OUR OPINION: N.D.’s changing political dynamic
November 6, 2012 at 6:40 pm in Grand Forks Herald
Taken as a whole, Election Day’s results in Washington seem to signal “status quo” rather than “change.”
Not so in North Dakota, where a more basic evolution in the state’s political culture seems to be under way. Continue Reading
great fact checking, I realize that he was quoting a letter to the editor, but: Super rich in America have holdings of over 21 trillion dollars just in protected overseas accounts. Much more than the current debt of only 16 trillion. So if you took all of the billionaires monies, it would more than cover the debt, and no I do not propose taking the money, I am just pointing out a huge untruth in the column.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
34 
17
Not saying you are wrong but where did you come up with the figure that Americans have 21 Trillion dollars in overseas accounts?
I only ask because that seems to be a bit on the high side and would like to do some research on who these people are.
It takes 100 billionaires to have 1 Trillion dollars.
that would indicate that there are 2100 Billionaires in this country that have every penny in overseas accounts OR that there are more than 2100 Billionaires. Surely you see where i’m going with this…. I do realize that there are some people who are worth 10 Billion etc… but 21 Trillion seems very unreasonable to me.
Hot debate. What do you think?
28 
16
I’m not sure what someoneskid considers superrich, but the top 10% of the wealthiest individuals hold 70% of the nation’s wealth, estimated at 27 trillion dollars. So, although it is not 21 trillion, it’s close.
Like or Dislike:
5 
1
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike:
28 
68
Ultimately, Romney did not present a convincing case to change administrations.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
61 
13
… if being a world class liar, hypocrite, and a corporate raider wasn’t enough of a reason.
Hot debate. What do you think?
34 
22
First off…That’s a lot of BS blown up by right wing talking heads to make things appear far more dire than they actually are….As a side note….Haven’t you ever wondered why did the right (the Ahemmm “Conservatives”) never seemed to notice this deficite all the while they were adding to it every six months or so when Bush asked for and got another 100 billion or so for the war effort? Money he could basically keep off the budget so it didn’t appear he was digging a deeper red hole? Then Obama comes in and puts it on the books and Abba Cadabra…….Look at all that debt Obama created. Bottom line…the so called conservatives had no problem spending like drunks at a bar while their guy was in there, but suddenly became conservatives once they lost.
As for what were they thinking……Well you can blame Rove and the Neo-Cons for that. Your side didn’t have a real candidate. Rove used that pack money to eliminate all other candidates so they could put someone they could control in there and someone who they thought they could sell to independants as looking presidential (He had the hair anyway), but they never considered he’d have the same problem as Gingrich about opening his mouth to basically take one foot out and incert the other.
Your side had one real politician who might have been able to take it had Rove and the Neocons not screwed you all over……Jon Huntsman. The problem with him is he’s an old time Republican who actually believes in the basic conservative idealogy, who is smart, and who understands the importance of actually working together with the Dems and independants. He was the real deal. His being smart and not bowing to the tea’s basically made him an early elimination……..
You need to either get rid of Rove and the Neo-cons or at least weaken their control over the party. The only reason the Tea’s have the power they have in the party is because of the neo-cons and the propaganda machine of fox. The Neo-cons and Tea’s basically want a one party system. Hopefully the real conservatives will take back the party and the Republicans regain their intelligence level because if one went by the caliber ofcandidates the GOP has been putting out it would seem that the GOP had a massive brain freeze for some time now. We need a two party system…Hopefully the GOP will become that second party again.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
58 
16
Face it, Capt. Most people don’t agree with you. Believe what you want, but Tundra is right on. Objective analysis of what happened here means taking off the blinders and confronting your own biases. This election shows that the majority of the people think Obama is actually doing a good job. I am delighted in yesterday’s election results; Obama, Heidi, and all the local Grand Forks races. The people have spoken.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
44 
12
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike:
18 
55
In your example then you’d take away the cards, make the kids scrounge garbage cans for food and clothes, and basically move the family into the family car so your earnings don’t have to be spent on things those beggars just want for free.
There’s better solutions then to make those who have the least and are often already suffering the most get kicked to the curb. Are you like a couple uncles of mine who basically keep sounding the same “Socialist” scares and claim to be staunch conservatives, and then collect social security after years of hiding earnings? As well as finding other government programs to benefit from? It seem that a lot of your type hate all programs that you personally don’t benefit from, but try to touch something you do and all hell breaks loose
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
35 
9
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike:
14 
36
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike:
18 
44
Capt: You’re right because schools, heck, a lot of churches too, no longer teach your values. What modern liberal economist addresses how Keynes theory applied to 1930s countries with NO DEBT and FDR even proved him wrong on that point, yet Keynes is still trotted out in defense of big government/big debt.
A disproportionately large percentage of people buying books are conservatives who are reading the likes of F.A. Hayek (Road to Serfdom) Milton Friedman (Capitalism & Freedom) any Thomas Sowell book, etc. These texts are UNKNOWN to any but conservatives. That is the dilemma, these economic ideas are suitably complex so unless you read you are blissfully ignorant of any other way but that proscribed by the majority: Big government, Big Unions, Big Corporations all bespeak Big Control. So where have all the free-thinking individualists gone? Into that tarred and feathered tent called the Tea Party. This is not a debate based on logic but on power.
Like or Dislike:
0 
1
Wow…you truly live in a bubble.
4 more years of blaming Bush
—>And none of the republicans blamed Clinton for anything, yeah right.
4 more years of getting free passes on failures like Benghazi and Fast and Furious
—>Not from Fox News or Rush, most likely your only source. I guarantee that.
4 more years of uncapped spending
—>We had to spend our way out of the recession, signs are showing it worked. Better job numbers are a big one.
4 more years of ignoring the Constitutionsal mandate for a national budget
—>Hardly, blame the House for that one.
4 more years of pumping money into the welfare states to continue the dependancy of the poor on the Democrats.
—>The gigantic loss of jobs at the end of 2007 and start of 2008 are a real big reason for that.
4 more years of watching my retirement account increase each year by less than i actually added to it.
—> Aren’t most retirement accounts based off of the markets? Sounds like you need a new retirement planner.
4 more years of pumping money into failed “green” energy companies with no strings attached.
—>Most of those actually worked out. I think it was more like 3% that failed. Certainly not the 50% lie that MItt told during the debates.
4 more years of constatant family vacations at our expense.
—>That is your biggest whopper of all. Come on do some research. You obviously know how to use a computer, so you must be able to use Google.
Here is a nice link to help you out – http://goo.gl/qODJf
Here is a nice document that explains who pays for what – http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RS21835_20070410.pdf
What were people thinking last night? Did people already forget the first four years?
—>No, they are people that look at charts. Charts that show the stock market up 5000 points since Obama took office, charts that show we are gaining 100,000 or more jobs per month, rather than losing 800,000 per month…
I have never in my life seen one person get so many free passes from the American people. – Unlike all those that Romney got during his campaign. Seriously, he didn’t release his taxes. Your head would explode if it would have been Obama—Am I Right!
Like or Dislike:
12 
4
Rick Berg is a crook no suprise he lost. Also not really suprised he won’t try and steal the election from Heidi
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
50 
15
Berg lost because the only reason he gave voters to elect him was that he was Rick Berg. Now Heitkamp has six years to prove she is the independent senator she claimed to be, or hope people have short memories.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
47 
7
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike:
12 
48
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike:
19 
41
Karl Rove lost the election. Forum Communications’ candidate lost the election. Sweet … really sweet.
*Congratualtions Heidi … ND’s first female senator … and the right person to represent your state. John Hoeven and Heidi Heitkamp will do a fine job of representing North Dakota in Washington.
*Karl … it wasn’t the weather … it was you.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
48 
8
Ah, Hedi is NDs second female Senator after Jocelyn Burdick.
Like or Dislike:
7 
0
You are right. I should have said “first elected female senator”.
Like or Dislike:
5 
0
roland, whoops I mean capt. Give it a break your guy lost. Your party lost. Your party only won in traditional republican states. Why is this? It is because your party is stuck in 1950 and wants to take away womens freedoms and homosexuals rights to live a happy life. America wants a government that cares about them and not a government that cares about the top 10 percent of americans.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
40 
13
There’s a kernel of truth to your post. While many state that JFK could not be a Democrat today, I wonder if Reagan could be a Republican.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
39 
0
More than one talking head has stated publicly that Reagan could not be elected today. That is the GOP main problem. They place more emphasis on social conservatism than fiscal. They need to turn that around.
You will not get to heaven by trying to legislate everyone’s behavior. You will get to bankruptcy by spending like the last GOP administration.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
33 
4
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike:
11 
30
Captain: your claim is true, but in the end nothing more than hyperbole. The federal government is so out of control that if McCain had been elected the Democrats would be leveling the same complaint. Both sides would be factually correct, but also disengenuous. Bush started the bailout instead of doing what should have been done: let the banks fail. There is no such thing as too big to fail. It is an oxymoron.
Bush was wrong to begin it, and Obama was wrong to continue it. The same with the wind the war down slowly nonsense that McCain insisted on. I agree with your earlier statement that Barry should have pulled the plug the day after inauguration and had every last American trooper home in 6 months.
If he had done that the GOP would have tried to impeach him for weakening America’s defense. They would have also gained control of both houses in the midterm elections. Who is playing politics?
Obama is the closest thing to a socialist we have had since FDR. As a Libertarian I am not at all happy with that. The trouble is the alternative was worse. We had eight years of the GOP doing it their way and it almost killed the country.
Like or Dislike:
20 
7
Damn it…put up….Where did Obama with what must be Emperor powers spend all this money bypassing congress? What amounts did he specifically spend…….Wall Street bail out was started during Bush. Putting the costs of two wars into the deficit was also Bush money never reported. The stimulus package that was reduced to half was something like a hundred twenty five billion (To keep the war costs off the books Bush had congress approve that much about every six months for a while there). The rest of the money spent on the budgets has a lot to do with all the wars we’re spending on….when he started there were the two Bush started, and the huge stink hole we’ve been throwing money down for years “The war on drugs” as well as all the other countless expenses that goes into the many covert organization surrounding these war and anti terrorists efforts.
So just where the hell has this president personally opened up America’s check book and wrote checks without congress? Saying Obama created all this debt without looking at the whole picture is not only wrong, but a foolish charge. One that the right talking heads have made time and again to make right wing followers feel they know who to blame. Truth is……He added some to it with the stimulus, but the vast majority of it was there the day he took office. It’s spending accumulations from both parties for many years
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
19 
4
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike:
5 
17
You know better than that. You don’t go in and make instant changes to vast programs over night to shut everything down. He did make the changes he could and with the republicans blocking things left and right to not allow him any credit for getting things done he was only able to do so much. You want to be angry…Then look to the horses arses on the right who decided to stand in the way of this president on virtually everything instead of digging in and doing the job they were sent there to do. I’m not saying pass everything, but to be the public servants they were elected to be. Going lock step with the party regardless of the effect back home is serving the wrong segment ……A lesson Berg learned big time
Like or Dislike:
14 
4
My sister and I were talking about this last night. We both agreed that neither party was the party of our parents, nor the party of our youth.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
28 
0
Agree 100% Mav. The GOP has become so power hungry that the only thing they believe in is getting back into power. The Democrats are almost as bad. Their main mantra is holding onto power.
Politics has never been pure. No party at any time in this country’s history has ever been able to claim a moral high ground. Both parties have always been compromised.
It just seems to have gotten much worse.
Like or Dislike:
10 
11
Ok nurse…So lets get this straight. You dislike both parties because you think that the other extreme of conservative thought is the only way to go? The Libertarian extreme sounds nice on paper, but in practice it comes back to more of the same old same old. Let the top dogs do what they want with few regs and when they lift their legs to trickle down…..Well don’t expect more than getting whizzed on.
Have you been watching “The Men Who Made America” on History? If ever a perfect example why we made and need government to regulate shakers and movers who see only their own goals regardless of how many people’s lives they harm….This is it.
Also I’ve read time and again how racism and anti feminist actions upset you. How can you not see that the very political movement you want to support could also set the clock back in both those areas as well as others such as protections regarding people with disabilities. Once you remove regs for things like job, housing, or education discrimination you turn the clock way back to the good old days….For white males healthy enough to get work most anywhere because of a market segregated basically to their advantage. If you carry the Libertarian ideology all the way out….I can’t see how you in particular would support it
Like or Dislike:
13 
1
Tundra: you are confusing Libertarianism with social conservatism. Two different animals. Libertarians are fiscally conservative: no such animal as too big to fail, extremely limited role in American life, free market economics and socially liberal.
We are for gay marriage, the legalization of marijuana, and a very limited US foreign policy (Not isolationist but definitely not the world’s policeman. If the Taliban want to oppress their people I will not interfere. I will advocate building a big fence around their country, preventing the expansion of their influence to other countries while starving them out, & offering aid & comfort to their opposition parties. I will not put boots on the ground unless their is a real threat to Santa Monica Blvd).
Self determination. Self responsibility. Both of these things are of paramount import. I do not let the government limit my freedoms, nor do I expect the government to pick up the pieces when I fall.
No one is too big to fail is a perfect example. By letting those banks fail there is a good chance we would have had a recession. Millions would have been out of work. Up to 1/4 of US families could have lost their homes. It would have been bad. Very bad.
That said, what arouse out of the ashes would not have been a faux Phoenix but a real one. Companies that were solvent on their own, jobs that were secure, & in time an economy much stronger than the one who preceded it.
The birth pains would have been damn near unconscionable. The baby would not need continued life support.
Like or Dislike:
2 
1
I’m tired of your tone. It’s contentious… day after day.
Like or Dislike:
9 
9
Who you talking to Willis?
Like or Dislike:
8 
0
ron … I feel after a long election season the winning side should be gracious and allow the other side to vent a little. There is no need for name calling.
Like or Dislike:
6 
2
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike:
13 
38
Captain: what are you talking about? You lost me. The GOP needs to get back to basics. It needs to return to its roots. That is its only chance.
Reagan is the patron saint of the GOP yet he could not get elected. Does that not strike you as a party in search of its soul? You cannot look me in the eye and tell me there is not a Margaret Thatcher out there waiting to take the mantle. Bachmann or Palin are simply bad jokes.
The GOP needs to find its soul and then run on it. That is how they will win.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
21 
4
Find it’s soul? That’s going to be tough since they sold it to the Koch Brothers. The GOP has become pay to play. Which multi-millionaire will step up to run for president next time? The rest of the base is a bunch of kooks who don’t have a chance of getting elected to anything.
Hot debate. What do you think?
24 
11
Bachmann and Palin are caricatures of themselves. They really seem more like something SNL would have created than actual candidates. Back in the 70′s SNL actually did create goofy characters like this as political heads. Creatures so dumb that it was funny. They’re still funny, but sad too….Sad that so many people don’t get the joke
Like or Dislike:
13 
2
Romney lost because he failed to inspire. He never once said anything (I am a political junkie so I read most everything from each side I can get my hands on) that made me think he had anything new to offer.
He portrayed himself as Bush Lite, and promised an administration full of Bush hangers-on. For that reason alone he was unqualified.
Bush was a disaster. His policies were a complete and utter failure. He had one shinning moment (6 months) following 9/11, but nothing noteworthy before or after.
Contrary to what Captain thinks, I do not blame Bush for our economic problems past the first year of Obama. That said, as I outlined above, he was a failure. Why would I vote to go back to those same failed policies.
If Romney had come up with something new, something radical (like the bipartisan budget proposal that died in the house, the one that cut both sides so deeply it guaranteed it would fail, even though it was the only one whose numbers added up) I would have voted for him.
As for Berg. His voting record was 100% party line. He is about as original and capable of independent thought as one of the clone army from Star Wars. He is not even real: he is an anamatronic mannequin who says what his masters tell him too. The fact that he pulled off 49% says very bad things about ND future.
If the GOP wants to come in from the wilderness, it needs to look in the mirror, get rid of the past, and plan for the future as it is, not as they wish it would be. They need to mobilize women and minorities and get back to Reagan style Conservativism. The type that can move the country forward.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
33 
8
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike:
10 
37
Captain: those talking points are fine, but where is the substance. Bush was in power for 8 years. How many rights did he return to the states? Does the Patriot Act strike you as a piece of legislation designed to restrain government and enpower the American people?
As I said above, Romney simply promised Bush lite. If Bush failed to live up to his billing, why would I vote for someone who thinks he did a good job?
I gave my money to Ron Paul because he most certainly did not think Bush did a good job. That is why your side shot him down.
When the GOP gets back to basics, they will once again earn my vote. Until then, they will remain in the wilderness. You forget, most “independents” or “Libertarians” like myself are old Republicans who left the party after it lost its moral compass.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
25 
5
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike:
8 
28
That is where you are wrong Captain. Romney’s “plan” was simply a rehashing of Bush’s old failed policies. If you take Romney’s talking points and lay them out next to what Bush ran on in his second term they are nearly identical. I thought Peggy Noonan had officially signed on with Romney for a while. They are that similar.
Also, by definition, the party in the White House has to fill thousands of jobs from the available pool of experienced functionaries. In the case of the GOP that means Bush retreads (why do you think Obama’s cabinet is full of Clinton era personalities).
Bush Lite is not a poorly thought out characterization or hyperbole. It is simply a fact. In some ways (in the case of cabinet members and political appointees) unavoidable. As for Romney’s plan to return power to the states: look at Bush’s campaign promises and then compare that to his actual governance while in office. His rhetoric was Romney all the way.
I despise Bush and in some ways Romney paid the price for that. Then again, he did nothing to distance himself from his predecessor; and paid the political price for that oversight.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
23 
7
He wasn’t going to be Bush lite….He was going to be the Bush they wanted he first time….if not for hat pesky Bush Sr. And Jeb reining him in some and running interference so they couldn’t have complete control. Romney was the perfect puppet for the neocons. Rove figured he’d get him and enough seats in the senate to complete the damage of deregulation, and basically making it more difficult for shoe other than Repo’s win. Especially as they continued to dismantle unions. Had Romney won his puppet masters would have made him Bush on steroids.
Like or Dislike:
12 
3
The day after presidential elections and this is the only piece open for comments. I can only guess why that is.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
22 
2
You mean the back office is afraid passionate people might become passionate about what they believe in? God forbid!
Nothing like a bunch of people who believe the world should be the consistency of milquetoast.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
18 
2
Sour grapes.
Like or Dislike:
17 
4
Very astute observation. I would also like to take this opportunity to tell F.C.C. that they should be ASHAMED of themselves, for posting THE MOST unflattering photo they could find (of our new Senator Elect) on the front page story regarding the election (this morining…now removed). Gutless, shameful, disgraceful, sophomoric.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
26 
5
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike:
10 
26
Damn…Now I have to agree with both of you. You’re both right. That picture of her after the election reminded me of those horrible pictures you see of celebrities on the covers of those rumor rags by the check out counters. Often taken as they step out into bad weather with their hair all messed up, their face crunched, and generally looking a wreck….like we all do in those situations. That’s a real “Got ya” moment.
On the other hand they did run that younger picture way too long
Like or Dislike:
13 
0
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike:
11 
29
Amusing Avatar Capt.
Like or Dislike:
6 
0
Dc, I did not call anyone names. I called capt by his real name or (if I am wrong about that which I highly doubt) a true libertarian something he should be proud of not ashamed of.
Like or Dislike:
3 
0
bs
Like or Dislike:
2 
0
Devils, I am fairly confident capt is roland because on any article about roland capt completly changes his tone on the topic. It is a little fishy.
Like or Dislike:
5 
0
… not a chance
Like or Dislike:
0 
2
Keep supporting Rove and the tea party-that would be my party’s greatest gift. Have you ever heard of the Washington Generals…?
Like or Dislike:
4 
1