From VolunteerTV.com:
Lenoir City schools chief Wayne Miller says the public school system has taken several beatings over the years, and because of all of the changes and proposals from Nashville, many teachers have already walked out the door.
“As of the challenges have gotten more and more centered around the political aspects Ive had [...]
TNDP News
Wangari Muta Maathai (1940-2011)It is with great sadness that the family of Professor Wangari Maathai announces her passing away on 25th September, 2011, at the Nairobi Hospital, after a prolonged and bravely borne struggle with cancer. Her loved ones were with her at the time.
Professor Maathai’s departure is untimely and a very great loss to all who knew her—as a mother, relative, co-worker, colleague, role model, and heroine; or who admired her determination to make the world a more peaceful, healthier, and better place.
Prof. Wangari Muta Maathai started the Green Belt Movement in 1977, working with women to improve their livelihoods by increasing their access to resources like firewood for cooking and clean water. She became a great advocate for better management of natural resources and for sustainability, equity, and justice. A synopsis of her life and work can be read here.
Prof. Maathai leaves her three children—Waweru, Wanjira, and Muta—and a granddaughter, Ruth Wangari. They are truly very grateful for all the prayers and support they have received.
Further information on how Prof’s life will be celebrated, where to share memories and condolences, and how to join us to build her legacy for generations to come will be provided shortly.
-The above is from an announcement at The Greenbelt Movement website
-Thank you to Green Party Watch for sharing the sad news
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Video of an animated fable told by Wangari Maathai:
Video of 2004 speech about electoral concerns:
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Related Articles:
IPR linked to a Newsweek story: Women and Leadership (Including three Green Party leaders)
11/29/2010
In Copenhagen: Global Greens forum to address global warming (at onthewilderside)
12/09/2009
Kenyan Green party founder/Nobel Prize Winner Wangari Maathai 4/9/09 (at onthewilderside)
4/01/2009
I was thinking about writing this article about the tea party and how they went to Washington and kept true to their stated positions and didn’t sell out the people who voted for them but why bother that would be greek to democrats and republicans who bend when the wind blows. Instead I will try to figure out what party label to attach to Obama. Thus the question:
Is Obama a Great or the Greatest Moderate Republican President Ever?
Thanks to Stephen Colbert for the question and I’ll put you down as Great because I see you have some concern with the question. I know you’ve heard it said about the GOP that they are not your grandfathers republican party and thats right they are not. President Obama and his team are your grandfathers republican party. We are no longer a two party system, we are now a four party system. The Tea Party, The Right Wing Republican Party and The Moderate Republican Party (formerly a part of the Democratic party) and lastly standing alone the Progressive Democratic Party.
The three variants of the Republican party vote together and the only opposing voice comes from the Progressive Democrats. The last Democratic President, Bill Clinton, has extended himself in an attempt to help Obama find the Democratic part of himself but so far only the letter D following his name is evidence of any Democratic leaning or life. The Tea Party will probably demand that the letter D be removed from the alphabet and Obama will trip all over himself to get the alphabet reduced to 25 letters.
I wish the Tea party would take a position on ending the three wars now eating up all the money China loans us. Obama would be willing to hand strangle grandma to keep the wars going one more day. He just keeps on extending US involvement in a losing effort that is already lost to corruption and poppies. Is it possible to bring the troops home?
Thus the question becomes is it better to have a weak spineless Moderate Republican like Obama in the Presidency than a Tea Party Republican. Under either option the Tea party pulls the strings and Obama dances. This is a tough question but with the use of a powerful microscope we see that Obama wins by a hair and what the heck, Who else do You have to vote for? If Obama had accomplished anything or come out ahead in any negotiations we could spin a great record of accomplishment for him. Over two years into his term and still there are no jobs, unemployeement is pegged at 9.2% with a real value of 14%. The Democrats have not passed a budget in almost 2 years and the Bush Tax cuts for the rich have been extended by Obama and are a trillion dollars of the debt crisis we now face. This is a pure record of failure. Obama is quite proud of what he has been able to do.
Now bore me with your claims about the Obama health care package that is still undefined and changes everyday and lives mainly on the court dockets and makes only small marks in real life. It is ok to be a partisan. It is ok to support a political party. It is dangerous to be a fool.
Look closely at his positions and Obama is a moderate Republican of the early 1990s. The principles of his health care law, his cap-and-trade carbon credits, and his pairing of tax hikes with spending cuts were all Republican proposals before the GOP abandoned many of its best ideas in its effort to oppose Obama.
Obama embraces Republican policy ideas. Unfortunately, that means he loses and looks like a fool. Today’s Republicans have shown they’re ok with destroying the climate, blocking efforts to get health care to uninsured people, and generally ruining the economy — as long as they destroy Obama. Obama seems to have no self preservation instinct and to be completely dumb to the game. After playing the game for 2 and a half years Obama is not one bit smarter than he was at the beginning. His learning curve seems to go downhill.
I’ll put my money on Obama backing down, surrendering, giving in, folding every time and I’ll win every time. I voted for Obama last time and I’ll vote for him next time. He’ll pretend to be a Democrat and we can all pretend he cares about Democratic principles. BUT No more pretending that he’s not the most medicore president ever elected and no more fighting for a man who lays down and won’t fight for himself. Would I trust this man to watch my back? Please!!!
Amherst County Virginia Democratic News
After failing to fight to end the Bush Tax Cuts in 2010, and promising that he’ll fight to end them the next time around, Obama has, predictably, folded on ending the Bush Tax Cuts for the wealthiest Americans, tax cuts that have exploded the deficit.
President Obama is not pushing for the end of the Bush tax rates for the wealthy in negotiations on raising the .3 trillion debt ceiling.
Obama says he still wants to end those tax rates, but with time running out on the debt-ceiling talks, the White House made it clear that it has changed targets in the current negotiations. Obama only has one demand now. Give me a deal that gets thru 2012, past the election. If the Republicans say NO he’ll fold on this too.
Same Old, Same Old as Obama Folds Again. Is there anything, anything, anything that this President will fight for? Now somebody please explain to me why Progressives should support Obama’s reelection? And please save the But The GOP Will Win If We Don’t, because all we are getting is conservative policies and victories with Obama in office, and he hasn’t done anything to fix the economy other than a few half-measures 2+ years ago.
The Conservatives could not get more if they controlled the entire show.
Happy Birthday Mr. President. On August 4th when you close your eyes and make a wish before blowing out the candles on the cake, Wish For A SPINE. A 50 year old man needs one.
Orrin Hatch says take care of Big Oil and everything else will take care of itself.
The oil company exec. said it was Un-AMERICAN to take away their tax breaks and coperate welfare. UP jumps Republican Senator Orrin Hatch to agree that it is UN-American and to rise to the defence of the Oil Companies and their .00 a gallon gas. Republicans of Amherst County take a close look at Senator Orrin Hatch, these are the kind of people your wasted vote has puts in office.
Senator Orrin Hatch and the Republicans are willing to cut Cancer research, Medicare, Medicade, Social Security, Pell Grants for your kids and completely kill the Obama Health Care Program but they aren’t willing to tax the rich or to tax the Oil Companies.
Republicans are willing to short change education, layoff and cut teachers pay, pack 75 students in one classroom and end all womens health care services but they cry clown tears if someone asks the Oil Companies and Big Business to lend a hand and help out and pay some taxes. Most Oil Companies and Big Businesses pay No Tax at all to the United States Government. When you get a hamburger and fries at Wendys you are paying more taxes than Exxon or General Electric pays all year long and Republicans like it that way. Orrin Hatch was so upset that anyone would ask the Oil Companies to pay their fair share of taxes that he choked up and fought back tears. “Its UnAmerican he mumbled, UnAmerican”.
Republicans want to balance the budget on the backs of the poor, the working poor and the quickly disappearing middle class. There’s something wrong here and YOU, the Amherst County Republicans are part of the problem. You cast your vote based on social status, you look down on Democrats, on the poor and working poor and you are part of the middle class that is going away, disappearing. The republicans are laughin up their sleeves at you because they have been able to play you and get you to vote against your own interests. For some unknown reason you go along with the scam.
I am telling you at every opportunity that you are not using your God given minds to serve the needs of your future years, your children and a world for anyone who is not wealthy. You are selling your family and neighbors down the river by supporting the GOP.
Senator Orrin Hatch is a phoney, right wing, family values, republican who has been bought and paid for by big business. Hatch is just as worthless and useless as Bob Goodlatte, Ben Cline and Scott Garrett. If you can’t restrain yourself from the stupidity of giving republicans your vote at least ask them to represent you and the people who live in Amherst County. Bob Goodlatte is an embarrising nut job who votes against senior citizens, Social Security, Medicare, Pell Grants, school funding, unemployeement benefits, womens healthcare and anything not designed to help big business. Why do you support a worthless nutjob like Bob Goodlatte?
The Amherst paper endorsed Goodlatte because they said he believes in small government. If you are a senior citizen, a working person, a parent with children to educate, a person with older parents still living, an unemployeed worker, a woman with health care needs, a person who plans to retire someday or an average citizen of Amherst County then Goodlatte believes government should ignore you completely.
Bob Goodlatte doesn’t believe in small government, He believes in No Government At All except for big business. Why do you vote for a worthless nutjob like Bob Goodlatte?
Exxon Profit Up 69 Percent as Gas and Oil Prices Boost Top Five Oil Companies
Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell today reported first-quarter profit increases of 69 percent and 30 percent, respectively, from the same period last year. With rising gas and oil prices, analysts expected the five biggest oil companies — with Exxon as the largest — to report that they are swimming in revenue.
Exxon earned .7 billion in the first quarter, up from .3 billion. Shell announced profit of .3 billion in the first quarter this year, up from .8 billion.
ConocoPhillips said its first quarter earnings increased 43 percent to billion from .1 billion in the same period last year.
The price of light, sweet, crude oil futures settled Tuesday at 2.21 a barrel. Many analysts are waiting to see if oil prices will break the most recent high of Sept. 22, 2008, when oil settled at
0.92 a barrel. But Shorck said motor gas receipts are decreasing at the pump, as drivers purchase less gas. The decrease in driving could be a result of inclement weather, which is typical in the winter months, or drivers are beginning to alter their behavior.
The national average for regular gas is .88 a gallon, the highest since August 2008, according to the Department of Energy this week. At a certain point, there is an inability for producers to pass along these higher costs to consumers. “This will really come to roost in the second quarter for oil companies,” Shorck said. “Sales will be higher, but net income will likely lag.”
ExxonMobil’s CEO Rex Tillerson is the highest paid energy executive for 2010.
1. Rex Tillerson (Exxon Mobil): .5 million
2. James Mulva (ConocoPhillips): .9 million
3. John Watson (Chevron): .0 million
4. Peter Voser (Shell): .8 million
5. William Kleese (Valero Energy): .8 million
The top three paid CEOs of U.S. oil companies are managing the second, third and sixth largest companies of America’s biggest companies.
2. Exxon Mobil, 4.7 billion; .3 billion
3. Chevron, 3.5 billion; .5 billion
6. ConocoPhillips, 9.5 billion; .9 billion
After seeing how poor these oil execs. are you now understand why Orrin Hatch cries?
Put Your Pants on and Go Home John Ensign
The U.S. Senate Ethics Committee on Thursday publicly released a preliminary report on ex-Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), who resigned last week rather than face what could have been expulsion from the Senate for a variety of ethical misdeeds.
The headline was most certainly the news that Senate investigators have asked the Justice Department to review the possibility of filing criminal and civil charges against Ensign, who became tangled in trouble when he had an affair with the wife of a key staffer.
The Senate probe found “substantial credible evidence” that Ensign and his parents made false and/or misleading statements to investigators about ,000 that was given to Ensign’s ex-mistress. John Ensign is such a low life he even involved his own parents in this mess by getting them to write the checks and then lie to the investigators.
The money was doled out so that it fell just short of the level where gift taxes would apply, and to many, simply looked like hush money. Right wing republicns from the K Street Church handeled the deals, payoffs and coverup.
The committee report also accused the Nevada Republican of possible obstruction of justice, accusing him of deleting documents related to the investigation, even after being told to hold on to possible evidence.
The report also shed light on the involvement of others in trying to get Ensign to break off his relationship, as a group that included Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) held an intervention in February of 2008.
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) is another lowlife scum involved in trying to pay off people and cover up this mess. Coburn is a right wing, family values republican as are most of the players in this illegal funfest. Tom Coburn is up to his neck in decit and lies and unless he has been given immunity to rat Ensign out he is in trouble himself. Coburn hides behind religon and is disgusting.
“We’ll take it from here,” Coburn was quoted as saying. “We’ll take care of this.” Thats when the coverup and payoffs began. Coburn should be thrown out of the Senate.
During the meeting with Coburn and other members of the K Street Church, Ensign agreed to write a letter ending the affair with Cindy Hampton – but the report says he quickly called his mistress and told her to ignore the letter. Two days after the intervention – which took place on Valentine’s Day in 2008 – Ensign‘s car was spotted in the parking lot of a hotel, as was Ms. Hampton’s car.
One of the friends of Ensign called him on the phone and said, “I know exactly where you are. I know exactly what you are doing. Put your pants on and go home.” “Put your pants on John and go home,” was the quote. You don’t often see something like that in a Senate Ethics Committee report.
One final note – the head of the Ethics panel, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) said on the Senate floor yesterday that the mountain of evidence against Ensign might have ultimately resulted in his expulsion from the Senate. Just another reason why he resigned last week, before the case advanced even more.
And it’s another head-shaking example of how lawmakers – with seemingly nowhere to go but up – drive their own careers into the ground.
Here’s the entire preliminary report from the Senate select committee on Ethics, it was released only days after Ensign resigned.
On February 16, 2008, two days after the intervention, Tim Coe received a call from Doug Hampton. Mr. Hampton was looking for the Senator to have him sign some documents for the NRSC, and saw his car and Ms. Hampton’s car parked in a parking lot of a hotel close to their Summerlin neighborhood. Mr. Coe pleaded with him [Hampton] to go home. Mr. Coe called Senator Ensign and stated “I know exactly where you are. I know exactly what you are doing. Put your pants on and go home.”
Senator Ensign initially said he would not leave the hotel room, telling Mr. Coe “I can’t, I love her [Ms. Hampton].”
Senator Ensign ultimately agreed to leave the hotel. After he left the hotel, Senator Ensign told Mr. Coe that he wanted to marry Ms. Hampton.
Senator Ensign initiated the affair by contacting Ms. Hampton and asking her to meet with him. She asked Senator Ensign if he “lost [his] mind,” and he replied “yes.” Senator Ensign was very persistent and relentless in pursuing Ms. Hampton. According to Ms. Hampton, Senator Ensign “just [wouldn't] stop, and “kept calling and calling”, and would “never take no for an answer. “
Senator Ensign told Ms. Hampton on more than one occasion that he wanted to marry her. Senator Ensign told Ms. Hampton that he wanted to marry her while they attended the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. Family values republicans are big on attending the National Prayer Breakfast and other religious events.
In January 2008, Senator Ensign began texting Ms. Hampton again, and the affair resumed.
Senator Ensign also created email accounts with fictitious names in order to email Ms. Hampton, including
fredschwartz72@yahoo.com, mariaschwartz@yahoo.com, and
maryholland82@yahoo.com.
New, fresh embarrassment for family values Republicans comes for Tom Coburn and Rick Santorum, both of whom talked to Ensign about the affair, neither of whom ratted him out. Rick should be asked about this in one of the Republicn Presidental Candidate Debtes. All these lowlifes are part of the K Street Church crowd.
Ms. Hampton has declared bankruptcy and gone to work for a church.
Put your pants on and go home. I can’t Tom, I love her. The title here is a quote from Tom Coe of the Family. A very powerful GOP lobbying firm in DC also known as the K Street Church. It’s
contained within the ethics report out today on John Ensign over, the recently resigned Senator from Nevada, over his affair and illegal payments in a buyoff attempt. The details are like a Daniel Steele novel. Un-freakin-believable, some of them. The report concludes with recommendations for indictments. The charges are that blatant and that extensive. A rarity in the Senate to get
anything but a public scolding or a letter. Another kick in the backside for the family values fools who disguise themselves a republicans.
This particular quote was from a phone call between Tom Coe and John Ensign. Ensign had been spotted at a hotel by the husband of his mistress Cynthia Hampton. This was actually AFTER the affair had been uncovered. AFTER Ensign had told multiple people he would stop and AFTER he then aggressively picked up
his pursuit again. He had this woman and her family totally financially dependent on him and he was taking full advantage.
So somehow the husband gets word to Coe during the liason. Coe places a phone call to Ensign and delivers that message. Put your pants on and go home John. John Ensign said he couldn’t, because he was in love with her.
Both parties have had their share of sleezy stories. But the GOP never, ever fails to one-up them all with one like this. Easily the best one since Larry Craig went gay shopping in a men’s room stall. Larry Craig has a new book “Family Values and The Glory Hole” which is a sequel to his first book “I Am Not Gay”.
Well done, right wing, family values Republicans. Well done. As the Amherst paper would say, “They believe in small government”.
Tom Coburn. The clock is ticking for you too. You are an accomplice and aided the coverup by working out and arranging the illegal payment. If the Senate had any backbone they’d take you out too. Rick Santorum you are just a tag along dummy who now wants to run for the Republican nomination for president.
Good Luck. When you hear the expression “Family Values Republican” chills should cascade down your spine.
Catholic Church calls Republicans Anti-Life
Catholic academics accuse Boehner, Republicans, of anti-life cruelty.
Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), scheduled to deliver the commencement address at the Catholic University of America (CUA) on Saturday, has become the target of a public letter issued by a group of Catholic academics, many from CUA itself, who accuse Boehner and his Republican colleagues of promoting policies that are anti-life, and anti-Catholic.
The letter says in part: “Mr. Speaker, your voting record is at variance from one of the Church’s most ancient moral teachings. From the apostles to the present, the Magisterium of the Church has insisted that those in power are morally obliged to preference the needs of the poor. Your record in support of legislation to address the desperate needs of the poor is among the worst in Congress. This fundamental concern should have great urgency for Catholic policy makers. Yet, even now, you work in opposition to it.”
The letter accuses Boehner of being the ”shepherd” of the Republican House 2012 budget proposal which “guts long-established protections for the most vulnerable members of society.” The Catholics then pointed out to Boehner that he and his fellow Republicans were being “particularly cruel to pregnant women and children”, by severely cutting spending from programs such as WIC (Women Infants and Children nutrition).
Pointing to the “anti-life implications” of Republican policy, the Catholic academics call upon Boehner to recognize his “moral duty as a legislator to put the needs of the poor and most vulnerable foremost in [his] considerations.”
Boehner is a Republican First, a Catholic second and has so far issued no response to the letter. It is expected that Boehner and the Republicans will simply ignore the letter.
Bachmann Makes Another FALSE Claim
Last Tuesday, the Star Tribune gave Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) a op-ed in which she complained that Obama is causing gas prices to rise amongst other bits of nonsense backed up by industry-funded junk science.
Bachmann claimed that if we’d just start drilling in the ANWR reserve in Alaska and in the Gulf, we’d reduce gas prices. She believes 30 to 50 years worth of oil is in Alaska alone. She also used to believe that there was enough oil off of Virginia to replace the amount we import from Saudi Arabia each year. You see Bachmann is a complete idiot.
I know you are going to be shocked by this revelation, but she’s lying again:
Doug Holtz-Eakin, the White House’s Chief Economist under Bush, joined MSNBC’s Chris Matthews Tuesday to discuss the problem of rising gas prices. When asked whether the conservative “dig, drill” mantra would actually lead to lower gas prices, Holtz-Eakin – who was also the cheif economic adviser for Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) 2008 presidential campaign – offered a simple answer: “no”:
MATTHEWS: If we were taking apart the ANWR and drilling everywhere, would the price of gas be much different? In the world market, since this all fungible, if we were doing all that here in the United States, would the price of gas be much different? I’m just asking that question.
HOLTZ-EAKIN: No, he can’t change the price very much. So, I mean, he’s trying to do things-
MATTHEWS: But the conservatives are saying all you have to do is pump like-all you got to do is drill like-Pawlenty said, just got at this, dig, dig, and dig, drill, drill, and drill, and somehow the price
of the gas is going to go down on the world market. You’re saying that’s not true?
HOLTZ-EAKIN: Well, I mean, you can’t change the oil price very much with the U.S. exploration. It certainly can’t change it quickly. We know that. And I think Republicans have been honest about that.
Here at ACVDN we think Bachmann (like Bob Goodlatte) is so stupid that she believes all the crazy crap he/she spews. Keep on electing idiots and pretty soon the whole American system will belong to big business.
Stupid Right Wing Boners Continues, More Bachmann
Michele Bachmann: ‘I Would Have Congress Pass a Mother of All Repeal Bills’
Well, it looks like all of the potential Republican presidential contenders came out to kiss the boots of Americans for Prosperity’s Tim Phillips tonight. You’ve got to love what they called this event — the Summit on Federal Spending & Job Creation. Or in other words, Republicans reciting their conservative wish lists to continue slashing and burning the government and finishing off what’s left of the middle class in America.
Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann was the final speaker at the event, which included Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, former Senator Rick Santorum, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, and syndicated columnist, radio talk-show host and Tea Partying presidential candidate Herman Cain.
After telling the audience about her wish list for what the Republicans would like to do if they “win the trifecta” of getting both houses of Congress back and the White House, Bachmann proclaimed that she’d like to see the Republicans “pass a mother of all repeal bills” which in her words, “should take committed Constitutional conservatives about a long weekend to get it done.”
Michele Bachmann‘s lovely list she compiled for America is Tim Phillips and his astroturf Americans for Prosperity and their rich corporate donors’ wet dream, but other than in wingnut world, that little wish list of hers doesn’t work out so well for the peons.
Amherst County Republicans don’t let it break your heart but you are one of the peons just like the working people and the working poor and the disappearing middle class and the Democrats. Other than being a fool who has let the GOP pull the wool over your eyes there is nothing special about you, NOTHING.
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Republicans Don’t Like Their Candidates
A new Associated Press-GfK poll finds that 45% of Republicans say they’re dissatisfied with the GOP presidential candidates who have declared or are thought to be serious about running, up from 33% two months ago.
Just 41% are satisfied with the likely Republican field, down from 52%.
Republicans on Wrong Side of IssueA new McClatchy-Marist poll finds Americans heavily opposed to cuts in Medicare, the government health program for the elderly, or Medicaid, the program for the poor. Voters oppose cuts to those programs by 80% to 18%. Even among conservatives, just 29% supported cuts, and 68% opposed them.House Republicans voted nearly unanimously last week to drastically restructure and reduce those programs, while President Obama called for trimming their costs but leaving them essentially intact.
Very Close Race in Virginia
A new Public Policy Polling survey in Virginia’s U.S. Senate race shows a very tight race with Tim Kaine (D) barely edging George Felix Allen (R), 46% to 44%.
”With both candidates having their parties largely united behind them Kaine has the slight overall lead because of a 45-40 advantage with independents.”
Trump Implodes
A Public Policy Polling survey last month found Donald Trump leading the Republican presidential field with 26%. Four weeks later, he’s dropped all the way down to 8%, putting him in a tie for fifth place with Ron Paul.
Why Trump Imploded
Karl Rove: “He made his campaign all about an issue which was not at the center of the political debate; namely, the allegation that Barack Obama was somehow not born in the United States. That got blown up, but I also think observers have made the point — and I agree with it — that his swearing epitaph-laden speech in Las Vegas turned off a lot of voters.”
Top Alabama Democrat Says Party Has Message Problem
The new chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party Mark Kennedy laid out his plan to revive the once-dominant party to the Mobile Press-Register after Republicans swept every statewide office and took control of the state Legislature in 2010. His top priority? Define the message.
“Kennedy said Republicans can rattle off their core issues by rote — ‘low taxes, less government, strong military, more patriotic, on and on.’ And, he said, they have a powerful vehicle to communicate their message: ‘The worst thing going for Democrats in America is Fox News. How many times have you gone in the drug store or the dentist, and they have it on? They’ve got their talking points down pat, and they are being broadcast all over the country every day. What we’re not doing in Alabama — and I can’t really talk about nationally — we don’t have that same five-finger test. We don’t have a strong, understandable message.’”
Mark Kennedy is a brilliant man and has put his finger on the problem. We are not driving our message home.
GOP Honeymoon Over
A new Public Policy Polling survey finds Democrats leading the generic congressional ballot by four points, 45% to 41%, an 11 point swing since the November elections. Democrats also hold a seven point lead, 38% to 31%, among independent voters.
The poll also finds House Speaker John Boehner’s approval rating sinking into negative territory, 28% to 30%.
Boehner’s Short Honeymoon Ends
A new Gallup poll finds Americans are just as likely to say they have an unfavorable as a favorable opinion of Speaker of the House John Boehner, 34% to 34%. This is a significant shift from January when his positive rating was nearly twice as high as his
negative rating, 42% to 22%.
Trump Digs a Deeper Hole
The New York Times interviews Donald Trump fresh off his roasting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and catches him “doing what seems to come more naturally: lashing out.”
On Seth Meyers jokes about Trump: “Seth Meyers has no talent… He fell totally flat. In fact, I thought Seth’s delivery was so bad that he hurt himself.”
On marriage equality: “It’s like in golf. A lot of people — I don’t want this to sound trivial — but a lot of people are switching to these really long putters, very unattractive. It’s weird. You see these great players with these really long putters, because they can’t sink three-footers anymore. And, I hate it. I am a traditionalist. I have so many fabulous friends who happen to be gay, but I am a traditionalist.”
On his own wealth: “Mr. Trump, 64, repeatedly found ways to weave the topic of his wealth, and its reach, into the conversation. ‘Look at that,’ he interrupted, pointing to a giant white plane hovering outside the room’s windows. ‘That’s my plane. How beautiful is that?’”
Trump’s TV Ratings Way Down A three hour edition of Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice reality show on NBC last night “was the lowest-rated spring telecast for the franchise, dipping 23%,” according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Checking in on the Limbaugh Primary
Rush Limbaugh weighs in on last week’s Republican presidential debate: “Pawlenty seemed the most presidential, Santorum seemed hyper and wired up, and Herman Cain made me think
I was listening to me in every answer. Some of the others did, too, but this is not to be mistaken here for any kind of an endorsement, folks. I’m just telling you — and I’m not suggesting to you that any of these people could win.”
Palin Sinks Like a Stone in Alaska A new Dittman Research poll in Alaska shows Sarah Palin’s favorable rating is upside down at 36% to 61%.
For comparison, the U.S. Senate candidate Palin backed, Joe Miller (R), is even worse off at 18% to 73%.
And her arch nemesis, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), is at a sky high approval of 71% to 27%.
Should Angle win the Senate election — and signs point to that likelihood — it will send a fairly chilling message to other candidates running for office: mainly, you don’t have to talk to the press to get into public … Continue reading
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