Think Progress:
Last night on CNN, Larry King discussed the rise of the tea parties with a variety of guests and featured footage from last weekend’s lobbyist-organized Tea Party Express rally in Searchlight, NV. Dana Loesch, a tea party organizer from Missouri, and another tea party organizer, Wayne Allyn Root, joined King for the discussion. Root and Loesch decried the “unprecedented” and “unconstitutional” reach of a health care mandate. However, King noted that programs like Social Security are mandatory and asked if the tea parties would like to “do away with” that program as well. Both tea party organizers enthusiastically said “yes, absolutely” and added that a compromise would be at least privatizing the system:
KING: Would anyone turn away Social Security now? Would you do away with it?
LOESCH: I would, yes.
KING: You would?
LOESCH: Yes, absolutely....
***** The good people at Daily Kos have this little tidbit about the far right Republican candidate Marco Rubio. In a Charlie Crist vs. Marco Rubio debate, Rubio gave his plan:
...Rubio offered a controversial plan of his own, proposing to simultaneously raise the retirement age and cut Social Security benefits.
Crist flatly rejected Rubio’s proposal to slash Social Security and raise the retirement age....
I'm sure that will go over big in Florida!
---------- ---------- ----------
**** Business First has a report about the Ohio tax burden:
An analysis of state tax rates by the Federation of Tax Administrators indicates Ohio’s tax burden has lightened in recent years, an easing that state officials are calling evidence that a five-year-old state tax reform is doing its job.
The organization, composed of state tax departments, used fresh Census Bureau data to rank states based on per-capita state tax burden and the bite it takes out of the average resident’s personal income. Ohio, which generated $24 billion in state tax revenue in 2009, was ranked 35th in the nation for its $2,075 per-capita burden. The worst state in the nation for its per-capita tax burden was Alaska, while South Carolina took the top spot.....
....The issue of state taxes and their implications for attracting and retaining businesses already have emerged as key points in the upcoming Ohio gubernatorial election, where incumbent Democrat Ted Strickland will face off against presumptive Republican challenger John Kasich. Strickland has championed a number of recent business expansions as evidence of the state’s warming tax climate. Kasich, meanwhile, has proposed eventually eliminating the state income tax to make Ohio more attractive to business....
Do you think that Kasich will note this report?
_________
----> The Toledo Blade has the results of a recent poll on the Ohio elections:
Seven months out from what some have predicted will be an anti-incumbent election, a just-released poll suggests the bottom has not dropped out from under Ohio's incumbent Democratic governor.But while the poll of 1,526 registered voters released Wednesday by Quinnipiac University showed that Gov. Ted Strickland's lead over Republican opponent John Kasich has remained stable at 5 percentage points, neither he nor Mr. Kasich have shown signs of momentum....
...But unlike February's poll, which had Republican candidate Rob Portman beating both in hypothetical contests, Wednesday's poll shows either Democrat could beat the former Cincinnati area congressman and White House budget director on Nov. 2....
Bush and Portman's policies helped get us into this financial mess we are experiencing. I hope people realize that Portman in Congress would just continue them.
**** I saved the best for last!!!! Plunderbund has found out about an Ohio Republican Party poll that has some Republicans searching for antacid:
.....we have been told from reliable sources that the Ohio Republican Party has conducted a poll on the GOP primary for Secretary of State and found that Husted is losing to O’Brien beyond the margin of error just weeks before the primary election voting ends. The margin was reportedly roughly six points.The Ohio Democratic Party has confirmed that they have heard the same story about a poll showing Husted losing....
What will Husted do if he loses? OMG! OMG! Could the Republican pompous, "golden boy" lose a primary election????? We can only hope.
