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Wednesday, June 16, 2010 | 2:01 a.m.
I may have been wrong about Sharron Angle. And that may be very bad news for Harry Reid.
I assumed Angle would resist attempts by skittish national Republicans to moderate her views, or at least frame them more palatably for a general election. Strong tea is fine for a primary, but decaf is much preferred for the general.
But this is Sharron Angle, whose conservative bona fides are unquestioned and whose career has been marked by attracting a hard-core following on the right because of her strict adherence to a certain mantra and by what has seemed to be her abiding sincerity. I have suggested the middle was not a place on her political map and that any guide to her election as U.S. senator would have only roads on the right.
But judging by what is wafting back from the much-hyped Ms.-Angle-Goes-to-Washington trip, she is submitting to a makeover that, if not Capraesque, is at least Scott Brown-like (indeed, she has some of the Massachusetts Miracle’s handlers). And if she can feint toward the middle on issues that might have alienated her from independent voters — or at least massage them in a non-L. Ron Hubbard way — Reid, despite his Angle Marginalization Plan, may be the one consigned to the fringe.
It is hardly out of the question that the populous Anybody-But-Reid Caucus will choose her instead of one of the ballot’s other choices (including “none of these candidates”), especially if she seems benignly eccentric instead of certifiably cuckoo.
Of course it’s early: We will hardly remember in November that Angle hid from the mainstream media in favor of lapFox interviews or that she may emerge as a more reasonable (albeit ersatz) version of her former self by the time voters go to the polls.
The real question, considering the fodder her critics have, is whether Angle, the unassuming former schoolteacher, has thespian abilities to rival Hepburn or Streep. She is going to need them, and not just because of The Reid Machine’s ability to exhume sepia-toned reels of old Angle footage.
The media, especially the ravenous and competitive national folks, are salivating over this story, and have found some startling stuff. Most surprising of all: Angle is more of a politician than I thought.
During an interview on “Fox and Friends” that could induce diabetic comas in those so susceptible, Angle decried as “nonsense” that she wanted to get rid of Social Security. And instead of using the word “privatize,” she said she wanted to “personalize” the program.
Softer. Nicer. More senior-friendly.
There’s also been some capital reporting — notably by The Wall Street Journal and Talking Points Memo — about Angle’s previous membership in the Independent American Party and her decision, in the late ’90s, to leave the third party so she could get elected as a Republican.
Expediency. Opportunism. Harry Reid would be proud!
Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson also told the media that Angle, who generally has had the Groucho Marx sentiment about clubs, told GOP senators she is “part of the team.”
Sharron Angle, team player? What planet am I on?
There also was some stuff that must have made her new handlers cringe, too. Most notably: The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent noted that she told a conservative talk radio host that “Second Amendment remedies” may be in order if Congress keeps going the way it is. I shudder to think how many people reading this agree with that sentiment.
This is some wild, crazy stuff, as Johnny used to say to Ed — or as Reno GOP Mayor Bob Cashell essentially said about Angle on primary night.
It’s true that some of the things she has been saying for years are not as radical as Reid & Co. would have people believe — abolishing the Education Department, for instance. But some Republicans — elected and otherwise — clearly are uncomfortable with Angle.
This veritable torrent of Angle-is-weird-and-maybe-dangerous stories can’t continue for 139 more days. Right? If it does, Angle can’t possibly survive, even against the manifestly unpopular Reid whom pundit Stu Rothenberg wrote this week “is still more likely than not to lose.”
That’s especially true if the new Sharron Angle can stand up to the assault on her record. If she can display the same unexpected flexibility that allowed her to shift from the IAP to the GOP to get elected, that induced her to become an amnesiac on John Ensign’s failings so he could be her D.C. valet and that prodded her to wipe the word “privatize” from her Social Security lexicon, that may be very bad news for Harry Reid.
John; Thanks for a very candid and honest, unbiased assessment, from your perspective on candidate Angle. Make no mistake about it Reid is in for the race of his life.
But, John, I wanna hear her debate. Now THAT could sell some tickets and popcorn. And in Nevada, it's all about entertainment anyway. Right?
it's really tough to polish a turd
Nice article, Jon.
But any Nevada voter with at least half a brain can see through the fecal matter when it deals with Sharron Angle. She can flip flop views, soften them up to make them palatable, deflect things back at Harry Reid and get the smoke machines going and carefully place mirrors to her heart's content, but it won't amount to a hill of beans. Everyone in Nevada knows her motto when voting...it always has been and will continue to be "41 to Angle" (her vote always the nay vote).
The voters in Nevada are fixing things right now.
We need to get rid of these creepy politicians.
Gibbons was first. Thanks to the sanity of Nevada voters, he's history.
Next, we vote in Senator Reid for another term and make Sharron Angle fade off from the political center stage...somewhere else...anywhere else. She can join Sara Palin in cross country motivational conservative speeches for all I care.
After that, we need to get rid of Ensign. Whether it be from watching him led out of a government building arrested and in handcuffs and/or voting him out of office, he is DEFINITELY on the list too.
We the voters can fix these things.
And we will.
Make no mistake.
Because I know I'm sick of the ridicule of the national press when they look at Nevada politics. And I know others feel this way too.
No doubt Angle has spent the last week hooked up to a machine that the GOP hopes will permanently reprogram her brain. Question is, will the political lobotomy stick for four long months or will she at some point be goaded into losing control and going off?
Most likely her head will explode sometime before November and all that Baptist-Scientology-survivalist gooblygoop will come gushing out in an epic teabagger meltdown.
Can a rabid dog learn to roll over and shake? The Reid campaign will spand $25 million to prove it can't.
Colin...Zactly!!!
"creepy politicians".
AMERICANS deserve NORMAL, culled from it's citizenry, unfettered by NutJob doctrine, not beholden to special interests, trustworthy to do The People's work without having to call a lobbyist to see if it's okay to vote in the affirmative on actions beneficial to their own constituents.
Ensign AND Angle? Together? ARE YOU nuts NUTS???
Speaking of "CREEPY"...
I see the Gymmer Gibbons has an "ambitious" "agenda" for the summer... Hey Gymbo; Here's an agenda that you can handle...
Sleep in til' 10am.
Get up, text Kathy; "c-u@beach!!!"
Pack a lunch.
Hit the liquor store for a 12-pack. (don't forget cooler!)
Charge up neck bolts.
Hit the road.
Repeat like Groundhog Day!!!
This is silly - Reid has not had the support of more than 40% of likely voters since last year and his track record is not going away. If Angle's makeover included a purple mohawk do and an all-camo wardrobe she could still run this nitwit out of an office he never was fit to hold.
He will get the usual yellow dog voters who think money is just paper and that defense is just a football cheer but no one with any sense of reality will let that bonehead back into congress. But please spend as much money as possible on his campaign, drawing from national resources as much as possible. There are some close elections out there and the more that is spent on Reid, the better the chances are of beating people like Feingold and Bennett.
Sharron gets escorted around DC by marginalized Senator Ensign, who is under investigation, and goes on the goofy Fox & Friends (never corrects host Steve Doocey when he says Palin endorsed her) and all of of sudden Harry should step up his worry that she will beat him in November? This woman cannot be scrubbed. She is human crazy glue and the record of it is out there, all over the place. She is no Scott Brown. Brown could feint to the middle, because he IS center right. Angle is anything but. She is not even solidly to the right, having jumped that ship when she joined the Independent American Party in the 90's. Sharron Angle is about as far right as you can get in this country without joining a militia group. I don't think she can win by just appearing on Fox News shows or radio programs with hosts like Limbaugh, Beck, et;al. I read Greg Sargent's blog yesterday and it scary what she said about "second amendment" remedies for dissatisfaction with government. Sharron, get your gun, get your gun, get your gun I guess.
Time for an experiment: take an old-fashioned, dark brown, quart bottle of beer and set it out in the hot sun. See how long it takes for either the metal cap to blow off or the glass to burst.
Learn anything? No? Well, neither have the people who think Sharron Angle can somehow pass for Kay Bailey Hutchison.
The Dems are trying the same negative stuff that's worked for them every time. Angle's a kook is she? Desperate people in a place with the highest unemployment in the nation who were promised 'Hope and Change' just two years ago are going to be a little more receptive to a candidate who attacks the big government premises that have shown to be such abject failures and not respond to the usual attack ads. If this election is about Angle then Reid wins. If its about where things are going and the failed policies of liberalism then mocking his opponent for not being a doctrinaire liberal is not going to do Reid any good. Angle might be motivated to ask what Cap And Tax's $6 a gallon gasoline and double electricity rates is going to do to a city that lives on tourists driving hundreds of miles to play under the bright lights of Las Vegas. Without Harry Reid there is no Cap And Tax. With Reid the depression continues.
[[The Dems are trying the same negative stuff that's worked for them every time. Angle's a kook is she?]]
+++++=
Yes, she is.
Why do government-haters such as Angle and Rand Paul want to work in government?
Because they're like a terminal cancerous tumor that, once inside, will do everything possible to kill our democracy.
"...especially if she seems benignly eccentric instead of certifiably cuckoo."
That is the key phrase. Moderates and independents will accept her if they feel that her more aggressive views will not gain traction in the Senate. Her solid views on fiscal policy will appeal strongly to them.
Reid will scare them much more because of his power in the Senate. He can force action on his more extreme liberal views by virture of his position as Majority Leader. His very power could be a weakness for him.
For moderates and independents, Angle can work towards things that they want but not be able to hurt the things they love. That can not be said of Reid.
Will the real Sharron Angle step forward? First, she was a Republican, then she was a Democrat, then she was an American Independent, then she became a Republican again, and now she says she is a Tea Partier.
Can this puppet of outside of Nevada interests make a lasting decision or will she continue to go in any direction her own wind blows her?
Wow -- first visit from RCP and it looks like the Sun commenters are the lefties in town....
I hate to break it to you, but Angle is not "ultra-right" ... she's more of a small-government, personal liberty type. "Crazy" ... in the tradition of James Madison.
Barring scandal, bye-bye Prince Harry.
It's about time the Republicans got back to Reagan and disavowed the Bush RINO's.
~Thomas
LastThroes said:
"Why do government-haters such as Angle and Rand Paul want to work in government?
Because they're like a terminal cancerous tumor that, once inside, will do everything possible to kill our democracy."
What flavor is that Kool-Aid, Last? Tearing down the bloated Federal government is a RESTORATION of democracy and personal liberty -- you know, the principles upon which this country was FOUNDED.
Watch the stock market after the election. If the market sees shades of 1994 in this NEW -- and desperately needed -- batch of Republicans, then they'll see a BALANCED BUDGET in the future (just as the CONGRESS, not Clinton, provided in the 90's).
Meanwhile, expect China to continue to fund Democrats as part of THEIR jobs program....
Read my lips: Anybody, Anybody, but him.
No more of these dishonest elitist politicians. I am so fed up with Nancy Pelosi and her $27,000 an hour jet, every last cent of it paid for with our tax dollars. And Reid with his insulting "I'm standing shoulder to shoulder with the American people" as justification for forcing through the despised Obamacare that will destroy our medical care and that he knew full well we strongly opposed.
I hate him. I would vote for anyone but him.
Asked by the host, Lars Larson of Portland, Oregon, where she stands on Second Amendment issues, Angle replied:
You know, our Founding Fathers, they put that Second Amendment in there for a good reason and that was for the people to protect themselves against a tyrannical government. And in fact Thomas Jefferson said it's good for a country to have a revolution every 20 years.
I hope that's not where we're going, but, you know, if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies and saying my goodness what can we do to turn this country around? I'll tell you the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out.
+++++++
She is not ultra - right, ThomasPaine? She is flirting with armend insurrection as a way to solve dissatisfaction with the government. She also just doesn't want Harry Reid to lose his seat, she wants him 'taken out.' We are not Idaho or the deep South and she is not Sarah Palin whose job it is to go around revving up the base. She is running for the responsible position of US senator. This is the type of rhetoric that the GOP wants her to tone down but it is out there
Thomas P wrote "Watch the stock market after the election."
TP, how about remembering what happened in the stock market BEFORE the 2008 presidential election when, after eight years of Bush/Cheney, stocks dropped 1874 points in ONE WEEK, starting Oct 6, 2008, the biggest decline EVER over five days.
The housing bubble of 2002-2007. That's a good example of GOP policies put into practice.
Why are there no genuinely interesting or clever people espousing the virtues of Leftism? Surely there must be at least one thing about Leftism that's just a little bit interesting? No? Maybe that's the problem: Leftism is rooted in a has-been philosophy and the Marxist Lockbox holds no new secrets: class struggle, re-distribution of wealth, endless socialistic poppycock. From here on in it's more-of-the-same-and-plenty-of-it for the Leftists. Maybe that's why Lenin, Stalin, Mao, El Che, Pol Pot and the rest of the Leftist Cavalcade of Stars went on those murder-binges: they were expecting something wonderful and new from their godless Marxist philosophy and too-soon discovered that in the null-dimension of tortured Leftist thought, there can never be a new thing. Never. Maybe the murdering Marxists painted the town red by killing those millions of people to relieve the boredom of their dirty-grey world. Boring their enemies to death is the #1 Radical Leftist tactic; mass-murder is tactic #2.
p.s. I have already sent money to Sharron Angle's campaign. I know plenty of others around here in Alabama who are doing the same. Sharron Angle gets support from U.S. citizens in all 50 states. We The People are FOR Sharron Angle.
Politics as entertainment for an erstwhile diletant when what we really need is representation and leadership, not to be a plaything, fad or mantlepiece.
By the way, I happen to actually live around here and I apologize to all of you for having shared living quarters with the likes of sweethomealabama. A course we all have the right to rant like that but it certainly has a way of stinkin up the aura of conversation about our elected officials who would speak for us in DC.
I don't want my elected officials funded by outsiders, corporations or think tanks. My preference would be for some fairness for me to make up my mind based on some facts, interviews and records - not the funded fabrications from handlers with agendas, plans and make-up.
Stinkhomealabama is stuck in denial.
Stink, your former hero, GW Bush (you remember him don't you?) had eight long, miserable years to prove whether or not GOP policies work.
He got his massive tax cuts for the wealthy and everyting else for six straight years but left office deeply hated, with 29% aprrovals and a record of breathtaking, epic failure.
So what happened?
crickets chirping...
Please play politics in Alabama and stay out of our State! What do you know about her anyway, except the whole mantra of "out with Reid"? Do you know any of her record while she was in our State government? Do you know that not many Republicans she served with in our State even support her? Why? Read her record, she's loony-
She thinks there should be mandated lies to women who seek abortion.
She thinks flouride in drinking water is a communist conspiracy.
She wants to visit prisons in other states to look at a massage program.
She'd wipe out Social Security, Department of Education, Department of Energy.
Deregulate oil companies and wall street even further.
Wow, the list goes on and on... The failed policies of George and Co. are NOT the failed policies of Reid!
I can see it now: Harry Reid introduces a new piece of legislation to keep out-of-state money from his opponents in Nevada. Of course he will have a clever exemption for himself allowing National Education Association, SEIU, AFSCME, AFL-CIO, to contribute to his campaign. Harry Reid is one of the dirtiest dirtbags in the history of the world. He is even more corrupt than Bill, Hillary, Barack, Blago, Barney, Chuck, Chris Dodd, Dickie Durbin and so many other creepy Leftist Democrat Communists. It saddens me to know that so many of my fellow-citizens don't see a thing wrong with Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. Is there a pathology at work here? Is it some kind of spiritual disease? Somebody call a doctor!
Stinkhomealabama,
Why are you polluting Nevada with your trailer park rants?
Alabama is last or near last (along with redneck neighbor, Mississippi) is nearly every good category and first or second in every bad category.
Yours is a poverty-stricken state of low-wage, obese losers. Shouldn't you be blogging about the Waffle House or pork rinds instead of Nevada politics?
Leftists. Ain't they something! You can always count on a Leftist to roll out the South-bashing, fat-redneck trope whenever they see anything that reminds them of the Southern United States of America. Oh, that reminds me, I DO NOT believe Mr. Obama cares that the Gulf of Mexico and its beautiful beaches are becoming dead-zones. I DO believe Mr. Obama and his fellow-travelers are using the disaster as a cover for the even greater disaster of illegal immigration. Without those 30 million illegal votes Mr. Obama is political toast and he knows it. Mr. Obama's apparent lack of leadership is part of a tactic to keep this oil-disaster on the front burner while keeping the public's attention turned away from the illegal immigration monster. With outright lies and obfuscation Mr. Obama gained the Presidency. Mr. Obama and his fellow-travelers are now using the U.S. Presidency as a tool to consolidate political power in themselves. Mr. Obama is a busy man. He's got an election to steal. He's a tool, alright.
Good one, LastThroes, good laugh :)
Alabama--kindly excuse the liberal nerds in Nevada. Glad you are supporting Angle. Harry Reid is stuck in his penthouse suite in DC while Nevada sinks in his slop. Time for Harry to retire!
On 06-15-2010, After meeting with Sharron Angle, Senator Johnny Isaakson, refers to the Nevada voters as the "unwashed back home."
Did Sharron Angle demand an apology for insulting the Nevada voters? NO!
Just go to Wiktionary to see what the term "unwashed" means.
As a Democrat, I am shocked anyone would want Harry Reid to win. To my disappointment, HC passed, against the wishes of most Nevadans, Reid insults regular Nevadans, and calls tourists members of the "unwashed masses". He is an embarrassment to Nevada and to himself. There is a difference between carrying power with humility and wielding power with arrogance. Harry has arrogance down pat.
He has been in too long, and really has outstayed his welcome. I actually would like a Senator that wants to serve the people and uphold our Constitution. What a refreshing breath of air that would be.
So Vid, your beef is with Sen. Johnny Isaakson, NOT Sharron Angle.
I am sick of people not holding the person that made the comment accountable and blaming anyone else.
By the way, Harry Reid said the same thing. I am voting him out in November...how 'bout you?
It really does not matter if Angle is well like or not, Harry Reid is dispised and for that he will be tossed out. I will do verything in my power to see to it Harry Reid is voted out.
Sharron Angle is not a political newcomer. She has been a fixture in northern Nevada politics for about a decade. Her policy "statements" are nothing more than the usual bromides and sound bites, slurped up by the religous right and anti-tax crowd. She offers no solutions other than gunfire and gospel. Her state assembly campaigns were negative smears against token opposition in an overwhelmingly Republican district. It is just rewards to see her face an opponent who has the resources, and resolve, to question her inflammatory and seditious statements. The more voters know about Angle's christo-facist views, the less likely they will vote for her.
As an aside, Mr.& Mrs. Angle are career govt. employees who hate "big government". I haven't heard whether they are rejecting their "big government" retirement benefits.
It is a real shame when national organizations are able to manipulate an election the way this Senate race was. And this applies to both sides.
REID had the full force of the NEA and the SEIU funneling money into the democrat orgs and 527s. Reid's campaign has spent over 10 million dollars already with 4 months left.
Angle had the for profit operations of Tea Party Express and the so called fiscally conservative org Club for Growth indirectly financing her campaign. These two orgs spent over 1.2 million dollars for Angle's race within the last 3 weeks of the election.
None of this money changes the fact that both candidates have their flaws. Lets hope that the Nevadan voter will seek the facts on both candidates and stop allowing themselves to be led around by the nose by mass media marketing from these outside orgs. Realize that these orgs are all about their own survival and their ability to keep financing themselves.
Its good to hear that she has decided to join the mainstream, but as far as warning the nation that "Second Amendment Remedies" may be needed, well I don't know how "crazy" that is. Many interpret the second amendment to include the right of an armed citizenry to physically resist any tyranny imposed by the State itself. While 20 years ago only 5-7% of the population envisioned that this might actually be needed, that percentage has lately shot up to around 30%. That's actually higher than the number who consider themselves "liberals" in this country. (You have my permission to now shutter.) At 30% a point of view stops being "wild and crazy" and actually enters the "mainstream."
I would be more worried at any connection to L. Ron Hubbard, after spending more than 25 years in the cult myself including high executive levels, I would not want anyone who owes their complete loyalty to that meglomaniac, drunken charletan to reach any higher office anywhere on Earth.
Anyway a Mr. "Wedo" noted earlier: "it's really tough to polish a turd," for that reason I would think the Republicans could even run a pot-smoking lesbian atheist and still whip his sorry arse.
Comment removed by moderator. Language.
It might be tough to "polish a turd", but Mythbusters showed it can be done quite nicely.
For both Angle and Sandoval it is not merely a question of flexibility. They will need to be chameleon-like, changing hue as they walk from room to room, trying desperately to blend in with real people, and their real issues and concerns.
There should be a weekly debate from both candidates regarding issues that matter the most for the citizens of the United States particularly in Nevada. I can see now Angle is going to need all the help she can get.
Don't blame Harry Reid there are unemployed Nevadans, blame the GREEDY CEOS of the duopoly + (Wynn) regarding the state of our employment in this city. Up to their necks in debt out of their own doing, abandoned projects left and right of the Strip and then blame the visitors for not spending enough in the city. The nerve of these people.
Harry Reid you will get my vote and I have family here who will do the same. Wacky Angle and the Republicans clearly dropped the ball this time.
Dear Vegas Voters,
Please vote Reid out and replace him with a junior senator, that way all the pork he steered your way will go to states that actually DO something for the nations economy.
Thanks,
The other 49.
GOP Senators disagree with Angle's far right views http://bit.ly/br58Z6 not in rush to support her http://bit.ly/cSDbm8
Let me rephrase what I said about the GREEDY CEOS, it is not just the CEOS of the duopoly in Vegas but all of the gaming companies CEOS in Las Vegas that got this city in huge mess it is in.
Goodluck to us all here in Vegas!!!
I think it's interesting to note that the Republican Party's search for a viable candidate to run against Senator Reid so far has been an unmitigated disaster.
Just two months before November 2nd, Sharron Angle was at about 5 percent of the voters. The clear frontrunner was Sue Lowden.
But then something happened. Her worst enemy surfaced to smite her down with unbelievable effective violence. And that enemy was...herself. She ended up a laughing stock. She beat herself. Period. And her reward for all eternity will be to forever maintain and hold the worthy title of....(loud voice booms down from atop Sunrise Mountain and echoes resoundingly all throughout the Las Vegas valley)...CHICKEN LADY!
Sharron Angle, due to Chi...er...Sue Lowden's self-destruction emerged the front runner.
And now here we are, just a little over one week after her win of the Republican candidacy to try to unseat Senator Reid, and bad things are piling up on her. Her position on Social Security flip flopping from kill it forever, to "privatizing" it, then to "personalizing" it. Then her position on armed insurrection and the 2nd Amendment, all said in the same breath with the Tea Party mantra "we're taking out country back." Mix in there Scientology/Tom Cruise/Nevada prisoners getting massages in Mexico nonsense. More and more of her positions of total idiocy mixed with her past record of "41 to Angle" (hers being the only nay vote all the time). And last, but not least, she avoids any and all press that may give her problems, only picking and choosing her outlets. And anytime she shows up there and is asked a question, she don't correct anything, just answers vaguely and steers it around into some kind of blathering attack on Senator Reid. It's to the point they could ask her about the weather and she'd smile and answer, yes, it's 101 in Las Vegas today...AND IT'S THAT DAMN SENATOR REID'S FAULT!
I guess my point is that in this race, the Republican Party seems to have an insurmountable problem. And that is when the candidate they present for viewing pleasure and consideration opens their mouth and speaks, it kind of all goes downhill from there.
I'm starting to think their new motto is: We have met the enemy...and it is still....ourselves.
Good column. Good comments.
And hahaha, Alabamee, please comment often as we can all use the laughs. Like that one feller said, Nevada isn't quite up to Alabama metrics as far as poverty, education, wealth disparity etc. Not yet anyway.
But our teabaggers and militia-types are workin' reel hard to catch up to you fellers. Oh, and don't you worry none about that dad gum spirtual disease--Angle's 2nd amendment plans'll cure it real good.
For the next month GOP handlers will attempt to transform bats%&# crazy, armed and dangerous Sharron into reasonable, rational Sharron.
It won't work work. She's too loony.
Now we can add,"FLIP-FLOOPER", to Sharron
Angle's name.
We have seen these republican lies before and
will never fall for them again.
Republicans lie and can NEVER BE TRUSTED.
Sharron Angle already made her chicken
statement.
"WE SHOULD PHASE OUT SOCIAL SECURITY AND
MEDICARE"
SHE'S TOAST.
I am not from Alabama but I love how people all over this country are so ignorant about the South. Unless a lot has changed since the last census, Alabama has a higher percentage of college grads and graduate degrees than Nevada. http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/c2kb...
Yeah, you can probably find some statistics where you come out ahead of Alabama (and I can find more where you do worse) but before you go into any financial comparisons remember that it costs about 12% more to live in Nevada than Alabama too. NV's per capita income(for example) is really no different from AL's when adjusted for cost of living. Add that to the fact that a lot of people are not terribly impressed with an economy based on gambling and prostitution and you really don't have much room to criticize the South.
PS - I am from Illinois and so far as I am concerned any and all complaints you want to voice about our elected officials is all right with me!
Harry might be in need of a makeover as well. Who can forget such insights as "he's light-skinned and doesn't speak with a Negro dialect" or "you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol"? Angle can put together a nice little ad with those and other comments and Harry will have a real fight on his hands. Run that ad on say November 1st.
Does anyone truly believe that there isn't at least a touch of bigotry there?
boftx:
Harry might be in need of a makeover as well. Who can forget such insights as "he's light-skinned and doesn't speak with a Negro dialect" or "you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol"? Angle can put together a nice little ad with those and other comments and Harry will have a real fight on his hands. Run that ad on say November 1st.
++++++
Yeah, she could, but her stand on Social Security and medicare (well documented) trumps all of that. Angle's campaign can attempt to portray Harry as a bigot, but really, in all honesty, whom do you think is going to get the majority of the Hispanic vote?
If Harry courts the Hispanic vote too much he will lose more from the middle than he will gain. On top of that, Hispanics are starting to see immigration reform talk for what it is, a Democratic card that gets pulled out whenever an election is going to be close, then put back in the deck for later.
That card used to help them a lot, but it's starting to backfire. With a rather large number of people supporting the AZ law it won't win points with moderate and independent voters.
Basically it boils down to if Obama can get minorities to come out for Reid, Angle will lose. If not, she wins.
RRD: "remember that it costs about 12% more to live in Nevada than Alabama..."
I love it when teabaggers pull numbers out of their a** and present them as fact. RRD, do you have a link to *prove* that it cost 12% less to live in AL than NV?
*RRD will now disappear*
Actually, the truth of the matter is, botfx, that the Republicans are winning short term gains regarding immigration because of Arizona's laws. I agree with that.
But the actual truth is that the backfire from it will be that the Republican Party, with their draconian laws that seemingly usurps Federal law soon to come into effect, have achieved short term goals. But, they are even taking it further.
Arizona Republican officials are clearly going after what they term "anchor babies." They are even going after murals on walls of schools where they paint out Hispanic features of school kids. And mix this with other really way out there xenophobic laws they wish to institute into law. Even to the point of re-writing history (like Texas is doing) to suit a conservative ideal.
This will spell disaster for the Republican Party. And not to mention it will effect their tourism.
Because, even as I am typing this, these actions are awakening a sleeping giant. All of those American voters who are of Hispanic descent are now mobilized. They will (and have exhibited that they will) show up en masse at the voting booths to SLAP Republicans out of office left and right.
Don't matter if Arizona's laws are right or wrong.
It's going to happen.
Bet on it.
The Republican Party, specifically in the American Southwest, will be a thing of the past. And it will continue to fade for a generation or so.
I don't care if you think it's right or wrong, but the way it's going, that WILL happen.
I was appalled by Texas, I was floored by the mural story, and I'm of two minds on the "anchor baby" question.
The "anchor baby" clause clearly does not apply to babies of tourists here on a travel visa, so there is reason to argue that it should not apply to babies of those here illegally. A reasonable compromise might well be to say that a child born in the US must have at least one parent who is a US citizen in order to be a US citizen.
On the other hand, I think that the authors of the 14th Amendment needed to address the citizenship status of the children born to former slaves. It is quite posible that people did not consider slaves to have been citizens, and this would protect the children of such under any circumstances. Those conditions no longer apply today.
I agree that it is an issue that is political quicksand for anyone who treads upon it.
PS - it should go without saying that the children of a naturalized citizen become citizens at the same time the parent does.
I wonder how many of the Hispanic votes predicted by ColinFromLasVegas will be cast by legal citizens of the United States of America? If legal U.S.citizens of ALL ethnic extractions don't have enough respect for their citizenship to protect the blood-bought right to cast a legal vote, then I reckon We The People will get what we deserve: a balkanized nation bossed by the bosses of the Mexican, Iranian, Afghani & Turkish drug cartels. If We The People allow the Constitutional government of this Republic to degenerate to into a confederation of warring, balkanized states, "elections" will become as meaningful as Fidel Castro being elected by another landslide in Cuba. The squishy American Leftists think they can run with those cartel dogs and share the wealth and power but the throats of the squishy-sweet North American Left will be among the first cut. Wanna bet?
Lastthroes -- what a buffoon! Here are two links that actually say it is higher than 12% (it depends on if you look at yearly or quarterly statistics) What kind of idiot offers a challenge like this and does not bother to look up the information themselves?
Perhaps you are just proof of what the third website I provide has to say about people from Nevada (note your relative place to AL)
http://www.top50states.com/cost-of-livin...
http://www.calculatorslive.com/Cost-Of-L...
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0931043.h...
If you have any sense of dignity you will now disappear from the thread... but I doubt if that is going to happen.
stinkhomeal,
You're a good old southern paranoid schizophrenic racist. Get help.
BTW, isn't it way past your bedtime?
Were it not for those nudnicks with their pocket Constitutions and pointy hats, there would be an actual candidate to take old Harry on.
Now, he's a shoe-in and we're all screwed. The next time those clowns assemble, I hope it's to announce what a huge mistake they made.
Cannot wait for the Rick Barber-inspired ad. Hahaha! If I ran the DNC, I'd pay to run that ad over and over again
Gather your muskets!
As an involved American, I always encourage all eligible residents to get involved, register and vote (especially first generation naturalized American citizens). If they ask who to vote for, I simply tell them to do the research and make an informed decision. But to have the right to vote and fail to do so is to betray the freedoms and God given rights bestowed upon everyone who is fortunate enough to be a part of our great political system.
This election, for the first time ever I have broken my own rule and made a recommendation to those that ask. My answer is that which I hear from a substantial majority of Las Vegans, "Vote for anybody BUT Harry Reid."
Reid may have been front and center on the national agenda during the Obama Administration, but in exercising such national power, he has (in my opinion) completely abandon the citizens of the State of Nevada (formally known as his constituents).
Sharon Angle certainly would not be my first choice to send to Washington. Wacky or not, she has at least been on the ground listing to working people of Nevada. You may not agree with her politics, her philosophy or her personal or political beliefs, but she has not (yet) turned her back on the economic atrocities that have ravaged Nevada.
There is no doubt that the historic positions of Sharron Angle do not resonate with the moderates and independents, but in the end, I think that Nevadans are hurting so bad, and are so disgusted with Harry Reid entirely failing his home state in order to advance a national agenda (no matter how noble the cause), Sharron Angle will prevail ever so slightly over the "none of the above" vote and replace Harry Reid.
Only time will tell. If you agree, get out and vote for Sharron Angle. If you disagree, get out and vote for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Either way, GET OUT AND VOTE!!!
boftx:
If Harry courts the Hispanic vote too much he will lose more from the middle than he will gain. On top of that, Hispanics are starting to see immigration reform talk for what it is, a Democratic card that gets pulled out whenever an election is going to be close, then put back in the deck for later.
++++++
boftx, W Bush, with Karl Rove's, was making inroads with the Hispanic vote and it showed in the 2002, 2004 elections. Then came the Tancredo type crowd with all of their anti-immigration rhetoric. Tancredo was going to pile illegals in his van and run them back over the border. The hate talk was ramped up and it did the Republican Party a lot of harm in terms of getting the legal Latino vote in 2006 and 2008. In fact the Republicans backed off of the anti immigration rhetoric in 2008 because they realized it was going to lose more votes that it was going to gain. They are forgetting that lesson this cycle. Reid is not for amnesty, but neither is he associated with a party that seems to disdain of Latinos. The Arizona law may satisfy many in the short term and it may win some elections but the long term harm to the Republican Party will become apparent and painfully so to them. NO group wants to be targeted by their government or made to feel that they are less than and perception is everything, especially in politics.
Before I say goodnight, let me leave you with a link that some here will love and some will not. Who loves ya, baby!
Adios fer now, y'all. Don't take any wooden nickels.
http://media.columbiatribune.com/img/pho...
sandy99, I won't too much against you on that. I am merely stating how I see the political landscape today. We are less than five months away from the elections, attitudes about illegal immigration won't change much in that time.
On the other hand, dragging out dirty laundry at the proper time will have inpact, no matter who does it. It might well depend on who can drag out the dirty laundry that resonates with the current political environment.
Social Security is indeed a dangerous topic, but it is an established risk for politicians that can be worked around. On the other hand, illegal immigration is a hot button today, and is likely to remain so for the next year or so.
Throw jobs (or rather, the lack thereof) into the mix and we should see some very interesting tactics and strategy from both sides. Reid has no choice but to take Angle seriously, which in turn will build her credibility with the very people Reid is trying to keep away from her.
I only wish the Libertarians could have fielded someone like Art Lampitt (who is running for Governor) for the Senate race.
(HINT HINT Jon, how about some coverage for Lampitt? I know for a fact he would love to be on your show.)
Curious that Frau Angle has been silent, now that she has a national pulpit. After all, she has been polluting the northern Nevada newspapers, airwaves and "internets" with her christo-fascist views for about a decade.
Perhaps after she attends the Palin-Bachmann day spa and political re-education camp (Yucca Mtn. campus), we will be treated to some of her content-free vitriol and nonsense.
sweethomealabama:
Adios fer now, y'all. Don't take any wooden nickels.
+++++++
Shoot, bama, we're Nevadans, wooden nickles is exactly what we do take sometimes. <<<grin>>>
boftx, I did look up Art Lampitt and he is interesting. I don't agree with much of his platform but two things did catch my eye:
* Transferring BLM lands to the states
* Repealing the Patriot Act and other legislation that has stripped us of our legal rights
I agree with the second point about repealing the Patriot Act or at least parts of it. As for BLM land, what would or could the states do with it? Put in housing tracts or malls? On the other hand, we live live next to a lerge chunk of of BLM land and on occasion all it is is a dumping ground for people who are too lazy and/or cheap to go to the county refuse. It also is the home to rattlesnakes, coyotes, lizards and jackrabbits.
The BLM issue more of a principle than a practical nature at this poitn, I agree. But what isn't mentioned on the site that much is that Lampitt doesn't condemn public education as other Libertarians are prone to do. That was what got my attention. My own conversations with him gave me the impression that he recognizes the need for an educated electorate, no matter who pays for the education.
When you combine his fiscal views with personal liberty views (he is publicly in favor of legalizing pot, how many Democrats will say that?), and his stand on education, I think he is worth supporting.
I admit that Angle has a lot of stuff that I don't like, in particular her "family values". If she would say those were a low priority compared to fiscal matters I would like her a lot more and might not "hold my nose" when I vote for her this november.
Anyone who votes for this chick has gotta have a few screws loose in their head, like she does!
Republican ideology ruined our economy and
Sharron Angle represents the worst of the worst.
Republicans NEVER care about the average worker.
teamster, do you support or oppose NAFTA, and why? For the record, I oppose it.
boftx........
I oppose it, it needed regulations.
Would you agree that it had a detrimental effect on US employment? And that it was signed by a Democrat?
Your blanket statements are amusing at best, and indicative of a dangerous herd/mob mentality. Of course Republicans have been wrong, but so have Democrats. NAFTA is a prime example of that.
Why is it ok for liberals to move to the middle to get elected, but it is not ok for conservatives?
Hopefully the Reid campaign will soon air the first of many 30-second horror films starring scary Sharron, the deranged Reno teabagger.
There will probably be an armed and dangerous, militia Sharron;
a Social Security-hating, grandma-murdering Sharron;
a diabolical, nuclear waste-loving Sharron;
an anti-environment, oil spill-causing Sharron;
and a prison inmate-massaging, Scientologist Sharron.
Better get your popcorn now before the stores run out.
The ballet box/bullet box meme has gone viral. Though they squawk loud, there's not enough paranoid Bircher-kook votes for a Senate seat.
@jerhig
It's one thing to waffle on bailouts or Iraq, but how many libs threaten civil war if they lose an election?
Why do government-haters such as Angle and Rand Paul want to work in government?
Because they're like a terminal cancerous tumor that, once inside, will do everything possible to kill our democracy.
This is typical leftist backwardism from a progressive liberal. Government is the bad actor, not the people. Read the words of the Founders. For starters, we don't live in a Democracy. They didn't want a Democracy because it ultimately results in the tyranny of the majority, which is just what lefties want to establish. It's the we won, you lost so we get to make the rules for everyone belief that we didn't want in our governmental system.
Further, lefties always seem to cringe when you utter the forbidden words of the Founders. I'll be excoriated for this but it reminds me of the episode of Star Trek where Captain Kirk discovers a totally destroyed society on a planet only to find out that one of the warring factions actually had a Constitutional government just like ours. Late in the show Kirk takes out the Declaration of Independence and begins reading it only to the shock and dismay of the people around him. He then goes on to explain that these words were meant for YOU, not the elites.
We don't want a society where life imitates art.
Here you go: The episode was Omega Glory
The two fight over a nearby axe when Yang warriors suddenly arrive and take everyone back to their village, which appears as ruins of an ancient building. Their leader, Cloud William, turns out to be the prisoner who was in the cell with Kirk. Cloud curiously produces a very old American Flag and removes ancient manuscripts from a box where he begins to recite words -- a poorly pronounced version of the Pledge of Allegiance. When Kirk completes the pledge, the Yangs are shocked. McCoy questions how they know the pledge, and Spock surmises that the cultures may have developed along very similar lines to Earth. Kirk speculates that the Kohms were originally "Communists" and Yangs originally "Yankees". Apparently, the Omegans had a Cold War much like the one between the United States and the Soviet Union, but unlike Earth, their war heated up and a conflict was fought many centuries ago. Even Spock found the parallel between the two worlds to be "almost too close."
The Yangs now bow to Kirk as a deity, but he orders them to stand and face him. He looks over the ancient, crumbling document, which appears to be a distorted version of the American Constitution. Kirk finishes the sacred speech and rebukes the Yangs for allowing the document to degrade to mere shibboleth. He declares that the words were not just for the Yangs, but for Kohms, as well, declaring that they "must apply to everyone or they mean nothing." Cloud doesn't fully understand, but swears to Kirk that the "holy words" will be obeyed. Kirk smiles at Cloud, convinced that the Yangs, along with the Kohms, will now rebuild their ruined world. Before departing, Kirk stops to take one last proud look at Old Glory.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Omega_G...
Let the excoriation begin.
sharron angle is a NUT JOB!!!
don't believe me...
ask her about fluoride and our precious bodily fluids...
WHACKO!!!
I am reminded of the case of Gibbons and Mazzeo who claimed he abused her in the garage after a Las Vegas social.
JON WAS ESTATIC. He took it for granted that with the election two days away, and no chance for a real defense; Gibbons would be defeated.
Much to Jon's amazement that charge did not stick in rural Nevada and Gibbons won anyway.
The same with Angle, this paper can go bananas attacking every her on every possible angle, but the public will want to hear her side, and anything said by the Sun, which is 100% pro Reid, will not seriously affect the election.
The whole case in a nutshell is Reid's record, the unemployment picture, Obamacare, the forclosures, his utter failure to serve this state instead of the President, etc., now how are you going to blaim that on Sharron Angle?
But don't worry Obama will be willing to come to Nevada and support Reid. As if that has a history of working anywhere else!
1) Harry Reid has done incredible damage to this country over the past several years particularly in that he has been defiant of the wishes of the clear majority of the people using any means necessary to get the agenda to centralize power through Congress.
2) Look through the comments at the scatological and fear inspiring comments aimed at Ms Angle. Are these rational people making these comments? If someone cannot make an argument in a cogent and logical fashion then their ideas should be suspect no matter what side they are on.
3) Read the Constitution. The Founding Fathers did not "hate government" (after all, they set the most successful one up) but they did fear a large centralized government in control because they were students of history and they knew the inevitable consequences. You can pull up Article 1 Section 8 and the 10th Amendment instantaneously on the internet. They are very concise and very clear.
4) If you think the Constitution is irrelevant this is a terrible mistake. If the Constitution can be greatly manipulated by Bush or Obama or Reid etc then whoever is in power sets the rules. The law is not the law and we become a country of men and not laws. This becomes more problematic as power is centralized in the hands of fewer and fewer people. The result is tyranny particularly if you are a group not in the good graces of the power holders. NOTE: you may be in the good graces of this administration but what if you are not so lucky under the next administration or Congress. The Constitution must be the foundation. It protects our liberty.
5) This is why I will not support Harry Reid.
"Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties."
Abraham Lincoln
sbob:
[[I am reminded of the case of Gibbons and Mazzeo who claimed he abused her in the garage after a Las Vegas social.
JON WAS ESTATIC. He took it for granted that with the election two days away, and no chance for a real defense; Gibbons would be defeated.
Much to Jon's amazement that charge did not stick in rural Nevada and Gibbons won anyway.
The same with Angle, this paper can go bananas attacking every her on every possible angle, but the public will want to hear her side, and anything said by the Sun, which is 100% pro Reid, will not seriously affect the election.]]
+++++++
My discomfort and many people's discomfort with Angle is not what she does in her personal life, but her far out positions on many issues. She is also a notorious obstructionist -- just what we need, one more of those in the Senate. I don't she will win -- I guess we will see. Gibbons, btw, may have overcome the Mazzeo charge in the beginning, but because of that and a HOST of other things he did and did not do while governor, he became one of the most, if not thee most, unpopular governors in the country and the first sitting governor in our state to lose a primary.
Gladys Kravitz.
Nuff' said.
She only goes on "pay to play" talk radio, where she feels safe.
Last Throes,
I think that the real question should be - why do people who HATE America (Reid, Pelosi, Obama...) want to work in government. Oh wait, I know... They want to destroy it and make it like every other failing country in the world. Angle doesn't hate the government, she knows that it's individual capitalism that creates a successful country. The government cannot create prosperity, it can only create dependents.
Art Lampitt is not a career politician, and genuine in his positions, which are true to his beliefs. How many other aspirants for the governorship can truly say that? Just because he is running outside of the two major parties does not mean his positions are undeserved to be heard. Do democracy a favor and bring his voice in as well to your coverage.
Dear Ms. Angle and Tea Party,
About those 2nd Amendment remedies...What's the plan.
Will your group assassinate individual Americans to start a Manson Helter Skelter style incitement of revolution, or are you guys going to do mass murders of Americans - Darfur style?
I'm for joinamerica and sweethomealabama, efitting, pclifford and even RRD, anyone can beat Reid. If Angle is up for the task, I'm for her.
Down with jbkayaker12, okra, bbtbrain, birdeidreamin you get a shot of fluoride, florishes is just a bad joke, these and most of Reid's planted backers all going down. I think this thread is filled with Reid's party animals. The political rubbish is a lot more prevalent here then in any other political discussions. Arizona seems to be a magnet for them. Could it be they are coming from all over because they are all scared and like each others company? These posters would all be smashed big time in any other Obama or Senate debate. I came here just to have a look and that's what I see.
Let me add some things that I conceder important.
ISSUES; Impeach Obama, Audit the Fed, Secure the borders, E-verify, GMO is bad it must be labeled, remove and replace the FDA, bring the troops home now. No more drilling anywhere, legalize hemp, develop the electric car AGAIN. No One World Order and last but not least, paper trail voting.
Well, guess who fits my bill right down to audit the Fed except for my "no more drilling".
SHARRON ANGLE FOR U.S. SENATE
http://www.realcolorwheel.com/SharronAng...