swoosie1's Comments (163)

“The bigger they are the harder they fall...and so it goes. Obama was just a symptom of a Bush legacy. We were looking for something as far from a Bush legacy as we could find and there Obama was. Whether or not he would be enough to do anything for us, it really did not matter. He was simply a figurehead of something we wanted to believe in. Now in retrospect, we can see that a more moderate persona with greater experience and power in Washington might very well have been the better choice for moving the critical focus areas along. I believe that we missed the boat on Clinton this time around and that it would have been a far greater thing to have her in office. The one thing I recall Obama saying in the debate was something about not being detail oriented in terms of the way he would run his White House. His version of exectutive expression was big picture and not hands on. I recall Hillary saying that her executive style would be entirely different. She was a roll up your sleeves, hands on exectutive. I think we need a more hands on exectutive approach from our President, but I don't believe he is capable and because he is delegating policy as well as decision-making to Rahm and others, he is like a boat without a sail. It's all very predictable as to what happens to boats without sails in the ocean...”

“I agree! He has been totally lame in leveraging and persuading and marrying the two! I agree too that this is very clearly a team that has an arrogance around the agenda and very little finesse. The entire team has a fraternity team feel. Not good. And very reactive personalities that antagonize rather than engage. The feel of this is that of the big back-room deal. Nothing open or transparent as we maybe thought we'd have. I'd call this White House the team that governs from the BLOG, which is vast and shallow. They don't do the deep work but think that fancy blog/media blitzing is enough when it comes to policymaking. Very diappointing.”

“You say: "...I do not forget that if the election had gone the other way, we'd right now have a barter economy and be at war with Honduras." Well, I say, for all of us who are un or under-employed with no prospects, this is an economy of bartering. We are there Bill, regardless of what you think or say on your little show. We are there already and we have no prospects for any way out. Oh, and by the way, have you heard about that little escalating war over in Afghanistan? Who needs Honduras?”

“Oh please do not say it is the Republicans that are blocking the health care bill or whatever. It is the Democrats. Plain and simple. He has not been able to build a consensus within his own party. The Republicans are just a distractions for people who are easily manipulated by the Obama press machine. His machine wants us to believe that it's the Republicans, but the sad truth is that it is his own party that is having a pretty hard time accepting this stuff and for good reason, they are not in lockstep here. They are thinking about what might be good for the people instead of WallStreet and the Pharm. Companies that are in the back pocket of Obama and Geitner and the rest of them. It' obvious if you are objective. But you clearly are not and you are a going to ignore the facts.”

“Uh--I did vote for him. That is the horrible fact that I have to live with now. I am sick with the worry that I now have because of the idiots that run his White House. They were not what I thought I had voted for and if you were honest with this, like I am you would not be so quick to judge my puppet statement. He has not shown any leadership and we have to admit it to ourselves. It is like a circus atmosphere all super-charged and ripe for collapse because he is not doing the job he was elected to do. He has his mininons doing if for him. That is the big problem. I really do think it is his lack of experience. Period. I work in a huge company and he is not even a guy that would make middle manager in my company, given the decisions. In fact, he might have been fired, or as they do in my world, he would have been put on a special project. Seriously.”

“A good campaigner does not a leader make....
Obama had his entire campaign orchestrated from top to bottom by a couple of experts and a 100 million dollar machine. But he was only the puppet. When it comes to real leadership, we should really have looked to Axelrod and Poulef, who were the puppetmasters. Obama never accomplished anything as a senator. He had a book ghostwritten for himself, and now he runs the biggest machine in the entire world. He is not the right person for this job. We are starting to see it and it will only get more apparent as the years tick by.”

“Funny how there is so much worry about Sarah Palin and her book and her political thinking and career. Why is this the case? Because she has something that about 46% of the voting population likes and apparently likes a lot. She is not stupid, she is actually very savvy and because she exudes authenticity that other politicians seem to be devoid of, she is dangerous to the politicos who are currently in power. Sarah Palin has something that is more than dangerous, because she is real and if real means rogue, then so be it.”

“Oh please don't lecture Israel. When will the Arabs recognize them as a state? It is time. Arab neighbors should help each other so that the Palestinians are not dependent on the ones they hate for their economic health.--t­he Israelis. Let the Israel people be at peace.”

“You are a sad little kool-aid drinker. Aren't you?”

“You are a color bigot. Please don't say you are not. You probably voted for Prop 8 like all the hispanics and african americans did. This is just so wrong when a person compares levels of bigotry. It's really pretty sad. If you were to walk a mile in my shoe and compare evils of bigotry towards gays, then you might see how ugly it is to have to live in a society that denies you basic equality--even to the extent that the bigotry lives in families this way. Think about why the number one killer of gay teenagers is suicide. Then tell me that your "color" is superior to indicating bigotry. The kids die because society and even their own families hate them for who they are. Period. I feel sorry for you.”

“You cannot be serious! The idea that equal rights is right up there with taxes and a bailout of big banks is ludicrous. Walk a mile in a gay soldier's shoes and feel the heat of the enemy when you are being bombed and shot at. This has very little to do with the foxhole argument. Oh, and BTW, they don't even have FOXHOLES anymore. Remember, this is 2009 and we have GPS. Jeez.”

“yeah-because the guy is a manipulative politico who does nothing risk-adverse, including having courage. Too bad, but anybody who didn't drink the Obama kool-aid knew this going it. Sad.”

“I think it's crazy to remove perfectly good cars off the road and make people then spend a lot of money. The older cars can be great for people without a lot of means to have a car of their own. Maybe we need to make some of these cars available to some folks who might be able to buy insurance for themselves and forget the crushing of these good little clunkers--in the end we are just sending the metal back to China. What is wrong with this picture?”

“Uh bob--there is the little matter of taxes. It's been clear all along that this entire health care bill will be funded on the backs of the only middle clase folks who are working anymore and they will never see a dime in savings on their own health care plans. If you are working, you are going to be stiffed by this plan they are cooking up. I am all for a few tax increase, but hey, let's make this thing equitable and if it is for everyone, they by God, let's not say if you make money you can get one of these plans. That is the problem BOB. The majority of those who work for a living, who struggle to pay their share are going to be strapped down with paying for all the 60% of the people WHO DON"T WORK FOR A LIVING. If this is fair to you then this is why we disagree. If I can get the plan, even though I have equity in a home and maybe a small savings, and if I can get the plan without being stripped of this before I can partake in the plan, then maybe we can see eye to eye on it. But it is my understanding that this is going to be another plan that those folks who have money will never get to have. We will have to be stripped of our savings and retirements and that won't work.”

“You are childish. You do not understand that she has great TV appeal and with that alone, she is quite viable on many levels. Do not celebrate because you really have not seen anything yet and she is coming, full on, packing everything she's got. Because this woman is stubborn, sharper that you might thing, and will not take muck without serving it right back to ya. Yep, get ready for some push back from Palin, Alaskan Style.”

“Palin is just too authentic for the political machine that wants to control her. She is not stupid and she is very, very popular with about 40% of the country. Huffington Post comments are not exactly going to be indicative of many people view of her. For whatever reasons that she is stepping down, it is clear that she has the entire cadre of media operatives, like Maureen Dowd and others banging them selves into keyboard oblivion just to stomp Palin into the ground. The entire political system cannot afford to have someone like her rising about the machine. She is going to be wildly popular and will drive the wedge issues like a stake through the heart of the democratic party. She will earn her keep with books, talk shows, interviews, and will be a media darling. All the while rehabilitating her reputation. I think that she is very much a threat to the status quo and will appeal to many now that she can be unbridled in her views and is no longer shackled by the boys that run the machine.”

“All employer-based plans should be taxed. Gays with domestic partners on these plans are already taxed. The revenue to the gov.would be huge.”

“The problem here is that you don't see the truth or are unwilling to acknowledge it. But it goes like this: Cheney = Ok with Gay Marriage
Obama= Not ok with Gay Marriage

It is as simple as that. Cheney is more progressive on this issue than our current president who still remains silent on one of our most important civil rights issue of our times.

The Huffington Post columnist are rabid about pointing out the disconnect between Cheney --the freakish VP that waterboards and his enlightened stance on the freedom for gays to marry. But they don't point out the very obvious bigotry of the Obama stance on this issue. Simple.”

“Indeed. Could not agree with you more. This administration has no use for gay rights. They don't and the deafening silence has proven it.”

“Oh please. Get real on this. None of the democrats are any more interested in promoting equality for gays than their Republican counterparts. The current president has made that perfectly clear with his silence on gay and lesbian rights over the last six months. So really, when it comes to gay rights, the democrats have not proven to have taken the high road at all.”

“After 20 years in a committed lesbian relationship, I'm still surprised at the people who know and love me and my partner, but will not budge on the gay marriage issue. They are loving people with kind hearts and giving natures, they help us, we help them. They love us and we love them. They have us over to dinner and reciprocate. But, and I say this with regret and anger, they do not feel we deserve to be married. Our committed relationship is not worthy in their eyes of sanctity. We are second class. And those of us who did not marry in the small window of time we had this year are now third-class. The people I speak of, our neighbors are religious, with all the divorces they have had, the family issues, the gay children of their own and so on, but they will not give on this issue. So in my experience, we must move away from the hearts and minds concept of acceptance and maneuver towards a court decreed law that can make this issue go away permanently. Let us march this to the supreme court of the land and yes, over the years it takes us to get there, let us love openly and lovingly and out in the open. Have faith, our time will come.”

“We continue to have hope that we will find our way on this. However, the time has come to use the power of the $$$ to boycott any politician, business, state, etc. that does not feel that this is an issue of criticality. The thing with the politicians is that they never feel constrained by the gay rights movement. There is a subtle way that the questions for them are handled and we never get in their faces about this. Take Obama for example. It is AN OUTRAGE that he is silent over this issue. Disgusting. Take all the others who have kept their mouths shut for the sake of expediency. We give them a pass because we assume they are LIBERAL. Well a liberal that does nothing but keep their mouths shut does us no better good than a conservative bigot. Quite frankly, I am tired of making excuses for our do-nothing California politicians who are supposed to help us and work with us. They are sitting in their offices and doing nothing. WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE???? The fact is there is no outrage. The politicians do not care about the gay constituency or gay rights. Simple as that. For me, I am going to boycott everything that I see as anti-gay, including all the California politicians that I see being silent on this issue. They will NEVER receive my vote because they cannot be trusted with it.”

“I am amazed at the casual comments by this author and how he promotes a patience around achieving equity. For example, it seems that he thinks that the courts and people in Calif. will just magically come around through constant exposure to gay rights arguments and exposure to gay rights discussions, etc. Do you not know that this tactical position could last a lifetime before we attain equity? Instead of this naivete, we need to drive the rights issues very rapidly and without fear of political reprisal until we get equity, whether by ballot, court, or social boycotts of product, states, churches etc. Please, let's not be naive. California is full of social bigots. We have a huge voting block of hispanics and blacks that are married to the view of gay marriage being an evil sin. So lets get real and know that the other side is going to galvanize not through the gay issue on the next ballot, but some crackpot initiative that will bring out the hispanic, catholic, mormon, black voters to drive it into the ground again. Watch and beware--this tactical strategy works well for the bigots.”

“Yes he can. It is called an "executive order." But it takes courage.”

“Would you say this to a Mexican American or an African American or anybody else who has been locked out of fundamental rights in their own country? No, you would not. You clearly do not see this as a critical and fundamental rights issue, so you give Obama a big, fat, pass on it. You look the other way and you say give it time. Well brother, this has been going on too long and we deserve better. The country should respect and treat its citizens with respect, especially someone who has served their country and with honor. This is cruel and disgusting and I for one am ashamed that we have a president who made promises and is now silent, as if he can sweep gays away. He has no courage. That is a shame. He should be ashamed.”