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Uh-oh: Republican voters might just stay home in November
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ^ | May 7, 2006 | By Charlie Cook

Posted on 05/07/2006 5:17:38 AM PDT by johnny7

There is growing evidence that Republicans will face a voter turnout problem in the November midterm elections.

The GOP faces not only enormous misgivings among voters about the war in Iraq -- which amounts to 70 or 80 percent of President Bush's problems -- but also a combination of Social Security, mounting budget deficits, Hurricane Katrina, Harriet Miers, port security, immigration, gasoline prices and various scandals. History tells us that when one party is either complacent or disillusioned -- and the other party is highly motivated, agitated or angry -- the results can be devastating to the former while providing boundless opportunities for the latter.

(Excerpt) Read more at pittsburghlive.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2006; charliecook; gop; midterms
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To: BelegStrongbow

Exactly! And I've been trying to make the very same point! There are a few repubs I would like to give a good shaking to .. but that doesn't mean I'm stupid enough to stay home or stupid enough to vote dem .. I have no regard for anyone who sits out an election.

And .. the ones who do sit it out .. are the ones who complain the loudest!


221 posted on 05/07/2006 3:26:42 PM PDT by CyberAnt (Drive-by Media: Fake news, fake documents, fake polls)
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To: Howlin; longtermmemmory; Grampa Dave

Presidency of George W. Bush -- the first 48 months

 


President Bush signing a federal ban on Partial Birth Abortion

Banned Partial Birth Abortion

Reversed Clinton's move to strike Reagan's anti-abortion Mexico Policy

Stopped foreign aid that would be used to fund abortions.

Supported and upheld the ban on abortions at military hospitals

Signed E.O. reversing Clinton's policy of not requiring parental consent for abortions under the Medical Privacy Act

Killed the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty

Killed U.S. involvement in the International Criminal Court

Killed Clinton's CO2 rules that were choking off all of the electricity surplus to California

Killed Clinton's "ergonomic" rules that OSHA was about to implement; rules that would have shut down some home businesses in America


First Missile is Installed For NMD on July 23, 2004

Killed the U.S. - CCCP ABM Treaty that was preventing the U.S. from deploying our ABM defenses


Built ten ABM silos in Alaska and California so that America has a defense against North Korean nukes

Killed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty so that the U.S. can once again test our nuclear weapons

The Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act (less romantically known as H.R. 5382) ultimately allows average Americans to hitch a ride on a civilian space craft at their own risk. The federal ban on such citizen travel was repealed by HR 5382 in 2004. The President signed that bill into law two days before Christmas.

President Bush pledged to Israel on 4/14/2004 that it could keep parts of the West Bank, giving international legitimacy to Jewish settlements there

Denied Palestinian refugees any right of return to what is now Israel, saying they should be resettled in a future Palestinian state instead

Part of coalition (Russia, Israel, EU, Palestine, USA) for Israeli/Palestinian "Roadmap to Peace"

Pushed through THREE raises for our military

Increased Defense Dept funding which had deteriorated during the previous 8 years

President Bush's Grand Strategy (click here)

President Bush's Environmental Record - 2004 (click here)

Signed TWO bills into law that arm our pilots with handguns in the cockpit

Currently pushing for full immunity from lawsuits for our national gun manufacturers

Ordered Attorney-General Ashcroft to formally notify the Supreme Court that the OFFICIAL U.S. government position on the 2nd Amendment is that it supports INDIVIDUAL rights to own firearms, NOT a leftist-imagined *collective* right


Told the United Nations we weren't interested in their plans for gun control (i.e. the International Ban on Small Arms Trafficking Treaty)

Signed the 2004 Omnibus Budget 1/26/2004 that now MANDATES that gun buyers' background check information be fully and permanently destroyed within 24 hours of the completion of the check, no matter what.

Repealed Gun Controls Against Active, Retired, and Off-Duty Law Enforcement Personnel Carrying Weapons Into Local and State Prohibited Zones (7/28/2004)

Enacted powerful tort reform legislation that moves many class action lawsuits from state to federal courts. Requires federal courts to hear cases where the amount of the dispute is more than $5 million, and when the defendant and any of the plaintiffs live in different states.


Disarmed Libya of its Chemical, Nuclear, and biological WMD's without bribes or bloodshed

Won an agreement that U.S. Navy sailors may now freely board thousands of commercial ships in international waters to search for weapons of mass destruction under a landmark pact between the United States and Liberia, the world's No. 2 shipping registry (signed Feb 11, 2004), and Panama 5/10/2004 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/11/international/americas/11ship.html).

Approves The First U.S. Counter-Intel Plan

Successfully executed 2 wars and rebuilt 2 nations: Afghanistan and Iraq. 50+ million people who had lived under tyrannical regimes now live in freedom...epitomized by their own free and democratic elections.

Provided Billions in aid, machines, and manpower to tsunami victims.

 

Executed a WAR ON TERROR by getting world-wide cooperation to track funds/terrorists (has cut off much of the terrorist's funding and captured or killed many key leaders of the al Qaeda network)

Bush Administration diplomacy led to the 5/25/2004 peace accord that ended a massive 20-year civil war between Sudan's Islamic north and Christian south after two million deaths Click Here

  Delivered vital emergency aid to millions of survivors on multiple continents (e.g. Africa, SE Asia) of a devastating Tsunami caused by a 9.1 earthquake near Sumatra.

Brought back our EP-3 intel plane and crew from China without any bribes or bloodshed

Started withdrawing our troops from Bosnia and has announced withdrawal of our troops from Germany and the Korean DMZ.

Signed the LARGEST nuclear arms reduction in world history with Russia

Initiated comprehensive review of our military, which was completed just prior to 9/11/01, accurately reported that ASYMMETRICAL WARFARE was critical.
Created NATO's Rapid Response Force

Changed the tone in the White House, restoring HONOR and DIGNITY to the Presidency

Reorganized bureaucracy...after 9/11, condensed 20+ overlapping agencies and their intelligence sectors into one agency: the Department of Homeland Security.

Initiated discussion on privatizing Social Security and individual investment accounts.

Improving govt. efficiency with .8 million jobs put up for bid...weakening unions and cutting undeserved pay raises. Wants merit based promotions/raises only.

Orchestrated Republican control of the White House, the House AND the Senate.

Killed the liberal ABA's role in vetting federal judges for Congress.

GWB signed an executive order enforcing the Supreme Court's Beck decision (re: union dues being used for political campaigns against individual's wishes)

Turned around an inherited economy that was in recession.

Passed tough new laws to hold corporate criminals to account as a result of corporate scandals.

Signed 2 income tax cuts ---- 1 of which was the largest Dollar-value tax cut in world history

Reduced taxes on dividends and capital gains

In process of eliminating IRS marriage penalty.

Increased small business incentives to expand and to hire new people

Eliminated the Estate Tax (AKA "Death Tax") that was taking small farms and businesses from families


Signed into law the No Child Left Behind legislation delivering the most dramatic education reforms in a generation (challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations)

Reorganized the INS in an attempt to safeguard the borders and ports of America and to eliminate bureaucratic redundancies and lack of accountability.

Signed trade promotion authority

Committed US funds to purchase medicine for millions of men and women and children now suffering with AIDS in Africa

Passed Medicare Reform (authorized $39.5 Billion per year for preventive medicine such as drugs and doctor visits as well as included a ten year Privatization option)

Urging federal liability reform to eliminate frivolous lawsuits

Supports class action reform bill which limits lawyer fees so that more settlement money goes to victims


Submitted comprehensive Energy Plan--awaits Congressional action (works to develop cleaner technology, produce more natural gas here at home, make America less dependent on foreign sources of energy, improve national grid, etc.)

Endorses and promotes The Responsibility Era ("In a compassionate society, people respect one another and take responsibility for the decisions they make in life. My hope is to change the culture from one that has said, if it feels good, do it; if you've got a problem, blame somebody else -- to one in which every single American understands that he or she are responsible for the decisions that you make; you're responsible for loving your children with all your heart and all your soul; you're responsible for being involved with the quality of the education of your children; you're responsible for making sure the community in which you live is safe; you're responsible for loving your neighbor, just like you would like to be loved yourself. " -----this quote was too good to leave out)

Started the USA Freedom Corps

Initiated review of all federal agencies with a goal to eliminate federal jobs (completed September 2003) in an effort to reduce the size of federal gov while increasing private sector jobs.

Challenged the United Nations to live up to their responsibilities and not become The League of Nations ( in other words, completely irrelevant)

Nominated strong, conservative judges to the judiciary.


President Bush opened up an additional part of Alaska for domestic oil drilling. In 2004, the National Petroleum Reserve, an area west of the existing Prudhoe Bay field, was approved for new energy exploration and production.

Increased U.S. Oil Drilling Permits 70% Above Clinton-era

Changed parts of the Forestry Management Act to allow necessary clean-up of the national forests in order to reduce fire danger.

As part of the national forests clean-up, the President restricted judicial challenges (based on the Endangered Species Act and other challenges) and removed the need for an EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) before removing fuels/logging to reduce fire danger.
New Forest Rules Gives States Power Over Federal Forests Inside Their Borders
Significantly eased field-testing controls of genetically engineered crops.

President Bush signed the workplace verification bill to prevent hiring of illegal Aliens
S. 1685, the Basic Pilot Extension Act of 2003, was signed by President Bush on December 3, 2003.
It extends for five years the workplace employment eligibility authorization pilot programs created in 1996. It expands the pilot programs from the original five states to all 50 states.


U.S. Forces In Baghdad


2nd Term Supplimental (incomplete)


Broke the Chinese Yuan to Dollar currency peg

CAFTA - President Bush signing CAFTA

Bolton to the UN

Has CONSTRUCTION in process on the second group of eight ABM silos in Alaska and California so that America has a land-based defense (in addition to our sea-based SM-3 and AEGIS systems) of 18 ABM's against North Korean nukes (note: China itself currently only has 24 -out of several hundred- nuclear ICBM's capable of reaching the U.S.)

Energy Bill (new tax cuts...after 5 years of opposition)

Immunity For Gun Manufacturers From Crime-Related Lawsuits

5% unemployment
3.4% annual (after inflation, 5.5% actual) reported GDP Growth

Syrian Troops forced to withdraw from Lebanon

Russians Troops Peacefully Withdraw From Georgia

Brought North Korea to the Negotiating Table and won their agreement to dismantle their Nuclear Weapons Program

Chief Justice John Roberts
Justice Sam Alito

Dramatically improved U.S.-India relations via a breakthrough nuclear agreement

Signed Bankruptcy Reform Into Law

Waived Make-Work Enviro Studies For New Oil Drilling

Full Immunity From Frivolous Lawsuits For Our Domestic Gun Industry
Click Here

Fed Chairman Bernanke

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1518385/posts
Iraqi's Thank America (Wow, this is moving!)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1518877/posts
Iraqi Kurds thank the United States for liberation in New T.V ads (From MoveAmericaForward)

US forges trail-blazing UN condemnation of Hizbullah

US rules out extra pledges on global warming

Bush-appointed Judges: Most Conservative On Record, New UH Study Finds

Using Closed Bases For New Refineries, Cutting Refinery Red Tape

222 posted on 05/07/2006 4:12:25 PM PDT by Southack (Media Bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
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To: Andrewksu

Ping


223 posted on 05/07/2006 4:19:31 PM PDT by centurion316 (Democrats - Al Qaida's Best Friends)
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To: johnny7
I will stay home and vote absentee as usual. My congressman ( john Doolittle-R ) has a consistently high ACU rating but MAY have Abramoff residue on him. It's wait and see. Tom McClintock for Lt. Governor will get my vote.
224 posted on 05/07/2006 4:58:37 PM PDT by afnamvet
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To: Einigkeit_Recht_Freiheit

I appreciate your comment. For myself, the portions of the GOP agenda I cannot support too closely approximate Democratic pseudo-alternatives. So you could say that I oppose the GOP when it starts enacting the opposition party's platform.

I am not sure from your comment that this would be your position in the matter.


225 posted on 05/07/2006 7:37:15 PM PDT by BelegStrongbow
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To: johnny7

Shhhhhhhh! Let them think we'll stay home and they won't be working overtime to rig elections....their complacency is our friend.


226 posted on 05/07/2006 10:33:07 PM PDT by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly.)
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To: BelegStrongbow

My comment wasa pretty straightforward. I think there should be an opposition. I think that opposition should espouse alternative ideas and different points of view.

I don't need to disagree with the opposition to respect it.

The problem is that the leadership and ideas of the current opposition would destroy the nation.

That needn't be the case and it is not true of all of the them though.

Thus, I complimented you on not calling for their elimination, but rather drastic reformation. Which is my position.


227 posted on 05/07/2006 11:10:57 PM PDT by Einigkeit_Recht_Freiheit (No one cares if the muzzies are free. It really is about their oil.)
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To: petkus

"I just think of Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House & that gets my adrenalin pumping to go out and vote in November!
"

==

That's the spirit!


228 posted on 05/07/2006 11:13:26 PM PDT by FairOpinion (Dem Foreign Policy: SURRENDER to our enemies. Real conservatives don't help Dems get elected.)
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To: KC_Conspirator

Hard to be motivated when those you vote for act like the opposition.
Quit spending my money.


229 posted on 05/08/2006 2:59:31 AM PDT by Joe Boucher (an enemy of islam)
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To: staytrue

Yeah, I like Mrs. Clinton saying that.
Sort of like a gestappo.

I didn't say the dems would be or do better, I just want the republicans I voted for to act like republicans, not some frat boy who just found a working credit card.


230 posted on 05/08/2006 3:02:11 AM PDT by Joe Boucher (an enemy of islam)
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To: MissAmericanPie

You're 100% right. It ISN'T Iraq or the WOT. It's the illegal immigration issue that's the straw that broke the camel's back.


231 posted on 05/08/2006 4:26:14 AM PDT by The Foolkiller (BSXL* The game that made the NFL irrelevant..)
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To: Howlin

"CBS News Poll. April 28-30, 2006"

Consider the source and sample.


232 posted on 05/08/2006 4:34:25 AM PDT by Beckwith (The liberal media has picked sides and they've sided with the Jihadists.)
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To: johnny7

No way would we stay home and possibly give the dems a win they should not have.


233 posted on 05/08/2006 4:35:25 AM PDT by Dustbunny (The only good terrorist is a dead terrorist)
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To: johnny7
There is growing evidence that Republicans will face a voter turnout problem in the November midterm elections.

Good observation.

The GOP faces not only enormous misgivings among voters about the war in Iraq -- which amounts to 70 or 80 percent of President Bush's problems

Bad observation.
234 posted on 05/08/2006 4:35:44 AM PDT by Old_Mil (http://www.constitutionparty.org - Forging a Rebirth of Freedom.)
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To: Southack

Thanks for posting this summary of what GW has accomplished.

The so called journalist who wrote this article let one of his wet dreams become pseudo news. Charlie should stick to what he knows best and writes most often on: Pushing the Gay Agenda.

http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?fr=ybr_sbc&p=Charlie%20Cook%20+%20gay


235 posted on 05/08/2006 6:46:14 AM PDT by Grampa Dave (There's a dwindling market for Marxist homosexual lunatic wet dreams posing as journalism)
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To: centurion316

"The results in Ohio, where Democrat pollsters brought back comparatively bad news. Despite record spending for primaries, Democrats barely improved on primary numbers they had in the state back in 2002 for mid-term elections. Nationally, while approval numbers for Republicans edge down into the "teens," Republican turnout has been surprisingly good, and it now appears that several seats targeted by Democrats in Ohio, California, Texas and Florida will not be in their column in November."

This is an excerpt from an article in the newest American Spectator, and it addresses exactly what I was saying about Repub turnout. This is why I think Charlie Cook, the national dems and the MSM are getting a little ahead of themselves. Dem support nationwide is soft, and they have no coherent policy to rally around (the 1994 Contract With America) except to say that "Bush lied," and that ain't gonna carry water come November.


236 posted on 05/08/2006 7:00:49 AM PDT by moose2004 (You Can Run But You Can't Hide!)
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To: johnny7; Southack; Miss Marple; Howlin; Mo1; onyx

Ha! The rats have so many problems and more potentially deadly infighting than we do.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1628579/posts

Al Gore Might Yet Join 2008 Contenders
Wall Street Journal ^ | 5/8/06


Posted on 05/08/2006 8:02:22 AM PDT by Mr. Brightside


...(Gore's denials) aren't persuasive to some Democrats, including former Clinton-Gore White House insiders. "I do know that he's thinking about it. I know for a fact," a former adviser says. "He's talked to people about the pros and cons."

Among those said to be pushing Mr. Gore are billionaire venture capitalist and high-tech entrepreneur John Doerr and Laurie David, a global-warming activist and producer of the film, and wife of "Seinfeld" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" creator Larry David.

/snip

But, she adds, he changes the subject whenever it comes up, and had to be talked into making the movie when she pitched it.

/snip

"His star will never be higher than it is right now with his movie coming out," says Democratic consultant Karen Skelton, Mr. Gore's former political director.

The Gore buzz reflects a sense among even some pro-Clinton Democrats that Mrs. Clinton...can't win the general election because she is a polarizing figure to many voters. These skeptics believe only someone such as Mr. Gore with the celebrity and fund-raising potential to match Mrs. Clinton could stop her.

Like Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Gore remains a negative figure to many voters, says a Democrat who has seen private polls. For both, that might only increase with the spectacle of a Clinton-Gore brawl. Even insiders can't fully account for the bad blood that has built up since... Several insiders say Mr. Gore is more likely to run if Mrs. Clinton does than if she doesn't.

Also controversial among Democrats was Mr. Gore's 2004 endorsement of Howard Dean...


237 posted on 05/08/2006 8:16:03 AM PDT by Grampa Dave (There's a dwindling market for Marxist homosexual lunatic wet dreams posing as journalism)
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To: Right_in_Virginia
I hope you're right, but there are a lot of folks on this thread who appear to be in favor either of staying home, or voting for a 3rd party candidate who has no hope of winning.
238 posted on 05/08/2006 8:20:26 AM PDT by XJarhead
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To: Southack
Your list always gives me an excuse to post this one:

http://alanchapman.org/libertyvault/gwb.html

GWB's CONTRIBUTION TO BIG GOVERNMENT
HUNDREDS OF WAYS IN WHICH GEORGE W. BUSH HAS CONTRIBUTED TO THE GROWTH OF GOVERNMENT
THIS LIST LAST UPDATED JANUARY 30, 2004

LV Editor's Note: I'm aware that many links on this page no longer work. The websites to which I link sometimes remove articles or go off-line. This list contains over 200 links and it's very time consuming to verify working links on a regular basis. I also have many more items to add. If a link doesn't work and you're curious about the item then I suggest searching for similar stories using your favorite search engine.

In his nomination acceptance speech in 2000 Bush said, "Big government is not the answer." It reminded me of when Ronald Reagan said that government is not the solution and then presided over a 67% increase in federal spending during his 8-year tenure. Republicans campaign like libertarians but govern like socialists. They increase government spending, drown business in new regulations, create and expand government programs, impose economic sanctions on other countries and meddle in their internal affairs, instigate wars, and curtail freedom. They're willing to pander to virtually any special interest group which throws money in their direction. They even enact gun-control. Republicans have no incentive to reduce government because they can always count on their rank-and-file supporters to vote party-line. If you want to reduce government and get it out of your life then you must stop supporting the people who are making government bigger. Supporting the "lesser of two evils" isn't going to reduce government.Since taking office George W. Bush has increased the national debt by $895.7 billion. [source]
George W. Bush has spent more time campaigning while in office than any of his predecessors. [source]
Bush has never vetoed a spending bill. [source]
With GOP Congress behind him, Bush has yet to use veto [source]
— Aided by a Republican-controlled Congress, President Bush is on track to become the first chief executive since John Quincy Adams in the 1820s to complete a full term without vetoing one bill.

Do Republicans really support smaller government? Here are some interesting facts:

SOCIALIST WELFARE PROGRAMS & POLITICAL BOONDOGGLES


239 posted on 05/08/2006 8:21:14 AM PDT by Sir Gawain
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To: tortoise
What kind of "accountability" is perpetually deferred?

The kind that never seeks to actually be accountable.

240 posted on 05/08/2006 8:22:30 AM PDT by dirtboy (An illegal immigrant says my tagline used to be part of Mexico)
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