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The G.O.P.’s Bad Bet
N Y Times ^ | 10/19/2006 | CHARLES MURRAY

Posted on 10/19/2006 11:53:10 AM PDT by Sabramerican

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To: roses of sharon

Maybe management should get into this.

I'm sick and tired by the cheerleaders running from thread to thread attempting to stifle any debate of GOP and Administration missteps.

Is FreeRepublic a Fan Club or a place where what the Government and this [and any other] Administration does open to discussion and comment?

If it is a Fan Club, at least publish the rules.


21 posted on 10/19/2006 12:37:36 PM PDT by Sabramerican (Says the piano player: America's greatest legacy will be to create a Palestinian State)
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To: Sabramerican

LOL, cut the drama, it does not work with me.


22 posted on 10/19/2006 12:39:12 PM PDT by roses of sharon
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To: brownsfan

>>>Sort of sounds like whistling past the graveyard.
If Republicans manage to keep control of Congress, I wonder just what they have to do, or not do, to lose it?>>>

I heard that!


23 posted on 10/19/2006 12:49:26 PM PDT by sandbar
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To: roses of sharon

I have to agree with the general idea in the article. The Republicans didn't need to do this and probably alienated more voters then it helped... I'm a conservative Republican who will continue to vote for the Republicans in the elections (and push my agenda voting in the primaries) but I was very unhappy with this law. I called both my Senators after writing letters to both several months ago. I also called my congressman and sent an email to the Whitehouse.

But that being said, the net affect of this law is that I have moved to a different online poker site that will not block US players and I will continue to play. We shall see how it will impact my ability to deposit/withdraw fund from my account.

And to a question on this thread, Senator Frist slipped this bill in late in the evening tacked to the ports security bill. There was no way members would vote against the ports bill. Since Frist is retiring and will probably be running in the 2008 presidential race I have made up my mind that I will send money to every challenger and send a letter to Frist letting him know of this action.

As a Republican, that is where we should do our protests. In the primaries.

p.s.. This internet gambling law is pure pandering...


24 posted on 10/19/2006 12:49:30 PM PDT by djl_sa
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To: MNJohnnie

Do you spam this same list every time the GOP does something stupid?


25 posted on 10/19/2006 12:51:39 PM PDT by Luke21
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To: Sabramerican
"Gambling is a serious addiction that undermines the family, dashes dreams and frays the fabric of society,” Dr Frist said.

Senators from both parties are just so friggin pompous..

Listen Doc....we don't need you to save us from ourselves we need to save the "fabric of society" from gasbags who spend the taxpayers money like they hate the stuff.

I wonder how much Las Vegas and the Indian tribes gave you spout this nonsense.
26 posted on 10/19/2006 1:09:35 PM PDT by Blackirish
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To: Sabramerican
I agree it was a bad bill, but I'm wondering if the NY Times ever publishes a column by a conservative that actually supports the GOP. It seems that the easiest way for a conservative to get published there is to attack Republicans.
27 posted on 10/19/2006 1:31:36 PM PDT by Moral Hazard ("No we all can't be Superfly GQPhdFBI")
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To: Sabramerican

Someone posted a while ago that this law has less to do with gambling and more to do with a WTO tax dispute. Wish I could find it.


28 posted on 10/19/2006 1:37:47 PM PDT by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
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To: Sabramerican
The polls, which I always consider to be subjective, indicate that the Foley scandal did not have the negative effect on voters that the democrats had hoped for, but the Republican freefall in these polls over the past two weeks may well be attributed to the fury of 23 million voters who have become accustomed to gambling online...and have now been forbidden by Government to enjoy their hobby. Frist made a bad bet that we may all have to repay on election day...
29 posted on 10/19/2006 1:48:48 PM PDT by KDD (A wink is as good as a nod to a blind horse.)
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To: Sabramerican

"Most Americans probably didn’t notice or care, but it may do significant political damage to the Republicans this fall and long-term damage to Americans’ respect for the law."

ROFLMAO! I did notice and I do care, but I don't think most Americans give a hoot, and anyone saying otherwise is just being silly--especially since as the author notes in the same breath he's claiming it'll do significant political damage, MOST AMERICANS DIDN'T NOTICE OR CARE. How can it 'do significant political damage' if AMERICANS DON'T NOTICE OR CARE?

Additionally, what difference does it make whether the GOP did it if the option is the Rats? They'd have done the same thing for the reason that they can't tax the international winnings!

Americans won't lose any respect for the law. They'll just keep breaking it like they were before.


30 posted on 10/19/2006 1:49:48 PM PDT by LibertarianInExile (Mark Foley is what happens when personal character isn't relevant to voters or party leaders.)
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To: Brad from Tennessee
People who gamble for entertainment aren't the type who use these sites. This industry is based on the compulsive gambler just as drug internet sites that peddle narcotics are based on drug addicts.

Sorry, but the people who gamble for entertainment are the EXACT type of people who use these sites. I know hundreds of people who have accounts with various bookmakers and poker sites, and they are all just doing it for fun... and they are all HIGHLY ticked off at the GOP. I'll go vote, because the alternative is too bad, but it wouldn't hurt my feelings to see some of these idiots taken down a peg or two. The GOP needs to get back to decreasing the size and scope of Government. I don't need a nanny.

31 posted on 10/19/2006 1:51:46 PM PDT by MMcC
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To: Blackirish

Google "Frist" and "Harrahs Casino".

"Goodlatte" and "horseracing".

It was obvious pandering...and payback.


32 posted on 10/19/2006 1:52:11 PM PDT by KDD (A wink is as good as a nod to a blind horse.)
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To: Dead Corpse; Sabramerican

I think my favorite part of that laundry list is the glorious return of our EP-3 and its crewmen, an event completely overshadowed in President Bush's foreign policy victories. What a proud moment for us! How we must celebrate him for it! We needed to show China we would not take Chinese aggression lying down! We sure did, forcing them to hold our military personnel incommunicado, to inspect our spy plane and its avionics, and then slice up a multimillion dollar aircraft. Boy, was that a foreign policy TRIUMPH for the President!

The kind of post you're responding to is threadjacking, pure and simple.


33 posted on 10/19/2006 2:01:15 PM PDT by LibertarianInExile (Mark Foley is what happens when personal character isn't relevant to voters or party leaders.)
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To: Sabramerican
....people should keep in mind, that a lot of "off shore" gambling is done with people who are not friendly with the US...THEY WANT YOUR MONEY, but will never let you know where it's going, or who it's going to.......

Doogle
34 posted on 10/19/2006 2:10:15 PM PDT by Doogle (USAF 69-73...."never store a threat you should have eliminated")
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To: Brad from Tennessee
People who gamble for entertainment aren't the type who use these sites.

Evidence?

This industry is based on the compulsive gambler just as drug internet sites that peddle narcotics are based on drug addicts.

Evidence? Are Miller and Budweiser based on alcoholics?

Internet gambling could turn into the same kind of cash cow for our enemies.

By that logic, we should allow it in the US and regulate it. Lots of Americans would rather play at bellagio.com than random sites in Costa Rica or the Isle of Man.

35 posted on 10/19/2006 2:18:01 PM PDT by ThinkDifferent
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To: Sabramerican

This is not a "scolding nanny" bill. What was happening was already illegal, we have laws about who can run gambling in this country, and those laws include regulations and a taxing authority.

But in order to avoid meeting regulations, and to avoid paying taxes, companies outsourced and set up in foreign countries, using the internet to reach americans but not paying taxes on their earnings, and not following the guidelines and regulations that make sure people are not ripped off.

These foreign operators compete against U.S. companies, and UNFAIRLY because they don't meet the same rules and regulations.

The congress took the next step to stopping their already ILLEGAL behavior, by simply making it illegal for U.S. credit companies to pay these illegal gambing companies for their illegal U.S. operations.

I realise that some people beleive we should have no regulations -- and that's fine, but you should be fighting to REMOVE the regulations from U.S. companies then, not fighting a common-sense bill to ensure that foreigners compete on a fair basis with american companies.

But some people just love to gamble, and don't care that it was illegal, and don't care that the companies are stealing money from America and exporting it to foreign countries, and are taking advantage of our laws and our freedoms.


36 posted on 10/19/2006 2:20:11 PM PDT by CharlesWayneCT
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To: jveritas
Another delusional liberal

Charles Murray has been called many things, but "delusional liberal" is probably a first.

37 posted on 10/19/2006 2:21:10 PM PDT by ThinkDifferent
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To: saganite

And you don't get the connection? Government regulates gambling. Maybe the shouldn't, but they do. If you are going to regulate gambling, you need to make sure you regulate it for everybody. The state lotteries don't want to compete with private enterprise, so governments regulate state-by-state what private gambling companies can do.

But the internet crosses state boundaries, so the U.S. LONG AGO made it illegal. But they haven't been able to control it, so they passed this law to cut off illegal payments to the companies running illegal gambling operations.

So be mad about government regulating gambling if you want, but don't attack the congress for simply making the playing field level given the current regulations.


38 posted on 10/19/2006 2:22:36 PM PDT by CharlesWayneCT
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To: Sabramerican
Completely outrageous how Frist slipped this in. You know it must go back to the Casino and Indian Casino lobbies - who else would care enough to put such an unpopular law into place?

Incidentally, PokerStars is fighting this law on the grounds that the law bans gambling and poker isn't a gambling game - it's a skill game. I wish them success.
39 posted on 10/19/2006 2:26:05 PM PDT by Stone Mountain
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To: Brad from Tennessee
People who gamble for entertainment aren't the type who use these sites. This industry is based on the compulsive gambler just as drug internet sites that peddle narcotics are based on drug addicts.

Wrong. I don't know where you got that from. I myself have been playing poker online for about 4 years and win about $300-$500 month. It provides me a lot of entertainment. I have many friends in this situation (although most are somewhat less successful financially), and we basically view it as entertainment. I've read many articles about the online gaming industry and their patrons and there's no evidence that I have seen that online gambling has any higher proportion of gambling addicts than brick and mortar casinos.
40 posted on 10/19/2006 2:30:28 PM PDT by Stone Mountain
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