As Tea Party cranks up heat on Congress, poll shows public support waning
The Tea Party is coming to Washington to turn up the heat on the Congress — just as a new poll finds that public support for it has waned.
Members of the conservative Tea Party movement plan to hold a rally on Thursday outside the U.S. Capitol, urging Republicans to stand firm in their showdown with Democrats over proposed spending cuts.
While the Tea Party helped Republicans win power in last year’s elections, nearly half of all Americans now have an unfavorable view of it, according to CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released on Wednesday.
The Tea Party’s 47 percent unfavorablity rating is up four points since December, and represents an increase of 21 points since January 2010, the poll said.
That drops the Tea Party into the same disapproval range as the Democratic and Republican parties, whose unfavorable ratings are each 48 percent. The Tea Party’s favorable rating of 32 percent is down five points since December.
“This is the first time that a CNN poll has shown the Tea Party’s unfavorable ratings as high as those of the two major parties,” said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.
Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political science professor, said voters have lost patience with Washington’s inability to reinvigorate the weak U.S. economy.
Conservative challenger daubs John McCain “Avatar” blue in primary attack ad
An attack ad this week daubing Arizona Senator John McCain with blue face-paint like a cobalt-toned creature from the sci-fi blockbuster film ”Avatar” triggered a row in the desert state’s increasingly heated Republican primary race.
Fiery conservative challenger J.D. Hayworth launched the ad this week attacking McCain as a fake conservative, with a tag line that reads “John McCain, nominee for Best Conservative Actor.”
The ad, showing a slightly uneasy looking McCain tinted blue, channels the 3-D epic “Avatar” about the battle for survival of a turquoise-hued alien species, which is up for a Best Picture Oscar at this weekend’s Academy Awards. In the political spectrum, blue represents the Democratic Party.
Last month, combative talk show host and former congressman Hayworth launched a challenge to McCain, appealing to the party’s right-wing base in Arizona, a state McCain has represented in the Senate since 1986.
Hayworth is assailing McCain’s long record of working with Democrats who control an increasingly partisan Congress, in what analysts have predicted will be a bitter, hard-fought campaign that lays bare ideological fault lines at the heart of the Republican Party.
McCain’s campaign on Thursday asked Hayworth to take down or apologize for the “insulting online ad,” although Hayworth subsequently posted a second version that only added more blue tint to McCain’s face, further stoking the row.
“The Hayworth campaign obviously understands that the ad is offensive since they’ve already changed it,” Brian Rogers, McCain’s campaign communications director, said in a statement.
I for one prefer the predictable sellout John McCain to an idiot talk-radio host. Who knows what kind of moronic legislation Hay-worth would support? Forget about actually writing legislation, he hasn’t got a clue.
Bush, Cheney meet for first time since leaving office
Former President George W. Bush and his former vice president, Dick Cheney, got together Thursday for the first time since they left office in January 2009.
The meeting took place at Cheney’s house in McLean, Virginia, just three days after the former vice president suffered a mild heart attack and was hospitalized overnight. An ABC News camera captured the moment. “Mr. President, welcome,” Cheney said as Bush stepped from the back of a sport utility vehicle.
“Looking good,” Bush said.
“Holding up alright,” Cheney replied.
“Looking good,” the former president said again as the two shook hands warmly.
“Could be worse,” Cheney said.
The meeting came on the eve of a gathering of Bush administration alumni in Washington.
HBC.
Interesting to note that after the Christmas day bomber was taken into custody, Rasmussen reported that 58 percent thought waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques should be used to extract information from the terrorist who tried to blow up an airplane full of people.
My oh my…how things change when people are threatened on their own soil.
But that isn’t the reason I don’t feel safer today. You can play that game of thinking for a person if you want to, but you would be wrong.
As for prosecuting anyone, it won’t happen. It isn’t justified and the American people don’t want it either. There are a lot of democrats who will go down with that sinking ship if it goes that way.
Oh, just my opinion…as always.
Conservative Rubio pulls ahead in Florida Republican primary
Conservative Republican Marco Rubio is building a lead over moderate Governor Charlie Crist in Florida’s Republican Senate primary, a contest highlighting the perils facing party moderates in this rambunctious election year, a poll shows.
A Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely Republican primary voters released this week showed Rubio, a former Florida House Speaker, with 54 percent support against Crist’s 36 percent. A poll in January had Rubio ahead by 13 points.
The primary race has echoes in Arizona, where veteran Senator John McCain faces his strongest challenge yet from fiery conservative J.D. Hayworth, who is attacking his “moderate record” on taxes, social issues and the bank bailout.
Rubio, who like Hayworth is a favorite of Tea Party conservative activists who hope to make a splash in the 2010 congressional election and beyond, is campaigning on issues including opposition to “excessive and wasteful spending in Washington” and big government.
He is assailing Crist for taking funds from the $787 billion federal government stimulus, and for his willingness to work with Democratic President Barack Obama — a definite no-no with Republican hard-liners.
“While Republicans were advocating for targeted efforts based on broad-based tax relief and spending reforms, Charlie Crist ignored those efforts, instead siding with Barack Obama and congressional Democrats in favor of the largest spending bill in American history,” Rubio said in a statement released on Wednesday.
Yes he is a progressive who loves destroying our country with latino gangs and the crud that goes with it.
I say round every one of them up and beat them back into Mexico. Kudos to the sheriff that won’t take it anymore.
We can’t rely on the Federal Government to do what they are suppose to do. They are a bunch of rotten, no-good crooks.
Clinton open to coffee with Palin
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is open to having coffee with former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, whose new book about the 2008 presidential campaign is stirring controversy.
“I absolutely would look forward to having coffee,” Clinton said from Singapore Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Clinton told ABC’s “This Week” that she would look forward to having a chance to actually get to meet Palin.
Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate, gives a nod to Clinton in her book, “Going Rogue: An American Life.” Clinton lost the race for the Democratic presidential nomination to Barack Obama.
Palin, a popular conservative firebrand who has been communicating mostly via Facebook since quitting as governor, opens a campaign-style book tour on Tuesday that will hit a dozen states.
Is she laying the groundwork for a 2012 presidential campaign, or simply selling her book, which currently sits atop the Amazon.com Top 100 Books list?
“I don’t want a religious nut making hard decisions”
Yeah. Me too. The IslamoMarxist that is currently residing in the White House really makes me angry!
“I would move if ..”
I hear that Hugo Chavez’s country is just lovely this time of year. It sounds, M. Anderson, that he is your kind of leader. Have a nice one-way trip and be sure to take a couple of illegals with you.
Palin: Ready to shake things up in New York
Sarah Palin on Thursday endorsed Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman over Republican Party choice Dede Scozzafava in a special congressional election in upstate New York that has the GOP divided.
“I am very pleased to announce my support for Doug Hoffman in his fight to be the next representative from New York’s 23rd Congressional district. It’s my honor to endorse Doug and to do what I can to help him win,” Palin said in a statement posted on Facebook.
“The people of the 23rd Congressional District of New York are ready to shake things up, and Doug Hoffman is coming on strong as Election Day approaches!” she added.
Some political observers view the election to fill the only open House seat this year — with no big names in the running — as an important fight in a battle for the soul of the Republican Party.
Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, made it clear she thinks her party made the wrong choice this time.
“Unfortunately, the Republican Party today has decided to choose a candidate that more than blurs the lines, and there is no real difference between the Democrat and the Republican in this race. This is why Doug Hoffman is running on the Conservative Party’s ticket,” she said.
When we read the blogs posted here and it is obvious that there is a definite difference between the liberal progressives and the christian conservatives and that is the way it should be.A classic of example to me of the difference is on the right the representative from Minnesota a lady who is now considered a new target for the Sarah haters who has 5 children of her own and with her husband have fostered 23 children.On the left is the members of the progressive liberal TV show” The View”who have attacked this lady in particular,and one of the group, in fact her publisher confirms that this view commentator has in fact had 6 abortions! So this is the difference and i am so pleased as to what camp i am part of! also thank you Sarah maintaining your principles.
from FaithWorld:
Obama evokes church/state divide at National Prayer Breakfast
Religion's role in U.S. politics was on full display on Thursday as President Barack Obama spoke and prayed at the annual National Prayer Breakfast.
Obama, an adult convert to Christianity, used the occasion to announce that he will be establishing a White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. This will replace or be an extension of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives established by former President George W. Bush, who was strongly supported by conservative Christians.
Some of Obama's remarks about the new office are sure to raise eyebrows in those conservative Christian circles. For example:
"The goal of this office will not be to favor one religious group over another – or even religious groups over secular groups. It will simply be to work on behalf of those organizations that want to work on behalf of our communities, and to do so without blurring the line that our founders wisely drew between church and state."
For many conservative U.S. Christians, it is an article of faith that the founding fathers in the late 18th century did not erect a wall to separate church and state. Many religious and secular liberals contest that view, making it one of America's never-ending culture war battles.
Obama also let it be known that while he is a Christian he is not about to favor one religious group over another. In his prepared remarks, he said:
Alex, many evangelical Christians thought they could trust George Bush because he was evangelical, and quite a few were disappointed by him. A lot of Jews trusted Bernard Madoff with their money, at least partly because he was a fellow Jew, and they got wiped out financially. With that in mind, can you really think you can trust a politician just because he’s a Muslim like you?
from FaithWorld:
U.S. ideology stable, “culture trench warfare” ahead?
The U.S. Democratic Party has gained a larger following over the past two decades but America's ideological landscape has remained largely unchanged over the past two decades, according to a new report by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. You can see the analysis here.
What is of interest for readers of this blog may be the implications of this "cultural trench warfare" -- with neither side gaining much ground from the other -- for red-hot social issues such as abortion rights and the future prospects for both the Republicans and the Democrats.
"The Democratic Party's advantage in party identification has widened over the past two decades, but the share of Americans who describe their political views as liberal, conservative or moderate has remained stable during the same period. Only about one-in-five Americans currently call themselves liberal (21 percent), while 38 percent say they are conservative and 36 percent describe themselves as moderate. This is virtually unchanged from recent years; when George W. Bush was first elected president, 18 percent of Americans said they were liberal, 36 percent were conservative and 38 percent considered themselves moderate," the report, released late on Tuesday, says.
On the divisive issue of abortion rights, the report, using survey data from October, said 57 percent of Americans believed it should be legal. Breaking opinion up by ideology, it found that 43 percent of conservatives were in favour of it being legal while 77 percent of self-described liberals held that view.
This is not surprising -- there are many Americans who regard themselves as economic or "tough on crime" or national security conservatives who still support abortion rights. What may surprise some is that 19 percent of liberals feel it should be illegal. These could be people influenced by Catholic social teaching or other trends who regard themselves as liberal on most issues but not this one.
For all the talk of an emerging evangelical center, the report says that: "White evangelical Protestants are the most conservative Republicans: 79 percent describe their political views as conservative, compared with 17 percent who say they are moderate and just two percent who call themselves liberal."
Please tell me how we grew to be the greatest most prosperous and most giving nation on earth BEFORE welfare and BEFORE social security and BEFORE WIC programs, and BEFORE all the other government subsistence programs? If I make a man dependent on me, is that a good thing; is it either stated or implied in the US Constitution?