Obama, GOP appeal to public with budget deadline Monday
December 29, 2012 at 6:00 pm in Duluth News Tribune
As Senate leaders worked feverishly behind closed doors to avert a looming fiscal cliff, President Obama on Saturday implored lawmakers to strike a deal that would prevent taxes from rising on the middle class and lay a foundation for the economy to grow and reduce the deficit.
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He must be peeved! Being forced to leave a $4 million dollar vacation to return to Washington to showboat for something he wants to happen. Too bad he couldn’t have solved all these problems when he had a Democrat controlled House and Senate in 2009-2011. It’s a shame, a darn shame.
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Were YOU as peeved when George W. took 1,020 days on vacation? More than possibly any prez since Herbert Hoover? He couldn’t even hightail it back from vacation in Texas when Hurricane Katrina was raging in New Orleans.
Obama’s majority in Congress? Biggest misrepresentation of the facts. The President had a filibuster-proof majority for 72 days only. And don’t forget the avowed M.O. of the Republicans at that time (and ongoing) was to obstruct, filibuster (which they became extremely good at, better than any previous congress), and to just generally make sure Obama was a one-term president.
As is the case now, just like it was during 2009-2011, the treasonous Republicans do NOT have the best interests of this country at heart.
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So opposing a nearly $6 trillion and counting debt that Obama has racked up is now treasonous? The Obama curse is here for another four years, the curse that just goes on and on.
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You call it treason because you know nothing of what treason is. I see it as opposition to a demagogue who doesn’t care a whit about the financial stability of the country.
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And from 2009-2011 where’s the senate democrat’s budget? Hard to negotiate when they have nothing. How about Obama’s budget? Voted down with 0 (ZERO) Yes votes. Talk about treasonous.
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I find it fascinating that the combination of tax increases and spending cuts is referred to as “the fiscal cliff”. Unfortunately, both of these measures are needed to try stem the out of control deficits. Too bad that we can’t take away the lifetime salaries and benefits of our elected representatives who have allowed this “cliff” to be so high to begin with.
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I wonder if this wouldn’t have been solved a long time ago if there were neither a Democrat or Republican in the White House. Imagine how things would change if the House and Senate weren’t always controlled by Democrats or Republicans. These parties fight like two spoiled babies!
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The Obama vote base is delighted that taxes are going up for those who actually pay them
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Obama clearly stated his views when he ran and that is the proposal he is offering. It is the people’s will. If it doesn’t pass it is just politics and the people’s voice ignored.
The reason the Republicans have the house is that they controlled redistricting in 2010. This system is flawed and allows the few to rule the many.
5 out of 8 Wisconsin house seats went to Repubs. That is 62.5%. 45.9% of Wisconsinites voted for Romney. That is a gain of 16.6% over a true representation of the voter’s will.
Meanwhile 3 out of 8 seats went to democrats. 37.5% while 52.8% voted for Obama. A loss of 15.3%.
Ok the flaw with this reasoning is not everybody votes the party line and some may prefer, say, Obama for president, but a particular Repub rep for their house rep. I get it. That doesn’t change my belief that it is a flawed system. When the Repubs swept so many seats in 2010 on the fluke chance it was time for the every ten years redistricting, they got the chance to draw the districts to their advantage. How does this seem like it lends itself in anyway to a representative democracy? All I want is a fair system. Every vote counting the same. If we had that I would not complain.
Another example is Virginia:
8 of 11 house seats went to Repubs for 72.7%. 47.3 voted for Romney a gain of 25.4%.
3 of 11 seats went to Dems for 27.3%. 51.2% voted for Obama a loss of 23.9%
Ohio is worse:
12 of 16 seats went to Repubs for 75%. 47.7% voted for Romney a gain of 27.3%.
4 of 16 seats went to Dems for 25%. 50.7% voted for Obama a loss of 25.7%.
The list goes on and on. We are not represented. If we were Obama’s proposal would rule the day. It is the best proposal in my opinion and the opinion of most Americans. Does your vote count?
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Obama voters voted for more of the Obama curse which is exactly what they’re getting. They have nothing to complain about.
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Middleman, ‘Obama clearly stated his views when he ran and that is the proposal he is offering. It is the people’s will. ‘ Did you ever have Civics in school? History? Obama is only 1/3 of the federal branch and he cannot force his views (although he wants to) down anybody’s throats or the american people without the consent of the house and the senate (and courts if necessary.) So if the next republican candidate runs on repealing Obamacare, or anything else for that matter, then he/she has the right to do so if elected? Glad you cleared that up for us.
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Joe you obviously have a problem with reading comprehension. No where in my post does it state that the legislative branch of government should not have it’s say. What I did say is the rules for redistricting are flawed and undemocratic. I also state that with the majority of Americans voting for Obama I think it clearly indicates if there was a referendum for his budget proposal it would pass. This is based on the simple logic that he clearly stated his plan during the campaign and people voted yes to that plan by voting for him.
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redistricting happens every 10 years; sometimes benefits democrats, sometimes republicans but it’s the law. don’t like it? too bad, its in the constitution. while you’re entitled to your opinion you’re forgetting that just because you vote for any candidate doesn’t mean they have a mandate to anything. if his plan is so great then why won’t harry reid allow a vote in the senate on his ‘plan?’ So if I run for office under the plan of funding fox news, rush limbaugh and defunding NPR I get my way because after all, the people voted me in!!! we live in a representative republic, remember that…and the americans voted overwhelingly to keep the republicans in the house based on keeping taxes low and spending even lower. that’s their mandate and they will hold to it.
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We do not live in a representational democracy, that is my point. Redistricting rules are not written in the Constitution they differ state by state. When one party has control of the legislation and the Governorship they control the process in many states. That leads to the problem.
If we did live in a representative democracy I wouldn’t be complaining. The problem is simply that most Americans want the tax breaks for those making over 250k to expire, but it still may not happen. That simply means in this system their will is not expressed.
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1 million more Americans voted Democrat for the House of Representatives yet because the way the district lines are drawn the Republicans have a large majority. That is where we lose our status as a representational democracy.
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middleman, there were a lot of Democrat districts that voted for Reps becasue the Reps promised to control or cut expenditures. So if you want Obama’s promises to raise taxes then he should compromise to cut spending. By the way, Obama is out campaigning and left Biden in charge as Harry Reid , when presented with a proposal Saturday night could not come up with a counter proposal and readily admitted it on Sunday. All Reid could do is recess the Senate until 11 this morning. I guess at least, Biden is a warm body.
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Doesnt matter what you want or desire, its what the current laws are. The founders set up a representative republic (not a democracy) intentionally to avoid the minority from being totally shut out of the process. If 51% vs 49% wanted to resume slavery would you agree? of course not as we have the rule of law and the constitution to abide to; we live in a representative republic, NOT a democracy where majority rules.
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Joey then we live in a Representative Republic in which we are not represented?
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If 51% of Americans voted Democratic then 51% of our house reps should be democrats. What we do have is 51.4% Republican and 44.8% Democrat.
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Mm did you support one party rule when George Bush was president? You obviously don’t care if republicans aren’t represented.
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Nice Smartimus, absolute gibberish.
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So your answer would be no.
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I favor fair representation which, for example, we happen to have here in Minnesota: 4 Republican and 4 Democrat reps in a state that has a slight Democratic majority. 4 to 4 mirrors that split as closely as possible and gives us as fair representation as possible.
Ohio is an example of a state that doesn’t have fair representation:
12 of 16 seats went to Repubs for 75%. 47.7% voted for Romney a gain of 27.3%.
4 of 16 seats went to Dems for 25%. 50.7% voted for Obama a loss of 25.7%.
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So what, they were fairly elected.
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middleman, while you say Obama got 51% of the vote, in actuallity, he only received 28.6% of the eligible voting public. Gives him a voice, not a mandate. The real reason he won is because Romney said he wanted every person to have a good paying job while Obama promised voters who voted for him would not have to work.
As far as representation per your example and logic, we should have a Dem Senator and a Rep Senator. Hope your vote in the next senatorial race will be reflective of that.
As far as your 4 to 4 split, that has changed to a 5 to 3 ratio. Again, can we count on your vote to reflect an even split?
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Smartimus said: On December 30, 2012 at 7:57 AM
So opposing a nearly $6 trillion and counting debt that Obama has racked up is now treasonous? The Obama curse is here for another four years, the curse that just goes on and on.
So if we’re at about 14 trillion that leaves 8 trillion he didn’t rack up, not to mention the surplus of money Clinton left in the piggy bank. Under Obama the country got more for the buck such as new roads bridges and other infrastructure and bailout money much of which was actually paid back however not taken off the deficit yet we have little to nothing to show for the money Bush spent except an unfunded war which is also part of Obama’s tab as well. Under Clinton we had plenty of jobs and a surplus pf money to spend, Bush comes in and increases spending while cutting what goes into the bank all while encouraging outsourcing of American products telling America all of this will create jobs; this is something I would call treasonous! Obama wants to ask those that can afford to pay more without killing their pocketbooks in order to protect those that cannot and its considered a horrible idea.. As for unemployment and welfare? How many would need it if our jobs didn’t leave the country?
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Well it looks like the free spending and huge deficits are going to continue so the left should be happy. Why do we even need taxes, why not just print and borrow all the money we need? Happy days are here again, at least till the inevitable collapse.
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