[Rich Lee]

Originally Posted by mlassoff

Just wondering, did Malloy sneak in himself and plant the "bag 'o votes" or did he have an operative do it?

It's amazing what some come up with when their guy loses.

What happened in Bridgeport was incompetence, not malfeasance. Sorry to disappoint.

Agreed. Five out of 5 Democratic U.S. Representatives were re-elected, and a Democratic Senator was elected. It's not that much of a stretch that Malloy was elected.

Did anyone catch the historic landslide election of Governor Cuomo (Dem.) in New York...even with its tremendous debt?

Analysts have been going over the results of Tuesdays election. No surprise: the blue states remained blue, the red states remained red, and some purple states turned red.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by hartford_renter

Here are some of the Republicans who are cutting spending

1. Gov Christie NJ
2.Gov Barbour Mississippi - took 700 million dollar deficit and balanced the budget without raising taxes
3. Gov of Indiana - balanced the budget largely through large cuts to spending

So you see balancing the budget is easy, you just need a Republican to get this done.

Christie is a big bully and he either has made the biggest blunder of his or any governor's career or the smartest move by killing the ARC Tunnel project between Manhattan and northern New Jersey. It will be smart if he can get someone else to pay for this long needed project or a blunder whan he has to write a check to the Feds for $350 million to reimburse them for the money that has been wasted on a canceled project. Eityher way, the commuters to New York lose since they will not get the modern transportation system that has been in the planning works for 30 years. Jay

[Rich Lee]

Originally Posted by hartford_renter

Here are some of the Republicans who are cutting spending

1. Gov Christie NJ
2.Gov Barbour Mississippi - took 700 million dollar deficit and balanced the budget without raising taxes
3. Gov of Indiana - balanced the budget largely through large cuts to spending

So you see balancing the budget is easy, you just need a Republican to get this done.

However, no Republican President can get it done.

[dazzleman]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Christie is a big bully and he either has made the biggest blunder of his or any governor's career or the smartest move by killing the ARC Tunnel project between Manhattan and northern New Jersey. It will be smart if he can get someone else to pay for this long needed project or a blunder whan he has to write a check to the Feds for $350 million to reimburse them for the money that has been wasted on a canceled project. Eityher way, the commuters to New York lose since they will not get the modern transportation system that has been in the planning works for 30 years. Jay

Christie may be a bully, but in a state like that, the taxpayers need a bully on their side since they've been bullied for so long by the various corrupt interests in that state.

WRT the tunnel, the state simply cam't afford to be on the hook for all the cost overruns. The money isn't there, like it or not. Unlike his predecessors, Christie is at least telling the truth about that.

[7 Wishes]

Originally Posted by S2000

You could always move to Canada if you think its the gov't job to worry about this.

I probably could, because I have relatives in Canada (though I know very little about most of them), but it actually is not that easy for someone in the US to emigrate to our neighbor to the north.

You can go and Google this, but basically you either have to have a relative there to "sponsor" you, or you have to have a skill that they feel they cannot fill with "native Canadians" (much like H1B visas in the US, though it's somewhat stricter there.....here it's often used as an excuse to pay foreigners low salaries for high tech jobs).

Back during the 1980 election, there were a lot of liberals who said they would move to Canada if Reagan became President (and again after the controversial 2000 election if GWB won the dispute......and many conservatives just 2 years ago if Obama won, though I found that particularly funny because even though Canada has in the last couple of years the most conservative government in decades, it would be considered at best "moderate" in the US). Yet if you look at statistics, there is almost NO immigration from the US to Canada (unlike the other way around).

Originally Posted by Rich Lee

Did anyone catch the historic landslide election of Governor Cuomo (Dem.) in New York...even with its tremendous debt?

That's because his Tea Party opposition (Carl Paladino) was literally a "mental patient" compared to even O'Donnell and Angle and their idiosyncracies. What I did find really surprising is the western part of NY State (i.e. Buffalo, Rochester) actually voted for him in droves (he did get almost 40% of the total statewide vote, that's actually not historic for NY statewide elections, it's pretty typical); unlike the rest of upstate NY (which is conservative, though less so than say the South), that part of the state is generally liberal-moderate.

Also, though still very much a Democrat, Andrew is a lot more conservative (at least fiscally and on "law and order" issues) than his father. WCBS News Radio 88 even noted how his acceptance speech, in it's themes about budget (and tax) cutting and how corrupt NY gov't is sounded very "Republican". But whether he carries this out remains to be seen.

[Tetto]

Originally Posted by mlassoff

Will you be happy when we have the same quality of life and quality of state services /education as Mississippi? They're nice and conservative. They're also among the highest in divorce and teen pregnancy, and among the lowest in health, education and income.

Well, divorce and teen pregnancy are happening here as well, you know. How about a little self respect and taking responsibility for ones actions, Mark? Why do liberals always see the need to take other peoples money to give to the laziest in society? Is everybody in Mississippi a dumb, divorced rube?

If people want to get divorced, get drunk, be stupid and get knocked up, well thats their god given right. They'll have the shi* jobs and be losers their whole lives.

I, like you, worked pretty goddamn hard to get where I am right now and I resent it when people say we "need" to spend more to take care of the poor souls health, education and illegitimate children. Please.

[7 Wishes]

Originally Posted by Tetto

I, like you, worked pretty goddamn hard to get where I am right now and I resent it when people say we "need" to spend more to take care of the poor souls health, education and illegitimate children. Please.

What about the people (often over 40 or 50) who lost their job and can't find anything? Do we let them "rot in the streets" after decades of hard work? Or those who are working but can't afford health insurance (the whole idea that it's up to business to provide this is an "accident of fate" from just after World War II, no other nation, no matter how liberal or conservative, does this).

Originally Posted by hartford_renter

Here are some of the Republicans who are cutting spending

1. Gov Christie NJ
2.Gov Barbour Mississippi - took 700 million dollar deficit and balanced the budget without raising taxes
3. Gov of Indiana - balanced the budget largely through large cuts to spending

So you see balancing the budget is easy, you just need a Republican to get this done.

Keep in mind that Mississippi and Indiana have a much different view on fiscal/social priorities than a state like NJ. Stopping a tunnel that benefits the commute of a lot of his constituents may not fly too well long-term and is also not an issue in a place like the other two states you mentioned and while I'm not a fan of some of the abuses of teachers unions, he treats teachers like second-class citizens in a state that highly values the quality of their education system. A lot more people in Mississippi simply think the public schools are "evil" and home school their kids, not so much so in NJ and he needs to be a little more careful about that. Many of the same people who at first agree with him that "teachers make too much", "schools have too many programs", etc. have suddenly protested when their kid doesn't have "music enrichment" anymore or when his/her after school extra help is gone or his/her class of 20 students last year is suddenly 30 this year and he or she doesn't do as well in school.

NJ is at best (and I say "at best") a left-leaning swing state a la neighboring PA (though more to the left than PA) and I think voters "in the middle" may tire of him before his next election and think he "went too far"

[Tetto]

Originally Posted by 7 Wishes

What about the people (often over 40 or 50) who lost their job and can't find anything? Do we let them "rot in the streets" after decades of hard work? Or those who are working but can't afford health insurance (the whole idea that it's up to business to provide this is an "accident of fate" from just after World War II, no other nation, no matter how liberal or conservative, does this).

Who are we talking about here? The person who sacrificed and saved, worked hard to pay down their debt, lived below their means and made reasonable choices? Or the person who was irresponsible and did none of the above?

So what do you propose? That we continue to take from those who have it and give it to those who don't? We just had an election that repudiates that sort of thinking... Lets hope the "health care overhaul" gets repealed.

[Lowerdeck]

I would have to disagree about PA being left-leaning. I've heard the place often described as: Philly and Pittsburgh to the sides, Alabama in the middle. Especially the rural counties deep in the mountains with an older population demographic.

The public education system gets demonized a lot by the right wing. This whole issue about liberal bias gets blasted constantly among religious types and on AM talk radio. But here in the Northeast, you start cutting back on this public education thing and people start creating uproar. People take it much of it for granted. Christie's war against unions will only go so far before it bites him back.

In Connecticut, becoming a teacher barely puts you in the middle class. The amount of requirements one must have in order to become certified puts you in debt for years. And then once you have a job, you either get fired after 2 years because the district can't afford to tenure you (often happens in poor rural districts) or you just become vilified by conservatives who just hate everything in general.

[Rich Lee]

Originally Posted by 7 Wishes

That's because his Tea Party opposition (Carl Paladino) was literally a "mental patient" compared to even O'Donnell and Angle and their idiosyncracies. What I did find really surprising is the western part of NY State (i.e. Buffalo, Rochester) actually voted for him in droves (he did get almost 40% of the total statewide vote, that's actually not historic for NY statewide elections, it's pretty typical); unlike the rest of upstate NY (which is conservative, though less so than say the South), that part of the state is generally liberal-moderate.

You are 100 percent correct. At work, several current and ex-New Yorkers (myself included) were discussing this race. I said that he'd win Western New York because they partially agree with many of his disparaging comments. One person was offended that I would write-off these voters so easily. Guess what? I wasn't wrong. Paladino basically won everything west of Binghamton. As for being typical, I heard that it was the most lopsided election in years.

As for our race here, I foresee a re-count.