Friday News Roundup - Domestic
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-11-09/friday-news-roundup-domestic
President Barack Obama is elected for another term. The U.S. House stays Republican and the Senate gains two Democratic seats. And the focus turns to avoiding the fiscal cliff. Diane and a panel of journalists discuss the week’s top national stories, what happened and why.
Guests
Ron Elving
senior Washington editor for NPR.
Susan Page
Washington bureau chief for USA Today.
Naftali Bendavid
national correspondent for The Wall Street Journal.
Friday News Roundup Video
The 2012 national elections ushered in a historic number of female legislators, including key wins by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Rep. Tammy Baldwin and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp. Ron Elving of NPR said the number of women running for office, the quality of their candidacies and re-election rates hit record highs, as did voter turnout among women. "I remember when I first start working for the United States Senate as a staff member in 1985, there was not a women's restroom on the level with the Senate chamber. They had to go to another floor, and there weren't that many to go there," Elving said. "So we have just transformed the Senate in that 30 year period." USA Today's Susan Page said studies indicate that female elected officials tend to seek alliances and common ground across party lines more than their male counterparts do.
Comments
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accountant wrote: "Find an example of either party doing anything to control the "unsustainable runaway government spending"."
There was a little of this in the 90's, Clinton and a republican congress, but you are right of course and I have never defended Bush II on anything. My point is "the people" this time clearly voted for the candidate of big government and big spending..
I asked this question yesterday. I am very concerned about statements made from the Republican Agenda on the Nov 7 CSPAN. The Tea Party said that they are drafting a new document called, "No Excuses". This document has 10 to 12 items such as no tax increase that the House and the Congress are expected to follow. They went on to say that their goal was to take over the Republican Party - 40,000,000 memebers strong.
Please the people of the United States so we can nip it in the bud.
@patisan politics
Everyone is still whittling around the edges.
"A democracy can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing, always to be followed by a dictatorship, then a monarchy".
And I'll add to that the words of Nikita Khrushcev, "We will bury you without firing a shot".
From Lou in Williamsburg, VA
One of your guests said that some Republican pundits such as Charles Krauthammer and Sean Hannity are making some overtures regarding possible policy changes to the Republican platform. I read Krauthammer's artice in the Wash Post this morning and I believe he called for a few changes to the process of presenting the policy but not to thge substance of the policy.
I find myself agreeing with Partisan Politics on something. He or she recommended the following article:
"Why Hispanics Don’t Vote for Republicans"
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/332916/why-hispanics-dont-vote-repu...
It's worth reading. If Republicans think that if they stop asking undocumented immigrants (not all are Latino) to self-deport and adopt some reasonable immigration reform they will win over Hispanics and other minorities, they are sadly mistaken. Immigrants came to this country because it was supposed to be a country where there was equal opportunity for all and where hard work could get you the American dream. That country no longer exists.
Every other major country in the world has some form of safety net for health care. We are retreating from the notion of a free and effective public education. We are becoming more like the economies many immigrants left where a small group of very rich people run the world and the deck is stacked against the poor.
Want proof? Consider the fact that we now cannot provide enough work to our students who graduate from college - regardless of ethnicity, race or gender. When people can't see a better future for their kids they will stop being complacent.
.From Lou in Williamsburg, VA
The comments being made by current Republican strategists serve to further convince me that most Republicans remain clueless about the developing mindset of the majority of the American electorate.
To put it very succinctly, the on-going recipe for reinvigorating the Republican party is tantamount to putting lipstick on a pig. More lipstick will not make me want to take a pig to the prom.
The ever growing majority of the American electorate finds the essential Republican message abhorrent and almost totally out of touch with modern American needs and desires concerning domestic issues and foreign policy. Whether Republican Party leaders like it or not, most Americans now and in the future will not be attracted to a political philosophy that yearns for a return to the America of 1954.
Speaking for many who voted republican including me:
We are actually libertarian in philosophy but realize that the majority of Americans do not even understand it, let alone agree with libertarianism, therefore we are forced to vote republican as the "lesser of 2 evils".
Libertarians are socially liberal and fiscally conservative. This message very much resonates with the youth as can be seen in the support the youth gave to Ron Paul.
I'm so glad your guests won't "paint all repubs with a broad brush". (The tea party unfairly was portrayed that way, but it was an amorphous group, some of whom may have been very right wing, but most of whom were simply against big government getting even bigger with the national debt and deficit getting even bigger. Very few if any were racist as the left charged.)
I think we need to go off the fiscal-cliff. Those stupid tax cuts will be gone for good, a half-trillion dollars in defense cuts will happen... think about it. The Bush tax cuts haven't been helping the middle class all that much. It will be a way to get taxes raised on the 1% without Congress. Boehner isn't going to work with the President. He's saying the exact thing he's been saying. The media has a very short memory, apparently.
1dondraper:
"Thanks Teece aka The Amazing Kreskin"
My point was that Democrats always seem to blow their advantage. Watch what happens. I would simply love to be proved wrong about this, but I suspect that, again, Obama's going to reach out to the Republicans and try to come up with some "grand bargain".....when in truth, he doesn't need to do a thing except sit back and let the tax cuts expire on December 31st.
Then let Congress come back and try to come up with a new set of tax cuts. Then when the Republicans try to put the wealthy back into the equation watch the clamor that occurs!
IleanaDU wrote: "I find myself agreeing with Partisan Politics on something. He or she recommended the following article"
The take away was the shortsightedness of the irresponsible and the need for the here and now it produces without any concern for the future.
"And I'll add to that the words of Nikita Khrushcev, "We will bury you without firing a shot"."
If you haven't seen this it's worth a read. Brace yourself.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/651116/posts
Ron Elving stated that "Reagan has been christened as king of American politics forever."
IMO, This belief is the central fault of American politics.
Obama during recent campaign spoke on many occasions that "trickle-down" doesn't work. Until this concept is successfully discredited by enough folks in America and in office, American economy will decline.
To build on your discussion about the wave of women who were elected, New Hampshire now has the first all-woman congressional delegation as well as a woman governor. This from a state that had unfortunately swung to the Tea Party in 2010.
I am a woman, mother, Asian, immigrant and independent voter. Yesterday, Senator Hutchinson commented on the harmful rhetoric from some of the Republicans running for office. It goes beyond rhetoric though. It seems like the party actually believes in these ideas. I want to vote Republican, I believe in fiscal conservatism. However, I do not feel that there is room in the party for me. I find the mean spiritness and judgemental tone from the leaders of the party alienating.
Tenacious-G wrote: "The Bush tax cuts haven't been helping the middle class all that much"
Bush tax cuts: $544.3 billion…The bulk of that cost — $463 billion — is for the extension of cuts for families making less than $250,000, including two years of relief for 2010 and 2011 for the middle class from the Alternative Minimum Tax.
The rest — $81.5 billion — is attributable to the extension of cuts that apply to the highest income families.
In other words, 85% of the tax cuts went to the middle class.
Please comment on the vast difference between the voting habits of married and unmarried women. McCain won married women by just 3 percentage points but look at this CBS exit poll, which confirms recent polls by ABC news and the Washington Post.
From CBS: Mr. Obama's support among women becomes clearer when you consider gender and marital status. While non-married women are overwhelmingly supportive of the president, 67 to 31 percent, married women favor Romney by a 10 point margin (54 to 45 percent). This pattern is apparent not just in the national polls, but in many of the swing state polls as well, including Florida, Nevada, Ohio, Virginia, and Wisconsin among others.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57546153/election-confirms-deep-ideo...
1dondraper wrote:
"I'm sure this is only a one way street. I'm sure conservatives are so tolerant. At least in hollywood, conservatives are allowed to thrive economically:
Clint Eastwood
Bruce Willis
Kelsey Grammer
Gary Sinise
Patricia Heaton
Jon Voight
Sylvester Stallone
---------------------------------
First off, Eastwood is not a conservative nor a Republican. He supported Democrats in California, including liberal United States House of Representatives member Sam Farr and Governor Gray Davis, whom he voted for in 1998. He is also a self-professed "liberal on civil rights," pro-choice on abortion, endorsed same-sex marriage, and contributed to groups supporting ERA.
The rest of the conservatives on your list were not active in supporting Romney. They also did not reveal their political ideology until they were well established in Hollywood. Meanwhile, young stars like Melisa Joan Hart and Stacey Dash were excoriated by the "tolerant" liberals for just mentioning they were voting for Romney.
I agree with Teece. Obama is in a good bargaining position.
My point was the Democrats always seem to blow their advantage-----really Teece
So, did Newt and the Republicans overreach when they shut down the government in 1996
Did the Republicans overreach when they inherited a surplus at the beginning of the Bush administration when they blew the surplus and spent like sailors on shore leave throughout the rest of their administration
Did the Republicans overreach when they took back the house in 2010 and were obstructionist (cue photo of Cantor)..adopted voter suppression as their mantra to win in 2012...shall i continue.
But, in your world, only the Dems are the only ones who do this
The caller says she voted for Obama not because he is black, but because she does not want African Americans to be pandered to which she believes the Republicans are doing.. What? Who pandered to blacks more than President Obama? Remember how he changes his speech patterns when talking to a black audience? This women is hallucinating.
I keep expecting Mitch McConnell to hold a press conference to announce that his party's priority is to make sure that Barack is a two-term president. LOL
I'm from Louisville and McConnell is absolutely going to be primaried, opposed or both. People are fed up! Everyone that voted in this election needs to get out and vote again in 2014 or this gridlock will continue.
The voters have spoken, they prefer Barack Obama over Mitt Ronmey. As long as the Republican Party continues to be identified as conservative with conservative values, which in and of itself is not a bad thing, they will probably no longer appeal to a new demographics of America. As an African American Democrat voter, I would have voted for Mitt Ronmey , however ignoring the environment, allowing Oil Drilling in Alaska, rolling back Obamacare without communicating a suitable replacement and finally, woman rights to control their own bodies, tilted me toward Obama. I think Obama fils on Public Policy.
"But, in your world, only the Dems are the only ones who do this"
Do not get me wrong.....as I said, and maintain. I truly hope that Obama now develops a spine and stands up for the expiration of the Bush Tax breaks.
I will be overjoyed if he does.....
I believe that is what the Republicans feared the most going into 2012.
But will he do it? We have about a month and a half to see.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/09/opinion/krugman-lets-not-make-a-deal.h...
robert sprogell wrote:
"I keep expecting Mitch McConnell to hold a press conference to announce that his party's priority is to make sure that Barack is a two-term president. LOL"
----------------------------
Well, the only President who believed he should have more than two terms was a Democrat. Even when FDR was dying from heart disease, he ran for a fourth term.
Values!
There is a fundamental difference between sticking to one's values and imposing them on others, republicans just don't get this!
Re: Susan Page's comment about Mr. Obama's "softer" tone in his acceptance speech, Ms. Page needs to understand that President Obama's first term was about getting re-elected. His second term is about his legacy. Neither term is about the country.
Pretty simple stuff, really.
Values!
There is a fundamental difference between sticking to one's values and imposing them on others, democrats just don't get this!
Associating the recent storm activity to "global warming" is patently dishonest and Diane has done it more than once since we first heard about Sandy. In a word - it's propaganda. Did any of you know that in 1954, 1955 there were SIX, count 'em SIX major storms that tore up the east coast. In the 30's the same. These are NATURAL cycles that occur every few decades and that is DOCUMENTED, not CONJECTURE. These cycles are caused by the alternate warming and cooling of the Atlantic and the Pacific - ALSO a natural cycle. You cannot offer one SHRED of evidence that these are tied to "global warming" - I can offer historical fact that says they are not.
The mantra that the President didn't get a mandate is just another way of rationalizing non-cooperation. The President won five out of six contested states, he won because the people chose the concepts of economic fairness, multiculturalism, women's equality and universal healthcare.
Rob
Fort Lauderdale