Preview Of The Democratic Party Platform And National Convention
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-09-04/preview-democratic-party-platform-and-national-convention
The Democratic National Convention gets under way in Charlotte, N.C. Diane and her guests talk about what to expect as the president and his supporters make the case for four more years.
Guests
Shawna Thomas
White House producer for NBC News.
Ron Elving
senior Washington editor for NPR.
Stuart Rothenberg
editor and publisher of the Rothenberg Political Report and a twice-a-week columnist for Roll Call.
Comments
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It is unclear how Obama can promise to do better in a second term, when he says he was unable to get legislation passed in his first term due to Republicans blocking that legislation in Congress.
So if Obama wins a second term, does his success only depend on also having a Democratic congress in both houses?
Is that currently possible?
No one wants to say it out loud--because it's not considered either polite or politically viable--but the American voting public is both ignorant and simple-minded. The Democrats fear "Are you better off..." because it's a simplistic slogan without a simplistic and truthful answer. The truth involves virtually undeniable factors. For instance, that the economy was in freefall when the president assumed office: he can't fairly be blamed for the trajectory that needed to be turned around; his record should be judged as both stopping the economic bleeding AND steadily growing the economy. And this, despite childish Republican opposition to everything, including his jobs bill.
Bash Romney and the republicans during the republican national convention, bash Romney and the republicans during the democratic national convention, I think I see a pattern here! Liberal media at it's finest.
Who is the smallest government spender? Have a look at the truth:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/05/24/who-is-the-smallest-gov...
lisa vitoff wrote:
What about tax incentives to companies who take their jobs overseas?
This is due to the fact that our political system is corrupted. Anyone with enough money can "buy" laws favoring a given business model, even if such model destroys society. The problem is the "money is free speech".
The enthusiasm gap in the Obama campaign. What will President Obama say to those of us who are deeply discouraged by the lack of accountability in regard to the false pre war intelligence, torture, sub prime fiasco? Now I know this is not quite as important as holding a President accountable for lying under oath about BJ's. But just sayin some of us are concerned about these critical issues and accountability. And "forward" just does not get it. Is President Obama just going to keep repeating forward? And when did holding people accountable for very serious crimes start being defined "retribution, vengeance, witch hunts" and not justice?
I am the Republican Party`s candidate for President of the United States.
I am a former businessman. I am a former Governor.I am an Ivy League Grad.I am born of wealth and privilege . My name? George W.Bush.XXXX Mitt Romney
How can we ignore President George W.Bush when the Republican Party now offers a Bush CLONE ?
I don't know how one gauges another's values or patriotism based on whether or not they have legal off-shore accounts. Tax avoidance is inherently American. Tax evasion is illegal, but we would have heard from the IRS by now if Romney has been engaged in illegal behavior. If he truly 'only' paid 13% tax rate last year, he paid several times the amount of dollars paid by Obama. If Obama really loved our country, shouldn't he voluntarily pay as many dollars as Romney did?
I think that something that isn't explained enough when Mitt Romney's taxes are discussed is that his income is not money he has earned working each year but rather the interest from his investments. This is someone who earns more than $20 million a year from interest on his investments. As someone who generally doesn't have to declare more than $10 interest income on my taxes every year, I can not imagine how he can understand any financial stressors I, and the average American, deal with daily.
We have two visions for this country by two parties.
One of them is anchored in our poorest states with a vision of returning us to some past "golden era".
One is trying, despite of the above, to move us forward.
Funny part is that states providing base for republicans are living of federal government dole. They contribute in federal taxes much less than they receive from government.
Speaking about biting the hand that feeds you. They would be also the biggest losers if federal government was massively cut.
If we go past amnesia, the biggest guarantor of our liberties is federal government.
If it was not for Feds, we would still have guys roaming southern country side dressed in bedsheets and pillow cases.
The wealthy elite, 1% (or whatever you want to call them) tell the people they want to help them learn how to work toward the "success" they themselves enjoy....
Time to wake up, children!!!!
There is only so much room at the top of a rigged system and those already at the top have been entrenched for generations. They are not going to make room because it means they would have to relinquish (or SHARE, omg!) there influence. NOTICE: I did not write money. It is INFLUENCE they won't share.
I don't aspire to the Republican version of "success". But I see so many in this country being fooled by that silly version of the "American Dream", carrot-on-a-stick fantasy. They will always be seduced and deluded by Republican lies.
Worried about Romney's taxes???
Why not worry about how Obama has wasted hundreds of billions of our tax dollars!!!
How about a little perspective here?
Yes President Obama was dealt a tough hand. However in addition to the cards that the preceding administration left on the table the Congress has shown poor leadership and are more about themselves than focusing on positive results for the country. The Republicans goal since Day 1 has not been to do what needs to be done in the country, but to defeat the elected President in '12. And the disrespect----from people consistently referring to him as Obama, to a sitting member of Congress (and a Republican) calling him a Liar during the State of the Union addressed, seen worldwide! And then there is the former VP of the US. I am a baby boomer and I have never seen any President of the U.S. treated in this manner.
The attitude of Republicans who want to continue with the status quo and block ANY efforts, bills, and initiatives to represent the people and do what needs to be done for the United States is intolerable and they should not be rewarded for their bad behavior.
I don't believe there is anything wrong with evade, it means avoid by cleverness or trickery, there is no connotation of illegality
What about the global economy? Is France, Spain or Britain ex better off than they were 4 years ago?
Partisan really? Did you witness the Obama administration go after Yoo, Addington you know the fellas who rewrote national and international torture laws. Did you witness Obama and team go after the Office of Special Plans and the war team that lies this nation into Iraq? Nope..they just kept saying "forward, turn the page, next chapter" What planet do you live on. OBama and team have played softball in those realms
Taxes - we spend more on defense than the next biggest 15 defense spenders combined.
We wasted un-budgeted trillion on our foreign adventures. With just costs of war we could rebuild our poorest (republican) states.
Just think about Romney's Iran adventure in planning.
So LIsa what excuses are you going to make for Attorney General Holder and President Obama not going after the sub prime fraudsters? Experts say they had all of the evidence that they needed to prosecute? NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW.....Total hooey
I think the last caller was making a statement about Bain Capital...not asking a question.
I believe he was attempting to tell a story of how Bain Capital came to his area.
Such a shame he was cut so short.
the question and the anwser is simple: since 1945 every republican presidency has always ended in a recession. Recessions hit the middle class specially hard. Do we want another recession or most probably a depression by electing another republican? or do we allow the current administration to actually implement their agenda and help most americans? after having to fix the damage left by the last reublican in power only bigots and ignorants will believe that a republican is what we need. Unfurtunately regardless of wgho comes into power we will have civil discord and violence in the next few years
romney bashing is done by romney himself
I'll be interested to see how many people making posts here will do so about Rachel Carson. She was a renowned and perhaps, one of the first environmentalists.
Considering the conservatives' anti- and liberals' pro- stances on the environment.
We lived though the Reagan years and the take over of our employer. Over 3000 were without jobs without any notice. The CEOs who raided the company raked in millions. When the employees finally obtained court dates and tired to get back money owed them (last two pay checks, plus vacation and sick time) they discovered all the money taken was now in off shore accounts. We finally after six years received $340.00 of the $3200.00 that was stolen from us.
I believe this president saved our country and will continue to bring this country back. Obamacare has already provided many benefits to our family and we are looking forward to the changes coming in 2014.
Yes Kathleen, not only is tax evasion become an indelible American trait, but so have traitorous acts like lying to the public and inside jobs. You're never a hero until you've screwed the 99%. That's Ultrasadism beyond Freudian explanation. Perverts really want Sandusky for President, basement rooms-deaf wife and all. The chance that Obama will have a Stiglitz-like economic advisor if reelected is zero. The chance that Romney can see or hear anyone without a million bucks to invest is zero.
The Obama administration has a very short time to explain clearly what will happen in January 2014 if Obamacare is not repealed. The exchanges, which members of Congress will also use, are major changes and voters need to understand them before making a decision based on health care. I agree with Republicans on some issues and Democrats on some issues, but I will not vote for anyone who vows to repeal the Affordable Care Act.....it has taken way too long to get this far toward universal health coverage. Anyone who thinks it can be replaced is delusional or very, very young.
How appropriate the Charlotte Bobcats Arena is the venue for the 2012 Democratic National Convention. The Bobcats are the worst team in the NBA guided by an incompetent and feckless owner, Michael Jordan.
I don't understand the conservative obsession with the auto bailout. How is this "picking winners and losers" any different at all from all the other gov't intervention in support of some businesses?
Every week I read in the local paper about a business getting millions of dollars in tax breaks (a subsidy to its profit margin) to get them to move into our area or expand. These are usually large, profitable companies.
We cheer sports teams owned by gazillionaires, yet most of their stadiums are financed by taxpayers, not by the team owners who pocket the profits. We give billions of dollars a year to oil companies whose profits break previous records every quarter, and agri-business gets money shoveled at them.
The military issues "no bid" contracts that cause our defense (and offense) costs to be substantially higher than they would be under a competitive procurement with caps on cost overrides. Heck, even small business loans are given to some small businesses and not others.
I don't understand how the auto bailout is substantially different than all these other market interventions (and the list could be a lot longer).
Are these people so angry bcs thousands of middle-class families didn't lose their jobs, homes, etc? Is that the real issue? They don't want workers to be able to organize and represent themselves in order to keep a slightly larger share of the profits generated from their work? So we should kill unions and let everyone be a WalMart employee who works full-time and can't earn enough to lift a family above the poverty line? But we also won't provide any supports for those hard-working, impoverished families. It confuses me.
So, okay, conservatives are against good-paying American jobs and worker empowerment and power sharing. But how is the auto bailout different than all the other subsidies, except that it's not on-going.
The most disturbing part of your previous hour with the various newsmedia reporters is their practice of moving on after they have called attention one time to the "non-truths" uttered by politicians, i.e., their mandate and practice to move on to the next story even if that next story is trivial compared to the story about the non-truths proclaimed by the politician on a national stage. I refer of course to the non-truths of Paul Ryan. Do not these reporters feel a responsibility to keep this story in front of the people for the duration of the campaign season? I feel that they should have this responsibility. Otherwise, the penalty to the politician for exaggerating to the point of distorting the truth is so small as to actually encourage the practice of distortion and (to call it what it is) lying.
Robert H. Broyles wrote:
"...the penalty to the politician for exaggerating to the point of distorting the truth is so small as to actually encourage the practice of distortion and (to call it what it is) lying."
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Right. For example, Obama Super-PAC Ad blaming Romney for woman's cancer death and accusing Romney of being a felon. Or Senator Harry Reed claiming Romney has not paid any taxes.
I was glad to hear the caller's comment about decoupling social issues from other issues. I think the main ones could just go on out ballot. That way we would be more free to vote for the candidate that we agree with the most on economic and other issues.