Brave New Girl?

Lovely:

“Sometimes, when a political campaign has run out of ideas and senses that the prize is slipping through its fingers, it rolls up a sleeve and plunges an arm, shoulder deep, right down to the bottom of the barrel. The problem for John McCain, Sarah Palin, and the Republican Party is that the bottom was scraped clean long before it dropped out. Back when the polls were nip and tuck and the leaves had not yet begun to turn, Barack Obama had already been accused of betraying the troops, wanting to teach kindergartners all about sex, favoring infanticide, and being a friend of terrorists and terrorism. What was left? The anticlimactic answer came as the long Presidential march of 2008 staggered toward its final week: Senator Obama is a socialist.”

From:
Like, Socialism: Comment: The New Yorker

The last paragraph is most damning for Ms. Palin. I’ll let you savor that for yourself.

via: TPM

Nov. 4th can’t come soon enough.

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  • http://faydean.typepad.com faydean

    For Jon and anyone else who wanted some “proof” of Obama’s socialist leanings/ties, Stanley Kurtz did a pretty compact piece outlining some of it. There is alot about the founder of the New Party, of which Obama has proven and established ties and support (which is noted thorughout the piece with links).

    http://​article​.nationalreview​.com/​?​q​=​M​m​V​l​O​T​k​1​M​z​k​w​Y​m​M​2​Y​T​Q​z​Z​m​I​x​O​T​R​l​M​j​Y​3​Z​j​Z​k​M​T​g​0​O​T​M​=​&​a​m​p;w=MA==

    Yes, it’s from the National Review…it’s not like I’d find this stuff in the NYT after all…maybe the LA Times (though they wouldn’t confirm it with the photos probably).

  • Carrie

    Again, not to belabor the point, but you are represented…just not in the majority. It sucks but unfortunately, that’s the way it is. Have to take the good times with the bad…no one is going to be happy all the time.

    And I really wish I had access to the crystal ball all the doomsayers who seem to KNOW how horrible things will be have…maybe then I could forsee some winning lottery numbers!!

  • http://blurbomat.com blurb

    GOP = EVERYBODY PANIC! RIGHT NOW!

    I don’t think that’s going to win this election.

    p.s. I’ve read the National Review link, @faydean and while the article talks about a socialist or “hard liberal” endorsing Obama, an endorsement doesn’t mean too much. Unless it does. Several comments here have devalued endorsements, so if I’m to use the argument from the conservatives that “endorsements don’t mean much” then I can’t see this as particularly damning.

    The author relies too heavily on taking Obama’s 2001 radio address out of context.

    McCain supporters might want to take a look at this.

  • http://faydean.typepad.com faydean

    Hey,

    I won’t argue McCain being to frigin’ politically correct when pressed. He’s been way more restrained than any of us on the conservative side would have liked for sure. He’s guilty of that for sure. Doesn’t make it not so, however.

    And it is just my opinion…but of many, many others too. So, we’ll see I guess.

    I will have to argue on the endorsement thing a bit. It depends on what the endorsement does for you to an extent. I mean, if the New Party endorsed Obama in order to further it’s own agenda, then, yes, that is very significant.

    In terms of Powell, newspapers, etc. I don’t really lend my credence to those. That’s just more political posterioring than anything.

    Oh, and yes, we in the GOP are panicking. Hell, I found out as of 8 p.m. last night, apparently (until he changes what he said himself to something that he didn’t say himself) that I will be swept into the whole rich tax increase plan. Oh, yeah…I’m going to be much poorer next year. So glad I could help.

  • mmc

    Faydean, it’s $200,000 for single people, $250,000 four couples. His stance hasn’t changed.

  • mmc

    Sorry, that’s “for” couples. I can’t type today.

  • http://blurbomat.com blurb

    @faydean, time to hire a better accountant. If you are making that kind of money, your accountant should be doing a better job with your taxable income. :-)

  • http://faydean.typepad.com faydean

    Thanks for the tip Jon, but we don’t have any loopholes we can use. We are a very straightforward kind of family, lol. We got the basics lined up…403b, all the insurance we can think of, college funds, intermediate investments for those pre-golden years, savings. We’ve been very good grownups. But alas, we get hosed just because of the tax bracket. We have only filled out a long form once, when we sold our house five years ago. So, not alot of help an accountant can offer. We use all the deductions that apply for us. And still, we nearly faint every year when we see how much of Dave’s salary is given to the feds. Only saving grace is that we live in a place with no state income tax (thank you merciful powers in the universe).

    I sure hope that Obama’s line in the proverbial income sand is firm (yeah, let’s not fool ourselves really) because otherwise we’re gonna get it good. If he eliminates the payroll cutoff, which does help us now thankfully, and imposes a tax increase such as this, we’ll be buying many middle class Americans that Wii they’ve always wanted next Christmas…us and many of our friends…many, MANY of our friends, not all doctors either…small business owners, older retiress.

    I just spoke with the owner of my daughter’s preschool this morning. She’s terrified of Obama’s plan. They are already prepared to raise tuition at the school to offset the increase in their business and payroll taxes. And if they lose enrollment then they will have to fire a couple of teachers. They have a small business loan and are just now showing a profit after opening up three years ago. An increase on them now, when they already have people falling behind in their tuition payments, could close their doors. I’ve been with this woman for preschool since my oldest was three! I followed her from another school to this one when she decided to branch out on her own. It was recently voted the number one preschool in our county. She’s middle class Jon, so you can’t tell me Obama won’t effect her. She files her personal taxes through the business…she must or else she’d be hosed too.

    The thing is, if she closes think of the domino effect…parents will lose a good, quality child care facility/preschool. Most of them are working parents, so it is not an option, but a necessity, for them to have child care. If they can’t find a school immediately, how will they be able to work? All those teachers will be out of work. A good, small business will be gone in our community. Not to mention the cost for the children who attend the school. If you take this one example, multiply it by thousands, then you have the negative impact raising taxes on ANYONE in this economic environment will bring. It simply can’t be done and help our situation. I know it. Not sure why others can’t see it.

    I could tell you more and more stories of how Obama won’t help the middle class. And despite people thinking my husband and I are rolling in it, I will firmly say we are middle class. We are fiscally conservative across the board with our personal finances. We’d be fine on less sure, but at this stage in our lives…just shy of a few years from 40 years old, I don’t think we are anywhere we don’t deserve to be after much, MUCH effort on our parts, his especially. He’s not in private practice…is employed through a hospital. If he had his own practice, well, Obama would close his doors. He’s got many colleagues who are barely scrapping by now to run their own practices…and who are totally expecting to not be able to if Obama gets his plan implemented with taxes and any mandated socialized medicine.

  • dross

    I’m the son of a construction worker, my wife the daughter of an Air Force enlisted man. We both put ourselves through college with no help from our families. I went to school at night after a full day’s work, and got my B.A. and M.A. in seven years of night classes.

    I’ve been dead broke, not a cent to my name twice, the most recent time was 11 years ago. Neither of us as ever gotten any kind of government assistance other than the basic infrastructure and services that all citizens get.

    My career through the nineties died with the tech bust of 2000. I started a completely new career unrelated to my other one. I made 26K in 2003. Now I’m near the top of my field where I live. My wife has made steadily good moves in her career. I’ve never been around anyone who works as hard as she does. We uprooted our family to come to another state, far away from family and friends, so my wife could accept a job that gave her a shot at some stock options. We kept our old house as a rental in our home state as a long term investment, but we are down $500 every month to keep it in the hope it will appreciate. My wife works 70 to 80 hours a week, and travels about 50% of the time. We moved here when our daughter was a few months old. She’s two now. My wife was given stock options in her company, which has been being positioned to sell for the last couple of years. We’ve worked and sacrificed for this as a chance to set our family up for life.

    If Obama is elected all that is gone. I’m not speculating, I’m telling you that’s how it is. The man who owns the company my wife works for won’t sell the company under the capital gains rate an Obama/Reid/Pelosi government will likely impose. Obama only claims he’ll double the current rate, but Pelosi and Reid have indicated the desire to go much higher. Obama’s plan will be modified in Congress. If this happens, my wife’s boss won’t sell the company and what we’ve sacrificed for won’t happen.

    I don’t mind gambling and losing on a fair playing field. I do mind the government suddenly deciding that even though people at our level pay 70% of all the taxes collected, now we have to pay more.

    The ironic thing is that the government would have made more real dollars with a lower capital gains tax. Now the government won’t collect a penny in capital gains from this sale, and it’s back to the drawing board for us, with all our sacrifices wasted.

  • the earl

    Dross and Faydean–I think we all get that you’re voting for your own economic interests. Guess what? So are other people. That those interests do not jive with yours doesn’t mean that those people are stupid or don’t understand the policies are out there. I also put myself through graduate school and have worked my way to near the top of my field. However, my field does not involve stock options or salaries even close to Obama’s limit. It never will. It does, however, rely on legislation put into place to protect environmental and cultural resources that the GOP has tried more than once to eliminate entirely. Should a Republican gain office and try to eliminate such legislation (as Reagan did in the 80s), my company (a small business) would likely fold. So you see, not all small business owners have the same mindset as you, and there are likely a variety of reasons for that–not just Obama’s tax plan. And I get that you think that your share of the tax burden is unfair. Well, folks, there’s a lot of unfair stuff out there. I find it unfair that pro sports players get paid millions while teachers get pennies. That’s why we all get to vote. And faydean, the fact that you even get to vote means that you are represented. Please don’t be patronizing and say that I just don’t get the economics of it all. Trust me, I get it. Which is why I’ll be voting for Obama.

  • http://blurbomat.com blurb

    @dross, by your admission, you took a speculative real estate risk as well as a professional one.

    You can afford two homes, but the second home may or may not be declining in value. Or maybe you can’t afford two homes… Seems a bit rich to blame your choices in speculation on what ifs of the future. Some of those tax hikes may not occur as quickly as you think. A lot of economists are suggesting that a tax hike to pay down the debt is not a good idea during a recession. We’ll see.

    Stock options are always a gamble, regardless of which political party is in control. I would think somebody who went through the 2000 bust would appreciate that more than most. I think your pronouncement of “all that is gone” is a tad heavy-handed.

    The real estate market has been crazy for at least 18 months, if not longer. The current economic state may be with us for another year at least.

    You are speculating about the future. It may be as you suggest and it may not be as you suggest.

    You are not an “average” American. You own two homes. While I sympathize with the hard work and the possibility of “losing” stock options, I can’t help but think that any business owner who would not sell a business because of a situation that doesn’t exist yet… weird, for lack of a better word. I would imagine that the current economic climate would be more of a deterrent than a Democrat in the White House.

  • dross

    Just to clarify: I don’t complain about any risk of the market. Yes, we took risks, that’s my point. In a sense, I guess we’re always at risk that the government might just decide to take more of what we have. I didn’t mean to imply that we’d lose one of our houses under Obama.

    I’m not complaining at the housing market, in fact, I find it funny that people think the economy is working great when housing prices are going up but it’s going terribly when oil prices are going up.

    He hoped to sell the business next year, and if the tax doesn’t prohibit it, he still will. So regardless of who’s elected I hope the capital gains don’t get raised.

    I understand we’re not average — this year. Was I average two years ago, when our income was half of what it is now? How about in ’97 when I was broke? How about if one of us loses our job, will I be average then? People aren’t in one place or another, it’s constantly changing. Or does the fact that we’ve done well the last few years forever make us not average?

    As to the Earl, was I voting my economic interests the other years because I knew inside I wasn’t average and therefore would need a break down the road?

  • southerngirl

    Dross and faydean,

    Now that McCain has disavowed his remarks that Obama is a socialist, how about you guys?

    “In an interview with Larry King that aired last night, John McCain admitted that he doesn’t think Barack Obama is a socialist, which runs counter to most of his campaign rhetoric for the past week.

    LARRY KING: You don’t believe Barack Obama is a socialist, do you?

    SENATOR MCCAIN: No.

    And here’s an update on the McCain campaign:

    “The most cringe-worthy political moment of the day, so far, came when Sen. John McCain called out for his new buddy Joe the Plumber to stand up at a rally in Ohio today, only to be greeted with confused silence. Joe the Plumber wasn’t there.

    But that rally featured another embarrassing moment, one that illustrates a far more troubling dynamic for the Republican ticket. The McCain campaign actually had to bus in school kids from the surrounding area in order to fill the event. As reported by MSNBC:

    A local school district official confirmed after the event that of the 6,000 people estimated by the fire marshal to be in attendance this morning, more than 4,000 were bused in from schools in the area. The entire 2,500-student Defiance School District was in attendance, the official said, in addition to at least three other schools from neighboring districts, one of which sent 14 buses.“‘

    Geez, even Joe the Plumber is deserting McCain. It _almost_ makes me feel sorry for him.

  • the earl

    dross–Of course you were voting your economic interests (and other interests as well), and there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m not out to vilify you for voting for McCain. Obviously, he’s not the candidate for me, for reasons economic and otherwise, so I won’t be voting for him. What I take issue with are the arguments that people in higher tax brackets work harder and are more deserving of a break than those in lower ones. You and your wife pulled yourself up by your bootstraps and made a success of your lives. Great. I don’t begrudge you your successes. However, I have also worked hard to get where I am…it just doesn’t happen to be in a field that pays as well as yours does.

    And (this is directed more at faydean than you), I take issue with the implication that we poor folk just don’t understand the economy, and if we did, surely we would be terrified of Obama’s tax plan. Please give the poor people some credit, we’re not that dumb.

  • http://faydean.typepad.com faydean

    I have no idea what this is supposed to bring me forth to say Southerngirl. It’s silly, really.

    First, I said earlier John McCain is known for being way too “politically correct” when confronted with direct questions on things he knows could be deemed as harsh, especially regarding Obama. He’s been to light in terms of how I think he should have gone after Obama…too nice can be a bad thing. And, yes, to me, he’s been way to accommodating for Obama.

    Or perhaps it’s just a gaffe on his part. Who knows. At least he didn’t tell me that Obama would bring an international incident to my country of which he might not be capable of dealing with…that was YOUR vp candidate, remember.

    I have a feeling your busing story is bogus. I heard a story today about kids being bused in for some school thing on politics such in one of the campaign stops. I was doing something else, but it was benign…having to do with something like a field triip for civics or something. I have no clue what you are talking about regarding them filling seats. I watched the speech this morning and the place was packed full of people of voting age. I think I would have noticed a bunch of kids.

    And will I back off Obama being a socialist? Yeah, just like I’ll be converting back to the Democratic ticket. NOT. How about you Dross? You reconsider ole Obama being a socialist? I could venture to say he hasn’t and won’t, but I think he can speak for himself very well.

    Oh, and btw, from the polls I saw today McCain is gaining on Obama. Looks like he just might have to “go back to the Senate and do good work”. Maybe he can play his infommercial at night on cable to make a few bucks since he is such a snake oil salesman.

  • lauren03

    I guess my quesiton is — whats so wrong with a little socialism? I don’t think extreme socialism is the answer — but slightly more socialist policies I think might be better for our quality of life.

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