Who do you feel Pittsburghers would prefer more? (Republic: income, lesbian)

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Love2Golf09

I thought Obama entered office with a majority in the House and a 59 votes in the Senate. He later got his 60th Senator, which killed Arlen Spector's career, giving him a super-majority. Your comments make it seem as though the GOP put up fierce opposition to him from day one.

Well, of course the vast majority of the GOP did exactly that.

But in any event, you are making the common mistake of assuming every Democrat in Congress is on the political left. That is not true: a substantial minority of them are declared conservatives, elected by majority-Republican districts/states, including many districts/states that voted for McCain over Obama.

When you account for nearly universal GOP opposition, that means Obama needed the support of these conservative Democrats to get bills passed through Congress. And that is why he had to propose center-right measures to get anything done.

He had the largest majorities in Congress for any president in decades...and he failed to do anything with it.

Here is a nonpartisan accounting of how much of Obama's agenda he was able to accomplish (note it goes on for 8 pages):

PolitiFact | The Obameter: Campaign Promises that are Promise Kept

He wasted all of his time with his misguided stimulus plan that most citizens see as a failure

Of course he spent his time on much more than the stimulus.

Anyway, even assuming that claim about stimulus perceptions is true (and many people tend to lump in things that were not part of the stimulus), that doesn't mean it actually WAS a failure. The nonpartisan CBO estimates the stimulus added between 500,000 and 3.3 million jobs in the 3rd Quarter of 2011:

CBO: Stimulus added up to 3.3M jobs - Josh Boak - POLITICO.com

That's not enough to achieve full employment, but it is very helpful.

So, Obama and his supporters can blame all of his failures on the GOP and obstructionism, but it's a lie.

Well, it is not a lie to say the GOP has been nearly unified in opposing him for political reasons. In fact the GOP's congressional leaders have said so themselves.

But in any event, Obama hasn't been a failure, so I agree it would be mistaken to suggest as much.

[Hopes]

Let's see.

WUSTL '14 lives in St. Louis -- not a Pittsburgh voter.

Hmmmmmmm.........how can there be two Love2Golf09 (Loves2Golf09) voting. Coincidence?

KingKrab lives in Kutztown -- not a Pittsburgh voter.

Pittgraddy just joined yesterday -- just 5 minutes after this poll was created.

All of the Obama votes are by long standing members who live in Pittsburgh.

So that makes it:

3 -- Ron Paul (Until loves2golf lets us know if she's voting for Ron Paul or Mitt Romney.)

2 -- Mitt Romney (Until loves2golf lets us know if she's voting for Ron Paul or Mitt Romney.)

2 -- My dog

7 -- Obama

[Yac]

Before this thread continues, I need to make a few points:
There is already a separate politics forum, take all your partisan fights there. This isn't a thread where you convince the other side you're right and they are wrong.
This also isn't a thread about adoptions.
And finally, when you see an obvious troll - please don't respond to him, don't quote him. Report, ignore, move on.
Yac.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

As a Pittsburgher, here's my take on the potential candidates.

- Obama has supported many things that take away our rights such as signing an extension of the Patriot Act. Nuts to him.

- I'd rather vote for a shoe than vote some nutjob like Perry, Romney, Newt, etc.

- I disagree with a lot of Ron Paul's sentiments but he always stands behind his beliefs. For him to speak out about the NDAA publicly when no one else will just shows that he's an actual politician and not just another corporate controlled thug.

Honestly aside from Ron Paul there are no candidates with a D or an R next to their name I can identify with (and I even have a few issues with him). If we elect some run of the mill American politician from either party we'll go down the tubes farther.

[Caladium]

What I find most intriguing is that the candidate from Penn Hills, Rick Santorum, isn't picking up more support. Usually a candidate can count on support from the people in his own city.

[Love2Golf09]

Originally Posted by Caladium

What I find most intriguing is that the candidate from Penn Hills, Rick Santorum, isn't picking up more support. Usually a candidate can count on support from the people in his own city.

What do you mean? He isn't part of this poll, so nobody mentioned him, if that's what you're commenting on. In the PA polls that I've seen, he usually comes within 5 points of Obama, give or take a few points. This is far, far better than he does anywhere else. I mean, isn't he pulling like 2% nationwide in the primary? So, if he is polling over 40% against Obama in PA, then clearly he still has some support. I'm assuming a large amount of that support is from Western PA.

[SammyKhalifa]

Originally Posted by alleghenyangel

It's too bad we can't go back to 2008 and get everyone to vote for Hillary.

'Cept if the nation HAD voted Hillary on '08, all the anti-Obama angst would be directed at her instead; and we'd be wishing we had voted for Obama. Had we elected McCain, we would all be wondering what the heck we were thinking not going Democrat. Robot Abraham Lincoln would be hated right now as president, and I'm pretty sure we all know how awesome that would be.

[toosie]

Originally Posted by WINDCHIMES

I am curious about the region and the city of Pittsburgh, it has always been a democratic region that is conservative, is that changing? Why or why not? Who would you vote for this time?

I think, overall, the Pittsburgh area still mostly votes democratic (albeit with that conservative leaning) - and I think we'll vote for Obama again. I'm not as enthusiastic as I was about Obama before he took office but I didn't anticipate that would last, anyway. I'll vote for him again without reservation.

Originally Posted by alleghenyangel

It's too bad we can't go back to 2008 and get everyone to vote for Hillary.

Ya, or even better - too bad we can't get Bill back in there

Originally Posted by Caladium

What I find most intriguing is that the candidate from Penn Hills, Rick Santorum, isn't picking up more support. Usually a candidate can count on support from the people in his own city.

Not so surprising - he's...ewww...can't go there.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by Caladium

What I find most intriguing is that the candidate from Penn Hills, Rick Santorum, isn't picking up more support. Usually a candidate can count on support from the people in his own city.

Originally Posted by Love2Golf09

What do you mean? He isn't part of this poll, so nobody mentioned him, if that's what you're commenting on. In the PA polls that I've seen, he usually comes within 5 points of Obama, give or take a few points. This is far, far better than he does anywhere else. I mean, isn't he pulling like 2% nationwide in the primary? So, if he is polling over 40% against Obama in PA, then clearly he still has some support. I'm assuming a large amount of that support is from Western PA.

Even though he might have some local support, he shouldn't be in the poll because he doesn't have a shot at being a national contender. I sure woudn't vote for him.

As a matter of fact, I was frightened briefly when I first saw him trying. I'm so relieved that the majority of the country agrees with me.

[Lobick]

Originally Posted by Caladium

What I find most intriguing is that the candidate from Penn Hills, Rick Santorum, isn't picking up more support. Usually a candidate can count on support from the people in his own city.

Santorum lost to Casey by 17 pts. The people of PA know him best which is why nobody's talking about him or taking him seriously.