Politicians We Admire

[Foxton]

Re: Politicians We Admire

People today who did not live through the Carter Presidency as young adults (or older) at the time probably can't completely comprehend the greatness of Reagan. It is a different thing to read about 16% inflation and 8% unemployment than to have the everyday experience of how hopeless and impossible the situation seemed as he prepared to take office.

We got to live through Bush the second, so boo hoo about Carter all you want.

I expected much more Reagan fapping from such an ardent liberal as yourself, and this thread in general.

*****http://toxichominid.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/adoration-of-the-gipper.jpeg******

[joecct]

Re: Politicians We Admire

Reagan >>> Obama

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: Politicians We Admire

Reagan >>> Obama

Sure. Cause Obama's more conservative than Reagan ever was.

[Old Pio]

Re: Politicians We Admire

Sure. Cause Obama's more conservative than Reagan ever was.

Open a window, I think you've got a gas leak.

[FreshFish]

Re: Politicians We Admire

I never really knew much about Joe Lieberman until his 2006 re-election campaign. I knew he was nominated as Al Gore's running mate in 2000, and I drew the obvious inference from his surname, but other than that, my only impression of him was what the British would call "a solid back-bencher," someone upon whom you could count to vote the party line.

That changed in 2006. Some out-of-staters looked for a deep-pocketed [redacted] and found him in a descendant of JP Morgan's business partner. Connecticut is a bit different in how people register to vote; you can either register as affiliated with a political party or you can register and be non-affiliated. Most people choose the latter; apparently for the main reason of not receiving campaign robocalls and literature during primary season (only people who register with a party affiliation can vote in that party's primary, which means you are on their solitication list too).

No matter what you may have felt about how we became involved in Iraq in the first place, I would hope that most people would agree that, once we were there, it made much more sense to win rather than lose! Yet we were losing. Lieberman was one of the earliest, loudest, and most forthright voices calling for the "surge" and a strategy for victory. He knew it would cost him votes in the primary, and he didn't care; he still did what he thought was right.

It tells you something about the respect that people in Connnecticut had for Senator Lieberman that he won re-election as an "Independent Democrat" so handily after losing the primary. It seems like the most common reactions were either (a) "we don't want some out-of-staters coming into our state to stir up our politics" (there was a widespread perception that Lamont was solicited and promoted by national party figures who were rabidly anti-war no matter what it might cost us in the long run); or (b) "well, if Joe is for it, it's probably a good idea."

the idea that he would be involved in a sexual scandal or corruption scandal just doesn't fit; he seems a man of genuine personal probity.

In a more conventional way, he also represents the best interests of his constituents. Insurance is a major industry in Connecticut; and it was his insistence that his constituents be protected that led to the PPACA being designed as it was.....while people talked about the "Cornhusker kickback" or the "Louisiana purchase" or the other various special "incentives" that were larded on to the bill to gain its passage, no one ridiculed Lieberman's position that the role of private insurance be preserved; lots and lots of other politicians also have constituencies that wanted to preserve private insurance, yet none of them spoke up with the forcefulness that Lieberman did, and none of them had the respect that Lieberman did to make sure that element was included.

[Old Pio]

Re: Politicians We Admire

I never really knew much about Joe Lieberman until his 2006 re-election campaign. I knew he was nominated as Al Gore's running mate in 2000, and I drew the obvious inference from his surname, but other than that, my only impression of him was what the British would call "a solid back-bencher," someone upon whom you could count to vote the party line.

That changed in 2006. Some out-of-staters looked for a deep-pocketed [redacted] and found him in a descendant of JP Morgan's business partner. Connecticut is a bit different in how people register to vote; you can either register as affiliated with a political party or you can register and be non-affiliated. Most people choose the latter; apparently for the main reason of not receiving campaign robocalls and literature during primary season (only people who register with a party affiliation can vote in that party's primary, which means you are on their solitication list too).

No matter what you may have felt about how we became involved in Iraq in the first place, I would hope that most people would agree that, once we were there, it made much more sense to win rather than lose! Yet we were losing. Lieberman was one of the earliest, loudest, and most forthright voices calling for the "surge" and a strategy for victory. He knew it would cost him votes in the primary, and he didn't care; he still did what he thought was right.

It tells you something about the respect that people in Connnecticut had for Senator Lieberman that he won re-election as an "Independent Democrat" so handily after losing the primary. It seems like the most common reactions were either (a) "we don't want some out-of-staters coming into our state to stir up our politics" (there was a widespread perception that Lamont was solicited and promoted by national party figures who were rabidly anti-war no matter what it might cost us in the long run); or (b) "well, if Joe is for it, it's probably a good idea."

the idea that he would be involved in a sexual scandal or corruption scandal just doesn't fit; he seems a man of genuine personal probity.

In a more conventional way, he also represents the best interests of his constituents. Insurance is a major industry in Connecticut; and it was his insistence that his constituents be protected that led to the PPACA being designed as it was.....while people talked about the "Cornhusker kickback" or the "Louisiana purchase" or the other various special "incentives" that were larded on to the bill to gain its passage, no one ridiculed Lieberman's position that the role of private insurance be preserved; lots and lots of other politicians also have constituencies that wanted to preserve private insurance, yet none of them spoke up with the forcefulness that Lieberman did, and none of them had the respect that Lieberman did to make sure that element was included.

If I were a Connecticut resident, I would cheerfully vote for Joe. Buckley lived there and voted for Joe, too. Character matters.

[joecct]

Re: Politicians We Admire

If I were a Connecticut resident, I would cheerfully vote for Joe. Buckley lived there and voted for Joe, too. Character matters.

And how many are left after he retires?

[Old Pio]

Re: Politicians We Admire

And how many are left after he retires?

Not nearly enough. I also liked Paul Wellstone. Disagreed with him on nearly everything, but respected his integrity.

[FreshFish]

Re: Politicians We Admire

I really liked Jodi Rell as Connecticut Governor. She first came in after Rowland went to jail; then won re-election handily in her own right. She was a very sensible, practical person, not at all pretentious. It was such a pleasure to listen to her speeches, she actually said what she meant in a direct common-sense manner, and her vetoes helped keep the state's fiscal house in order when facing a totally insane heavily Democratic majority against her. I wish she had run again in 2010 instead of the [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] we have now, though if it weren't for all that voter fraud in Bridgeport, we might have had Foley instead, who knows?

She was about the only Republican who could cogently and clearly explain why state funding of effective public transportation made good economic sense for people who never rode the train, and it was her foresight in this area that has really helped the state through the road disruptions we've had as the "shovel-ready" projects finally got underway three years after the [oh never mind].

[FreshFish]

Re: Politicians We Admire

And how many are left after he retires?

Too few. I'm not that familiar with many of our Senators; Jon Kyl and Tom Coburn seem to fit that mold, from what I've seen and heard, though Kyl is also retiring. Perhaps Collins and Snowe in Maine? I'll let our resident Maine-iacs fill us in on those two.

[FreshFish]

Re: Politicians We Admire

While it is still way too soon in his tenure to make any long-term observations, so far at least Andrew Cuomo as Governor of New York has been pretty impressive:
> he shepherded the first on-time budget through the Legislature in years
> he decisively broke through the "lower spending increase is a cut" mirage. In fact, he assaulted it head on. The state budget had automatic multipliers in place that caused certain expenses to increase by 10% annually; he said if we change that to the rate of inflation that's not a cut it's merely a lower rate of increase, and he got that to stick.
> he passed an ethics reform, although if that makes any actual difference or not remains to be seen*
> he is (so far) standing firm in defense of "stop and frisk," which is similar to James Wilson's "broken windows" theory that Rudy Giuliani used so successfully to reduce the NYC crime rate so drastically. his proposal to turn possession of minor amounts of marijuana (< 25 grams) into a misdemeanor is directly aimed at undercutting the strongest criticism of "stop and frisk" explicitly so the rest of the program can remain in place.










* I grew up in Chicago, and am amazed at how corrupt NY state politics are. There are i don't know how many politicians in jail or on trial, for example. the Speaker of the State House of Representatives also is a full-time trial attorney with one of the largest personal injury firms in the state, yet does not have to disclose outside income or clientele. I guess it is a strange form of job security for federal prosecutors to have so many state officials to put on trial with such regularity!

[mookie1995]

Re: Politicians We Admire

this book would sit next to 'the big british book of smiles' in the library!

[FreshFish]

Re: Politicians We Admire

Okay, I'm quoting Elton John here, not representing my own feelings about the person who is the subject of his quote:

Elton John praised former President George W. Bush and “conservative American politicians” for pledging billions of dollars to “save the lives of Africans with HIV.” He also credited hip-hop artist Jay-Z with starting a “domino effect” in the African-American community to support gay marriage.

“We’ve seen George W. Bush and conservative American politicians pledge tens of billions to save the lives of Africans with HIV. Think of all the love. Think of where we’d be without it, nowhere, that’s where. We’d be nowhere at all,” John said at the International AIDS conference in Washington on Monday.

“Thanks to all this compassion, thanks to all this love, more than 8 million people are on treatment. Thanks to people who have chosen to care and to act, we can see an end to this epidemic on the horizon.”

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/07/23/el...#ixzz21ZnkHg2o

[Old Pio]

Re: Politicians We Admire

While it is still way too soon in his tenure to make any long-term observations, so far at least Andrew Cuomo as Governor of New York has been pretty impressive:
> he shepherded the first on-time budget through the Legislature in years
> he decisively broke through the "lower spending increase is a cut" mirage. In fact, he assaulted it head on. The state budget had automatic multipliers in place that caused certain expenses to increase by 10% annually; he said if we change that to the rate of inflation that's not a cut it's merely a lower rate of increase, and he got that to stick.
> he passed an ethics reform, although if that makes any actual difference or not remains to be seen*
> he is (so far) standing firm in defense of "stop and frisk," which is similar to James Wilson's "broken windows" theory that Rudy Giuliani used so successfully to reduce the NYC crime rate so drastically. his proposal to turn possession of minor amounts of marijuana (< 25 grams) into a misdemeanor is directly aimed at undercutting the strongest criticism of "stop and frisk" explicitly so the rest of the program can remain in place.










* I grew up in Chicago, and am amazed at how corrupt NY state politics are. There are i don't know how many politicians in jail or on trial, for example. the Speaker of the State House of Representatives also is a full-time trial attorney with one of the largest personal injury firms in the state, yet does not have to disclose outside income or clientele. I guess it is a strange form of job security for federal prosecutors to have so many state officials to put on trial with such regularity!

Evidently they're not "stopping and frisking" in Chicago. Pity.

Are you old enough to remember Illinois Secretary of State Paul Powell? When he died suddenly in his hotel room (he was being treated as an out patient at the Mayo clinic) they found ONE MILLION DOLLARS cash, in shoeboxes, in a closet. In those days when you renewed your driver's license or license plates, you made the check out to Paul Powell Secretary of State. Nothing, evidently, to stop him from scooping up a fist full of those checks and heading to the nearest currency exchange. IIRC, the money was never accounted for. Now that's corruption on a really Olympian scale.

When Powell was Secretary of State he had a driver's license police force at his disposal (don't know if it still exists). On one occasion, these goons burst into a drinking establishment on the U of I campus and began demanding to see licenses. One kid, who was legal, evidently gave them some sh*t and the guy in charge beat the crap out of the kid. I mean really beat him bad. Turns out the head of that particular detail was named H. R. "Porky" Porcaro and he had served time in prison for rape. Any number of Illinois taxpayers wondered about the propriety of giving a convicted felon a badge and a gun.

[joecct]

Re: Politicians We Admire

Evidently they're not "stopping and frisking" in Chicago. Pity.

Are you old enough to remember Illinois Secretary of State Paul Powell? When he died suddenly in his hotel room (he was being treated as an out patient at the Mayo clinic) they found ONE MILLION DOLLARS cash, in shoeboxes, in a closet. In those days when you renewed your driver's license or license plates, you made the check out to Paul Powell Secretary of State. Nothing, evidently, to stop him from scooping up a fist full of those checks and heading to the nearest currency exchange. IIRC, the money was never accounted for. Now that's corruption on a really Olympian scale.

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