ACTION

rasmussen (12)

Rajjpuut's Folly: Rasmussen: TEA Party Loses Focus; Hillary Obama's Rival in 2012?

Posted by Bob VanDeHey on August 30, 2011 at 3:22pm


 

 
Rasmussen:  79% of voters say the nation is “going the wrong way” while only 14% say the nation is “on the right track.”
 

TEA Party Abandons Core Concerns;
Hillary Clinton Poised to Contend:
2012 Political Waters Roiled, Muddy
 
 
            Two related stories springing up in recent weeks have greatly muddied the American political waters as the nation heads toward the 2012 campaign. Both stories owe the vigor of their credibility to recent polls at the eminently respected RasmussenReports.com website. Scott Rasmussen’s polling group, which has outdone all other political surveys in accuracy over the last dozen years, ran the results of two surprising polls in the last week and information from several other polls contributed to the muddying. First the result of some related “normal polling” by Rasmussen:
A)   The generic congressional ballot shows Republicans getting 45% and Democrats 36% in prospective 2012 congressional voting. The highest seen was a 12-point differential favoring the Republicans a few weeks prior to the 2010 landslide midterm election.
B)   After the Obama administration moved to set the nation’s immigration laws aside and via regulatory fiat put Homeland Security in charge of deciding which illegal aliens are deported and who gets to stay (Republicans call the move “Backdoor Amnesty”) a Rasmussen poll showed the move was highly unpopular. 61% of American voters say that border security is vital while 31% say Amnesty is the correct policy, roughly a 2-1 margin opposed to the President’s move.
C)   While only 15% of the nation says that the economy is improving; 63% say it’s getting worse.
D) 79% of voters say the nation is “going the wrong way” while only 14% say the nation is “on the right track.”
E)    In a ranking of the top ten concerns voters worrying them right now, the Economy outranked all other concerns as it has for almost the last 38 months (Mr. Obama has been in office for 33 of those months). The surprise was that 84% of Americans ranked the Economy as “very important” well ahead of Government Ethics and Corruption (67%) and Health Care (65%).
F)   Finally, while only 29% of likely voters believe that President Obama is doing a good or an excellent job on the economy; 51% rank the President’s efforts as poor with 14% more ranking him as doing only a fair job with the economy.
 
In short, “it’s the economy, stupid!” is the watchword for 2012 politics and most Americans are unimpressed with Barack Obama’s decisions and results. Now let’s have a look at those two new and surprising Rasmussen polls alluded to in this blog’s first paragraph and headlines . . . .
1)      When voters were asked about the label “Tea Party candidate,” 43% regarded the label as “negative” and only 32% regarded it as a “positive” according to Rasmussen in a poll done yesterday.
2)    Besides a recent ABC poll which showed that Obama was in a statistical dead heat with Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann; and besides the oft-quoted Rasmussen polls which now show a generic Republican beating Barack Obama 48% to 40%; and Obama leading Texas Governor Perry 43% to 40% . . . a recent Rasmussen poll showed Hillary Clinton has a higher approval rating by all Americans over Barack Obama by 47% to 43% and Hillary, as we all know has shown as yet, absolutely NO interest or inclination to run.
Looking at item #1, the Democratic leadership’s efforts to paint the TEA Party as extremists, racists, economic terrorists, stupid and just plain nuts is finally paying dividends for them. Of course Rajjpuut’s unwavering stance on the TEA Party’s raison d’etre shows exactly why this cynical ploy is working as the words and actions of TEA Party’s most prominent names are willfully sabotaging the movement   . . . .
I.                  Rajjpuut has long stated that the TEA Party can do far more good for the country as “kingmakers” rather than as a separate political party actually nominating or running candidates. For example, your blogster was highly critical for roughly four months of the senate candidacies of Sharon Angle in Nevada; Ken Buck in Colorado; and Christine (“I’m not a witch”) O’Donnell in Delaware which gave victories to three Democratic senators pinned on the ropes and which prevented the Republicans having a senate plurality (50-48 with two Independents) right now. Just as Ross Perot in 1992 guaranteed the defeat of G.H.W. Bush by Bill Clinton, any third-party pretensions by the TEA Party can only further mire the nation in progressive politicians with their tax-spend and expand government approach.
II.               The original TEA Party script is simple, powerful and vital to America’s interest and yet it’s being ignored totally. In the last six months there has been an explosion of high profile TEA Party people like Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul and Sarah Palin who have ignored Rajjpuut’s well-thought out advice and taken to free-lancing rather than following the TEA Party script that initiated the landslide effects of 2010 . . for example, they’ve . . .
A.    Made absolutely asinine remarks that reflect badly on the movement: Paul has looked like a 12-year-old on foreign affairs. Bachmann made a huge historical gaffe citing New Hampshire as the site of the start of the Revolutionary War; and she’s been getting into conservative social issues (submission to her husband; gay marriage; and several other “focus on family-type” social conservative comments). Palin continues to frequently express social conservativism issues (that do NOT play well in Peoria) like abortion**, school prayer and Creationism on an equal basis with fiscal conservativism and far ahead of Constitutional conservativism. Rick Perry who reaches out to the TEA Party has even made public statements about teaching Creationism in public schools alongside Evolution. In short, the TEA Party seems to have lost its way, forgotten its focus
B.    In an ideal world, the vast majority of Americans would believe (and have evidence backing up their belief) that the TEA Party is this and only this:
1.  Staunchly fiscally-conservative
2.  Staunchly Constitutionally-conservative
3.  Staunchly free-market conservative
4.  Staunchly in favor of smaller, less expensive and far less obstructive and intrusive federal government
5. A grass-roots movement tying together concerns of conservatives  whether Republicans, Independents, Democrats and Libertarians.
6. Has NO leader and no political agenda other than helping save America.
    C.  Meanwhile this important document has been totally ignored:
   Rajjpuut has repeatedly emphasized that next to the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution, no more important political document has ever been written in the English language than the TEA Party Contract from America. You’ll notice that the American people, not Republicans or TEA Partiers, who in early 2010 voted on the 28 issues raised by the TEA Party did not place a single social-conservative issue among the ten items in the contract . . . indeed every single one of the contract items refers only to fiscal responsibility, Constitutional fidelity, shrinking the size and interference and obstructive power of the federal government, and a just plain common-sense businesslike approach to running government. And yet, how often have you heard anyone other than Rajjpuut espousing the continued proclamation of these ideals** as the key to recapturing the three branches of elected federal government and beginning to restore America to her former greatness and character?
The TEA Party needs to get its act together:  that is clear. Meanwhile Hillary Clinton is looking more and more like a threat to Barack Obama’s hoped for hegemony. According to top Democrats who don’t want to be named, Clinton has been upset by the economic approach favored by Obama; and was angry about the country’s credit being downgraded. For her part, Clinton appears happy as Secretary of State (though less happy since Robert Gates retired he was her favorite “pal” at the White House) and seems content to serve out her full-term in that role. Bill Clinton, on the other hand sees Obama as weak and a danger to the Democrats’ goals. Clinton, the ex-President has recently been spending a lot of time in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and in Washington talking to Democratic operatives . . . as much as anything, Bill Clinton’s ambition for his wife and himself may be fueling the intensity and frequency of rumors that Hillary in 2012 is a strong possibility. There are also frequently quoted statements that Hillary and Barack have not had a single conversation outside of “office necessity” in three or four months. The United Kingdom’s well-reputed Telegraph blogsite recently ran a headline: “Democrats Doubt Barack Obama’s Re-election Chances” which emphasized the movement of thinking toward Hillary Clinton. The often spurious but always provocative political blogsite weeklyworldnews.com has in recent weeks cited several surveys of Democratic primary voters. In the most recent their numbers are 52% for Hillary and 45% for Obama with 3% undecided. Weeklyworldnews also claimed that James Carville, Paul Begala and, most intriguingly FOXNews analyst Dick Morris, “have all signed up to join the Hillary for President team.”
 
Ya’all live long, strong and ornery,
Rajjpuut
**The capacity of one single social conservative issue, abortion, to derail voters from voting for candidates interested in fiscal- and Constitutional conservativism canNOT be over-emphasized. Since Roe vs. Wade was passed in the early 70’s American opinion has by a 59-40% margin been opposed to anti-abortionism IF that meant denial of abortion “rights” in case of rape or incest; or for a very young girl; or where the mother’s life is deemed endangered. While the country as a whole identifies itself a “right-center” nation on fiscal and Constitutional issues . . . Americans are liberal or moderate on social issues and especially so on abortion . . . and the staunch anti-abortionists who dominate the extreme rightwing of the G.O.P. (and who have recently sought to usurp the TEA Party as their own as well) will not meet 60% of America halfway.
 

Read more…

Rajjpuut's Folly: Is Revolution from G.O.P., TEA Party More Likely Than from Left?

Posted by Bob VanDeHey on May 14, 2011 at 12:00pm

   

        “Besides Rasmussen, the often interesting Quinnipiac University polling a few months back showed that only 19% of the voting populace generally trust government to do the right thing “almost all of the time” or “most of the time; but among TEA Party members that number drops to only 4%. 

 

 

 

Rasmussen Poll Underlines

Conservative Voter Skepticism, Distrust

 

 

        The term bandied around most by the progressives and other left-wingers over the last 110 years of American history is their Marxist interpretation of the word “revolution.”  Those revolting people with the aim of bringing totalitarianism to our shores have ceaselessly talked about “the revolution” and derided the system created by America’s Founding Fathers, the system that has made America a shining beacon of hope around the planet for over 225 years. 

        However, throughout real American history it’s been the radical center that has led the way, who’ve brought great change to these shores . . . and right now, according to a recent Rasmussen Reports it is that same radical-center group that is most likely to “kick the bast_rds out” of the Oval Office and Congress until they get a government that truly represents their interests and highest standards. According to a recent Rasmussen Reports poll of likely Republican voters, if you talk to 64% of them, they now see "the divide between the public and their government is the biggest since the American Revolution" began in 1775.

        In the Rasmussen survey of likely G.O.P. primary voters, 64% of them agree with that sentiment; only 16% disagree and 20% say they aren’t sure. In related questioning, 84% of Republican voters trust the judgment of the American people more than that of the nation’s political leaders and only 4% trust the political leaders more with 12% “undecided.” When Democrats and Independents are added in, overall 76% of the people today trust the people more than the politicians. The likely Republican voters deeply distrust their government:  87% say the federal government has become a special interest group with the power to advance its own interests to the public’s detriment. Only 6% of Republicans disagree with that view.  67% of G.O.P. voters think big business and the government often work together in ways that hurt consumers and investors; with only 13% disagreeing and 20% unsure.

       Rasmussen Reports founder Scott Rasmussen (who’s run the most accurate and trustworthy polling service in the country for the last dozen years; authored the book In Search of Self-Governance; and co-authored Mad as Hell: How the TEA Party is Fundamentally Remaking our Two-Party System with ex-Clinton aide Doug Schoen) said this in In Search of Self Governance: 

                                    “Throughout American History, voters tend to be a few decades ahead of the political leadership. Voters gradually adapt to changes in the real world while politicians defend the status quo.” 
 
        If he’s right, it explains why “Revolution” as it’s seen by the left hasn’t caught on. The dynamic in America is, according to Rasmussen, significantly different than it is in European, Asian or Latin American countries where Marxism has played out its hand.  Obviously, the status quo today is an unresponsive, big spending, ever-expanding federal government and gradually diminished freedoms -- all of which the larger part of the voters oppose.

       Rasmussen revealed that 43% of the G.O.P. considers themselves part of the TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party movement and 22% of all voters align themselves with the TEA Party.  The TEA Party reports that its makeup includes 9% Democrats; 18% Independents and 72% Libertarians and Republicans who are, of course, most likely to vote in the upcoming Republican primaries. The stereotype that the group belongs to “angry old men” is incorrect: 56% of TEA Party members are women and the average age is 44. 

       Polls by other groups have highlighted some of the problems that the recent Rasmussen’s poll shows Republicans excited about. For example, the often interesting Quinnipiac University polling a few months back showed that only 19% of the voting populace generally trusts government to do the right thing “almost all of the time” or “most of the time; but among TEA Party members that number drops to only 4% compared to 24% among non-TEA Party citizens. All this ties in to another Rasmussen poll showing that only 23% of the likely voting public now says the government has the consent of the governed in America.

      The main difference, of course between the progressive-radicals and the mainstream radicals is, of course, the question of bullets or ballots.  Many on the left such as Frances Fox Piven of Cloward-Piven** Strategy infamy have long advocated “bloody revolution.” The quiet revolution via the ballot box is the preferred method of the angry Republicans and TEA Party folk. Surveys of all Americans over the last four decades has shown that the breakdown of self-identification has remained very steady at or around: 44% calling themselves “conservative”; 42% self-labeling as “moderate”; and just 12% “liberal" or "progresssive.” 

      The area crippling conservatism’s power in Rajjpuut’s opinion is “social-conservativism^^” which includes items like strict anti-abortion stands; and desire for creationism and other religious beliefs being taught in public schools; singing religious Christmas carols in public schools, etc.  For example:  62% of all Americans are against the strictest anti-abortion views (absolutely no abortion under any circumstances) while only 37% support them.  When slightly softer anti-abortion views are expressed 55% oppose them and 44% support them.  Separation of Church and State doctrines, of course, are also very popular among voters who instinctively wish to confine religious utterances to churches and private religious schools.  On the other hand, “combined Constitutional conservativism and fiscal-conservativism” as advocated by the TEA Party seems to be an area that at least half of the Independent voters and about 15% of the Democrats can enthusiastically support.

 

Ya’all live long, strong and ornery,

Rajjpuut

**

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/09/barack_obama_and_the_strategy.html

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/02/the_clowardpiven_strategy_of_e.html

 

^^ The demographic breakdown is that on social issues Americans say they are “conservative” 36%; moderate 31%; and liberal 30%. This indicates that the most tenable political area lies within the Libertarian’s fiscal- and Constitutional-conservativism; and social-moderatism to social-liberalism. The reason that Libertarianism has never caught on, in Rajjpuut’s opinion is that Libertarian leaders have been genuinely impractical and also inclined to shoot their mouths off about ALL their views instead of confining their politics to fiscal- and Constitutional-conservativism only. Just get into office and dramatically shrink the size of the government and put the fiscal house in order . . . that’s what we need!

 

Read more…

Rajjpuut's Folly: Polling Corrupted** As AP Objectivity Disappears Altogether

Posted by Bob VanDeHey on May 12, 2011 at 3:30pm

              “. . . any polling agency which subjects its readers and clients to 8% accuracy has lost all credibility.” 
 

Heavily Obama-Biased** Reporting

Obstructs AP’s Polling Accuracy

 

 

        Did you know that President Obama’s overall job approval rating jumped 14% after the successful Navy SEAL raid that killed Usama Bin Laden?   That amazing statistic comes to us courtesy of the Associated Press’s (the AP provides Yahoo’s news coverage) highly-biased news and opinion polling staff.   In contrast, the venerable Gallup polling showed a 6% jump in presidential approval and Rasmussen Reports showed a 3% jump. What does the AP polling agency know that Rasmussen doesn’t?  Rasmussen Reports, which  notably only surveys “probable-voters” rather than all adults, has been the most accurate polling agency over the last decade-plus so the 11% difference in presidential approval between AP pollsters and Rasmussen immediately raised eyebrows among the politically savvy.

 

       Right now Rasmussen trends show the American populace favoring Republican candidates by a 41% to 38% margin and 34.4% of the populace calling themselves “Democrats” versus 34.1% calling themselves “Republicans.” Rasmussen typically seeks to take representative samplings of 1,000 or more individuals.  In contrast, however, the recent survey run by the AP featured a 35% Democratic sector versus an 18% Republican sampling fueling the President’s job approval jump from 46% to 60% in the AP poll . . . in other words, where honest statisticians like Rasmussen claim and fulfill a 95% accuracy rating +/-4% (thus 60% fits into the range of 56% - 64%). . . statistical standards rating the recent AP polling would predict an 8% accuracy rating +/-4%.  While the AP’s continued liberal-progressive slant over the last decade and a half has been a clear journalistic abomination . . . any polling agency which subjects its readers and clients to 8% accuracy has lost all credibility.   was passed with the promise that after it was passed the nation's unemployment would never rise above 8.0% . . . (we've had 7.95% unemployment only once over the last twenty-seven months and unemployment has been as high as 10%).  The bottom line:  knowing this (Bin Laden killing) job approval spike for President Obama was doomed to be short-lived, someone at apparently AP decided to make some sort of a pro-Obama statement with their bogus 60% approval rating rather than following normal and accepted polling procedures:  appalling!  We repeat, while the AP’s continued liberal-progressive slant over the last decade and a half has been a clear journalistic abomination . . . any polling agency which subjects its readers and clients to 8% accuracy has lost all credibility.  Rajjpuut is sending this blog to Yahoo.com, his favorite ISP telling them that unless some measure of objectivity is restored to Yahoo’s AP news and polling coverage . . . if you concur, please send your opinion to Yahoo and AP as well.
 
 
       For what it's worth, the phrase, "It's the economy, Stupid!" is still the most valid predictor of people's voting patterns.  Remember, Mr. Obama promised he would cut the nation's deficit in half by 2013 . . . but, of course, with his $787 Billion stimulus added in . . . Obama has more than quadrupled the deficit; and that same stimulus

Ya’all live long, strong and ornery,

Rajjpuut

 

** 
“Corruption” is a strong word and suggestions of media bias are serious accusations. . . but well beyond those issues, deliberately skewing supposedly objective polling  results must be considered a real low for any journalistic organization.  Where did this corruption come from? While George Soros’ funding connection to progressive organizations like Media Matters and to National Public Radio (NPR) are well known, recent investigations have also shown that multi-billionaire Soros has contributed large sums of money to more than thirty liberal American media organizations in just the last year. Tying that in with the AP’s proclivity to run liberal-slanted press releases and opinion pieces from any of the 527 Soros-funded non-profit organizations (he also OWNS over 50 such foundations) as if they were actually researched straight news stories; without editing; without fact-checking;  and without getting counter-balancing opinion . . . and the suggestion grows strong that the AP has sold its soul to the “spooky dude’s” agenda.

 


       Soros, of course, gave $1.8 million to NPR, which became part of the firestorm over NPR's federal funding.  The very progressive^^ (he calls himself "liberal") Soros spent $27 million trying to defeat George W. Bush in 2004 and his widespread influence upon liberal newspapers such as the New York Times and Washington Post is rumored to be the only thing keeping them from bankruptcy.  But mainstream broadcast outlets like NBC, ABC, CBS; and the Associated Press (the subject of this blog) are also well-documented recipients of Soros liberal largesse.
 
      ^^ Progressives believe we must first 'progress' against the 'outdated and ill-conceived U.S. Constitution' if we are to 'progress' toward their earthly Utopia.  Most conservatives regard progressives as little more than Marxist-socialists.
 
Read more…

Rajjpuut's Folly: Obamacare Crossfire Target from Congress, Individual States, Voters

Posted by Bob VanDeHey on January 20, 2011 at 12:30am
 
 

            It’s not been a good week for Obamacare, by any measure:  

A) Today the U.S. House of Representatives voted 245-189 to repeal the law (a far larger margin then originally passed it). The fact that only three Democrats voted to repeal the law shows the tremendous sway that Nancy Pelosi still holds B) Two Rasmussen Reports surveys meanwhile showed that 75% of American voters want changes to Obamacare; and
 
C) 56% of voters actually want it repealed, while
 
D) six more states (Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Ohio, Wisconsin and Wyoming) joined a suit claiming the law is unconstitutional. This brings to twenty-sex, the number of states involved in the lawsuit originally begun by Florida. The other nineteen states that are suing are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Idaho, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Washington.            

            All six of the new states joining the law suits have Republican Attorney Generals, but the action in the House was, at least, somewhat bi-partisan as three Democrats joined the unanimous Republican voting ranks against Pelosi and the health care “reform” bill. With the new additions, over half the country’s states are now opposing the law.  "It sends a strong message that more than half of the states consider the health care law unconstitutional and are willing to fight it in court," Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.

The states claim the health care law is unconstitutional and violates people's rights by forcing them to buy health insurance by 2014 or face penalties. Government attorneys have said the states do not have standing to challenge the law and want the case dismissed.

Lawsuits have been filed elsewhere. A federal judge in Virginia ruled in December that the insurance-purchase mandate provision was unconstitutional, although two other federal judges have upheld the requirement.   It’s widely believed the U.S. Supreme Court will ultimately have to resolve the issue.

Meanwhile, at the White House, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs dismissed attaching any importance to the vote repealing the law, saying the Republican effort was “not a serious legislative” push. Democrats have a majority in the Senate and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said his party would block repeal in that chamber; and will not allow the bill to even reach the Senate floor if he has his way.

In the Florida case, the states also argue the federal government is violating the Constitution by forcing a mandate on the states without providing money to pay for it. They say the new law gives the state's the impossible choice of accepting the new costs or forfeiting federal Medicaid funding.  By 2024 at the latest, the new Obamacare requirements for the state side of Medicaid are potentially expected to bankrupt almost all the fifty states. As a side note: Unfunded liabilities of $112 TRillion in Social Security, Medicare, and the federal side of Medicaid amount to more than double the gross national product of the entire world. These three entitlement programs and the new Obamacare entitlement appear nationally and for the states to be ticking time bombs . . . .

Florida U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson is expected to rule later this month whether he will grant a summary judgment in favor of the states or the Obama administration without a trial. Former Florida Republican Attorney General Bill McCollum filed the lawsuit within seconds after President Barack Obama signed the 10-year, $938 billion health care bill into law in March. He chose a court in Pensacola, one of Florida's most conservative cities.  The nation's most influential small business lobby, the National Federation of Independent Business, also joined the suit saying that the law’s costs and paperwork would make small business ownership a losing proposition. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has made similar assessments about Obamacare. A recent analysis showed that where before there stood only the patient and his/her doctor . . . 1,968 bureaucrats have now entered the relationship courtesy of Obamacare.

 

Ya’all live long, strong and ornery,

Rajjpuut

   
Read more…

Rajjpuut's Folly: G.O.P. “more trusted,” Obama at make-or-break with Chinese

Posted by Bob VanDeHey on January 18, 2011 at 3:58pm
   

Voters Losing Faith in Dem Politicians

 

 

     According to a Rasmussen Reports survey . . . American voters, who have recently acknowledged more faith in Barack Obama than they’ve shown in several months, are now apparently rapidly losing faith in his fellow Democratic politicians and trust Republicans more on all ten of the nation’s top issues.  Looking at the top-10 issues as selected by those surveyed: Voters trust the G.O.P. on the Economy (their #1 issue) by a 9% margin; on health care (issue #2) by 14%. Only on education (#3) was the matter much in doubt. The voters trusted Republicans by only a 2% margin on education while the minimum trust edge for all the other issues was 8% on ethics; and Social Security; and Iraq. The national security (#9) edge given to the G.O.P. was a whopping 15%; and the edge on handling taxes (#10) afforded to Republicans was a phenomenal 19%.

 

Issue

 Democrats

 Republicans

 Economy

 39%

 48%

 Health Care

 38%

 52%

 Education

 38%

 40%

 Iraq

 37%

 45%

 Immigration

 37%

 48%

 Social Security

 36%

 46%

 Afghanistan

 36%

 44%

 Government Ethics

 35%

 43%

 National Security

 35%

 50%

 Taxes

 33%

 52%

 

 

          As new House Speaker John Boehner and the G.O.P. take over the House of Representatives this month (the Dems still control the White House and Senate),  this marks the first time according to Rasmussen since August, 2009, that Republicans have been trusted more on all ten top issues. At this time two years ago, the soon to be inaugurated Obama and his Dems were trusted more than Republicans on almost every issue. Republicans have held double-digit or near double-digit leads on generic Congressional ballots over the last few months. Congress means both the House and Senate . . . so possible implications are that Democrats in the House and Congress need to respond to the people’s wishes for sweeping change in their handling of the nation’s business. The election results indicate that voters want that from both parties but perhaps are looking for even more marked change among Democrats.

 

 

            Meanwhile Barack Obama today meets with Red Chinese leader Hu Jintao. Unfortunately, Mr. Obama has been even more INeffective on the world stage than he has been at creating jobs here at home.  Jintao's country has abused ours in trade agreement after trade agreement and now he's calling for the world to replace the dollar with their currency (the Yuan).  Mr. Hu Jintao is an enemy intent upon economic destruction of this nation and needs to be handled as such.  Of course, we've hurt ourselves much more than the Chinese have damaged us and it's about time Mr. Obama looks back in history to the last time a President actually made a difference in ending a serious financial downturn.

            Warren G. Harding in 1921 inherited a terrible recession from progressive President Woodrow Wilson, much worse than the one in 1929 Herbert Hoover caused for himself with his economic interference policies (raising tariffs in particular). Thanks to Harding’s decisive action the so-called “Invisible Depression was ended in fifteen months. What did Harding do? He cut taxes 49%; cut spending 48%; and reduced the national debt by 30%. He died in office before getting to see the country’s full rebound, but his Vice President Calvin Coolidge after being sworn in continued the policies and gave us the “Roaring Twenties” the decade in American History which showed us the most dramatic surge in prosperity the country’s ever known. How does Harding’s example relate to Obama’s visit with Hu Jintao? Rajjpuut would suggest seven steps for the country per se; and three more steps with regard to the Red Chinese:

 

A.    Internally

 

1. Reduce government spending by 40% and maintain it at that level for a period of 10-15 years depending upon progress in the economy; national debt and UNfunded liabilities.

2. Reduce taxes on individuals and businesses by 60% for a period of five years; by only 40% for years six-ten.

3. Pay down the national debt by 12% per year for the next dozen years.

4. Create a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. And an amendment requiring that each new Congress must in their first 90 days pass a budget.

5. Pass an amendment to the Constitution abolishing income tax for individuals and businesses and replacing it with an 8% Value-Added Tax (VAT) on all individual and business purchases; and a 12% VAT on all purchases of imported goods.

6. Eliminate all foreign aid.

7. Allow refineries to be built in the United States and drilling of oil inland and offshore to proceed and nuclear power plants to be built.

 

 

B.  Vis-a-vis China
      Until such a time as China agrees to 100% fair trade with this country in all aspects charge a 40% VAT on all Chinese goods entering the country, and . . .

 

1. Forbid all knowledge-sharing and technology-sharing with the Chinese.

2. Add a $1 million surtax upon any company doing business with the Chinese.

3. Forbid ownership or exchange of Chinese Yuans in this country.

 

Rajjpuut states unequivocally that the measures mentioned above will return this country to greatness and put us on the road to curing the worst 85% of our nation’s economic ills within a dozen years.

 

Ya’all live long, strong and ornery,

Rajjpuut

 
Read more…

Rajjpuut's Folly: China Wants Yuan to Replace American Dollar Internationally

Posted by Bob VanDeHey on January 17, 2011 at 12:46pm
 


Rasmussen: Only 26% Say

Nation is on the Right Track
 

 

            A recent Rasmussen Reports survey shows only 26% of Americans believe the country is headed in the right direction while 68% of us believe the country is headed in the wrong direction. Broken down by party sympathies: 43% of Democrats; 73% of Independents: and 88% of Republicans believe the country is headed the wrong way.  Only 48% of Democrats believe the country is moving in the right direction. Black voters are the only large bloc saying the country is on the right track with 52% agreeing; meanwhile 72% of Whites; and 75% of voters from groups not Black or White say the country is moving in the wrong direction. Here are a few areas of discontent:

ITEM: Rasmussen also showed that 75% want the Obamacare health care law changed at a minimum and 60% believe that it will cost much more than we’ve been told and increase the federal deficit. 55% say it must be repealed.

ITEM: 61% of voters say that Congress (U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate combined), no matter how bad things are, can always make things worse.

ITEM: Chinese President and leader of the Communist Party Hu Jintao has called the U.S. dollar functioning as the global currency a "product of the past" and is promoting a move by the global community toward his Chinese yuan for international investment.  Listen here to the video as George Soros the man who has stated that “the United States is the greatest threat to world stability and vowed to destroy the American Dollar; imagine his “new world order” being led by a Communist China which killed 58 million of its own people since 1950:

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/KatiePavlich/2011/01/17/chinese_president_says_dollar_as_global_currency_a_thing_of_the_past

 

ITEM: Today the Environmental Protection Agency moved to keep one of President Obama’s more dubious promises. The EPA in moving toward closing down a West Virginia coal mine seems hell-bent upon confirming a statement that Obama made to the San Francisco Chronicle during Election 2008, “My energy and cap and trade policies won’t prevent you from building a coal mine, but you’ll go bankrupt if you do.” In the same interview, then Senator Obama, said, “My energy policies will necessarily make electricity prices skyrocket.” U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat who’s been pushing for jobs and economic growth was among the first to protest this ridiculous action.

ITEM: The U.S. labor Department is awarding hundreds of millions of dollars in grants and scholarships to fill scarce green jobs.   Despite the fact that no great number, if any, vacancies exist in green jobs across the nation numerous universities and specialized vocational schools are seeking grants of government cash to provide graduates for non-existent or scarce green jobs and the Labor Dept. is giving out the money in keeping with President Obama’s pledge to create five million green jobs. As mentioned earlier, based upon an economic study of the reasons that Spain went from the strongest economy in Europe in 1997 to one of the worst today (4% unemployment to 20.8% unemployed now) subsidies creating five million green jobs here will put eleven million jobs at risk in the real American economy and only 500,000 (10% of those jobs will prove permanent).

ITEM: The EPA is moving by government regulatory edict to force business closedowns for high carbon dioxide emissions having named CO2 a “toxic emission.” The same justification could allow the EPA to kill off all animals and humans as toxic emitters. Of course CO2 is necessary for plant life and plants create the oxygen we need.

ITEM: George Soros, who is right now seeking to destroy the American Dollar (Yes, he declared it openly; it won’t take much, George) after becoming a multi-billionaire by destroying four other currencies including the Russian Ruble and profiting from the meltdowns of seven others (George is known as “The man who broke the Bank of England”) has his CAP (Center for American Progress) providing financial support in the drive to expand California’s Paid Family Leave Law by imposing an increase of 1.2% on payroll taxes so that fathers and mothers will have even more time to bond with their newborns.

ITEM: While the federal government is going bankrupt and the state governments are likewise under huge pressure courtesy of huge union employee pensions and salaries. President Obama moved to freeze federal salaries (when it looks like budget cuts of 15% will be demanded in virtually all other areas of the budget?).

ITEM: The president of one of Ben Bernanke’s federal reserve banks, Charles Plosser, abhors Ben Bernanke's dramatic intervention policies toward the economy. Plosser, President of the Philadelphia federal reserve bank said, "Monetary policy cannot reverse the sharp decline in house prices when the economy has significantly over-invested in housing."  Plossser went on, "I have advocated the elimination of Section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act, which allowed the Fed to lend directly to 'corporations, partnerships and individuals' under 'unusual and exigent circumstances.” Plosser also said, “We are in danger of assigning to monetary policy a larger role than it can perform, in danger of asking it to accomplish tasks that it cannot achieve, and, as a result, in danger of preventing it from making the contribution that it is capable of making.”

ITEM: Coming soon to a town near you? Just about the worst housing market in the country is found in Nevada. The absolute worst housing market in Nevada is in and around Las Vegas . . . so, guess what? Las Vegas construction companies are building homes like crazy. What, the??? Yes, it’s true. Apparently, because so many Las Vegas homes and especially new homes have stayed empty for so long . . . new home buyers in Las Vegas don’t want to move into the virtual ghost towns infested with mice and rats and other vermin . . . so the only course of action seems to be to build in whole new areas (and eventually bulldoze the empty “ghost towns?”).

ITEM: You know that British health care system that sent thrills up the legs of Obama and his progressive congress?  The system they want to emulate and imitate? British Prime Minister David Cameron says his government will make fundamental changes to Britain's state-run health care system," according to the Associated Press.  Cameron aims to save money and cut red tape by giving control over management to family practitioners rather than bureaucrats. He said Monday, “standards of care in Britain have fallen behind other European countries." You do remember that Dr. Donald M. Berwick, Obama’s Medicare and Medicaid administrator, praised Britain’s National Health Care system as "one of the truly astounding human endeavors of modern times" about 16 months ago.

ITEM: Hypocrisy comes unglued . . . . Is there something in Tucson’s water? One of the victims of Jared Loughner’s shooting spree in Tucson nine days ago was a man named James Eric Fuller. Mr. Fuller’s website:  http://www.hypnothoughts.com/profile/JamesEricFuller   states among other things: “I use extraordinary persuasive charisma to interest blasé, apathetic, oblivious and at times hostile voters to listen to the voice of justice and consanguinity.” In a crowded Tucson town-hall meeting, Fuller recently told a TEA Party leader, “You’re dead” and when removed by deputies, called out to all those assembled, “You’re wh_res!” This coming less than four days since Fuller made the round of talk show programs on radio and TV accusing Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Speaker of the House John Boehner and the TEA Party of full responsibility for the shooting that killed six and wounded fourteen. So whose speech is “uncivil” and “incendiary” and “violent,” Mr. Fuller? If you listen to the LEFT and you listen to the RIGHT in their own words and watch their actions (violent protests; in Arizona, Oakland, Seattle, Pittsburg, etc. compared with sedate TEA Partiers sitting in lawn chairs) you’ll find the vast majority of instances of such speech have long belonged to the LEFT and the violence of the speech is unquestionably theirs as well. We’re sorry Mr. Fuller got shot, but he and the LEFT needs to practice what he and the LEFT preach: non-violence, tolerance and fairness.

 

ITEM: The House of Representatives is voting this week to repeal Obamacare. As President Obama’s “State of the Union” speech approaches shortly afterward, we’ll get a good luck at his latest pledges “to work with Republicans” and “to refocus on jobs and the economy.” Shortly after that the House, now controlled by Republicans, will be dealing with raising the debt ceiling and seeking to rollback his unspent stimulus money; and to rollback the budget to levels not seen since 2008 or 2006. The President’s true colors (centrist or leftist) should emerge very soon. 

 

ITEM:  The Obama Justice Department is siding with Labor Unions wanting to be able to pass out literature in front of shopping centers.  According to the union claims, Girl Scout cookie sellers and Salvation Army Santas show "unfairness" to Unions.  The Supreme Court has long held that unions and political activity can be treated differently than bona fide benevolent organizations with regard to free speech and assembly on private grounds; but Obama wants to waste your money to give the unions another chance . . . .

 

 

Ya’all live long, strong and ornery,

 

Rajjpuut

 

 

Read more…

Rajjpuut's Folly: Used that Brain Lately?

Posted by Bob VanDeHey on September 22, 2010 at 11:17am
Items of Interest for Thinking Americans
Item: According to pollsters at Rasmussen Reports, 43% of Americans believe that government programs increase poverty in the nation while just 22% of the nation’s likely-voting adults believe that those programs decrease poverty. 23% say they have no impact. 33% of all voters say the government anti-poverty programs are at least somewhat effective. 62% disagree and say they’re not effective. This includes 7% who believe the programs are Very Effective and 21% who say they are Not At All Effective.
Item: You GO, Arizona. They’ve done it again in Arizona where Proposition 106 (the Healthcare Freedom Act for Arizona) would amend the Arizona Constitution to prohibit any law from compelling any person, employer or health care provider to participate in any health care system, allow a person or employer to pay directly for lawful health care services without being penalized or fined, and allows health care providers to accept direct payment for lawful health care services without being penalized or fined. Besides Obamacare being a mad law in a multitude of ways and increasing the National Debt it’s horrifically complicated and creates 388 brand new federal agencies or offices. Yeah, Arizona!
Item: the recently defeated Defense Funding Bill had provisions about illegal aliens; openly homosexual behavior in the armed forces; and abortion . . . wonder if there was anything in there about the military’s budget?
Item: According to Rasmussen, 52% of Likely U.S. Voters say their own views are closer to Sarah Palin’s than they are to President Obama’s, while only 40% say their views are closer to the president’s than to those of the former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate. Within the Political Class, however, 68% say their views are more like Obama’s, while 63% of Mainstream voters describe their own views as more like Palin’s.
Eighty-four percent (84%) of Republicans and 59% of voters not affiliated with either major party say their views are more like Palin’s. Eighty-one percent (81%) of Democrats say they think more like the president. White House Press secretary Robert Gibbs last week said Palin is perhaps “the most formidable force in the Republican Party right now,” but just 22% of all voters agree. Fifty-two percent (52%) do not believe Palin is the party’s most formidable force. Twenty-six percent (26%) aren’t sure.
Item: bumper stickers on a hybrid-electric car . . . “Save the polar bears, stop global warming” and “Don’t vote, it just encourages the bums” Sounds like the Dems are praying for a very light turnout . . . perhaps the bears will save them?
Item: Barack Obama’s aunt from Kenya, an illegal alien for several years, claims the U.S. now owes her an American citizenship.
Item: 50% of Americans give Obama a “poor” rating on economic issues, according to Rasmussen while 35% rate his performance on jobs and the economy as either excellent or good. 71% of Americans say the best way to create jobs is to cut taxes while only 17% prefer increased government spending as the best way to create jobs. In another poll, 61% of Americans want Obamacare repealed with 56% saying it will be bad for the country and 61% saying it will increase federal deficits and the national debt.
Item: Because of the new Obamacare regulations beginning to kick in or threatening to kick in by 2014, some insurance companies have dropped child coverage . . . which would soon be mandated till age 26 under their parents’ carrier by Obamacare and would even be required regardless of pre-existing circumstances no matter if the parents waited until their children were sick before signing up for coverage.
Item: Ever heard the term “shovel-ready?” The stimulus bill that funded a lot of $10,000 “your stimulus dollars at work” signs, liberal art projects and esoteric research grants immediately, but which was supposed to quickly get the country back to work with shovel-ready projects has apparently set up an almost impenetrable red-tape obstacle course for legitimate businesses seeking stimulus funds. Many reports exist of would-be employers spending a year or more seeking to clear legal hurdles thrown up before them to prevent their hiring of new people and receiving stimulus funds.
Item: Reports that officially the recession ended in May, 2009, appear to have been greatly exaggerated since the country’s lost more jobs than it created during the ensuing fifteen months.
Item: 56% of the HOPE-benefitted students (Helping Outstanding Students Educationally) did NOT need any financial help in Georgia (the originating state) and across the country and not surprisingly, HOPE programs are running out of money without helping very many needy students.
Item: Medical marijuana has caused police departments across the nation huge problems deciding who’s legal and who’s not and even who’s a dealer and who’s not.
Item: Remember Rachel Carson’s ecological disaster, ‘er ecological masterpiece Silent Spring? The sixty million malaria deaths that have occurred each year since DDT was banned (in 1971 only 43,000 deaths worldwide from Malaria occurred, today two million die from malaria annually) despite the paucity of scientific evidence (which actually amounts to zero scientific evidence) she provided have got scientists debating the virtue of a world without mosquitoes. Most say their environments might “hiccup” and then go on as normal. How do you kill several dozen TRillion of something? They’re working on it . . . . Rajjpuut suggests that mosquitoes, damn them, play an important role in pollination. The males (which don’t bite) are nectar drinkers and the scientists should know that. Kill ‘em, kill a lot of ‘em and prevent malaria and the other eight awful diseases they carry, but don’t go too far.
Item: President Obama recently denied that he and his administration have repeatedly vilified business and denied that Americans are growing frustrated with his job performance but he did it in a very strange way . . . “IF I was green or I was purple, people are still going to be upset if they have no job or they’re losing their home; we’ve done everything we could to buck up businesses.” Hmmmmm besides his grammar mistake . . . what exactly has the president’s color got to do with the economy? Somebody send the “too-cerebral” Barack a book on the subjunctive and remind him, that despite his much ballyhooed “post-racial presidency,” everything in this country is NOT related to someone’s skin color. And NO, MR. PRESIDENT, taking over businesses is NOT the same as bucking them up.
Item: The “Dream Bill” to benefit illegal aliens and “Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell” repeal amendments within the Obama defense budget proposal were rejected again today, both for the umpteenth time. There seems to be no statute of limitations for relief from facing ill-conceived laws.
Item: Why is it that no conservatives or Republicans ever mentions that 4.2% of Blacks voted for McCain and 48% of Whites voted for Obama (more than and a higher percentage than either Kerry or Gore received) when racism is implied as something that Whites only are guilty of?
Item: Some Republicans are coming to the rescue of Ms. Christine O’Donnell their Delaware senate nominee recently lambasted by Karl Rove and others. It seems to Ol’ Rajjpuut that Rove’s got it right and that Mr. Castle (whom O’Donnell defeated) was preferable to a one-time witch and an admitted present-time Marxist (Coombs, her Democratic opponent) . . . good work TEA Party Express.
Item: Obama’s still telling his “car in the ditch” lie . . . why don’t conservatives or Republicans remind the Democrats that with their help and ACORN’s abuse and 30 years of CRA ’77 mortgage-guarantee law and its expansions they took the country from ¼ of 1 percent bad home loans to 34% of all home loans being fiscally-irresponsible and granted at less than 3% down payment . . . why not remind progressives and Democrats that they created the sub-prime lending crisis and Obama’s treasury secretary recently said that without G.W. Bush’s 2007 law the recession would have been much deeper and home prices would have plummeted . . . why is this never mentioned?
Item: the Democrats and Obama Administration have made a big deal about them being behind “extending the Obama tax-cuts to the middle-class” while the Republicans, they say, want tax-cuts for millionaires. FACT CHECK. It is impossible to extend what doesn’t exist. There are no “Obama tax cuts for the middle-class” being presently discussed; the cuts in question are about nine years old now and were created by the Bush administration. Secondly, the Republicans want to extend tax-cuts to 100% of Americans while Obama wants to raise taxes on the job providers, the vast majority of which are not millionaires but rather individuals earning more than $200,000 or couples earning more than $500,000. Meanwhile Mr. Obama and his administration have pointedly refused to bring up legislation to extend his stimulus bill’s “Making Work Pay Tax Credit” which provided individuals up to $400 and couples up to $800 in credits from their withholding. If anything could be called an “Obama middle-class tax cut” that would have been it. But the Administration has pointedly NOT created a budget this year and any MWPTC tax cut extension would either have to be passed within the overall budget or raised as a separate item . . . which the Dems have also pointedly decided NOT to do thus far. Whatever names you call them by, eliminating such programs amounts to a willful tax increase which is a monstrously bad idea during a recession, much less a severe recession.
Read more…

Rajjpuut's Folly: Shocker . . . Can Old Tricksters Learn New Doggie-Acts After All?

Posted by Bob VanDeHey on September 9, 2010 at 1:00pm

Obama Approval Ratings Blaze New Territory;

Related or Unrelated?

Fidel Castro Communism’s "Not Working in Cuba"

Two surprising and even stunning events occurred today, September 9, 2010 and . . . which in a twisted but positive way, might even be related . . . . “After I’ve seen what I’ve seen and knowing what I know, it wasn’t worth it at all . . .” so said Fidel Castro during an interview while visiting a dolphin show as part of his apparent almost miraculous comeback to salubrious health. Hold on, Brother!

According to the father of Cuban communism, when asked whether old-style socialism in general and specifically the “Cuban Model” which he and Che Guevarra jointly created are appropriate for the rest of the world today, Fidel shocked the reporter and listeners with his unscripted response, “Para el mundo? No sirve aun para nosotros!” That is, “For the world? It doesn’t even work for us!” Castro even cast doubt upon the wisdom of the "Cuban missile crisis" efforts he'd made to gain notoriety back in October, 1962 . . . but that's another story . . . .

In a seemingly unrelated story, today for the first time ever, the Rasmussen Reports daily presidential tracking poll documented strong disapproval numbers for Barack Obama’s presidential performance over twice his strong approval ratings. In posting their highest overall negative ratings for Obama (-24%) Rasmussen reported a strong approval rating for Obama among only 23% of likely voters (tying his personal low) and a strong disapproval rating of 47% (tying his personal high). This is the single largest turnaround in Rasmussen history, an incredible shift of -54% remembering back to Inauguration Day, January 20, 2009, when Obama began with strong approval ratings of +45% exactly three times as high as his strong disapproval ratings of -15% giving him an overall approval of an amazing +30% at that time.

Rajjpuut would suggest that Fidel’s fellow traveler, Barack Obama, apply a bit of self-reflection and learn from that old, old dog’s newest trick and realize that besides the 120 million citizens of communist countries killed by their own country’s regimes, communism has never brought long-range economic success anywhere in the world . . .

Ya’ll live long, strong and ornery,

Rajjpuut

Read more…

Rajjpuut's Folly: Current Lack of Voter "Trust" for Obama NOT Affecting Other Dems

Posted by Bob VanDeHey on July 4, 2010 at 1:00pm

It’s been a bad six months for the Democratic Party, Americans have been largely losing trust in them according to Rasmussen’s recent poll of likely voters. Republicans are now trusted more on nine of the voters' ten top issues according to the Rasmussen Report released Friday, July 2nd. The biggest advantage for the G.O.P. comes on National Security where they own a 17% edge. The Democrats for the fifth month in a row are seen as slightly more ethical (2% edge).

Issue Trust Dems more Trust GOP more

Economy 39% 48%

Gov’t Ethics 33% 29%

Immigration 32% 47%

National Security 34% 51%

Abortion 36% 46%

Taxes 36% 52%

Social Security 37% 48%

Health Care 40% 51%

Education 41% 43%

Iraq 36% 45%

Meanwhile, 40% of likely voters call the Obama administration LESS ethical than most past administrations; 31% believe the current administration is MORE ethical than past administrations; and 26% say they’re ABOUT the SAME ethically as past administrations were. This marks a decided loss of trust for the Obama adminstration in the last year when 54% rated the president’s and his people as more ethical.

As far as Obama, personally, 39% say he is LESS ethical than most past presidents; 28% say he is MORE ethical; and 28% are not sure. Since ethics is the only area in which Democrats have earned more trust than Republicans over the last two months of Rasmussen Reports, the broader base of Democratic officials are not being hurt by the President on this issue.

Ya’all live long, strong and ornery,

Rajjpuut

Read more…

Rajjpuut's Folly: Recent Rasmussen Polls Highlight Angry Americans

Posted by Bob VanDeHey on June 17, 2010 at 9:30am

According to the highly accurate Rasmussen Reports polls, 66% of American voters are angry at the media and 33% call themselves “very angry” at the media. The question did not differentiate which media sources were causing this anger. This is not necessarily a new perception, voters for years have insisted that the American media have a strong “liberal bias.” Back in the final months of the 2008 election, 51% of voters said that most reporters were trying to help Obama win the presidency while only 7% said the media was trying to help John McCain and 31% thought media coverage was neutral.

68% of voters say that when covering political campaigns and news, reporters try to help politicians they favor. 48% today believe that most reporters when they write or talk about President Obama are trying to help the president pass his agenda and only 18% of voters believe that reporters are interested in blocking Obama’s agenda. The media fairness issue is big in most voters’ eyes as 54% of voters think most reporters would hide any information they uncovered that might hurt a candidate they wanted to win, up seven points from November 2008 when voters already thought media bias was a problem.

In all 51% of voters today label reporters as more liberal than they are; while only 15% say reporters are more conservative than they are and 55% of voters say media bias is a bigger problem in America than campaign contributions from big donors.

Another area of anger is the Gulf oil spill. The vast majority of Americans are blaming British Petroleum (BP) for the explosion and leak. However, 67% of Americans believe the U.S. government does not inspect offshore oil rigs properly and 33% say it’s very likely that the problem could have been avoided IF government inspectors had done a better job. Certainly, since the ’90 and ’94 safety laws were “signed off on;” BP was one week away from getting a safety award from the government’s MMS; and since ten fire booms were required at the Deepwater Horizon site and zero were there . . . the public perception seems grounded in fact. Since these facts have NOT been widely disseminated by the media, perhaps this too is part of the anger Americans feel toward the media?
An area of doubt for Americans is that of Global Warming, many more Americans are expressing doubt and say that scientists are "not in accord" about global warming. 59% of Americans say they are not willing to pay more in taxes and utility costs to generate cleaner energy and fight global warming. Since the American mainstream media have chosen to give zero% coverage to the Climategate scandal that even the liberal London Times showed up as fraudulent "science," perhaps this too is part of the anger Americans feel toward the media?

Ya’all live long, strong and ornery,

Rajjpuut

Read more…

Rajjpuut's Folly: Recent Rasmussen Polls Highlight Angry Americans

Posted by Bob VanDeHey on June 17, 2010 at 8:54am

According to the highly accurate Rasmussen Reports polls, 66% of American voters are angry at the media and 33% call themselves “very angry” at the media. The question did not differentiate which media sources were causing this anger. This is not necessarily a new perception, voters for years have insisted that the American media have a strong “liberal bias.” Back in the final months of the 2008 election, 51% of voters said that most reporters were trying to help Obama win the presidency while only 7% said the media was trying to help John McCain and 31% thought media coverage was neutral.

68% of voters say that when covering political campaigns and news, reporters try to help politicians they favor. 48% today believe that most reporters when they write or talk about President Obama are trying to help the president pass his agenda and only 18% of voters believe that reporters are interested in blocking Obama’s agenda. The media fairness issue is big in most voters’ eyes as 54% of voters think most reporters would hide any information they uncovered that might hurt a candidate they wanted to win, up seven points from November 2008 when voters already thought media bias was a problem.

In all 51% of voters today label reporters as more liberal than they are; while only 15% say reporters are more conservative than they are and 55% of voters say media bias is a bigger problem in America than campaign contributions from big donors.

Another area of anger is the Gulf oil spill. The vast majority of Americans are blaming British Petroleum (BP) for the explosion and leak. However, 67% of Americans believe the U.S. government does not inspect offshore oil rigs properly and 33% say it’s very likely that the problem could have been avoided IF government inspectors had done a better job. Certainly, since the ’90 and ’94 safety laws were “signed off on;” BP was one week away from getting a safety award from the government’s MMS; and since ten fire booms were required at the Deepwater Horizon site and zero were there . . . the public perception seems grounded in fact. Since these facts have NOT been widely disseminated by the media, perhaps this too is part of the anger Americans feel toward the media?

Ya’all live long, strong and ornery,

Rajjpuut

Read more…

Rajjpuut's Folly: Approval Plummets to Record Low, Public Fed Up with Obama Agenda

Posted by Bob VanDeHey on May 25, 2010 at 10:51am
Note: this is an update to a blog written 36 hours earlier with the latest Obama approval #s added in:

Rasmussen Polls Highlight Big Opposition
to Obama Agenda on Several Fronts
If socialism and big government are the desired ends, Americans are not buying it according to the Rasmussen Reports polling service.
Item: The public appreciation of this president has plummeted recently. His latest approval sank to its lowest level (-20) today, Tuesday May 25, 2010, when the highly accurate Rasmussen Daily Presidential Tracking Poll shows President Obama’s favorability rating stands at -20 with only 24% of voters highly approving of the job he’s doing and 44% highly disapproving. Overall 42% at least somewhat approve of the President’s work while 56% disapprove. The negative fourteen (-14) point overall differential and the 42% overall approval numbers are both record lows for Obama on Rasmussen's daily tracking.
Item: 68% of Americans are against boycotts of Arizona over their new Immigration law. While Obama and the federal government are permitted 17 specific powers, 55% of voters would like a law like Arizona’s in their own state because they don’t believe the federal government is protecting our borders.
Item: when it comes to terrorism, 52% of voters say we are NOT safer today than we were on September 10, 2001 just before the 9/11 attacks.
As the rest of the poll data shows, it seems that in the voters’ eyes Mr. Obama is NOT doing what the federal government is supposed to do and doing everything else instead. It also appears that Americans do NOT want to be ruled from the left . . . or the right or the center, but want to rule themselves:
Item: 72% do not believe Congress knows what it’s doing when it comes to the economy. Along those lines, 41% expressed agreement with the statement that "a group of people randomly selected from the phone book would do a better job than Congress."
Item: It appears Nancy Pelosi was wrong when she said, “We’ll just have to pass it so people can see what’s in it (and you’ll love it)” in reference to the Obamacare health measures. 63% of American voters now favor repealing the bill. As a move toward socialism, roughly 390 separate government agencies are created by Obamacare – just one law. In contrast only 40 separate federal agencies were created by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in just over twelve years in office. Obama has been in office fifteen months.
Item: 65% of all Americans and a surprising 51% of Democrats now espouse “mainstream”^^ views up from 62% in March and 55% in September. Only 4% now support the “political class” (those numbers are staying steady at the lowest such reading in Rasmussen polling history). When “leaners” are included 81% align with the mainstream and 12% trend toward the political class.
Item: 67% of mainstream America consider Obamacare “bad for America” while 77% of the political class believe Obamacare is “good for America.”
Item: 76% of Americans say they trust the voters more than they do the politicians and 71% see the federal government as a”special interest group” looking out mainly for its own welfare. 70% believe that the government and big business generally work together for their own benefit against the interests of the people.
Ya’all live long, strong and ornery,
Rajjpuut
^^The three questions used to calculate the Political Class Index are:
-- Generally speaking, when it comes to important national issues, whose judgment do you trust more - the American people or America’s political leaders?
-- Some people believe that the federal government has become a special interest group that looks out primarily for its own interests. Has the federal government become a special interest group?
-- Do government and big business often work together in ways that hurt consumers and investors?
To create the "Mainstream-Political Class scale, each response earns a plus 1 for the mainstream answer, a minus 1 for the political class answer, and a 0 for not sure.
Those who score 2 or higher are considered part of the Mainstream. Those who score -2 or lower are considered to be aligned with the Political Class. Those who score +1 or -1 are considered leaners in one direction or the other.
In practical terms, if someone is classified with the Mainstream, they agree with the mainstream view on at least two of the three questions and don’t agree with the Political Class on any.
Read more…