gillibrand, Deval Patrick, and Brian Schweitzer. Clinton led Biden 61-12 when we started polling on this in December. Clinton has at least 58% support with liberals, moderates, men, women, whites, African Americans, Hispanics, young voters, and seniors- in other words every key segment of the Democratic electorate.

[...]Chris Christie continues to be the only potential Republican candidate who polls competitively with Clinton, trailing her just 47/44. Christie has a 40/32 favorability with Democrats, making him the only potential 2016 contender with any crossover appeal. Clinton holds identical 10 point leads at 51/41 over Paul and Rubio.

Clinton is on average about a 10 point stronger general election candidate than Biden would be. He trails Christie 49/40 in a hypothetical match, including 51/29 with independents. And he leads Paul (46/44) and Rubio (46/45) by pretty tight margins.

Would Hispanics and women really break for Hillary Clinton over Chris Christie in 2016? That will be interesting. I believe they would.

Chris Christie Only Republican to Poll Competitively with Hillary Clinton for Election 2016
Filed Under: Polls, Presidential Election Tagged With: , , , ,

LMAO: Freshman Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) Considering 2016 Presidential Bid

May 1, 2013 by 1 Comment
300px Ted Cruz by Gage Skidmore 2 LMAO: Freshman Sen. Ted Cruz (R TX) Considering 2016 Presidential Bid

LMAO:  Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) Considering 2016 Presidential Bid. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The usual assortment of Republican presidential wingnuts are lining up to toss their hats in the ring for 2016. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is said to be “considering a presidential run, according to his friends,” the National Review reports. I guess someone has  a really big ego. Let’s see what the Tea Party will say about this, since he was born in Canada and his father was a Cuban immigrant. So, is he a natural born American? Oh, never mind. It won’t matter because he’s white. It will be interesting to see if Donald Trump wants to see his long-form birth certificate. LOL.

“Cruz won’t talk about it publicly, and even privately he’s cagey about revealing too much of his thought process or intentions. But his interest is undeniable.”

One GOP insider said, “If you don’t think this is real, then you’re not paying attention. Cruz already has grassroots on his side, and in this climate, that’s all he may need.”

Um, I can see a Ted Cruz/Rand Paul ticket or a Rick Santorum/Michele Bachmann ticket. That will mean only one thing, it’s Hillary Clinton’s race to lose. Dear God, please let Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Michele Bachmann, Mr. 9-9-9 Herman Cain, Sarah Palin, Mr. Ooops Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum vie for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016.  Please Sen. Ted Cruz, go ahead, make our day. LOL.

LMAO: Freshman Sen. Ted Cruz (R TX) Considering 2016 Presidential Bid
Filed Under: Presidential Election, U.S. Politics Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Black Voter Turnout Significantly Higher Than White Turnout in 2012 Presidential Election

April 28, 2013 by Leave a Comment
300px Official portrait of Barack Obama Black Voter Turnout Significantly Higher Than White Turnout in 2012 Presidential Election

Black Voter Turnout Significantly Higher Than White Turnout in 2012 Presidential Election (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Black Americans turned out to vote in the 2012 presidential elections in higher numbers than whites, which reflects a deeply polarizing election in which blacks strongly favored incumbent President Barack Obama.

Census data and exit polling show that whites and blacks will remain the two largest racial groups of eligible voters for the next decade. Last year’s heavy black turnout came despite concerns about the effect of new voter-identification laws on minority voting, outweighed by the desire to re-elect the first black president.

William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, analyzed the 2012 elections for the AP using census data on eligible voters and turnout, along with November’s exit polling. He estimated total votes for Obama and Romney under a scenario where 2012 turnout rates for all racial groups matched those in 2004. Overall, 2012 voter turnout was roughly 58 percent, down from 62 percent in 2008 and 60 percent in 2004. Source

Black Voter Turnout Significantly Higher Than White Turnout in 2012 Presidential Election
Filed Under: Barack Obama, Black Politics, Race in America Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

President Obama Should Put Sens. Max Baucus, Mark Begich, Mark Pryor & Heidi Heitkamp on Blast Over Gun Control

April 22, 2013 by 3 Comments
max baucus mark pryor mark begich 1 300x122 President Obama Should Put Sens. Max Baucus, Mark Begich, Mark Pryor & Heidi Heitkamp on Blast Over Gun Control

President Obama Should Put Sens. Max Baucus, Mark Begich, Mark Pryor & Heidi Heitkamp on Blast Over Gun Control

It’s time for a political demonstration over lawmakers voting the way the National Rifle Association wants just because they are beholden to them. Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are living proof that something must be done about preventing terrorists from getting guns in their hands. I say President Obama needs to make the lives of the Democratic senators who voted against gun control amendments a living hell. I would also throw New Hampshire Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte in the mix. These senators thumbed their noses at the wishes of 90 percent of Americans. I must say that I am very disappointed in President Obama. He wasn’t tough enough on these Democrats.

Sens. Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Max Baucus of Montanta and Mark Begich of Alaska are facing reelection in 2014. It’s time to send them home. Sorry. The Democrats deserve to lose their majority in the Senate. To echo Joe Scarborough, President Obama must take a stand and say, “I am going to make your life a living and breathing hell if you don’t help me take guns out of the wrong hands.” President should also make it clear that any bill Sen. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp manages to send to his desk will be vetoed. I never thought I would say this, but George W. Bush has more guts than President Obama. Whether he was wrong or right, he stood firm and talked tough.

Let’s not forget that Senate Republicans, led by Mitch McConnell have no vested interest in working with President Obama. They made that very clear in the past. This time wouldn’t have been any different. Forty-one Republicans blocked the Toomey-Manchin bipartisan bill because they hate President Obama.  From the way it looks, the Republicans fear Wayne LaPierre and the NRA than they do the president. Whatever. But the Democrats also squandered their opportunity to get this bill passed.

Left-leaning New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd opines that President Obama doesn’t know how to govern. I am of the opinion that he really doesn’t know how to play the game in Washington D.C.

How is it that the president won the argument on gun safety with the public and lost the vote in the Senate? It’s because he doesn’t know how to work the system. And it’s clear now that he doesn’t want to learn, or to even hire some clever people who can tell him how to do it or do it for him.

It’s unbelievable that with 90 percent of Americans on his side, he could get only 54 votes in the Senate. It was a glaring example of his weakness in using leverage to get what he wants. No one on Capitol Hill is scared of him.

Even House Republicans who had no intention of voting for the gun bill marveled privately that the president could not muster 60 votes in a Senate that his party controls.

President Obama thinks he can use emotion to bring pressure on Congress. But that’s not how adults with power respond to things. He chooses not to get down in the weeds and pretend he values the stroking and other little things that matter to lawmakers. Source

Bill Daley makes a great argument against Heidi Heitkamp, who claims she voted against the amendments based on what her constituents wanted.

I want my money back.Last October, I gave $2,500 to support Heidi Heitkamp’s campaign to become North Dakota’s junior senator. A few weeks later, she won a surprise victory.

I have had a long career in government and politics, but I don’t donate heavily to political campaigns. When I contribute, it’s because I know the candidate well or am really impressed with the person. Heidi Heitkamp was one of the latter: She struck me as strong-willed, principled and an independent thinker.

But this week, Heitkamp betrayed those hopes. …

Polling has shown that nine in 10 Americans and eight in 10 gun owners support a law to require every buyer to go through a background check on every gun sale. In North Dakota, the support was even higher: 94 percent. Yet in explaining her vote, Heitkamp had the gall to say that she “heard overwhelmingly from the people of North Dakota” and had to listen to them and vote no. It seems more likely that she heard from the gun lobby and chose to listen to it instead.

It’s not too late for President Obama to get background check amendments passed. President Obama has to stand firm and make the lives of those Democrats who voted in favor of the NRA a living hell. The Democrats continue to squander their majority year after year. There are many ways to do that in Washington D.C. For starters, it’s time to send Max Baucus, Mark Pryor and Mark Begich home. President Obama isn’t the only one accountable to American voters. These lawmakers are too.

Filed Under: Barack Obama, Boston Marathon Bombings, Gun Control Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

President Obama to Visit Africa, a Continent He Has Largely Ignored During First Term

April 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment

President Obama To Visit Africa:  Secretary of State John Kerry said President Obama will visit Africa, though he didn’t give a time frame for such a trip. I am very surprised that President Obama hasn’t really paid much attention to the African continent, while China is playing a greater role in sub-Saharan Africa.

The first African-American President spent less than one day in Black Africa during his first visit in office four years ago. President Obama had made a stopover in Ghana six months after his inauguration in January 2009.

Some Africa specialists in the United States suggest that Mr Obama is unlikely to visit Kenya as long as President Uhuru Kenyatta remains under indictment by the International Criminal Court.

US-based Kenya scholar Joel Barkan told the Kenya’s DailyNation newspaper last month that the chances of Mr Obama travelling to Kenya in the coming year are “relatively remote.”

Ms Jendayi Frazer, who held the State Department’s top Africa post under President George W. Bush, agreed in March that an Obama trip to Kenya was unlikely to occur soon.

Secretary Kerry meanwhile announced on Thursday that he will attend the African Union summit in Ethiopia next month. Source: Zimbabwe Mail

Kerry recognizes that the Chinese are outpacing the U.S. in terms of investments on the continent. He referred to China’s growing presence having an impact on business practices and one that “has not been a positive one in some regards,” with a reference to “bribery.”

 

Filed Under: African News, Barack Obama, President Obama Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

President Obama’s $3.8 Trillion 2014 Budget Takes Knife to Medicare & Social Security

April 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment
2125288685 0572f02e8a President Obamas $3.8 Trillion 2014 Budget Takes Knife to Medicare & Social Security

President Obama’s $3.8 Trillion 2014 Budget Takes Knife to Medicare & Social Security (Photo credit: jamesomalley)

You know something stinks when both Democrats and Republicans are in agreement. That something is President Obama’s $3.8 trillion 2014 budget. Yeah, it’s a heckuva budget alright, with cuts galore for entitlement programs — Social Security benefits, etc. So, his debt reduction plan will be on the backs of the poor and elderly.

President Obama unveiled a 10-year budget blueprint Wednesday that calls for nearly $250 billion in new spending on jobs, public works and expanded pre-school education and nearly $800 billion in new taxes, including an extra 94 cents a pack on cigarettes.

But the president’s spending plan would also cut more than $1 trillion from programs across the federal government — for the first time targeting Social Security benefits — in an effort to persuade congressional Republicans to join him in finishing the job of debt reduction they started two years ago.

[...]

As he has in the past, Obama proposes to slice $400 billion from federal health programs, primarily Medicare, with the bulk of the cuts falling on drug companies and other providers. But Medicare beneficiaries would also take a hit, through higher premiums for couples making more than $170,000 a year and inducements for low-income recipients to use more generic drugs.

And for the first time, Obama formally proposes to slow the growth in Social Security benefits by applying a less-generous measure of inflation to programs throughout the federal government. The change would trim cost-of-living increases by roughly 0.3 percent a year, saving the government about $130 billion over the next decade. Source

Well, I will say, President Obama made an offer to the Republicans that they most certainly will refuse. While I’m at it, let me just say, seniors and the poor, just got kicked in their faces.  This budget amounts to an extended sequestration. The White House will try to pin the tail on the donkey, literally, to level blame at the Republicans, but no-one knows where this mess will end. I am just frustrated with the middle class, the poor and elderly getting caught in the crosshairs all the time.

President Obamas $3.8 Trillion 2014 Budget Takes Knife to Medicare & Social Security
Filed Under: Barack Obama, U.S. Politics Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

President Obama Goes 2 for 22 Shooting Hoops, Like Record on Reducing High Black Unemployment Rate

April 1, 2013 by 1 Comment
300px Barack Obama basketball at Martha%27s Vineyard President Obama Goes 2 for 22 Shooting Hoops, Like Record on Reducing High Black Unemployment Rate

President Obama Goes 2 for 22 Shooting Hoops, Like Record on Reducing High Black Unemployment Rate (Photo credit: Wikipedia – Martha’s Vineyard)

President Obama goes 2 for 22 on the basketball court on the White House grounds today during the Easter Egg hunt. Um, that’s sort of like his average with the black community, though we came out and voted for him in droves. Yeah, I’ll say it, I am very disappointed with the President Obama on what he is doing to address the double-digit unemployment rate in the black community. He’s M.I.A., like many politicians, when it comes to the black community.

President Obama Goes 2 for 22 Shooting Hoops, Like Record on Reducing High Black Unemployment Rate
Filed Under: Barack Obama, Black Unemployment Rates Tagged With: , , , , ,

Hey Michele Bachmann, George W. Bush is Most Expensive Ex-President with Over $1.3M

March 26, 2013 by 1 Comment
7210988302 96905263fd m Hey Michele Bachmann, George W. Bush is Most Expensive Ex President with Over $1.3M

Hey Michele Bachmann, George W. Bush is Most Expensive Ex-President with Over $1.3M (Photo credit: DonkeyHotey)

As Rep. Michele Bachmann continues to spew lies about President Obama’s ‘lavish lifestyle’ at the taxpayers’ expense (four personal chefs and a dog walker for Bo), Politico reports that former president George W. Bush is the most expensive ex-president.

According to Politico, ”The costliest former president? George W. Bush, who clocked in at just over $1.3 million. That includes almost $400,000 for 8,000 square feet of office space and $85,000 in telephone costs.’

That’s a big chunk of the ”the nearly $3.7 million on former presidents last year” by the federal government. “That covers a $200,000 pension, compensation and benefits for office staff, and other costs like travel, office space and postage.”

Um, imagine how much of our taxpayer dollars was spent when he was president. Add the Iraq War to that as well, since he took us into war on a lie. All that is lost on the right wing, including Michele Bachmann, who should be worried about her ethics investigation.

Hey Michele Bachmann, George W. Bush is Most Expensive Ex President with Over $1.3M
Filed Under: Barack Obama, U.S. Politics Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Hillary Clinton Supports Gay Marriage “Personally, and as Matter of Policy and Law”

March 18, 2013 by Leave a Comment
300px Hillary Clinton 2007 1 Hillary Clinton Supports Gay Marriage Personally, and as Matter of Policy and Law

Hillary Clinton Supports Gay Marriage “Personally, and as Matter of Policy and Law” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton supports gay marriage, saying she supports it “personally, and as a matter of policy and law.” This could have some far-reaching implications for the 2016 presidential election, as the Republican Party is at the crossroads, with some prominent leaders against gay marriage, while others are more open in their support.

Politico:  “LGBT Americans are our colleagues, our teachers, our soldiers, our friends, our loved ones,” Clinton says in a nearly 6-minute video released by the Human Rights Campaign. “And they are full and equal citizens and deserve the rights of citizenship. That includes marriage. … I support it personally, and as matter of policy and law.”

I will state that I, too, have evolved on the issue and accept the right of gays and lesbians to marry whomever they love. I support their right and will do what I can to help further the cause of the gay community for justice. I came to this place after listening to a sermon by my pastor, Andy Stanley, in which he talked about acceptance of the LGBT community and that the role of the church wasn’t to turn them away from serving.

Hillary Clinton Supports Gay Marriage Personally, and as Matter of Policy and Law
Filed Under: Gay Rights, Presidential Election Tagged With: , , , , , ,

President Obama on Justification of Drone Program: “I Am No Dick Cheney on Drones”

March 14, 2013 by 1 Comment
6702630607 23357174b2 m President Obama on Justification of Drone Program: I Am No Dick Cheney on Drones

President Obama on Justification of Drone Program:  ”I Am No Dick Cheney” (Photo credit: DonkeyHotey)

President Obama reportedly said he was “no Dick Cheney on drones” during his visit on Capitol Hill with House Democrats. Um, the right wing is now in freak-out mode as though Dick Cheney was ever anyone to emulate. He was proud of the interrogation techniques used by the Bush Administration, including waterboarding. He reportedly made the remark when confronted by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) over his administration’s refusal to show congressional intelligence committees memos from the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel justifying the use of lethal force against American terror suspects abroad, Politico reports.

In response to Rockefeller’s critique, Obama said he’s not involved in drafting such memos, the senators told POLITICO. He also tried to assure his former colleagues that his administration is more open to oversight than that of President George W. Bush, whom many Democratic senators attacked for secrecy and for expanding executive power in the national security realm.

“This is not Dick Cheney we’re talking about here,” he said, according to Democratic senators who asked not to be named discussing the private meeting.

Two Obama administration officials, who asked not to be named, confirmed Rockefeller raised the drone oversight issue with the president at the session. The White House had no comment on Obama’s alleged reference to the former vice president.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller was absolutely right to confront President Obama on the drone program, but the problem I have is why the Dick  Cheney remark was leaked in the first place. You see, this is the reason why I am no longer a Democrat — they don’t stick together. President Obama’s excuse is insulting on so many levels. Tit for tat, right? Come on Mr. President, you are beginning to sound a lot like Dick Cheney.  His comment makes Rand Paul’s 13-hour filibuster look smart.

President Obama on Justification of Drone Program: I Am No Dick Cheney on Drones
pixel President Obama on Justification of Drone Program: I Am No Dick Cheney on Drones
Filed Under: Barack Obama, U.S. Politics Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
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