JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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- English Instructor (Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe)
- Berlitz Japan, Inc. (ベルリッツ・ジャパン株式会社), Kansai
- Salary: ¥125,000 ~ ¥250,000 / Month
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- FT English Teachers for Kids - Osaka
- Kohgakusha Co., Ltd. （株式会社興学社）, Osaka
- Salary: ¥255,000 ~ ¥275,000 / Month Travel Expenses, Encouragement of Japanese learning*
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- Translator
- ZAIHON, Inc. (日本財務翻訳株式会社), Tokyo
- Salary: ¥6.0M / Year Negotiable
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Klein2
Zenny is right here, I think. The debate has been going on for decades at least. Steel, autos, now call centers. Industries come and go and wages have a lot to do with comparative advantage.
I don't really "like" it, but the alternative is having everyone pay through the nose so that people can continue in their present jobs forever. People who are really good at their jobs and continue to boost productivity should keep them. Everyone else needs to do something else. That is how it works on the micro and macro level. Too bad it creates friction.
You know why I am an anti-communist? Because I believe that if you don't love your job, you shouldn't have it.
If Americans had really really really wanted to do call center jobs more than anything else in their whole lives, they could have kept that industry. But it was poorly managed and nobody really wants to study science and math anyway. They don't even want to be polite and follow procedures, apparently.
Someday, someone or some machine is going to take my feed bag. I am already getting ready for it. Are you?
And skipbeat, Mexican immigrants are lowering American wages, and computers are, and cheap gas, and Chinese trade, and no national minimum wage, and no mandatory health care for workers, and 401ks, and union-busting, and stock option compensation and greedy executives. Are we just picking on the Indians today? Low wages are part of what makes America great, and of course that cuts both ways, right? I just assert that, I don't know if it is true, but it is the Econ 101 explanation, and it seems about right.
"We need to bring these jobs back to US." Yeah. Because paying someone three times as much to feel entitled to a paycheck for cussing at customers is the American way.
Posted in: Obama calls India creator, not poacher, of U.S. jobs
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Klein2
"The rise of India and China is directly fed by the the decline of the USA."
"The old nonsense about how the economy is, um, like a pie ya see, and some people takes bigger slices than others, and it aint fair."
Did you guys trade brains or something? GJ takes the nationalist hard line. And Creosote seems to be agreeing with Obama.
Weird. You guys are sure you are arguing this the right way?
Posted in: Obama calls India creator, not poacher, of U.S. jobs
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Klein2
Why should she resign? I don't see what she did wrong. She knows where the bodies are buried. If she wants the fight, she should have it.
"Pelosi and all the Dems need to get on the ball and get the US economy back up on it's feet"
But only yesterday the GOP was crowing about how they are in charge. Did they give up already and just get back to "blame Obama" mode?
"Personally, I find her highly unlikable. Still, the Republican attempts to demonize her as some sort of archliberal fiend are a bit..."
My sentiments exactly. But you know, the Dem gals, if I may be so bold, are not mannequins. Anybody with half a brain in this world can be irritating, right wing posters on JT prove it every day. But Pelosi, Ferraro (check out what she said about the elections!), and Hillary are very very good at what they do. You won't catch Couric grilling them about what magazines they read, she will get her head bit off and run away crying and ashamed. If someone finds a Democratic Senator or Rep who happens to be a woman who could not beat O'Donnell at checkers, I will eat my hat. Even McMahon and Fiorina would be lightweights in the political realm against Pelosi, Boxer, Clinton, etc.
They are sharp. A lot of men don't like that. I think it is hot hot hot. And I can't think of anybody better anyway.
Obama wants to be conciliatory and compromising? Bah. Obama needs her in a gang fight. She will be the one swinging broken bottles in each hand. Pelosi is a wood chipper saying "FEED ME." Little Shop of Fargo.
She has another important achievement: she is the only Dem to whom Bachman and Angle have never said, "Man up." That says a lot.
Posted in: Pelosi will seek to stay as House Democratic chief
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Klein2
You know, I suppose another opinion about all this is that it might show that Russia secretly wants a deal, but they want 10 times more than it is worth. How do you go about getting that? Well, if you use this formula
value of islands = gain from resources + national pride + peace treaty + no more pains in the neck from Russian plutocrats
then you can see that the Russians being a major pain actually adds value to the islands.
The Russians don't really want the islands. Stupid rocks way as far away from Moscow as you can get. But if you want to deal them away, why not get as much as you can for them?
Putin: Dimitri, the Japanese are fighting with the Chinese, go to Kunashir.
Medvedev: What? Again? I hate that place. Send somebody else.
Putin: No. It has to be you. Kan will blow his top. Besides, I need to break in the new mayor of Moscow.
Medvedev: You promised you would make ME mayor of Moscow and now you ask me to do this. You know... one of these days....
Putin: (strokes his cat)... one of these days, WHAT, my dear Dmitri?
Medvedev: ....
Putin: That's what I thought. Now you are going to Kunashir and you are going to like it, or I will put a special mint on your pillow in some future hotel room.
Posted in: Russia flexes muscles over island spat with Japan
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Klein2
"“Layers of al-Qaida’s security have been slowly worn down and it’s much easier today to infiltrate these groups,” says Noman Benotman, a former jihadist with links to al-Qaida in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sudan, and now a security and terrorism analyst in London.""
It is so true. The efforts againt AlQ have entered a new phase. If you think about it, Bin Laden was starting to get old a decade ago, but he had a cadre of people around him that people knew and could vouch for. AlQ has since been put through a blender or three or four, and although there are a lot more pieces left to locate and track, that just means more opportunities for infiltration by anti-terrorist efforts.
You can't really say that AlQ has become manageable, but there are parts that are probably being managed and manipulated right now, setting up more opportunities to head off terror plots and cut out the nastier cancers as they metastasize.
Something the article does not say is that Iran going nuclear has really lit a fire under many countries to get this problem taken care of. Washington is probably seeing a lot less ambivalence these days from Arab states and others in the region.
It is a crummy time to be a terrorist. And that's a good thing.
Posted in: Spy agencies infiltrate al-Qaida
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Klein2
This is an exciting time for the GOP. All this conflict is going to help them resolve some issues that they have been wrestling with for years.
And the Dems have a definite role in that.
I think if you ran the game enough times, you would find that the pragmatists are going to win because they will help each other... cooperate... and the non-cooperative ones, the TPartiers, have probably already lost just by announcing that they will not cooperate. Either the GOP will reject them soon, or they will use them or sacrifice them to build goodwill with other groups, such as the Dems.
I predict they will try to buy off the TP Senators because they are there for 6 years and there are not that many. It might explain why Rove just stood back and let the TP Senate candidates lose. The Congressional reps will be generally ignored and replaced in 2 years. They are only good for one meaningful budget vote anyway. Kind of disposable.
That is the winning GOP strategy. Move to moderation and let the Tea Party martyr themselves as they slander Obama and lose touch... with everything.
Posted in: GOP says main goal is to deny Obama re-election
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Klein2
Yabits, if I was wrong about anything, it might be the legality of what Nixon did. He did it all right. He withheld funds because he was the executive, but I think he let up after he was threatened with prosecution.
But if Obama wanted to hold up subsidies to really wealthy Americans, he could probably get away with it. He could just order an audit of x and y before funds can be disbursed for xyz. Once the GAO gets in on things, everything gets fouled up. After all, part of his job is making sure things are done "by the book." Work slowdowns are often as effective as strikes.
This is why the GOP wants to compromise really badly. You think people are apt to riot about the deficit? What are they going to do when they don't get Social Security checks?
Posted in: GOP says main goal is to deny Obama re-election
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Klein2
"The good news for Obama is that in the latest polls, he is still competitive against a hypothetical Republican challenger in 2012. He trails Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee in 2012 both by a small margin"
Great news for Obama? It is great news for the GOP. The course is clear. If they can dump the Tea Party as a neo-Bush bunch of crazies, their moderates have a chance in 2012. If they keep the TP, then Palin will want to get involved and sink them all.
Let's face it, the TP are hucksters and everyone is figuring it out at the same time.
Posted in: GOP says main goal is to deny Obama re-election
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Klein2
Junnama. Here is something. Mitch MCConnel has announced that the GOP will NOT repeat NOT be trying to repeal the health bill.
I wonder how the Tea Party feels about that. I think the GOP does not care how the Tea Party feels about that. So it looks like Obama offering some concessions on the tax bill has got even the Senate GOP leaders looking at offering other concessions. Oh my.
Here we go the votes are even counted in all the races and the republicans are already backing down on one of their big promises, the repeal of health care.
I think the GOP and TP lied to the voters. They are already breaking their promises. It also shows that Obama and the Dems are scaring them. If they thought they could do it, the GOP would do it. Two days after the "tsunami" they are already running scared. Just as I predicted, the TP is being thrown out with the garbage.
Posted in: GOP says main goal is to deny Obama re-election
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Klein2
No mistake Molenir. I have been paying attention to this stuff for about 40 years now.
Yes the house has to do appropriations, but if the budget gets vetoed nobody gets any money. If the house does not give Obama a budget he wants to pass, he won't. Even continuing resolutions will come down to the wire and involve a LOT of compromising, which will make the Tea Party a laughing stock. People will get sick of them fast, and the GOP will be happy to let them take point while the GOP fat cats hunker down in the back.
Power of the purse? Sure. You did your civics homework. Let's see how that works against the power of the veto.
But yes, you are right, the GOP now can shut down the government. Of course that is true, and I suspect they will IF they are not willing to compromise. That is the only thing that has changed. The Tea Party can crash it all, which makes them a threat to the GOP too. To everyone, actually. They believe that money is more important than people, apparently, which is just the opposite of what they promised.
When push comes to shove, I suspect that the GOP will break. The pigs at the GOP trough are pretty big and they will get hungry fast. Also remember that if Obama does nothing, then Bush tax breaks end forever. They will have to be passed again, and I don't think that the fattest of the fat cats want to run that by the US public again without a war or depression to dull their critical thinking.
Remind me again why the Tea Party, friend of the working man, is willing to crash the government just to get tax breaks for billionaires. Why is that again? And it wants to roll back health care for ALL Americans to protect a system that benefits rich people. Is that right?
Boehner is flop sweating because he is starting to realize that dealing with the Tea Party is going to be one big headache. He is powerless if compromise is off the table.
By the way, if you want to see the creative stuff Obama can do with the budget when push comes to shove, go look up what Nixon did. It will curl your socks. HINT: Just because Congress appropriates funds, Obama does not have to authorize them. "Spend" them. Which means that if people REALLY want to get partisan, he can start cutting subsidies to GOP fat cats. Just for fun. Nixon did it. You might also look up what "executive" means. That way, Obama will be able to cut the deficit all by himself and let each one of those fat cats explain to the American people why money for some farmer's new yacht or some Texas rancher's new golf course is more important than medical care for children.
But it won't come to that, will it?
Posted in: GOP says main goal is to deny Obama re-election
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Klein2
"Governance requires compromise, and the American people expect their legislatiors to put the interests of the country above partisan political concerns."
Truth. The gospel truth. This is definitely true. Now check this out though. The Tea Party people believe that they were elected NOT to compromise. They really believe that.
The GOP, if it embraces that, is bringing its agenda to an absolute halt and surrendering its entire structure and leadership to the Tea Party.
If that threat arises, the Tea Party will be gone. Plain and simple. Marginalized. They cannot win again if they can't accomplish anything. And they will not get anything if they don't compromise.
That is why I say that Karl Rove has saved the Republic. He has given the GOP the clout and the opportunity to get rid of the tea party once and for all. It might take months, a year, or two years, but America cannot function with a House full of protest votes. The GOP can't either.
The only way it could is if the GOP/TP could muster 2/3 in both houses, and it can't. Not even in the worst of times with all the fear mongering they could possibly do.
Watch for more bluster and bluffing from Boehner. He knows that the only way he is going to get anything done is by forcing Obama and the Dems to give up. He can't stand up to the scary TP, and he thinks the Dems will cave. Forget it. The more he talks tough, the less likely it is that anyone will compromise. I think I see flop sweat there.
And Obama has already invited Republican leaders to lunch, for heaven's sake. He has nothing to worry about. He could offer the moon and the TP won't take it. It is an easy position for any negotiator when there is nothing to negotiate.
Posted in: GOP says main goal is to deny Obama re-election
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Klein2
Boehner has officially stated that the GOP's main goal is not to deny Obama reelection. McConnell has DEFINITELY said that is the main goal. The Tea Party has definitely asked for high ranking committee seats and positions, and the GOP leadership in the house has denied them.
The Tea Party has definitely stated that their number one goal is dismantling health care. GOP says that keeping tax cuts for the rich is the number one legislative priority.
And Boehner has said that Dems are "in denial" because they have not heard the voters' message. Uh huh. And if the GOP heard that message, then how come they are all spouting a different set of priorities? And I thought Angle, Fiorina, O'Donnell and others articulated the GOP/TP line pretty well, and they were rejected. Boener will say that the GOP represents all the people, but it does not even represent the tea party, apparently.
Word on the street is that the GOP cannot pass a budget in the house without tea party votes. That should make the GOP's idea of "compromise with Dems" a little bit tricky. And if the GOP is not going to give tea party people some tasty committee appointments, how willing will tea party people be to compromise at all.
Hit that GOP party with a hammer, and it will shatter into a million pieces.
Posted in: GOP says main goal is to deny Obama re-election
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Klein2
Wow. It took Mitch McConnell two whole days to figure out what a veto is. He could have read JT and figured that out before the election.
I think the headline says it all. Stay classy GOP. All of the balanced budgets (Rand Paul promised us one!) and program cutting (100 billion. That's a promise.) that voters wanted and every GOP candidate promised---it's all meaningless. Forgotten already. "We heard you America." is now "What has the electorate done for me lately?" Boehner says we are going to get more finger pointing at Obama for two years. Because it's easy. And because gooby GOP voters will fall for it over and over again. Karl Rove will see to that.
I see sharp salesmanship here, but where is the customer service? Where is the value?
Japan. It's like a Honda or a Sony. It just works. The US is a Magnavox or a Pinto. It's always gonna be something. And people seem to like it that way. They choose that. They chose it two days ago. Buy in haste, regret at leisure.
"we gave voters a real choice on Election Day.” -- Mitch McConnell
“the customer can have any colour as long as it is black”. -- Henry Ford
Posted in: GOP says main goal is to deny Obama re-election
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Klein2
Sarge, is it really all about Barack Obama with you guys?
I don't get it, it is like code. When "people like you" seem to be unsure of what to say, you just say "Barack Obama" and then a few more people chime in. It is the one thing that you all agree upon without question. Viscerally, you just despise the man.
I know you can't answer honestly in front of everybody, but just one on one, I would love to know someday why people, and specifically you, just think he is the most evil person to walk the planet since 1945.
I have plenty of my own mental problems, I know, but I could never really see the Obama hate thing.
Even with the election over, the motivation of many people is just to "undo whatever Obama did". It does not seem like much of a plan, and I wonder why this makes sense to so many people.
Posted in: Obama, GOP talk compromise, conflict
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Klein2
Here is a bold statement to get your brain cells moving. Just assume for a second that Karl Rove can get anyone elected. Assume he has the magic power to do that.
Don't you think he pretty well got exactly what he wanted in this election? High profile Tea Party candidates, people he can't control, like McMahon, O'Donn, Fior, Angle, Buck, and Whit, lose. People who are on board with the plan, like Rand Paul and DeMint, win. Who is the big loser? Sarah freaking Palin. And who wins? Karl freaking Rove. If Karl was just going down a sheet picking the winners, he could not have done better for the old line GOP.
Could you imagine a Senate with those people? How do you manage Angle/McMahon/O'Donnell/Fior? Loose cannons.
Considering that Palin's crew is beaten AND bankrupt, the TP revolution is probably already over. People just don't realize it yet.
Politics has triumphed over ideology, and this time the hero is Karl Rove. He has saved "business as usual" in Washington. Amazing. Darth Vader saves the Republic.
Posted in: Obama, GOP talk compromise, conflict
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Klein2
Creosote. I tell you it would be sad to see all of those people duped by the Tea Party find out that they have been duped by the GOP. Just sad. Common voters put a lot of faith and effort into the TP. Some put their life savings into it.
If the TP bungles things, nobody can sue them for fraud. If the GOP just destroys the TP out of spite, I won't be laughing. Sure, they will have nobody to blame but themselves, but taking millions of people and just destroying their hopes and lives to give a few more tax cuts to the 5% of Americans who own 40 trillion dollars of the world's wealth is something that brings out the Jimmy Stewart in me.
You just watch. Just watch. The GOP has set this up. The TP shoved the GOP aside and ran on GOP ballots and lost. Remember that? Sarah Palin endorsed a lot of candidates who lost. I think there is some payback underway because now is the time for Rove and company to squash some cockroaches who sneaked in the door. That IS what they do.
Just for fun Creosote. What would YOU be doing right now if you were an elected TP congressman?
Posted in: Obama, GOP talk compromise, conflict
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Klein2
"Kind of like the way Reagan used the religious right and then blew them off on issues like abortion and school prayer."
Yep. And the GOP used hispanics in Florida, Texas and California. They used grassroots Prop. 13 movements around the country. They used, and I actually know this, John Birchers during that era too. Well Palin's hubby was a secessionist. The GOP doesn't care. When elections come they need votes. When the elections are finished, it's members only time.
With the religious right, Falwell and Co. just sat down and bided their time until a few years later when they formed the Christian Coalition. Since that time, moderate secular GOP were presidential candidates, and the VP was from the far right or Christian right. Quayle, then Voldemort, then Palin. McCain chose Palin because she was the lesser of six evils.
Anyway, the tea party is secular, so it has no permanent base as the Christian right does. Ripping off the tea party will be child's play for the GOP. Since the TP could not pick off Coons, Reid, Bennett, or anybody in California, they can already be called damaged goods or incompetents. McMahon could not turn 50 million of her own money into a Senate seat, Whitman bucked the system and spent 150 million of her own money and lost, so the GOP will just simply call them all "risky" and dismiss TP candidates.
For one reason or another the GOP will marginalize the TP. The GOP rank and file will pile on just to get rid of the loose cannons and get even for the RINO purge.
Posted in: Obama, GOP talk compromise, conflict
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Klein2
Tim. Just wait and see. As I have said, if the TP can't see the storm coming, it is already finished. If they have no plan, they will never have time to make one.
I predicted it about two months ago, and now the press is picking up on it. Just start reading.
First of all, Molenir says TP is not GOP, but Rand Paul and the other winners ARE saying they are GOP and they ran as GOP. That shows me that there is a huge disconnect between what TP voters voted for and where the candidate loyalties lie. You disagree? OK.
Well Boehner has not thanked the TP and is assuming the TP mandate for the GOP. So Boehner will be telling TP people what to do. Even though many of these candidates were not supported or funded by GOP. You ok with that? OK.
Well how about all the volunteers and contributors who are locked out of GOP rank and file positions? Those TP candidates who won in the primaries and represented the GOP are done now. The GOP professionals are now getting ready for 2012 without letting in TP people. I know for a fact that this is happening in three states where the TP lost. Their whole machine is being shut down and moved out. That about guarantees that the TP is one and done. Still OK?
Well what about letting TP donors spend and spend and then having their candidates lose? O'Donnell is suing the GOP. McMahon, Fiorina??, Whitman, and O'Donnell people lost so big that they are drained. Does anyone in the TP think there will be anywhere near that much money for the next election? Nope. And no more will be coming from the GOP, either. You okay with that Tim?
And not last by a long shot, how about the fact that the Tea Party candidates are identified as GOP? NOT Tea Party? In the daily press, the tea party is just GOP. In six months, Fonzie will be better remembered. Karl Rove and crew will sweep them out of history like Chinese birth certificates for gymnasts. Boehner related his whole weepy 20 year history in the house, but he did not thank the Tea Party.
If you are Boehner and you know and probably support all of the above, are you going to give good committee positions to GOP or TP? Dumb question, right? Boehner is good at no brainers, so the TP people will be given the least influential and important committee positions, so none will come even close to being able to "earn their way" or "run on their record."
The TP will be right out there in front trying to do all the dirty work. Every program they cut will cut their votes. And when it is all done, teh GOP will distance themselves and blame it all on the TP crazy people. Then they wash their hands, and get ready for 2012. They will get the best donors and save the most money for their own candidates. They won't have to go way to theright to get votes. All they have to do is be a teensy bit less conservative than the TP candidate to capture the center. The TP is the fall guy.
Tim. You can't see all that, and I am not surprised. You are in love and you have stars in your eyes. Enjoy that honeymoon. But when you wake up next to Karl Rove, remember he has morning breath.
Posted in: Obama, GOP talk compromise, conflict
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Klein2
This might fit into the discussion. My feeling about the whole tea party/ midterm election is this: if the tea party is really sincere, they have got to see how far they can go with their ideals. If they just lied to everyone to get votes, they are the worst of the worst.
I am extremely pessimistic because I know what Rove and the GOP can do in Washington, and I know what the best of intentions can't do in Washington. Hence my attitude that the TP is going to wake up any moment now and find out it was used. Like badly used. Like violated.
Now I just saw an interesting little article in what is admittedly a goofy kind of liberal paper, but every Tea Party loyalist should give it a good read. Don't just skim it. Newsweek: How the Tea Party Plans to Put the Pressure on the GOP . The headline is kind of a lie. It is really about how DIFFICULT it will be to get any compromise in Washington to break their way because it is in NOBODY's interest to cut the budget and all the Tea Party people are raw frosh. But it rings true. Have a look.
Read the article and see what you think. There is tons of good food for thought in there. I will be the first to applaud the Tea Party if they can cut 100 billion from the budget, even though I think it is a bad idea, just because it will be about as likely an outcome as flying pigs. The health care bill battle was fought over quite a bit less, marginally speaking. Once it becomes clear how hard it is to cut this new and controversial program, how are tea partiers ever going to get to cutting the real pork?
I feel kind of sorry for the TP. Yesterday everybody was "on their side" and from today it will be in everyone's interest to keep the TP from taking their goodies. Indignance is not support, even if it wins elections. If the TP does not understand that, they are in more trouble now than they were 4 months ago.
Also on the web, much more partisan stuff about how Karl Rove's tactics win consistently. That is also a good read. The man is amazing.
And for what it is worth, I create jobs too. Full and part time. It is a hassle keeping track of all the paper work. You think libs are lazy? You think we don't pay taxes?
TheRat is right. Long before health care was the political football it seems to be, Cuban health systems were widely studied and generally admired. Their systems provide a good general level of care for pennies on the dollar compared to what people in the US pay. People will deny it and say that the observers are biased, but you know these are Swedes and Canadians and Americans saying this. People who are otherwise trusted in their fields, but who must be slandered by the GOP once they speak the truth.
I don't know who TheRat is, but he seems like a really common sense kind of person. More objective than most of us. Less likely to drink all the kool aid flowing so freely lately. Of course anybody with a decent memory is a genius these days. Anyone who remembers Reagan, Enron, Charles Keating, Joe McCarthy, and the Southern Strategy can pretty well chart out what the GOP is up to these days.
Posted in: Obama, GOP talk compromise, conflict
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Klein2
"There's a difference between compromise and doing what the republicans want."
Not if you are a Republican. I don't see a lot of compromise coming out of this. The GOP is just ornery. They would not compromise before because they were scared, now they won't because of hubris. There is no in-between with them, and if there were, the Tea Party would stomp it into the dust.
Nope. Many have been criticizing Obama for trying too hard to compromise, myself included, and that spirit of compromise that has prevailed will probably stop once everyone figures out that all the GOP wants to do is mess things up and take everyone's pensions and health care. They aren't serious about it anyway. I sure want to see some ideas from the GOP before anyone does any compromising, and that well is dry.
"has shown otherwise (Truman, Eisenhower, Clinton, who suffered similar mid term losses). They "
Those were cake walks compared to what FDR went through. His party got punished time after time until he wound up winning against Landon, who only got 8 electoral votes in 1936, I think. The GOP did not have much of a chance after that until after Truman.
I think history will show this election as a peak. Infighting with the Tea Party has already started, and the GOP had to give up the middle ground just to win where it did. They won't accomplish anything before 2012, and people will blame the GOP for a lack of progress.
When Fonzie jumped the shark, the Happy Days crew were certain that the show would go on and on, but that huge historical event marked the end of a legend and the end of the show. Now nobody can even remember who said "up your nose with a rubber hose." Its Tuesday 8 pm time slot was given to Temperatures Rising and Laverne and Shirley were the only poodle skirts left on the tube. In time, the comedy relief of the tea party will also fade and historians will forget who said, "there are mice with fully functioning human brains". And so it goes.
Posted in: Obama, GOP talk compromise, conflict