How gullible can the public be relative to the upcoming U.S. presidential election?
Do voters try, or want, to be informed? Do they really care who sits in the White House? Does the performance of the sitting president make any difference? For those who do care, where do they get their information and how do they judge the merits of the two candidates? What correlation do they make between the performance of the individual in the Oval Office and the economic health and safety of their country? What role do federal subsidies and handouts play in determining how citizens vote?
It is difficult to understand how the current race between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney can be a tight contest. Granted, an incumbent always has — or at least should have — an advantage. On the other hand, if the record of an incumbent is poor or bad, how is it that he is able to post high popularity and approval scores? The logical answer would be that his opponent is ill-prepared, has a poor record, does not have the experience to serve in the most powerful elected position in the world, is a poor campaigner or would be an embarrassment for the office and the country.
Obama has an extremely poor record in office. He has failed to measure up to the grand-sounding pledges he made in his 2008 presidential campaign. His pledge for “transparency” in his administration has proven to be a fantasy or farce. Unemployment has been above 8 percent for an almost-record time and the national debt has soared. He has played the class warfare game to try to divide the country rather than making good on his pledge to bring the country and its citizens together. Our standing among world nations has slipped, and our national defense is being tested.
This is just a partial list of his failures, but apparently a blind and deaf public or a public that really doesn’t care seems to be giving Obama passing grades.
While Obama has never had to meet a payroll, his opponent has an outstanding hands-on record in government and private business. He has served as a governor, headed the successful Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and, in one of his executive positions, created thousands of jobs.
The three primary weaknesses attributed to Romney seem to be that he is rich and doesn’t understand, appreciate or recognize the needs and concerns of the common man, that he hasn’t provided his federal income tax records beyond the last two years and that, while he was working for Bain Capital, some companies Bain represented cut their workforces or sent jobs overseas.
Never mind that President Kennedy and his family were extremely wealthy, that Democratic senator and former presidential candidate John Kerry is extremely wealthy and that Franklin Roosevelt was extremely wealthy. This didn’t disqualify them from seeking the presidency.
Likewise, a recent news story reported that out of 535 members of the U.S. House and Senate, only 17 made their federal tax returns public. Neither former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi nor Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid released their tax records. Apparently, it is OK for them to keep their respective tax records secret but wrong for Romney not to make his tax records public for the past 10 or 15 years. He released his tax returns for 2010 and 2011, but that’s not good enough for Pelosi and Reid.
Some years ago, one of the nation’s best known and most respected public opinion polling companies was hired to help elect a high-profile individual to one of this country’s top political offices. The firm was successful, but because it was successful, leaders of the company decided they would no longer take political candidates as clients.
Their reasoning was, “We found out it was just as easy to get people to buy a certain brand of bread or cereal as it was to get them to vote for candidate A or B. We didn’t like this and don’t think it is good for the country.”
Hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent this year to try to convince the public that one candidate is better than the other — or, in the case of Obama, to create issues designed to deflect attention from his own failed record and create diversionary issues to keep the public from realizing the seriousness of the nation’s weak employment and economic condition.
The fact is, Obama’s campaign is based on falsehood. Just recently, he made it clear what he thinks about free enterprise and entrepreneurship. He told the nation that private businesses or individuals did not achieve their success on their own through their efforts and hard work. He said, “If you have been successful, you didn’t do this on your own.” What a put-down.
Unfortunately, the major media of this country seem to be in bed with Obama. If George W. Bush had failed the way Obama has failed or said what he has said about the free enterprise system or called for higher taxes in a recession, etc., the media would have crucified him.
The major media have double standards for how they present Obama and Romney and how they treated Bush 43.
Again, how gullible can the public be relative to what qualifies an individual to be president, and how can three years of failed pledges and promises and a sick economy be overlooked?
Comments
anotherview 10 months ago
If want to learn more about why Obama's public approval rating is so high, I suggest you become better informed. You might start with reading the column by David Dad entitled "Obamacare is good for small business". You can find the article on page 7A of the print editions in todays Lawrence Journal-World.
LesBlevins 10 months ago
If the writer really wonders why the President's approval ratings remain strong, perhaps it's because the people are wising up and understand that it is Republicans who are blocking the President's jobs bill and there is a growing desire to send Republicans a message to help the President get the nation back on track. And if the writer cannot see this perhaps he would be better off if he moved out west where people get red faced and feel free to use the "N" word when discussing politics.
LesBlevins 10 months ago
The logical answer is that his opponent is ill-prepared, has a poor record, does not have the experience to serve in the most powerful elected position in the world, is a poor campaigner and would lead us backwards instead of forwards and end up being an embarrassment for and further marginalize the United States.
jhawkinsf 10 months ago
Obama and Reagan shared a common trait, something that gave both higher approval ratings than the results of their policies might suggest. They are both very likable fellows, the kind of ordinary guy we wouldn't mind sharing a brew with. I always said I'd love to share dinner with Reagan, though I didn't want him to be my president. With Obama, I'd like to take him into the driveway and shoot some hoops, though I don't want him to be my president. On the other hand, what would I like to do with Romney? Nothing that I can think of.
rvjayhawk 10 months ago
You have to be kidding. Obama is not a likeable guy. He is arrogant, conceited, and extremely dishonest. I would not shake his hand if my life depended on it. No one comes up through Chicago politics unless he sells out to the Daly regime. I will support almost anyone opposing him, Democrat or Republican. The reason he is doing well in pollis is simple. He has increased the number of people receiving government payments to almost half of our population. Most recently he overturned Clinton's welfare reform that had proven so successful. People on the dole are going to favor a candidate who promises to pay them for sitting at home, and now by Obama's executive order they do not need to even look for work. Obama is the worst president in our country's history!
none2 10 months ago
I didn't vote for Obama in 2008, but when I read posts like yours I can see why people defend him. You don't know the man personally, yet you throw out claims that he is arrogant, conceited, and extremely dishonest. You are convinced that being from Chicago he has to be corrupt. You want to vote for just about anybody but him. Now you want to blame his support on somehow buying votes with handouts.
I haven't gotten any handouts, and I am quite capable of making up my own mind up on how to vote. Personally, I think we need an intelligence and mental stability test for the privilege of voting -- rather than just voter ID. Anybody who states they will vote for just about anybody else on the most exaggerated complaints definitely has emotional or hormonal problems and shouldn't be voting until those issues are addressed.
rvjayhawk 10 months ago
So you think Dolph should not be allowed to vote?
cowboy 10 months ago
Good Lord....Dolph , its time to hang it up. My response is how can any educated person subscribe to the mantra of the republicans over the past 20 years and the absolute bat crazy approach of the last decade.
The repubs have lost the right to govern due to conducting the nations business irresponsibly to feed their donors needs only and left the citizen behind.
Marching out the droids for president and the utter failure of the congress of loons seals the fate of the republican party. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/19/1111855/-The-Chronicles-of-Mitt-July-19-2012
Larrytown 10 months ago
Let's see
When Obama took office...we were losing jobs at a rate of 600,000 - 700,000 /month. Now, we've added about 4.3 million jobs over the past twenty-some months. I believe the private sector jobs are now higher now than when Obama took office. The public sector jobs have suffered...it's been prolonged. That's particular interesting the past two years....in which Republicans won many seats in the mid-term election. Hmmmmm.....
Foreign policy/relations much better under this White House. Special thanks goes to Hillary Clinton.
Bin Laden.....dead
Recession started in 2008 (under Bush's watch)....ended in 2009 (under Obama's watch)
Stimulus bill - Saves/creates millions (range 1M - 4M??) and lessens the blow of the recession. Also, a big part of the stimulus bill related to tax decreases. Did I just say tax decrease?
Auto industry saved and flourishing....rather than letting them go bankrupted (Romney).
Romney - Accounts and tax shelters in Switzerland, Bermuda?, Caymon Islands. Business experience investing in companies and shipping jobs to overseas to maximize his own wallet. Past tax returns not released.
beatrice 10 months ago
Which stats were made up? If you are going to call someone for making a false statement, you should be able to point out the exact statement that is false.
Oh, and there is no apostrophe in our president's name. It is simply Obama, as in President of the United States of America Barack Obama.
cheeseburger 10 months ago
. . .and hopefully in six months - Former President Barack Obama.
beatrice 10 months ago
Even if your hope for change comes true, "Obama" still won't have an apostrophe.
cheeseburger 10 months ago
Well aware of that - that's why I didn't use an apostrophe. I'm not arguing with you about that, because you are correct. I simply said that I hope the word 'former' appears in front of his name in six months.
sasquatch 10 months ago
LT, Your liberal talking points are tired and not even accurate. Obama has done little to add jobs and the jobless rate has continued to hover around the 8% mark for nearly FOUR YEARS. The 4.3 million jobs you refer to are not necessarily permanent, full time jobs. This number reflects jobs gained and lost over the timeframe you suggest. The numbers for sustained jobs always fluctuate, but his numbers over four years of presidency are exceedingly low with no real relief in sight. Nice job, Prez.
The so called "stimulus" he saddled the taxpayer with was a sham. The nearly $900 billion dollar stimulus effort was a boon for government, but did little for the taxpayers - it created few long term jobs and certainly didn't stimulate the economy. Yet another failure.
Just as Obama inherited a recession, Bush also inherited a recession when Clinton left office. Job numbers were dropping and the economy was becoming very sluggish then when 911 struck the economy declined even more drastically. Bush was never fully able to regain the economy and thus Barry "got what he got".
Tax decrease by Obama? Yes he did approve a tax decrease during his 1st term, but one of the critical points in play now are keeping the Bush era tax rates. These low tax rates approved by the Bush Administration have helped keep the economy from becoming entirely stagnant. The fear of the tax rates returning to more historical higher rates is enough to slow the economy in itself. Don't really want to lose these tax incentives BHO.
Romney accounts and tax shelters in foreign countries??? Stop the presses! That is such a shocker, especially now that the DNC chair also has similar financial activities in foreign countries. Wow, what a shocker that politicians try to hide their money and not pay taxes.
Please get some different talking points that are even remotely correct, or at least more entertaining.
Larrytown 10 months ago
Dear God...where do I start?
Let's start with your recession comment above...if others want to chime in on the other items...be my guest.
Bush did not inherit the recession in question. That recession started in March 2001 (under Bush) and ended in November 2001 (under Bush). It lasted 8 months, peak unemployment reached 6.3%, GDP declined .3%.
Now let's move to the recession that Obama inherited (that is a correct statement). That recession started in December 2007 and ended in June 2009. It lasted 1 year and 6 months, peak unemployment reached 10%, GDP declined 5.1%. As far as comparing the two recessions....apples to oranges.
For those wanting to know the facts on the recession....just do a quick google search. It's that easy.
Adios!
Larrytown 9 months, 4 weeks ago
Get a clue? I having no idea what you are talking about. I provided facts about the two recessions...dismissing comments made by sasquatch who was trying to compare the two and also the timeline.
What is with the comment from Waxman that the economy has not recovered? Everyone knows that. As for the economy recovering (slowly)....it's been going on for the past 2-3 years. Your comment makes no sense.
Speaking of comments not making sense....what's up with the "some people call it a recession, I think it's a depression. Again, what's your point. Do you want to call it a depression or recession? I could care less what anyone calls it.
hear_me 10 months ago
Counter with facts please.
snap_pop_no_crackle 10 months ago
If you want the process of awarding hundreds of millions of tax dollars to big-money donors to the Democratic party to continue, by all means, re-elect the Mope.
oxymoron 10 months ago
Why don't we bring Halliburton and the other no-bid all fun funding we got from W to fight unneeded wars for oil?
rtwngr 10 months ago
Obama will not release his Columbia University and Harvard University transcripts because he attended these schools and received federal aid while enrolled as a foreign national. Home of record, Indonesia.
tomatogrower 10 months ago
Proof, please.
voevoda 10 months ago
rtwngr, Of course Obama is a U citizen, no matter where his family might have been living. That's because his mother was a US citizen and he was born in Hawaii. How do we know that he was born in Hawaii? If his birth certificate, certified by Hawaiian state authorities, isn't enough for you, the listing of his birth in Honolulu newspapers at the time it occurred can be explained ONLY by the birth taking place in Hawaii. Your subscribing to the ridiculous "birther" nonsense just makes all of your opinions suspect, rtwngr. How can anyone take anything you say seriously when you espouse such illogic?
acornwebworks 10 months ago
Why would any candidate for President have to release their old college transcripts???
And, if they haven't been released to the public, then how on earth do you know what they say? Ah...I know. You read a birther site and some guy sitting behind a computer who has also never seen them claimed that they said this.
No! You read a birther site written by that guy but he had read another birther site that claimed it, so he passed it off as the truth, and now you are passing it off as the truth.
I have a bridge in Brooklyn I would love to sell you. I promise that I own it.
bad_dog 10 months ago
Must have been the "C" in Home Economics or the tardy to class demerits...
scott3460 10 months ago
"He said, “If you have been successful, you didn’t do this on your own.” What a put-down."
Your insecurity is showing Dolph! I guess when you inherit your success it is a put down to be reminded of that fact. It is a fact nonetheless.
And too bad you are so intellectually dishonest that you resort again to partial, out of context quotation.
Finally, let's assume that everyone who is successful did it on their own. What role in their success did God's involvement and the American society built by others play?
Answer that, please, if you can. if you cannot, then it seems to me the President was correct!
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus 10 months ago
"The fact is, Obama’s campaign is based on falsehood. Just recently, he made it clear what he thinks about free enterprise and entrepreneurship. He told the nation that private businesses or individuals did not achieve their success on their own through their efforts and hard work. He said, “If you have been successful, you didn’t do this on your own.” What a put-down."
This is not what he said Dolph. Are you lying, or are you just repeating what you heard on Fox?
chootspa 10 months ago
Well, Dolph said Mitt Romney "would be an embarrassment for the office and the country" in this very article. Out of context quotes are fun!
scott3460 10 months ago
"“We found out it was just as easy to get people to buy a certain brand of bread or cereal as it was to get them to vote for candidate A or B. We didn’t like this and don’t think it is good for the country.”
Mittens, of course, is the republican nominee as a result of exactly this sort of detrimental advertising advantage he lorded over his competitors in the republican clown primary.
lecomptoncitizen 10 months ago
Well Dolph, read your commentary this morning and decided I was nuts to keep paying for the paper. So here you go, one less subscriber.
msezdsit 10 months ago
Do voters try, or want, to be informed? dolph simons
Do you want to try or even want to be informed, Dolph? Well here is a simple little test that will give you your answer.
1) Read the entire text of what the president said:
"If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet. The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together." President Obama
2) Read what you said the president said :
"The fact is, Obama’s campaign is based on falsehood. Just recently, he made it clear what he thinks about free enterprise and entrepreneurship. He told the nation that private businesses or individuals did not achieve their success on their own through their efforts and hard work. He said, “If you have been successful, you didn’t do this on your own.” What a put-down." Dolph Simons Jr (WOW, did I just type JR.)
Ok, I would print the answer upside down so as to not give it away but I can't so here it is.
If you answered (2) then you have answered your question NO you do not even want to be informed but rather you choose to be misinformed and continue to formulate your opinions based on misinformation.
Now, if you answered (1) Then your answer to your question is YES, even though, at first you were misinformed but now that you have seen the real and correct information you are willing to choose that.
I might add, I can't help to notice those 2 letters that always follow your name. (JR.)
"The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together." President Obama
“If you have been successful Dolph Jr. , you didn’t do this on your own.” You had some help from Dolph Sr. along the way. What a put down to him not to acknowledge this.
reality_check79 10 months ago
Les... Your right its all republicans fault Obama can't get things done!!! After all it is republicans fault he had both houses for years!!! It's republicans who took over the late Ted Kennedy's seat (how does that happen, oh Obama didn't support anyone)... It is republicans who are repealing Obamacare with the help of descending liberals everyday... It is republicans who protect his AG by lying and not releasing document's... It is those dirty republicans who are going for the highest tax increase in US history!!! Wow!!! Maybe I should be a republican hypocrite and bash all of the accomplishments of Obama!!! Hmmmmmm WAIT, nope still waiting for one....
acornwebworks 10 months ago
This was interesting...the first "Dolph is right about nasty old Obama" comment was astonishingly full of typos and grammatical errors, unlike all the previous comments finding fault with Dolph's thinking. (Jeez, the first sentence alone had 5 errors!)
I wonder if any of this says anything about the writer. Hmmm.
As an aside, I'd really like to know what a "descending liberal" is :-)
Phillbert 10 months ago
Gather around everyone so the multimillionaire can again tell us how we common folk are all stupid!
I'm sure Dolph wants us to vote for his fellow multimillionaire because he's thinking of the interests of working people. It certainly doesn't have anything to do with the massive tax cut that Romney would give to his rich friends (with tax increases and service cuts for everyone else.)
chootspa 10 months ago
The nails ladies just don't get Mitt's brillance, you know.
jayhawklawrence 10 months ago
I have been concerned about the content of conservative talk shows, particularly on the radio. They are very irresponsible in the things they say and they walk a fine line between what we would call free speech and what is almost sedition.
The Republican Party has demonstrated since the first day of Obama's presidency that they are capable of anything and they have become repulsive to many lifelong Republicans including former office holders. This is not the party of Ronald Reagan anymore.
Dolph is the one who doesn't get it.
woodscolt 10 months ago
troll
cato_the_elder 10 months ago
Excellent column. Nice to see so many leftist loons irritated by the truth.
acornwebworks 10 months ago
What truth? That Mitt has released his 2011 tax return??? Exactly where and when has this 2011 tax return been released, pray tell?
Or is it that folks like Dolph don't like the truth that entrepreneurs do NOT make it on their own? That they actually do need other people and they do need the contributions of other people...even if they don't think of the many ways in which those contributions come to them.
I don't know a single successful business owner who doesn't give credit to other people. Who doesn't acknowledge that, infrastructure and other supports aside, they simply can't do it all on their own. That's not an insult to them. Quite the contrary,
The concept of "self-made man" should not be misunderstood.
As Frederick Douglass, creator of the term, wrote, "It must in truth be said though it may not accord well with self-conscious individuality and self-conceit, that no possible native force of character, and no depth or wealth of originality, can lift a man into absolute independence of his fellow-men, and no generation of men can be independent of the preceding generation."
acornwebworks 10 months ago
Cato, in referencing Dolph's column, specifically stated that he liked the column because liberals were irritated by the truth.
My first sentence was "what truth?"
What part of seeing a correlation between those two statements are you having a hard time with?
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus 10 months ago
Your post just looked like a good place to accuse Obama of child molestation.
snap_pop_no_crackle 10 months ago
Most transparent administration ever? http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/07/18/Top-Ten-Things-Obama-Has-Not-Released The shade of Richard Nixon must be laughing hysterically at the things the current regime is getting away with.
cait48 10 months ago
You use BREITBART as your source? Seriously? This is the third monitor you owe me, snap, from spewing my coffee all over it.
tomatogrower 10 months ago
The Republicans have recently blocked a bill that would have gotten rid of tax perks for companies taking their jobs somewhere else, and given tax perks to companies who are bringing the jobs home. Maybe people are waking up to the fact that Republicans are more concerned about the bottom lines of these large corporations than they are about our country's stability.
Because of past policies most of our production has been moved to other parts of the world. Now consider this. The north won the civil war, because they had manufacturing instead of cotton farms. The US helped turn the tide in World War II, because we were able to convert our great manufacturing to the war effort. What if we were to go to a large scale war now? We could mostly just sell them foreign made goods and fast food. It would take a long time for the fast food to kill them, but the cheaply made foreign goods would just make the enemy really mad. Wake up, people. Who is really suppressing jobs?
cait48 10 months ago
In other news, Ann Romney is set to apologize for referring to the average American as "you people". She meant to say, "you peasants".
cato_the_elder 10 months ago
That's beneath even you. Your class warfare obsession is apparently worse than Obama's.
cait48 10 months ago
I fully admit there's a class war in this country. I don't mind paying taxes to help the poor. It's paying them to subsidize the wealthy that ticks me off. Your sensitivity to my post is quite telling.
markoo 10 months ago
Funny how it's called "warfare" when the lower and middle classes decide to fight back......
sunflower-voter 10 months ago
ABC reviewed the interview tape and reported Ms. Romney actually said "our people."
cait48 10 months ago
Actually, I just watched the video clip it came from. (Google it and you can too.) She did NOT say, "our people" (which to me, in some ways, would be even more insulting). On the other hand I can't clearly hear her say "you people" either. In fact, it seems to me she just said "people" after a small catch break in her sentence.
sunflower-voter 10 months ago
I wanted to listen to it myself and, while it actually sounds like "you people" to me, ABC News has stated the correct version is "And we’ve given all people need to know and understand about our financial situation and about how — you know, how we live our life.” No "our people" and, according to ABC, no "you people" either. And definitely no more tax records.
woodscolt 10 months ago
I watched the interview in real time when it was aired and she absolutely said "....you people need to know"
cait48 10 months ago
This tends to make me believe ABC cleaned it up and edited it later because there is a very real "catch" where the "you" would have been in the video version.
woodscolt 10 months ago
Yep, there was absolutely now doubt what she said. I was siting there completely astonished at her comment.
cait48 10 months ago
Just watched an unedited version on youtube and she really DID say "you people". Watch and judge for yourself. http://youtu.be/OFX7jqUW1-8
Yeoman2 10 months ago
Would sombady please point out to me just what the "concservative" element has to offer besides the never ending rant of "Throw the black Kenyan dude out of the White House"??
acornwebworks 10 months ago
How about ignoring the typo battle and answering the man's question?
And why on earth do you think it was a "slip" when Obama said “If you have been successful, you didn’t do this on your own”. It's the truth...it's nothing to be ashamed of...and any successful business owner will tell you that they couldn't have made it entirely on their own. Apparently you've never started a successful business from scratch all by yourself. If you had, you wouldn't be making this foolish claim. (And Dolph? The man has never started a business all by himself with no help from anyone. Not even a lemonade stand!)
cheeseburger 10 months ago
I get so sick and tired of people like Yeoman2 who consistently and continually play the race card, as if everyone who is dissatisfied with Obama's performance is racist.
I believe he is biracial - no more white than black, and no more black than white. So could Yeoman and his ilk please quit playing the race card? I couldn't care less what color his skin is - I want someone who is proud of this country and works to make it the best it can be - something the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. hasn't done a very good job of. Our president should not bow or kow-tow to other leaders or extremists.
Orwell 10 months ago
He's done a great job of it if you get your info from anyone honest. The only group that demands kowtowing would be the Republicans in Congress and their billionaire paymasters.
Yeoman2 10 months ago
There is a horrible tragedy unfolding in Colorado with the mass murder of innocents and this news rag publishes this rant of the Republican Terrorist Facist Party supporters that own this worthless "news outlet". Pretty typical of the brain dead manaagement.
verity 10 months ago
"It is difficult to understand how the current race between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney can be a tight contest."
Got that part right.
beatrice 10 months ago
Are you calling the Republicans who have said Romney should release his tax returns "Loons"?
So you really think tax returns of a candidate with funds in god-knows how many tax-shelter foreign banks and serious questions on whether or not he lawfully was receiving funds from a company he reportedly stepped down as its CEO is the same as a 20-something's college transcrips? Well, as long as you aren't being partisan ...
acornwebworks 10 months ago
A birther is calling someone else a loon???? What a joke.
Obama released his 2011 tax returns...Romney is looking worse and worse by not releasing his. Tax returns are something a presidential candidate is expected to release. College transcripts aren't.
If you want "fair"...how about this? When Donald Trump releases the astonishing information he claimed his private investigators found in Hawaii, then Obama should be required to release his college transcripts.
sunflower-voter 10 months ago
Really, who cares what President Obama's grades were in college? Crazy, crazy, conspiracy theory people? Yep, that's what I thought.
chootspa 10 months ago
Which is more relevant - a president once got a less than A grade in a class several decades ago, or a presidential candidate participated in an amnesty program after illegally hiding assets in a Swiss bank account less than four years ago? That's the best theory I've heard about why Romney doesn't want to show us his returns, and unless I see 'em, I'll assume that he's a cheating tax cheater that doesn't want to admit it.
I already know he's very rich and pays a lower effective tax rate than I do, so I'm not sure why else he'd hide his returns.
number1jayhawker 10 months ago
Very impressed with this article.
Goes to show you how ignorant some people can be by blindly following their leader without any kind of thought of their own. Works for both parties.
beatrice 10 months ago
Indeed. It certainly does show how ignorant some people can be.
Especially the part about criticizing the media. I always love it when the media criticizes the media.
yourworstnightmare 10 months ago
Obama is vulnerable. Race is at least a five percent loser for Obama, and the economy is still not recovering fast enough.
Too bad the GOP are so extremely to the right and really rabidly mouth foaming. Romney is a weak, failing candidate. A moderate republican could easily beat Obama.
The GOP base would not allow this, so they are stuck with Romney, a terrible candidate.
There is your answer, Mr. Simons.
Paul R. Getto 10 months ago
"Do voters try, or want, to be informed?" .... Short answer, no. Neither party is in the business of informing anyone. Another wandering rant from our local multi-millionaire.
cait48 10 months ago
"He said, “If you have been successful, you didn’t do this on your own.” What a put-down."
The irony and cognitive dissonance of this coming from a trust fund baby is just too much.
acornwebworks 10 months ago
It's not a put-down. Why on earth do you think it is?
Successful people know they didn't make it all on their own...and they're not ashamed to admit it. Never mind the whole infrastructure argument. It could be the spouse who becomes the primary breadwinner so that you can work on getting your business going. It could be your family members who pitch in and work for free because you can't afford to hire anyone yet. It could be your friend who lends you the $5,000 you were short to get your business off the ground. It could be the secretary you break down and hire, even though money is really tight, who not only answers the phone and makes appointments, but runs interference for you and gets you organized so that you can actually do what you need to be doing to become successful.
This doesn't take ANY credit away from the entrepreneurs themselves. It just acknowledges reality. Successful business people aren't ashamed about needing and utilizing help...so why on earth should other people be ashamed for them???
beatrice 10 months ago
"The major media have double standards for how they present Obama and Romney and how they treated Bush 43."
Finally, Dolph got something right: he realizes he does not represent "major" media.
beatrice 10 months ago
"The fact is, Obama’s campaign is based on falsehood. Just recently, he made it clear what he thinks about free enterprise and entrepreneurship. He told the nation that private businesses or individuals did not achieve their success on their own through their efforts and hard work. He said, “If you have been successful, you didn’t do this on your own.” What a put-down."
When a publisher of a newspaper takes a president's comments out of context to make his political point, then you know that the publisher has zero credibility. Zero. Or is he saying that his father really did build all the roads on which the company vehicles travel that today deliver these newspapers? What a crock. This editorial and its editor/owner are a joke and his paper should be sold alongside the tabloids proclaiming that Elvis is still alive.
Of course, this is also the same editor who frequently wrote about the virtues and qualifications of Sarah Palin back in 2008. Dolph is a party first hack who gives real journalists a bad name.
acornwebworks 10 months ago
Actually, the real question is if Dolph thinks that his dad did all the work by himself, starting from scratch, with absolutely no help from anyone else. (Or, actually, his grandfather, W.C.)
Considering that Dolph's family took over an existing Lawrence newspaper, I'm gonna have to bet the true answer is "no". What Doph thinks, though? Who knows.
voevoda 10 months ago
Mr. Simons, The simple reason that so many voters prefer Obama to Romney is the one you left out: Romney is running as a Republican. His own views and his past record on many issues are quite reasonable--Romneycare in Massachusetts is an excellent program, for example, and at one time he wanted the government to stay out of women's reproductive decisions. But too many of his fellow Republicans (for example Brownback) have endorsed radical positions that inhibit individual liberty and transfer wealth further from the working poor and the lower middle class to the super-wealthy.
While individual media outlets have shown bias, either for Obama or against him, overall the media available to the public display a very wide range of view. The LJW itself endorsed George W. Bush, John McCain, and Sam Brownback, so it's hard to credit your statement that the media have been pro-Obama.
bunnyhawk 10 months ago
"How gullible can the public be relative to the upcoming U.S. presidential election?" Good question! How can any working or unemployed American possibly think that Romney has any interest in promoting their interests? He repeatedly demonstrates an inability to even acknowledge that there are interests outside of his narrow purview! How many 'blunders' does it take for even loyal GOPers to sit up and take notice! Mitten is spoiled little boy who doesn't believe he needs to play by the rules because he's 'special.' He believes that he is entitled to his wealth and the rest of us are entitled to the droppings of his wife's very well cared for horses. He doesn't even believe that American children are entitled to any measure of the health care provided to his wife's horses. WAKE UP!!!!!
rvjayhawk 10 months ago
Bunny, you are the one asleep! If Romney has no interest in the public healthcare, why did he push his program in Mass? I am certainly no Romney fan, but he WILL be a thousand times better than the guy in there now!
snap_pop_no_crackle 10 months ago
Unemployment figures, anyone?http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444097904577539232803081536.html?mod=rss_Politics_And_Policy
acornwebworks 10 months ago
Produced by Steven Spielberg? Not hardly. You might want to read your own link again...like the very first sentence???
beatrice 10 months ago
Too funny. You edited your comment so you don't look completely foolish.
You had written it was "produced by Steven Spielberg" and you know it.
beatrice 10 months ago
Are you stating that you didn't initially state that it was "produced by Steven Spielberg"?
beatrice 10 months ago
He is also stating "Obama loses in a landslide." Facts and rockchalk1977 are not close allies.
beatrice 10 months ago
The only words you used that make any sense are "President Obama." All the rest is nonsense.
JustNoticed 10 months ago
I didn't get past this: "How gullible can the public be relative to the upcoming U.S. presidential election?" Well Dolph, the public can be just as gullible as you are.
camper 10 months ago
Ummm, because President Obama is the only candidate that behaves like a leader. His record would have been much better if the Republicans have not tried to obstruct virtually everything tried. I will never forgive the Republicans for what they did during the debt ceiling crisis.
The Republicans typical approach is to add more "H" instead instead of "C" to a bathtub that is too hot. Just after the the mortgage crisis nearly toppled the world economy, the Republican solutionn.......we need less regulation. I can go on. I think the writer of this article is gullible one. The one being duped.
Yeoman2 10 months ago
I keep wondering just how a community in "Red" Kansas that is an blue island of sanity in a sea of republican hogwash can have a newspaper owned by such a didicated right wingnut owner. He ought to move his operation out west to live with the idiots who voted in this governer and these two senators. Yoder, also. Lawrence deserves better for the population that lives here.
jayhawklawrence 10 months ago
The tone and the content of the arguments against Obama are what have been the most telling. It has nearly always been focused on political rhetoric, tricks, lies and false accusations.
It reveals much about what the Republican conservatives actually think of the American people....not much.
JackMcKee 10 months ago
Dolph has never been heavy on brains, but this was written as if Charles Krauthammer had a serious head injury. Good thing for Dolph he was born on 3rd base.
beatrice 10 months ago
He was born in the luxury suite. Are we surprised he now likes Romney and doesn't think rich candidates should show their tax returns?
Paul R. Getto 10 months ago
Thought he hit a triple too, he did. Born with a silver typewriter in his mouth.
camper 10 months ago
" He told the nation that private businesses or individuals did not achieve their success on their own through their efforts and hard work. He said, “If you have been successful, you didn’t do this on your own.” What a put-down."
Hogwash. Everyone has a better chance at achieving success because of our infrastructure, rule of law.....etc. At best, it enables our freedoms. It is like my baseball analogy. George Brett......the greatest hitter post Ted Williams, but it is still the Royals who must win. Right wingers always quick to deny the team aspect of things.
JackMcKee 10 months ago
And, Dolph, may I humbly suggest that people just don't like people like Mitt, and yourself. Spoiled elitist snobs that look down their noses at the middle class and poor just don't resonate with the typical American regardless of the attempts to turn the wealthy into some kind of saints. Anyone with two brain cells could have seen the drubbing that Obama is going to lay at the feet of Mitt this November. Unfortunately, Mitt was the best you had to offer.
Which reminds me, I just got back from Ottawa and there were TerriLois Gregory signs everywhere. If we should be scratching our heads about any elected official, TerriLois should be at the top of the list for examination.
merrill 10 months ago
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
merrill 10 months ago
Regarding Bain Romeny has no idea when or if he was on the payroll or if he was present at all.
Bain Records do reveal a rather high end position with his name attached yet Romney cannot remember..... when any of that took place.
The repub party is certainly nothing to cheer about or even consider putting in office for even dog catcher.
The party is dishonest as a matter of record:
*. Nixon’s Watergate / * Reagan/Bush Iran Contra /
REPUB ENTITLEMENT - Bailing out The Reagan/Bush Savings and Loan Heist aka home loan scandal sent the economy out the window costing taxpayers many many $$ trillions (Cost taxpayers $1.4 trillion), Plus millions of jobs, loss of retirement plans and loss of medical insurance. http://rationalrevolution0.tripod.com/war/bush_family_and_the_s.htm /
REPUB ENTITLEMENT - Bailing out the Bush/Cheney Home Loan Wall Street Bank Fraud cost consumers $ trillions, millions of jobs, loss of retirement plans and loss of medical insurance. Exactly like the Reagan/Bush home loan scam. Déjà vu can we say. Yep seems to be a pattern. http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2009/0709macewan.html /
4 REPUB .ENTITLEMENT - Bush/Cheney implied many financial institutions were at risk instead of only 3? One of the biggest lies perpetrated to American citizens. Where did this money go? Why were some banks forced to take bail out money? http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/10/good_billions_after_bad_one_year /
In the end big debt and super duper bailouts were the results which does not seem to bother Republicans, as long as they are in power. /
REPUB ENTITLEMENT In fact, by the time the second Bush left office, the national debt had grown to $12.1 trillion:
REPUB ENTITLEMENT - Over half of that amount had been created by Bush’s tax cuts for the very wealthy. /
REPUB ENTITLEMENT - Another 30% of the national debt had been created by the tax cuts for the wealthy under Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush. /
•REPUB ENTITLEMENT - Fully 81% of the national debt was created by just these three Republican Presidents. http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2010/0111orr.html /
REPUB ENTITLEMENT - Starting in 2003, George W. Bush destroyed the world economy by encouraging U.S. banks to make loans to those who could not afford them, through schemes such as the "American Dream Downpayment Initiative". /
Also through the destruction of oversight, such as lawsuits to prevent state securities laws from being enforced on Bush's watch. /
Once Bush's policies led to their inevitable result of economic collapse, the United States found itself in a situation where it had to take on debt in order to restore the economy. http://www.reaganbushdebt.org/CalculationDetails.aspx /
merrill 10 months ago
The Romney Job Plan : Tax Cuts for the 1% = a failed job plan with 32 years of failure aka Reaganomics.
jonas_opines 10 months ago
The public at large seems to disagree with my partisan beliefs.
They must be crazy or ill-informed. Or both. Or brainwashed.
. . . . yeah
It couldn't possibly be that the only alternative to Obama is just as bad, and has just as poor of a record to run on. Or that the Republican party has gone insane, pandering to their most extremist, principally inconsistent, hypocritical elements. No, never that.
But by all means blame anything and everything else, rather than asking yourself, in the light of how tight this contest is that should be a shoe-in for the non-incumbent (much like 2004): "What the hell are we doing wrong?"
The answer is: You're doing almost everything wrong.
jonas_opines 10 months ago
And really, just like in 2004, the principal mistake is the very foundation of the entire campaign. The one, over-arching, defining message that everything underneath it takes shape within.
That message is: "Anybody but the President."
It didn't work in 2004. It may, just barely, work this time around, and that's only because the economic situation is worse than it was then, and we're not as scared of switching leadership in the middle of a bunch of current wars. But it seems, so far, that it is having as much trouble resonating with everyone who didn't come pre-convinced of it's truth, as it did back then.
beatrice 10 months ago
Well, it kind of worked in 2004, or at least early 2004. That was when many Republicans were still chanting "Anybody but Hillary." It has been a long time since Republicans have produced a candidate for President they actually wanted to support.
OzD 10 months ago
I read this column on the internet. Would Mr. Simons have me believe he developed this platform for his news outlet on his own? A guy who bangs out his weekly column in his father's newspaper, using his two index fingers and an old typewriter, got a LOT of help along the way.
camper 10 months ago
The writer was kind enough to list some of President Obama's failures.
"Unemployment has been above 8 percent for an almost-record time and the national debt has soared."
Well just my humble opinion, but the lack of jobs is result of a trend going back decades. This trend is our shift from a manufacturing to service sector economy. And the service part is becoming more "efficient" and able to outsource jobs and have cheaper labor do this for us as well. But even at that, President Obama has offered stimulus to keep state budgets afloat and infrastructure improvements. Republicans are not too keen on this idea.
As far as the debt goes, what about getting involved in two wars and deciding not to pay for it? What about the increased pressure on Medicare and Social Security from or aging population? What about an inherited economy that resembles a depression?
In spite of the Republicans, I believe President Obama has done a remarkable job of preventing us from hitting rock bottom, which is apparently what some want. They want to see the President fail. They threw the election by having McCain select Palin for VP (this is my conspiracy theory). They were looking at 2012 all along because they knew we were in a world of hurt 2008.
hear_me 10 months ago
Mr. Simons evidently is reading the GOP team playbook. He has no facts and plenty of party line opinions. He would have more credibility if he actually critiqued both Obama and Romney, or at least criticized the GOP a little bit.
overthemoon 10 months ago
Perhaps he just picked up a boiler plate article written by the Romney team with Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and other fearmongering liars? Except that I haven't seen anything coherent come out of the Romney campaign team talking machine.
cato_the_elder 10 months ago
For all of the left-wing socialist moonbats who want to steal even more from those who have been financially successful:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/48257611
Saber 10 months ago
Mr. Simons, god love him, needs to read his history books. In 1929, the US had a REAL recession: bread lines, people jumping from buildings, the WPA and CCC, etc. In 1933 a Democrat was elected, Roosevelt, and things very slowly got a little better. He was elected (reelected) 4 times. Now if you want things to get better in a hurry another big war is needed, because it wan't until WWII that the depression ended and that was 12 years latter. That mean that we have 8 more years of not such good times ahead of us.. and don't forget the dust bowl while you are at it..
camper 10 months ago
Roosevelt also had an earlier version of the Obstructionist Republicans. They repealed many New Deal initiatives in his 2nd term. Many argue that this prolonged the depression. They were doing the same stuff back then. Calling FDR a Socialist. Same playbook existed back then.
moliemolie 10 months ago
Time to put the old Smith Corona away, Dolph.
pace 10 months ago
No one ever said the Dolph was the smart one. Now if he replaced the word congress or tea congress in his President Obama 'argument" it would almost make sense. Sad to see a family go so down hill. I guess he has a journalism degree but really make KU journalism school look bad.
LarryNative 10 months ago
The newspaper Dolph Sr started is struggling like all newspapers while the Simons made almost $200,000,00 on the sale of the cable business that Dolph Jr introduced into the company. Yeh, he's real stupid.
pace 10 months ago
boy this caused a fight at our house. I thought this was one of the worst editorials by Dolph ever, my spouse, who has a great memory said it may be one of the top ten , but wasn't the worst. The birther nonsense still making it in the comments makes my think the floride in the water myth might be true.
JackMcKee 10 months ago
Perhaps Dolph is just channeling the anonymous Hampton's donor's, let me paraphrase "let them eat cake", comments.
a “New York City donor … who would not give her name” sitting in the “passenger seat of a Range Rover stamped with East Hampton beach permits.”
“I don’t think the common person is getting it. Nobody understands why Obama is hurting them. We’ve got the message. But my college kid, the baby sitters, the nails ladies — everybody who’s got the right to vote — they don’t understand what’s going on. I just think if you’re lower income — one, you’re not as educated, two, they don’t understand how it works, they don’t understand how the systems work, they don’t understand the impact.”
LarryNative 10 months ago
I find it strange that everyone was calling Bush a war criminal and yet the libs are quiet about Obamas drone murders. Why is that?
camper 10 months ago
I don't know. One lib told me a stategic drone attack might be better than waging a full scale war.
LarryNative 10 months ago
LOL. You expect me to believe that demos would have approved of Bush murdering with death drones? Right. Personally I could care less if Obama kills some scum with drones but I also did not call Bush a war criminal. Just pointing out party line hypocricy.
pace 10 months ago
Are you claiming that Romney and Palin both called Bush a war criminal? I heard that was a fictitious report.
MyName 10 months ago
What's hard to explain is why anyone would bother to read this editorial in its entirety. It is poorly researched, contains limited insight into the issues of the day, and has a completely unoriginal opinion: the very example of sophomoric sophistry.
JackMcKee 10 months ago
I can't lie, I made it two paragraphs before I had to quit. Really after the first paragraph I should have stopped, but I thought there was no way it could get worse. It did.
This might be the final Dolph Simons article I ever read. He's worse than a J-School student with a C average.
It should also be noted that Dolph went to KSU.
pace 10 months ago
Dolph Jr went to KU, I don't know if Dolph the third went to KSU. I am not sure if this is the Dolph born in 1930's or the son.
snap_pop_no_crackle 10 months ago
The Father of Lies' campaign spend several million more last month than they took in. Kinda like the federal government itself. We'll all be better off when he's sent back to the fever-swamp of corruption otherwise known as Chicago. Maybe he'll have to join Jesse Jackson Jr. in rehab.....
camper 10 months ago
"Father of lies"? Hmmm
camper 10 months ago
I been to the JFK museum in Dealy plaza. Amongst other things, they had copies of the Star Telegram from that day (printed before the shooting). Believe me, there were attacks on Kennedy. There were attacks on Kerry, I remember them. There were attacks on Bush. There were attacks on Obama. There were attacks on Clinton. BAA there are attacks on everyone.
camper 10 months ago
On Kerry they were about wealth. On Kennedy it was because some folks in Texas thought he was a commie and that his father was a bootlegger, election rigger, and stock market speculator (albeit true).
beatrice 10 months ago
BAA's attack against hate is as funny as the owner of the LJWorld's attack against "the media."
hear_me 10 months ago
Well, I was critical of Dolph Simons in an earlier post. However, I'd like to point out that without Dolph, our newspaper would be just like every other newspaper. On the one hand, the World Company has been a media monopoly. On the other hand, I am sorry to see pieces of it go. Sunflower Cable was very good. We've already lost our local radio station. I would not want to lose The World Company.
tuschkahouma 10 months ago
falsehope.....why do you use words like complex and nuanced when you don't know what they mean? you must be watching late night televangelist nonsense when that genie thing comes up......words like complex and nuanced were used by the wolfowitz, rumsfeld, and scooter libby crowd when they were speaking nonsense that people like you eat up like a buffet.....too bad your amnesia comes at the expense of the rest of us.....
Liberty275 10 months ago
I won't vote for either one because they are flip sides of the same coin of oppression. I'm voting for somebody I trust - ME.
On November 2, vote for someone that cares about your rights, all of your rights no matter who you are. Vote Liberty275 for governor and president.
parco814 10 months ago
Not bad, BAA. With a thought like that, there might be hope for you after all!
jayhawxrok 10 months ago
Dolph's whole commentary was nothing more than drivel, the tired RNC talking points disproven again and again. What is it Obama's administration hasn't been transparent about? Has he lied us into war? Has he had secret meetings and refused to give a list of who attended? Has he outed CIA agents' cover? Yes, he used Executive Privilege, ONCE, and yet Presidents going back to George Washington have done so - GW Bush used it six times and I don't recall any whining out of Dolph. Yes, unemployment has stayed above 8% but to understand that you have to comprehend a couple of things - First, we bled jobs at the end of Bush's admin, 700,000 jobs per month lost while team Bush told us the economy retracted at 4.5% at the time Obama made his comment about getting it down - of course it turned out to have retracted 8.9% and as a result we lost a lot more jobs (remember its a lagging indicator, Dolph). Second, every respected economist outside GOP think tanks told us the stimulus wasn't big enough but it was the most we could get at the time. Third, a lot of Republican governors decided not to take the stim money or to take it and use it to balance their budgets rather than stimulate the economy through infrastructure spending. How is it Obama's fault that Rep Governors would rather let their people suffer than allow a Democratic President's program to work? In terms of class warfare, it's hardly the Democrats who started that. It's the Reps who keep telling us if we pamper the rich the benefits will "trickle down" to the rest of us. Bush tax cuts in effect for more than a decade and all they did was add a couple trillion to the deficit and line the pockets of the already wealthy. In terms of Romney, you can whine about him being no richer than others but his richness is not the point, it's the fact he's oblivious to the fact he's rich in part because the playing field is not level. If you work for your money you pay 35% taxes but if your money works to make money you pay maybe 15%. How about a guy like Romney who lobbies for Federal tax credit on a home because of its historic value and then once he has it, submits plans to bulldoze it to build a compound for himself and his adult children and their families? How about Romney asking Perry to bet $10,000 the way a normal person would ask to bet a dollar or $5? How about Romney stating he didn't make much in speaking fees and having it turn out to be over $375,000? Why I, as a voter, want to see his tax returns is not because he's rich, but because I would like to know more of the nature of his investments and his workaround our tax code the rest of us have to live by. I'm curious about the insurance company he invests in, offshore, that profiteered off 9.11 by charging 300-400% of normal casualty rates, and how much he has moved to tax havens...the facts of Bain and his "retroactive retirement" are pathetic as is your carte blanche support for a proven liar.
parco814 10 months ago
Not hard to explain, Dolph. Plenty of people out there still like to get the facts about legislation and make up their own minds, even in the face of lies and intimidation that you and your ilk have been using like saturation bombing since January 2009.
So sorry, Dolph. You have more wealth and power than most people, but you just can't have it all your way, every day, with everyone. But maybe you can call up Scott Brown in Massachusetts and persuade him to take his adult daughter off his health insurance--guess he digs at least part of Obamacare, even after campaigning against it.
hear_me 10 months ago
Could you be more specific? What misinformation?
heygary 10 months ago
It is no Obama's approval ratings are up ... his voting base does not understand that the teat is dry!
There is a long-held belief that democracies, in general, are a predictably doomed form of government.
In the year 1787, Alexander Tyler (Scottish history professor - University of Edinborough) used an analogy to describe "The Fall of The Athenian Republic" some 2,000 years prior: “A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years, during which these nations always progressed through the following sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to complacency; From complacency to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.”
From my vantage point, Mr. Tyler’s observation has been unsettlingly predictive of the path of our own experiment in Democracy.
In my youth I studied, with gratitude and reverence, the “bondage to liberty” sequence associated with the birth of our country. I believe I have lived through the “abundance to apathy” sequence. Now, as I watch the “escapades” of our elected representatives in Washington, I cannot help but feel that the road to “dependence” is being charted.
Agnostick 10 months ago
"How gullible can the public be relative to the upcoming U.S. presidential election?"
As far as the readers and subscribers of your fine publication go... as gullible as you and your editors allow them to be.
agnostick@excite.com
cheeseburger 10 months ago
I believe the root of Obama's low ratings is that many voters realize he will say anything to get re-elected. To wit:
He was anti tax increase, and now he wants one
He was pro lowering the unemployment rate, and its been high since he took office
He was anti governmental growth, and now he thinks nothing is possible without the govt
He wanted to be president of a super power country, and now he kow-tows to other leaders
He wanted transparency, but then fails to be transparent about his past and about Holder
He wanted to surrounds himself with intelligent people, and then gave Holder and Emanuel and Incompetano jobs
hear_me 10 months ago
Two issues to watch in the House. So far, they have not made it to the floor even though the senate has already resolved both issues. The Republican controlled house does not want these to become campaign issues.
Drought relief through USDA.
Addressing the post office budget.
ThirdStone 10 months ago
Since Herr Simons is longing for a more Aryan perspective in the White House, who could fault him his disappointment with the current occupant.
Bike_lover 10 months ago
Obama hasn't been a great preformer on the economy but I honestly don't think McCain would have done a bit better.
Part of Romney's challenge is to convince people who voted for Obama on the hope that he'd bring something new to the nation, that their vote in 2008 was not a mistake. They voted for him, they participated in history, they showed that America will give an Africian-Americans their confidence.
While Romney doesn't seem like a bad fellow the party he belongs to is populated by folks who want to roll back the social clock. It's worrysome.
Personally I'm going to wait and see how the House and Senate races shape up. If the Republicans look like they'll take both parts of the legislature I might vote for Obama just to keep the Republicans from taking over.
Armstrong 10 months ago
Quite simple to explain. Obama is giving the have nots something for nothing. The down side is he's robbing the something from the people who actually work for a living. As recent articles have stated poverty is now at an almost 50 year high. Nice going Barry, 4 more years of your stupidity will make the depression of the 30's look like the good ol days.
Alyosha 10 months ago
This editorial is a travesty of false information. The community deserves better than the repetition of such unfounded claims. Shame.
tbaker 10 months ago
In the month of June, more people went on Social Security disability than found a job, this is a record number of people going on Social Security disability. That’s Barack Obama’s vision for the country: more government checks, fewer actual pay checks.
Agnostick 10 months ago
Are you suggesting that this was some kind of "record," or that this is the first month in 50, 60 years that there were more people that went on Social Security, than "new hires?" Numbers can easily be twisted and contorted to fit an agenda.
Agnostick 10 months ago
tbaker opines:
"That’s Barack Obama’s vision for the country: more government checks, fewer actual pay checks. "
That's not anyone's vision--that's the slow creep of reality that you refuse to acknowledge, in favor of your tired agenda.
The ugly truth is that, no matter who gets into the White House, we will reach a point in the not-so-distant future when there will be more government checks, and fewer actual pay checks.
Perhaps you missed it the first time:
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2012/jul/17/repeal-hype/#c2094503
Like it or not, the American population is aging. It will soon be dominated by people over the age of 60. Many, if not most of these people will be on some sort of government-sponsored financial support... Social Security, Medicare, or both. Short of the "death panels" that people who share your political bent fantasized about... or some massive plague or epidemic... there is no escape from this inevitability.
Do try to keep up.
hear_me 10 months ago
Let's see. The oldest Baby Boomers are 67 this year. They are eligible for retirement, although many are not retiring. Too bad. Their retirement would open positions for younger workers.
The advances in medicine prolong life, but may contribute to the number of disabled. Since the Social Security retirement age has increased, the only alternative is Social Security disability.
tbaker 10 months ago
In my lifetime, the number of Americans on welfare / public assistance (does not include Social Security / MEDICARE) has gone from around 6% to 35%. Nearly half the country doesn't pay income taxes anymore. 1 in 7 people are on FoodStamps. For crying out loud we even have USDA partnering with the Mexican government to increase participation in our food stamp program here in the US. In June, more people signed up for Social Security Disability than the number who actually found a job. Safety nets for the poor and vulnerable have turned into career choices. R2 unemployment has been over 15% for 3+ years. This fall will mark the 5th straight year in a row we have increased our national debt by 1 trillion dollars. We are about to see the largest tax increase in the history of the world (ObamaCare). The President calls the private sector "the enemy" and claims business owners really didn't create their business depicting them as somehow being subsidized by "the rest of us." On and on it goes....but of course I suppose it is all Bush's fault. Yeah right.
I don't believe the polls for one second. How can anyone, most especially Mr. Obama, look at this and call it success - unless he wants the majority of the country dependant on the government. If that is what the new definition of success in America is, we're really screwed. I think people are smarter than that.
Agnostick 9 months, 4 weeks ago
I'm certainly smart enough to not take your droning list of numbers at face value, without any sources or references.
35% of Americans are on public assistance? No source? I certainly won't take you seriously. Sounds like more hyperpartisan blather copy/pasted from a piece of junk mail you found in your inbox.
JJE007 9 months, 4 weeks ago
People should be smart enough to figure out that we're "really screwed"...PERIOD! They're not, though... We've been building this house of cards for a very long while. No president will save us. Get real.
tbaker 9 months, 4 weeks ago
I hope you are wrong.
hear_me 9 months, 4 weeks ago
Sometimes, I think we need another crash. Too many people in influential positions are working hard to get back to the way it was, a house of cards. I agree that no single person, not even a president, can get us through this. However, the extremism we are experiencing now is definitely simplistic and counterproductive. I guess the only thing we can do is pressure for more dialog and cooperation.
Liberty275 9 months, 3 weeks ago
I saw a bumper sticker this morning that made me chuckle. it said:
"If you voted for Obama in 2008 to prove you aren't a racist, vote for someone else in 2012 to prove you aren't stupid"
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