There’s a lot of vote-the-incumbents-out rhetoric. But what if the replacement would be worse than the incumbent?
Here in Vegas where your Uncle Dave lives, we’re bombarded with the likes of Sharron Angle who is running against Harry Reid. Even some Tea Party leaders have distanced themselves from her idiotic statements and always say no to everything record in the Nevada Assembly. Right now, Reid and Angle are dead even in the polls. What a choice.
What can we say about Wednesday night’s U.S. Senate debate in a Delaware – an event momentous enough to warrant live national coverage on CNN, even though polls show Democrat Chris Coons is almost certain to defeat Republican Christine O’Donnell?
Well, it would be easy to point out the almost comical mismatch between the two candidates on policy grounds. On issue after issue, O’Donnell stuck with hollow platitudes, frequently contradicting herself when pressed for clarity. She called the national debt one of the country’s most pressing challenges, but then insisted that the Bush deficit-inflating tax cuts be extended across the board. Asked to identify specific budget cuts she’d support – and admonished not to cite the old standby of “waste, fraud and abuse” – she devoted more than half of her response to railing against “waste, fraud and abuse.” When Coons called for deporting some illegal immigrants, she claimed this put him at odds with the White House – even though deportations are actually up on under Obama. And on and on.
But O’Donnell is hardly the only Republican running in a closely-watched Senate race this year to be exposed as woefully ill-informed on policy – and many of them are probably on their way to victory anyway. Just look at the race in Wisconsin, where Democrat Russ Feingold schooled Ron Johnson in a debate earlier this week, even as polls show him falling hopelessly behind. We’d like to believe that elections are won and lost on policy, but they aren’t. So O’Donnell’s policy deficiencies didn’t lose her the debate, just as Coons’ effortless policy conversance didn’t win it for him.
* Morans is the correct misspelling of the widely known Internet meme.
@OP – nice troll.
Pardon me for pointing out the obvious but for for my lifetime we’ve been voting for the what we think is the best candidate. Obviously that system has failed and it’s devolved into a blame game with politicians planning for no further than the current election cycle. It’s why the social security trust funds were spent, the politicians who spent it did not have to pay a political price for it they’re out of the picture, but now the system is bankrupt. And that’s just one example.
Vote for candidates who are going to throw their bodies on the gears of the machine until it stops and breaks forcing us to fix it.
GO FOR IT NEVADA! I want Joe Miller in Alaska and this bigfoot/alien conspiracy nut in Nevada. I dare you! Vote for these folks! It will be SO funny to watch them, it’ll be worth it! The comedy alone will make the damage to their states worth it. Sweet!
You want to sum up American politics and our “problem”? Congress has a 20% approval rating and a 95% re-election rate. What does that tell you? It’s not THEIR fault (the politicians) it’s OUR fault. The voters are stupid, fall for vapid platitudes and ideas based more on magic and science…we get what we vote for, so deal with it. Everyone hates Congress and complains about it but likes THEIR local Congress person who will likely be re-elected.
Everyone wants to “cut the size of government” but wants MORE wars, bigger military, social security, Medicare, FBI, NSA, CIA, FAA, NASA. No President (including ALL Republicans) in the last century left office with government smaller in size or $ compared to their predecessor. So when I hear folks, mostly Republicans, tell me they want a smaller government, they’re liars. I’ve lived through Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush and Bush and EACH ONE OF THEM left with a bigger government. The last 2 major Federal departments (EPA, Homeland Security) were created by Republicans. I feel like Tina Turner and the government is Ike…”trust me baby, I love you…you know it…this time it will be different!”
Can’t we just call morons what they really are… morons.
Internet misspelling? Give me a fucking break!
Gee. Unka Dave. All you seem to be able to say is how the opponents of the Democrats are stupid. How about saying something truthful about the likes of Nancy Pelosi, or that slob Barney Frank?
Isn’t using a picture from Planet of the Apes racist considering our current president?
If all the “smart” guys have run the US into the ground over the years, why not let the “stupid” guys have a chance too?
doesn’t nevada have an actual voting choice of “none of the above” on the ballot? and if they do, what happens if “none of the above” actually wins the clear majority? i wonder if maybe we should see what would happen if they did that?
#26 Uh, we had the stupid guys in office from 2000-2008 and they did a good job running the US into the ground.
# 21 Breetai said, “we’ve been voting for the what we think is the best candidate”
Really? How many times have you heard people claim they voted for the lesser of two evils? Even in the 08 election, even republicans found themselves voting for Obama because – look at the alternative! McCain whose only real qualification was he was a lousy pilot and he married rich. Oh, and he was older than dirt. So the Chicago machine put up this young half black kid with a charismatic smile and non-nigra speaking voice. Oh, and a billion dollar campaign!
Amazing what a billion will buy.
I’m technically a democrat but I seem to find myself voting republican. I like the conservative ideals, I just wish I could get them without the huge dose of religion.
Uncle Dave,
I understand your predicament. We are having the same problem in California…
No one in Washington is running this country. We elect the people we’re told to elect.
Until campaign finance reform sticks, this country is run by Big Money. The most recent Supreme Court decision on the matter demands a Constitutional Amendment to be overturned. Democracy itself hangs in the balance.
Tea Party — if you care about your country more than yourself, more than your party, this will be your heart-and-soul issue. Your foundation. This is the only path to cutting spending and controlling the size of government.
Any of you willing to step up and do the right thing? You’ve all been awfully quiet about this.
S.
The Dumbocrats have controlled Congress since 2007 and they refused to listen to their constituents. Obamacare was shoved down our throats. They avoided town hall meetings like the plaque. They are getting their just deserts.
Oh! The Humanity!
http://politi.co/bqEhob
Yeah, cry me a river!
Waste, Fraud, and Abuse would be a good name for a band.
I’m with #10. Hell you should have seen the debacle of politics in the Cleveland area..
the fbi is wrapping up a years long investigation into county corruption. we make Chicago look like amateurs.
http://cleveland.com/countyincrisis/
we’ve been ruled by the morans, supported by from big business for years..
The problem with today’s politics is that many of the major candidates are unclear on political and economic concepts. The “Tea Party” seems to be unclear on everything.
What’s left? big business runs everything, and we’re left with no one in charge.
I miss Bill Clinton…he at least had a brain, unlike Dubya. I never had an issue with Monica or other Presidential girlfriends like Marilyn Monroe.
jbenson2,
What a crock. The GOP has been blocking EVERYTHING, the democrats control nothing. The dems are far too spineless for that. The right blocks everything then complains nothing is being done.
How something that was debated high and low could be consicered “pushed down throats” is beyond me. The GOP has no ideas beyond hate and greed and fear, and is betting on American failure as their path back to power.
Morans leading Morans? And this would be different how? Nobody every failed to win public office by underestimating the intelligence of the average voter.
Agree with the premise of the post. Everybody dislikes what they deem are incompetent politicians are prepared to replace them with retards.
I mean seriously, an anti-masturbation witchcraft worshiper who went to colleges that deny she ever existed?
Yuh know, HCR wasn’t shoved down anything. The majority plus enough to overcome obstructions voted to pass it. Those who have shit in their throats just happen to be sore losers. But maybe you like big things in your throats?
It’s one thing to elect intelligent people who have differing political views and connections to various interests. It’s something else entirely to elect truly stupid people who can do little but recite platitudes.
This O’Donnell..what’s she been doing for a living the last few years? Who here can claim, as she has, that they can live on $4,000 a year?