The terms "liberal" and "conservative" have more to do with political and economic principles than they do with parties. Although the Democratic Party tends to be liberal and the Republican Party tends to be conservative, there are conservative Democrats and there are liberal Republicans. I always think in terms of liberal or conservative because it helps me to decide where I am going to stand on an issue. However, I am not an ideologue (an impractical theorist or someone who acts blindly on a partisan basis). There have been times I have taken a moderate position - or even a liberal position - because I felt it was the right way to go. Political parties are an important part of the electoral process because it helps to define the issues. Partisan polticis is not bad so long as it does not get in the way of truth.
I'm pulling for Charlie Crist. A tan that golden deserves the Commander in Chief spot. It's probably dark enough that he pulls a bigger portion of the black vote, too. Plus, I bet he makes John Walsh head of the Terrorism Czar. We'll catch them all, one Most Wanted list at a time. Fixt. :thumb:
I agree that the jail time may be a bit steep, but the argument seems to imply that non-violent drug offenders shouldn't be locked up AT ALL. Sure, there should be varying degrees of how much time - (if any depending on the offense - you get, but I don't agree that non-violent drug offenders should just get off completely. But that's just me.
drug court with mandatory counseling and/or community service. a much better solution than jail time. non-violent first time drug offenders need to give to society, not drain it by taking up jail space that needs to be reserved for violent or habitual criminals. and to keep this on track, i would like to see some one stand up for those things and be honest that far too many non-violent first time drug offenders are being locked up, letting those that are violent get off early just to ease prison over-crowding. unfortunately, this is an area where there is too much pandering.
Yes there's a chance, but it will depend on approval rating at the time. Rasmussen has had him between 44 and 50% for many months. It would have to drop to 25-35 before the party pulled him They will ditch him if they feel he is certain to lose
Please. Obama will walk away with the election. There's not even a viable GOP candidate on the horizon. For whatever reason, the GOP has been stricken with Constantly****upitis which plagued the Democrats the previous decade.
For the 1000th time. Rich, mostly white, investment banker, coke fiends were not going around shooting up America's inner cities. Crack dealers are users needing a fix were terrifying inner city America with violence. You always either ignore or forget the fact that it was the black community that demanded tough punishments for crack. No one screamed for tough anti-coke laws.
This is an interesting thread. I don't have a deep enough understanding of how people position themselves to run for national office, so I try not to get my hopes up about possible candidates this far in advance. But, I'll go ahead and speculate on one person. I think Sarah Palin will try for the nomination, even though I'm wobbly on whether or not she'll win it. I agree with her views -- and I don't think there is a grassroots dislike of her because of these views, because America is largely a center-right nation. I think she has the beliefs, charisma, drive, and -- get ready for it -- the intelligence to make a good run for the GOP nomination. Previous missteps on her part, such as unpreparedness in some interviews, and just being new to the national political scene in general, gave ammo to pundits and politicians who already hate her just because of her politics. So I think she'll stick around the political scene. If she goes for the nomination, I think her biggest hurdle will be the blue-bloods -- the McCain wing of the GOP who should've learned in 2008 that when conservatives "move to the center" they are actually moving left, and their base will desert them. When conservatives affect moderation and compromise in national elections, the Democrat nominee will try to out-conservative the Republican. But if Palin gets through the primary battle, I really do think if she ran a good campaign she could defeat Obama. But I also think that Obama, if he keeps going on his current path and the Democrats gets routed in the midterms, will have his own tough primary battle -- possibly against Hillary Clinton. But again, this is all speculation. Someone could get plucked out of the minor leagues and be the next president. Whoda thunk in the 80s that the next two-term president would be the governor of Arkansas, of all places?
