2010 GA election predictions: What are your thoughts. (Columbus, Savannah: furlow, home)

[AcidSnake]

You hit the nail on the head right there. Personally I would prefer a master litigator and fighter like Roy Barnes who can twist the arms of the Alabama & Florida governors, bring them to the table, and make them hash out a water plan.

With the deadline coming up in 2012 on Atlanta's ability to draw water from Lake Lanier, we need someone who will come into office with his gameface on. Let the "NIMBYs" dig a dirthole & stick their heads in it for all I care. It seems that that is all they know how to do anyways. No forward thinking from that bunch AT ALL...

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

This would also explain the extreme fragmentation of the local political scene and the "leave me alone" attitude so many Georgians have about government at any level.

"Leave me alone" doesn't work for large-scale issues such as water resource or transportation planning, for example. That's where a more cooperative attitude tends to excel. All "leave me alone" does is create more NIMBY factions.

[AcidSnake]

You're too much!

Originally Posted by arjay57

You are right about that, too. I got a couple of emails this morning, one saying that Pelosi was imposing a 100% tax on everyone's retirement accounts and another one saying that Obama would be confiscating everybody's retirement account and turning them over to illegal aliens. I mentioned to the people who sent them that these claims are false and they replied that they didn't give a damn what the facts are, they despise Pelosi, Reid and Obama no matter what.

Over the weekend we had dinner with another couple and the guy told me Obamacare was forcing him out of business. I mentioned that it hadn't gone into effect yet and he exploded in a rage and said he didn't care about that because Obama was a communist terrorist and a Muslim to boot.

So it seems pretty clear we are well beyond the point where reality has any bearing on politics for a lot of people. They're enraged that they fell asleep at the switch and they won't rest until Obama and the rest of the Dems are gone.

[AcidSnake]

Yeah, I hear ya. Here's a situation that's got me scratching my chin: The teachers who were complaining about being held accountable for doing their job under Barnes actually LOST their job under Perdue.

I mean the guy had went as far to create a PARALLEL state school system for gosh sakes (Perdue signed a law in May 2008 for the creation of the Georgia Charter Schools Commission)! To me, if that ain't a metaphorical middle finger to the teachers who voted him into office, I don't know what is!

I have to wonder about the logic behind the leaders of PAGE (Professional Association of Georgia Educators) when they backed that horse. Then again...maybe there is not much to wonder about, given the "shoot oneself in the foot" approach that the majority of Georgia voters tend to have historically when going to the voting booth.

Can't wait to see what happens November 3, ya know what I mean?

Originally Posted by K-SawDude

The thing that boggles my mind is how voters in this state can't seem to direct their anger at the current party dominating the state government. It's not like Democrats have been presiding over Georgia over the last decade, which saw huge decreases in revenue and huge increases in unemployment.

I sort of get the anti-incumbent vibe. It makes perfect sense, for example, that typically blue states like Michigan are going redder this year.

But Georgia? Come ON! Why are voters not clueing into the fact Repubs have been in charge and ain't been all that effective the last few election cycles. Maybe it really is all about Obama (which is such a near-sighted, unwarranted p.o.v. when we're talking about state races).

In any case, Repubs always have an advantage in an off year. I don't expect the drop-off in Democratic support from 2008 to be anywhere near as bad in 2012. Young people, African-Americans, and Hispanics all tend to turn out more in Presidential election years, and that's most of the Democratic base right there.

[spotch]

Originally Posted by arjay57

You are right about that, too. I got a couple of emails this morning, one saying that Pelosi was imposing a 100% tax on everyone's retirement accounts and another one saying that Obama would be confiscating everybody's retirement account and turning them over to illegal aliens. I mentioned to the people who sent them that these claims are false and they replied that they didn't give a damn what the facts are, they despise Pelosi, Reid and Obama no matter what.

Over the weekend we had dinner with another couple and the guy told me Obamacare was forcing him out of business. I mentioned that it hadn't gone into effect yet and he exploded in a rage and said he didn't care about that because Obama was a communist terrorist and a Muslim to boot.

So it seems pretty clear we are well beyond the point where reality has any bearing on politics for a lot of people. They're enraged that they fell asleep at the switch and they won't rest until Obama and the rest of the Dems are gone.

This sums it up pretty nicely. These are the same people who hate Obama for jacking taxes in 2009, and hate the stimulus, even though 2009 was the lowest tax year since 1950 and 1/3 of the stimulus was tax cuts. These are the same people who believe in death panels and that Obama is a muslim and that his birth certificate isn't real no matter what anyone says to prove that it is.

[spotch]

Originally Posted by suprascooby22

The funny thing in all of this is that even though Deal has his issues he is still going to beat the best the Dem's could put up.

Deal doesn't just have issues, he's got a lifetime subscription. The problem is, it doesn't matter *who* the Dems put up. If it wasn't Barnes (who is hated because of the flag and because he "ruined Georgia" the first time, even though no one can seem to explain how he did so), it would be anyone else with a "D" in front of their name. You're absolutely right that the South is done voting for Democrats, but it has very little to do with the quality of the candidates and a whole lot to do with peoples' insistence that they're conservative and that Republican candidates are the way to go, no matter how many ways they've found to steal from their own campaign or abuse the power of their office. This Deal/Barnes thing is very, very illuminating because it shows just how much support "not a Democrat" will get in Georgia, no matter who the "not a Democrat" candidate happens to be.

[DTL3000]

My friend came up with the perfect state motto for modern Georgia a couple years ago.

"Georgia. We don't know no better."

[Surftown831]

Originally Posted by suprascooby22

What most Georgians are looking at it what we are getting from Obama, Reid & Pelosi. NOTHING any Republican can do in this state can compare to the carnage that those three have caused.

Regulating credit card sharks, mortgage sharks and health insurance sharks so they can't take advantage of people and cutting taxes for the middle class, OMG what carnage! How dare they do things to even the playing field between us consumers and corporate America!

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by UNLV09

Regulating credit card sharks, mortgage sharks and health insurance sharks so they can't take advantage of people and cutting taxes for the middle class, OMG what carnage! How dare they do things to even the playing field between us consumers and corporate America!

Don't even start. CEO's making $5-10 million a year is what makes America great. Cut their taxes and they will immediately use that money to create jobs, lower the cost of healthcare and get people back in their homes. I don't care about this business of them shipping jobs overseas, hoarding their massive incomes or investments or running their companies into the ground. Failing to lower taxes on the top 1% is socialism pure and simple. Take care of the rich and you can rest assured they will take care of everyone else.

And one other thing. When the top 2 or 3% is happy, you can rely on them to cut out of control government spending for the rest of us. (Unless it involves defense or other goverment contracting, in which case it may affect corporate profits or executive compensation.)

[Surftown831]

Exactly. And the worst part is that its some poor construction worker in a southern state making $30,000 a year who is fighting for the rich to have lower taxes and less regulations in corporate America, lol.

[MisterNY]

Originally Posted by kayrob

And as a result Georgians will get more of what they've been getting.

They asked for it. Let'em get what they asked for.

Originally Posted by arjay57

That's probably true. With rare exceptions any Republican is going to beat any Democrat in the South, regardless of qualifications, ability, integrity or anything else. People down here tend to go with their gut.

Maybe it's time for a cleansing (of the gut)...

Originally Posted by arjay57

You are right about that, too. I got a couple of emails this morning, one saying that Pelosi was imposing a 100% tax on everyone's retirement accounts and another one saying that Obama would be confiscating everybody's retirement account and turning them over to illegal aliens. I mentioned to the people who sent them that these claims are false and they replied that they didn't give a damn what the facts are, they despise Pelosi, Reid and Obama no matter what.

Over the weekend we had dinner with another couple and the guy told me Obamacare was forcing him out of business. I mentioned that it hadn't gone into effect yet and he exploded in a rage and said he didn't care about that because Obama was a communist terrorist and a Muslim to boot.

So it seems pretty clear we are well beyond the point where reality has any bearing on politics for a lot of people. They're enraged that they fell asleep at the switch and they won't rest until Obama and the rest of the Dems are gone.

You need to have dinner with smarter people. I don't know how you made it past the first course.

Originally Posted by UNLV09

Exactly. And the worst part is that its some poor construction worker in a southern state making $30,000 a year who is fighting for the rich to have lower taxes and less regulations in corporate America, lol.

I say let'em get the shaft. It's a case of Stockholm syndrome. They protect the ones who are raping them. Let them bleed.

That's what ignorance does to people. They'll defend the same people that are hurting them, simply because these people look like them, and defend one or two things they like. Damn dummies.

Good luck on future construction jobs, for these southern workers....