Respecting the Will of Voters

 Referring to the recent mid-term elections as a "repudiation of politicians who refuse to listen to the American people” (meaning Democrats), House Minority Leader John Boehner pledged a GOP House that would respect the will of voters.  He further proclaimed “The people’s priorities will be our priorities, and the people’s agenda will be our agenda.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said before the Heritage Foundation that they must  "listen to the people who sent us here"  and that  "Democrats are ignoring the wishes of the American people."  

Okay. 

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released Wednesday revealed that only a third of all Americans think Bush-era tax cuts should be extended for families regardless of how much money they make. 

Forty-nine percent of people questioned in the poll say the tax cuts should be extended for families making less than $250,000 a year, with another 15 percent saying the cuts should not be extended for anyone. That leaves 35 percent who favor an extension of the tax cuts for all Americans regardless of how much money they make.

The poll "also indicates a vast majority of the public is in favor of allowing openly gay people to serve in the U.S. military."

John?  Mitch? Are you listening?

They're At It Again

"Republican Anger Over Cost of Obama’s Trip to India Will Not Be Stopped by Facts." 

That was New York magazine's headline to a short article on its website November 5, 2010.  I can't say this any better myself and there's no point in re-inventing the wheel, so here is the article, verbatim. 

Here is what an anonymous Indian official told the Press Trust of India on Tuesday: President Obama would be traveling to India with about 3,000 people, including Secret Service agents, government officials, and journalists at the cost of approximately $200 million a day. Here's what the White House said about those "wildly inflated" figures: "The numbers reported in this article have no basis in reality." Other experts also chimed in. A former Los Angeles Times reporter who covered numerous foreign trips by U.S. presidents said the dollar amount sounded "inflated by a factor of 10," the size of the entourage was "grossly inflated," and pointed out that reporters would actually pay their own way. The Wall Street Journal called it "demonstrably incorrect." FactCheck.org said the accuracy of the anonymous estimates were "highly doubtful," pointing out that the cost of keeping 100,000 troops in Afghanistan costs $190 million per day.  Here's where the GOP — and the Fox News pundits — went with it. Glenn Beck wondered if maybe we should have been worried about Obama's Hindu connection, expressing distaste over "$2 billion for ten days so [Obama] can go see the festival of lights." Sean Hannity pointed out that that sure was a lot of money to visit "one of the biggest mosques in Indonesia." Michele Bachmann told Anderson Cooper, "I think it's not a good signal to send to the American people, when the American people are, quite frankly, struggling right now with high job losses." When Cooper pressed her on the inaccuracy of the figures she was quoting, Bachmann responded, "Well these are the numbers that have been coming out in the press." Ah, yes, that historically trusting bond between the GOP and "the press."

Sparky Anderson

"Sparky was, by far, the best manager I ever played for.  He understood people better than anyone I ever met. His players loved him, he loved his players, and he loved the game of baseball. There isn't another person in baseball like Sparky Anderson."

Pete Rose, former Cincinnati Reds baseball player