EDGING TO THE STARTING LINE - MEASURING POLITICAL LEANING

Two "Republicans" have antied up enough financial lubricant to be considered contenders for the 2012 Presidential race. Mitt Romney with almost $800,000 and SarahPalin   with about $450,000 given to other candidates' campaigns as noted in their PAC financial reports. My issue with Romney is that, although he appears to be a very good businessman, he allowed RomneyCare to become law in Massachusetts. He is also more vote getting politician that Palin, who says what she believes in, no ifs ands or buts. Sarah has yet to prove that she has what it takes to be a National candidate. Being up on her version of foreign politics and explaining why, without giving up too much information to our political enemies will be quite an accomplishment. Right now, thanks to the wing nut press, she is painted as a quitter (Governor's job). That will take a lot of work to overcome.

When I think of Democrats and Republicans as political partys, I am speaking about maybe a total of 80% of those who declare themselves as such. The other 20%; 10% at each e x t r e m e end (that should say it all) of their respective party's, represent the "wing nut" agitators. News pundits refer to them as the "far right" or "far left". The only positive side to this 20% is that moderate voters who actually still believe in the principles of our Constitution and Bill of Rights, can observe how either group could destroy our wonderful country if they gain more that a loud mouthed toe hold on our politics.

Isn't it always that way?. The Extremists are always the agitators. Forget parties like the "TEA PARTY". No billy clubs, cursing, or shoving within that group. They are simply exercising their Constitutional freedom by voicing their beliefs. If you believe otherwise, you are not going to be beaten, shoved, hit, cursed, threatened, etc. The Tea Party appears to me to be solidly "0" on my scale. They appear to be tired of the all the screaming and conniving that the Wing Nuts are doing, including those in Congress.

My political scale:

Draw a horizontal line across a piece of paper to indicate 100 percentile points. Now highlight the 0-10 portion and the 90-100 portion of your line. Now you've highlighted the area containing the "wing nuts" of the left leaning and right leaning voters. The middle should be labeled "0" as these voters are mostly apolitical, "live and let live" So, now, revised, you have a line with a starting point of "0" in the middle, and end points of "50" at either end with the "45-50" notches at each end highlighted.

I found this to be an excellent mental measurement tool to use while talking politics with anybody.

Congress as a group is still very much out of control. Think Bosnia during that conflict...
The current bickering goes on, even after the election (who would ever believe that Pelosi and Greed would go quietly) PS, no accidental misspellings here.

Barry backed the Republicans into a corner by trading the tax hike resolution for extended "stay away from work" benefits. Fearing they'd be seen as heartless, the Repubs. folded like cheap umbrellas, holding the possibility of losing their precious seats in Congress (with all those juicy benefits) above doing the financially proper thing. You know, if the Repubs. REALLY do believe that keeping the tax structure the same, then they should have had the intestinal fortitude to kill the extended loafing benefits. I know that sounds callous, but all the Repubs. did was pitch that keeping the current tax scheme, would lead to a quick turnaround for the American economy.

Now, however, they allowed Mr Crafty-in-Chief to con them into committing suicide. Business are left unsure about their future because the Repubs. blatantly shouted that they don't believe in their own rhetoric. And the beat(down) goes on for all those Americans packed in around the "0" on my political scale.