DaveZx3, January 21 at 4:39 pm,

You say you are encouraged by the American Populace/Back Street Americabacklashing out in rage that they do not want to go quietly into the night, and electing Scott Brown, a Republican, as a greater enemy to contend with the lesser enemy of the American Populace/Back Street America, the Corporatist Democratic Party; this says a lot about who and what you are and what you represent.

DaveZx3, January 21 at 4:39 pm,

You say you are encouraged by the American Populace/Back Street America backlashing out in rage that they do not want to go quietly into the night, and electing Scott Brown, a Republican, as a greater enemy to contend with the lesser enemy of the American Populace/Back Street America, the Corporatist Democratic Party; this says a lot about who and what you are and what you represent.

Anarcissie,

I do not disagree with you at all.  I am not as pessimistic about Pres Obama’s administration as most of my Democratic friends. 

I am encouraged by the recent election of Scott Brown.  He is one of the most honest, straightforward men whom you will ever know.  I don’t think anyone should read anything into his election other than the people of Mass realized that a man like him only comes around very, very infrequently, and they jumped at the chance, in a bipartisan manner, to put him in office.  They know they will not be disappointed. 

He is not an ideologue, and has a long history of working very successfuly with the Democrats of Mass.  If some of his habits can rub off on other Repubs, it could initiate a new era of bipartisanship.  That is what I am hoping for.

If that happens, Pres Obama cold easily salvage his presidency from his present low ratings and become very successful.  But he does have to realize that the populace are in general, not idealogues either.  They are diverse and complex, but mostly, they just want a future and a job that can pay their bills.

And as you say, he does need to get rid of some of his less talented and perceptive advisors.

DaveZx3, January 18 at 11:11 pm:
’... Democrats had their chance, and they blew it.  Now they are going to be replaced by anything that fogs a mirror and is not a Democrat.  Even in Kennedyville. ...’

I wouldn’t count on that.  Mr. O can dump some of his more flawed advisors, like Emmanuel, Geithner and Summers, and in general the Democrats can now practice a little judo and throw the burden of coming up with positive plans onto the Republicans.  This will be difficult for the Republicans to deal with, since they are ideologically incoherent and have profited mostly from their position as the official Opposition to be purely negative.  (Pelosi seems to be pursuing this strategy already.)  Apparently many Democrats and independents in Massachusetts stayed home or voted Republican precisely to send Mr. O and company a message.  They succeeded.  Whether the message will be received and understood is another matter, but it might be.

DaveZx3, January 18 at 11:11 pm,

I am in no way in support of Corporatist Democrats, but I do not subscribe to the foolishness of replacing a lesser enemy with a greater enemy————to replace Corporatist Democrats with Republican Right-Wing Conservative EXTREMISTS makes all of the sense of replacing a lesser enemy of the American Populace/Back Street America with a greater enemy of the American Populace/Back Street America.  How on earth would that help the American Populace/Back Street America to be represented in the Making and Enforcing of Legislated Law and Order in the United States?

The problem is to get representation for the American Populace/Back Street America, so that the American Populace/Back Street America, can be represented in the Making and Enforcing of Legislated Law and Order that is in the best interest of the American Populace/Back Street America, and it is clear that neither Republican Right-Wing Conservative EXTREMISTS nor Corporatist Democrats will do that.

Instead of supporting a greater enemy to get rid of a lesser enemy, we must find a better solution.

Thomas G.

Two days ago when it may have been pertinent to discuss “Sweat Time For Hill Democrats”, we were talking about “Sweat Time For Hill Democrats”.

But now that Scott Brown is all set to turn “Sweat Time For Hill Democrats” into “See You Later Hill Democrats,”  the subject seems a slight bit dated and moot.

Democrats had their chance, and they blew it.  Now they are going to be replaced by anything that fogs a mirror and is not a Democrat.  Even in Kennedyville. 

I think I would rather have a discussion about why my grass turns brown in the winter than a discussion about “Sweat Time For Hill Democrats”

DieDaily, January 18 at 2:06 pm and DaveZx3, January 18 at 1:24 pm,

What is the name of this thread? ————Oh, yes,— “Sweat Time For Hill Democrats”???? 

Are “you people”, DieDaily and DaveZX3, implying that the second coming is “Sweat Time For Hill Democrats”?—or, are “you people” just trying to resolve your own conflicted issues with God here on this thread?—and because of that, it is “Sweat Time For Hill Democrats”?????  How does your obligation to go, or not to go, out and fight evil relate to “Sweat Time For Hill Democrats”????

If all of “you people’s” blather, about your own conflicted issues about going out and fighting, or not fighting evil, does not in any way relate to “Sweat Time For Hill Democrats”, it appears that all of your blather is nothing more than trying to cover up political dialogue with self serving pandering of religious flotsam and jetsam to distract those who might want to engage in legitimate political dialogue having to do with “Sweat Time For Hill Democrats”.

Why is it “Sweat Time For Hill Democrats”???———and, how does this issue relate to your dialogue???

Are you two, DieDaily and DaveZX3, Evangelical Christians????

If “you people” are Evangelical Christians and your world view resolves itself down to going out or not going out and fighting evil, why on earth have you been supporting the evil of Republican Right-Wing Conservative EXTREMIST Hitleresque Fascist Governance, the very Model of Hitleresque Evil, from the time of Goldwater through Reagan, Bush I, Bush II and continue to do so at the present time????

DieDaily,

No, I do not sit back waiting for some rapture.  To be honest, I see nothing about any rapture.  I see the 144,000 being resurrected in the first wave to administer to the reign of Christ during the millenium.  If that is what they mean by a rapture, then it is a fairly insignificant number, and I certainly would not count on being a part of it.

Anyway, I am told to “do the work of an evangelist”
which I have previously defined as “messenger of life.”  The primary message being that of the good news that in the end, we are virtually all going to finally have a world full of justice and peace, free of disease, crime, lies, deceptions, etc.

Evil is apparently at work perverting this message.  The way we fight against evil is to tell the truth about it.  It has been said, “know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free”. 

Christ is portrayed as returning to fight evil with the sword of his mouth.  I, in my own very small way, fight evil in the same way.  I accept basic truths about the teaching of Christ, and I challenge anyone who tries to pervert them. 

But I try not to challenge the person, but the lies or deception.  As I have said, my fight is not with flesh and blood, but with principalities in high places.  It is hard to blame the deceived for his deception, especially when deception is pervasive in our culture.

You could say I am a slacker to the good works, but I have other short-comings too, and need forgiveness on a daily basis.

Ok wait a minute here DaveZx3. Are you saying that your
faith makes you feel that you have no obligation to go
out and fight evil in the present tense? Because I’ve
run into a few Christians on other sites that think
that they should just sit back and wait to be “raptured
out”. Which I think is just sick! So I hope that’s not
what you were saying and expect it wasn’t! It wasn’t
was it?

By Anarcissie, January 18 at 12:50 am #

“I recall a book that came out quite awhile back in which the author postulated that the function of organized religion was precisely to separate humans from God/gods/spirit.”

It would be my opinion that this book, which I have not come across, would have a lot of truth to it.

It has never ceased to amaze me about how so many could profess to have belief in God, yet go around with such judgemental attitudes. 

The God that I know says he is not about judgement.  He is about forgiving everyone who asks, so they do not have to be judged when that time comes. 

The principle is that when a person is completely forgiven, it opens up the possibility of a fresh start, without the baggage and guilt associated with all of our bad behaviors of the past.  Obviously, the person attempts, as much as he can, to not repeat the behaviors of his past. 

But when asked how many times a person should be forgiven, Christ said, 70 times 7.  In prophetic terms, Christ meant that there was no limit to how many times a person would be forgiven. 

It was also stated in the Bible, “Judge not, that you be not judged.”  This is because no one is privy to the status of forgiveness and repentance of another mans relationship with God. 

No matter what your lying eyes see, you have no idea where a person is in his own process of conversion.  And since God has also stated, “It is not his will that any be lost,” creedence is given to the idea that virtually ALL will be converted in their own time.

Is there a time limit on this process?  NO.  Even if one dies physically during the process, it is my reading that the great resurrection of the masses during the perfect justice of the millenium period will give all the evidence needed for virtually all to choose life over death.  (that is a controversial reading, but true) It is all about free choice, but only after being freed of the deception keeping us from making the right choice. 

This process is all about a Supreme Being recreating himself under a system of ultimate fairness and justice, into a life which no one will ever regret.

As fantastic and absurd as it all sounds, it is the only thing I have come across which explains most crucial details of why things are the way they are.  It has come together for me like a 1000 piece puzzle, every piece fitting together perfectly, with many pieces yet to be placed, but enough there to see the general picture.

For me, the idea that I have to go out and save the world is blasphemous to the power of the God whom I owe my allegiance.  In the real sense of the word, I would consider myself an “evangelist”.  But the literal translation of that word is “messenger of life”  Not enforcer of good behavior. 

Behavior, though important, is not the primary element of grace.  Grace is not granted because of good behavior.  Good behavior is the result of being granted grace at that time when you need it most.

My message is that all who wish to be granted grace, forgivness and a just, eternal life, will be given ample opportunity to choose to do so after seeing truth. 

It will not be a result of self-righteousness, or good works, but will be because we will, at some point, humble themselves in front of God and ask him to forgive us, and he will do it, at which point he will raise us up to be everything we secretly wish we could be.  This is not threatening to me. 

It has been written, “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities in high places”  This indicates to me that man is not inherently evil, but is being misled and deceived.  The creation of religion to pervert the Word of God is why the religious seem so anti-Christ.  But they are not inherently evil, just deceived.

Perfect justice requires all to live out their personal choices before being asked to make that one, important life-giving choice in the end.  Choose “LIFE” at every opportunity.

Evangelical Christianity is about fascist politics of Wall Street and Main Street and has nothing at all to do with God.

Jesus represented the populace during his time on earth, and when Jesus left the earth the populace was no longer represented.  At present all that is represented is Wall Street and Main Street.

Must we wait for the second coming before the American Populace, Back Street America, is represented politically in the making and enforcing of legislated law and order, or will Back Street America, the American Populace, force representation of their best interest in the making and enforcing of legislated law and order in the United States prior to the second coming?

I recall a book that came out quite awhile back in which the author postulated that the function of organized religion was precisely to separate humans from God/gods/spirit.  I can’t remember the title or the author now, but it may come back to me.

What needs to be aired, discussed, and commented upon is that the Republican Party and the Democratic Party are legislating and enforcing law and order for Wall Street and Main Street, and against Back Street, the American Populace.

When is Back Street, the American Populace going to stand up in mass and DEMAND a seat at the table to legislate and enforce law and order for Back Street, the American Populace?

When the American Populace/Back Street America stands up in mass, the President will have cause to stand up to represent the will of the American Populace.

If the American Populace want the President of the United States to lead, they will have to stand up in mass and DEMAND leadership by the President against Wall Street and Main Street.  If all that will stand up and DEMAND representation and leadership is Wall Street and Main Street, why should Back Street be surprised that Back Street is NOT represented and President Obama does not provide Back Street leadership?

I’m with you 100% on the Evangelicals. And I would
add that any strongly missionary approach (i.e.
pushy, NOT including passively attracting converts by
being a shining example of whatever sort) is suspect.
And even more, organized religion is not a great
thing because it transfers the faith from a God to a
priestly hierarchy, and “Jesus” unequivocally
denounced hierarchical priesthoods of this sort (i.e.
the Pharisees). What I support is the idea that
personal faith is a fundamental freedom, and I’ve
been seeing more and more of these “independent”
Christians renounce the church. Their faith seems to
make them some of the most effective freedom and
truth fighters out there. Probably because they are
not afraid of retribution or death in pursuit of
something larger. I think this is why the elites have
striven so hard and so successfully to demonize faith
in general by inventing evangelism and forming a
religious right.

As for institutionalized faith, I regard it much the
same way as institutionalized anything…an
invitation for top-down control, corruption, and all-
round degeneracy. So yeah, the churches tend to suck,
most of them anyway. But I have observed some of the
best folks doing the best work, to my initial
surprise, turn out to be people of faith. It got me
thinking. “You shall know them by their works”. Seems
right to me. If those works are great and they derive
from faith, then in those cases it seems to me the
faith it an extremely good thing for that individual.
As a Scientist, I wonder if the reverence I feel for
math and physics mysteries is like what they feel for
their conception of God. I wonder if my God is in
those mysteries, in a way, despite that I’m in no way
religious. The type of Christian I have been
impressed by also frequently refers to the corruption
of the churches and the ignorance of their followers.
I like that about them too!

I would be more impressed by religions if the people who most ardently proclaim their attachment to them behaved better.  Regardless of what Jesus taught, 70% of Evangelical Christians voted for George Bush in 2004, when it was known that he had lied about Iraq and was therefore a murderer, a liar and a war criminal.  Why didn’t their religion affect their thinking in some other way?  (If it affected it at all.)  There is an absence of works.

DaveZx3, such a thoughtful post. So many good points. The fog of propaganda has been sown so thickly that people are confused about religion. The evangelical / Zionist / end-times / moral majority, etc. movements were state- and foundation-engineered. The legitimate faithful have been as disgusted by these people as have the Liberal Humanists. I am a non-religious person. I don’t believe that Christ died and was reborn, that his mother was a virgin, or any of that sort of thing because I am an evidence-based perceiver. I don’t need Christ to be saved or fulfilled. Yet I can’t emphasize enough how strongly I feel that freedom of faith must be absolutely protected, and that when it has been divorced from government control (401.c3) and DHS subversion, political lobbying, Israeli control of the “White Right”, the evangelical-industrial complex, etc. it’s effect will be almost entirely benign if not entirely so. It’s the present, degrading materialist belief system which robs most people of the chance to envision and act upon something larger and more important than pleasure and status. Without some sort of faith in a set of moral or ethical guidelines, it becomes OK to rape children since “pleasure” is the only remaining guidepost.

None of our problems stem from faith in God. Not one. They stem from governments and political movements. Often these have hijacked faith. The answer is not to fight faith, but to fight these hijackings. Please note that I do not state that religion is uninvolved, I merely state that it is not a cause, as stated in the popular myth.

Even as a sort-of-atheist-but-very-spiritual-scientific person, I can not abide by this scam in which faith is falsely portrayed as evil. For instance the myth that religion has caused wars is laughable. It only requires a smidgen of research to notice that in the absence of monetary factors religion hasn’t killed an appreciable number of people at all. Even the witch-hunts were an exercise in property seizure. Even the inquisition was an exercise in political and financial control, and the control of ideas in general. The faith of the parishioners had nothing to do with this evil, it was merely exploited by it.

By gerard, January 16 at 5:29 pm #

“Religion (or lack of it) should have little or nothing to do with voting if citizens sincerely valued their Constitution.”

Surely you jest!!

Freedom of religion, being an inalienable right, requires continous defense of the Constitution and continous voting in favor of representatives who will uphold the Constitution.  Religion, as imperfect and corrupt as it sometimes is, is one of the primary reasons for voting. 

Progressive interpretation of the establishment clause as being “freedom from religion” rather than “freedom of religion” is alienating the majority who believe in a supreme being and see no problem with expression of religious belief.

Maybe progressives should pay more attention to POLLS, which would make this point obvious.

Though the state cannot constitutionally establish a religion, it is perfectly consitutional for the state to establish faith and trust in God, as it certainly does, continously

One thing which I constantly try to communicate in my posts is that God is not religion, and in fact God is anti-religion.  Religion being man’s attempt to get to God based on personal effort.

The far-left’s failure to acknowledge this fact is why they will probably never generate a populist front, at least for any significant period of time.  Again, this shows the failure of those who need polls the most to pay attention to what the polls are telling them. 

Also, Gerard, I have a problem with your comment: 

“(all the while prating about “Our forefathers” and “freedom” and “this is a white Christian nation”.

Our forefathers made grave mistakes regarding race issues, but they were exactly correct regarding the concepts of liberty and justice for all.  Our failure to execute their ideal is not the fault of the forefathers, as much as our own fault. 

We must continue to find and correct their “errors” while moving towards a more perfect union.  What took hundreds of years to create, will take hundreds of years to correct, but the momentum must remain positive, and the foundation is sound. 

It is not helpful, and in fact inflammatory, for ANYONE to infer at this point in time that the US is “a white Christian nation”.  Members of our non-white population are statistically more involved in Christian churches, and other religions, than whites.  Many, having come from repressive countries, are no doubt grateful to live in a country which does not jail them for going to church. 

“IN GOD WE TRUST”

As a start, consider taking a vow to never again vote for a war criminal.

I hope it becoming inescapably clear to most that,
however you come at it, our system it terribly sick.
Talking about working with our current system to
effect real change is mindless state-worship at this
stage. Grow up, get up, and never, ever, ever vote
Republican or Democrat again. How many beatings do
you need to undergo, first from the right, then the
left, then the right, then the left again, before you
take out both of the offending arms. This is really
basic, people. There is no coherent framework upon
which we can any longer entertain the viability of
our party-driven institutions. The the game is
rigged, it matters not one iota where you put your
money down. Because a LOT of people are beginning to
adopt this viewpoint, I’m more proud to be an
American than I ever have been before.

Enough state worship people. The Rep and Dem ships
are sunk. We need a new ship.

If it’s “the humanists” who believe the polls, there must be a heckuva lot of “humanists” around!   
  In any case anyway, religion (or lack of it) should have little or nothing to do with voting if citizens sincerely valued their Constitution (which they obviously don’t).
In fact, at every opportunity large numbers of people who should know better are willing to overthrow it to suit their own prejudices (all the while prating about “Our forefathers” and “freedom” and “this is a white Christian nation”.
  “Government of the people,by the people,for the people” is going down the drain unless some “humanists” are willing to stick their hands in some very hot water, reach in and pull it back up.

It seems to me Mr. O is responsible for his advisors and subordinates.  He appointed them and they serve at his pleasure.  He is certainly not under the control of the inept, ineffectual legislative branch of the party.  If he appears Clintonoid, it is because he shares their outlook and interests, not because they control him.

The party leadership, which is most definitely interested in polls, including elections, appears to have nothing but contempt for the progs.  They don’t represent a lot of votes and they don’t have anywhere to go anyway (from the established-order point of view).  The progs, therefore, must go outside the party, or at least threaten to do so credibly, to have an effect.  I don’t see anything happening along these lines as yet, so I would expect Mr. O and company to move further to the right, hoping to pick up “centrist” (right-wing) votes and money.

Samson, January 15 at 6:34 pm

A suggestion rather lucid and certainly , on paper, a way to turn up the “heat” on one of the two political parties. As one who has been active in exactly this sort of concept I note that the barriers are especially formidable , if only due to the economic conditions that make raising the necessary funds to mount any sort of acceptable campaign almost impossible.

Many see such a candidacy as a way to force democrats back towards the middle to recapture the disgruntled progressive, even the increasingly uncomfortable moderate voter. But, as we have seen rather vividly with the campaign of Barack Obama, democrats will simply lie about their intentions in order to gain the office, then go directly back to being moderate republicans.

I do not say that third party efforts are hopeless, in fact I see no other way to save this nation from itself frankly. I do think that the process is going to be a very long and difficult one as the system has become rigidly exclusive of any but the two usual suspects.

By djnoll, January 15 at 2:58 pm

I find very little to disagree with in this post by djnoll.  Especially with regards to polls.

Polls are merely the collective opinions of the partially informed, in my opinion. 

Polls are usless to the honest and honorable, who perform their job with the utmost of integrity, not being distracted or affected by the dubious thoughts and beliefs of the partially informed.

Polls are invaluable to the dishonest and dishonorable, who perform their job without a shred of integrity, and need to have positive opinion polls to warn them how close they are to being caught by those they are screwing.  Polls are their “early warning system”.

Polls are also invaluable to the lazy politician who does little to keep in touch with his constituency until it is time for reelection.  The poll tells him whether or not to get off his butt and campaign or not. 

Polls are also invaluable to the Media, who can spin great stories out of these otherwise useless events.
It is almost like having an election result every week.  A never ending source for pseudo-news stories.

I have come to the conclusion that polls have increased in popularity as the humanist “religion” has increased in popularity. 

As the humanist believes the highest moral authority is man, what better barometer for how to proceed than to take a poll of what “collective mankind” currently believes to be true.  After all, it could be much different that what was perceived to be true yesterday.

Now there’s here’s 2 who knoweth where they speaks of”-

  ” The real rulers in Washington are invisible and exercise power from behind
the scenes”

    Felix Frankfurter
    U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

  ” The world is governed by different personages than what is imagined by
those who are not behind the scenes “.

    Benjamin Dsiraeli
    Prime Minister, England

    Of all people Ruth Markus working for the WP aught to fess up to belng a part of the “behind the scenes” crowd.

The Democrats poll numbers are down because they’ve fundamentally failed to deliver on the promises they made in the last election.

Since this is one of the regular Democratic propaganda writers at the WaPo, Ms. Marcus tries really hard to dance all around that fact.

They promised “CHANGE!”.  They promised “HOPE!”. 

And to be honest, they delivered ... that is if you are a CEO or major shareholder of a Wall Street bank or health insurance company or the like. 

For the rest of us, well, the Democrats SHOULD be sweating the next elections, because we ain’t seen much change and hope is running thinner and thinner.

2010 should be the year of the angry leftist revolt among the electorate.  2010 should be the year of the “Pissed Off Progressives”.  Democrats should feel the wrath of every broken promise.

The fact that the Democrats are sweating gives the left leverage.  We should make them sweat even more.  We should turn up the heat.  Start organizing independent campaigns on a pro-peace, pro-single-payer health care platform in every CLOSE race.

The Democrats are sweating.  Lets turn up the heat!

As a student of public policy, this is just bilge water.  The President has been in office just one year, during which he has seen his approval ratings slide in direct relation to not only his own failings in selecting proper advisers who supported the agenda he ran on, not a Clinton/DNC agenda, but also because of the insanity of the Congress, led by Reid and Pelosi.  If the people on the Hill are worried, they should be more concerned with their own approval ratings, rather than those of the President.  A recent study indicated that Nancy Pelosi had approval ratings lower than Dick Cheney - and in very liberal San Francisco that is saying something!  Harry Reid has shown himself to be an ineffectual leader who allows himself to be led around by Joe Lieberman on what should have been the best work of this Senate - real health care reform.

The President can only propose legislation, but the Congress is the body that passes it.  The President is the Commander-in-Chief, but he is dependent on his field generals to tell him what is going on and his DOD Secretary to help advise him.  The President is suppose to supervise - not legislate - our financial markets, but he is dependent on the Sec. of Treasury and the Fed Chairman to control the flow of money.  The President, in short, is severely limited in what he can actually do to address many of our nation’s problems, and when he appoints people to advise him who are shoved upon him by the Clinton faction of the DNC and old school Democrats like Reid and Pelosi, and whose policies face SCOTUS overthrow, he is caught in a vice.

The sad fact is that MOST Americans expect our President to act like a dictator, and this one is not doing that.  Yes, he is being badly advised, and if he wanted to see his rating jump, he need only fire Petraeus, Gates, Geithner, Bernanke, Emanuel, and their GOP and lobbyist associates, as well as all of his Clinton retread advisers.  If in his State of the Union Address he stated clearly that he gave Congress one year to act like adults, and now he would not support any Blue Dog Democrat who voted against decent American health care, any Republican (which means all of them) who worked to obstruct the good and the will of the people, and any Democrat who started out by saying “We will not be dictated to by this President!” when they were clearly dictated to by the past one, I suspect his polling numbers would skyrocket! 

In our nation we have a form of government that was suppose to act as checks-and-balances against each other.  It has degenerated into a gang war, and the American people are the collateral damage.  But, we have no one to actually blame for this except ourselves.  We have forgotten, or never knew, our history, what our government can and cannot do, what our Constitution actually says, or how to think critically or be civic participants.  I am giving mini courses in all these subjects at http://www.letfreedomring.community.officelive.com under the heading Common Sense Academy.  The first classes were posted this week (later than I planned because of uploading problems through Firefox, for which I offer my apologies), and will continue throughout the year.  Under America Speaks, I have started a blog where I post questions related to each course for discussion each week.  Please join me there and share your knowledge with others, or question the assumptions or lessons.

If we are to address how our government works, we must not rely on polls to determine how we think or vote, just as politicians should not relate one set of polls about another to themselves.  The President may be in the 40s or 50s somewhere, but the last time I looked the Congress was in the teens!  Perhaps they should all be more worried about that than the President’s numbers.  And we should all be worried if that is how we are going to elect our officials - like a popularity contest, instead of who can actually govern us best.

Polls are not news.  Polls are useless indicators of anything.  Polls simply reflect how well the TV advertising for the particular subject is going.  News media are advertising Obama failure and negativity so the sheep known as people respond accordingly.  Polls are nothing.  If the news reports each day were “health care reform is coming and it will be great news for the american people” the polls would show a high approval rating.  But instead for the purpose of creating interest, and faking objectivity the news is “health care reform has all these problems and is going to be terrible” so of course the polls reflect that negativity.  Remember polls by news organizations are simply assessing how the TV watching sheep of the US are responding to the fake news created by the media.  Then they report the polls as if they were news. This is nothing more than pathetic manipulation of a pathetic sheeplike public.

As an anonymous quipped about Obama

  “Blacks have achieved racial equality. They can produce presidents as bad as the
white ones.”

So is every body happy now!

14% will say i don’t know (a large group of illegals and other non English speaking voters),

I wasnt aware that illegals voted…..whatever.

Approval ratings are the stuff of dreams, so easily manipulated in a political climate so polarized and strident. We are settling for poor governance indeed and are being easily used.

hello. clueless pollsters -get a real job. help the economy by contributing instead of leeching off it. if this health care bill is signed, his ‘ratings’ will go through the basement. an unprecedented 18% will favor what he is doing. that is his die hard base. 14% will say i don’t know (a large group of illegals and other non English speaking voters), so you will be able to spin that into a 68% disapproval rating. as USA TODAY would write, “that is nearly three out of four Americans.” is he going to be campaigning for his fellow Democrats in 2010? when the health care bill passes they know they are signing on to their retirement. they are doing it for the cause of government growth, and the latest poll says government is obese.

Silly humans, his approval ratings won’t matter once
the great big war that’s planned gets going. Alas, the
study of History might as well not exist for all the
good it seems to do us.

I think this article, and Hertzberg’s in the New Yorker are part of the a collective exercise we might call “worrying about the progs”.  The progs have been totally stiffed on everything they cared about, so now there will be a brief pause during which they will be allowed to whine and cry and will perhaps be thrown a small bone or two.  Although I can’t imagine what—the cupboard is pretty bare.

Obama and the Democrats should panic.  They deserve to panic.  The Great Betrayal, about to begin its second year under the wretch Obama, should, if there were any justice, cost them dearly.  The Democrats are less than useless and need either to disappear entirely or be totally remade as a truly progressive organization. They are undecorated cub scouts to the Republicans’ double eagle boy scouts.  The hell with all of them!

Is it really a question of “they deserve what they get” or “we don’t deserve what we get”?  And if so, then what?
  Gephardt’s statement…“The people on the Hill are virtually powerless to deal with all this.”
  Why is there such a seeming determination of people who write these columns to avoid following up on questions they raise?  It’s apparently not just Obama who is mesmerized by corporate funding, but Congress as well.  And if Republicans take over in coming elections, will they be any less mesmerized?If not, why not?  If so, why? And what can we do to disrupt this trance?
  Or are we in the same trance? These are the things that need to be aired and discussed and commented upon.

Yeah, ever-expanding war founded on murdering civilians, corporatism, and environmental neglect are still just as booming as they were during the Bush years; let the republicans gain all three houses, and you will see pretty much the same thing.  OH WELL.