Democrats punt on Tax Vote, GOP no new ideas with recycled Contract, Massey Energy blames mine disaster on Gas

It's Duck-n-Cover for Democrats on Tax Vote

It seems that Democrats are so shell shocked from the legislative and policy battles of the last two years, they're even afraid to pull the trigger on an issue that works for them.  Democrats decided to take a pass on a vote to extend the Bush Tax Cuts for everyone except the rich. 

All the recent polling points to massive support for letting the Bush Tax Cuts expire at the end of the year for the rich and extending them for the rest.  But even this isn't enough to assuage the Democrats bunker mentality as they head home to campaign.  With a stagnant economy and stubbornly high unemployment weighing them down in the polls, the last thing Democrats want to be accused of is raising taxes in a bad economy. 

Click here for the full story from Politico. 

Republicans recycle their "Contract" of failure for their final campaign push 

Republicans are calling Democrats arrogant.  With their new "Pledge to America" Democrats could make a strong argument that Republicans are deaf.  In 1994 the GOP used the steps of the Capitol as the backdrop for their "Contract with America."  Yesterday, they used a Northern Virginia Hardware Store to release their latest reincarnation of a governing agenda that saw incomes stay flat or retreated, deregulation that created the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression, promise to repeal and replace Health Care Affordability Act, and extend all the Bush Tax Cuts which will increase the national debt by $4 Trillion.  OK (wink, wink). 

Now, if a large number of the Tea Party candidates do win their races they promise to privatize Social Security, privatize or end Medicaid and Medicare, and end Unemployment Insurance.  They too have a contract.  Theirs is called the "Contract from America."  Just like the establishment GOP's "Pledge to America", the "Contract from America" offers a lot of what they want to do, but very few specifics about how to do it and what their plan will replace or improve. 

There's one other problem for the GOP.  An AP-GfK poll released this month found that the only thing that voters dislike as much, or more than, Democrats,... Republicans.  The difference is that anger on the GOP side is much, much more intense than Democrats.  Oh, Americans still blame Bush and the Republicans for the economy than Obama and the Democrats. 

Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship blaming mine explosion on methane gas leak 

In what is being described as a theory, Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship is claiming that methane gas was the cause of the explosion.  Citing pictures that show equipment inside the mine was shut off, manually, Blankenship is claiming that the miners knew methane gas was present and turned off the equipment. 

Regardless, this still doesn't excuse all the other mine safety violations and blatant and brazen disregard for MSHA regulations.  Federal investigators are still working to find the cause, but it would seem this could be one possibility among many others. 




Tax pic image found at:  http://www.intheiropinion.com/uploads/image/tax.jpg 
Boehner pic image found at:  http://www.usnews.com/dbimages/master/11483/FS_DA_090617boehner300.jpg 

Perriello down 23 points to Hurt according to WDBJ 7 poll

A new WDBJ 7 (CBS-Roanoke) poll has Tom Perriello down 23 points to 5th Congressional District GOP nominee State Senator Robert Hurt. While the 2010 Mid-Term elections are still months away, this is further proof that being an incumbent will not give you and advantage in this political climate.

This could also mean that, while Tom Perriello has sponsored more legislation and done more as far accessibility and accountability for the office than Virgil Goode did during his entire time in Congress, the right-of-center leanings of the 5th Congressional District are more comfortable with someone South of the James [River] than from Charlottesville. 

WDBJ 7 went on to say that Perriello was down by more than 30 points at the same time in 2008 and went on to beat Goode by just over 700 votes. But, this is not 2008 and Obama's approval rating continues to fall. The next question becomes, how close does Robert Hurt stand next to Virgil Goode and people that self-identify with the Tea Party Movement?  Does Robert Hurt need the Tea Party to win? 

Message to the GOP from Gallup: Don't measure the drapes just yet

Politico is reporting that a year long study by Gallup concludes that most states still prefer Democrats over Republicans. Despite major GOP victories in Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, the apparent resurgence of the GOP may not be what it seems. While the Democrats have lost appeal across the board, the GOP has not seen a reciprocal increase in support.

Almost to a poll, the Republicans have either remained steady or have only seen a one or two percentage point increases in support since Democrats won control of both the Congress and White House in 2008. Congressional Democratic approval ratings are poor, with just 35% saying they approve of the job that Democrats are doing. While this would be reason for Republicans to be dancing in their seats, the GOP approval ratings are even worse at around 25%. While the GOP's strategy of stonewalling all Democratic legislative efforts has worked well enough to raise their own spirits and win them a Senate seat in deep, deep blue Massachusetts, it has not helped them to overtake the Democrats in overall appeal. In short, the American electorate is not ready to give them another shot at running the country.

Could it be that the typical American voter is more sophisticated than once thought? It's clear that Democrats misread the message of the voters in 2008. Could it be that Republicans misread the same message, as well as the most recent elections where the GOP saw independents swing decisively in their favor? While the poll numbers for Democrats are mirroring those that saw their massive defeat in 1994, things are not shifting in the favor of the GOP as much as they would like to believe. The rise of the Tea Party movement seems to be turning off Independents and Swing voters, who are also not excited about the GOP retaking control of Congress any more than the Healthcare Reform efforts of the Democrats.

It seems clear the message Independents and Swing voters are sending is to end the political grandstanding and get something done. They are tired of both parties putting their own political ambitions ahead of the nation. After more than 30 years of bad fiscal policy, our chickens have come home to roost. While Congress will ultimately write the 2011 Federal Budget, the President's budget should be viewed as the message that the American electorate has sent. Everyone is going to have some skin in this game, and the road to getting ourselves out of this mess is going to be a long and hard road to take. The history of the 2010 election cycle has not been written yet, so the GOP shouldn't start measuring the curtains or counting the seats that they haven't won, yet. Most Americans don't trust the GOP, anymore than they trust the Democrats at this point.

Call the EMTs!!! GOP shooting themselves in the foot, agian!

The only thing that is keeping the GOP from a redux of 1994,... THEMSELVES! RNC Chairman Michael Steele can't keep his mouth shut. The GOP Congressional Leadership can't offer one, ONE real solution that the rest of the country can get behind to improve the economy and win the War on Terror. Oh, and the Tea Party whack-jobs are trying to purify the GOP for "real" conservatives.

Right now, the GOP is nothing more than an opposition party when they need to be a viable alternative with real solutions. These guys have no strategy and are so green with envy to be back in power that they can't can't even recycle an original idea or get traction on a bad idea to be a threat to take back the House (which is unlikely anyway). At this rate the GOP doesn't have a prayer of cutting into the Dems majority in the Senate. The only thing that would get them in the ballpark is if there was a successful Terror Attack or the economy did fall of a cliff (god forbid).

While there's not much to crow about from the Democratic side, the alternative is even less appealing. GOP economic principles got us in the mess we are in, as well as their twisted take on Foreign Relations. For the sake of the nation, Democrats and Republican, enough politics! GET IT DONE!