the lowest single number in Post-ABC polls since 1983

Help me with the history, here. St. Ronnie was elected in ‘80. So, well into his first term only 20% of respondents identified as Republicans. In ‘84 Reagan won by a landslide. Those numbers sound very fishy to me.

It’s important to stay vigilant no matter how low R numbers go.

Harry Reid is still frightened by those numbers.

Reid is frightened by ants. Pathetic.

What baffles me about these numbers, if they are accurate is why does such a minority of the American public have such a disproportionate voice?

I still think Obama has played this correctly: he allowed the GOP and health insurance to roll out all they had at the beginning, and in good rope-a-dope fashion, allowed them to trumpet their triumph over his legislative agenda on health care. He never once said he wouldn’t support a public option, but he never ‘insisted’ on it. That permitted congressmen and women to start to go full tilt FOR it… incredible skill, I believe, went into this lowering of the GOP ‘brand’ as HuffPost puts it, and to marginalizing their views on this and everything else. He allowed them to do themselves in.

Reid should be frightened by his numbers.

Your message discipline requires you to call it the ‘public option’, but the polls also include widespread support for Single Payer, which would actually deliver needed health care, instead of a complicated kludge that would cover, maximum, 30 million people, if they qualified and could jump through all the bureaucratic hoops.

“Sixty-two percent (62%) of Democrats favor a single-payer system”

except certain bloggers have received instructions not to mention SP, and so they don’t. amazing.

Here’s MORE fun from the Washington Post aka. Pravda The letters are pure gems!

As far as I am concerned the PO is about a million times more popular than a republican.

I think if I were a Republican, I’d be disappointed that their strategy is having no visible effect on legislation. Democrats blaming their capitulation to the various special interests on “bipartisanship” is nonsense, they’re negotiating among themselves. Congressional Republicans are just getting in the way, instead of forming coalitions with conservative Dems, and I suspect Republican voters can see this.

why does such a minority of the American public have such a disproportionate voice?

Because an even smaller proportion of that group controls most of the money spent on the media.

“they’re negotiating among themselves”

Not really. They are in between their paymasters and their constituents.

The underlying problem is their paymasters are not their constituents. This needs fixing.

Yes, we could save a lot of time and effort by just letting the corporations nominate Congressmen directly. Or is that not what you meant?

I have always thought that Republican party followers are quick to forget that we still have a huge mess on ground. That mess was a result of anti- conservative measures by the Bush administration.

The war spending coupled with huge tax cuts could not sustain the demand for more investments by the private sector.
My take is that being an independent is unfairly expensive, otherwise, many would chose another route.
I have discussed more on this on my blog http://www.ridwanalah.blogspot.com

Because corporate lobbyists have such a disproportionate voice. The money associated with that voice has the power to drown out virtually everything else.

They pretty much do that already.

It seems that whenever the Democrats numbers go down, the assumption is that it because they not giving in to the Republicans enough. I wish more polls would try to find out why people are happy or unhappy with politicians. What about the people who are unhappy with the Democrats because they give in to the Republican too much? This whole situation with Sen. Snowe is a good example. Is her vote really worth more to President Obama than doing what he said he would do if he got elected?

How bipartisan was the new deal? Should FDR have split the difference with the Republicans in the name of bipartisanship? Here’s a quote from FDR on Republicans and the New Deal.

“The only common philosophy and the only common purpose they have is to get wholly rid of all the New Deal—lock, stock and barrel—and to get control of Government in their own hands for their own purposes.

Just as they have not been able to foist their falsifications on the American people, they will never be able to foist this only common purpose of theirs upon the American people now.

We will all see to that next Tuesday.

We all know the story of the unfortunate chameleon which turned brown when placed on a brown rug, and turned red when placed on a red rug, but who died a tragic death when they put him on a Scotch plaid. We all know what would happen to Government if it tried to fulfill all the secret understandings and promises made between the conflicting groups which are now backing the Republican Party.

There is something very ominous in this combination that has been forming within the Republican Party between the extreme reactionary and the extreme radical elements of this country.”

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2006/10/18/20565/334

Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score’s the baucus plan at $829 Billion over a 10 year period, that is paid for. The CBO also states that it will lower the deficit by $80 Billion and it would be much lower if there was a public option.Criminally corrupt politicians are the reason the U.S. is ranked near the bottom of every catagory when ranked next to other modern, industrialized nations. Time for publically funded elections. lieberman $12.6M, mcconnell $7.8M, baucus $7.7M, cornyn $6.7M, kyl $5.6M, grassley $5.4M, ensign $5.2M, conrad $5.1M, cantor $4.9M, nelson $4.9M, burr $4.8M, boehner $4.4M, hatch $4.4M, lincoln $4.1M, vitter $3.9M, carper $3.6M were paid by the Medical Industrial Complex to kill Health Care Reform. (Source: OpenSecrets.org, Aug. 09)Follow the Money: LinkCall Congress and demand, Single-Payer Health Care for All!(Toll Free # House and Senate)1-866-338-1015 _____ 1-866-220-00441-866-311-3405Sign Single-Payer and Public Option Petitions: Link Link LinkDon’t let the Medical Industrial Complex steal your Health Care from you and your family by donating huge sums of money to Crooked Politicians in order to maintain the Status Quo. Keep up the good fight.SEMPER FI!

It is a bit bemusing that people are willing to give Obama credit for the increasing acceptance of the PO when in fact he should be reaping derision from all sides. Here you have a weakling and the worst type of coward pontificating about nothing in particular leaving the heavy lifting to the public who are demanding the right to decent health insurance by way of a non-profit arrangement that actually pays for their health needs.

Obama is the consumate opportunist waiting for the winning side to become apparent and then to take the credit for something he could care less about, no matter which side ultimately prevails. He is plain and simple an insipid loathesome pol without convictions with a gift of gab.

Should the PO prevail into law don’t hold your breath and expect Obama to lift a finger in its defense while the private insurers and other ususal suspects wail away against it and try to make it fail.

“I am their leader. I must catch up to them”

I saw Steve Schmidt (of McCain’s campaign) on CSPAN saying that the GOP feels good about 2010 because many senior citizens are upset about the healthcare reform, & they always vote. The GOP doesn’t think all those young & first time voters who came out in ‘08 will come out in 2010. So while they may not fare well with the public at large in polls, they think they’ll do better in one-on-one battles & focusing on voters likely to actually show up to vote.