Showing posts with label 18-34 year old demographic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 18-34 year old demographic. Show all posts

Monday, December 26, 2011

"GOP leaders want Ron Paul to lose" by JOHN KASS , Chicago Tribune

With the Iowa caucuses just a few days away, the Republican establishment is busy with some frightening new themes, like:

What happens in Iowa stays in Iowa.

Or: Who cares what happens in Iowa anyway?

My favorite comes direct from the unyielding mind of Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, a Republican who insists that American voters don't care which candidate wins the Iowa caucuses Jan. 3.

"People are going to look at who comes in second and who comes in third," said Branstad. "If [Mitt] Romney comes in a strong second, it definitely helps him going into New Hampshire and other states."

Losing Iowa helps in New Hampshire? So it's not winning that counts, it's losing? What the?

Is he high?

Republican bigwig minds can't be besotted by Hopium. That's a liberal Democratic leaf for Democratic pipes depressed that Chicago's City Hall has run the country into the ground.

No, Republicans must be smoking something else, something just as potent: Dopium, a leaf so powerful that it allowed many Republicans to call themselves "conservatives" while embracing a series of big-government programs and federal bailouts from the Bush administration, not to mention two wars.

Gov. Branstad isn't alone. The entire Republican establishment is babbling similar nonsense about the importance of being earnest -- and a loser in Iowa.

Meanwhile, the Republican-media high priests are now in full-throated roar. From the secular pulpits they predict unending torment and Obamanation for anyone foolish enough to embrace the current heretical teachings.

And the name of this heretic? Ron Paul, the Texas congressman and libertarian who is leading most polls in Iowa with a message of cutting government, including the defense budget, and staying out of wars.

The problem isn't that he's saying it. Paul has been consistent for years. The problem for the GOP establishment is that the American people are now listening.

And this threatens the coalition that can put Karl Rove and Wall Street and the religious right at the same table to slice the pie of power.

The fact that voters, particularly younger voters, are edging toward Paul has sent the GOP into a panic.

"His supporters are younger and more likely to [use] a cellphone, so he's probably going to perform better than his polling suggests," Iowa State associate professor Dave Peterson told cbsnews.com. "His supporters are also dedicated and will likely turn out on caucus night and not change their minds."

Republicans sure changed their minds about Mitt Romney, a moderate who yearns to be conservative during party primaries. Republicans pegged him for what he is, a corporate stiff, every hair in place, who'll run left the second he secures the nomination.

Tim Pawlenty? Just another can of Spam. Rick Perry stuck both boots in his mouth and kept them there. It's a wonder he has any lips left.

Michele Bachmann had her troubles with American history, and Rick Santorum seems ready to punch anyone who won't let him attack Iran tomorrow morning.

And Herman Cain? With so many "girlfriend" stories buzzing around him, he was tagged on the Internet with an M.C. Hammer-type parody theme song: "Cain Touched This."

Now it's Newt Gingrich's turn to drop his blossoms. What was it exactly?

That $1.6 million chunk that his consulting firm took from federal mortgage giant Freddie Mac as it was getting a massive federal bailout? Or that pledge of marital fidelity he signed the other day, suggesting that his oath to his third wife wasn't nearly enough?

Since August, the media has desperately avoided mentioning Paul. I'm not endorsing him here. But you'd have to be blind not to see Republican bosses in panic. Because if Paul wins Iowa, his ideas might catch fire.

Once there was no more amusing sight for me than watching Democratic mouthpieces appearing on TV, claiming then-Sen. Barack Obama, D-Rezko -- backed by all those guys from Chicago's City Hall -- would bring hope and change as he transcended the broken politics of America's past.

The journalistic high priests, their brains swollen by several bowls of Hopium, chattered and repeated the slogans of City Hall's favorite mouthpiece, David Axelrod.

So Americans never quite realized that the man they were electing president had been an earnest but inexperienced back-bencher in the Illinois Legislature who spent his entire career taking orders from machine bosses while trying to get ahead.

Hopium was bad enough. But what worries me are all those clouds of Dopium wafting across Iowa.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

76 years young: Ron Pauls attracting the youth vote

According to the latest survey by Public Policy Polling, Ron Paul owns the youth vote. Iowans under the age of forty-five are 30% of the time aligned with Mr Paul, his closest competitor? Mitt Romney …with half of that number. How is this so? Its not like Ron Paul gets the media attention of his competitors, in fact before his ascension into first place in Iowa; he was only surpassing Rick Santorum amongst Republican candidates in the MSM in terms of coverage according to a Pew Study conducted earlier this month.

Its been said, he has far and away the best network on the ground in Iowa. He has legions of volunteers willing and able to go door to door and work the phones. He also has money and when you have money and enthusiasm in a political process anything is possible and Mr Pauls rise is a perfect illustration of that.
How is it that a 76 year old “crank” is the favorite to young voters in a state where the young vote is not always taken serious? Why is Mr Paul fairing so poorly with older voters, getting blown out by 31-15 amongst Iowan seniors… when hes a senior himself? And yet he still rises to #1 in in Iowa?

The answer is pretty obvious. Ron Paul is a message that resonates with those that want change. And not the change thats artificial and a product of some consultant poll numbers and pushed through the press like a happy meal. We know the type of change (sic) im talking about. Its just that... talk. No, we are talking real, tangible, drastic change in a desperate time. We have all heard it before and its logical, the older you get the less change you want; I mean that is conservatism at its core, right?

The Millennial’s and the Gen-X see the broken foreign policy, the failed economy and the constant bickering and broken ideas proliferating Washington. They see lawmakers out of step with the electorate, something the tea party and the occupy movement tap into. And they want to do a U-Turn. There isn’t a politician in this country more inclined and eager to do just that then Ron Paul.

Ron Paul may not win the nomination, but as he always has said its about philosophy and content over delivery and appearance. Its about changing the conversation more then it is about winning. With so many young voters jumping into the Ron Paul revolution – that appears the biggest story going forward. Win or lose much like his growing army of young "Paul-bots" his message is only going to grow.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Yes we can (but do we know we shouldnt?)



Its been just six months and socialized medicine is officially being introduced into the homes of every American as Universal Health care takes stage front and center as this years top priority for the Obama administration. Make no mistake, this is not just a Clintonian like mantra revived to just maintain some political capital leveraged during the ’08 election… this is on its way to becoming reality. The transformation to socialism started long ago, but it really came obvious last year with George W Bush and his corporate bailouts for Wall Street bets went wrong. That was then - this is now and now is seeping into the private lives of every Americans, no doubt a bold and drastic attempt not seen since the days of LBJ. Obamacare has kicked into full throttle as we embark on a descent into uncharted waters of organizational upheaval, encroachments into our private lives but above all: paralyzing debt like we have never seen before.

With the Democrats having carte blanche, everyone knew this type of scenario was possible but for some reason most just chalked it up as lip service. After all, how could we possibly entertain the idea of paying for such a monstrosity as Universal Health care when we already have an entitlement tsunami on the way? A tsunami so large that it threatens to wipe out the budget as we know it, so much so that its estimated by 2030 we could be seeing health care take up 80% of federal expenditures.

First of all the 1 Trillion or 500 billion, whatever the number the Senate decides on from week to week to fund Universal Health care initially will be funded by… your great grandchildren. That’s right, we are still running budget deficits, so therefore we have no money to expand the size and scope of government any more then we have. So what do we do? You borrow it. This means the needed funding will come from money that will be printed and borrowed at interest from the Federal Reserve. Change you can believe in? Hardly.

No doubt that is obviously not sustainable, so with Medicaid spiraling out of control and Social Security on the verge of going bankrupt Universal Health care not only just a bad idea, its not mathematically probable. You would think that with the quagmire we are facing, the federal government would not want to put itself into another situation where even more of your health care is primarily funded by the state. You would think that in an era of record budget deficits and in turn an escalating national debt that is nearing 100% of GDP we would just have to say…”No”.

However, this is not the case. Obviously the ramifications of this measure are monumental and monstrous. And we could beat this topic to death with its obvious encroachments on personal choice and the invasion of privacy with even more detail of the ridiculous cost. Above all this however, I want to focus on just one small problem that gives this idea legs. And that is the premise, laid out by this administration and the people that put him into power. The same people that put back into power one of the most inept congresses (according to polling) that we have ever seen.

Because when your entire platform and political prowess is built upon the phrase “Yes we Can” then you will naturally have a President, his allies and his supporters who will ignore the hurdles and reality of a situation and shoot for the moon. Sure, the idea sounds good, the idea that we can overcome anything we want because we are headstrong to do it. But this isn’t a sporting event. There is no level playing field.

We have bills and fighting fire with gasoline may be a great ‘Bowie hook but its not however a strategy to get out of this train wreck that we are indeed facing. Now here comes the rub. Sixty-six percent of voters that voted for Obama were under the age of 30. Two thirds of his voting bloc was an idealistic population that by nature is incapable of making any sound rational decisions because they for the most part are inexperienced and are disciples of the moment. This is the generation of downloads and hi-speed, the first generation that was born inside the spectacle that is the 24 hours news cycle. Thus the ability to look down the road isn’t something that most of these people are capable of.

It was this population that would elect a man that clearly saw government as the answer not the wild beast that it always becomes. No matter how many times you pat it on the head, government is a rabid infested dog lunging at your throat and in this case your pocketbook and your consciousness. Which, leads me to my point, and let me just say, that irony obviously has a sense of humor.

Its this pie in the sky, idealistic segmentation that was the driving force in getting BO elected who will one day have to deal with carnage and insolvency that is coming as entitlements old and new merge into one death blow that will bring this country to its knees. If things are left "as is" the pain will be great, as stated before. However, if you compound obligations the nightmare will only increase ten fold when we add even more government intervention and responsibility.

Time is ticking and dealing with the past obligations before we undertake new ones is not just good political clout its just common sense. Unfortunately, common sense doesn’t apply to idealism. In fact common sense doesn’t allow it. So, yes we can. We can make the choice, all beit not a sexy one and it wont impact your reelection but it is a choice that must be made because its looking into the future and getting your hands dirty now as opposed to when your sinking. That’s a thought, a government forward looking and not basing its politics on a four year election window? That would be change I could believe in.

The idealist is incorrigible: if he is thrown out of his heaven he makes an ideal of his hell: Friedrich Nietzsche