A freshman congressman unseated a 10-term veteran colleague in a bitter Republican primary in a redrawn Illinois district.

The Founding Fathers never intended that serving in Congress become a full-time career. We need term limits for the Senate and House.

Kinzinger voted "yes" to the oil industry receiving $30 billion in tax credits but then voted against funding health clinics for schools. Clinics which would provide primary health care for poor children. On the same day he also voted to allow the IRS access to women’s medical records and voted to disallow the deduction of the cost of a health insurance policy if it provides for abortion.

Go GOP!

I totally agree...maybe this is the beginning of the end for these career politicians that have every lobbysist in town in their pockets. It will probably take a lifetime to do so, since it goes so deep, but we have to start somewhere. Maybe these new young bucks will do whats best for this country and vote to limit term limits.

time to cleanout the closet.........nice move!

I hope we will see more career politicians get voted out. We need term limits. Regardless of the party, we want our politicians working for the people.

Combat helicopter pilot Tammy Duckworth, who gave both legs for her country vs. serial liar and deadbeat dad Joe Walsh...should be a good one.

Young is good, all the old farts need to be put out to pasture they are in someones pockets for sure, the young ones are like a new born baby still not corrupted ...

Vote out all incumbants and have term limits. I agree with Rick, anyone who has been there past 2-3 terms is more ripe for corruption. Lets take back OUR government.

John B: Dethrone Joe Walsh? What you have against The Eagles? Oh, not 'that' Joe Walsh? Oops, my bad...

I live in Northern Illinois and we are glad to see Don go. BTW, I am NOT a GnOPer. Also, Don was endorsed by the local Tea Party. So the reversal of 2010 is about to start.

ABCzyx:

You wrote:

"We need term limits for the Senate and House."

That was the point of the article. The voters limited the losing Congressman to 10 terms. The Constitution clearly states you may limit these guys to one term. It's up to the voter.

Why do you want government limiting your choices?

Bill Clinton for three terms! That would've been a treat. Limiting choices, hrumph.

Cleaning house seems to be a good trend. Ohio knocked out Kucinich and now Illinios knocks out another career politician. Maybe finally the American voter's are getting the picture, we need to clean out Congress and send anyone that has been in there for more than two terms to the unemployment line. Until we do this folks, nothing will get straightened out in DC.

Excellent point David. That's what voting is all about.

And if we had an educated and engaged populous it would be fine to not worry about term limits. Sadly we do not. The sheeple in their infinite wisdom usually just vote what their friends and neighbors do instead of actually finding out what a candidate's actual positions are. Then scream bloody murder when things are not going the way they thought they should. No, term limits are a good thing. Sometime you need to realize your weaknesses and deal with them.

all of you calling for term limits need to realize that we do have term limits. it's called voting. they are elected by the voters who don't vote for change, but for what they see as someone they know. they don't bother to got to the debates in their communities and get to know the new candidates.

Hold on. Incumbents enjoy tremendous advantages in these races that's why they usually win, and that's why we have career politicians. They have access they have the party machinery, they have money. Career politicians are bad for our democracy. Their job security takes precedence over their judgement. If you went to congress knowing your stay will be limited it would be much easier for our representatives to represent us, rather than themselves. Four year terms for everyone, congress and senate and the same rules as the presidency, two terms and then you move on. And get the money out of politics. The idiotic supreme court has screwed us on this one, insuring that millions will be wasted on these campaigns, by special interests. This is not in the best interest of our nation. The way things stand now people with money have an advantage in influencing our elections.

"The Founding Fathers never intended that serving in Congress become a full-time career. "

And yet by the time Jefferson was elected, the overwhelming majority of the congress had been there since day one. Do a little research before continuing to perpetrate a tired canard.

Every time a bill is put forward for term limits the democrats vote against it. It happened again within the past six months. Here are the results:

http://senateconservatives.com/site/votes/112/2/11?c=5R4F2B4F9B3A137

Kinzinger/Manzullo is about PAC/Super PAC money in politics and Eric Cantor's use of these to buy himself the leadership of the House Republicans. Cantor's greatest skill since he joined the House has always been his ability to fund raise. His PAC, and now his super PAC, have always had more money than he personally needs and he has used the extra money to support other Republicans around the country, basically buying their loyalty. How else could a very low talent legislator like him rise to a power seat where he can continually stick knives in Speaker Boehner's back. Little Eric wants to be the minority leader in the next session of Congress and couldn't count on Manzullo's support.

Rexy I think you are living in the wrong century.

Don't feed Rex, the troll

Sure Sailcat. That was a typical Republican response.

And yours was a typical Liberal response.

Thanks for not letting us down.

Out with the old guard, in with the TeaBag...

You have to admit Rex displays all of your charm and warmth, WCA.

What is even worse is that Rex got 4 votes.

So did WCA. Coincidence? I think not!

Sailcat,

What are you trying to say?

Rex and WCA have the same number of votes and I was expressing doubt that it was mere coincidence: the messages of both individuals appeal to the same people.

You realize the younger candidate is a deputy whip in the House. It is his job to make sure Republicans vote the party line.

And that the younger candidate is a minion of "I'll buy it all" Eric Cantor, the least representative person in the House, ever. Wake up, little Eric wants to buy himself a dictatorship.

beat him by saying: "No Republicans, not now, not ever".

True, we have a two party system, but they aren't the only ones on the ballot. In most elections there is an independent running. Vote for them! Vote for anyone other than a Republican or a Democrat. ANYONE!!

If you want change, and I mean real, honest change you are never going to get it with the current two party candidates. History has proved it. People say voting for an independent is a waste of your vote, but I say voting for either of the two parties is even more a of waste. If you are truly fed up with these two corrupt parties, we need to send them a clear message, and it starts with your vote.

As a card carrying liberal I've never said that conservatives WANT poor people to suffer. I just think that they are laboring under a false assumption. They seem to believe that government assistance is unnecessary because anyone who is poor has the ability to dramatically better his or her situation.

I disagree. Certainly there are many wonderful rags to riches stories and it IS quite possible for many poor people to improve their situations. However, those tend to be people that are unusually intelligent or lucky enough to be talented at something that is highly marketable. In some cases, it's just PLAIN luck.

I would argue that there are many people that are poor that have no real prospects of obtaining a more comfortable life. More than that, I believe that there are countless people out there that need assistance because they are physically disabled or have mental disorders, or are of very low intelligence, or are elderly or have had a run of very bad luck.

What it comes down to is that I don't want to live in a society that refuses to help people that need it. That doesn't mean I'm a socialist. It means I'm a normal human being.

Junicon

Amen to that, and if more were like you, maybe then God would be more willing to input.

Junicon.....I agree with you. If you haven't walked in the other person's shoes don't judge. Poor education is the major issue. Not every student has access to computers most schools are using them. Those of you that complain about helping the poor take you vacation in a neighborhood where the salaries are mim. wage. Most people are working 2 jobs just to eat. In these neighborhoods the groceries and gas are the same as those that make 20 to 30 dollars an hour.

@mark from Minnesota

"True, we have a two party system, but they aren't the only ones on the ballot. In most elections there is an independent running. Vote for them! Vote for anyone other than a Republican or a Democrat. ANYONE!!"

Amen brother, but we have to face facts here. The only way an independent can win is for everyone in the U.S. to pretty much stage a coup and everyone votes for the same independent. We all know that's never going to happen at least in reality anyways because we are too divided. Secondly, even if we have a predient who is an independednt, nothing is going to change such as he can't pass bills or reforms because our congress would be still a two party system. They will always look after their interests, then we would have to all vote them out of office, and we know that never going to happen.

JuniconWhat it comes down to is that I don't want to live in a society that refuses to help people that need it.

Actually no one wants this as you stated and unless the entire population are suffering and poor, this won't happen. We have Charities who help the poor in more ways than the government does. And the American people have always opened their pockets and yes homes to the poor.

You have to ask yourself one question, how did people in the 1600-1930 survive without the government? The surprising thing is they did survive with the help of their neighbors, friends, churches and yes even strangers.

Benjamin Franklin said “I am for doing good to the poor, but...I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed...that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.”

Which is exactly what has happen to this country, government has, by their programs, made it easy to stay poor, thus made more people poor. Ben was a wise man. Too bad no one listened.

It wasn't government that made it easy to stay poor. What a looney statement. People made it so that people stay poor. They did it with greed and by over populating. In 1935 there were 127 million people in the US. In 2010 it was 308 million. More than double. In 1935 it was largely possible for someone with some ambition and a good idea to build something successful and their odds were pretty good. Now, not so good. The simple fact is the numbers are against us and Republicans would do themselves and everyone else a favor if they could wake up and realize that things are not the way they were and never will be again. Quit trying to roll back the clock. It's not going to work.

Amused- we may not be able to roll back the clock but setting up the Federal Government as a welfare distributor is not the answer either. The States should be the ones to decide if they want to do it. Then the citizens of each state can decide if that is what they want to do. They have a perfect example of what it will look like it is called California.

Junicon

"As a card carrying liberal I've never said that conservatives WANT poor people to suffer. I just think that they are laboring under a false assumption. They seem to believe that government assistance is unnecessary because anyone who is poor has the ability to dramatically better his or her situation."

That's the way Hitler started in the 1930's, as a liberal .

Dan T,

The States should be the ones to decide if they want to do it. Then the citizens of each state can decide if that is what they want to do. They have a perfect example of what it will look like it is called California.

Dan,

One paragraph, and you summed it up nicely.

Thank you.

Another Conservative myth, that government programs somehow increase poverty. In fact poverty among seniors was cut by over HALF after the enactment of Social Security, even further after the passage of Medicaid.

The Great Society programs reduced overall poverty in the US by half. It wasn't until the GW Bush years that poverty started increasing once again. That's what total domination of the government by Republicans and 30 years of Conservative prevalence on economic issues accomplished.

I consider support from Cantor a great reason not to vote for a candidate.

Chip have you been to either of the legislative bodies and watched the process for an entire session. It takes several years to learn your way around . If you don't stay in long enough to get on the right committees you are just a body taking up space. Just like most voters don't educate themselves before casting their vote. Getting information from a 30 sec. sound bite is not how you learn what a candidate stand for.

So your argument is that we need to give them time to learn how to pork barrel or which lobbyist will give them the most money. Oh and since you are so educated please point out the part of the Constitution that mentions committees.

Talk is cheap. Money is power.

And the wealthy elites who fund the Conservative movement are spending a great deal of money to gain more power.

Mark from Minnesota- The country did that in 2010 and look how well that turned out. The teabaggers and gop all signed up with Grover and deadlocked all legislation and the country ended up with the likes of Scott Walker who is bought and paid for by the Koch Bros. The US Supreme Court -Citizens United- has destroyed our country's voting systems. This has been going on since Regan years. The 2 Bush presidencies have destroyed the US economic system, government, foriegn policies, unfounded wars and mountain of debt with which was laid at Obama feet. If money was taken out of elections and people actually ran for office on their own merits and credentials, we would have an improved system. The Supreme Court Justices should not be life long appointments. They have corrupted our entire system with Citizens United. That needs to be changed NOW! All the rich corporations got greedy and outsourced American jobs and still get by with little to zero taxes. Americans need to boycott items that are not produced here in the US. The wealthy are BUYING our government. Charity contributions are down because most have had their wages reduced, jobs losses and higher education fee's.

We need to vote in real people who have intelligence, integrity and no hidden agenda paid by corporations!

Vote Obama 2012!!

It's not the new way. How old are you square? I'm 67, and this happens every ten years if there is a change in the control of a state legislature. It was happening long before I was even born (in 1944). Throughout my life in OH, I saw this happen each time there was a change in control of the legislature just after a census.

There's not much difference between Obama and Bush except their names and parties. They're both politicians and that should be the warning sign as are the rest of the lackeys in office in both parties.

You know Conservatives have lost the argument when they start to claim presidents Bush and Obama are indistiguishable.

suzanne, have you become involved in the Popular Amendment Movement (faircampaignreform(d0t)us) yet? If not, why not? That is taking real action to correct the current mess of our election and campaign finance system. Ron Paul is NOT the answer and at least he will no longer be in Congress after this fall, since he has decided not to re-run for his seat. He is just one of many "lifers" who finally decided they had better get out before they got voted out. The best thing that voters can do if they can't find ANY candidates on the ballot that they feel they can truly trust is to cast a NONE OF THE ABOVE or NO VOTE ballot (write it in if you are allowed write-ins on your ballot, or cast that vote IF it is on your ballot, like in Nevada and the USVI.)

Petition for US Constitutional Amendment For Election Reform

We, the undersigned US citizens, duly registered voters in our respective states/territories, do hereby petition for our state to approve the following amendment to the United States Constitution by the method noted below.

Election Reform:
1. Abolish the Electoral College (Repeal Amendment 12)
2. ONE NATIONAL primary date to be held on the Tuesday eight (8) weeks prior to the General Election day for Congressional offices and for the President. Candidate petitions must be filed with the local/state elections boards 60 days prior to the Primary Election date. Federal election petitions shall be uniform in every state and shall include a “contract with the voters” that spells out clearly what that candidate stands for on all issues that they may have to address in elected office. They shall be held accountable in court for breach of that contract if elected and any/all terms are not met.
3. NO campaigning allowed for any elective federal office more than 60 days prior to the National Primary Date.
4. NO campaign contribution shall be donated to any candidate of more than $200 from an individual or $500 maximum from a family (spouses/children living in the same household.) No donations shall be made to a candidate more than sixty days prior to the primary date. No candidate shall contribute from their own funds more than 60% of the total donations from other private individuals.
5. NO campaign contribution from any PAC, corporation, union, non-profit organization, special interest group, etc. shall be allowed for any elected federal office.
6. NO third party campaigning (separate PAC ads, corporate ads, etc.) for/against any candidate shall be allowed at any time during or before the election season.
7. NO party conventions shall be held to select the presidential candidates. The selection must be done at the ballot box in the primary election.
8. The One Man/One Vote Supreme Court ruling shall be enforced by this Amendment, namely that NO federal candidate selection shall be by any means other than the ballot box on Primary/General Election Dates.
9. National Party Organizations shall NOT raise money for or donate to specific candidates of their party prior to the dates outlined above.
10. PAC’s shall NOT be granted tax-exempt status by the IRS, and any non-profit organization who uses their funding for political purposes shall lose their tax-exempt status.
11. All lobbyists shall be outlawed from influencing Congress at all times.

This amendment shall be approved ONLY by State Constitutional Conventions to be called within 90 days of this petition being submmitted to a state’s Secretary of State. A minimum of 25% of the registered voters in each state shall be required to further this petition to the respective Secretary of State.

Name Signature State Address

Petition for US Constitutional Amendment For Congressional Term Limits

We, the undersigned US citizens, duly registered voters in our respective states/territories, do hereby petition for our state to approve the following amendment to the United States Constitution by the method noted below.

Term Limits for Congress:
1. Representatives to Congress shall serve no more than two two-year terms in the House.
2. Senators shall be elected to no more than two six year terms in the Senate.
3. No elected official shall serve more than six terms in office in any combined elected offices (House/Senate/Presidency.)

This amendment shall be approved ONLY by State Constitutional Conventions to be called within 90 days of this petition being submmitted to a state’s Secretary of State. A minimum of 25% of the registered voters in each state shall be required to further this petition to the respective Secretary of State.

Name Signature State Address

I'm not a Democrat, But seriously, You must live on another planet if you think Republicans will make any gains at all after the pat couple of years

Bo,,,You are just like that lib Karvel that wrote the book about how the republican party will be dead for the next 40 years. That was right before they cleaned your socialist lib MOOCHER democratic clocks and took the house in that last election! What a putz!

The problem is that certain politicians (e.g. Ted Kennedy) have so much power and influence that no one from their party challenges them for the nomination. So if you were a democrat in Massachusetts, in order to "impose" a term limit on Ted Kennedy you would have had to vote in someone from the other party who you may have disliked more than Kennedy getting another term.

Do you really want your questions answered or would you even listen?

As a Vet of 2 foreign wars myself I can tell you it takes time to end a war with any amount of safety and organization, We're not talking about putting a dozen guys on a bus and moving them across town.

The taxcuts were extended by Obama for one reason, Republicans held 10 million unemployed workers hostage, If Obama did not extend the taxcuts millions of American workers would of had to sign up for welfare the next day. Good move Republicans, Extending UE benefits would of cost us about $30 billion, You add'd $500 billion to the cost by forcing an extension of the Bush taxcuts.

Obama add'd $3 trillion to the debt the month he took office, Debt that Bush had kept off the books, 3 years of the Bush taxcuts equal $1.5 trillion, The Iraq and Afghan wars run $300 billion per year.

24 straight months of job growth

It's idiots like you laughing

Bo... they can get them out almost as fast as they got them there. The point is that obama isn't making any movement in that direction. Our troops are still where they are not wanted.

Republicans held the unemployed hostage?!? wow... you must be one of those 1%'er people. If you want to blame someone, blame all of our government in office, both republican AND democrat.

Please tell me why obama keeps spending and spending. Why is the deficit still projected to exceed $1T for a 4th straight year. How long is a presidential term??? He's had plenty of time and he also has the ability to stop the spending.

The job growth you speak of doesn't even come near the number of jobs lost during his term. The unemployment rate is still at a huge 8.3% and the government always publishes a conservative figure, so it's definitely higher. The unemployment rate has been at or above 8 percent for 37 consecutive months and has never been above 8% for 37 consecutive months since the depression.

Yes... he's doing a fine job!

btw... Dont call people names. Act like an adult instead of a child.

Obama has set the schedule for leaving Afghanistan, We're already out of Iraq,,,,,,Have you watched the news or read a paper in the last 6 months??

Yes, Republicans vowed to hold up the UE extensions unless the taxcuts were extended, I'll blame both parties when both parties deserve the blame, In this case Obama did what he had to do to keep the UE off of the welfare list, I didn't like it, Apparently you didn't like it, But it had to be done to keep millions of American workers afloat.

$1 trillion for the 4-5th year in a row
$500 billion = Bush taxcuts
$150 billion = Iraq war
$200 billion = Afghan war

$850 billion of Obama's deficit right there?

That leaves $150 billion deficit

$120 billion in savings from the "failed" deficit talks

That leaves $30 billion deficit

Getting the picture??

Jobs? We were losing like 700,000 jobs a month when Obama took office (and several months before and after) It was nearly twice as bad as anyone expected, 8.3% unemployment sucks,,,,,,,,But actually the "norm" is around 6-7%(Lazy folks, Period)

OK, I won't call you an idiot, If you start to think things through instead of following the BS rhetoric of both sides ;)

"As a Vet of 2 foreign wars myself I can tell you it takes time to end a war with any amount of safety and organization, We're not talking about putting a dozen guys on a bus and moving them across town."

Obama escalated the war in Afghanistan with a "surge".

"Obama add'd $3 trillion to the debt the month he took office, Debt that Bush had kept off the books, 3 years of the Bush taxcuts equal $1.5 trillion, The Iraq and Afghan wars run $300 billion per year."

Wow. It really does not work that way, but mindless Obamabots never seem interested in truth. Bush way overspent, the Iraq war was a fiasco, but sooner or later President Obama is going to have to be held accountable for the decisions that he has made. He can blame Bush every time he makes a bad decision. Is he going to blame Bush if his NCAA bracket proves false? Americans are tired of lies and the blaming game! If he can't fix it, get out of the way!!! Americans need to listen to the CBO and not President Obama or the Republicans.

Our debt went up a lot under Bush, but not as quickly as Obama. On this day in:

2000 (Bush's first term) $5.75 trillion dollars

2004 (Bush's second term) $7.13 trillion dollars

2008 (Obama's first year) $9.55 trillion dollars from Bush (after his first month in office so must include your 3 trillion if that is correct)

Deficit went up just under 4 trillion dollars in Bush's 8 years.

2012 (Now) $15.56 trillion

The deficit has gone up over 5.5 trillion dollars in just 4 years under Obama where it went up under 4 trillion under Bush. Both are terrible spending sprees but one can argue that Obama was forced to spend because of the economy. Obama will not fullfill his promise to balance the budget in his first term, he has not fullfilled several promises and has done so much to continue taking away citizens rights that Bush started with the Patriot act. Obama has gone above an beyond though, basically ignoring the Constitution of the United States. This is not what the American people, myself included, wanted when we elected him. Most of us will be willing to vote for anyone else, no matter how bad, because we don't like rewarding liars.

BTW, how is the GITMO closing going Obamabots? Obama hated that these terrorists were being held without a trial, but now he has gotten his way and is able to hold American citizens for any length of time without a lawyer or trial. Also, President Obama can order the assasination of an American citizen overseas without the courts or the law being involved. He only has to say the word and it is done, no proof needed. Not terrorists, American citizens! Read what the ACLU has to say about Obama!

“President Obama's action today is a blight on his legacy because he will
forever be known as the president who signed indefinite detention without charge or trial into law,” said Anthony D. Romero, ACLU executive director. “The statute is particularly dangerous because it has no temporal or geographic
limitations, and can be used by this and future presidents to militarily detain
people captured far from any battlefield. The ACLU will fight worldwide
detention authority wherever we can, be it in court, in Congress, or
internationally.”

Obama, Bush part 2 but far worse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm very aware of whats going on concerning the pullout date. You're not getting my point. NATO is saying the troops isn't scheduled to be pulled out until the end of 2014! That's over 2 1/2 years. It didn't take them that long to deploy there. It's obvious that the people don't want our help, so lets get out asap... no delays... no set dates... start packing their duffle bags now.

There is always going to be push and pull, give and take. The people in office (both parties) are always going to do whats best for them instead of the public. No, I didn't mind the UE's being extended because obama wasn't doing what he promised. I promised a 6% unemployment rate if the stimulous was signed into law. It's hasn't even been close to 6% during his term. I get the picture... he is failing what he promised if concessions were made. He got them, but he didn't deliver.

I totally agree with you that people are lazy, but its very hard to get a job to support yourself or your family let alone dealing with low salaries and ever increasing healthcare costs and increasing cost of living. The rate of “underemployment” or “real unemployment,” including the unemployed, those who want work but have stopped searching in this economy, and those who are forced to work part-time because they cannot find full-time employment is currently 15.2%. There were 12.8 million unemployed Americans looking for work in the month of February, up by 48,000 from January. The number of Americans who worked only part-time in February because they could not find full-time employment was 8.1 million. The number of people who are available to work and have looked for a job at some point in the last year but are not counted as unemployed because they gave up their search is now 2.6 million. The number of Americans unemployed and searching for work for more than 27 weeks in the month of February. Since he took office, the number of people unemployed for more than 27 weeks has increased by 100% to 5.4 million.

I don't follow bs rhetoric... I observe and I lived it. I've been laid off twice and it took me 6-8 months to find a job to support my family. Once getting a job, it took over a year each time to recover from being without work. Please don't tell me what or what isn't bs when I was one of the statistics.

More jobs equal more tax revenue equal less debt. By the GNOPer's not helping to create jobs equal a slower recovery period. RWNJ's are all crazy.

With the way we vote, America has no chance. We only vote for Democrats and Republicans that are part of this big evil machine. They are the same, they only differ in the unimportant areas. To fix America, we need people willing to drastically change things, that means upsetting the trial lawyers and unions (something that Democrats don't want to do $$$$$) AND it means upsetting the Companies and the rich (something that Republicans don't want to do $$$$$)

Health care can be fixed, but not by forcing everyone to pay $1000 a month (or more) for insurance. Fix the real problem, the high cost, and then many of these ideas from both parties will work. Until you get costs down, nothing will work.

Simplify taxes, get rid of the thousands of pages of tax code loopholes. Don't let the rich and companies hide their money overseas like Apple is doing. Everyone that can read and do basic math should be able to sit down and do their taxes easily and quickly. This year my taxes with the additional paperwork now needed for selling securities exceeded 100 pages for Federal and State. That is beyond dumb considering I made less than $100,000.

Obama moved more jobs to Korea with the trade deal. Just ask the unions! Blame the GOP for Obama's decisions? Really? Must have gotten tired of blaming Bush? No way!