Usa Thread

[Flashermac]

Twin defeats spark Democratic fears

 

 

HOWARD BEACH, N.Y. — The Democratic Party’s rare loss of a congressional seat in its urban heartland Tuesday, accompanied by a blowout defeat in a Nevada special election, marked the latest in a string of demoralizing setbacks that threatened to deepen the party’s crisis of confidence and raise concerns about President Barack Obama’s political fortunes.

 

In New York, Republican Bob Turner soundly defeated Democrat David Weprin in a House contest that – in the view of party leaders, at least — featured an anemic urban machine, distracted labor unions, and disloyal voters. In Nevada, a consequential state for the president’s re-election strategy, Democrats suffered a runaway loss rooted in a weak showing in Reno’s Washoe County, a key bellwether.

 

Even before the polls closed, the recriminations – something short of panic, and considerably more than mere grumbling – had begun. On a high-level campaign conference call Tuesday afternoon, Democratic donors and strategists commiserated over their disappointment in Obama. A source on the call described the mood as “awful.â€

 

“People feel betrayed, disappointed, furious, disgusted, hopeless,†said the source.

 

Less expansive but equally telling were the remarks of House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, who in a conversation with reporters Tuesday morning said bluntly that Obama would take some blame for the two special election losses.

 

“I think every election reflects on the person in charge, but do I think it is an overall statement on the president alone? No,†said Hoyer. “Do I think it will be interpreted as being a statement on Obama? That’s probably correct.â€

 

A senior Hill Democratic aide was more direct in attempting to explain the New York loss: “The approval ratings for the guy at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue cratered.â€

 

A Turner consultant, Steve Goldberg, validated that assessment: “It was all Obama — not even a thought of anything else.â€

 

The president’s feisty new jobs plan has probably preempted open revolt in his party – though a Bloomberg poll released Wednesday morning found that 51 percent of Americans don’t believe it will help lower the unemployment rate. Senior party figures are on board with – or are at least resigned to – the White House’s leadership. And some Democratic insiders sought to put a better face on their diminished state - before adding that they wanted to see a tougher Obama.

 

...

 

 

My link

[Flashermac]

NEW YORK - Democrats suffered a significant setback early Wednesday with the party losing a New York district it had held for almost a century -- in an upset result seen as a rebuke of President Barack Obama's policies ahead of the 2012 election.

 

Republican Bob Turner was called as the winner of the special election for the 9th Congressional District, held to replace disgraced former Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner, who resigned in June after admitting he sent sexually-charged messages to women he met online.

 

Democrats have held the seat since March 1923 -- and Turner's challenger David Weprin was early Wednesday refusing to concede.

 

With 86 percent of precincts reporting, Turner had 54 percent of the vote and Weprin 46 percent, with about 4700 votes separating the pair, WNYC reported.

 

...

 

 

Somebody sure is pissed off ...

[Flashermac]

Income Slides to 1996 Levels

 

 

The income of the typical American family—long the envy of much of the world—has dropped for the third year in a row and is now roughly where it was in 1996 when adjusted for inflation.

 

The income of a household considered to be at the statistical middle fell 2.3% to an inflation-adjusted $49,445 in 2010, which is 7.1% below its 1999 peak, the Census Bureau said.

 

The Census Bureau's annual snapshot of living standards offered a new set of statistics to show how devastating the recession was and how disappointing the recovery has been. For a huge swath of American families, the gains of the boom of the 2000s have been wiped out.

 

Earnings of the typical man who works full-time year round fell, and are lower—adjusted for inflation—than in 1978. Earnings for women, meanwhile, are a relative bright spot: Median incomes have been rising in recent years and rose again last year, though women still make 77 cents for every dollar earned by comparably employed men.

 

The fraction of Americans living in poverty clicked up to 15.1% of the population, and 22% of children are now living below the poverty line, the biggest percentage since 1993.

 

...

 

 

WSJ

[robaus]

bin Laden's original beef wasn't Israel. He didn't care about the Palestinians and adopted their cause AFTER 911. Saudi Arabia hosts the two most holiest cities in Islam, Mecca and Medina. bin Laden and his followers at the time thought it was sacrilege to have non moslem troops stationed on holy soil.

 

The Saudis wanted us there as well. Had we not been there the whole mess could have been avoided. Also, we didn't even learn after the '94 bombing of the world trade center. That was what it was about. We knew about the hijackers taking flying lessons and didn't investigate it thoroughly. We didn't need the Patriots Act or Homeland Security to stop the bombers and we didn't need it after.

 

Its all bs. I don't agree with everything Ron Paul advocates but I agree with enough of it to want to give him a shot.

 

Correction The [corrupt,repressive] Saudi [royal family] wanted us there as well [to prop them up]. The ordinary Saudis don't get a say in it.

 

That's a remarkable piece of retrospective mind reading re Bin Liner's motives, CS.

 

Despite the fact that Bin Liner said America's support for Israel was one of the reasons for his terrorist attack. Crikey even Fox Noise reported it!

 

Amidst all the analysis of the tragic obscenity of 9/11 no-one dares mention the elephant in the room ...Israel. No-one wants to upset the tail that wags the USA eh?

 

.. from the UK Independent...

 

"The motivation for the attacks was "ducked" even by the official 9/11 report, say the authors. The commissioners had disagreed on this "issue" – cliché code word for "problem" – and its two most senior officials, Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton, were later to explain: "This was sensitive ground ...Commissioners who argued that al-Qa'ida was motivated by a religious ideology – and not by opposition to American policies – rejected mentioning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict... In their view, listing US support for Israel as a root cause of al-Qa'ida's opposition to the United States indicated that the United States should reassess that policy." And there you have it.

 

So what happened? The commissioners, Summers and Swan state, "settled on vague language that circumvented the issue of motive". There's a hint in the official report – but only in a footnote which, of course, few read. In other words, we still haven't told the truth about the crime which – we are supposed to believe – "changed the world for ever". Mind you, after watching Obama on his knees before Netanyahu last May, I'm really not surprised.

 

When the Israeli Prime Minister gets even the US Congress to grovel to him, the American people are not going to be told the answer to the most important and "sensitive" question of 9/11: why?"

 

And in a few days time America will again stand alone on the world stage when it vetoes the right of the Palestinian people to self determination and a state of their own, confirming its support for Israel which has continued a brutal occupation, land grab, and apartheid system for the last 60 years.

 

The USA should insist that Israel either annexes the whole of Palestine and makes Palestinians equal citizens, or give them their own state based on the 67 borders with a few land swaps. You could have the Middle East waving US flags rather than burning them.

 

Meanwhile your wonderful friend Israel..

 

..continues to spy on you as recently as last week stealing NASA secrets, a repeat of the Pollard affair of 1998.

..killed US service personnel in the USS Liberty attack

..has several of its PMs were wanted for war crimes

..were the root cause of 9/11

.. has led you into two wars Iraq and Afghanistan, but not sent a single soldier to fight alongside you.

.. would like you to start a war with Iran too.

..caused the GFC with your massive war expenses.

.. vets your politicians and academics to make sure they toe the Israeli line

 

As General McAuliffe would say..... "Nuts!"

 

[Bangkoktraveler]

We should have been smart enough to realize the repercussions of putting US troops in Saudia Arabia just as we should have realized that by favoring Israel more then 'them' the problems that would cause.

 

We should have studied history as to what Spain learned from fighting the Indians... but we don't.

[Hugh_Hoy]

Flash...I'm primed to watch MSNBC tonight. 5555555555 I want to see how Chris Mathews and the guy on "The Ed Show" spin this HUGE defeat by the libtards. I think the Democraps can kiss Florida adios for sure. Dumbass Obama couldn't have aliented the Jewish voters more since he was inaugurated, unless he had started wearing a swastika armband a year ago. Barry isn't as bright and intelligent as libtards like to profess. I think Jimmy Carter just moved up a rung above him.

 

HH

[Flashermac]

A red shirt taxi driver was actually comparing Barry to Abhisit the other day, with the red shirts' DEE DTEE PHOOT claim.

 

My gut feeling during the election was that Obie might well turn out to be another Jimmy Carter. Looks like I wasn't far wrong.

 

 

p.s. The irony of the Noo Yawk defeat is that the winning candidate is an RC, the loser an Orthodox Jew. It clearly wasn't about the candidate but rather the guy in the WH.

[Bangkoktraveler]

Kick Obie out and bring which Republican in?

 

.

 

Will the Republican be brighter then GWB?

[Hugh_Hoy]

p.s. The irony of the Noo Yawk defeat is that the winning candidate is an RC, the loser an Orthodox Jew. It clearly wasn't about the candidate but rather the guy in the WH.

 

Definitely a referendum on Barry, as were last November's elections. Barry should just fuck off someplace and start preparing catalog cards for his library. 55555555555 Mainstream America has finally got Barry's number. (Is "zero" a number?) I imagine President Zero will get a statue on The Mall for doing more to defeat socialism/Marxism than McCarthy ever dreamed.

 

HH

[Steve]

Hey Robaus, thanks your post. I thought it was routinely accepted when any says 'the Saudis' they mean the ruling family and not the people. My apologies if it wasn't clear. Its generally accepted the people have no say, its the House of Saud that has the say. I'll use the House of Saud from now on.

 

As to 911, bin Laden officially mentioned three motives I recall and one of them was the Palestinian/Israeli situation. The others being U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia and the embargo of Iraq.

 

I've read that bin Laden's motivation for mentioning the Palestinian situation after 911 was to expand support in the arab world. His main reason for going after the west was when we had troops there for the gulf war. He went to the House of Saud with a plan that did not include non moslem troops and it was rejected. He then criticized the HoS (House of Saud) for this and then fell out with them. There was very little if any mention of the Palestinians from al Qaida at that time. I've always understood the '94 WTC bombing was motivated by U.S. troops in the region, specifially Saudi Arabia. 911 was believed to be mainly motivated by that and the other two reasons secodary. Not that he wasn't concerned about the Paletinians from an ideological perspective but they weren't an issue for him till after 911. He wanted to be part of the attack against Iraq in the gulf war, so he had no deep feelings in that regard. As far as know there hasn't been much if any mention of Israel prior.

 

It could be they were a valid reason but its not what I gathered from all I read about his primary motives.

 

wiki isn't the most reliable of sources but.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osama_bin_Laden

 

The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait under Saddam Hussein on August 2, 1990, put the Saudi kingdom and the House of Saud at risk, with Iraqi forces on the Saudi border and Saddam's appeal to pan-Arabism potentially inciting internal dissent. Bin Laden met with King Fahd, and Saudi Defense Minister Sultan, telling them not to depend on non-Muslim assistance from the United States and others, offering to help defend Saudi Arabia with his mujahideen. Bin Laden's offer was rebuffed, and after the Saudi monarchy invited the deployment of U.S. troops in Saudi territory,[77] Bin Laden publicly denounced Saudi Arabia's dependence on the U.S. military. Bin Laden believed the presence of foreign troops in the "land of the two mosques" (Mecca and Medina) profaned sacred soil. Bin Laden's criticism of the Saudi monarchy led that government to attempt to silence him.

 

Shortly after Saudi Arabia invited U.S. troops into Saudi Arabia, bin Laden turned his attention to attacks on the West. On November 8, 1990, the FBI raided the New Jersey home of El Sayyid Nosair, an associate of al-Qaeda operative Ali Mohamed, discovering copious evidence of terrorist plots, including plans to blow up New York City skyscrapers. This marked the earliest discovery of al-Qaeda terrorist plans outside of Muslim countries.[78] Nosair was eventually convicted in connection to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and later admitted guilt for the murder of Rabbi Meir Kahane in New York on November 5, 1990.

 

Bin Laden continued to speak publicly against the Saudi government for harboring American troops, for which the Saudis banished him. He went to live in exile in Sudan, in 1992, in a deal brokered by Ali Mohamed.[79]

 

My guess is if we didn't have troops in Saudi Arabia and the region, we may not have much dealings with bin Laden. Maybe eventually, but my guess he would have concentrated on removing moslem leadership he didn't like, such as one of his early plots to assassinate Mubarak.