Kansas news:

[lifelongMOgal]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

Independent voter here

Your point? Brownback is still a RINO, which makes him a liberal progressive in the pachiderm party, just like McCain. In fact, they are both pro-amnesty.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by lifelongMOgal

Your point? Brownback is still a RINO, which makes him a liberal progressive in the pachiderm party, just like McCain. In fact, they are both pro-amnesty.

I am not surprised at all.

Remember, Kansas is a very fiscally liberal state- so it has never been very conservative in that regard. It just uses lots of STAR bonds semi-funded through taxpayers to lure corporations away from KC, MO. Then, big commercial ag companies as well as mega farms get massive levels of subsidies from the gov to grow speculative water guzzling crops via profligate irrgation derived from the Ogallala Aquifer. Kansas also gets more in fed tax dollars than is paid out. A net taker... Oh, but "Republicans" in Kansas sure love focusing on social issues when VERY FEW voters actually give a flying leap. Hypocrisy at its finest

[Blue Earth]

Brownback, Kobach, Schmidt, etc. I didn't vote for any of them. lifelongMOgal and GraniteStater: you are both full of ****. Hint: GraniteStater, when she says Brownback is "RINO", she means he's not conservative enough for her. Scary. On the other hand, GraniteStater thinks that Kansas is "fiscally liberal"!! LOL! This is too much. I guess balancing the budget means that you are "fiscally liberal". In order to balance the state budget, which is required by law in Kansas, sometimes revenue has to be increased. They can't do like Washington does and run a deficit. But I'm sure Sam Brownback will take care of that for ya. Watch him scramble as he tries to figure out what to cut from the budget to solve that "fiscal liberalism" of balanced budgets.

[TinaMcG]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

They show NO fiscal restraint, so I have an unfavorable view of the trio. Stimulus funding acted as a temoporary economic stimulus that stabalized localized labor markets (offered some needed relief for construction, etc), but did not create too many permanent jobs.We need real concrete plans for growing the economy here in the US, but NEITHER PARTY has come up with solutions for many years. For 2012 the ECONOMY will likely be the #1 issue. Social issues, which the Republican party of Kansas seems to be fixated on, should stay in the BASEMENT.

It's funny how all the complaints about fiscal restraint emerged when the money was spent to stimulate the economy and save the economy from a depression -- but not when it was being put into two wars, one of which was a war of choice. The amount of dollars gone missing in Iraq, due to unscrupulous contractors and government officials over there -- it's stunning. Bush spent us into a tremendous deficit, and no one will ever convince me that it wasnecessary. And as for the top-2-percent tax cuts -- let them expire and renew them for the other 98%!

[thriftylefty]

I am wondering if this push to switch the agenda to social issues is to find a way to appease the voters. Newly elected politicians right of center have to accomplish something while they are in office. they can't fix the economy no faster than it will fix itself. The economic down turn is like an el nino. Instead of the ocean flipping over, its the value of paper money flipping over. Nobody needed paper money as long as you had a house. Now people are beginning to value cash in the bank and banks like to have your cash. I don't think this economic El Nino will complete its flip by 2012. Republicans in the state will use social issues to give out tax breaks or decrease funding. I can see problems for School funding, social services, not for profits and benefits for Ag, energy and transportation.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by TinaMcG

It's funny how all the complaints about fiscal restraint emerged when the money was spent to stimulate the economy and save the economy from a depression -- but not when it was being put into two wars, one of which was a war of choice. The amount of dollars gone missing in Iraq, due to unscrupulous contractors and government officials over there -- it's stunning. Bush spent us into a tremendous deficit, and no one will ever convince me that it wasnecessary. And as for the top-2-percent tax cuts -- let them expire and renew them for the other 98%!

I agree with you 100% on the insane overspending of Bush on the war in Iraq. The privatized contractors led the way with massive amounts of waste, fraud, and deception for completing routine projects. Job growth for the US during the Bush administration was pathetic at best as population growth increased at a much faster pace than job growth in many states. If we would have reinvested just a fraction of that money spent on the war into higher education, infrastructure, or our industrial base we would have not ended up in such a severe recession nationwide I believe.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by FreeStater

Brownback, Kobach, Schmidt, etc. I didn't vote for any of them. lifelongMOgal and GraniteStater: you are both full of ****. Hint: GraniteStater, when she says Brownback is "RINO", she means he's not conservative enough for her. Scary. On the other hand, GraniteStater thinks that Kansas is "fiscally liberal"!! LOL! This is too much. I guess balancing the budget means that you are "fiscally liberal". In order to balance the state budget, which is required by law in Kansas, sometimes revenue has to be increased. They can't do like Washington does and run a deficit. But I'm sure Sam Brownback will take care of that for ya. Watch him scramble as he tries to figure out what to cut from the budget to solve that "fiscal liberalism" of balanced budgets.

Kansas IS fiscally liberal, but does manage to balance its budget better than most states. However, I stand by my opinion regarding the Republican party in Kansas. It has been completely taken over by social conservatives and neoconservatives. If you want to know what the Republican party used to look like in the US New Hampshire would be a prime example.

I do know what RINO means (Republican in name only). I consider examples like Brownback, Kobach, and Schmidt to be frauds that have big government plans of socially engineering their moral agendas down everyone's throat.

[TinaMcG]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

I agree with you 100% on the insane overspending of Bush on the war in Iraq. The privatized contractors led the way with massive amounts of waste, fraud, and deception for completing routine projects. Job growth for the US during the Bush administration was pathetic at best as population growth increased at a much faster pace than job growth in many states. If we would have reinvested just a fraction of that money spent on the war into higher education, infrastructure, or our industrial base we would have not ended up in such a severe recession nationwide I believe.

While the obscene wasteful spending was occurring during the Bush years, I got increasingly nervous about his administration's inability to multitask. The economy was coasting, not a disaster, but not so great. The mortgage and credit card industries were clearly running amoke, as anyone could tell just by watching their television commercials. But the Bush years were all about the wars, all about preventing terrorists attacks. 9-11 was one event, one horrific event. It dented our national psyche into believing safety was all we needed. What we are discovering now -- and it's really a no brainer -- is that letting things like education, the environment, outsourcing of jobs and runaway corruption in the financial industries go unchecked, there is almost no way to correct the damage that was done. I"ve said this before: Some thinigs are far more damaging to us than any terrorist plot.

And people expect the Obama administration to turn things around in a year...two years...one term. It's a runaway train. I don't envy the guy for thejob he worked so hard to get.