The midterms: Who's the 'Party of No'?

AP

The GOP made it clear through Terry Nelson's visit to Alaska that the party supports its nominee for Senate, Joe Miller.

"The Republican National Committee turned the "party of no" label against Democrats in a new Web video, which clips together several Democrats' campaign ads showing different members opposing healthcare reform, cap-and-trade legislation, the stimulus bill and other items," The Hill writes.

Former New York Gov. George Pataki, who now runs the conservative nonprofit group Revere America, yesterday unveiled a seven-figure ad buy, part of the “Pledge to Win” campaign, which will target members of Congress who voted in favor of the health care reform law.

ALASKA: “National Republican Senatorial Committee senior adviser and veteran GOP strategist Terry Nelson flew to Alaska Wednesday night to assist Republican Senate nominee Joe Miller’s campaign,” Politico reports. “Nelson’s trip is also aimed at sending a signal to Sen. Lisa Murkowski that the national party is fully committed to Miller.”


ARKANSAS: "Former President Bill Clinton said Wednesday it would be a mistake for voters to give in to 'anger, apathy and amnesia' and deprive Arkansas of the Senate Agriculture chairmanship by defeating Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln," the AP writes. He said of Lincoln, "It would be a terrible mistake to squander something I have personally waited all my life to see, somebody who gets Arkansas its fair share and rural America its fair share."

CALIFORNIA: “State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner on Tuesday issued a distinctly tepid endorsement of Republican gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman three months after he was steamrollered in a bitter primary fight,” the Bay Citizen writes.

Per the Los Angeles Times, “The nation's largest business organization launched a multimillion-dollar advertising attack in California on Wednesday night on U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, part of a nationwide effort targeting vulnerable Democrats. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce began running ads in San Diego, Bakersfield, Fresno and Sacramento, where Boxer's Republican rival Carly Fiorina has shown strength. The first round of ads castigates Boxer's record on jobs and the environment.”

COLORADO: “Sen. Michael Bennet rejected the idea Wednesday of a new $50 billion stimulus package focused on U.S. infrastructure projects, dealing a blow to President Barack Obama's effort to rally Democrats around a cohesive economic plan,” the Denver Post reports.

Meanwhile, GOP gubernatorial nominee Dan Maes is “shrugging off the suggestion” from RGA Chairman Haley Barbour that the group will no longer help finance Maes’ campaign, the AP reports.

DELAWARE: Rep. Mike Castle and the Tea Party Express ramped up their ad buys on Tuesday night, Hotline OnCall reported, with Castle spending $75,000 and the Tea Party Express, “which does the bidding of Christine O’Donnell,” buying an extra $32,000 worth of ad time.

"Even as the tea party movement vows to spend $250,000 in the coming days to defeat Rep. Mike Castle, campaign officials from both sides of the aisle concede that Castle should capture the Republican Senate nomination in next week’s Delaware primary," Roll Call reports.

FLORIDA: “Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott announced he would take up Democrat Alex Sink on two of her five debate proposals in Davie and Tampa,” the Orlando Sentinel writes.

"In what could be interpreted as a sign of just how much trouble Rep. Suzanne Kosmas may be in this fall, the first six words of the Florida Democrat’s first ad of the 2010 cycle is an attack on Republican state Rep. Sandy Adams," Roll Call writes, adding, "Recent polling has shown Kosmas significantly behind with less than two months to go before Election Day, and the Congresswoman decided to focus on hitting Adams rather than the normal bio and introductory information that is associated with early campaign ads."

KENTUCKY: "Democratic Senate candidate Jack Conway on Wednesday reported raising more than $300,000 from his first Web-based fundraiser in his campaign in Kentucky," Roll Call reports. "Meanwhile, his opponent, GOP candidate Rand Paul, appealed to his supporters to help him raise more than $350,000 in two weeks for his fall television ad campaign, the Associated Press reported."

NEW YORK: "[D]espite the 13 ethics charges against him and a trial that could take place before the Nov. 2 general election, [Charlie] Rangel goes into next week's New York Democratic primary with a 20-to-1 financial advantage, support from the state's political elite and empathy from many constituents who believe he got a raw deal," AP writes.

NORTH CAROLINA: "The polling war in North Carolina’s 8th district continued Wednesday with a new survey from Republican Harold Johnson’s campaign showing the former sportscaster down just 5 points to freshman Rep. Larry Kissell (D)," Roll Call reports, adding, "The results paint a very different picture of the race than a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee poll from Aug. 25-29 that showed Kissell ahead 48 percent to 36 percent for Johnson. And just two weeks ago, Kissell’s campaign released an internal poll that showed the Congressman up 49 percent to 32 percent."

Discuss this post

They're off to the races, and the Republicans seem to have the inside track. The Democrats would probably be much better off if Obama takes a 2 month vacation.

I did some research on the 12 years that Republicans controlled Congress (1995 - 2006). The results are quite interesting;

The economic growth rate of Gross Domestic Product averaged 5.47% per year.

The Deficit averaged $104 Billion per year.

The Unemployment Rate averaged 5.02%.

A net of 21,367,000 million jobs were added .

The National Debt has averaged 62.04% of GDP.

The Public Debt increased by $1.36 Trillion ($113 Billion per year).

Since the Democrats took over Congress (including the legislative and spending agenda) in 2006 (4 years ago);

The economic growth rate of Gross Domestic Product averaged only 1.8% per year.

The Deficit has averaged $890 Billion per year.

The Unemployment Rate has averaged 7.5%, and is currently stuck at 9.5+%.

A net of 5.74 million jobs have been LOST to the economy.

The National Debt has averaged 77.84% of GDP, and is now over 93% of GDP (Greece had a meltdown when their's got over 100% of GDP).

The Public Debt increased by $4.46 Trillion in 4 years ($1,115 Billion/Yr.), (Obama's projection for 2010).

And remember, the "financial meltdown" happened 2 years AFTER the Democrats took over all legislation and spending, including Congressional oversight of Wall Street. Thanks Barney Frank & Chris Dodd.

I think it's good for people to have actual FACTS before making a decision. Perhaps having a Republican controlled Congress is a great idea.

PS - I'm not a Republican, and I never voted for Bush, but it's nice to have the FACTS for people to use in making a decision.

  • 1 vote
Reply#1 - Thu Sep 9, 2010 10:20 AM EDT

Your source? I've seen many figures and know better. Anyone can take any group of years they prefer and make them look good much like you just did with your post. Another Republican pretending to be a non republican spouting untruths to make a point. You haven't been financially conservative in a long time so stop trying to prove that you are.

    Reply#2 - Thu Sep 9, 2010 11:20 AM EDT

    AnaBanana-1782128 "Your source?"

    The government's own records - look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics for employment by year.
    All of the financial information for each year is available in the President's Budget, which shows the prior year actual results.
    The National Debt by day is found in "Debt to the Penny" - google it.

    Any other questions?

      #2.1 - Thu Sep 9, 2010 11:55 AM EDT

      Well Roy, since you compared 12 years of Republican control to 2 years of Democrat control, 2 of the worst years in American financial and employment history, why wouldn't the numbers favor the Republicans? And seriously, you"re going to pin the past two years on Democrats and absolve Republicans of any responsibility? Not Republican? I doubt it.

        #2.2 - Thu Sep 9, 2010 12:19 PM EDT

        Roy Wilson;

        You want me to compare records about debts that have already been proven as false for the last 8 years by Bush/Cheney administration? Really? They hid debt and you want me to give them an atta boy for it? Really? So I guess what you are saying is that the only deficit contributed to Barack Obama is for this year 2010 since last years budget was all Bush's doing, right? Ok, I'll give you that...... News flash!

        OBAMA HAS CREATED MORE JOBS IN HIS ONE YEAR BUDGET THEN BUSH DID IN HIS 8 YEARS OF BUDGETS!

        SEE ROY, anyone can play this game!

          #2.3 - Thu Sep 9, 2010 12:58 PM EDT

          ANA BANANA:

          Do some research........

          You show your intellect with that stupid azz monicker.......

            #2.4 - Thu Sep 9, 2010 1:17 PM EDT

            AnaBanana-1782128 "Roy Wilson; OBAMA HAS CREATED MORE JOBS IN HIS ONE YEAR BUDGET THEN BUSH DID IN HIS 8 YEARS OF BUDGETS!"

            Oh Really? What do the government records show;

            Here are the numbers for jobs created from the government's own Bureau of Labor Statistics;

            Average number of people employed in 2000 (Clinton's last year) = 136,891,000
            Average number of people employed in 2008 (Bush's last year) = 145,362,000
            Net gain under Bush = 8,471,000

            Average number of people employed in 2010 (Obama's first 2 years) = 138,687,000
            Net loss under Obama = 6,675,000

            Here is the link;
            http://www.nidataplus.com/lfeus1.htm#annl

            Of course, many people will say;

            Don't confuse me with facts, my mind's already made up” LOL

              #2.5 - Thu Sep 9, 2010 8:45 PM EDT
              Reply

              Roy, why didn't you just pick the last four years the GOP was in power? Oh, right, the numbers would look as bad or worse than the current four. You could have picked the last eight years, but they weren't too good with all the runaway spending on Iraq and deficit spending either. The only really good years out of those twelve are the ones where "W" inherited the booming economy, job growth, and surpluses from the Clinton administration. Too bad your party of "No" couldn't say no to spending us from a surplus to a deficit and couldn't say no to the outsourcing of jobs and financial giveaways and giving corporations, big business, and the wealthy everything they wanted with no reinvestment back from them in America. Plenty got invested in China and lots of money went missing in Iraq, but your good old party just watched America suffer as their buddies did very well.

              Cherry picking numbers only works on people who don't follow the facts. Unfortunately, too many lazy people these days would rather take the words of fools as truth than validate what they hear or dig for the real truth.

              Here's a fact for you (since you feel you can make facts up out of thin air). People like you who use slick number games just to play into the pockets of the same corrupt GOP that caused most of the mess we are now in are intent on destroying America and inflicting pain and suffering on millions of hard working people just to replace a president you dislike. Cutting off your nose to spite your face? OK, if it's just your face, but think about what damage you are doing for the next generations with going back to policies that will only widen the gap between the rich and poor and eradicate the middle class. It's not bad enough that 1% of the people already own most of the wealth. You guys want them to own 99% of it. You're digging your own graves and happy to do it. Please, wake up before it's too late for all of us.

              • 1 vote
              Reply#3 - Thu Sep 9, 2010 11:39 AM EDT

              sources plz!

                Reply#4 - Thu Sep 9, 2010 11:53 AM EDT
                You're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead.
                As a new user, you may notice a few temporary content restrictions. Click here for more info.