Pressler jumped right into it. Blaming Republicans and Democrats in Washington for the stalemate. He called the political system ‘poisonous’ several times during the press conference. He concluded the parties are a conduit for money in Washington. Pressler said that is why he will only serve one term so he won’t waste time raising money for next term, but working for citizens.
As for running as an independent, he pointed to Senator Byrd as a successful Indy senator.
Larry says military spending in the mideast wars is ‘outrageous’ and thinks some army bases overseas should close to modernize the military to save money. He added that he hates endless wars because they don’t yield results.
One of his agendas is more international trade with agriculture in SD.
He described himself as a libertarian several times that is opposed to NSA spying on citizens and thinks it violates our rights and freedoms.
He said he initially supported Obama because he thought Obama would fix the patriot act, but was disappointed he has done nothing, also disappointed that Obama hasn’t done much to end our foreign wars. He also criticized Senator McCain several times for wanting to expand our wars into Syria and Africa.
While he thought the ACA was important legislation, he would have voted against it and thinks it needs an overhaul like cost containment and interstate insurance commerce.
He also believes Obama should concentrate on lowering the deficit.
He touched on supporting women’s and minority rights such as equal pay.
He contests that indies are not spoilers and doesn’t want to be treated as such. He thinks the race could easily be won by 35-40% of the vote and that raising money will be difficult. He joked, “It takes a lot of money to tell people you don’t have money.” He confesses that nobody watches debates so you have to compete with marketing your bid.
WHAT I THOUGHT
I think it was the first time I met Pressler in person. Before the press conference, we introduced each other and I was very surprised by two things, how good he looks physically and how approachable he is. His wife is also very approachable. After a friend told Harriet (his wife) about my blog, she had some kurt words to say about another ‘Republican’ blog.
My first impression is that Pressler is serious about this run, and very cool, calm and collected about it. I feel that this can easily be a three man horse race, especially since Rick and him have a lot of ideas in common and can easily gang up on Rounds. He also sets himself away from his opponents because 1) he has served successfully 5 terms in Washington (Rick is a two time loser) and Rounds is an establishment man.
Do I think Larry has a chance? Too early to tell. After the Republican primary we will have a clearer picture of how this will go. The EB-5 investigation could topple Rounds, which would put a very conservative Rhoden or Nelson in the candidacy. I think this will be one of the most exciting and interesting senate races in the history of the state if Pressler stays in the race until the end.
Jeez, he is running. He will join the people already in the clown car.
I’ll say a few things about Pressler. Number one, as you said he is approachable. We used to go to the same gym here in SF and he was just a regular guy. He wasn’t stuck on himself, but always friendly and personable. I didn’t really like his politics in the past, but as a man… he was sincere and there was no false front.
Also it needs to be pointed out was the only member of Congress who didn’t take a bribe during the Abscam investiations in the late 70s / early 80s when the FBI went undercover and were trying to bribe membesr of Congress. Most people won’t remember it, but it serves as an example of how uncorruptable the guy is.
I like a lot of what he is saying here, and I think Pressler has discovered that at his age he doesn’t need to concern himself with making friends in Washington. Instead, he seems sincere in wanting to make a difference, and honestly… when you look at those who he will likely be facing off against – at this point I’d say he is the most appealing by a wide, wide margin.
Will have to give him a second chance. I gave Mr. Rounds a second chance at the Gov position and in my opinion, he failed it miserably.
He must be referring to Harry Byrd Jr. of VA and not the more recent Robert Byrd of WVA, who was in no way independent.
His ’12 endorsement of Obama is the most troubling IMO. Sounds like he lapped up the “Romney is an evil rich guy” BS while ignoring all the warnings of what we know now about Obama: that he’s both a rigid ideologue devoid of both honesty and competence while at the same time being as smooth as Clinton when it comes time to pour on the charm. Obama is also the most divisive POTUS we’ve ever elected, he never does anything but campaign, and his message is recycled, tired and always pitting one group against another staying true to his mentor Alinsky’s core principles.
It seems strange Pressler would endorse a guy who’s basically the exact opposite of what he’s claiming to be. Obviously Pressler is hoping to score some Reagan Democrat types, even though the Dems have done nothing but savage him from the get go, even going so far as to plant rumors about his sexuality.
I personally like Larry and I think he’d do exactly what’s needed to be done in DC. If I were him, I’d steal Byrd’s famous line “I would rather be a free man than a captive senator.”
Oh, he bagged on Obama quite a bit during the press conference, and you got the feeling he regrets his endorsement, but he also did not say kind things about McCain either.
Maybe Obama will return the favor and endorse him.
“Obama is also the most divisive POTUS we’ve ever elected, he never does anything but campaign, and his message is recycled, tired and always pitting one group against another”
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
THERE’S A REASON HE RECEIVED THE NOBEL PRIZE, NOT FOR ANY PARTICULAR ACT, BUT BECAUSE HE HELPED TO BRING THE EARTH CLOSER TOGETHER AFTER THE DIVISION AND PRE-EMPTIVE ‘SELF-RIGHTOUSNESS’ OF THE ‘DUBYA’ ERA.
YOUR TALKING ABOUT A MAN WHO RAN FOR PRESIDENT AND JUST BECAUSE HE IS BLACK AND HIS FATHER IS FROM KENYAN A VAST PERCENTAGE OF THE RIGHT EITHER BELIEVED OR ALLOWED THE MYTH TO PROLIFERATE THAT OBAMA WAS NOT AN AMERICAN. WHILE AT THE SAME TIME, THIS SAME RIGHT NOMINATED McCAIN IN 2008, WHO WAS BORN IN PANAMA. THEN THEY NOMINATED ROMNEY IN 2012 WHOSE FATHER WAS BORN IN MEXICO (AND BASED ON THE ‘BIRTHER’ LOGIC THAT MAKES MITT A MEXICAN, DOESN’T IT? – BUT NOT IF YOU ARE A RASCIST… DO YOU CATCH MY DRIFT?), THEN, NOW THIS IS THE REAL KICKER, AS SOON AS TED CRUZ SHOWS UP WITH DUAL CITIZENSHIP AND A CANADIAN BIRTH CERTIFICATE NO ONE ON THE RIGHT EVEN THINKS OF CHALLENGING OR QUESTIONING HIS CITIZENSHIP…. NO, INSTEAD THE RIGHT MAKES CRUZ THE HERO OF THE ANTI-OBAMACARE MOVEMENT….
IN 2000, ‘DUBYA’ CLAIMED TO BE A ‘UNITER,’ BUT ACTUALLY HE WAS THE ULTIMATE ‘DIVIDER.’ OBAMA HAS HAD TO DEAL WITH NOT ONLY CLEANING-UP ‘DUBYA’S’ MULTIPLE DIVISIVE MESSES, BUT ALSO A ‘TEA PARTY’ U.S. HOUSE AND A DIVISIVE REPUBLICAN SENATE LEADER WHO HAVE OPENLY MADE IT THEIR BUSINESS TO MAKE SURE OBAMA FAILS AT EVERY ISSUE. WHY DO YOU THINK REID HAD TO GET RID OF PORTIONS OF THE FILIBUSTER RULE?… SO THAT THE CONGRESS AND OUR GOVERNMENT COULD BEGIN TO FUNCTION ONCE AGAIN!
GIVE ME A BREAK, OBAMA IS NOT A DIVIDER, BUT HE IS TRYING TO GOVERNMENT AMONGST A BUNCH OF RIGHT-WING RACIST OBSTRUCTIONISTS WHO PROMULGATE TWO-FACE LOGIC… HOWEVER…..
OH, AS FAR AS THE ALWAYS CAMPAIGNING ALLEGATION YOU MADE AGAINST OBAMA, IT IS ACTUALLY REFERRED TO AS THE ‘CONTINUAL CAMPAIGN’ AND ALL OF OUR POLITICIANS ARE QUILTY OF THAT TODAY…. IT IS UNFORTUNATELY A BY-PRODUCT OF THE 24/7 NEWS CYCLE AND THE REALITY PROMULGATED BY EDITORIALIZED CABLE NEWS CHANNELS….
Winston… I know you are fired up, but did you really need to go all ‘BILLY MAYS’?
As to content, I tend to agree with much of what you said. First, I don’t find Obama to be as much of a divider as the prior POTUS, and second I feel much of the division we are seeing here is due to blatant obstructionism from the right.
How many times have they voted to kill Obamacare again? How many faux-debt ceiling battles have been had even though not a word was said all during President Bush’s time in office when the ceiling was raised 7 times? Why the sudden concern over money that has already been spent as opposed to concern with the trillion dollars that has gone towards wars they supported? Why do they continually cite Reagan as their gold standard even though he raised the debt ceiling 18 times?
Then you have the entire Tea Party issue, and you have lobbyists like Grover Norquist with his No New Taxes pledge that even many Republicans admit has more power than members of Congress – all working to draw lines in the sand rather than attempting to work with those whom they disagree with.
I’m the first to admit Obama has disappointed me – the entire NSA / Edward Snowden debacle is troubling, as is the fact we still have Guantanamo Bay and we are still in Afghanistan, but when it comes to the great divide between Democrats and Republicans I can’t help but put the majority (but surely not all) blame where blame belongs… and that is upon those who make it their primary mission to ensure the President isn’t successful or that he doesn’t get reelected.
I don’t expect them to like one another, but one might think priorities would be focused upon the nation as opposed to party politics.
“YOU ARE”
Craig, I am sorry, but Sy always gets me all ‘BILLY MAYS.’
Especially, after the time he responded to one my comments in Spanish, then it was erased, before I was able to counter respond in Latin….. “Et tu, Brute?”
@ Winston Thanks for:
A. Shouting your reply, proves my point that any critique of Obama unhinges the Left 100% all day, every day.
B. Throwing out the race card, which again per the playbook is necessary to blunt any critical message against Obama.
C. Unlike Bush, Obama was a member of the Senate leading up to becoming POTUS. Can you name me some of his legislative accomplishments that “helped bring the earth together” or cleaned up “dubya’s multiple divisive messes”? Get real. He’s doubled down on half of Bush’s most secretive practices (Hello Snowden) and also unlike Bush has used the power of his predecessors policies that he publically bashed when campaigning to silence & manipulate his political enemies and strengthen his own political machine. He’s racked up way more debt (& unfunded liabilities) than Bush and will leave office with this country in serious financial peril if not with another total (and avoidable) meltdown.
So yes, Republicans had good reason to oppose Obama. The man entered office and immediately scolded them on who they should listen to and don’t bother sending him compromise legislation because “I won”. The sequester was hatched in Obama’s own White House by Jack Lew and Gene Sperling and what did Obama do once it took effect? Bash Republicans in the Spring while taking credit for it’s deficit reduction impact in the Fall. Putin got Man of the Year because he took control of the confusing “red line/no I didn’t say red line” crap in Syria along with his Iran stance which got Iran everything they wanted and we got an empty promise once the sanctions lifted. Isreal and Saudi Arabia are feeling left in the cold and vulnerable, and once again the US is looking inept and foolish on the world stage no matter how many Billie Jean Kings we send to Moscow.
I’ll give him credit though, Obama promised to “fundamentally transform” this Country and as we all know he did so without revealing any details on what that actually means or who gets to pay the tab. Bit by bit we find out and like the ACA, now that were stuck with it a majority of Americans don’t like it. You don’t fundamentally transform something you love, try that on your wife/husband sometime and tell me how that went.
@ Winston Ever hear of Miguel Estrada? Harry Reid loved the filibuster back then. His problem was since he wasn’t an academic, he couldn’t pass or fail Reid’s “Lithmus test” (which Reid denied he had) so that’s why he had to be opposed. Recent nominees who have come from academia have been opposed due to what they have said or written, however like you’ve shown above when that happens your side calls them “racist or sexist”. Ironically, that same Estrada wrote a letter to Obama supporting Kagan when Republicans threatened to, but didn’t filibuster her nomination.
@ Winston
McCain was born in the Canal Zone (which was considered sovereign US soil at the time) & on a US Military Base.
Romney’s parents were US Citizens on mission in Mexico and chose US Citizenship for all their children.
Cruz isn’t currently running for POTUS nor is he hiding details of his past and calling people names when they ask him about it.
Can’t say any of those about our current CIC.
@ Craig
Our debt as a percent of GDP never got above 65% under Bush even during two recessions and 9-11.
Have you looked at where it’s at today? It went over 100% in Q4 of ’12 and has only barely shrunk back below 100% due to the massive tax collections for Obamacare along with the Sequester we just decided to shit can.
To personalize this, If you made the median US income of $52K the equivalent would be to spend $64K and put the $12K on your AMEX which is currently sitting with a $312K balance.
Take it outside boys or I’ll sig Craig on you. He may just slap the living cynicism out of you.
Sy, thanks for not responding in Spanish this time.
“Shouting your reply, proves my point that any critique of Obama unhinges the Left 100% all day, every day.”
Well, Sy, when your comments are filled with sweeping political generalities void of any facts, then a shout is deserved. As far as you sandbagging facts, allow me to now respond.
“Throwing out the race card, which again per the playbook is necessary to blunt any critical message against Obama.”
Telling the real truth about the ‘Birther’ movement is not playing the race card, rather it is called using facts to dismiss the Right’s claims…. The ones who initially played the race card when it comes to Obama.
“Unlike Bush, Obama was a member of the Senate leading up to becoming POTUS. Can you name me some of his legislative accomplishments that “helped bring the earth together†or cleaned up “dubya’s multiple divisive messesâ€? Get real.”
Sy, I must of missed that day in 9th Grade Civics class, I didn’t know that a newly elected junior Senator from Illinois and of the minority Party had more political clout than a second term American President…. thanks for the info….
“He’s doubled down on half of Bush’s most secretive practices (Hello Snowden) and also unlike Bush has used the power of his predecessors policies that he publically bashed when campaigning to silence & manipulate his political enemies and strengthen his own political machine.”
You have just identified the true ‘Dubya’ legacy. It is the gift which keeps-on giving … actually it’s a burden and not a gift. Have you ever inherited a mess? That is what Obama called it, when he held a press conference early in first term at the National Archives in front of a original copy of the US Constitution, when talking about Guantanamo – often when you inherit a mess your hands are tied.
As far as Snowden and the NSA, you are really talking about the Patroits Act, which was authored and sheppard not by the Left, but by the Right, yet the Right now has the audacity to act as though they are not to blame. But the Right does this all the time, do you remember the “Surge” which the Right took credit for, which basically fixed (but I will allege only temporarily) a mess they created. Or as Michael Moore once said about the “Surge” success, it is like bragging about cleaning-up spilled milk, which you yourself spilled.
“He’s racked up way more debt (& unfunded liabilities) than Bush and will leave office with this country in serious financial peril if not with another total (and avoidable) meltdown.”
Do we really have to debate this bogus contention once again? I owned you a couple of months ago on this contention, but here we go again.
Obama “racked” up debt to keep the economy going, because it is called Keynesian economics as opposed to the Right’s bogus supply-side laughable curve, I mean Laffer Curve. There is a reason that the US is years ahead of Europe in the post 2008 economic rebound, because ironically our socialistic cousins across the pond used austerity “laughable” fiscal and monetary policy while Obama used tried and proven Keynesian economics to get our economy moving again.
The debt experienced under Obama’s first term was the result of the disastrous economic policies of the ‘Dubya’ Era and the need to speed money in the short term to prime the economy once again. It is like priming a carburetor which is stalled. But what you don’t talk about, Sy, is that under Obama the Federal deficits have been halved and that the projected 2015 Federal deficit is projected to be 1/5 of what the inherited 2009 Federal deficit was. And get this, this is the real kicker, the reason the annual Federal deficits are going down is not because of budget cuts or the Tea Party, but because the capital gains taxes (which the RIGHT are always trying to cut and claim are jobs killer) have become a cash cow for the Federal government thanks to the fact that the Stock Market value has almost tripled under the Obama Presidency.
As far the as the unfunded mandates, well that has been a challenged since long before Barack ever game to DC. Do you remember Al Gore’s ‘lockbox’ hopes? If we would have only listened to Al rather than ‘Dubya,’ when it comes to taxation (meaning no Bush tax cuts), then we would be in much better shape today to deal with these unfunded mandates. Oh, by the way, Reagan is the one who decided it would be a good idea to borrow from the Social Security Trust Fund to make our Federal deficits more manageable in the meantime, which actually sped-up the insolvency of the SS system long before its time.
“So yes, Republicans had good reason to oppose Obama. The man entered office and immediately scolded them on who they should listen to and don’t bother sending him compromise legislation because “I wonâ€. The sequester was hatched in Obama’s own White House by Jack Lew and Gene Sperling and what did Obama do once it took effect? Bash Republicans in the Spring while taking credit for it’s deficit reduction impact in the Fall.”
Well, the true deficit reduction credit goes to the capital gains tax revenue I have aforementioned. As far as blaming the Obama Administration for the ‘Sequestration’ that is more laughable than Laffer…. Hey, by the way, I have a bridge on 8th Street that I want to sell you….
Also, don’t forget, early in the Obama Presidency the GOP held a weekend gathering where the GOP consensus was to make Obama an one-termer and a failure, even though the Country at the time needed leadership and cooperation from all of its political leaders during the worst economic downturn since 1929.
“Putin got Man of the Year because he took control of the confusing “red line/no I didn’t say red line†crap in Syria along with his Iran stance which got Iran everything they wanted and we got an empty promise once the sanctions lifted.”
Sy, are you saying that Putin is actually Pope Francis?…. very interesting!
As far as Iran, are the sanctions really gone?…. I knew I should have continued my subscription to the AL.
“Isreal and Saudi Arabia are feeling left in the cold and vulnerable”
No, they are confused, because North American energy independence (an other Obama accomplishment, which the Right always ignores) is causing them to have to rethink and rewrite their global perspective. Plus your argument is very disingenuous when most Americans today are unwilling to stomach an other war in the Middle East right know, which is a necessary mindset for your point to have any relevance.
“and once again the US is looking inept and foolish on the world stage no matter how many Billie Jean Kings we send to Moscow.”
Well, you are kind of right about this one. I think Obama should send Cheney’s daughter, instead of King to Russia….. I am not talking about the one who is running for the US Senate in Wyoming, rather the other one….
“I’ll give him credit though, Obama promised to “fundamentally transform†this Country and as we all know he did so without revealing any details on what that actually means or who gets to pay the tab. Bit by bit we find out and like the ACA, now that were stuck with it a majority of Americans don’t like it. You don’t fundamentally transform something you love, try that on your wife/husband sometime and tell me how that went.”
First of all Sy, thank you for calling it the ACA Act and not Obamacare, that was very respectful to our current President. Which reminds me, which is, that if you call it Obamacare people do not like it, but if you call it the ACA Act people are much more amicable towards it…. go figure…. racism anybody?
As far as your rant and rave about Obamacare, I am sorry, I mean the ACA Act. Didn’t the Right read the Act? They have had four plus years to do it, why now the complaints? Or did the Act seriously challenge your ability to speak in wedge terms, sound bites, and talking points, because it was far more complex, as is the whole health care issue, than the simple dumbed down world that the Right always tries to get this Country to live in and interface in?
Oh, by the way, I didn’t know I loved the pre-Obamacare world, (oh, there I go again, its the ACA Act, sorry.) I forgot I loved the world of the past with pre-existing clauses, not having my kids on my insurance until age 26, ending the donut whole for Medicare Part D, playing $115 for a $100 worth of care under Medicare Advantage (just for the rich elderly by the way), not having health care tax subsidies for the working poor, and how I loved being held hostage in my feudalistic relationship with my employer or any potential employer based on whether they had health benefits or not…. silly me for forgetting….
“@ Winston Ever hear of Miguel Estrada? Harry Reid loved the filibuster back then. His problem was since he wasn’t an academic, he couldn’t pass or fail Reid’s “Lithmus test†(which Reid denied he had) so that’s why he had to be opposed. Recent nominees who have come from academia have been opposed due to what they have said or written, however like you’ve shown above when that happens your side calls them “racist or sexistâ€. Ironically, that same Estrada wrote a letter to Obama supporting Kagan when Republicans threatened to, but didn’t filibuster her nomination.”
This point is what a high school debate coach would call an empirical argument and nothing more. Show me once were the Left’s political actions in this Country have caused our credit rating to be lowered or placed us on the brink of fiscal and monetary collapse do to a false argument over the true economic picture of this country – a picture which the Right likes to paint absence of the truth about our current annual Federal deficit situation, our growing Stock Market, our cash cow capital gains revenues, our declining unemployment rate, and our continued dominance in the world as the only trusted reserve currency after having fought two recent wars and weathering through the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Craig,
Your point on McCain is exact. However, if he was not a caucasian and a Republican, I am quite confident the definition of “natural born” citizen would have been thoroughly litigated.
As far as Romney, I never said Mitt was born in Mexico. I said his father, George Romney, was born in Mexico and based on ‘Birther’ logic (I really don’t recommend it) then it is right to assume that Mitt might be Mexican too. But the real kicker is that George Romney, himself, was a Presidential candidate in 1968 and no one cared back then that he was born in Mexico, but then again he was white… that might have helped.
And finally to Cruz, Cruz was born in Canada to an American mom from Delaware, which supposedly makes him an American, but if your mom is from Kansas and gives birth to you in…that us say Kenya and your half-black, then you are mysteriously not an American…. hum?
It is true, however, that Cruz is not currently running for the Presidency, but there are Rightist who want him to run and I bet that most of them are former Birthers or Birther-apologists…
Hey, by the way, did you know that Thune’s late mother was born in Canada…. Are you thinking what I am thinking?
Winston: “Craig, Your point on McCain is exact…”
Hold up! I wasn’t the one who said it… that was Sy.
(I know better than to argue with Winston)
I know the right likes to claim anyone who brings up Obama’s race or heritage is ‘pulling the race card’ but let’s be serious for a moment… Obama’s race has a lot to do with the reason that his citizenship was questioned and why there were dozens upon dozens of lawsuits questioning his ability to govern. It is also why he was accused of being one of those pesky Muslims and why rumors continue to persist about him being part of some covert sleeper cell hell-bent on ruining the nation.
To suggest racism isn’t a part of the equation is rather dishonest. It surely isn’t the only reason people dislike the man, but it is most certainly a reason.
Also, it is probably worth noting that it was the Bush campaign team who performed push-polling suggesting that John McCain fathered an illegitimate black child. So let’s not pretend racism and race-baiting isn’t part of their playbook.
My dear, confused Winston,
You barely made it into your second sentence of your screamfest above before you went down the racist/birther rat hole. I called the POTUS divisive and their plenty of evidence around the Nation as well as in your response that would indicate that’s true.
As for a few of your other idiotic and patently false comments, well suck on this:
“The ones who initially played the race card when it comes to Obama.”
Better tell that to Bill, because I think he wins that prize:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2008/04/bill-clinton-ob-2/
“I didn’t know that a newly elected junior Senator from Illinois and ”
Never said he was as powerful as a POTUS but then again he certainly had more power than about 95% of the DC political class. How did he use it? Right, to campaign for the next office vs. reaching across party lines to get things done. I’m glad via your lame attempt at sarcasm you agree that Obama was a back bencher and in no way qualified to run the whole Executive Branch.
“often when you inherit a mess your hands are tied. ”
You like this line a lot, again…Obama was in the Senate and on the same page as Bush and McCain when the Bailout votes came along. So he inherited part of what he voted for, which means he like Moore’s quote above helped spill the milk.
“Patroits Act, which was authored and sheppard not by the Left, but by the Right,”
See that’s another fine example of how, like Obama, you lie so effortlessly. The PA passed the House 357 to 66 and 98-1 in the Senate, which at the time was controlled by Reid. Also, in ’11 3/4 of the Act were re-upped again by Reid’s Senate and signed by our Neophyte in Chief.
“Obama “racked†up debt to keep the economy going”
His biggest drivers of the debt in his first term was the Bailouts (which was bipartisan) and his Stimulus (which was not). Beyond that 5 years of quantitative easing and the subsequent monetization of the debt will not keep the Economy going, it will eventually harm all currency holders as well as anyone who relies on imported goods…ie all of us. His policies including the ACA (if I were Obama I’d remove my name from it too) will do nothing but compound an already bleak fiscal outlook. You can’t manipulate both the medical and insurance industries in such a way without laying the groundwork for another meltdown. The current push for a minimum wage increase it yet another inflationary move and in reality a union payoff as many of their contracts are pegged to the minimum wage.
Look, right now there’s virtually zero incentive for a company to grow, particularly the small firm that wants to get to mid-size. Conversely, in labor intensive industries, the incentive is for mid-size firms to shrink to under 50 employees or to automate, thanks again to Obama’s crown jewel the ACA. So you can cheer the 7% unemployment rate and call it the new normal if that makes you sleep better, but Bush had shown you can run at 5% or under for years at a time even with two recessions and a historic disaster (9-11) that erased a trillion in wealth almost instantly.
” Well, the true deficit reduction credit goes to the capital gains tax revenue ”
Yet another lie, the largest increase in the record 2.4 trillion $$ is from the rate increases and the Obamacare taxes. 75% of all capital gains come from the top 1% of households, most of whom have shielded their assets from the tax by locating them in places like the corner of 10th & Phillips (see L3wis’s other thread above)
“I didn’t know I loved the pre-Obamacare world, ”
A vast majority of Americans were happy with the plans they were told they could keep, but we know now that was a calculated lie. The truth is, you could’ve extended a safety net to the 8 million or so working poor citizens of this country who needed it and bought them all a policy on the open market for a decade for less than half of what Obamacare will end up costing us. Why do I need to pay for pre-natal care or birth control for Sandra Fluke if I never need either one? Why would my doctor see me if I’m on Medicare and he gets $25 bucks for 3 hours of his time?
And finally:
” not responding in Spanish this time.” So you don’t like Spanish nor Ted Cruz, so you = racist! (see I can do that too)
You have a Happy New Year too, Winston.
I want to begin by apologizing to Craig for confusing him with Sy….. sucks dyslexia…. I mean dyslexia sucks….
Allow me to refute Sy’s most recent comments in a 1 thru 8 format. In fact, I am going to do it backwards just for fun.
8. Since Spanish is a romantic language and a direct linguistic descendent of the Latin language, and I just happen to prefer Latin to Spanish as I aforementioned, then how can you allege I am a racist for preferring to comment in English over Spanish in the absence of Latin? Especially, when you consider that English is my native language and that I studied Latin, and not Spanish, back in my old school days?
As far as Ted Cruz, I never said I didn’t like him. I just don’t care for his politics…. There you go bringing race into this discussion again….
7. No one has ever kept their health insurance plans beyond 365(366)days. Every year since the time when Cain slain Abel insurance plans have been up for renewal on a yearly basis with new pricing, major changes, and new policy caveats – caveats which have finally been reigned-in with the ACA Act.
Now, as a conservative you all a sudden worried about 8 million working poor and you are advocating single payer/ universal health care for them…. Wow, the times are “A-Changin.”
As far as Fluke, well, “it takes a village,” and enlarging the pool reduces the costs for us all. I hope I never need to call the fire department, but I am more than happy to pay for the capability; and you might not need pre-natal or birth control, but some day that pre-natal baby could possibly be spoon feeding you in a retirement home, and the birth control, well, couldn’t that reduce your future tax burden…. one less school kid for conservatives too have to educate some day….
Oh, and the $ 25 Medicare argument, don’t worry its the law, the doctor will have to see you. And as far as the 3 hour concern, you should be so lucky, there is a rumor going around town that a particular local health care system is currently telling its doctors to not spend more than 15 minutes with any given patient…. good luck with the three hours….
6. Wrongo! So called “Obamacare taxes” are already spoken for and cannot be contributed to the reduction in the Federal deficit, but your rate increase argument complements my capital gains argument and does not refute it….. thanks….
As far as your 75% argument, what are you saying? Are you claiming as a conservative that the rich need to pay more taxes?…. Alleluia!!!
And for the other 25%, well whether it comes from the 1% or a basement day-trader, its a gain that should be taxed at a higher rate appropriately, because it is pure speculation and it does not add value itself to our economy like a manufactured good or service.
4. So what? The stimulus worked, but it should have been bigger. QE has also worked and it was an ingenious form of Keynesian economics which performed a great end-around to Tea Party tactics…. And your long term concerns for QE are unfounded given the fact that the Fed is starting to back-off on it QE strategy as the economy continues to grow further and further away from its darkest days.
The ACA Act is going to break the Federal bank, but in contention #5 you credited ACA taxes with reducing the Federal deficit, what gives here?
Don’t worry about a meltdown from the ACA Act. Without it, we were guaranteed a meltdown in the not so distant future, but with the ACA we finally get a preventive mindset and, thus,eventual long term health care cost reductions.
What? Increasing the minimum wage is going to cause inflation? Isn’t that what most economist want? Isn’t the real fear deflation right now?
3. First, that was during Daschle’s reign and not Reid’s. But regardless, the Patroit Act with or without bi-partisan support isn’t something Obama just dreamed-up himself, it has been around for 12 years now. And regardless of your thoughts on the NSA and Snowden, it is amazing how all sudden everyone is subset with this issue, when Verizon made news about this under ‘Dubya’, when they fought the Federal government over the release of its customers call information back in 2006, but now with a Democratic President the Right is all a sudden up in arms now that they are no longer in an authoritative position to say yes or no to water boarding, extraordinary rendition, and the board sweep surveillance of American phone calls.
2. The problem with your 95% argument is that the 5% were the other, roughly, 99 Senators who were ahead of him in seniority; and this point also answers your other point. As far as being a backbencher, Yep, he was… in a chronological sense. Qualified? I think so, he has recovered the American economy from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression… and in 2015 the Federal deficit will be 1/5 of the size of the deficit which he inherited in 2009…. that’s no amateur….
1. I am not playing the race card, just responding to the race card having been played on Obama and the validity of his birth certificate. The ‘Birther’ logic on this issue is extremely reaching and flawed and only begins to make sense if you are willing to fall into the abyss of the racist mindset.
Happy Kwanzaa!
“He also believes Obama should concentrate on lowering the deficit.”
Thjis is hilariously out of touch with facts. Under Obama – the deficit (annual spending vs. revenue) has declined farther than under ANY PRESIDENT since the 1940’s.
“His biggest drivers of the debt in his first term was the Bailouts (which was bipartisan) and his Stimulus (which was not). Beyond that 5 years of quantitative easing and the subsequent monetization of the debt will not keep the Economy going, it will eventually harm all currency holders as well as anyone who relies on imported goods…ie all of us.”
Good grief Batman… When will the Faux News / Karl Rove talking points ever end.
Let’s go fire up and look in the way-back machine to 1999. After the spending fiascoes of the 1980’s, the future fiscal picture was looking good, to be in the black. The lack of long term Federal debt was such a concern to Wall Street, Enron and Phil Gram they constructed a need to get rid of post depression commodity trading restrictions and Glass Steagall. The lack of government need for bonds was a major concern to Goodman Sachs. The fact we had commodity trading regulations kept Ken Lay and Enron from destroying the economy. The Dick Cheneys told the story of unfettered budget surpluses had to be stopped or Wall Street would collapse.
So we entered the era of Bush-Cheney with budget surpluses. What’s the first thing they propose and do? Give the Wall Streeters big tax breaks and $300 checks to the public. We got the Enron collapse from commodity price fixing and trading frauds.
In response to a national calamity in 2001 the USA initiated two police actions against independent nations our business and policy leaders chose to overrun with American troops. The US government did these military actions with unbudgeted – hidden dollars, in other words never publicly identified money. The skimming, graft and other wastes of funds were not put into the public budget until 2009 when the Obama administration publicly acknowledged the expenditures. The draining of our fiscal resources were now public.
During this time, there was no money for internal USA infrastructure projects so we have bridges to nowhere and existing bridges collapsing.
With the public acknowledgement of the US debt by our politicians, we as a nation had to come to grips with the financial disasters of Supply Side economics. The 1% does not like openness, nationally or in South Dakota. The dramatic publicly acknowledged debt now had to put a face to the 2008/2009 stimulus and the military campaigns. When Faux News, Sy and others on the right complain about the skyrocketing debt and lumbering economy they are doing a Marty Jackley: “Nothing to see over here”
What started out in this thread about a simple SD politician trying to gain an office again has turned into a rewriting of history. Some of us will never forgive either side in this economic greed stupidity.
The right will never look at history with clear lenses, because too much of what they see is what they want to see.
The left will never look at history with concise or pinpoint because a liberal mind will always look at the connections to something further back which started the problem.
The study of the liberal art of history is suppose to help us understand why we are here. History is did not start yesterday or 20 years ago or 2000 years ago.
The study of the liberal art of political science is supposed to help us make educated plans for successful futures. If we have political leaders wishing to help the most people, we will learn from history.
The study of the liberal art of economics will understand how money works. There are studies of economics clouded by rigid views of the academic one way or the other. There are principles of economics proven to have worked over generations.
If we do not study the three liberal arts above as a whole and see the connections between them, we will constantly go backwards to relearn previous mistakes. We will also have the constant rehash of false talking points to nowhere to accomplish nothing.