Rick Santorum has grabbed the President Obama’s war on religion narrative and has choked the life from it.  Santorum may prove to be more adept at scoring points from this talking point than Mitt Romney.  It’s his strength as the principled religious conservative in the race.  But this play will only work with conservative evangelicals, not the broad swath of support he would need in a general election.  One of the reasons Santorum is unelectable.

Related posts:

1. The GOP Debate Begins To Flesh Out The Winners From The Losers Two observations about the first GOP Presidential Debate: Mitt Romney...
2. The GOP’s Lazy Black People Meme Goldberg’s take on Republican strategy: Black people have lost the desire...
3. The Consequences Of Religious Zealotry We are an unhinged society: This is not the beginning...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

This speaks for itself:

Even needing to ask the question provides the answer. It matters not where he was born; this man is deeply and fiercely alien to the American tradition. He thinks ordinary Americans “cling” to Gods and guns because we are “bitter.” He believes we should “redistribute the wealth.” He thinks cops are “stupid” for politely asking a Harvard professor to show proof of residence when a neighbor reported a burglary in progress. He thinks that if Congress doesn’t immediately do his bidding, he can ignore the Constitution because he supposedly has a superceding need to”act.” He thinks government has a right to tell people when they have made “too much money.”

He is an alien menace.

This what the president is supposed to compromise with? This is what passes as substantive policy debate these days?  These people have no monopoly on understanding what “the core of America stands for.”  The sheer audacity, arrogance, and ignorance of this borders on the obscene.

Related posts:

1. Obama The African, Not The Negro The straw grasping begins: Taitz thinks that the birth certificate...
2. Thank You Rush Limbaugh… …For giving us a snapshot of the only possible direction...
3. Racism Fuels Newt Gingrich’s Campaign Newt Gingrich has always painted broadly outside the racial lines,...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

photo credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America

There may be a price to pay for intransigence.  Because of a deliberate attempt at self-sabotage by congressional republicans, an inability of Speaker Boehner to reign in tea party freshmen, and the likelihood of a substantial tax increase on more than 160 million Americans–something conservatives would normally consider anathema–they find themselves on the wrong end of poll numbers.

Given the need to bolster the economy, something only the President has seemed willing to do so far, Obama has made significant strides with the public on the country’s most pressing issues:

Obama’s gains have come at the expense of the Republicans in Congress and the GOP in general. By a 50% to 31% margin, people questioned say they have more confidence in the president than in congressional Republicans to handle the major issues facing the country. Obama held a much narrower 44% to 39% margin in March.

And the GOP’s overall favorable rating has dropped to six points, to 43%, since June, while the Democrats’ positive rating remained steady at 55%. “The Democrats do particularly well among middle income Americans, while the Republicans win support only from the top end of the income scale,” adds Holland.

Perhaps the strategy of congressional republicans is to continue its abject stonewalling, lest they risk making the economy better right before 2012 elections.  Politics before country doesn’t sound like a sound, winning strategy to me.  In a divided government, absolutism is the wrong play.   If their intended result was to achieve historically low congressional poll numbers, mission accomplished.

Related posts:

1. About That Revolution… Uh-oh: Exit polls showed independents supporting the GOP by a...
2. The War For Representation In D.C. While it may not seem important to some, there is...
3. Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 Plan Continues To Raise Questions Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 economic plan continues to get panned (pizza...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Ron Paul is now leading in Iowa.

Related posts:

1. Paul Ryan Attempts To Continue A Reckless Fiscal Policy   Paul Ryan portrays his budget as an earnest attempt...
2. The Real Newt Gingrich, Presented By Ron Paul This video leaves little doubt as to what type of...
3. Herman Cain And The Federal Reserve You’re going to see more of this as Cain becomes...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

With the hyper partisan climate choking the life out of Washington elected officials, Congress’ approval ratings have shrunk to unprecedented depths.  Their ability to conduct the people’s business as diminished significantly as their approval hovers around the nine percent range.  With many American citizens wary of the anemic efforts coming from the Capital No Labels, a bipartisan political organization dedicated to fighting political stagnation, seeks to remedy the problem.

No Labels has devised a simple yet significant 12 point plan to get Washington working again.  Make Congress Work seeks to rejuvenate congressional Washington politics and eliminate gridlock by initiating 12 tenets of governance.  Check out the video below:

The significance of this plan cannot be understated. The lack of cohesive leadership emanating from Washington has done more to dishearten and disenfranchise the average American–many of them already disillusioned with the process.  This is a pivotal moment in our nation’s history. Now is the time for bold leadership– leadership that coalesces around a sound set of principles democrats, republicans, and independents can rally around.

I’ll be featuring each idea espoused in the No Labels plan to get Congress working again.  An effective congress, governed through the will of the people is the key to charting a stronger future.

Related posts:

1. Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 Plan Continues To Raise Questions Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 economic plan continues to get panned (pizza...
2. Paul Ryan Attempts To Continue A Reckless Fiscal Policy   Paul Ryan portrays his budget as an earnest attempt...
3. Straight, No Chaser Quote of the day: I  don’t want politicians who are...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

It’s one thing to disagree on a particularly divisive issue–it’s entirely something different to engage in haughty, disreputable politics.  Mitt Romney’s shameful display not only reinforced his strained attempts at humanizing his candidacy–it showcased an utter lack of political savvy and genuine compassion.

At an event that was meant to highlight the endorsement of Romney by Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas, veteran Bob Garon of Ebson, N.H., asked the presidential candidate, who stopped by his breakfast table, whether he supports the repeal of the New Hampshire same-sex marriage law. A Republican-controlled legislature has moved toward repealing the law, enacted in 2009 when Democrats controlled the legislature.

A vote could come next month. Romney told Garon, who was chowing down on his everyday staple of scrambled eggs and shaved ham at the restaurant Chez Vachon, that he supports a repeal of the same-sex marriage law, prompting an emotional exchange.

“I believe a marriage is between a man and a woman,” Romney said, joining Garon in the diner booth after shaking hands with several other patrons. Garon responded, clarifying that what that meant was that if Romney is elected he would not support any legislation that would change the law so that gay servicemen would get the same benefits as heterosexual couples.

“I believe marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman,” Romney said. “We apparently disagree on that.”

Romney’s problem here is two-fold:  How legitimate is it to ask people to fight and die for a country that tries to disenfranchise them?  Romney may think he shrouds himself in the cloak of the constitution, but he only weakens his hand by subscribing to a distorted reading of that document.  I wonder how the Constitution views polygamy, a practice often associated with his Mormon faith?

Second is the more concerning human element to this story.  While Romney and Mr. Garon disagree on this subject, a prospective candidate for the highest in the land should offer more than just rote babble about constitutional practices.  Why not salute this man for his service to the nation?  Why not ask him about his tour or how he met his partner?  It may seem trite but for a man like Romney, often portrayed as a generic automaton in a Brook Brothers suit, it may have gone a long way in re-tooling his image.

Related posts:

1. The GOP Debate Begins To Flesh Out The Winners From The Losers Two observations about the first GOP Presidential Debate: Mitt Romney...
2. The Conservative Brand On Display Conservatives continue to push narratives outside the mainstream–and in the...
3. American Unexceptionalism WTF: “In my opinion, any mandate coming from government is...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

This video leaves little doubt as to what type of campaign President Obama would wage against republican nominee Newt Gingrich.  It’s brutal tone is only matched by its reality.  No matter how much Newt professes to be the outsider with a spine of steel, his actions and words always belie that.

The president isn’t losing sleep over  Mr. Gingrich, nor should he.

Related posts:

1. Racism Fuels Newt Gingrich’s Campaign Newt Gingrich has always painted broadly outside the racial lines,...
2. Paul Ryan Attempts To Continue A Reckless Fiscal Policy   Paul Ryan portrays his budget as an earnest attempt...
3. The Campaign Will End Before It Begins This is epic. Conservatives know Newt doesn’t stand a chance....

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

This is remarkable.

The quote of the day:

It’s unclear whether Cain’s candidacy is just part of his book tour, part of an effort to land a Fox show, or some sort of mere vanity project. But whatever it is, it is not a serious presidential campaign. Cain hasn’t earned the right to be taken seriously, because he hasn’t approached the task of being a presidential candidate with seriousness.

This sums up what Cain is about.  His lack of clarity and seriousness proves he’s all about selling books and increasing awareness for his radio show.  His focus lies with becoming the next Sean Hannity, not the next president.  He should stop wasting everyone’s time and energy and call Roger Ailes today.

Related posts:

1. Herman Cain And The Federal Reserve You’re going to see more of this as Cain becomes...
2. Herman Cain’s Sharia Law Problem Herman Cain tries to blend his sycophantic style into the...
3. Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 Plan Continues To Raise Questions Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 economic plan continues to get panned (pizza...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

A reader on the Dish writes:

I thought I’d write to you with our own experiences taking part in the Occupy LA protests. I’m in my early 40s, at a well-paying job as a web developer for a large hospital in Los Angeles. My wife and I have no children. We’re very fortunate – we actually have a steady income and good health insurance. Yet, we live in a house that we share with her cousin because we couldn’t afford our own place. The house is deep underwater, and we’re drowning in debt (and shame on us for not reading the fine print when some of the credit card issuers arbitrarily raised our interest rates to 30% on cards that had never had a late payment EVER). We’re barely making it check-to-check, but somehow we are still making all of our payments. It would be so much easier to walk away from it all, but we have a sense of responsibility to these debts that we voluntarily took on.

What we’re demanding – what people in the Occupy movement are demanding – is the same responsibility from these large institutions, and the so-called 1%. It’s really that simple.

There is nothing wrong with Americans questioning economic policies–especially given the catastrophic results of our economic collapse.  What is so radical about that?  If nothing else, shining a lens on the inequities of a system clearly geared toward enriching a certain element of society, is as democratic as it gets.  Since when is responsibility a one-way street?

Related posts:

1. The Disintegrating Middle Class It’s already on the verge of happening, but it’s magnitude...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 economic plan continues to get panned (pizza pun intended) by economists and even conservatives.  On the surface it seems like a blatant hosing of the poor, by shifting the tax burden more heavily upon their shoulders in order to create tax equity.  Cutting beneath the surface, Cain’s plan is simply a nod to campaign-speak– rallying his tea party troops with a dizzying amount of platitudes and talking points.  The idea of eliminating the tax code is a sound one, provided you have a substantive policy to use as its replacement.  Clearly, this is not it.  It’s more of a slogan.

Ezra Klein points out the plan’s potentially damaging effects on a key base of support for the GOP as well:

This plan wouldn’t work. Not as policy and, as I expect Cain will soon find out, not as politics. Moving to an 18 percent consumption tax is, among other things, very bad for older voters, who make up a substantial portion of the Tea Party base.

Jacking up taxes on the poor and the middle class even as you sharply reduce them on the rich and completely eliminate them on overseas income for corporations isn’t popular among anyone in the political system who isn’t specifically paid by the Club for Growth. The 9-9-9 plan is a great slogan. But the more seriously Cain gets taken, the more seriously the plan is going to get taken. And as that happens, it will soon become clear that it’s very poor policy.

Alas, more gimmickry from the only black man in America who hasn’t been brainwashed.  Perhaps a dunk in the tank is in order.

Related posts:

1. Herman Cain And The Federal Reserve You’re going to see more of this as Cain becomes...
2. Herman Cain’s Sharia Law Problem Herman Cain tries to blend his sycophantic style into the...
3. 999 Is Actually The Price Of A Pizza… And A Simple Plan Not only is it the price of a pizza, it’s...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.